Resolution of Business conflict Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Resolution of Business conflict - Research Paper Example They can be monetary as well as non-monetary in nature. When calculated, it takes into account financial losses, wastage of time and wasted resources. In this specific case with two major participants, the problem was that they were influential enough to create concerns and panic in the economy and could cause fluctuations in the financial stability of the industry. The costs of this specific conflict were that first of all, it fueled the mortgage concern more than it would actually have oscillated. The Insurance Company had to pay a huge price to investors who faced a rapid mortgage decline. Goldman had apparently inflated its losses more than their actual value, and demanded most of what AIG had been left with. Goldman had a major share in the rapidity of the problems created for AIG, which was already stuck in a complicated mesh of loss in the financial world as an insurance company that collapsed because of a decline in the mortgage market. That was the point where the government intervened in the resolution of the conflict. Both parties were adamant with their behavior and did not consider any compromises which could ruin or at least create confusions about their position in the industry. Goldman, along with pressing AIG for further payments pushed other institutions such as Societe Generale, a French bank to ask for payments from AIG as well. Even though AIG was practicing a somewhat more lenient policy towards Goldman, it appeared as if there was something awkward about Goldman Sachs strategies of compelling AIG’s scenario to worsen. After research, it was found that an unreported $2.9 Billion was undeservingly lying in Goldman’s reserves- undeclared and unreported. Gold man’s concern was that AIG should not be demanding payment back from them. If it was not enough in the first place, AIG should have objected before paying it. The issue between the giant companies was not

Nans Goldin

Nans Goldin Nans Goldin Introduction If a still image can speak, it will tell you stories that will capture your imagination. It can describe how the photographer feels when taking the shot; it can also explain the emotions by the subjects to which the photograph has been taken, what the ambience of the location was and what the main feelings are during the poses. Even if the subject of the picture is not a living thing, that subject can be brought to life by the amazing shot captured by the master photographer. Composition and lighting have also contributed to the message the image wants us to understand. But then again still images cannot speak Which leaves us; the viewers create our own perception on what might the photo means. This has led to often wrong conclusions for those uninitiated by what the art offers. An image after being viewed can have different meanings, from different people some are quite far from the truth and others almost grasping it. The one, who really knows it and even feels the work, is the person at the back of the lens. One artist who really understands and definitely has passion for her work is Nancy Goldin, popularly known as Nan Goldin, she is an example of an artist who works at the most intimate level: her life is her work and her work, her life. It is nearly impossible to discuss Goldins photographs without referring to their subjects by name, as though the people pictured were ones own family and friends. It is this intimate and raw style for which Goldin has become internationally renowned. Her snapshot-esque images of her friends drag queens, drug addicts, lovers and family are intense, searing portraits that, together, make a document of Goldins life (Anon 2002). Biography Nan Goldin was born in Washington, D.C. on September 12, 1953. Soon she moved to Boston with her family. After her sisters suicide in 1965, Nan Goldin took up photography, in order to preserve her memories. Her camera turned into an eye that did not forget. Together with friends Goldin explored the aesthetics of fashion photography and got into contact with the Boston transvestite and cross-dresser scene. In the early 1970s Goldin strove for a documentary and objective depiction of the people, whom she admired for their special confidence. Later Goldin brought her pictures from this scene together in her book The Other Side. After studying at the School of the Museum of Fine Arts and the Tufts University in Boston, she moved on to color photography. In 1974 she produced her first exhibition project Image Works at the university in Cambridge. In 1977 Goldin graduated and one year later she moved to New York. During the late 1970s and early 1980s Goldins main motifs for her photographs were her friends, whom she regarded as a substitute for her family and who were very important to her. The viewer penetrates deeply into the privacy of the depicted, due to the exact titles of the photographies including name, place and date. Goldins slide show entitled The ballad of sexual dependency reflects the wild everyday life of her friends. These shows, which are added to a soundtrack of music, are particularly impressive, because Goldin adds and rearranges the slides for every show to reflect changing moods, emotions, impressions and memories. From 1986 Nan Goldin also exhibited abroad. In 1988 she had to undergo withdrawal from drugs, during which she began with a series of self-protraits, which show an intensified affect control. The loss of several friends due to AIDS infections during the early 1990s made Goldin return to depicting other people. Following the invitation of the DAAD, Nan Goldin spent a year in Berlin and in 1995 her work was exhibited alongside that of other artists as part of the new Boston School at the Boston Institute of Contemporary Art. Only one year later the Whitney Museum of American Art in New York hosted a retrospective exhibition of the photographers works. Today Nan Goldin is one of the most famous contemporary photographers and her work can be seen in many collections. The artist continues work to her lifes own rhythm in New York. References Nan Goldin Nan Goldin is an example of an artist who works at the most intimate level: her life is her work and her work, her life. It is nearly impossible to discuss Goldins photographs without referring to their subjects by name, as though the people pictured were ones own family and friends. It is this intimate and raw style for which Goldin has become internationally renowned. Her snapshot-esque images of her friends drag queens, drug addicts, lovers and family are intense, searing portraits that, together, make a document of Goldins life. Goldin herself has commented on her photographic style and philosophy, saying, My work originally came from the snapshot aesthetic . . . Snapshots are taken out of love and to remember people, places, and shared times. Theyre about creating a history by recording a history. On September 12, 1953, Goldin was born in Washington, D.C. Shortly thereafter, she and her family moved to a suburb of Boston, where Goldin was to spend several primarily unhappy years before moving away from her family. In 1965, when Nan was 14 years old, her older sister, Barbara Holly Goldin, committed suicide. Deeply disturbed by this event, Goldin sought comfort in her friends: in them, she created an alternate family. Having decided that conventional family life and traditional schooling were not for her, Goldin moved in with a series of foster families, and soon enrolled in an alternative school called Satya Community School. It was at Satya, located in Lincoln, Massachusetts, that Goldin met two people who would be great friends and influences for many years to come: David Armstrong and Suzanne Fletcher. As the memory of her sister started to become hazy, Goldin began to take pictures to preserve the present, and thus her fading memories of the past. She photographed her frie nds so she would never lose the memory of them, as had happened with her sister. Her photographs were her way of documenting their lives, and, in turn, her own. It was at Satya that Goldins fascination with photography truly began to take shape. Goldin, along with her new friends Armstrong and Fletcher, used photography as a way of reinventing herself and those around her. Heavily influenced by fashion photography, Goldin and her companions would dress up for one another. Trying their hands at cross-dressing and drag were commonplace; this early experimentation would shape Goldins lifelong fascination with the blurry line separating the genders. Through Armstrong, Goldin was introduced to the drag subculture in Boston, and thus a nightclub called The Other Side. There, she photographed drag queen beauty contests during the early 1970s and became friends with many transvestites. Goldin sought to depict her subjects in a straightforward, non-judgmental way: she saw drag as a way to reinvent oneself, and reinforced this idea by taking photographs of her friends in full drag regalia, as well as in various stages of preparation. In photographs su ch as David at Grove Street, Boston, 1972, Ivy Wearing a Fall, Boston, 1972, and Kenny Putting on Make-up, Boston, 1973, Goldin depicts her companions in various stages of drag. In the first two, the subjects stare unflinchingly at the viewer, each proud of his transformation, yet still calling attention to the fine line between masculine and feminine. In the third, Kenny is shown absorbed in his own beauty, concentrating intently on creating an alternate version of himself in the mirror. Through these portraits, along with the many others taken of her classmates and friends, Goldin illustrates the confusion and recklessness of the time in which she was creating her art. It was during this period that Goldin began her course of study at the Boston School of Fine Arts. This transition marks a change in Goldins photographic style. Prior to college she had used only black and white film, shooting primarily from available light sources (with the exception of some of the photographs made at The Other Side, for which she used flash). She soon began experimenting with color, which would become an integral part of her photographic style. The introduction of flash into her work also greatly contributed to what is known today as the Goldin look. Rarely working from natural light, Goldin illuminates her subjects with careful use of flash that extenuates her vibrant colors. She achieves bright, deep hues by printing her 35 mm film with a photographic process called Cibachrome. While normal, c-type prints are made from printing from color negatives, Cibachrome prints are photographs printed from slides. This process allows the photographer to achieve optimum colo rs and contributes greatly to the sharp, bright quality of color in Goldins prints. Goldins 1978 move to the Bowery in New York City marked a major life change, both in her career and her personal life. Goldins photographs of this period reflect her hard-living lifestyle: excessive use of drugs and alcohol and abusive relationships were commonplace in Goldins circle of friends. Goldin wrote, I believe one should create from what one knows and speak about ones tribe . . .You can only speak with true understanding and empathy about what youve experienced. True to her credo, Goldin documented everything: drunken parties, relationships good and bad, evidence of beatings, all of which created an intense portrait of a close-knit group of friends. In the early 1980s, these photographs would be shown in the form of slides during Goldins now-infamous slide shows. A melange of photographs and music, these shows were originally held at punk rock clubs in New York City in order for Goldins friends (and photographic subjects) to see the photographs that she had taken of them. Tin Pan Alley was one of the most frequent spots for these events, a locale that conveniently provided a working place for such up-and-coming artists as Kiki Smith, Cookie Mueller and Barbara Ess. At the time, the show (later called The Ballad of Sexual Dependency), which was made up of color photographs lit with flash, ran approximately 45 minutes. As Goldin evolved as an artist, the show also changed, and more photographs were added and songs were changed. Despite changes to the content of the show, the basic atmosphere of intimacy remained, and Goldins visceral style communicated raw emotion. It was in 1986 that Goldin began to take her show on the road, traveling abroad to exhibit her work. Ballad saw screen time at both the Edinburgh and Berlin Film Festivals. By 1988, Goldins drug and alcohol abuse had begun to take a toll on her life and work, and she entered a detoxification clinic. Though she had previously experimented with self-portraiture, it was in this clinic that she created many images of herself. Photographs such as My Bedroom at the Lodge, Self-portrait in front of clinic, and Self-portrait with milagro reveal an introspective Goldin, somewhat humbled by her experiences at the hospital. In Self-portrait with milagro, the viewer sees Goldin in her room at the clinic, sitting up on her bed. She leans toward the camera, taking up most of the frame; the remaining portion of the frame is taken up by her institutional bed pillows and a small crucifix hanging on the wall. Goldins proximity to the camera has caused her face to be slightly blurred compared with her sharply defined hand, which is resting on the pillows. This slight blurring, combined with the cramped composition of the photograph, communicates Goldins feeling of being t rapped within the hospital. The colors in the photograph are neutral except for Goldins mouth: situated in the center of the photograph, it is covered in bright red lipstick. This flash of color in the institutional setting catches the eye, then leads it down the pyramid-like positioning of Goldins body to her ringed hand, tense on her pillow. Self-portrait with milagro is a fine example of the simple way in which Goldin uses seemingly haphazard composition to carefully build the feeling (in this case, her claustrophobia in the hospital) that she is trying to communicate. During this time, Goldin faced an additional personal struggle: many of her close friends were dying of AIDS, which was then a relatively new disease. Perhaps most important of these was Cookie Mueller, a friend since 1976, the year in which Goldin started photographing her. Goldins series, entitled The Cookie Portfolio, is comprised of 15 portraits of Cookie, ranging from those taken at the parties of their youth to those from Cookies funeral in 1989. During the next few years, Goldin continued to photograph her slowly dwindling circle of friends, many of whom were afflicted with AIDS. She showed these photographs in many group exhibitions across the country and around the world and spent a year in Berlin on a DAAD grant, sponsored by a German organization that brings artists to Berlin. In 1994, she and her longtime best friend David Armstrong collaborated on a book called A Double Life. Composed of photographs taken by both Goldin and Armstrong, the book displays their differing styles of photographing the same person. Also included are some of their portraits of one another. A 1995 show at the Institute of Contemporary Art in Boston grouped Goldin, Armstrong and fellow photographers and friends Philip-Lorca DiCorcia, Mark Morrisroe, Jack Pierson and several others, and dubbed them the Boston School. This name stuck, and the photographers have since been referred to by this title. The Whitney Museum of American Art held a retrospective of Goldins work in 1996; it was called Ill Be Your Mirror. Composed of photographs from every period of her career, the exhibit also boasted a showing of a version of The Ballad of Sexual Dependency. Goldin continues to photograph and recently had her first solo show in London, at the popular White Cube Gallery. Her work continues to evolve with her life. Of this she writes, My work changes as I change. I feel an artists work has to change, otherwise you become a replication of yourself. With Goldins close, immediate style and stunningly beautiful images, there is no threat of her becoming a replication. http://fototapeta.art.pl/2003/ngie.php Your approach towards photography is very personal. Is not it a kind of therapy? Yes, photography saved my life. Every time I go through something scary, traumatic, I survive by taking pictures. You also help other people to survive. Memory about them does not disappear, because they are on your pictures. Yes. It is about keeping a record of the lives I lost, so they cannot be completely obliterated from memory. My work is mostly about memory. It is very important to me that everybody that I have been close to in my life I make photographs of them. The people are gone, like Cookie, who is very important to me, but there is still a series of pictures showing how complex she was. Because these pictures are not about statistics, about showing people die, but it is all about individual lives. In the case of New York, most creative and freest souls in the city died. New York is not New York anymore. Ive lost it and I miss it. They were dying because of AIDS. You decided to leave the United States because of the effect the AIDS epidemic had on the community of New York gay artists and writers? I left America in 1991 to Europe. I went to Berlin partially because of that, and partially because one of my best friends, Alf Bold, was dying and I stayed with him and took care of him. He had nobody to take care of him. I mean, he had lots of famous friends, but he had nobody to take care of him on a daily basis. He was one of people who invented the Berlin film festival. This was also the time when my Paris photo dealer Gilles died of AIDS. He had the most radical gallery in the city. He did not tell anybody in Europe that he has AIDS, because the attitude here was so different than in the United States. There was no ACT UP in Paris, and in 1993 it looked very much like in the US in the 1950s. Now it has changed, but at that time people in Europe told me: Oh, we do not need ACT UP. We have very good hospitals. Your art is basically socially engaged It is very political. First, it is about gender politics. It is about what it is to be male, what it is to be female, what are gender roles Especially The Ballad of Sexual Dependency is very much about gender politics, before there was such a word, before they taught it at the university. A friend of mine said I was born with a feminist heart. I decided at the age of five that there was nothing my brothers can do and I cannot do. I grew up that way. It was not like an act of decision that I was going to make a piece about gender politics. I made this slideshow about my life, about my past life. Later, I realized how political it was. It is structured this way so it talks about different couples, happy couples. For me, the major meaning of the slideshow is how you can become sexually addicted to somebody and that has absolutely nothing in common with love. It is about violence, about being in a category of men and women. It is constructed so that you see all different roles of women, then of children, the way children are brought up, and these roles, and then men, then it shows a lot of violence. That kind of violence the men play with. It goes to clubs, bars, it goes to prostitution as one of the options for women prostitution or marriage. Then it goes back to the social scene, to married and re-married couples, couples having sex, it ends with twin graves. You were one of the few photographers who started to take color pictures. How did it happen? I accidentally used the roll of color film in my camera. I thought it is black and white, but it was color. Unlike Egglestone and the other photographers using color, your pictures were discovered quite late. Some people discovered my photography early. It was just very underground. It was very good what they taught us at the art school: that you have to suffer to be an artist; that you do not need material, financial success, but you have to be driven. A lot of great artists came out of my school from that period. Some of them are my friends like David Armstrong and Philip Lorca diCorcia. When I first started to take pictures of drag queens my influences were glamour magazines, fashion magazines. I like Horst, Cecil Beaton, and the early work of Newton, I like Guy Bourdin. I did not know about art photography. In 1974, I went to school and there was a teacher who showed me Larry Clark. It has entirely changed my work. I knew that there had been somebody else who had done their own life. You know his book Tulsa? I knew that were precedents for using ones private experiences as art. So you just switched from this glamour photography to this very personal approach? No, I did not just switch. It was a long process of learning about the history of photography. He introduced me to August Sander, Weegee, Diane Arbus. The drag queens hated the work of Arbus. It was not allowed in the house, because they hated the way she photographed drag queens. She tried to strip them of their identity. She did not respect the way they wanted to be. Arbus is a genius, but her work is about herself. Every picture is about herself. It is never respecting the way the other person is. It is almost a psychotic need to try to find another identity, so I think that Arbus tries on the skin of other people. I have written a lot about Arbus. Some critics find connections between you and Arbus. What do you think about such comparisons? The daughter of Arbus thinks that there is no connection at all. I think there is some connection, because both of us have an unusual degree of empathy, but it is manifested in a different way. She was a photographic genius and I am not a photographic genius. My genius, if I have any, is in the slideshows, in the narratives. It is not in making perfect images. It is in the groupings of work. It is in relationships I have with other people. Is it not connected with your fascination with literature? You mentioned FaulknerÉ Faulkner wrote about one tiny community and he wrote around 25 great novels and many short stories. They are always set in the place he loves. It has an invented name, but it is a real place. It is all based on what he knows. I always fought strongly against traditional documentary photography. It has changed, but in the 1970s it was always strong white men going to India, making exotic pictures of something they have no idea of. I always felt that I have right to photograph only my own tribe or people, when I travel, to whom I get close to and that I gave something to. I never took pictures with a long lens, it is always short and I have to get close to people I photograph. What is the relation between the diary you write and the pictures you take? Nothing. My diary is really boring. Have you not tried to put together both diaries, textual and visual, and do something like Peter Beard? No. I think these are two different thingsÉ Have you ever published parts of this diary? No, I would never do this. I am writing it for myself and nobody else. My wish is to burn it immediately after my deathÉ Some of your pictures are blurred. You did it on purpose? Actually, I take blurred pictures, because I take pictures no matter what the light is. If I want to take a picture, I do not care if there is light or no light. If I want to take a picture, I take it no matter what. Sometimes I use very low shutter speed and they come out blurred, but it was never an intention like David Armstrong started to do what we call, he and I, Fuzzy-wuzzy landscapes. He looked at the back of my pictures and studied them. He started to take pictures like them without people in them. They are just out of focus landscapes. He actually did it, intentionally threw the camera out of focus. I have never done it in my life. I take pictures like in here when there is no sun or light that I think all my pictures are going to be out of focus. Even Valerie and Bruno and whatever I take, because there is not enough light, and so I use a very low shutter speed. It used to be because I was drunk, but now I am not. The drugs influenced all my life. Both good and bad. I hear d about an artist in Poland, Witkacy, who wrote down on his paintings all the drugs he was on. Depending how many drugs he took, that is how much he charged for the portrait. I saw his portrait at the National Museum, a kind of German expressionism, and I loved it. I saw your pictures in the 50th anniversary issue of Aperture magazine. What shocked me most was the relation between them and the new Leica ad this one with your hands holding the M7, very artistic and black and white I never thought of your photography being as classic as Leica. I always use Leica. Previously it was M6, and recently I work with M7 camera. I received one as a salary for this particular ad. However, I immediately lost it while photographing the Valerie floating series. I was swimming with her holding my camera in one hand and taking pictures at the same time. It was really difficult. The camera got broken, but the photographs were really worth the price. How do you feel having these radical works being shown at the most prestigious museums? In Paris, for instance, I had a choice between the Centre Pompidou, where all the people go, and the most beautiful museum in Paris, Musee de la Ville de Paris. I liked the women who worked at the museum, but I also loved the man who was taking over the Pompidou. I am very loyal to anybody who has helped me, especially before I was famous. Some told me that I should choose this beautiful museum, but I chose the Pompidou, because I wanted people to see it. To the beautiful museum go only artists and elites. What are you going to do next? After the Devils Playground and the Matthew Marks show in New York? I do not know. I never know. I think it is going to be something different, because I have been through hard times. We will see how the market will react to this, but I do not care about the art market at all. My dealers are becoming greedier and greedier. They start talking to me in this strange way saying We will show this and this picture, because they are going to sell well. I am worried about that they no longer even pretend to have any ideals. At least my American dealers. Interview by Adam Mazur and Paulina Skirgajllo-Krajewska

Platos The Republic †Should We Search for the Truth? Essay -- Philos

Plato's Republic – Should We Search for the Truth? There is the common belief that what we experience as reality is just a mere illusion of the truth. Plato's allegory of the cave in "The Republic" describes human beings as being chained in a cave, such that they cannot move but are forced to face a wall, onto which shadows of puppets and themselves are projected. They are deceived into believing that their reality is composed of these "shadows" when actually, the world of truth is the "light" outside the cave. This analogy insinuates the probability that we have been entertaining "false notions" about life, and all our beliefs, ranging from religion to the sciences, are merely representations of the truth. What is this "light" that burns so bright in Plato's eyes? Are we certain that it exists? Because for all we know, life might be nothing but the cave itself. Plato appears certain of what the "light" beyond the cave will reveal to the one who has made the journey out. Firstly it will provide a means of illumination that will expose the "real existence" of the world. In the brightness of the "light", everything would be seen in their full beauty instead of the vague impressions shadows create. He would receive accurate information about life and therefore dispense with the need to discern between the truth and the lie. Furthermore, he would also see himself in his own "proper place". He would no longer be confused about his identity, role in society or purpose in life, and could then carry out his duties confidently and effectively. Secondly the "light" itself also symbolizes the "idea of good". Since it is mentioned in the allegory that if one were to act "rationally", he would need to rely on the "idea of good". It ca... ...tion we receive from life. In this case of the allegory, Plato is working on a whole plane of uncertainty as he is neither able to determine the existence of a different reality nor disprove the credibility of our lives. The world as we know it is indeed imperfect but imperfection should not qualify it as being false. Should we stop all things and embark on the intellectual ascent to the truth? Philosophically, yes. For according to Plato it would be better to "endure anything, rather than think as they do and live after their manner". However it is questionable if the need for knowledge of the truth (which might not even exist) is great enough to justify a journey in search for it. This is a decision we have to make for ourselves. Works Cited Plato. Republic. Trans. Benjamin Jowett. 8 Jan. 2001. http://www.scholars.nus.edu.sg/writing/ccwp11/allegory.htm.

Development and Potential of China in the Global Market

The Chinese economy has been showing rapid growth in the past decade and there seems to be a potential for strong growth into the foreseeable future.   China has undergone a great transformation from a nation that was one of the world’s greatest opponents of globalization into a committed advocate of globalization. The transformation set in after 1978, when Deng Xiaoping and other leaders began to focus on market-oriented economic development. The Chinese economy is today far more open than Japan and this has been made possible largely due to adoption of the rule of law, of commitment to competition, of widespread use of English, of foreign education, and of many foreign laws and institutions (Overholt, 2006).With respect to liberalization and globalization, China has effectively become an ally of U.S. and Southeast Asian, supporting freer trade and investment than is acceptable to Japan, India and Brazil. Global marketing is becoming more and more important along the years with the increasing trend in internationalization. In the early 1980s it dismantled collective farming and allowed private enterprise again.Now it is one of the world's top exporters and is attracting record amounts of foreign investment. However, China's transformation is not matched by political change. Having gained admission to the World Trade Organisation, China is benefiting from increased access to foreign markets, but in return it is under an obligation to expose itself to competition from abroad. Relations with trading partners have been strained over China's huge trade surplus and the piracy of goods (BBC, 2006).China’s large and rapidly growing market has attracted large volumes of FDI in recent years (US$54 billion in 2004) as transnational corporations have invested heavily in order to benefit from the country’s emerging middle class and its higher purchasing power (GlobalEdge, 2006). However, there are some hurdles to be crossed if China is to develop to its full potential in the global market. According to Zhang Lichuan, a Director with the Statistical Department of General Administration of Customs of China, there are four major obstacles to Chinese foreign trade (People’s Daily Online, 2006): ·   China should deal with pressure from international markets that are gradually becoming saturated. ·   The cost of Chinese exports is increasing, partly because of the higher cost of labor and environmental protection. ·   Increasing international trade protection has caused China to stumble into difficult territory. In fact, China has been involved in the world's largest number of anti-dumping cases in recent years. · The trade imbalance between China and other countries is getting worse. As the Renminbi appreciates, Chinese enterprises will face greater exchange risks in import-export trade. Increasing pressures from the appreciating Renminbi will create new requirements and challenges for Chinese enterprises engage d in import-export trade.Analysis of the country’s global competitiveness:According to the CIA World Fact Book, China’s economy grew at an average rate of 10% per year during the period 1990-2004, the highest growth rate in the world. China’s gross domestic product (GDP) grew 10.0% in 2003, and even faster, 10.1%, in 2004, and 9.9% in 2005 despite attempts by the government to cool the economy. China’s total trade in 2005 surpassed $1.4 trillion, making China the world’s third-largest trading nation after the U.S. and Germany (CIA Factbook, 2005).Export-Import figures: China's merchandise exports totaled $762.3 billion and imports totaled $660.2 billion in 2004. Its global trade surplus surged from $32 billion in 2004 to $102 billion in 2005. China's primary trading partners include Japan, the EU, the United States, South Korea, Hong Kong, and Taiwan. According to U.S. statistics, China had a trade surplus with the U.S. of $201.6 billion in 2005 (C IA Factbook, 2005).China and WTO: China has taken important steps to open its foreign trading system and integrate itself into the world trading system. In November 1991, China joined the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) group, which promotes free trade and cooperation in the economic, trade, investment, and technology spheres. China formally joined the WTO in December 2001. As part of this far-reaching trade liberalization agreement, China agreed to lower tariffs and abolish market impediments (NTE Report, 2005). By 2005, average tariff rates on key U.S. agricultural exports dropped from 31% to 14% and on industrial products from 25% to 9%.The agreement also opens up new opportunities for U.S. providers of services like banking, insurance, and telecommunications. China has made significant progress implementing its WTO commitments, but serious concerns remain, particularly in the realm of intellectual property rights protection. China is now one of the most important market s for U.S. exports: in 2005, U.S. exports to China totaled $41.8 billion. U.S. agricultural exports have increased dramatically, making China the fourth-largest agricultural export market (after Canada, Japan, and Mexico). Over the same period (2001-1005), U.S. imports from China have risen from $102 billion to $243.5 billion.Export growth continues to be a major driver of China's rapid economic growth. To increase exports, China has pursued policies such as fostering the rapid development of foreign-invested factories, which assemble imported components into consumer goods for export, and liberalizing trading rights. In its eleventh Five-Year Program, adopted in 2005, China placed greater emphasis on developing a consumer demand-driven economy to sustain economic growth and address global imbalances. The April 11, 2006 U.S.-China Joint Commission on Commerce and Trade (JCCT) has produced agreements on key U.S. trade concerns ranging from market access to U.S. beef, medical devices, and telecommunications; to the enforcement of intellectual property rights, including, significantly, software (CIA Factbook, 2006).Foreign Investment: Since the early 1990s, China has allowed foreign investors to manufacture and sell a wide range of goods on the domestic market, and authorized the establishment of wholly foreign-owned enterprises, now the preferred form of FDI. China is now one of the leading recipients of FDI in the world, receiving $60 billion in 2005, for a cumulative total of $623.8 billion. As part of its WTO accession, China has undertaken to eliminate certain trade-related investment measures and to open up specified sectors that had previously been closed to foreign investment. Major remaining barriers to foreign investment include opaque and inconsistently enforced laws and regulations and the lack of a rules-based legal infrastructure. Foreign exchange reserves were $819 billion at the end of 2005, and have now surpassed those of Japan, making China†™s foreign exchange reserves the largest in the world (NTE Report, 2005).Competitive Advantage:A study by GlobalEdgeTM titled, â€Å"Market Potential Indicators for Emerging Markets – 2005†, studies the market potential of 24 countries identified as â€Å"Emerging Markets† by The Economist. The Emerging Economies are countries that have very high growth rates which means enormous market potential. They can be distinguished by the recent progress they have made in economic liberalization. These countries are characterized by their increasing need for capital equipment, machinery, power transmission equipment, transportation equipment and high-technology products. An indexing study is made by MSU-CIBER to help the companies compare the Emerging Markets with each other on eight dimensions (Lopez-Claros et al, 2006):Market Size:   With regard to market size, China stands first with India and Russia in the second and third places respectively.Market growth rate, China is third after Venezuela and Malaysia.Market Intensity: China is ranked last among all other emerging economies.Market consumption capacity: China is 12thCommercial infrastructure: China is 14th.Economic freedom: China ranks 24th.Market receptivity: China is 12thCountry risk: China is 11thOverall market potential index: China is third after Hong Kong and Singapore.Asia: Change in percentage of Annual disposable income 1999-2004 (WEF, 2006)China  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚     Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  59.2Hong Kong, China   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  3.3India   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  35.4Indonesia   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  57.1Japan   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚     Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  3.5Malaysia   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  43.6Philippines  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   8.2Singapore   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  37.8South Korea   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  46.8 Taiwan   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  15.3Thailand   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  26.8Vietnam   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  36.2(Source: Euromonitor International from national statistics)The above table shows that of all competing economies in the global market, China h as shown the greatest growth within the period 199-2004.Since 2001, the World Economic Forum has been using the Growth Competitiveness Index (GCI) developed by Jeffrey Sachs and John McArthur. According to the GCI Index in â€Å"The Global Competitiveness Report 2006-2007: Country Highlights†, China’s ranking has fallen from 48 to 54 in the overall competitive ranking Consistent with the cautious macroeconomic management of its authorities and extremely high GDP growth rates, the macro economy pillar of the GCI shows a very high rank, 6th overall in the world.This reflects China’s low inflation, one of the highest savings rates in the world, and manageable levels of public debt. China’s ranks in the GCI indicators regarding penetration rates for the latest technologies are actually falling behind. Secondary and tertiary school enrollment rates are better than they are in India, but still low by international standards. A number of indicators which capture the sophistication of the business community also show lower ranks in 2006 than last year.By far the most worrisome development is a marked drop in the quality of the institutional environment, as shown by the sharp drop in ranks from 60 to 80 in 2006 in the institutions pillar of the GCI, with poor results across all 15 indicators, and involving both public and private institutions (Lopez-Claros, 2006).Conclusion:China has made a dramatic entry into the top position of the world’s economic stage. China's robust economic performance can be seen as an inspiration for other developing countries. Within two years after its historic entry into the WTO, China is the world's fourth largest trading nation after the United States, the European Union and Japan. However, it must be remembered that China is not only a major exporter but also a major importer, and its modernisation programme and export industries have required, and will continue to require, billions of dollars worth of equipment and raw materials.During the first nine months of 2003, China's exports rose by 32 percent while its imports surged ahead by 41 percent. China's performance shows that developing countries can and do benefit from economic openness and integration. The reduction of tariffs has increased competition in the domestic market with the arrival of new suppliers. This has led to lower prices and larger choice for consumers, and has lowered the prices of essential inputs for many industries, thereby enhancing their competitiveness. In the first two decades of reform, the number of absolute poor in China dropped by about 200 million.Per capita income has grown by sixfold, and farmers and city dwellers are able to live an enhanced lifestyle. However, to realize its goal of doubling its GDP by 2010, China will have to face up to a number of important challenges. As the Chinese economy shifts from being a rural economy to an urban one, the main challenge for the economy will be to creat e enough jobs in the industrial and services sector to absorb the surplus labor from agriculture, which generates 17 percent of China's GDP and 50 percent of employment. Next, the benefits of rapid development should be spread out to avoid a widening of income differences between rural and urban areas.To reach its full potential, growth in the private sector has to be matched by an equal development of a stable market-oriented legal framework. China has managed to handle these profound structural changes while ensuring that it sustains a stable social environment. China needs the opportunity of market access and the legal guarantee of consistent and non-discriminatory trade rules that are offered by the WTO. As a fully fledged member of WTO, China should use its position to realize the objectives set out in the Doha Development Agenda.

The Return: Nightfall Chapter 5

Damon was driving aimlessly when he saw the girl. She was alone, walking down the side of the street, her titian hair blowing in the wind, her arms weighted down by packages. Damon immediately did the chivalrous thing. He let the car glide to a stop, waited for the girl to take a few striding paces to catch up with him – che gambe! – and then jumped out and hastened to open the passenger side door for her. Her name, as it turned out, was Damaris. In moments the Ferrari was back on the road, going so fast that Damaris's titian hair was flowing behind her like a banner. She was a young woman who fully merited the kind of trance-inducing compliments he'd been handing out freely all day – which was a good thing, he thought laconically, because his imagination was very nearly drained dry. But flattering this lovely creature, with her nimbus of red-gold hair and her pure, milky skin, wouldn't take any imagination at all. He didn't expect any trouble from her, and he planned to keep her overnight. Veni, vidi, vici,Damon thought, and flashed a wicked smile into the middle distance. And then he amended – Well, perhaps I haven't conqueredyet , but I'd bet my Ferrari on it. They stopped by a â€Å"scenic view roundabout† and when Damaris had dropped her purse and bent to pick it up, he'd seen the nape of her neck, where those fine titian hairs were startlingly delicate against the whiteness of her skin. He'd kissed it immediately, impulsively, finding it as soft as a baby's skin – and warm against his lips. He'd allowed her complete freedom of action, interested to see whether she would slap him, but instead she had just straightened up and taken a few shaky breaths before allowing him to take her in his arms to be kissed into a trembling, heated, uncertain creature, her dark blue eyes entreating and trying to resist at the same time. â€Å"I – shouldn't have let you do that. I won't let you again. I want to go home now.† Damon smiled. His Ferrari was safe. Her ultimate yielding would be particularly pleasant, he thought as they continued their drive. If she shaped up as well as she seemed to be doing, he might even keep her a few days, might even Change her. Now, though, he was bothered by an inexplicable disquiet inside. It was Elena, of course. Being so close to her at the boardinghouse and not daring to demand to go to her, because of what he might do. Oh, hell, what Ishould have done already, he thought with a sudden vehemence. Stefan was right – there was something wrong with him today. He was frustrated to a degree that he wouldn't have imagined possible. What heshould have done was to have ground his little brother's face in the dirt, wrung his neck like a fowl, and then gone up those narrow tacky stairs totake Elena, willing or no. He hadn't done it before because of some syrupy nonsense, caring about her screaming and carrying on as he lifted that incomparable chin and buried his swollen, aching fangs in her lily-white throat. There was a noise going on in the car. † – don't you think?† Damaris was saying. Annoyed and too busy with his fantasy to go over what his mind might have heard of her speech, he shut her off, and she was instantly quiet. Damaris was lovely butuna stomata – a ditz. Now she sat with her titian hair whipping in the wind, but with blank eyes, the pupils contracted, absolutely still. And all for nothing. Damon made a hissing sound of exasperation. He couldn't get back into his daydream; even in silence, the imagined sounds of Elena's sobbing prevented him. But there would be no more sobbing once he'd made her into a vampire, a little voice in his mind suggested. Damon cocked his head and leaned back, three fingers on the steering wheel. He'd once sought to make her his princess of darkness – why not again? She would belong to him utterly, and if he had to give up her mortal blood†¦well, he wasn't exactly getting any of that right now, was he? the insinuating voice said. Elena, pale and glowing with a vampire's aura of Power, her hair almost white-blond, a black gown against her satiny skin. Now there was a picture to make any vampire's heart beat faster. He wanted her more than ever now that she had been a spirit. Even as a vampire she would retain most of her own nature, and he could just picture it: her light for his darkness, her soft whiteness in his hard, black-jacketed arms. He would stop that exquisite mouth with kisses, smother her with them – What was hethinking about? Vampires didn't kiss like that for enjoyment – especially not other vampires. The blood, the hunt was all. Kissing beyond whatever was necessary to conquer their victim was pointless; it could lead nowhere. Only sentimental idiots like his brother bothered with such foolishness. A mated vampire pair might share the blood of a mortal victim, both striking at once, both controlling the victim's mind – and joined together in mind-link, too. That was how they found their pleasure. Still, Damon found himself excited by the idea of kissing Elena, of forcing kisses on her, of feeling her desperation to get away from him suddenly pause – with the little hesitation that came just before response, before yielding herself completely to him. Maybe I'm going crazy, Damon thought, intrigued. He had never gone crazy before that he could recall, and there was some appeal in the idea. It had been centuries since he'd felt this kind of excitement. All the better for you, Damaris, he thought. He had reached the point where Sycamore Street cut briefly into the Old Wood, and the road there was winding and dangerous. Regardless, he found himself turning to Damaris to wake her again, noting with approval that her lips were naturally that soft cherry color, without lipstick. He kissed her lightly, then waited to gauge her response. Pleasure. He could see her mind go soft and rosy with it. He glanced at the road ahead and then tried it again, this time holding the kiss. He was elated with her response, with both of their responses. This was amazing. It must have to do with the amount of blood he'd had, more than ever before in one day, or the combination – He suddenly had to wrench his attention from Damaris to driving. Some small russet animal had appeared as if by magic on the road in front of him. Damon normally didn't go out of his way to run over rabbits, porcupines, and the like, but this one had annoyed him at a crucial moment. He grasped the steering wheel with both hands, his eyes black and cold as glacial ice in the depths of a cave, and headed straight for the russet thing. Not allthat small – there would be a bit of a bump. â€Å"Hang on,† he murmured to Damaris. At the last instant, the reddish thing dodged. Damon wrenched the wheel round to follow it, and then found himself faced with a ditch. Only the superhuman reflexes of a vampire – and the finely tuned response of a very expensive vehicle – could have kept them out of the ditch. Fortunately Damon had both, swinging them in a tight circle, tires squealing and smoking in protest. And no bump. Damon leaped over the car door in one fluid motion and looked around. But whatever it was, had vanished completely, as mysteriously as it had appeared. Sconosciuto. Weird. He wished he wasn't heading into the sun; the bright afternoon light cut down his visual acuity severely. But he'd had a glimpse of the thing as it got close, and it had looked deformed. Pointed at one end and fan-like at the other. Oh, well. He turned back to the car, where Damaris was having hysterics. He wasn't in the mood to coddle anyone, so he simply put her back to sleep. She slumped back into the seat, tears left to dry on her cheeks unheeded. Damon got back into the car feeling frustrated. But he knew now what he wanted to do today. He wanted to find a bar – either seedy and sleazy or immaculate and expensive – and he wanted to find another vampire. With Fell's Church being such a hot spot on the ley-line map, that shouldn't be difficult in the surrounding areas. Vampires and other creatures of darkness were drawn to hot spots like bumblebees to honeysuckle. And then he wanted a fight. It would be completely unfair – Damon was the strongest vampire left that he knew of, plus he was tick-full of a cocktail of the blood of Fell's Church's finest maidens. He didn't care. He felt like taking his frustrations out on something, and – he flashed that inimitable, incandescent smile at nothing – some werewolf or vampire or ghoul was about to meet itsquietus . Maybe more than one, if he were only lucky enough to find them. After which – delicious Damaris for dessert. Life was good, after all. And unlife, thought Damon, his eyes glinting dangerously behind the sunglasses, was even better. He wasn't just going to sit and sulk because he couldn't have Elena immediately. He was going to go out and enjoy himself and get stronger – and then sometime soon, he was going to go over to his pathetic milksop of a younger brother's place andtake her. He happened to glance in the car's rearview mirror for a moment. By some freak of light or inversion of the atmosphere, it seemed that he could see his eyes behind his sunglasses – burning red.

Free Essays on Arsenic

Arsenic is a naturally occurring element found in our Earth’s crust, but too much of the element in our water systems, aquifers and wells could cause serious health problems over a long period of time. It has no distinctive taste or smell. You would assume that because arsenic is a naturally occurring element it wouldn’t even be a concern. Arsenic causes a very serious environmental problem by contaminating our drinking water, and causing many diseases in people all over the world. In an article by the Iowa Department of Natural Resources they explain that at very low levels arsenic is not a problem, in fact the body may even need a very small amount to function. However at higher levels, as low as three micrograms per liter, it could have a very serious effect on peoples health.(1) The main cause of arsenic in the drinking water is the weathering and decomposition of soil and minerals that occurs naturally. When the water comes in contact with these materials it can dissolve the arsenic. Industrial factories also introduce it by the combustion of fossil fuels, and they can also release hazardous waste into the ground that leads to contaminated groundwater. The water that people drink that is contaminated could cause some short term and long term effects. According to the National Research Council some short-term effects of drinking water contaminated with arsenic are nausea, vomiting, diarrhea and abdominal pain. The arsenic can also cause fatigue and an abnormal heart rhythm. It also causes very abnormal bruising on the body, then a â€Å"pins and needles† sensation in your hands and feet.(83) These short term symptoms and signs are not always accurate in defining arsenic poising. There is no universal definition of the disease caused by arsenic, so it is very hard to detect the poising without sometimes mistaking it for something else. Long-term exposure to arsenic will cause chronic health problems. In ... Free Essays on Arsenic Free Essays on Arsenic Arsenic is a naturally occurring element found in our Earth’s crust, but too much of the element in our water systems, aquifers and wells could cause serious health problems over a long period of time. It has no distinctive taste or smell. You would assume that because arsenic is a naturally occurring element it wouldn’t even be a concern. Arsenic causes a very serious environmental problem by contaminating our drinking water, and causing many diseases in people all over the world. In an article by the Iowa Department of Natural Resources they explain that at very low levels arsenic is not a problem, in fact the body may even need a very small amount to function. However at higher levels, as low as three micrograms per liter, it could have a very serious effect on peoples health.(1) The main cause of arsenic in the drinking water is the weathering and decomposition of soil and minerals that occurs naturally. When the water comes in contact with these materials it can dissolve the arsenic. Industrial factories also introduce it by the combustion of fossil fuels, and they can also release hazardous waste into the ground that leads to contaminated groundwater. The water that people drink that is contaminated could cause some short term and long term effects. According to the National Research Council some short-term effects of drinking water contaminated with arsenic are nausea, vomiting, diarrhea and abdominal pain. The arsenic can also cause fatigue and an abnormal heart rhythm. It also causes very abnormal bruising on the body, then a â€Å"pins and needles† sensation in your hands and feet.(83) These short term symptoms and signs are not always accurate in defining arsenic poising. There is no universal definition of the disease caused by arsenic, so it is very hard to detect the poising without sometimes mistaking it for something else. Long-term exposure to arsenic will cause chronic health problems. In ...

International Graduate School Exhibit Shows

International Graduate School Exhibit Shows Introduction One of the most popular marketing communications campaigns of promoting a masters degree program to potential students has been through the use of educational exhibits that are done in cooperation with the British Council.Advertising We will write a custom essay sample on International Graduate School Exhibit Shows specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More The British Council (not to be confused as a government entity) is an international education marketing service that enables schools within the UK (and other countries as well) to connect with potential students around the world. This is done through education exhibits wherein various schools have booths that showcase what programs potential students can go for, what amenities can they expect from their respective universities and whether one particular type of program is better than another. Thus, from the perspective of students, the British Council marketing campaign can be c onsidered as one of the best methods of learning what particular program would be best for them. However, despite the advantages showcase by this particular method of direct promotion, it must be questioned whether such a marketing initiative is effective at all given that several of the locations that the British council has campaigned in have students that would not be able to afford the high tuition fees associated with learning within a U.K. based school. International Advertising International advertising initiatives such as those done by the British Council in countries such as Indonesia, Ghana and the Philippines all attempt to target new markets within foreign countries due to flat growth in their main consumer markets (i.e. the U.S.) They do this by utilizing print ads and television advertisements in order to create an association between education and success (i.e. if a person learns at a particular university in the UK they will become wealthy) which results in a far gre ater degree of students applying.Advertising Looking for essay on advertising? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More In this case, this is a form of informative advertising wherein companies seek to create greater awareness for their products/services. The research methodology behind this form of advertising is basically one which involves creating an association between a new product and a given benefit. For example, advertising campaigns tend to associate the use of some beauty creams as a means of getting a more â€Å"youthful† look. Targeting the Correct Market Segment What must be understood is that the ultimate goal of advertising is to be able target products to the consumers who want to buy them. As such, in order to create sales for a company what is needed is to examine the current market and customers and determine why a product or service is not selling and revise strategies accordingly in order to targe t the correct market segment. Companies in such situations can approach their relationships with consumers through the use of a systematic, rigorous process of segmentation, targeting and positioning which should result in the company being able to determine which consumer segment to approach and how to properly position itself to create sales and maximize profit (Shankar 1999). In the case of many of today’s advertising agencies, this comes in the form of traditional advertising strategies (i.e. print ads, television commercials or sponsorships) or non traditional methods of advertising which take the form of online ads and viral video campaigns which are becoming increasingly popular as a means of reaching millions of people with a relatively small budget. When examining the case of the British Council campaign in promoting UK based educational institutions, it must be questioned whether their strategy of expansion in various Asian markets is a smart one given the limited f unding of local populations.Advertising We will write a custom essay sample on International Graduate School Exhibit Shows specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More For example, when examining the locations where the British Council has been holding its educational fairs, it can be seen that they have events occurring within Indonesia, the Philippines, Nigeria, Ghana and Mauritius. While it is not the intent of this paper to disparage the potential such locations have for producing high quality students, the fact remains that these locations have income levels that are far below the UK norm. Even though there would be willing students, it is unlikely that they would even be able to afford the tuition even if significant levels of financial assistance were provided. As such, this calls into question the viability of the target market approach that the British Council educational institution promotion strategy is employing. One aspect to take i nto consideration when it comes to this type of advertising is the fact that at times certain products become a tough sell. In such cases what is needed is to frame an offer to get rid of the objection so as to entice consumers to purchase the product once more despite the market environment dictating the complete opposite type of buying behavior. This process in effect creates a buying situation where the consumer observes the perks of buying a particular product and neglects to take into account the possible negative implications of the sale. Such a situation would normally be possible in market segments that have the excess liquidity to actually buy a product yet are unable to do so. However, within the context of the British Council campaign, despite the efforts of the organization to promote the product (i.e. education in the UK) the fact remains that relatively few people within some of the countries that the campaign advertises in actually have students that can afford the pr oduct they are offering.Advertising Looking for essay on advertising? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More One strategy that is often utilized in advertising is the use of discounts when selling particular products such as various services (i.e. advertising).What you have to understand is that people love a bargain and, as such, it is at times necessary to lower prices in order to have some form of income rather than none at all (Grà ¸nhaug, Kvitastein Grà ¸nmo 1991). Such a tactic contributes significantly towards the agency’s advertising strategy since this enables consumers to perceive that they are getting their money’s worth when it comes to purchasing the company’s services. As such, if the British Council were to offer partial scholarships to lower the cost of education for particular educational institutions, then it may be possible to actually create a market situation where there would be actual buyers instead of mere onlookers. Present Day Advertising Strategies using the Internet One of the methods that the British Council has utilized in order to prom ote its various education fairs has been through the use of the internet. The sheer proliferation of social media platforms such as blogs, wikis and online forums has created an unprecedented opportunity for advertising services like the British Council to take advantage of this new social trend in order to promote particular products and services via online social platforms. Nearly 22% of all online activity within the U.S. alone is spent on social networking websites and as such is indicative of the consumer market share that social media platforms could potentially provide to the company should it utilize such an advertising tool. Furthermore it has been proven that using social media programs such as viral advertising initiatives results in a certain degree of hype being generated for a particular product or service yet only cost a fraction of a standard advertising campaign. Thus from a cost-benefit standpoint the utilization of social media platforms as advertising tools is no t only advantageous for an advertising agency in terms of brand promotion and gaining a certain degree of market penetration into potentially untapped consumer segments but it can do so at a relatively low cost and as such presents numerous potential avenues of approach by which an agency can generate consumer awareness of its clients products. One way in which the British council has been utilizing social media in advertising its various university fairs was to create a Facebook fan page for the company in order to help better connect itself with its current customer base. What must be understood is that by creating a fan page this allows subscribed Facebook fans to receive updates from the company in the form of fair launch dates, overall service availability, performance and other factors that can contribute to its sale. In fact a fan page creates a human face for the company in that by posting daily news regarding the particular industry the company is in. This helps consumers t o better understand the British council and thus create a greater degree of awareness for the various fairs which translates into a higher likelihood of service patronage. It is also interesting to note that through the fan page the company can also better facilitate particular promotions such as discounts, special contests and other such methods of promotional advertising that are meant to entice greater public interest. Various companies ranging from the alcoholic beverage maker Jack Daniels to the computer manufacturer Asus have Facebook fan pages and this has enabled them to create a larger consumer fan base since instead of the company merely being a nameless entity that consumers buy products or services from, it is subsequently transformed into an entity with particular views, positions on current events and even a sense of humor when it comes to posting its daily wall posts Effective Use of Advertising While advertising is an effective means for a UK based university to comm unicate with its potential students and deliver its intended message, this does not mean that all types of advertising are suitable for delivering a message for a particular type of company or a specific kind of product (Proctor, Proctor, Papasolomou-Doukakis 2002). Since most students can be considered as being rational consumers they would of course tend to patronize a product that they believe is within their price range, is of exceptional quality and has a higher degree of total utility compared to similar products within the market. This would result in students having a greater likelihood of going for a particular university that they saw through informative advertising since for them it fulfills all the prerequisites needed for effective consumption. However, it should be noted that within the context of college education promotions, persuasive advertising is utilized as a means of changing a consumers mind by presenting a need that did not previously exist. For example, whe n going to these fairs people initially have no idea that they need to take up a masters degree, however, after the various presentations given by schools and by the British Council itself, this creates the desire for a masters degree due to the supposed advantages of having one. This can come in the form of showing potential career advantages that come with a master’s degree, how obtaining one would result in more opportunities in the future and lastly how it would actually be fun to take up advanced education in another country. Conclusion Based on the examination of the British Council campaign that was examined, it can be seen that advertising is a way in which a company generates interest in a particular product line in order to encourage greater sales within specific markets. It also acts as a method to generate a certain degree of â€Å"hype† and product patronage for the products/services that the company is offering (Hirschman Thompson 1997). In some product markets, certain types of consumer goods and services require an extra push so to speak when trying to conduct normal business operations. In such instances, if customers are not buying, more often than not, it is an indication that a company is targeting the wrong people (Hirschman Thompson 1997). Taking this into consideration, it can be assumed that in cases where a hard to sell product is involved it is not that the company is experiencing a situation where the consumer does not want to be a customer but rather the company is merely targeting the wrong consumer market. It is in such instances that techniques such as informative, reassuring and persuasive advertising are utilized in order to gain the patronage of the market segment that the company is aiming for. Based on the various examples that have been presented, it can be seen that despite various forms of consumable media in the form of print ads, billboards, commercials, online advertising campaigns and a plethora of oth er types of advertising initiatives being present in the world today, not all techniques utilized in their creation are applicable to particular companies, products or services. At times it requires a specific type of advertising initiative whether informative, persuasive or reassuring in order to reach the ultimate goal of advertising which is to be able target products/services to the consumers who want to buy them and retain their patronage for as long as possible. Reference List Grà ¸nhaug, K, Kvitastein, O, Grà ¸nmo, S 1991, Factors moderating advertising effectiveness as reflected in 333 tested advertisements, Journal Of Advertising Research, vol. 31, no. 5, pp. 42-50, Hirschman, E, Thompson, C 1997, Why Media Matter: Toward a Richer Understanding of Consumers Relationships with Advertising and Mass Media, Journal Of Advertising, vol.26, no.1, pp. 43-60 Proctor, S, Proctor, T, Papasolomou-Doukakis, I 2002, A post-modern perspective on advertisements and their analysis, Jo urnal Of Marketing Communications, vol.8, no. 1, pp. 31-44 Shankar, A 1999, Advertisings imbroglio, Journal Of Marketing Communications, vol. 5, no. 1, pp. 1-15

Adjectives vs Adverbs for ACT English Grammar Rule

Adjectives vs Adverbs for ACT English Grammar Rule SAT / ACT Prep Online Guides and Tips You may recall the good ol’ days of elementary school when you learned about adjectives and adverbs. If you had realized that you would have to know about these parts of speech for the ACT, perhaps you would have paid better attention instead of daydreaming about Nickelodeon and The Disney Channel. Don’t worry. If you’ve forgotten or never learned about these parts of speech, I’ll teach you everything you need to know about them for the ACT English section. In this post, I'll do the following: Define an adjective. Define an adverb. Review the comparative and superlative forms of adjectives. Explain how adjectives and adverbs are tested in ACT English. Provide practice questions to test you on what you've learned. What Is an Adjective? Adjectives modify nouns or pronouns. Here's an example: The movie was boring. The word "boring" is the adjective because it modifies the noun "movie." Check out one more example sentence with an adjective: The diligent student was admitted to the college of his dreams. The word "diligent" modifies the noun "student." Adjectives describe or provide more information about a noun. Now, let's define an adverb. What is an Adverb? In elementary school, you may have learned that adverbs modify verbs, but that's not all. Adverbs modify verbs, adjectives, or other adverbs. This is an example of an adverb modifying a verb: The dancer moved gracefully. The word "gracefully" modifies the verb "moved." Check out this sentence with an adverb modifying an adjective: The reading comprehension passage was incredibly boring. The word "incredibly" modifies the adjective "boring" that modifies the noun "passage." And, finally, this is a sentence with an adverb modifying another adverb: When I'm not in a hurry, I walk extremely slowly. The word "extremely" modifies the adverb "slowly." The word "slowly" modifies the verb "walk." You may have noticed the adverb form is typically created the same way. Adverb Construction Adverbs are usually formed by adding "ly" to the adjective. For adverbs that end in "y," the adverb is formed by adding "ily." Here are some examples: "quick" becomes "quickly," "soft" becomes "softly," "close" becomes "closely," and "hasty" becomes "hastily." So if you say that somebody"talks slow" or "drives careful," you're making a grammar error. You should say, "talks slowly" or "drives carefully." How are adjectives and adverbs tested on the ACT? Adjectives vs. Adverbs on the ACT On the ACT, adverbs and adjectives will be switched with one another. Often, you will be given a pair of underlined words and the first should be an adverb (modifying the adjective) and the second should be an adjective. Here is an example: Unfortunately, the lead performer in the musical is an amazingly poorly singer. A. NO CHANGE B. amazing poorly C. amazingly poor D. amazing poor In the sentence, "amazingly" modifies "poorly." The word "poorly" modifies the singer. Because "singer" is a noun, "poorly" should be in the adjective form. Only adjectives can modify nouns. Because "amazingly" modifies an adjective, it should remain in the adverb verb. The answer is C. Some sentences will use an adjective in the place of an adverb or vice versa: The powerfully summer sun beat down on them. It was the sun that was powerful, not "summer." Because only an adjective can modify a noun, "powerfully" should be in the adjective form. This is the correct version of the sentence: The powerful summer sun beat down on them. How should you go about figuring out adjective vs. adverb questions on the ACT? Strategy Determine what word an adjective or adverb is modifying. Then, determine the part of speech of the word that is being modified to check to see if the adjective or adverb is being used correctly. Adjectives can only modify nouns and adverbs can only modify verbs, adjectives, or other adverbs. Make sure that adjectives are in the adjective form and adverbs are in the adverb form. Apply these tips to an adjective vs. adverb question from an actual ACT. Actual ACT Examples Try to correctly answer this adjective vs. adverb question. On each wing, all flighted birds have ten primary flight feathers, each one shaped slight different. F. NO CHANGE G. slight differently. H. slightly differently J. slightly more different Explanation: First, we see that both underlined words are in the adjective form. Next, we have to determine the function of each word in the sentence. Is each word being properly used as an adjective? Let’s start with â€Å"different." What is â€Å"different† modifying? How the feathers were shaped. â€Å"Shaped† is a verb. Therefore, â€Å"different† should be in the adverb form, â€Å"differently." What is â€Å"slight† modifying? The adverb â€Å"differently." Therefore, â€Å"slight† should also be in the adverb form. The answer is H, â€Å"slightly differently." Now, let's take a look at another issue tested on the ACT that involves adjectives and adverbs. Comparatives Vs. Superlatives Comparatives The comparative form of an adjective is formed by adding "er" to the word or "MORE" + the adjective. Examples of comparatives include "stronger," "lighter," and "more interesting." Never use "more" with the "er" form. You can't write "more stronger" or "more lighter." The comparative form is only used when you are comparing two things. Typically, you use the "er" form for words with one syllable and "more" + adjective for words with two or more syllables. One exception is that two syllable words that end in "y" tend to use the "er" form. Examples: "funny" becomes "funnier" and "busy" becomes "busier." Here's an example of a comparative being used correctly: Macs are easier to use than PCs. The comparative "easier" is being used to compare two things: Macs and PCs. So what form do you use to compare three or more things? Superlatives The superlative form of an adjective is formed by adding "est" to the word or "MOST" + the adjective. Examples of superlatives include "strongest," "lightest," and "most fascinating." You can never use "most" with the "est" form. It's incorrect to write "most funniest" or "most strongest." The superlative form is only used when comparing three or more things. Typically, words with one syllable use the "est" form and words with two or more syllables use "most" + adjective. This is an example of a correctly used superlative: Of all the computer brands, Macs are the easiest to use. When using "all" and not specifying a number, it's implied that you're talking about more than two so you should use the superlative form. Check out this example of a superlative being used incorrectly: Between John and Suzy, Suzy is the quietest. Remember that the superlative can only be used when comparing three or more things. There are only two in this sentence: John and Suzy. To fix the error, "quietest" should be changed to the comparative form, "quieter." How does the ACT test your knowledge of comparatives and superlatives? Comparatives and Superlatives on the ACT The ACT tests proper construction of comparatives and superlatives. You must know that comparatives are only used for comparing two things and superlatives are used for comparing three or more. Here are some tips to help you solve comparative and superlative questions on the ACT. Strategy Comparative and superlative rules are relatively basic. Remember this information and you should be able to correctly answer any ACT English question about them. If a comparative is underlined, make sure only two things are being compared. Never use "more" with the "er" form. Use the "er" form for one syllable words. If a superlative is underlined, make sure three or more things are being compared. Never use "most" with the "est" form. Use the "est" form for one syllable words. Use your knowledge of comparatives and superlatives to answer this real ACT English question. Actual ACT Example Here is a comparative/superlative question taken from a real ACT. The two principal types of kayaks are the easily maneuverable white-water kayak and the largest sea kayak. F. NO CHANGE G. very biggest H. more large J. larger Explanation: Because the word underlined is in the superlative form, we need to check to see if the superlative form is being used correctly. What is being compared in the sentence? The white-water kayak and the sea kayak. Only two things are being compared, so you have to use the comparative form. The sentence even says, â€Å"The TWO principal types of kayaks." Also, â€Å"large† is a one syllable word so you should use the â€Å"er† form instead of â€Å"more large." The answer is J. Here are some tips to help you answer all questions relating to adjectives and adverbs on the ACT. General Strategies for Adjectives and Adverbs on ACT English #1: If an Adjective or Adverb is Underlined, Make Sure the Word is Being Used Correctly On the ACT, adjectives and adverbs will often be placed next to each other and both words will be underlined. Make sure that adjectives are in adjective form and adverbs are in adverb form. #2: Determine the Part of Speech of the Word that the Adjective or Adverb Is Modifying Determine if a word is an adjective or an adverb by identifying the part of speech of the word it modifies. Adjectives modify nouns and adverbs modify verbs, adjectives, and other adverbs. #3: If a Comparative or Superlative Is Underlined, Make Sure the Word Is Being Used Correctly Comparatives Comparatives only compare two things. Proper comparative structure is the "er" form or "MORE" + adjective. Never use "MORE" with the "er" form. Use the "er" form for one syllable words. Superlatives Superlatives compare three or more things. Proper superlative construction is the "est" form or "MOST" + adjective. Never use "MOST" with the "est" form. Use "est" for one syllable words. Additional Practice I created these realistic practice problems to test your knowledge of adjectives and adverbs on the ACT. Enjoy! 1. The young student was disillusioned with school; he found his classes boring, and he thought economics was his most boringly class. A. NO CHANGE B. most boring C. more boring D. more boringly 2. Because my friend is better at math than I am, he can more easily solve complex trigonometry questions. A. NO CHANGE B. more easier C. most easy D. easily 3. Chris Farley was a very gifted entertainer who left an extremely profound impact on Saturday Night Live. A. NO CHANGE B. extremely profoundly C. extreme profound D. extreme profoundly 4. Joe decided to attend Stanford because it was the more prestigious school that accepted him. A. NO CHANGE B. more prestigiously C. most prestigious D. most prestigiously Answers: 1. B, 2. A, 3. A, 4. C What's Next Keep improving the skills that will help you master the ACT English section. Read this article about the best way to approach ACT English. For those of you focusing on learning ACT grammar, I highly you recommend you check out these posts on faulty modifiers and punctuation. Want to improve your ACT score by 4 points? Check out our best-in-class online ACT prep program. We guarantee your money back if you don't improve your ACT score by 4 points or more. Our program is entirely online, and it customizes what you study to your strengths and weaknesses. If you liked this English lesson, you'll love our program.Along with more detailed lessons, you'll get thousands ofpractice problems organized by individual skills so you learn most effectively. We'll also give you a step-by-step program to follow so you'll never be confused about what to study next. Check out our 5-day free trial:

Redesign Project Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Redesign Project - Essay Example Plainly speaking, typography can make or break your presentation, regardless of the medium or the message. Thanks to today’s computer and graphics technology, not only is there a multitude of typestyles available, but some programs allow users to create their own unique typestyle. This ability should be used with great restraint since too much of a good thing is, well, too much. Regardless of what style of type is selected by a designer or design team, it should be understood that the design of type, and even the overall design, should be more than just a passing judgment of the designer. When deciding on a format, it is important to determine what will work best with the target audience, not what the designer likes or dislikes personally. Every presentation of an ad, website or other medium should undergo an evaluation by a representative sample of publics that it is intended for. Unfortunately, due to time constraints and other factors, this step is often not taken. To better illustrate my points, I have selected two website home pages that I believe illustrate not only problems, but opportunities. First, I would like to consider is Pennsylvania’s Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program (http://www.acf.hhs.gov/programs/ocs/liheap/) From the moment I saw this website, I had to wonder how effective it was in serving its audience. First of all, we must consider who the intended audience is for the programs the website promotes, Although it is true that there is a general audience that it might serve, the first issue to me is the size of the type. The size seems to me to be too small to be seen by older people who are most likely to suffer from lower visual acuity. For this same reason, I am also leary of the color of the type in the center of the site. Another issue I have with the design of this website, is the applicability of

Derrida's Deconstructionism and how it is a critique of the concepts Essay

Derrida's Deconstructionism and how it is a critique of the concepts of 'presence' and 'centre' - Essay Example It is a critical and yet uncritical in its subversion. Just like looking on how to destroy or to defeat an enemy" http://www.geocities.com/philodept/diwatao/derrida_and_saussure.htm Different scholars and critics defined Deconstruction in their own way. Somehow with many definitions the theory became richer over the years. "It represents a complex response to a variety of theoretical and philosophical movements of the 20th century, most notably Husserlian phenomenology, Saussurean and French structuralism, and Freudian and Lacanian psychoanalysis" http://prelectur.stanford.edu/lecturers/derrida/deconstruction.html Derrida starts with the structure, but he is not happy with the binary structure and showed that dualisms are never equivalent; but are hierarchically placed. He said one pole is privileged at the expense of the other. The centre and presence are the originally attributed qualities to the speech, which have been continuing for a long time now. Speech has been given more importance, whereas the writing has been relegated into the secondary place. He said the logocentric tradition of the western thought since Plato has made the written word as a mere representation of the spoken word. Paul De Mann is another critic who adopted the same style of criticism. It is best understood as a textual strategy. He posed a challenge to metaphysical speculation. He argued: "Structure has always been neutralised or reduced.by giving it a centre or referring it to a point of presence, a fixed origin," Derrida (1978, p.278) and even the quantitative enlargement of adding historical experience does not help it. He started with exposing the problems of centred discourses. "Derrida argues that the "structure" determining these discourses (including "structuralist" theory itself) always presupposes a "centre" that ensures a point of origin, meaning, being, or presence. What troubles Derrida is that the centre determines a given systems structure but is itself strangely above or transcendent of such structural analysis or scrutiny" http://www.usp.nus.edu.sg/post/poldiscourse/spivak/deconstruction.html His argument is that the centre that ensures a presence. The presence, he says, is the original state and should come first, just like how the world is present around us, and it is connected to the consciousness and self-reflection and gives a meaning. This means, presence is the predicate for a text's meaning, according to Derrida. It is accepted that Derrida had great influence on the intellectual thinking of the world. The paper he presented to John Hopkins University in 1966 changed the critical movement in United States. In this paper he uses the structure, structuralist theory while saying that there exists a centre in every structure. He argues that this is needed by the readers because it is definite that there is an existing presence. The centre is the main unity that supports the structure, which would not have contained much meaning without that centre. "if we try to undo the centring concept of 'consciousness' by asserting the disruptive counterforce of the 'unconscious' we are in danger of introducing a new centre, because we cannot choose but enter the conceptual system (conscious/unconscious) we are trying to dislodge," Selden (1985, p.144). Deconstruction and poststructuralism have been in close terms

REFLECTIONS ON YOUR JOURNAL AND THE COURSE part 2 Coursework

REFLECTIONS ON YOUR JOURNAL AND THE COURSE part 2 - Coursework Example Discrimination is another problem facing American working citizens. Workers in USA undergo discriminations based on age, gender and physical status. Employees from the global societies of today suffer the same problem of discriminations depicted lowering the quality of performance at the workplace. The government should enact strict policies to protect the working citizens from such exploitation that reduces the quality of service delivery leading to under exploitation of human labor. According to Barboza’s report, Apple Corporation is one company that exposes its workers to hostile working environment. My thinking about exposure to hostile working conditions as a contributing factor to unemployment remains the same after witnessing a reputable corporation like Apple exposing employees to the same conditions. The future of the American citizens is not promising despite the formation of various trade unions and retirement acts. Corrupt government officials embezzle pension scheme funds rendering the systems unreliable for the American

Developing academic skills for Business and Management Essay

Developing academic skills for Business and Management - Essay Example Between 1996 and 2010 a lot of research has taken place in the field of family owned business and a lot of theory has been developed (James, Jennings & Breitkruz, 2012). Now a new breed of researchers wants to validate those findings and theories by their research on Asia based family owned business. This new field of research is essential to validate or negate the findings of researchers in the field who have researched on similar enterprises in other countries. This new lot of researches aims to find out whether the previous finds are universal and robust in their conclusion or are particular and country specific, or in other words specific to the western world. According to Johns’ (2006) research into the field of family owned business it has been increasingly found that that there has been lot of research on the business enterprises but the researches on family owned business have slowly disappeared. This goes hand in hand with the real life situation where family owned businesses are slowly losing their relevance and are being converted to professionally managed business. James, Jennings and Breitkruz suggested and invited other scholars to indulge in more research in the field to research into the subject to understand the association between family and their business (James, Jennings & Breitkruz, 2012). Another thing that is important to study in the field of family business particularly with respect to Asian countries is the role of context in shaping this family business. By context it is meant over here the circumstances or conditions that influences or the influencing factors in the family business. It is important to note t hat although the overall characteristics and conditions of business environment is similar to the countries present in the Asia pacific region , there still exists subtle differences. For example, in underdeveloped

Disney Culture, Social Responsibility and Corporate Identity Research Paper

Disney Culture, Social Responsibility and Corporate Identity - Research Paper Example The Studio Entertainment unit is the foundation on which the Walt Disney Company would be built, and at its heart are world-renowned animated features and live-action motion pictures. (Kotler 24) The Disney Company had a well defined corporate identity and worked extremely hard to control their public image. This resulted to businessmen and organization interested in placing Mickey Mouse character, logos and images on the cover of their products. The Consumer Products extended the Disney brand to merchandise ranging from apparel, toys, and books to interactive games, foods and beverages, electronics and delicate art. The founder of Walt Disney Company, Walt Disney died on December 15, 1966, of lung cancer. His persona that is the Walt Disney the character, and the role of Roy Disney and the creative input of nine old men, should never be underestimated while considering the history of the company (Michaels 45). Roy Disney took over as chairman, CEO, and president of the company after the death of his brother. One of his first acts was to rename Disney World as "Walt Disney World," in honor of his brother and his vision. Walt Disney had a vision of building Disneyland. These parks served as valuable role in shaping the Disney identity as well as for tourist attractions. Walt Disney could quote saying,† Disneyland began when my two daughters were extremely young. Saturday was always Daddy's Day, and I would take them to the merry-go-round and sit on the bench eating peanuts while they rode, sitting there, alone, I felt there should be something built of Family Park where parents and children could have fun together. (Williams 34) The death of Walt Disney snatched a brilliant innovator, who was constantly inventing and reinventing to keep his studio ahead of the game. Even after his death, the company, which bears his name, has continued with his philosophy. The new technique is the animated feature which is now more competitive than ever. The Walt Disney Co mpany Director, Emaritus Roy E. Disney, died on stomach cancer on December 16, 2009. During his time of death, he had owned roughly 1% of the Disney which could amount to 16 million shares. Roy Disney was the last member of Disney family to be actively involved in the operation of the Walt Disney Company and also working in the company altogether (Wasko 63). At the time of Roy Disney death, the Chief Executive Officer was Mike Eisner who took the reins in 1884. He could be credited for turning Walt Disney around through his policy of expansion into television, the internet, sports, publishing and music. Due to these range of media companies, problems continued to arise. This led to his criticism as a result of poor management of the company and also he was not popular with members of the board as compared to Roy Disney. The poor management of Disney Company, led to some of Disney’s animated family films, being accused of having sexual references in them. For example,’ the little Mermaid’,’ Aladdin’ and the Lion King’. This resulted to the recollection of the copies distributed \, and modifications of the films to remove such content (Smoodin 17). Disney Corporate social responsibility Corporate social responsibility refers self regulating mechanism formulated by businesses for their interaction with the outside factors. The business monitors and ensure that its actively complying with ethical standards and international norms. The goal is to foster

Glo-Bus Company Analysis Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Glo-Bus Company Analysis - Research Paper Example The Glo- Bus Company is a fully automated simulation where the team leaders are divided in teams to run a digital camera in a head to head competition with other companies. It competes globally with other companies. The major challenge for this company in trying to craft and execute a competitive strategy which will result into a respected brand image, keeping their company in contention for global market leadership, and producing financial performance. This is measured by its earnings per share, stock price appreciation, credit rating and return on equity investment and this calls for a proper strategy. The Glo-Bus application was an intriguing and challenging venture starting in the simulation where the team leaders were positioned well with good strategy and strengths in the first years. Despite the challenges in the first years, it struggled to adapt to the increasingly changing market conditions. Eventually, it gained an insight which would help in its future strategy formation and execution efforts (John, 1997). Strategy As a co-management team, a plan of attack was formulated quickly to enable the company compete effectively with its competitors. A plan conference was then decided upon with all the managers of distinguished image. The company felt that this would be its most convenient opportunity for its team leaders to talk over its strategies which would help them come up with a plan of attack. This conference led to the birth of the company’s vision statement and I quote, â€Å"Distinguished imaging strives to be the global market leader in reliable technological and advanced digital cameras. We are focused on customer satisfaction on quality technological products and seeking to be the number one in the digital imaging technology† (John, 1997). By having this vision statement put in place, the team leaders worked with the notion of being unified in to a cohesive and coordinated effort. From a strategic perspective, they decided to offer quality products at a cheaper cost unlike th e other companies. Its major goal was to use the best cost provider strategy in providing good to excellent product qualities but at a cheaper cost. This strategy has enabled the company compete with Beacon camera and Capture camera respectively in the sixth year. Its goal was to offer a quality entry level camera at a cheaper cost plus a higher quality multi feature camera at a reasonable price. This was only during that year alone but in the next year, the company would adapt a new strategy which included a combination of focused market niche differentiation and low cost strategy to be applied (John, 1997). Strength One of the quickest ways in trying to achieve the best cost strategy was to invest in a high quality workforce and major on the employee output. This was coupled with paying their employees at the high end of the pay scale and rewarding them in exchange for reaching a higher level of output. This was because with a higher input, it would definitely lead to improved pro duct production and quality. Unlike its competitors, this would definitely be a plus to them hence compete effectively as can be seen in year seven. As a result of this logic, the company did not invest in the first three years in warranty periods as it expected the quality of the products to maintain lower quality claims. Therefore, in hindsight, the company might have missed a great opportunity in offering an extensive warranty programs at a lower claim rate due to the quality products. As a result of this, a corporate citizenship program was implemented by increasing the employee conditions and the community efforts in the following years respectively (Jennifer, 2000). As part of the initial product strategy, focus was on offering a strong number of camera models and concentration was initially on developing features of entry level cameras. This was definitely to offer a strong market share. A decision was made not to enter the multi feature

Disney Culture, Social Responsibility and Corporate Identity Research Paper

Disney Culture, Social Responsibility and Corporate Identity - Research Paper Example The Studio Entertainment unit is the foundation on which the Walt Disney Company would be built, and at its heart are world-renowned animated features and live-action motion pictures. (Kotler 24) The Disney Company had a well defined corporate identity and worked extremely hard to control their public image. This resulted to businessmen and organization interested in placing Mickey Mouse character, logos and images on the cover of their products. The Consumer Products extended the Disney brand to merchandise ranging from apparel, toys, and books to interactive games, foods and beverages, electronics and delicate art. The founder of Walt Disney Company, Walt Disney died on December 15, 1966, of lung cancer. His persona that is the Walt Disney the character, and the role of Roy Disney and the creative input of nine old men, should never be underestimated while considering the history of the company (Michaels 45). Roy Disney took over as chairman, CEO, and president of the company after the death of his brother. One of his first acts was to rename Disney World as "Walt Disney World," in honor of his brother and his vision. Walt Disney had a vision of building Disneyland. These parks served as valuable role in shaping the Disney identity as well as for tourist attractions. Walt Disney could quote saying,† Disneyland began when my two daughters were extremely young. Saturday was always Daddy's Day, and I would take them to the merry-go-round and sit on the bench eating peanuts while they rode, sitting there, alone, I felt there should be something built of Family Park where parents and children could have fun together. (Williams 34) The death of Walt Disney snatched a brilliant innovator, who was constantly inventing and reinventing to keep his studio ahead of the game. Even after his death, the company, which bears his name, has continued with his philosophy. The new technique is the animated feature which is now more competitive than ever. The Walt Disney Co mpany Director, Emaritus Roy E. Disney, died on stomach cancer on December 16, 2009. During his time of death, he had owned roughly 1% of the Disney which could amount to 16 million shares. Roy Disney was the last member of Disney family to be actively involved in the operation of the Walt Disney Company and also working in the company altogether (Wasko 63). At the time of Roy Disney death, the Chief Executive Officer was Mike Eisner who took the reins in 1884. He could be credited for turning Walt Disney around through his policy of expansion into television, the internet, sports, publishing and music. Due to these range of media companies, problems continued to arise. This led to his criticism as a result of poor management of the company and also he was not popular with members of the board as compared to Roy Disney. The poor management of Disney Company, led to some of Disney’s animated family films, being accused of having sexual references in them. For example,’ the little Mermaid’,’ Aladdin’ and the Lion King’. This resulted to the recollection of the copies distributed \, and modifications of the films to remove such content (Smoodin 17). Disney Corporate social responsibility Corporate social responsibility refers self regulating mechanism formulated by businesses for their interaction with the outside factors. The business monitors and ensure that its actively complying with ethical standards and international norms. The goal is to foster