The Internal and External Environment of Business Essays

The Internal and External Environment of Business Essays The Internal and External Environment of Business Paper The Internal and External Environment of Business Paper In an effort to achieve all this, a business entity has to interact with its internal as well as its external environments. According to Janis, Teheran and T reran (201 0), business environment refers to those aspects of the surroundings of business enterprise which have influence on the functioning of business. The world is dynamic and at times it undergoes through some changes which the business entity should be able to read so as to adapt well to these changes and hence be in a position to be able to continue its operations. It true that the managers cannot always regulate or control their environments, so it is always better to be aware of any changes that occur or that may occur, simply because these changes ultimately affect their daily day actions and decisions. For example, media reforms in Zanzibar that led to the opening up of airwaves in broadcasting to other players has had an impact on the operations of the Zanzibar Broadcasting Corporations radio and television channels. Also, related to this, was the coming on board of the free to air satellite dishes, which have made it possible for people in Zanzibar to have access to other channels other than the CB channels. Thus, for the managers of those existing channels, it was not at all possible to ignore the increased service and competition brought about by the coming on board of competitors. It is therefore a fact that, If managers do not respond to competition in appropriate time, then this will turn lethal for their organization. A business can never be profitable if it is ignoring the dynamic internal and external environment. By examining the internal and external environment, an organization develops its long term objectives and then it chooses a particular strategic pathway to achieve those objectives. But this entire recess can be completed only after a careful analysis Of internal and external environment. According to objectifications. Com, the internal environment of business are the conditions, entities, events and factors within an organization that influence its activities and choices, particularly the behavior of the employees. An organizations internal environment is actually, composed of multiple elements existing within the organization, including management, current employees and most importantly corporate culture, which ultimately defines the employee behavior. Teheran et al (2010) concur with this when hey state that, internal environment includes internal factors of the business which can be controlled by the business. It refers to environment within the organization. It includes objectives of the business, managerial policies, different departments of the organization, management and employees of the organization, labor management relationships, brand image and corporate images, physical resources including infrastructure available within the business, vision and thinking of top management, research and development activities of the organization, working conditions in the organization, morale and commitment of human resources and so on. The components of internal environment are usually within the control of business. Quality of human resources, a component of internal environment is largely responsible for success or failure of the business entity. If employees of an organization are skilful and committed, then they can take the business entity to great heights. However, on the other hand, if they are disgruntled, to an extent that they can even go on an industrial action, the activities of the organization can be jeopardized. If directors of an organization have broad vision and creative thinking, they can foresee changes that may affect the organization. As a matter of fact, they can then craft appropriate policies to deal with such changes on time. To some extent, the National Railways of Zanzibar can be cited as an example of an entity that failed to adapt to changes in the transport business environment and as a result it is struggling to survive. Marketing activities, which include research and development, are also part of the internal environment of a business unit. If the company is good at research and marketing activities, it can take an edge over competitors and can get larger market share. Connect Wireless can be given as an example of a many that has a strength in its research and development, whereupon after realizing that people were being charged exorbitant rates for transactions in the banking sector, it came up with a facility to transfer money using phones. Available physical and financial resources are also part of the internal environment. If the business enjoys sufficient financial resources, it can afford to spend more on research and promotional activities. Such activities aim at getting to know more information of the market and its needs and it is based on such a strength that new, appropriate products can be developed. For example, the need for people in Zanzibar to have access to internet in their homes led to availability of USB modems to people from mobile service providers such as African, Powerful, Telltale, Connect and others. Working conditions in an organization is another factor that can be looked at when the internal environment of an organization is being looked into. Where working conditions are unfavorable, employees will not stay long in the organization. As a result, there will be high labor turnover in the organization which in turn will result in poor service delivery by the organization. Dilemma (2012) in his research on the impact of high labor turnover on the service delivery of Mutual Rural District Council found out that excessive turnover had been costly and harmful to the operations of the entity. Gain et al (2010) define the external environment of a business as, the set of external factors such as the economic factors, socio-cultural factors, government and legal factors, demographic factors, ego-physical factors which are uncontrollable in nature and affect business decisions of a firm or company. Reinforce and Schools, cited by Gain et al (201 0), The environment of equines consists of all those things to which it is exposed and by which it may be influenced directly or indirectly. The external environment factors of a business can be categorized into: l) Micro/operating environment, which includes suppliers, customers, market intermediaries, competitors and public as well as ii) Macro/General environment, which encompasses economic environment, political environment, socio-cultural environment, technological environment, natural environment, demographic environment and international environment. This presentation will explain customers, public, economic environment, genealogical environment as well as demographic environment. Customers are a central point of any business organization. Success of a business organization depends upon identifying customers needs and then making efforts to produce products that will satisfy such needs. Because of many players in several sectors of the economy it has become challenging for some business entities to satisfy the needs of customers. As a result, those that fail to adhere to customers needs will lose Customers to competitors. An example is that of Intone, a mobile service operator that has lost a lot of customers to Connect Wireless. According to Gain et al (201 0), public is any group that has actual or potential interest in the business. To achieve this interest, it has its impact on the business. An example of public is media. This includes newspapers, magazines, or journals which may publish favorable or adverse remarks about the company. Both types of remarks in media have effect on the reputation of the company. For example, negative reporting about the Zanzibar Open University in 2011 led to a sharp drop in the enrolment statistics of that institution. The economic environment refers to those economic factors which have impact on the working of business, that is, economic system, economic policy, nature of economy, trade cycles, economic resources, level of income, distribution of income and wealth and so on. For instance, the level of income of the working class determines the disposable income of those employed. As a matter of fact, the more disposable income workers have the more products they would buy. For example, if a lot of people have significant disposable incomes it means that for a business entity that is into car selling, more cars may be bought. Technological environment comes about as a result of systematic application f scientific or other organized knowledge to practical tasks. The past fifty years or so has seen a substantial development of technology, enabling man to save lives, generate and distribute energy, discover new materials and substitutes as well as introduction of machinery in place of manpower. Some developments resulting from technological innovations have been seen to wonders while some are destructive. For example, knowledge that was developed leading to SUCCessfUl operations of hearts and transplantation Of kidneys have been seen as wonders whilst the production of hydrogen bombs have proved to be a horror. Demographic environment is the study of features of population such as its size, growth rate, age composition, sex composition, education level, income level, family structures and so on.

The Influences That Parents Have On Their Children essays

The Influences That Parents Have On Their Children essays The Influences That Parents Have On Their Children Influence is a word that can explain many things in todays world. Influence explains why people do the things they do. A childs influence on how he/she perceives life will stay with them for the rest of his/her life. But a more important question to ask is where does that influence come. Does it come from the parents of that child or does it come from that childs peer group. Although children are influenced from the outside world, ultimately a child learns right from wrong, good from bad, love and caring from their parents. I hope to prove to you, the reader, that influence, does in fact, come from the parents more than what people think. First, we must talk about the influence that comes genetically. The parents DNA already have influenced a child from birth. The child can be shy, outgoing, perceptive, or absent-minded, but those characteristics will be shown later in the childs lifetime. If you look at a family, you can tell what types of characteristics the children have. Then you can ask the parents who in their family have those same traits. I am sure that the parents can think of someone in their family, if not them self, to answer that question. What about the influence a child receives after birth, if any, from their parents. Right after birth takes place, the mother typically shows the child love by holding the baby, kissing it, singing it to bed, etc. Showing a child love from the day the child is born and continuously throughout childhood, will have a better positive effect on the child later in their own life. Judith Rich Harris, in her book The Nurture Assumption: Why Children Turn Out the Way They Do; Parents Matter Less The You Think and Peers Matter More believes that the love a parent gives has no effect on the child later in life. So far, to this day, studies show that if a parent show love and support towards ...

International Business Environment Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3500 words

International Business Environment - Assignment Example The author of the research essay "International Business Environment " analyses cheap asian economies and concludes that in a nutshell, the company can plan to expand its business on the Indian soil, as the opportunities are way stronger than the challenges there. Since India being a thick populated country with a growing economy currently, there is enough room for foreign companies to invest and bring business in India. However, the competitive automotive market in the country would ask the company to modify its cost and quality standards, as the automobile need description of the Indian market varies largely from the UK market. Considering facts of Indian market growth and the risk to opportunity ratio in the country, it can be recommended that the company should move ahead with the plan of going international by selecting the Indian soil. Cheap labor, low government taxes and a flourishing market for automotive in India makes it the best site to ensure speedy growth in revenue and reputation. The advanced and hi-tech machinery can be altered with less superior technology that can meet the quality and cost effective need of the country. Moreover, the company can first introduce its older models in the Indian industry to test and visualize the response of the people. By this technique, the company would be able to forecast its future in its industry without spending more in its inventory and designing procedures. Therefore, the step to move towards Indian automotive industry is affirmative.

Change Management Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Change Management - Research Paper Example It has its extensive presence in every domain of the society. In the context of modern day business scenario, change is an important part of operational process of the companies irrespective of the industry that they are operating in. In the healthcare sector, with the increased level of business market competition and altering nature of customer demands, change has become quite crucial by a certain degree. However, it cannot be ignored that there exist a proper process of change management, which helps in building a systematic framework and enabling proper implementation of the change proposed (Reiss, 2012). Contextually, this paper will work towards initiating change in a particular healthcare organization, which will comprise analyzing the need for change and the strategies for making that change successful. Identification of Change and Why Identifying the change, which is to be undertaken, is quite vital with regard to build a systematic process for the same. It can be stated tha t the change will be suggested with analyzing the clinical environment of a particular healthcare unit. ... ealthcare unit is observed to be below standards in conducting their certain operational activities in accordance with the norms along with the standards set for the overall industry. Observably, the healthcare unit is seen to be lacking in the practice of hand hygiene. According to the report of CHICA (2013), there are millions of people who often get infected from nosocomial infection due to having deficiency in this particular practice. Hand hygiene, in the healthcare sector provides certain guidelines to both healthcare patients and the professionals in the workplace, so that they mitigate with the rising problems arising from non-adherence to the same (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, n.d.). In this regard, change such as implementation of Infection Prevention and Control Guidelines will be initiated in the healthcare unit. It provides certain strict guidelines with regard to maintain hand hygiene in the unit to ensure enhancement in the performance of the organizatio n (CHICA, 2013). The healthcare unit is also seen to be lacking in providing quality services to the patients. It has been apparently observed that the healthcare organization possesses the responsibility to serve people with utmost integrity and responsibility. However, in analyzing the particular healthcare unit, it has been noted that the satisfaction level of the customers acquiring services from this unit is quite low, which further is a serious threat for the well being of the patients and the performance of the unit altogether. Hence, in this regard, proper implementation of NAHQ based Code of Ethics and Standards of Practice will be initiated as a change in the operation of the healthcare unit, further making sure that the healthcare unit work totally in compliance with the

Transnational IT Operations Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Transnational IT Operations - Essay Example Understanding how the organizational environment has to function because of virtual needs as well as what the constraints and opportunities are when working with a global network changes the perspective of how many can work within the transnational IT industry. The results which are currently being applied to the industry are based on creating new work environments that enhance quality, culture and the building of an international network. The first components that are providing a change with the transnational IT industry is the work and quality that is within the environment. The transfer of work which has to be created is offering opportunities to explore new ways of developing a system while providing complexities in an environment that can work internationally and through IT processes. The social and institutional conditions that are created are required to transfer work in a different manner while creating conducive levels to working. If the social needs aren’t met or if policies within the institution are not regulated, then gaps with the transfer of work occur. However, the ability to develop a smooth transition for the institution and social components provide better strategies to find the best resources for both work and the implementation of a different product process. More important, the industrial restructuring which takes place may change the position of the company either positively or negatively , dependent on the way in which the work is transferred through the corporation (Carrillo, 2004). A second component that is related to the work and quality that is provided is based on service levels that are taken into account across different regions. The service levels are dependent on new ways in which the IT sector is used for the fast pace and demand that is in the environment. The industry is required to have a different level of flexibility and innovations that are a part of the corporation. More important, the service

Integrating school safety data for the purpose of safe school program evaluation Essay Example for Free

Integrating school safety data for the purpose of safe school program evaluation Essay Abstract This paper addresses the issue of school safety and what should be done to enhance it. The need for all stakeholders; the government, the school administrations and community to facilitate safe school planning and thus essentially enhance school safety are equally taken into consideration. The paper further provides some of the indicators that are considered while implementing an effective safe school plan and how to assess and evaluate the proven programs. This in essence, provides a general picture of promoting school safety so that incidents of crime can be lessened. In addition, the need to create an enhanced safe environment needs to be sensitized in every school since it has a direct impact to the performance of schools. Introduction This paper considers data that will provide the way best practices and proven programs can be used to enhance school safety. Such a program that has been considered is Juvenile Accountability Incentive Block grants (JAIBG). This kind of a program considers the underlying premise that young people who violet the laws need to be held accountable for the offenses if society is to improve the quality of life in the nations’ communities. It is to this effect that the paper goes beyond and evaluates the accountability of the juveniles in relation to the environment they live in and other surrounding factors. Consequences or sanctions that are applied swiftly, surely, and consistently and are graduated to provide appropriate and effective responses to a varying levels offense seriousness and offender chronics work based, in preventing, controlling and reducing further law violations. There is, therefore the need to use best practices and such like proven programs to enhance school safety. Further more, the safe school planning procedures have to involve all the stakeholders including parent, teachers, government and the community and of course the students. Safe Schools and School Planning In most cases statistics and the government reports determine safe schools but this ought not to be an end by itself. Various questions are raised in defining a safe school due to the difficulty that comes along with the definition. A safe school is considered one in which guards patrol the halls, metal detectors protect all entrances and all violent incidents are reported to the police. Creating a safe school goes beyond eliminating knifing, fighting and shootings. Violence is also subtle things such as name calling; fear of being ridiculed; teasing; offensive touching; racial, ethical, cultural, or sexual slurs; and bullying (Hernandez, 2004). This shows that most violence in school does not occur overnight but it develops over a period of time. According to (Stevick and Levinson, 2003), â€Å"violence is the most extreme manifestation of range of behaviors that run contrary to schools’ expectations and purposes† A safe school is the one in which the total climate allows students, teachers, administrators, staff, and visitors to interact in a positive, non-threatening manner that reflects the educational mission of the school while fostering positive relationships and personal growth. In addition a safe school is one, which repeated absenteeism, inadequate performance, or dropouts, withdrawals or transfers due to feeling afraid in school are progressively reduced. Incidences of disruption, crime and violence are progressively reduced too. Safe school planning is a clear and concise plan for creating a safe school climate. This requires collaborative efforts of parents, students, school personnel, and communities. The plan should contain a written conduct and discipline code, and policy for annual building inspections to eliminate barriers to safety and a policy for annual written report regarding learning environment to be submitted to the relevant authorities. These are proactive measures that should be taken to reduce if not eliminating school-based crimes. A comprehensive planning process based on state law, gives a guideline to a school and the community at large in developing a plan that is relevant and effective. Best practice and Proven Programs Best practice is a management ideal, which asserts that there is a technique, method, process, activity incentive, or reward that is more effective at delivering a particular outcome than any other technique, method, process, etc. These are essentially the most efficient and effective ways of accomplishing a task. They are based on repeated procedures that have proven themselves over time for large numbers of people. On the other hand proven programs are those have shown success in their repeated use. Though this is the case, proven programs have to adjust depending on the rising challenges in our society. The proven programs are bound to come up with positive results that are manifested by safety school environment. Purpose of the proven programs is to promote school safety by increasing student accountably for their behavior. This facilitates the development of constructive well-conserved† accountability based programs that work with either juvenile offenders who are referred by law enforcement agents, or which are designed in corporation with law enforcement officials to protect student and school personnel from drug, gang and youth violence. It must be noted, however the accountability based programs operate most effectively when they are part of a comprehensive collaborative approach involving a wide range of partners including students, parents, school faculty, and staff, community residence, members of communities organization, law enforcement justice authorities. Partnership with local juvenile justice systems and schools to establish and maintain accountability based programs, and students’ accountability must work in concert with institutional accountability that addresses the underlying causes of students’ violence and misconduct. School safety programs that emphasis student accountability can be build on the experience of successful community-based delinquency prevention and intervention programs. Comprehensive strategy for serious, violent and chronic juvenile offenders and safe futures program are examples that have proven effective in addressing juvenile delinquency (Wilson, 1993). The comprehensive strategy provides a blue print for establishing a continuum of care to meet the needs of at-risk or delinquent youth while protecting the public from harm. It promotes a systematic approach to prevention and the use of graduate sanctions in dealing with the offenses committed by such individuals and advocates the developments of partnerships between the juvenile court, law enforcement and community. Some of the programmatic strategies derived from the comprehensive strategy and the safe futures programs are applicable to accountability-based school safety initiatives include emphasis on juvenile accountability, develop an expanded and integrated network of social services. In provision of comprehensive strategies there is involvement of law enforcement as a stake holder in community-based efforts to prevent and respond to delinquency. Accountability in a school environment means expecting students to comply with school rules and regulations that reflect community standards or behavior and where necessary, addressing students misconduct with appropriate conduct including school discipline. Programs can take a comprehensive approach to reducing delinquency and misconduct in schools by building student accountability into the school culture. Efforts to enhance school safety should be fully integrated into all aspect of school operation including the learning environment curriculum, administration, staff selection and staff training. Enhancing School Safety through Assessment and Evaluation In enhancing school safety there is the need to understand all the indicators that distinguish a safe school from unsafe schools. One of the indictors that characterize a safe school is the orderliness of the school. This involves a creation of a climate of mutual respect and responsibility. This can be evaluated by the way students relate to others, teachers and staff. Expectations about this amicable relationship are what are accepted and consequences for unacceptable behavior are known and applied where appropriate. Another parameter to measure, evaluate and enhance school safety is to ensure that the school has existing plans, and implement the plans progressively. In addition there should be policies and procedures that address the safety of the school. When these issues are put in place the schools safety is enhance and evaluated. Measures that check the number of trespassers, incident of vandalism, reasons for absenteeism and number of firearms and other weapons have to be taken into account to enhance safety in schools. The environment in which an individual lives in has one to one relationship with the criminal or non-criminal behaviors. In considering the environment there is the need to use Crime Prevention Environment Design to ensure that safety at school is enhanced. This design takes into consideration the relationship between physical environment and the users of that environment. It is equally important to acknowledge that the users of the environment both criminals and honest alike are conscious their environment. They therefore can know and recognize a safe and unsafe environment. In doing so, the environment can be made safe by ensuring that buildings are built in an well-organized way. The doors and windows should not be obstructed. The streets and routes in the school should be well labeled and directions shown. Apart from this these routes and buildings should be under twenty-four hours surveillance to monitor intruders and strangers. Equally important is the lighting system, which should be checked to ensure that criminals do not take advantage of the dark alleys. If all this is taken into account then there is high possibility of enhancing school safety. In this sense there is also need to consider the orderliness of the school by taking measures to ensure this. Taking measures in considering the referrals the school gets and the reasons enhances orderliness of a school. Also the orderliness of a school is reflected by the number of suspensions both in-school and out of school and the performance index of the school. It is inevitable to consider the orderliness of a school because it has one to one relationship with the safety of the school. The more orderly the school is the more safety it tend to be and the vice versa is correct. A caring school also does a lot of good in enhancing its own safety. Schools, which care, are characterized by taking caution of the rate of and reasons for absenteeism in the school. A caring school should consider their staffs turn over-we have had of cases where the students have been incited by their teachers to do crimes for example going on strikes. This can be so when the teachers are against some of the management policies. It is therefore important for schools to care for the se issues and also the rate of students’ transfer. It is when the management put their efforts to enhance the discussed issues that the school safety is realized in the long run. To evaluate a school’s safety assessment, safety concerns of members of the school community should be done through surveys, for example. The information gathered from the survey ought to be used in the creation of the safe school plan so that safety concerns can be addressed. Continuous measurement of safety concerns need to take place so that actions can be adjusted to address concerns. On the hand to evaluate orderliness of a school, assessments of reasons of disorder need to occur. From these assessments, a code of conduct reflecting behavioral expectations can be established as part of the safe school plan. Review of the reasons for disorder should help establish the code of conduct. Adjustments to the code should be made based upon continuous review of the school orderliness. This in essence, the use of the available data will enable the concerned parties to enhance school safety. School Safety Data in the Evaluation of Programs Data is vital in evaluation of the programs that reduce insecurity in school. Data from Indicators of School Crime and Safety 2005 shows that, 17 percent of students in grade 9-12 reported they carried a weapon anywhere and six percent reported they had carried a weapon in school. Though the data show that this is a decline from the previous year, it is still shocking and calls for collective responsibility to all stake holders. The data collected in this report also identified other indicators of unsafe school like drugs availability in school and violent incidents at school. The data found in the Indicator reports for the five consecutive years has been used or integrated in the safety programs for the purpose of enhancing school safety. The data equally highlights reported of other actions which are frequently neglected but have a direct impact to the eventual safety of the school like use of hate-related words. Safety school data collected reported incidents what could be classified or determined if a school is safe or not. The data ranges from possession of weapon, sex offences, use of alcohol and drugs, vandalism, burglary among others. The safety of schools in this case is determined by the rates of transfers, suspensions and expulsions. The data shows that there are no incidents of unsafe schools in this state. All the stakeholders, the teachers, school administration, the community and the state can attribute this to the measures that have been taken. The data used reflected the percentages of students who smoked cigarettes and marijuana in a period of six months. This was considered alongside the strategies for prevention and creating a safe school. The effects of mental health from the use of drugs are equally indispensable. Another source of data was the community. The communities that care survey of student levels of risk and protective factors were also considered. The data used was from survey carried out about students from grade 6-12. The data from the Kansas department of Education was used. The set data includes information regarding the numbers of felonies, expulsions, suspensions, misdemeanors and violent acts on school grounds for various schools. This data was from the year 2000 to 2004. School years were included in this database in order to establish a baseline by which to compare data from the school years in which the safe school initiative will be implemented. Conclusion The issue of safe schools is an issue that should be taken with a lot of seriousness bearing in mind the number of criminal related incidents that occur in the school. It is the obligation of all the stakeholders to ensure that they work towards the betterment of school environment in terms of surveillance- it should be a collective responsibility. Educators should consider physical safety as well as intellectual and emotional safety. To promote truly safe schools, educators must understand the culture of all their students and the communities they serve, and help all the students understand and respect the culture and the climate of the schools they attend. On the other hand, the state and the educational authorities have to come up with policies that the school safety is enhanced. Thorough scrutinisation of these policies will at least ensure that the school and the community do not neglect their roles in enhancing safety in schools. References Aspy, C. (2004) Adolescent violence: The protective effects of youth assets. Journal of counseling and development, 286-277 Hernandez, T (2004) A safe school climate: A systematic approach and the school counselor. Professional school counseling 7 (4): 256-62. Stevick, E. (2003). From noncompliance to Columbine: Capturing student perspectives to Understand Non- compliance and Violence in Public Schools. Urban Review 35 (4) 323-49 Vail K. (2004) Troubling rise in school violence. American School Board Journal 191(1): 9-10 Wilson, R. (1991) Violence Prevention for Young Adolescents: A Survey of the State of Art. New York: Carnegie Council on Adolescent Development. Witt, P. (1996) Public Recreation in High Risk Environments: Programs that Work. Arlington, AV: National Recreation Park.

Deforestation Essay -- Environment Pollution

Deforestation in China Deforestation has been a big problem in China to this day. Throughout its long history, China has gone through several cycles, from mild recovery to severe deforestation. When the Communists took over China in 1949, they introduced many new policies and programs to bring about economic and political changes; however, shifts in policies have led to program shifts in every field of China’s economy, including deforestation. Deforestation exercises a significant influence on the ecosystem, stimulating natural disasters, introducing negative environmental and climatic changes, and threatening biodiversity. Floods are among the most common consequences of deforestation. During the Qing Dynasty (1644-1911), deforestation caused floods to occur every decade, and once every six years between 1921 and 1949, but once every two years in the 1980s. The situation has dramatically worsened since 1994, with the Yangtze flooding every year. Growing silting of rivers and lakes from the def orested lands in the Yangtze basin and encroachment on river beds by Chinese farmers resulted in record levels of floods in the summer of 1998. The building of The Three Gorges Dam is said to stop flooding greatly. As early as the 1950s deforestation in China attracted attention, but it was not until the 1960s that it assumed alarming proportions. The Land Reform of 1950 authorized state ownership of large forests and other types of land. The Cultural Revolution, which turned China upside down, also unfavorably affected its forests. The Ministry of Forestry, like most Chinese institutions and organizations almost ceased to exist during the Cultural Revolution. Decades of neglect resulted in excessive deforestation, impacti... ...is decreasing. In Tibet is has fallen from 9-5 percent, between the years 1950-1985; Yunnan 55-30 percent, 1950-1975; and in Sichuan, 30-65 percent, 1950-1998. Despite all the afforestation measures, heavy deforestation continues to plague China due to mismanagement, unclear policies, bureaucratic corruption, and ineffectiveness. Although recently, China has afforested a total area of 1.4 million hectares over the past two years, with another 13 million hectares of land reclaimed from desertification. The achievements come from a large afforestation project covering northern, northeastern and northwestern China. The project aims to form a shelter forest covering ten provinces, municipalities and self-governing regions. Finally, China plans to invest another 400 million Yuan, or more than 48 million US dollars in afforestation in these areas this year.