Case: Birch Paper Company Essay

As appeared in the estimations above, Northern ought to acknowledge the offer from Thompson division as it has the most reduced expense if all exchange costs inside the organization were determined at costs. Causing the most reduced costs would likewise empower Birch Paper Company to gain the most elevated benefits conceivable. 2. As options for sourcing exists, Mr. Kenton ought to be allowed to pick the elective that is in Northern division’s own advantages. Theâ transfer value strategy gives him the option to manage either insiders or outcasts at his caution. In the event that he can't get a palatable cost from within source which is Thompson division, he is allowed to purchase from outside. Mr. Kenton, administrator of the Northern division ought not acknowledge the offer from Thompson division. The three offers from Thompson division, West Paper Company and Eire Paper Company are $480, $430 and $432 individually. Tolerating the offer from Thompson division would be tolerating the most elevated offer among every one of the three offers (greatest expenses). This would bring about the least benefits. As the Northern division is assessed as a venture community, it is judged freely based on its benefit and quantifiable profit. Mr. Kenton ought not acknowledge the offer from Thompson division. 3. The strategy for utilizing move cost to conclude whether to in source is ideal if the selling benefit focus can offer the entirety of its items to either insiders or untouchables and if purchasing focus can get the entirety of its prerequisites from either outside or insiders. The market value at that point speaks to the open door expenses to the merchant of selling the item inside. For this situation, Thompson division had been running beneath limit and Southern division additionally had overabundance stock. The exchange cost of $480 offered by Thompson division doesn't speak to the open door expenses of selling inside as there is no interest showcase for the item outside. Likewise, the exchange cost of $480 is higher than the market value which is around $430. Choosing dependent on move cost won't incite objective consistency as the circumstance isn't perfect. With no intercession from the VP of Birch Paper Company, the Northern division would most likely acknowledge the least offer from West Paper Company. This may bring about the most elevated benefits for Northern division however it isn't to the greatest advantage of Birch Paper Company. Tolerating the offer from Thompson division would help interest for the two different divisions. The misfortunes cut would most likely be more than the costs spared by Northern division which is $50 ($480-$430). The VP should provide explicit requests to Northern division to acknowledge the offer from Thompson division. Be that as it may, as the exchange for this situation speaks to under 5% of the volume of any of the divisions in question, it probably won't be feasible for the VP to mediate different exchanges when comparative issues emerge. 4. In a perfect world, when there is an accessibility of market value, the division should utilize it. Be that as it may, Thompson utilized a cost-based exchange cost. Cost-based exchange cost should possibly be utilized when the market cost isn't accessible. The issue with Birch’s move estimating framework is that they permit every division to set their own cost openly which is inline with the company’s strategy to decentralize duty and authority. At the point when every division can set their own value, clashes and contradictions can happen consistently and every division could settle on choices that lone advantage their own division instead of the organization all in all. Right off the bat, we take a gander at the exchange value that Thompson cited. It is about $50 more than the market cost. This shows their cost isn't sufficiently serious. Thompson is working underneath limit but it provided a cost estimate which is higher than the market cost. The explanation given was that anything short of $480, they won't have the option to procure a benefit and furthermore, given that they didn't get any benefit from building up the item for Northern, Brunner feels that they are qualified for a decent markup. This is conflicting with the desire that the division must meet the market cost on the off chance that they needed the business. Market cost ought to be utilized as it reflects how well is the division getting along when contrasted with contenders. The measure of upstream fixed expenses and benefits that are remembered for the last value that was offered to the outside client could be significant if Thompson’s offer was acknowledged. Furthermore, Northern probably won't be happy to decrease its own benefit to streamline organization benefit. Subsequently, Thompson, if reluctant to follow the market cost aimlessly, could utilize the two-advance valuing to compute their exchange cost. That is, moving the merchandise to Northern on standard variable expense on a for every unit premise and fixed expense and benefit on a singular amount premise. Along these lines, Thompson won't move dominant part of their fixed expense to Northern since they are working on overabundance limit. Obviously, this strategy must be examined with Northern. It was referenced that Southern provided the market cost estimate to Thompson despite the fact that they are working on abundance limit. This won't represent an issue as the market cost mirrors the interest and gracefully circumstance of the market and is balanced naturally by the interest and flexibly. Additionally, account must be taken into of the way that Thompson won't have the option to show signs of improvement cost from other outside sources as most will follow the market cost as well. The fundamental issue of the exchange value framework could be that every division is made a decision about dependent on benefits and rate of return. This makes the division over-underscore on benefits and supports objective incongruence. Every division targets accomplishing momentary benefits in order to glance better in the company’s eyes. In their offer to accomplish a high benefit figure, they neglect to streamline the company’s benefit all in all. This will influence the organization long haul benefits. Thus, the organization ought not simply survey every division dependent on money related figures like benefit and degree of profitability. The organization ought to survey them dependent on other non-monetary things like quality in order to redirect the division’s accentuation on benefits. Furthermore, the organization ought to permit the divisions worried to haggle between themselves as they are the ones nearest to the circumstance, instead of simply requesting that the divisions meet the market cost.

The Mayas, Aztecs, And Incas Essay -- essays research papers

     The Maya, Inca, and Aztec civic establishments each started from Latin America. A few Mayans lived in southern Mexico in the current day conditions of Chipas, Tabasco, Campeche, Yacatan, and Quintana Roo. Different Mayans lived in Central America in the nations of Belize, Guatemala, and antiquated Honduras. The Incas lived in an Empire which they called Tawantinsuyu. Tawantinsuya implies four sections. The Incas lived in present day Peru, Ecuador, Chile, Bolivia, and Argentina. The four sections were a long waterfront strip, the high pinnacles and profound fruitful valleys of the Andes, and the bumpy edges of the tropical backwoods toward the East. The Aztecs were from Aztlan in either north or northwest Mexico.      Each Maya City represented it's encompassing zone and some huge urban areas each controlled at least one littler urban areas. A Maya City ruler would be prevailing by his more youthful sibling or child. This drove ages of a solitary family to run for a long time. Inca pioneers kept their capacity by giving amusement and sumptuous products as endowments to the individuals. The residents paid expenses as an end-result of these endowments. In the Inca culture, the sovereign wedded his sister and his officers would be his family members. The Inca rulers were permitted to oversee autonomously. The Aztec power was held together via land possession. A couple of families shared a real estate parcel and some portion of the land was given to the state as an expense.      Entire Maya families ...

Axes of Confusion

Axes of Confusion We are confused about what we want to do with our lives and thus what we should be majoring in. Currently, we are majoring in Course 21E, or Humanities and Engineering. It is a super cool joint major that allows you to combine any Engineering field and any Humanities field. It’s different from a double major because, well, it equates to the units of one major, and it achieves this by cutting requirements from both the Humanities field and the Engineering field you chose, making it really flexible. Our humanities field is CMS, or Comparative Media Studies (which is a really broad major too; we are interested in the storytelling and writing classes offered in it). And our Engineering field is Course 6, or Computer Science. We chose this major by thinking endlessly about what we want to do with our lives during freshman year. We realized that  what impacts us most (thereby what we want to contribute to), is and always has been animated cartoons and movies. A well written and beautifully animated story just hits us in the heart the way nothing else can. Another HUGE factor is that this medium has the power for real social impact, through identity representation, and that is EXTREMELY important to us. Steven Universe, in our opinions, is the epitome of the epitome of using animation to not just tell a compelling and thoughtfully crafted story, but also a very socially relevant and revolutionary one. The field of visual storytelling is really broad and encompasses mannnyyy industries, including the animation, video game, and VR/AR industry. And within these industries are loootttts of types of jobs, from purely technical to purely artistic to literally everything in between! Here is a diagram to slightly better (but definitely not comprehensively or perfectly) depict the range of possibilities. And it also shows why even with the significant narrowing down we accomplished in freshman year, we are still mostly just utterly confused about how exactly we want to contribute to this field, and hence about what we should be majoring in. We initially chose 21E to get a taste of both CMS and 6 to try to figure out where on this diagram we want to fall. But now, with a year into trying out both fields, we realized we like CMS a lot more, and course 6 stuff just kind of drains us because it is sooooooo hard and time consuming. So the biggest question we are trying to answer now is: should we stick with 21E (doing both course 6 and CMS stuff) or just drop the course 6 part of our major and switch to CMS  entirely?   The major we stick with will impact what skills we continue gaining and thus what career we can go into. And the career we envision we want will impact our choice of staying in our current major or switching majors. After 2 years at this technical tvte, we have realized that we are just not all that passionate about purely technical things. And it took coming here, a place where a lot of (not all, but a lot of) people do and love doing really technical things, to figure out that we just dont. Yes, we still really like STEM stuff (cause you can get some pretty cool results while having fun in the process! re: this post). But what drives us, and this has become evident through the animation classes we have taken at MassArt, where we are at home surrounded by people that look at a beautifully animated sequence the same way we do, is visual storytelling. So, it seems like the easy and obvious decision would be to just switch to CMS entirely, and dedicate all our efforts into trying to get a storyboarding job, or another one on the art end of the visual storytelling production pipeline. But its not that easy. We are thinking about a lot more factors, such as financial security, FOMO and more, all of which we decided to depict more clearly by graphing on a plot. This graph is looking at the short term and long term factors we are considering when thinking about whether or not we should stop doing course 6. Both axis go from 0 to 10, 0 being we should definitely not drop course 6 and 10 being we should definitely drop course 6. We thought about each factor independently, and gave each a ranking on the scale. We then graphed all four factors, grouped by short and long term, along with a point indicating the average of all the factors. Points that land in the red area indicate we should realllyyy drop course 6. Points that land in the green indicate we should reallyyy keep course 6. And in the yellow means it is unclear. With a glance at the graph, you can see why we are confused. Below, we describe our thought process while ranking each factor independently. SHORT TERM FOMO Fear of missing out. The vast majority of MIT undergraduates major in something technical. Finding and working with pset buddies, walking over to exams in huge lecture halls, supporting each other during low points, complaining about confusing topics or psets, throwing cry parties after awful exams, celebrating being done with a pset or exam. These are all things weve done over the past two years, because of the types of classes weve taken. Although we may not have consciously thought about it during the process, the nature of the classes we took really shaped how we spent a lot of our time here. So, if we switch to CMS and stop taking technical classes, well be writing essays in our room instead of doing psets in pset parties, well be in the library instead of office hours, well be reading alone instead of studying with peers. Granted, it wont be as solitary of an existence as that last sentence may make it out to be. Well be able to work on a lot more groups projects, well be able to have more discussions in our smaller sized humanities classes, well be able to know everyone in our major (since CMS is so much smaller than course 6), and also engage in dialogue and develop connections with acclaimed professors and faculty members in the department. We gave this a 4 on the scale, because while we will miss out on and oddly* miss part of that  quintessential** MIT experience, we will still have the opportunity to do other cool things. wow, was this just a long and convoluted way of saying well miss doing psets? lol Another thing associated with the fear of missing out: MIT is THE place to study STEM! And we just feel that if we do stop doing course 6 things, the thought that we did not gain enough technical skills would be buzzing in our heads, like on a daily. MIT is so special because of the wonderfully brilliant, passionate, helpful and down-to-earth people that walk its halls. As mentioned earlier, we primarily learned how to code better from TAs and LAs, all of whom are students here and most of whom are undergrads. And we dont want to leave this place regretting not learning as much as we possibly could have with and from our peers. *there have been sooooo many times over the past two years when we just never wanted to look at another pset or exam again, but still there is something satisfying about getting that stuff done, and struggling through it with peers. **everyones MIT Experience varies and there is no typical one. However, the stuff that we feel wed be missing out on (as we described^) is the stuff that the majority of MIT students do on a weekly basis, as the majority of MIT students major in something technical. Time Consumption This is the biggest thing we are considering, in terms of the short term. We have only completed two course 6 programming classes thus far: 6.00 (Intro to Computer Science and Programming) and 6.009 (Fundamentals of Programming). Both classes were very similarly structured, where each week you get assigned a new lab/pset. We approached both classes in the same way, by living in office hours and learning from TAs and LAs, because lecture for both classes was not helpful (because of a combination of not being morning people, just lacking focus, and the instructors usually going through the material too quickly, at least for us). For 6.00, we spent 15-20 hours a week in office hours, and we thought that was a lot until we took 6.009. In 6.009, 20 hours was a good week, and there were a couple that got us close to 30, and the worst one took us around 35. All this effort, and it resulted in barely passing! We both got Cs in 6.009 by the skin of our teeth, and we spent more time on this cl ass than all our other classes combined, which, while is frustrating to say the least, is something weve come to accept about MIT classes. You just have to try your best, and even if you end up with a suboptimal grade, be proud and revel in the fact that you learned so incredibly much through the struggle. Dont get wrapped up in the letter. The next class we plan to take, since its a prerequisite to the two classes we actually have our eyes on (Computer Graphics and Computational Photography), is Elements of Software Construction or the infamous 6.031 (or, 031 for short). On average (based on end of semester surveys), students spend 10.1 hours/week on 6.009, while we spent on average 20. On average (based on end of semester surveys), students spend 20 hours on 031. So, doing the math, wed most likely spend close to 40 hours on 031. HA, usually taking FOUR classes is supposed to equate to that amount of time! Besides that, continuing on the course 6 path will generally allow us much less time to take electives in other departments that really interest us (like 4, WGS, and 21W) and cross-registering at MassArt. Below are two potential courseroads, one for the minimum amount of classes we need to finish the 21E degree and the other the minimum amount of classes we need to finsih a CMS degree. With just a glance, you can see the CMS option has much more free room, especially considering that every course 6 class we do not take frees up *significant* time. potential course road for 21E degree potential courseroad for CMS degree Now, the reason we scored this a 9. We just gave you the number of hours weve spent on our computer science classes. But we didnt describe yet our mental state during those hours. Honestly, it was not great. Spending so long on a pset/lab is just mentally draining. It was especially bad when we would spend literally 2 hours just trying to understand what the question was even asking! No matter how much MIT has humbled us and no matter how much weve come to terms with Not Knowing Things, it is still demoralizing when you need to be hand held for literally every step of a problem. Wed be lying if we said there werent times that we had to leave office hours to go to the bathroom just to cry or compose ourselves from frustration. LONG TERM Financial Security   This is definitely something we are concerned about, as most people probably are. We want a career that we enjoy and find fulfilling, and so want to maximize our chances of being hirable. There is a reason that memes like this one exist. (The reason being that course 6 skills are in high demand): from MIT Memes Facebook page After our most recent and vastly unsuccessful job hunt, we realized that many companies are looking to hire specialists, those who can do one thing really well. That one thing for a lot of companies is coding or software development. Specifically, we were looking at a lot of jobs in video game companies, animation studios, and VR companies, and even many of the more artistic leaning positions (such as those in the purple region of the second graph of this post) required you to demonstrate a pretty heavy amount of programming skills or background. We definitely feel that if we were to continue on with doing course 6 classes, even if barely passing the classes will be an uphill climb, we will learn a LOT in the process. And maybe thats enough to be more hirable, and maybe that makes it worth sticking with course 6. However, there is a doubt that weve talked about a lot with each other. Even if we do stick with all these course 6 classes and even if we do get a lot better, we still just wont be good enough. And maybe thats true or maybe thats what being around so many people who are really amazing at course 6 made us believe. Regardless, that thought always leads us to thinking that it might just be better for us to stop taking course 6 classes, and to use the extra time well have to try getting an artistic job (such as things in the green region of the second graph of this post) rather than a technical one. It leads us to thinking that continuing course 6 classes would actually lower our overall chances at becoming hirable. Wed be devoting most of our time and energy into it and probably end up being mediocre, as opposed to devoting all that effort into art something that we already have more experience and passion for. In summary, we think about sticking with course 6 in two ways sometimes in an optimistic-everything-will-work-out way, and other times in a pessimistic-we-will-never-be-good-enough way. We gave this a 3, because we were in an optimistic mood while writing this post. What we want to do   This is really the core of the issue probably. We have a lot of ideas for who we want to become. We can see ourselves being storyboarders or visual development artist or animators or writers. But we can also imagine doing something more technical, in a studio whose artistic vision and ethos we trust, being equally rewarding. Wed know we are contributing to making a beautiful and useful story come to life, and that will be enough. Being indecisive doesnt help, so we scored this a 5. ~~~ Writing this blog and making these graphs definitely helped us really organize our buzzing thoughts about this subject. However, the long term factors and short term factors landed too much in the yellow region of the graph to make our decision clear enough. What we are saying is that we are still pretty confused. Our plan is to take it one semester at a time, and see where that takes us. And, of course, write about the journey here. Post Tagged #?????????? # ¿ ¿ ¿ ¿ ¿ ¿ ¿ ¿ ¿ ¿ ¿ #CMS - Comparative Media Studies #Course 21E - Humanities and Engineering #Course 6-3 - Computer Science

Comparing Capitalism and Socialism - 730 Words

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Socialism on the other hand is defined as an economic structure in which productive tools are owned and managed by the workers and used for the collective good (Brinkerhoff et al., 2007). From the definitions, it is clear that unlike capitalism, socialism favors a situation whereby there is deliberate control as well as planning of economic activities on behalf of the entire community. In the case of capitalism, no attempt is made to have economic activities controlled from a central point on behalf of the com munity. Here, enterprises are allowed to compete in the supply of goods and services as they seek to rake in monetary returns. The keyShow MoreRelatedPreventing The Increase Of Socialism912 Words   |  4 Pagesthe Increase of Socialism in the American Economy He has shown you, O man, what is good; and what does the L-rd require of you but to do justly, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with your G-d? (Micah 6:8). 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The Global Financial Crisis Of Australia Essay - 1834 Words

Introduction The Global Financial Crisis (GFC) was the the deepest recession after the World War II economy recession. Australia emerged as the least affected by GFC as compared to other developed economies of the world. After the quarter with negative growth, the march quarter 2009 (0.4% GDP growth), suggested that Australia was able to escape from the world-wide recession. This article looks at each of these three different factors responsible for relatively strong performance of the Australian economy over this period and will examine their role that each may have played. Firstly, the fiscal stimulus policies adopted by Federal Government: secondly, timely policy responses to the effects of the global financial crisis by Reserve Bank of Australia and thirdly, the Australian economy trades significantly with Asia and in particular, China, and how the economy was beneficial from Chinese growth in the global slowdown. 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Gender Disadvantages In Education Education Essay Free Essays

string(155) " to increased public presentation among females as their strong biological science orientation has pulled up their general class in scientific discipline\." In the early 1990s came the first indicants that the instability between male and female accomplishment was altering. The grounds for this emerged foremost from the consequences of the GCSE scrutiny and so from Advanced Level consequences. These showed that the spread between male and female attainment was widening in the favor of females in humanistic disciplines and humanistic disciplines topics, and in the scientific disciplines the traditional advantage of males over females was contracting. We will write a custom essay sample on Gender Disadvantages In Education Education Essay or any similar topic only for you Order Now Possible readings for this are as follows: foremost that male childs are merely falling behind, secondly, it could now be that societal policy is in fact helping females and thirdly, that attitudes are get downing to alter within the instruction system and females are get downing to work their new found equality. The reading that male childs are falling behind suggests that it is non merely that females are accomplishing better than earlier, but that there is a job with male childs and instruction that has non yet been to the full explored by sociologists. The grounds given for this falling buttocks are varied, but harmonizing to Barber ( 1994 ) they are connected to males developing much less positive attitudes to instruction than females. This negative attitude is manifested in a figure of ways, including lower work rates among male pupils and marks of alienation, such as increased hooky and behaviour jobs among male pupils. It is besides suggested that male equal groups tend to develop less favorable attitudes towards instruction and this creates peer group force per unit area. In 1994 Panorama ( BBC 1, 24 October ) drew on American research to demo that parents spend less clip reading and discoursing books with their boies than with their girls. It was suggested that this could be linked to reluctance among males to read and their poorer criterions of literacy. This position has been influential in carrying some educationists that any docket for equal chances initiatives demands to turn to male underachievement every bit much as that of females. However women’s rightists would reason that this account tends to play down the existent advancement being made by female pupils and to deviate attending back to male childs. Males are surely falling behind females in regard of draging exam consequences, but it is non the lone contributing factor. The reading that societal policy is now helping females suggests that a figure of policy alterations have been effectual in promoting female pupils to accomplish in those countries where they have traditionally done ill. The first enterprise was GIST ( Girls in to Science and Technology ) , which was designed to promote female pupils to choose for scientific discipline and engineering. This included such enterprises as set uping visits from female scientists to move as positive function theoretical accounts, developing course of study stuffs that reflected female involvements, non-sexist callings advice and the raising to instructors ‘ consciousness if gender function stereotyping. However critics of this account suggest that it is hard to trap down a general addition in female criterions to this peculiar enterprise, as GIST was reasonably narrow in range and affected merely a few selected schools. Nor were these policies needfully ever followed through because they were expensive to implement. Another enterprise that has been claimed to be successful is the debut of single-sex categories. This builds on the statements of in favor of single-sex schools. Female-only categories provide positive function theoretical accounts, as, for illustration, the scientific discipline instructor excessively has to be female. In scientific discipline lessons, holding no male child in the category removes the domination of research lab equipment by male childs and besides female pupils to reply inquiries and follow their involvements. The positive results of female-only categories are said to be an addition in female assurance and a more positive attitude towards scientific discipline. Critics of this attack argue that female-only categories do non vouch that instructors ‘ attitudes are changed or that sexist stuffs such as text portraying adult females in dependant or administrative functions are non used. As with GIST this attack has merely been adopted by a few schools as it is com paratively expensive to implement. It would besides be hard to happen females who are really qualified to learn traditionally â€Å" male † topics, for illustration the sum of females qualified to learn woodwork is limited, therefore doing individual sex schools on a larger graduated table about impossible unless topics such as woodwork were dropped from the studied course of study. It could besides be that individual sex categories are damaging to male educational attainment. It is true that there are no misss at that place for â€Å" male childs to demo off in forepart of † or â€Å" endeavour to affect † which may enable males to be more focussed on the undertaking at manus. However, a individual sex male category may fuel an anti-school subculture and enhance equal group force per unit area on a much larger graduated table. Some male childs ‘ may derive â€Å" street cred † and peer group position from non working. These male childs may make sub-cultures in some schools which are both anti-education and anti-learning. Their members may good see school work as â€Å" uncool † and â€Å" unmasculine † in peculiar reading may be considered as drilling, feminine and to be avoided at all costs. This may explicate why male childs are less painstaking and miss the application for coursework accomplishments. The debut of GCSE, as opposed to O degree and GCE, is argued to hold favoured females. The rules behind GCSE are that pupils should be able to demo what they ‘know, understand and can make ‘ . In order to accomplish this, coursework has been introduced as a outstanding characteristic of GCSE classs. This constituent is said to favor the consistent and painstaking work that is characteristic of female pupils. Similarly the increased accent on unwritten appraisal is supposed to favor female accomplishments. Besides, the widespread debut of joint Science GCSE ‘s has led to increased public presentation among females as their strong biological science orientation has pulled up their general class in scientific discipline. You read "Gender Disadvantages In Education Education Essay" in category "Essay examples" However the consequence of these inventions is likely to limited. For illustration coursework Markss are limited in GCSE, so there are clear restraints on the sum of benefit female pupils can be said to derive. Nor is it clear that female pupils possess the properties given to them, such as working systematically harder than males. There is for illustration a clear nexus between category and females ‘ attitude towards school work. The outside school position of altering attitudes suggests that female attitudes towards instruction and work have changed significantly. This is partially because more immature adult females have rallied to the women’s rightist call for gender equality and partially because of the employment opportunities available to them. Thus it is claimed that adult females are now more independent minded and ambitious, and with their higher outlooks they are less likely to desire to get married and get down a household at a immature age – instruction, work and calling have become a new focal point of gender individuality ( Sharpe, 1994 ) . Wilkinson ( 1994 ) besides shows that employment has taken over from get downing a household as the chief purpose of immature adult females, and that this displacement in societal attitudes is holding a strong bearing on educational aspirations and public presentation. However it is of import non to overrate the grade of alteration in attitudes. Sharpe ( 1994 ) indicates that many of the females in her 1990s survey, like those in the 1970s research, awaited life as a ‘dual worker ‘ , uniting paid employment and domestic duties. Sharpe besides acknowledges that the desire to derive educational makings may partially reflect females ‘ acknowledgment of the breakability of the labor market in a period of recession. It should besides be highlighted that the increased employment chances are less impressive than at first sight. It may be that the ‘glass ceiling ‘ has been lifted somewhat, so that adult females are found in important Numberss in middle-management places, but females are still underrepresented in the top echelons of direction and overrepresented in the dead-end portion clip work they have traditionally dominated. This deficiency of gender equality is recognised by Sharpe ( 1994 ) , and she sees it as potentially denting the outlooks and aspirations of females in the 1990s. The type of relationship that the pupil has with their instructors has considerable bearing on exam consequences. Teachers have different thoughts about the type of behavior that is consistent with the student ‘s function. Similarly, students have conflicting positions about what makes an ideal instructor. Some students are unable to populate up to the theoretical account of the ideal students held by their instructor. As a consequence it may take to new forms of behavior, which influence their degrees of attainment. A considerable sum of research has been carried out into how instructors make sense of, and respond to behaviour of their students. In his book ‘Outsiders ‘ Howard Becker puts frontward his labelling theory of behavior. His theory suggests that the classifying of behavior by instructors leads to labels being attached to pupils. This categorization will so impact what will finally go on to the student. And therefore will take to the self-fulfilling progn ostication. Ball for case in 1986 found that instructors ‘ labels had affected their public presentation. Whilst Licht and Dwect that male childs are more frequently criticised by their instructors and hence develop negative feelings towards schooling. However in a direct contradiction of the findings of Licht and Dwect, research has provided some grounds that instructors are non as critical with male childs as with misss. They may hold lower outlooks of male childs, anticipating work to be tardily, rushed and untidy and expect male childs ‘ to be more riotous. Some research suggests that male childs are less positively influenced than misss or even turned off by primary school environments which are female dominated and may hold an accent on spruceness or tidiness. Relationships between females and their instructors are by and large better than those enjoyed by the males and their instructors. ( Abraham, 1995 ) One ground for this is that a higher per centum of misss than male childs portion the values of the instructor. Gay Randall, 1987 noted that instructors had more contact clip with misss than with male childs. If a hapless relationship is observed between a instructor and student, it could be a consequence that the student could stop up in a hapless set. Research shows that some underachieve because they were placed in the incorrect set. There was really small difference between the sexes on this issue. Some pupils thought they had been below the belt placed into the incorrect sets. As David Hardgrave ‘s has pointed out, the set that person is in will act upon teacher outlooks. This in bend will act upon public presentation. Students believed that there were moral behavioral jobs in the lower sets. This was more of a job for male childs as their equal group more influenced them Bly, 1996 The set a student is placed in can sometimes be altered at parent ‘s petition, which demonstrates that educational attainment and relationship with parents are linked. J.W. Douglas ‘ work The Home and School reveals that parents have considerable influence over the academic public presentation of their kids in school. This pioneering research has been confirmed by plentifulness of other sociologists, in the 1970 ‘s Berthoud, 1976, Swift 1977, Mackinnon, 1978. Divorce, as other research, shows can badly restrict academic public presentation. In some households, females may be the primary staff of life victors. Consequently, traditional masculine functions are under menace. Working category male childs ‘ perceptual experience of this may act upon their motive and aspiration. They may experience that makings are a waste of clip because there are merely limited chances in the occupation market. They may non see any point hence in working difficult in school A disrupted place will necessarily interfere with a student ‘s ‘home survey ‘ . Home survey is of import to educational attainment and is something that seems to favor misss McRobbie, 1976 Girls are more likely to work harder and make more alteration as they feel they have something to take for. There is besides considerable grounds available that suggests that there is a connexion between prep and educational attainment rating. A recent survey provides grounds that misss spend more clip on prep than male childs, therefore accomplishing and gaining higher classs in test. Boys, chiefly from working category backgrounds, may be sing low ego regard and hapless motive which has holding an inauspicious consequence on their educational public presentation. Research by Harris et Al in 1993 into the attitudes of 16-year-olds from preponderantly working category backgrounds towards school assignment, prep and callings confirms that many male childs are accomplishing below their possible. It was found that misss tended to be more hard-working and better motivated than male childs, whilst male childs were more easy distracted in the schoolroom and less determined to get the better of academic troubles. Overall, misss were prepared to work systematically to run into coursework deadlines, whereas male childs had trouble on organizing their clip. There was a greater preparedness among misss to make school work at place and pass more clip on prep than male childs. When believing about the hereafter, the immature adult females recognised the demand to derive makings, for lives, which would affect paid employment every bit good as domestic duties. By and large, the males has non given much thought to their hereafters and seemed reasonably unconcerned about their hapless school public presentation. The writers relate their findings to the gender ‘regimes ‘ , which the immature people encounter in their places and communities. Some of the misss, exposed to the image of adult females as organizer, responsible for place and household and pay earning, displayed similar features themselves, i.e. being extremely organised with school work and prep. Harris et al argue that the dominant stereotype of the male in the on the job category community they examined was extremely butch. Typically, this was characterised by a neglect for authorization of organizational constructions and an enjoyment of the active company of other males. Some male childs were already carry throughing such a stereotype in their attack to school, demoing small respect for working steadily and disassociating themselves with formal demands. It is non the instance that males are now the disadvantaged sex in instruction, it is merely the instance that females are doing better usage of their new found equality and working the anti-school subculture adopted by their male opposite numbers. How to cite Gender Disadvantages In Education Education Essay, Essay examples

Zuhura Wedding Planners Business Plan

Executive Summary Zuhura Wedding Planners is company that will be providing wedding planning services in Kenya and will be launched in year 2012. The company will position itself as a wedding planner that offers professional services that have a personal touch according to customers’ preferences and desires.Advertising We will write a custom essay sample on Zuhura Wedding Planners Business Plan specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More The business management anticipates to create an awareness in the market secure strategic partnerships with ancillary service providers that will enable the to have inputs at relatively lower prices hence cut on cost while also providing professional touch to its services. Our Mission statement will be: To provide customers with high quality professional wedding services, by offering over-whelming hospitality to our customers and using innovation to provide unique wedding experience that make our cust omers’ wedding to be the most treasured memory for life. Background and business concept For many years Kenyan couples intending to have weddings formed committees comprising family and friends from both sides of the couple, and the committee was mandated with the task of raising funds and to run the wedding. However the economy has experienced increase in income for both the middle and upper class coupled with lack time due career commitments which has led the society to embrace the idea of professional weddings. In addition, weddings are used as opportunities for families to show off their financial might as well as declare their social class; therefore the couples and their families have been spending large budgets to ensure that their dream weddings come to pass. Though the market has seen an increase in service providers most of them do not focus on strict professionalism and also they lack personal touch in their offerings (Covello Hazelgren, 2005). Therefore Zuhura we dding planners have identified a need that it can satisfy and hence have a cutting edge above the rest. The company’s target market will basically be the upper class and lower class economy which will be determined according to their financial incomes. The target was chosen due to their willingness to spend to achieve their dream weddings (Covello Hazelgren, 2005).Advertising Looking for essay on business economics? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More Objectives The company has short term objectives which include; becoming a market leader in terms of brand strength and market share 3 years after introduction, attaining 90% customer satisfaction as a strategy for differentiation and capitalizing on referrals and word of mouth marketing. The long term objectives include launching branches in the neighboring East African countries within five years. Market strategy In the first year the company will focus on aggressive marke ting to create awareness of its brand and unique services. At the same time the company will heavily invest in employees to have dedicated and effective professionals who will provide meticulous services in momentous wedding events hence ensure that services offered by Zuhura are clearly distinctive and surpass customer expectation. In addition the company will offer a variety of accompanying products that as opposed to other competitors hence enhancing differentiation of its services. These products will include transport, floral dà ©cor, video and still photography, catering and securing of venue. The business will ensure that its partners offer up to standard qualities which are in line with the company’s strategy. The business will be owned as a partnership and management also done with the three partners who will share responsibilities of running the firm as well employing other professionals to work under them. The partners have relevant qualifications which are approp riate for that nature of business which include event organization, eco-tourism and business management. Capital to start the business will be contributed equally by partners to a total $200,000 and the remaining $50,000 will loaned from a bank and the business will repay within three years (Covello Hazelgren, 2005). Business Description This business plan is for wedding planning business in Kenya which is a country in East Africa. The business will concern itself with all activities and events that are associated with a successful wedding and they include budgeting for the wedding, grooming the groom his bride and their entourage. The business will be a partnership of three, an event organizer, an eco-tourism professional and a management graduate. Situation Analysis Market Characteristics and Trends The Kenyan wedding market is steadily growing whereby the cost of a wedding of a middle-class or upper class is $18,750 and a research carried out in 2009 by Samantha Bridal, a weddin g planning company showed that there are an average of 28,000 couples in that category who get married every year.Advertising We will write a custom essay sample on Zuhura Wedding Planners Business Plan specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More This therefore translates to $525 million a year. In addition, the market is experiencing rapid growth based on the number of service providers and landmark expenditures that clients are willing to spend. Though in the past weddings in Kenya used to be planned and run by committees whose membership was drawn from families and friends of both couples, most people especially the upper and middle class are currently embracing the professional touch at a fee (Jambonewspot, 2010). Market Needs and Potential The market needs of wedding services are largely driven by the desire to have an efficiently planned as well as a perfectly executed wedding ceremony. Most Kenyans value marriage as a sanctified inst itution and a very important stage in life, therefore people always work round the clock to ensure that that day is a success. In addition the current generation of couples have large access to television and internet hence most couples want to have wedding ceremonies like those they see with celebrities. The market also has a lot of potential as both the upper and middle class members seek to outdo each other by taking the wedding as an ample opportunity to show off their financial might and clout of wealth. In fact wealthy families are willing to spend as much as over $625,000 to make a statement whereby they can treat their guests by taking them to a cruise before they are flown to some exotic location for their honeymoon (Njung’e, 2009). Competitive analysis Competition has been growing steadily in the Kenyan market with the entry of more wedding planning service providers and other related services whereby the last five years has seen an increase of the service providers to 150. There are key players in this industry who include Samantha Bridal and WaridiKenya wedding planners. Some of the strengths of wedding planners in the market are that they have been in the market long enough and so are established and have secured a client base. However they have a shortcoming in that much of their services are not personalized and are also quite high. Competition can also come from the people, who choose to run their own weddings, and their strength is that they will incorporate some personal touch that is liked by the couple and their families and friends. However their weakness is that due to lack of expertise much of time that would otherwise be committed to other things will be spent and comparatively more costs will be incurred due to lack of information on better prices. SWOT Analysis StrengthsAdvertising Looking for essay on business economics? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More – strong potential of customer base -Huge profit margin -Strong funding -outstanding communication systems and infrastructure Weaknesses – Lack of experience in the business – Demand that is seasonal. Opportunities – Gradually improving business – Increasing income amongst middle and upper class Threats -Increasing competition from already established providers. Marketing Objectives Short Term Objectives Creating and increasing brand awareness particularly because our company will be introducing new services into the market and in order to differentiate ourselves. It will also be essential to be able to have an awareness of 50% by the following year after introduction. We also intend to have attained a market share of 30% by the same year and strive to achieve 90% customer satisfaction which will help in referrals and word of mouth marketing. Long Term Objectives To be the market leader within four years of launching in market share as well as stre ngth of brand. To be able to enter into profitable partnerships within three years with major ventures offering ancillary services like car hire, hotels and jewelers. Launch our services in at least one neighboring East African country. Marketing Strategies Segmentation The market will be divided into two basic categories based on economic status; that is upper and middle class. Particularly because we will be a flexible market provider whereby some services will be common across the segments such as providing the venue, invitation cards among others. That means that there will be some optional offerings available to some segments according to their choice. For example, organizing for honeymoon, grooming the bride, his groom and their families and arranging for the bachelors’ party. Religion will also be a key factor in serving our customers for Muslims will receive different offerings from Christians as well as traditional weddings will also be different. Target Market On ou r introduction we will put our main operations in three cities, which are Nairobi, Mombasa and Kisumu, particularly because most of our target customers who are upper and middle class live in urban areas and mostly the cities. This group represents the category that is ready to splash out cash in order to state their status. At the same time they mainly consist of professionals who are held up in their careers and therefore have no adequate time to plan for such events. Another reason is that services of our business partners are easily accessible in cities and also the population of these cities is dense hence a larger potential clientele base is available. The age to be targeted will be singles who are 25 years and above because the Kenyan working class makes plans of settling down in their thirties because most of them want to first accumulate wealth to cater for the expenses of their dream wedding. Married couples of any age will also be in our target because they also do celebr ate anniversaries for their marriages (Mercer, 1998). Product Development Weddings in Kenya are a glamorous event with picturesque wedding venues financed by grand budgets. Everyone aspires to have a momentous occasion and our wedding planners will help couples achieve that dream. Therefore Zuhura wedding planners will offer the overwhelming hospitality and any necessary support required during and before the wedding to its clientele. We will also invest in our work force to ensure that they are efficient and dedicated professionals who will work painstakingly to ensure customer satisfaction. Innovation will be part and parcel of our routine whereby new ideas will be developed to provide exclusive wedding experience while giving priority to customer inputs and desires. Therefore the services to be provided will include: Wedding Venue: This is important because it offers the base for an authentic theme of a wedding. Factors to be put into consideration when choosing a venue include t he customer’s budget, practicability of guest reaching the venue, how secure the place is, conformation with the theme, and availability of parking space. The various choices that will be made available for selection include: the picturesque beaches of Mombasa, Game reserves such as the Maasai Mara and marriage halls. Wedding Theme: To add flavor to a wedding, developing a theme is a way of having an illustrious event, therefore a perfect theme can be picked in line with the client’s preferences after consultation. For instance, a royal theme which will be accompanied by specific colors that gives it a unique touch will be available. Transportation: Zuhura shall provide transport for the wedding couples, their guests which include family and friends, to the venue and all through their stay. This will include royal rides used during the grand entrance where our company will avail horses and high class vehicle like limousines. Catering: A variety of sumptuous delicacies will be made available consisting of exotic meals blended with Kenyan and foreign cuisines. The client will be required to decide the contents of the menu and hence the caterers will take it upon themselves to provide the clients’ selection based on the budget and preference and guests served as agreed. Cultural Programmes: Kenyan marriages of all cultures and religions are characterized with song and dance. This forms an integral part hence those without are always viewed as incomplete. Therefore with the customer’s consent we shall organize for native/folk dancers or even bands to perform. Floral Dà ©cor, Video and Still Photography To enhance the overall appearance and promote the wedding theme, fresh flowers shall be provided such as roses and marigold (Mercer, 1998). Organization and Management descriptions The ownership of the business will be in partnership of three who will also double as the management. There is an eco-tourism professional, Event organizer an d a management graduate. The eco-tourism professional will deal with organizing for wedding venues, honeymoon destinations and catering services. The event organizer will be concerned with availing any materials required like flowers wedding gowns photographer and organizing for entertainment. The management graduate will deal with all office matters like keeping financial records and ensuring the comfort of the couple and their guests. The three will have employees assigned to work under them who will help in ensuring that our key objective of providing a high level of satisfaction to 90% of our clients is attained. Two of the partners, that is the event organizer and the eco-tourism partner are natives of Kenya and hence this would help in easing the legal process of registering the business. Financial Management Each of the three of us will contribute a third of the budget needed to kick start the business, estimated at $250,000. However because we will collectively get $200,000 members agreed to get a loan of $50,000 from bank to top up on the amount incase it is necessary and the loan will be repaid within three years. Members will share profit equally after deducting all the expenses. Conclusion The Kenyan market has experienced rapid growth in demand which has seen increase in providers of wedding services. However from our research we found out that most of the providers offer replicated services or even unprofessional services. In addition, those offering professional services have no objective of customer satisfaction but prioritize on profit objective. In view of these facts coupled with the moneys splashed in this market, Zuhura Wedding Planners is sure of meeting their objectives and surpassing their targets. References Covello, J. A. and Hazelgren, B. J. (2005). Your first business plan: a simple question-and-answer format designed to help you write your own plan. Naperville, Illinois: Sourcebooks Inc. Jambonewspot, (2010). Wedding planners back on growth path. Web. Mercer, D (1998). Marketing strategy: the challenge of the external environment. London: SAGE. Njung’e, C. (2009, October 24). Wealthy citizens sink sh40 billion into weddings. Daily Nation. Retrieved From https://allafrica.com/stories/200910260092.html This essay on Zuhura Wedding Planners Business Plan was written and submitted by user Lauren D. to help you with your own studies. You are free to use it for research and reference purposes in order to write your own paper; however, you must cite it accordingly. You can donate your paper here.

Check Order Instruction Example

Check Order Instruction Example Check Order Instruction – Article Example Article Summary Obamacare: A Tough Sell The obanacare or the affordable health care act has left many people raising their sentiments about it and they have opposition towards the implementation of the plan. The debate between the democrats and the republicans has shown the depth of entrenchment of dissatisfaction that people have concerning the hope of having good healthcare at a low price. The debate has persisted among other classes of people with the working class and the uninsured people arguing that obamacare is a bad idea. Obama faces a tough challenge not only from the opposition but also from the fact that it was poorly received during the initiation of the enactnment of the law. The Whitehouse is also aware of the risk it has to overcome to mobilize people to accept the act and therefore, and it has hired some people who are to be involved in publishing the obamacare. For this reason for some time, the issues related to the act of the congress have remained controversial wi th some people speaking in support from some groups and opposition from the other side of the people (Seib A4).How the article is related to Human Resource ManagementThe white on one side works as a single entity that ensures hires some people that will facilitate the process of promotion of Obamacare among the Americans. On the other hand, the article on the debate represent a form of human resource management because it has various people who are assigned various duties to perform for the success completion of the duties of the popularizing the act. Another thing that makes the article about the obamacare relate to human resource management is the fact that white house like a manager in an organization has a responsibility to convince the opponents to adopt it (Caruth, Caruth and Pane 240).Work CitedCaruth, Donald L, Caruth, Gail D. and Pane, Stephanie S. Staffing the Contemporary Organization: A Guide to Planning, Recruiting, and Selecting for Human Resource Professionals. Westpo rt, Conn: Praeger Publishers, 2009.Seib, Gerald. â€Å"Obamacare: A Tough Sell†. The Wall Street Journal. August 6th, 2013. Pp.A4

Biography of John Garang de Mabior, Sudanese Rebel

Biography of John Garang de Mabior, Sudanese Rebel Colonel John Garang de Mabior was a Sudanese rebel leader, founder of the Sudan Peoples Liberation Army (SPLA) which fought a 22-year civil war against the northern-dominated, Islamist Sudanese Government. He was made vice president of Sudan on the signing of the Comprehensive Peace Agreement in 2005, shortly before his death. Date of Birth:  June 23, 1945, Wangkulei, Anglo-Egyptian SudanDate ofDeath:  July 30, 2005, Southern Sudan Early Life John Garang was born into the Dinka ethnic group, educated in Tanzania and graduated from Grinnell College in Iowa in 1969. He returned to The Sudan and joined the Sudanese army, but left the following year for the south and joined the Anya Nya, a rebel group fighting for the rights of the Christian and animist south, in a country which was dominated by the Islamist north. The rebellion, which was sparked by the decision made by the colonial British to join the two parts of Sudan when independence was granted in 1956, became a full-blown civil war in the early 1960s. 1972 Addis Ababa Agreement In 1972 the Sudanese president, Jaafar Muhammad an-Numeiry, and Joseph Lagu, leader of the Anya Nya, signed the Addis Ababa Agreement which gave autonomy to the south. Rebel fighters, including John Garang, were absorbed into the Sudanese army. Garang was promoted to Colonel and sent to Fort Benning, Georgia, USA, for training. He also received a doctorate in agricultural economics from Iowa State University in 1981. On his return to the Sudan, he was made deputy director of military research and an infantry battalion commander. Second Sudanese Civil War By the early 1980s, the Sudanese government was becoming increasingly Islamist. These measures included the introduction of  Sharia law throughout Sudan, an imposition of black slavery by northern Arabs, and Arabic being made the official language of instruction. When Garang was sent south to quell a new uprising by the Anya Nya, he instead swapped sides and formed the Sudan Peoples Liberation Movement (SPLM) and their military wing the SPLA. 2005 Comprehensive Peace Agreement In 2002 Garang began peace talks with Sudanese president Omar al-Hasan Ahmad al-Bashir, which culminated in the signing of the  Comprehensive Peace Agreement on January 9, 2005. As part of the agreement, Garang was made vice president of Sudan. The peace agreement was supported by establishing a United Nations Mission in Sudan. U.S. President George W. Bush expressed hope that Garang would be a promising leader as the U.S. supported South Sudanese independence. While Garang often expressed Marxist principles, he was also a Christian. Death Only a few months after the peace agreement, on July 30, 2005, a helicopter carrying Garang back from talks with the president of Uganda crashed in the mountains near the border. Although both Al-Bashirs government and Salva Kiir Mayardit, the new leader of the SPLM, blamed the crash on poor visibility, doubts remain about the crash. His legacy is that he is considered to be a very influential figure in the history of South Sudan.

Communicating Total Rewards Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Communicating Total Rewards - Essay Example The desired information concerning total rewards, benefits and compensation to the prospective employees of One Click Marketing Company will be communicated by use of the internet, television sets, radios and newspapers will be employed in delivering the message to the desired audience (Kaplan 2007). For instance, television and Radio advertisements will be mostly aired before and after most preferred programs, by many viewers and listeners. Also, newspapers and magazines with wide coverage will be utilized in targeting and delivering the message to the desired audience. DeliverablesThe preferred form of deliverable selected for the project is total rewards statement. Total rewards statement was selected basing on the deliverables ability to capture the desired information being expected by prospective.   Total reward statement provides satisfaction to the prospective employees by recognizing their contribution towards the organization, through provision of equitable compensations as well as being recognized during organization’s decision making process.   Delivery of the information regarding total rewards to prospective employees will be carried out by the sales’ and marketing department, in conjunction with human resource department. The two departments will have to liaise with one another so as to deliver quality information regarding total rewards to prospective employees at the right time.The total rewards information about One click Marketing Company will be communicated to prospective employees.

Civil society and religious figures in Saudi Arabia - Application to Essay

Civil society and religious figures in Saudi Arabia - Application to Transfer - Essay Example However, after the discovery of vast reserves of petroleum in Saudi Arabia, the country has been a central focus of globalisation, internationalisation and modernisation . This has caused the Basic Law of the country, which is steeped in Sharia to be re-examined and reviewed in order to streamline Saudi Arabia’s laws with the international order. This study has identified in the preliminary analysis that the religious and political leadership have shaped the modern history of Saudi Arabia which has in turn influenced the traditions of the Kingdom. The literature review identifies that the international order of the international community is strongly steeped in the Eurocentric theories and concepts of statehood. This study will seek the end of identifying the variance and similarities between the Western view of civil society and the current Saudi civil society systems and structures. This is because preliminary readings show that there are various variances and limitations in the way and manner through which the two different civil society structures are organized. This is because literature identifies that Saudi Arabia’s political and religious institutions are authoritarian in nature. This is not the same as what exists in the Western world. Thus, the dissertation will focus on the articulation of a new construct that will define a new and completely different set of actionable proposals and principles that can be implemented by public policymakers and key stakeholders in the civic society. The recommendations will be based on the findings and empirical analysis of various approaches used in other parts of the world to attain convergence between local and international civil society groups. The aim of the study is to examine Saudi Arabia’s civil society in the context of international political theory over the past century. In order to attain this end, the following objectives will be

SWOT Analysis of HM

SWOT Analysis of HM The paper provides an overview on Hennes Mauritz (HM), analyzing the industry environment and the position in the retail market. The paper also explores the impact of the recession upon the human resource management activities, based on publicly available details of HM, which has been analyzed and presented within the context of the perspective. Introduction The retail industry is usually a very dynamic, and a fast changing sector in the market. It represents one of the main sectors in the UK economy, in terms of employment, transactions and turnover, so that as a consequence, it is a highly competitive and a sophisticated industry. Thompson (2002) argues that economic conditions are an important element in the industry and he states that they may affect the way, weather easy or difficult, a business runs the activity successfully and profitable .Furthermore he claims that economic conditions may affect both capital availability, cost and demand. Companies in the fashion sector have to keep all the time the attention on monitoring the market, and should try to identify any new trends as soon as possible and, above all, they have to keep up with the customers increasing expectations, needs and changing tastes. As the paper shows above, the analysis will be on the HennesMauritz fashion business which is considered one of the worlds favourite and preferred designers of clothes and accessories for man, women, teenagers and babies. In addition, HM its also known not only for the fashion cosmetics and accessories but also because of the quality of the clothes ,using sustainable materials like organic cotton, wool and organic denim, all being environmental friendly (HM website (1), viewed 20 October 2010). According to the Datamonitor (2010, p.4) HM is a large clothing retailer with its operations primarily set in Europe, North America, and Asia, owning in 2009 1,988 stores worldwide and reaching sales of 119 billion Sweden Kronor. (HM website (2), viewed 20 October 2010). The companys main office is based in Stockholm, Sweden and employs almost 76,000 workers out of which more than 53,476 are on full time employment as of November 2009. HMs strategic approach is to offer designer clothes to general population at affordable prices, the company working with such brand names as Stella McCartney, Karl Lagerfeld, Roberto Cavalli and Lanvin (Capell Beucke 2005, p. 16; Kroll 2004, p. 71; Zimmerman 2009, p. D1; WWD 2010, p. 2). RECESSION IN RETAIL SECTOR Nowadays almost all kinds of industries are willing to maintain their competitive position in the market during the recession period. Most of the challenges that the retail market faces are related to the economic and the financial aspects. The fashion industry faced unfavourable situation due to the reduction of the money spent on clothes, but also due to the change in consumers behaviour. According to Kambil (2009) recession should last less than 2 years, and managers should take full advantage of this in order to rethink and renew their strategies and their competitive positions in the UK retail market. The UK retail market was just one of the industries hit by the global economic downturn, as shoppers were forced to limit their spending and consumer confidence was shaken by the failure of important retail giants like Woolworth. With the retail market getting back on its feet in 2010 particularly the online sales segment, where UK web sales grew by 18% in August 2010 (BBC website, http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-11034030 ), compared with the same month a year earlier one of the most pressing concerns is whether there will be long-term effects on consumer confidence or spending. The retail industry has been an excellent contributor to the UKs economy. According to the British Retail Consortium, the retail sector is one of the second largest employers in the UK, employing 11% of the UK workforce, some 2.9 million people as of March 2009. Historical evidences depict that the UKs economic development has been dominantly fuelled by the successes in the fashion industry especially because of the existence of 286,680 retail outlets in the UK (British Retail Consortium website). Over all these years, industrial success in textiles and fashion goods component have been significant and can be attributed to the continuous change and improvements in the lifestyle of the shoppers and the increasing value being placed to such products. Consumers constantly experimented different looks, styles, fabrics and ideas and their interest in fashion accessories has been stimulated by high media exposure, which have been growing over the last few years. This assiduous rise in the consumer spending on fashion products led to practically unchallenged growth in the industry. Despite the crisis in this sector of the economy, some of the organizations managed to grow their market share. According to Kambil (2008) companies need to focus their attention on the market share and in addition they had to launch new products and adjust the existing ones in order to improve their relations with the customers. Using HM as a company example, they tried to beat the effects of the downturn, by launching designer clothes in partnership with well-know designers like Jimmy Choo, Roberto Cavalli and Lanvin this November (HM website, viewed 21 October 2010). Moreover the economic recession has affected many HR Processes and they needed to be adapted to the new economic environment and furthermore they had to be ready to face the new reality. The impact of the recession is not the same and many HR Processes can continue their regular operation without any adjustment. Even if recession has affected many fashion organisations, closing stores or slashing prices, one of the big retailers operating on the UK market, HM ,was keeping quite well, in addition they were opening stores, entering new markets, and adding new brands (Spiegel website, April 9 2008, ). Another major effect of the recession in the retail industry is the staff redundancies. According to The Telegraph website there is an important downsizing in this sector, which may affect retail organisations in many ways. The article shows that at the beginning of 2009 economists were announcing massive staff reductions between 100,000 and 135,000 jobs due to the severity of the slowdown. Moreover the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development predicted at that time more than 600,000 jobs will be lost and many companies will be forced to freeze their workforces pay. Sales have been also suffering by the economic downturn, reporting a volume of retail sales lower with 0.1% than October last year (National Statistics Online website, http://www.statistics.gov.uk/cci/nugget.asp?id=256). Among the factors that should be taken into consideration is the current economic growth rate in the nation. This directly refers to an economys rise in value of services or goods produced. According to the Office for National Statistics (ONS) in the case of United Kingdom, the economic growth rate in 2010 grew by 1.1% in the second quarter of the year (BBC website, National Statistics Online website, http://www.statistics.gov.uk/cci/nugget.asp?id=256 ). Another economic factor that may influence retail business in the fashion industry is the inflation. According to the BBC newspaper, the Consumer Price Index (CPI), inflation increased to 3.2% in October from 3.1% per cent in the previous month (BBC newspaper, http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-11784775, Appendix A) SWOT Analysis of HM According to Armstrong (2004) SWOT is defined as (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, Threats) and is a popular framework for developing a marketing strategy. SWOT analysis is basically done to find out if they have sufficient resources to cover their weakness and still achieve their objective. Strength Hennes Mauritz AB build its strengths by operating through complementary retail channels stores, Internet, and printed catalogues. According to Datamonitor (2010) one of the significant strength of HM Company is the request for its products which rise up the inventory turnover and enables low price cut. Customer express their preference for HM product especially clothes because of its quality at the best price but also because of the stores which are refreshed and reordered daily with new garments products. Moreover, collaboration with designer like Karl Lagerfeld, Stella McCartney, Roberto Cavalli and Lanvin this November, which are very well know worldwide, will improve the desire for their garments ,but also will accelerate sales growth ( Business week website, viewed 19 October 2010) . Another major strength of HM is the presence on different markets such as Europe, North America and Asia with almost 2000 stores (HM website (4), viewed 20 October 2010). This fact is a positive aspect for the company because they can diversify their risk, but also be sustainably- financially, socially and environmentally (CSR Report 2009). Weaknesses One of the most important and noticeable weakness that HM encounters is the segment that the fashion company targets. HM designs clothes for young customers offering them the HM Divided and HM L.O.G.G collections. Second fact that can be taken into consideration as a weaknesses is the shoppers base which is influenced by the macro economic environment in a negative way (Datamonitor 2010).The article claims that HM focus on the young segment of the market, which is one of the worst hit by the recession, with 21% rate of unemployment for teenagers under age of 25. Opportunities First of all, one of the most important opportunities that HM faces is the e-commerce. According to Datamonitor (2010) HM online sales grew by 22% with 4.7% of the total retail online sales in Europe. Moreover the online sales within more 17 European Countries (such as France, UK, Germany) are estimated to grow by 11% each year over the next five years. Even if the recession affected the retail industry, Hennes Mauritz opened in 2009 250 stores worldwide with 25 more than they planned. (HM website (3), viewed 21 October 2010) Second of all, the expansion plans 2010-1011 for HM intend to reach a 10-15 % each year. The Company tries to focus on markets like Asia where the sales double over, China Japan and South Korea. (Financial times website October 20, 2010). Another opportunity that HM takes full advantage of is the use of organic cotton which classified the company in the top twelve global brands and retailer using organic cotton. Threats Threats of the company are also related to the economic recession because shoppers spend less money on clothes. Over the year 2010 employment were expected to become worse, peaking towards the end of the year at approximately 10.3% and consumers were expected to apply for benefits. Second major threat for the organisation is the VAT which has been reduced in the UK in 2008 by 15% and in January 2010 has been changed again do 17.5%. Apart of this change the cost for cotton has been modified as well with almost 60-75 % by the end of 2009 and with 20-30% during 2010 (Datamonitor 2010 , http://web.ebscohost.com/bsi/pdf?vid=20hid=7sid=4b01c02d-b8cf-414f-b787-7f93a0b69865%40sessionmgr113 ). Human Resource Management in a recession The retail sector is one of the most hit by the global economic recession, so that managers should handle the effects of recession as professionally as possible in a downturn. But since when human resource management is dealing with the implementation of the strategies and policies relating to the management of individuals, the department become one of the most responsible to bring the organisation on the right track during recession time. According to Kambil (2008) there are some important steps that a business should follow in order to maintain their competitive position on the market. Some of these vital steps are the improvement of prices in order to grow margins, the increase of the financial and operational efficiency, but also the concentration on the market share. According to Armstrong (2009, p.5) the purpose of the human resource management is to make sure that an organisation is able to perform well through its staff, but also to increase the efficiency and the capability of the business. Furthermore, it also helps the business to reach it goals by using the resources available to their best use. One of the first processes affected by a recession is the recruitment selection policies which have been massively affected by the recession. Newell and Shackleton (2000) argues that recruitment and selection process involves making anticipation about what will happen, so that decisions are made about who is the most suitable person for a certain job that can increase the performance of an organisation. Now managers and recruitment agencies are being extra careful who they bring in, and they prefer to rethink and implement new strategies in order to improve their relations with the customers. In addition, companies are even more demanding than before, making sure that they recruit the best candidate that can bring real value to the company. Another significant effect on human resource management which impact an organization in recession time is the cost cutting. Retailers are conscious about the situation of the business and try to do everything to maintain their competitive position on the market. They started to cut working hours, holidays, labour costs, and travel expenses and they dont offer long-term benefits anymore. According to Retail Week website (http://www.retail-week.com/cost-cutting-the-lean-machine/1923604.article ) organizations needed to reduce its cost not only to their store level, but also to their head offices. The career and development process have been also affected by the recession, so that managers offer limited trainings to their staff. Selecting and training employees with great potential, contribute to the increase of the sales and organisations performance. It also leads to a more structured career path which ensures that staff has the necessary skills to improve the quality of services and products of a company. Introducing flexible working arrangements and part-paid sabbaticals is another effect of the recession that has a significant impact on an organisation impact on an organization. Managers prefer to make these changes, rather than implementing redundancy programmes, because it allows them to manage every cost. This measure eliminates the need of hiring extra staff for busy periods such as Christmas or Easter holidays. The operations are also suffering due to the recession, because managers develop different channels which imply lower labour costs, such as online sales. A number of retailers found more innovative ways to deal with cost cutting by introducing 9 day fortnights, reducing daily hours and offering unpaid sabbaticals, so we also saw an uplift in the request for interim specialists to renegotiate these new practices. Conclusion The middle of 2008 saw huge changes for the UK retail industry, with the sector suffering a very intense downturn and several well-known brands were disappearing from the high streets. But on the other hand there have been retailers that improved their performance during the recession. As seen above, HM is one of them, reaching a SEK 118,697 million turnover, and about 76,000 employments. The human resource management is one of the sectors that have been also affected by the economic downturn. According to Armstrong (2000) Human resource management is a construct largely invented by academics and popularised by consultants. So that many retailers took decisive actions, like concentrating and simplifying their operations by reducing staff numbers and costs, both through natural wastage and implementing redundancy programmes and flexible working hours. Furthermore, there is now evidence of significant change in the retail sector. In line with the drop-off in demand for goods not being as bad as had initially been feared, retailers are now re-evaluating and rethinking their HR strategies. In conclusion, the paper demonstrates that the current economic conditions have provided the opportunity for the UK retail industry to learn and deal better with HRM structures and recession, adding to what had already been in progress before the economic downturn, which in turn shows an opportunity to make the business stronger, successfully and profitable. Moreover, there is a lack of standard qualifications across retail sector which is also unfavourable.ÂÂ   Government policy in this area is ineffectual and needs to be improved as soon as possible.

A Little Help on Twelfth Night Essay

The following information is based upon my taped lecture on this play. Although this text version is not the same as the taped lecture, it does contain the same information. All references are based on the Signet paperback edition which you should consult in conjunction with this lecture. Twelfth Night was probably written in 1601 and first performed in January of 1602. We know this because the play is mentioned that year in the diary of a young man training to become a lawyer at the Inns of Court in London. We can also tell the approximate date of the play from the references to contemporary events and publications, things like books or new maps. To place the publication in Shakespeare’s career, it comes about six years after Roemo & Juliet. Shakespeare’s treatment of love and romance and his use of dramatic devices are even more sophisticated than they were in his famous tragedy. Twelfth Night is the fourth in a series of romantic comedies which all have very bright heroines who end up teaching valuable lessons to the men who will become their husbands. Three of these four plays — The Merchant of Venice, As You Like It and Twelfth Night — feature heroines who disguise themselves as men and deal with their male-dominated societies from this secret vantage point. They all have very sophisticated attitudes toward love and reveal human folly caused by the excess of some particular quality. It’s interesting to note that Twelfth Night was written right after Shakespeare had written Hamlet, which is a very different kind of play, but it does give you some idea of the range of his creative talents. The title of the play is unusual. It refers to the twelve days of Christmas, which you may recall from the old song, â€Å"On the Twelfth Day of Christmas.† In earlier days the celebration and exchange of gifts which we associate with the 25th of December were actually conducted during the 12 days which followed that date, culminating with what is called Epiphany. For some reason this twelfth day was associated, and continues to be, with comic misrule, upset and especially confusion over gender. In this country many people observe a seasonal tradition by taking their family to see â€Å"The Nutcracker† ballet or The Christmas Carol, Dickens’ story turned into a stage play. More recent cultural expressions may be the film How the Grinch Stole Christmas or television’s A Charlie Brown Christmas. Well, in the United Kingdom the cultural equivalent is going to the pantomime or panto. Families will go to the local theater is see a series of comic skits which feature famous actors and actresses performing in drag. So you might see Benny Hill or John Cleese playing the parts of women and some shapely starlet dressed in tight pants playing the part of the hero. Shakespeare’s play recalls this very old tradition by being a play with similar gender confusion at its core. It is entirely possible that Shakespeare was commissioned to write the play for a group of law students to perform at their Twelfth Night celebration, later followed by performances at his public theater, The Globe. As such, the original audience consisted of young sophisticated gentlemen who would have been knowledgeable about the London theater scene: there are a number of references in the play to works by Shakespeare’s contemporaries. Many of the jokes in the play are lost on us in the 21st Century because they refer to things which were very much in the public mind in 1601. So when Feste, the jester, says at one point he could have used the word â€Å"element,† but he chose not to because the word is overused, it goes right over our heads. However, it was a howl in Shakespeare’s time because there was a big flap over Ben Jonson’s use of the word. Twelfth Night is one of the few plays Shakespeare wrote which has a secondary or sub-title: â€Å"What You Will.† Even here Shakespeare is having a little fun. At one level this title is just a throw-away line, much like the titles of Much Ado About Nothing or As You Like It, the Elizabethan equivalent of â€Å"Whatever† or â€Å"No big deal!† However, in his plays and poems Shakespeare often used the word â€Å"will† to refer to sexual desire. So the title â€Å"What You Will† also means â€Å"Whatever sexual desire you choose to pursue.† Throughout the play there are at least three places where characters consciously give themselves permission to chase some inappropriate sexual fantasy which will end up making them appear foolish. I’ll point these out as we go through the play. The source of Twelfth Night has been pretty well identified. The immediate source is a book by a man named Barnaby Ridge titled Ridge: His Farewell to the Military Profession written about 20 years earlier. Ridge wrote a collection of stories he had picked up from many sources and to which he added his own inventions. One of Ridge’s stories is about a young woman who disguises herself as a young man and goes to work for a handsome young lord with whom she promptly falls in love. The young lord orders his new employee to go off and win the love of a beautiful woman that he desires. The heroine in disguise tries her best, but the beautiful woman falls in love with her disguise. Comic confusion results. Ridge had stolen this story line from an Italian play written earlier, but in reality the ideas here go back to the ancient Greeks and Romans who often wrote about girls who used disguise to get around the restrictions of their own societies. The ancients also had lots of fun with characters who looked alike; identical twins were special favorites. One of the Roman playwrights that Shakespeare had read in school, Plautus, had written a famous comedy about a set of twins; Shakespeare had used it as the basis for his first comedy, Comedy of Errors. So this sophisticated comedy of Twelfth Night is actually based on very old ideas. There are four major themes which are explored in this play. All the themes have to do with love. In fact no other play by Shakespeare shows so many different kinds of love or reactions to love. The first theme is everybody who loves faces obstacles to overcome in order to achieve their heart’s desire. Falling love in a Shakespearean comedy is never easy. You really have to work hard to win. The second theme is that love takes many forms, and these coexist uneasily. There is self-love, misguided love, love which was gender inappropriate, or what in politically correct terms we would say was â€Å"deemed inappropriate by a dominant, sexually repressive society.† That just means that in this play women fall in love with women and men with men without ever having a chance for that love to be requited or returned. The third theme is that love makes the unworthy appear foolish while correcting the worthy who are simply misguided. Love is the mechanism by which we are shown people acting ridiculously. Those who deserve our scorn appear as fools; those who have something going for them are shown the errors of their ways through love and finally earn our respect as wise. The fourth and final theme is that love is an infection we willingly seek — in the words of one of the characters in this play, a form of â€Å"divine madness.† Despite the possibility of appearing foolish we give ourselves permission to experience it — the same idea I was getting at in my earlier discussion of the sub-title of the play, â€Å"What You Will.† The plot of the play combines three different story lines. There is the love triangle of the noble characters: Viola, a clever young woman who is forced to disguise herself as a young man; Orsino, the duke who employs Viola in disguise and with whom she falls in love; Olivia, the beautiful countess Orsino desires and who in turn falls in love with Viola. The second story deals with the low-life characters and their rough humor: Sir Toby Belch, whose name tells you everything you need to know about his character; Belch’s favorite pigeon, Sir Andrew Aguecheek, from whom he steals and with whom he carries out an elaborate practical joke on Malvolio, the business manager of Olivia’s estate. Malvolio is a character with special political significance for Shakespeare’s audience. The third story line is not as prominent as the other two but is absolutely essential for the resolution of the play. It involves Sebastian, Viola’s twin brother whom she believes has been drowned, and Antonio, a ship captain who rescues him, falls in love with him and pursues him, even at peril of his own life. These story lines intersect at different times and in different ways with different kinds of comic effects — from the slap stick to the romantic. Social distinctions are the basis for much of the humor of the play. I’ve made the point that gender disguise is what distinguishes this play from some of the other comedies and that the idea goes back to the ancient Greeks and Romans. This device is found in Shakespeare’s comedies of Two Gentlemen of Verona, Merchant of Venice and As You Like It. The device allows a heroine to exercise greater freedom of action. Young gentlewomen were under great social constraint. They were not allowed to go in public without an escort. They were forbidden to interact with men without a chaperone present. They were not supposed to be involved in choosing their own mates. Once they put on pants their opportunities expanded and the dramatic possibilities increased in the play. In Merchant of Venice a young woman dons the disguise and becomes a judge in a capital case. In Two Gentlemen of Verona a young woman plays a man and watches as her boyfriend tries to betray her with another woman. In As You Like It a bright girl fools even the man who is in love with her and trains him in how she wants him to behave toward her when they are reunited as man and woman. In Twelfth Night we see how a young woman, who is on her own, uses disguise to protect herself in a hostile world. The device of gender camouflage also provides a double vision. As women these pretenders see the world in terms of the traditional conflict between the sexes; as men they are able to inject a subversive note into the smug male world view. In this play, for example Viola is able to educate the man she loves as to the depth of passion and nobility of love women can experience for men, something he never suspected before. Finally Shakespeare could use disguise as a way of introducing comic effects and exposing male hypocrisy to his largely male audience. Women attended the plays, but most of the audience appears to have been men. Nevertheless, no one comes away from a Shakespearean comedy feeling that men are naturally superior to women. If anything Shakespeare’s comic heroines seem to be the intellectual superiors of the men they eventually marry, as if they had taken pity on some poor fool they had just tricked. The reputation of this play has always been very high. It is one of Shakespeare’s most beloved works, and many people consider it the best of all the comedies. The humor is sharp, the satire still biting and many of the jokes just as funny as they were 400 years ago. As we go through the play scene by scene I’ll point out some of the remarkable achievements Shakespeare realizes in this timeless comedy. Let’s look at the play itself now.