Personal Narrative My Own Personal Life - 1086 Words

Have you ever heard a song that has brought you back to a special moment in your life? Music, which holds such a huge part of mine, constantly reminds of the memories that I have retained over the years. There are many songs that allow me to reminisce on those important times and experiences; from my first love, to summer days at the pool and late night sleepovers with my friends. Out of my long list, I think that a few songs in particular best represent my own personal â€Å"soundtrack† to my life. Looking back on my childhood, the first time that I recall finding a love for music was on Thanksgiving when I was five years old. My mom’s whole side of the family was over to celebrate that year. We spent the entire day cooking and stuffing our faces until we all looked like pot belly pigs. I had eaten my entire body weight in turkey and mashed potatoes and had cranberry sauce stains covering my shirt. Even though we were too full for pumpkin pie, we all managed to eat a s lice topped with homemade whipped cream. After we finished eating, my uncle sat down at the grand piano in the living room and everyone quickly gathered around him. I made sure to cover my little ears when he tapped those first keys. He began to play â€Å"Bennie and the Jets† by Elton John, and every single person in my family simultaneously began to sing along. I slowly removed my hands from my ears and came to realize that most of my family was very musically talented. All of their voices harmonized together soShow MoreRelatedMy Family And Education Is Important For Your Future1221 Words   |  5 Pagesthemes in my family’s narrative. The first theme in society that contradicts the values of my family is homosexuality. As mentioned above, religion is a large part of my family, therefore, homosexuality is not part of the catholic religion. With that being said my family has a strong opinion and belief about same sex relationships. The second theme compliments my fam ily’s values and that is getting and education. In broader culture getting and education is important for your future and in my familyRead MoreMy World View906 Words   |  4 PagesWithin each and every individual lies a set of beliefs that help set the foundation and fundamentals of his or her existence. These beliefs are uniquely crafted from ones own experience and personal choices, or established through an others personal influences or doctrine. No matter the scenario, these beliefs determine an individuals priorities, justify their actions, help determine what he or she is fond of and aids them in answering some of lifes challenging questions. Most importantly theseRead MoreNarrative Is The Root Of Some Fields1510 Words   |  7 PagesNarrative is the root of some fields which includes education, rhetoric, literature, religion, law, history: culture (Wilson, 1989). It can be seen as a tool to create traditions and symbols as means of communication and it is a source to understand and strengthen the identity of the organisation (Kroeze and Keulen, 2013). As a conceptual theme, narrative becomes a self-conscious system and a reflexive field. In other words, the role of narrative in personal lives is to show how it can be utilizedRead MorePersonal Commentary On The Lives Of People Different From Ourselves1454 Words   |  6 Pagessees the world in the same way, and no one person can completely understand the way someone else sees the world. This is why personal narratives are such an important piece of writing. They allow us to gain an understanding of things that we may never experience ourselves. This allows us to gain insight into the lives of people different from ourselves. By listening to the life stories of other people, we learn to better communicate with others. Every human on this planet has a unique and distinct storyRead MoreMultiple Theories Influenced The Development Of My Personal Model And Therapeutic Approach For Couples And Fam ilies1668 Words   |  7 Pageshave influenced the development of my personal model and therapeutic approach to couples and families. Three theories in particular that I draw my therapeutic approach from includes: narrative therapy, emotionally focused couple’s therapy, and attachment theory. I will articulate the theoretical underpinnings of these three theories and integrate them in one cohesive personal model called Emotional Enhanced Attachment Narrative Therapy. This paper will discuss my approach in regards to the theoretical/philosophicalRead More Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass Essay907 Words   |  4 PagesNarrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The tone established in the Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass is unusual in that from the beginning to the end the focus has been shifted. In the beginning of the narrative Douglass seems to fulfill every stereotypical slavery theme. He is a young black slave who at first cannot read and is very naà ¯ve in understanding his situation. As a child put into slavery Douglass does not have the knowledge to know about his surroundings and theRead MoreNarrative Voice of Frederick Douglass920 Words   |  4 PagesNarrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass The tone established in the Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass is unusual in that from the beginning to the end the focus has been shifted. In the beginning of the narrative Douglass seems to fulfill every stereotypical slavery theme. He is a young black slave who at first cannot read and is very naà ¯ve in understanding his situation. As a child put into slavery Douglass does not have the knowledge to know about his surroundings and the worldRead MoreThe Narrative Theory / Paradigm1477 Words   |  6 PagesThe narrative theory/paradigm states that everything we do can be laid out as a story (Fisher, 1984). The main points of the theory/paradigm are the following: humans are essentially storytellers; decisions that humans make are based off of good reasons rather than proof; what we do and how we think is swayed by accounts of history, biography, culture and character; our rationality is determined by our sense of probability (the coherency of the narrative) and narrat ive fidelity (whether the storyRead MorePatient Narratives1708 Words   |  5 PagesNarratives or stories have been used throughout the history of the human race to allow and help people to express themselves in ways that promote personal growth and enhance physical well-being. Even in the simplest of contexts, narratives are a core factor in the advancement of the humanity/society and all of its facets. An illustration of this can be seen in the transfer of a family s lineage, history, and values from generation to generation. This allows for the recipient of this informationRead MoreAnalysis Of I Just Wanna Be Average1039 Words   |  5 Pageswork very hard and struggle through life trying to be the very best at every single thing they do; this is a good trait to have but, sadly not everyone has this type of work ethic or motivation. Some people just try to get by and go through the motions, often not getting the education they they are rightfully entitled to. This is the type of mentality that Mike Rose discusses in his narrative â€Å"I Just Wanna Be Average.† Throughout the narrative, Rose shares personal experiences of mistakenly being set

How Dangerous The Ocean Can Be Essay

I was born and bred in our Midwest farm whereby I had dreamt for a long time of visiting the ocean until one day, at the summer of 1980, my mother told me that we were to pay my aunt Carolyn who by then resided in Havelock a visit. I was so much ecstatic since I could finally get to feel the sand and the ocean water, something I had dreamt of for long. The journey to Havelock was smooth and we managed to get to our destination safe and sound. Upon reaching the ocean, and after the usual family debating on the ideal part to set the camp, and also the sun screen painting, I finally ran into my long awaited dream of testing the waters of the ocean. Since the day was hot already, the water was moderately warm thus, thirst quenching. I felt like I had been born again in a new world. I stood there watching as waves hit the shores I was almost carried away by the averagely strong waves which hit and knocked me down giving me my first taste of salt water. Meanwhile my dad watched me as I wrestled with the waters. Whenever I was overwhelmed, he could laugh at me knowing that it was too minimal for me to drown. Soon, dad joined me with two boogie but mum and aunt with their hats on, sat on the sun. (Sevenus, p29) Later on, Uncle Bob joined us from a short errand he had run. He taught on us how to use the boards but left shortly for a shot call. Dad joined me and we started exploring the waves of the ocean. As we were going on, we were hit by a strong wave and knocked out to the underwater. While still under the water, I felt like I was being tossed in a washing machine. Since my eyes could not see properly due to the salty water, I tried to find my way up but all in vain. I wrestled with the currents trying as possible as I could, not to remain under. My most vivid memory while still under water, is how quiet and still the environment is, no playing kids, no whistles just the immense quietness with silent but strong currents. After the duration of about four minutes, I finally found myself on the surface of the ocean struggling and gasping for breath. I looked around me to see if I could see my father anywhere but unfortunately, I could not.   I tried to take glances and see if I could spot any beach, but nothing was visible to my eyes not even the people because the waves had pushed me to the middle of the ocean unknowingly. I was completely in a state of panic and total confusion. I could not know even guess which direction I was to swim to, and worse still, I was not able to remember the direction where the sun was. All this while, I never knew where dad was since we were separated mysteriously. Fortunately, I was able to spot a piece of board approximately twenty feet away, from where I was. Since first things come first, I swam towards it bearing in mind that it was the only hope I had to make it alive since with it, I could not sink anymore. As I was nearing the board, I saw my dad popping out of water like a shark while calling my name loudly from almost ten feet away. I screamed back at him just to alert him on the direction where I was but in the meantime, I embraced the peace of board. Dad swam towards me but as soon as I looked at his face, I realized that he was scared even though he tried to hide it. Instead, he smiled at me and said that everything could be alright. He also congratulated me for my regular swimming lessons which helped me survive. He improvised a plan which was to see us through to the beach but since we did not know the specific direction of the beach, we were only gambling. One thing that I realized is that, when you are in the middle of the ocea n, all you can see around is water that seem to go on and on forever. That experience taught me a very imperative lesson that even our parents are human beings when it comes to protecting us, but before then, I thought that my daddy could fix any problem no matter what the situation is. We went on swimming and swimming until we reached our swimming limit due to fatigue. The wild cracking of the waves had both of us swallowed a lot of water. I was getting restless and from the look of how I observed things, dad was tired either even if he did not tell. I tried to ask my dad whether   how long he thought was the duration of our stay in the middle of the ocean, but all he all he could do is look at me seriously with a pale face, hesitate for a while and then shrug without saying a word. I realized that we were resting more than we were swimming as I was asking dad to take a rest for a while, he interrupted me abruptly because he had heard someone coming. We both turned around and saw my uncle yelling and swimming toward us. Uncle Bob got us both to the shore safely. We were taken to the hospital, for examination since dad had drunk a lot of water. Even if we were at the hospital with mum and aunt comforting us, we still could not believe that it was over. Up to date, we never discuss our experience with dad on what had transpired. Works cited: Sevenus, L. (2007): Practically swimming. OUP

Ad An Unidentified Mystery - 1224 Words

AD was first identified in 1906, however, the research only began in the past 30 years. Research into AD and the exact physiological changes that trigger the development of AD still remain an unidentified mystery. There are some links they are those rare, inherited forms caused by a known genetic mutation. (Dekkers, W., Marcel, O. R. 2006) Those links are part of family history those who have a parent, or sibling with Alzheimer s are at a higher percentage of developing AD. (Dekkers, W., Marcel, O. R. 2006) AD is not a regular part of growing older, however, it is one of the highest risk factor for the disease. Currently, there are millions affected by AD worldwide and the number is expected to rise affecting over 106 million by†¦show more content†¦There are several noticeable signs of AD: memory loss, difficulty in completing familiar tasks, trouble understanding and visual images just to name a few (William and Bleiler 2012) AD victims show clear structural abnormalities with the loss of neurons that liberate acetylcholine from a brain region called the nucleus basalis, beta-amyloid plaques, clusters of abnormal proteins deposited outside neurons, and the neurofibrillary tangles, abnormal bundles of protein filaments inside neurons in affected brain regions. (Patents, 2015) As we age the protein called beta-amyloid and tau begins to accumulate in the brain, causing the accumulation of beta-amyloid protein in plaques that causes the nerve cells to die. (Patents, 2015) Beta-amyloid is a solitary molecule that travels freely in the brain, but as we age the molecule begins to bunch up into small clusters and finally the plaque forms into clusters that form, beta-amyloid that bind to a receptor on nerve cells, setting in motion a process that erodes nerve cells. (Patents, 2015) This stage is called the presymptomatic stage as more and more beta-amyloid plaques and neurofibrillary tangles form in the brain, he althy neurons begin to work less efficiently, and their ability to correctly function, communicate and eventually die. (Patents, 2015) This process begins in the

Power and Politics for Steve Jobs and Apple - 527 Words

For Jobs and even for Apple II, distribution was a resource. Both divisions with global sales team was scrambling to get help for it. Since it was central it can be called as scarce also. Jobs was looking at distribution system primarily to reduce cost structure of his Macintosh division. External market condition, rising cost, lower operating cost was uncertainly for Jobs and his division. The goal of central distribution system as a resource, under Donna, was ambiguous. Donna thought the goal of distribution system was to facilitate new product development by not causing delay in product delivery. For her cost was not a goal. She thought Apple was off-the-shelf business and hence needed to maintain inventory. However, Job’s thought on distribution system were different. For him cost structure of distribution system was not transparent and he viewed opportunity in cost saving at distribution system. This ambiguity over distribution system roles, created a framing problem and Jobs grabbed this opportunity to frame it as a cost problem in distribution strategy. When Jobs complained about cost in September 1984 distribution strategy then Donna and Weaver lacked empathy to understand Jobs concern. They did not worked with him to address the cost structure. Instead they showed surprise and defended themselves by showing their outstanding service record. This alienated Jobs and he was forced to look for solution elsewhere and consulted Fred Smith from Fedex who was familiarShow MoreRelatedCritical Analysis Of Steve Jobs Leadership1224 Words   |  5 Pagesessay is to critically analyse Steve Jobs leadership style and power relations experienced within Apple under Jobs’ leadership. Many argued the way Jobs led Apple Inc. had a positive effect on the business to reach its goals while others believed that some of Jobs’ actions could potentially have destructive consequences suggesting he was having a negative effect on the business. The essay will draw on the literature of power politics and leadership to analyse whether Jobs was a Transformational or ToxicRead MoreAddressing Power And Political Struggles On Organizational Culture1628 Words   |  7 PagesAddressing Power Political Issues in the Collaborative Structure through Empowerment A healthy organizational culture paves the way for cohesiveness and productivity. At times, companies will face the reality of power and political struggles due to competing individual interests. These struggles can create unhealthy organizational culture that prevents a business from being efficient and effective and thwart creativity. This is detrimental to businesses that thrive on creativity and innovationRead MoreThe Leadership Style Of Steve Jobs Essay1721 Words   |  7 Pages Steve Jobs was a computer designer, executive and innovator, as well as an all-around role model for many people in both their businesses and their personal lives. As the cofounder of Apple Computers and former CEO of Pixar Animation Studios, he revolutionized the computer and animation industries, amassing a fortune worth $10.2 billion at the time of his death. Jobs intuitively understood the power of cultural influence in sustaining the strategic capabilities implicit in his perpetual vision ofRead MoreThe Leadership Style Of Steve Jobs Essay1717 Words   |  7 Pages â€Å"Steve Jobs was a computer designer, executive and innovator, as well as an all-around role model for many people in both their businesses and their personal lives. As the cofounder of Apple Computers and former CEO of Pixar Animation Studios, he revolutionized the computer and animation industries, amassing a fortune worth $10.2 billion at the time of his death.†(Hom , 2013) Jobs intuitively understood the power of cultural influence in sustaining the strategic capabilities implicit in his perpetualRead MoreThe Leadership Style Of Steve Jobs1717 Words   |  7 Pages Steve Jobs was a computer designer, executive and innovator, as well as an all-around role model for many people in both their businesses and their personal lives. As the cofounder of Apple Computers and former CEO of Pixar Animation Studios, he revolutionized the computer and animation industries, amassing a fortune worth $10.2 billi on at the time of his death. Jobs intuitively understood the power of cultural influence in sustaining the strategic capabilities implicit in his perpetual vision ofRead MoreThe Leadership Style Of Steve Jobs1426 Words   |  6 Pages Steve Jobs was a computer designer, executive and innovator, as well as an all-around role model for many people in both their businesses and their personal lives. As the cofounder of Apple Computers and former CEO of Pixar Animation Studios, he revolutionized the computer and animation industries, amassing a fortune worth $10.2 billion at the time of his death. Jobs intuitively understood the power of cultural influence in sustaining the strategic capabilities implicit in his perpetual vision ofRead MoreFour Leaders and Their Management Styels1382 Words   |  6 Pagesgreatest saying of Hitler is: â€Å"Those who want to live, let them fight, and those who don’t want to fight in this world of eternal struggle don’t deserve to live.â⠂¬  Before Hitler came into power, Germany was going through economic crisis. He was man with mission and vision. Hitler would do anything to rise into power and one of his qualities was confidence which made him successful. He was disciplined, hard working and a punctual man and these qualities made his management style even stronger. He wasRead MoreManagement 497 Assignment Week 21734 Words   |  7 Pageswith respect to the considered organization. It will also determine the readiness of the organization to implement an innovation strategy. The company chosen for these audit exercises is Apple. Everyone has heard about this company and knows that the products of it are very important in our lives. According to Apple Inc. (2012), they mission statement says that they design Macs, the best personal computers in the world and they lead the digital music revolution with their iPods and iTunes online storesRead Moreannotated bibliography2694 Words   |  11 Pagestime.com/2011/08/31/will-steve-jobs-departure-hurt-the-economy/ Summarize: This article discusses how big of an impact Steve Jobs has on the economy we live in today. Apple is a multi-billion dollar company. It has more financial ammo than most sovereign countries, by financial ammo I mean it has much more money than others companies in sovereign countries. Apple trumps the Gross domestic production of Denmark, Thailand, and Greece, which makes the company a true power house in today’s Society.  Read MoreApple INC analysis1748 Words   |  7 PagesIntroduction Of Apple Inc. Apple Inc. is globally renowned as one of the leading companies, especially for its specialization in the personal computers and consumer electronics industry. The company is most well-known for the iPod, a digital music player and Macintosh, a personal computer released in 1984. Co-founded by Steve Jobs in 1976, the company was named under Apple Computers Inc. and its initial product Apple IIe gained relative popularity and success. The release of the Macintosh revolutionized

The Return Shadow Souls Chapter 15 Free Essays

Hurrying behind Damon, Elena tried not to look either to the left or the right. She could see too much of what to Meredith and Bonnie must have appeared to be featureless darkness. There were depots on either side, places where slaves were obviously brought to be bought or sold or transported later. We will write a custom essay sample on The Return: Shadow Souls Chapter 15 or any similar topic only for you Order Now Elena could hear the whimpers of children in the darkness and if she hadn’t been so frightened herself, she would have rushed off looking for the crying kids. But I can’t do that, because I’m a slave now, she thought, with a sense of shock that ran up from her fingertips. I’m not a real human being anymore. I’m a piece of property. She found herself once again staring at the back of Damon’s head and wondering how on earth she had talked herself into this. She understood what being a slave meant – in fact she seemed to have an intuitive understanding of it that surprised her – and it was Not a Good Thing to Be. It meant that she could be†¦well, that anything could be done to her and it was no one’s business but that of her owner. And her owner (how had he talked her into this again?) was Damon, of all people. He could sell all three girls – Elena, Meredith, and Bonnie – and be out of here in an hour with the profits. They hurried through this area of the docks, the girls with their eyes on their feet to prevent themselves from stumbling. And then they crested a hill. Below them, in a sort of crater-shaped formation, was a city. The slums were on the edges, and crowded almost up to where they were standing. But there was a chicken-wire fence in front of them, which kept them isolated even while allowing them a bird’s-eye view of the city. If they had still been in the cave they had entered, this would have been the greatest underground cavern imaginable – but they weren’t underground anymore. â€Å"It happened sometime during the ferry ride,† Damon said. â€Å"We made – well – a twist in space, say.† He tried to explain and Elena tried to understand. â€Å"You went in through the Demon Gate, and when you came out you were no longer in Earth’s Dimension, but in another one entirely.† Elena only had to look up at the sky to believe him. The constellations were different; there was no Little or Big Dipper, no North Star. Then there was the sun. It was much larger, but much dimmer than Earth’s, and it never left the horizon. At any moment about half of it showed, day and night – terms which, as Meredith pointed out, had lost their rational meaning here. As they approached a gate made of chicken wire that would finally let them out of the slave-holding area, they were stopped by what Elena would later learn was a Guardian. She would learn that in a way, the Guardians were the rulers of the Dark Dimension, although they themselves came from another place far away and it was almost as if they had permanently occupied this little slice of Hell, trying to impose order on the slum king and feudal lords who divided the city among themselves. This Guardian was a tall woman with hair the color of Elena’s own – true gold – cut square at shoulder length, and she paid no attention at all to Damon but immediately asked Elena, who was first in line behind him, â€Å"Why are you here?† Elena was glad, very glad, that Damon had taught her to control her aura. She concentrated on that while her brain hummed at supersonic speed, wondering what the right response to this question was. The response that would leave them free and not get them sent home. Damon didn’t train us for this, was her first thought. And her second was, no, because he’s never been here before. He doesn’t know how everything works here, only some things. And if it looked as if this woman was going to try to interfere with him, he might just go crazy and attack her, a helpful little voice added from somewhere in Elena’s subconscious. Elena doubled the speed of her scheming. Creative lying had once been a sort of specialty of hers, and now she said the first thing that popped into her head and got a thumbs-up: â€Å"I gambled with him and lost.† Well, it sounded good. People lost all sorts of things when they gambled: plantations, talismans, horses, castles, bottles of genii. And if it turned out not to be enough of a reason, she could always say that that was just the start of her sad story. Best of all, it was in a way, true. Long ago she’d given her life for Damon as well as for Stefan, and Damon had not exactly turned over a new leaf as she’d requested. Half a leaf, maybe. A leaflet. The Guardian was staring at her with a puzzled look in her true blue eyes. People had stared at Elena all her life – being young and very beautiful meant that you fretted only when people didn’t stare. But the puzzlement was a bit of a worry. Was the tall woman reading her mind? Elena tried to add another layer of white noise at the top. What came out was a few lines of a Britney Spears song. She turned the psychic volume up. The tall woman put two fingers to her head like someone with a sudden headache. Then she looked at Meredith. â€Å"Why†¦are you here?† Usually Meredith didn’t lie at all, but when she did she treated it as an intellectual art. Fortunately, she also never tried to fix something that wasn’t broken. â€Å"The same for me,† she said sadly. â€Å"And you?† The woman was looking at Bonnie, who was looking as if she were going to be sick again. Meredith gave Bonnie a little nudge. Then she stared at her hard. Elena stared at her harder, knowing that all Bonnie had to do was mumble â€Å"Me, too.† And Bonnie was a good â€Å"me, too-er† after Meredith had staked out a position. The problem was that Bonnie was also either in trance, or so close to it that it didn’t matter. â€Å"Shadow Souls,† Bonnie said. The woman blinked, but not the way you blink when someone says something totally unresponsive. She blinked in astonishment. Oh, God, Elena thought. Bonnie’s got their password or something. She’s making predictions or prophesying or whatever. â€Å"Shadow†¦souls?† the Guardian said, watching Bonnie closely. â€Å"The city is full of them,† Bonnie said miserably. The Guardian’s fingers danced over what looked like a palmtop computer. â€Å"We know that. This is the place they come.† â€Å"Then you should stop it.† â€Å"We have only limited jurisdiction. The Dark Dimension is ruled by a dozen factions of overlords, who have slumlords to carry out their orders.† Bonnie, Elena thought, trying to cut through Bonnie’s mental haze even at the cost of the Guardian hearing her. These are the police. At the same moment, Damon took over. â€Å"She’s the same as the others,† he said. â€Å"Except that she’s psychic.† â€Å"No one asked your opinion,† the Guardian snapped at him, without even glancing in Damon’s direction. â€Å"I don’t care what kind of bigwig you are down there† – she jerked her head contemptuously at the city of lights – â€Å"you’re on my turf behind this fence. And I’m asking the little red-haired girl: is what he is saying the truth?† Elena had a moment of panic. After all they’d been through, if Bonnie blew it now†¦ This time Bonnie blinked. Whatever else she was trying to communicate, it was true that she was the same as Meredith and Elena. And it was true that she was psychic. Bonnie was a terrible liar when she had too much time to think about things, but to this she could say without hesitation, â€Å"Yes, that’s true.† The Guardian stared at Damon. Damon stared back as if he could do it all night. He was a champion out-starer. And the Guardian waved them away. â€Å"I suppose even a psychic can have a bad day,† she said, then added to Damon, â€Å"Take care of them. You realize that all psychics have to be licensed?† Damon, with his best grand seigneur manner, said, â€Å"Madam, these are not professional psychics. They are my private assistants.† â€Å"And I’m not a ‘Madam’ I’m addressed as ‘Your Judgment.’ By the way, people addicted to gambling usually come to horrible ends here.† Ha, ha, Elena thought. If she only knew what kind of gamble we all are taking†¦well, we’d probably be worse off than Stefan is right now. Outside the fence was a courtyard. There were litters here, as well as rickshaws and small goatcarts. No carriages, no horses. Damon got two litters, one for himself and Elena and one for Meredith and Bonnie. Bonnie, still looking confused, was staring at the sun. â€Å"You mean it never finishes rising?† â€Å"No,† Damon said patiently. â€Å"And it’s setting here, not rising. Perpetual twilight in the City of Darkness itself. You’ll see more as we move along. Don’t touch that,† he added, as Meredith moved to untie the rope around Bonnie’s wrists before either of them got on the litter. â€Å"You two can take the ropes off in the litter if you draw the curtains, but don’t lose them. You’re still slaves, and you have to wear something symbolic around your arms to show it – even if it’s just matching bracelets. Otherwise I get in trouble. Oh, and you’ll have to go veiled in the city.† â€Å"We – what?† Elena flashed a look of disbelief at him. Damon just flashed back a 250-kilowatt smile and before Elena could say another word, he was drawing gauzy sheer fabrics from his black bag and handing them out. The veils were of a size to cover an entire body. â€Å"But you only have to put it on your head or tie it on your hair or something,† Damon said dismissively. â€Å"What’s it made of?† Meredith asked, feeling the light silky material, which was transparent and so thin that the wind threatened to whip it from her fingers. â€Å"How should I know?† â€Å"It’s different colors on the other side!† Bonnie discovered, letting the wind transform her pale green veil into a shimmering silver. Meredith was shaking out a dramatic deep violet silk into a mysterious dark blue dotted with a myriad of stars. Elena, who had been expecting her own veil to be blue, found herself looking up at Damon. He was holding a tiny square of cloth in a clenched fist. â€Å"Let’s see how good you’ve gotten,† he murmured, nodding her closer to him. â€Å"Guess what color.† Another girl might only have noticed the sloe black eyes and the pure, carven lines of Damon’s face, or maybe the wild, wicked smile – somehow wilder and sweeter than ever here, like a rainbow in the middle of a hurricane. But Elena also made note of the stiffness in his neck and shoulders – places where tension built up. The Dark Dimension was already taking its toll on him, psychically, even as he mocked it. She wondered how many soundings of Power by the merely curious he was having to block each second. She was about to offer to help by opening herself up to the eldritch world, when he snapped, â€Å"Guess!† in a tone that didn’t make it a suggestion. â€Å"Gold,† Elena said instantly, surprising herself. When she reached to take the golden square from his hand a powerful, pleasurable feeling of electric current shot from her palm up her arm and seemed to skewer her straight through the heart. Damon clung to her fingers briefly as she took the square and Elena found she could still feel electricity pulsing from his fingertips. The underside of her veil blew out white and sparkling as if set with diamonds. God, maybe they were diamonds, she thought. How could you tell with Damon? â€Å"Your wedding veil, perhaps?† Damon murmured, lips close to her ear. The rope around Elena’s wrists had come very loose and she stroked the diaphanous fabric helplessly, feeling the tiny jewels on the white side cool to the touch of her fingers. â€Å"How did you know you’d need all this stuff?† Elena asked, with bruising practicality. â€Å"You didn’t know everything, but you seemed to know enough.† â€Å"Oh, I did research in bars and other places. I found a few people who’d been here and had managed to get out again – or who had gotten kicked out.† Damon’s wild grin grew even wilder. â€Å"At night while you were asleep. At a little hidden store, I got those.† He nodded at her veil, and added, â€Å"You don’t have to wear that over your face or anything. Press it to your hair and it will cling to it.† Elena did so, wearing the gold side out. It fell to her heels. She fingered her veil, already able to see the flirtatious possibilities in it, as well as the dismissive ones. If only she could get this damned rope off her wrists†¦ After a moment, Damon retreated back into the persona of the imperturbable master and said, â€Å"For all our sakes, we ought to be strict about these things. The slum lords and nobility who run this abominable mess they call the Dark Dimension know that it’s only two days away from revolution at any time, and if we add anything to the balance they’re going to Make a Public Example of Us.† â€Å"All right,† Elena said. â€Å"Here, hold my string and I’ll get on the litter.† But there wasn’t much point in the rope, not once they were both sitting in the same litter. It was carried by four men – not big men, but wiry ones, and all of the same height, which made for a smooth ride. If Elena had been a free citizen, she would never have allowed herself to be carried by four people whom (she assumed) were slaves. In fact, she would have made a big noisy fuss over it. But that talk she’d had with herself at the docks had sunk in. She was a slave, even if Damon hadn’t paid anyone to buy her. She didn’t have the right to make a big noisy fuss about anything. In this crimson, evil-smelling place she could imagine that her fuss might even make problems for the litter bearers themselves – make their owner or whoever ran the litter-bearing business punish them, as if it were their fault. Best Plan A for now: Keep Mouth Shut. There was plenty to see anyway, now that they had passed on a bridge over bad-smelling slums and alleys full of tumbledown houses. Shops began to appear, at first heavily barred and made of unpainted stone, then more respectable buildings, and then suddenly they were winding their way through a bazaar. But even here the stamp of poverty and weariness appeared on too many faces. Elena had expected, if anything, a cold, black, antiseptic city with emotionless vampires and fire-eyed demons walking the streets. Instead, everyone she saw looked human, and they were selling things – from medicines to food and drink – that vampires didn’t need. Well, maybe the kitsune and the demons need them, Elena reasoned, shuddering at the idea of what a demon might want to eat. On the street corners were hard-faced, scantily clad girls and boys, and tattered, haggard people holding pathetic signs: A MEMORY FOR A MEAL. â€Å"What do they mean?† Elena asked Damon, but he didn’t answer her immediately. â€Å"This is how the free humans of the city spend most of their time,† he said. â€Å"So remember that, before you start going on one of your crusades – â€Å" Elena wasn’t listening. She was staring at one of the holders of such a sign. The man was horribly thin, with a straggly beard and bad teeth, but worse was his look of vacant despair. Every so often he would hold out a trembling hand on which there was a small, clear ball, which he balanced on his palm, muttering, â€Å"A summer’s day when I was young. A summer’s day for a ten-geld piece.† As often as not there was no one near when he said this. Elena slipped off a lapis ring Stefan had given her and held it toward him. She didn’t want to annoy Damon by getting out of the litter, and she had to say, â€Å"Come here, please,† while holding the ring toward the bearded man. He heard, and came to the litter quickly enough. Elena saw something move in his beard – lice, perhaps – and she forced herself to stare at the ring as she said, â€Å"Take it. Quickly, please.† The old man stared at the ring as if it were a banquet. â€Å"I don’t have change,† he moaned, bringing up his hand and wiping his mouth with his sleeve. He seemed about to drop to the ground unconscious. â€Å"I don’t have change!† â€Å"I don’t want change!† Elena said through the huge swelling that had formed in her throat. â€Å"Take the ring. Hurry or I’ll drop it.† He snatched it from her fingers as the litter bearers started forward again. â€Å"May the Guardians bless you, lady,† he said, trying to keep up with the litter bearer’s trot. â€Å"Hear me who may! May They bless you!† â€Å"You really shouldn’t,† Damon said to Elena when the voice had died away behind them. â€Å"He’s not going to get a meal with that, you know.† â€Å"He was hungry,† Elena said softly. She couldn’t explain that he reminded her of Stefan, not just now. â€Å"It was my ring,† she added defensively. â€Å"I suppose you’re going to say he’ll spend it on alcohol or drugs.† â€Å"No, but he won’t get a meal with it, either. He’ll get a banquet.† â€Å"Well, so much the – â€Å" â€Å"In his imagination. He’ll get a dusty orb with some old vampire’s memory of a Roman feast, or someone from the city’s memory of a modern one. Then he’ll play it over and over as he slowly starves to death.† Elena was appalled. â€Å"Damon! Quick! I have to go back and find him – â€Å" â€Å"You can’t, I’m afraid.† Lazily, Damon held up a hand. He had a firm grip on her rope. â€Å"Besides, he’s long gone.† â€Å"How can he do that? How could anyone do that?† â€Å"How can a lung cancer patient refuse to quit smoking? But I agree that those orbs can be the most addictive substances of all. Blame the kitsune for bringing their star balls here and making them the most popular form of obsession.† â€Å"Star balls? Hoshi no tama?† Elena gasped. Damon stared at her, looking equally surprised. â€Å"You know about them?† â€Å"All I know is what Meredith researched. She said that kitsune were often portrayed with either keys† – she raised her eyebrows at him – â€Å"or with star balls. And that myths say they can put some or all of their power in the ball, so that if you find it, you can control the kitsune. She and Bonnie want to find Misao’s or Shinichi’s star balls and have control over them.† â€Å"Be still, my unbeating heart,† Damon said dramatically, but the next second he was all business. â€Å"Remember what that old guy said? A summer’s day for a meal? He was talking about this.† Damon picked up the little marble that the old man had dropped on the litter and held it to Elena’s temple. The world disappeared. Damon was gone. The sights and sounds – yes, and the smells – of the bazaar were gone. She was sitting on green grass which rippled in a slight breeze and she was looking at a weeping willow that bent down to a stream that was copper and deep, deep green at once. There was some sweet scent in the air – honeysuckle, freesia? Something delicious that stirred Elena as she leaned back to gaze at picture-perfect white clouds rolling in a cerulean sky. She felt – she didn’t know how to say it. She felt young, but somewhere in her mind she knew that she was actually younger than this alien personality that had taken hold of her. Still, she felt excited that it was springtime and every golden-green leaf, every springy little reed, every weightless white cloud seemed to be rejoicing with her. Then suddenly her heart was pounding. She had just caught the sound of a footfall behind her. In one, springing joyous moment she was on her feet, arms held out in the extremity of her love, the wild devotion she felt for this†¦ †¦this young girl? Something inside the sphere user’s brain seemed to fall back in bewilderment. Most of it, though, was taken up with cataloguing the perfections of the girl who had crept up so lightly in the waving grass: the clustering dark curls at her neck, the flashing green eyes below arching brows, the smooth glowing skin of her cheeks as she laughed with her lover, pretending to run away on feet as light as any elf’s†¦! Pursued and pursuer both fell down together on the soft carpet of long grass†¦and then things quickly got so steamy that Elena, the distant mind in the background, began wondering how on earth you made one of these things stop. Every time she put her hand to her temple, groping, she was caught and kissed breathless by†¦Allegra†¦that was the girl, Allegra. And Allegra was certainly beautiful, especially through this particular viewer’s eyes. The creamy soft skin of her†¦ And then, with a shock just as great as she’d felt when the bazaar disappeared, it appeared again. She was Elena; she was riding on the litter with Damon; there was a cacophony of sounds around her – and a thousand different smells, too. But she was breathing hard and part of her was still resounding with John – that had been his name – with John’s love for Allegra. â€Å"But I still don’t understand,† she almost keened. â€Å"It’s simple,† Damon said. â€Å"You put a blank star ball of the size you like to your temple and you think back to the time you want to record. The star ball does the rest.† He waved off her attempted interruption and leaned forward with mischief in those fathomless black eyes of his. â€Å"Perhaps you got an especially warm summer day?† he said, adding suggestively, â€Å"These litters do have curtains you can draw closed.† â€Å"Don’t be silly, Damon,† Elena said, but John’s feelings had sparked her own, like flint and tinder. She didn’t want to kiss Damon, she told herself sternly. She wanted to kiss Stefan. But since a moment ago she had been kissing Allegra, it didn’t seem as strong an argument as it could be. â€Å"I don’t think,† she began, still breathless, as Damon reached for her, â€Å"that this is a very good†¦Ã¢â‚¬  With a smooth flick of the rope, Damon untied her hands completely. He would have pulled it off both wrists, but Elena immediately half-turned, supporting herself with that hand. She needed the support. In the circumstances, though, there was nothing more meaningful – or more†¦exciting†¦than what Damon had done. He hadn’t drawn the curtains, but Bonnie and Meredith were behind them on their own litter, out of sight. Certainly out of Elena’s mind. She felt warm arms around her, and instinctively nestled into them. She felt a surge of pure love and appreciation for Damon, for his understanding that she could never do this as a slave with a master. We’re both of us unmastered, she heard in her head, and she remembered that when cooling down most of her psychic abilities she had forgotten to set the volume on low for this one. Oh, well, it might just come in handy†¦. But we both enjoy worship, she replied telepathically, and felt his laughter on her lips as he admitted the truth of it. There was nothing sweeter in her life these days than Damon’s kisses. She could drift like this forever, forgetting the outside world. And that was a good thing, because she had the feeling that there was much depression in the outside and not too much happiness. But if she could always come back to this, this welcome, this sweetness, this ecstasy†¦ Elena jerked in the litter, throwing her weight back so fast that the men carrying it almost fell in a heap. â€Å"You bastard,† she whispered venomously. They were still psychically entangled, and she was glad to see that through Damon’s eyes she was like a vengeful Aphrodite: her golden hair lifting and whipping behind her like a thunderstorm, her eyes shining violet in her elemental fury. And now, worst of all, this goddess turned her face away from him. â€Å"Not one day,† she said. â€Å"You couldn’t even keep your promise for a single day!† â€Å"I didn’t! I didn’t Influence you, Elena!† â€Å"Don’t call me that. We have a professional relationship now. I call you ‘Master.’ You can call me ‘Slave’ or ‘Dog’ or whatever you want.† â€Å"If we have the professional relationship of master and slave,† Damon said, his eyes dangerous, â€Å"then I can just order you to – â€Å" â€Å"Try it!† Elena lifted her lips in what really wasn’t a smile. â€Å"Why don’t you do that, and see just what happens?† How to cite The Return: Shadow Souls Chapter 15, Essay examples

Lord of the Flies Coursework Free Essays

‘The main characters in the Lord of the flies are similar to world leaders that have ruled through history’. I agree that the main characters from Lord of the flies are similar to the world leaders that have ruled through history. There are four main characters in the film ‘Lord of the Flies’ and they are Jack, Simon, Piggy and Ralph. We will write a custom essay sample on Lord of the Flies Coursework or any similar topic only for you Order Now All these characters have an individual point of view and they all have different personalities. Jack is very comparable to the world leader called Adolf Hitler. Adolf Hitler was absolute evil, all-powerful, mad, and hated by others, bright, deeply religious and stubborn. Adolf Hitler was a leader because he was able to convince people and make them do what he wants them to do. Jack wanted to be a leader as well and after the votes when he wasn’t picked to guide the kids he persuaded Ralph that he would help him out. Jack thought he was all-powerful because everyone followed what he said. Half way through the movie Jack was getting unwanted because people found him too bossy so he used he’s skills to convince people that he is the best leader and that he is much better than the leader that they picked which was Ralph. I think Jack wasn’t so bright but he knew how to convince people to believe him and this made him very stubborn and tough. He was very sure of him self and he was a very confident person. When the kids joined his group because they had a choice of joining Jack or Ralph they picked Jack and he turned really aggressive and killed two members of the opposite group. Jack took his anger on animals and other members from the plane crash. Piggy reminds me of Martin Luther King as he wanted to change the whole of America to make peace. Piggy wanted to change the people that argued and he was very supportive towards the leader Ralph. When Jack was a very leader Ralph wasn’t sure what to do to stop him and Piggy helped him and seemed to be very supportive and friendly. He was also very gullible and he thought he could trust Ralph by telling him a secret that people used to call him ‘Piggy’ and he never liked him. He asked Ralph not to tell anyone but Ralph told everyone about it. Piggy carried on being very nice towards Ralph. Piggy was very smart and brave just like Martin Luther King and he spoke his mind and came up with different ideas. By: Natalia Jozwiak 10EA How to cite Lord of the Flies Coursework, Papers

Compensation and Benefits-Free-Samples for Students-Myassignment

Question: Analyze Compensation data that exists for the position of HR Generalist and Bank Manager. Based on the information you gather, recommend the elements you would include in a compensation mix for the role of HR Generalist and Bank Manager. Provide reasons why you chose those elements, and in particular the specific examples you identified as being important in the compensation mix. Answer: The major five elements of compensation mix are basic salary, bonus, incentives, profit sharing and commissions. The following discussion relates these components with the compensation mix of a bank manager and HR generalist. The basic salary of a bank manager is from C$ 47,865 to C$ 86,481 and for HR generalists is from C$ 40,136 to C$ 67,281. After that, the amount of bonus and incentive for the bank manager is from C$ 3,041 to C$ 15,634; and this amount for the HR generalist is from C$ 0.00 to C$ 6,086. The profit sharing portion of the bank manager is from C$ 1.01 to C$ 5,047; and the amount is from C$ 395 to C$ 3,418 for the HR generalist. The bank manager is entitled to get C$ 4500 as commission while the HR generalist is not entitled to get commission. Thus, the total compensation for the bank manger is from C$ 44,053 to C$ 98,706; and for the HR generalist is from C$ 39,134 to C$ 68,552. From the above table, it can be observed that there is a clear difference between the compensation mix of a bank manager and a HR generalist as the compensation mix of the first is higher than the latter. Both the starting range and maximum range of the basic salary for the bank manager is higher than that of the HR generalist. The same trend can be seen for bonus and profit sharing. However, the HR generalist is not entitled for commission where commission is included in the compensation mix of the bank manager. It needs to be mentioned that both the position requires some different set of skills, knowledge and other characteristics to get success and all these aspects create the difference in the compensation mix. The bank managers is responsible for the overall development of the bank and thus, he/she needs to acquire many skills like people management, sales management, money management, human resource management, resource management and others. It implies that he/she should have knowledge and skill in every aspect of the bank. At the same time, HR generalist is responsible for only managing the human resources of the organization. Thus, the required skills are management of employee relation, recruitment, compensation and benefit management, performance management, legal compliance and others. Hence, the job responsibilities of the bank manager are greater than the HR generalist and it contributes to the high compensation of bank manager than the HR generalist (Gomez-Mejia, Berrone Franco-Santos, 2014). The suggested compensation of a bank manager should be C$ 100,000 and C$ 70,000 for a HR generalist. In case of the bank manager, the basic pay should be 50% of the whole compensation that is C$ 50,000. After that, long-term and short-term incentives of the bank manager will be of 20% each of the total compensation that is C$ 20,000 each. Lastly, indirect payment will be of 10% of the total compensation that is C$ 10,000. In case of the HR generalist, the compensation mix will be different as there are three major components. Basic pay will be of 60% of the total compensation that is C$ 42,000. After that, indirect pay will be of 25% that is C$ 17,500; and performance pay will be of 15% of the total compensation that is C$ 10,500. The LTI and STI of the bank manager include cash, shares of the bank and performance right. In case of the HR generalist, the performance payment will depend on the achievement of the target of the HR specialist. In this portion, certain portion of performance pay will depend on the overall achievement of the group target. For both the bank manager and the HR specialist, indirect pay includes certain specific facilities like reimbursement of medical fees, car allowances and other non-cash benefits (Moore Viscusi, 2014). These compensation structures are suggested due to the difference in the job responsibilities of a bank manager and a HR generalist References Branch Manager, Banking Salary (Canada). (2018).Payscale.com. Retrieved 10 February 2018, from https://www.payscale.com/research/CA/Job Gomez-Mejia, L. R., Berrone, P., Franco-Santos, M. (2014).Compensation and organizational performance: Theory, research, and practice. Routledge. Human Resources (HR) Generalist Salary (Canada). (2018).Payscale.com. Retrieved 10 February 2018, from https://www.payscale.com/research/CA/Job Moore, M. J., Viscusi, W. K. (2014).Compensation mechanisms for job risks: wages, Workers' Compensation, and product liability. Princeton University Press.

Existentialism Fight Club free essay sample

I shall also discuss the theme of consumerism as portrayed In the movie, and how the decision of shooting Tyler relates to the narrators interpretation of this theme. The narrator had been hesitant to assume full responsibility for his existence at the start of the movie. He dislikes his present circumstances- he Is Jaded with his current job and lacks a clear purpose, as illustrated by the quote A single serving package, a single serving Once he consumes the single serving, he is done. He makes a fleeting Impression In someone elses life before he fades from their memory.He feels his existence is meaningless because he has no connections with anyone. He is not content with the present state he is in, but makes no active effort to consciously define his own existence. He shows bad faith In this respect. Because he deceives himself into believing that he lacks complete freedom of involvement in making this decision. He is a coward by Sartre definition: Those who hide their complete freedom from themselves out of a spirit of seriousness or by means of deterministic excuses. He possesses the desire to redefine his existence by rebelling against the values in society, but this conflicts with his conscious mind (the ego), which restraints him from doing anything socially unacceptable. His conscious mind hides these unacceptable desires in the subconscious mind, coming up with excuses hat prevent the narrator from fulfilling these desires. Eventually, the repressed energy from these unconscious desires resulted in the fracturing of the ego Itself- into two conscious minds, hence resulting in the manifestation of Tyler.Tyler represents everything that the narrator subconsciously wishes to be. He is the personification of the ID itself, representing the narrators repressed death Instincts (our innate instinct for survival), aggression instincts (instincts for violence), and the libido. Before he meets Tyler, the narrator is defines his existence though furniture e purchases and assembles from KEA. He attempts to make himself Into a being-in- itself, believing his perfect state of existence can be reached by purchasing that last piece of furniture he needs.When the narrators house was bombed, annihilating the means by which he defines his existence, the narrator felt as though his existence itself was erased. Every stick of furniture in there was my life. Tyler teaches him not to rely on material goods but to define his existence by his actions. The fight club through acts of fighting. The narrator learns to revel in violence and physical pain as means of defining his existence and to transcend the physical limits of the body. He achieves the first step of self-awareness by satisfying his primal instincts for aggression.His first epiphany occurs when he realizes Tyler is himself. In a sense, he realized that he (as Tyler) is free and capable of inventing and creating himself as whom he chooses to be. This is an important step because he now wants to assume responsibility for his existence. His second epiphany occurs when he shoots Tyler, and thus himself. On the first level, the narrator acknowledges his death instincts by infraction his fear of pain and death. He accepts Tellers ideas of experiencing death so as to be fully conscious of his physical existence.When he shoots Tyler, he does so with the awareness that he is shooting himself. This is the final step he needs to take in order to be fully aware of what he is. On the second level, by rejecting Tellers nihilistic ideas of destroying institutions and value systems, he chooses what values to stand for and thus creates his own purpose for himself. In choosing his ethics, Man makes himself. He also translates the belief in these values into the actual action of shooting Tyler, thus defining his existence through actual action.On the third level, by shooting Tyler, he assumes responsibility for all of Man, not Just himself. He assumes responsibility for Man because he invents what Man should be: one who does not act in an uncaring and destructive manner towards others. On the fourth level, shooting Tyler allows the narrator to be defined in a way he wishes to be defined in the eyes of the other. Shooting Tyler is crucial towards removing the existence of Project Mayhem. He does not want Marl to find out about Project Mayhem because he will then lose his connections with her. It is important to the narrator to have a close relationship with Marl. Firstly, she is the only surviving real human being he has a close relationship with in the movie. Secondly, Marl, playing the role of the other, allows him to seek out knowledge about his existence and she is the condition for his existence. By shooting Tyler, he prevents the loss of this other that is crucial for his existence. Important themes discussed in the movie include consumerism. To be specific, it shows how the modern consumerist society effects Mans determination of his existence.In Sartre words, how a change in the a priori limits which outline mans fundamental situation in the universe affects Mans determination of his existence with respect to these limits. According to Sartre, all configurations either appear as attempts to pass beyond them or recede from them or deny them or adapt to them. Consumerism imposes limits on Man to work and to consume, because only if Man works can he consume, and he can consume only if he works. He is emasculated because he is unable to fulfill his natural role as a hunter- theater as dictated to him by biology.Man is limited or restricted in the sense he is unable to fulfill his primitive instincts. As seen in the movie, Tyler tries to pass beyond these limits by destroying symbols of consumerism, such as credit card companies, so as to return to Ground Zero. Since many people define their existence by numbers in their bank accounts, destroying the bank records will erase their previous existence and allow them to create their existence anew, much like how the narrators apartment was bombed so that he could create his new existence through Fight Club.Tellers ultimate goal seems to be changing the limits by which and a regression back to a more primitive hunter gatherer state. In the world I see you are stalking elk through the same canyon forests around the ruins of Rock feller Centre. In the world he envisions, the new limits by which people will define themselves with respect to are undoubtedly physical strength and prowess. On the other hand, the narrator, like so many of us today, adapts to these limits by embracing consumerism as indoctrinated into him by society through advertisements.He avidly purchases KEA furniture and defines his existence by these material goods. In Tellers words, he works Jobs he hates so he can buy sit he doesnt need. He assumes that his furniture uniquely defines him as a person, from the glass bowls with imperfections made by the simple and honest people of wherever to his yin-yang coffee table, while missing the irony that KEA is a chain- store that mass produces furniture. He is no other different from many other consumers of KEA who believe that their furniture is unique on virtue of it being selected by them. At the end of the movie, the narrator realizes he needs to strike a balance between the two opposing configurations, one that is in the pre- unconsciousness state, afraid to confront his freedom, and the other that embraces existentialism and freedom to the point of reckless destruction. Shooting Tyler thus allows him to reunite his opposing configurations and strike a middle balance. Marl is an example of how a person recedes from limits that outline the human condition.She does not know what values to choose to define her existence. As a result, she adopts a nihilistic attitude and attempts to hit rock-bottom by trying to court death. Lastly, another important theme in the movie is that of mental pain. Many characters n the movie experience mental pain because they are unable to reject the being in itself others force upon them. Thus, they cannot achieve a true state of being for itself This is because we perceive others as a condition of our own existence, as how Sartre puts it.According to Sartre, once we realize we exist, we realize the existence of others who are free to define us according to how they view us. We are objectified in the eyes of others because others view us as a being in itself. We lose our freedom through their perception of us. Only we looking back and viewing others s objects can we regain our freedom. Bob is viewed as a man who has lost his masculinity. He accepts this being in itself, believing that he is condemned to this fixed and unchanging physical body. Thus, he suffers mental pain because he does not reject the attempts of being in itself others force upon him by realizing his freedom to create his own existence. The narrator similarly suffers from accepting the being in itself society forces upon him- as a member of society whose purpose is to work, to consume and to obey his superiors. His ideal self-image is that of a strong and ruthless primal human being. However, he dares not embrace his freedom to reject this being for itself and work towards the transcendent goal of his ideal self-image.Thus, his mental pain caused Tyler to manifest, who violently abuses the narrator to symbolize the mental pain the narrator is experiencing. Tyler tries to push the narrator to be fully aware of his unconscious desires, and to assume responsibility for his freedom. Only when he confronts this mental pain (Tellers physical abuse) can he reject being for itself and achieve true being-for-itself, the state where he is constantly and freely choo sing his future. His decision to shoot and to transcend his initial transcendent goal of becoming Tyler.In conclusion, the movie has strong themes of existentialism running through it. The act of shooting Tyler was Justified because it signifies the first step of existentialism for the narrator- he becomes fully aware of what he is, and assumes full responsibility of his existence. It also shows how human beings may choose to define themselves with respect to the limits of the world they exist in. Lastly, shooting Tyler allows the narrator to confront his mental pain and reach the true state of being for itself.

American Dream Compare/Contrast Great Gatsby And Citizen Kane Essays

American Dream: Compare/Contrast Great Gatsby And Citizen Kane The United States of America is the most powerful, wealthy, and attractive country in the world. The varieties of class, individuality, religion, and race are a few of the enrichments within the melting pot of our society. The blend of these numerous diversities is the crucial ingredient to our modern nation. Even though America has been formed upon these diversities, its inhabitants- the average American- have a single thing in common; a single idea; a single goal; the American Dream. The Dream consists of a seemingly simple concept; success. Americans dream of a successful marriage, family, successful job, and own a Victorian-style home with a white picket fence and an oak tree with a swing tire in the front yard. The accessories add to the package according to the individuality of the American Dream. And, perhaps along with the melting pot includes the entangled extremes of each American's dream; the degree of the Dream is now ambiguous in terms of boundaries. Perhaps the American Dream varies for the individual as the individual varies. Charles Foster Kane possessed everything the materialistic man could hope for. Kane had more money than he could count, power, a successful job, women at the crook of his arm, and expensive possessions some men would go to the extremes to have. Yet, Charles constantly had a vast void within him. The most important element Kane lacked was the single thing he couldn't have; that was love. You won't get lonely, Charles... You'll be the richest man in the world someday. Kane's mother and father try to use the image of money as collateral for giving him up. Charles experienced a great deal of loss in his early childhood. The traumatizing emotions of insecurity and disposition caused by his moving away from home are the roots of Charles' agonizing yearn to be loved. Sadly, Charles didn't have a long bond from his mother, but he loved her; Charles' mother never loved her son. I've had his trunk packed for a week now. Charles' mother had his trunk ready ahead of time in anxiousness for him to leave. She signed the contracts without any hesitation and showed no signs of emotion in her stone face. Charles' unreturned love creates a sense of fear and hesitation to love something, only to experience abandonment again. Ironically, even though Charles becomes the richest man in the world, he also becomes the loneliest man in the world; despite all his possessions, power, and pote ntial, Charles didn't posses the single element that became vital to his self-worth; love Inevitably, Charles foster Kane becomes the rich man everyone predicted he would be. In responses to the letter sent to Charles offering numerous businesses to own, he writes his disinterest in all of the sure-money businesses except the New York Inquirer. I think it would be fun to run a newspaper. Charles' absence of seriousness in the awareness of the gross profit conveys his carelessness about money. Instead of running a mining company and gaining a definite profit, he chooses to run the Inquirer because it would be fun. Charles conveys his carefree emotions about his money and concentrates more on his own personal enjoyment. At a million dollars a year, I'll have to retire in... sixty years. Charles snickers at the rate of his money loss and again he shows no interest in his mass money, his only interest is in keeping himself busy and happy (something he cannot maintain). So we're bust. Just give me the paper so I can sign it and go home. Even after learning that the Inquirer ha d to be shut down because of lack of money, Charles signs the paper as if its only value was his ticket home. Throughout the reporter's interview with Mr. Bernstein, many clues to the Rosebud mystery were revealed but never deciphered. Maybe this Rosebud... maybe it's something he lost. Mr. Kane was a man who lost almost everything. In addition to Mr. Bernstein's statement, Charles Foster Kane was a man who had everything- according to by-standers- but at the same time, he had nothing- according to close relations. Charles Foster Kane possessed everything, materialistically, one's heart desires. But, in a

As A Technology, It Is Called Multimedia Essays - Multimedia

As A Technology, It Is Called Multimedia As a technology, it is called multimedia. As a revolution, it is the sum of many revolutions wrapped into one: A revolution in communication that combines the audio visual power of television, the publishing power of the printing press, and the interactive power of the computer. Multimedia is the convergence of these different professions, once thought independent of one another, coming together to form a new technological approach to the way information and ideas are shared. What will society look like under the evolving institutions of interactive multimedia technologies? Well, if the 1980's were a time for media tycoons, the 1990's will be for the self-styled visionaries. These gurus see a dawning digital age in which the humble television will mutate into a two-way medium for a vast amount of information and entertainment. We can expect to see: movies-on-demand, video games, databases, educational programming, home shopping, telephone services, telebanking, teleconferencing, even the complex simulations of virtual reality. This souped-up television will itself be a powerful computer. This, many believe, will be the world's biggest media group, letting consumers tune into anything, anywhere, anytime. The most extraordinary thing about the multimedia boom, is that so many moguls are spending such vast sums to develop digital technologies, for the delivering of programs and services which are still largely hypothetical. So what is behind such grand prophecies? Primarily, two technological advances known as digitization (including digital compression), and fibre optics. Both are indispensable to the high-speed networks that will deliver dynamic new services to homes and offices. Digitization means translating information, either video, audio, or text, into ones and zeros, which make it easier to send, store, and manipulate. Compression squeezes this information so that more of it can be sent using a given amount of transmission capacity or bandwidth. Fibre-optic cables are producing a vast increase in the amount of bandwidth available. Made of glass so pure that a sheet of it 70 miles thick would be as clear as a window-pane, and the solitary strand of optical fibre the width of a human hair can carry 1,000 times as much information as all radio frequencies put together. This expansion of bandwidth is what is making two-way communication, or interactivity, possible. Neither digitization nor fibre optics is new. But it was only this year that America's two biggest cable-TV owners, TCI and Time Warner , said they would spend $2 billion and $5 billion respectively to deploy both technologies in their systems, which together serve a third of America's 60m cable homes. Soon, some TCI subscriptions will be wired to receive 500 channels rather than the customary 50; Time Warner will launch a trail full-service network in Florida with a range of interactive services. These two announcements signaled the start of a mad multimedia scramble in America, home market to many of the world's biggest media, publishing, telecoms and computer companies, almost all of which have entered the fray. The reasons are simple: greed and fear: greed for new sources of revenue; fear that profits from current businesses may fall as a result of reregulation or cut-throat competition. Multimedia has already had a profound affect on how these businesses interact with one another. Mergers such as Time Warner, Turner Broadcasting, and Paramount have set the stage. These companies continue the race to be the first to lay solid infrastructure, and set new industry standards. Following in the shadows will be mergers between: software, film, television, publishing, and telephone industries, each trying to gain market share in the emerging market. So far, most firms have rejected the hostile takeovers that marked the media business in the 1980s. Instead, they have favored an array of alliances and joint ventures akin to Japan's loose-knit Keiretsu business groupings. TCI's boss, John Malone, evokes "octopuses with their hands in each other's pockets-where one starts and the other stops will be hard to decide." These alliances represent a model of corporate structure which many see as mere marriages of convenience, in which none wants to miss out on any futuristic markets. One may wonder how this race for market share and the merging of these corporations will affect them personally. Well, at this point and time, it is hard to say. However, there is some thought in the direction we are headed. The home market, which was stated earlier, has its origins based around early pioneers such as Atari, Nintindo, and Sega. These companies started with simple games, but as technology increased, it began to open up new doors. The games themselves are becoming more sophisticated and intelligent and are now

Tomorrow When The War Began by John Marsden

Tomorrow When The War Began by John Marsden Free Online Research Papers In the tomorrow series by John Marsden, â€Å"Tomorrow when the war began,† seven friends, Ellie, Homer, Lee, Fi, Robyn, Corrie and Kelvin go through a number of devastating problems. There are friendships, relationships and life risking problems. It all started of with a fun little camp in the bushes, but turned out to be something that will turn there lives completely around. Ellie was an important person in the novel. She was the one to firstly think of going out in the bushes and she was also the one that made up mostly the decisions after the invasion. She definitely had grown much more self-confident during the novel, but she isn’t like all teenagers; she will always try to confront humongous challenges. I think she has shown to everyone that she is a person that can confront anything she wants IF she wants to! Homer, another very important person in the novel. He is also like Ellie; he is the leader of the group with Ellie. He also makes all the decisions with Ellie. He is the oldest in the group so that’s why maybe he’s the leader of the group. He finds out that he starts to like Fi, more than he thinks he does, throughout the novel. I think he was a great leader in the group, not only he was really man-like and the oldest, but he shows respect to all the other friends, that he really wants to help them. Fi is the perfect girl or person in the group. She’s been raised in a wealthy family, so she hasn’t gone through much in her life, until the invasion. She started of being the one that was scared the most, until she stood up, and tried to confront all the challenges with the other six friends. She definitely had changed a lot throughout the novel; she has learnt to confront challenges. She has really stood up for herself, showing that she’s not just a girl that can’t to anything, apart from staying home, enjoying herself or playing the piano, she has shown that she can help her friends, and become apart of a group. Lee, also a main character in the novel and is also the smart one in the group. Because he’s the smart one in the group, he thinks up a lot of the ideas for the group. So you can say he also plays an important part in the decision-making. He was shot in the leg during the invasion, but managed to recover from the injury. He also goes through a relationship with Ellie in the novel. You can tell from the novel he has true feelings for Ellie, and he’ll help Ellie in anyway she needs to. In my opinion, I think all the seven friends have gone through a lot. Ellie, Homer, Fi, Lee, Robyn, Chris and Corrie had all shown themselves to everyone that they can be in a team and confront challenges together. So I think they’ve really all done what they can do, they’ve all been in life risking situations but they’ve still managed to stay together, and all help each other, if anyone needs a hand. Research Papers on "Tomorrow When The War Began" by John MarsdenWhere Wild and West MeetThe Fifth HorsemanThe Masque of the Red Death Room meaningsTrailblazing by Eric Anderson19 Century Society: A Deeply Divided EraComparison: Letter from Birmingham and CritoEffects of Television Violence on ChildrenMoral and Ethical Issues in Hiring New EmployeesHarry Potter and the Deathly Hallows EssayCapital Punishment

The Disgrace that is The National Grand Theatre of Beijing

The Disgrace that is The National Grand Theatre of Beijing The National Grand Theatre, situated west of the Great People's Hall, occupies an area of 118,900 square metres, and sits on a construction site of 149,500 square meters. It costs 3.8 billion Yuan, an amount which could have subsidised five million poor students' educations.To show how arrogant and out of touch the regime is, and how careles it is to the needs of the poeple it rules, it has ignored every expert, all of whom has strongly opposed and resisted this project. Experts have questioned the need to spend over 3 billion Yuan to construct such a gigantic entertainment facility, even as the unemployed in Beijing go without basic food and shelter. Moreover, the French architect in charge, Paul Andreu, has had no experience in designing theatres. In fact, on May 23, 2004 the roof of the new terminal at Charles de Gaulle Airport, designed under Andreu's supervision, collapsed killing six and multiple injuries.English: National Grand Theatre in Beijing, China....The public prosecuto rs' office in Paris, France said on May 29, 2004 that Paul Andreu was suspected of being involved in fraudulent practices in his efforts to win the bid for the National Grand Theatre in Beijing.Just by looking at the Opera House one can immediately recognise that it is completely out of harmony with the traditional culture of Beijing. So much for the CCP's respect of the ancient capital of six dynasties in Chinese history. In addition, many consider it a complete waste of money; one of style over substance. Michael Kirkland from The Royal Architectural Institute of Canada commented that this design had flushed architectural language and basic scientific principles down the toilet. In fact, so stupid was the end design that it had to go underground as deep as six to eight stories.Architectural Review, the world's most renowned...

Evolutionary Theories of Aging and Longevity Research Paper

Evolutionary Theories of Aging and Longevity - Research Paper Example This paper analyses some of the major evolutionary theories with respect to aging and longevity. Mutation accumulation theory was formulated by Sir Peter Medawar, a noted British professor of zoology and anatomy at the University of London who won the Nobel Prize in medicine (1960) for his work on acquired immunological tolerances† (Mutation Accumulation Theory of Aging). According to mutation accumulation theory; Aging is an inevitable result of the declining force of natural selection with age. For example, a mutant gene that kills young children will be strongly selected against (will not be passed to the next generation) while a lethal mutation with effects confined to people over the age of 80 will experience no selection because people with this mutation will have already passed it to their offspring by that age. Over successive generations, late-acting deleterious mutations will accumulate, leading to an increase in mortality rates late in life (Gavrilov and Gavrilova, p .341). Mutation accumulation theory argues that the negative effects or adverse events originated at the time of evolution may decline as time goes on. In other words, living things acquire more and more abilities to counter the adverse effects of evolution since the transfer of genes which causing adverse events may decline as reproduction goes on. For example, the epidemic diseases in the past are no more a threat to the current generation. This is because of the reduction in the transfer rate of genes responsible for such epidemic diseases to the upcoming generation from the generations in the past. Mutation accumulation theory believes that aging is caused by defective genes which may become hyperactive during the later stages of life. For example, genetic diseases such as Huntington’s chorea may appear in the life of a person only at the final stages of his life. It should be noted that the genes which are causing this disease was present in the body of that person even at the time of his birth. However, such genes may not be active during early parts of his life and aging is the process which helps the activities of such genes. Antagonistic pleiotropy theory was formualted by George C Williams in 1957. Pleiotropic According to Antagonistic pleiotropy theory, â€Å"Late-acting deleterious genes may even be favoured by selection and be actively accumulated in populations if they have any beneficial effects early in life†(Gavrilov and Gavrilova, p.341). In normal circumstances, each gene may have only a single trait. However, in certain circumstances, it may have more than one trait which usually refers as pleiotropy. Antagonistic pleiotropy theory believes that the same gene which is responsible for increased reproduction during the early parts of one’s life may cause aging during the later parts of his life. For example females loss fertility during later parts of their life even though they may have high rate of fertility during the early parts of their life. It should be noted that the same gene is responsible for both fertility and non-fertility. The postulates of mutation accumulation theory and that of the Antagonistic pleiotropy theory are almost similar even though some differences are there. Antagonistic pleiotropy theory argues that the defective genes are kept in the gene pool whereas mutation accumulation theory point out that the defective genes will be accumulated as time goes on. If aging is a side effect of genes that have a

What are the strategic priorities for policy makers in Birmingham if Essay

What are the strategic priorities for policy makers in Birmingham if they are to generate strong economic development for the city over the next 20 years - Essay Example Birmingham is a City with an important economic and cultural framework. Because of its infrastructure and its facilities – airport, university, a research park for business and technology research – the City is considered as one of the most developed cities of the West Midlands. The City’s council initiates a wide range of activities aiming to support effectively the needs of the residents. The economic development of Birmingham is examined in this paper; emphasis is given not only on the City’s current economic performance but also on its prospects for future growth. The strategic priorities for policy makers in Birmingham in the case that the City’s economic growth over the next 20 years would be initiated are identified and evaluated. After reviewing the existing plans related to the City’s economic growth it is assumed that the achievement of a further growth – over a period of 20 years – would be achievable under the terms that collaboration and communication in regard to the relevant initiatives are improved. 2. Birmingham – requirements for growth in the next 20 years.History of the town: The history of Birmingham is quite long. In accordance with the studies published on the particular subject, the presence of human in the region goes back to the Bronze Age (Birmingham, Voice of the West Midlands, History); Anglo Saxons visited the area around 700 A.D.; ‘the Medieval and Norman occupation’ (Birmingham, Voice of the West Midlands, History) of the area ended approximately in 1086; it was then that the land-owners took the control of the region occupation’ (Birmingham, Voice of the West Midlands, History). Under the influence of the industrial revolution, the City’s population has been continuously increased, up today. During the two World Wars the City suffered major damages; many of its residents participated in the Wars – and they did not return (Birmingham, Voice of the West Midlands, History). Also the City’s industrial infrastructure suffered significant damages during the above period. The restructuring and the development of the City was highly supported by foreign immigrants – it was during the 1950s and the 1960s that the City was developed significantly becoming today a major economic and cultural center in Britain (Birmingham, Voice of the West Midlands, History). The current economic and cultural status of Birmingham is reflected in the images of the town – see graphs 1 & 2 in the Appendix section. 2.2 Phases of economic development, economic characteristics The economic growth of Birmingham through the decades can be identified in the events that characterized the City’s establishment and development – as presented in the previous section. The current economic development of Birmingham is significant – compared to the financial turbulences that cities worldwide have to face. This tre nd is reflected in the reports published regarding the economic characteristics and the rate of the City’s growth. All of these reports are encouraging regarding the City’s current economic status and, especially, regarding its potentials for further growth. Moreover, the City’s Council has increased its efforts for generating funds necessary for serving the various social and economic needs of residents. In this context, ‘the Westminster, Birmingham and Manchester councils’ (Birmingham News Room 2011) have established a commission; the commission is based in Birmingham because the particular City is ‘the largest UK city economy outside of the capital’ (Birmingham News Room 2011). The above commission aims to identify at what level it is possible for the cities across UK to become independent – in terms of funding – from the central government (Birmingham News Room 2011). Today, Birmingham is an economic center in the West Midlands,

Management accounting Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Management accounting - Essay Example BA is flying to over 550 destinations and to 155 countries worldwide including Americas, UK, Europe, Middle East and South Asia, Africa, and Asia/Pacific (â€Å"British Airways,† 2010). It has been considered as one of the leader in the airline industry worldwide and known for its excellence, quality, and full air and ground services. Aside from being the largest international scheduled airline in UK, BA offered several services and facilities to their customers to guarantee their convenience. The company has been privatised and shares are traded on the London Stock Exchange (LSE) under the ticker symbol BAY (â€Å"London Stock Exchange,† 2011). As history trace its origins back, BA was formed with the mergence of BOAC, BEA, Cambrian Airways, and Northeast Airlines last 1974 (â€Å"British Airways,† n.d.). ... They have decided to merge because of recession that badly hit the operations of the two airlines (BBC News, 2009). The purpose of this paper is to explain how management accounting can supply information to assist the management of British Airways, particularly the key techniques that are favourable to the company. Review of the Nature and Role of Management Accounting Management accounting is an exclusive type of accounting wherein the supplied information is more specific. Furthermore, it â€Å"exists to serve managers helping them work as decision makers, planners, and controllers of their respective departments or areas of responsibility† (Atrill & McLaney, 1994, p.14). In other words, the role of management accounting is to assist the managers in making decisions or problem solving, and provide accounting information necessary to make realistic future plans. They are expected to provide financial or economic information particularly available to those in managerial posit ion. These are needed in carrying the tasks of decision-making, planning, and control so that organization will be managed effectively and efficiently. Decision making and planning is one of the crucial tasks played by management accounting. There are instances that the management needs to settle with the best option to be pursued which at the same time favourable to the organization. The determined courses of action will be evaluated as to their costs and benefits which is the role of planning. Furthermore, the information will be more effective if the result of the appraisal showed that the benefits outweigh the costs. Control is the second primary tasked that â€Å"involves a comparison of actual performance with the plan so that

Introduction to Transportation Management Questions Assignment

Introduction to Transportation Management Questions - Assignment Example The key focus revolves around the formulation and adoption of strategic plans that aim to define transport logistics requirements for the firm, identify ways and means in which these requirements can be met most effectively and optimizing business processes to ensure cost effective means of procurement and delivery of goods (Deloitte, 2011). Logistics decisions are based on the operational requirements and the overall focus of the management is on creating and adopting a high value oriented solution that is cost effective and reliable. The key aspects considered in this process are reliability of choices, accuracy of information available at the time of transit of goods, and the time required for transit. Transportation activities can be made more effective and efficient through the use of information systems that help in tracking the movement of goods. Firms can leverage their transportation activity and develop it as an internal competency that can contribute to competitive advantage through adequate focus on optimized supply chain process and effective information systems that can help in efficient decision making (Coyle et al., 2011). Transportation project planning is the process by which state governing agencies monitor and address the demand for movement of goods, commodity and people in the region. Various transportation alternatives are considered and implemented based on the requirements analysis. One of the key aspects behind the rampant adoption of project planning activities in the transportation segment in US economy is the role it plays in developing existing transport alternatives and establishing more efficient systems that can cater to the growing demands from various sectors of the economy. Growth in trading activities and economic requirements has placed intense pressure on governance bodies to develop infrastructural facilities (Coyle et al., 2011). Moreover, investment in developing transportation

Visit a museum or gallery exhibition or attend a theater, dance, or Essay

Visit a museum or gallery exhibition or attend a theater, dance, or musical performance - Essay Example There was something about the fact that they were elevated above my typical line of vision. Craning my neck, I enjoyed the slow natural rotation of each of the mobiles. Some of the shapes conveyed a sense of whimsy while others had a more threatening feel. After many minutes, I was ready to move on, until I notice how the light played on each of the mobiles and the resulting shadows that were cast upon the walls of the circular room. The shadows created by the lighting installation gave an entirely different dimension to the mobile installation. As the mobiles rotates freely, the shadows cast upon the walls displayed a motion that seemed to be more active than the perceived motion of the mobile. The slightest rotation of the mobile would send a shadow racing across the wall. In addition to this, the shadows were constantly transforming in shape and sharpness. Due to the play of the lighting and the three dimensional construction of the mobiles, some shadows were crisp edged and dark while others, cast from the same mobile resembled amorphous grey smudges. The constant interplay of shadows of different value created movement and action that belied the slowly rotating mobiles mounted above my head. The second exhibition I attended was the Matisse Cutouts in the next room. For the last fifteen years of his life, Matisse rediscovered his passion and creativity by constructing colorful paper cutouts and displaying them on the walls of his studio. Matisse has suffered several personal setbacks that had left him physically and mentally exhausted. He no longer felt inspired to create as a result. While resting, he began to work with the idea of cutting into color to create paper shapes that melded the ideas of painting, drawing and sculpture. The resulting work is interesting to behold, not just because the shapes are beautiful, but also because the scale of the paper cutouts is massive. The most interesting of the

Consumer behaviour Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3000 words

Consumer behaviour - Essay Example The key role of an advertisement is to bring about a positive change in attitudes of consumers towards a brand, which is accomplished by first creating an awareness regarding the brand, followed by communicating a positive message about the same, in a manner which appeals to the sensibilities of the target consumers. The information included in the advertisements exposes the consumers to a variety of information, thus in turn psychologically pressurizing them to buy the product through positive social pressures (Donovan, Henley, 2010). Pride and Ferrell (2011) define attitude as "an enduring evaluation of feelings about and behavioural tendencies toward an object or idea" (Pp. 138). The marketers try to capture and change the individual's feelings / attitudes through advertising. Advertising helps in creating awareness of brands and companies in the minds of the consumers, and the same can be done by appealing to one or all of the three key elements of attitude; which includes - cogn itive, affective and behavioural. The cognitive element entails an individual's knowledge and information regarding the product or idea being marketed by the companies; the affective element entails the feelings and emotions of the individuals towards those products or ideas; while the behavioural element comprises of actions taken by the individuals with regard to the product or ideas. Of these components / elements of attitude, the affective component plays a major role in developing a positive attitude in the minds of the consumers with regard to a given product or idea. The emotions in turn comprise of both psychological as well as biological elements. Feelings such as love, hatred, anger etc., influence an individual's behaviour towards any object or idea; and if used effectively, can be used to generate positive responses towards a specific brand (Hoyer et al., 2008). Impact of attitudes on consumer behaviour: Attitudes of consumers are one of the key elements of marketing str ategies, which is often targeted by the marketers and advertisers with a view to gain a positive response from the target customers. Attitudes are formed of various characteristics such as favourability, attitude accessibility, confidence, persistence, and resistance. Favourability refers to the likes or dislikes of consumers with regard to a product / brand attribute; accessibility refers to the ease with which the consumers can identify and relate a brand attribute and retrieve it from one's memory; confidence refers to certainty of one's feelings towards a given brand; persistence refers to the time-period for which a consumer can hold on to such an attitude; and resistance refers to the reluctance of consumers to change their attitudes towards a certain brand. Studies have shown that consumers, in most cases, frequently change their attitudes towards brands depending on the marketing strategies applied by the marketers, although bringing about such a change is a difficult task. The marketers hence use a variety of strategies and tactics to influence the consumers and develop a positive attitu

Detailed Analysis Of John Lewis Partnership Commerce Essay

Detailed Analysis Of John Lewis Partnership Commerce Essay The following report will provide a detailed analysis of John Lewis Partnership. The retailer has been very successful in the UK and has performed extremely well in spite of more negative financial issues and other dynamics impacting upon the retail sector at large, predominantly in light of declining consumer income, technological advances such as the internet and increased competition. The reason the company was able to achieve these was because of their commitment towards their clients in providing innovative solutions as well as improved awareness of customer needs and the significance of creating a reliable customer base which ensures positive word-of-mouth and the company has achieved this due to its commitment to providing innovative solutions to clients as well as a heightened awareness of customer needs and further recommendations to increase new revenue streams through an appropriate CRM system in place. Therefore, the reports provides an evaluation of the companys current marketing environment assessing how the external factors impact the retail sector largely and specifically on the strategies that John Lewis chooses to adopt. The report will also evaluate the strengths and weaknesses as well as the threats and opportunities that the company is presented with and how best it can achieve a match with its own internal capabilities to the dynamics at play. The report will also look at how the John Lewis brand and customer proposition is placed in the UK market in comparison to other competitors, with an attempt to provide understanding in to how the company gains advantage through differentiation from other competitors, essentially highlighting how the company implements a differentiated strategy which allows it to maintain advantage. At the same time, the analysis has drawn attention to how the uncertainty which prevails and the continuous rate of change in the external market highlights the implications of continuous observation and continuous re-evaluation of the strategic options applied. Ultimately, the aim is to provide recommendations as to how the company can increase the probability of its advantage over the longer term. The John Lewis Partnerships 81,000 Partners own the leading UK retail businesses John Lewis and Waitrose. Our founders vision of a successful business powered by its people and its principles defines our unique company today. The profits and benefits created by our success are shared by all our Partners (John Lewis, 2012). Write the report as if you were working for an external management consultancy firm, reporting to the Board of Directors of your chosen company. The report should contain sections that address ALL of the main aspects of the module syllabus: that is the report should cover both strategic analysis (internal and external) and strategy formulation. It is essential that in undertaking your research and writing your report you make appropriate use of the strategic management tools and models to conduct internal and external strategic analysis and strategy formulation that you have encountered in this module. Credit will be given for analysis, evaluation and synthesis, and the appropriate selection and use of strategic management tools and models. 2.0 Introduction This report will discuss the strategic management tools demonstrating skills of analysis evaluation and synthesis of John Lewis. The report includes strategic analysis and an External Environmental analysis. The report also covers the strategy formulation in which the SWOT analysis and BCG Matrix will be discussed. John Lewis Partnership plc is one of the UKs top ten retail businesses. They operate amongst 2 sectors known as John Lewis and Waitrose. The company offers food as well as household products i.e. baked foods, fresh fruit veg, wines, household items, furniture, electronic items etc. The company functions in a chain of 287 Waitrose supermarkets, 39 John Lewis shops that include 30 departmental stores and 8 of them at home John Lewis stores. The company operates throughout the UK and is headquartered in London, they sell their products through retail stores, catalogues, and websites. The companys strategic focus is to accomplish its non-core business strategies through partnership with other firms. There are around 81,000 employees working in John Lewis stores who are partners in the business, they have a share in the companys profits and are given the opportunity to participate in the companys progress and growth. This is their unique source of competitive advantage as it encourages staff loyalty through being business partners (John Lewis 2012) 3.0 Strategic analysis 3.1 Mission statement The mission of an organisation highlights the broad directions they need to follow and provides a brief summary of the values and reasons that lie behind it (Lynch 2012). Like other organisations John Lewis also have a mission statement, it highlights their reputation established through their ownership structure as it is unique and they are very successful in being a profitable business. John Lewis aim to keep their staff satisfied so that their business can be a success. Their strategy is based on three key elements partners, customers and profit. (Refer to appendix 1) to see their full mission statement. 4.0 External Environmental analysis 4.1 PESTEL Analysis The PESTEL analysis examines the macro-environment in which the business exists in. It is a helpful tool for understanding market growth or decline as well as the position, potential and the direction for business. It is also used for evaluating the Political, Economic, Social Technological, Environmental and Legal factors that a business operates in. The Political factors discuss government regulations such as employment laws, environmental regulations, tax policy and political stability. The Economic factors affect the cost of capital and purchasing power of an organisation. These factors also include economic growth, interest rates and inflation. The Social factors impact customers needs, potential market size such as John Lewiss goods and services, population growth and age demographics. Technological factors of John Lewis will discuss barriers to entry, making or buying decisions, investment and innovation and the technological change. Environmental factors include weather, clim ate and climate change. Climate change affects how John Lewis operates and the products they offer. Lastly Legal Factors include discrimination law, employment law and health and safety law. These factors can affect the way John Lewis operate their costs and the demand for their products. 4.2 Macro- environmental Factors It is commonly known, that those prevailing in the external environment of any firm shall have a significant influence in terms of decision making in the strategic options. Such analysis is known as PESTEL analysis and usually suggested as the first stage in the strategic planning process (Lynch, 2006). As Johnson et al (2008, pg.56) rightly declared, The key drivers for change are environmental factors that are likely to have a high impact on the success or failure of strategy. (Refer to appendix 2) to see the PESTEL analysis for John Lewis. It can be concluded that each factor of the PESTEL has had an effect on John Lewiss actions, some of them are now stated in their mission statement. Previous factors are used to analyse different factors, furthermore, these factors can give a prediction for the future, so can be quiet effective if they are applied correctly. There are also some restrictions in this model, e.g. when the procedure of the checklist is applied to John Lewis it may be tough. The emergent corporate strategies may well comment that the future is so uncertain that prediction is useless (Lynch 2012 page 84), however, some may still give words of caution but still predict the future. The PESTEL analysis isnt the only framework that John Lewis take into consideration, their organisation has many other internal and external factors that also have an effect on the strategy formulation, this is why Porters five Forces framework is applied. The PESTEL analysis has a lot of information but yet doesnt offer a detailed analysis of the business. Porters Five Forces (1985) observes factors that have an impact on competition in the organisation. 4.3 Strategic Options The external analysis undertaken has underlined how the focus and the landscape of the UK retail sector has changed dramatically over the last decade or so. Such developments clearly present both threats, primarily from new entrants and modes of distribution, as well as opportunities such as the increasing utilisation of technology within the current offering to customers. As Johnson et al (2008, pg.3) highlights, strategy is about exploiting the strategic capability of an organisation, in terms of its resources and competences, to provide competitive advantage and/or yield new opportunities. However, many competitors in the retail sector at large have managed to expand into other range of products as well as expanding internationally, John Lewis seems to have adopted a more thoughtful approach and stayed loyal to its customers as well as confident in terms of its offering to the market. At the same time it has also developed a wide range of products as a lower price range to attract more customers across a wider range of segments in society. In times of economic uncertainty this also appears to be a sensible strategy in terms of situations where its loyal customer base may be experiencing declines in disposable income, thus enabling John Lewis to maintain their business through customers trading down to less expensive ranges in store. The recent introduction for its Essential Waitrose Range in 2009 was both a reaction to external events including activities of competitors but was viewed as an effective strategy highlighting the companys attention to external research as well as its innovative approach to dealing with such negative events. Furthermore, Porter put forward the idea that there were three generic strategies; cost leadership strategy, differentiation strategy and the focus strategy, which companies follow. It is clear that John Lewis has embraced a combination of these, but essentially, differentiation has remained key to its business model which positions more favourably when compared to other competitors, particularly given the range and extent of the goods and services it provides as well as its highly effective branding and promotional events which appeal directly to customers and incite purchase. Its decision to introduce its Essentials range within its Waitrose stores may have been considered by some as an indication it was lowering its standards, but on the contrary, despite offering a cheaper alternative, quality remained key which ultimately implied that its position in the market would not be negotiated. 4.4 Porters Five Forces Porters Five Forces framework highlights that the environment John Lewis is competing in is constantly changing, (refer to appendix 5). In this model it is believed that customers dont have more importance than any other aspect, however Aker, Baker and Harvey Jones argue that customers are more important than any other aspect of strategy development (Lynch 2012). Porters Five Forces of competition (1985) is a common tool often applied within the strategic management process to firms across several sectors. It is similar to the PESTLE analysis as it takes a predominantly external perspective of the firm within its given industry looking at how it is positioned against other competitors in the same sector. Recently many have criticised the ensuring importance of the framework given the changes that have risen, particularly with regard to the diversification of business which has ultimately created blurring across many previously distinct sectors. This is emphasized by the supermarkets entering into the clothing and electronics sector for example, as well as retailers including John Lewis expanding into financial services through insurance and credit facilities to customers. Barney (1995) and Henry (2008) underlined how Porters model is more helpful when it is applied at a strategic business unit level rather than at higher levels of industry analysis such as the sector at large as it cannot be expected that all competitors will be competing against one another. This tool is also believed to be useful in terms of assessing a companys strengths and weaknesses in light of how it stacks up against competition. As Barney (1995, pg.49) highlights, A complete understanding of sources of competitive advantage requires the analysis of a firms internal strengths and weaknesses as well. The importance of integrating internal with environmental analyses can be seen when evaluating the sources of competitive advantage of many firms. Looking at Porters five forces of competition, it is clear that John Lewis has attempted to not to just react to the external dynamics and actions of competitors, but actively be a step ahead. It has constantly adapted its business model, such as the introduction of store cards, its online offering and the Waitrose Essentials range in order to provide its business with a more appropriate fit to the market in line with Mintzbergs (1994) theory. A major element of its strategy however, is its reputation, branding and subsequent positioning in the market and how consumers view the business in its entirety. It has remained rather committed to its original proposition and further enhanced its appeal through appropriate branding and its reputation for quality and enhanced service to customers. 5.0 Internal Resource analysis 5.1 Value analysis chain The term Value Chain was used by Michael Porter (1985), the purpose of the value chain is to analyse the activities that are performed by the business, linking them to the competitive position. It also evaluates the particular activities to see which add value to the businesses products or services (quickmba 1999-2010) While many critics and leading authorities dispute the validity of Porters earlier theories, many of his ideas do still appear useful from the perspective of strategic analysis, particularly the notion of the value chain. Ultimately, it is within the value chain which John Lewis has created that it has succeeded in terms of sustaining advantage in its market sector. It has created efficiencies and synergies through the interrelationships within (Mintzberg and Ghoshal, 2003). Value Chain Analysis which is often compared to the RBV of the firm as it looks to both internal and external dynamics impacting an organisation. In recent years importance has also been given to joint ventures, collaborations and relationships which add value to the companys positioning. Elements of the chain such as HR which were previously considered as supporting elements are now viewed as core and this is demonstrated by John Lewis in terms of its commitment to and investment in staff. By enhancing the quality of its internal resources it can achieve distinctive competencies which are difficult to emulate by other competitors (Teece et al, 1997; Terwiesch and Ulrich, 2009). As Porter (1985, pg.36) emphasises, the way it performs individual activities are a reflection of its history, its strategy, its approach to implementing its strategy, and the underlying economics of the activities themselves. 6.0 Strategy formulation 6.1 SWOT Analysis: John Lewis Partnership A SWOT analysis is a useful tool for understanding and decision-making, businesses such as John Lewis use this tool in all sorts of situations, a SWOT summarizes the Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats. This framework covers a crucial part of the strategic planning process a scan of the internal and external environment. Strength, Weaknesses are considered to be internal to the business whereas, Opportunities and Threats are part of the external environment. Looking at the SWOT analysis (refer to appendix 6) it can be concluded that John Lewis take this tool into consideration when making business decisions based on their customers. However, John Lewis need to expand their target audience because at the moment they are only targeting an older audience need to improve the diagnostic power of a SWOT analysis is to define the elements from a customer perspective rather than the organizational point of view. (Baker 2007, pg.267). By doing this they will generate a higher profit margin. If john Lewis wants to stay ahead of their competition they need focus on their weaknesses such as they need to ensure their prices are similar to their competitors. Also John Lewis need to focus on threats the business may have to face but they can avoid such matters by acting upon the threat before it occurs. Although the SWOT analysis tool is useful to businesses when making decisions, it has been criticized due to its simplicity and possible misleading approach to strategic analysis. This is because companies have failed to follow a few simple procedures. The SWOT analysis is a focused methodology (Baker 2007), therefore, when John Lewis the using this tool they need to ensure they are able to follow correct procedures of this tool to ensure they are able to achieve success. 6.2 BCG Growth-share Matrix The Boston Consulting Group (BCG) growth-share matrix was developed by Bruce Henderson, founder of BCG, in the late 1960s (Baker 2007, pg.125). The BCG Matrix is a simple tool used to assess a companys position in terms of its product range. It simplifies how a companys thinks about the products and services and makes decisions about which it should keep and let go and which products to invest in further. It provides a useful way of seeing the opportunities that are open to the company and also helps to consider how the company can maximise the profits in the future. Below is the BCG Matrix for John Lewis, highlighting where in the market the different departments of John Lewis are positioned. John Lewis was voted Britains best retailer in 2009 and have won awards House Beautiful Awards 2008: Online Home Retailer of the Year Gold Award (washerhelp 2012), making them leaders in departments such as House and Garden, Electrical Appliances, Fashion, Gifts and Toys. They now have a high growth and a high market share in this segment, thus putting them in the star category. Further, technology and baby departments are between the star and question mark category this could be due to high growth and market share or high growth and low market share as they are faced with high demands but have low returns. Moving on to the sport department as it is in the cash cow category, as a markets it isnt growing but yet the market share for the products is high. Looking at the final category it can be said that John Lewis are safe as there isnt any products in the dog category. 7.0 conclusion Overall, the company has responded admirably to the changing dynamics impacting upon its market and customers, it is also clear that going forward, more challenges and threats shall be presented to it, particularly given persistent uncertainty relating to the global economy as consumer confidence within the UK. It would appear that in addition to a thorough and consistent approach to its markets in relation to external analysis of those factors deemed to impact most significantly; the company also adopts an internal approach, evaluating its inherent resources and competencies within the business. In line with the resource based view of the firm (Barney, 1991) and subsequent research by other authors such as Grant (2005), this analysis is often viewed as a more appropriate approach to the task of strategic management as ultimately, organisations have much more control over their internal resources than external market variables. Such an approach enables companies to incite the innovat ion process and thus create change in the wider environment as well as improvements to its value chain. This appears to be exactly what John Lewis has done to date through its expansion into other areas, as well as extending its range to customers through on-line facilities as well as credit, insurance etc. Threat of New Entrants This is considered to be fairly low for John Lewis given the original capital investment required as well as the regulations governing the market. At the same time, the fact that discount retailers and the supermarkets who benefit from vast scale economies can offer many of the same goods at substantially lower prices, is a concern and is perhaps indicative of why many retailers such as John Lewis now provide an electronic service in addition to their store offering. More entrants to the online space does seem inevitable though may become increasingly difficult given the variety currently in existence as well as the perception that customer service is often diminished. In this respect, John Lewis is clearly at an advantage given its reputation in the market. Threat of Substitutes The threat of substitutes is low from a product viewpoint yet in terms of suppliers, is high and is underlined by the success of the supermarket chains in their clothing lines as well as the competitive landscape in the online space and the continuing popularity of price comparison websites and similar forums. Over time, online retailers could exert increased pressure on officials such as John Lewis, particularly in terms of pricing as well as sourcing of product ranges. Bargaining Power of Buyers This is considered as being extremely high given the range of suppliers in the market and the realisation that customers are faced with unprecedented choice. Price is clearly a key advantage for the retailers, but at the same time, in the particular segment in which John Lewis manages factors such as location, quality, customer service and atmospherics and added benefits to be derived from the in-store experience are significant. Such variables also assist in terms of differentiating the store from other competitors in the High Street. Bargaining Power of Suppliers Though it was just few years ago the retailers were considered as having a major effect over suppliers, this seems to be fairly changing, particularly with regard to restrictions in supply of some raw materials as well as other concerns in the global supply chain which might put the suppliers in a more favourable position and increase their bargaining power. Degree of Rivalry Rivalry is obviously intense mainly due to the immense choice available as well as the increasing pressure from on-line retailers. On this basis, competitors are ultimately jockeying for position (Porter, 1979) and increasingly retailers challenge themselves to differentiate in some manner through providing expanded ranges as well as complementary goods and other services. The success of John Lewis Christmas promotional campaigns in the last few years highlights how the company attempts to differentiate itself, particularly focusing on those matters which are considered to impact most on subsequent motivation of customers to make a purchase.