Angelas Ashes

Chapter Three â€Å"He makes more tea and we have that with bread and jam so no one can say we didn't have a sweet Christmas. † McClure Page 101 Even though they went through all the despairs of the year and the embarrassment of carrying a pig head to have a happy they were still able to have a happy Christmas dinner. Chapter Four â€Å"l wanted the raisin to myself but This shows how selfless Frank is. Payday Cloche's that had standing in Even though he wants the raisin h the corner with no shoes and the mom was freezing and he was gives it to someone who will cherish shivering like a dog had been kicked it more than him. ND I always felt sad over kicked dogs so I walked over and gave Payday the raisin†¦ † McClure page 121 Chapter 5 â€Å"Sixpence will get the two of us in Since Frank doesn't want to take with outplace left Sleeves toffee. Dance he uses the money to enjoy McClure page 143 the luxuries he's not used too. Chapter 6 â€Å"His father is in a bed in the corner groaning and spitting into a bucket. † McClure page 164 It seems that in Franks day, death as more common than now especially for the people in poverty.Frank learns at an early age that death is inevitable. Chapter 7 â€Å"One of our prayers is surely powerful because, next summer Mackey himself is carried off by the GA Looping consumption†¦ † McClure Page 172 Franks life seems too surrounded by death. Ifs also ironic how Mackey wanted his siblings to die not knowing that his time was coming up slowly Chapter 8 † Patricia is gone and I'll never know what happened to the highwayman and Bess the landlord's daughter† Frank seems to be unpleased by Patrician's death.Since he so used to it, he barely flinches when Hess told McClure page 199 the news. He is more concerned on how the poem ends. Chapter 9 † She tells me give my eyes a good rib and make them look as red as I can for the worse you look at the Dispensary the more pity you get the better chance of getting the public assistance. † McClure page 232 In this chapter, since their father is using his check on beer in England, Angela has to get public assistance. She basically loses all of her dignity n the process.

Postmodern Frame Essay †Text in Art Essay

The use of text within to the visual arts can be traced back as far as the inscribed carvings found on cave walls created by the Indigenous population of Australia approximately 46000 years ago. However, over the past few years, the use of text in art, also known as the art of typography, has become a frequent means of communication for artists in the creation of their works. Text within art can be projected, scrawled, painted, computerised and carved to the point that a work may be created of nothing but language. The art of typography is the technique of arranging type in such a way that makes language visible. It treats fonts as individual entities to be enjoyed by the audience. Some artists deal with language as a character on its own as opposed to a surface to draw upon. These artists place texts in ways that are intended to stimulate the way an audience perceives a work, to evoke emotion or to create a statement. However, others, particularly graphic designers, tend to focus on the decorative powers of text. Regardless of the artist’s intentions, the appearance of text within art can shift our appreciation of their sound and meaning. Artists that explore text in art include: Barbara Kruger, Yukinori Yanagi, Katarzyna Kozyra, Jenny Holzer, Wenda Gu, Shirin Neshat, Miriam Stannage, Colin McCahon and Jenny Watson. Artists such as Jenny Holzer, Wenda Gu and Shirin Neshat explore the cultural implications of language in art and the importance of language to identity through the inclusion of text that reflect a postmodern concern with the way we receive information in our contemporary society. Jenny Holzer is an American conceptual artist who belongs to the feminist branch of artists that emerged during the 1980’s. Originally an abstract painter and printmaker, Holzer became heavily interested in conceptual art and began creating works using text. The introduction of text within Holzer’s work occurred gradually however, over time, they have entirely replaced images. These works are usually displayed in widely viewed, public areas. Holzer’s works typically deal with the idea of communication. She is highly aware of the power of words and the power of the media and therefore has a focus on the ability of language to distort or manipulate truths. â€Å"I was drawn to writing because it was possible to be very explicit about things. If you have crucial issues, burning issues, it’s good to say exactly what’s right and wrong about them, and then perhaps to show a way that things could be helped. So, it seemed to make sense to write because then you could just say it†¦ no painting seemed perfect. In particular, I didn’t want to be a narrative painter, which maybe would have been one solution for someone wanting to be explicit.† – Jenny Holzer. Through the use of text in art, Holzer is able to transmit powerful environmental, social and political messages that reveal beliefs and myths and show biases and inconsistencies that highlight her social and personal concerns of today’s contemporary society. Holzer’s works are confronting and provocative and inspire us to make changes. They make us remember that language is not always a factual statement; it can be true or false depending on the context. Holzer forces us to analyse our own behaviour and consider how we have been influenced and manipulated. Her works are designed to make us stop and think about how we are maturing socially. Holzer’s truisms â€Å"MONEY CREATES TASTE – 1982† and â€Å"PROTECT ME FROM WHAT I WANT – 1985† are part of her 1983-85 series – â€Å"Survival†. These are LED installation pieces consisting of large scale text that were projected onto a billboard in Times Square, New York. The inscriptions were bright, clear and menacing and connected themselves to the everyday glow of the city. The phrases were flicked over the busy intersection for two to three seconds creating an element of surprise and capturing the audience’s attention. The main focus of these works was to make a profound statement about the world of advertising and consumer society today. Holzer’s aim was to persuade the audience to pause and reflect on their lives. Her work emphasises the notion that within our society, we are driven by the world of media, thereby producing a mass materialistic, consumerist culture. â€Å"MONEY CREATES TASTE† is almost a plea from Holzer to stand back and assess our needs as a culture rather than what we are fed to believe we want by the media. The use of this concise statement â€Å"PROTECT ME FROM WHAT I WANT† has shown us that we are in the process of losing our identity and sense of culture and can be manipulated by the underlying motives of the media. Shirin Neshat is an Iranian born artist who, upon turning seventeen, moved to California to study art. In 1990 when Neshat flew back to Iran to visit her family, she was confronted by the changes in culture and the narrow restraints of everyday life in the Islamic Republic. She was faced by a very strict, pure form of Islam introduced by the Iranian government in order to erase Persian history. Since having lived in the two cultural contexts of Iraq and the USA, Neshat is able to examine the cultural concerns of individual beings in a metaphorical and poetic way. She attempts to address problems of identity, race and gender in a shocking manner and intends to undermine social stereotypes and assumptions. Her works explore the differences between Islam and the West, males and females, limitations in life and freedom, old and new and the public and the private domains. Neshat aimed to provoke questions amongst her audience as she explored Islam through her art making and comments on issues related to feminism and multiculturalism. However, her works were not only confrontational and symbolic; Neshat also paid particular attention to aesthetics. In her 1994 print and ink, â€Å"Rebellious Silence†, Neshat depicts an Islamic, Muslim woman, covered in a veil holding a gun. Her calm face is divided by the starkness of the cold, steel weapon and is laced with Islamic calligraphy symbolic of the Niqab, a more extreme veil that an Islamic woman must wear as it signifies her obedience to the male supremacy in Islamic culture. Her clothing and weapon make us question whether this woman has rejected her submissive female role to embrace violence. She is looking directly at the camera and looks determined to fight. Questions of motives arise amongst the audience. Neshat’s 1996 work â€Å"Speechless† is a black and white photograph in which Neshat has chosen to make herself the subject. This image is a close up of Neshat’s face. She looks determined and powerful however, like her creation â€Å"Rebellious Silence† – her face is covered with an overlay of Islamic text. The Arabic inscriptions that create the veil act as a barrier. It symbolises the support of the Islamic revolution. The visual struggle between Neshat and the veil is representational of the fight for freedom and the support of religion. By putting the text on her face, the body part where people can identify emotions the most, it serves as a reminder of the power that religion has over women and the oppression it has towards free expression. The gun in the picture is another juxtaposition. The woman seems to be embracing the gun as a part of her, giving off a threatening feeling, but at the same time, it does not feel dangerous because of her conflicted emotions: freedom versus oppression. The inscriptions tell of a man who died in the Iran/Iraq conflict of the 1980’s. This is also insulting to the women who also experienced this conflict. Her art does not disapprove nor approve of Islam, but instead encourages the audience to reflect upon their own ideas, assumptions and expectations. He works carry both personal and emotional connotations. Wenda Gu was born in China and studied traditional, classical landscape painting. He was employed to teach ink painting and although he no longer practices in China, text remains central to his work. This initial technical training has provided the incentive for his most confronting pieces in which the powerful use of language challenges social and political traditions. â€Å"These are questioning and symbolic works that violate the orthodox doctrine of artistic value. They represent a direct threat to authority.† Michael Sullivan. Gu ambitiously attempts to address, in artic terms, the issue of globalism that dominates discussions of contemporary economics, society and culture. He aims to appeal not only to the present population, but also to future generations in his quest to extend the boundaries of human perception, feeling and thought and express humanity’s deepest wishes and powerful dreams. Gu strives to unify mankind and create a utopian feel within his works. Gu worked to simplify the Chinese language and to encourage people to embrace new attitudes towards their old language. He combines a long standing fascination with classical Chinese calligraphy with a contemporary take on universal concerns that cross cultural and ethnic boundaries. Gu’s work today focusses extensively on ideas of culture and his identity and has developed an interest in bodily materials and understanding humanity across ethnic and national boundaries. Gu’s 1994-96 work â€Å"Pseudo Characters Contemplation of the world† is a series of ink paintings in which he uses traditional calligraphic styles and techniques but subverts them with reversed, upside down or incorrect letters. The pseudo character series consists of three ink on paper scrolls in which he has combined calligraphy and landscape, disrupting the conventions of both, powerfully distorting artistic tradition of China. Gu has attacked the written word by glorifying the spirit of the absurd. Gu’s most significant artworks have been a series entitled â€Å"United Nations Project†. This is a series of 15 works that were conceptually planned to relate to the locations social, political, historical and cultural situation. This series confronts two taboos. That of language and the human body. The main material for these installations are human hair collected from hairdressers from all over the world and the hair itself serves as a connection to all people. They typically consisted of screens tied together with twine, forming a canopy of internationally collected hair that was fashioned into nonsensical scripts combining the Chinese alphabet and others. His works are distinguished by the two themes which intersect. The first relates to language and the way in which cultural conventions are signified ad the second, is the use of human hair which is a symbol for significant human endeavours. The human hair is a blueprint containing DNA information, which is common to all humans yet seen fundamentally as individual. Jenny Holzer, Shirin Neshat and Wenda Gu all explore the cultural implications of language within art. They share a prime focus on the links between culture and identity. They have used language and text to convey their powerful messages and have drawn upon their own personal experiences. Concerned with the human condition, both they and their artworks have had a significant impact on society and the way in which we interpret information. Madison ******** Year 12 Visual Arts Art History and Art Criticism. Essay on Text The inclusion of text in artworks reflects a post-modern concern with the way we receive information in our contemporary society and the importance of language to identity. Explore the cultural implications of language in the work of Jenny Holzer, Wenda Gu and one other contemporary artist. Analyse specific artworks to support your argument.

A Famous South Indian Restaurant In The Uk Marketing Essay

A Famous South Indian Restaurant In The Uk Marketing Essay Mirch Masala, a famous south Indian restaurant in the UK started in the year 1995 in Norbury, establishing branches in Tooting in the year 2001, Southall branch in April 2004, Croydon and East London branch in 2005 and Ilford branch being the latest in February 2009, under the watchful gaze of its owner and founder, Mr. Riaz Hassan Sabir, 49. It bears the name of most basic ingredient of Indian cuisine. The specialties are karahi and barbecue dishes. All food is prepared fresh on the premises, which may explain the massive popularity, as it tastes so fantastic. Mirch Masala has a string of awards to its credit. The Norbury branch won a highly commended in the Croydon Guardian’s Restaurant of the Year awards and the Tooting branch won its region in the Tiffin Cup and has gone on to the national finals. Mirch Masala has been the winner of a number of UK restaurant awards, the latest being TOP 100 RESTAURANTS OF UK voted by EVENING STANDARD (AUG 2003). Business portfolio The ent ire business is build upon a horizontal integration, dealing only with restaurant business. Expanding its wings in the South London with a total of 6 branches, all branches approved by Halal Monitoring committee, UK. Having the same menu and same style of preparing the food in all branches is unique in Mirch Masala. Mission Statement â€Å"To provide customers the authentic taste of Indian cuisine and be the best in the Industry on a consistent level† Overview of Business Mirch masala started with the first branch in Norbury and succeeded over a period of time, developing further with 5 more branches to its profile. Having over six branches, Mr. Riaz Hassan Sabir enjoys reaping a good profit and delivers excellent services with good quality of food equally over all branches even though the branches are decentralized. Employees come from the same Asian background that has enough idea about Indian cuisine. The business comprises of over 60 employees in all the branches with sea ting capacity of 170 in Croydon branch, 320 in Ilford, 130 in Tooting, 160 in Norbury, 140 in Southall and 120 in East Croydon. Branches Norbury Restaurant 1416 London Road, Norbury London SW16 4BZ Tel: 0208 679 1828, 0200 765 1070 Email: norbury@mirchmasalarestaurant.co.uk Tooting Restaurant 213 Upper Tooting Road London SW17 7TG Tel: 0208 672 7500, 0208 767 8638 Email: tooting@mirchmasalarestaurant.co.uk Southall Restaurant 171-173 The Broadway Southall, Middlesex UB1 1LX Tel: 0208 867 9222 Email: southall@mirchmasalarestaurant.co.uk East London Restaurant 111-113 Commercial Road London E1 1RD Tel: 0207 377 0155 Email: eastlondon@mirchmasalarestaurant.co.uk Croydon Restaurant 40-42 Southend Road Croydon CR0 1DP Tel: 0208 680 3322, 0208-6809898 Email: croydon@mirchmasalarestaurant.co.uk Ilford Restaurant 7-13 Goodmayes Road, Goodmayes Ilford, IG3 9UH Email: ilford@mirchmasalarestaurant.co.uk SWOT Analysis SWOT analysis is a strategic planning tool used to identify internal fa ctors such as strengths, weakness of a business and external factors such as opportunities and threats which should be addressed on the right time in order to be successful over a period of time. SWOT analysis of Mirch Masala Restaurant is identified and specified as follows. Strengths The exterior and interior of the restaurant is clean and tidy The quality and service of the restaurant has created a good brand image over a period of time

Government Administration in the Political System Essay

Government Administration in the Political System - Essay Example This is also applicable to all strata in the society; the rich and the poor; to all ethnic demarcations in the society as well. Every one of them has to send their children to the school. The promotion that the federal government has to carry out needs to reach every one of the ethnic minorities in the country, as well as, make sure that the government has a public school in every corner of the country. The number of students in the school may not be deciding factor but the presence of a school in every locality will be. This program was found to be the one that should be cleverly planned, closed executed and also should be followed up strongly. Otherwise, all the good work done will become a wasteful expenditure to the society. In addition to this, the impact on the society by such a program will be tremendous and awe inspiring. Therefore, this program was chosen for the analysis. No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB) was signed by President Bush On Jan 8, 2002. The basic principle of this Act was made brief by the President in his bill introduction speech in the Congress. This bill, according to him, was to make sure that "all the students will have a better chance to learn, to excel and to live out their dreams". The responsibility of doing this would of course lie with the states and the accountability will stem from the schools. Of course, the federal government will help by increasing the resource allocation for education. This, the federal government, hopes would ensure that the overall performance of the students will go up. In the current situation, as Joel Klein, New York City Schools Chancellor, says, with this law "we can no longer mask the deficiencies of some students with outsized gains of the others". The law aims at putting the children's need for education as the top priority. It also recognizes that there will be multiple performance levels among the schools. And therefore, any school that does not produce appropriate results will lose its students to other good performing schools. Teachers are to be highly qualified and the methodology of teaching should be in line with the latest researches that abound in the sphere of education. Appropriate research based instructional methods will be adopted by the schools to ensure that the best results are obtained. The relationship with the parent will be to pass information to the parent at the right time so that he or she can help in improving the performance of the student. Again, this centers on the performance of the student and not of anything els e. The proposed plan of the Act and the scheme was that: There should be a steady and ongoing performance improvement of the students. The target being every student should be able to read and do math at or above grade level. The Planning Phase Since this was a follow up act on the original 1965 Elementary and Secondary Education Act, the plan from the outset was towards building the right kind of processes to ensure that the growth in performance of the students really happen. The following major actions were identified during the commencement of the project (US Dept of Education, Fact Sheet). The same was implemented subsequently. 1. There will be a stronger accountability. This accountability would be more to the

Compare and contrast King Gilgamesh with Enkidu Essay

Compare and contrast King Gilgamesh with Enkidu - Essay Example Actually, it was to foil Gilgamesh that the gods created Enkidu, purposely to bring balance to the city of Uruk, which Gilgamesh’s abuse of power terrorizes. Thus Enkidu becomes Gilgamesh other self – a reflection of his weakness, as Enkidu made him painfully realize his inherent limitation as a human – his mortality, which drove him to seek eternal life. This, according to Davis (2000) is the underlying question in the epic: â€Å"Why have the gods withheld eternal life from humanity?† (p. 70). â€Å"Gilgamesh, where are you wandering? The life that you are seeking all around you will not find. When the gods created mankind they fixed Death for mankind, and held back Life in their own hands.† (Kovacks, 1989, p. 85) And it was in his search for eternal life, as he challenges death, that the answer to this question is revealed. The gods denied humanity of eternal life, because what makes human life precious, thus meaningful is no other than death. Af ter Enkidu’s death, Gilgamesh desire to escape of death gave him the reason to live. It is also his fear of death that transformed Gilgamesh from a ruthless ruler to a responsible one, by which he left behind a legacy that outlived him. As Brown (1996) explained, â€Å"without death [Gilgamesh’s] life would be meaningless, and the adventures that make up the epic would disappear. In celebrating Gilgamesh†¦ we celebrate that which makes us human.† (para. 6) On the other hand, Gilgamesh is Enkidu’s strength, since with the elders entrusting Gilgamesh to his care implies recognition of Gilgamesh’s weakness of the wilderness. As such, serving Gilgamesh has given Enkidu his worth. Gilgamesh, do not put your trust in (just) your vast strength, but keep a sharp eye out, make each blow strike its mark! 'The one who goes on ahead saves the comrade.'1 'The one who knows the route protects his friend.' Let Enkidu go ahead of you; he knows the road to the Cedar Forest, he has seen fighting, has experienced battle. Enkidu will protect the friend, will keep the comrade safe. Let his body urge him back to the wives (?). (Kovacks, 1989, p. 25) Gilgamesh and Enkidu although sharply different are very much alike. If Gilgamesh is a civilized man born two-thirds god and one-third human in the city of Uruk, yet acts uncivilly and inhumanely, killing the sons and raping the daughters of his people, on the other hand, Enkidu is a primitive man born akin to a wild beast, yet acts with compassion with the beasts whom he grew with, protecting them from trappers and freeing them whenever trapped (Kovacks, 1989, pp. 4, xix). Such difference portrays the contrast between the civilized and the primitive. That civilization, as Brown (1996) noted, transforms the primitive man with no return, corrupting his innocence and weakening him, yet giving him wisdom to see life beyond the wilderness (para. 9-10) allowing him to grow and enjoy the luxuries that c ivilization could offer to life like wine, women, and comfort. Though born and raised differently, both similarly possess super-human physical strengths that made them both feared: Gilgamesh by his people and Enkidu by the trapper. Thus both are to be tamed: Gilgamesh by the people of Uruk to live peacefully, whereas, Enkidu by the tra

Marketing Case Study Analysis Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2750 words

Marketing Case Study Analysis - Essay Example In this regard, a deeper understanding of what the relevance is of â€Å"marketing myopia† is can be gauged. In the analysis of this case study, Levitt (1975) suggested that the reason behind the downfall of the so-called â€Å"growing industry† is generally because of their myopic thinking culture. With this short – sighted vision of what the future of business may possibly offer, firms do collapse. It is indeed necessary to think outside the box and have a bigger picture of what is likely to happen in the industry. Also, he proposed that in order for business to thrive continuously, businesses must be customer – oriented instead of being too much occupied in developing, improving and producing goods and services. Likewise, he also suggested that marketing is needed and not just basically selling since marketing includes communicating the values that the products and services can possibly offer. This recommends that in order to avoid business failure in t he future, a proper implementation and execution of the strategies should come next to ensure the sustained business after such careful and balanced analysis and planning of the business context today and in the future. Introduction Starting a business involves risks since its success is never a guarantee. In reality, there are only slim chances of success in every business because only a few out of the total numbers of founded businesses do succeed. The U.S. Small Business Administration suggested that an estimation of over a half of the small businesses do fail within the first 5 years of their operation (Vetbiz Resource Center, 2009). There are many available print and online materials which try to explain why businesses fail. In the book entitled â€Å"Small Business Management,† Michael Ames (1983) suggested that the collapse of small businesses can be accounted by the following reasons: the entrepreneur’s lack of experience in handling business, poor inventory ma nagement, weak credit arrangement, excessive investment in fixed assets, insufficient capital to sustain the business needs, personal use of business funds, surprising growth in business as well as the poor and inconvenient location of business. On the one hand, there are two more reasons accounting to the collapse of business. According to Gustav Berle (1989) in the â€Å"Do It Yourself Business Book†, the increased competition in the market and the low sales are also reasons behind business failure. However, it is the case that businesses may have achieved a certain growth at one point in time which is followed by its collapse after. This failure of businesses, according to Theodore Levitt (1975), is not caused by the saturation in the market but mainly due to the short – sighted thinking culture of firms through having the illusion that such industries are growing. For Levitt (1975), the belief in the so – called â€Å"growth industry† should be reject ed since for him, such conviction is followed by complacency. With the belief in the â€Å"growth industry†, the businesses focus more on developing products and producing goods which they sell to the consumers. Nonetheless, these firms lose sight of what the real needs and wants are which can truly satisfy the customers. Given this, the focus of this paper mainly delves at critically analyzing the case of â€Å"

Management and leadership style Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

Management and leadership style - Essay Example Some of the key differentials that exist between management and leadership also translate to the means by which both of these forms of direction are accomplished. To begin with, one should consider the management style as something of an administrative expertise that focuses on maintenance, systems structures, a focus on the bottom line, imitation, and accomplishing tasks in the specified way. Conversely, good leadership styles tend to focus upon innovation, originality, development, a focus on the shareholders, inspiration and development of trust, and keeping an eye on the future. As a function of such a definition, the reader can and should understand the management style as more of a nuts and bolts approach that tends to be somewhat formulaic and rigid whereas leadership engenders the unique ability to mold and integrate with changes as a means of seeking the best path. It is further important to understand that such a level of approach does not specify one or the other must be e ngaged upon. As such, it is possible and desirable for an individual to accomplish both of these styles of oversight in order to be an effective vehicle for change within a given institution. Although not all individuals can fulfill the requirements of each of these categories, the individual that does is able to see from both perspectives and seek to direct the firm/group/ or entity in the most appropriate way (Paul & Berry, 2013). With regards to ethics, the leadership and management styles play an integral role in determining the priorities of the given individual. One could even argue that ethics violations only spring from management styles if and when the management style is engrained within the company’s culture. This is due to the fact that management styles are almost always formulaic and required attributes that the individual most ascribe to in order to meet the standards of the organization or group he/she is representing to the employees. Conversely, leadership s tyles fall prey much more easily to ethical violations due to the fact that these are almost always more innately tied to the ability of the individual to incorporate what they heave learned from past experience, as well as their own personality into the change mechanism they are attempting to integrate with. In order to create an ethical environment, it is incumbent upon the culture and oversight mechanisms of the firm to seek to instill a strong level of ethics into the management styles that they engender with the leadership (Dong et al., 2012). In such a way, ethical decision making and a culture of morality can be attempted to be grown from the very base levels of the way in which decisions are made within the organizations culture. As a means of integrating this with the leadership and the styles by which they ultimately manage, the organization will maximize the potential of this having a carry-over effect and impacting upon the means by which even personal attributes impact upon management and leadership within such a culture. Good management can be considered as the ability to meet deadlines, evoke utility, and ensure that one’s team meets or exceeds output standards. This process in and of itself is important; however, it has a distinctly impersonal side to it. Ultimately, the metrics of management are somewhat distinct from what the metrics of

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Recruitment and Staff Selection Case Study Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Recruitment and Staff Selection - Case Study Example The ideal hiring process will involve recruitment on the basis of merit only. Any kind of bias or prejudice on the basis of gender, race or ethnicity cannot be allowed to dilute a recruitment or selection process if an ideal hiring process is to be established. The problems in achieving an ideal hiring system occur because human beings are in charge of hiring. They have predispositions and they cannot remain objective at all times. This is a major impediment in achieving an ideal recruiting process. Hiring process should also be such that equal opportunities are given to everyone. Whether hiring process is internal or external in nature all applicants should be allowed to participate and they should be treated equally. An ideal hiring process also does not involve one man show. A group of employees or managers can be less bias then an individual manager because one man will not be allowed to take matters in his or her own hand and promote or hire anyone he or she wants. Equal opportunity should be the backbone of an ideal hiring process because only then it can serve the organization in the best possible way. Ideal hiring process also allows any applicant to question why his application for job was denied. This is a right that most employees are unaware of. They should be informed about the decision and the reasons for not selecting them should be disclosed. Only then Hiring process can be made crystal clear from dilutions of discrimination and personal favors. Recruitment process should also efficient. The process should not take a long time because organizations cannot waste a great amount of time on recruitment. Hiring process should be ethical, yes, but it should also be cost effective so that interests of all parties are served to the best. Costs should be kept in mind but this does not mean any compromise should be made on ethical standards. Many steps can be

Geddes Garden City Essay Example for Free

Geddes Garden City Essay Introduction   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   The American Political Economist who authored   the best read book titled Progress and Poverty (Lause) defined urbanization as â€Å"This life of great cities is not the natural life of man.   He must, under such conditions, deteriorate, physically, mentally, and morally â€Å".   To consider his point, the author view that life must be maintained in a serene atmosphere and not in a busy city just like those old good days that red beans or the cocoa is enough to send every household child to a good school.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Henry George began musing on this concept when the new railroad transport was developed in California that made an influence on high land values and influx of ordinary people to city life.   That development in one place brought about overcrowding and had wayward implications on the sustainability of the natural environment.   However, his idea provided economic reforms that made improvements of the life of the working classes possible.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Cities are indications of developments and of the visible civilizations of the history of man.   It takes a process of transformation that is unique and at the same time diverse.   This work is aimed at explaining the town concepts during the period of industrialization from the beginning of mass transportation and birth of new cities in particular on how Geddes observed and analyze these processes. Sustainability of the Man-built Environment   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   It was concluded by Henry George that the man-built environment is something that will not last. However, Patrick Geddes the Leonardo da Vinci of the 20th century teaches and reaffirms that our world environment could be sustained provided that man cooperates in the process.   It has to be sustained in order that the life cycle of the young generation’s continues.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   His statement is not a contradiction to George’s philosophy but a possible solution to man’s current problems.   His reaffirmation brought to the world a new hope that even though life cycle is limited, this world is still something worthy to be cared for and it can endure. The positive attitude of George influences not only his neighbors but the human settlement at large during his time to the present.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   There are issues on industrialization which brings wealth but at the same time destroys the natural environment caused by pollutants. For this reason, Geddes made it clear that man do not live by the jingling of his coins.   There is always a chain effect if one resource is used in accordingly.   He provided a solution written in the Evergreen book that a sustainable world is as simple as making it comfortably green.   His conviction reminded even planners that if developments are unchecked it would create more disaster than improvements.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Globally, everyone breathe the same air that a poor or a developed nation breathes.   The current concern do not deals alone with affordability but also sustainability. With the pressing trend of modernization, comfortable living is expensive and value for money is usually a rare find. The problem of overcrowding in the cities and the lack of economic growth in the rural areas still remains to be a problem on poorly planned cities.   The increase of deteriorating cities will lead to the decline of the global sustainability.   The idea here is to provide developmental options that are definitely relevant to every cities of the world. His mottos â€Å"by creating we think and by living we learn was made to good use by educating people about their environment (Grewar).† The new housing design for workers, organizing his neighbors to renovate houses and build gardens made an indelible mark in his works which can still be seen in every postcard of the city’s Royal Mile that even Albert Einstein admired and has honored him (Grewar). The Garden City Movement Patrick Geddes three dimensional thinking (geography, economics and anthropology) places social sciences above math and logic, biology, chemistry and physics.   His belief that† the earth as a cooperative planet must teach people on how to treat properly their environment and is aimed specifically on educating children, improving the physical quality of life through biological knowledge by producing better medicines, and understanding human influence on ecology (Killiecrankie).† Geddes bridging social sciences with biology even influenced his biographer Lewis Mumford on the simple idea that man just like plants and animals thrived in healthy conditions which are expressed in one of the extracts of Geddes writings; â€Å"The world is mainly vast leaf-colony, growing on and forming a leafy soil, not a mere mineral mass, and we live not by the jingling of our coins, but by the fullness of our harvest. This is green world, with animals comparatively small, and all independent upon leaves.   By leaves we live (Grewar).†   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Mumford an architectural critic and is particularly noted for his study on urbanization of the environment regarded technology as the destroyer of environment even if he qualifies that electricity could lead to the improvements of the social spheres (University).   His works are indications that technology must be regulated. During the late 18th century Garden Cities began to evolve through the works of city and town planners particularly the works of Ebenezer Howard in UK influenced by the philosophy of Geddes new approach in urban planning called the garden city movement.   Howard began to build self-sustaining towns that combines convenience and industries located on agricultural sites (Sir Ebenezer Howard).† Howard realizes that no matter from what nation a man belongs, there is but one social issue which is difficult to solve and that is problems on housing and labor. This propelled many to advocate the new movement and increases the awareness on the concept of â€Å"decency of surroundings† and that includes, ample spaces, clean housing with gardens, and preservation of landscapes (Letchworth). The First Garden City   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Letchworth City is founded by Howard and is the first garden city of the world; in 1905 the garden city movement became involved in the exhibits of new housing called the workers cottage or housing for the working class in which some of it still stood today. Those cheap but strong and functional residences can be affordable to workers.   Some of these cottages made of wood or concrete can still be found in Letchworth streets and is now being conserved.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Some of the prototype housing called the workers cottages influences the human settlement design of this century.   This new housing designed sprawled even to the west for instance the workers cottages of Architect Maybeck of California and to the whole world at least giving man an accommodation that he humanly deserves. Mass Transportation   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Fast developments are due to improved transportation and communications.   The streets affect the life of all its inhabitants and this vision is very much encouraged in order to serve a huge population.   This is indeed very necessary but at the same time may lead to a city decline.   This entails thorough planning on how to maintain a good life in a cellular metropolis.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Victor Gruen a planning practitioner, mentioned in his last publicized works that â€Å"auto sprawl would cripple the global ecosystem and brings about physical and psychological starvation of the urbanized man (Hill).†Ã‚   Today, some cities plants a good number of trees for every parking slots or spaces created.   Planning theories must be integrated to transit that is useful to automobile cities and providing more mass transit and more freeways.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Automobile cities, needs more spaces unlike the old horse tracks during the colonial times.   Human settlement today cannot tolerate a waste of space in places where living condition is dense.   Somehow, these dense spaces are capable of providing the maximum comfort for man by means of mechanical equipments in buildings. In this cities life is fast and expensive.   Technology is a provision for man’s comfort and not a means to enslave but more often than not it is the other way around.   However, there are many fast developing cities that is capable of coping with the new technology because work is valued in congruent with the dignity of man.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Gruen proposes a plan that could justify economic productivity of big cities and at the same time create sub cities that would adapt to what he calls â€Å"megalopolitan sprawl†.   However, globalization could also mean going beyond ones land area.   There is still vast area of lands wanting to be developed. There are many nations that are in need to cope with the present dynamics of the new world technology.   And while there are other places where overpopulation is a problem there are affluent cities in the second millennium that the inverted population growth also presupposes danger. Conclusion   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   In the abstract written by Dr. Mervyn Miller, he mentioned the book written by the founder of Letchworth, â€Å"Tomorrow a Peaceful Path to Real Reform† written in 1898 is very much true to our society of today. He recalls that the garden city is a potent concept in the emergence of the 20th century cities.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Contemporary planners addressed the issue by following the course of people like Geddes.   However, due to the increase in the demand on the lease to life, those familiar workers cottages are considered mini-mansions of many career oriented people of today.   Ample spaces are defined as functional spaces due to the ever increasing cost per area of construction in square foot or in meters.   Coping with life that is becoming unsustainable is becoming a depressing problem even more than how George views it in his time. The internationalist who believes that nothing is gained by overcrowding still support the issue on the green environment that is very relevant today.   However, there are trends that are still needed to be discovered and be rediscovered especially within the new technology along on how this new ideas can be within the reach of everyone.   The key here is what kind of technology should be provided to sustain the ordinary man of the streets. The approach that Geddes concept has provided in his time is for the working class of the industrialized period.   That became the reason why today’s environmentalist regarded Geddes a steward in land use and its sustainability. Today, a number of men with the same aspirations of those Internationalist described is very much needed.   This fast growing old planet needs people who are a hundred percent human beings in the middle of the electro- mechanical world. Works Cited Grewar, Mindy. Vivendo Discimus: Everything in the Garden Is Magnifique for the Anniversary Celebrations of a Great Scot.   (2004). 11 April 2008 http://www.scotland.org/about/history-tradition-and-roots/features/education/geddes.html. Hill, David R. Sustainability, Victor Gruen, and the Cellular Metropolis.   (2008). 11 April 2008 http://www.questia.com/googleScholar.qst;jsessionid=H1TcfmZ4RRyJKG06dF94gjTT9hyHh99GrVvwdzytZzVnn6Lq771Y!-798756091?docId=5001677813. Killiecrankie. Patrick Geddes 1854-1932.   (2008). 11 April 2008 http://www.visitkilliecrankie.com/patrick-geddes.htm. Lause, Mark. Henry George. 11 April 2008 http://www.geocities.com/CollegePark/Quad/6460/bio/G/eorge.html. Letchworth. Letchworth the First Garden City   (2007). 11 April 2008 http://lgc.amolad.net/heritage/index-3.htm. Sir Ebenezer Howard.   (2007). 11 April 2008 http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1E1-HowardEb.html. University, Regent. Lewis Mumford (1895-1988).   (2007). 11 April 2008 http://www.regent.edu/acad/schcom/rojc/mdic/mumford.html.

Context Of Business Strategy

Context Of Business Strategy Business strategy is defined as a long term approach of implementing a firms business plans to achieve its business objectives. Above all business strategy provides core competencies, differentiation and superior values for an organization. Context of business strategy: Objectives: Are the specific outcomes which an organization wishes to achieve by carrying out several activities. Objectives should always be stated precisely so it can easily be measured whether the objectives are been achieved or not. For example, there should be step by step ways so it than becomes easy to judge to how much is done and how much remains and whether the work is in time and good or not. Mission: It describes an organizations basic function in a society. It is done specifically to spread the knowledge and belief among the people. For example, it to become a top cellular brand, so society would know its reason for existence. Vision: The vision statement is concerned with how the future will look like if the mission is achieved. Some often say a vision statement imagines what success would look like. For example, as I mentioned above to become a top cellular brand globally, this is a vision. Goals: In every organization goals differ, but generally your goals can be regarding improvement in technology, or improving market share, or to improve the quality of the product or the expansion of the business or it can be these all at once. For example, to set an amount of market share in an particular time period can be regarded as a goal. Core competencies: A core competency is a specific factor that a business sees as being central to the way it or its employees works. For example, they can see their technological factor as their core competency. Strategic control: The practice of assessing the direction of the organization as evidenced by its implicit or explicit goals, objectives, strategies, and capacity to perform in the context of changing environmental and competitive actions. For example, to be able to have a strategy in place so that every department or different work runs smoothly all together. P2: The students will be expected to discuss the concept of stakeholders and their types. Stakeholder analysis is an approach that is frequently used to identify and investigate the force field formed by any group or individual who can affect or is affected by the achievement of the objectives of an organization. Different types of stakeholder: Owners, investors, directors. Shareholders. Banks and creditors. Suppliers. Customers and buyers. Management. Employees. Competitors. Government. Interest groups and companies. Stakeholder Map: P3: The student should conduct the PESTEL and SWOT analysis of the organization/business. PESTEL analysis of Ericsson: Political: Political entities played a vital role in the success of Ericsson switches business, Once a relation was built with a PPT in a country, it lead to follow-up contracts again. The U.S market for switches business was closed while the British PPT only used to buy switches from European companies. On the other hand there were no barriers to entry for the mobile telephony business since the product was new and unique. Economical : In order to start the mobile telephony business Ericsson needed a high market share, which they achieved by selling switches and other radio equipments in U.S.A and various European countries including Netherland .This increased the number of customers, thus increasing market share. After the company got substantially popular, major businesses started to co-ordinate with Ericsson, these included major rivals namely Magnetic, GSM and Radio system .By the end of century the market share for Ericsson mobiles and Radio equipments reached 70 percent. Socio-cultural: Consumer demanded for new functions and designs while Ericsson was not successful in providing that, a banker expressed they are just a bunch of engineers who couldnt care less what the phone looks like. Also on the other hand consumer complained about the low battery life. Technological: The Company had inferior technology in start due to financial problems, the SRA was only engaged in selling radio equipments to the military, these included radiators, gramophones and radars. AXE was their main technology; AXE chips were powerful but big in size, while on the other hand competitors were making smaller switches. Environmental/ecological: Legal: INTERNAL Strengths First company to provide mobile phone technology. High capacity switches (AXE) Ericsson Information (EIS) Strong management policies Providing a wide range of products around the globe .i.e. radio equipments, mobile and telephone business. New product and technology Weaknesses Lack of Unity between various departments. They consider each other as lacking from knowledge, stupid and inexperienced. Poor quality equipments causing dis-interest of customers Installation in armored cars was a problem. Low finance Switches were Large and expensive EXTERNAL Opportunities High competitive environment, this leads to more customers Mass market High Sales since the product is new and unique Expand business Threats Major competitors, namely NEC, Motorola, Fijitsu, Northern Telecom, EF Johnson. Competitors offering financing solutions Small switches of competitors and cheap in price Intense competitionSWOT analysis of Ericsson: (Figure 2: SWOT analysis) P4: Students should apply Ansoff Matrix on the studied business. STRETEGIC POSITIONING TECHNIQUES Ansoff matrix: The Ansoff Growth matrix is a tool that helps businesses decide their product and market growth strategy. Figure 3: Ansoff Matrix (source: tutors.com, data accessed July 2009) Ansoff Matrix of Ericsson: Ansoff matrix can help Ericsson identify their future direction and strategic development. It may help Ericsson find out the choices available in the market in order to use their strategic capabilities. Currently in terms of the case, Ericsson is engaged in production of many existing products and one new product which is mobile telephone. This may sort out Ericsson into three sections of an Ansoff Matrix. These are explained as follows: Existing product and existing market; Market penetration: For the current production of various radio and telephone equipments, including AXE chip. Existing product and new market; Market development: For entering new markets including USA, Netherland and Middle East. Existing market and New Market; Product development: By launching Mobile telephone system in their existing market . Ansoff Matrix: This is a useful strategic positioning technique advised to Ericsson due to the fact that it helps in suggesting the business attempts to expand on a new or existing market or whether on the markets new and existing products. For the market development Ansoff can help Ericsson identify new geographical areas, for example where to sell the existing switches and radio equipments. They can seek out different pricing policies to attract customers. Similarly in the product development stage they can develop new competencies and modify their products on the basis of consumer appeal. On the basis of these qualities it was advised to use Ansoff matrix as a strategic positioning technique to identify their future direction. M1: Here the students will be expected to identify at least three of the concepts (discussed in P1) in the organization/business selected. The students should give a brief analysis of how the concepts have been applied in the organization. Here are the brief analysis of the three concepts that take place in the organization Ericsson. Objectives: You always start with small objectives and move onto the larger ones once the initial ones have been taken care off. It is the same with the organization that I am representing. Their prime objective at the start was that they wanted to become one of the leading mobile brand sellers in the world. Not many would argue that they hadnt reached their goal. To make this objective succeed they started off by having small steps of objectives which are key. They wanted to bring something new (they brought Walkman phones), they wanted to increase their market share and increase their profits. Recent performances show a decline in profits and market share and now they are looking forward to go one better than the last time and then to be able to maintain their market position. Vision: When you start an organization you always have a vision for it, as where you want it to be in the future, as in for example 15 years later. Do you want it to be self-sustaining and be somewhere in the middle rather than the top or do you want it to have profits and want it to be at the utmost top. Sony Ericsson vision was one for the future. It wanted to be profit motive as any other organization would want to be, however they wanted to be a leading global mobile seller, to be on the utmost top. And from the time of initial start till now they are heading towards the right direction. Core Competencies: Ericsson wants to be technologically advanced and give its handsets something new which its competitors lack or do not come up with. It spends heavily on its research and development as its motive is to be the best globally. After merging with Sony, Sony Ericssons Walkman phones are an example of its technological advancement over its competitors and its willingness to bring something new. Mission: Many people often mistake vision for mission or mission for vision. However, both these things differ as vision is how the future would look like and mission is the way of getting there. Ericsson, after merging with Sony, one of its priorities is that it specifically targets the younger generations, as they are mostly mobile fanatics and love entertainment. It wants to be known for specifically entertainment phones providing the best of sounds the technologically up to date cell phones. M2: The students should identify the stakeholders of the organization under consideration and develop the stakeholder map for the organization. Students are expected to give their rationale for placing the stakeholders in the map. List of stakeholders associated with Ericsson: Not all of the stakeholders are mentioned in the current case but their key stakeholder groups include: Board of directors: Board of directors includes all the major owners of the business who changed with the passage of time. These personal included GE-Marconi, Ake Lundqvist and Lars Magnus Ericsson. The key focus of all the directors was to direct the strategy and major decision making of the business. They wanted an increase in their power and status and wanted to retain control. Managers : Managers engaged with Ericsson particularly included the sales manager, marketing manager and the production manager, among these included John Meurling and Lars Ramqvist. Competitors: Throughout time Ericsson expanded their business globally increasing their number of competitors in each of their business sector. Their main competitors included Nokia, Mitsubishi, NEC, Fijitsu, Siemens, Hitachi, CIT Alcatel, EF Johnson, Motorola, Northern telecom. Customers: The customers of Ericsson want good and valuable products for the money they pay, since they have a buying objective and if Ericsson fails to satisfy their customers then they will go elsewhere. Shareholders: The shareholders are the main investors in Ericsson, they are not as such mentioned in the given case but mentioning them is important as without their support the company wont have any suitable finance. Investors in Ericsson clearly want to be rewarded for their stake in the business. Their profit depends on the size of after tax profit and plans of director to invest for business expansion and the economy causing fluctuation in share price. Community: The role of community is also not mentioned in the case but it was certainly necessary to mention their role. Community wants to benefit from the employment which Ericsson creates and indeed Ericsson was successful in doing that by making Stockholm worlds most dense telephone city. Stakeholder Map of Ericsson: Small Shareholders Customers Competitors Low Employees Power Managers Board of Director High Main Shareholders Low Interest High (Fig 1: Stakeholder Map) As the map suggests and shows itself, that the powerful ones come first. As the main shareholders are the one with the most power. Then come the board of directors, as they have power and are as well very interested in their work. They are followed by managers, employees and competitors with their power and interest accordingly. Last are the small shareholders and the customers with the least power but some interest. D1: The students should continue their discussion about the application of strategic concepts in the organization, and recommend improvements possible in the application of these concepts. Following are the strategic concepts and the recommendations for improvements: Objectives: Ericsson before and after merging with Sony, was and is one of the leading global brands in the present world. It can be said that mostly the objectives they set for themselves are taken care of appropriately taken care of with time. They set smaller objectives and then the larger ones and they attend to them in order, which is the right way. Being one of the leading brands in the world there is very less room for error, so the way they are presently handling their objectives they should continue handling them in this appropriate order. Vision: As you may already know the meaning of vision and have an understanding of it, it is something you think of your organization being when on a later date when you start. One should not have so many big goals as when it is not taken care of the owner would feel disappoint. So here, their vision (goal) should be their but not a very big one instead something that is realistic and while you are trying to achieve it you can try to overcome it and do better by performing as good as you can in the time period allotted. Core Competencies: Here is something that plays a pivotal role in enhancing the image and use of your product, as being technologically up to date or even advance when compared with you competitors gives you a push ahead of the rest of the pack. The company should invest big in research and development from time to time and should try coming up with new ideas rather than bringing something old back in some new shape, trying something different always pays of in the end. Mission: I would surely suggest a few of my ideas which I think may or can help improve their sales and image in some way. Firstly, they mostly target todays generation which is a hit but now that they have mostly captured them they should try to bring in something simple but luxurious as to try to capture the market of elderly people. Secondly, they should try to give themselves on overall image, as to have a variety rather than just be known for their explosive but sounds.

Teaching Philosophy as Education and Evaluation of Thinking Essay

ABSTRACT: Teaching philosophy and critical thinking is one of the main ways to clearly reaffirm the value of human persons and of goodness and freedom. It is not sufficient to propose a philosophical message, but we must teach it systematically (curriculum) with a real synergy between teachers and parents. We must also build a curriculum, which includes an evaluation model based on clear goals and objectives: the intermediate and final evaluation and assessment will enable us to be sure that we have reached our aim. It is also necessary to verify every step, evaluate it and compare it to the criteria (general project, goals, objectives) we put in our mind and use in our teaching. This critical evaluation needs methods and some teaching instruments described herein. The final philosophical education will be much stabler and assure us about our scientific and formative project. I. Teaching Philosophy Philosophical thinking includes an educational dimension, according to the dialogical structure of human thinking. First of all a preliminary question: is philosophy teaching and learning possible? This is the main problem, from Socrates to today: if a science exists and can be transmitted: without any objective and universal philosophical knowing about justice, goodness, truth, man becomes the measure of all things (according to Protagoras; science becomes sensation and human knowing is under subjectivism. But it's possible to get truth by dialogue: then it is also possible teaching and philosophically thinking using argumentation and research of universal ideas, transcending simple and unfounded opinions (CIFUENTES, 1997 #4922). This thesis, from Plato to Kant and German idealism (Fichte, Schelling, Hegel) seems the main scient... ...Three Tests of Critical Thinking, in  «Journal of Experimental Education », 29, 2, Dec, 177-182, 1960. RUST V. I., JONES R. S., KAISER H. F., A Factor-Analytic Study of Critical Thinking, in  «The Journal of Educational Research », 55, 6, 252-259, 1962. SMITH B. O., The Improvement of Critical Thinking, in  «Progressive Education », 30, 5, March, 129-134, 1953. WALLEN N. E., HAUBRICH V. F., REID I. E., The Outcomes of Curriculum Modifications Designed to Foster Critical Thinking, in  «The Journal of Educatinal Research », 56, 10 (Jul-Aug), 529-534, 1963. WATSON G., GLASER E. M., Watson-Glaser Critical Thinking Appraisal, Harcourt, Brasce and World, New York 1964. WILSON D. G., WAGNER E. E., The Watson-Glaser Critical Thinking Appraisal as a Predictor of Performance in a Critical Thinking Course, in  «Educational and Psychological Measurement », 1319-1322, 1981.

Times Oldest Debate :: essays research papers fc

Time's Oldest Debate Raffikki Period 2 According to recent studies, planet earth formed approximately four and a half billion years ago. Since then, the earth has undergone many evolutionary changes. Earth began as a swirling gas which condensed to create an immense land mass. The ancient earth was basically the same as today's earth except for the environment. The atmosphere of the ancient earth was quite different, containing more carbon and nitrogen gases than oxygen. The former atmosphere is where much of present day organic molecules such as proteins, lipids, and enzymes were created in abundance. By chance or simply because of the laws of nature, those life producing compounds bonded together to create the oldest known life form on earth -- a bacterium. Other life forms evolved from the bacterium through natural selection. These microscopic organisms formed symbiotic relationships with each other and produced larger, multicellular organisms, such as man. It may seem like a gigantic leap, bacterium to man, but given billions of years, it is certainly possible. It is true that The Bible holds certain truths which would imply a reliable source of information; however, some parts of The Bible are not true at all. According to science, life evolved in the following order: bacterium to fish, fish to various land animals, and animals to man. Coincidentally or divinely, The Bible states that God said, "Let the waters teem with fish and other life...let the earth bring forth every kind of animal...Let us make man" (Genesis 1:20-26). The Bible accurately depicts the order in which life was established. But how could the primitive people who wrote The Bible know the order of which life was created without science to aid them? This evidence would stand to prove that The Bible truly is the word of God Himself. However, evolutionists would prefer to believe that the writer of The Bible was an incredible guesser. That is because many parts of The Bible seem to be written based on conjectures of what people of the time thought was correct. An example of this would be from Genesis, "God made two great lights -- the greater light to govern the day and the lesser light to govern the night" (Genesis 1:16). Obviously the greater light is the sun and the lesser light is the moon; however, the moon is not a light, it is a planet that reflects light. The people who wrote The Bible did not know that the moon was a planet; nor did they know that other planets even existed. So, they described the moon as a source of light just as the sun is a source of light.

Humanity of the Primitive in Heart of Darkness, Dialect of Modernism an

Humanity of the Primitive in Heart of Darkness, Dialect of Modernism and Totem and Taboo   Ã‚  Ã‚   The ways in which a society might define itself are almost always negative ways. "We are not X." A society cannot exist in a vacuum; for it to be distinct it must be able to define itself in terms of the other groups around it. These definitions must necessarily take place at points of cultural contact, the places at which two societies come together and arrive at some stalemate of coexistence. For European culture of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries this place of contact—this new culture by which to define itself—came from Africa, from those "primitive" cultures whose society was being studied and in some ways appreciated for the first time. The African natives became the new Other, the new way to define what Europe was at that time.   Ã‚  Ã‚   The way in which this redefinition took place was through the institution of a fundamentally hierarchical system. "Primitive" versus "sophisticated," "barbarous" versus "cultured." The anthropology of the time—articulated primarily by Frazer—espoused an evolutionary view of humanity. Societies passed through several stages of development on their way to true civilisation, and, while the Europeans had made it all the way, the Africans were lagging just a bit behind. This, however, created a problem for Europe. If Africans were fundamentally the same as Europeans (albeit farther back on the evolutionary ladder), what did that say about the roots of European society? This uncertainty created a very disjunctive view of primitives in the literature of the time. In his book, The Dialect of Modernism, Michael North suggests that, "The colonial subject is either a part of nature, utter... ... intensely inhuman, Freud shows us that these things are all one. This continuum of thought collapses into one inescapable fact: we are the primitive, and he is us.    Works Cited and Consulted Arnold, Matthew. Culture and Anarchy. Indianapolis: Bobs-Merrill, 1971. Conrad, Joseph. Heart of Darkness. New York: W. W. Norton & Company, 1988. Freud, Sigmund. Totem and Taboo. New York: W. W. Norton & Company, 1950. Greene, Graham. The Heart of the Matter. New York: Penguin, 1984. Mahood, M. M. The Colonial Encounter: A Reading of Six Novels. Totowa: Rowman, 1977. North, Michael. The Dialect of Modernism. New York: Oxford University Press, 1994. Raskin, Jonah. The Mythology of Imperialism. New York: Random, 1971. Watts, Cedric. Conrad’s Heart of Darkness: A Critical and Contextual Discussion. Milan: Mursia International, 1977.   

The Outsiers Essay Test

â€Å"The Outsiders† – Essay test The â€Å"Outsiders† by S. E. Hinton has three main themes, innocence, misunderstanding, and loneliness. In chapter eight, Johnny states, â€Å" Sixteen years on the streets and you can learn a lot. But all the wrong things, not the things you want to learn. † This quote is saying that you learn how to live a rough life you learn to fight and fend for yourself. When living on the streets; you usually don't get a traditional education like learning how to do math or play a sport.The Outsiders shows the importance of preserving the hope, open-mindedness, and appreciation of beauty that are characteristic of childhood. Primarily through the character of Dallas (Dally Winston) the novel also shows how easily experience can harden people and cause them to lose these youthful traits. It also shows the tragic results of this process. dally’s rough Childhood has made him tough and fearsome, and he seems not to care about an ything. But Dally has a soft spot too—his love for Johnny.Johnny represents the hope that Dally has lost, and Dally strives to protect Johnny from the forces that threaten to pull him into the cycle of violence that has enveloped Dally. When Johnny and Dally die, an acknowledgment of the death of any hope in his life. Johnny’s dying words, â€Å"stay gold,† also touch on this theme by referencing the Robert Frost poem â€Å"Nothing Gold Can Stay. † While the poem’s message—that all beautiful things Never stay—forces the two boys to realize that they can’t hide from the realities of growing up.Both the Socs and the greasers sacrifice their individuality to the styles and sentiments of their groups. Greasers, for example, wear their hair long and oiled, and share a common hostility toward the Socs. at the start of the novel, Ponyboy is a dedicated greaser even though he knows that certain aspects of his personality make him diffe rent from the rest of the gang (he likes movies, books and is still in school). He also feels that he is misunderstood because of these stereotypes. â€Å"Greasers will still be greasers and Socs will still be Socs.Sometimes I think it’s the ones in the middle that are really the lucky stiffs. † â€Å" It wasn’t fair for the Socs to have everything. We were as good as they are; it wasn’t are fault we were Greasers. † The gang provides him with too great of a sense of safety and strength to even consider life outside of it. But the events surrounding Bob’s death cause Ponyboy to think more deeply about who he wants to be, and his conversations with Johnny, Cherry, and Randy lead him to reflect on the path his life is taking.He begins to question the reasons for conflict between Socs and greasers, and he thinks hard about the decision to participate in the rumble. Ponyboy’s willingness to enter friendships with Socs signals the developm ent of a distinct personal identity, one that includes association with the greasers but excludes total devotion to the greaser way of life. Darry encourages Ponyboy to pursue a life beyond gang membership, and the deaths of Johnny and Dally inspire the expression of his individual point of view in the English essay he writes.By the end of the novel, Ponyboy has committed himself to a life that will, at least in part, encourage other boys to find their own paths and voices, outside of the gang identity. During the book one character Johnny Cade is only descried as one thing, lonely. His farther is an alcoholic that constantly beating him and his mother ignores him. â€Å"I prefer getting beaten by my dad, at least he knows I’m there. By the time he’s in the hospital he is so upset he refuses to see his mom. â€Å" my parents probably don’t care were I am. † Johnny is always known for being abused by his parents and sleeping in the lot, but its only his f riends that keep him from feeling completely invisible. The â€Å"Outsiders† by S. E. Hinton has three main themes, innocence, misunderstanding, and loneliness. Darry, Ponyboy and Johnny express these themes splendidly, showing their courage and heroism.

Assessment For Learning Essay

Although Hamlet and Agamemnon both follow Aristotle’s definition of tragedy, I believe Hamlet is a more tragic play. Many more innocent lives were taken in Hamlet than Agamemnon. Hamlet, Gertrude, Ophelia, Polonius and Laertes were all killed due to Claudius’ deceptive and cheating ways. In Agamemnon, Cassandra and Iphigenia were the only innocent lives taken, both caused by Agamemnon’s lack of morals. The sheer number of deaths in Hamlet that were caused by unjust means and intentions brings a great amount of unrest to the audience. It holds even greater unrest for the audience when compared to Agamemnon. The level of understanding I had with all the characters was far greater in Hamlet than in Agamemnon. Hamlet, the tragic hero in his play, was the main character. The audience was able to connect and sympathize with him through his struggles with avenging his father and his many soliloquies. Touching on the topic of Hamlet’s desire for suicide in his soliloquies gives the impression that he is trapped in his life. Even though he may be miserable in the world he lives in, suicide is forbidden by his religion, and thus he is trapped to stay in a world he hates. Agamemnon does not appear in his play until at least half way through. This makes it difficult to justify Agamemnon, the tragic hero in his play, as the main character. His wife, Clytemnestra is the main character since her story is followed from the beginning to the end of the play. Making a connection with the tragic hero in Agamemnon is much more difficult since the audience does not have a chance to connect with him, ultimately making his death less tragic and compelling to the audience. An element of Aristotle’s definition of tragedy is involving a tragic hero of higher standing. Both of these plays follow that element. Hamlet is the prince of Denmark. Agamemnon is the king of Argos, Greece. Both of these men make and error in judgement that eventually leads to suffering and their final downfall. Hamlet accidently kills Polonius, believing him to be Claudius. This sets a chain of events in action that leads to the death of not only himself, but many people around him. Agamemnon makes the mistake of trusting his wife upon his return. He walks on the purple silk into his palace, where Clytemnestra kills him. This event feels less tragic since the audience almost believes Agamemnon deserves death for sacrificing his own daughter and taking Cassandra as a concubine.

Dirt Bike Usa

TABLE OF CONTENT I. DIRT BIKES USA COMPANY I. IS REQUIREMENT AND FINANCIAL PERFORMANCE II. COMPETITIVE STRATEGY III. OPERATIONAL EXCELLENCE: 1. rent or buy decision for hardware and software 2. CUSTOMER DATABASE 3. SUPPLY CHAIN MANAGEMENT SOLUTION 4. E-COMMERCE STRATEGY 5. KNOWLEDGE MANAGEMENT 6. COMPONENT PRICE CHANGES. I – DIRT BIKES USA COMPANY: Dirt Bikes USA is Dirt Bikes production company based in California.It was founded in 1991 by Carl Schmidt and Steven McFadden, two young but experienced bikers with engineering backgrounds who saw that dirt bikes were becoming very popular in the United States as both sporting and racing motorcycles. 1. Goals and Culture * Culture: Carl Schmidt and Steven McFadden founded dirt bikes USA. They noticed that Dirt bike was becoming popular in the United States. They were founded on a friendly, family type atmosphere, attention to detail and quality, and continual learning and innovation.With these values Dirt bikes has excelled to one of the top companies, competing with the likes of Honda, Yamaha, and Kawasaki. * Goals: Dirt bikes goals are very ambitious, and if fulfilled will bring them to the top of the list. They want to improve on their services, and products, and innovate cutting edge technology that will hopefully propel them to the top. They want to increase sales in both the domestic and international market. 2. Products and services: * Dirt Bikes does not sell directly to retail customers, relying on a network of 40 distributors concentrated in the Western and Midwestern United States.A small percentage of Dirt Bikes are sold in Europe using independent distributors that sell other brands of dirt bikes and motorcycles as well as Dirt Bikes. Dirt Bikes motorcycles, parts, and service, including warranty repairs, can only be obtained through an authorized Dirt Bikes dealer. All motorcycle and spare parts sales, shipping and set-up must be handled by a certified dealer. If a potential customer lives more than 50 miles from the nearest authorized Dirt Bikes dealer, the customer can purchase a Dirt Bike or Dirt Bike parts through a certified independent motorcycle dealer.Retail customers can purchase spare parts directly from Dirt Bikes only by verifying that they live more than 50 miles from an authorized Dirt Bikes dealer. The engines for Dirt Bikes are Rotax engines from Austria and tires are from Dunlop, but many of their parts, such as shock absorbers, front wheel forks, exhaust pipes, and headlights, are from the United States. Dirt Bikes currently produces four models: the Enduro 250, the Enduro 550, the Moto 300 and the Moto 450. The two Enduros are endurance racers, while the Motos are for motocross racing.All four are very modern, with such technology as both kick and electric starters, steering stabilizers, and liquid cooling 3. Organization: Carl Schmidt is the CEO of Dirt Bikes USA and Steve McFadden serves as President and COO. The employees of this company are involved in the design, engineering and production aspects, and include 3 full-time designers, 3 full-time engineers, 4 full-time parts specialist, and a 10-employee service department. There is also a marketing manager whose job is to oversee 5 sales representatives. Overall, the company employs 120 people and has expanded greatly since the early 1990’s.The strengths of this organization is that production department is divided effectively in smaller parts, they can easily control the operations. However, the weaknesses of organization is moderately hierarchical & small, there are no separate managers for service, shipping & receiving, parts and design & engineering and manufacturing. II – INFORMATION SYSTEM REQUIREMENT AND FINANCIAL PERFORMANCE: Dirt Bikes USA relies heavily on database software such as Microsoft Excel and Microsoft Access. This is to keep track of sales, inventory, and employee matters.The best selling product of Dirt Bikes USA has been the Enduro 550 and th e worst selling product has been the Moto 450. Sales by Model| Model| 2003| 2004| 2005| 2006| 2007| Enduro 250| 1201| 1663| 2291| 2312| 2195| Enduro 550| 2832| 3290| 3759| 4078| 3647| Moto 300| 1755| 1932| 2454| 2615| 2627| Moto 450| 463| 598| 661| 773| 823| TOTAL| 6251| 7483| 9165| 9778| 9292| In the first three years, international sales were consistently rising from 2003 – 2005, and then started to fall during the last two year. They have never contributed more than 10% of the total sales.International sales have grown relative to Domestic sales, however, in 2006, there has been a decrease in international sales while domestic sales have also increased. Domestic vs. International Sales| | 2003| 2004| 2005| 2006| 2007| Domestic| 5723| 6843| 8254| 8889| 8530| International| 528| 640| 911| 889| 762| TOTAL| 6251| 7483| 9165| 9778| 9292| % International| 8. 4%| 8. 6%| 9. 9%| 9. 1%| 8. 2%| | | | | | | Figure 2: Domestic vs International Sales from 2003 to 2007 Consolidated State ments of Income (in thousands)| | 2007| 2006| 2005| Revenue| | | |Net sales| 60,144 | 64,063 | 61,529 | Cost of goods sold| 45,835 | 43,155 | 41,072 | Gross profit/(loss)| 14,309 | 20,908 | 20,457 | Gross margin| 23. 8%| 32. 6%| 33. 2%| | | | | Operating expenses| | | | Sales and markering| 4,733 | 4,537 | 3,944 | Engineering and product development| 3,141 | 2,992 | 2,339 | General and administrative| 1,913 | 1,601 | 1,392 | Total operating expenses| 9,787 | 9,130 | 7,675 | Operating income/loss| 4,522 | 11,778 | 12,782 | | | | | Other income/expense| | | | Interest income/expense| 1,747 | 175 | 80 | Other income/(expense)| (6,254)| (2,914)| (3,080)|Income before provision for income taxes| 15 | 9,039 | 9,782 | Income taxes| 1,459 | 1,729 | 535 | Net income/(loss)| (1,444)| 7,310 | 9,247 | Net margin| -2%| 11%| 15%| | | | | Summary Balance Sheet Data| | | | | At December 31| 2007| 2006| 2005| Current assets| | | | Cash and cash equivalents| 6,994 | 7,197 | 6,891 | Accounts reveivabl e| 13,083 | 12,981 | 12,872 | Inventories| 6,315 | 5,931 | 5,843 | Total current assets| 26,392 | 26,109 | 25,606 | | | | | Property plant, and equipment| 36,920 | 34,515 | 32,002 | Other assets| 1,765 | 1,903 | 1,834 |Total assets| 65,077 | 62,527 | 59,442 | | | | | Current liabilities| | | | Accounts payable| 8,943 | 8,694 | 7,592 | Accrued expenses and other liabilities| 10,877 | 9,382 | 8,654 | Total current liabilities| 19,820 | 18,076 | 16,246 | | | | | Long-term debt| 9,772 | 9,338 | 8,890 | Total liabilities| 29,592 | 27,414 | 25,136 | | | | | Shareholders' equity| 35485| 35113| 34306| Total liabilities + shareholders' equity| 65,077 | 62,527 | 59,442 | The income statement and balance sheet are the primary financial statements used by management to determine how well a firm is performing.The income statement, also called an operating statement or profit and loss statement, shows the income and expenses of a firm over a period of time, such as a year, a quarter, or a month. The gross profit represents the difference between the firm’s revenue (or sales) and the cost of goods sold. The gross margin is calculated by dividing gross profit by net sales. Revenue is not growing steadily, from 2005 to 20046 the revenue increases at rate of 4. 12%; from 2006 to 2007 the revenue decreases at rate of -6. 12%.Cost of goods sold increases steadily from 2005 to 2007, while revenue just increases from 2005 to 2006, and decreases from 2006 to 2007. Gross margin and net margin decreases from 2005 to 2007 Operating expense increases from 2005 to 2007 A company has more current assets than current liabilities, firm has enough working capital to fund investments in new products and information systems. Firm has assets to pay for expenses and to finance the development of new products and information systems. III – ANALYZING COMPETETIVE STRATEGY 1. VALUE CHAIN OF DIRT BIKE USA:The company provides value to its customers by designing and manufacturing high qu ality custom motorcycles, and by servicing those motorcycles. Dirt Bikes choose top components from different famous suppliers around the world to make sure that each component of their product perform the best quality to customer. This activity make it become a unique spirited style for which company is noted. Moreover, all of Dirt Bikes’ product are warranty repaires, shipping and set-up must be handled by a certificate dealer, if the customers living within 50 miles from the nearset athoritizedDirt Bike dealers, they can purchase a Dirt Bike or Dirt Bike parts through a certified independent motocycle dealer, and so forth. The fact showing Dirt Bike’s concentration on providing the best products and services to its customers is that the company’s parts and service department is responsible for 15% of the total revenue. Furthermore, the most significant evidence to prove that Dirt Bike has provided the best quality products can be seen in the numbers of races that this brand wins each year. Besides, focusing on diversity of products is also a reason create value for Dirt Bike in the high competitive market.The company has produced many forms of racing dirt bike such as racing specifically for different size bikes, for short distances, long distances, and even for up to six days. Currently, Dirt Bike produces the highest value product is the Enduro 550, which is the top selling bike focused toward the dedicated beginner and semi-professional racer. By products lines that represent the needs and request of customers, Dirt Bike has gained the satisfation and trust from its customers. One of the most activities creating the most value for Dirt Bike is advertisement.Most of its advertisement is at racing event or racing magazines. Although known as one of the supplier selling the highest quality to customer, Dirt Bike use a very competitive level of price to against others competitors. Honda :2012 Honda CRF ® 450R $8,440| Dirt Bike 2012:Mot o 450 $8,995 The Enduro 250 $3,250The Enduro 550 $7,600The Moto 300 $4,295| Yamaha motocross :2012 Yamaha YZ 250F $7,290| | KTM: 2012 KTM SX 250| $6,899| | | | Kawasaki2012 KX450F US MSRP Price: $8,399| | Other ways to provide value to customers are the policy of listening to customers’ feedback on how to improve the product, sharing their experiences and informing the newest products to them through Dirt Bikes USA Owner Group. In addtion to adding value to its products and customers, Dirt Bikes also have a professtional employees who communicate with customers and show up the high quality as well as the differences of Dirt Bike directly. 2. RIVALS There are many company which produce and sell dirt bikes in the world.Among of such a huge competitors, Honda, Kawasaki, Suzuki and Yamaha represent as Dirt Bike’s primary competitors. Those companies are known for completely custom in-house design. Besdides that, they not only sell products but also the parts of their bikes ,which allow them to expand theirs business and control the quality as well as the revenue of company. Furhermore, Having a large Expenditure budget on advertisement helps them build a significant image in customer’s trust, gain a strong loyalty with long-term customer, appear popular on other retailers’ websites.Four brands shoould have been consider as the â€Å" big four† threaten Dirt Bikes USA. Honda Advantages: * Slimmed -down fuel tanks * Wide-ratio gearing * Electric starting Suzuki Advantages: * Loads of mid-range * Lightweight handling Yamaha Advantages: * Lightweight frame * Lightening- quick handling * Smooth power delivery 3. FACTORS INFLUENCE DIRT BIKE INDUSTRY: * Internet: the fast development of Internet is always a good sign for society and all manufacturing process whole the world. However, it is also considered as a potential threat of any industry, not except dirt bike.The ease of access allows Dirt Bike as well as other competitors to search the information of lower price supplies, high quality but cheaper parts as well as labor or advance advertisement. There is the same source for all compaies, therefore, it is hard for Dirt Bike to make the differences from other exitsting competitors as well as new potential competitors who are going to step into this segment. * Economy situtation: There is no exactly prediction about the world in the future, especially the current economy in Europe is not a optimistic view for Dirt Bike when its the largest market is almost in those Western countries.When there is a recession, people tent to reduce their demand in leisure activities; as a result, the revenue of dirt bike industry will steadily decrease. * The policy of goverment: It can not deny the relationship between economy and politic. Lower tax on import goods and service as well as afforable tax income, so forth are factors can determine the supply and demand of dirt bike industry. When governemnt carry out the tighten poli cy, selling those products will get the big trouble. * Taste of customer: Taste is also an important factors influent on dirt bike industy.It is very simple to see that switching hobby from using dirt bike to other vehicles will cause a headache for producer to motivate their customer to spend money on unnecessary procucts. * Quality: When Dirt Bike came into this industry, it made a promise on providing high quality and services to its customerl; therefore, it must keep its promise as its competitive advantage against others rivals. * New competitors: a market with many competitors will also cause some problems to existing company in dirt bike market. The organization as well as strategy will change along with behaviors of new enterprises. . COMPETITIVE STRATEGY: The most suitable strategy that Dirt Bike USA should follow is Low-cost Leadership. As we know, it has 4 big competitors who make Dirt Bike have to apply the most attractive strategy to gain more loyalty, interest from cus tomers as well as keep its market segment in long term. Others set the higher prices for their products as the claim on the quality. If Dirt Bike could produce such high quality products but sell at an attractive price, this competitive advantage would help Dirt Bike become unique in this industry.Moreover, Dirt Bike should apply some methods to improve its business besides the Low-cost Leadership: * Firstly, Dirt Bikes is known as one of the highest quality suppliers in the world. Its warranty on satifation of customer with Dirt Bikes’ products is its competitive advantage and it should continue to make use of this advantage to expand its business to others segment or others countries. It can do the same as other rivals by selling the parts to satisfy full demand of customers or expand its business to ATV or road motorcycles, which will help Dirt Bikes’ revenue as well as gain a better profit. Secondly, Dirt Bikes alsmot sell its products through its distributors. The information they keep is just information about those distributors not its customers. Another way to improve its business is develop its information system. Set up a large source of information about about all customers not only help Dirt Bike with managing customer profile more easily, spreading out needed information faster but also create a great bridge to build a long-term relationship with customer. * Finally, it should spend more money and time in advertisement, especially E-commerce.Its website should be redesigned to make customer as well as employees has a clearly look at all products it is selling. Providing more detail, technical information, comparision to others same line products. Those essential information has to be uploaded on the Website, beautiful and clear design to help customer more knowledgeable about products they would like to buy and support employees when they talk about products customers would like to know or they would like to sell. What is more, Dirt Bikes should invite famous riders to ride advertise for their products. This method will raise the trust in customer more. . INFORMATION SYSTEMS WOULD BE SUITABLE FOR THE CHOSEN STRATEGY: * CAD/CAM: technology allows engineer and draftspeople to design systems. * Communication and collaboration systems: allows all employees to communicate effectively and efficiently via e-mail, voice mail, call center and others. * Data warehouse: allows managers and knowlegde workers store huge amount of data that can be easily accessed and manipulated for decision support. * Mobile computing systems: supports mobile employees who work with cusomer or business partners outside the physical boudaries of the organization.Supply Chain Management System: This system may allow the company to manage their inventory levels more efficiently. * * IV – OPERATIONAL EXCELLENCE: * Developing a website privacy policy: developing a web site privacy policy There are some kind of personal information the web site can collect in order to serve customers well such as name, address, email, phone number†¦these database can be collected through: Order form If customers order products, the company requires personally identificable information. With these database, the company will deliver products exactly and on time.Email is very useful to provide services for customers. For example, a customer has a problem about his product, he can send email to service center to get the help instead of going to the company, or when the company has promotional campaign, it will send information to customers to announce about the news and encourage customers to buy new products. Surveys or contests: Participation in these surveys is completely voluntary. The requested information certainly includes contact information. Clickstream, web bacons: he company can use information collected from clickstreams to well understand about what customers are interested in, what they need; since the company set up pl ans to satisfy customers or provide services they needs. Although the website collects customer information and uses them as marketing and business purposes, it is ensured that security is very important to the company. When customers enter sensitive information such as social security number or credit card number on order forms, the company always warrant that information is encrypted by using secure socket layer technology (SSL).Additionally, not share personal information to the third party is a goal of the company. 1. Improving decision making: Making the rent or buy decision for hardware and software a. Rent or purchase software | | 2 tables above shows that the cost of purchasing software is less than the cost of renting hosted software. Thus, purchasing software is the best solution | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | b. Strengths and Weaknesses of renting vs purchasing | Rent| Purchase|Strengths| -cheaper cost -alternative new software easily-having most of the required features-minimal IT staffs| -free management to deal with product's core competence forever-have guaranteed appreciation over a time period time-minimal IT staffs| Weaknesses| -limited time using-limitation on the software customization-uncomfortable when the software is out of date-frequent software updates-long term reliance on vendor support| -expensive cost-expense when alternative new software-limitation on software customization-incompatible with company needs-frequent software updates-long term reliance on vendor support|If the company rent software, it can change into another software when the old one doesn’t fit company needs. The cost paid for rented software is cheaper than purchased software, so the cost for changing does not take much as well. Suppose the rented software is not out of date, the company also does not waste available resources as well as the money spending. Software is usually sold in a package. The c ompany has to buy full package even though it may not use all the functions. Thus, the company will waste the big money for spending useless functions of the software which is going to be released.Otherwise, the company has free management to deal with software’s core competencies forever. The company do not need to concern about time using as renting. That is uncomfortable when someday the software is out of date but the company still need to use it, the manager will have to sign a new contract for continuously using. That affects to company’s operations and waste time. Renting and purchasing need to be updated frequently to ensure that they always fits to company demands, hence both of them rely on vendor support in long term. Additionally, limitation on the software customization need to be considered as well.The company rent or purchase any software, it just has authority to use this software for helping the business to run effectively. It is not allowed to transfe r or copy into many versions to sell. However, minimal IT staffs is a strong point of both renting and purchasing. Software helps the company to handle well with a large information that human can not do although amount of staffs is large. c. Other factors need to be considered (beside cost): * Duration of need (long term or short term) If the company want to use in short term (usually under 6 months), then renting is optimal solution.In contrast, purchasing will be the best solution if time using is over 6 months (long term) * Compatibility Software run on iphone can not run on android. That is example about compatibility. Similarly, Microsoft 2010 can not run on window XP SP1, SP2, rather than they are window XP SP3, win 7 or later * Friendly interface Software that is easy to use will increase efficiency for the company. * Efficiency Microsoft 2007 is better than Microsoft 2003 because Microsoft 2007 has more functions than Microsoft 2003:colorful interface, beautiful templates.F urthermore, office 2007 can open XML files which are files of older office version†¦More functions are shown on ribbon. That helps users manipulate quickly. * Supporting The software should provide support for common tools used for the volume digitization of paper documents and integration with other devices that generate digital documents such as fax servers. 2 – CUSTOMER DATABASE: Dirt Bikes USA does not sell its products directly to retail customers; however, these transactions are primarily made through its distributors’ network.The information of a customer will be collected by the company’s distributors when this sale is made. This database is then forwarded to Dirt Bikes. Figure 1: Customer Database collected from distributors. Figure 1 shows the customers’ information that distributors forwarded to Dirt Bikes. This table includes many kinds of information: customer name, address (street, city, state, and zip code), telephone number, model pur chased, date of purchase, distributor, customers’ interests and tastes (their ages, level of education, and favorite sport), and their attentions to racing events.Storing all the information at only one place is so complicated and when it develops into thousand-record table, it is difficult to manage all information effectively. Moreover, it may take a lot of time to withdraw a piece of data as needed. To be able to market aggressively, therefore, the database needs to be redesigned. The new database will include tables and reports that allow the company to know certain information about the customers. The Marketing department would also like to be able to keep the customers updated on certain events, such as races and sales, depending on their ages, education level, and their previous purchases.Using Microsoft Access program (version 2007), the database that we designed is very simple to use, yet very effective. From the main database (Figure 1), 3 sub-tables are adding and each table manages 1 kind of information withdrawing from the main data. Figure 2: Distributor table The table shows the list of distributors’ names and their IDs. Managing distributors’ information by their IDs can avoid confusions and help looking up this information easily and quickly. Figure 3: Model table This table shows the models of dirt bike that the company produces and sells in the market.Each model is managed by 1 ID. Figure 4: Purchase table This table show previous purchases. Each record comprises Customer ID (the customer that made this transaction), Model ID (model ordered), date purchase of such transaction, and Distributor ID (distributor that made the transaction with the customer). Purchase ID is the primary key of the table. Figure 5: Relationship between 4 tables. This figure shows the relationship between 4 tables: Customer table (main table), Purchase table, Model table, and Distributor table.Specifically, Customer ID is the primary key in Custo mer table and in Purchase Table; Customer ID is the foreign key. Model ID is primary key in Model table and the field with the same name in Purchase table is foreign key. Distributor ID in Distributor table is the primary key and is the foreign key in Purchase table. All these relationships above are in one-to-Many type because the primary keys of tables of Customer, Distributor, and Model can appear many times in Purchase table. It means that one customer can make many transactions with many distributors and buy many models as well.Figure 6: Identify repeat customer by query. This table shows the way we design query to count the number of transactions that customers have made so far with source is Purchase table. Based on the result of this query, we can report frequent customers of Dirt Bikes USA. Figure 7: Repeat Customers. This figure shows the process that we create report of frequent customers. Customers that bought more than 1 product of the company will be reported with thei r names, phone number, model they ordered, dates of purchases and the distributors they bought dirt bikes from.Besides knowing who are valuable customers that the company needs to take good care of, Marketing department can also recognize effective distributors to give them acknowledgements for their good jobs (rewards, bonus, etc. ). Additionally, more reports can be added to better suite the needs of the company. Several reports that may be of need to Dirt Bikes USA are Racing events report, which show customers are avid racers, as well as the ages of the customers. Below are some examples of the reports needed by the Marketing department of Dirt Bikes USA. Figure 8: Racing events.This figure shows the way we made report of Racing events. The report shows customers that will attend racing events. This information is useful to Dirt Bikes USA because it enables the company to notify customers of when certain racers are being held. This way, the customers are aware of races and event s that they are interested in attending or racing in. Figure 9: Customers’ ages, Education levels, and favorite sports This figure shows the way we design the report of Customers ‘Ages, Education Levels, and favorite sports. The report allows the Marketing department to see their customers’ tastes.It can also help the company know which group of customers they are serving. From this information, Dirt Bikes USA can improve their performance in Customer services as well as improving its products’ designs and quality to fit customers’ interests. 3 – SUPPLY CHAIN MANAGEMENT SOLUTION: A supply chain is defined as a network of organizations and business processes for procuring materials, transforming raw materials into intermediate and finished products, and distributing the finished products to customers. Fulfilling orders on time is becoming increasingly harder for Dirt Bikes.This is due to the delays of obtaining certain parts to the motorcycles , especially their fuel tanks. This is a serious issue because this could lead to loses in sales because customers do not want to wait so long for their orders to be filled. Finding a different fuel tank supplier is very necessary. In response to the supply chain problems that Dirt Bikes USA searched for alternate suppliers on the internet. There are three possible alternative suppliers that were found: Company| Location| Cost of part| Cost of shipping| Motosport. com| Gresham, OR 97230| $247. 9| Fedex: free 2days| Motocyle-superstore. com| Medford, OR 97204| $273. 99| Free ground| Xrsonly. com| Hesperia, CA 92345| $249. 95| UPS 3 day: $26. 39| The suitable choice is motosport. com. They have the cheapest price and their website guarantees 30 day price matching. The shipping is not only free but 2nd day by Federal Express. The motosport. com website also looks more professional, and has a contact page that shows a picture of their administration offices, and the address of their war ehouse. It is possible that Dirt Bikes USA could be aided by implementing supply chain management software. Logility: Voyager SupplyPlanning| Wolin Design Group: da Vinci| Features| – Maximize probabilitycost for effective solutions- Optimizing sourcing and decision making. – Helps balance resources, constraints and customer service levels. – Analyses of customer orders-Evaluate costs and revenues| – Easy to report cost of effective solutions- Free training- Allows implementation of all or one applications- Optimizing resources. – Helps balance resources, constraints and customer service levels- Analyses of customer orders| Dirt Bike USA should also invest in good supply chain management software.The figure below compares the features of The Logility Company’s Voyager Supply Planning software with Wolin Design Group’s da Vinci software. The suitable option is the da Vinci software. There are some reasons for this, first of all, the co mpany does not require the purchase for all the components of the software; a company can choose to buy only certain applications. There are even add-ons to the standard software package. Before the company purchases the product, they are allows to do a demo with employees from Wolin Design Group.If the company is not satisfied with the product, the company will not have to purchase the software. Once the demo is complete and the company purchases the software, the implementation process begins. There is a Help Desk that can answer any questions or fix any problems that may arise. The actual software package itself provides Dirt Bikes with great services. Da Vinci is a whole database where every part of the ordering, financing, and inventory side of the company can be kept. It allows tracking of the products and shipping aspects.Inventory Management and other reports are easy to access because of the tracking. There are reports for the profit, revenue and costs of Dirt Bikes, as wel l as management reports. The reports help with the decision making and the everyday success of the company. The software also tries its best to minimize the cost of building the bikes and the all around costs in general. Voyager Supply Planning software is a great option, but da Vinci provides services that are more suitable for Dirt Bikes USA. 4- E-COMMERCE STRATEGY: Internet is becoming more and more popular in modern life as well as in business.E-commerce is an useful application for seller and buyer to reach their willingness.. Almost everyone has a computer with internet connection. By having a website, Dirt Bikes would be able to expand its business better because it will reach out to many people. Customers will also find it more convenient to do their shopping online. The customers have more time for choosing products and the shopper has a chance to read about all the different kinds of bikes. It also enables them to compare bikes to one another, as well as see pictures of al l of them. E-commerce allows the company to be more competitive.Dirt Bike should sell not only motorcycle but also parts on the Web, the customers will have more option when looking its website. Advertisement about the new products, popular product on the front page of the website is also a good way to attract customer. Although there are many benefits from E-commerce, Dirt Bike has to face with risks that derive from online trading. * Buyers from all over the world may use fake or stolen credit cards and online payment accounts or they outright lie about delivery. Many claim non-delivery or damaged goods in order to get refunds.This is turn makes it costly for sellers, as they are faced with the reality that now they have lost both their inventory and money. * Sellers may take money without ever sending any product or forwarding inferior goods to the customers. * When a company accepts a customer's credit card and personal data, unless the business takes measures to protect that in formation, data is easily stolen through hacking, making both the seller and the buyer vulnerable. Solutions for better E-commerce strategy: One e-commerce company that provides excellent services is NetSuite.It allows a small to medium company to be managed completely on this one software. Some of the services : website and web store building and hosting, built-in analytics and reporting, low-cost customer service, and superior e-commerce marketing tools. In order for the e-commerce software to be a profitable investment for Dirt Bikes, the cost savings need to increase. The increase should be more than the company has made in the past, and then some because of the cost of the e-commerce software. Advantages: * Managed Completely on on Software. Website and Web store building and hosting * Built-in analytics and reporting * Low-cost customer service * Superior e-commerce marketing tools 5 – KNOWLEDGE MANAGEMENT: The most important explicit knowledge of Dirt Bike USA assets a re its engineering designs, its customer relations management, and its sales/marketing processes. This is the explicit and tacit knowledge, most of the knowledge can be documented. The engineer can graph his or her design and the customers or sellers can save their information in their documents.There is also tacit knowledge, the designers have to think about the new ideas to refresh the products and attract people, the engineers have to think about the techniques to deal with employees and customers as well, they have to think the ways to increase the employees’ productivity, some tricks that can be used by the sellers to persuade the customers to buy their products. However, the knowledge assets of Dirt Bike is not only internal asset but also external assets. The Dirt Bike use outside engine manufacture so it has be knowledgeable about the engine products that are produced and developed by their engine suppliers.The marketers also use outside media to know about the market trend, the customers interest to increase the investment from outsiders to expand the company. Knowledge management system is the system that would contain as much information as possible that can be documented and organized, from raw data to data studies. The system brings many benefits for employees and company itself. The engineers can use the data from this system for the correct engine designs and knowing whether the engine products from the suppliers are qualified are or not. The designers can use the data and get the materials for the products.The marketers can use external and internal data for making marketing plan and getting investment. The sellers can use the data for market segmentation, and determine the time for selling suitable kind of product. The managers can know the information quickly to update about the new plan, new economics trend to have better react. Finally, the company can get the products’ feedback from customers, make the survey about the custom ers’ interest. With many benefits from the Knowledge management system Dirt Bike need to use it but the problem here is how can they find he Knowledge management system company that suitable for them? The appropriate knowledge management system for Dirt Bike is Safeharbor (http://www. safeharbor. com/solutions/knowledge-management-services/) it has almost everything that suitable for not only Dirt Bike but also many different companies. Its Knowledge Engineers work directly with the company’s teams to help with some or all of the following: Content assessment, Content creation and testing, Analysis and reporting, Contact center alignment, Taxonomy, Best practices.It has some functions that other companies do not have like multi-language which is necessary for the company to have agencies in different countries, multi-currency for faster transaction and Boolean search for faster searching. The company has 3 competitive advantages: simple and intuitive, powerful and cust omizable, cost effective. It provides: Internal Knowledge base: * Powerful Search Engine. * Easy Article Creation and Content Management. * Powerful Knowledge Base Management Tools. * Improved Agent Effectiveness * Moderator Controls. * Reporting & Analytics * Cloud Mobility. External Knowledge base: Extremely Customizable. * Intuitive Self Service. * User Feedback. * Community Forums. Component| Component No. | Source| Unit Cost| Quantity| Extended Cost| | Brake cable| M0593| Nissin| 27. 81| 1| 27. 81| | Brake pedal| M0546| Harrison Billet| 6. 03| 2| 12. 06| | Brake pad| M3203| Russell| 27. 05| 2| 54. 10| | Front brake pump| M0959| Brembo| 66. 05| 1| 66. 05| | Rear brake pump| M4739| Brembo| 54. 00| 1| 54. 00| | Front brake caliper| M5930| Nissin| 105. 20| 1| 105. 20| | Rear brake caliper| M7942| Nissin| 106. 78| 1| 106. 78| | Front brake disc| M3920| Russell| 143. 80| 1| 143. 80| | Rear brake disc| M0588|Russell| 56. 42| 1| 56. 42| | Brake pipe| M0943| Harrison Billet| 28. 52| 1| 28. 52| | Brake lever cover| M1059| Brembo| 2. 62| 1| 2. 62| | | | | Total cost| | 657. 36| | | | | | | | | * Integrated Help Desk and Call Center. 6. COMPONENT PRICE CHANGES The table above shows the cost when it is not affected by any impacts. However when the front brake caliper increased from $103 to $107,the extended cost would increase, too and if the brake pipe increases from $27 to $30 the extended cost increases. The brake system represent 30 percent of the total materials cost for one complete Moto 300 motorcycle.Therefore, not only does the cost of the brake system increase, but the whole motorcycle price. | | | Brake Pipe| | | Total Cost| 657. 36| 27| 28. 00| 29| 30. 00| | 103| 653. 64| 654. 64| 655. 64| 656. 64| | 104| 654. 64| 655. 64| 656. 64| 657. 64| Front Brake caliper| 105. 00| 655. 64| 656. 64| 657. 64| 658. 64| | 106| 656. 64| 657. 64| 658. 64| 659. 64| | 107| 657. 64| 658. 64| 659. 64| 660. 64| The table shows the total cost increase when the price of the brake pipe and front brake caliper increase. Finally when the front brake caliper and brake pipe increase up to $ 107 and $30 the total cost increases to $660. 64. REFERENCES: