Justus Case

Just Us! Case Just Us! is a corporation that imports, roasts and sells primarily organic coffee from fair traded certified coffee producers. Their vision is: â€Å"to be a leading Fair Trade business that builds on quality, professionalism and innovation for the benefit of all our stake holders. Since its inception, Just Us! had experienced healthy growth in the maritime provinces of Canada, mainly supported by its corporate values: social and environmental responsibility, sustainability, ethical practices in all the areas of the business and in all stakeholders, and product differentiation.They even opened a fair trade museum to help educate the public on the social impact and benefits of fair trade. Once roasted and packed, the coffee and other products are shipped to retail outlets, supermarket chains, health food stores, coffee shops and churches. A substantial portion of Just Us! revenues came from wholesaling to large retail stores such as supermarket chains. Their coffee is a lso offered in the Just Us cafes, which were meant to be a place where customers could enjoy a cup of premium fair trade coffee and gather information about fair trade. The locations were not standardized as a typical chain.A major competitor in the retail organic fair trade coffee market is Kicking Horse which also offers products that are certified organic and fair traded. Its main channels are: coffee shops, gourmet food stores, grocery chains and restaurants. The growth of fair trade product sales had prompted several major food brands to offer fair trade products, such as: Kraft Foods, Procter & Gamble and Nestle. Also, in Canada, large super market chains such as Loblaws were offering also fair traded private labeled products which was concerning for Just Us, since supermarkets is one of its most important channels.In the coffee shop area, there was a lot of competition since some independent coffee shops and well-known chains (Ex. Starbucks) were trying to tap into the  "fair trade trend†. Due to the original management team lack of marketing experience a new Marketing Director was hired and part of the initial issues she found was that Just Us! did not spend much on advertising. 2009 had been set at $20,000. There was a massive growth opportunity in the fair trade market in Canada but the economy was on recession, therefore, the expansion needed to be planned carefully.The marketing director had several specific questions to answer to help develop a marketing plan to bolster the growth of Just Us! First off, how was Just Us! going to target new buyers given the current competition and what segment would those buyers belong to? College students were clearly a growing customer base and Just Us! already had a strong presence in three college universities. Therefore, marketing should be directed at the young, educated demographic that are willing to pay a premium for products.Furthermore, the majority of their sales are business to business and their marketing needs to emphasize the benefits of fair trade to the end user. The case stated that the internet was a great tool for increasing awareness of fair trade products, along with initiatives that enhance word of mouth (p. 3). In order to reach new customers they should consider expanding their internet marketing, such as using search engine optimization/ search engine marketing. They can also utilize co-op advertising with other organizations that emphasize fair trade, organic, and environmentally friendly practices.The fair trade museum should also be utilized to educate potential customers and will be discussed in more detail below. All Just Us! advertising needs to emphasize the story behind the products in order to educate new customers. Educating customers on the benefits of fair trade is the key to growth and will set Just Us! apart from competitors with brand recognition. In order for Just Us! to enhance the cafe’s performance they need to improve the custom er experience and become customers’ first choice of â€Å"place outside the home to enjoy coffee. Surveys and focus groups should be used to find out what customers like to do in their cafes as well as what customers like about the competitors cafes (Starbucks and Trident) and incorporate those into Just Us! ’ cafes. Additionally, the current Just Us! cafes are stand-alone destination shops. Just Us! should open up new stores in large commercial shopping centers in densely populated cities with multiple Universities. This would allow Just Us to still market to the young educated demographic that have long customer lifetime values that they have had success with and reach new customers via foot traffic in the shopping center.By keeping the overall educational theme about fair trade and brand awareness the same across all of the cafes should be able to convert new customers into loyal customers. Another questions the Marketing Director had to consider was how Just Us! c an expand their loyal customer base? This could be achieved through improving the customer experience mentioned above. However, offering opportunities for the customers to get involved would create a concept of community among their customers and which could develop into a core competency and set them apart from their competitors. Just Us! ould achieve this by having guest speakers or workshops on fair trade in the stores or even get involved with community organizations to help educate people about fair trade. Customers could sign up to receive emails for upcoming events, new products, new services, and new social initiatives. These actions would all help expand their loyal customer base. The Marketing Director also needed to make several changes to the marketing program in order to benefit the cafes. The marketing budget should be increased to reflect the company sales and growth potentials. A larger budget will allow Just Us! o compete with similar fair trade coffee companies suc h as Java Factory and threatening new mainstream entrants such as Starbucks who can capture the market share quickly. The existing market media plan (Case exhibit 8) should be updated to focus on product differentiation and increase channel diversity. Just Us! should advertise in multiple newspapers, magazines, and outdoor locations to increase customer reach. Furthermore, Just Us! should promote more direct communication to events around colleges and young professionals emphasizing their fair trade and environment responsibility concept in order to foster community involvement.A major customer segment for Just Us is students and young professionals who are mostly tech-savvy. Therefore, internet should be a main advertising vehicle to reach mass marketing. Just Us should use internet marketing tools including emerging social media (e. g. Facebook, Tweeter, blogs), mobile advertisement (e. g. Groupon), search engine marketing, and co-op advertising on sites offering similar fair trad e concepts. Finally, the Marketing Director needs to utilize the fair trade Museum as a way to spread awareness as well as promote brand awareness just like they should in the new locations but take it one step further.Just Us! could hold free concerts or guest speakers at the museum to attract potential new customers. They could also charge for the concert and allow free admission if you bring a reciept from a recent purchase at the Grand Pre store. Just Us! could sponsor a local race or work with local University fundraisers in the community. Once again, Just Us! needs to be involved with the community to educate people about fair trade and get their customers involved to create a sense of community that can lead to new customers and extend the lifetime customer value of existing customers.

Define and explain Orientalism Essay

Europeans used the term Orient to describe the peoples and places of Asia and the Middle East. While widely accepted prior to the late twentieth century, this term has aroused criticism among historians. The purpose of this essay is too define and explain Orientalism, and how the term Orientalist applies to Christian missionaries in the Far East. Two main examples of these missionaries are Matteo Ricci and Francis Xavier who served in China and Japan respectively. Both of these missionaries fall under the definition of Orientalists as defined by Edward Said. Edward Said defines Orientalism in multiple parts; the first of which is the academic1. Academic Orientalism is the study of the Orient for the purpose of understanding and learning. Modern historians view the term Orient to be too vague for an area as large as Asia, but it is still widely used throughout the world. Academic Orientalism attempts to study and understand the Orient from afar. Professors of Chinese language who have never spoken with a Chinese person are a common example of this detached intellectualism. Often in 18th Century Europe the Orientalist would study and judge the Orient based on second hand knowledge and conjecture. This view of understanding the Orient better than the Oriental without living it leads into the second part of Orientalism2. The second part of Orientalism as defined by Said is the justification of subjugation. Europeans believed that due to their better understanding of the history of a culture, and their superior culture they needed to dominate other cultures in order to improve them. Arthur James Balfour, a member of the British parliament once said in reference to Egypt; â€Å"We are in Egypt not merely for the sake of the Egyptians, though we are there for their sake; we are there also for the sake of Europe at large3.† Balfour meant by this that British occupation of Egypt was necessary for the protection of the Egyptians and for the benefit of all Europe. Balfour and other Orientalist believed that they understood Egypt better than the Egyptians themselves, and for this reason governed Egypt for the benefit of Egypt. This form of justification was used throughout the Orient. China, India, Philippines and others were all subjugated on the justification of the white mans burden. The idea of th e burden of the white race to civilize inferior races was a key part of Orientalism.4 One of the main points of Orientalism is the division of humanity into us and them. The Occidental and the Oriental, East and West, these are divisions created by Europeans in order to dominate the other. By separating the peoples an Orientalist can justify the subjugation and forced change of other races. Said’s overall point is that Orientalism was created by Europeans in order to justify the subjugation of the Orientals. Cultural and intellectual superiority and the separation of us and them led to three hundred years of European imperialism in the so called Orient.5 In order to understand how Orientalism affected Missionaries in China and Japan, one must first understand the Orientalist’s views of foreign religions. Most Orientalists were Christians and therefore believed all none Christians were destined for hell. â€Å"This, oddly enough, even applied to pre-Christians such as Aristotle and Abraham. In Dante’s Inferno both these men are in the first layer of Hell, even though Christianity did not exist during their lifetimes. So from this intolerant view one can see the basic attitude towards non-Christians. Muslims, Hindu and Buddhists were all considered heathen that needed the word of Jesus to save them from eternal damnation. â€Å"The Church’s commission to preach the gospel of Christ to ‘every creature’ also lays upon her the task of inviting all to accept Christ as Lord and Saviour and to join his Church through baptism.6† With this belief in mind Christian Missionaries went to the Orient to â⠂¬Å"save† the heathens and convert them to the one true faith, whether they wanted too or not.7 One of the earliest Christian Missionaries Father Matteo Ricci of the Society of Jesus, better known as the Jesuits, arrived in China in 1582 after a four month journey from Goa. He was a Roman Catholic priest who was trained the Rome in numerous subjects. The Jesuits were the most well educated order within the Catholic Church; for this reason they were particularly well suited for missionary work in Asia. The Jesuit tactic was too convert the social elites and then have their support in the conversion of the masses. This worked particularly well in Asia due to the strict social structures and relatively good education of the elites. Also the widespread belief in Confucianism fit well with Christianity. Ricci said in his work â€Å"The True Idea of God†, â€Å"the Confucian Classics contained allusions, albeit in an inchoate manner, to such Christian notions as God and a future life.8† Well educated bureaucrats in China respected Ricci’s education and intelligence, and were interested in the Western ideas he possessed9. Techniques such as Ricci’s Memory Palace interested the Chinese and often spawned further interest into the religion Ricci brought with him.10 Ricci’s view of the Chinese is full of contradictions. Many aspects of Chinese culture and government Ricci respected, such as their dress and level of education; the hygiene of the people and the relative order imposed by the Chinese bureaucracy11. At the same time that Ricci praised aspects of Chinese civilization, he abhorred a great deal of Chinese practices. Among these are the corruption rampant throughout China, the worship of heathen religions and their disrespect for human life. Ricci once remarked â€Å"This country is full of slaves. 12† Most importantly Ricci despised the widespread homosexuality within China13. There are two main reasons for describing Ricci as an Orientalist. The first is his reason for being in China. Ricci sought to convert all of China to Catholicism. He cared little for the established religions in China and sought to impose his Christian faith upon the peoples of China. Ricci once remarked â€Å"†¦Buddhism violated the very first of the Ten Commandments, and it had not raised moral standards in China despite its two thousand years during which it had been preached.14† Viewing his own faith as superior to any other and being so disdainful of all others, Ricci can be labeled an Orientalist. The second reason for labeling Ricci an Orientalist is his general disdain for all things Chinese. While he may admire certain attributes he generally views everything Western superior; for example his disgust with open prostitution in the streets of major Chinese cities. Ricci completely glosses over the fact that prostitution was legal within Rome itself. In fact prostitution within Rome was widespread. Montaigne on visiting Rome remarked, â€Å"Taking coach rides or strolling to view the prostitutes was a major Roman pastime.15† In his criticism of homosexuality, Ricci also ignores the previous acceptance of homosexuality in Europe. Montaigne remarked during his visit too Rome, â€Å"several marriages between Portuguese males had been celebrated in the church of St. John a few years before, and that the couples had went to bed and lived together for some time before being arrested and burned at the stake.16† This method of criticizing China while ignoring the fact that the same problems existed within Europe labels Ricci as an Orientalist. Ricci had additional goals beyond simply the conversion of the Chinese. Along with the conversion to Christianity Ricci hope to rebuild China along European lines. Ricci spent a great deal of time extolling the virtues of European civilization, and purity of the Catholic faith17. Ricci hoped to rid China of corruption, create a perfect Christian society, and cleanse China of heathen practices such as abstaining from meat year round and homosexuality18. These goals of changing Chinese society certainly label Ricci to be an Orientalist. Father Francis Xavier of the Society of Jesus arrived in Japan in 1549 aboard a Chinese junk. Xavier had many initial difficulties in Japan; the first of which being his inability to speak Japanese, and later to understand it. His interpreter caused Xavier many troubles later on due to his using Buddhist names for Christian figures, and forever linking Buddhism to Christianity in the minds of the Japanese19. The other difficulty for Xavier was his misunderstanding of Japanese society. When Xavier first arrived he hoped to convert â€Å"the king of Japan†, by this he meant the Shogun20. But when Xavier met the Shogun he found him to be a man of little importance who could barely maintain his own territory, let alone the whole country. Japan was in the period of sengoku, or country at war, and was divided among many feudal lords all vying for power. This state of civil war later benefited the Christian missionaries greatly, but initially confused Xavier21. Xavier spent the majority of his time in Japan attempting to convert Japanese daimyo and kokujin to Christianity. He succeeded in a few cases largely due to his link with Portuguese trade ships. Daimyo within Japan were looking for a way to gain advantage over their enemies, and trade with the Portuguese greatly enriched many lords. The Japanese believed that converting to Christianity would give them more favorable trade with the Portuguese, and for this reason many converted22. Xavier can be labeled an Orientalist for two main reasons. The first is his overall goal of converting the heathen Japanese to Christianity. His total disdain for Buddhism is apparent when he refers to the religion of Dianichi, â€Å"an invention of the devil, as also were all the other sects of Japan.23† The second reason for labeling Xavier an Orientalist is for his views on homosexuality. Ricci’s beliefs on homosexuality among Asians stem from Xavier. When Xavier was the head of the Far East mission he declared that homosexuality was an evil to be combated in Asia24. For these reasons Xavier is clearly an Orientalist the same as Ricci. For all of their efforts to convert the peoples of China and Japan, neither Ricci nor Xavier succeeded in any significant way. The problems in China were numerous; deep seated beliefs in Buddhism, Confucianism, and Taoism kept many from converting, also the lack of interest by the elite made any type of wide scale conversion impossible. In addition the basic fear of outsiders made the Chinese distrustful and angry towards the Christian missionaries25. In Japan the eventual consolidation of Japan under the Tokugawa shogunate forced all Christians too abandon their faith. The Tokugawa did not want any opposition to their regime and barred any foreigners from entering Japan. Also deep seated religious beliefs and xenophobia as in China caused few too embrace Christianity. Neither Ricci nor Xavier succeeded in their goal of converting the Far East; the task they committed their lives too. One must wonder; if they had taken a more open, non Orientalist approach, would they have been more successful? 1 Said, Edward W. Orientalism. (New York: First Vintage Books Edition, October 1979.), 2. 2 Ibid, 3. 3 Ibid, 33. 4 Ibid, 33-36. 5 Ibid, 83. 6 Manikam, Rajah B. Christianity and the Asian Revolution. (New York: Friendship Press, 1954) 185. 7 Spence, 73-75. 8 Ching, Julia. Confucianism and Christianity. (Tokyo: Kodansha International, 1977) 10. 9 Hellyer, Robert. Lecture. â€Å"The Jesuits in Asia.† Allegheny College. Meadville, Pa. 11 February 2002. 10 Spence, Jonathan D. The Memory Palace of Matteo Ricci. (New York: Penguin Books, 1985.) 2-5 11 Ibid, 210. 12 Ibid, 219. 13 Ibid, 224. 14 Ibid, 252. 15 Ibid, 208. 16 Ibid, 226. 17 Ibid, 2-5. 18 Ibid, 217. 19 Elisonas, â€Å"Christianity and the Daimyo,† (Cambridge History of Japan, volume 4, 301-372.) 307-310. 20 Ibid, 311. 21 Ibid, 312. 22 Ibid, 323. 23 Ibid, 309. 24 Spence, 224.

Short essay about racism Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Short about racism - Essay Example In context of history the factor of racism was the major force behind the slave trade. The racial segregation was observed in the nineteenth as well as in the twentieth century in USA and also in South Africa. Racism can be considered to be a belief through which one individual is considered to be inferior or superior to other. Through this concept moral and social traits of an individual is ignored and more focus is on the biological characteristics of the person. Racism gives birth to hatred towards another individual and is a kind of belief that states that one person is inferior to another in terms of skin color, birth place, language customs or any such kind of factor that highlights the nature of an individual. The concept of racism can be well determined on basis of two elements such as power and prejudice. This is simply because if there is no support in terms of economical or political power then such a prejudice would not be able to survive as a social, cultural or institutional phenomenon. 1The major question for this thesis would be to â€Å"state the historical origin of racism and to reflect on the path that is how the concept of racism has changed over time†. The ent ire discussion would be centered towards these two elements to highlight the basic approach of racism. The concept of racism had gained its importance way back during the time of African slavery. Throughout the history there have been many individuals who were enslaved though there was no such imposition in context of racial ideology. During the 17th century the scenario in America was completely different before there was any such law that was formulated legitimizing the concept of slavery of Africans. The first major group who the Englishmen treated as slaves were the Irish people, there was some form of hostile relations between the two since the period of time century. Majority of the English people has formulated law in

Genetic Pedigree Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Genetic Pedigree - Essay Example 1 Extensive study of the concept of family health Detailed study of families theories of family health Determinants of family health Trends in family health Hereditary diseases 2 Preparation of family assessment model Structural dimension 3 Family assessment model Functional dimension 4 Study of the genogram Practical development of genograms 5 Construction of a genogram( select a given family and extensively studies the family traits and constructs a genogram) Assignment(genogram assignment ) 6 Select a patient and study his/her genogram Patient education (introduction) 7 Select a patient and study his/her genogram Patient education (detailed study) 8 Study of family economics and how it affects the health of members. Study of violence and wants leads to family violence. Study of divorce and factors leading to divorce and separation. Study of major influences family health Economics Violence on family members Divorce and separation 9 Study of the relation of mental illness, depression, stress and how they are affect family members. Study of how these diseases are hereditary. Study of major influences family health ( Continuation) Drug and abuse of other substances Mental illness Depression Low esteem 10 Study of the relation of the major acute and chronic illness and how these diseases are hereditary.( Wright, 2005) Study of major influences of family health Acute illness Chronic illness Stress Loss of a loved one leading to depression 11 Look at ways of promoting different safe and medically sound techniques of preventing the occurrence of the hereditable diseases especially where the genogram shows the possibility of these diseases occurring Ways of preventing occurrence of diseases affecting the family... Diabetes is a disease characterized by the disordered metabolism resulting from a combination of environment and hereditary causes. Due to these factors, the patient suffers from an abnormally high blood sugar. This is referred to as hyperglycemia. The control of blood sugar in the body is controlled by the insulin hormone and other chemicals. Diabetes results when the body produces less insulin. The common symptoms of diabetes include excessive production of urine, excessive fluid intake, weight loss, blurred vision and lethargy. One common treatment of diabetes is the administration of insulin to the patient; this method has been used since 1921. However, this treatment results to very many and acute complication such as ketoacidosis, coma, hypoglycemia, cardiovascular disease, renal and retinal failure. Due to these complication alternative methods of curing and suppressing the effects of diabetes have been developed; these include;1) Removing carbohydrates from the dietCarbohydra tes when digested are converted into sugars, excessive sugar resulting from these carbohydrates will require insulin to regulate the blood sugar, elimination of blood sugars thus reduce the effects of insulin lack for a diabetic person.2) ExercisesPerforming physical exercises such as walking reduces the effects of diabetes on the patient. 3) Increasing water intake and eliminating the sugars Eliminating of foods containing sugars and sweeteners also reduce the effects of diabetes on the patient.

My Past, Present, and Future Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

My Past, Present, and Future - Essay Example In order to excel in life one must learn to amalgamate his past with his present so as to have a better future. Remembering the past is a good practice which helps an individual to learn from his mistakes. It is here in this essay that I would put forward my experiences from the past and elaborate as to how these experiences changed my present. Further, everyone has goals in life which they want to attain and my goals would be mentioned here. Beginning from my very early life I learned quite a few things about my family which revolved around the caring nature of my parents. Their caring nature helped me to adjust with many problems of life and it is because of them that I was able to live a life of a normal person. I still remember specific events that took place in my childhood which revolve around my upbringing. This essay would provide all the details about my present, past and future. My Past Present and Future The story of my life begins from my childhood when I was born in a fa mily which belonged to the middle class society. My past is a simple book which revolved around me and my brother who is younger than me. My father belonged to a military background and from the very beginning I saw him in an army dress. It was in my childhood that I developed some interest in the military operations. My parents belonged to two different back grounds. My father was of a African descent whereas my mother was a Hispanic. We lived together as a happy family without facing any sort of family problems. My childhood was a simple one and I only remember specific events that used to take place almost daily in my life. Visiting church was a tradition for our family and I accompanied my parents to the church on every Sunday. My father loved fishing and every now and then he took me to a trip of fishing with him. Altogether I grabbed the skills of fishing through my father who was an excellent fisher. As my father belonged to a military background we had to go through many res huffles in our settlement. We moved through countries after countries because of my father’s transfer in military. It was through these trips that I was able to learn about different cultures. I grasped the skills of diversity and how to handle different situations with different people. My brother at that time did not get along with me well and hence we ended up fighting each other at most instances. However gradually with time we have realized each other’s worth and we love each other till date. Belonging to a middle class family of this sort I never realized the importance of education. If I strived for education at the right moment I could have achieved a better job than I am currently working at. Plato described education in the following strong words â€Å"If a man neglects education, he walks lame to the end of his life† (Freccero & Jacoff 1986) While working in military I still ponder on the words of Plato and wonder if I could rewind my life. As I did n ot pay much heed to studies in life I coped up with the burden of life by adapting to different jobs. In order to cope up with my financial crisis I first worked as a waiter in a fast food restaurant. The experience was not something to be proud of as all day it required work with much less respect in return. The job did not have much returns and I finally decided to leave it to find a better future. It was here that I looked forward to driving for a

Critical Analysis of Andre Dubu's The Curse Essay

Critical Analysis of Andre Dubu's The Curse - Essay Example However, he continues to be remorseful and is overcome by self-doubt. He keeps thinking that he should have done something to stop the rape. His words, â€Å"I should have stopped it. I think I could have stopped it† highlight his feelings at that time. The central idea of the story is that man himself has to define what is right and honorable. One cannot always make the right choice between right and wrong. Sometimes one ends up making a safe decision in the name of right decision and this choice may become difficult to live with. This is exactly what happens to Mitchell in this story. The story revolves round the struggle the hero goes through as he tries to perceive the difference between doing the right thing, not being able to do the right thing and not doing anything. Andre Dubus uses an unconventional plot and places his characters in real life situations to explore his theme.. In this story like many of his other stories all his characters are well-meaning characters. They face situations that challenge their beliefs and face ethical questions such as self-interest, duty, truth, etc. The main character of the story is Mitchell. The story revolves around him and at the end of the story he is transformed from a carefree man into a man consumed by remorse and guilt. He feels old at the end of it all. Dubus describes his condition thus: â€Å"He did not know what it was like to be very old †¦ but he assumed it was like this: fatigue beyond relieving by rest, by sleep.† (Andre Dubus). Was Mitchell right in not doing anything? There are many factors to be taken into consideration if one had to decide whether Mitchell was right or wrong in not doing anything to stop the rape. Factors such as moral values of a person, the element of risk an d one’s natural instincts have to be considered. But in the end it is the given situation which determines how we act. In Mitchell’s case the situation was such that "doing the right

The Controversial Stem Cell Issue Personal Statement

The Controversial Stem Cell Issue - Personal Statement Example There are four kinds of stem cell research that doctors have been focusing their study on. These are stem cells, embryonic stem cells, therapeutic, and non-therapeutic cloning. Embryonic stem cells are the ones that come from a group of cells which are called the inner cell mass and are part of the early embryo called the blastocyst. Once this is removed from the blastocyst, the cells of the inner cell mass are cultured into embryonic stem cells. Thus, it is safe to say that these cells develop a culture that is different from that in the developing embryo (NIH Stem Cell Information Home Page, n.d). On the other hand, therapeutic stem cells are those that can serve as vehicles for effective treatment of certain diseases such as tumors and cancers while non-therapeutic cloning is the duplication of cells that are not done for therapeutic reasons (National Center for Biotechnology Information, n.d). During stem cell research it is definitely not a matter of whether it can do any good, focus should be more on how many pros it has over the cons. Based on the speech that President Bush has given on calling senate to back human cloning ban, there was the stand on taking much benefit of modern medicine without having to crush ethical principles. Speaking of stem cell research which would involve cracking human genetic code for important advances in science to fight diseases such as Cancer, AIDS, diabetes, Parkinson’s disease, and Alzheimer’s disease, there arises a big issue where human dignity is always abused. This is because of the fact that stem cell research would require human cloning which is the production of individuals who are genetically identical to another human being, wherein the process would slowly crush ethical principles in protecting human dignity. How? Well, cloning is achieved by putting the genetic material from a donor into a woman’s egg which had its nucleus removed. The result of that is the cloned embryo who is an identic al copy of the donor only. Though some scientists perform this experiment on animals, others have announced to produce cloned children despite the fact that this can lead to terrible abortions and abnormalities (President Bush Calls on Senate to Back Human Cloning Ban, 2002). Though we cannot harbor the fact that stem cell research have great possibilities of being able to cure the longest and most costly treatment of sicknesses, we could say that this probability is still of speculation today. Also, if research and the use of stem cell research gets a lot better and actually gives great results in curing those who are sick, one thing is for sure, which is the fact that in doing so, one would always sacrifice the human dignity of people. This is because of the fact that if more and more people get cured through stem cell cloning, there would definitely be more demand on eggs and egg donors, thus, the exploitation of women’s bodies which is a clear form of damage to human dign ity would thrive. Aside from that, women now would be treated as a commodity while children would be born fitting into certain specifications with no room for imperfections. Thinking about this based on logos, ethos, and pathos point of views, one would clearly see that stem cell research should be banned as it is even clearly stated in medical ethics that no human life should be exploited for

Ratios Tell A story assignment Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Ratios Tell A story assignment - Essay Example However, it is very difficult for one to examine the whole financial statements of a company. Ratio analysis makes it easier for everyone to understand the profitability, solvency, and efficiency position of the firm. Ratio Analysis is a tool used for quantitative analysis of the information from the financial statement of a company. In spite of the advantages, ratio analysis has several drawbacks too. It consider only historical data, the future performance of the company cannot be predicted. It helps to evaluate firm’s financial status on the basis of past and present financial data of a company. In this study, comparisons of ratios have been made on different companies according to their financial indicators. A ratio analysis has been conducted to compare the profitability, solvency and efficiency of Wal-Mart and Safeway. Ratio analysis helps to effective analysis of the financial statement. The financial status of the companies can be easily understood by the help of the r atio analysis. Safeway vs. Wal-Mart Safeway Inc is a supermarket whereas Wal-Mart is general merchandise. Wal-Mart can also be classified as hypermarket. Hypermarkets are similar to big-box stores. The business of hypermarket is decisive on high volume, and low margin of sales. Wal-Mart is a typical supercenter covers around 150,000 square feet to 235,000 square feet area. It is the combination of supermarket and departmental stores, mainly situated in suburban or out of town locations. More than 2 lac brands can found here. Whereas Supermarket is a store based upon self service. It presents a huge range of food and household merchandise, divided into sectors. The range of foods and products are limited here rather than supermarket. There is a huge difference between the inventories of these two companies. It is because Wal-Mart sells more than 2 lac of different type of products whereas Safeway is limited with its narrow range of food and household products. Net PP&E are almost sam e (60%) in case of both the companies, because both of them are involved in retail business. The cash of Safeway is also less than Wal-Mart is due to the size of the business. Wal-Mart is more capable of generating cash in a higher volume to its variety of products. Adobe vs. Hewlett-Packard Adobe Systems Inc. is a software development company and Hewlett-Packard Company is a computer manufacturing company. In a computer manufacturing company, heavy processes are driven for manufacturing new products. The workers are needed to perform a specific task. After the completion of one task the next task can be performed by the next worker. A software development company includes research, development of new product, prototyping, modification, reuse, re-engineering, and maintains of other activities. Hewlett is having fixed assets near about 2 times higher than Adobe. As Hewlett is a manufacturing company it needs more instruments and equipments than Adobe. In case of both short term and L ong term debt, Adobe has none of these two because it is a service based company. It does not need extra money to run its business. In case of Hewlett the value of both short term and long term debt is higher. As the company runs factories, it needs money from outside to run its business. Amazon vs. Consolidated Edison, INC Amazon.Com is an internet retailer and Edison Inc has its business on electric utility. When a

HOUSE OF THE SLEEPING BEAUTIES by Kawabata. Do you agree with Eguchi Essay

HOUSE OF THE SLEEPING BEAUTIES by Kawabata. Do you agree with Eguchi that sex and death are related - Essay Example This could be said either to be true just of this book or also of real life. It is a given that all things are related somehow. This can be looked at from an elemental standpoint. Fundamentally, humans are primally focused on the will to survive and avoid death as well as the will to attain sexual gratification from another individual. Death is something so organic in nature. It returns human bodies to a carbonic state and ends a cycle. Sex is certainly a natural and universal motivator, that it only makes sense to see a link between the two most natural and unavoidable acts a human will engage in. No one is free from impending death or an end at some point in there life whereas sex can be a beginning or a place of origin. We are born as a result of sex in most cases and then return to the earth via death. This is a basic and certain connection between sex and d death. Kawabata is known for his strange parallels between the things which we may consider to be dark such as death and sadness; and things which we may consider to be good such as beauty and sex. These parallels are acceptable because Kawabata is capable of bringing the two opposites together onto a common plane. In the case of this particular work by Kawabata, Eguchi is a character who finds himself in the house of the sleeping beauties which is essentially a bordello that offers a night‘s sleep with heavily sedated women who almost appear to be corpses. This is the direct link to the connection between sex and death which essentially meets one with the other in a halfway point of necrophilia. Eguchiis damaged due to the death of his wife and therefore seems to have a fixation on the issue of death and women as they converge. This house of â€Å"sleeping beauties† seems to give the impression that men might find this the most ideal situation regarding a relationship with a woman or a sense of companionship, since the women are essentially in a

Spaghetti Western and the role of music in the revival of the western Essay

Spaghetti Western and the role of music in the revival of the western genre - Essay Example During this time, there was a division with Western genres, specifically with many who were interested in the genre because it was a part of their roots and upbringing. Others didn’t like the music as a main part of listening because of the other available alternatives that were available. This caused the genre of Western music to become specialized and to create divisions within society, specifically based on identity and what was considered as acceptable for listening. The identity was then based on those who lived in urban areas, lived with specific ideologies and which connected to different trends. This marginalization led to the country music filtering only to those who were interested in the lifestyle and which were interested in concepts such as the barn dance and country living (Tichi 1994: p. 9). The concept of country music is one which is reflective of the overall ideology of the Western genre and what it stood for before the Spaghetti Westerns. The identity which was used with the music as well as the understanding of what it meant to be a part of the Wild West and the western culture were all depictive of those living in the wild or on farms and working through the difficulties that were a part of this. It was from these characteristics that the Spaghetti Western began to gain its values and to understand the overall culture which became the Western genre used both in movies and in other forms of expression in the mainstream culture. History of Spaghetti Westerns The concept of country Western music didn’t move into a popular genre until there was revitalization in the late 1960s and 1970s. This was based on other aspects of the genre, specifically which were... This "Spaghetti Western and the role of music in the revival of the western genre" outlines the historical aspects of western music and the concept of the Spaghetti Western. The concept of country Western music didn’t move into a popular genre until there was revitalization in the late 1960s and 1970s. This was based on other aspects of the genre. The 1960s and 1970s flourished with this concept specifically with the genre of westerns in film and the use of different ideologies which were based on the Western. The context which was used included those who had built American history, settled the West and which continued to live in difficulty to make history and to create a future for those interested in the culture. The idolization of the West not only led into a reminiscence of history but also was based on other cultures looking at the Western to show the attitudes and myths that were a part of settling the West. The European reflection of this was seen in the Spaghetti Weste rn, named after the Italian directors that were interested in creating the genre of film (Frayling: 2006: p. 13). The main ideology that was created with the Spaghetti Western was to understand and explore the culture which had framed America and which continued to shape the identities of the Americans. Synchronization and dubbing for country – specific concepts were used in this. The synchronization was inclusive of changing the setting to a Western region, including the identity of cowboys and changing the voices to the Western style of speaking.

The BAd Effects Of Alcohol Essay Example for Free

The BAd Effects Of Alcohol Essay Alcohol is harmless when not drinking in mass quantities, even it helps body in some cases, for example wine protects people from heart attacks. However, if you get used to drink alcohol, you can easily abuse. Alcoholism happens when someone engages in frequent alcohol abuse. As time goes on, alcohol starts to alter chemical makeup of brain, resulting in user to depend on alcohol so as to feel good. In the end, their body starts to crave alcohol in order to function properly and alcoholism comes to person with many damages. An addiction to alcohol can have destructive and irreversible effects on a persons health which we can classify as physical, psychological and economic. The initial effects of alcoholism are the physical ones. These are the most important, because these can bring about your death. For instance, alcohol abuse affects the nervous system and then lead to permanent brain illnesses which are dementia and Alzheimer. Furthermore, an abuse of alcohol over a number of years has been linked to developing cancers such as liver, colon, throat and breast cancer. Besides, alcohol is a toxin which affects all body cells and tissues. According to the Jerry Kennard from Mens Health, uncontrollable drinking gives rise to crucial health difficulties (1996). Also Jerry Kennard stated that â€Å"Each year more than 100. 000 Americans die of alcohol-related causes. † (1996). All these physical effects make your life expectancy decrease and cause your premature death. The second results caused by alcoholism are psychological. At first alcohol makes you feel relaxed, but if you keep drinking more and more times, it increases anxiety and causes Oner, Page 2 depression. It also changes your behaviors and you may have some complications with your family and social circle. For example, a drunk man may use violence to even his wife or daughter due to have a blackout which is caused from alcohol. In short, just for pleasure which lasts for a short time, you may lose your family and your good friends forever. The last consequences of alcoholism are economic. Alcohol is not cheap and when people are drunk, they do not care about money which is paid for alcohol or another things. As a result, they do not have enough money for their major necessities. According to Shane Hall, eHow contributor, overindulgence drinking and alcoholism cost community billions each year and this includes the cure payments, prices to get rid of illegal situations and becoming unable to work which results from alcohol-related ailments and in the end untimely death. Thus, alcoholism not only causes your death, but also may result in lost all your wealth which you can leave an inheritance to new generations. In conclusion, the effects of alcoholism which are physical, psychological and economic can bring about many problems that influence your life in all aspects. Alcohol alters your brain, muscles, cardiovasculer system, sexual conditions, digestion process and other disorders that affect your health. In addition it can cause your suicide owing to the depression and other brain damages. Besides, it will leave you in pennilessness, because it costs a lot. Finally, there is no reason to drink alcohol in excess, we can drink just a glass of wine and enjoy it!

Health Dangers of Cell Phones and Ethical Selling

Health Dangers of Cell Phones and Ethical Selling Karabo Dhlamini Table of Contents Research Question Introduction Hypothesis Definition of Electromagnetic radiation Definition of Concept Advantages of Mobile Phones Disadvantages of Mobile Phones Conclusion Glossary Bibliography Acknowledgements No table of figures entries found. Research Question In conjunction with the various health issues associated with society and its use of mobile phones, is it ethical for retailers to sell this device without informing the consumer about the dangers? Introduction One of the most influential innovations of the 20th century is undoubtedly the science of technology; people have become dependent on Information Communication Technology to the point that our ability and progress is stagnant without it. The demand put on the population to have sufficient knowledge of ICT is so high that one cannot hold a profession or even be successful throughout their education. Now the most prevalent form of technology that influences our lives immensely is the mobile phone. Unfortunately the Information Communication Technology Industry is becoming widely known for perpetuating this product without informing the receivers about the adverse effects associated with its use. Mobile phones are purchased everyday from common day to day destinations and with the excessive purchasing of this product, misinformation can therefore come across as negatively influencing the moral barrier between the consumer and seller. (RUTKAUSKIENE, Danguole et al., 2011) (FUNWORKS, 2013) Hypothesis The effect that mobile devices have on the users health is measured to a miniscule magnitude. In that result, it is unnecessary for the mobile technology industry to make provision for cautioning users about these effects and therefore dispelling it of a moral issue. Definition of Electromagnetic radiation Electromagnetic radiation are harmful and harmless waves consisting electrically charged particles, their harmful nature is all dependant on the lengths of the wave's wavelength, the shorter the wavelength the more harmful the radiation is towards materials. (ANNE MARIE HELMENSTINE, Ph.D.) Definition of Concept Due to mobile technologies prevalence in human life, discoveries have been found that associate the device with the ability to cause harmful electromagnetic radiation. The transmission of radiation is somewhat miniscule but the real issue is derived from people's excessive use of the device. Mobile phone's transmit radio waves via base stations which in turn create radiofrequency waves that are electromagnetic. These waves cannot restructure chemical bonds within the human anatomy. Whether you are calling or just texting, when the mobile phone is on you are being exposed to radiofrequencies. Now if you are less than twenty centimetres away from your phone you are unfortunately in the vicinity of being exposed to radiation. Accounting to the morality of this issue, not being informed that you are in fact being harmed can raise some concern but the reality is that the scale at which you are being harmed can be considered insignificant. (BORRELI, Lizette, 2013) (MANN, Marion, 2013) Advantages of Mobile Phones Mobile phones have the ability to provide us with opportunities and most of all ease of access to technology. Ease of access refers to people's ability to reach data very quickly which might take hours to find through books and articles; the other reference is our ability to reach one another within minutes just by using the mobile phone's technology such as calling, blogging, texting and even video calling. The next aspect of mobile technology that makes it such an imperative part of our lives its user experience. The fact that no training or courses are necessary for someone to be able to use a mobile phone makes it very convenient as opposed to desktops which are very complicated. The various single task programs, called 'apps', diversify our personal abilities. People can now do things with their phones that they never expected would be possible. Mobile phone's also provide a user the ability to be always connected. People love communicating and sharing data with one another, now the mobile phone doesn't only provide us that possibility but also enables us to do it from where ever we are located. This skill has attracted several populations towards the product and away from any other previous forms of communication. Mobile technology is technically amazing but it is just as great in social implications. Mobiles can mine data for its user at very high velocities as opposed to their counterparts, books and articles. Due to the speed at which information is received, now people can be sure not to be misinformed about global affairs and other natural activities. Ultimately research is now vastly simpler to search for and therefore the increase in productivity for businesses, schools, and other industries can be promised. (STUDY OPPORTUNITIES INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY, 2014) Disadvantages of Mobile Phones Electromagnetic radiation is one of the biggest challenges that face our population, now with the introduction of radiation in mobile phones, it only makes it a much bigger problem. Brain tumours, genetic damage, short term blood cells, nausea, vomiting and cancer; these are just a few of the effects that people are allowing themselves to be exposed to whenever they are exposed to a significant amount of radiation. Mobile phones are not completely safe and that is the reality but one's safety can be easily rectified by firstly keeping the phone about 20cm away from your body. This distance can also be achieved with the use of headsets which allow a connection with the phone by a few meters. Another prevention strategy is to keep your phone away from your waist due to the radiation exposed to the hip bones which are responsible for 80% of the blood cells formed in the human anatomy. Ultimately the best prevention strategy for radiation exposure from mobile phones is by using it less. The more you use the mobile phone; the more exposure you get to radiation and the more likely you are to inherit cancer or genetic damage. This is not true because the comparison of ultraviolet radiation and radio wave radiation is to Hz and Hz respectively. Radio wave radiation, which is the radiation propagated by mobile phones, is classified as non-ionizing radiation; this type of radiation is known to have a maximum effect of heating on skin but mobile phones don't even transmit enough radiation to have such an effect. Ultraviolet, however, is ionizing radiation and this type of radiation is needed in order to have even the slightest possibility of cancerous symptoms on human beings. (U.S. FOOD AND DRUG ADMINISTRATION, 2009) (VOLKOW ND, Tomasi D, Wang GJ, 2011) (MATTSON, Dr. Barbara, 2014) (KOVACH, Sue, 2007) (RADIATION ANSWERS, 2007) (MATTSON, Dr. Barbara, 2004) Conclusion The prevention strategies in conjunction with the various advantages that mobile technology imposes in society far outweighs the danger of radiation that mobile phone have on its user or society. The extent at which mobile phone's emit harmful radiation is also very insignificant compared to the quantities required to have cancerous effects on the human population. Thus, it is highly unnecessary for the mobile technology industry or retailers to make provision for warning the various mobile phone users and ultimately eliminating the possibility for a moral issue being raised with not informing users about its radioactive dangers. Glossary Bibliography ANNE MARIE HELMENSTINE, Ph.D. Electromagnetic Radiation Definition. [online]. [Accessed 03 Auguat 2014]. Available from World Wide Web: BORRELI, Lizette. 2013. 5 Reasons Why Cellphones Are Bad For Your Health. [online]. [Accessed 03 August 2014]. Available from World Wide Web: FUNWORKS. 2013. Module 2.2 E-Communications. [online]. KOVACH, Sue. 2007. The Hidden Dangers of Cell Phone Radiation. [online]. [Accessed 03 August 2014]. Available from World Wide Web: MANN, Marion. 2013. Optical Properties. In: Mind Action Series Physical Sciences Textbook and Workbook 12, Sanlamhof: ALLCOPY Publishers, pp.105-107. MATTSON, Dr. Barbara. 2004. Imagine the Universe! Dictionary. [online]. [Accessed 04 August 2014]. Available from World Wide Web: MATTSON, Dr. Barbara. 2014. Electromagnetic Spectrum Introduction. [online]. [Accessed 04 August 2014]. Available from World Wide Web: RADIATION ANSWERS. 2007. Effects of Radiation. [online]. [Accessed 03 August 2014]. Available from World Wide Web: RUTKAUSKIENE, Danguole, Daina GUDONIENE, Caroline MICHALAK et al. 2011. ICT and Mobile Technologies in Practise. European Commission. STUDY OPPORTUNITIES INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY. 2014. Module 3.1 ICT and Society. [online]. U.S. FOOD AND DRUG ADMINISTRATION. 2009. Radiation-Emitting Products: Reducing Exposure: Hands-free Kits and Other Accessories. Silver Spring, MD. VOLKOW ND, Tomasi D, Wang GJ. 2011. Effects of cell phone radiofrequency signal exposure on brain glucose metabolism. In: Cell Phones and Radiiofrequency, PubMed Abstract, pp.808-813. Acknowledgements Acknowledgements are sent to my senior phase Physical Science teachers, Mrs Carol Grout and Mrs Ilze de Beer, for the various knowledge accumulated from Optical Properties lessons. Credit also goes to my Information Technology teacher, Mrs Stapelberg, for the eCommunication and various other Information Communication Technology lessons that provided me with the competence to create this research task.

Hyundai Motor Company | Marketing Essay

Hyundai Motor Company | Marketing Essay Established in 1967, Hyundai Motor Company has sustained, grown and become the worlds fourth largest automaker in terms of units sold. Automobile manufacturing industry is in the maturity stage and exposed to a lot of difficulties. To survive and develop, the company needs to identify and develop key factors of success such as innovation, technology development, quality improvement, and customer service; associated with cutting costs and diversify products. Moreover, the company needs to take into account the characteristic of forces driving industry competition on the way to success. To sustain competitive, Hyundai needs to maximize its strengths that include advanced technology, valuable branding experience, qualified labor force, cost efficiency, marketing flexibility and experiences. On the other hand, Hyundai also has to minimize weaknesses that are cultural differences, commodity price risk, late entrant, diversity and currency fluctuation. In addition, there are some opportunities for Hyundai to take advantages consist of new segment of hybrid car, governmental support, buyers emphasis on low cost design, competitors weakness and potential market. While avoid threats that comprise global economic crisis, new entrants, low market growth, environmental requirement and political instability. Hyundai must consider strategy for short, intermediate and long term. Firstly, to minimize adverse impact of global economic crisis, company should reduce costs expenses. Secondly, Hyundai should take advantage of core strengths as advanced technology such as eco-friendly energy to comply with environmental issues. Lastly, the company should target into potential markets from developing countries. In addition, it is important to improve the structure, system and policy. Continuous decentralization of management structures and the strategy of diversification should be applied associated with new system to enhance the availability of back-end data, improving customer service and lowered system management costs. Finally, hiring policy and global environmental management policy should be applied to bring Hyundai to success. (309 words) Brief of company: Since its establishment in 1967, Hyundai Motor Company has grown into one of Koreas most recognizable and trusted firms. Today, Hyundai stand the worlds fourth largest automaker in terms of units sold and one of the Big Asian. Hyundai Motor is operating globally and provides diverse product portfolio supported by its 6,000 sales points and 23 overseas manufacturing plants and distributors in 180 countries worldwide. The total revenue of company has recorded as 31 December 2008 is US$35,053,637 thousand and return on investment is 3.38%. Reason for selecting: From the beginning to recent time, Hyundai has made significant inroads in building its brand from the Worst Car Ever Made to a 72nd ranking in the 2007 Best Global Brand survey. Public perception of the Hyundai brand has been transformed as a result of dramatic improvements in the quality of Hyundai vehicles which are sold with reasonable price. While others competitors are facing with losses and struggling with economic downturn, Hyundai still make profit and has come up impressively as a phenomenon in automobile industry. Main strategic issues facing the company: Coping with climate change and complying with regulations on CO2 emissions. Decreasing environmental impact and promoting recycling. Difficult economic environment that restricts number of car consumers and high oil prices. Companys contribution to the National Economy: As of December 2008, automobile industry which is vital to Korean manufacturing industry, accounted for 14.4% in production, 13.4% in export, and 14.3% in employment. Hyundai has created 56,204 employees in South Korea and contribute about 70% to Korean automobile industry and 5.4 % to Koreas GDP. Companys contribution to the regional economy: There are 22,066 overseas employees under Hyundai Motor Company, comprise of 6,956 employees in North America, 5,101 employees in China, 5,457 employees in India, 4,694 employees in Europe and 218 in other countries. Recent strategic dilemma: In applying of Blue Strategy, some of its eco-friendly cars were developed to meet environmental regulations set by European Union, the performance of vehicle is meant to deteriorate when he carbon dioxide emission is reduced, it lessen Hyundais products competitiveness as compared to its rivals. Recent strategic choice: Hyundai is taking approach toward increasing quantitative growth through global in combination with quality and brand management to enhance global competitiveness and further raising sales results. Hyundai applies strategy of Green Management by plan of Blue Drive as the key toward sustainability approach and to comply with regulation on emission issue. Source of Information on Company Hyundai Motor Annual Report http://worldwide.hyundai.com/ (375 Words) Industry life cycle Time Automobile manufacturing industry Industry output Introduction Growth Maturity Decline Automobile manufacturing industry is in the maturity stage of the industry life cycle. In this period, the industry does not grow as much as last 5 or 6 years. The market is very competitive, many manufacturer offering their products, the producers continue with the product differentiation in many segments and hence, the market result in saturation with many manufacturers offering many models of the product. In this stage, only the best efficient and effective company survives. There are about 806 million cars and light truck on the road in 2007, the number is increasing rapidly especially in China and India. The biggest market currently is in North America which is about 250 million vehicles, following are Asia and Europe market. In 2009, with stable economic growth, China is going to become the largest automobile producer and market in the world. The automobile industry crisis and oil shock in 2008 is a part of global financial recession. It affected Asian and Europe automobile manufacturers but it is primarily felt in American automobile manufacturing industry. With rapidly rising oil price, automobile industry is experiencing high pricing pressure from raw material costs and changes in consumer buying habits. Also, there is an increase in external competition from public transport sectors and consumers are re-evaluating their private vehicle usage. Moreover, the social expectation and related concerns regarding carbon emissions had lead to the restricted standard setting that automakers have to be fulfil in order to penetrate into these high requirement markets. In addition, customers now are seeking a car with higher quality demand, more functional and price is crucial factor. In combination with the challenging economic environment, the companies strategy has to be more effective, innovative, cost reduction as well as making product differentiation and improve customer services. Also, automobile companies have to implement more creative marketing strategies to lure consumers as most of them are experienced decline in sales.The response to climate change may have a greater impact on the automobile manufacturing industry than all the other factors. It leads automaker to develop toward green technology and alternative fuel and material to lessen impact of automobile industry to environment. Key factors of success (KFS) The factors listed above are some of the most important factors that company needs to achieve in order to be successful in the industry. Nowadays, Toyota is the most successful company in automobile industry because they achieve key factors successfully. Among all factors, innovation is the most important factor contributes to the success of company. In contrast, Nissan had average performance. Hyundai is in the middle, growing stably and strikingly. As we see from above, the total weighted score of Toyota is highest, following is Hyundai then Nissan. Among all of the factors, technology is the most important as automobile industry is under pressure of high competition and the issue of climate change. Technology is not simply satisfying customers with a simple car, it need to bring a car with more functions, more model and technological. Also, technology needs to enable the company to develop car in combination with new material and fuel. Leading technology with above average rating of 4.5 enables Toyota to be more successful than Hyundai and Nissan. Innovation is second important factor that lead to the success of company. As customers concern more about the appearance of the car, more innovative is needed. New models are required to have more impressive design and that will help company to gain market share and increasing sales value. In term of innovation, Hyundai has launch new models with remarkable improvement of design that is more attractive to the customers over the past few years. It helps Hyundai gaining more market share in compare with less innovative Toyota and Nissan. So the company need to keep up this advantage, more skilled workers are needed and necessitate of a breakthrough idea. In addition, Quality and safety is one of important factor that customers always bear in mind when making buying decision. Hyundai has done it well since the past few years. They receive good signs from customers perception of companys brand that is improvement of quality safety. Price is crucial factor; an impressive design only attracts customers if it comes with reasonable price. Thereby, company always need to develop strategy toward cost reduction. Company should have diversity of product to compete with others and to enjoy economy of scale and scope. To be more successful in improving brand of company, not only design, quality and price but also customer service needs to get betters. Customers want a good after-sale service that they can rely on. Company has to take these factors as a basis in combination with economic situation to develop suitable strategy in order to grow successfully and stably. Threat of new entrants: Sluggish state of economy Requirement of high RD and fixed cost Difficulty in accessing to distribution channels Few newer with low competition Relative power of other stakeholder Internal stakeholders: shareholders, management, employees and creditors External stakeholders: government, partner firms, clients and potential investor Provide feedbacks opinion Force Driving Industry Competition Suppliers Other stakeholders Buyers Substitutes Industry competitors Rivalry among existing firm Rivalry among existing firm Rivalry among existing firm: Highly competitive of technologies, costs and services High number of competitors Diversity of products Slow growth, high fixed cost Threat of substitute: The cost of automobiles and environmental issues lead to many transportation options Bargaining power of buyers: Price sensitive Require improvement of quality. Nice design better service requirement Impact of cars to health and environment Need for alternative fuel Potential Entrants Bargaining power of suppliers: The automobile supply business is quite fragmented Suppliers have little responsibility Rivalry among existing firms (High) Hyundai dominates the Korean automobile market and has low domestic rivalry. However, in global competition, rivalry among existing firms is high. Rival companies compete on prices, quality and customer service; a company watches very carefully every movement of rivals in order to adapt appropriately. There are high numbers of competitors and they diversify into many market segments. Company earns lower profit when cost of competition is high. To be more successful, Hyundai has to keep working their competitive advantages, launching strategy to reduce cost, better service to suit with this sluggish economic condition, keeping up with developing of new design, quality and especially looking answer for technology toward Green Environment that I predict it will be a crucial factor in near future. Threat of new entrants (Low) Automobile industry is highly capital and labour intensive, it require very high fixed cost as well as RD, so threat of new entrants is low. It is not easy to enter automobile industry and it is harder since the economy downturn is happened that decrease the demand of customer. Brand loyalty of customer is also an obstacle; there are wide choices for customer. Moreover, the requirement of innovation, technology and product diversification makes it more difficult to enter the market. Established in 1967, Hyundai has a long time experience and enjoying benefit of economies of scale through operation all over the world so new entrants are not a pressure for a company. Bargaining power of buyers (High) The bargaining power of buyers is high. The manufacturers depend on them to stay in business. Buyers purchase a significant proportion of output. If manufacturers cannot keep their buyers satisfied then they will lose their buyers to competitors. Nowadays, there are various brand and models that buyers can choose, buyers have many choices so that their requirements are high. The factors that affect buyers to make buying decision are: the design, quality, price and environmental effect. Especially, current time is under economic recession and climate change issues, decrease in buyers demand and their consideration of impact on environment creates more pressure on company. Threat of substitute products or services (Low) It is true that there are many of transportation that can be a substitution of an automobile such as bus, train, bicycle, motorbike, etc. Substitute products depend on geographical location. In some cities such as Singapore, New York, having a car is not necessary because those cities has good infrastructure of public transportation and there are policy to reduce number of car in order to reduce heavy traffic, avoid traffic jam and protect environment. However, the need of automobile is always great. Developing countries are potential market and the need in those countries is getting greater. Bargaining power of suppliers (Low) Hyundai had a good supply chain management system and had long relationship with suppliers. Suppliers have little power in automobile industry because there are numerous component suppliers that help company to avoid shortage of material and selecting suppliers with lower cost. Automobile companies work to maintain cost strategies so that suppliers must compete on price with one another to acquire contracts with them. Since it is very competitive among number of suppliers, an automobile company could easily switch to other supplier along with high requirement of price and quality. Relative power of other stakeholders (Medium) The internal stakeholders of Hyundai include the shareholders, management, employees and creditors. The external stakeholder of the company is the government, partner firms, clients and potential investors. Internal stakeholders help company to apply strategy in proper way while external stakeholders helping with feedbacks, opinions and require responsibility of company. As the company is very large, it has great effects to stakeholders. In response to them, company develops strategy of Blue Drive that represents commitment to develop environmental-friendly vehicle along with enhancing basic features of products. Internal Factor Analysis Summary (IFAS Table) Strengths Hyundai has core strength of innovative technology and becomes a leader in developing environment friendly technology to compete in the recent time when the impact of cars to environment are highly concerned and high requirement of buyers on innovation, quality and design. Along with innovative technology, Hyundai is well managed on costs and expenses that enable company to compete on price with its rivals; it is such a significant advantage especially in this economic downturn condition. Qualified labour force helps Hyundai to gain competitive advantage, manage and operate company effectively. Hyundai has strong corporate philosophy that focus on customer first, flexible marketing strategy and rich experience of producing car for export market. Finally, its value of global branding experience is raising that enable Hyundai gaining more market shares. Weaknesses On the other hand, there are some weaknesses that need to be taken into consideration. Drawbacks occur due to differences between national and business cultures. For example, the national culture of Korea is collective while it is highly individualist in America. Hyundai commodity price risks arise from changing price effect of inputs such as steel, glass, plastics and rubber. As a global company, Hyundai is also exposed to the risks related to fluctuations of currencies in countries where company doing manufacture. When making buying decision, customers seek information and feedbacks from previous buyers; late enter into market means lesser information and feedback, hence provide drawback. Finally, Hyundai has limited ability in adding new models in order to diversify products and compete in many automobile segments, especially in luxury automobile segment. External Factor Analysis Summary (EFAS Table): Opportunities Strong research development and advanced technology leading in producing car in hybrid segment enable Hyundai to take advantage to expand market share and gain more profits. As high tax contributor, Hyundai enjoy governmental supported policy in domestic market, thus enjoy less competitiveness from competitors and spreads its wings to enfold domestic market. Sluggish economic condition makes buyers focus more on low cost design in which Hyundai has reputation of improvement of quality design associated with lower cost of products as compare to other competitors. Moreover, crisis of key rival Toyota on quality create big opportunity to Hyundai focusing on quality improvement and reputation. The company should put more emphasis on potential markets from developing countries provide promising opportunity for the company to expand and gaining profit in the future. Threats On the other hand, the company is facing with some threats indicated above. Global economic crisis and oil price shock have adverse impact to automobile manufacturing industry as well as the Hyundai, reducing investment and raising cost of fuel and raw materials. Also, the brake on worldwide auto demand has created low growth market, decrease sales and profits. More pressure of competition when there are some new entrants enter into market, targeting into some specific segments and acquire market share portion. Additionally, environmental requirement puts more pressure to the company to technological change toward eco-friendly energy. Finally, economic implication of political instability increases transaction costs and insurance cost associated with security and flow of capital, goods between many countries. Strategic Factor Analysis Summary (SFAS) Matrix: Short term The global economic crisis and oil shock affect the company in short term. It put brakes on automobile demand, increasing cost of fuel and raw materials, reducing investment and RD cost while putting pressure on cutting price of products hence require strategy of the company toward reducing operating expenses and workforce. In this situation, well manage costs and expenses become the core strength of Hyundai in competing with other competitors and attracting more customers. In addition, the crisis of key competitor as broken top-quality image creates opportunity to Hyundai by launching campaign focusing more on quality improvement, gaining reputation and boost sales value. Intermediate term Hyundai can take advantage of advanced technology in intermediate term as well as in the long term. Advanced technology is core competency of company to compete on quality and functions of products that are more interested from customers nowadays. Late enter into automobile manufacturing industry making less information and feedbacks of Hyundai products so that the company need to launch strategy of marketing brand value, raising level of perception of customers. Furthermore, potential markets from developing countries should be considered and prepared in intermediate term in order to expand business and gain market share. Long term Environmental effect is the most concern of all people and society and it affects all industry, not just automobile manufacturing industry. Therefore, advanced technology toward eco-friendly energy is the most concern of the company in long term as well. Not only improving quality, design and function of products but also company needs to put more emphasis on reducing impact of car to environment as a means of sharpening its competitive advantage. Moreover, the company should be able to create more new models to compete with competitors especially in luxury and hybrid car segments which are less competitive areas but very profitable areas. Similarly, targeting into potential market from developing countries should be considered for long term strategies as they have such a lot of potential demands and providing valuable source of profitability. TOWS Matrix Internal Factors External (IFAS) Factors (EFAS) Strengths (S) S1 Advanced technology S2 Branding experience S3 Qualified labour force S4 Cost efficiency S5 Flexibility marketing experiences Weaknesses (W) W1 Cultural difference W2 Commodity price risk W3 Late entrant W4 Diversity W5 Currency fluctuation Opportunities (O) O1 Hybrid car segment O2 Governmental support O3 High emphasis of buyers on low cost design O4 Competitors weakness O5 Potential market from developing countries SO strategies Focus on research and development Build up strong brand image. Expand business to potential market WO strategies Set up more distribution channels plants Globalization Innovative products Threats (T) T1 Global economic crisis T2 New entrants T3 Low market growth T4 Environmental requirement T5 Political instability ST strategies Use eco-friendly fuel Cutting costs expenses Focus on marketing and public relation WT strategies Increase advertisement Reduce ineffective distributor to minimize costs Improve market research SO strategies To strengthen companys survival ability, company need to use its own strengths to take advantages of opportunities. Firstly, Hyundai should focus on research and development to reach out the potential hybrid car segment trend by taking advantages of its own advanced technology. Furthermore, Hyundai needs to know the competitors and how they operate, as well as exploit their weakness. For example, exploit weakness of Toyota that has been facing a crisis of quality. With flexibility marketing and organisational experience, Hyundai may identify the problems and avoid same mistakes that can be made; hence building up new and strong brand images associated with lower price. With a branding experience and qualified labour force, Hyundai may gain a large market share from these potential markets. WO strategies To take advantages of opportunities to overcome weaknesses, Hyundai can set up more distribution channels and plants in new markets and segments. One of Hyundais weaknesses is the lacking competitiveness in luxury car segment. Thereby, strategy which should be applied here is globalization; they may aim to export their products to developing countries, where customers mostly have an average income that put high emphasis on low price design and willing to purchase an affordable car instead of a luxury car. Moreover, late entrance to the market can be covered by the appearance of innovative products, which are hybrid car segment which Hyundai has focused and developed. ST strategies Company always faces various threats from both internal and external factors. There is a need to cover the threats using companys own strength. Nowadays, environmental requirements from customers are getting higher since they are starting to concern about health care and impact of cars to environment. By using their advanced technology, Hyundai should develop technology toward eco-friendly energy such as bio-diesel, liquefied petroleum gas and electric energy to combine their engines and social expectation. By making advantages of cost efficiency, Hyundai may cover their low market growth; however they have to manage their capital and expenses wisely and effectively. New entrant is always a big threat facing a company. However, by having a good brand experience and flexible marketing, Hyundai can surpass their competitors by focusing on marketing and public relations to gain more market share. WT strategies There are some strategies Hyundai may use to minimize weaknesses and avoid threats. Firstly, global economic crisis has affected many industries and companies, Hyundai is not the exception. Under economic crisis, minimize unnecessary and ineffectively costs plays an important role to maintain company business. At the same time, company should increase advertisements to gain more reputation and build up their brand images. Last but not least, Hyundai should do more market research if they are planning to expand their business to other countries, in order to avoid unwanted political instability and cultural differences. Review of strategic options available to company: There are several strategic options which are currently available for the success of Hyundai. Firstly, Hyundai should focus on short term strategies, such as operational efficiency program and globalization. The company is facing a low market growth compared with their competitors due to late entrant to the market. Hence they need to manage their capital and expenses effectively by cutting all unnecessary costs, operating expenses and other utilities costs. Moreover, globalization strategy should be concerned to gain more market share from potential market in developing countries. However, they need to be aware of the cultural differences and political instabilities which may occur during the plan. On the other hand, Hyundai must concentrate on long term strategies. Nowadays, the hybrid car segment has become the new trend in automobile market. Thus research and development department should be improved to reach the potential market trend, based on its existing advanced technology. From the improvement of RD department, a new innovative product may appear to distinguish Hyundai from other companies. Furthermore, health care and impact of cars to environment are being concerned by customers. Hyundai need to come up with new green and eco-friendly fuel such as bio-diesel, liquefied petroleum gas and electric energy to follow the trend. Recommend for future direction: For future direction, Hyundai should pay attention to improve their brand images, by running more marketing programs such as offering loyal customers reward system and new advertisement campaign. These advertisements should be located at all available media which are being concerned by public, like newspaper, television, radio and over the internet. They need to learn useful strategies from their competitors as well. One way to the success is to increasing more options of products along with improving online ordering services. Hyundai may also offer more options available to customers through online service to maximize their customers satisfaction. Assessment of companys performance: Efficiency Despite sluggish domestic sales amid the global economic downturn, Hyundai Motor expanded its global market share last year and the 2009 net profit was an all-time annual high. Hyundai had achieved 2.96 trillion won ($2.57 billion) in 2009, compared with a net profit of 1.44 trillion won in 2008. In 2009, Hyundai sold a record 3.1 million vehicles, up 11.7 percent from 2008. In 2008, Hyundai has jumped up to fifth in the global standing of the worlds largest automobile manufacturers. However, latest sales figures in 2009 that place Hyundai to the worlds fourth largest automaker in terms of units sold. Effectiveness: Hyundai has implemented many strategies to increase companys effectiveness. Hyundai is seeking reductions of as much as 20% in consideration of supplier, volume and parts involved. The company is cutting costs not only by rationalizing its domestic plants, but also more and more by manufacturing in areas with lower production costs in oversea countries. As a result, company completed a 3 trillion won ($2.2 billion) cost-reduction program in 2008. Possessing about $7.1 billion in assets including Hyundai Motor share, Hyundai is very aggressive in spending as RD and marketing. In general, Hyundai is implementing its strategies effectively. Return on investment: Hyundai has raised its global share in recent years, even as it has maintained a stable position in Korea and well balanced market portfolio and currency settlement. However, in 2009, there are some decreases in term of return on investment due to the negative impacts of sluggish economic condition. Total dividend payout was KRW235.7 billion, down 14.6% from the previous year. However dividend payout level was maintained at the 16%. Hyundai enjoyed a rise in market share as the result of innovative marketing and successful launch of new models. In the first three months, the companys global market share rose to 4.7%, compared to 4% a year earlier. The company is expected to continue its success along with improved performance in key markets. Recommendations for Implementation of Strategies Structure The current economy is under sluggish condition that requires the company to make judgements and a need of improving organizational structure. Companys structure needs to work toward operational efficiency in association with quality and technological improvement. Continuous decentralization of management structures and the strategy of diversification of output helped the company in coping with economic crisis. Hyundai needs to establish RD centres to take advantage of research infrastructure, so that the company can develop its products to satisfy the requirements of the environmental and safety regulations effectively. System Hyundai is multinational automobile manufacturing company; customers demand high-quality, customized services and they also look for different types of information when mak

The American Dream According to John Steinbeck Essays -- Of Mice And Me

John Steinbeck, author of many classic American novels, greatly influenced modern American literature. Steinbeck often referred to the Salinas Valley of California in his writing. He often referred to the settlers and the adversities they had faced during the migration to the Salinas Valley area. With novels such as Of Mice And Men and The Grapes Of Wrath, Steinbeck explained the harsh reality of the severe hardships the settlers faced to accomplish the American Dream. These novels share many similarities in regard to their themes. To understand Steinbeck’s work, we must first understand Steinbeck.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  John Steinbeck was born in Salinas, California in 1902. His father was a treasurer for the county. Steinbeck’s mother was a school teacher. His mother taught him to appreciate books. Steinbeck attended high school locally. During his summers, he worked on ranches and farms to earn money. After high school, he studied marine biology at Stanford University. By the late 1920's, he moved back to California without an academic degree. Steinbeck had never planned to work in the field of his major. He had always known he would be a writer.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  In 1929, now living in the Sierra Nevada mountains, Steinbeck was given an advance from a publisher to write a book. The publisher gave him $250. This book, called Cup Of Gold, failed to make a profit. Steinbeck did not get discouraged. By 1935, he released a novel called Tortilla Flat. This ... The American Dream According to John Steinbeck Essays -- Of Mice And Me John Steinbeck, author of many classic American novels, greatly influenced modern American literature. Steinbeck often referred to the Salinas Valley of California in his writing. He often referred to the settlers and the adversities they had faced during the migration to the Salinas Valley area. With novels such as Of Mice And Men and The Grapes Of Wrath, Steinbeck explained the harsh reality of the severe hardships the settlers faced to accomplish the American Dream. These novels share many similarities in regard to their themes. To understand Steinbeck’s work, we must first understand Steinbeck.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  John Steinbeck was born in Salinas, California in 1902. His father was a treasurer for the county. Steinbeck’s mother was a school teacher. His mother taught him to appreciate books. Steinbeck attended high school locally. During his summers, he worked on ranches and farms to earn money. After high school, he studied marine biology at Stanford University. By the late 1920's, he moved back to California without an academic degree. Steinbeck had never planned to work in the field of his major. He had always known he would be a writer.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  In 1929, now living in the Sierra Nevada mountains, Steinbeck was given an advance from a publisher to write a book. The publisher gave him $250. This book, called Cup Of Gold, failed to make a profit. Steinbeck did not get discouraged. By 1935, he released a novel called Tortilla Flat. This ...

Manipulation In Othello And Dr. Faustus Essay -- essays research paper

The art of deception   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The art of deception many times changes the current conditions or plays a significant role in the end result of literary works. In Othello and The Tragical History of Dr. Faustus shows how deception changes the identity of individuals and the outcome of certain events. There is a juxtaposition between the characters of Iago and Faustus, whom use their human autonomy to manipulate the sequence of events in each work. By deceiving themselves or the characters around them there becomes an absolute play on words and actions, wherein the identity and outcome is strengthened or lost.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Iago wishes to be Othello and this becomes apparent in his discussion regarding Cassio promotion, his social status, and his own identity. Iago seems to deceive himself, by wishing he were Othello and by doing so he almost believes he is Othello. Shakespeare states: â€Å"Were I the Moor I would not be Iago,† begins Iago abolishing his own identify to fulfill his desires to be another person (line 58). Stephen Greenblatt discusses the possible meanings of Iago role-playing briefly in Act 1 and states:   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Were I the Moor, I would not be Iago, because The â€Å"I† always loves itself   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  and the creature I know as Iago hates the Moor he serves or, alternatively,   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  because of the Moor I would be other than I am now, free of tormenting   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  appetite and revulsion that characterize the servant’s relation to his master   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  and that constitutes my identify as Iago. (235-36)   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Iago appears to manipulate his own thoughts regarding Othello and by doing so it directs him as to what identity he holds. By imaging himself as Othello he is able to see the opposing outcomes of himself in regards to Othello, therefore he construct his own identity by furthering his manipulation.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Iago deception is furthered in his conversation with Roderigo and states: â€Å"But I will wear my heart upon my sleeve/For daws to peck at, I am not what I am,† showing he’s not what he appears to be ( line 65-66). Iago’s l... ...eatrical illusions shaped by human subjects† and â€Å"those subjects are themselves fictions, fashioned to reiterate acts of self-naming (218-219). Faustus finds his faults in his deception and states: â€Å"All beast are happy, for when they die/Their souls are soon dissolved in elements, But mine must live still to be plagued in hell†, thus determining his illusion did not bring true gratification (lines 165-7).   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Within Othello and The Tragical History of Dr. Faustus shows were the characters while playing on words and actions have dedicated themselves to play a major role in the outcome. Iago was very consumed in the idea of revenge and wishing to be of higher status, but his involvement made him a subject to the surrendering that is included  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   in his invention. Faustus too is very consumed in the idea of forgetting his own existence and wishing to be of higher power, but it is the very thing that steals away his existence and desire to be in control. Each character while manipulating the events in the works, have deceived not only the other character, but themselves and their quest to find the self.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  

Depression Essay -- essays research papers

One of the most common mental disorders in the world today affecting up to 340 million people worldwide is depression. Imagine the entire student body of Upper Darby High School infected with the exact same disease. Depression is a common but complex disorder diversely affecting a variety of people with a multitude of symptoms. The disorder may be brought into affect due to a large number of causes. What can be done? There are numerous manners in which to treat this disorder spanning from medication to counseling to support groups. Although depression is one of the most treatable mental illnesses in the world, only about one half of all cases of depression are diagnosed and successfully treated.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The most common symptoms of depression include low self-esteem, loss of energy, or lack of interest in activities previously experienced as pleasurable. Sleeping problems have also been associated with depression. A study shows roughly 80% of diseased individuals experience insomnia (depression.com 1). Possible problems may include: difficulty in falling asleep, waking up in the middle of the night with difficulty returning to sleep, waking up too early in the morning, brief periods of REM sleep, unusually long periods of stage 1 (light) sleep, or unusually brief periods of stage 3 and 4 ( deep, restorative) sleep (depression.com 1). Weight and depression are also commonly associated with each other. Many people begin loosing interest in eating which results in weight loss. Others may experience the opposite effect and gain weight by overeating. Various antidepressant medications are known to have different affects on appetite and weight (depression.com 3). Suicid al thoughts are also a more common symptom of depression. Most people do not commit suicide because of increased suicidal thoughts. The risk of doing so simply increases their suicidal tendency.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The causes of depression remain unclear and vary from person to person. Genetic factors of depression have become a growing interest among scientist. The most probable explanation of this disorder is a chemical imbalance in the human brain. Evidence suggests that depression is caused by a deficiency in noradrenaline and serotonin neurotransmitters (depression-net.com 2). Studies have shown that people with relatives who have depression gain a one in four ... ... electroconvulsive therapy. This is reserved for only the most sever cases of depression in which a patient has not responded to medication or for some reason is unable to take antidepressants. ECT is one of the most effective treatments for depression. Over the years, it has advanced to become a safer procedure (depression-net.com 5). The World Health Organization predicts that depression will be the greatest burden of ill health to the developing world by the year 2020. It is predicted to be the second largest cause of death and disability (depression-net 1). Will the new millennium spawn a new breed of ill mannered, drug intoxicated, depressed individuals? Depression is the most common mental disorder in the world today, and yet there are still many aspects of this illness that we do not know about. The exact cause of depression remains undetermined without a cure. There is no precise test that can be given to determine weather or not an individual has depression. There is a certain lack of understanding and knowledge among society. It is abnormal for a person to commit self inflicted harm intended upon ending his or her own lives. There is help for those depressed individuals.

Cultural Influences Essay

How does an individual’s cultural experience influence his or her personality? Explain why or why not. Provide examples. Every person that is born in any family, in any part of the world is subjected to an upbringing that is surrounded by different sets of values, ethics and morals. These values in turn form the basis of a culture. The important point to note is that these values are never the same; they differ from culture to culture. A culture defines a society, the society in turn defines its norms and those norms and principles influence a personality(Reynolds , 2006). A personality is something that one cannot inherit. But it has a lot of power to be influenced by the atmosphere it is placed in. The question that rises in minds is how? Well let’s just say its human nature to adopt something that a person faces again and again repeatedly. To prove this we can see the example that the oldest of norms and values survive the most in any culture and thus are found to be a vital part of every person’s personality especially if they are from the same culture. This is why we note that people who migrate to different societies have problems in adjusting to the new culture. This is because their own native culture is so much ingrained in their personalities that it is difficult to eliminate it and replace it with new morals of the new society. The best example can be that of students who migrate to foreign countries for education. If a student who has been brought up in an eastern culture of the sub-continent will definitely have problems in adjusting to the new western culture that he has switched to. This is because that person has been brought up in a society that teaches him values completely opposite to the values of the western society that he has migrated to. And the old values are deep-rooted in his personality. He is greatly influenced by them therefore it results in problems regarding an adjustment in the culture. References Book Reynolds. J. (2006). Celebrate Connections among Cultures. Lee and Low Books.

Digital Fortress Chapter 3

Susans Volvo ginmill rolled to a stop in the shadow of the ten-foot-high, barbed Cycl genius fence. A immature apply placed his hand on the roof.ID, please.Susan obliged and settled in for the unwashed half-minute wait. The darkicer ran her taunt through a computing instrumentized scanner. in the cease he looked up. Thank you, Ms. Fletcher. He gave an imperceptible sign, and the gate swung open.Half a mile a toss Susan repeated the full procedure at an equ solelyy august electrified fence. Come on, guys Ive that been through hither a billion times.As she approached the last-place checkpoint, a stocky sentry with twain attack dogs and a machine shot glanced downward(a) at her license d easi fabrication and waved her through. She followed Canine Road for another 250 yards and pulled into Employee spread C. Unbelievable, she belief. Twenty- half-dozen cat valium employees and a twelve-billion-dollar cypher youd think they could make it through the shed with tu rn turn kayoed me. Susan gunned the car into her reserved spot and killed the engine. aft(prenominal)(prenominal) crossing the landscaped terrace and de n perpetuallytheless when the main build, she cle ard both more than internal checkpoints and fin every last(predicate)y arrived at the windowless turn oer that led to the new extension service. A voice-scan booth blocked her entry.NATIONAL SECURITY perfor objet dartce (NSA) CRYPTO FACILITY AUTHORIZED PERSONNEL exceptThe armed guard looked up. afterwardnoon, Ms. Fletcher.Susan smiled tiredly. Hi, John.Didnt expect you today.Yeah, me neither. She leaned toward the parabolic micro ph unmatchable. Susan Fletcher, she stated clearly. The computer instantly corroborate the frequency concentrations in her voice, and the gate clicked open. She stepped through.The guard admired Susan as she began her walk down the cement cause commission. He noticed that her wet hazel eyeb any seemed distant today, save her cheeks had a flushed freshness, and her shoulder-length, auburn sensory hair looked newly blown dry. Trailing her was the idle scent of Johnsons Baby Powder. His eyes drip the length of her slender torso-to her white blouse with the bandeau barely visible beneath, to her knee-length khaki skirt, and finally to her legs Susan Fletchers legs.Hard to imagine they sustain a 170 IQ, he mused to himself.He stared after her a long time. Finally he shook his head as she disappeared in the distance.As Susan r individuallyed the end of the tunnel, a circular, vault same door blocked her way. The enormous earn read crypto.Sighing, she placed her hand inside the recessed recruit box and entered her five-digit PIN. Seconds subsequent the twelve-ton slab of steel began to revolve. She tried to focus, further when her thoughts reeled tail end to him.David Becker. The only man shed ever loved. The tenderest full professor at Geor abridgeown University and a smart as a whip foreign-language spec ialist, he was practi refery a laurels in the demesne of academia. Born with an representational memory and a love of languages, hed get the hang 6 Asian dialects as well as Spanish, French, and Italian. His university lectures on etymology and linguistics were stand-room only, and he invariably stayed lately to answer a barrage of questions. He round with ascendance and enthusiasm, apparently oblivious to the adoring gazes of his star-struck coeds.Becker was dark-a rugged, novel thirty-five with sharp green eyes and a wit to match. His strong frustrate and taut features reminded Susan of carved marble. Over six feet tall, Becker moved across a embrace court faster than some(prenominal) of his colleagues could comprehend. subsequently soundly beating his opponent, he would cool off off by dousing his head in a drinking commencement and soaking his tuft of thick, black hair. hence, liquid dripping, hed treat his opponent to a surfaceput shake and a bagel.As with a ll young professors, Davids university hire was modest. From time to time, when he needed to renew his constrict auberge membership or restring his old Dunlop with gut, he earned extra bills by doing translating cream for government agencies in and intimately Washington. It was on one of those undertakings that hed met Susan.It was a sharp morning during fall wear thin when Becker re glowering from a morning jog to his leash-room faculty flatbed to find his answering machine blinking. He downed a quart of orange juice as he listened to the gipback. The content was standardised many he received-a government potency requesting his translating services for a few instants later(prenominal) that morning. The only strange affaire was that Becker had neer comprehend of the organization.Theyre called the field Security Agency, Becker said, commerce a few of his colleagues for stress.The reply was eer the same. You mean the field Security Council?Becker canvass the nitty-gritty. No. They said Agency. The NSA.Never heard of em.Becker checked the GAO Directory, and it showed no listing either. putd, Becker called one of his old squash buddies, an ex-political analyst moody look into clerk at the program library of Congress. David was shocked by his friends explanation. exactly, not only did the NSA exist, but it was considered one of the most prestigious government organizations in the world. It had been gathering orbiculate electronic news show data and protect U.S. clearified information for over half a century. Only 3 per centum of Americans were notwithstanding aware it existed.NSA, his buddy joked, stands for No Such Agency. With a mixture of catch and curiosity, Becker accepted the mysterious internal representations offer. He swarm the thirty-seven miles to their eighty-six-acre headquarters hidden discreetly in the wooded hills of Fort Meade, Maryland. After passing through endless auspices checks and being issued a six-h our, holographic invitee pass, he was escorted to a plush research facility where he was told he would spend the good afternoon providing blind support to the secret writing course of instruction-an elite group of mathematical brainiacs cognize as the label-breakers.For the offset printing hour, the cryptographers seemed unaware Becker was even on that point. They hovered around an enormous table and radius a language Becker had never heard. They spoke of stream ciphers, self-decimated generators, knapsack variants, zero cognition protocols, unicity points. Becker observed, lost. They scrawled symbols on graph paper, pored over computer print step ups, and continuously referred to the jumble of text on the overhead projector.JHdja3jKHDhmado/ertwtjlw+jgj3285jhalsfnHKhhhfafOhhdfgaf/fj37weohi93450s9djfd2h/HHrtyFHLf8930395jspjf2j0890Ihj98yhfi080ewrt03jojr845h0roq+jt0eu4tqefqe//oujw08UY0IH0934jtpwfiajer09qu4jr9guivjP$duw4h95pe8rtugvjw3p4e/ikkcmffuerhfgv0q394ikjrmg+unhvs9oerrk/0956 y7u0poikIOjp9f8760qwerqiEventually one of them explained what Becker had already surmised. The scrambled text was a code-a cipher text-groups of numbers and letters representing enroled words. The cryptographers job was to withdraw the code and extract from it the real centre, or cleartext. The NSA had called Becker because they amusinged the original message was written in mandarin orange tree Chinese he was to translate the symbols as the cryptographers decrypted them.For twain hours, Becker interpreted an endless stream of Mandarin symbols. But each time he gave them a translation, the cryptographers shook their heads in despair. Apparently the code was not making sense. animated to help, Becker pointed out that all the partings theyd shown him had a all(prenominal)day trait-they were also part of the Kanji language. Instantly the pluck in the room fell silent. The man in charge, a gangling chain-smoker named Morante, turned to Becker in disbelief.You mean these symbol s nurture doubled meanings?Becker nodded. He explained that Kanji was a Japanese writing system based on change Chinese characters. Hed been giving Mandarin translations because thats what theyd gather uped for. the Nazarene Christ. Morante coughed. Lets try the Kanji.Like magic, everything fell into place.The cryptographers were punctually impressed, but nonetheless, they still made Becker work on the characters out of sequence. Its for your own safety, Morante said. This way, you wont fill out what youre translating.Becker laughed. Then he noticed zero else was laughing.When the code finally broke, Becker had no vagary what dark secrets hed helped reveal, but one thing was for certain-the NSA took code-breaking seriously the check in Beckers hammock was more than an entire months university salary.On his way back out through the serial of security check points in the main corridor, Beckers exit was blocked by a guard hanging up a phone. Mr. Becker, wait here, please.What s the problem? Becker had not pass judgment the meeting to take so long, and he was running late for his standing Saturday afternoon squash match.The guard shrugged. Head of Crypto wants a word. Shes on her way out now.She? Becker laughed. He had yet to see a womanly inside the NSA.Is that a problem for you? a womans voice asked from behind him.Becker turned and right off felt up himself flush. He eyed the ID card on the womans blouse. The head of the NSAs Cryptography Division was not only a woman, but an attractive woman at that.No, Becker fumbled. I comelySusan Fletcher. The woman smiled, holding out her slender hand.Becker took it. David Becker.Congratulations, Mr. Becker. I hear you did a fine job today. Might I chat with you astir(predicate) it?Becker hesitated. Actually, Im in a bit of a rush at the moment. He hoped spurning the worlds most powerful news agency wasnt a foolish act, but his squash match kickoffed in forty-five minutes, and he had a reputation to relat e David Becker was never late for squash class maybe, but never squash. Ill be brief. Susan Fletcher smiled. correctly this way, please.Ten minutes later, Becker was in the NSAs commissary enjoying a popover and cranberry juice with the NSAs lovely head cryptographer, Susan Fletcher. It speedily became evident to David that the thirty-eight-year-olds high-ranking position at the NSA was no fluke-she was one of the brightest women he had ever met. As they discussed codes and code-breaking, Becker found himself struggling to obligate up-a new and exciting experience for him.An hour later, after Becker had obviously missed his squash match and Susan had blatantly ignored three pages on the intercom, both of them had to laugh. at that place they were, two highly analytical minds, presumably immune to irrational infatuations-but somehow, while they sit there discussing linguistic morphology and pseudo- haphazard number generators, they felt desire a couple of teenagers-everything was fireworks.Susan never did get around to the real think shed wanted to speak to David Becker-to offer him a trial post in their Asian Cryptography Division. It was clear from the passion with which the young professor spoke about instruct that he would never leave the university. Susan resolved not to ruin the mood by talking business. She felt like a schoolgirl all over again nought was going to spoil it. And zipper did.Their wooing was slow and romantic-stolen escapes whenever their schedules permitted, long walks through the Georgetown campus, late- iniquity cappuccinos at Merluttis, occasional lectures and concerts. Susan found herself laughing more than shed ever thought possible. It seemed there was nothing David couldnt twist into a joke. It was a obtain release from the intensity of her post at the NSA. one and only(a) crisp, autumn afternoon they sit down in the bleachers watching Georgetown soccer get pummeled by Rutgers.What sport did you regulate you p puzzle ? Susan teased. Zucchini?Becker groaned. Its called squash.She gave him a dumb look.Its like zucchini, he explained, but the courts smaller.Susan pushed him.Georgetowns left wing sent a corner-kick sailing out of bounds, and a boo went up from the crowd. The defensemen speed back downfield.How about you? Becker asked. Play any sports?Im a black belt in Stairmaster.Becker cringed. I prefer sports you can win.Susan smiled. Overachiever, are we?Georgetowns star defenseman blocked a pass, and there was a communal cheer in the stands. Susan leaned over and whispered in Davids ear. Doctor.He turned and eyed her, lost.Doctor, she repeated. Say the world-class thing that comes to mind.Becker looked doubtful. Word associations?Standard NSA procedure. I need to be intimate who Im with. She eyed him sternly. Doctor.Becker shrugged. Seuss.Susan gave him a frown. Okay, try this one kitchen. He didnt hesitate. Bedroom.Susan arching her eyebrows coyly. Okay, how about this cat. Gut, Becker fir ed back.Gut?Yeah. Catgut. compact racquet string of champions.Thats pleasant. She groaned.Your diagnosis? Becker inquired.Susan thought a minute. Youre a childish, slip outually scotch squash fiend.Becker shrugged. Sounds about right.It went on like that for weeks. Over dessert at all- night diners Becker would ask endless questions.Where had she learn math?How did she end up at the NSA?How did she get so captivating?Susan blushed and admitted shed been a late bloomer. rangy and awkward with braces through her late teens, Susan said her Aunt Clara had once told her Gods vindication for Susans plainness was to give her brains. A untimely apology, Becker thought.Susan explained that her care in cryptography had get offed in junior high school. The president of the computer club, a towering eighth grader named uncivil Gutmann, typed her a love poem and encrypted it with a number-substitution scheme. Susan begged to know what it said. Frank flirtatiously refused. Susan took the code home and stayed up all night with a flashlight under her covers until she judge out the secret-every number represented a letter. She carefully decode the code and watched in wonder as the seemingly random digits turned magically into beautiful poetry. In that instant, she knew shed fallen in love-codes and cryptography would cause her life.Almost twenty years later, after getting her masters in mathematics from Johns Hopkins and examine number theory on a full scholarship from MIT, she submitted her doctoral thesis, cryptologic Methods, Protocols, and Algorithms for Manual Applications. Apparently her professor was not the only one who read it shortly afterward, Susan received a phone call and a plane ticket from the NSA.Everyone in cryptography knew about the NSA it was home to the vanquish cryptographic minds on the planet. Each spring, as the private-sector firms descended on the brightest new minds in the hands and offered obscene salaries and stock options, th e NSA watched carefully, selected their targets, and then simply stepped in and doubled the shell standing offer. What the NSA wanted, the NSA bought. Trembling with anticipation, Susan flew to Washingtons Dulles International airport where she was met by an NSA driver, who whisked her off to Fort Meade.There were forty-one others who had received the same phone call that year. At twenty-eight, Susan was the youngest. She was also the only female. The visit turned out to be more of a public transaction bonanza and a barrage of intelligence testing than an informational session. In the week that followed, Susan and six others where invited back. Although hesitant, Susan returned. The group was immediately separated. They underwent individual polygraph tests, minimize searches, handwriting analyses, and endless hours of interviews, including taped inquiries into their sexual orientations and practices. When the interviewer asked Susan if shed ever engaged in sex with animals, she almost walked out, but somehow the secret carried her through-the prospect of working on the cracking edge of code theory, entering The Puzzle Palace, and becoming a member of the most secretive club in the world-the National Security Agency.Becker sat riveted by her stories. They truly asked you if youd had sex with animals?Susan shrugged. Part of the routine background check.Well Becker fought off a grin. What did you say?She kicked him under the table. I told them no Then she added, And until last night, it was true.In Susans eyes, David was as snug to perfect as she could imagine. He only had one unfortunate quality every time they went out, he insisted on plectron up the check. Susan hated seeing him lay down a full days salary on dinner for two, but Becker was immovable. Susan learned not to protest, but it still fazed her. I make more money than I know what to do with, she thought. I should be paying.Nonetheless, Susan decided that aside from Davids outdated sense of chi valry, he was ideal. He was compassionate, smart, funny, and best of all, he had a sincere interest in her work. Whether it was during trips to the Smithsonian, bike rides, or yearning spaghetti in Susans kitchen, David was perpetually curious. Susan answered what questions she could and gave David the general, unclassified overview of the National Security Agency. What David heard enthralled him.Founded by President Truman at 1201 a.m. on November 4, 1952, the NSA had been the most clandestine intelligence agency in the world for almost 50 years. The NSAs seven-page inception doctrine laid out a very concise agendum to protect U.S. government communication theory and to lay off the communications of foreign powers.The roof of the NSAs main operations building was littered with over five hundred antennas, including two openhanded radomes that looked like enormous golf balls. The building itself was mammoth-over two million self-coloured feet, twice the size of CIA headquarte rs. Inside were eight million feet of telephone wire and eighty thousand square feet of permanently sealed windows.Susan told David about COMINT, the agencys global reconnaissance division-a mind-boggling hookup of listening posts, satellites, spies, and wiretaps around the globe. Thousands of communiques and conversations were intercepted every day, and they were all sent to the NSAs analysts for decryption. The FBI, CIA, and U.S. foreign policy advisors all depended on the NSAs intelligence to make their decisions.Becker was mesmerized. And code-breaking? Where do you fit in?Susan explained how the intercepted transmissions often originated from spartan governments, hostile factions, and terrorist groups, many of whom were inside U.S. borders. Their communications were usually encoded for secrecy in slip-up they ended up in the unseasonable hands-which, thanks to COMINT, they usually did. Susan told David her job was to study the codes, break them by hand, and furnish the NSA with the deciphered messages. This was not entirely true.Susan felt a pang of guilt over lying to her new love, but she had no choice. A few years ago it would have been accurate, but things had changed at the NSA. The whole world of cryptography had changed. Susans new duties were classified, even to many in the highest echelons of power.Codes, Becker said, fascinated. How do you know where to start? I mean how do you break them?Susan smiled. You of all people should know. Its like canvass a foreign language. At freshman the text looks like gibberish, but as you learn the rules defining its structure, you can start to extract meaning.Becker nodded, impressed. He wanted to know more.With Merluttis napkins and concert programs as her chalkboard, Susan set out to give her charming new pedagogue a mini course in cryptography. She began with Julius Caesars perfect square cipher box.Caesar, she explained, was the original code-writer in history. When his foot-messengers started gettin g ambushed and his secret communiques stolen, he devised a rudimentary way to encrypt this directives. He rearranged the text of his messages such that the symmetricalness looked senseless. Of course, it was not. Each message al slipway had a letter-count that was a perfect square-sixteen, twenty-five, one hundred-depending on how much Caesar needed to say. He on the Q.T. informed his officers that when a random message arrived, they should transcribe the text into a square grid. If they did, and read top-to-bottom, a secret message would magically appear.Over time Caesars supposition of rearranging text was adopted by others and circumscribed to become more difficult to break. The summit of non computer-based encryption came during World War II. The Nazis create a baffling encryption machine named riddle. The device resembled an old-fashioned typewriter with brass mesh rotors that revolved in intricate ways and shuffled cleartext into confounding arrays of seemingly sensele ss character groupings. Only by having another Enigma machine, calibrated the exact same way, could the receiving system break the code.Becker listened, spellbound. The teacher had become the student.One night, at a university performance of The Nutcracker, Susan gave David his basic basic code to break. He sat through the entire intermission, pen in hand, puzzling over the eleven-letter messageHL FKZC VD LDSFinally, just as the lights subdued for the second half, he got it. To encode, Susan had simply replaced each letter of her message with the letter front it in the alphabet. To decrypt the code, all Becker had to do was shift each letter one space forward in the alphabet-A became B, B became C, and so on. He apace shifted the remaining letters. He never imagined quartette little syllables could make him so capableIM GLAD WE METHe quickly scrawled his chemical reaction and handed it to herLD SNNSusan read it and beamed.Becker had to laugh he was thirty-five years-old, and his heart was doing back flips. Hed never been so attracted to a woman in his life. Her delicate European features and soft brownish eyes reminded him of an ad for Estee Lauder. If Susans body had been lanky and awkward as a teenager, it true wasnt now. Somewhere along the way, she had developed a willowy grace-slender and tall with full, firm breasts and a perfectly flat abdomen. David often joked that she was the first swimsuit model hed ever met with a doctorate in applied mathematics and number theory. As the months passed, they both started to suspect theyd found something that could last a lifetime.Theyd been unitedly almost two years when, out of the blue, David proposed to her. It was on a weekend trip to the Smoky Mountains. They were lying on a big canopy bed at Stone Manor. He had no ring-he just blurted it out. Thats what she loved about him-he was so spontaneous. She kissed him long and hard. He took her in his arms and slipped off her nightgown.Ill take that as a ye s, he said, and they made love all night by the warmth of the fire.That magical level had been six months ago-before Davids unexpected promotion to hot seat of the Modern Language Department. Their relationship had been in a downhill slide ever since.