Human resources function Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Human resources function - Essay Example Abundance of human resources gives the company the luxury of becoming selective and filling positions with the right candidate and qualifications. But with scarcity of people, the businesses had to do away with the luxury and use whatever manpower was available. Compensation scales had to be revised since manpower became expensive. Alternatively, employees had to be brought in from faraway places and the companies had to bear the responsibility of their transport charges and safety. Moreover, the profit margins were severely affected since the businesses could not work their usual hours due to limited manpower. With the demand for employees going up, candidates had a field time as they could demand any amount as remuneration. Companies increased wages in a bid to attract workers and this lead to the entry of many untrained workers. Menial jobs now began paying well. Under ordinary circumstances, workers would be trained well before they started working on floor, but due to scarcity o f staff they had to start right away with no prior training. Working in fast food restaurants suddenly became lucrative. However, this put a lot of pressure on the existing staff as they had to work with untrained workers, leading to mismanagement and chaos. This affected the smooth functioning of the restaurants and also their reputation. Yes, to a certain extent the HR situation is typical here

Post Modern Dance Essay Example for Free

Post Modern Dance Essay Introduction   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   By the late 1950s, post-modern dance had refined its styles and its theories, and had emerged as a recognizable dance genre. It used stylized movements and energy levels in legible structures (theme and variations, ABA, and so on) to implicate emotions, tones and social conveyance. The choreography was buttressed by expressive characters of theater such as music, props, special lighting and costumes. The aspirations of post-modern dance, anti-academic from the first, were simultaneously primitivist and modernist[1]. Meanwhile, the new wave dance, which had seemingly replaced the post-modernistic era had issued characteristics similar to the post-modern dance through message implications, but also performs altered character through presentations themselves. The topic for the discussion involves the Twyla Tharp as the new wave dance and the post-modernistic dance. Twyla Tharp Choreography: Post-modern Era 1960-1973   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Twyla Tharp began her career in 1965, at the age of nearly 23, with Tank Dive, a work in three movements, choreographed for her and four non-dancers. It was performed partly to the accompaniment of Petula Clark’s recording of â€Å"downtown†[2]. In the dance world, perhaps only Twyla Tharp could have fitted such a definition at the time, but her work was not commonly considered post-modern dance[3]. Twyla Tharp’s early choreography explored many of the same experimental issues that interested the Judson choreographers, the Grand Union, and Meredith Monk[4]. Several of Tharp’s dances, beginning with Tank Dive (1963), contrasted dance and pedestrian movement vocabularies and mixed trained and untrained performers. Tharp could transpose movement from one context to another because of her various syntactic procedures. Whether the movement was pedestrian or theatrical in origin, Tharp manipulates it using simple mathematical equations or principles based on theme and variation[5]. Twyla Tharp had greatly contributed in the field of post-modern dance. By the end of 1973, she hit her greatest success in the field of post-modern dance. The water-shed in her career was Deuce Coupe (1973), which Robert Joffrey commissioned for his ballet company[6].   During this year, another generation of dance trend was born and Tharp’s contribution to the post-modern dance had greatly provided certain contributions to the New Wave modern dance of 1973. New Wave Modern Dance: 1973   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Meanwhile, the next generations of younger choreographers of 1973 such as Peter Gordon of Life Orchestra of 1977, Karole Armitage, Rhys Chatham, and many others had initiated the formulation of new wave dances. If Twyla Tharp performed in silence at the Judson Church in 1966, had diverged from the analytic postmodern line of inquiry because her choreography was so musically inclined, by the early 1980s, when the analytic choreographers â€Å"rediscovered† music and its various uses, such interest realigned the fields of dance steps and choreography. The next bearers of dance trends had differentiated themselves from their minimalist, analytic, anti-music forebears in a way that fit with the general cultural trend; in part to engage with their own artistic contemporaries in other fields. For the late seventies and early eighties, the younger generations of new music composers were often hybrid creations that endeavors pop experience and characteristics[7]. Modern dance today is a virtual accumulation of all the influences mentioned in the past evolution of dance steps. The plurality of perspectives has not dampened debate nor the tension that has continued to generate innovation in modern forms. The basic idea of dance in Tharp’s concept of post-modernistic dance has placed remains in the evolution of choreography evidently through instinctive pairings[8]. One example of modernistic evolution occurred in 1973 wherein the Alvin Ailey company revived Ted Shawn’s Kinetic Molpai and merged the tradition of white gay men with that if African American men. The achievement and influence of choreographers such as Trisha Brown and Twyla Tharp greatly revolutionize the characteristics of the new wave dance or the modern dance of 1970s[9]. Characteristics of New Wave Dance   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   During the trend of the late dance choreographers including Twyla Tharp, dance steps mainly connote ballet form. The term modern dance or new wave dance connotes absence to little presence of uniformity and synonymous steps. The most striking features of its development were that of a diversity of forms. New wave dance refers to performance art dance that is not founded on the ballet nor in the various forms of popular dance entertainment, although, relationships might still be traced since the basis of these modern steps were these classical or post-modernistic choreographies[10]. Modern dance chiefly aims the expression of an inner compulsion; but it has also seen the necessity for vital forms for this expression, and indeed has realized the aesthetic value of form in and of itself as an adjunct to this expression[11]. New wave dance possessed relatively increased dynamics and patterns of steps, which encourages freedom of movement through expression, emotions, or creative instinct of the dancer[12].   From this desire to externalize personal, authentic experience, it is evident that the scheme of modern dancing is all in the direction of individualism and away from standardization[13]. Twyla Tharp’s Involvement in Modern Dance   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   The next wave dances were greatly influenced Tharp whose work has embraced both sides of all these pairings and indicated a shift toward a concern with the dance’s perceptual effects. Representation and abstraction, emotion and motion, content and form, and psyche and environment are the prime similarities of ballet dance step formulation of Tharp and the composition of next wave dances. However, the differentiations of these dances are the standardization and strict classicism of post-modern dance of Tharp, while next wave dances basically thrived free expressions[14]. Bibliography Julia L. Foulkes , â€Å"Modern Bodies: Dance and American Modernism from Martha Ailey†, UNC Press (2002)183 Martha Bremser, â€Å"Fifty Contemporary Choreographers†, Routledge (1999) 217 Michael Huxley and Noel Witts, â€Å"The Twentieth Century Performance Reader†, Routledge (2002) 38 Press (1994) 321 Randy Martin, â€Å"Performance As Political Act: The Embodied Self†, Praeger/Greenwood (2000) 91 Sally Banes , â€Å"Writing Dancing in the Age of Postmodernism â€Å",Wesleyan University Susan Leigh Foster, â€Å"Reading Dancing: Bodies and Subjects in Contemporary American†, University of California Press (1998) 209 [1] Michael Huxley and Noel Witts, â€Å"The Twentieth Century Performance Reader†, Routledge (2002) 38 [2] Martha Bremser, â€Å"Fifty Contemporary Choreographers†, Routledge (1999) 217 [3] Huxley and Witts, 38 [4] Susan Leigh Foster, â€Å"Reading Dancing: Bodies and Subjects in Contemporary American†, University of California Press (1998) 209 [5] Foster, 209. [6] Bremser, 217 [7] Sally Banes , â€Å"Writing Dancing in the Age of Postmodernism â€Å",Wesleyan University Press (1994) 321 [8] Foster, 209; Bremser, 217 [9] Julia L. Foulkes , â€Å"Modern Bodies: Dance and American Modernism from Martha Ailey†, UNC Press (2002)183 [10] Helen Thomas, â€Å"Dance, Modernity and Culture: Explorations in the Sociology of Dance†, Routledge (1995) 24 [11] Huxley and Witts, 38; Foulkes, 22 [12] Bremser, 217; Banes, 321 [13] Huxley and Witts, 38; Foulkes, 297, 300 [14] Randy Martin, â€Å"Performance As Political Act: The Embodied Self†, Praeger/Greenwood (2000) 91

Free College Admissions Essays: Physics and Philosophy :: College Admissions Essays

Physics and Philosophy    Physics has always been the science that interests me most. It seems to me that physics tackles fundamental questions about the universe and it feels more relevant than other sciences. I enjoy experimental work in physics but do sometimes feel limited by the resources available at my college. I would like the chance to use more sophisticated equipment to investigate more advanced level physics. Actually doing some of the important experiments of the last century, such as Rutherford's proof for the existence of the proton would add a new level of realism to particle physics. My interest in Philosophy developed through my study of Law at AS-level. I started to take an interest in jurisprudence and read a number of texts on the subject. I found that these contained many terms that I had never really encountered before. This has left me wanting to find out more about philosophy and different ways of thinking.    I have chosen these subjects because I enjoy them and would like to look into them in more depth than I have done in the past. I have chosen Physics and Philosophy because the combination of subjects requires both mathematical and scientific ability but also aptitude in written communication and logic. I would like to leave my options open in terms of possible career and I feel that by developing a number of different skills this will give me the best possible knowledge base.    I would like to use the opportunity of higher education to strengthen my mathematical and science related abilities such as investigation and problem solving. However parallel to this I would also like to further improve skills in areas such as discussion and structured argument. I would also like to develop my written communication skills and I feel that this courses especially the Philosophy aspect would let me advance my writing style.    One of my main interests outside school is computers and the Internet. I have been using the Internet regularly for a number of years for many different purposes including research and communication. I have also developed my own web page and looked at things such as HTML and CGI scripts. My other interests are general socialising and also keeping fit. I am a member of my local gym and also regularly go swimming. I have gained my NPLQ lifeguard qualification and also have recently passed my two star canoe test and hope to progress onto my three star certification.

Reaction Paper to Common Schools Essay

When I first started watching this video, I thought that it was just going to be another boring homework assignment like in all my other classes. To my surprise, the video actually wasn’t boring at all. I enjoyed watching it and would recommend it to anyone to watch. I enjoy informative videos and documentaries. What stands out in my mind about the video is how God was actually brought up and taught in the schools back then. The children were given the book The Primer and the hornbook which had a prayer in it. It’s crazy how much has changed since that time. Now in many schools when the Pledge of Allegiance is said, people will leave out â€Å"under God† because nobody wants to offend anybody who doesn’t believe in God. Even now when I look back at my elementary days, times have changed quite a bit. I remember when my teachers would have the class pray before we would go to eat lunch. As I child, I never thought that it was a bad thing to do. If anything, it would make children feel a little more appreciative of what they have instead of what they do not have. There was also times around Christmas and Easter when we would do projects that would involve God but nobody would ever make a big deal about it. Recently I have gone back and observed in a few classrooms in my hometown and it is totally different. Teachers don’t mention religion at all. Children don’t even say the Pledge of Allegiance and if children have a conversation about religion amongst themselves, the teacher has them stop talking about it. As a child that had religion in school, I feel grateful I was able to have that. Some children don’t have parents that take them to church or have anything to do with it and that little bit of prayer in school was the only thing they had. That gives children a sense of comfort that there is a higher power that is on their side. As a future educator, I feel like I know the boundaries as to where to draw the line with religion and school. I know not to be pushy or make any students feel uncomfortable about religion when they don’t believe the same way as someone else.

Unit Two Study Guide Fall

Demonstrate an appreciation for the aesthetic principles that guide or govern the whitetail arts through using oral, written, or visual means to communicate an informed personal reaction to works of theatre. (Communication Skills) 4. Show social responsibility through intercultural study and discovery of regional, national and/or global artistic traditions In theatre. (Social Responsibility) The Actor 1. What does Thespian mean? Thespian means Actor. 2. Describe the acting profession as stated in your book? Most bewildering profession. Can be extraordinarily rewarding but also most tough and demanding.Takes incredible sacrifices from every area of life: Financial, virtual, mental, and physical. 3. Define representation training/acting. Acting emanates from somewhere INSIDE the actor. Studies the role closely, uses imagination, lives the life of the character. 4. Define presentational training/acting. Actor presents something to the audience. 5. What Is The Method? 7 Elements: Cadenza , Public solitude, Subtext of meaning, Artistic communion, Emotional memory, Physical actions, Hard work 6. What school was founded by Elli Kane and who was this school's most influential teacher?Actor†s Studio: Lee Strangers 7. What two features are required to make a good actor? Acting from the Inside and Acting from the Outside. Actor's instrument, Actor's method of approaching a role 8. What are the three parts to the actor's instrument/self? Body, Voice, Imagination 9. Inhalation, practically understood as an element of voice, is sometimes seen to be mystically equivalent to what? Inspiration 10. What are the elements of voice? Breathing, Phonated, Resonance 11. What are the elements of speech? Articulation, Pronunciation, Phrasing 12.What is projection? 13. What is resonance? The sympathetic vibration, â€Å"Resounding† of the voice, as it is heard in the throat, the chest, and the head 14. What is the major psychological component of the actor's instrument? Imagi nation 15. What is cadenza? The Character's Problem 16. What are the three stages of the actor's routine? Audition, Rehearsal, and Performance 17. What is an audition? Primary process in which acting roles are awarded. Actor has opportunity to demonstrate to the director how well he or she can fulfill a role. 18. What is blocking?Stage movements 19. What is stage business? Stage actions – scripted or seemingly unconscious physical behaviors 20. What is subtext? The unspoken and underscored character goals hidden beneath the lines. The Playwright 1. What is the most important trait of the playwright? Independence. 2. Why is every person a playwright? Because we dream. 3. What is the core of every play? Action 4. What are the playwright's two tools? Dialogue and Physical Action. 5. Explain the concept of continuous and linear in a play. Means Continuous in Structure and Linear in chronology.Point to point, cause and effect storytelling. Remains basic architecture to most popula r and serious plays. 6. Explain the statement â€Å"Intrigue draws us into the world of the play; credibility keeps us there. † Intrigue demanding surprise, credibility demanding consistency. They generate a kind of believable wonder; Credibility alone will not suffice to make a play interesting, and intrigue alone cannot make a incredible play palatable. 7. What is â€Å"richness† in playwright? Leaves a sense of satisfaction; Richness of detail and richness or dimension 8. Explain â€Å"depth of character. Requires that every character possess an independence of intention, expression, and motivation. 9. What is gravity in a play? The central theme is one of serious and lasting significance in humanists spiritual, oral, or intellectual life. 10. Who is David Mate? Successful Playwright 1 . Name and understand the four major staging formats. Proscenium, Arena, Thrust, Black Box 2. What is another name for the picture frame stage? Proscenium 3. What is a scenery center ed staging format? 4. What are the actor centered rather than scenery centered type staging formats? Thrust, Arena, and Black Box 5.What type of stage dispenses with all scenery except floor treatment, furniture, and out of the way staging or hanging pieces to focus attention on the actors? Arena 6. Describe a black box stage area. Simple space able to adapt to a variety of staging styles. â€Å"Experimental Atmosphere† 7. What is realistic scenery? Attempts to depict, often in great detail, a specific time and place in the real world where the plays events are presumed to take place. 8. What is metaphorical scenery? Favors visual images that seek to evoke the production's intended theme, mood, or social/political implications 9.What is a flat? Portable framed wall sections, usually represent walls and occasionally the ceilings of a real room 10. What is a cyclorama? Hanging fabric stretched between upper/lower pipes and curved to cover back and sides of the stage. Colored wi th lights 11. What is a scrim? Can make things appear and disappear; Loosely woven gauzy fabric, lit from the front, solid, lit from the back, see through 12. What is stage machinery? Give examples. Anything that moves; Fly systems, wagons, elevators, wagons 13. When was electricity introduced into American theatres for lighting? 1879 14.What are the primary considerations of lighting design? Visibility and Focus 15. What were the first theatrical costumes? Ceremonial vestments 6. What was the ancient and original use of costume? Separate Actor from Audience 17. What are the four primary functions of modern costume design? Ceremonial Magic, Social and Cultural values of the world being portrayed, individuality of each character, wearable clothing for the actor 18. What function does makeup serve? Evoke or highlight psychological traits, illustrate character, simplify and embolden actor's features 19. In regards to makeup, what is the face considered?Canvas The Director 1. What are t he tasks of the director? What are the three eras of the director? Teacher, Realism, Anti-Realism 3. What are Andre Antoine and Constantine Statisticians primarily known as and what was their primary focus in the theatre? Naturalists. Sought to make the theatre a powerful social and artistic instrument for the expression of truth 4. Who is generally regarded as the first modern director? Saxes Engineer 5. What are styling directors? Unrestrained by rigid formulas w/ respect to verisimilitude or realistic behavior 6. Who founded the Theatre d'art in Paris in 1890?Paul Fort 7. Who evolved his theatre of biomedical constructivism in Moscow? Absolved Empowered 8. What is the director's primary responsibility? To envision the main lines of the production and to provide the artistic leadership to realize that vision 9. What are the roles of the producer? Finance the production, create and manage the budget, choosing and acquiring the theatre facility, establishing the plays rehearsal and performance dates, handle legal and business aspects, and oversee publicity, casting, ticketing, etc. 10. What is the criterion for play selection?

Gravitas

Gravitas Gravitas Gravitas By Maeve Maddox The Latin word gravitas to mean â€Å"the dignity of leadership† came into use as an English word in 1924; since the mid-1980s it has soared in popularity. The literal meaning of the Latin word gravitas is â€Å"weight, heaviness.† Our word gravity derives from that sense. The OnlineEtymologyDictionary observes that gravitas became useful to describe human seriousness when the word gravity acquired a mainly scientific meaning. For the ancient Romans gravitas was the highest of the fourteen virtues. A man who possessed gravitas recognized the importance of the matter at hand. He had a strong sense of responsibility and was not given to frivolous behavior or excessive levity. Even after Christian theology replaced pagan practice, gravitas was still cherished in leaders. Ambrose (c.339-397), a fourth century bishop of Milan, saw gravitas as a quality of mind, but felt that â€Å"the set of a man’s mind can be read in how he carries his body.† He refused to accept priests if he disliked the way they walked: â€Å"their mincing walk revealed their flighty character.† Traditionally, gravitas is a masculine virtue, so it’s not surprising that it is often mentioned as a quality lacking in women seeking high office or other leadership status: Miers Lacks the Necessary Gravitas [for the Supreme Court] [Katy Couric] was perceived as lacking gravitas. [Hillary] Clintonlacks gravitas and integrity, Yellenlacks the â€Å"gravitas† necessary to carry the economy through another financial mess. Karl Rove said that Sarah Palin lacks gravitas. Male politicians have also been criticized for lacking gravitas: Rubio lacks gravitas and seriousness. [Bill] Clinton lacks oriental self-control and maturity, the gravitas and substance one expects in the defining figures of history. Bushsuffers from lack of gravitas hes a likable fellow, casual and friendly, but not the most serious player on the national scene. Pipes says Christie lacks the gravitas and integrity to serve as US Vice President. In 1904 a political commentator opined that Teddy Roosevelt lacked gravitas and provided a list of what gravitas should include: â€Å"honesty, intelligence, energy, willingness to discard untenable views, wisdom, breadth of vision, depth of insight, and that nameless something that enables a man to keep all his faculties in thorough control.† Strong words like gravitas that start out with clear definitions tend to suffer a dilution of meaning once they gain media popularity. From being an expressive term for dignity and strength of character, gravitas is on its way to becoming a throwaway word with any number of vague meanings: Despite an engaging, nuanced performance from Robert De Niro as Frank GoodeEverybody’s Fine inevitably suffers from a lack of real emotional gravitas.   Before the Fall [a play] lacks the gravitas that the subject deserves. As the Academy voters see it, Gravity [a movie] lacks gravitas. While the story [Walking with Dinosaurs] is educational, and obviously geared for children, it lacks any gravitas StarTrek actress lends her gravitas to film promoting ideas that sun revolves around Earth. Gravitas is now so overused that it has become a target for humorists: Suddenly gravitas is what is needed, gravitas is what makes a country strongOh if only we could bottle it, think of the killing we could make! Australian blogger Greg Jericho In the world of popular entertainment–and that includes political commentary–the notion of gravitas has become something of a laughing stock. In another context–the world of corporate advancement–gravitas is taken very seriously. I’ll discuss the business world definition of gravitas in another article. Want to improve your English in five minutes a day? Get a subscription and start receiving our writing tips and exercises daily! Keep learning! Browse the Vocabulary category, check our popular posts, or choose a related post below:"Because Of" and "Due To" 40 Synonyms for â€Å"Lie†5 Erroneously Constructed â€Å"Not Only . . . But Also† Sentences

Barriers to Entry and Various Risks That Must Be Considered by Foreign Retail Companies Seeking to Conduct Business in China Essays

Barriers to Entry and Various Risks That Must Be Considered by Foreign Retail Companies Seeking to Conduct Business in China Essays Barriers to Entry and Various Risks That Must Be Considered by Foreign Retail Companies Seeking to Conduct Business in China Essay Barriers to Entry and Various Risks That Must Be Considered by Foreign Retail Companies Seeking to Conduct Business in China Essay Barriers to entry and various risks that must be considered by foreign retail companies seeking to conduct business in China By Aizhan Yermekbayeva Let China sleep, for when she awakes, she will shake the world (Napoleon Bonaparte) Most politicians, businessmen and academics would agree with the quote above. It is becoming more and more evident that â€Å"China is now slowly waking up†. And a market of over 1. 5 bn potential consumers is perceived by most multinational enterprises (MNCs) as an opportunity hard to miss. Businessmen and even renowned academics make various recommendations on approaching Chinese market. This article will provide a critical analysis on how to develop businesses in China successfully and sustain stable profitability. The main focus will be drawn on entering and operating business in the retail industry as the industry is attracting the growing number of foreign investors despite the fact of having unresolved issues with the supply chain management, â€Å"bureaucratic red tape† and most importantly fierce competition. China could be divided into two main parts when it involves setting up a business: Hong Kong and mainland China. Hong Kong, which was a British colony until it was reunited with mainland China in 1997, is considered to be one of the most liberal markets with low level of governmental interference. However this article’s primary focus is on the mainland China, given its current political and economic importance. Merely thirty years after the reforms initiated by Deng Xiaoping in the late 1970s, China has become the world’s fastest growing economy. Some predicted that by 2015 China will surpass Japan and will become the world’s second largest economy (Hall, 2009). But it happened five years earlier. It has been expected that by 2010 its retail industry will be worthy of $596 bn. China’s vast natural resources and cheap labour are substantially appealing to foreign investors. â€Å"No future is brighter than China†, states Coca-Cola’s chairman and CEO Muhtar Kent (Einhorn, 2009). As thought provoking as it may be Lehman Brothers in China still went bankrupt in 2009 and Marks Spencer, despite having more than sufficient financial resources, failed to succeed. According to a statement made by the executive chairman of MS Sir Stuart Rose, â€Å"basic shop keeping mistakes† (wrong clothing sizes) and issues in the supply chain were the main reasons why their market entry strategy did not succeed in China. However, there are still barriers to entry and various risks that must be considered by companies seeking to conduct business in China. The government in mainland China regulates the market, sets the controlling legislation and rules for foreign direct investments (FDIs) and competition . After China’s admittance to the WTO most of the regulatory barriers to Chinese market have been eliminated. China’s current economic environment offers a great opportunity for businesses. Although China has been undergoing fast economic reforms these are not necessarily followed in tandem by political reforms. As such, most MNCs mistake is that they approach China in the same manner and with the same strategy as they would any other country. Conversely those businesses that have succeeded in China have used a strategy of â€Å"understanding local ways†. It is vital not to underestimate the power of guanxi. Therefore foreign managers are strongly advised to understand this cultural phenomenon before attempting to start a business in China. Guanxi is â€Å"a complicated system of favour banking† which is practiced within a certain group. The importance of guanxi is often emphasised by a Chinese saying that without guanxi a person gets â€Å"half the result with twice the effort†. However, the main risk of guanxi is that it requires a high level of trust between parties involved in favour exchange – where someone’s word is his bond as opposed to an actual agreement. Strong guanxi networks would make the challenges of conquering Chinese retail market, such as setting up an efficient supply system less complicated. However there are additional threats and limitations that might affect foreign businesses, particularly retailers. Especially, taking into consideration a significant role that local government plays in the Chinese market. The growing concern for retailers is that the Chinese government is discussing adopting protectionist regulations in the retail industry. New regulations are showing signs already as the local government has selected a group of local retailers and is giving them financial support. It is the first stage of formation of the â€Å"national champions† local retail companies which are expected to become the leaders of the retail industry. There are many reason why the Chinese government is compelled to undertake these actions such as the retail industry is expanding at a fast rate and from the local population’s perspective the key industry players that benefit from it the most are foreign companies. This viewpoint pressurises the government to protect the local retail chains, which are not able to compete against international retail giants because of the insufficient financial resources. Therefore these regulations are expected to favour domestic retailers in allocation of strategic locations and have been highly welcomed by national retailers. Under these circumstances it is of utmost importance for foreign retailers to re-assess their future strategies. As it was mentioned before the Chinese retail industry is highly competitive which emphasises the importance of the visibility of hypermarkets. Another challenge of maintaining competitiveness lies in increasing prices of land and rented premises as foreign retailers are focused on operating hypermarkets in strategic and urban areas that raise operating costs. Moreover foreign retailers are already being pressurised into price wars as local retailers, mostly family-owned stores, offer very low prices which appeals to Chinese price-conscious customers. Furthermore with variety of retailers offering similar goods and services the local customers’ demands have shifted. The times when foreign companies could sell their ut-of-date products are long gone. Currently foreign retail companies are expected to provide high quality products and it makes it even more challenging to offer competitive prices at the same time. Initially foreign retail chains could differentiate themselves from locals with new technologies, innovative practices in marketing and by offering consumer friendly return policies. As â€Å"understanding the needs and motivations of Chinese consumers is the name of the game†. However they have soon lost this advantage as domestic competitors were fast to copy and employ them. Additionally local retail chains’ scope is smaller which makes it easier for them to set up an effective supply chain. While for retailers like Tesco, Carrefour and Wal-Mart it is difficult to keep supply chain centralised. Fragmented nature of Chinese retail market and geographically vast area impose more challenges. Moreover the local governments of different areas have customs duties which also increase the prices of suppliers. For example each of Tesco’s stores has to work with 1000 suppliers. Furthermore it is difficult for global retailers to overcome â€Å"the liability of foreignness†. It makes them vulnerable to changes in global political arena and politics between countries. In 2008 Carrefour suffered significant financial losses because Chinese customers decided to boycott all French retailers in protest to the pro-Tibet political standing of the President of France, shortly after riots in Tibet. Therefore political risks have to be taken into consideration. It is evident from the above mentioned that Western businesses coming to China should not make false assumptions based on the rapid development of infrastructure that the Chinese market and especially the retail industry function the same way. Therefore the significance of doing proper â€Å"homework† before approaching foreign markets, especially China, cannot be overemphasised. The differences outlined above should be considered to avoid future disappointments and subsequent failures in entry strategy. Companies that rushed into conquering the Chinese market without sufficient information failed to succeed encountering the Chinese bureaucracy and unreliable business partners. There are several conditions in order to create successful joint ventures in China: Finding a reliable partner, which is best achieved through connections attained with guanxi. Chinese business partners bring local knowledge and the experience in conducting business in the Chinese market which may be useful for cost cutting. Nevertheless when choosing a partner or business allies, financial strength and mutual interests should be taken into account. Foreign companies should seek for a financially reliable partner. Strategic location. Interaction with local governments is crucial for obtaining a desirable location Monitoring changes in accounting, taxation and other legislative modifications Human resources management (HRM). Low labour costs are one of the major incentives for foreign companies to come to China. The general manager of JV companies noted that there are three key elements to succeeding in China: â€Å"people, people, and people† (Epser 1991:24-30). Although success depends on the quality of personnel management. Relations with trade unions (TUs) may come as challenge as the way they function in China is different from Western countries. Interestingly it is noted that TUs are usually focused more on protecting the interests of the Party than that of employees. Other precautions include: avoidance of recruiting from only one source as in some cases new recruits may have similar negative qualities; While high quality employees may require patience and flexible attitude to find; Avoid employing a large workforce as local authorities might pressurise to hire more; Experienced native management personnel is essential for managing bureaucratic procedures; New employees should be trained, their skills and work ethics developed to coincide with main interests of the company Supply chain management is without a doubt of significant importance in decreasing costs and developing business. However this is one of the areas that have not been researched thoroughly. Summarising all criteria above, locating a Chinese partner with high level of reliability and with a nationally successful business is of utmost importance when establishing a joint venture. Guanxi is as well important in finding a strategic location and employing a suitable workforce. Nevertheless there is a scarcity in detailed information on supply chain management which is arguably one the most significant areas in cost cutting strategy. El Kahal identifies the main challenges of developing businesses in Asia Pacific, and as the author says â€Å"anyone who looks to Asia has to look at China†. Therefore challenges found the most relevant to conducting business in China and suggested (potential) solutions are presented in Table – 3. Table – 3. Challenges |Implications |Solutions | |Obtaining information on market competition |It is difficult for foreign managers |â€Å"hands-on experience†, the manager has to | |and the external factors affecting business |to assess the market, potential |have an extensive knowledge of the | |operations |rivals and find suitable partners |operating environment to reduce reliance on| | | |detailed data analysis. Establishing sound | | | |personal ties and networking is used by | | | |most local senior managers as an | | | |alternative to documented data and is | | | |essential for verification of information | | | |reliability received from various external | | | |sources. |â€Å"Bureaucratic red tape† |Might affect the pace of projects and|Weigh diligently possibilities of | | |business operations |regulatory and legislative obstacles and | | | |utilise the knowledge of the local managers| | | |through building a personal network | |Political aspects and internal issues of the|May lead to termination of business |It is highly encouraged to do thorough | |country like bribery |and even more severe consequences; |research before starting a business. | |make a significant damage to | | | |company’s reputation | | Overall China offers opportunities to prosper however challenges and obstacles should be taken into careful consideration. Foreign businesses should do their ‘home work’ to meet or avoid them. This article attempted to provide various advice and recommendations on the subject, however every company adopts a different approach based on the internal and external environments. Despite foreign retailers’ high expectation about future prospects of the Chinese retail industry, the economic crisis has affected China as well. Bain Co predict that in the next four years there will be a decreasing trend in the number of hypermarkets in China. According to Financial Times there is an over-saturation of hypermarkets in some urban areas such as Shanghai were there are already approximately 120-130 hypermarkets. This tendency causes an increase in rental costs, fierce competition forces rivals to cut prices and these factors combined with the country’s present infrastructure issues creates an uncertain future for foreign retailers. However, some global retail giants like Wal-Mart, Carrefour and Tesco see the economic downturn as an opportunity to get ahead of competition. Interestingly the Chinese character for ‘risk’ has two symbols: â€Å"danger† and â€Å"opportunity†. Investing abroad is a risk, but it is also an opportunity and with the right and timely information organisations can form a unique strategy of succeeding in China. References Chen, C. C. and Chen X. P. (2009) Negative externalities of close guanxo within organizations. Asia Pacific Journal of Management. 26. pp. 37-53 Chen, M, (2004) Asian Management Systems. 2nd ed. London: Thomson Learning. p5. , 241, 242 Chow, I. , Holbert, N. , Kelley, L. , Yu, J. (2004) Business Strategy: An Asia-Pacific Focus. 2nd ed. Singapore: Pearson Education South-Asia. El Kahal, S. 2001) Business in Asia Pacific. New York: Oxford University Press Inc. p. 63, 70, 562 Epser, P. (1991) cited in Chen, M, (2004) Asian Management Systems. 2nd ed. London: Thomson Learning. p. 241 Fels, A. (2009) The regulation of retailing – lessons for developing countries. Asia Pacific Busine ss Review. 15(1). Pp. 13-27. Gamble, J. (2009) Demanding customers in the Chinese context. Asia Pacific Business Review. 15(1). pp 93-105 Peng, M. (2009) Global Strategic Management. 2nd ed. Canada: South Western Cengage Learning. p. 16; 156 Wang, S. (2009) Foreign Retailers in post-WTO China: stories of success and setbacks. Asia Pacific Business Review. 5(1). pp59-77 Wal-Mart, Tesco, Carrefour do battle in the East. (2008) Strategic Direction. 24(2). pp5-7. Hall, J (2009) Every little helps for Tesco in ChinaSupermarket makes steady inroads. Daily Telegraph. [online] Available from: http://find. galegroup. com/gtx/infomark. do? contentSet=IAC- Kent, M (2009) cited in Einhorn, B (2009) Coke Committed to China Expansion. Business Week. [online] Available from: businessweek. com/globaliz/content/jun2009/gb20090623_410186. htm Rigby, E (2008) Tesco in new drive on China. Financial Times. [online] Available from: ft. com. /cns/s/0/a89db8f6-89b2-11db-ae27-0000779e2340. html

Useful Mandarin Phrases for the Mid-Autumn Festival

Useful Mandarin Phrases for the Mid-Autumn Festival One of the most important holidays in Chinese culture is the Mid-Autumn Festival, also known as Moon Festival. Since the Moon Festival is at harvest time, it is a good occasion to celebrate the abundance of Mother Nature. Moon Festival is a time to gather with family and friends under the full moon sky while eating moon cake, pomelo fruit, and barbecued delicacies. Moon Festival Date Moon Festival falls on the 15th day of the 8th lunar month, so the date on the Gregorian calendar is different from year to year, but it is always on the full moon. The dates for Moon Festival are as follows: 2018 - September 242019 -  September 132020 - October 12021 - September 212022 - September 10 History of Moon Festival As with most Chinese festivals, there is a story to go along with Moon Festival. There are many versions of the Moon Festival legend, but most of them involve the archer Hou Yi and his wife Chang’e. Many years ago, there were ten suns in the sky. Crops could not grow and rivers ran dry, so the people were dying of hunger and thirst. Hou Yi took his bow and arrows and shot down nine of the ten suns, saving the people. As a reward, the Western Queen Mother gave Hou Yi a potion. If Hou Yi shares that potion with his wife, they will both live forever, but if only one of them takes the potion, he or she will become a god. Hou Yi and Chang’e plan to take the potion together. But one of Hou Yi’s enemies, Feng Meng, hears about the potion and plans to steal it. One night, on a full moon, Feng Meng kills Hou Yi, then forces Chang’e to give him the potion. Rather than give the evil man the potion, Chang’e drinks it all herself. She starts to rise into heaven, but she feels a close connection to the world of the mortals, and wants to stay close to them, so she stops at the moon, the closest body to earth. Moon Cakes The traditional food of Moon Festival is Moon Cake, which is a pastry stuffed with filling such as egg yolk, lotus seed paste, red bean paste, coconut, walnuts, or dates. The tops of Moon cakes usually have Chinese characters representing longevity or harmony. Moon Festival Vocabulary Here are some Mandarin phrases for Mid-Autumn Festival: Audio links are marked with ââ€" º English Pinyin Traditional Characters Simplified Characters Moon Festival zhng qi ji Hou Yi Hu Y Change Chng moon cake yu bng admiring the moon shng yu reunion tun yun barbecue ko ru pomelo fruit yuzi give presents sngl

The balance of payments is the main measure of import and exports in Essay

The balance of payments is the main measure of import and exports in the UK. For some years the balance of payment s has been in - Essay Example Additionally, an accurate balance of payment deficit must make provisions for errors and omissions to account for the missed out data. When there is a disequilibria in the balance of payments as a result of certain sections of the balance of payments being in deficit, then we can conclude that an economy’s balance of payments is deficit. This in most cases occurs with respect to deficits in a countries and to a smaller extent trade deficits. This is theoretically explained by the fact that for equilibrium to be reached, there must be a balance between capital/ current accounts values and the financial account. This therefore explains the UK situation is that if there is a deficit in current account then there must be a surplus on the capital/financial account (Nikolas 2010, p. 59). The ever persistent UK current account deficit can be traced to mid-1980s with a review of the current account revealing that the imports of goods and services exceed their exports. A critical revie w of the values of balance of payment account observed from the first quarter of the year 2000 to the last quarter of this year show a deteriorating current account. The study reveals a current deficit of over 12 billion pounds as at the last quarter of 2012 translating to a 3.2% of the GDP. ... This is majorly attributed to the process of de-industrialisation which accelerated in the early 1980s. A growth in consumer spending that UK been experiencing is majorly as a result of rapid increase in the imports leading to the worsening of the current account. Looking at the 1980s boom, it is evident that the fall in the rate of savings and the resulting rise in the consumer spending of the UK citizens led to the record deficit in current accounts. On the other hand, the recession experienced in 1991 which resulted to the consequent improvement in the current account improvement and subsequent falling in the spending on imports (Guillermo 1978). Another important reason that can be attributed to the deficit in balance of payments is the overvalued exchange rates. This, apart from, other countries like Spain, Greece and Portugal can be attributed to the large account deficits in the countries as it makes exports from the countries more expensive in the international markets while the imports becomes cheaper. This is a motivation to the local consumers to purchase of the imports which are relatively cheap while on the other hand making the market tougher for the exporters since it makes them uncompetitive in the market compared to exporters from other countries. With overvalued exchange rate, there are expectations of general competitiveness in amongst various firms. A decline in relative competitiveness coupled with rising costs, poor quality of goods and industrial unrests which results to difficulties in making exportations which causes deterioration of the current account of the UK (Stijn 1988). Various economists have attribute

Entrepreneurship and Venture Creation Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3000 words - 1

Entrepreneurship and Venture Creation - Essay Example There are several theories that explain the multidimensional concept of entrepreneurship. For example, the psychological theories that focuses on the mental and emotional factors characteristic of entrepreneurs. In the classical and neo-classical period, the terms entrepreneurship and entrepreneur were perceived to be similar (Evans 2014:48). The theories explaining entrepreneurship can be divided into three broad categories that are the psychological aspects, sociological theories and economic principles. However, scholars in the discipline of economics are the main contributors to the development of the entrepreneurship concept. In the neo-classical theories, entrepreneurship does not exploit the business field. Based on the earlier concepts of market equilibrium, neo-classical theories argue that firms in the market obtain their profit margin based on their levels of labor. The neo-classical theories also argue that entrepreneurs who put in more effort compared to their counterpar ts in turn obtain more profits (Evans 2014:48). The key limitation in the neo-classical theories is that they undermined the role of management and decision making in the success of the firm in the market. The theories also focused on the knowledge of the entrepreneurs and the nature of the business that an entrepreneur carries out. For example, if an entrepreneur is more knowledgeable in a particular type of business compared to their counterpart, then the entrepreneur is likely to be successful.

Organization, people and performance Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words

Organization, people and performance - Essay Example The rest of 24% employees are actively disengaged. Thus, employee engagement is very low in most companies worldwide according to the research. For instance, in places like China where staff turnover mostly happens in epidemic proportions, knowing how to build loyalty and engage employees is crucial to the success of Tesco. In light of this, employee engagement is significant to Tesco mainly because it improves employee satisfaction, productivity, retention and recruitment, innovation, and company profitability. First, employee engagement leads to employee satisfaction. According to Beardwell, I., Holden, L., & Claydon, T. (2001), employee’s job satisfaction tends to increase considerably if they are engaged by the company. Subsequently, satisfied employees develop a positive attitude towards the success and performance of the company. Tesco would gain by having satisfied employees since they are committed to the success of the firm. Additionally, their loyalty increases. On a broader perspective, satisfied employees act as ambassadors of the firm. Thus, they support and promote the firm’s brand, mission and strategy. Next, Tesco’s productivity would increase as a result of employee engagement. Robinson, D., Perryman, S., & Hayday, S. (2004) implied that since engaged employees go the extra mile, they lead to increased productivity. Thus, for employees to be top performers, they have to be engaged with the company. As they become more engaged, employee absenteeism reduces while motivation levels tend to increase resulting in increased productivity. In simple terms, the more a firm’s employee is engaged, the more efficient the employee becomes. Lockwood, N. (2007) argued that firms with engaged employees often have their productivity levels increase by more than 43%. Moreover, employee engagement will lead to a low employee

ETHICS IN THE PROFESSION Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

ETHICS IN THE PROFESSION - Essay Example â€Å"Investments involve the transfer of necessary, existing risk from one party to another. This doesn't mean that every investment is good or wise or safe, of course† (Rodeback). However, many others are of the view that investments cannot be considered as an unethical activity since most of the investments are used in the constructive purposes of the nation. They believe that there is no point in keeping the extra money in shelf and it is better to deposit it in legitimate channels. This paper makes a case study to analyze whether investments are ethical or not. Investments can be classified into three broad categories; private investments, entrepreneurial investments and social investments. In private investments, a person is lending his resources for buying ownership in enterprises for the sake of that person’s own enrichment. In other words, the motives of the investor are selfish. Such investors will invest their money based on the chances of getting more return s. For example, share trading is one of the major private investment channel in which many of the greedy individuals invest their money for maximizing their returns. However, the risks associated with such investments are more even though the chances of higher returns are high. It is often quoted that 90% of traders lose, which leaves only 10% of traders as consistent winners. The 90% of traders that lose in the markets are those for which trading is just another form of gambling whereas for the winning 10% it is a business (Wreford) From the above statistics, it is clear that both the winners and the losers in trading approached the trading activity with a wrong intention. The winner treated trading as another form of business and the loser approached it as another form of gambling. Business is always motivated by profit-making and thus it becomes unethical. On the other hand, many other people invest term deposits which offer fixed returns on maturity. Such deposits are safer even though the investor may get only a fixed amount of return. Non-greedy investors may invest in such investment schemes and we cannot argue that their activity is unethical since their motives were not selfish. In short, investments which offer high returns with higher risk are unethical whereas investments which offer fixed returns with minimum risks are ethical in my opinion. In other words, investments which generate high levels of risks can be considered as unethical investments. Entrepreneurial Investment is the second category of investment. In this type of investments, a party is lending or giving resources to enterprises for the sake of the success of that enterprise. The success of the enterprise will indirectly influence the economic success of a nation. For example, recently big organizations in America collapsed as a result of recent recession and subsequently, American economy also showed signs of destruction. Many people lost their employment because of the destruction of organizations and economy. If an investor invests in such organizations, the chances of recovery for that organization may increase even though the investor’s chances of losing money will also be increased. The recovery of the organization may help employees to protect their employment. In other words, the investor helped the organization and its employees immensely by putting his own

Magic of Language in the Starbucks Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Magic of Language in the Starbucks - Essay Example The iconic cultural status quo of the Starbucks manifests through its modern dà ©cor, expressive and bold latte lingo and its corporate ambiance. Global structures of the mutual divergence organize and uphold cultural diversity along particular scopes. Such diversity that Starbucks emanates corresponds to the prototypical qualities of middle-level outlets. Such middle-level outlets such as the taverns, coffee shops, and pubs exist in the middle of two spheres. These spheres include the work scenario mainly characterized by seriousness and formality and the domestic sphere that tends to elicit intimacy and privacy. These outlets tend to be best suitable for casual and informal conversations between friends and other association within the society. However, Starbucks provides the entire middle-level ambiance with a touch of the global aspect. Starbucks offers hundreds of conceivable drink blends. One can get any drink from a plain black coffee to more specialized and custom-made bever ages, for instance, a hot grande decaf mocha latte with foam to go. Starbucks believes that its consumers need. Despite being a global brand, the formal language in all the Starbucks outlets is English. Above the sugars, cinnamon shakers and milk, brochures written in English elaborate on social responsibilities done. A drink at the Starbucks sends various notions to the consumers and the community at large. Owing to the prices of beverages provide, more individuals tend to believe that consumption supersedes the necessity of making savings.

International Sports Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

International Sports - Assignment Example All these problems were because of insufficient funds and resources to equip the facilities and reward the participants. The Olympic sponsorship began in various nations like Greece, where its cities could sponsor participants. They played various roles that included the provision of equipment, trainers, and athletic facilities. Some of the major sponsors include Xerox Company, Lenovo Computer Company, and Kodak. The sponsors from different nations came into improve international sports like Olympics. In addition, the rewards given to the participants were improved, and the participants were motivated to perform well in the sports. On the other hand, the officials were comfortable in delivering their duties when organizing the Olympics. It is important to realize that the Olympic sponsorship contributed much in employing experts who could deliver quality services to improve sports in a professional manner. Technology was also brought in through the Olympic sponsorship where various a ctivities like timing were improved by dropping manual system of recording (Bravo & Maclntosh, 2011). The International Olympic Committee and the Olympic Partners received various mutual benefits from the sponsorship. In this regard, the interdependence and interconnection between the participating nations and sponsors was enhanced. Olympic Games also received substantial profits and smooth movement of the Olympics. The major challenges that International Sports such as Olympic went through is over-commercialization and ambush marketing. This led to the formation of marketing initiative where a limited number of sponsors would be given special benefits and treatment. CRITIQUE The relationship between Olympic Games and sponsorship is longstanding. The first Olympic Games initiated it in 776 BC. It is noteworthy that the cities in ancient Greece started by sponsoring participants through provision of training kits, trainers, and some athletic facilities. At the time, the winners toget her with their cities were awarded only Olive leaves but their performance made them be renowned (Bravo & Maclntosh, 2011). The first modern Olympics were in Athens in 1896 where most of the donations were from private organizations like Kodak. International marketing was first shown by Games in Helsinki where eleven companies came in to give support like flowers for participants winning medals and food for athletes. The number of sponsors increased gradually that, by 1976 in Montreal Olympics, the sponsors and suppliers were 628. Although, there were many sponsors, financial status was still a disaster for the hosting city and the organizers. This made the organizing committee implement marketing program where 34 sponsors, 64 suppliers, and 65 licensees were introduced together with sponsor hospitality centers for the first time. This marketing program enabled the organizing committee to allow corporate sponsors to associate themselves with the Olympic movement in different ways. O lympic sponsorship enabled the International Organizing Committee to realize that corporate sponsors provided substantial profits to the Olympic movement. These profits are important for the expansion of activities and space used during the Olympic Games (Bravo & Maclntosh, 2011). In addition, the funds can be used to improve the reward schemes offered to the winners and their respective States. This will motivate them hence make them improve their performance. The

Magic of Language in the Starbucks Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Magic of Language in the Starbucks - Essay Example The iconic cultural status quo of the Starbucks manifests through its modern dà ©cor, expressive and bold latte lingo and its corporate ambiance. Global structures of the mutual divergence organize and uphold cultural diversity along particular scopes. Such diversity that Starbucks emanates corresponds to the prototypical qualities of middle-level outlets. Such middle-level outlets such as the taverns, coffee shops, and pubs exist in the middle of two spheres. These spheres include the work scenario mainly characterized by seriousness and formality and the domestic sphere that tends to elicit intimacy and privacy. These outlets tend to be best suitable for casual and informal conversations between friends and other association within the society. However, Starbucks provides the entire middle-level ambiance with a touch of the global aspect. Starbucks offers hundreds of conceivable drink blends. One can get any drink from a plain black coffee to more specialized and custom-made bever ages, for instance, a hot grande decaf mocha latte with foam to go. Starbucks believes that its consumers need. Despite being a global brand, the formal language in all the Starbucks outlets is English. Above the sugars, cinnamon shakers and milk, brochures written in English elaborate on social responsibilities done. A drink at the Starbucks sends various notions to the consumers and the community at large. Owing to the prices of beverages provide, more individuals tend to believe that consumption supersedes the necessity of making savings.

Corporate Restructuring and Administrative Rescue Essay

Corporate Restructuring and Administrative Rescue - Essay Example On the other hand, Town and Country Flooring (Norfolk) Limited (TFCN) was incorporated in the year 1984 and was traded as a small contract flooring provider who services the local market place in Norfolk. TCFN has been a stand alone business in complementing Town and Country Flooring Limited. In the year 2005, TCFN was sold to John Maidment, Robin Eglen, Brian Pestana and Jean L Hicks, who acquired TCFL at the same time (Report and Proposals [2], 2008). Pursuing this acquisition, there was an incessant drive to apply further development strategies for both TCFL and TCFN, which was inclusive of increasing the geographical coverage of the group with branches introduced in diversified cities. An armor service series was introduced to TCFN which involved the supply and installation of hygienic wall armor surfaces (Report and Proposals [2], 2008). TCFL grew gradually for many years whilst supplying as well as installing floor coverings, such as carpets and carpet tiles, along with dcor flooring, vinyl as well as wood floor coverings. It served four key markets, developing a powerful stand within the public sector, chief building contractors, new house builders as well as the management of facilities (Report and Proposals [1], 2008). The company has carried out several contracts by purchase order, framework type as well as standard construction industry sub-contracts. As a result, by the year 2002, the business had been performing well and has significantly incremented in infrastructure, both in the turn-over as well as the size of its work-force. This incessant growth strategy generated prosperous results, with turn-over incrementing year on year. However, unfortunately, whilst the turn-over was improvising, the directors were experiencing other problems in the management of expansion program. Overheads, which had incremented across the group so as to provide the continuing drive in order to increase volumes, were influencing on the productivity as well as the cash-flow restrictions were becoming more recurrent. In accordance with some more facts from the Directors' report, the company increased turn-over by 31 per cent during the year it gave rise to a new business unit in the Southern England are (Annual Report, 2006). Nonetheless, with the ending of the year, the Southern Office was shut and the business from there was merged in to another branch. Moreover, in addition to this, the group also experienced intricacies in the recruitment and retaining of a powerful and strong financial director. Currently, within the last six to eight months, many officials quit the business for some personal reasons, which contributed to the factors, together with a general worsening in the market place, meticulously in the construction sector, which construed to the fact that TFCL was facing a challenging period (Report and Pr

Research Paper Essay Example for Free

Research Paper Essay Introduction Criticism is as old as creation. The writings of a great classical writers like Homer, Sophocles and Pindar contain hints of critical ideas. These ideas were later on developed by Plato and Aristotle into systematic principles of literary criticism. Thus, the true beginning of criticism is found in Greece in the writing of Plato and Aristotle. Later on Greco-Roman critics like Horace and Longinus added their ideas. The man aspect of Greek criticism was their mimetic or imitation theory. The views of these classical critics may be summarized as follows:- I. Critical view of Classical Critical Plato:- is a famous critic of the classical age. His view on art and literature are scattered all over his works which include Republic, Lon and various references made by him. His views on poetic inspiration, imitation and condemnation of poetry are of great historical significance. These views can be discussed as follows:- Plato was the first philosopher who systematically expressed his views on art and poetry. According to Plato, the poet writes because he is inspired frenzy. The poet is inferior the philosopher. He is dangerous for society. Poetry feeds passions, so Plato does not give place to poets in his ideal state. Being a product of inspiration. Poetry affect the emotion rather than reason. Plato condemns poetry for its lack of morality. It treats virtue and vice alike considering the function of poetry, Plato think that mere pleasure cannot be its only object. Plato further says that poetry is based on falsehood and so is harmful in its effect on people. Thus, Plato condemns poetry and praises reason or philosophy. Plato’s theory of art and poetry is based on his concept of imitation or mimesis. Plato says that the earthly things like beauty of goodness are only the copies of the idea beauty and goodness existing in heaven. So the imitation of the worldly objects which are imitation of ideal objects is nothing but â€Å" imitation of imitation† art and poetry are thus twice removed from reality. Plato explains this fact with an example of a carpenter. A carpenter makes a bed which is an imitation (bed in painting) of an imitation (bed created by the carpenter).  It is a copy of a copy. This view of Plato is late on criticized by Aristotle. Aristotle:- is the first scientific literary critic. His literary criticism is largely embodied in his treatise the poetics. The treatise contains Aristotle’s views on poetry, tragedy, comedy and epic. Aristotle has given his view on imitation also on poetry, comedy and epic. Also these views may be summarized as follows:- Aristotle’s views on property and imitation are remarkable. Aristotle did not invent the term imitation but the breathed into it a new and definite meaning. Aristotle remarks that poetic imitation is no longer considered mimicry. It is not servile copying. On the contrary, it is an act of imaginative creation. According to Aristotle, poetry and other fine arts are modes of imitation. They differ from one another in three aspects:- Medium of imitation, object of imitation and manner of imitation. Different forms of poetry has different means which include rhythm, melody and verse. Comedy and tragedy too can be called the means of poetry. As regards the objects of poetic imitation, Aristotle says that the objects of poetic imitation are â€Å" men in action† the poet may imitate â€Å" men as they are, as they were and as they ought to be†. Aristotle also speaks about the manner in which the objects may be used. For examples narration is one of such means which used by Homer. Aristotle refutes Plato’s view that poetry is the imitation of imitation or thrice removed from reality. He says that the poet does not copy the external world. On the contrary, creates a new world. The poetic truth is the ideal truth. Poetry is creative process. Aristotle further says that imitation is the artistic and representation of life. Thus, Aristotle theory of imitation of noteworthy and valuable. Aristotle has given his views on tragedy in detail. He define, tragedy as â€Å"an imitation that is serious, complete and of certain magnitude†. According to him tragedy has parts like plot, character, diction, song, and spectacle. As regards the function of tragedy, Aristotle says, the function of tragedy is to arouse the emotions of pity and fear and to affect the Catharsis of these emotions. Aristotle has given the qualities of a tragic hero also. Similarly he has spoken much about the unity of action and little of the unities of place and time. Horace and Quintillion Horace and Quintillion are the Greco-Roman critics. Horace was a poet and he formulated his own poetic theories. These are embodied in his work poetica.  Horace also has spoken about poetry, imitation and the role of imagination. Horace has laid down rules for poets for writing poetry. According to him mere imitation of life is not the whole nature of poetry. The looks upon activity as a process of invention. As regards the function of poetry. Horace says that poetry should both teach and delight. However, he gives more emphasis on reaching then on delight finally according to Horace, genius and inspiration are essential for the poet but they need Quintillion’s views on poetry are in line with those of Horace. He given importance to poetic style and choice of words. Quintillion has been considered the pioneer of comparative criticism. He compares Greek literature with Roman and Greek language with Latin. In short, Quintillion is a minor critic of the Greco-Roman period.

The US Hotel Chain Marriott

The US Hotel Chain Marriott U.S. hotel chain Marriott International is one of the largest transnational corporations in the world. According to the corporations data, every fourth tourist in America stays in Marriott International hotels. Rapidly spreading its influence in the world, Marriott sets the goal to win and retain the leading position in the hotel market, showing a special concern with respect to the guests, business partners, employees and society as a whole. The business of Marriott Corporation is built on fundamental ideals of service provided to customers, employees and society. These ideals are perpetual, unique and make the company a successful manager, being the cornerstone for all employees of the company. In this section, the main study focus is on the data of exploratory research conducted with the purpose of identifying current practices of Marriott International under the conditions of globalization and the impact of globalization on Marriotts sales, marketing, HR, and brand positioning approaches, while outlining the main advantages Marriott international within this context. History of Marriott International, Inc. The history of this hotel corporation is a vivid example of the embodiment of the American dream traditional for several generations of U.S. citizens. Thousands of now flourishing companies started their long journey to success just like Marriott. In May 1927, a 26-year-old man from Utah, John Marriott and his wife opened the eatery for nine seats in Washington. Johns lucky fortune and business skills helped him to survive the collapse of the U.S. economy during the Great Depression in the late thirties he was already the owner of a regional restaurant chain The Shoppe Inc. and the eponymous company specialized in the delivery of hot meals for passengers of local airlines. John Marriott acquired his first hotel in 1957. It was called the Twin Bridges Marriott Motor Hotel, and was located in Arlington (Virginia). John wanted to create a family business and eventually handed over the management of the company to his son. Marriott Jr. conducted business as thoroughly as his father did (Marriott and Brown, 1997). In 1964 the company was renamed as Marriott Corporation. The Corporation expressed interest in everything that was associated with restaurant and hotel business, and when in 1977 the sales revenues of enterprises in which Marriott had a franchise crossed one billion dollars, John Marriott Jr. realized that the property management brings no less benefits than its owning. The Corporation developed its own concept of hotel network with a limited set of services by the end of the 80s and actively operated in three sectors of the hotel market in the U.S.: managing the network of hotels with full service (Marriott suites), inexpensive hotels (Residence Inn) and a network of cheap motels (Fairfield Inn) (Marriott and Brown, 1997; OBrien, 1995). In the early 90s, Marriott Corp. had only a few dozen hotels outside the U.S.A. Based on the principles of diversification, kept by the most of the major companies in the world (in other words: Dont put all your eggs in one basket), in 1993 the corporation was split into two companies: Marriott International (hotel and real estate management) and Host Marriott (real estate transactions and food delivery). That moment laid the beginning of the active promotion of Marriott International in the international market as the management company (Marriott and Brown, 1997). At the moment, Marriott International Corporation has more than 3500 lodging properties located in the U.S. and in 69 other countries around the world (2010), employing 137,000 people (Marriott International Company Profile, 2010). Table 2.1. Marriott International Hotel Brands and Property Count (December 2009- December- 2010) Marriott-12-31-10-Hotel-Count-global Globalization Strategies and Practices Marriott controls more than half a million hotel rooms worldwide, while owning only 0,3% of them. Half of the remaining rooms is a franchise. This means that hotel owners allocate 5% to 6% of their incomes to Marriott as a fee for using the companys name as well as for using rooms reservation system. Marriott manages the other half of hotel rooms by charging the owners of the hotel fee for providing this service (Boo, Hillard and Jin, 2010). Acting as an operator, Marriott takes about 65% of income, paying out from this sum the expenses for salaries, utilities, insurance, and purchase of food. 29% of revenue goes to the owner of the hotel. Of this amount, he pays property taxes and mortgage rates, and the rest (if any) he counts to his earnings. Even though some people may be disgruntled and demonize Marriott, the company still has much to be proud of: 55% Marriott hotel owners would like their next hotel to be run by this company (Jang and Tang, 2009). Brand and the Marriott reservation system are worth it. Regional offices Marriot Inc. include (Table 2.2.; Table 2.3.): North America (NALO) Asia, Pacific, Australia (APA) The Caribbean, Latin America (CABL) United Kingdom, Ireland, Middle East, Africa (UKIMEA) Continental Europe (CE) Central Europe (Germany, Austria, Switzerland) Western and Southern Europe (France, Belgium, Holland, Spain, Italy, Greece, etc.) Eastern Europe (Russia, Armenia, Georgia, Poland, Czech Republic, Romania, Hungary, Kazakhstan). Marriott International manages and provides franchise of hotels under the brands of Renaissance, Marriott, JW Marriott, Ritz-Carlton, Residence Inn, Courtyard, TownePlace Suites, Fairfield Inn, SpringHill Suites and Ramada International; the company develops and operates resorts in the vacation ownership under the brands of Marriott Vacation Club International, The Ritz-Carlton Club, Horizons and Marriott Grand Residence Club; it offers apartments in Marriott Executive Apartments, provides furnished corporate suites Marriott ExecuStay and operates conference centers (Table 2.4.). Smith Travel Research data state that raising a Marriott flag in the front of a big hotel offering a full range of hotel services increases its sales by 13% if compared to sales of a hotel with the flag of, for example, Doubletree. Virtually all other Marriott divisions from luxury Ritz-Carlton to a commonly accessible Residence Inn are ahead of their competitors in the indicator of hotel room income by 10% to 30% (A problem shared, 2005). Product Brand Position The components of Marriotts corporate style are a company logo, colors, fonts, letterhead, website, brand perfumes and accessories. Marriott logo is a rectangle with an image of a sphere the inscription Marriott itself, designed in two basic colors: white and cherry, and golden. A well-established and recognizable corporate style is the key to Marriott brand promotion in the global market. For example, when developing a program to promote a network of hotels in Moscow, Marriott used the corporate logo and brand image, which is the image of the famous Faberge Easter eggs, which embodies prestige, luxury, and very high consumer value, comparable only with the works of the most expensive and fashionable jeweler. For example, Marriott Tverskaya has as its symbol a stylized gold Faberge egg, Marriott Grand 5 *- the blue one, and Marriott Royal 5 * luxury the scarlet one. Such approach to corporate style creation can be described as very competent and thoughtful. Relying on the widely popular historical and cultural brands and using countrys national colors, the company certainly enhances the image component of hotel marketing, combining high international standards of service with the national peculiarities of a country and its hospitality traditions (ONeill and Mattila, 2004). Moreover, in each room of Marriott hotel chain there are branded forms for letters and branded pens with the hotel name. The rooms use brand linens, and brand aromatic policy of Marriott hotels. Recently, with the development of Internet and e-mail correspondence, the issue of corporate style of electronic documents has become very topical. Web site today is the first thing that a potential guest sees, and it can help to quickly create an impression about the level of the hotel, the service, room rates, to estimate the location and walk through rooms, restaurants, lounge, as well as to book a room (OConnor, 2008). Marriott Corporation owns over 3500 hotels, and for conveniency there is a single site from which one can get to the site of any hotel of the network in the world. Moreover, the web-sites of the hotels are designed in the same style and structure. Color differences depend on the brand. The common brand Marriott Hotels, Resorts Suites unites many brands, each with its own color scheme: for example, Courtyard by Marriott has a green color palette. Site structure is common for all hotels (photo tour, guest rooms in details, hotel proposals, hotel background information, restaurants and halls, city guide, maps and transport, events plan, Marriott Rewards program, hotels fact-sheet in print format). The web-site is the embodiment of Marriott corporate style and world-class service. Currently, Marriott is included in top 10 international hotel chains and actively moves to the top through expanding its franchise contracts and promoting high level of service and corporate style. Sales Marketing The major instrument of the company is the fact that a very small percentage of real estate the company manages factually belongs to it. In 1993, Marriott transferred all of its buildings and most of the debt on the balance of the investment real estate subsidiary Host Marriott, headed by the younger brother of Bill Marriott, while Hilton and Starwood, in contrast, own 30% of hotels under their control. Since Marriott receives a fee for hotel management, vacant hotel rooms bring fewer losses to it than to the owners, who have to clear the mortgage (A problem shared, 2005). Another component of the success of Marriott is the attention to details. For instance, the rules for cleaning a hotel room set in Marriott include 66 points. The company also shares the aroma marketing approach. Generally, Marriott with great zeal is looking for new clients and opportunities to open new hotels. Taking into account different groups of clients and their material resources, the network is developing a variety of brands, increasing the amount of service (Table 2.4.): Marriott Hotels and Resorts hotels with full service, managed through a franchise or independently. Renaissance Hotels and Resorts hotels offering full-service accommodation facilities for business travelers, vacationers. Marriott Conference Centers full service hotels for conferences and meetings. Courtyard by Marriott division responsible for a hotel chain with relatively low prices. Fairfield Inn by Marriott division responsible for economy class hotel chain. SpringHill Suites division responsible for the chain of secondary and higher-class hotels targeted at business and leisure travelers, especially women and children. Residence Inn by Marriott leader in the segment of the long stay hotels. TownePlace Suites division responsible for long stay hotel chain with relatively low prices. Marriott ExecuStay business unit that provides accommodation facilities for 1 month or more. Marriott Executive Apartments division that provides accommodation for business visitors for a period of more than 30 days. Marriott Vacation Club International division applying timeshare system; a guest can purchase a week off at the hotel of this class. The system includes 38 exclusive resorts. Ritz-Carlton leading hotel brand in the segment of luxury hotels. The innovative approach that accelerated the development of Marriott, Inc., was also the bonus program for customers, launched in 1983, which now serves as the element of Marriotts corporate style. Thanks to Marriott Rewards, Marriott Corporation has an opportunity to acquire more permanent guests of the Marriott chain. Marriott Rewards program encourages customers for giving preference to Marriott International and its partners, rewarding them for the choice of hotels of the network (Dubà © and Renaghan, 1999). The participant of Marriott Rewards receives certain points or miles that can be used as payment for accommodation (special certificates) in the hotels of the network or as a discount for buying airline tickets (applied to miles). Points can be used for free accommodation, purchasing discounted packet services around the world, including domestic air transport services, car rental, cruises, etc. Such programs later started to be introduced by other network hospitality compan ies, but the scheme, devised by Marriott, remains the best one: maximum discount combined the highest luxury. Human Resources Every corporate culture is an element of corporate style. Marriotts corporate culture was founded in 1927 and is being kept till this day: The better the company will treat its employees, the better employees will treat customers. Big corporations like Marriott, offer a high service level in many countries around the world. To make all the employees regardless of their nationality and educational level meet the high standards of the corporation, they should be trained in order to improve their skills. The key to training efficiency in Marriott is its perception as a corporate value which is consistent with the main strategy of the company. A continuous training helps to guarantee high quality service, comply with the companys strict standards, motivate and retain employees, creating staff reserve. Continuous training is also the only way to keep abreast with the changes occurring today and be prepared to their growing pace (Hinkin and Tracey, 2010; Katzenbach, 2000). Every year, Marriott celebrates the anniversary of its foundation (May 20) selecting a certain week for it to express the companys gratitude to the employees who are the members of a huge international family Marriott. Advertising and promotion program Marriott Rewards is also a very important part of every employee in the Marriott Corporation. Considering the case of hotel chain Marriott International, it should be noted that in a business famous for its high rates of revenues, Marriott is outstandingly competent at preserving talented managers, which is reflected in low satisfaction gap (Figure 2.2.) (Hinkin and Tracey, 2010). One of the ways to do that is a specific program that trains managers to solve business situations preparing and encouraging them to seek for promotions to top management positions. Advantages of Marriott, Inc over Competition in terms of Globalization Marriott International Hotels have the loading of 10% above the average in the global hospitality industry, while hotel rooms are sold at higher rates than those of direct competitors (Table 2.5). The advantage in the loading percentage and selling prices is achieved by providing individual and group customers more services than they can get anywhere else. Booking of hotel rooms in the companys hotels is conducted through its own global distribution system (GDS) or via the Internet. Moreover, the system uses the technology of guest recognition of hotels of all brands of the company, and rewards programs for repeat customers. In 1999, the company expended its use of the so-called quality assurance teams, assisting companies to implement advanced network management practices and reduce costs (Dubà © and Renaghan, 1999). On a whole, Figure 2.3 shows the positive dynamics in RevPAR data for North America Marriott properties for the five fiscal years 2004 -2008 with a peak in 2007: Figure 2.3. 2004-2008 RevPAR data for Marriot International (North America) Figure 2 Conclusion Marriott dominates in the market for one simple reason: it is successful in managing hotels worldwide. The hotel managed by Marriott becomes a large hotel with restaurants, shops and business center, room service, in-line and butlers. All hotels of the chain are characterized by the same service, which is based on a clear interaction between all structures and maintained tight control by the head office. Marriott International mission states that the corporation aims to become the best company in the fields of accommodation and services in the world due to the fact that its employees are seeking to provide their customers the best possible services, resulting in benefits for the companys shareholders. In recent years, Marriott International has shown a positive dynamics of development and continues to rapidly spread the chain all over the globe on the basis of franchise contracts. This practice, along with innovative approach to global hotel marketing, Marriott Rewards program, guest recognition technologies, high level of personnel training and constantly increasing level of service, helps Marriott International stay in the top five hotels chains globally.

Doubling in Kyds The Spanish Tragedy :: Spanish Tragedy Essays

Doubling in Kyd's The Spanish Tragedy      Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   The World's Classics version of Kyd's the Spanish Tragedy has more than fifty-three roles*. This number can go much higher depending on the exact number of plural parts the director decided to allot. In other words, the script may read simply "nobles," or "attendants" and the reader can not be completely sure of the number of people referred to. If the performing company was limited in players, there may be only two "knights" but if the director had a large cast he may send in six. This means, after working on the doubling possibilities for three weeks, I can not be one hundred percent sure of which characters were played by whom because I do not know exactly how many parts I am trying to fill. Add that to the fact that there are some parts which only show up once in the whole play and share the stage with only one person. These particular roles can be played by almost anyone in the cast. Therefore, I paired up as many roles as I thought were necessary and left the r est to find an available player to take them.    In order to pair up some of the parts, the minimum number of players needed to be known. This will determine how many cast members had to be available not just for doubling but for staging the scene with the most roles at one time. This would be scene four in Act one. There is a minimum of twenty-two roles that need to be filled. Minimum because there are three plural roles: Spanish nobles, Trumpeters, and Attendants (Kyd, 2), which means at least two of each, and sixteen roles with individual titles. Thirty-one roles were then left to be divided amongst the cast as double parts and, in some cases, triple parts.    These remaining roles can not just be handed out randomly though. There are two basic guidelines used to determine who gets what parts: (1) An actor must play the same role throughout the entirety of the play and, (2) Two characters meeting in a scene can not be played by the same actor since it is impossible for one player to be in two different places at the same time. (unixg.ubc.ca) The attached chart shows all the meetings of characters in The Spanish Tragedy.

Ethical judgements Essay

Our entire life is a continuous process of gaining and retaining information, expanding our knowledge as individuals. Most people spend quite a bit of time in their childhood years in school learning, taking in knowledge that has been produced. As a species humans have produced a wealth of knowledge in a variety of ways. However there comes a time where you have to wonder what extent people would go to, to produce knowledge. Where is the line? When are we doing something ethically wrong? All of these questions bring up another question, do ethics get in the way of producing knowledge? The arts and natural sciences are two areas of knowledge that deal a lot with ethics. The arts are a very free area of knowledge in with people are allowed to express themselves, the natural sciences require a lot of experimentation. In my opinion, knowledge is very valuable, and the production of it should be a priority if the sacrifice is reasonable. The arts are a valuable source of knowledge, producers of art tend to try to convey a message through their artwork. Art comes in many different forms, ranging from visual arts to music and even literary arts. Throughout all forms most of art there are lessons embedded in the art piece, or at least messages conveyed through the art. Similarly, most art contains some form of censorship, artists are not allowed to touch on certain topics. Even if artists decide to make art that touches on controversial or different topics, their art is typically not accepted in society and does not receive any publicity. Again, this is the case with almost all art, however for the purpose of this essay I am going to focus on literary art. An example that is very prevalent in my mind is the ban of _The Book of Negroes_ by Lawrence Hill. A dutchman named Roy Groenberg wrote a letter to Lawrence Hill. In the letter he wrote that a group of people in the Netherlands were going to burn Hill’s book because in contained the word ‘negro’ in the title (Hopper). _The Book of Negroes_ is an award winning book that is about the life of an 11 year-old girl who is kidnapped in a village near Segu in Africa, and sent to North Carolina to be a slave. The book continues to tell the reader about her life as a slave (Hill). _The Book of Negroes_ is widely considered as very moving and a book that conveys important messages (Hopper). Unfortunately, because of the title it was misconceived as a book that was critical of African-Americans. Groenberg was the only person to act on his feelings, however that does not mean he was the only person to see this book as negatively directed at African-Americans. _The Book of Negroes_ was likely misconceived by many more people just because of the inclusion of the word ‘negro’ in the title. Unfortunately, society has made many ethical judgements about the word ‘negro’ which are usually justified but in this case prevent people expanding their knowledge (Hopper). This one of many examples, in which an ethical judgement limited methods available in the production of knowledge. This brings up the question in my mind, why do people shy away from certain words? An attempt to find the answer lead me to the Theory of Knowledge diagram, more specifically the ways of knowing. One way of knowing that intrigues me is language, this seems to answer my question. Language is a very powerful way of knowing, as words can be very powerful. There are handful of words in the english language that are not spoken because of how powerful they are. It seems to me that because of this some words are not tolerated even if the context is appropriate. Which sort of explains why The Book of Negroes received some criticism. It almost makes the criticism understandable, and I can begin to justify Groenberg’s actions. Like I said before, almost all art forms have artwork that is not socially  accepted, and up to this point I’ve only discussed literary art. However in my personal life I have learned about art not being accepted, when it comes to hip-hop music. I regularly listen to hip-hop music and it is a very important part of my life. In the eighth grade for a social studies class I had the opportunity to play a song in class as part of a project. This for me was especially difficult because a lot of hip-hop music is not completely suitable for a eighth grade class setting. Even though I had found a couple of songs that were perfect for what I needed, but had a little too much profanity. I completely understand that there are some inappropriate elements to hip-hop music that are not the best thing for a class room environment. However, I believe by the eighth grade students have developed a level of maturity, and should be able to listen to hip-hop music. All that needed to happen was for my classmates to disregard any profanity and see the song for what it truly is. Similarly, people should have looked past the title â€Å"The Book of Negroes† and read the book to see it for it’s value. Ethical judgments are as prevalent in the arts as they are in the natural sciences. From stem cell research to animal testing, there are a plethora of examples for natural sciences. The arts are as much about entertainment as they are gaining knowledge, or maybe even more. On the other hand the natural sciences is almost entirely about gaining new knowledge and improving what is already known. In this age, developments in natural sciences are nearly only about human advancement. Whether is medically or discovering new things. I am going to mainly focus on how various countries, such as Argentina, the United States, Russia, Iran and France, tested their space equipment. From the mid 1940s all the way to 2013, the mentioned countries have sent monkeys into space (Gray). Before leaders were confident enough to send humans into space, they sent monkeys into space to see how their equipment fared. As expected, most of these monkeys died horrible deaths in flight with no way of knowing what is happening or any way to help themselves (Gray). The most notable instances were the first few monkeys in space. In 1948 NASA sent a  rhesus monkey named Albert 39 miles into the air in a rocket. Albert died of suffocation mid flight, however NASA sent another monkey in the air named Albert II. Albert II survived the flight but died due to a parachute malfunction (Gray). When I discussed the Book of Negroes I reached a conclusion that gaining knowledge is more important than ethical issues. However, when discussing NASA monkeys it is much harder to decide. This is because lives are at stake, although they are not human lives it is still hard to think about something dying for space research. Majority of people agree that sending monkeys into space is wrong. How is it that NASA can design equipment to go into space, but can not create a machine that can detect air pressure and oxygen levels. Again, understanding this point of view is much easier but the theory of knowledge diagram came to my mind again. In the ways of knowing there is emotion, and that is likely the main way of knowing affecting people when they imagine monkeys dying for space research. It is easy to create an emotional bond with an animal as cute as a monkey, and most people can agree monkeys are cute. When reacting on emotions people reach rash conclusions. Which I think can be applied here, I am curious what the reaction would be if NASA tested with uglier or at least less cute animals. What if NASA sent warthogs into space? This is a situation when I personally hate to play devils advocate, however if I was an astronaut in the 1940s I would certainly not go into a space rocket. I have absolutely nothing against monkeys, but if I were forced to make a decision between a monkey dying and a human dying I would choose the monkey, without hesitation. In conclusion, knowledge is very valuable and has been something humans have cherished through the ages. The production of knowledge has been vital to the advancement of the human race. Under most circumstances in the arts and natural sciences, the production of knowledge does not require a major sacrifice, just a small loss or temporary discomfort. There are times in which it is not worth the sacrifice to learn something. However the vast majority of circumstances provide a reasonable loss for the production of  knowledge. Overall, I believe knowledge and the production of knowledge is extremely valuable and should be a priority when it comes to he arts and natural sciences. Works Cited Gray, Tara. â€Å"A Brief History of Animals In Space.† NASA. NASA HQ, 02 Aug 2004. Web. 16 Sep 2013. Hill, Lawrence. The Book of Negroes. Toronto, Ontario, Canada: HarperCollins, 2007. Print. Hopper, Tristin. â€Å"Dutchman threatens to burn The Book of Negroes.† National Post. National Post, 10 Jun 2011. Web. 16 Sep 2013. .

Argumentative Essay In Favor of Euthanasia Essay

â€Å"Euthanasia is the administration of a lethal agent by another person to a patient for the purpose of relieving the patient’s intolerable and incurable suffering†. When we talk about euthanasia it is meant as a means to help someone to achieve a good death. The majority of those who seek euthanasia are terminally ill and do not have any other options. Either they stay alive and suffer from the severe pain, the symptoms, and the side effects like bedsores, or they decide to end their agony and choose the only other alternative. Unlike what some people think, euthanasia is used as a last resort and is only meant for people who face an imminent death. It is not meant â€Å"to kill†, but to help the dying die with dignity. Given that everyone has the right to die with dignity, as soon as the suffering comes to a decision to shorten his or her last days or weeks in order to end the unbearable pain, the society should accept it and do everything in their power to make it possible. Euthanasia is considered accepted among its supporters only if the following ethical guidelines are met. The person must be an adult in a rational state of mind, whose terminal suffering happens to be unbearable despite the best medical efforts. Secondly, the person must have clearly made a considered decision. As Timothy M. Quill illustrates in his essay â€Å"Death and Dignity† Diane, a woman diagnosed with terminal leukemia, her husband, and her son talked about her disease and the options including treatment extensively; however, â€Å"She remained very clear about her wish not to undergo chemotherapy and to live whatever time she had left outside the hospital†. An individual can express his or her preferences about healthcare at the end of life, for example by writing a living will, or even, in today’s more open and tolerant society, freely discuss the option of euthanasia with a health-care professional or a family member. Timothy M. Quill notes in the same essay Diane’s wish to die, once she â€Å"lost control of herself and her dignity†. She discussed this wish with her family and her doctor and asked them for their help and support. They were not happy about this, but they agreed to respect her choice, and that is what they did. Her doctor had regular meetings with her and talked to her about â€Å"the philosophy of comfort care†, but also about the â€Å"Hemlock Society†. As her condition worsened, she called up her closest friends including her doctor and said goodbye to them. Two days later she  asked her husband and her son to leave her alone for an hour after saying goodbye to them. After an hour, they found her dead â€Å"covered by her favorite shawl†. Euthanasia should not be carried out at the first knowledge of a life-threatening illness, and the individual must seek reasonable medical help to cure or at least slow down the progress of the terminal dise ase. Life is precious and is also worth a fight. Euthanasia is only an option when the fight is hopeless and the agony unbearable. However, once the decision is made, the treating physician must be informed and his or her response should be considered. It is always possible, that the diagnosis has been misheard or misunderstood; furthermore, the individual’s decision could have been triggered by major depression or any other curable mental illness. I think everyone would agree that each physician confronted with a patient seeking help to commit suicide should involve psychiatric consultation in order to rule out major depression before euthanasia should even be considered. After excluding any form of a treatable illness, it should be the physician’s choice whether or not to assist the patient to commit suicide. Under normal circumstances we do not have the right to kill or to let someone die, but there are some exceptions to this rule. A physician is permitted to withhold treatment and let the patient die, if it is so desired by the patient or a legal representative. However, if the same person under the same circumstances wishes to be helped directly in order to end his or her suffering, the physician is not allowed to assist this person put an end to his or her life. According to the American Medical Association â€Å"The physician who performs euthanasia assumes unique responsibility for the act of ending the patient’s life†. On the other hand the AMA also states â€Å"Physicians have an obligation to relieve pain and suffering and to promote the dignity and autonomy of dying patients in their care. This includes providing effective palliative treatment even though it may foreseeably hasten death.†The above statement shows us that AMA prohibits active euthanasia, â€Å"the administration of a lethal agent by another person to a patient for the purpose of relieving the patient’s intolerable and incurable suffering.†, yet allows passive euthanasia, â€Å"at least in some cases, to  withhold treatment and allow a patient to die†. James Rachels argues for why physicians should place passive euthanasia in the same category as active euthanasia. First, techniques of passive euthanasia extend the suffering of the patient, because it takes longer to passively allow the patient to die than it would if active measures were taken. Second, Rachels argues that passive euthanasia encourages the physician to make decisions on irrelevant grounds. For example, children born with Down’s syndrome often have correctable congenital defects, but sometimes the parents refuse the surgery, because they do not want a child with Down’s syndrome; therefore, they let the infant die. Rachels’ example might be a little extreme, but if we really want to be honest with ourselves, we should recognize that active euthanasia seems to be more humane in some cases than passive euthanasia. Advances in medical technology brought about a number of miracles to keep us healthy and to help us live longer; however, modern medicine has not entirely solved the problem of terminal illness and pain. It has even contributed to the complication of the decisions we might be confronted with towards the end of our life, or the life of a loved one. We are going to face life-and-death decisions, we should always choose life over death when life is truly possible, but tragic circumstances can make the afterlife a better life for some people. Euthanasia is an option not a destination. After all â€Å"No one wants to live to be one hundred, until you ask the man who is ninety-nine.† Reference pagehttp://www.starcourse.org/euthanasia.htmhttp://www.togopeacefully.com/http://www.missouri.edu/~philwb/Quill.HTMTimothy E. Quill, M.D. Death and DignityA Case of Individualized Decision MakingPrinted in The New England Journal of Medicine,March 7, 1991, Vol. 324, No. 10, pp 691-694. http://www.banned-books.com/truth-seeker/1994archive/121_5/ts215n.htmlDeath and Dignity: Making Choices and Taking Charge by Timothy E. Quill. W.W. Norton & Company, New York.  ©1993The American Medical Associationhttp://www.ama-assn.org/ama/pub/category/8458.htmlhttp://www.ama-assn.org/ama/pub/category/8457.htmlhttp://www.ama-assn.org/ama/pub/category/8459.htmlJames Rachels : Active and Passive