Why has United Nations been more successful than League of Nations Essay

Why has United Nations been more successful than League of Nations - Essay Example Any comparison between the two international bodies as League of Nations and United Nations can be done only by tracing their origin.In order to amply answer the thesis question, one needs to analyze in details the prevailing world situation when these two bodies were formed. One needs to appreciate that both the bodies were formed in the aftermath of World Wars that ravaged a large part of the developed world when nations tired of war were thinking of some permanent solution to banish war for ever from the face of the earth. The nations thought of creating some international supervisory body that would mediate and diffuse tensions that might brew between nations and ensure that such tensions never spill over into full fledged armed conflict. The bane of war was very much realized by all the combatants what with European economy in tatters after the savagery and mindless destruction that was unleashed during the two World Wars. It seemed that all parties concerned had come to their s enses and have realized the hard way that war can never be a solution; one war inevitably leads to other wars more savage and more ferocious than the previous one. The stage was set, as one would assume, for the creation of one such international body at the end of First World War. This body would, or at least those who took leading part in its formation thought so, would be an international mediator that would diffuse the glowing embers of a potential armed confrontation before it turned into an uncontrollable inferno (Knock, 1995). Inception of League of Nations By mid-December 1918 World War I was practically over, the shooting part, that is, and USS George Washington was approaching French coastline with US President Woodrow Wilson on board. The President was buoyant with notions of setting up a world order that would usher in everlasting peace in world. The idea and mission was surely a laudable one but little did the President know of the pitfalls that lay ahead in implementin g his grandiose and eminently lofty plans that would prevent forever any war from erupting into a frenzy of genocide and destruction. This effort of his earned him the Nobel Prize for peace in 1919 but Wilson was perhaps not aware that his allies were determined that Germany atone for her sins by paying heavily and were in no mood to forgive and forget and start afresh. But why blame only the European nations? Many Americans also feared that the birth of any multinational body like the League of Nations would take on the role of a global monitor and prevent member nations from pursuing their independent foreign policies. This strain of isolationism had pervaded foreign policy relations of United States right from its arrival on the international scene as a power of consequence. This trait perhaps had a direct link with its geographical location being bound on either sides by oceans and thus not having to share boundaries with equally powerful nations as most European countries had t o. Canada on the north and Mexico on the south were so inferior in military and economic strength as compared to itself that United States had never faced the predicament of dealing with a prickly and potentially dangerous neighbor. Hence, the general feeling among American public was not favorable towards the formation of an international body. They, instead, felt their independence in charting their foreign policy course to be much more important than engaging in some sort of understanding and compromise with fellow developed countries so that a World war is never repeated. League of Nations thus started its journey amid much misgivings and mutual distrust and was doomed perhaps even before it was formally brought into being (Lerner, 2004).

Climate Change Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words

Climate Change - Essay Example The milankovitch theory implies that over time three cyclic events vary the amount of solar radiation that reaches the earth and eventually it causes climate change. According to Burroughs (2007) eccentricity is a cyclical variation that determines the shape of the earth’s orbit around the sun. The more elliptical the earth’s orbit is, the greater the the greater the variation in solar energy that is received at the top of the atmosphere between the earth’s perihelion and aphelion. As the earth rotates on its axis, it wobbles hence changing the timing of the solstices, and equinoxes a process known as the procession of the equinox. Volcanic eruptions eject large amounts of sulphur dioxide gas which reacts water vapor found in the stratosphere to form a dense layer that reduces atmospheric transmission of sun’s incoming radiation. Sun spots, which are caused by the sun’s magnetic field are dark, planet sized regions that appear on the sun’s su rface. These regions are colder than with an average temperature of 4,000K. Climate change can be explained by these factors although they are only some of those which cause climate change. Since 1979, the summer polar ice cap’s size has shrunk more than 20% and this has not only affected the natives but the globe as a whole. The contraction of the arctic ice cap accelerates global warming since the protective, cooling layer over the arctic is melting and hence the earth absorbs more sunlight (Kininmonth 2004). If the arctic is warmer, this will affect weather patterns since the rest of the world will also warm up and eventually food production will decrease. In contrast, most of the world depends on melted glaciers for fresh water supply through lakes and rivers hence their melting will cause short supply of the same. It will also cause shortage of electricity since a great percentage of the world’s population depends on melting glaciers for hydro electric power. Animals, birds and fish will lose their

CSR initiatives by Mahindra, Nokia and Nestle

CSR initiatives by Mahindra, Nokia and Nestle Corporate social responsibility is the self regulated mechanism where business ensures that it supports to law, ethics and norms. Corporate Social Responsibility has been redefined throughout the years. It is an organizations mission and a guide to what the company stands for. It is also known as corporate responsibility. Social responsibility is the theory that the business should not function amorally instead of this it should work for the welfare of the society and community and the individuals. In simple way we can say CSR is all about how companies manage the business processes to produce an overall positive impact on society. CSR is the way in which the companies impact the world around them economically, environmentally and socially. CSR initiatives by Mahindra: At Mahindras, CSR means not just the sharing of our wealth, but of our time and of ourselves. Making socially responsible products, making a commitment to the community is the Corporate Social Responsibility for The Mahindra Group. Corporate Social Responsibility is not just a duty for the Mahindra Group but they say that its a way of life. Corporate social responsibility has been always a crucial part of their vision. They say that CSR is the opportunity for them. In 2005 group celebrated its 60th anniversary and pledged to dedicate 1% of its profit after tax to corporate social responsibility. Mahindra launched a special kind of Employee Social Options (ESOPs) to enable employees to involve in socially responsible activities of their choice. This programe has proved a big success. Employees at Mahindra are contributing in a significant way in the development work in villages to teaching children. They are assisting in disaster relief operations also. In fact they are trying their best in creating the better world. CSR initiatives at Mahindra focus mainly on education and health. They have their special emphasis on the girl child. Nanhi Kali is the project for the girl child. There is also a scholarship for the economically disadvantaged people named as Mahindra All India Talent Scholarship. Mahindra Group is also planning to set up two Mahindra Pride Schools. These schools will offer a variety of courses. The main emphasis will be on employability. It will also include training for Information Technology, Retail, and Automotive Engineering etc. They will provide new skills and capabilities to the weaker sections of society, particularly the scheduled castes and scheduled tribe youth. Various fields where Mahindra has taken initiatives towards corporate social responsibility are given below: Education- The Mahindra Group select education as the main tool to transform the lives of the people. In 1953,The K.C. Mahindra Education Trust (KCMET) was formed to promote KCMET has provided more than Rs. 25 crores in the form of grants, scholarships and loans. (KCMET) and the Naandi Foundation is aimed at providing education to the underprivileged girl child in India. Project Nanhi Kali as explained before is also for promoting education. It is a national girl child sponsorship Child sponsorship allows an individual, typically in a developed country, to sponsor, or fund a child in a developing country until the child becomes self sufficient. This could mean financially supporting the education, health or security of the sponsored child, or in some cases .. Click the link for more information.  Programme managed by the K.C. their main emphasis is on providing primary education to the girl child. Criteria for selection in Nanhi Kali programme 1. Girls who are enrolled in government schools 2. Girls whose family income is less than Rs 15,000 p.a. 3. Eldest girl child 4. Girl children with many siblings 5. Girls whose parents are illiterate 6. Girls belonging to backward communities Mahindra Mahindra was awarded the prestigious Auto Monitor Corporate Social Responsibility Initiative of the Year 2007 award for its Nanhi Kali Project at a glittering function held in Delhi. In Mumbai they have started Each One Teach One, Apnalaya, Save The Children, National Sponsorship Council, India Sponsorship Committee, Salaam Baalak Trust, S.N.D.T. Kanya Shala, Indian Association For Promotion of Adoption Child Welfare, Akanksha Foundation, Reach Foundation Action Programme (REAP), Bal-Jeevan Trust, Sunbeam, Doorstep School, Aseema, and Project Crayon. In August 2006, the KCMET and the Government of Rajasthan The Government of Rajasthan also known as the State Government of Rajasthan, or locally as State Government, is the supreme governing authority of the Indian state of Rajasthan and its 30 districts. .. Click the link for more information.  agreed jointly to sponsor the education of 10,000 Nanhi Kalis in Udaipur. Mid Day Meal Kitchen: The Company make a partnership with the Government of Rajasthan and Naandi Foundation for setting up of a centralised Mid Day Meal Kitchen at Govindgarh Taluka, Jaipur District, in the state of Rajasthan. Environment Mahindra Mahindra is also an environmentally conscious organization and is committed to help in maintaining the ecological balance. On the Founders Day the company launched a special campaign named Mahindra Hariyali which aims to add one million trees to Indias green cover by October 2008. Also ESOPs volunteers take up local environmental initiatives at various plants and area offices. Thus employees undertake various initiatives in environment such as: Energy Conservation Awareness Drives, Rain water harvesting, Global Warming. Arts and culture The Arts has also been an area of special focus of Mahindras social responsibility. Mahindra has instituted the Mahindra Excellence in Theatre Awards (META) which is Indias first dedicated theatre awards instituted by a Corporate. META will develop talent in theatre across the country. The awards will initially cover English Hindi theatre.The selection process covers four broad areas of the country, namely, North, South, East and West.  Six plays selected from each region and are referred to the respective Critics Panel. Mahindra Group also plans to set up a Mahindra Academy for Excellence in Theatre. Sports: Mahindra United Football A club with of games was set up in 1950. In 1956, a group of youngsters make a Mahindra official team in the Bombay Football League.   The company provided full- size football field for practice and training. Mahindra United of Mumbai is the only team in Maharashtra who win the Durand Cup twice; the second oldest trophy in the world. It is also the first team in Maharashtra to win the Harwood League and the Nadkarni Cup three times in a row. The MU won its IFA shield in Kolkata recently. Health Disaster Relief Mahindra Foundation The Mahindra Foundation has been set up to provide medical relief to the poor and needy sections of society. The foundation has helps patients suffering from cancer and heart diseases.   The Mahindra Group has also been very responsive to any disaster in India always. At the time of tsunami or the Gujarat earthquake, the Mahindra family has always provided support either by financial help or by sending vehicles and supplying material. Some of the Notable ESOPS initiatives this year were: The Lifeline Express (hospital-on-wheels) The Lifeline Express is the worlds first hospital on rails and provides free medical and surgical treatment to people suffering from polio, cataract, deafness and cleft lip. It is undertaken by the Tractor Plant in Rudrapur, where 647 surgeries were performed free of cost.   AIDS Awareness Campaign started in July 2007 in nasik city. The Company feels privileged to have received the Businessworld BSR Business for Social Responsibility Award. CSR initiatives taken by Nokia: Nokia is the market leader and a global company so it takes its responsibility seriously. Nokia respects the member of the society. They believe that mobile technologies can contribute to economic growth. Many of the programs are targeted at young people and youth development by Nokia as the corporate social responsibility. For example, Nokia collaborates with the International Youth Foundation. The company also has signed a cooperative agreement with the international childrens organization Plan in Africa to raise the childrens awareness of their opportunities and rights. Nokia also engages in some other types of societal CSR such as employee volunteering, corporate giving, Nokia Data Gathering is an example of a CSR programme that Nokia is expert in mobile technologies to do good things for society. The software allows different organisations to collect data using mobile phones instead of more paper forms. Nokia looks after its employee through various employee programmes and ethical labour practices. Environmental initiatives can be taken as the part of CSR. Taking care of environment is the everyones responsibility in the company. Nokias aim is be to be leader in environmental activities. Environmental management priorities include energy efficiency, managing substance of products, and take-back of used devices for proper recycling. Nokia collaborates with stakeholders to maximize contribution in the environmental management field. For example, in 2007 Nokia initiated supplier collaboration to work on energy efficiency targets Nokia has also worked with World Wide Fund; a global conservation organization, from 2003 in order to enhance Nokias environmental performance and increasing the environmental awareness of all Nokia employees. Since January 2008 Nokia has been a member of WWFs programme Climate Savers that works to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Nokia also supports Connect2Earth, a green on-line community launched by WWF. It want to make a positive impact through its product and services. Nokia aims to ensure that environmental, ethical as well as health and safety issues. Nokias CSR initiatives are given below Nokias helping hands Bridge IT Make a connection Village phones Nokias helping hands Nokia Helping Hands is an employee volunteerism program that allow employees to dedicate a maximum of two working days per year to volunteer work of their choice. The volunteer work includes building schools, collecting toys, clothes and other supplies for people in need and arranging activities for children. Through helping others it is possible to learn new skills and find new perspectives. Village phone Village Phone provides an example of a programme that targets universal access, provide access affordable telecommunications services in rural areas so boost economic development in rural communities. Accessibility is other project that provide accessibility features specifically to those people with disabilities and cognitive, sensory and physical limitations. Nokia is developing another project that will remind people to take their HIV/AIDS medicines on time. Nokia has been looking for a way to remind people on their phones that would be appropriate as well as discreet. This would allow for better monitoring and control from the side of health organizations. Bridge IT It is the result of a unique partnership between Nokia, IYF, Pearson, SEAMO Innotech and the United Nations Development Program (UNDP). The program uses existing information and communication technologies to access to quality education everywhere in the world. The idea is to offer young people the opportunity to education and skills development. The main objective is to deliver educational material of high quality to developing country schools through wireless technologies. Nokia has the text message technology which can be used in the programme which enables teachers and students to request and download materials from a digital library. So BridgeIT brings global educational materials into the reach of teachers and students in developing countries. Make a connection: Nokia has been cooperating with the International Youth Foundation established in 1990, is a global non-profit organisation working which empower young people to be healthy and productive. IYFs programmes help youth obtain quality education, make healthy choices, gain employability skills, and work to improve their communities. Nokia supports various youth development programme. Instead of starting completely new programmes, IYF identify those of its programmes that are working and bringing the expected benefits for participants. In 2000, Nokia and the IYF launched a global youth development initiative named as Make a Connection which is to strengthen the life skills of young people and prepare them for the future. Minimising environmental footprint Nokias environmental work is based on life cycle thinking which means that Nokia aim to minimize the environmental impact of the products throughout the operations,with the extraction of raw materials and ending with recycling, treatment of waste, and recovery of used materials. Energy efficiency Nokia make sure that devices use as little energy as possible. Nokia also work to reduce the energy consumption of the operations and agree on energy efficiency targets with the key suppliers. The future is in your hands Nokia has launched The Future is in Your Hands, which is a recycling scheme. The programme encourages customers to use special Nokia recycling bins for the disposal of old mobile phones and batteries. The phones will then be properly recycled.The move comes in addition to Nokias existing take-back scheme, which operates in Singapore, Malaysia, Phillipines, Hong Kong, Taiwan and China. CSR initiatives taken by Nestle Nestle is one of Indias branded food manufacturers. Nestles approach is to create a long-term sustainable value for their consumers, customers, employees, shareholders and society as a whole. It is a market leader in pretty every category. Some people say that Nestle doesnt really believe in the concept of corporate social responsibility instead they believe in the concept of creating shared value. The answer to this question is that they do believe that creating share value is one level higher than corporate social responsibility. In corporate social responsibility, they help communities and creating share value is just their way of doing business. Main CSR activities by Nestle are given below: Community Welfare Environment   Rural Development Water Safe drinking water; In India one of the major concern is the availability of clean drinking water for many communities. Approximately 200 million people do not have access to clean drinking water. Nestle India has committed to improving the situation. It believes that the first step is to create awareness in the communities. A key focus area of their Corporate social responsibility initiatives is to help provide Clean Drinking Water. Other one is to educate children in schools so that we can conserve this scarce resource. Nestle also supports local schools. It also helps in the maintenance of public parks and green belts. It facilitates blood donation camps and health awareness programs. All these initiatives strengthen the bond between Nestle and the community. Nestles main emphasis is on creating value for the public in terms of better nutrition, water, and food production. These three are the key to Nestle in building a sustainable business in the long-term. It makes a fundamental connection between shareholder value and community value. Nestle launched a series of initiatives to show its commitment in Creating Shared Value. Such as Company is launching the Nestle Healthy Kids Global Programme. The Nestle Prize, provides financial support of up to USD 461,000 to individuals, NGOs, or small enterprises who offer innovative solutions to nutritional deficiencies, access to clean water, or progress in rural development. Community Development The main business objective of nestle is to create value that can be sustained over the long term for the economy and society, using natural resources, creating growth opportunities and prosperity. The recently originated term is inclusive growth but it shows that in which thing company believes and what is it working for so that the business must be good for society, improving the quality of life of the people. The Nestle in the community model is simple. Employment: Nestle is creating direct and indirect employment knowledge, training programs and through transfer of technology. This enable people in the community to participate in economic prosperity. Nestle is continuously working with the community to understand what is needed to improve their quality of life. Nestle has been conducting dairy development programs in village to train the women in good dairy practices as well as spread awareness about personal health, hygiene, water   conservation and economic independence. Rural Development: Nestle has worked with millions of milk and coffee farmers and has make them better suppliers. It has helped them out of poverty and to prosper. Today, Nestle works directly with almost 600,000 farmers throughout the world, providing around over USD 27 million worth of microfinance in 2008. About 2.4 million people in developing countries earn their livelihoods from the Nestle supply chain. Conclusion- All the three companies are doing their best. They are taking up their corporate social responsibility seriously. Nestle believes in creating the shared value as well as doing their responsibility well. Mahindra has almost tried to do everything for the welfare of the society. Similarly Nokia is also performing well. Where Mahindra focuses on the education of girl child, Nokia and Nestle emphasize on the development of rural areas.

Business and Morals in Literature Essays -- Literary Analysis

History is nothing more than a record of people committing or overcoming injustices. As former United States attorney general, Robert Francis Kennedy, explains â€Å"It is from numberless diverse acts of courage and belief that human history is shaped. Each time a man stands up for an ideal, or acts to improve the lot of others, or strikes out against injustice, he sends forth a tiny ripple of hope.† In The Grapes of Wrath, John Stein beck illustrates the consequences that arise when people forget their obligation to one another. The Grapes of Wrath is a novel that tells of a families struggling to survive during the 1930 dust bowl in America. The novel focuses on the Joad family’s journey to California in search of work. On their search, they encounter fellow migrant workers who have fallen victim to big business and an uncontrollable capitalist agenda. Steinbeck explains â€Å"[the banks] breathe profits; they eat the interest on money. If they don't get it, they die the way you die without air, without side-meat.† (Steinbeck 5) Bank owners, businessmen, and landowners monopolized industry, abandoning majority of America homeless, hungry for food and opportunity. Famine and a weak market tore humble families apart while a handful of men ruthlessly profited from their misery. As the Joad’s journey continues, Steinbeck clarifies the fatal flaw the owners possess â€Å"For the quality of owning freezes you forever into â€Å"I†, and cuts off forever from the â€Å"we†.†(Steinbeck 206) Capitalism itself is not morally wrong. The competitive spirit is an innate quality found in everyone. Without it, our will to survive would be nonexistent. However, there is a clear distinction between ambition and greed. The time when people disregard their moral responsi... ...they begin to perceive the terrible justice of reality, and to accept it.†(LeGuin) Modern day societies, like Omelas, avoid taking action because it is â€Å"reality†. The migrant worker settled for pennies because it was their reality, replacing humans with technology was reality; the principles of business override morals because that was reality. Works Cited King, Martin Luther. â€Å"A Letter From Birmingham Jail†. Cohen, Samuel S. 50 Essays: a Portable Anthology. Boston: Bedford/St. Martin's, 2011. Print. LeGuin, Ursula K. "The Ones Who Walk Away From Omelas." Harel's Corner. Web. 17 Jan. 2011. . Plato. â€Å"The Allegory of the Cave†. Cohen, Samuel S. 50 Essays: a Portable Anthology. Boston: Bedford/St. Martin's, 2011. Print. Steinbeck, John, and Robert J. DeMott. The Grapes of Wrath. New York: Penguin, 1992. Print.

Nursing program

I have come to a point in life that many people have not.   I have made a firm decision to recommit myself to pursuing my dreams.   While there are those who believe that with an ounce of luck and a ton of persistence anything can be accomplished, I believe that there is no reason to expend so much energy and rely on luck.   I believe in taking hold of my destiny and carving out a future for myself based on the decisions that I make in life.   Life is simply too short and too precious to be left to luck alone.   This is why I have decided to apply at the National University Nursing Program to become a registered nurse. I have always wanted to help change the world.   As a child, I believed that if everyone did their own little part in taking that extra step to help others, the world would be a much better place for everyone.   The stark reality of it all hit me not long after that but it did not lessen my resolve.   I figured that if so many people I knew did not want to do their part in changing the world then I would probably have to do their share.   This is where my motivation to pursue nursing comes from; the drive to go the extra mile just to make a difference in this world. Early in life, I have always realized that my dream was to be able to help those less fortunate in life.   I have relentlessly pursued this dream and at present I am proud to say that I have had a lot of experience in the Nursing Field by acting as a private caregiver to the elderly in La Jolla.   I understand, however, that in order for me to turn these dreams into realities I need to get the training and proper experience necessary.   I see this as the first step in attaining my goals.   Eventually, I hope that my education with the National University over the next 2 years coupled with work in the neonatal intensive care unit as a registered nurse will allow me to live out my dreams. I see my goal in life as similar to that of Nurse Leader Mary Breckenridge in that I know that nursing plays a very important role in the world today.   There are few jobs and professions that are as rewarding as nursing.   While other jobs may get more publicity, the role that nurses play in the health care industry is highly valued and appreciated.   My motivation has to do with the fact that nursing is one of the ways by which I am able to do something that I really want to do in my life and that is to care and help other people.   More importantly, I greatly feel that by taking up nursing I can become a productive member of society. I remember vividly the first time that I had decided to become a registered nurse.   My Aunt had given birth prematurely and ended up losing her child.   She was only six months pregnant when this happened.   It was a traumatic and harrowing experience for all of us in the family.   Seeing her pain, I was determined to make sure that I would do all I could to help those in similar situations.   Much like my mother devoted her time to the less fortunate by completing her Masters in Special Education at the National University, I also plan to pattern my life after her example.   As such, I would also like to point out that I have continually improved my academic performance in school over the years. This was the factor that set the field of nursing apart from the other careers in the medical field.   The human involvement that is critical in nursing makes it the ideal profession for me.   The remunerations that one can receive from being a nurse are only secondary to the feeling of fulfillment from knowing that one was able to provide support to those in need.   These experiences that I took with me during my time in the hospital shaped my future and opened my eyes to the benefits that a career in nursing can provide. Pursuing my career in nursing is just the first step in my plan.   Much like Nurse Leader Mary Breckenridge has done, I too want to be just more than a nurse.   I would like to have the opportunity to take a bigger role in making the world a better place to live.   My main philosophy in life is to lead by setting an example. I cannot expect others to do what I myself would be willing to do but that does not mean that I cannot hope that others will see the example that I have shown them. This philosophy is one of the many forces that drive me to pursue my dream of pursuing a career in nursing and of becoming so much more in life.   The chance to help those who are less fortunate in life, the chance to help others, the opportunity to be of service to humanity; these are the reasons why I have selected nursing as the profession that I will pursue; for, as Eleanor Roosevelt once said, â€Å"The future belongs to those who believe in the beauty of their dreams†¦Ã¢â‚¬       

Burberry history Essay

Barberry was founded in 1856; originally focusing on producing ‘innovative functional outwear. ‘ over the years Barberry has adapted to changing trends and tastes to suit the consumers wants and needs. Additionally the extension of their product portfolio, for example their perfume and accessories range, Is a response to competition from leading brands such as Ralph Lauren and others. Barberry set out to create a luxury, premium brand image, however in recent years in Britain especially, the public perception of Barberry products have been labeled as ‘chap kook’ because of their distinctive tartan pattern on clothing. In September 201 2 the high brand luxury clothing company Barberry issued a profit warning taking El ban off Buyers market value resulting with a share fall of 19%. We are currently In an economic recession which has resulted In less consumer confidence and a trend of reduced spending habits. However the types of consumers that purchase brands like Barberry would usually not be effected by the economic recession. They are likely to have much more disposable income and secure well- paid Jobs. Retail analyst Joana Satyrs stated that â€Å"The global economic crawls Is dragging on and the longer It drags on the less confident even wealthier Individuals become†. Meaning that even those with more disposable Income to spend on luxury goods such as Barberry, are less confident which Is a major factor resulting In reduced spending habits. If consumers are spending less the company is likely to result in profit losses. If the problem deteriorates it can result in closing of stores and making staff redundant; adding to the already high unemployment figures Barberry s a luxury brand is not immune from the economic instability which has seen weaker sales not only in the UK but globally. From researching Buyers share decrease we can see that the 2012 London Olympics has played a major factor in profit loss. The types of customers buying Barberry products are likely to live in expensive locations such as London; Barberry state that the London Olympics pulled tourists away from shopping and pushed them more towards visiting the Olympic park and stadium and spending their money on souvenirs. However due to the economic recession and the trend of reduced pending habits, Buyers luxury high priced goods were Increasingly likely to see reduced sales. Although wealthier Individuals are likely to be unaffected by the economic recession, the Auk’s high unemployment rate has made Buyers customer base even more restricted than before. In contrast to Buyers view that the Olympics contributed to their profit loss, we believe that the Olympics helped the Auk’s unemployment rate hugely giving more individuals and potential customers more disposable income. However now that the Olympics are over, it can shift focus onto spending more on brands such as Barberry. In comparison; lower priced stores such as Tops and H & M are receiving higher likely to buy from stores that have fashionable styles and a wider variety of clothing at much lower prices. BBC business news (twitter) stated that â€Å"UK retail sales rise as shoppers buy winter clothing† and that â€Å"sales volumes were up 0. 6% in the last month†. Individuals are much more likely to spend EYE – OHIO on a coat rather than an IEEE one; especially during the economic recession. Taking the above into account, there are a number of ways in which Barberry could improve their economic position in the retail market. While Barberry are not in a state of danger as it stands, if their profit and share prices were to decrease further they may have to cut their costs. This could see a decrease in quality of their products resulting to a decline in brand loyalty and a future reduction in sales. One way Barberry could improve their situation is by re-marketing their product range to appeal to a different target audience, that of the middle and working class. Evidence suggests that lower priced stores (Tops and H&M) have been benefiting as a result of their lower prices. If Barberry were to adjust their position in the market, closer to that of H&M they may wreak the rewards. However, we think that Barberry may tarnish their entire business reputation if they do so. It takes many years to achieve a high brand reputation like that of Barberry and it would be a massive risk to put it all on the line. Also the lower priced retailers market is dominated by a few big players and is extremely competitive, making it harder for Barberry to establish itself in the lower priced category. We think that Barberry should ‘ride out the storm’ for the time being. If anything is to be done it should be investing more into marketing and branding to appeal to the upper middle-class. Although this would be costly initially, sales should pick up over time; improving Buyers share price and profits. Furthermore, in the meantime it would be easy for Barberry to take advantage of the current state of ‘national pride’ (following the Olympics) and go back to basics promoting the ‘Brutishness’ of their brand. Another way in which Barberry can improve their current situation is by taking a similar approach to Versa by launching a more economical clothing range with gig street brands such as H&M. For Barberry to differentiate themselves they can instead launch their clothing range with Ezra rather than H&M. Reason being that they types of clothes they offer are very similar in terms of sophistication and quality. This method was very successful with Versa as their line with H&M sold out within 30 minutes. By introducing a more affordable clothing line, Barberry will advantage from an increase in sales and profits as demand from consumers will increase. The cheaper they market their new clothing range the more people would want to buy it s they will be purchasing Barberry clothing for a faction of the cost.

Free Essays on Kennedy

Kennedy came to office with flair. He offered a new vision and a new frontier for America. He also inherited a secret war in Cuba, a Cold War with the Soviet Union and China, and an emerging crisis in Southeast Asia. He preferred a flexible security strategy over Eisenhower's heavy-handed nuclear threats. Flexible Response was no highly explicit theory nor written in a single authoritative source. Flexible Response was realistic in that nuclear weapons couldn't be used. It tried to provide credible means to match non-nuclear escalation. The word "flexible" stressed the value of having "multiple options" available should a crises arise. Having multiple options during a crisis appeared to be better than reference to a few preset war scenarios. Having multiple options was thought to enhance the credibility of the U.S. deterrent (reassuring allies while deterring the opponent). At the same time, however, flexibility made it also improbable that the U.S. would want or need nuclear attack. In effect Flexible Response called for the continued presence (in Europe) of sizable conventional forces. Conventional forces were to serve two functions, a deterrent function and the function to fight limited wars. The main argument of the Eisenhower administration had been that conventional forces were too costly and nuclear weapons would have "more bang for the buck." Kennedy wanted to deter all wars, general or limited, nuclear or conventional, large or small. Eisenhower and Dulles wanted to achieve similar goals but at minimal cost. Their risk was to either not act at all or respond at all levels of threat beyond the original provocation. Kennedy disregarded costs and emphasized sufficient flexibility to avoid either escalation or humiliation. In particular Kennedy wanted to increase the range of available options prior to resort to nuclear war. The threshold beyond which the President might have to decide to initiate the use of nuclear weapons had t... Free Essays on Kennedy Free Essays on Kennedy John F. Kennedy took office in 1961. With him he would bring a much more aggressive attitude than that of his predecessor former President Dwight D. Eisenhower. President Kennedy had only one down fall and it was that he worried about what others thought of the United States. Throughout his presidency President Kennedy would face many crisis. Some crisis would be very small and take very little time to resolve, while others would be on an imaginable scale and take years to end. The Cuban Crisis is one of the most noticeable that President Kennedy faced during his time as President. This conflict would also show an example of the role some nations play that may be they should not have. The Cuban Conflict would prove to be a stepping-stone for President Kennedy. Through his actions President Kennedy would show the world that the United States would do what ever it takes to stand up for what is right. President Kennedy would team up with Robert S. McNamara, Secretary of Defense and together they would launch the greatest arms role the world had ever known. This would cause the Russians to come to the aid of Cuba. President Kennedy explained to the Russians that if they got involved they would see their own fate. Though President Kennedy may have over reacted with the Cuban Conflict, by his actions being based on the fear of what the world thought, he still showed tremendous will power and fearlessness even when the odds were against him. The Cuban Crisis would also show the role that other nations would play in a certain crisis that should not have been played. The crisis in Cuba was a prime example of how during the world war countries would take a role that they should not have. The United States played a role they were not familiar with for the first time. They played the aggressor and moved in on Cuba. This action would prove not to be in the best interest, since Russia would come to the aid of Cuba. If the Uni... Free Essays on Kennedy Kennedy came to office with flair. He offered a new vision and a new frontier for America. He also inherited a secret war in Cuba, a Cold War with the Soviet Union and China, and an emerging crisis in Southeast Asia. He preferred a flexible security strategy over Eisenhower's heavy-handed nuclear threats. Flexible Response was no highly explicit theory nor written in a single authoritative source. Flexible Response was realistic in that nuclear weapons couldn't be used. It tried to provide credible means to match non-nuclear escalation. The word "flexible" stressed the value of having "multiple options" available should a crises arise. Having multiple options during a crisis appeared to be better than reference to a few preset war scenarios. Having multiple options was thought to enhance the credibility of the U.S. deterrent (reassuring allies while deterring the opponent). At the same time, however, flexibility made it also improbable that the U.S. would want or need nuclear attack. In effect Flexible Response called for the continued presence (in Europe) of sizable conventional forces. Conventional forces were to serve two functions, a deterrent function and the function to fight limited wars. The main argument of the Eisenhower administration had been that conventional forces were too costly and nuclear weapons would have "more bang for the buck." Kennedy wanted to deter all wars, general or limited, nuclear or conventional, large or small. Eisenhower and Dulles wanted to achieve similar goals but at minimal cost. Their risk was to either not act at all or respond at all levels of threat beyond the original provocation. Kennedy disregarded costs and emphasized sufficient flexibility to avoid either escalation or humiliation. In particular Kennedy wanted to increase the range of available options prior to resort to nuclear war. The threshold beyond which the President might have to decide to initiate the use of nuclear weapons had t...

The Names and Dates of the Tragedies of Euripides

The Names and Dates of the Tragedies of Euripides Euripides (c. 484-407/406) was an ancient writer of Greek tragedy in Athens and a part of the third of the famous trio with Sophocles and Aeschylus. As a Greek tragic dramatist,  he wrote about women and mythological themes as well as both together, such as Medea and Helen of Troy. Euripides was born in Attica and lived in Athens most of his life despite spending most of his time in Salamis. He enhanced the importance of intrigue in tragedy and passed away in Macedonia at the court of King Archelaus. Discover the innovation of Euripides, his background and review the list of tragedies and their dates. Innovations, Comedy,  and Tragedy As an innovator, some aspects of Euripides tragedy seem more at home in comedy than in tragedy. During his lifetime, Euripides innovations were often met with hostility, especially in the way his traditional legends portrayed the moral standards of the gods. Virtuous men appeared as more moral than the gods. Although Euripides portrayed women sensitively, he nonetheless had a reputation as a woman-hater; His characters range from victim  to empowered through stories of revenge, retaliation, and even murder. Five of the more popular tragedies he wrote includes  Medea, The Bacchae, Hippolytus, Alcestis, and The Trojan Women. These texts explore Greek mythology and look into the dark side of humanity, such as stories including suffering and revenge. List of Tragedies Over 90 plays were written by Euripides, but unfortunately only 19 have survived.  Here is a list of the tragedies of Euripides (ca. 485-406 B.C.) with approximate dates:   The Cyclops (438 B.C.)  An ancient Greek satyr play and the fourth part of Euripides tetralogy.Alcestis (438 B.C.)  His oldest surviving work about the devoted wife of Admetus, Alcestis, who sacrificed her life and replaced his in order to bring her husband back from the dead.Medea (431 B.C.)  This story is based on the myth of Jason and Medea first created in 431 BC. Opening in conflict, Medea is an enchantress who becomes abandoned by her husband Jason as he leaves her for someone else for political gain.  To take revenge, she kills the  children they had together.The Heracleidae (ca. 428 B.C.)  Meaning Children of Heracles, this tragedy based in Athens follows Heracles children. Eurystheus seeks to kill the children to keep them from performing revenge on him and they try to stay protected.Hippolytus (428 B.C.)  This Greek play is a tragedy based on the son of Theseus, Hippolytus, and can be interpreted to be about vengeance, love, jealousy, death and more.Andromache (ca. 427 B.C.)  This tragedy out of Athens shows the life of Andromache as a slave after the Trojan War. The drama focuses on the conflict between Andromache and Hermione, her masters new wife. Additional Tragedies: Hecuba (425 B.C.)The Suppliants (421 B.C.)Heracles (ca. 422 B.C.)Ion (ca. 417 B.C.)The Trojan Women (415 B.C.)Electra (413 B.C.)Iphigenia in Tauris (ca. 413 B.C.)Helena (412 B.C.)The Phoenician Women (ca. 410 B.C.)Orestes (408 B.C.)The Bacchae (405 B.C.)Iphigenia in Aulis (405 B.C.)

Make Ammonium Nitrate from Household Chemicals

Make Ammonium Nitrate from Household Chemicals Fireworks season is coming up, so before I get into the new fireworks projects, I wanted to cover the synthesis of a common chemical used for pyrotechnics: ammonium nitrate. Another fun project to try with ammonium nitrate is to make an endothermic reaction. You can buy ammonium nitrate as a pure chemical or you can collect it from instant cold packs or some fertilizers. You can make ammonium nitrate by reacting nitric acid with ammonia, but if you dont have access to nitric acid (or dont want to mess with it), you can make ammonium nitrate from readily available home chemicals. Gather Materials You will need: 138 g sodium bisulfate (found with pool chemicals, used to lower pH)1 mole equivalent of a nitrate salt... any of the following85 g sodium nitrate (common food preservative)101 g potassium nitrate (which you can buy or make yourself)118 g calcium nitrate (tetrahydrate)ammonia (common household cleaner)methanol (optional, which may be found as HEET fuel treatment) Ingredients Dissolve the sodium bisulfate in the mininum amount of water (about 300 ml).Dissolve your nitrate salt in the minimum amount of water (amount depends on the salt).Mix the two solutions.Next you want to neutralize the solution, which is quite acidic. Stir in ammonia until the pH of the mixture is 7 or higher. Use a pH meter (or pH paper). Reacting ammonia, sodium bisulfate, and nitrates will give you sodium sulfate and ammonium nitrate.Sodium sulfate and ammonium nitrate have different solubilities in water, so boil the solution to get the sodium sulfate to crystallize. Remove the liquid from heat when crystals of sodium sulfate form in the bottom of the pan.Chill the solution in the freezer to get as much of the sodium sulfate as possible to drop out of the solution.Run the solution through a filter (coffee filter or paper towels) to separate the solid sodium sulfate from the ammonium nitrate solution.Allow the ammonium nitrate solution to evaporate, which will give you ammonium nitr ate, with some sodium sulfate impurity. This is good enough for most chemistry projects. If you want to further purify the ammonium nitrate, dissolve it in about 500 ml of methanol. The ammonium nitrate is soluble in methanol, while the sodium sulfate is not.Run the solution through a filter, which will give you sodium sulfate on the filter and a solution of ammonium nitrate.Allow the methanol to evaporate from the solution to obtain crystalline ammonium nitrate. Safety Information The chemicals used in this project are smelly and corrosive, so this project should be performed under a fume hood or outdoors. As always, wear gloves, eye protection, and appropriate clothing. Some of the reagents and the final product are flammable or are oxidizers, so keep the chemicals away from open flames.

Foundation for marketing Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

Foundation for marketing - Assignment Example To the contrary, marketing is a financial investment with the customers being the Return on investment and is also a time investment where you only spend on it after learning well about your market (Grewal & Levy, 2010). In launching of a new product there a number of things that is vital to start with. You need to learn about the products or services chain and who the competitors are. This means you need to take a good market research in the industry which will help you determine whether the idea is viable. It will also help you identify your target market, analyse it and your capabilities. While researching, you could ask direct questions from the consumers or you could take your own research from existing information. Communication is a vital part of marketing as without it customers will just be aware but will actually not buy. You should have a unique selling proposition, unique features and benefits and a marketing message with a great image. You should be daring to be different. When you stand out and do things differently to attract attention and dare to go beyond any other business in your product or service line, you will definitely launch and sell your product or service with an agility y ou never imagined. In Claudio Vignali’s article, ‘McDonald’s: â€Å"think global, act local†-the marketing mix’, the author takes us on a journey of how the McDonald’s restaurants were established and how they came to grow through market mixing. After founding the restaurant in1937, the brothers Richard and Maurice McDonald were later joined by Ray Kroc, a milk-shake salesman giving him exclusive rights in 1954. The success made it rise in worth to become one of the greatest companies in the world’s history. The key to its international success according to the author was the use of franchising. They franchised to

Knowledge and Its Affect on the Society and Its Spontaneous Essay

Knowledge and Its Affect on the Society and Its Spontaneous - Essay Example To answer this Althusser (1978) coined the term â€Å"Ideological State Apparatuses† and â€Å"Repressive State Apparatuses†, gives that necessary epistemological break, more analytically than Gramsci (1971), in his theory of social â€Å"hegemony†. In contrast to Bourdieu's concept of habitus, the Ideological State Apparatuses consist of social institutions like school, university etc that help spread a particular discourse of thought-process and archetypal pattern of understanding in a particular way (like Christian concept of good and evil). The Repressive State Apparatus are agents of repression, like the Police, that teach by force and thus maintain the necessary consensus. While the institutions teach through the medium of language that is itself coloured with discursive power to subjugate a subject in the given hegemony almost without any conflict or force. Lacan (1968) explains this linguistic paradox in his theory of language where he says that the stage when s subject enters the realm of the â€Å"symbolic† sphere, the self/consciousness becomes a complex site where one loses the capability to express beyond that given medium of language, which is finite and a complex site of power play. Language is not neutral, but an agent of defining this ideological and hegemonic base. Quite pessimistically, the answer has been given as no. Since the state is a billion-eyed monster keeping a watch on its subject (imagine Orwell’s 1984), the state apparatuses reach out adventitiously even to the furthest grass-root level and teach by force or by apparently ‘neutral’ force to form subjects who cannot escape this ‘interpellation’ (Althusser).

Zimbabwe Economy and International Relations Essay

Zimbabwe Economy and International Relations - Essay Example In February 2000, the government’s draft constitution was rejected by the majority of voters representing the first electoral challenge to the hegemonic and increasingly authoritarian rule of President Robert Mugabe and his ruling nationalist Zimbabwe African National Union-Patriotic Front Zanu(PF) party’s twenty-year rule (Amanda & Raftopoulos 2003:10). This culminated in a wave of war veteran-led farm invasions that saw many white commercial farmers losing their farms in the violence that ensued. Thus, Zimbabwe’s economy mainly being agro-based, the farm invasions precipitated the deepening economic decline which resulted in the disintegration of commercial farming. This also led to the decline in tourism as a result of the country’s negative publicity, major losses in foreign currency earnings, a fall in Gross Domestic Product (GDP) of 24 percent and a significant rise in arrears of Zimbabwe’s foreign debt of US$3.4, the withdrawal of Western Aid and substantial loss of foreign investment, widespread business losses, drastic fall of the Zimbabwean dollar, crippling fuel shortages and a severe national shortage of food threatening to affect Zimbabwe’s estimated population of 13 million.( Amanda & Raftopoulos 2003). Regardless of the negative publicity, Zimbabwe still maintains embassies in many countries across the world and more than sixty-six countries are represented in Harare, Zimbabwe’s capital city. It is also a member of various regional and international groupings such as the African Development Bank, The World Trade Organization, Southern African Development Community (SADC), Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA).

The main ways to promote Term Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

The main ways to promote - Term Paper Example The lack of adequate product promotion can fail any business whether big or small. Hence, it is highly necessary to disseminate the product to the largest segment; if a business intends to attract large numbers of customers. The underlying key factor to any business’s success remains centered on having a good promotion. There are many ways to promote a product in Qatar, but the most effective ways include advertising, personal selling, discounts and special offers. This paper discusses the main ways to promote a product and which ways better to apply promotion in Qatar. However good the product, it is highly unlikely to sell itself, which is why a good promotion becomes necessary; to ensure a company markets its products efficiently to its customers. Effective ways to promote a product successfully in a competitive market include the following: Media promotions may involve using radio, television, newspapers, magazines, posters and billboards, or handing out leaflets in the street or homes. Small agro-processors find the use of television and newspapers as unrealistic options, but following several market types of research other approaches seem viable. A majority of businesses utilize the radio approach by using a number of rural radio stations to promote their products. This approach not only promotes products to a wider segment of consumers, but it also offers the possibility of relatively low-cost advertising. The other alternative that has proven effective in promoting a product a product using commercials on televisions involves the out-of-home TV viewing (Stafford, 2005). Most people hate commercials, so they tend to change channels when commercials come up; that is why home-TV viewing cannot effectively suit as a way of promoting a company’s products. However, people tend to find it interesting watching comme rcials when on the move for example in buses, in shops,

Public Administration; the constitution Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Public Administration; the constitution - Essay Example At government level, the relations between countries have become somewhat tense due to increased terrorism and consequent allegations on the terrorist groups belonging to neighboring countries. At public level, the relations have become stronger due to increased cultural and social diversity in many countries. The article 1 of the United States constitution mainly deals with the government structure, legislative powers, legislative responsibilities of the members of the Senate and the House of Representatives, and constitutional and taxation activities of the states. This article provides a solid foundation on which the structure of the government is formed and legal responsibilities and restrictions are communicated to the officials. The article 2 of the constitution mainly talks about the executive and legislative powers of The President of the United States. The section 4 is a little different as it talks about the factors that can lead to the termination of services of all government officials including The

Internal Recruitment Case Study Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Internal Recruitment - Case Study Example The purpose of the paper is to generate an in-depth understanding about the aspects of recruitment. The paper will describe the recruitment process and identify the similarities and dissimilarities between the works of two authors i.e. Bach’s book â€Å"Managing Human Resources† and Torrington, Hall and Taylor’s book â€Å"Human Resource Management† regarding the internal recruitment. Literature Review According to Bach (2005), recruitment and selection is the procedure of selecting the appropriate employees from the pool of inappropriate employees who can effectively fit in the organisational culture and job responsibilities. Bach had mentioned the recruitment model as ‘psychometric’ or traditional method to employment because traditional method of recruitment focused on job and followed a coherent structure of actions. This method is mainly used in service organisations which require high degree of job fit. Bach focuses on finding suitable s election methods which are capable of forecasting appropriate employees from inappropriate employees, i.e. methods which have thorough psychometric components of rationality and consistency (Bach, 2005). According to Torrington et. al. (2008), organisations require finding and getting employees who are required by organisation for success. These employees can be part-time, permanent, or irregular, and the employment relationship with them is the agreement which sums up the aspects of that association so that both parties know their position. According to the authors, the entire employee resourcing procedure is represented by the joint assessment that occurs in selection meeting, in order to identify that if certain candidates are appropriate for the organisation or not. Selection meeting not only assists the organisation to get proper employee, but also helps the applicant for getting his/her desired job (Torrington et. al., 2008). Recruitment Process Both authors have certain simil ar and a few dissimilar opinions regarding recruitment. According to Bach (2005), recruitment often takes place when a present employee leaves the organisation or when organisations need to fill any vacant job position. The organisational reaction is to replace the old employee with substitute employee so that the absence does not hamper the business operations. Torrington et. al., (2008), described that apart from using recruitment, organisations have several other ways to fill the vacancies. For instance, organisations can reform the tasks by allocating or shifting the time as well as reorganise the work procedures to fill the gap of performance caused by departure of certain employees. However, there are certain situations where recruitment becomes essential even if employees do not leave an organisation, for instance, if organisations enlarge the business or create new divisions in the market. According to Bach’s (2005) point of view, recruitment process includes a method ical appraisal of the necessities of an organisation and detailed examination of job requisite in terms of job analysis. It is essential for an organisation as even when an employee is substituted, there can still be variations in job necessities. Torrington & et. al., (2008), had also suggested that job descriptions are crucial for evaluating the job necessities and for preparing the employers for recruiting.

Public Administration; the constitution Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Public Administration; the constitution - Essay Example At government level, the relations between countries have become somewhat tense due to increased terrorism and consequent allegations on the terrorist groups belonging to neighboring countries. At public level, the relations have become stronger due to increased cultural and social diversity in many countries. The article 1 of the United States constitution mainly deals with the government structure, legislative powers, legislative responsibilities of the members of the Senate and the House of Representatives, and constitutional and taxation activities of the states. This article provides a solid foundation on which the structure of the government is formed and legal responsibilities and restrictions are communicated to the officials. The article 2 of the constitution mainly talks about the executive and legislative powers of The President of the United States. The section 4 is a little different as it talks about the factors that can lead to the termination of services of all government officials including The

The report of Lenovos marketing strategy Essay Example for Free

The report of Lenovos marketing strategy Essay Lenovo, one of the successful firms of China , has been a global company. To identity the reasons and factors of success, we handled the report. Through scanning the books and references about Lenovo, we have some conclusions and opinions. With its leading-edge technology, easy to use, personalized design and wide range of solutions, the products are widely welcomed by users in China. Lenovo also has extensive product line for the Chinese market, including mobile handsets, servers,and digital products. Lenovo Groups development is broadly divided into three stages: the first stage is the start-ups and survival stages; The second stage is to solve the problem of  existence. ; the third is spending huge sums on the acquisition of IBMs PC division, and begin the development of international strategy. BRIEF INTRODUCTION Lenovo Group was established in 1984, invested 200,000 yuan by the CAS Institute of Computing, which 11 scientific and technical personnel founded. Today the company has become one of the worlds leading PC companies, combining with the former IBM Personal Computing Division. Lenovos fiscal year 2007/08 turnover of $ 16.4 billion. Since 1997 the sales of Lenovo in Chinas domestic market topped the first, and in the Asia-pacific market in successive years (except Japan) is among the best.Lenovo group was launched in 2004. In China, the market share of Lenovo PC products is nearly one-third. With its leading-edge technology, easy to use, personalized design and wide range of solutions, the products are widely welcomed by users in China. Lenovo also has extensive product line for the Chinese market, including mobile handsets, servers,and digital products. Lenovo Groups development is broadly divided into three stages: the first stage is the start-ups and survival stages; The second stage is to solve the problem of existence.; the third is spending huge sums on the acquisition of IBMs PC division, and begin the development of international strategy. FINDINGS The analysis of the marketing environment 1.The macro-marketing environment: The macro external environment for the development of the Lenovo Group has an important influence. The integration and adaptation of macroeconomic policy and social-economic environment ensures that the Lenovo Group can go better in the long-term strategic development of the road. 1.1 Political environment Lenovos political background is strong like the national support. Lenovo is founded by the Chinese academy of sciences institute of computer, with all kinds of computer professionals with technical strength, known as the birthplace of Chinese computer technology. 1.2 Economic environment: The economic environment is good. The economic crisis lead to the overall economic environment tightening, but the development of computer industry  chain to maintain good growth momentum. 1.3 Social environment: China even the whole world still has a great purchasing power. Once the enterprise enter the market, the value of the firm will show up. 1.4 Technical environment: Lenovo Group, founded by the Institute of Computer Technology, Chinese Academy of Sciences. And it stands for the countrys highest level in the field of computer technology. 2. The micro-marketing environment: Marketing micro environment essentially refers to the the companys own environment and the business which is directly linked to units or individuals formed environment. 2.1 The threat of new distributors to potential industry: New competitors entering a certain segments of the market, can add new production capacity and a lot of resources, and fight for market share. The key lies in wether the new competitors can easily enter the fine market. This is the mainly due to the economies of scale, channel construction, the expected revenge factors. 2.1.1Possible entrants: the first one is the digital giants abroad which have not yet entered the Chinese market, and the others is downstream products, suppliers and retailers. 2.1.2The way of entrants : the appearance of new products, and the establish of a new brand. 2.1.3Potential entry barriers to entrant: economy of scale, product different barriers, capital demand barriers, the customer conversion cost, patent and proprietary technology. 2.2 The competition in the industry The product has a specific location, the users change to the existing brand are usually based on the disappointment. Because of the industry production capability, the computer industry is highly profitable high risk. 2.3. Substitute As Chinas entry into the WTO, the competition will post the professional business enterprise the threat. 2.4 The bargaining power of suppliers  Most of the PC software is provided by the supplier, and not by the manufacturer production. PC manufacturer bargaining ability, but in foreign  suppliers, local brands has obvious advantages. The buyers bargaining power:Through the analysis, Chinas PC industry has high barriers to entry so that there is no alternative goods and the purchaser bargain ability is low. For new entrants the competitive threat is various and widely effected, but due to a variety of reasons no matter at present or in future there will be still a number of entrants. 3. Lenovos SWOT analysis: Combined with the present situation of the development of the industry Lenovo laptop exactly exist problems and should establish rational marketing decision-making plan. 3.1. Advantage: Market share: Lenovo laptop channels throughout the whole of Asia market, market share to competitors than the other, with 30.6% of the market share comes to the first in line. Local brand experience and regional advantages: Lenovo has decades of experience in the Chinese mainland which can accurately grasp the local consumer demand, which is the strength of other brands do not have the advantage. Brand advantage: In the PC market, Lenovo brand of leadership in the Chinese market has more than many rivals, is the industry leader, and promoted step by step and accumulation. 3.2 Disadvantage: In addition to the Chinese market and overseas market, especially the north American market the ability of growth is weak. International operation experience compared to the Dell and HP has a gap, form although international, but did not reach the system. A lack of international experience, especially to the international complex economic form ability, to the risk control ability is not strong, it is the financial crisis led to Lenovo losses. Although the acquisition of the IBM PC business, full integration is not yet complete. 3.3 opportunity: The development of the consumer PC market, along with the rise of the notebook market as well as the popularity of the PC provides a good opportunity to Lenovo notebook in the consumer market. And there is a sales boom as Win7 listed the individual market. so Lenovo should seize the opportunity to capture the market. The Chinese government launch home appliance countryside sports, farmers for the PC has a strong demand. Lenovo  an seize the chance to go to Chinas vast countryside market.The domestic market having the rapid development , more and more consumers to buy the computer. 3.4 threat: The consumer market, facing the threat of the Hewlett-Packard, Dell is a strong competitor. A large number of new brand computer manufacturers produce cause confusion of market.The financial crisis is still not completely eliminate and global individual market is falling which affect the Lenovo shipments greatly since commercial personal market. 4. Lenovos market segments, the choice of target customers, market positioning (STP analysis) 4.1 Market segment: despite Lenovo is an old computer, it seems that there is no market selection problem, but when profits to maximize the enterprise management of long-term highest goal appeared. Lenovo will also can not bear the temptation of diversification, attack from the Internet, a series of new business, but soon found many new business water depth in waves, therefore decided to make strategic shrinkage and adjust. Later, Lenovo will and divided into two parts, one kind is small and medium-sized enterprise and the average consumer, small and medium-sized enterprise and further divided into medium customers and scattered type customers. One kind is often tender for purchasing clients, and further divided into global big customers combined with local customers, and whether the commercial market or consumption market, desktop computer or the laptop. Lenovos market segmentation levels are quite clear, and in each segment the market established deputy brand. Through the in-depth market research, a series of specialized value recreation, make the brand to look brand-new.Thus, market segmentation for a brand the growing importance of the, Lenovo because timely see this, suit the remedy to the case. According to the growing small and medium-sized enterprise commercial computer demand, Lenovo won the unshakable market share. In the future a period of time, Lenovo brand value management and considerable ascension space, also can become more sales though driving force is strong. 4.2. The market localization: Association with the main trend products and low-priced products to the aftermarket price of brand quality one-sided pressure to the other brands. Lenovo in the past ten years, has constant innovation and introduction of  more advanced technology and electronic products, which are inextricably linked with Lenovos strong backing of the Chinese Academy of Sciences Institute of Computer Science. Lenovo has a high-quality technical team. They have a number of senior researchers and engineers with years of experience in technical strength with a large number of Hong Kong and Taiwan manufacturers. Lenovo can not be surmounted, which proves the Chinese computer market leading brand strength is immeasurable.Lenovo chooses the low level of technology, and focus on market demand with the wide range of applications.The market is large, easy-to-commercialization of microcomputer products in the product form, from the development version upgrade start, rather than to start on the development machine. This is the Lenovo Groups goal, so that companies can integrate into the community with the fastest speed, and lay a solid foundation for further development in the future. CINCLUSIONS Lenovo, a global company, has gone through many challenges and difficulties. There are much experience in the growth of Lenovo. Although there are many reasons of the success, the main and crucial one is persistence. We are, of crouse, proud of the admirable achievement of Lenovo.

Mr and Mrs Andrews Painting Analysis

Mr and Mrs Andrews Painting Analysis I chose to make the comparison between Gainsboroughs Mr Mrs Andrews and Shonebares Mr Mrs Andrews Without Their Heads because although the titles are similar and the concept is similar, there are distinct differences. The fundamental differences stem from the fact that Shonebare used mannequins, whereas Gainsborough painted in oil on canvas. Shonebare has excluded the landscape whereas Gainsborough has included his beloved landscape which is an important part of his paintings. These two artists are from two different backgrounds, different races and 235 years apart. The two pieces are an ocean apart: Gainsboroughs painting is hung in The National Gallery, London while Shonebares work is installed in The National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa. Similarities The important differences in the two pieces are Gainsborough has a landscape in the background, whereas Shonebare has excluded this which alters the subject completely. For Gainsborough, the landscape was extremely important and by combining portraiture with landscape, this helped him to cover his love of landscape and at the same time earned a living, but it also gave us an historical insight into the landscapes in that period. Gainsboroughs sitters almost appear secondary, with the Andrews sitting under the oak tree and just about appearing in the portrait. The fact that Shonebare excludes the landscape is significant as the landscape depicts the wealth and status of Mr Andrews and by excluding this, Shonebare has appropriated a degree of this power and wealth. Gainsborough cursed the face business but Shonebares pieces without heads would not have worked in Gainsboroughs time for the simple fact that portraiture was popular in the mid 18th century. Portraitures were a way of indic ating to the world that a person had arrived. The face/eyes are the one thing that helps to give a human being identity it is like the window of a persons character and soul and by excluding this, there is an emptiness in Shonebares story, although one could argue that by being faceless the viewers can decide on the characters for themselves. Another significant factor in Shonebares Mr Mrs Andrew is by not having any heads, the eyes are drawn immediately to the beautiful vibrant fabrics. The Dutch Wax fabrics are important signifiers of Africa in Shonebares installation and although this is associated with Africa, it is in fact printed fabric based on Indonesians batik, manufactured in the Netherlands, Britain and other countries and exported to West Africa. This cloth has proved to be a rich and adaptable material, both literally and metaphorically, and it is vibrant and theatrical, although this particular installation is incongruous as the material does not marry up with the pe riod designs of the mid 18th century as it would have been highly unlikely gentlemen and ladies would have dressed in clothing from the sub-Continent, even though some of these materials are extremely expensive. Include in here Shonebares technique(why did he use material?)/Gainsboroughs brushstrokes (how has he managed to achieve such reality in his fabric? There is also something quite unsavoury about decapitated heads with the bodies still looking alive and I find the Shonebares mannequins quite surreal and disturbing having looked at this several times. Why however did Shonebare use headless characters? One of the reasons I expect could well be he wanted the characters to be mysterious but it is more likely that because Gainsboroughs painting is a celebration of deference and by being headless, Shonebare has somehow deflated their status. The eyes of Gainsboroughs Mr Mrs Andrews are staring straight at viewers, inviting them into their world. Expand here. In comparison to her neck, however, Gainsboroughs Mrs Andrews has extremely narrow shoulders which seems out of proportion to the rest of her body, and I wonder if this was naturally so or if it was to underscore that she was the subordinate of the two. Mrs Andrews faint smile indicates decorum although her narrow shoulders and posture reveals a degree of subjugation and possibly domination by her confident, no-nonsense husband. Shonebares Mrs Andrews posture has revealed a more confident looking woman with the shoulders being broader and the fact that the couple looks more equal has automatically transformed Shonebares mannequins into the 21st century. Gainsboroughs painting on the other hand is an anachronism of the past with the man standing next to his belongings: his wife, dog and gun and his land ownership in the background. Expand on Gainsborough here. Althou gh Shonebares installation is inside a building and there is just a plain background, he has managed to conjure up a feeling of a couple being outside of a building and the Rococo style bench could well have assisted in making this possible. When I look at Shonebares piece, I am thinking landed gentry but on looking again, my eyes tells me that there is incongruity as these bright colours would be classified as far too garish for these upwardly mobile folks in the middle of the English countryside. It shows Mrs Andrews in fine silk clothing, sitting on a Rococo style bench, sitting primly, while Mr Andrews is portrayed as a casually dressed gentleman with a dog and a gun, standing proudly before his sprawling land. Expand on both Mr Andrews clothes, figure and posture. I saw Mr Mrs Andrews at the National Gallery in late November 2009 and it is a relatively small oil on canvas, measuring 69.8 x 119.4 cms. It lacked that stiffness and grandeur associated with huge canvasses of that period. The young couple are shown in their Suffolk surroundings and it shows a distinctive style of portraiture, which does convey a degree of spontaneity and casualness, although that is not strictly true as the painting is highly organised. Robert Andrews would have been eager to display his latest agricultural advancement with the mechanical seed drill which was unusual in the mid-18 th century. Expand on Gainsboroughs landscape. Why did Shonebare not have a landscape/background? Why did he chose to have a 3-d installation? Could he have achieved a realistic landscape of that size in post-Modern Britain? Both artists are from completely different backgrounds and eras and to understand these pieces a little better, it is important to look in further details at their lives. Yinka Shonebare MBE was born 234 years later, in London in 1962 to Nigerian parents and lived in Battersea until his parents relocated to Lagos when he was 3. His father, a lawyer, wanted him to also study law but at 17 Shonebare returned to London and at 19 he chose to study art. He received his BA from Byam Shaw (now part of Central St Martins College of Art Design) and his MA from Goldsmith College, London University. A month into his art course he became seriously ill with a rare viral infection which attacked his spine and left him temporarily paralysed. He is now partially paralysed and walks using a stick. While at art school Shonebare was questioned by a lecturer about his choice of subject matter and why was it not more African? This started his journey of using Dutch Wax fabric as an apt metaphor for the entangled relationship between Africa and Europe in his installations. It has proved to be a rich and adaptable material, with the flexibility to be used in his installations, his paintings and in other projects he has undertaken. Shonebare works across the media of painting, sculpture, photography and filmmaking and has won several prizes, shortlisted for the Turner prize in 2004 and has been awarded the commission to make a work for the Trafalgar Square Fourth plinth in 2010. In 2005 he was awarded the MBE an award he has chosen to use as part of his artistic identity and uses this wherever his name is written. Thomas Gainsborough was born in Sudbury, Suffolk, in 1727, fifth son of a cloth merchant. Having a keen interest in drawing as a child, at the tender age of 13, he was sent to London to study art in 1740. He was a founding member of the Royal Academy, but unlike his contemporary, Joshua Reynolds, he was never knighted. Gainsboroughs natural preference was always for landscape painting, but it was impossible for an English artist to make a living painting landscapes and so in 1748 he moved back to Suffolk where be became known as a portrait painter. He hated portrait painting and, like Reynolds, this was his main form of income but he felt it bounded him to the wishes of his sitters. .Nothing is worse than gentlemen I do portraits to live and landscapes because I love them, Gainsborough once said to a friend. In another letter to a friend he complained about the pressure of society portraiture, which he described as the cursd Face Business. Gainsborough was one of the most important English artists of his time. He was impressed by the natural rhythm of Dutch landscape paintings and became a dedicated admirer of Van Dyck. The focus of country life as a centre of power and privilege was faithfully reflected in Gainsboroughs art, and in Mr Mrs Andrews the landscape reflected this power and self-esteem. In this painting, his most famous, it shows Robert Andrews, Gainsboroughs childhood friend, with his wife Frances on their estate. They had been married on 10th November 1748 when he was 23 and she was 16 and it is believed that this was painted soon after their marriage. Robert Andrews inherited half of his fathers estate and the other half of the neighbouring pieces of land from his wifes father, William Carter. In Mr Mrs Andrews Gainsborough succeeded in painting both a portrait of the client and of the landscape which is natural and in fact it is possible to relocate the very tree under which the Andrews sat. Unlike the French artificial geometric gardens, he was concerned with freeing painting from any kind of stylisation although Gainsborough sometimes included his own landscape from his imagination.

Allegory in Forsters The Other Side of the Hedge Essay -- Forster Oth

Allegory in Forster's The Other Side of the Hedge After reading the first few paragraphs, The Other Side of the Hedge, by E. M. Forster, seems to be nothing more than a story about a man walking down a long road. The narrator's decision to go through the hedge transforms the story into an allegory that is full of symbols representing Forster's view of the journey of life. The author develops the allegory through the use of several different symbols including the long road, the hedge and the water. The allegory is about man's life journey toward the ultimate goal of heaven. When the reader interprets the story on a literal level, it seems somewhat realistic, but he quickly senses a double meaning. In the story, the narrator travels on a long, dusty road that seems to have no end. He tells about the other people of the road, discussing the possessions that they attempt to carry with them. Some of these people abandon their journey, leaving their possessions behind to gather dust. The target of E.M. Forster's allegory is the transition from life on earth to life in heaven. Forster's many symbols in the story portray his view of life. One important symbol that Forster mentions several times is the long, dusty road. The seemingly endless road represents the long, difficult journey of life. The people in the story must travel on the road even though it never ends and leads them nowhere. At first, they carry as many possessions with them as possible, but they eventually leave them behind, as he journey becomes more difficult. The narrator says, "The road behind was strewn with the things we had all dropped." Eventually, the people of ... ... falls into the water, it cleanses his body physically, but it also cleanses his soul symbolically. His body is no longer covered with dust from his journey on the road. The water also causes the main character's pedometer to stop working. This further indicates that all links to the narrator's past life have been destroyed. He has moved on to a different stage in life, and there is no turning back. E.M. Forster's use of allegory and symbolism in The Other Side of the Hedge helps present his belief that the journey toward heaven is easier when one has fewer possessions and does good deeds for others. When the main character strays from the road, he begins a symbolic journey into heaven. The hedge strips him of his worldly possessions, while the water cleanses him spiritually, preparing him for the life to come.

The Witching Hour :: essays research papers

The Witching Hour Title: The Witching Hour Author: Anne Rice Copyright Date: 1990 Number of Page Read: 1043 Three main elements classify the genre: Gothic, Mystery, and Romance. I classify Gothic novels as stories pertaining to a dismal atmosphere, such as Edgar Allan Poe's literature. . Lovers who unlock thirteen generation's of Mayfair family secrets and incest; discovering that their intervention becomes a more complex-intertwining destiny. Our Antagonist Michael Curry, a 48-year old Irish man who had lost himself in a world in which he had accomplished his dreams, experienced his emotional pain, and yet he felt empty. Michael approached the rocks of the bay, thought of his life and emptiness, then he slipped and fell to his fatal doom in the sea. Found by a woman known as Rowan Mayfair , he discovered that he was dead for over an hour as he rested in the hospital. Michael also discovered that he had received the gift of seeing images by using his hands to touch objects, and that he chose to come back. He was burdened by the images and the vision after his death, that he had a purpose, that he was sent for a reason. Something that had to do with a doorway, and the number thirteen. After isolation from the press of the burden of his powers, he found himself wanting to go back on the deck of the boat where he was rescued. He wanted to talk to the woman who rescued him, for he thought that she would let him touch the boat to recover images that night. He discovered that this neurosurgeon, Dr. Rowan Mayfair, was the veritable love of his life. After he discovered how much he deeply loved Rowan, he began to reminisce the images of his purpose; that certain elements and images of his childhood hinted him to return to the house he had been fascinated with in New Orleans as a child. Another major character of the story, Englishmen Aaron Lightner, was a part of an archaic organization known as the "Talamasca". Aaron studied a family called the Mayfairs in New Orleans, because his organization had believed the Mayfairs to be witches. He devoted his life to the history of the Mayfair witches, and his organization had compiled a history of the Mayfairs since the days of the 17th century inquisition in Europe. As he watched Michael and Rowan from the corners of darkness, he intervened their lives to enlighten their knowledge of Rowan's family history—and its dangerous potential. Rowan did not know a single thing of her family history, as she was left in the dark her whole life by her aunt

Diversity and Individual Behaviour

Diversity is what the world is made of. Without diversity, the world would be an uninteresting and inhospitable place. Without diversity, there would be no variety of opinions or alternate views. There would be no different views or ways of thinking. Being diverse provides a way for people to express opinions and views to others who may not have pictured a situation the same. Four factors that cause diversity are ethnicity, gender, religion and sexual affinity. These groups have an outcome on the course of daily choices. The author of this paper will look into each of the groups and how the aspects have an impact on individual behavior. Ethnicity has an influence on behavior that cannot easily be ignored. At work the influences of ones ethnicity is dealt with everyday. African-American stereotypes have led to â€Å"being black as similar to having a felony conviction when regarding the chances of finding a job. The results of a study suggested black men must work at least twice as hard as equally qualified white men to rise above the stigma their skin color provides (Pager, 2009).† The humiliation is, for the most part, due to labeling. According to Devine and Elliot (1995), in the 1930’s the adjectives used to describe an African-American were superstitious, lazy, and ignorant, and today the adjectives vary from unintelligent, loud, and criminal to musical, athletic and very religious. Discrimination is often difficult to observe, and yet, despite the antidiscrimination laws discrimination still occurs. The author of this paper is a case manager for individuals with developmental disabilities, and observes the subtle nuance of bigotry almost on a day to day basis. Being articulate and having a name that belies the true ethnicity frequently surprises people when meeting in person. The dumbfounded expression is not easily hidden regardless of one’s efforts to mask it. Statements such as ‘you sounded different over the phone, or you look nothing as I imagined’ are uttered frequently during these meetings. After such meetings, those who are truly prejudiced will request to work with someone else; giving superficial explanations to the request.  For example, ‘we prefer to work with someone with more experience’, or with a man, regardless of the fact the author has more than 20 years of experience in the profession. Being African-American has its hardships. In addition to that adversity, consider the privation of being an African-American woman. The author’s supervisor admitted to being cautious with relaying the information about the requests of those who had recently met the author in person. Why was the supervisor afraid to approach the author? Because, the African-American woman is often portrayed as a defiant, smart-mouthed, sassy, finger-waving and eye-rolling person, it is easy to understand her fear. The African-American woman has to be diligent in the efforts to contradict the assumptions. Just being female impacts a woman’s behavior. Women are portrayed as and believed to be whiners, nags, flakes and shopaholics. Women are thought to be helpless and in need of rescuing; by a man, of course. In the business world certain jobs have traditionally been considered gender specific. A woman who holds a stereotypical masculine position, such as construction ‘foreman’, is capable to use the equipment just as successfully has the men, but often the men see her as delicate; unable to work too hard, resulting in less productivity and more stress in the workplace. Women want the same respect, opportunities and responsibilities as men. However, chauvinistic attitudes often obstruct a woman’s advancement. The author has overheard such comments as: ‘she doesn’t need a promotion, her husband makes more’, presuming a female employee has no right to a full fledged career, or a larger salary comparable to the male employees. Surprisingly, th e comment was made by a female. Sexism is evident in all areas of life. For example, people debate if women should play a sport traditionally played by men. The year 1896 is when women playing football was first documented. The men’s reaction to the football game was mentioned more than the game itself: ‘the crowd of men looking on, excited by the struggle, closed in with a rush.’ It was not until 1970 that a woman was allowed to play on a men’s semipro football team and not until 1999 did  The Women's Professional Football League begin playing professional women’s tackle football games (Women's Professional Football League, n.d). Sexism exists in religion as well. To the Catholic Church, Mary, the mother of God is the most perfect human being. Yet, a woman cannot be ordained as a priest. The woman’s highest role in the Catholic Church is that of a Nun; a servant living under vows of poverty, chastity, and obedience. In other faiths women have more of a role, for instance in the Episcopalian religion; a woman may be a priest. In Judaism rabbis have been known to depict women as envious, unproductive, lazy, greedy, and prone to gossip. In Judaism a Jewish woman’s role in life is traditionally a wife, mother and keeper of the household. The Jewish woman knows her place and the depictions have discouraged many women from pursuing an education, career advancement and sexual affinity (Marcy Hyatt, personal communication, January 7, 2009). Marcy Hyatt, a Jewish woman and a homosexual, also reported her experience of being homosexual and being Jewish as parallel. She has fought prejudice and fought for civil rights, and although she no longer has to fear being visible, she continues to work to maintain her self-worth in the face of ignorance and bigotry. According to the American Psychological Association (2004) while sexual orientation is not a conscious choice that can be voluntarily changed, several homosexual and bisexual people seek to change their sexual orientation through therapy, often coerced by family members or religious groups. In the United States, homosexual and bisexual people often meet widespread violence, discrimination, and prejudice. The discrimination takes many forms from being denied raises, promotions and getting poor performance evaluations to bullying in schools. The fear of being known as a homosexual or bisexual has led to men hiding sexual orientation from loved ones and doctors thereby possibly putting themselves and loved ones at an increased risk for HIV/AIDS. Regardless of the fact that no one can avoid diversity, people fear differences and seek only what is perceived as safe; remaining ignorant to what others have to offer. Fearing people different from us is a natural tendency because of how we were raised. When we treat one another as individuals with feelings, then we will experience true multiculturalism.

Leaders

Does the quest for power and wealth, which led to centuries of violent guest and subjugation of city? States and empire during ancient times, continue to happen at present times? – Leaders, presidents, barraging captains, a ruler off place, and others have this ranks getting better and better. For this instance this leaders abuse their power to people to feel that they are strong and they have power, but they are not and they do not have any power. Some leaders are going to be violent because some people do not follow them so they would get mad. Ferdinand E.Marco's, he is en of the presidents that he thinks that he can rule over the people. The people, that time, does not have any rights to talk, they do not have any freedom. Yes, he is very smart, and made our country a better country, but that was the problem, he did not give any freedom to the people. Money changes people. There are these people who uses their money for them instead help the community. Let us use President Gloria MacDougal Arroyo as an example, instead of using the money or donating the money for the people she used the money of the people for her body and face.If you re wondering what my answer is, it's a yes. Leaders wanted power and wealth. It led violent guest and subjugation of the city. Every year or every time they change the leader they have these laws or rules that you should follow whether you like or not. Leaders want to execute people who disobey them. Being a leader those not mean you have to have all the power and money It Is all about being smart, how good you are in helping people, you are ready for the challenges, you have to give what the people want, and you have to give them the people's rights. That is when the leaders darted doing right things.They gave us freedom, and rights. Other countries helped us with the wars and with the Spaniards who are punishing us for no reason and used us as slaves. These leaders feel that they are higher than us, but all of us are t he same. This led our country to do things for others because they think that we are low. There are a lot of countries that tricked us. Like the Americans they went to the Philippines to use our lands but the Filipinos thinks that time that they are going to help us but they did not do anything. The American people tricked us. Then the Filipino people had enough.That Is how we, Filipinos started fighting and we started defending there selves. We stared creating our own rules, our own laws, governments, and policies. That time other people does not have any right to rule us but the ones that can rule us Is the people that can take care of us and can listen to the people problem. These kinds of presidents brought us to stay strong and fight for our country and us. We started as a ruined group of people but we are building walls behind us to make us strong and to tell people that If they mess with us they mess with the wrong people.Until now there are still presidents, not only preside nts but also senators or mayors that use the money of the people, but we know that one day we can be a better country. By bulls_babe you have to have all the power and money it is all about being smart, how good you Filipino people had enough. That is how we, Filipinos started fighting and we started but the ones that can rule us is the people that can take care of us and can listen to the people problem. These kinds of presidents brought us to stay strong and fight for behind us to make us strong and to tell people that if they mess with us they mess

Curriculum Design Essay

Chapter 7 ASCD Yearbook Fundamental Curriculum Decisions, 1984 People cannot intelligently discuss and communicate with others about curriculum without first making very clear what their interpretation of a curriculum is. In this chapter, we will be thinking of a curriculum as a written plan for the educational program of a school or schools. Curriculum design them will consist of those considerations haying to do with the contents, the form, and the arrangement of the various elements of a curriculum. We distinguish between curriculum planning and instructional planning with curriculum planning being the antecedent task. Curriculum planners are forced to make design decisions almost from the outset of their work. The design decisions revolve around three important considerations: (1) the range of school levels and schools to be covered by the curriculum, (2) the number of elements to be included in the curriculum, and (3) the nature and scope of each of those elements. Each of these requires additional explanations. Decisions about the range of school levels and schools to be covered by the curriculum normally are mot very complicated, and the range usually coincides with the sphere of authority of the board of education. Districts may elect to plan a curriculum from kindergarten through grade 12; they may elect to plan one curriculum for the elementary schools and one for the secondary schools; or they may elect to direct each school unit to plan its own curriculum. Planning groups will have to decide about the number of elements to be included in the curriculum. Among the options for inclusion are: (1) a statement of goals or purposes, (2) a statement of document intent and use, (3) an evaluation scheme, and (4) a body of culture content selected and organized with the expectancy that if the culture content is judiciously implemented in classrooms through the instructional program, the goals or purposes for the schools will be achieved. To this list, some would add suggested pupil activities, instructional materials, and so forth, but these matters belong more rightfully in the domain of instructional planning and we will not consider them here. A few comments about each of these four elements will be helpful to the reader in understanding their import for curriculum decisions. Most curriculum writers would agree that it is desirable to include a statement of goals or purposes to be achieved by schools through the implementation of the planned curriculum. They may disagree as to what the goals ought to be, or they may disagree about the degree of specificity of the statements to be included. The most famous statement of goals or purposes for schools became known as the Seven Cardinal Principles of Education as formulated by the Commission on the Reorganization of Secondary Schools in 1918. They were health, command of the fundamental processes, worthy home membership, vocation, civic education, worthy use of leisure, and ethical character. There is less consistency among curriculum writers in terms of their insistence upon including a statement of document intent and use in a curriculum, and, in practice many curricula do not contain such statements. Curricula have, in the past, contained statements intended to reveal the philosophy or point of view of the planners but this is not what we mean by a statement of document intent and use. A statement of document intent and use should be forthright and direct about such matters as: (1) how teachers are expected to use the curriculum as a point of departure fur developing their teaching strategies, (2) the fact that the curriculum is the official educational policy of the board of education, (3) the degree of universality in expectancy with regard to the discretion of teachers in implementing the curriculum, and (4) the degree to which teachers are to be held accountable for the implementation of the curriculum. These are illustrative of the kind of statement that may be formulated, but each planning group will have to decide on the number and character of such statements. With the amount of emphasis put upon curriculum evaluation in recent years, some mandate with respect to the curriculum evaluation is a very reasonable option for inclusion in a curriculum. The most common method of pupil evaluation used in the past has been the standardized (norm referenced) achievement test. In most cases, there were no deliberate attempts to relate published curricula to the test batteries. Therefore, any leap in assumption about the directness of the relationship between curriculum content and whatever was measured by the tests was likely to be untenable. All the more reason for formalizing an evaluation scheme by including it in the curriculum. In one form or another, a curriculum must include a body of culture content that has been deemed by the planners and directing authorities to be important for schools to use in fulfilling their roles as transmitters of culture to the oncoming generations of young people. The basic curriculum question is, and always has been, that of what shall be taught in schools, and a major function of a curriculum is to translate the answer to that question into such forms that schools can fulfill their commitment and demonstrate that they leave done so. Most of the remainder of this chapter is devoted to discussion of this element of a curriculum; so we will leave it at this point. But it should be made clear that from these options as potential elements of a curriculum, there emerge two dimensions of curriculum design. One is the choice of and the arrangement of the elements to be included in the curriculum. The other is the form and arrangement of the contents of each of the elements internally. The design problem is greatest in the case of the form and arrangement of the culture content and it is the one most frequently discussed under the heading of curriculum design by curriculum writers past and present. . Culture Content-Knowledge-Curriculum Content A curriculum is an expression of the choice of content selected from our total culture content and, as such, it is an expression of the role of the school in the society for which the school has been established to serve. A word needs to be said here about the meaning associated with the expression â€Å"culture content.† Ralph Linton provided us with a classical and very useful definition of â€Å"culture.† He stated: â€Å"A culture is the configuration of learned behavior and results of behavior whose component elements are shared and transmitted by the members of a particular society† (1945, p. 32). The term â€Å"society† is ordinarily used to refer to a group of individuals who live together with common norms and shared frames of reference. Societies tend to generate their own culture and to transmit that culture to oncoming generations within that society. So long as societies and their cultures remained in a primitive state, their cultures were simple and could be transmitted to oncoming generations by direct contact between the young and the older members of the society. But as societies became more complex and the scope of their culture content increased so that the transmission of the culture content to the young could no longer be accomplished by direct contact in daily living, societies were forced to create institutions to take on the responsibility for all or part of the cultural transmission task. The school is one of those institutions. The church is another. Both of these institutions have unique roles to play in society, and they tend to transmit different culture content to the young. Parochial schools tend to do both. As Smith indicated in Chapter 3 of this Yearbook (not in this reading – JG), the culture content selected to be included in the curriculum of the school may be thought of as equivalent to the knowledge to which school students are to be exposed. In any case, it is critically important to be aware that not all culture content, or knowledge, accumulated by society comes under the purview of the school; curriculum planning is a process of selecting and organizing culture content for transmission to student by the school. The process is very complex, involving input from many sources, but the organized end-result of the process is the design of the curriculum. The most sophisticated mode of organization of culture content for purposes of teaching is reflected by the various disciplines such as history, chemistry, or mathematics. In addition to the established and recognized disciplines, school subjects have been created out of conventional wisdom m the applications of selected portions of the disciplines to applied areas of our culture such as vocational subjects, social studies, or reading and handwriting. In general, the separate subject organization of culture content has predominated in curriculum design. Another way of speaking about curriculum content is to refer to cognitive content, skill content, and value or attitudinal content. As Smith discussed more fully in Chapter 3, all three types of content represent knowledge in some from either in the form of direct knowledge or a knowledge base. The three forms have been used as a classification schema or a taxonomy for curriculum content formulation. Historic Curriculum Design Conflicts One must realize that tire basic curriculum question is, and always has been, one of what shall be taught in the schools. An immediate corollary to that question has been that of how shall what has been chosen to be taught in the school be organized so as to best facilitate the subsequent decisions about teaching and learning. Those two questions are the primary curriculum questions, and the organized decisions made in response to them culminate in a curriculum design. A few reflections about our curriculum past will illustrate settle of the conflicts in curriculum design that have taken place. In her study, Sequel observed that curriculum as we use the term today was not a subject of professional discussion until after 1890 (1966, p. 1). Rugg contended that decisions about curriculum content prior to the 20th century were decided primarily by textbook writers and textbook publishers (1926, Pp. Ill-11). It was not until 1918 that Bobbitt wrote the first definitive work on curriculum and since that time curriculum writers have directed their attention to the substance and organization of curriculum content (curriculum design) and to the processes of curriculum planning, implementing, and evaluating. By the early 1900, the stage had been set for the separate subjects organization of the culture content to be used in schools. In our very early elementary or primary schools, for example, pupils were taught to read, to write, and to compute; the subjects were called reading, writing, and arithmetic. Much later such subjects as geography, history, and civics were added to the curriculum. In our early secondary schools, pupils were taught a selection of subjects (disciplines) that were directly associated with the disciplines taught at the college or university. Even though the separate subjects organization of culture content was used before curriculum became an area of professional study, it is still with us. True, subjects have ben added and others altered, but it remains the dominant approach to curriculum design. The separate subjects mode of curriculum design has been significantly challenged only once in our history. That challenge came with the advent of the Progressive Education movement. A principal belief of the Progressive Education movement was its dramatic emphasis on the learner in school settings. A substantial portion of the Progressive emphasis on the learner was stimulated by John Dewey’s (1916) call for more active and less passive learning in schools. This focus on the learner when applied to the organization of curriculum content led to endeavors remove away from the separate subjects organization of tire curriculum content. The movemen away from the separate subjects organization (sometimes called subject-centered) was toward the integration, or fusion, of subjects under the assumption that such integration would not only facilitate learning on the part of pupils but would additionally make the knowledge, skills, and attitudes more easily available to the pupils in post-school life (the transfer problem). The basic process involved here was the fusion of the contents of two or more of the separate subjects into another organization in which the individual subjects lost their separate identities. As one might expect, names were associated with the various integration or fusion attempts. Figure 1 adapted from Hopkins (1941, p. 18) illustrates the variety of names associated with curricula resulting from integrative or fusion processes. Hopkins here polarized the subject curriculum and the experience curriculum. The broad fields curriculum was placed in the center so as to show that it had a reasonable num ber of the characteristics of the two extremes. Others as indicated on either side depending on emphasis. Space in this volume will not permit extensive description of curricula developed as part of the efforts to move away from separate subjects organization. The best we can do here is to identify some of them and cite sources for further investigation on the part of the reader. For example, in their hook The Child-Centered School, Rugg and Shumaker (1928) presented brief descriptions of the curricula of the Lincoln School, The Frances Parker School, and others of that time. In most cases, the curricula were built around child-centered units of work, but attention was focused as needed on such basic subjects as reading, mathematics, history, geography, and so forth. One of the most extreme departures from separate subjects organization was proposed by Stratemeyer and others (1957). The authors proposed the â€Å"persistent life situations† concept as a basis for dealing with the curriculum building issues of scope, sequence, continuity, balance, and depth. At the junior and senior high school levels, special mention should be made of the core curriculum. The core curriculum idea was to get away from nothing but the discipline-centered curriculum. Most core programs were organized around larger and more flexible blocks of time, and the content was generally centered on personal and social problems and problems of living. In many respects the core curriculum idea was an attempt to solve the general education problem in our upper schools. It is important to note that in practice in schools, curriculum design failed to get very far away from the subject- or discipline-centered design. The most lasting effect of the movement was the broad fields idea as represented by social studies, language arts, and general science, and they have persisted mostly in curricula for elementary and junior high schools. Contemporary Arguments About Curriculum Design Probably the most persistent movement in curriculum design in recent years has been the proposed use of specific behavioral objectives as a basis for curriculum organization. Curriculum writers have long proposed that curricula ought to contain statements of goals or objectives, but not as the only content of a curriculum. Some contemporary writers have proposed that curricula should be thought of in terms of the anticipated consequences of instruction, or intended learning outcomes. (For example, see Popham and Baker, 1970; Johnson, 1977). The culture content in such cases would either be implied in the objectives or be considered as an instructional decision. A distinct advantage of this type of curriculum design is that supervision of the implementation and of the evaluation of the curriculum is simplified and facilitated. Such proposals are in direct contrast to a proposal that a curriculum should he composed in four parts: (1) a statement of goals, (2) an outline of the culture content that has the potential for reaching the goals, (3) a statement of the intended use of the curriculum, and (4) a schema for the evaluation of the curriculum (Beauchamp, 1981, p. 136). They are in even greater contrast to those who would include instructional considerations such as suggested activities for learners and instructional materials to be used. Curriculum planners should be warned that the inclusion of all of these things produces fat and unmanageable curricula. With respect to the culture content of curricula, two organizational concepts persist both in the literature and in the practice of writing curricula. The first is the tendency to continue with the basic framework of the subjects, or disciplines, that are to be taught. The second is to break the subject areas down into three identifiable components: (1) cognitive, (2) inquiry and skill, and (3) affective (value, moral, attitudinal). Curriculum planners will probably wish to begin their thinking about design with the familiar, which will unquestionably be the conventional school subjects. They will consist of mathematics, social sciences (including social studies as a subject), the natural sciences, fine and applied arts, health and physical education, communications, and other languages. At the secondary school level, planners will add to these whatever vocational and technical subjects they may wish to offer. Some planners will wish to add an area that may be termed social problems, molar problems, or problems of living that may call for applications of elements learned in various conventional subjects. Curriculum planning is an educative process. For this reason classroom teachers should be involved in the undertaking. A very important reason for their involvement is that the process of curriculum planning presents an opportunity for them to engage in analysis of the culture content so that they may be more effective in their classrooms at the level of instruction. The analytic process of breaking down the culture content into cognitive, affective, and inquiry and skill components is one way that teachers may become mote knowledgeable about what they do. Also in this process of analyzing the culture content, the content is more specifically related to goals and at the same time it fosters better curriculum implementation. For these reasons, teachers’ participation in curriculum deliberations has been proposed frequently as a needed dimension of continuous teacher education. In Chapter 3, Smith raised the very important question of the utility of the culture content selected to be part of the curriculum content, and he posed several ways in which the utility of knowledge can be emphasized. In a more specific vein, Broody, Smith, and Burnett (1964) suggested on, potential uses of learnings acquired in school to he taken into consideration. They are the associative use, the replicative use, the applicative use, and the interpretive use (pp. 43-60). Very briefly, the associative use of knowledge refers to the psychological process of responding to a new situation with elements of knowledge previously acquired. The replicative use refers to situations that call for direct and familiar use of schooling such as when we read a newspaper, write a letter, or balance a checkbook . The applicative use occurs when an individual is confronted with a new problem and is able to solve the new problem by the use of knowledge acquired in the study of school subjects through previous experience in solving problems demanding similar applications. The interpretive use of schooling refers to the orientation and perspective the individual brings to new situations because the individual has acquired ways of conceptualizing and classifying experience. Much of the discussion about uses of schooling (especially use external to the school) is an elaboration of the transfer problem that has plagued educators ever since Edward Thorndike first set forth his theory of transfer through the existence of identical elements in 1908. The most easily explained is the replicative use as described above because of the direct similarity between the use external to the school and the mode of learning and practice in school. Take reading for example. Reading from school materials is directly similar to reading of materials outside the school. But when it comes to applying knowledge or making new interpretations or associations between knowledge required in school and life situations external to schools, a more complicated transfer situation exists. Unfortunately, many of the questions raised about utility and uses of schooling have not been answered through curriculum design. Nor are they likely to be because so much is dependent upon classroom teaching technique and the design of instructional strategies. The best efforts in curriculum design have been through the generation of new courses (subjects if you please) in which the content is purportedly more like life external to the school. Reference here is made not only to specialized courses such as technical, vocational, commercial and occupational courses but also to courses designed around molar problems, problems of living, and core programs. In many respects, the broad fields courses were designed for purposes of saving time during the school day and to facilitate the transfer of knowledge acquired. But whatever the curriculum design, if teachers are not aware of and sensitive to the kind of analyses of the content to be taught as we have been discussing it, the uses of schooling will not be maximized. All the more reason why teachers should be part of the curriculum planning effort and participate in the required dialogue. In summary, then, what courses of action with respect to curriculum design appear to be the most appropriate for today’s curriculum planners? The most important aspect of curriculum design is the display to be made of culture content once the content has been selected. The total amount of culture content is constantly growing thus making the problem of selection for curriculum content more difficult as time goes on. Unquestionably, the role of those schools (elementary and secondary) that operate under compulsory school attendance laws must constantly be examined in terms of what they should or should not offer in their curricula. The elementary school curriculum has always been designed with general education in mind. In our contemporary society, the secondary school seems to be moving in that same direction. Both, however, have seen fit to divide the content selected into realms or courses as appropriate. Scope and sequence have long been two major problems in curriculum design. The display of course content into topical outline is one way planners can watch for discrepancies in scope and sequence. It also helps with horizontal articulation among the various subjects. To help teachers generate greater insight into the content outline, it is desirable that the curriculum design reveal the expected cognitive, inquiry or skill, and affective outcomes. These are conventionally arranged in the design of the content in parallel with the topics in the outline. flow behaviorally the outcomes are to be stated is optional to the planners. These outcomes should also be thought of in terms of any goals or purposes that may be stated in the curriculum. What else to include in the design is optional to the plan. It has become quite conventional to think of goals or purposes first and then to select the content. Such procedure is quite arbitrary because all content is selected with some purpose in mind. Nonetheless, a statement of goals and purposes is a useful element in curriculum design. I would add to the topic outline and the expected outcomes a directive statement about the intended use to be made of the curriculum and a statement outlining a scheme for evaluating it.