French Education System Essay

In France, education has a clear goal: the system must always produce a group of well-educated individuals with a common culture, language and abilities that can then serve the State. The French educational system has a very large emphasis on content, culturally specific knowledge, scientific and mathematic knowledge. The system is designed to serve the needs of the state; the individuality and originality are not considered worth while values The French Republic has 60 million inhabitants, living in the 22 regions of metropolitan France and four overseas departments (1. million). Despite the fact that the population is growing slightly (up 0. 4% a year), the number and proportion of young people under 25 are, however, falling: there are now fewer than 19 million of them in metropolitan France, i. e. 32% of the total population, compared with 40% around 1970 and 35% at the time of the 1990 census. France is seeing a slow aging of the population — less marked however than in other neighbouring countries (Germany and Italy), especially as the annual number of births is currently increasing slightly. 5 million pupils and students, i. e. a quarter of the population, are in the education system. Just over 2 million are in higher education. In 1999, France’s GDP was close to FF 9,000 billion (EUR 1,330 billion), i. e. FF 150,000 (EUR 22,000) per inhabitant. Of this total, just over FF 600 billion (EUR 95 billion) were devoted to initial or continuing education: 7. 2% of GDP. As far as school education spending is concerned, France is in a middle position, behind the Nordic countries (Sweden and Denmark), but fairly significantly ahead of Italy and Japan. France has a workforce today of 26 million, of whom fewer than 2 million are unemployed: the unemployment rate recently fell to below 9%. 6% of the labor force (about 1. 5 million jobs, including 1 million civil servants and local government officers) are undergoing training. Educational Structure Around 13 million pupils attend school in France. The system is a unified one, whose present general structure (primary schools, colleges, lycees) was gradually put in place during the 1960s and 1970s, ending the formerly more compartmentalized system which was based on a clear separation between rimary and secondary education. Since the 1970s, France has also had an outstanding record with respect to the development of pre-school education; all 3- to 5-year-olds can go to nursery classes. Since 1967, school attendance has been compulsory for those from 6 to 16 years of age. France has 60,000 primary schools catering to pupils during their first five years of formal education: the first three years (CP – cours preparatoire cours elementaire 1 and 2) provide a grounding in the basic skills. The next stage – CM1/CM2 (cours moyen 1 and 2) takes the children up to the end of primary school. Secondary schooling is divided into two successive stages, known as cycles. From 11 to 15 years, almost all children now attend a college, taking them from form 6 (sixieme) to form 3 (troisieme) (1). Since 1975 there has been a single mixed-ability college for all pupils regardless of their level of achievement. After form 3, they move onto a general, technical or vocational lycee. These prepare pupils for the corresponding baccalaureatexaminations (referred to as le bac), which they normally take at the age of 18.

Pizza Hut Project Pakistan

AcknowledgementFirst of all we thanks to ALLAH ALMIGHTY, most beneficent and most merciful who made us able to complete our given project successfully. In short words, to express our modest gratitude to our loveable ‘PARENTS’, who at each and every moment prays for our success. We are also deeply thankful to ma’am ummara yousaf who guide us in a best way to every aspect. And support us every time. Thank you all, without you this could have not being possible.Executive summaryThe main purpose of this project is to study the Principals of managements and the implements of the rules and other things that we studied in course principals of Management on Telecommunication Company â€Å"Telenor†. For this purpose, we visited the Telenor Customer service and sales center located in Gujranwala and we asked many questions and concepts regarding to management of Telenor. We gathered information about Telecommunication Company, PTA rules and regulations for Telenor, c ollecting competitor’s knowledge and put all these information in our project report.Moreover, we discuss Business Analysis of Telenor which includes Telenor’s market share, PEST analysis, SWOT analysis and Porter’s five competitive forces, market growth rate, BCG Matrix and other things related to business analysis.We add all that things in this project that provide ease to readers and our instructor’s very high information about our project and also about Telenor. In the end we hope that this project will result high informative for all of us.1.1 Objectives of study :We visit the Pizza hut for collecting information about the organization, and for this we made Questionnaire. The main objectives are:Part1: Industry Introduction1.2 Industry Introduction:Fast food is the term given to food that can be prepared and served very quickly. While any meal with low preparation time can be considered to be fast food, typically the term refers to food sold in a res taurant or store with preheated or precooked ingredients, and served to the customer in a packaged form for take-out/take-away1.3 Company history :The world-renowned Pizza chain, globally known as Pizza Hut was initiated in the year 1958 by brothers Dan and Frank Carney. Pizza Hut is an American restaurant chain and international franchise. It menu items including a wide range of Starters, Soups & Salads, Pastas, Sandwiches, Desserts and Beverages.1.4 Company history in Pakistan :Pizza Hut initiated its operations in Pakistan with its first restaurant way back in 1993.Over 43 outlets spread all across Pakistan The critically acclaimed topping, Chicken Tikka, which has swept the world since its creation, was introduced for the first time in Pakistan. Our Customers prefer us because of our innovative products and concepts, and the consistently high level of services.Part2: company Introduction:2.1 Company Introduction:Pizza Hut is an American restaurant chain and international franchi se that offers different styles of pizza along with side dishes including salad, pasta, Buffalo wings, breadsticks, and garlic bread. Corporately known as Pizza Hut, Inc., it is a subsidiary of Yum! Brands, Inc., the world's largest restaurant company. As of 2012, there were more than 6,000 Pizza Hut restaurants in the United States, and more than 5,139 store locations in 94 other countries and territories around the world.Competitors Introduction:2.2 Domino's PizzaDomino's Pizza is an American restaurant chain and international franchise pizza delivery corporation headquartered at the Domino Farms Office Park campus in Ann Arbor Township, Michigan, United States, near Ann Arbor, Michigan. Founded in 1960, Domino's is the second-largest pizza chain in the United States (after Pizza Hut) and the largest worldwide, with more than 10,000 corporate and franchised stores in 70 countries. Domino’s Pizza was sold to Bain Capital in 1998 and went public in 2004.2.3 Papa John's PizzaP apa John's Pizza is the third largest take-out and delivery pizza restaurant chain in the United States (behind Pizza Hut and Domino's Pizza), with headquarters in Jeffersontown, Kentucky, near Louisville Its slogan is â€Å"Better Ingredients. Better Pizza. Papa John's.† Internationally, there are over 4,000 Papa John's establishments, including over 2,600 in the U.S. and the remainder spread among 32 other countries. In September 2012, Papa John's Pizza opened its 4,000th Restaurant, in New Hyde Park, NY. The company celebrated the event by giving away 4,000 free pizzas to customers throughout New York City2.4 Products and services introduction:1. Chicken Tikka A specially developed recipe for Pakistan topped with chicken tikka and onions chicken tikka is widely used pizza hut in Pakistan because of its taste and have large market share.2. Chicken Fajita An authentic taste of Mexico, marinated chicken, onions and green peppers with special herbs and spices. After chicken ti kka fajita is favorite pizza in Pakistan because of its spicy taste is mostly famous in teenagers.3. Afghani Tikka A new addition – topped with Afghani Tikka chunks and onion on a special creamy pizza sauce.4. Shawarma Pizza An innovative treat- sure to become a house favorite! This pizza boasts of loads of Lebanese style meat, onions, olives, tomatoes, jalapenos and mozzarella cheese. Specially garnished with a shawarma sauce, this one’s sure to excite!5. Super SupremeEnjoy a delightful blend of beef pepperoni, smoked chicken, cabanossi, beef, onions, green peppers, olives & mushrooms with double the amount of topping.6. Salad Bar A scrumptious variety of garden fresh vegetables that will tempt you to create your very own favorite salad topped with our classic dressings.7. BBQ Chicken Spin Rolls BBQ Chicken chunks rolled in light tortilla bread, suffered with red and green onions, mozzarella & parmesan cheese and a bit of butter. Served with BBQ sausce; its bound to l eave a lasting impression!8. Pizza Hut Platter 2 Our flaming wings, a portion of spicy wedges and four pieces of our BBQ chicken spin rolls, rolled in light tortilla bread, sprinkled with parmesan and mozzarella cheese. Served with a dip sauce.9. Soft drinks2.5 Desserts:Strawberry Cheesecake A scrumptious strawberry flavored cheesecake, generously topped with strawberries and thick strawberry sauce; garnished with sauce and whipped cream. A sweet way to end the day!Ice Cream Two scoops of ice cream (strawberry, chocolate or vanilla) topped with your choice of chocolate or strawberry sauce, with wafers.2.6 Mission and value statement:Mission: We take pride in making a perfect pizza and providing courteous and helpful service on time, all the time. Every customer says, â€Å"I'll be back!† Vision: Pizza Hut's vision is to be the world's best quick service restaurant experience. Being the best means providing outstanding quality, service, cleanliness and value, so that they make every customer in every restaurant smile.2.7 Complete value system of an organization1. Core Values-describe the attitude and character of the organization- found in â€Å"code of conduct†.2. Protected values- Protected through rules standards and certifications, in the areas of health, environment and safety.3. Created values-that shareholders expect in return for their contribution to the firm- found in stakeholder’s theory, Business ethics4. Shared Value- Establishes a link between business strategies (Competitiveness of the company) and corporate social responsibility.2. 8 Core Values:Make it Easy We're practical. We don't complicate things. Everything we produce should be easy to understand and use. Because we never forget we're trying to make customers' lives easier. Keep promises Everything we set out to do should work, or if it doesn't, we're here to help. We're about delivery, not over promising, actions not wordsBe inspiring We are creative. We strive to bri ng energy to the things we do. Everything we produce should look good, modern and fresh. We are passionate about our business and customers.Be Respectful We acknowledge and respect local cultures. We do not impose one formula worldwide. We want to be a part of local communities wherever we operate. We believe loyalty has to be earned.Business Analysis of Pizza Hut Goals of the organizationThey want to have the most loved and trusted branded restaurants and delivery units, a great franchise network, great food, great service assets and provide great value for their customers. Their passion starts with their people, as it is their people that make the difference. They want to be loved and trusted, not only by their customers, but by their employees as well.PEST Analysis Political environment- Economic Environment Social Environment Technological EnvironmentI. POLITICAL ENVIRONMENT:Political issues include regulatory frame work operating in judicial system which may affect the business in different ways. There are not many political factors in Gujranwala affecting Pizza Hut as is lack of competition. Factors such as laws on business employment, pollution and taxation apply on the organization which it has to follow regarding the rules.II. ECNOMIC FACTORS:If the county’s economy is better so the GDP of the country will be good, this is a green signal for the business as the per capital income of the people will be increased and they will spend more money. In our survey we came to know that most of the people in the beginning of the months spend more and they visit pizza hut very often. When the inflation rate increases the cost of raw material also increases and this leads towards high prices of the products and vice versa.III.SOCIAL FACTORS:Pizza hut is a multinational and it is basically originated from America so the organization is overwhelmed by western culture. There are social forms of society which consist of Upper class, middle class, middle upper class, lower class and lower class. Every country has cultural norms, values, beliefs and religion which can affect the organization.IV. TECHNOLOGICAL FACTORS:Now a day’s technology is improving so as baking and heating ovens will be of new and efficient technology and will provide efficient service. Due to new technology there are new ways of marketing like internet; telemarketing and the organization can advertise their products with much more faster pace. Computer based customer data that is MIS (managing information system) helps in collecting customer data, daily transactions, future forecasting and decision making. New vehicles will make their service more efficient.SWOT Analysis Perform SWOT analysis of the organization Strengths Weaknesses Opportunities ThreatsI. Strengths:Pizza Hut is the market leader in providing different products of pizzas as there are no competitors in this sector. There good image makes the organization more strong. Pizza Hut is providing good taste, quality products with qualified staff, good atmosphere and hygienic environment. They are specialized in pizzas. Motivation level of staff is very high which make the organization more prosperous. They are ISO (International Standard Organization) certified. They have enough resources for operating different activities of the organization. They are providing free home delivery service. They have created monopoly in this sector. Another big Strength and even a Competitive Advantage is the fact that they have a full service restaurant as well as delivery services. It is the biggest chain of restaurant that provide dine in facility in Pakistan. Most of Pizza Hut’s competitors do not have restaurants. Because of the restaurant, Pizza Hut can market too many different segments that other pizza chains cannot. For example, Pizza Hut can market to families much easier than Domino's.II. Weaknesses:However, the fact that Pizza Hut does have a restaurant to run is also a weakness . Pizza Hut has higher overhead costs, due to the restaurant that other competitors don't have to deal with. Another result of higher overhead costs is higher prices Pizza Hut must charge. Obviously, Pizza Hut is not the low cost producer. They rely on their quality. Their godown is in Karachi, the distribution is made from Karachi so it is time consuming and costly.III. Opportunities:The Company can come up with innovative Pizzas, new flavors and recipes with different types of crusts and sizes etc. The company can open its restaurants in different part of the countries that have potential customers. The company can even introduce new, healthy and fresh food items related to pizza for example they can introduce fresh pizzas. The people are these days more concerned about their health and pizza hut can meet this need by introducing fresh and healthy pizzas.IV. Threats:The competition in the Pizza industry is increasing, as customers now prefer and look for availability and affordabi lity. The rising prices of special ingredients like cheese, used in pizzas. The company faces serious threats from other international restaurant chains like Dominos pizza etc. McDonalds even tried to introduce pizza in its product portfolio called McPizza. Besides these competitors the local restaurants that provide pizzas offer food item at more affordable prices as well as know the taste of the local people better. Many of its competitors are trying to capture the market share of the Pizza hut by introducing similar kind of pizzas and food itemsPorter’s 5 ModelPorter’s 5 ForcesCompany Status Comments Threats of New entrants Well aware of new competitors. They are not afraid of it. Pizza hut has latest technology and their name is well developed so lot of investment is required to enter the market and compete them.Bargaining powers of suppliers Pizza hut supplies its products from its own forms. So the bargaining power of suppliers is not related to their business Th reat of substitute products Pizza huts prices are low than its competitors. So threat of substitute products is very low in pizza hut. Intensity of Rivalry among existing competitors Pizza hut has very less competitors in Pakistan. They provide best dine in at low cost. Pizza hut has only two competitors and has only established their prices are good so they have not much rivalry so far in Pakistan.BCG MatrixStarsChicken Fajita Chicken TikkaQuestion MarkChicken Lover Cash cowsCheese stuffers DogsGarlic BreadStars: We place Pizza Hut’s product Chicken Fajita and Chicken Tikka in Stars Because these products are popular in customers and they also have High Market Share and High Market GrowthCash Cows: We place Cheese stuffers in Cash Cows because our product is well established and has High Market Share and Low Market Growth. These products are likely to be popular with customers, which makes it easier for you to exploit new opportunities.Question Marks: Product Chicken Lover i n category Question Mark, because it has Low Market Share and High Market Growth. Chicken Lover aren't generating much revenue right now, because we don't have a large Market share.Dogs: We place Garlic bread of Pizza Hut in Category dogs because it has low Market share in a low-growth market. This product often don't make much Profit, but Pizza Hut don't need much investment either.Life Cycle Stages of the Business Units 2- Study life cycle stages of the Business Units of the company Where you place your Company’s different business units? Position your company’s different products in ADL matrixGAP AnalysisStated Observed status in company They set higher cleanliness standards. Their cleanliness level is not good They say their prices are low. The prices of drinks are very high. They say they have best hygienic kitchen. But their kitchen is not very hygienic. We choose best locations. Their some restaurants are not in good locations. We have big and wide dine in. Thei r dining is congested.

The Bolshevik Revolution in Russia Research Paper

The Bolshevik Revolution in Russia - Research Paper Example Bolsheviks, who used their power in the Petrograd Soviets to gain support from the armed forces, successfully propagated the Bolshevik Revolution. Referred to as the Red Guards, Bolsheviks armies, led by the Military Revolutionary Committee took part in the revolution that shaped the course of Russian political arena. The Bolshevik Revolution came at a time when Russia was at the brick of collapsing under its numerous problems occasioned by its leadership (Litvin 2001, 49). Reasons for the Bolsheviks revolution The Revolution emerged, as the people of Russia grew weary of the rule of Czar Nicholas II, who had compelled over ten million Russians to join the First World War The Soviets were disillusioned by the death and suffering they underwent during the war and considered Czar Nicholas II an unworthy leader. In addition, the Soviets were angered by the move by the Russian Provisional Government to launch an offensive against the German and Hungarian armies. The Russian Provisional G overnment emerged after overthrowing the regime led by Czar Nicholas II, the former consisted primarily of bankers, industrialist and lawyers, who had promised to end Russia’s involvement in the World War, a promised they did not fulfill. The people of Russia protested the insurgence against these armies, but the government paid little attention to them. In addition, the Provisional Government officials who continued to amass wealth through corruption and massive taxes imposed on the Russian working class disillusioned the Soviets. The political elite were impervious to the suffering of the common folk in the nation as they continued in the footsteps of Czar Nicholas II. The Bolshevik Party sort to establish a government led by the workers and peasants able to make decisions that favored the Russian proletariat and bring to an immediate end the tyranny witnessed at the hands of the Provisional Government. Demonstrations against the government on the grounds of its support for the war led to crises in the Provisional Government and the emergence of the slogan, â€Å"all power to the soviets.† Another reason for the Bolshevik Revolution was the Provisional Government’s refusal to distribute land to the Russian masses and soldiers, who had requested land ownership over long periods of time. The peasants and workers took part in several revolts against landowners and tried to forcefully acquired their land, but were defeated by the Provisional Government, which also imprisoned the Bolsheviks Party’s leader. This apprehension of the leader resulted in Lenin going into exile for fear of being captured by the government. This served to further ignite the workers’ passion for a change in governance (Service 2005, p. 88). Moreover, we note that life in Russia in 1917 had become intolerable to the peasants and workers; disarray had ensued in sectors such as transportation, political and industrial relations. Massive declines in industr ial production resulted in closure of a majority of businesses in the nation’s industrial centers. Plunging production and closure of enterprises resulted in massive unemployment and loss of

The different kinds of Technology being used in business Research Paper

The different kinds of Technology being used in business - Research Paper Example This is the reason, majority of companies are ready to spend huge amount of their capital on R&D (research and development). Technology and the Internet have had a profound effect on service marketing (Bitner, Brown & Mueter 2000). In an increasingly networked world information of varying quality is being aggregated for business use. Senior managements course of action is clear: (a) view; (b) manage and (c) deliver information as a competitive weapon. Information technology (IT) change is all-pervasive or ubiquitous. Consequently it is important that employers engage in change process in thoughtful ways–respecting and holding to ideas and practices of the past that have enduring value while also attending to emerging ideas and necessary changes in practice. The changes now experienced are no one-time affair. All business organizations must expect accelerating change and continuing efforts for renewal. Gildea (2005) explained that it is not getting people to learn C++ but trying to figure out how to do things all the time and differently. As another example of the technology-attachment linkage customers buying online often rely on a limited set of mediated channels that regularly lack the actual interactivity needed to effectively make purchases and address customer service questions. Similarly employees considered traditional office staff or more virtual workers rely extensively on various mediated channels that may do more to provide information overload than actually facilitate meaningful connections with other aspects of the organization. (Wolff, 2005, 29) Today the Internet is used for a wide variety of purposes including email surfing the World Wide Web chatting in chat rooms doing research and retrieving information games gossip and more. The impact of the Internet appears to be widespread with a large number of companies striving toward an e-business (i.e. business conducted over the

Doing Drastic Procedures to Create a Certain Appearance Essay

Doing Drastic Procedures to Create a Certain Appearance - Essay Example Today, one of the most prevalent changes is the so called â€Å"physical change.† This pertains to the appearance transformation of some people. Anyone who wants to experience this can either select the â€Å"natural way† or the â€Å"scientific way.† The natural method is one that is done with sweat and patience. An example would be, doing some forms of exercise such as jogging and biking to achieve the appearance that a person wants. This entails one to be patient since it would take considerable period of time to achieve the aimed appearance. On the other hand, the scientific way refers to the drastic procedure opted by some for faster results. There are many causes why some people prefer to pass through this kind of procedure. The nature of one’s job and birth defects are some of the widely acceptable justifiable reasons as against lack of self-confidence. First, undergoing the scientific way due to the nature of one’s job is a justifiable cause. The most apparent example is the job of actresses and actors or the artists in the entertainment industry. It is undeniable that physical appearance is their most valuable asset as an artist. It is the artist’s physical look that is always in the spot light. People see them in television, movies, newspapers and in the Internet. Physical appearance is a great factor as an entertainer. It is crucial to their job. Humans always prefer anything that is pleasing to their eyes. It is their first basis. First impression matters in the entertainment industry.

Movie review Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words - 8

Movie Review Example One of the aspects of the Iranian society that has been shown in the documentary is the anti-U.S protests. The highly-educated society has demonstrated against the U.S government on several occasions. It is vital to note that the anti-U.S protests are not aimed against the U.S people, but against the U.S policies on the Middle East and Iran. In addition to the anti-U.S protests, the film show the functioning of Iranian propaganda (Omaar, 2012). Iranian propaganda is different from the U.S propaganda because it is strict. Iran has blatant censorship of media content. This differs from the subtle censorship used by U.S media. The BBC documentary on Iran highlights the misrepresentation and misunderstanding of the Iranian society and Islamic culture. The aim of the documentary is to use local Iranians to give their stories and perceptions about different issues. The documentary helps in the understanding that Iranians are picking up elements of Western societies. Most of the people outside Iran think that Iranians are against American citizens. All the same, the documentary succeeds in showing that they are against the policies of the American

General Question about Human Resource Managment & Organizational Coursework - 1

General Question about Human Resource Managment & Organizational Behavior - Coursework Example Organizational and team environment contributes to effectiveness of a team. The effectiveness of the team can be gauged through three measures. First is its ability to achieve the desired objective, second is the personal satisfaction and well being of its members and third is the ability to survive over a period of time which is dependent on the commitment of the people and the benevolent environment to operate. The model for team effectiveness organizes the factors that are responsible for team effectiveness into three categories. The three categories are organizational and team environment, team design and team process. Organizational and team environment in turn is determined by the following factors namely reward system, communication system, physical space, organizational environment, organizational structure and leadership. The organizations ability to secure desired resources determines the external environment of the organization. Organizational structure should support team s through delegation of responsibility and authority. Physical space and communication system should be conducive for free flow of information and feedback as well as positive perception of employee. Ongoing support of the team leader along with the reinforcement of good performance through reward system further enhances team’s effectiveness (McShane, 2007).the successful teams require the right type of environment as identified by the model. Rewards can only have positive impact on effectiveness of team if they are sufficient and contingent on team performance. Rewards either financial or psychic, such as recognition, accomplishment and potential for growth, both have a positive impact on team performance. The main purpose of the reward system for the team is to encourage and reinforce behaviors that lead to long term success, growth and sustainability of the

Math questions Speech or Presentation Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Math questions - Speech or Presentation Example vertisement: â€Å"In a recent clinical study, Brand ABC* was proved to be 1950 percent better than creatine!† Actual brand will not be named (Sobecki et al., p. 810). Comment: For one, the statement is missing numerical figures essential a reader’s understanding such as the probability that the new substance promoted would take effect within a specific confidence interval. Despite claiming that the product is 1950% proven effective, no actual proof is presented so the ad’s exaggeration could either raise suspicion or stir curiosity on potential consumers. Readers may also find themselves trying to make vague sense of how recent the study was made since the claim does not go any further than mentioning ‘recent’ which could mean dating to a couple of years back. Moreover, the term ‘clinical’ appears insignificant unless replaced by a name of a credible health institution known to have conducted similar studies in the past. By not divulging the brand name or label, the advertisement runs the risk of making some of the readers think that it is a possible hocus-pocus or that without sufficient details, it emerge s a detractor of another leading brand in the market. Explanation: The double negatives and the manner in which the question is made seems misleading as it occurs more disposed to convince someone to agree that tutoring students who pass is still important. Chances are, on one hand, the person being asked may be readily and psychologically conditioned to consider the importance of tutorial in any case without paying due regard on situations it is most needed, and on the other, he or she may find that passing students make no significant difference from the failing ones. So the ambiguity of meanings attached to the question might cause results out of an erroneous understanding that tutorial is actually a necessity and the query sounds as if no second thoughts or further analysis is required. It is quite obvious how the application of suspect

Marketing in Tourism Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3000 words

Marketing in Tourism - Essay Example This is combined with renowned Indian hospitality, music, dance and attractive costuming (KTDC, 2009). This combination of natural and man made attractions led to the terming of the place as â€Å"God’s Own Country† by the Kerala Tourism Development Corporation [KTDC]. This was a strong selling point (KTDC, 2009). However, despite the fact that there was a great increase in the number of visitors to the region; from 5 million in 1999 to 8 million in 2008; there has been a marked decrease in foreign tourist arrivals. This decreased ranged between 19% to 22% in different parts of Kerala (Tourism in Kerala. 2009). One of the primary indicators of this reduction is the number of foreign tourists recorded to have visited the country in an assortment of years ranging from 2002 to 2009. There was a steady rise in the number of foreign tourists between 2002 to 2008. However, this saw a steep nosedive in 2009 as tabulated below (Tourism in Kerala. 2009). Another of the primary indicators of this reduction is the drop in foreign currency injection into the area. International Tourists are a major source of foreign currency for the region. The drop in international tourists also saw a sharp drop in foreign currency as seen from the tabulated results in Figure 1 below. It is obvious from the foregoing that the concerns of the Kerala Tourism Development Corporation [KTDC] are well founded. Considering that this came at time when they had injected millions of dollars into tourism development activities, the drop in arrivals caught them off guard and negated most of the good work they had put in. Evidence of this promotion exercise abounds in the KTDC website (Tourism in Kerala. 2009). There is however more than meets the eye in the interplay of factors that caused this sudden reduction in visitors to the region. Though some of the factors may be quite obvious, taking into account that

KEPAK STRATEGY Literature review Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

KEPAK STRATEGY - Literature review Example                     Ã‚         Introduction Kepak was founded in the mid-1960s by Noel Keating as a retail butcher’s business supplying wholesale beef to the food service sector and into other markets. Kepak had a turnover of Є750 million in 2010 and had 1700 employees. The company processes 300 000 cattle and 1.5 million lambs each year. It operates through nine manufacturing facilities in Ireland and UK. The company’s principal activity is animal slaughter and the sale of meat in cut and processed formats through Kepak Meat Division. The firm has substantial business interests in convenience foods operated through Kepak Convenience Foods and an agricultural commodities trading business, Agra Trading. This paper explores Kepak’s business strategy in response to industry challenges and opportunities (Bell, Mcloughlin and Shelman, 2011, P.3). Examination of Kepak’s business environment The most popular tool in strategic management for analysing the business environment of a company is PESTEL. In the case of Kepak, the economic environment was affecting business negatively as the industry lacked predictability in financial performance. This according to the company CEO from 2010, John Horgan, made it difficult for Irish beef processors to plan for growth. In addition, Kepak was not a listed company thus limiting its access to capital to borrowing or trading profits in a very capital intensive business (Bell, Mcloughlin and Shelman, 2011, P.3). Supply chain consists of producers who sell cattle to processors who market the product internationally. Most of the cattle are grass fed and takes up to 30 months to mature compared to cereal fed beef which can finish in 12-15 months. The presence of agents hampers innovation in the supply chain as their role is historical and; therefore, they added little value (Bell, Mcloughlin and Shelman, 2011, P.3). Political and legislative factors are seen to influence the firms busi ness where the EU-wide introduction of decoupled Single Payment Schemes moved subsidy payments from actual production of commodities to other objectives contributing to a reduction in beef production. These factors negatively affected the firms business as there was an increase in live beef exports after 2008 as it was more profitable to export live-calf than to mature, slaughter and process them in Ireland. Change in the economic environment caused an increase investment by farmers in dairy products leading to a reduction in beef production as well as a concern among processors that this would lower the quality of beef products (Bell, Mcloughlin and Shelman, 2011, P.3). With respect to porter five forces, there were three major players in the beef processing industry and who accounted for 60-65% of the capacity and output. The perception was that these competitors would rather suffer lower margins than take compromises and retailers used this weakness to play processors against eac h other. Therefore, there was a negative effect of competitor rivalry in the beef business and, which affected the firm’s bottom line. According to literature by Porter, rivalry limits profitability in an industry as it transfers profitability directly to customers through price cuts and in this case customers try to achieve the same by playing firms against each other. Britain is Ireland’s major market for beef exports and shares similarities in both markets in beef tastes, systems of

Not My Business and District 6 compared Essay Example for Free

Not My Business and District 6 compared Essay The poem Not My Business is written by a Nigerian poet Niyi Osundare. This poem is a dramatic monologue and uses a fictional narrator to reflect upon how the Nigerian society is affected by the political and military misuse of power and authority in addition to the peoples rejection to revolt against injustice. The poet uses the narrators ignorant and selfish personality to display the abuse of power not only in Nigeria but also around the globe. The title Not My Business is short and simple to communicate the idea that South Africas socio-political status has not changed since the end of apartheid. The tone is very direct and shows the narrator to be ignorant and selfish. In addition to this, the structure of the poem emphasises his detachment with the people; the lines in which the narrator talks about himself are kept separate by the poet to stress his feeling of superiority over others. However, the narrator suffers the same fate at the end of the poem. The first stanza consists of Akanni being kidnapped. They picked up Akanni one morning. The poet uses the kidnapping to emphasise how the governments attitude towards the public is like. The use of they is an obvious indication of the military to the audience but is kept vague to engage the readers mind to the poem. Furthermore the poet uses stuffed him down the belly to make the reader feel as though the government are like predators waiting to leap at anyone who opposes them. Osundare also uses this stanza to elaborate on the soldiers relentlessness towards the people, beat him soft like clay. He uses this line to show the cruelty and injustice laid upon the people, because of the abuse of power and violence used to discourage individuals who resist them. The word clay helps to describe the methods of torture used to punish attempts at what the government calls transgression. The poet goes on to show the ignorance of some of the people, What business of mine is it so long they dont take the yam from my savouring mouth. The narrators selfishness is shown by the mention of yam which represents his food, comfortable home and self-occupied lifestyle, despite mentioning what happened to Akanni. Also, the poet uses the narrators eccentric personality to reach out to people who share a similar attitude. Additionally, the word savouring helps to illustrate the greediness and materialism of the narrator in the readers mind. The second stanza begins by showing the mysteriousness of the military, They came one night. This implies that the army can come at anytime and the people are never safe. The narrator further goes on to show the brutality of the military, booted the whole house awake, which suggests that the army has injected fear in the minds of people. An abrupt feeling is formed with the use of booted creating a sudden sentiment of fear. Furthermore vague terminology is used by the narrator to describe what happened to Danladi. Then off to a lengthy absence. This emphasises the narrators desire to distance himself from reality. The poet uses the phrase lengthy absence to show the narrators unwillingness to acknowledge that a threat is eminent from the government. Therefore the narrator regardless, lives with the atrocities that surround his society. In the third stanza Chinwe is fired from her job. Her job was gone. The poet once again shows the government can strike at anytime any day. Osundare uses the repetition of no to emphasise that Chinwe was sacked without legitimate reason. He does this further with a stainless record. This shows the influence and injustice of the government in the society as well due to the incident occurring in spite of Chinwes innocence. The refrain is used to make the reader feel that the narrator doesnt have any remorse or guilt for not caring about the other people around him. The last stanza involves the narrator himself being taken away, And then one evening as I sat down to eat my yam a knock on the door froze my hungry hand. The narrators tone is fearful and surprised. His hungry hand shows his selfishness and greed. The poet uses alliteration to put emphasis on this. Furthermore, the repetition of waiting creates tension in the readers mind and stresses the helplessness of the narrator when his own words come back to haunt him. It also coincides with the second stanza where the jeep is also waiting for danladi. Lastly, the structure of the stanza shows the irony of the narrators situation, that he also suffers the same fate as his neighbours. The poem District 6 is written after apartheid by Tatamkhulu Afrika who is a white South African poet and is a dramatic monologue. Afrika amplifies his anger at the situation of South Africa by using a black South African narrator to show that discrimination is still widely active. The narrator feels the post-apartheid period should have been different. Throughout the poem the poet voices his disappointment with the racism and discrimination. The poets attitude consists of anger and frustration which is reflected and emphasised at the end of the poem where the narrator want to resort to violence. District 6 is shown to now be a run-down levelled place, Small round hard stones. This quote displays to a certain extent how District 6 has not changed since the apartheid government destroyed the area. In addition, the poet uses the consonance in small round hard to depict the hostile and unpleasant environment. Furthermore, he uses a bitter tone, seeding grasses thrust bearded seeds. This is shown by thrust which carries an aggressive attitude making the statement resentful. This is emphasised by the continuous repetition of sss sounds used in this stanza. The narrator continues to stress District 6s destruction, trodden on, crunch in tall, purple-flowering amiable weeds. He repeats the same idea twice using trodden on and crunch for emphasis showing the unchanged situation of district 6. The poet further uses the narrator to show a sense of belonging to District 6 in the second stanza, my feetmy handsmy lungsmy eyes. Throughout the stanza the narrator emphasises his recognition and ownership of District 6 as if he grew up there. His defiant tone suggests that he is demanding back what is his and continues to do this with the repetition of my. At the end of the stanza anger is shown which shows his connection with District 6. The poet goes on to emphasise his anger at the contrast between races. Brash with glass, name flaring like a flag, it squats. He uses an aggressive tone to display his fury at the existence of a structure with thrives on racism. The rhyming ss sounds at the end of brash and glass help to fuel the effect of anger in the readers mind. Also, the narrator shows how active and unopposed racism thrives through, name flaring like a flag. This shows the freedom of racism specifically because the inn is located in District 6 due to its significance in South African history. Furthermore, a mocking tone is used for emphasis with it squats, suggesting the white are occupying the inn illegally. Tatamkhulu relates to the title in the fourth stanza, No sign says it is, but we know where we belong. The narrator conveys a mocking tone which echoes the idea and base of the poem, coming from the title Nothings Changed, that the situation of District 6 has been constant due to whites still occupying it since apartheid. The stanza is used to remind the reader of the cause of the destruction of District 6 which happened due to racism and discrimination. Furthermore, the poet uses the narrator to how his exclusion and separation from the white society, I press my nose to the clear panes. This shows the narrators curiosity, but also suggests the existence of an invisible barrier, clear panes, between him and the whites. In addition, the narrator anticipates and emphasises the lavish lifestyle, know before, I see them, there will be crushed ice white glass, linen falls, the single rose. The poet creates an atmosphere of luxury and beauty in the readers imagination. The use of single rose at the end of the stanza suggests an upper-class influence. The reader is made to feel anger and disposition to antagonism towards the unfairness and discrimination directed from the white society. The next stanza leans towards the inequality still overshadowing the non-white society, working man cafe sells bunny shows, take it with you, eat it at a plastic tables top. The blacks are shown to be a lower class which contrasts to the upper-class whites in the previous stanza, despite the end of apartheid. The narrator also uses plastic top to show the difference and neediness between blacks and whites. The last stanza reverts to the main picture of the poem, boy againhands burn, for a stone, a bomb to shiver down the glass. The use of boy again suggests that nothing has changed since the narrator was a boy and the word shiver reflects the frustration in the narrators mind. Furthermore, the use of stonebomb helps the reader to understand the possible causes of violence throughout South Africa to be like calls of anger against racism. To conclude, the poem Not My Business was written because the Nigerian public has no motivation to rebel and fight against injustice or tyranny enforced by the government. The narrator is shown as an example of what will happen to the people if they refuse to repel the injustice laid upon others and that they will eventually succumb to the same fate if they continue to be ignorant. In the second poem, Nothings Changed summarises that South Africa has not yet managed to overcome its issues of racism, injustice and inequality despite being in the post-apartheid era. The poem acts as a plea to all South Africans to come together and unite to create a civilised society with equal rights. In my opinion, both poems share the idea that the people should unite and act against injustice and oppression, though in different ways; the message is universal: Unity will bring peace and harmony amongst the people.

Sympathy for the betrayers and the betrayed Essay Example for Free

Sympathy for the betrayers and the betrayed Essay More than would be imagined, it is sometimes more difficult to sympathise with the victims of infidelity; easier than we might have imagined to sympathise with the betrayers themselves. To what extent do you agree with this estimation in relation to the three texts chosen? In none of the three texts can it be said that the adulterers elicit or deserve greater sympathy than the victims of adultery. Despite this imbalance, it would unconsidered and possibly rather supercilious to simply judge the betrayers on their actions without meditating on the reasoning behind the actions and the circumstances in which the adulterers have found themselves. All the adulterers within the text (apart from Jerry in Betrayal (1978), and Rodolphe in Madame Bovary (1857)) merit a degree of sympathy, yet despite this, their actions cannot be wholly justified, and the characters cannot, therefore, be fully exonerated. The savage destruction of Emma Bovary by Flaubert, and Cresseids gruesome infliction of leprosy are certainly a cause for sympathy in both cases. Emma Bovarys death is a painfully drawn out event in which she turned whiter than the sheet at which her fingers kept clawing and soon began to vomit blood. Her limbs were contorted, her body covered with brown blotches. It is interesting to note the contrast between the description at the beginning of the novel in which Flaubert erotically describes the tip of her tongue poking between her beautiful teeth, delicately licking the bottom of the glass and the description post-arsenic in which her entire tongue protruded from her mouth; her rolling eyes dimmed like lamp globes as they fade into darkness. Notably, Flaubert focuses on the body and its indignities, which is in contrast to Madame Bovarys romanticism Similarly, in The Testament of Cresseid, Henryson depicts a disease so realistic and visceral that, as early as 1841, Sir J. A. Y. Si mpson was able to diagnose the exact type of disease Cresseid has. (1) Henrysons detailed description gave rise to at least one suggestion that he himself was a physician. The Gods marred her, declaring, Your eyes so bright and crystal I make bloodshot / Your voice so clear, unpleasing, grating, hoarse / Your healthy skin I blacken, blotch and spot / With livid lumps I cover your fair face. Cupids declaration of, Your mirth I hereby change to melancholy is one of a series of semantically opposite, yet alliterative words, which in this instance, are used to display the unfavourable contrast of Cresseids existence before her punishment and afterwards, whilst also augmenting the malicious and sadistic nature of the Gods. In Heaneys translation he writes, your high estate is in decline and fall. The is a reference to Edward Gibbons work The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, (1776) the literary allusion conveying the suddenness and inexplicability of Cresseids physical decline. The bleakness of her situation is summarised in the descri ption of her having to make do with a cup and clapper. They remain Her whole life has been reduced to this alliterative phrase, whilst the caesura indicates the sudden nature of her loss. Not only does Cresseid receive a gruesome affliction, the reader is also left with the feeling that her punishment is undeserved. The reason for her sentence is blasphemy, since whoever blasphemes all Gods offer insults. Betrayal is heavily frequented with profanities such as Good God, yet nothing results. In Madame Bovary, Charles addressed curses to the heavens, but not so much as a leaf quivered. The triviality of Cresseids offence in contrast to the magnitude of her chastisement displays an injustice in the name of justice, and this is borne true in the lack of consequence fastened to blasphemy in the other two texts. When Cupid retorts indignantly of Cresseids claim that I was the cause of her misfortune, one notes an irony given that all the Gods share an overwhelming involvement in all her actions and hence her misfortune. Cresseid is a puppet of the pagan Gods whims, and her lack of volition means that she should not be blamed. Fate is recurrently referred to, in for example, the lines, Cresseids most miserable and fated death (fatall destenie), Of Troy and Greece, how it could be your fate, and Fate is fickle when she plies the shears. This predestination is not a problem with which the adulterers in the other two texts must face. Further, the scornfully humorous description of the Gods, particularly Saturn who behaved in a churlish, rough, thick-witted manner, and had a rucked and wrinkled face, a lyre like lead and a steady nose run creates a further sympathy for Emma, since those that condemn her are rendered in an absurd, grotesque and humorous light. Henryson goes further when he describes Cupid as a boar that whets its tusks, he grinds and fumes, since it goes beyond anthromorphism to zoomorphism; and the description of Gods that raged, grimaced, rampaged and bawled and scoffed is a display of Gods that have unlimited power and limited judgement. Whilst Madame Bovary does not have to contend with predestination, her actions are still restricted by societys ambits and the limitations placed on women in the mid-nineteenth century. In societal terms, she has to live in the mediocrity of her provincial surroundings. It is important to note that the novels sub-title is Provincial Manners they frustrated Flaubert, and he used Emma Bovarys disgust with her class as a way of conveying his own hatred for the banality of the middle-classes. Madame Bovary shows how ridiculous the attitudes of the bourgeoisie can be. Homaiss haughtily flamboyant speeches are used by Flaubert to display the pretensions of the bourgeois. The less grandiose act by a woman who received a 25 franc award for 54 years of service giving it to our curà ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½ so he can say some masses for me leads the reader not to see this as remarkable, rather to see it as a sign of fanaticism, thus challenging fidelity as a certain good. Madame Bovary longs to be more ref ined and sophisticated than her environment allows her. Flauberts depiction of a black chalk drawing of the head of Minerva in the middle of a wall whose green paint was flaking from the damp is a visual metaphor for Emma Bovary, a Roman goddess amongst the banalities of life. A recurring leitmotif in the novel is that of Emma Bovary looking with her head against the window pane, gazing into the garden; it is a poignant allusion to her aspirations for a more interesting existence and also her locomotive desires, in which the garden has both a metaphorical and physically restrictive quality. Her affairs represent her both breaking out of an existence as humdrum and circumscribed as that of their hens and their dogs (2) and that she had no qualms about mistaking cul for coeur.'(2) The Emma of Betrayal has a greater degree of freedom than the other two protagonists, she, after all is running a gallery. Nevertheless, it could be argued that she is a player in amongst Jerry and Roberts game of one-upmanship; their self-absorbed competitiveness being encapsulated in their games of squash (note the punning effect with the verb squash and Rodolphes remark that he will squash him (Charles) like a fly in Madame Bovary). This remark of Rodolphes shows that he also gets enjoyment from stamping on other mens power, which is backed up in the imagery of Rodolphes Mounted stags heads in his study he gets a thrill from male conquest as well as female conquest. Harold Pinter himself commented that Betrayal is a play about two close friends perhaps Emma is simply within Jerry and Roberts story, a victim of psychological determinism, rather than Madame Bovarys societal determinism and Cresseids cosmic determinism. Both Emma Bovary and Cresseid share an existence in a patriarchal world, which Emma from Betrayal is not a part of. Madame Bovary, for example, is blessed with artistic gifts that cause Charles to proudly display her work to whoever chooses to visit his abode. However, given the restrictions placed on women during the period, the Bovary households wall would be the only dwelling for any art she may happen to create; this can be contrasted to Betrayals Emma who actually owns her own art gallery and who also has the benefit of the possibility of travelling anywhere she wants (the film notes her possession of a car: making her an agent of mobility), and is not confined to the ennui of a rustic Rouen. Madame Bovarys gender-founded restrictions are expressed in the structure of the novel. The novel initiates with a depiction of Charles schooldays, and indeed, starts with the nous form, thus centralising Charless character. At the end of the novel, Homais becomes the centre of attention, as his mounting successes are described by Flaubert, finally climaxing in Il vient de recevoir la croix dhonneur (he has been given the Legion of Honour). Emmas story is therefore trapped between Charles and Homais; the structure of the novel is mimetic of her entrapment in a male-dominated world, and these restrictions should evoke sympathy in the reader. Similarly, Cresseid is subject to male authority, which is made clear in the line Yet whatever men may think or say contemptuously, and the traditionally accepted belief of her as being merely a lustfully encumbered individual is challenged by the way in which her punishment is portrayed as having resulted from blasphemy. The popular portrayal of Cresseid in both Chaucers Troilus and Cresseid (C. 1380) and Shakespeares Troilus and Cressida is challenged by the Testament of Cresseid (1475) and evoke sympathy in the reader. Madame Bovary and Emma are mutually unique from Cresseid in that their adulterous other halves are base to a level which subtracts from the potential criticism of the primary adulterers themselves. Jerry is emotionally detached from Emma, yet still has a vulgar, sexual interest in her, as indicated in the final (yet chronologically foremost) scene in which he declares, I should have had you, in your white, before the wedding, I should have blackened you, in your white wedding dress. He later articulates, youre banishing me to, a state of catatonia, and frequently proclaims youre beautiful, youre incredible etc. However, earlier in the play, he makes short remarks and responses to Emmas questions an indication that he has no real emotional interest in her. Jerry also fails to recall with accuracy certain events relating to their relationship. For example when Jerry recalls throwing Emmas daughter in the air he believed it to be in Emmas kitchen, to which she replied, it was your kitchen. When Jerry calls her darling she responds, dont say that, because she knows that this term of endearment is not meant by Jerry. Emma puts in a lot of effort into the affair, as indicated by her yearning for a continuation of their romantic escapades: you see, in the past, we were inventive, we were determined, Jerrys disinterested response is, It would not matter how much we wanted it if youre not free in the afternoons and Im in America. This is extremely similar to Rodolphes remark Youre mad, you really are! How could we do that?, when Emma puts forward the idea of a sojourn in Paris, and is indicative of the contrasting levels of commitment between the adulterer and the adulteress. When they finally decide on their trip to Paris, Madame Bovary asks, I am counting the days. Arent you? There is also a link between that and Emmas question will we ever go to Venice? She answers her own question in Betrayal in Madame Bovary, nothing is said at all. Emmas desire for something more in their relationship is indicated in her wish for a shared home with Jerry. She is saddened by the fact that the crockery and the curtains and the bedspread have been left for so long. She later says to Jerry you didnt ever see it as a home in any sense did you?, to which Jerry replied, no, I saw it as a flat you know. Emma correctly acknowledges Jerrys desires when she finishes off his sentence with the words for fucking, despite Jerrys protestation of for loving. Emmas inability to let go of the relationship is indicated in the scene where she struggles to take her ring from her keyring and ends up throwing it to Jerry to take it off Jerry would be happy to end the relationship. Rodolphe is an even more heinous character, as indicated in his objectification of Emma: This one had seemed pretty to him, the word one rather than she makes her merely one of his many inamoratas. Even more striking is when he says, how to get rid of it afterwards (admittedly, the French elle can mean both she and it, but Margaret Mauldons Oxford translation, unlike that of the Penguin edition uses the wholly unkind it, which is much more effective in making Rodolphe appear objectionable). In both cases, the deplorable adulterers create sympathy when scrutinising the adulteresses and this is not a factor that exists in The Testament of Cresseid. If one were to be overtly cynical, it could be argued that Jerry and Rodolphe are partly correct in their views on the affair. Is an affair really all that romantic, after all? Vargas Llosa would be quick to point out the dangers of equating lust with love. Perhaps the two Emmas are looking for too much in the relationship, and are making it out to be more than it really is. Emmas amorous adventures activate an abundance of lies, yet Stephen Heath empathizes with her fabrications. He states that Emma lies, but everything lies'(3), he talks of how the narrating voice enters to state a distance from her, but Flaubert also cuts such statements, reduces their number(3). At times, the narration drifts into sympathy with Emma, at other times it condemns her. The use of a style indirect libre causes the narration to be ambiguous, and the truth of description becomes indistinguishable from the subjectivity of opinion. A characteristic example of this is when Flaubert talks about Rodolphe in the 3rd person Rodolphe had heard these things so many times that they had nothing original for him. He then reverts into Rodolphes mind: one has to make allowances, he thought, exaggerated declarations masking mediocre affection. One gets the impression that Flaubert reverts back to the narrative in the ending lines human language is like a cracked cauldron on which we beat out tunes to make a bear dance when we would move the stars to pity, however, this is just an assumption the non-use of quotation marks means the reader can never know when a characters thoughts have ended, and one gets the impression that the narrator imparts some of his own reflections into the characters thoughts. This free and indirect style not only creates a sympathy with regards to her fallaciousness, it is also creates a benignancy by virtue of the way the narration supports her own views. An example of this is when the narration wafts from she wondered if by some other workings of chance it might not have been possible for her to meet another man to a sort of agreement from the narrator in the line he might have been handsome, witty, distinguished, attractive. Heath describes this free and indirect style as a way in which the the writer and the reader become Emma, are taken up in her reverie, her imaginings. The novel, therefore, often cultivates its own sympathy by virtue of its style, which causes the writer and reader to become one with the protagonist and to experience Madame Bovarys own feelings. This can be paralleled to Henrysons voice of sympathy The Testament of Cresseid. Henryson is so derisory of the unreasonable nature of the Gods ruling that he impulsively breaks into the se cond person when he declares: Your doom is hard and too malicious, thus interrupting the sentencing and displaying contempt of court Cresseid and Madame Bovary are dissimilar to Emma in so far as they experience a development as a result of their infidelity, the former explicitly and the latter implicitly. Cresseid talks about herself in the second person when she says, Where is your chambers cushioned chair and screen / And handsome bed and hand-embroidered linen? The wine and spice, the supper that you supped on. The use of the second person is suggestive of self-derision rather than self-lamentation. She understands her situation and she profoundly remarks, All wealth on earth is wind that flits and veers. She also criticised herself: I myself will be my own accuser. This development from Cresseid makes her worthy of not so much sympathy but respect. Madame Bovarys development happens in a moment, which makes it more like an epiphany, thus lacking the cognitively prolonged nature of Cresseids development. It is also a very implicit moment in which she began to laugh, a ghastly, frenzied, despairing laugh after hearing the voice of the blind beggar. At this point, she realises the meaning of the beggars words love is unseeing (thus rendering the beggar as an representation of Cupid. Whilst Cresseid and Madame Bovary cannot be justified in their actions, their realisations do rouse respect from the reader. The Emma of Betrayal experiences no such development. An aspect of the equation still wants, namely the victims. It is certainly true that the adulterers garner a notable degree of sympathy, yet it would be very mean-spirited to identify more with them than the victims. In the Testament of Cresseid, the affected person is Troilus. Although there are only 2 paragraphs focusing on Cresseids betrayal of Troilus, they themselves being sped along by the use of enjambment, this is done more out a desire not to repeat a story successfully written by Chaucer, but also to alleviate the readers judgment of Cresseid. Later in the poem, Henryson writes of Troilus in glowing terms, describing him as having beaten down, by war and jeopardy, / The Grecian knights, and in a moment of great largesse past where Cresseid with lepers made abode and A girdle he took out, / A purse of gold and many shining gemstones / and threw them down into Cresseids dress. Troilus certainly elicits a huge amount of sympathy from the reader, especially after he for grief a lmost fell down when recalling Cresseids physical deformations. In both Madame Bovary and Betrayal, the victims of adultery are children. Jerrys lack of concern over his children is encapsulated in his gnomic description of his son Sam: Hes tall. Quite tall. Does a lot of running. Hes a long distance runner. Wants to be a zoologist. The waiter in the restaurant scene is similarly an innocent bystander who is subjected to Roberts frustrations: wheres our lunch. This place is going to pot. Same glass. Wheres our lunch? Richard Martin, in his letter to The Times Literary Supplement argued that he sees not just displaced emotion in Roberts aggression towards the waiter but the waiter himself as a displaced version of Judith: for she is the hapless, indeed dumb, waiter (4). Judith, the children, and the waiter, are all correlated because they are all affected onlookers, but they know not what by. It is interesting to note that the children do not feature physically in the play, but in the 1983 film (by David Jones), the children feature in negative-co nsequences of the characters adultery-borne vented frustrations; for example, when Jerry hollers at his son for playing music too loudly. This is paralleled in Madame Bovary, where her daughter is a victim of her infidelity. This is evidenced in the scene where Madame Bovary says to Berthe Oh, for heavens sake, leave me alone, shoving her away with her elbow. As a result, Berthe fell against the foot of the chest of draws, cutting her cheek on the brass fitting. At the end of the novel, Berthe makes her keep at a cotton mill. The chief victim of infidelity in the three texts is Charles Bovary. Despite being unsophisticated, dim-witted and a frighteningly bad doctor (his operation on Hippolytes club foot, resulting in amputation, as an example), he is still one of the novels most moral and sincere characters and he genuinely loved Emma whilst she was having licentious liaisons. Emma is often very unkind to Charles, for example, when she says; he carries a knife in his pocket like a peasant. I cannot help but parallel this to the narrator in Robert Frosts poem Mending Wall who describes his neighbour as Bringing a stone grasped firmly by the top / In each hand, like an old-stone savage armed. It is a particularly significant line, since Rodolphe wields a knife at one point, and this fails to elicit the same response from Emma. One strikingly poignant scene is when Charles finally sees all the letters from Emmas lovers: his deep despondency caused general amazement. He no longer went out, he saw no one, he even refused to visit his patients. People began saying that he shut himself off to drink. The final description of him is as a long-bearded, wild-looking man in filthy clothes who paced up and down noisily. For all Charles faults, it seems unthinkable to sympathise more with Emma than Charles. In all three cases, the victims garner more sympathy than the b etrayers. One should not nonchalantly accept the three primary adulterers actions as morally reprehensible; but we should acknowledge that their actions are borne out of something more complex than it would at first appear. The greatest sympathy should be given to Cresseid because her life was subject to fate; she lacked all volition owing to Henrysons depiction of the all-encompassing control of the Gods. I say Henrysons depiction because Chaucers original has been manipulated by Henryson such that it rapidly avoids the issue of her affair whilst also removing all her volition. Madame Bovary represents the repressed sensuality within us, and the reader can certainly feel for her more than the prudish and monotonous environment she inhabits (ironically, it was a puritanical society that condemned Flauberts novel for being too sympathetic to an adulteress). It is difficult to sympathise with Betrayals Emma. It is true that she longed for a more meaningful relationship with Jerry, but her dedication to Jerry is severely questioned given the initiation of her additional affair with Casey. One would have to question the disposition of any individual who sympathises with the adulterers more than the victims of adultery, as any reader of Madame Bovary would attest to. 1. http://www.lib.rochester.edu/camelot/teams/testaint.htm 2. The Perpetual Orgy (Vargas Llosa) 3. Madame Bovary (Stephen Heath) 4. Letter from the Times Literary Supplement Word count with quotes: 3720 Word Count without quotes: 2895

Website Evaluation †Apple Store

Website Evaluation – Apple Store In the recent years, electronic business becomes more widespread, and rapidly growing in the whole world. Because of the cost efficiency and coverage, many companies build a website to sell their products on the Internet. One of the most famous worldwide consumer electronic company, Apple Inc. also established an online store which called Apple Store (http://store.apple.com) to sell different products on the Internet from 1997 (Technical Update, 1997). The website is widely use in buying the products of Apple Inc. by the customers in worldwide. Therefore, the quality of the website has to be good enough for to numbers of customers. This essay is going to evaluate, discuss and conclude about the Apple Store and its e-commerce operation by using different methods of evaluation. Website Purpose Outline Company Background Apple Inc. is one of the biggest consumer electronic and computer company in the world. It provides many famous hardware products including the iPhone, the iPod series, the iPad and the Mac hardware products to different types of customers (Apple Inc. Annual Report, 2010). The company sells its products in more than 300 retail stores in various countries from 2010 (Spence, 2010). Other than the website and the retail store, Apple Inc. sells its products by wholesalers, retailers from other company, direct sales force, third-party cellular network carriers, and value added resellers at the same time (Apple Inc. Annual Report, 2010). Website Functions Apple Store is a website provides various services to customers, which are products description, software download, products selling and after sales services. Product Description Finding and filtering information for the customers is important to a successful electronic system since the customers would like to find the products and services in the easiest way (Ng, Yan and Lim, 2000). Therefore, a good e-business website must have a good production description. Apple Store describes the information of different products in detail for the customers understanding the functions and usefulness of the products. Diverse products like the iPod, the iPhone, the iPad, the Mac hardware products, software and accessories are being introduced by words, videos and pictures in different languages in the website. For the iPod, iPhone, iPad and Apples computers, those features, outlook and technical specifications is being showed in the site. The website even uses video to explain how to use the products in detail to attract the consumers. At the same time, in every description page we can see a Buy Now button which is a link to the product selling part to make the purchasing process easier (Apple Store, 2010). Software Download Apple Store provides many types of software for different products. There are both free and paid software for the customers to better use their hardware products. Like many software production companies, customers can choose to buy the software in the normal stores or on the online store. And the software update can be found on the website for providing new features and fixing the bugs on the products. Also, the software can be downloaded in various languages in the world. Product Selling The online Apple Store is a channel of product selling to various customers in the world. Customers can buy anything which can be bought in the Apple retail store including hardware, Apple software, third party software and selected third party accessories on the website. They even can buy the certified refurbished products and the old type products which cannot be bought in the normal store on the online store in a cheaper than normal price (Apple Store, 2010). For the customers who buy the goods on the Apple online store, they can buy the goods on installments without interest. After Sales Services The Apple Inc. provides many after sales services to the customers if they bought the products on the Apple Store. They can check the delivery status on the website in order to know the process of delivery. When the customers take the product to repair in the repair department of Apple, they can check the repair status on the site. And they can get support if they have any problem of using the product. The website provides many product using problem solutions to the users (Apple Store, 2010). Therefore, the customers can get help easily from the Apple store website if they have any problem. Website Analyses Web Accessibility Users with disabilities have to use the website. Therefore, a good website should be able to let them to utilize it easily. Web Accessibility is a standard for checking that whether the users with disabilities can perceive, follow, control, communicate with and contribute to the website (W3C, 2005). For a website, if it is sufficiently flexible to be used by all of assistive technologies, it can be called as an accessible website (Slatin Rush, 2003). For the Apple Store, web accessibility will be evaluated by whether the website has the essential components if it is accessible to people with disabilities (W3C, 2005). In content, the basic text and images introduce the product and the purchasing instruction. For the people who have blurry vision, they cannot read unless the text is very large (Thatcher, 2005, P. 3). By the way, the text size and color cannot be change in each page in the Apple Store website. The minor visual disability people cannot change the text size to what they need when they want to see that page. However, for the product introduction, the Apple Store uses some videos to introduce the major functions and special features of the products, the visual disability people, even the blindness who is completely sightless (Paciello, 2000, P.8), can know more about the product by listening the voice in the videos. But for the auditory people, there is no subtitle in the videos for them to understand what is about on the video. At the same time, for the visual disability people who want to make transaction in the website, there is no instruction video or audio about the process of transaction for those people who need it. And even in the transaction page, no access for the visual disability people to make a transaction. Therefore, Apple Store does not provide enough access to disability people. Webqual 2.0 Research Design Finding the domain which can reflect the situation in reality is better than doing artificial laboratory-based experiment (Barnes Vidgen, 2001). By the way, only analyze one data about the domain is not enough for the website evaluation. Therefore, compare the domain with the major competitors is the best way to evaluate the quality of the website. In the market, there are many competitors of Apple having an online store to sell consumer electronic products (Apple Inc. Annual Report, 2010). The major competitors which are chosen to be evaluated with Apple Store are the Sony Style online store (http://www.sonystyle.com), and the HP online store (http://www.shopping.hp.com). The reasons why those websites are being chosen to be compared are because both of them are selling consumer electronic and computer products. At the same time, both three of them are recommended by the UK consumers (Satmetrix, 2010). Sony is the biggest multinational conglomerate corporation in Japanese. It is one of the leading company of selling consumer electronic and computer products. Playstation, Sony music products and Sony laptops are some example of the famous electronic product of Sony (Sony Style, 2010). Sony Style online store is a channel of distribution on the Internet. HP (Hewlett-Packard) is another major competitor of consumer electronic and computer products of Apple Inc. It is a multinational information technology corporation in USA which is famous by its computer products. HP is famed for selling different types of hardware product. Methodology 40 questionnaires have been done from the user of Internet in the worldwide. Questions in the questionnaires are distributed to different countries, different age and different gender people by Internet. The questionnaire is mainly divided into 2 parts to measure those three websites quality and their view of the importance of the criteria. First part is about their basic information, which is about their age group, gender, and most importantly, whether they have visited those three websites. The data of the interviewees who have not visited those websites are not going to be count in the analysis. The second part is different descriptions of the websites. Each of them uses the scale 1 to 5 to elaborate the interviewees agreeability of the descriptions (Barnes Vidgen, 2001). And the description importance for evaluation is also asked in the questionnaire, in order to know how they feel about the importance of those descriptions. Data Analysis In the 40 interviewees, 28 of them have visited those Apple Store, Sony Style online store and HP online store. Therefore, only this 28 interviewees questionnaire results are being counted in the analysis. All data which are collected are summarized in Table 1 in the appendix page. The marks counted are the average marks of the 28 interviewees in each question. All marks are round up to 2 decimal places for evaluation conveniently. According to Barnes, the Webqual can be divided into different categories in SERVQUAL which are tangibles, reliability, responsiveness, assurance and empathy (Barnes Vidgen, 2001). They are going to be the criteria to see how the quality of those three websites is. Importance of specific question for user At the beginning, the importance of each description is going to be analyzed first. From the table, we can see the average marks of importance in different descriptions are quite high. Therefore, most of the descriptions of Webqual are important for the interviewees. In aesthetics, the interviewees think having a good outlook is quite important to them (Description 1). It can attract them to stay in the website for a longer time. However, having an appropriate design and audio-visual effect (Descriptions 2, 3) are not as important as other criteria, since they are not the critical element for them to stay in the website. Then, reliable (Descriptions 4-6), responsiveness (Descriptions 7-8), competence (Descriptions 9-10), credibility (Descriptions 14-15), and security (Descriptions 16-17) are quite important for the website users. It is because both of the criteria are about the safety of the transaction on that website. The users of website most concern the trust and dependability of it (Jones, Wllikens, Morris and Masera, 2000). However, for navigation (Descriptions 11-13), whether the websites are easy to find and to return to and find your way around are not important for the interviewees. Only the website has things where they expect to find them is important for the interviewees. Whether the website is easy to give feedback (Description 18) is quite important for the interviewees. For the empathy of the website, websites are quite good in communication (Descriptions 19-21) and their understanding the individual (Descriptions 22-24) are not as important as others. Descriptions Comparison between Three Websites Referring to Table 1, the evaluation of interviewees can show the differences between those three websites. In terms of aesthetics, the users think that the Apple Store looks much better than the Sony Style online store and HP online store. As we can see in those websites, Apple Store provides more pictures and a better looking homepage between those three websites. At the same time, both of them have an appropriate style of design for site type. By the way, only Apple Store creates and audio-visual experience to the users. In the Apple Store website, there are some videos to introduce the major functions and special features of the products. So the Apple Store has a higher overall score of aesthetics. For the navigation, which is the description that the users thinks it is not that important, we can see Apple Store and Sony Style online store have a higher marks of whether it is easy to find and to return to and Apple Store gets a higher marks in it is easy to find your way around. It shows that the Apple Store is easier for the user to find and use. At the same time, the interviewees claim that the three websites have things what they expected to find them. For the reliability, the marks between three websites are quite similar. It is because both three website are run by big company, which are Apple, Sony and HP. They have to make their websites free from error in order to maintain their credibility. Only about the description about providing up-to-date information, Apple Store get a higher average marks between three websites. It is because after the press conference of the new products, the new products features will be updated immediately on the website next day while the other two websites do not do this kind of update. For the competence, interviewees think that those websites can provide them with professional and competent image and believe they can process transactions competently, again, because both three website are run by the big company. Professional and process transactions competently are important for the credibility for them. For responsiveness, HP online store gives a more clear time for delivery for products or services. It shows what the exact day is for the customers receive the product, while the Apple and Sony website only show the estimate day of delivery which is not enough for the customers. At the same time, the access of three websites is good for the interviewees, both of them are easy to give feedback or contact the company. By the way, for the credibility and security, Apple Store has a higher mark compare with other two websites. It is because the Apple website is more famous in dealing with online trading and many of the interviewees have done the transaction through Apple website. Therefore, it has a higher mark in compare with the two other websites. For the empathy, both websites does not have a good mark since the website does not convey this culture to the website users. In conclusion, Apple Store gets the highest marks between three websites in the evaluation. Therefore we can see Apple website is the best in the group of consumer products websites. E-commerce Operation Evaluation Value Creation model Value Creation is important for a company. According to Mathur and Kenyon, it is about the design of future competitive offerings for the financial success of a company (Mathur and Kenyon, 2001) and the company have to beat the competitor by the value creation (Phillips, 2003). Novelty Apple.com provides a feature that the customers can order the products in multiple configurations. They can customize what they buy on the website. For example, when a customer orders a Macbook Pro, he can choose the processor, memory, graphics card, hard drive he like. This feature is a novelty in the online store market when it was first revealed. It creates value by eliminating inefficiencies in buying process for the customers. Because the customers can chose the product configurations according to their personal needs. So it is easier for them to purchase on the Internet. Customers can buy certified refurbished products on the Apple online store. The certified refurbished products are the products which undergo a rigorous refurbishment process prior to being offered for sale in a price which is cheaper than the normal price. It creates value by creating entirely new markets which is the market of the customers who like buying cheaper product. At the same time, it can help the company to sell the refurbished products. And because it is selling on the official website, it is more reliable for the consumers. The Apple Store let the customers engraving their iPod if they make an order on the website. They can make some personalized words on their iPod by the laser engraving. The text will be engraved near the top, on the back of the iPod. Any different types of iPod can use this service if the customers buy the iPod on the apple website. It creates values by capturing latent consumer need which is personalized design of their iPod. Efficiency The Apple online store provides the consumers with efficiency in different aspects. First of all, the information asymmetries between the Apple online store and the buyer have be reduced since the website provides all information which the buyer need in deciding whether purchasing, including the price of all different product, all possible discount, the price of adding different customize part in the products. Unlike in the normal store, the buyers have enough information in making the decision on buying a product or not. Therefore, we can say the information asymmetries between each group have been reduced. At the same time, the searching and bargaining cost of the buyer has been reduced by using the Apple online store. They do not have to search in different store since the price of the Apple Store is unified in the market. Therefore, their decision making pace will be faster than in the normal store since they have enough information to making the purchasing decision. Complementarities Apple Store provides with vertical complementarities to the customers which are after sales services. On the website, when you login your purchasing account, many individual information about your purchasing can be shown on the webpage. Delivery status, repair status can be checked on the site. Then the buyers can easily organize the usage of their products after the purchase. If they have any problem of using the product, many supporting service are available on the website for the buyers. They can browse the instructions about the using problem on the website. And also read the guideline from the website. For the horizontal complementarities, in some promotion, the buyers can buy the computer with the printer of the partner firms. This cooperation between the company helps to create value that the customers can have the bundle of products and get the value create from the cooperation. Lock-In In the Apple online store, it provides many services that create value for the customers. For the customers who have purchased in the Apple online store, they will receive the email about the latest news about the store, which is about the latest products, latest software download or some news about the company. When the customers can see the email regularly, they will be locked in with the company. And the email have the link for the customers to know more further information about the new, which make some potential purchasing for the company. Also, personalization for the customers appears in the Apple online store. After the first transaction between the customer and Apple store, the customer can turn the one click ordering function in the website with entering the credit card and personal information in the website. The customer is then allowed to purchase anything on the Apple Store with single click on the website (Apple Store, 2010). This personalization service for the customers let them to purchase in the website easier and increase the sales of the Apple Store. Conclusion In conclusion, Apple Store is one of the best electronic business website. In the evaluation, we can see the website quality of Apple Store is on the top in between the competition. At the same time, it provides with values in different aspects. By the way, the web accessibility is not good enough for the use of disability. The company has to put more effort in this aspect. (3243 words) References Article in a Journal Ng, W.W., Yan, G. and Lim, E.P. (2000), Heterogeneous Product Description in Electronic Commerce. ACM SIGecom Exchanges, 1(1) Barnes, S., and Vidgen, R. (2001), An evaluation of cyber-bookshops: the WebQual method. International Journal of Electronic Commerce, 6(1), 11-30 Amit, R. and Zott C. (2001), Value creation in E-Business. Strategic Management Journal, 22(6-7), 493-520 Jones, C., Wllikens, M., Morris, P., and Masera, M. (2000), Trust requirements in e-business. Magazine Communications of the ACM, 12(43), 81-87 Mathur, S.S and A. Kenyon (2001), Creating Value: Successful Business Strategies, Butterworth-Heinemann, Oxford Book Thatcher, J. (2006). Understanding Web Accessibility, Web accessibility: web standards and regulatory compliance, FriendsofED, 3 Paciello, Michael G. (2000). Introducing Web Accessibility, Web Accessibility for People with Disabilities, CMP Books, 8 Slatin, J. and Rush, S. (2003). Maximum accessibility, Addison-Wesley, New York. Phillips, P. (2003). E-business strategy: text and cases, London: McGraw-Hill. Website Apple Annual Report (2010), phx.corporate-ir.net/External.File?item=UGFyZW50SUQ9Njc1MzN8Q2hpbGRJRD0tMXxUeXBlPTM=t=1, Accessed December 2010 Nick Spence (2010), Grand opening of Apples 300th retail store brings Covent Garden to a standstill, www.macworld.co.uk/digitallifestyle/news/index.cfm?olo=rssNewsID=3234571, Accessed December 2010 Technical Update (1997), Apple Online Store Orders Top 12 Million Dollars in First Month, www.uc.edu/ucitnow/winter_98/apple.html, Accessed December 2010 W3C (2005), Introduction to Web Accessibility, www.w3.org/WAI/intro/accessibility.php, Accessed December 2010 W3C (2005), Essential Components of Web Accessibility, www.w3.org/WAI/intro/components.php, Accessed December 2010 Satmetrix (2010), First Direct, Sony, Saga, O2 and Apple, Among the Most Recommended Brands According to 8,000 UK Consumers, www.satmetrix.com/company/press-and-news/pr-archive/pr20100618/, Accessed December 2010 Apple Store (2010), What is 1-Click?, store.apple.com/Catalog/US/Images/oneclickfaq.html, Accessed December 2010

Aristotles Legacy in the Federalist Papers -- Federalist Papers Essay

Aristotle's Legacy in the Federalist Papers While the government of the United States owes its existence to the contents and careful thought behind the Constitution, some attention must be given to the contributions of a series of essays called the Federalist Papers towards this same institution. Espousing the virtues of equal representation, these documents also promote the ideals of competent representation for the populace and were instrumental in addressing opposition to the ratification of the Constitution during the fledgling years of the United States. With further reflection, the Federalists, as these essays are called, may in turn owe their existence, in terms of their intellectual underpinnings, to the writings of the philosopher and teacher, Aristotle. In 1789, the Confederation of the United States, faced with the very real threat of dissolution, found a renewed future with the ratification of the Constitution of the United States. This document created a structure upon which the citizens could build a future free of the unwanted pitfalls and hazards of tyrannies, dictatorship, or monarchies, while securing the best possible prospects for a good life. However, before the establishment of the new United States government, there was a period of dissent over the need for a strong centralized government. Furthermore, there was some belief that the new constitution failed to provide adequate protection for small businessmen and farmers and even less clear protection for fundamental human rights. To counter these and a variety of other arguments, statesmen Alexander Hamilton, James Madison, and John Jay composed a series of articles that would logically and critically address the grievances of those opposed to the... ...Federalist Papers: The House of Representatives," The New York Packet, No. 52, 1788. 6. Hamilton, Alexander and James Madison, "Federalist Papers: Method of Guarding Against the Encroachments of Any One Department of Government by Appealing to the People Through a Convention," The New York Packet, No. 49, 1788. 7. Aristotle, The Politics, Trans. Benjamin Jowett, Book 3, Part XV. http://classics.mit.edu/Aristotle/politics.html 8. Hamilton, Alexander and James Madison, "Federalist Papers: Method of Guarding Against the Encroachments of Any One Department of Government by Appealing to the People Through a Convention," The New York Packet, No. 49, 1788. 9. Hamilton, Alexander and James Madison, "Federalist Papers: The Structure of the Government Must Furnish the Proper Checks and Balances Between the Different Departments," The New York Packet, No. 51, 1788.

John Philip Sousa :: essays research papers

JOHN PHILIP SOUSA John Philip Sousa was born in 1854, the third child of ten. He was born in Washington, D.C. His parents were immigrants. John Antonio Sousa was his dad. He was originally from Spain, even though his parents were Portugese in origin. His mom, Maria Elisabeth Trinkhaus came to America from Bavaria. John was a talented youngster. At the tender age of 6 he was studying music. He learned to play many types of instruments; the violin, piano, cornet, alto horn, flute, baritone. Like his father, who played the trombone in the U.S. Marines Band, John, too, learned to play the trombone. John also spent time studying voice. John was a rather mischevious teen. At the age of 13 John tried to run away to join the circus. Dad was not all that impressed with John and made him enlist in the Marines. While in the service he published "Moonlight on the Potomac Waltzes". That was his first published composition and the beginning of a very successful career. After spending 8 years in the Marines, he was discharged. John found the love of his life in 1879. Jane van Middleworth Bellis became Mrs. John Philip Sousa that year. Together they travelled to Europe four times. On one voyage back, John was inspired to write the "Stars and Stripes Forever". Three of their trips to Europe were for performances, another trip was as a vacation. While they were on vacation Sousa's promoter, David Blakely died. In 1892 John named his band "Sousa's New Marine Band". Needless to say, Washington was not pleased with the name and Sousa had to rename his band. He had a couple of great tours with the Marine Band but was convinced to go into the civilian sector to create another band. As stated earlier, Sousa was a prolific writer. He wrote 135 songs and conducted many , many more. His most memorable song was "Stars and Stripes Forever". It is song that many children remember by singing " be kind to your web-footed friends...". In his lengthy career he conducted over 100 operettas, 11 suites, and 2 concert pieces. Not a man to sit on the sidelines for long. Sousa joined the Naval Reserves at the ripe old age of 62. He sure was not in it for money. He went in as a lieutenant and only made a buck a month. It was only World War I.

Living With Endometriosis Essay -- Diseases, Disorders

Endometriosis is one of the most common gynecological disorders which affect 5.5 million women in the U.S. and 176 million women worldwide. It is a chronic disorder found within the pelvic area of women. This disease is found to affect women of all ethnic and social backgrounds. While it has not yet been determines exactly what causes endometriosis there seems to be certain trends that may contribute to this disease. There also seems to be a link this being a hereditary disease. Symptoms can vary widely from case to case which can sometimes make it hard to diagnose endometriosis in the beginning. Endometriosis has 4 stages or classifications which are minimal, mild, moderate and severe which are used to describe the anatomic location and the severity of the disorder. Symptoms can be as minimal as mild cramping and be as devastating as infertility. There is no known cure for endometriosis but women do have treatment options to relieve the pain and to help with fertility problems tha t may be a result of endometriosis. The only true way to diagnose endometriosis is by performing a pelvic laparoscopy. But ultrasound is a way to pick up on signs of endometriosis. Endometriosis is a chronic, progressive disorder in which tissue resembling the inner lining of the uterus known as endometrium grows and appears at unusual locations in the lower abdominal cavity. It is a condition that occurs when the endometrium, tissue that lines the inside of the uterus, grows outside of the uterus. During your menstrual cycle the endometrium thickens to get ready for the egg. If the egg is fertilized, it will attach to the endometrium and begin to grow. If the egg is not fertilized, the endometrium breaks down and is flushed from your body as blood ... ...unction. St. Louis: Saunders, 2004. Depot, Lupron. Endometriosis Treatment. Abbott Park: Abbott, 2010. Kowalczyk, Nina, and James Mace. Radiographic Pathology for Technologists. St. Louis: Mosby Elsevier, 2009. Kurjak, Asim, and Frank Chervenak. Ultrasound in Obstetrics and Gynecology. Panama City: Jaypee, 2004. Metzger, Deborah, and Howard Reisman, and Stuart Schultz. Managing Endometriosis. San Bruno: StayWell, 2000. Mosbys Dictionary of Medicine, Nursing & Health Professions. St. Louis: Mosby Elsevier, 2009. S, Kennedy . Endometriosis Global Forum for News and Information. 23 Jan. 2011. 11 Feb. 2012. . Storck, Susan. "Endometriosis." PubMed Health. 25 Jul. 2011. . Trivedi, Dr. Ravi K. Personal interview. 11 Feb. 2012.

Impact of Trade Liberalization of Bangladesh Essay

Introduction: There exists a wide range of theoretical and empirical literature on the relationship between foreign trade and economic growth in both developed and developing countries. The early literature focused mostly on the role of export in economic growth. The spectacular success of the outward oriented policies in the East Asian countries provided a basis for the adoption of such polices in developing countries like Bangladesh. Accordingly, the literature tried to support or reject the logic of universal application of export led growth policy in developing countries. The dynamic linkages between export and import or import and income did not receive much attention in this literature. But experience shows that in many countries export is highly dependent on import of capital goods and intermediate inputs as well as raw materials giving a case of bivariate causality between trade (export-import) and economic growth. The relationship between foreign trade and economic growth has long been discussed by different school of thought. The theoretical standpoints can be summarized in terms of technological know how, market expansion, resource allocation, ease of balance of payments, employment generation and income creation. (Hossain & Salim 2009). Karl Marx focuses on the role of exchange in economic growth. In his opinion, the expansion of production needs a growing market which will promote production continuously (Chen 2009). The classical school treats the foreign trade as a means of optimal distribution of resources and increasing productivity that stimulate economic growth. In similar vein is Alfred Marshall and his other neoclassical followers and they dictum that trade enhances growth because of the benefits of comparative advantage, full capacity utilization, greater economies of scale and increasing rate of investment and technological change (Krueger, 1978; Kavoussi, 1984). This school identifies five different ways in which foreign trade affects macroeconomics performance of a country: the revenue effect, capital accumulation effect, substitution effect, income distribution effect and the effect of the weighted elements. All these effects together imply that trade strengthens economic growth over time as an economy develops (Chen, 2009). The structuralist school led by Sir William Arthur Lewis (1915-1991) holds that in the dual economy model if the modern industrial sector produces export goods and the traditional agricultural sector produces import substitutes, then foreign trade would expand the market and lead to increase in production. The new growth theories which consider increasing returns to capital put more focus on trade as an argument of growth. According to these theories, international trade leads to technological diffusion that affects the medium and long term output growth of the developing countries by improving productivity. The new trade school (led by Paul Krugman) emphasizes the role of trade in economic growth through economies of scale and improving the optimal allocation of resources. It is claimed that international trade enables countries to specialize in goods and services by stimulating competition and promoting technological change based on â€Å"comparative and competitive advantage†. As a result, consumers would be able to consume more products of better quality at cheaper prices and therefore human welfare would be increased (Gupta at al. , 1997, World Bank, 2002). Economic growth is mainly depend on physical and human capital, technological progress, high rate of savings, macroeconomic stability, capital mobility, trade liberalization and so on. Trade plays important role on economic growth. There is a growing volume of empirical literature on the relationship between foreign trade and economic growth. In the 1970s and 1980s a number of studies examined the relationship between export and growth. Many such studies (see for example, Balassa, 1978; Feder, 1983; Heller & Porter, 1978; Kavoussi, 1984; Michaely, 1977; Ram, 1985; Tyler, 1981) supported the view that export growth promoted overall economic growth. Thus, there is a general question arises in mind: What are the impacts trade liberalization (from inwardness to the outward orientation) on economic growth? What are the dynamics and causality among export, imports and income? Bangladesh is striving hard to boost up its exports in order to meet the import payments, foreign debts, internal expenditure, maximize domestic welfare and also to reduce the country’s dependence on foreign aid grants. Therefore, since independence Bangladesh has experienced different policy regimes to enhance its foreign exchange earnings and rapid economic growth. Bangladesh has pursued a proactive policy of trade liberalization, characterized by removal of Quantitative Restrictions (QR), rationalization of tariff rates, a flexible exchange rate policy and active incentive structure for promoting the export sector and enhancing export sector performance. The objective of this paper is to examine the trade policy (from Inwardness to Openness), structural changes and performance of foreign trade and also examine the causality among export, imports and growth in Bangladesh. After analyzing these issues, some policy suggestions have been put forward to boost up the foreign trade sector so as to enhance foreign exchange earnings. 2. An Overview of Foreign Trade Polices of Bangladesh: From Inwardness to Openness/Trade Liberalization: In the current era of globalization, trade liberalization emerges as one of the most effective policy concerns for governments all over the world, especially for developing countries. Trade liberalization is believed to enhance economic growth and development through specialization and technological advances. In the post-war period, in line with the mainstream thinking, many developing countries adopted in inward-looking strategy of development. This strategy, particularly when it went beyond the easy first stage, led to distorted incentive and misallocation of resources. It favored import-substitution (advocates replacing imports with domestic production) at the cost of export. It also involved undue governmental intervention in the working of the market. Because of the widespread â€Å"government failure† to ensure adequate growth, and because of the successful example of export-led growth in South-East Asia, pendulum began to shift to trade liberalization and greater openness since the late 1970s and early 1980s. According to the World Development Report 1987, an outward-oriented strategy is defined as one in which the incentive structure is neutral between import-substitution and export production. Thus, an export-led growth strategy does not require a favored treatment for exports in the form of subsidies or other incentives; only a eutral policy regime which does not discriminate between domestic and export production. In a nutshell, the main requirements of this strategy would be moderate tariffs (preferable a uniform rate of tariff), dismantling of quantitative restrictions such as import licensing or quotas, a market-oriented exchange rate regime (as overvalued exchange rate would discriminate against exports and favor imports) and market-friendly laws and rules rather than discretionary controls. After independence in 1971, Bangladesh like her neighbors in South Asia pursued an inward-looking import-substitution strategy of growth. This was mainly characterized by the nationalization of all heavy industries and financial institutions. Import substitution policy (a trade and economic policy that advocates replacing imports with domestic production. It is based on the premise that a country should attempt to reduce its foreign dependency through the local production of industrialized products) was the basic premise of such state intruded and controlled development strategy where the role of the private sector was shriveled. The result of such a strategy was so painful that Bangladesh faced balance of payments (BOP) disequilibrium, foreign exchange shortage, and relatively low growth rate of national income and micro inefficiencies like inefficient import competing enterprises producing low quality products. Furthermore, the debt crisis in the early 1980 provided an important argument for trade reform. Consequently, since 1982 on being advised by the developed countries, along with the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT), International Monetary Fund (IMF) and World Bank (WB), Bangladesh has started to shift its trade strategy to a strong outward looking one as part of market oriented economic reforms (structural adjustment packages) particularly after the year of 1985.