Don Juan by Gorge Gordon Byron

English poetry offers us an astonishing variety of plots and scenes. Their impressive scope and sophistication attract the reader’s attention from the first words. It’s possible to find anything in this poetry- it answers even the most demanding taste. In an engaging and accessible style English poems show different events or feelings which the authors are expressing. It depicts many astonishing scenes which help us to develop our imagination and give us an extraordinary basis for further intellectual development.There are many outstanding English poets whose works have very much attracted my attention but I was the most overwhelmed by Gorge Gordon Byron’s works. His poems all appear masterpieces which strike us by their creative thought and meaning. George Gordon Byron’s epic poem â€Å"Don Juan† has a very complicated plot, and there are very many issues which are raised by the poem. In order to get a full grasp of the poem, it’s very impor tant to stop at all the main themes. It’s impossible to narrow the scope of all the issues raised by the poem into a few of them because there are plenty of them.Even though many investigations of â€Å"Don Juan† have been made, we are still incapable of answering what main meaning the poem carries in itself- whether it’s a poem about love and romance, or it’s an attack upon Lake poets against whom Byron was always fighting, or this poem is primarily a social commentary. Some critics argue that this poem may very well be the description of the Fall of the Man, or Byron’s own attempt of self-therapy because some scenes depicted by Byron is Don Juan turn out to have analogy with scenes from Byron’s own life.Don Juan in many aspects shows Byron’s existentialist views. He goes away from Calvinist philosophical view of things and goes to a much more complex existentialist view which includes studying of a man’s consciousness, his fe elings and emotions, among which there is always alienation, anxiety, and angst. However, unlike all the existentialist philosophers who are going to follow Byron in some time, his philosophy in Don Juan is expressed in a different way.If Sartre, Kierkegaard and other existentialists argue that there is no God because belief for him has died in people’s minds, that people are totally lonely in this cruel world, Byron’s existentialist vision is a theistic one and he is encompassing a compassion for humanity as a greater whole. Byron also deals with themes of alienation and angst which all humans are experiencing but he is not mad at the whole world for that, unlike other existentialists. The poem also deals very much with literature critics of Byron’s times, and through his own creative work Byron does his best to show his attitude to some poets.Byron’s satire helps him to hit the target of the necessary poets very easily. Don Juan is a â€Å"literary man ifesto† to Byron’s age in which he â€Å"vigorously attacks the literary pretensions† of Romantic poets of his time. According to Jerome J. McGann, â€Å"The point of Don Juan is to clarify the nature of poetry in an age where obscurity on the subject, both in theory and practice, was becoming rampant and†¦ developed from the increasing emphasis upon privacy and individual talent in Romantic verse† (McGann, 78).In the â€Å"Dedication† in which Byron provides all the attacks on the Lake poets, he shows lots dissatisfaction by the works of Bob Southey whom he considers very insolent and untalented, unable to create any outstanding works: Bob Southey! You're a poet–Poet-laureate, And representative of all the race; Although 'tis true that you turn'd out a Tory at Last-yours has lately been a common case; And now, my Epic Renegade! what are ye at? With all the Lakers, in and out of place? A nest of tuneful persons, to my eye Like â€Å"fou r and twenty Blackbirds in a pye†¦ (Byron, â€Å"Dedication†) Bob Southey is not the only poet on who Byron performs an attack.He stands against all the principles on which the Lake poets’ poetry is based and argues that their creative work is useless: I would not imitate the petty thought, Nor coin my self-love to so base a vice, For all the glory your conversion brought, Since gold alone should not have been its price. You have your salary; was't for that you wrought? And Wordsworth has his place in the Excise. You're shabby fellows–true–but poets still, And duly seated on the Immortal Hill. (Byron, â€Å"Dedication†) One of the reasons of Byron’s attacks upon Lake poets is that his Romantic contemporaries didn’t not give credit to Pope who was Byron’s idol.This attitude to Pope, according to Byron, showed those poets’ â€Å"neglect of the rules of proprietary in verse, a neglect which carried over to the debasem ent of political and ethical ideas† (Bloom, 1). Byron’s ideal was traditional poetry and was fighting against any imagination which appeared in the poems of romantic Lake poets. He stood against depiction of romantic feelings in the poems and brining imagination into it. The satire turns out a very effective weapon in the hands of Byron because it serves as Byron’s qualifying device for his theme of appearance versus reality, which is the opposite to the outlook Lake poets were expressing.The idea that things not always appear what they seem is central in Byron’s outlook. This view of reality is shared by Kant, too, who was arguing that things were actually things-in-themselves, and we could see only the reflection of them. Byron agrees in that with Kant and shows in Don Juan that we cannot grasp the true meaning of reality, we don’t know what the things are originally. This outlook which Byron represents gives us an idea that the alleged cynicism i n Don Juan is only a facade which is covering a much more important issue.The idea that Byron’s Don Juan is Byron himself and thus the poem turns out autobiographical, can be proved by some factors. In a letter to his publisher Byron said the following: â€Å"The truth is that [the poem] is TOO TRUE†. Byron’s childhood is very similar to the childhood of his character Don Juan. Even the characters in the poem are very similar to some people with whom Byron was connected- Byron’s Father, Captain John Byron turns out Don Jose, while Donna Inez, like Byron’s mother, becomes â€Å"repression personified† (Tate, 90-1).This leads to the conclusion that all the feelings which Byron was depicting in the poem as the feelings of Don Juan, can be considered his own feelings, as well as all the events which were going in the life of Don Juan. We can see Byron himself talking to us through the character of Don Juan. The hero of the poem is introduced in the Canto the First in the following way: I want a hero: an uncommon want, When every year and month sends forth a new one, Till, after cloying the gazettes with cant, The age discovers he is not the true one;Of such as these I should not care to vaunt, I'll therefore take our ancient friend Don Juan, We all have seen him, in the pantomime, Sent to the Devil somewhat ere his time. (Byron, ‘‘Dedication†) However, that is how Byron represents himself and what his perception of his own self is. He certainly takes the plot from the pantomime which is claimed to have appeared earlier than Byron wrote his Don Juan. At the same time, the resemblance of characters which we were talking about above is impossible to be argued about.In Don Juan Byron, according to Tate’s view, â€Å"depicts the formative events of his life, his experiences as son and husband, but so thoroughfully rearranged as to raise a private past into a public fiction† (Tate, 94-5). The impu lses behind some rearrangement of facts which Byron has in Don Juan are the key to the poem because in such a manner he is doing his best to do 2 things at a time: first of all, show the events from his childhood and marriage, but at the same construct a kind of an ideal, make all the events which happened to him more perfect than they originally were.Byron is trying to show the events not in the way they were happening in reality but in the way which he would like them to happen. This peculiar approach can be explained very easily- in such a manner Byron is trying to prove to himself that he is the master of his own life, that he can decide what is going to happen in his life and what he doesn’t want in it. Instead of giving the story of Don Juan as a myth about which everybody knows, Byron makes a completely different attempt because his goal is to give a psychological sketch of the effects of environment on character.If Byron just decided to write a poem simply based in th e famous plot which everybody knows, there would be nothing outstanding in that. On the contrary, his poem is a masterpiece because he has managed to show a complicated character which is influenced by outside environment. Don Juan appears to be manipulated by women and his tragedy is that he moves from the figure of one mother to another. Just like Inez was a social and psychological peer for Don Juan, Julia becomes a parental substitute for him.Julia embodied the hatred of Byron’s mother for her husband, and the hated husband is very willingly replaced by the more easily dominated son. â€Å"Alfonso’s relationship with Inez and the chance of his being Juan’s actual father, or at least old enough to substitute as the father symbol in the exclusive ‘only mother’, ‘only son’ affliction, sets up an oedipal configuration between these three characters, which is further complicated by the possibility that Julia is ‘sister-mother to J uan† (Tate, 94-5).All the complications which happen in Juan’s life, when he is unable to understand what he is doing right and what wrong make him escape from the motherly manipulations of both women. Their attitude to Juan represents an external threat to his sexuality, so the only thing which is left for him to do is escape. The scenes of Canto 1 enable us to make a very important conclusion: in Byron’s poem Don Juan appears as an innocent man despite the traditional vision of Don Juan’s character which is depicted in myths.If in the other versions of Don Juan plot the general idea about Don Juan is that he is the one causing troubles for women and making their lives miserable, Byron’s Don Juan appears as a different image. He is the victim in the process, not the women depicted. He is the one who suffers and is forced to escape in order to find a happier future.

Media

In this book, we examine the history and business of mass media, and discuss the media as a central force In shaping our culture and our democracy. A. Critical process for Investigating media industries and Issues. L. Address key Ideas Including communication, culture, mass media, and mass communication. N. Investigating important periods In communication history: the oral, Whiten, print, electric, and digital eras. Ill. Examine the development of a mass medium from emergence to convergence. Lb. Learn about how convergence has changed our relationship to media v. Look at the central role of storytelling in media and culture. . Discuss two models for organizing and categorizing culture: a skyscraper and a map. Evil. Trace important cultural values in both the modern and postmodern societies. Viii. Study media literacy and the five stages of the critical process: description, analysis, interpretation, evaluation, and engagement. Often, culture is narrowly associated with art, the uniqu e forms of creative expression that give pleasure and set standards about what Is true, good, and beautiful. (Can be viewed more broadly as the ways In which people live and represent themselves at particular historical time.Communication: the creation and use of symbol systems that convey Information and meaning (e. G. Languages, more code, motion pictures, and one-zero binary computer codes). A. Culture, therefore, Is a process that delivers the values of society through products or other meaning making forms. B. Culture inks individuals to their society by providing both shared and contested values and the mass media help circulate those values. There eras, which all still operate to some degree, are oral, written, print, electronic, digital. A.The mass media are the culture industries-the channels f communication-that produce and distribute songs, novels, TV shows, newspaper, movies, video games, internet services, and other cultural products to large numbers of people. Mass com munication: the process of designing cultural messages and stories and delivering them to large and diverse audiences through media channels as old and distinctive as the printed book and as converged as the internet. A. Hastened by the growth of Industry and modern technology, mass communication accompanied the shift or rural populations to urban settings and the rise of a consumer culture.In digital communication, images, texts, and sounds are converted onto electronic signals( represented as varied combinations of binary number-ones and zeroes) that are then reassembled( decoded) as a precise reproduction of, say, a TV picture, a magazine article, a song, or a telephone voice. Sender (authors, producers, and organizations) transmit messages (programs, texts, images, sounds, and ads) through a mass media channel (newspapers, books, magazines, radio, television, or the internet) to large groups of receivers. . In process, gatekeeper function as message filters. Media gatekeeper mak e decisions about what messages actually get produced for particular receivers. I. The process also allows for dieback, In which citizens and consumers, If they choose, return messages to senders or gatekeepers through letters to the editor, phone calls, email, we postings, or talk shows. Elective exposure: people typically seek messages and produce meanings that correspond to their own cultural beliefs, values, and interests. Tag in the development of media-convergence- a term that media critic and analysts use when describing all the changes that have occurred over the past decade, and are still occurring, in media content and within media companies. Medium: an intervening substance through which something is conveyed or reanimated. Media innovations typically go through four stages. A. Emergence, or novelty, stage. I. Inventors and technicians try to solve a particular problem, such as making pictures move, transmitting messages form ship to shore, or sending mail electronically. . Entrepreneurial stage I. Inventors and investors determine a practical and marketable use for the new device. C. Mass medium stage I. Businesses figure out how to market the new device or medium as a consumer product. D. Convergence stage I. Older media are reconfigured in various forms on newer media. Convergence: a ERM that media critics and analysts use when describing all the changes that have occurred over the past decade, and are still occurring, in media content and within media companies. A.The first definition of media convergence involves the technological merging of content across different media channels. B. Cross platform: describes a business model that involves consolidating various media holdings, such as cable connections, phone services, television transmissions, and internet access, under one corporate umbrella. Our varied media institutions and outlets are basically in the narrative-or storytelling business. Media stories put events in context, helping us to b etter understand both daily lives and the larger world. Culture as a hierarchy, represented by a skyscraper model, and culture as a process, represented by a map model. Skyscraper High culture Good taste, high education, and supported by wealthy patrons and corporate donors, is associated with fine art, which is available primarily in libraries, theaters, and museums. Low culture Which is aligned with the questionable tastes of the masses, which enjoy the commercial Junk circulated by the mass media, such as reality TV, celebrity gossip Web sites, and violent action films. Media The 1920’s in America was a time of unprecedented growth and cultural expansion, up to that time, than ever before. America had come back from Europe victorious in the Great War and the great cities like Chicago and New York, along with the rest of the country, was now a creditor nation. This growth helped to spark the second industrial revolution in which consumerism helped to drive the needs and wants of its people. More and more inventions which the modern American takes for granted started to flood into the culture at this time. This increase in consumerism was spurred on by the gains which technology helped to make possible. The 1920’s was a very important year for the media in this country and which served as not only one of the most interesting but important decades for this medium of American culture. Television was invented in this decade but would not be introduced on a national level until the 1939 World Fair and that was only a demonstration. People got their news through the newsreels at the movies, radio, for the few people that had then but mostly through newspapers. The latter was the most important and influential medium for Americans to receive their news. In New York City, there were seventeen daily newspapers with some turning out more than one edition a day. Eventually, the influence of the radio and television would come onto the national scene and usurp the influence that those mediums had on the 1920’s but with most mediums which have such an important and resounding influence on the nation and its culture, it had to have a beginning and for radio and motion pictures which portrayed the news, the 1920’s contributed a great deal to the formation and growth of these. The 1920’s was one of the most important years for popular culture in this country’s history. Some would say that the terms â€Å"pop culture† and â€Å"important† being used in the same sentence would be an oxymoron and usually, I would not be in total disagreement with them. However, the 1920’s ushered in a greater understanding of the country which was on the move and sought a higher standard of living then ever before. This newer sense of worldly capitalism came from technology and much of that was within the media. The 1930’s and the 1940’s would eclipse the 1920’s in its dependence upon the radio.   However, its importance at this time cannot be overlooked. In moving the consumerism that would help to define the decade, the radio was able to reach the masses in a way that was unthinkable just a decade before. One example was a simple advertisement in New York City for apartments in one of its Burroughs. This single thirty second advertisement spot created a rush of phone calls to the realtor in charge of the properties that the main phone server was shut down. Over $150,000 of apartments were bought in a single day and to adjust for inflation that number would be just short of $2 million.[1] It has been proven that people respond more to what they hear and see than what they hear. This is why most people today read very little compared to what their parents or grandparents did in their youth.   Seeing the news was simply more entertaining and enticing for the majority of people. The radio exploited that truth and as a result, became the central item in a person’s house as well as in their life as a main source for their news. The first presidential election was broadcasted over Pittsburgh’s KDKA in 1920.[2] People, for the first time, could hear in almost real time, the debates and election results as they first came over the wire. This helped to spur an interest in politics and world events which before, people could successfully avoid had they not felt interested in what was occurring outside of their immediate sphere of influence. â€Å"The radio helped to create a global society for Americans who would never, could never travel to the various places which radio brought to their living rooms.†[3] This served as its major appeal. The radio also served as free advertisements for the major sports of the day. It was first protested by the baseball owners who felt that radio was stealing their product and those who could listen on the radio, would be less compelled to come to the ballpark. This seems like common sense, but in reality, the exact opposite happened. Being reminded of the ballgame and in listening to the daily actions of their favorite team, spurred a heightened interest which could only be quelled by visiting the ballpark for oneself. As a partial result, along with the heroics of Babe Ruth and other famous athletes, the sports enjoyed a golden era in sports. â€Å"Jack Dempsey vs. Gene Tunney in boxing, the Four Horsemen of Notre Dame in Football, horse racing and the further cementing of baseball as the nation’s past time, all occurred in the 1920’s because of the advances in technology; especially in the media.†[4] Another form of the media which came to take hold in the 1920’s was the newsreels. The inventor of television is still under dispute but what is not under dispute is that even though the majority of advancements in television occurred in the 1920’s, television was non existent in American homes. The closest thing to come to television was the newsreels which occurred before, in between and after the movies at the local cinema. Each one was only a few minutes in length and before 1927, were all without sound. A newsreel in the 1920’s would bring scenes of the New York Yankees winning another championship or Notre Dame running to another undefeated season. It would also bring the events of the world and Presidents Harding and Coolidge. The death of President Wilson and the beginning of the slow death which would be the League of Nations would be shown to audiences. The Teapot Dome scandal helped to infuriate a nation over the corruption of their government as well as Charles Lindbergh flight from New York to Paris in 1927.[5] People could actually see Lindbergh leaving New York and arriving in Paris instead of just reading it. This produced a highly electric feeling; a feeling which made Lindbergh the most famous non athlete of the 1920’s in America. In Chicago, the Loeb and Leopold case would have been broadcasted to a shocked Chicago as well as the rest of the nation. Two very smart and over privileged boys sought to commit the prefect crime by killing a fourteen year old boy who was picked at random. That case and the 1925 Scopes Trial in Tennessee which put evolution on trial were two events in the judicial system which would command the attention of the American public in ways that the newspaper never could. The most important form of the media was the newspaper during the 1920’s. The newspaper served as an affordable form of news and which served as the rough draft of history. Despite many newspapers being heavily influenced by one political party over another, historians look to newspapers and other primary written sources more than the various elements of popular culture when trying to interpret an era in our nation’s history. Two of the most important newspapers of that time were the New York Times and Chicago Tribune. In the eighty years since the 1920’s, the subscription of the Chicago Tribune has actually decreased from 920,000 to a little more than 620,000 in 2006.[6] This truth, despite the fact that there are roughly 180 million more Americans in the country and Chicago land, which currently totals more than 5.5 million people, helps to explain the rapid decline in the power and influence which newspapers had from then until now.[7] Also, most of the major newspapers had more than one edition per day. The Chicago Tribune would have a morning edition and then a later afternoon edition that same day with a comparable circulation. The price of the newspaper at that time was 2 cents in the city and up to 3 cents in the suburbs. Therefore, it was a cheap form of receiving the news and one which was readily available throughout the city and suburbs.   The newspaper would be divided into sections: World and Sports with other sections inverted into those sections. The events of the world and important political actions would be seen on the front of the page with editorials towards the end of the World section. Box scores and â€Å"In the Wake of the News† would help its readers to follow the actions of their favorite team.   Local sports were also very important as was seen when 109,000 people showed up at Soldiers Field in Chicago to watch the city’s high school championship football game. Another important aspect of the newspaper was the advertisements within its pages.   The largest section would be reserved for the Saturday and Sunday papers. Despite its crude pictures compared to today’s standards, seeing a model wearing the largest fashions were even more influential than the fashion magazines of its day. This helped to promote the consumerism that was so easily identifiable with the 1920’s. People need to be reminded of what will make their lives better, regardless of how little that item is actually needed. This was the job of the major clothing companies and department stores of the day and they looked to the newspapers as the number one form of advertisement for their business. One store owner stated: â€Å"The secret is not how to supply the goods but how to supply the customers by making them want what we have to sell.† This is one of the most daunting problems which face advertisers: How to create demand for the products which a producer has to sell and which usually is not essential for the customer to have. By creating an illusion in the customer’s mind which tells him or her that such an item is essential to their continued happiness; the store that can do that, will never have to worry about producing the customers and with the mass production of their products through the modern inventions of various machines, producing the goods was neither a problem as well. At that time, they were the most important form of advertisement for the major companies in America and the store owners who took advantage of this influential medium, enjoyed high returns on their investments. The media is important in this country, not just to tell us what our nation’s movie starts up to but they serve as the first draft of history. Historians, when attempting to fully appreciate the era which they study, refer to scholarly sources but it is the primary source which is usually seen as the Holy Grail. The media in all of its various forms helps the historian as well as the interested in knowing what the society at that time felt was important and was of an interest to the country at that time. The use of the radio, newsreels and newspaper all served that purpose and help to give future generations a closer look at what motivated the country as a whole and how the media helped to motivate the shape the country as well. The stuffy of the media, in all of its forms and in the years since Thomas Paine’s Common Sense in 1776 sought to convince the rest of the colonists that the choice before them was as simple yet profound as liberty or death. In much of the same way, though not always as dramatic, the mass production of sounds, words, images and ideas, which are spread across the country and even the world; it has been the media, although not always unbiased, which has helped to bring America into the information age. As the radio and newsreels were to this generation, the Internet is to Americans of this era. Despite its major differences, they both have a lot alike and show that the more things change, the more they really do stay the same. The method of transporting information might have improved but it still affects the way people think, feel and even vote. WORKS CITED Burns, Ric   The History of New York Episode 6. Los Angeles: Time Warner 1999 Paine, Thomas Common Sense New York: WW Norton   1948 Mead, Joan The History of the Media in America. Chicago: University of Chicago Press 1987 Front page of the Chicago Tribune   October 10, 1925 Front Page of the New York Times   June 15, 1927 Top 10 American Newspapers http://www.newspapers.com/top10.html Downloaded July 10, 2007 [1] Burns, Ric   The History of New York Episode 6. Los Angeles: Time Warner 1999 [2] Burns, Ric   The History of New York Episode 6. Los Angeles: Time Warner 1999 [3] Mead, Joan The History of the Media in America. Chicago: University of Chicago Press 1987 pg. 18 [4] Mead, Joan The History of the Media in America. Chicago: University of Chicago Press 1987 pg. 22 [5] Burns, Ric   The History of New York Episode 6. Los Angeles: Time Warner 1999 [6] http://www.newspapers.com/top10.html [7] Mead, Joan The History of the Media in America. Chicago: University of Chicago Press 1987 pg. 28    Media News media plays an important role in by providing information to the public about matters affecting their lives and the society in which they live. The news media also plays an important role in identifying nonmarket issues and stimulating action that affects their progress. The news media finds business of interest, and with stories instantly transmitted worldwide by the broadcast media and the Internet, a firm's actions are in the eye of the media and under the scrutiny of interest groups, activists, and government. A fortune 500 company can have a great year according to their annual report, and then get hit by a series of blasts from the media about their labor practices, causing sales to plummet . Many companies dread media coverage of their nonmarket issues and have had to develop a capability for interacting with the media. The essential role the news media plays in a democracy is accompanied by a responsibility to provide information in an accurate and unbiased manner so that individuals can formulate their own conclusions about issues. News organizations face incentives, including those provided by profits, and pressures from competition among news organizations. Similarly, journalists face incentives associated with career and professional advancement. These incentives and pressures complicate the fulfillment of that responsibility. The news media itself is a diverse collection of organizations, including television, radio, internet services, blogs, newspapers, magazines, and journals, and each faces its own set of challenges. Management and journalists are different in their perspective on what constitutes who, what where and why of a story. Media companies are motivated by profit so management is concerned with the story that makes the most profit. On the other hand, And journalist are guided by professional standards and their conduct is governed by editorial control when choosing and reporting their subject matter. So whatever journalists have career interest. Editorial control govern their conduct. In the 21st century large media companies like Time Warner Cable, ABC, NBC and CBS, etc., control the media. It's all ratings and profitability. The higher their ratings, the better the profit for the large media companies. Media In this book, we examine the history and business of mass media, and discuss the media as a central force In shaping our culture and our democracy. A. Critical process for Investigating media industries and Issues. L. Address key Ideas Including communication, culture, mass media, and mass communication. N. Investigating important periods In communication history: the oral, Whiten, print, electric, and digital eras. Ill. Examine the development of a mass medium from emergence to convergence. Lb. Learn about how convergence has changed our relationship to media v. Look at the central role of storytelling in media and culture. . Discuss two models for organizing and categorizing culture: a skyscraper and a map. Evil. Trace important cultural values in both the modern and postmodern societies. Viii. Study media literacy and the five stages of the critical process: description, analysis, interpretation, evaluation, and engagement. Often, culture is narrowly associated with art, the uniqu e forms of creative expression that give pleasure and set standards about what Is true, good, and beautiful. (Can be viewed more broadly as the ways In which people live and represent themselves at particular historical time.Communication: the creation and use of symbol systems that convey Information and meaning (e. G. Languages, more code, motion pictures, and one-zero binary computer codes). A. Culture, therefore, Is a process that delivers the values of society through products or other meaning making forms. B. Culture inks individuals to their society by providing both shared and contested values and the mass media help circulate those values. There eras, which all still operate to some degree, are oral, written, print, electronic, digital. A.The mass media are the culture industries-the channels f communication-that produce and distribute songs, novels, TV shows, newspaper, movies, video games, internet services, and other cultural products to large numbers of people. Mass com munication: the process of designing cultural messages and stories and delivering them to large and diverse audiences through media channels as old and distinctive as the printed book and as converged as the internet. A. Hastened by the growth of Industry and modern technology, mass communication accompanied the shift or rural populations to urban settings and the rise of a consumer culture.In digital communication, images, texts, and sounds are converted onto electronic signals( represented as varied combinations of binary number-ones and zeroes) that are then reassembled( decoded) as a precise reproduction of, say, a TV picture, a magazine article, a song, or a telephone voice. Sender (authors, producers, and organizations) transmit messages (programs, texts, images, sounds, and ads) through a mass media channel (newspapers, books, magazines, radio, television, or the internet) to large groups of receivers. . In process, gatekeeper function as message filters. Media gatekeeper mak e decisions about what messages actually get produced for particular receivers. I. The process also allows for dieback, In which citizens and consumers, If they choose, return messages to senders or gatekeepers through letters to the editor, phone calls, email, we postings, or talk shows. Elective exposure: people typically seek messages and produce meanings that correspond to their own cultural beliefs, values, and interests. Tag in the development of media-convergence- a term that media critic and analysts use when describing all the changes that have occurred over the past decade, and are still occurring, in media content and within media companies. Medium: an intervening substance through which something is conveyed or reanimated. Media innovations typically go through four stages. A. Emergence, or novelty, stage. I. Inventors and technicians try to solve a particular problem, such as making pictures move, transmitting messages form ship to shore, or sending mail electronically. . Entrepreneurial stage I. Inventors and investors determine a practical and marketable use for the new device. C. Mass medium stage I. Businesses figure out how to market the new device or medium as a consumer product. D. Convergence stage I. Older media are reconfigured in various forms on newer media. Convergence: a ERM that media critics and analysts use when describing all the changes that have occurred over the past decade, and are still occurring, in media content and within media companies. A.The first definition of media convergence involves the technological merging of content across different media channels. B. Cross platform: describes a business model that involves consolidating various media holdings, such as cable connections, phone services, television transmissions, and internet access, under one corporate umbrella. Our varied media institutions and outlets are basically in the narrative-or storytelling business. Media stories put events in context, helping us to b etter understand both daily lives and the larger world. Culture as a hierarchy, represented by a skyscraper model, and culture as a process, represented by a map model. Skyscraper High culture Good taste, high education, and supported by wealthy patrons and corporate donors, is associated with fine art, which is available primarily in libraries, theaters, and museums. Low culture Which is aligned with the questionable tastes of the masses, which enjoy the commercial Junk circulated by the mass media, such as reality TV, celebrity gossip Web sites, and violent action films. Media In this book, we examine the history and business of mass media, and discuss the media as a central force In shaping our culture and our democracy. A. Critical process for Investigating media industries and Issues. L. Address key Ideas Including communication, culture, mass media, and mass communication. N. Investigating important periods In communication history: the oral, Whiten, print, electric, and digital eras. Ill. Examine the development of a mass medium from emergence to convergence. Lb. Learn about how convergence has changed our relationship to media v. Look at the central role of storytelling in media and culture. . Discuss two models for organizing and categorizing culture: a skyscraper and a map. Evil. Trace important cultural values in both the modern and postmodern societies. Viii. Study media literacy and the five stages of the critical process: description, analysis, interpretation, evaluation, and engagement. Often, culture is narrowly associated with art, the uniqu e forms of creative expression that give pleasure and set standards about what Is true, good, and beautiful. (Can be viewed more broadly as the ways In which people live and represent themselves at particular historical time.Communication: the creation and use of symbol systems that convey Information and meaning (e. G. Languages, more code, motion pictures, and one-zero binary computer codes). A. Culture, therefore, Is a process that delivers the values of society through products or other meaning making forms. B. Culture inks individuals to their society by providing both shared and contested values and the mass media help circulate those values. There eras, which all still operate to some degree, are oral, written, print, electronic, digital. A.The mass media are the culture industries-the channels f communication-that produce and distribute songs, novels, TV shows, newspaper, movies, video games, internet services, and other cultural products to large numbers of people. Mass com munication: the process of designing cultural messages and stories and delivering them to large and diverse audiences through media channels as old and distinctive as the printed book and as converged as the internet. A. Hastened by the growth of Industry and modern technology, mass communication accompanied the shift or rural populations to urban settings and the rise of a consumer culture.In digital communication, images, texts, and sounds are converted onto electronic signals( represented as varied combinations of binary number-ones and zeroes) that are then reassembled( decoded) as a precise reproduction of, say, a TV picture, a magazine article, a song, or a telephone voice. Sender (authors, producers, and organizations) transmit messages (programs, texts, images, sounds, and ads) through a mass media channel (newspapers, books, magazines, radio, television, or the internet) to large groups of receivers. . In process, gatekeeper function as message filters. Media gatekeeper mak e decisions about what messages actually get produced for particular receivers. I. The process also allows for dieback, In which citizens and consumers, If they choose, return messages to senders or gatekeepers through letters to the editor, phone calls, email, we postings, or talk shows. Elective exposure: people typically seek messages and produce meanings that correspond to their own cultural beliefs, values, and interests. Tag in the development of media-convergence- a term that media critic and analysts use when describing all the changes that have occurred over the past decade, and are still occurring, in media content and within media companies. Medium: an intervening substance through which something is conveyed or reanimated. Media innovations typically go through four stages. A. Emergence, or novelty, stage. I. Inventors and technicians try to solve a particular problem, such as making pictures move, transmitting messages form ship to shore, or sending mail electronically. . Entrepreneurial stage I. Inventors and investors determine a practical and marketable use for the new device. C. Mass medium stage I. Businesses figure out how to market the new device or medium as a consumer product. D. Convergence stage I. Older media are reconfigured in various forms on newer media. Convergence: a ERM that media critics and analysts use when describing all the changes that have occurred over the past decade, and are still occurring, in media content and within media companies. A.The first definition of media convergence involves the technological merging of content across different media channels. B. Cross platform: describes a business model that involves consolidating various media holdings, such as cable connections, phone services, television transmissions, and internet access, under one corporate umbrella. Our varied media institutions and outlets are basically in the narrative-or storytelling business. Media stories put events in context, helping us to b etter understand both daily lives and the larger world. Culture as a hierarchy, represented by a skyscraper model, and culture as a process, represented by a map model. Skyscraper High culture Good taste, high education, and supported by wealthy patrons and corporate donors, is associated with fine art, which is available primarily in libraries, theaters, and museums. Low culture Which is aligned with the questionable tastes of the masses, which enjoy the commercial Junk circulated by the mass media, such as reality TV, celebrity gossip Web sites, and violent action films.

Lean Manufacturing Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Lean Manufacturing - Essay Example HR departments are the primary change agents in most of the organizations. The aim of this paper is to look at the Human Resources approach regarding lean manufacturing in today’s world. The idea is to relate human resources contribution in the process of lean production which cannot be overlooked by today’s organizations. This paper will determine how decisions are taken by the human resource department, how the human resource department develops policies, and practices for the organization and how effectively the change processes are handled in the organization. It will also clarify what strategic HRM issues should be considered to bring about any cultural and fundamental change within organizations. The policies and practices developed by human resource departments represent important forces that shape employee behavior and attitudes. Human resource department needs to take a number of actions if it wants to deal with the changes regarding culture and wants to make it more customer-responsive. The commitment at the organizational level is enhanced with a positive culture and this also allows improvements to be observed in employee behavior. This certainly acts as a strong benefit for the organization. From the perspective of an employee, the organizational culture is valued highly and it also reduces the level of ambiguity (Oliver, 2006). On the other hand, it should also be noted that cultural changes are not easily acceptable by employees. Resistance is observed from employees when the element of change is observed in organizations and this resistance may create obstacles in the accomplishment of goals and objectives of the organization. Our broad problem area in this case would be an area requiring improvement. ‘Lean Manufacturing’ into an organization is seen to bring a number of benefits, i.e. efficiency savings, improved productivity, waste reduction (Genaidy, 2003). But it is felt

Indonesia Market Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Indonesia Market - Essay Example ncial crisis through debt restructuring, the sale of some state-owned assets, the recapitalization of the commercial banking sector, the improved supervision of the capital market, and increased investments in public infrastructure. The gross domestic product grew by 4.5 per cent in 2003, 5.1 per cent in 2004, 5.6 per cent in 2005, 6.0 per cent in 2006, and 6.3 per cent in 2007. In 2006 the Indonesian government announced a package of policy reforms to improve its investment climate by means of strengthening investment services, harmonizing regional and central government regulations, and improving customs, excise and taxation services, among others. With moderate economic growth in recent years, domestic consumption has continued to account for nearly 2/3 of the GDP, followed by investment for more than l/5 and exports for l/10. With the targeted GDP growth of 6.6 per year up till 2009, the government expects to push Indonesia to recover thereafter to its pre-crisis annual average growth rates of close to 10 per cent.. Indonesia has been chosen as target export market for US soybeans in view of several factors. It has a big population of low and middle-income consumers who have traditionally depended on cheap soybean protein side-dish for nutrition; the countrys production of soybeans has accounted for less than 50 per cent of its consumption, and the price per ton of soybean imports from several producing countries have roughly doubled during the past several months. There is therefore an unfilled demand for this agricultural product which can be supplied through the produce from US farms, and even from partial sourcing from other South American countries to be subsequently exported. The soybean (scientific name Glycine max) is a leguminous plant known for its nutritious seeds which contain 40 per cent protein and 21 per cent oil. It is an important source of vegetable protein and oil for human (and animal) consumption as well as for industrial

Virgil's prologue from Aeneid Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Virgil's prologue from Aeneid - Essay Example epics; the parallel with Homer’s works can be found in Virgil’s attempt to define the two parts of the story as an odyssey and a tale of war--though in reverse of Homer’s story structure. Because of the widespread use of Latin, Virgil succeeded in reaching a large audience and, as a result, was able to share and expand on the idea of the Roman hero. The storyline of Aeneid explores the challenging journey of a pious, selfless warrior chosen by destiny to found the city of Rome. There are a variety of themes running through the story: the conflict of order vs. chaos; the superiority of the Roman hero; and the role of destiny in shaping a man’s actions. The reader can find these references within the prologue, as Virgil paints a vivid picture of the epic story to follow. The central theme of order vs. chaos can be found in Virgil’s description of Aeneas’ journey across the treacherous seas. â€Å"A fugitive, this captain, buffeted/ Cruelly on land as on the sea/ By blows from powers of the air--behind them, / Baleful Juno in her sleepless rage† illustrates the representation of chaos--Juno being the embodiment of emotional rage--stirring the weather and causing havoc. Order is found in the presence of Aeneas as he fights to reach Rome--the land of rational thought and law. Another theme is the ideal figure of the Roman hero; Aeneas is presented as the perfect example of Roman self-sacrifice, piety and clear-minded purpose. When Virgil states: â€Å"A man apart, devoted to his mission--/ To undergo so many perilous days/ And enter on so many trials† he is telling the reader of the exceptional strength--of both mind and body--found in his main protagonist. The role of destiny plays a major role in Aeneas’ story. At the start of the prologue, we learn that â€Å"He came to Italy by destiny† and the reader understands the important nature of Aeneas’ assignment and purpose. Virgil ends his prologue with the following lines: â€Å"They wandered as

Religion and Ecology Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Religion and Ecology - Essay Example Finally, I will explore human nature and destiny as part of the natural world and how our actions and religions are important in development. Religion has almost certainly shaped our understanding of and our conduct towards nature and vice versa. For example, Judaism (one of the oldest religions), nature is presented as being something that â€Å"God created†1. Another ancient religion, Hinduism, has special Gods dedicated towards the worship of nature2, which suggest that nature is needing explain by the use of Gods and spirituality. Many of the tribal religions are based around nature-worship and a special symbiosis with environment3. Most religions state that there is a special relationship between man, nature and a spiritual being and that nature is something that need taking care of by man. This much is true. However, looking at state of world and impending environmental crisis, it not clear whether this encouragement to bond with nature by religion has had enough of an effect. Many people also feel that religion encourages people to think that they are better than other species or that humans are not part of the natural world. In Judaism, God has created man in his image4 suggesting that God has created a special place in the world for man. Man is more like God than the other creatures. However, in religious environmentalism we see that newer spiritual and religious movements are encouraging human race to see themselves as part of the environment and to take care of it like they would care for their own home5. Interestingly, the nature is a finite resource and seeing humans as part of that resource could help to encourage us to see ourselves within nature and to help us maintain it like religions so often encourage. Religions also help ask and answer the question â€Å"what is the place of humans in the non-human natural world?† There are two clear schools of thought. One, common in the

North Korea history Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

North Korea history - Research Paper Example â€Å"Secretary of State Hillary Clinton warns North Korea may be put back on terrorist state list† (7th June, 2009www.nydailynews.com). After 64 years still the problem persists though in a different guise. South Korea’s rapid economic development has catapulted the country into one of the most industrialized nations in the modern world while North Korea under communist influence of the former Soviet Union and China hasn’t progressed much. This outcome has produced a number of complex and diverse dilemmas for the countries, their leaders and citizens. Above remarks by Mrs. Clinton, the Secretary of State, refer to North Korea’s persistent efforts at developing nuclear weapons and delivery systems disregarding the calls by the international community not to do so. Tensions between the two nations have been on the rise and right now there is the possibility of even a war if one side takes a rash decision to hit back. Her remarks about putting North Korea ba ck on the list of â€Å"terrorist states† have acquired a new dimension against the backdrop of recent development in the peninsula. In the first place these remarks have such far reaching implications for both the region in particular and the world in general. Assuming a negative response, as usual, from North Korea under its reclusive despotic leader Kim Jong-Il, there would be much less of a chance to get him over to agree to measures that would ultimately reduce tensions in the region. North Korea in fact tested more atomic bombs and missiles just a few days ago.

Class 6340 week 2 discussion Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Class 6340 week 2 discussion - Assignment Example ctant women on both prenatal and postnatal care since this information was not being provided due to the lack of enough nurses and midwifes in that area where the clinic was located. This gave me an opportunity to provide my gained knowledge to them and hence helped to save mothers and their unborn children. Other than that service, I also participated in awareness of stress management in different locations also in Ohio State. It was a campaign organized by a public hospital in conjunction with several other stakeholders whose initiative was to offer information to blue-collared workers about how to manage stress and even offer counseling services to them. The skills and knowledge I have had in counseling enabled me to be comfortable participating in this activity. The scholarship is qualified to be a scholarship of teaching because according to the American Association of Colleges of Nursing, its aim is to pass knowledge from an experienced nurse to a novice or even pass knowledge to the other nursing student which is what my online website was all about (American Association of Colleges of Nursing, 1999). In the first service activity in a maternity clinic, the recipients of this service were expectant women since those were the people I dealt with one-on-one offering my knowledge, skills and counseling services. Since there were no remunerations being offered to me by either the clinic or the patients, I consider it to be a service. The recipients of the second activity were the blue-collared men and women in Ohio State in those areas we visited. I consider this a service because according to Pape (2000), a service is usually altruistic and in my case, the activity was purely altruistic. The scholarship is still a work in progress as I need to advertise it to more nursing students and make them participate and post information that is peer-reviewed and credible and also that the information posted should be relevant to the other nursing students as

No topc Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words - 1

No topc - Essay Example Sometimes women are the suppressed gender in our society. Conflict arises relating to what are the socially accepted roles for women. What are the typical gender issues in our society today? Why do gender issues focus on women? Historical accounts about women’s societal roles can be traced back during the time of Abraham and Jesus. We can see how women were treated during those times based on the Bible. Men’s societal roles during this time were outside the home, as dictated by the traditional society. They work mostly in the plantation, work as carpenters, palace guards, while women nurse their children and always stay at home to do household chores. During the early colonial period where galleon trade started conquering the world, women remained domesticated. Education was only given to men who will be part of this trade. During the 19th century, different types of government began to emerge, yet these governments were not aware of gender inequality because they only continue the same norm and culture of men dominating women. The establishment of these governments was created through elections. However, women were not given the right to suffrage / vote until 1920s. Suffrage issues began to alarm some women who can’t bear the unequal rights given to women. They believe that they are also part of the success of the society and can decide whom to vote. Because of some uprisings of these women in the 19th century, women were persecuted for fighting for their rights. Men believed that women are not yet ready to take on responsibilities outside their home. Still, more women fought against these socially constructed norms about them. Some women were not fully recognized for their contributions in the society. Mostly men were given credits and privileges. We can call this kind of society as patriarchal, for believing men are more sufficient and rational as women. Economies of European countries before were ruled by men

Perception of the African American Males Essay Example for Free

Perception of the African American Males Essay

IKEAs Marketing and Expansion Strategy Analysis

IKEAs Marketing and Expansion Strategy Analysis This report is a follow on from the in class IKEA presentation based on the IKEA case study IKEA-Managing global expansion. Being a multinational successful organisation there would be various corners to look at in order to analyse IKEA however this report will focus on the analysis of IKEAs globalization and internationalization models, as well as key opportunities and threats faced by IKEA and their cultural web and how it supports their current strategies. Overview of the furniture market Based on Mintel research database, the sales of furnishings and houseware in the top 25 global economies generate annual revenues of more than $270 billion. However the sales of furniture were hit hard in 2008 and 2009 by a combination of fewer housing transactions and the recession. With the exception of IKEA, US companies (Furniture Village, Homebase, DFS etc) dominate the global home furnishings landscape, yet the worlds most lucrative regional market is still Europe. Buying furniture nowadays is not as simply organised as in the past where you just had to take what was available from the few retailers and wait weeks before it was delivered. Today competition is all about offering the right product, for the right money, in the right way. Just under half of adults (25 million) look for lasting quality when buying furniture. Retailers need to prove their quality with customer reviews and demonstrating how items can stand up to heavy usage especially in households with kids. Service is important and four in ten adults are influenced by the presence of knowledgeable and helpful staff when choosing between stores. The role of staff has shifted from one of a sales person to be one of consultant. Further visiting showrooms is a key part of the buying process for furniture as it gives the customer an idea about their wanted environment however focus remains on price. Overview of the company IKEA Group is a global and privately-held retailer of Scandinavian (Swedish) designed home furniture and accessories and now retailer of its own food label. Their products range focuses on good design, good quality and function at a low price. In the mid-2000s the company was leader in the flat-pack furniture business generating annual sales of 21.5 billion euros. The company has the biggest market share in the UK. It operates about 301 stores overall in 36 countries most of them in Europe, North America, Asia and Australia. The company was founded by Mr. Ingvar Kamprad in 1943 and although partly controlled by the Kamprad family, it is under the ownership of the Stichting INKGA group, a charitable foundation registered in the Netherlands. IKEAs main UK competitors include Asda, Argos, Debenhams, Next, Tesco, John Lewis etc. The Difference between Internationalisation and globalization Globalisation entails all the operations undertaken by an organisation that envisions itself present in many countries worldwide. IKEAs past globalisation strategy was based on one design fits all which meant that initially they did not adapt to the local markets. However as they expanded in Japan and the US they soon realised that they had to tailor made their products to fit the countrys specifications and requirements if they wanted to succeed. For instance, the US customer preferred big and ample furniture and houseware while in Japan they looked for small and simple items to fit their small living environments. In opposition internationalization is at the other end of the globalization as it takes into consideration what each particular market has to offer and not what the company has to offer to the market. IKEAs strategy has adapted over the years in a way that they think globally and act locally. IKEAS INTERNATIONALIZATION STRATEGY Key Opportunities IKEAs main strength is its international brand recognition built up on low product prices and design. Its product portfolio caters for most lifestyles and budgets. The implementation of cost leadership strategy in order to penetrate new markets is a definite strength and opportunity IKEAs costs were/are approximately 30%-50% below competition prices. The costs of transportation were cut by 80% by providing furniture in flat packs. By offering simple and modern designs and by introducing cash and carry and self service concepts, IKEAs stores were guaranteed a success. After investigating the German market IKEA took advantage of the poor organisational strategy of the existing furniture dealers in the country and changed its operations by providing customers immediate delivery of quality goods at low prices when they opened their Munich store. Their West German market has expanded through aggressive advertising despite the challenges encountered by the law suits initiated by its competitors and trade associations. In the UK, IKEA provided unique products, low prices and cashcarry service. In this way the firm achieved competitive advantage over its existing competitors that were taking as long as 3 months to deliver the goods. Opposed to their competition, IKEA demonstrated efficiency and skill. As mentioned previously, in their US placement IKEA had to adapt their product range to suit the requirements of the American market. They redesigned the store layout to provide more directions and shortcuts for customers who opposed to the idea of wandering through the store. They also increased the size of their beds, bed linens, sofas, armchairs etc., as the European sizes were too small for the American customer. In addition they also offered a customization of their products. Further their US expansion IKEA made a bold move by opening a mega store in Chicago with a new layout (double the size of a normal IKEA store). It had 3 levels that included a self service warehouse, customer service and cafe on the first floor as well as a showroom and a market place on the other floors. From there on the stored were designed to improve the direction and flow of customers. IKEA also offered home delivery and assembly for an extra charge. The US expansion was a success due to these measures and strategy adaptation despite their competition continuously replicating IKEAs products. Threats The organisations main weakness is that they are very much reliant on the European market where 82% of its stores are located. The threat here is represented by the competition as IKEAs methods have been copied by other retailers that have introduced similar product ranges at low prices. Market saturation is another threat as with the development of e-commerce in each European country customers can compare prices, reviews and switch to alternative suppliers if necessary. Further threats are represented by the recession in Europe as well as the adverse effect of a weak dollar on sales in the US. Political and economical instability of the Chinese and Russian markets are also a potential threat since IKEA is planning on expanding in these two markets. However IKEA is successfully counteracting its main weakness (over reliance in Europe) with its key opportunity expansion in the emerging markets in Asia and Eastern Europe. The Cultural Web and the Organisational Culture The organizational culture describes the psychology, attitudes, experiences, beliefs and values (personal and cultural values) of an organization which define its environment or it can simply describehow things are done around here To analyse IKEAs cultural web we need to use the Cultural Web model. The Cultural Web identifies six elements that help to make up the paradigm the pattern or model of the work environment. By analyzing the factors in each, we can see: what is working, what isnt working, and what needs to be changed. Stories The hero in the company is Ingvar Kamprad seen by the employees as a visionary who worked hard, lived simply and gave an example to all. In fact IKEA is all about the Swedishness a simple culture with simple values such as humbleness, simplicity, teamwork etc. The brand image varies in different countries depending on the countrys culture. eg: in Sweden (low priced, low quality brand), UK (poor service) etc. Rituals and Routines The Company strongly believes in staying close to its customers. In fact every store is a parent-friendly environment people come first. However IKEA is also focused on its people and their working way. Employees dress informally and work in a relaxed office environment with open plan floors. On their website IKEA remarks that A career in IKEA is not a ladder, is what and where you make it. They expect teamwork and mistakes as long as the employee learns from them. However IKEA is also about making the impossible in cost cutting. In fact, staff travelled economy and took buses or stayed in hostels. There are wall stickers to turn off lights, taps and computers after each use. Stores that cut costs the most receive a reward from the management. Symbols It is normal to find the same features in every IKEA store. For instance, all shop floor staff dress in uniform (yellow blue) for the Swedish flag colours. There is a restaurant, a food hall a childrens corner as well as little shopping helps such as pencil, paper, shopping bag, and tape measure. As mentioned previously, IKEA is all about Swedishness and focus on a minimalistic and simple design delivered in their custom flat packs. Their main symbol is the brand name and the brand colours all significative of Sweden and their Swedish founder Kamprad. Organisational Structure Typical of IKEAs organisation is their informal management which is presented in a non-hierarchical and caring manner. There is typically only 3 hierarchical levels of responsibility between the store manager and the employee. Every month there is the so called Anti-bureaucrat week where management spend a whole week in the warehouses and stockrooms. Appropriate training programmes are given to all company management. However as always on IKEA s organisational structure is their focus on cost cutting and as such they incite all designers and material buyers on cost reductions. Control Systems At the centre of the IKEAs control systems is quality control. Emphasis is put on delivering good quality, sturdy furniture that passes their standards. Further way to control their operations is by making sure that the management works closely with the staff making also sure that their warehouses are correctly labelled in their products. Rewards are given to the stores that generate more profit and that cut more costs considering that one of the principles of IKEAs strategy is cost cutting. Power Structures Senior management was predominantly Scandinavian and only in the last 5 years the strategy of only forwarding employees who were Scandinavian or Swedish speaking into management has changed. However all employees are involved the individual store operations and encouraged in their work thanks to their friendly management strategy. Employees are in fact egged on to take responsibilities in order to assess their performance; their ideal is that every employee is important to IKEAs success. The Paradigm IKEAs cultural web supports its current strategy. In the past IKEA favoured the Sweds for managerial programmes but in the last 5 years international career management is now seen essential to sustaining international growth but more steps and measures need to be taken to ensure that other backgrounds are fitted into the managerial programmes. The organizational career culture supports the corporate strategy with suitable structure and rewards. IKEAs cultural values are things like informality, cost consciousness and a very humble and down to earth approach as passed down by Kamprad along with responsibility and teamwork and ensuring that their employees are highly motivated and committed. Cultural and Corporate Strategy Changes Put more emphasis and work on employees of other nationalities/backgrounds in order to create a multicultural environment by having a diverse management and strengthen IKEAs corporate view being a multinational group. Since all IKEAs stores are out of the city centres many customers in the big metropolis do now own a car or have suitable transportation in order to be able to shop in IKEA therefore a possible strategy change could entail IKEA to have smaller retail outlets near city centres perhaps selling furniture on catalogue but definitely having stock in-store for houseware and smaller items. Many IKEA competitors offer free delivery on orders above a certain amount; as we have previously shown competition is fierce in Europe therefore this measure could ensure that the profit is taken by putting a minimum spending limit in order to qualify for free delivery (e.g. free delivery on orders above 150 GBP or more) and would therefore open IKEA to more budget oriented customers. Another suggestion to attract more customers would be to have quick assembly tips/class in store for the non-diy oriented customers. IKEA is all about self service but not many customers are skilled to deal with DIY and assembly. This measure would make sure that their products are opened to every type of customer. Self service warehouse and furniture pick up places all contain some long numbers in regards to the desired item. Perhaps IKEA could implement a new system where warehouses havelabels, not numbers making it easier on customers. (e.g. Section: Chairs. Aisle-3, Type: Victa) Conclusions IKEAs main strategies remain the same; success is ensured by adopting aggressive price strategies and aggressive advertising as well as a wide product range unlike any competitor at the moment. Service however needs to come to focus to improve customer purchasing and still maintain their market position as other cheaper players are entering the market such as the supermarkets. Is getting any bigger better?

Rose :: essays research papers

Choices made in â€Å"The Road Not Taken† Everyone is a traveler, choosing the roads to follow on the map of their continuous life. A straight path never leaves speaker with one sole direction on which to travel. Robert Frost’s poem "The Road Not Taken" is about how the choices affect speaker’s life. Frost illustrates speaker to make a difficult decision about choosing one of two equally promising roads to travel on. When speaker comes to a fork road, a decision needs to be made. Both paths are different and choosing the right one will depend on his past experience. It is this way that he chooses to decide where he is going to travel. Throughout this poem, it is obvious that decisions are not easy to make, and each decision will lead him down a different road to travel. In any case however, this poem clearly demonstrates Frost’s belief that it is the road that speaker chooses that makes him who he is. Speaker had two roads to choose from and wonders what would have happened if he had taken the other road. The poem begins with simple sentence, "Two roads diverged in a yellow wood," as the speaker sees two roads before him and obviously he cannot travel on both at the same time. He tries to consider the consequences as he "looked down one as far as I could." However, each road "bent in the undergrowth" as where each road obviously different. It is unclear to him what the consequences would be if he chooses either road. Frost states "And sorry I could not travel both," that shows the point in which speaker will choose only one path in which to travel on. It is always difficult to make a decision, because it is impossible not to wonder what will be missed out. There is a strong sense of wonder before the choice is made because he knows that in one lifetime he cannot travel down on every road. In an attempt to make a decision, the speaker "l ooked down one as far as I could". The road he chooses leads to the unknown choice in life. In the first stanza, the emphasis is on the road that was not traveled, but he cannot â€Å"and be one traveler† on both paths. The speaker has a difficult choice to make and is carefully considering his options, but he must choose one of the roads to travel.

Alice Walkers In Love and Trouble Essay examples -- Alice Walker Love

Alice Walker's In Love and Trouble Stories from In Love and Trouble, like other Alice Walker’s works, are the portrayal of black women. I would interpret the term â€Å"black women† as women who have gone through all sorts of hardship and struggles, but not all women in the world or only those with black skin. I strongly argue that Walker’s characters are better represented as women who suffer the way African American women do, than as women with black skin. I will justify my argument by referring to specific examples from two short stories in the book, namely Roselily and Everyday Use. The characters in In Love and Trouble are not represented by all women because not all women carry as many burdens as the characters in the book. One group of women excluded is the white. As Clenora points out African-American women suffer from â€Å"a tripartite form of oppression- racism, classism, and sexism† (192). All black women in the book have to bear the triple burden. Living in a white-dominant society, they are oppressed by the white. Their race also leads to their poverty. Being in a male-dominant society, they are abused by their husbands who are themselves abused by the white. â€Å"These women [are] simply defeated in one way or another by the external circumstances of their lives† (Washington 89-90). In Roselily, Roselily is also a victim of the triple burden. Although there is no direct description of how she is oppressed by the white, it is implied: â€Å"She can imagine God, a small black boy [my emphasis], timidly pulling the preacher’s coattail† (4). In Roseliliy’s imagination, God has black skin, which is a sharp contrast to the traditional white God image in the Western world. The black God image shows her ques... ...tudies.† Phylon 49.1 (Spring-Summer 1992): 33-41. Christian, Barbara T. Introduction. Everyday Use. By Walker Alice. New Jersey: Rutgers U, 1994. 3-17. Clenora, Hudson Weems. â€Å"The Tripartite Plight of African-American Women as Reflected in the Novels of Hurston and Walker.† Journal of Black Studies 20.2 (December 1989): 192-207. Hui, Fung-mei, Sandra. â€Å"Race and Gender in the Works of Maxine Hong Kingston, Alice Walker and Toni Morrison.† Diss. U of Hong Kong, 2004. Walker Alice. In Love and Trouble: Stories of Black Women. Florida: Harcourt, 1995. Washington, Mary Helen. â€Å"An Essay on Alice Walker.† Everyday Use. Ed. Christian, Barbara T. New Jersey: Rutgers U, 1994. 85-103. Weston, Ruth D. â€Å"Who Touches This Touches a Woman: The Naked Self in Alice Walker.† Critical Essays on Alice Walker. Ed. Dieke, Ikenna. London: Greenwood, 1999. 153-61. Alice Walker's In Love and Trouble Essay examples -- Alice Walker Love Alice Walker's In Love and Trouble Stories from In Love and Trouble, like other Alice Walker’s works, are the portrayal of black women. I would interpret the term â€Å"black women† as women who have gone through all sorts of hardship and struggles, but not all women in the world or only those with black skin. I strongly argue that Walker’s characters are better represented as women who suffer the way African American women do, than as women with black skin. I will justify my argument by referring to specific examples from two short stories in the book, namely Roselily and Everyday Use. The characters in In Love and Trouble are not represented by all women because not all women carry as many burdens as the characters in the book. One group of women excluded is the white. As Clenora points out African-American women suffer from â€Å"a tripartite form of oppression- racism, classism, and sexism† (192). All black women in the book have to bear the triple burden. Living in a white-dominant society, they are oppressed by the white. Their race also leads to their poverty. Being in a male-dominant society, they are abused by their husbands who are themselves abused by the white. â€Å"These women [are] simply defeated in one way or another by the external circumstances of their lives† (Washington 89-90). In Roselily, Roselily is also a victim of the triple burden. Although there is no direct description of how she is oppressed by the white, it is implied: â€Å"She can imagine God, a small black boy [my emphasis], timidly pulling the preacher’s coattail† (4). In Roseliliy’s imagination, God has black skin, which is a sharp contrast to the traditional white God image in the Western world. The black God image shows her ques... ...tudies.† Phylon 49.1 (Spring-Summer 1992): 33-41. Christian, Barbara T. Introduction. Everyday Use. By Walker Alice. New Jersey: Rutgers U, 1994. 3-17. Clenora, Hudson Weems. â€Å"The Tripartite Plight of African-American Women as Reflected in the Novels of Hurston and Walker.† Journal of Black Studies 20.2 (December 1989): 192-207. Hui, Fung-mei, Sandra. â€Å"Race and Gender in the Works of Maxine Hong Kingston, Alice Walker and Toni Morrison.† Diss. U of Hong Kong, 2004. Walker Alice. In Love and Trouble: Stories of Black Women. Florida: Harcourt, 1995. Washington, Mary Helen. â€Å"An Essay on Alice Walker.† Everyday Use. Ed. Christian, Barbara T. New Jersey: Rutgers U, 1994. 85-103. Weston, Ruth D. â€Å"Who Touches This Touches a Woman: The Naked Self in Alice Walker.† Critical Essays on Alice Walker. Ed. Dieke, Ikenna. London: Greenwood, 1999. 153-61.

The Life of William Penn Essay -- American History

The Life of William Penn William Penn, most commonly known for the establishment of the state of Pennsylvania, could also be referred to as the first great pioneer of American liberty. His beliefs on equal rights and religious toleration not only contributed to liberty in the Old World, but in the New World as well. In a time when religions persecuted one another for their beliefs, colonists were stealing land from Indians, and women had little to no rights, Penn established a sanctuary free from the stereotypes that were common in that time in history. Founded by William Penn, Pennsylvania, and the eventual city of Philadelphia, will continue to bear the marks of the advancement of religious tolerance still witnessed by society today. William Penn was born October 14, 1644 in London, England and spent most of his youth in that general vicinity. He was the oldest of three children, having a younger brother and a younger sister. â€Å"As the eldest son, Penn followed the usual path as heir to his father’s estates. Thus he was educated in the typical manner of the gentry, being sent to a private school and later to a university† (Geiter, 14). After being homeschooled until the age of 11, he began his formal training at Chigwell Academy near Wanstead in Essex, England. Penn attended several colleges throughout Europe including Oxford University and Lincoln’s Inn, a prestigious law school in London. William Penn’s education and law background helped round out his skills and prepare him to take his place in society. His eventual conversion to Quakerism, however, prevented him from entering a political career as expected by his family. â€Å"While Penn did not follow the traditional route, by becoming, for example, a member of parliament, he d... ...eiter, Mary K. William Penn. Harlow, England: Longman, 2000. 14, 167. Print. Powell, Jim. "William Penn, America's First Great Champion for Liberty and Peace." Quaker.org. The Freeman. Web. 1 Mar. 2012. Patton, Allyson. "Brotherly Love Comes To Philadelphia." British Heritage 26.6 (2006): 43-48. MasterFILE Premier. Jstor. 20 Mar. 2012. Foster, Genevieve. The World of William Penn. New York: Scribner, 1973. 32. Print. Geiter, Mary K., and W. A. Speck. Colonial America: From Jamestown to Yorktown. New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2002. 97. Print. William Penn Biography. N.p., 3 Dec. 2007. Web. 20 Mar. 2012. . Lingelbach, William E. â€Å"William Penn and City Planning.† The Pennsylvania Magazine of History and Biography , Vol. 68, No. 4 (Oct.,1944): 401. MasterFILE Premier. Jstor. 20 Mar. 2012.

Prompt: with Growing Age, One’s Loses Essay

We live in a world of war and violence, where every second news item is tragic and disturbing. As children growing up, we are protected from the horror of the real world; shielded by our parents who nurture us with infinite care and love, taking care to ensure that we are safe from the awfulness and pain of the real world we find ourselves in. In an attempt to preserve our innocence as children, our parents throw upon us a veil that conceals us from the horrific truth of the adult world. However, this veil isn’t completely shielding, and slowly, one by one, the truth of the real world is revealed to us. Our childish innocence diminishes until eventually not a single drop is left; the warm sympathy in our hearts is sucked out, replaced by a cold insensitivity to everything that we see. Our reality becomes deformed, twisted into a world of detachment. The first day of prep is a big day in each of our lives; it is the day we first become exposed to the problems of the outside world, beyond the shelter of the veil placed upon us by our parents. We begin to see throughout our schooling career, what our parents had tried so hard to protect us from. As we progress through school, the harsh realities of the real world become apparent to us, yet our innocence as children withholds till the day we see ourselves peering at the end of our schooling career. Up until the last day of year twelve, we are exposed to many of the harsh realities of the world, but we do not encounter fully the pitilessness of the world that we live in; and hence, our innocence and compassion towards others stays with us throughout school. The last day of year twelve is a day of great joy and happiness for all of us; it is the day we think we are leaving behind all the harsh experiences of our schooling careers and diving head first into a friendly, easy-going world. However, this last day of school fizzles out for the rest of our lives; the world we are heading into as we leave school is not the friendly, easy-going world that we had anticipated in our minds during high school. The joy of leaving school is short felt, and disappears within a moment’s time of entering the workforce or university. The adversity of life outside of the nurture and care of our parents’ veil of protection becomes a sudden realization that takes many people by surprise and forces them to harden their hearts. Cold insensitivity seeps into each person, slowly devouring the warmth and compassion within their hearts; eventually leaving behind individuals who see in their reality, the world as a harsh and unforgiving place, deserving no sympathy or compassion. The childish innocence that our parents strived to preserve has been lost, and the joy of the last day of school, long forgotten. Soon we lay on our deathbeds, having become veterans to the true horrors of the world that we were born into. Our cold insensitivity to the harsh reality of the world we live in has completely replaced the innocence and compassion we once had in our hearts as children. The joys of our childhood, when we had a veil placed over us by our parents, are no longer present in our memories. Our reality has been altered so dramatically over the course of our lives that the reality we had as children no longer seems identifiable to us. We die peacefully, but having experienced everything but peace in our adult lives.

Men Are More Likely to Commit Crime Than Women

Criminal commitment is one of serious problem in society. There is a question that crime is committed by more men or women. Some people think that women are considered as higher rate in criminals than men. In contrast, others, including me, are in favor of contrary opinion. The first reason is that men are usually quick-tempered. When, problems happen, instead of discuss gently to find out measures, men frequently talk loudly and beat others. For example, if an accident occurs, men are often furious. They also use rough word to talk. Thus, they possibly hit each other easily.Male self-esteem is quite high, too. Men, due to a little lack of respect from other people, will be angry easily. Additionally, men always want to be respected and admired by other people. They are proud of themselves and want that others also appreciate them. They find many ways to prove themselves. They do special or strange things to attract attention. They let others know that they have ability, power and st rength. Many hackers just hack website because of simple reasons, such as demand in showing competence Finally, men are the backbones of families. They have to shoulder great responsibility.One of them is finance. Men are more likely need to find jobs which can help their families pay living expenses. However it is not easy. Consequently, they may earn money by illegal ways, such as: fraud, robbery, smuggling†¦ In some case, men commit crimes accidently. When their family is damaged by others, they are forced to fight in order to protect their family. There are quitter a lot of case that as a consequence of self-defense, men commit manslaughter. Concluded, men are easier becomes criminals than women because of their personality and responsibility.

Emerson on War Essay

Emerson’s mind is complex because it has resulted from his wide reading of the East and the West. It puts together virtually incompatible ideals in oriental and occidental thought. Like so many topics that his essays cover, his conception of and discourse on War is both very original and influential. He lays bare the evolutionary and changing view of war as it has come down the ages. Whereas ancient Greek and Roman heroes valued war believing it to be an honorable and manly activity, it needs to be seen against the wisdom of the Vedas and of course through Emerson’s eyes to get to the reality of war. Emerson is a powerful thinker because even though most countries have relied heavily on war and will still indulge in it when the need arises, they have become conscious of the animalistic nature if this rather insane activity. Emerson is not blind to the merits of waging war. He does begin his discourse by pointing out that people are educated by war and they become manly by indulging in it. He maintains that some of the most civilized of people have stood by the necessity of war. Yet the page of history shows how war has declined because it has gradually lost its glory; and yet is far from over. For Emerson ideas are more meaningful than circumstances and war is the outcome of the latter. It seems that Emerson’s ideas on war have led so many great minds to cogitate on the topic. Bernard Shaw, Vivekananda and Gandhi are just a few. Wordsworthian and Indian spiritualistic thought seem to come together in Emerson’s mind that refuses to take views for granted. Even Christianity is questioned as it has fostered religious wars. Those who can shun war are morally advanced â€Å"for they have not so much madness left in their brains, you have a nation of lovers, of benefactors, of true, great, and able, men. †

Hard Rock Essay

Hard Rock’s three main internal information systems (restaurant operations, merchandising, and financial)? Why was this a problem? content_from_NY 2. What’s the solution? [List] -Putting a data warehouse system oTo store restaurant point-of-sales customer data, merchandise sales, customer demographic, preference oTo link data via the Web -Installing chain-wide merchandise system -Putting Radius inventory management system Adopting Lawson software financial module, lotus notes oTo update on a daily basis oTo create a common ledger for all stores allowing the system to automatically reconcile numbers for every cafes oTo reduce workload for finance staff The new systems and data warehouse are accessible through companywide intranet, allowing employee to look up customer detail and other information with just one click. 3. What’s the role of CRM? [List] How does the data in a CRM differ from that of a POS? Table) -To build and strengthen relationship between company and its customer ex. Hard Rock building an online community. – To capture information about customers and give them customized details in order to drive customer revisit. -To gain personal information about customer and use it to offer personalized service. oHard Rock gift certificate which can be redeemed on the website by using identification number in return of personal information and survey. To track customers both on the Web and in the restaurants, which allows company to offer promotion based on user behavior. -To trace online visitors and track how they respond to certain promotions. -To have a better understanding of each customer. -To take in account customers’ needs and question. -To deliver services or product that satisfies customers. -To interact with customers and analyze these interactions to maximize revenue/ profits and customer satisfaction

Analysis of the Process Description of the Property Assignment

Analysis of the Process Description of the Property - Assignment Example   Demand for inspection is required to comply with Form 24 of the Appendix to the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure. (Federal Rules of Civil Procedure) A motion is an application to a court for relief, guidance, protection or assistance and can be made either orally or in writing at any time during a trial. However, if a motion is an originating process it must be made in writing. By its very definition and nature, a motion contains four relevant parts despite the fact that there is no real statutory provision mandating these four requisite parts. (Blanchard, p. 463) The most obvious part of the motion begins with a statement of the relief or assistance and the actual order the party moving the courts wishes to obtain by way of the motion. This part of the motion should be followed by a statement of the legal authority for which the application by way of motion can be made. The legal authority is typically contained in the Rules of Civil Procedure. For example, the applicant can make a motion to dismiss on the grounds that the complainant fails properly state a claim contrary to Rule 12 of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure. (Blanchard, p. 464) The third part of the motion will usually state the grounds upon which the applicant is moving the court as well as the court’s authority to entertain the motion. The grounds relied upon are no more than the reasons for making the application and the court’s authority to grant the relief based upon the reasons stated. The fourth and final part of the motion will provide the court with the e vidence giving rise to the grounds for the motion. This evidence will consist of relevant affidavits and exhibits. (Blanchard, p. 463)   

Periodic Table Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Periodic Table - Essay Example Mercury is one of the noble metals. It appears near the bottom of the activity series and is very inactive. It is not affected by oxygen of the air at ordinary temperatures, but if heated to about 300oC it slowly combines with oxygen to form mercury (II) oxide. It does not dissolve in the monoxidizing acids, but dissolves readily in nitric acid to form mercury (II) nitrate (King, Caldwell and Williams 604).. Mercury was known to the ancient Chinese and Hindus and has been found in 3500 year old Egyptian tombs. Mercury is not usually found free in nature and is primarily obtained from the mineral cinnabar (HgS). Spain and Italy produce about half of the world's supply of Mercury (Gagnon). The element mercury is a metal which is liquid at room temperature. Mercury is a bit like lead but it's liquid. You can hold it in your hand. Heavy (density 13.6), in fact so heavy that objects such as bricks, cannonballs, and lumps of lead or iron will float in Mercury. Gold doesn't float in mercury - it behaves more like sugar in tea! Mercury does not stick to magnets, so if it gets into your carpets or under your floorboards it will be a long-term problem. Mercury vapour makes nice bright lights but is not for breathing. The highly reflective surface of the Mercury makes it the stuff of mirrors. It's also used for thermometers, barometers, electrical devices, etc. However the problem is the cumulative poisonous nature. In the pure metal form it's relatively inert, so not so deadly, but in compounds such as mercuric chloride. Mercury is a liquid it is not wet. It has a negative coefficient of surface tension, which means that the meniscus on the surface is the other way up from no rmal, or to put it another way it does not soak into material but more runs off in the style of "water off a duck's back (The Element Mercury). Mercury vapor and its salts are poisonous, though the free metal may be taken internally under certain conditions. Because of its relatively low boiling point (629.88 K or 356.73oC or 674.11oF) and hence volatile in nature, free mercury should never be allowed to stand in an open container in the laboratory. Evidence shows that inhalation of its vapors is injurious (King et al. 605). When it comes to versatility, mercury is number one. It has many used for today's common man and mad scientist. Being the only metal which is liquid at room temperature mercury has some specialist uses: It is used in thermometers because it has a large thermal expansion which is constant over a large temperature range although it is being phased out in favour of safer liquids. It is also used in barometers and manometers due to its high density. From this it has also become a way of measuring pressure in millimetres of mercury. Mercury can be used to make thermometers, barometers and other scientific instruments. Mercury conducts electricity and is used to make silent, position dependent switches. Mercury vapor is used in streetlights, fluorescent lamps and advertising signs. Mercury is also a good thermal conductor, making it an excellent shield and coolant in nuclear reactors. Mercury vapor is used instead of steam in the boilers of some turbine (Encyclopedia Britannica). Mercury easily forms alloys with other metals, such as gold, silver, zinc and cadmium. These alloys are called amalgams. Amalgams are used to help extract gold from its ores. Some mercury is used in the preparati on of dental amalgams of silver and gold for filling

Corporate Governance for Lebanese SMEs Thesis Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Corporate Governance for Lebanese SMEs - Thesis Example In the dialog box, I clicked Coding Criteria and defined my search using the Simple button. Using Query Options, I described the storage methodology for my query results (Stanford University 2012). Another feature that was vital during data analysis using Nvivo9 software was the selection of hierarchical nodes (codes) to help in furthering the classification of vital information. This procedure is very crucial since it involves the processes of merging, deleting, and adding relevant categories to the analysis. With the emergence of new and refined themes, the analysis narrows down to fields that can be interpreted by the reader of the information. Further filtering of the data involved the use of Matrix Query. This option allowed me to balance and show the emerging results in the matrix table. Each matrix cell has a newly created node for easy grouping of the needed information. Opening the newly created node explores all the elements stored in there (Stanford University 2012). Using different categories in the Matrix and Coding Query I developed my data interpretation ideas as per the emerging patterns, meanings and categories. I believe that I used the Nvivo9 software correctly in coming up with the stated

The role of NGO S and Govt on oil development Essay

The role of NGO S and Govt on oil development - Essay Example First of all, development of oils and gas reserves involve the not only the governments alone, but the land owners and the involved private organizations dealing with well development after exploration, production, and refining before distribution. The governments do not have to seek advice from outsiders in addressing the issues to do with land that may arise between the land owners and the oil industry, because the rules and regulations lie within their local to the federal government power. With respect to the land use management practices within the oil and gas industry’s established scope of regulations, the landowners can be compensated for the intended activity to occur. International Approach to Oil and Gas Development International bodies and government have been concerned with regulating oil and gas exploration and production. The United Nations Environmental Programme is concerned with encouraging environmentally safe industrial development (E & P Forum/UNEP, 1997). The Industry and Environment Office of the UNEP advocates for environmental ethics inclusion in industrial development, supports aggressive approaches to environmental protection, and encourages global information exchange. In 1974, organizations in the petroleum industry and oil companies formed a global association known as the E & P forum (E & P Forum/UNEP, 1997). Under the forum, the interests of governments, UN specialist agencies and other foreign bodies are represented. Consequently, industry guidelines, checklists, and codes of practice have been developed and information disseminated to the relevant nations, industry positions on issues have been established, and the activities of relevant organizations have been and continue to be monitored. Outsiders Advice to Governments of Oil or Gas-Producing Nations Over the past decades, there have been profound development issues raised regarding the oil and gas industry over the percentage of ownership, regulations effects, and th e management. Most oil and gas producing nations own the resources, issue the licenses for development activities, and engage in monitoring and control of the process and production. However, most emerging nations with resource reserves have to seek advice on the way forward to finance and manage oil and gas activities. This touches on legal advice, sector restructuring, standard regulations with respect to international environmental and countries’ internal laws, fiscal and contractual services, and privatization where needed (Wawryk, n.d.). The governments should not shy away from seeking advisory services right from upstream, midstream, to downstream because it lowers the cost of production on the governments side, while avoiding to strain the public sectors. The most important factors lie in the domain of legal and business issues that deal with strategic transactions and environmental policies. With respect to the recent trend in environmental degradation, the developing world, which holds the largest proved oil reserves has been reported to have ineffective environmental laws; hence in their endeavor in development of gas and oil reserves, the governments have to enquire from the standards and operating practices across the globe, to plan ahead and implement correct measures to minimize environmental damage in their resources development (Wawryk, n.d.). Most of