Learning Preferences Free Essays

They all help me be an effective distance learning student. This habit also helps me to make a subject more interesting for me, if it is not already so. This summarization and fertilization would also allow me to retain the information since I have to understand it completely to convey it to someone else. We will write a custom essay sample on Learning Preferences or any similar topic only for you Order Now 2. Describe how each practice activity reinforced or contradicted something about yourself? This activity has contradicted me in a way that I could try o know what my strengths are and how to obtain them into being successful in what I can do. It has also helped me to try and figure out what my weakness are and then work on strengthen them. This is very unlike my own style. I can help strengthen others in areas where they may be weak and can better communicate by being aware of one another’s styles. It also allows us to see what strategies other may use that might help me in ways that I can learn better and be very successful in what I want to do. It has also helped me to understand how others like to learn and how they learn. How to cite Learning Preferences, Essays

Human Resources for Review and Research Agenda - myassignmenthelp

Question: Discuss about theHuman Resources for Review and Research Agenda. Answer: In every organization, it is obvious for the managers in the process of selection to identify the hidden talent of the candidate and then hire them. Selection is a marked as a very vital stage for the applicants as well as for the organization itself. Misguide in the selection process can many time lead to the loss of good candidates. At the present organizational scenario, loss of a good candidate is a very hard thing to afford. It is also about the talent of the candidate who is selected, without the talent. Identifying talent is the important task of the management and showing the talent is an important job of the candidate. This specific article the psychology of talent management: A review and research agenda, published by Dries (2013) has depicted a vast vista on how talent management is influential for gaining organizational image and reputation. The author in this specific article has portrayed that talent management is the systematic procedure of planning as well as retaining the talented employees. In order to achieve the peak of business success employee retention is highly important. The success of a business organization is highly dependent on the performance level of the employees. The author in his specific article has pointed out that human talent is the renewable resource. Its competitors cannot steal it. Organizations while recruiting a specific employee should be concerned on the talents, skill and competency level of that individual rather than being influenced on the cultural and psychological backgrounds as well as attitudes. With the rapid threat of competitors, organizations have to face innumerable difficulties in retaining a talented employee within the business process. The author in this specific article has highlighted that attracting and retaining the talented people within the service process of a specific business organization is a major challenge. Competitors recruitment strategy and policy sometimes becomes a burden for a business organization to retain their talented employees. In order to overcome this kind of situation, the business experts have decided to implement some major strategies and policies for retaining young talents within the business services. Implementation of reward and recognition policy, providing agile work hour, flexibility in relocation are some of the most effective ways of maintaining employee sustainability. The author believes that employees would like to provide their best endeavor towards the business services only when the company intends to pay their effort of employees either by benefits or by rewards. The article has highlighted that business organization should invest certain amount of money for the purpose of talent management. As a result, the business experts can provide sufficient training and development session to the employees for enhancing their skills and competency level. It has been observed that large number of business employees cannot get their scope in developing their skill as the organizations fail to afford sufficient money for making training session. As a result, employees show their reluctant attitude in providing good performances towards the business services. The author in this specific article has highlighted the importance of talent management on the overall psychology of employees. In the article Talent management and expatriation: Bridging two streams of research and practice by Jean- Luc Cerdin and Chris Brewster, it is said that talent management is a combination of both potential and career development. This article was written aiming that the knowledge this article provides about the talent management and its relation to selection process will be effective and will be helpful for the organization to determine the selection process. in this context another mentionable comment is the one made by Oldham(2014) he said that the relationship between the characteristics of job and motivation is always more for the employees and hence they must undergo a proper selection process. Every organization must have a designed talent management process so that the employee selection is performed smoothly. This article also highlights that when an organization aims select the best candidate they should and must have a proper talent management process, which will identify t he best candidate. The talent management system will provide the organization with the committed employees who will be able to perform well and maintain the organizational structure. Development of organization is the process that uses the behavior science to work according to the planned progress and improvement of the organization effectiveness. Selection of talented employees and increasing their awareness to maintain the organizational behavior is an effective step towards the organizational development. Talent management actually does not have any true meaning but it plays a beneficial role in the organizational structure. This system of management defines how an employee gets attracted to the management, how it selects the employees and even how it develops the employee relationship within the organization. This article mostly focuses on the talent management and its importance on the selection process. The article Revisiting talent management, work-life balance and retention strategies created by Deery and Jago (2015) has primarily concentrated on highlighting the positive impact of employee retention. The author opines in this specific study that maintaining the quality of products and services to the customers is not only effective for a business organization for achieving the business goal. In order to meet the demands and needs of the customers business organization should focus on the performance level of the employees. An experienced and efficient employee always adds value of an organization for earning business profitability. In order to maintain employee retention business organizations intend to make budget plan. Providing an effective training and guidance to the employees is one of the most effective ways of managing talents. It has been observed that employees fail to meet the needs and demands of the customers due to the lack of performance. In this kind of situation, the business managers can focus on providing an effective training process so that employees can develop their skill and competency level. On the other hand, providing reward and recognition to the employees is one of the major ways enhancing employee motivation. Staffs would like to perform effectively only when they would be able to get motivated from the organizations recognition policy. The author in this specific article has pointed out that necessary health facilities and benefits are one of the most effective ways of employee retention plan. Every single business organization should strictly maintain organizational health and safety act strictly. If an individual employee has to face health issue at the workplace, the business managers should give cooperative outlook to that particular individual. As a result, the employees would get a motivation in performing well towards the business services. The specific article has critically evaluated the positive impact of employee re tention in maintaining the performance level of the employees. The next article chosen is THE IMPACT OF TALENT MANAGEMENT ON RETENTION by Victor Oladapo. This includes the implication of the talent management program and its impact on the retention of the employees. Organizations often struggle to overcome the journey of finding the talented workers. This article also focuses on relating talent management to employee retention. The important aspect that this article covers is the importance of talent management. The author of this article opines that every organization has two main concerns first one are the concerns about the place, equipments and monetary issues and second ones are the brand positioning, loyalty and the employee selection. In present world the importance of In order to meet the demands and needs of the customers business organization should focus on the performance level of the employees. An experienced and efficient employee always adds value of an organization for earning business profitability. In order to maintain employee retention business organizations intend to make budget plan. Providing an effective training and guidance to the employees is one of the most effective ways of managing talents. This is why every organization should and must implement a proper talent management system along with a proper selection process. In the article, the influence of underlying philosophies on talent management: Theory, implications for practice, and research agenda by Urbancov Hana, Vnou?kov Lucie, the writer opined the investigation on the talent management philosophies. Every experienced and efficient employee always adds an efficacy of an organization for earning business profit. In order to maintain employee selection business organizations intend to adapt a proper talent management plan to make it successful. Providing an effective training and guidance to the employees is one of the most effective ways of managing talents after selection. As this topic concerns the talent management and its relation to the selection process, it can be stated, with the help of this particular article that managing a talent management process is very necessary in the present business scenario. Identifying the best employees and utilizing their abilities to maintain the standards of the business is very important and every org anization must hence initiate a talent management process for their betterment. In conclusion, it can be said that every organization in the present world needs to have the best talent management process whether at the time of selection or at the time of work. Talent management can be initiated by training as well. References: Cerdin, J.L. and Brewster, C., 2014. Talent management and expatriation: Bridging two streams of research and practice.Journal of World Business,49(2), pp.245-252. Deery, M. and Jago, L., 2015. Revisiting talent management, work-life balance and retention strategies.International Journal of Contemporary Hospitality Management,27(3), pp.453-472 Dries, N., 2013. The psychology of talent management: A review and research agenda.Human Resource Management Review,23(4), pp.272-285. Meyers, M.C. and van Woerkom, M., 2014. The influence of underlying philosophies on talent management: Theory, implications for practice, and research agenda.Journal of World Business,49(2), pp.192-203. Oladapo, V., 2014. The impact of talent management on retention.Journal of business studies quarterly,5(3), p.19.

The Awakening - The Birds, The Lovers And The Widow Essays

The Awakening - The Birds, The Lovers And The Widow In the novel, The Awakening there are several motifs or images that assist in developing Edna Pontellier in her awakening, the birds, the lovers and the woman and black all prove to be important parts in this. It is significant that The Awakening opens with two caged birds. Throughout the novel, Edna feels that marriage enslaves her to an identity she for which she is not suited. The parrot is an expensive bird valued for its beauty. The mockingbird is fairly common and plain, and it is valued for the music it provides. These two birds function as metaphors for the position of women in late Victorian society. Women are valued for their physical appearance and the entertainment they can provide for the men in their lives. Like parrots, they are not expected to voice opinions of their own, but to repeat the opinions that social convention defines as proper or respectable. The parrot shrieks Go away! Damnation! These are the first lines of The Awakening, and they signal the essentially tragic nature of the novel. The parrot speaks French, a little Spanish, and a language which nobody understood. Again, the parrot serves as a metaphor for Edna's predicament. As she becomes more defiant, she voices unconventional opinions about the sacred institutions of marriage, gender, and motherhood. Later in the novel, Mademoiselle uses wings as a metaphor for Edna's decision to defy social conventions. She warns Edna, 138 When she asks where Edna wants to soar, she means to ask Edna if she is sure that she can escape her gilded cage. If she fails, she will become one of the sad spectacles of the birds that fail. At the end of the novel, a bird with a broken wing sinks into the surf. The bird symbolizes Edna's failure to achieve the very goal that has driven her actions the entire time. In the end, Edna's freedom takes place in death. This is the choice that social convention allows her. Throughout the entire novel, the two young lovers are usually represented in conjunction with the woman in black. The two lovers are important symbols in The Awakening. Since the lovers always appear in conjunction with the woman in black, they foreshadow the eventual failure of Robert and Edna's love for one another. The contrast between the woman in black and the young lovers has a symbolic relationship to the love between Robert and Edna. The woman in black represents the logical conclusion to the conventional woman's life if her husband dies first. However, there is no old couple to represent Robert and Edna's contented futures. Therefore, the lovers and the woman in black foreshadow the failure of their love. Furthermore, there is no figure to symbolize the old age of the rebellious woman represented in Edna. The absence of this figure foreshadows Edna's suicide at the end of the novel. It implies that Edna must choose between conforming to social conventions or disappearing fro m the symbolic scene of the stages of a Victorian woman's life. English Essays

buy custom The Aggressor in the Family essay

buy custom The Aggressor in the Family essay Domestic violence continues until behaviors of infidelity come to an end. In the worst cases, it continues long after the spouse has stopped engaging in unfaithful behaviors. This is because the other spouse may not have completely lifted the burden of the offense caused off his heart. In most cases, such a cause of domestic violence is very serious and a third party may need to interrupt. The worst scenario is whereby such violence ends up in divorce. Through personal reasons, one of the parties in the family becomes the aggressor. The aggression may be caused by various factors. The aggression may emanate from one family member or it may involve an all against all kind of situation. In most cases, his kind of problem becomes very difficult to deal with. This type of violence may take the form of fights whereby family members intentionally hurt each other, physically, emotionally and psychologically. Physical or mental illness is a common cause of personal aggression in the family. The remedy to this problem is medical attention. Some of the mental conditions that lead to aggression in the family include schizophrenia and Alzheimers disease. Family members may not realize that a mental condition is fuelling the violence until it is too late. Carlson (1984) observes that people who use alcohol or drugs are also a cause of domestic violence in their respective families. This is a personal problem thaat can be remedied simply through a change of behavior. Unfortunately, it is never as simple as that. Alcohol and drugs are not only highly addictive; they take away a huge chunk of a familys resources. One family member may drain all the familys resources by buying drugs, leading to a domestic quarrel. An individual who has been exposed to domestic violence all his life may expose the same behavior towards his family. This is because that individual has been conditioned to a life of violence since early childhood and beyond. For such a person, it is difficult to understand what that there may be another form of life other than one that is characterized by violence. In this case, violence may reign as long as the family exists. Buy custom The Aggressor in the Family essay

Copyright and Creativity Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2750 words

Copyright and Creativity - Essay Example It is purported that copyright primarily serves the end of encouraging creativity, because of the inspiration it provides to authors/writers/creators and would-be authors/writers/creators that will see creativity as an opportunity to gain economic advantage as well as an acknowledgment of their talent. This claim, however, is being contested by those who argue that artists have been churning out great works of arts for centuries without the benefit of copyright protection. Worse, there are those who perceive copyright protection as an unwitting tool for stifling creativity as illustrated by recent cases where works have been prohibited from seeing publication on the ground that they infringe the copyright law. The question that is being contemplated by this paper, therefore, is whether or not copyright protection encourages or stifles artistic creativity. Background The US Copyright Law has its roots in the 1710, Statute of Anne, an English law that ended the monopoly of the Statione r’s Company by vesting exclusive right of books to their authors for fourteen years, subject to renewal. After the American Revolution in the 18th century, several states their own copyright laws that took after the Statute of Anne, but the Constitutional Convention decided that a unifying law on copyright should be enacted nationally and thus, attached a clause mandating such passage in Article 1 of the proposed Constitution. The subsequent Copyright Act of 1970 copied the 14-year period of exclusive right to authors renewable for another 14 years and was made applicable solely to books, maps and maritime charts. Eventually, however, the US copyright law was broadened to cover other original works as well. In the Copyright Act of 1909, the coverage of the grant extended to all written works not only in the US but to various written foreign works as well. In addition, it extended the period of the exclusive right to 28 years, which is renewable for another 28 years. The next copyright law, i.e. Copyright Act of 1976 is the precursor of the present US copyright law. This Act eliminated many of the earlier features as well as added new ones. For example, it established a single period of exclusive right for all kinds of works, which is the life of the author plus 50 years, dismissed the formalities and made the right applicable the very moment the work becomes a concrete medium of expression. 1 Before the present consolidated US copyright law came into being, the Copyright Act 1976 went through various amendments and supplementations. These include the following: the Audio Home Recording Act of 1992, which added copyright grant to digital audio recordings; the Sonny Bono Copyright Term Extension Act of 1998, which extended the exclusive right to 20 years, and; the Digital Millennium Copyright Act of 1998, which deals with high-technology works. 2 Features of the Present US Copyright Law Under the present US Copyright Law, which is denominated as Title 17 of the United States Code, the exclusive rights to reproduce, prepare derivative works, distribute copies, perform, display publicly and use in a digital audio transmission of works, are granted only to their authors or creators.3 The copyright grant covers only 8 kinds of words, and their respective derivatives, namely: literary

Stakeholder Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words - 1

Stakeholder - Essay Example The inclusive definition includes any group or person who can be affected by the organization’s acts or who can affect the acts of an organization and now has expanded including non-humans too. The exclusive definition includes stakeholders that are focused on from the manager’s point of view such as the power of the stakeholder, the dependence of the institution on that stakeholder or even the risk from that particular stakeholder. The organizations that focus on the maximization of their wealth try to reduce and limit the quantity of stakeholders and try to aim on the financial measures. According to some writers, â€Å"stakeholders are recognized by the real or possible harms and gains that they will undergo or expect undergoing as a result of an organization’s activity or inactivity.† But such definitions are criticized due to the lack of specification and due to the challenges in recognizing the various stakeholders. Sometimes stakeholders are referred to as those people, who have the power to affect the institution, who the right of a relationship with the institution or have the importance to claim (Driscoll and Starik, 57). In present day’s nature is also being included in as one or more stakeholder(s) because of its importance not only to human life but also to the objectives, aims and intentions of a business o r a firm. As we previously studied that a stakeholder is an entity which gets affected by the acts or actions of an institution or has an effect on the acts or actions of an institution. Thus, nature has a lot of affects on the acts and actions of a firm and also gets affected to a very big extent by the acts and actions of a firm. Hence, nature and everything that comes in it hold the position of one or more stakeholder(s). But the fact that nature gets represented by social and ethical groups and by the various communities thus it many times does not gain the status of a stakeholder

The Brics In The Global System Economics Essay

The Brics In The Global System Economics Essay In 2006, as BRICs mania gathered momentum, the four governments, at the initiative of former Russian President Vladimir Putin, collectively lifted themselves from the pages of investment reports to hold their first foreign ministers meeting on the sidelines of the annual UN General Assembly session. After a second meeting of the four foreign ministers in New York in September 2007, the BRICs launched a consultative process at the level of deputy foreign ministers to foster regular contacts and multilateral diplomacy. By 2008 the four BRICs foreign ministers, and on a different track the finance ministers, established a process to hold regular meetings to discuss common approaches to international problems, including the global financial crisis. Again at Russias initiative, the four BRIC heads of state met in July on the sidelines of the G8 (the G7 plus Russia) summit in Japan and plans were laid for a formal summit to be held in the Ural mountains city of Ekaterinburg, Russia in June 2009. Despite the groups improbable beginnings, BRICs were on a roll. 2. Successive communiquà ©s from follow-on meetings enumerated demands for an adjustment of global governance structures to better reflect the BRICs rising share of global output, trade, and financial flows. Nearly 60 percent of the total 14 increase in world output in 2000-2008 took place in developing and transitional countries, half of which occurred in the BRICS; their share of global GDP during the same period rose from 16 to 22 percent. Current projections estimate that China will overtake Japan as the worlds second largest economy in about 2010, and within the next two decades the top three economies in the world are expected to be China, the U.S., and India, with Russia and Brazil moving higher within the top ten. 3. BRICS symbolises the collective economic power of Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa. Together the BRICS account for more than 40 per cent of the global population, nearly 30 per cent of the land mass, and a share in world GDP (in PPP terms) that increased from 16 per cent in 2000 to nearly 25 per cent in 2010 and is expected to rise significantly in the near future. The Rise of BRICS 4. BRICS, the five of the most important rising economic powers in the early twenty-first century, have emerged individually as second-tier regional powers and collectively as a joint presence in world politics. Although BRICS diplomacy took wing under Western radar, it now features well-publicised regular summits, communiquà ©s summarising common positions and demands, and activities to promote peer learning and public diplomacy. Goldman Sachss analyses may have indirectly spawned an incentive to collaborate diplomatically, but the bank is not alone in identifying (and promoting) such trends. Even before the global economic downturn, attention had begun to focus on the post-American world, a non-polar world, and especially the rise of China. 15 5. The BRICS countries have a significant strategic position on their continents: the Americas, Asia, Europe and Africa. Taken together, these five countries account for approximately 30 per cent of the earths surface. The importance of this vast territory is related to the amount of their mineral, water and energy resources, the availability of fertile land for agriculture and their biodiversity. All five countries have intensively developed activities in these areas with varying degree of success. The relative importance of agriculture and extractive activities, the transformation of mineral and energy resources and the magnitude of the BRICS agro-diversity are shown by their share in global trade in commodities and in the evolution of industrial activities. Their rich biodiversity also provides the opportunity for the development of very dynamic industries such as pharmaceuticals and biotechnology. 6. The total population of the BRICS is even more significant than their territory. The BRICS percentage of global population remained constant at around 43 percent of the worlds total population over the period 1985-2005. Chinas share of the world population declined from 22.1 percent in 1982 to 19.6 percent in 2005. However the population of all the other BRICS except Russia increased. The most significant increase in population occurred in India, which had 17.4 percent of the world population in 2005. This large share of the population represents both a challenge ad a source of opportunities. Challenges that frequently occur in large populations are those to do with the provision of water, food, energy and sanitation, as well as with the health and education systems. Other undesirable challenges associated with the population problem take the form of unemployment and the high degree of inequality in the distribution of income. These problems are common to the five countries, where a significant portion of the population lacks access to essential goods and services, and demand urgent redress. Data available from the United Nations show that Brazil and South Africa are among the countries with the worst distribution of income and that India and Russia are among those with the 16 largest percentage of the population living below the poverty line, 28.6 percent and 30.9 percent respectively in the mid 2000s. Problems related to the perverse distribution of income and limited access to public services (education, health, housing and urban infrastructure, public safety etc.) are reflected in their low human development index. 7. Huge regional disparities in human and economic development are evident in all five countries. In general, the wealthier are those that are more industrialised. Regional redistribution of income and access to essential goods and services represent a significant challenge that these five countries have in common. 8. Regarding the structure and performance of production, the combined GDP of the BRICS (in terms of purchasing power parity) represented in 2007 approximately 23 per cent of world GDP, more than the United States. In that year, China and India accounted for 10.8 percent and 4.8 percent of world GDP respectively. The economic performance of the BRICS has, however, varied widely in the last decades. China has maintained the fastest growing economy worldwide. India has grown significantly and more regularly. Russia after experiencing a severe crisis in the 1990s, and being faced with significant disorganization of the socialist economy, began a phase of significant growth in this decade propelled by the role of oil and gas in the economy. Brazil and South Africa have seen a small improvement in their economic performance, also well below their potential. 9. The spectacular economic growth in China is mostly due to the competitiveness of its manufacturing sector. It is important to point out that the industrial system in China has diversified to a significant degree during the last 25 years. The most noteworthy change, in recent years, has been the growth in the consumer durables and electronics sectors. In China, the share of technologically 17 intensive sectors in industrial output during the middle of the present decade approached 35 percent of the total value added by the manufacturing sector. This share is between 14 percent and 17 percent in the other four countries. 10. All the BRICS have raised their export and import levels in the last two decades, both in volume terms and as a share of GDP. In China, Russia and South Africa, foreign trade reached, in 2002, more than 50 percent of GDP while in Brazil and India it represented approximately 30 percent of GDP. Except South Africa, which has not increased its share of world exports in the last ten years, all the other four countries experienced high growth in exports? On the import side, all five countries increased their share of world imports, with the exception of Brazil. 11. The BRICS have been the recipient of significant amounts of foreign direct investment (FDI) in the last 50 years. Prior to 1984, Brazil received the greatest amount of FDI of all the BRICS. Although China reached the same level in 1985, Brazil continued to be a major destination for FDI during the 1990s, most notably during the process of privatization that took place during that decade. 12. China became the largest recipient of FDI in the world beginning in1993. The Chinese policy of attracting multinational companies was part of a strategy to expand their technological knowledge and later to strengthen domestic industries and companies. In China and India, where the capital account was not liberalized, FDI seems to have been concentrated in new investments in production and innovation. The other BRICS countries i.e. Brazil, Russia and South Africa, where the economies were liberalized with fewer restrictions, received more portfolio investment. This demonstrates the economic and political importance of the BRICS. The increase in the degree of influence of these countries took place during a period marked by intense transformation in the economy and global society. One of 18 this is the integration in the economy and society of significant proportion of previously marginalised segment of the BRICS population. 13. The crisis that started to affect the world economy in 2007-2008 has repositioned the role and importance of the BRICS. In a new scenario characterised by geopolitical realignment and where the role and function of the state in the economy are being redefined, their economic weight has in fact increased. Also, their capacity to remain immune is seen as a relevant source of ideas about how to survive during the crisis and to find ways of overcoming it. The differentiated role of the BRICS in the configuration of global power and the global economy will in some way constrain the evolution of their domestic system for innovation. Also, their national system of innovation are highly dependent on their historical development and on how the different domestic actors interpret global developments as well as how they position themselves in the national and international economies. On the other hand, more room for manoeuvre for setting up new industrial and technological policies may be e xpected. Significance of BRICS 14. The BRICS countries have consistently displayed high annual growth rate since 1980. China has grown at about 9.8%, followed by India at around 5.8% and Russia also at about the same level as India, while Brazil showed 2.4% growth. In comparison, the large industrialized nations group of seven (G-7) have shown 2.7% average annual growth. China and India have shown sustained growth by maintaining significantly high growth rates over a long period. 19 15. BRICS share of the global economy has increased by 1.5% over the last decade. During the period 2000-03, the BRIC countries contributed 1.4% of the annual global growth rate of 3.3% at purchasing power parity. Over the period 1980-2003, the per capita GDP at purchasing power parity has grown twelve fold in China, quadrupled in India, more than double in Brazil. In Russia, per capita GDP has increased by 50% over the 1998 levels. This indicates an overall increase in prosperity in BRICs. Accordingly the living standards have gone up in the BRIC economies, and the gap between the BRICs and advanced economies is narrowing down.(page 32 Sujatha) 16. This is also perhaps the most opportune time for forging closer links, given that the world economy is in a state of flux and a rebalancing is taking place towards the emerging economies. Their pivotal role in the global recovery has already catapulted the BRICs into the leadership role, which needs further cementing through greater interface among economies. Key Indicators and Statistics http://www.globalsherpa.org/wp-content/uploads/2011/04/BRICs-Development-Indicators-e1304046996149.gif 20 17. Economic Growth and Development of the BRICs (a) From 2000 to 2008, the BRIC countries combined share of total world economic output rose from 16 to 22 percent. Together, the BRIC countries accounted for 30 percent of the increase in global output during the period. (b) To date, the scale of Chinas economy and pace of its development has out-distancebd those of its BRIC peers. China alone contributed more than half of the BRIC countries share and greater than 15 percent of the growth in world economic output from 2000 to 2008. The chart above on key development indicators for the BRIC countries shows the sharp contrast in GDP, merchandise exports and the UNDPs Human Development Index (HDI) between China and the other BRIC countries. 18. Growing BRIC Middle Class (a) The rapid economic growth and demographics of China and India are expected to give rise to a large middle class whose consumption would help drive the BRICs economic development and expansion of the global economy.   The charts below depict how the increase in the middle class population of the BRIC countries is forecasted to more than double that of the developed G7 economies.   21 http://www.globalsherpa.org/wp-content/uploads/2011/04/brics-middle-class-income-bracket-2020-goldman-sachs-5.10-300268.png http://www.globalsherpa.org/wp-content/uploads/2011/04/expanding-world-middle-class-goldman-sachs-5.10-300246.png