Mainstream Schooling Is Culturally Bound - 1962 Words

In this essay I will address the ways in which mainstream schooling is culturally bound, and why this is a problem for those who have disabilities. Mainstream schools can be determined as a school of traditional education or a ‘normal’ school (Spielgaben, 2015). This categorises mainstream schools within New Zealand as schools of English medium that follow the New Zealand Curriculum and are state schools. These English medium schools work with the National Standards system which set specific expectations for students to have met in the key learning areas of reading, writing and mathematics (Ministry of Education, 2012). This system is just one of the ways in which mainstream schooling is culturally bound. The Oxford Dictionaries (2015) defines culturally bound as ‘restricted in character or outlook by belonging or referring to a particular culture.’ Due to these schools following particular systems it makes it difficult to cater to the different groups that attend these schools. The second way in which mainstream schooling is culturally bound, that I will address, is that most often teachers in these schools do not have the time, resources or skills to teach the diversity of disabilities due to a stronger focus of teaching by the curriculum. This results in more efforts needing to be made to support those with disabilities. I will focus on the common disabilities and special needs in the context of students in mainstream schools, such hearing impairments, physical andShow MoreRelatedInequalities in Australian Schooling Essay1360 Words   |  6 PagesInequalities in Australian Schooling: Sociocultural Factors in terms of Cultural Capital, Habitus and Social Reproduction There is a common, underlying perception that students from particular cultural and linguistic backgrounds – what is generally referred to as ethnicity - have a predisposition towards educational success in Australian schools (Watkins, 2013). Students from Anglo backgrounds, for example, are often seen as having a cultural advantage whilst others, such as Middle Eastern studentsRead MoreAs The Camera Pans Over An Arizona Suburb At Night, We1862 Words   |  8 Pagesalongside Volume, Times Square and Empire Records, are also inhabited by alienated teens with female leads and alternative music, and produced with the help of independent studio New Line Cinema, known for helping subversive filmmakers enter the mainstream. Mark Hunter is played by Christian Slater, who starred in Heathers the year before, another high school melodrama that explored themes of suicide and alienation, where he plays a far more antisocial and radical character. Despite its poor box officeRead MoreMusl im Girls And The Other France1793 Words   |  8 Pagesrights issue that goes beyond their specific characterizations or classifications to encompass human sufferings in various contexts. This critique concentrates on examining the behaviors of the state and the approaches it takes to solidify the mainstream culture ‘laà ¯cità ©Ã¢â‚¬â„¢ through the containment or the exclusion of other cultural, ideological, and religious streams. The French government has focused the attention on one of the weakest communities in society that is the immigrant minority groupsRead More The California State Public Education System Essay examples2504 Words   |  11 Pagesgoing to educate every child and expect them to bring every child to high standards of performance. Until fairly recently it was a permissible practice to reserve the most qualified teachers for those schools serving high-achieving, affluent, college-bound students who were believed to hold the greatest promise of success. Holding school districts accountable for improving the performance of all schools and all students might well require that resources, both human and financial, be allocated accordingRead Mor eResearch Paper on California Public Education2634 Words   |  11 Pagesgoing to educate every child and expect them to bring every child to high standards of performance. Until fairly recently it was a permissible practice to reserve the most qualified teachers for those schools serving high-achieving, affluent, college-bound students who were believed to hold the greatest promise of success. Holding school districts accountable for improving the performance of all schools and all students might well require that resources, both human and financial, be allocated accordingRead More A Study of the Healing Process from Slavery and Racism Essay2566 Words   |  11 Pagesanother way to control African-Americans, through Jim Crow laws. Jim Crow laws immediately became the modernized slavery institution. Further creating a barrier between opportunities and Blacks, for they were seen as intellectually and culturally inferior to mainstream America. African-Americans needed to heal from o ngoing oppression, so through literature we are able to examine the several healing methods used by African-Americans to surmount the lack of humility in America geared towards them. AccordingRead Morebiology 125894 Words   |  24 Pages$1,040 and spent $517 on food, gas, toiletries, laundry, phone, and utilities. This is also considering that she did not have children to look after. E Ehrenreich concludes that in the coming years economic conditions for the working poor are bound to worsen, even without the almost inevitable recession (pg. 59). The thinking behind welfare reform was that even the humblest jobs are morally uplifting and psychologically buoying. Yet, Barbara did discover one good feature of â€Å"the most abjectRead MoreRenato Constantino - the Miseducation of the Filipino8179 Words   |  33 Pagescould have led to the evolution of native democratic ideas and institutions were disregarded. No wonder we too look with hostility upon countries who try to develop their own political institutions according to the needs of their people without being bound by western political procedures. We have been made to believe in certain political doctrines as absolute and the same for all peoples. An example of this is the belief in the freedom of the press. Here, the consensus is that we cannot nationalize theRead MoreThesis on Empower Women Through Micro Credit Programmes18140 Words   |  73 Pageseconomic empowerment will not succeed in the absence of women education in skills and vocations they require the most. The Governments in developing countries therefore must take effective steps to enroll the members of SHGs in the Schemes of open schooling or any other distance mode to impart education. Although it is also true that economic empowerment alone does not always lead to reversal in gender relationship. SECTION II PROGRESS OF MICRO-CREDIT THROUGH SHGS IN INDIA A pilot project for linkingRead MoreMy Personal Journey On Social Work8705 Words   |  35 Pagesto three Schools of Social Work: Dalhousie University in Halifax, N.S., St. Thomas University in Fredericton, N.B., and Memorial University in St. John’s, N.L. I spent my gap year working to save up money so I could pay for my next two years of schooling. I decided to apply to schools of social work because I was really interested in my courses that were related to child development and behaviours, interactions between people and society, social inequality and justice, and human rights, which are

Literary Analysis Of The Cask Of Cask Essay - 981 Words

Literary Analysis on the Cask of Amontillado In the Cask of Amontilado, Poe uses pride as a theme to explain the reasons for murder. Pride will push a person to the extremes and that has been proven many times throughout history and even now. Pride just recently made a man kill a teenager. They were in a fight and because the teen won the fight others laughed at the man and made fun of him, he shot the teen in the chest and he died. An example of pride driving one to murder is depicted in the Cask of Amontillado. Pride is good but it can also prevent from seeing the harmful obstacles in front of you and can lead the death of Fortunato. Poe shows pride as a motive for murder through Montresor’s deception, premeditation, and ironic literary devices. Edgar Allen Poe of Boston Massachusetts was an American writer, editor, and literary critic. Poe is considered the inventor of detective fiction genre and credited the genre of science fiction as well. In November 1846 Poe published a short story â€Å"The Cask of Amontillado†. The story involves two men, Montresor, the man telling the story that came from a great but old family and Fortunato, a strong man who was feared but had a great weakness which was wine. The story takes place in an unnamed European city. Fortunato has hurt Montresor a thousand times and laughed at his name and Montresor has had enough and is seeking revenge because a man will go to the extreme to protect his pride. He told no one because he didn’t want to sufferShow MoreRelatedLiterary Analysis Of The Cask Of Amontillado 1493 Words   |  6 PagesBrooke Womack Literary Analysis Paper Into to Literature: American I Dr. Julia Pond 12 October 2017 The Cask of Amontillado The Cask of Amontillado is a tale of terror written by Edgar Allen Poe. This short story is from the point of view from Montresor’s memory. The setting of this story is in a small unnamed European city, at a local carnival and then at the catacombs under Montresor’s home, around duck. The brief synopsis of this story is about the revenge that the Montresor, the antagonistRead MoreLiterary Analysis Of The Cask Of Amontillado1231 Words   |  5 PagesKaitlin Hunter Mrs. Laszik ENGL 1302.001 27 Oct 2017 The Cask of Amontillado One of the most memorable short stories by the American writer, mainly known for his gothic literature â€Å"The Cask of Amontillado†, written by Edgar Allan Poe is short story about revenge against an â€Å"old friend† who betrayed another. This strong expression of gothic literature through the drastic change of settings and surroundings. Also, the main character’s, Montressor, narration of the story that he has kept to himselfRead MoreLiterary Analysis Of Cask Of Amontillado1219 Words   |  5 PagesEdgar Allan Poe is a well-known writer in writing detective stories and fear stories. One of his fear stories, â€Å"The Cask of Amontillado† was talking about how a man took his payback to his friend. However, to look intensely in this story, I found that this story was not just simply a fear story about how a man gets his revenge in the harmless way. Instead, it also demonstrates much irony in several areas: the title, the event, the season, the costume , the environment, the characters’ personalitiesRead MoreLiterary Analysis - Cask of Amontillado Essay examples680 Words   |  3 PagesIn The Cask of Amontillado Edgar Allan Poe takes us on a journey into the mind of what many would perceive as a mad man. The story tells of what seems to be a horrible revenge made even more horrible by the fact that the vengeance is being taken when no real offense had been known. This notion sets the mood for true evil. The plot of the story is simple. Montresor takes revenge on his friend Fortunato by luring him into the wine cellar under the family estate. There he leads Fortunato into theRead MoreRole of Realism in Edagar Allan Poe ´s The Tell Tale Heart and The Cask of Amortillado1014 Words   |  5 Pagesâ€Å"The Cask of Amontillado† written by Edgar Allan Poe are dark short stories relevant to murder, revenge, and mystery. Poe writes both stories in a Gothic style in order to deal with ideas of realism. One may ask were th e murders and punishments justifiable in either short story? One may also ask did Poe accurately depict realism in each story? Realism, defined as a technique in literature that accurately represents everyday life, is questioned in Poe’s works: â€Å"The Tell Tale Heart† and â€Å"The Cask ofRead MoreEdgar Allan Poe s The Cask Of Amontillado1232 Words   |  5 Pagespaper about the text â€Å"The Cask of Amontillado† by Edgar Allan Poe, some sources will be used to support the thesis statement, which is â€Å"The author uses irony in the text to illustrate the murder of Fortunado by Montresor, who seeks salvation through death†. Also, there is going to be an analysis on the irony found in the text in relation with the story. To support this thesis, I am going to use some examples from some sources such as â€Å"Literary analysis: Irony in The Cask of Amontillado by AmeliaRead MoreThe Cask of Amontillado and Hills Like White Elephants577 Words   |   3 PagesAnalysis of â€Å"The Cask of Amontillado† by Edgar Allan Poe amp; â€Å"Hills Like White Elephants† by Ernest Hemmingway Analysis of â€Å"The Cask of Amontillado† by Edgar Allan Poe Abstract â€Å"The Cask of Amontillado† by Edgar Allan Poe, is a short story about a man named Montessor who gets revenge on one of his â€Å"friends† named Fortunado by trapping him and burying him alive. Treatment Setting: Two kinds Plot: Man gets revenge on his â€Å"friend† Characters: Montresor, Fortunado, Montresor’s familyRead MoreThe Cask Of Amontillado By Edgar Allan Poe1575 Words   |  7 PagesIs there anything that someone could do to you that would cause you to commit murder? Could you get away with it? Montresor is the murderous narrator who has committed the perfect murder in just such a tale, â€Å"The Cask of Amontillado.† Montresor plots and kills an unwary friend/foe during carnival time for motives that are unclear. The author of this tale, Edgar Allan Poe, influenced by his somewhat tragic life and one of the most influential Gothic writers, uses symbolism and irony to show the multitudeRead MoreFor the Love of God, Poe! Essay1359 Words   |  6 Pages-- â€Å"The Cask of Amontillado†. This story recounts how a man called Montresor seeks revenge upon a â€Å"friend† who allegedly insulted him. In â€Å"The Cask of Amontillado†, the brilliant use of situational irony and macabre humor creates signific ant parallels between the plot and the author’s own strange life. From the very first sentence, â€Å"The Cask of Amontillado† is absolutely saturated with both verbal and dramatic irony. In fact, even the title has an element of irony to it -- the word â€Å"cask† (whichRead MoreReflection of â€Å"The Cask of Amontillado†1682 Words   |  7 PagesReflection of â€Å"The Cask of Amontillado† Edgar Allan Poe was a very dark, dramatic writer. All of his stories require the audience to reread his works of art. There are so many elements incorporated into his stories that it would be impossible to understand them all after one reading. His stories drip with irony and reveal mysteries in an interesting way. He writes his stories in a way that engages the mind and questions character. One of his most famous short stories is â€Å"The Cask of Amontillado†

Business Simulation Game Free Essays

Introduction This report details the strategies that I employed in my five-year tenure as a Business Development Manager at Eco-Resource Biotech, an organic waste management company dealing in the remediation of organic agricultural and animal wastes from industrial farms and their repurposing into saleable commodities such as soil enhancers and fertilizer alternatives. Established in 2003, Eco-Resource Biotech is an alternative fertilizer and soil amendment business that devotes itself to the provision of specialized waste management services as a solution for the achievement of environmental sustainability. The primary objective is the biological remediation of agricultural and animal (organic) waste into soil and crop enhancing products for reuse in agriculture and farm use. We will write a custom essay sample on Business Simulation Game or any similar topic only for you Order Now Strategic shift In 2007, Eco-Resource was by all means quite a successful company, as evidenced by data presented in appendices A and B, making annual sales of over a billion Pounds and a gross profit of 800 million Pounds. This it achieved through unique, innovative and cost-effective solutions meeting current global need for sustainability in agriculture and waste management. Also contributory to this success was its hugely successful marketing campaigns targeting key consumers and lobby groups. The initial strategic direction chosen by management was a mixed strategy which had a greater bias towards cost and intended to transition towards differentiation. It sought to employ the most cost effective methods of production so as to enable competitive pricing in order to compete with the small farm-based fertilizer and the organic compost manufacturers. This was necessary at start-up as this was the only available market for fertilizers and soil enhancers with widespread consumer awareness. To create a foothold, the company needed to first eke itself recognition from which it would then be able to follow through with a differentiation strategy. Generic strategy Despite evident success, there was a huge potential for more growth and development in the provision of on-farm waste management services and in the revamping of differentiation strategies clearly putting the company in its own niche aside from the organic fertilizer market in which it initially competed. For this to be achieved, management developed a mixed strategy to guide the next growth phase, seeking to enhance the successful cost strategy, as well as initiating a differentiation strategy which included diversification of operations to include hitherto untapped areas. Industry overview In aggregate, the specialized organic compost businesses globally generate more than 100 billion Pounds a year and provide employment for hundreds of thousands (U.S. Government Bureau of Statistics: Fertilizer Manufacturing). The industry’s growth rate which is on average more than 7% per annum is enhanced by the commutations of the internet and the development of international commerce that have allowed operations on a global scale (U.S. Government Bureau of Statistics: Chemical Consulting). These have enabled connection with far flung businesses and farmers leading to the skyrocketing of demand for fertilizers and soil enhancing products. Direct competition in the agricultural waste recycling and reuse, and especially the biological remediation and soil amendment sectors is, however, minimal and far dispersed globally. In its early years, the company faced competition from the organic compost-based manufacturers and the smaller farm-based fertilizer, despite their products being substantially different from Eco-Resource Biotech’s offerings. For this reason, the company’s choice of a vibrant differentiation strategy had its basis on creating a niche market specific for its particular line of products. Consumers needed to be made aware of the distinct and substantial differences of Eco-Resource’s product offerings with those of the compost and farm-based fertilizer sector. There are only 123 suppliers of specialized organic fertilizers in the UK with the industry generating gross earnings of approximately 15.8 billion Pounds a year (U.S. Government Bureau of Statistics: Chemical Manufacturing). There has, however, been a resurgence of popularity though the entry of new players has seen slow growth barred by issues and difficulties in dealing with animal and biological wastes (Kimbrell, 2002). Critical risks and issues Feed for livestock and humans have to be produced in adequate amounts regardless of economic conditions. This creates a foundation on which the company derives its sustenance, immunity to economic challenges. Economic insulation is thus considered a major strength. Despite this insulation, uncertainties and risks such as the economic recession and spikes in international oil prices cannot be avoided. The company endeavours to forge on forward as the potential for growth in the international fertilizer and soil amendment market is immense. It’s safe, low-cost alternatives is its greatest strength, appealing to current need and providing high margin recurrent streams of revenue. Very high operating costs from the collection and transport of organic wastes, and the high pay demanded by specialized personnel, is the company’s major weakness. The company forges on as, despite the costs, opportunities can still be profitably exploited. Another weakness obtains from the widespread availability of bioremediation technologies with the only barrier to entry being high capitalization. The company through its strategic direction seeks to exploit its differentiation strategy and other unique and novel channels to beat its competition and sustain its growth. Opportunities available for Eco-Resource’s venture include the enhancement of distribution and expansion into the international market, supplying commercial farms across the globe and tapping into multiple income streams. The shift in demand from traditional inorganic fertilizers to organically-based fertilizers and soil enhancers due to concerns over climate change is considered to be a significant opportunity, enhancing confidence and the assurance of success. With no effective barrier to entry, there is a threat in the possible entry of competitors impacting the company’s cost driver prices and causing significant changes in profit margins. There is the potential for infringement of operating systems by major competitors since the company’s business strategies lack patent protection. Another threat is the venture’s reliance and subjectivity to the implementation of new technologies which have not yet reached maturation. Company overview With the adoption of the strategy proposals, the company has seen immense success and growth as evidenced in the increase in profitability to 5.6 billion pounds as at 2011 (see Appendix C), as well as in shareholder value and overall company size. This is enabled by growth in sales volumes and the diversification (see appendix C). The company has been able to obtain its projected market value and enhance its market share especially with the international drive and outsourced services. The company’s strength lay in its acquired market share, its offer of value-added services and its cash position also giving it leverage in the competitive environment. These enable the company to build loyalty which would result in the stability of market share. A weakness in the outsourced initiative obtains from the lack of patented technologies with the possibility of farms forgoing venture agreements and depriving the company of its revenue. The company seeks to provide quality and timely service, as well as having employees based on the farm facilities for follow-through to counter this. Decisions Qualitative objectives in the competitive position such as product quality, customer service and competitive position are the strategic means through which the growth can be realized (Cornelissen and Clarke, 2010). These are the main focus areas in the strategic shift and growth drive which encompasses: expansion of conversion facilities owned and operated; successful marketing and growth of various solutions; expansion of the outsourcing lines; and, increasing quality and productivity. A primary concern was the ability of the company to continue to price its services at affordable rates given the turbulent economic environment in times of recession and instability. Since competition in the industry was likely to focus on product development and pricing, it was deemed prudent to pursue strategies that would out-compete their strategies including diversification strategies, offering novel and specialized services, and the initiation of an international drive to enhance sales. Initial success was based on the sustenance of good relations with farmers and distributors. At this stage (2007), the company operated a single conversion facility with capacity for nationwide distribution. Within the year, the company management sought to streamline operations and develop plans for ventures to the rest of Europe and the international market, mapping distribution programmes and logistics. Plans were also developed for diversification into outsourcing services and marketing to solidify differentiation. In the diversification strategy decision, the company developed an agricultural waste management service to manage biodegradable animal and biological waste as an outsourced service provider. At the beginning of 2008, the company invested in an initial pilot project at a farm owned by a cooperative. In the desire to trade-off costs and productivity, management aimed to minimize the high wage costs, enabled by outsourced facilities. This was also intended to serve for marketing, reaching out to farmer cooperatives and groups whose uptake of the company’s products was low due to variant loyalties. The success of the strategy was impressive and growth was exponential with high demand. Earnings from the pilot rose from an initial 42 million pounds from the single outsource facility in 2008 to 4.9 billion from a hundred facilities in 2011. The remediation of toxic soils and water by the company for clients did not, however, receive similar impressive success and notable demand. With this success of the pilot and the necessity for the international drive, management, in the last quarter of 2008, deemed it necessary to acquire a loan of 200 million pounds to further enhance research and development capabilities, as well as to finance a global marketing campaign, establishing distribution channels and contracting external firms with required capabilities. Early 2009, the company ventured out seeking commercial farms, farmer unions and cooperatives to replicate the success of the pilot facility. This was not a major challenge backed by the evident success of the pilot and the widespread need of solutions for waste management and enhancement of productivity. By the end of 2010, the company’s venture into the international market had achieved success gaining entry and presence in 3 regions of the globe including North and Latin America, and Africa with the development of regional sales offices. Sales were very impressive despite missing projections by small margins, with over 100 per cent growth in 2009 and 2010 and a total of 2.3 billion in 2011 (see appendix C). With these achievements, management in 2011 and 2012 decided to institute measures to consolidate these gains and improve on the various ventures and services. The uptake of the outsourcing service line was quite impressive with a total of 134 miniature facilities in 120 farms by the end of the second quarter of 2012. In monitoring the results of the new strategic direction, management constantly monitored performance and took deliberate actions to boost competitiveness, adding value to performance indices. Remaining with the initial strategic direction The strategic direction taken was not radically different from the initial strategic direction and received little resistance overall as it, in many ways, matched initial objectives. This choice of strategy intended to build up on the successes of earlier decisions, tapping into inherent potential and enhancing the sustainability of the company’s operations into the future. There was need in light of goings on in the competitive global business environment and the bioremediation and organic waste management industry. The strategic shift enabled the realization of company’s exponential growth in size and earnings and the diversification into longer-term competitiveness in outsourced services and international presence. The final results These decisions targeted at achieving strategic and financial objectives enabled the company to deliver consistently impressive bottom line results pitted against rivals in the bioremediation and organic waste management industry. These strategic decisions, as part of the long-term corporate direction, also enhanced shareholder value and enabled the company to adapt to competitive conditions in the rapidly growing and changing industry. Despite the take-off failure of the toxic water and soil remediation service, the other components of the strategic shift were hugely successful. My performance in developing and implementing this strategic shift was quite impressive given the smooth transition and acceptance by the team, as well as the success this strategic shift brought for the overall company and industry. I avoided resistance by developing strategy proposals in line with the initial strategic direction and avoided radically different paths. The engagement of several teams of management in the implementation of the various tasks was also beneficial in acquiring acceptance and enhancing overall efficiency. Underlying strategic principles The success of a crafted and executed strategy is its consistent delivery of good bottom-line results pitted against rival company strategies. They enable the charting of a long-term corporate direction towards realization of strategic and financial objectives (Amabile, et al., 1996). Key learning points about strategy A key lesson learnt is that there is no singular miraculous combination of decisions that management discover to realise their objectives and goals in the competitive business environment. Decisions require widespread consensus and must be consistent and compatible to ensure success (Cornelissen and Clarke, 2010). The strength of interplay of strategies when better than those of the competition ensures that the venture achieves success pitted against its rivals in the competitive environment. These results are to a large extent dependent on the analysis, planning and decision-making process of management and the capacity to follow through them (Cornelissen and Clarke, 2010). The development of best strategies is heavily dependent upon knowledge and grasp of the system and the business environment, as well as creativity and initiative. Conclusion To achieve sustainable growth and the enhancement of its performance ratios, Eco-resource sought to strengthen the success of its initial strategic direction, as well as chart out a new direction aligned to the former. In this new direction, the company was successful in maintaining process costs through the streamlining of operations, and increasing product sales and revenues through enhanced marketing and differentiation programmes. The company successfully diversified its operations to include specialized outsourced services achieving projected outcomes. Into the New Year, there is need to consolidate these ventures and strategies, aligning the various components and enhancing growth in international markets, with ventures into the remaining regions. Despite surging popularity and entry of more players, continued growth in demand fortified by effective marketing, and output of new technologies and ways to employ them will enable the success and sustenance of the venture in the long term. References Amabile, T., R., Conti, H., Coon, J., Lazenby, and M., Herron, 1996. â€Å"Assessing the work environment for creativity.† In: The Academy of Management Journal, 39(5), 1154-1184. Cornelissen, J., J., Clarke, 2010. â€Å"Imagining and Rationalizing Opportunities: Inductive Reasoning, and the Creation and Justification of New Ventures.† In: Academy of Management Review, 35(4): 539-557. Kimbrell, A., (ed.), 2002. Fatal Harvest: The Tragedy of Industrial Agriculture. Washington DC: Island Press. S. Government Bureau of Statistics: Fertilizer Manufacturing – NAICS Code – 325314; Chemical Manufacturing – NAICS Code – 325; Chemical Consulting – NAICS Code – 541690. How to cite Business Simulation Game, Essay examples

Nineteenth Century Essay Example For Students

Nineteenth Century Essay Nineteenth CenturyThe Nineteenth Century American The Nineteenth Century American was very different than the Twentieth Century American. They had different technology, food, laws, dress, customs, view of art and beauty, and family structure. They lived a lot differently than we do and they acted differently, also. They liked different things, and had different customs, also. They spoke English, but used different words and words had different meanings. The Nineteenth Century American ate many different things, but most of theme were simple. During the Nineteenth Century, the potato chip was invented. American Indian George Crum invented them in 1853. He was a chef at a fancy restaurant in Saratoga Springs, New York. Crum made French fries that were too thin to grab with a fork, to make a customer mad. They ate many things but mostly simple things. The enjoyed eating the hamburger, but they ate it on a plate, and not on a bun. Also Dr. Pepper was invented in the Nineteenth Century. A man named Charles Alderton in Waco, Texas invented it in 1885. He was a pharmacist, and he was experimenting with different flavors in soda. Also Nineteenth Century Americans ate oysters, oyster stew, New England clam chowder, many kinds of fruit pies, and seafood. Coffee was served with all meals. Breakfast was served around seven, dinner (now called lunch) at noon (except on Sunday where it was served around two), and supper at six. Nineteenth Century Americans wore completely different clothes than the Twentieth Century Americans. Many young boys and men would wear suits, even as play clothes. Many were dark blue, with or black. There were many ruffles and cuffs. Many men and boys would wear tan colored shoes. Most women wore long hooping skirts, also with many cuffs and ruffles. For work, many men wore blue jeans, after Levi Straus invented them. In the early Nineteenth Century, most people were of the Protestant religion. There were a few Catholics and a few Jews, also. Starting around 1820, many Roman Catholics and German Lutherans immigrated to the United States from Ireland and Germany, respectively. During the Nineteenth Century, many new religious groups were formed. Some examples are the Mormons (The Church of Latter Day Saints), Church of Christ, Christian Scientist, Seventh Day Adventist, the Shakers, and the Jehovah Witness. Many issues, such as slavery and marriage, caused denominations to branch apart. There have been many law changes in the United States since the Nineteenth Century, including many major ones, including slavery. In 1854, Massachusetts, Oregon, Minnesota, Iowa, Illinois, Ohio, Pennsylvania, New York and Vermont all had prohibition laws that lasted until the beginning of the Civil War. From when the colonies became a country until the early Nineteenth Century, slavery was very wide spread, especially in the South. Many farmers and Plantation owners in the south had hundred or even thousands of slaves. Around 1860, there were as many as four million slaves, making up at east one-third of the population. During the early Nineteenth Century, many Northerners fought for abolition, while many Southerners fought for pro slavery. Some Southerners went as far as to say slavery was in the Bible, or that it helped the African-Americans, because they would have had a far worse life in Africa. The Compromise of 1850 was a series of law.. s passed in 1850, by the United States Congress hoped to regain peace and end the fighting between the North and South. These laws helped delay civil war for about 10 years. However, from 1861 until 1865 the Civil War was fought to keep the Southern states from leaving the Union over slavery. The Union won on April 9, 1865, when General Lee Surrenders to General Grant at Appomatox. On January 31, 1865, the Thirteenth Amendment to the Constitution was proposed and on December 6, 1865 it was ratified. .ua113e454f5cbb89702ff39a3e19dcf07 , .ua113e454f5cbb89702ff39a3e19dcf07 .postImageUrl , .ua113e454f5cbb89702ff39a3e19dcf07 .centered-text-area { min-height: 80px; position: relative; } .ua113e454f5cbb89702ff39a3e19dcf07 , .ua113e454f5cbb89702ff39a3e19dcf07:hover , .ua113e454f5cbb89702ff39a3e19dcf07:visited , .ua113e454f5cbb89702ff39a3e19dcf07:active { border:0!important; } .ua113e454f5cbb89702ff39a3e19dcf07 .clearfix:after { content: ""; display: table; clear: both; } .ua113e454f5cbb89702ff39a3e19dcf07 { display: block; transition: background-color 250ms; webkit-transition: background-color 250ms; width: 100%; opacity: 1; transition: opacity 250ms; webkit-transition: opacity 250ms; background-color: #95A5A6; } .ua113e454f5cbb89702ff39a3e19dcf07:active , .ua113e454f5cbb89702ff39a3e19dcf07:hover { opacity: 1; transition: opacity 250ms; webkit-transition: opacity 250ms; background-color: #2C3E50; } .ua113e454f5cbb89702ff39a3e19dcf07 .centered-text-area { width: 100%; position: relative ; } .ua113e454f5cbb89702ff39a3e19dcf07 .ctaText { border-bottom: 0 solid #fff; color: #2980B9; font-size: 16px; font-weight: bold; margin: 0; padding: 0; text-decoration: underline; } .ua113e454f5cbb89702ff39a3e19dcf07 .postTitle { color: #FFFFFF; font-size: 16px; font-weight: 600; margin: 0; padding: 0; width: 100%; } .ua113e454f5cbb89702ff39a3e19dcf07 .ctaButton { background-color: #7F8C8D!important; color: #2980B9; border: none; border-radius: 3px; box-shadow: none; font-size: 14px; font-weight: bold; line-height: 26px; moz-border-radius: 3px; text-align: center; text-decoration: none; text-shadow: none; width: 80px; min-height: 80px; background: url(https://artscolumbia.org/wp-content/plugins/intelly-related-posts/assets/images/simple-arrow.png)no-repeat; position: absolute; right: 0; top: 0; } .ua113e454f5cbb89702ff39a3e19dcf07:hover .ctaButton { background-color: #34495E!important; } .ua113e454f5cbb89702ff39a3e19dcf07 .centered-text { display: table; height: 80px; padding-left : 18px; top: 0; } .ua113e454f5cbb89702ff39a3e19dcf07 .ua113e454f5cbb89702ff39a3e19dcf07-content { display: table-cell; margin: 0; padding: 0; padding-right: 108px; position: relative; vertical-align: middle; width: 100%; } .ua113e454f5cbb89702ff39a3e19dcf07:after { content: ""; display: block; clear: both; } READ: Biscuit and Britannia Sample Essay It outlawed slavery in all parts of The United States. Proposed on June 13, 1866, and ratified on July 9, 1868, the Fourteenth Amendment to the Constitution stated that all people born in the United States should have equal rights. However, even after the Civil War, most African Americans were still not treated equally. In Mississippi, for example, all African Americans had to have proof of employment, or go to jail. In South Carolina, in order to work in a job that wasnt on a farm, they needed to pay a heavy bond. The case of Plessy v. Ferguson challenged the Jim Crow laws of the South to the Fourteenth Amendment, but lost. The Technology of the Nineteenth Century was primitive compared to todays standards, but was far more advanced compared to the technology of many countries at that time. During the Nineteenth Century many things were invented, changed, or thought of in America. In the early Nineteenth Century, many settlers began moving west of the Ohio River, and wanted their territory to grow rapidly. They demanded an easier way to move from East to West. So, in 1811, work began on a road that led from Cumberland, Maryland to Vandalia, Illinois. In 1840, farmer Cyrus Hall McCormick made a very wide known reaper. Art and music were very different in the Nineteenth Century. Music was greatly influenced from Overseas. Many Minstrel Shows, parody skits where artists would wear black makeup to impersonate African Americans. The skits had songs, skits, dances, and comedy routines that showed how the performer felt about African Americans. The music didnt portray African American music, but had some elements such as the instruments. Some songs protested slavery or the end to the use alcohol. During the Civil War, many songs were Dixie-Style songs, especially in the South. After the Civil War, many African Americans began singing. By the end of the Century, the most popular kind of music was the kind played in Tin Pan Alley. Musical Comedy Skits were preformed on pianos the artists called tin pans. Also, Ragtime was also invented in the Nineteenth Century. Most families in the Nineteenth Century were made of a husband and a wife, and their children. Until the Civil War, most homes in the Southern States had slaves, also. Most children moved out after school, however a few stayed at home. The divorce rate in the Nineteenth Century was very low, approximately two to three percent. This was because most religions did not permit divorce, and most men wouldnt leave a woman and her children alone. Many young girls married in the South at ages as low as thirteen. This was not uncommon, and there were many women who were grandmothers before the age of 30. Most houses, except for ones of more affluent people, had little or no furniture, and only two or three rooms. As you can see, the Nineteenth Century American was very different from you and I.

Natural System Sustainability

System’s sustainability entails the creation and maintenance of an effective system that assists in designing, planning, incorporating and implementing its own vision by considering its various components. Since a system entails many different components, there is a need to attach equal importance to the separate parts that make up a complete system. It is therefore imperative to discuss the systems thinking theory as well as the nature step theory in order to fully appreciate system sustainability.Advertising We will write a custom essay sample on Natural System Sustainability specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More The theory of systems thinking sustainability employs the analogy of functionality of a human body by arguing that sustainability of the lifeblood of the body cannot be successful in isolation (Brown, 2005). Hence, the balance between support systems of the different parts of the body needs to be maintained for a give n system to remain effective. For instance, each part of the body system contributes to the whole process leading to effective and full functioning of the body. From the system, the theory continues to postulate that after achieving personal health for effective body functioning, an individual becomes happy if the immediate environment including family and friends fosters healthy relationships and thus becomes useful in a strong community. In comparison, the theory suggests that sustainable businesses cannot exist without direction of the major components of these enterprises towards sustainability. These components include shareholders, employees, clients and suppliers to name a few. In this regard, businesses are required to heavily borrow from nature for natural systems, which if left undisturbed, will always remain efficient in carrying out natural functions (Brown, 2005). The natural step theory The natural step theory attempts to explain the implication of decisions affecting the future. It states that factors critical to determination of success entail positive vision creation towards a desired state. The theory stipulates that to reach a desired goal, there must be an involvement of the several steps which are distinct from each other. Additionally, fixation at one step is heavily discouraged as it affects the natural step. The first step towards vision materialization commences with a drawback from the vision. This is intended to create a route/path from the present to the future. Moving forward, the created future starts with one step and each has to have an ending progressively and successfully. After successful completion of each step, there is a remarkable progression (Nattrass Altomare, 1999). Ramification through application Systems theory explains that within places of work, there are different entities and thus each entity should be treated in a unique way. As such, there is a need to create value for all involved parties such as shareholders , employees and society at large (Banal Hoffman, 2011; O’Toole, 1995).Advertising Looking for essay on business economics? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More Hitchcock and Willard (2009) argue that when corporations try to create such environments, especially when integrating vision with purpose and other factors such as performance of committed groups that can be always sustainable in single enterprises, they encounter difficulties. The solution to associated difficulties lies in recognition of the components of the whole system and how each works. Senge, Smith, Kruschwitz, Laur and Schley (2010) contend that natural step theory makes the application of the premises of progression to be successful. In making successful and progressive motions within a business enterprise, there is a need to bear in mind the goals and objectives that guide an organization to its desired vision. Since any given vision is stated in company goals and objectives, materializing the same vision commences with clear definition of the goals and objectives. Drawing a sketchy plan towards achieving it helps in making a clear plan towards attaining this vision (Nattrass Altomare, 1999). In summing up, these applications bring forth the differences between the two theories. Whereas the first one implies the whole, the latter regards one part. Although systems theory takes a combined approach for the wellbeing of employees and corporations, the second theory takes into consideration the wellbeing of a company through its vision. In addition, systems theory expounds on benefits of sharing. References Banal, P. Hoffman, A. J.(2011). The Oxford Handbook of Business and the Natural Environment. Oxford: Oxford university press. Brown, C. S. (2005). The sustainable enterprise: profiting from best practice. London: Koga page. Hitchcock, D., Willard, M. (2009). The business guide to sustainability: Practical strategies and tools for organizations. London, UK: Earthscan.Advertising We will write a custom essay sample on Natural System Sustainability specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More Nattrass, B, B. F. Altomare, M. (1999). The natural step for business: wealth, ecology and the evolutionary corporation. Boston: Wiley. O’Toole, J. (1995). The executive’s compass. New York, NY: Oxford University Press. Senge, P., Smith, B., Kruschwitz, N. Laur, J. Schley, S. (2010). The necessary revolution: How individuals and organizations are working together to create a sustainable world. New York. Broadway Business Publishing. This essay on Natural System Sustainability was written and submitted by user Brisa Middleton to help you with your own studies. You are free to use it for research and reference purposes in order to write your own paper; however, you must cite it accordingly. You can donate your paper here.

Essay On Richard Wright And Frederick Douglas

Essay On Richard Wright And Frederick Douglas Have u ever been wanted something so bad that u would never let a thing get in your way Well I have a story that will make your day.In the mist of adversity, two Black men overcame the odds and learned to read and write during a time when they could have been killed for it. The first man is the legendary Fredrick Douglas, who was born a slave and defied the odds of his time. The other Richard Wright, though in a time no as oppressed as Fredrick, he was a man who would not settle for less. These two men have amazing stories of how they overcame the odds and learned to read and write in a time when it was considered illegal for a Black man to have these skills. I was lucky enough to read their stories and will share my thoughts and experiences with you.English: Rush Rhees library and the Fredrick Dougl...

Compare and contrast concessionary bargaining and two-tire wage Essay

Compare and contrast concessionary bargaining and two-tire wage systems - Essay Example And supermarkets will contribute only 35% for the pensions of new workers, down from their previous contribution of 100%. The United Auto Workers also accepted a two-tier structure in a supplemental agreement with the two major parts suppliers, Delphi and Visteon, that employ 52,000 workers. While workers at the "Big Three" auto plants average around $24 an hour, the new hires at the parts plants will start at $14 an hour and can eventually rise to $18.50. In the public sector, the 121,000 members of District Council 37, American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME), have approved a contract that allows its members to gain wage increases that will be paid for by reducing the pay, sick days and vacation benefits of newly-hired employees. A two-tier system violates the basic union principle of "equal pay for equal work." How should a newly-hired worker feel if he is doing the same work as another worker and getting only two thirds of his pay It turns the new hires into second-class citizens within the union, breeding dissatisfaction and division. It makes it more difficult to foster unity and solidarity. Moreover, employers, in addition to drastically cutting their labor costs, can use their hiring policies to weaken the union. As union power wanes, companies are finding it easier to plead global competition and request stringent concessions that workers are unable to accept. Such "concessionary bargaining" happens during recessions or industry-specific downturns when some companies face the prospect of filing for protection under the U.S. Bankruptcy Code. What's unusual now is how many cases involve companies that are in good shape but cite increased global competition as the reason for the demands. "A lot of companies now are doing it just because they believe they can; it's opportunistic," says Ron Blackwell, chief economist for the AFL-CIO. WORKS CITED: Harry, Kelber. "Unions Accepting a Two-Tier Pay System Are Giving a Major Concession to Bosses". June 9, 2004 Online article

Facebook Investigation Scenario Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Facebook Investigation Scenario - Assignment Example Based on Ms Jones’ feelings, Peter Sampson posted the picture as a way of harassing and humiliating her. As a major in criminal justice, Ms Jones further presented her worries that the post by Mr Sampson may hurt her future career. On February 17th, 2014 at 9:30AM, I discovered that Ms Jones was a 20 year-old criminal justice major at the University of New Haven. At about 8:00AM that morning, one of Ms Jones friends texted to ask whether she has seen Peter Sampson’s Facebook post. It was at this point that I confirmed the post to be true. Ms Jones stated that she had â€Å"sexted† the picture MR. Sampson back in the fall of 2012 when they had just begun dating. Upon further investigation, Ms Jones explained her dating relationship with Mr Sampson and she had broken off their engagement with Mr Sampson. She said that it was after breaking off her engagement weeks earlier that she began dating Michael Davis who happened to be Mr Sampson’s roommate. Ms Jones therefor felt that it was due to these relationship issues that Mr Sampson decided to post the picture. On February 17th, 2014 at 2:45PM I also discovered that Peter Sampson was a 21 year-old criminal justice major in his junior in the same university. During an interview in Mr Sampson’s dorm room, Mr Sampson confirmed his relationship with Ms Jones as well as the breakup. However, he denied having anything to do with the posting and commenting of the picture on Facebook. Mr Sampson started that in his discovery of Ms Jones with Mr Davis, he deleted all digital photos as well as the correspondence between him and Ms Jones. Mr Jones further claimed to have used his Toshiba laptop which no one else had had access to over the past 24-hour period. I then asked him whether someone else had had used the computer in the past. His response was that in the fall of 2014 semester, he had loaned Michael Davis

International Business Entity of Gap Inc Assignment

International Business Entity of Gap Inc - Assignment Example Almost 12.4 % of all business establishments in US are involved in the retail industry and the gross margin of the industry is between 31% and 33%. There is stiff competition in the retail industry and this has seen the sales of Gap Inc drop significantly. Apart from the drop in sales, the company has also been experiencing a decrease in the number of customers. This prompted the company to explore strategies of improving on their sales. The company adopted some measures such as markdowns, aggressive promotion and product campaigns among others. This has caused a recent improvement in the sales of the company though slight. A financial analysis of Gap Inc is critical at this time to determine the financial soundness of the company. Financial analysis is the process of selecting, evaluating and interpreting information from the financial statements of a company in order to obtain information for decision-making. Financial statements have to be interpreted in order to make sense to dec ision makers in the firm. Financial analysis makes sense out of the financial statements and this enables decision-making. Financial statement analysis is therefore a very important tool for the success and growth of an organization. It provides information for decision making either outside or inside the organization. The main tool used to carry out financial analysis is the ratio analysis. ...data include the press releases about the economy or industry performance and economic data such as the gross domestic product (Block & Geoffrey, 2009). It is important for the financial analyst to make a careful selection of relevant data for analysis. All data must be obtained before beginning the process. There are numerous financial ratios. A ratio is an expression of quantitative relationship between elements (Helfert, 2001). Financial ratios are classified into various categories such as liquidity ratios, profitability ratios and activity ratios among others. These ratios are classified based on the information they provide for decision makers of the company. Gap Inc. Mission The mission statement of Gap Inc. is that the firm never stops moving. The firm takes many talented, passionate and dedicated workers across the world to deliver the products of the firm and enable customers have their expected and wonderful shopping experience. Financial Ratio Analysis 1. Ratios measuring the Liquidity of Gap Inc. The ratios are vital for the operations of the firm since they help in determination of the ability of the corporation from meeting its daily operations. Gap Inc. is expected to have high liquidity in order to assure its stakeholders of continued operations. Therefore, high liquidity ratios are favorable for the corporation. These assets are also known as liquid assets and they include cash, bank deposits, stock, and notes receivable among others (Vance, 2002). a) Current ratio Current ratio is the ratio of current assets to current liabilities and it is an indicat or of the ability of a company to meet current liabilities using current assets.

The Papa Johns Pizza Plan for India

The Papa Johns Pizza Plan for India 1. Executive Summary: Papa Johns Pizza is International well know brand in Pizza Industry and it is third largest in the world with more than 3500 outlets. As per the company Marketing director they said we are not really competing with dominos we are not in the same category. Dominos is more delivery and take always, while we offer a complete dining experience in addition to delivery and take away options. Also Papa Johns pizza is public company which having its head quarters at Louisville in USA. We had planned to open 4 outlets at the openings in India as per the target. Our target will be to first capture the pizza lovers and attract the customers of Dominos and Pizza hurt. Give people what they want. The free open market and government regulation to work in INDIA is quite helpful to what we had planned. Mix culture and good tourism industry had made to decide to take Papa Johns pizza to India. As it is major tourist attraction and well known for its hospitability. At last but not least we had some marketing strategy and plan to improve our business. We had a Potential growth in two products which has been introduced recently Pasta and Seafood Pizzas which has are just into the market. Once this gets moving then there wont be any stopping. 2. Business: 2. 1Company Overview Papa Johns International, Inc. is the third largest pizza company in the world with over 3,500 restaurants. It is a public company and traded in the NASDAQ stock market under the symbol PZZA. The headquarters located at Louisville, Kentucky, USA. It operates and franchises pizza delivery and carryout restaurants in United States (Domestic Market) include dine-in and restaurant-base delivery services in worldwide international market under the Papa Johns trademark. 2.2 Products and services Papa Johns operates (own-restaurants) and franchises pizza delivery, carryout restaurants in Domestic Market (US) and dine-in or restaurant-base delivery services in worldwide international market. Papa Johns provided 4 main categories products which are: Pizzas in 8 main choices: The works, The meats, Spicy Italian, Garden Fresh, Tuscan Six Cheese, Spinach Alfredo, BBQ Chicken and Bacon and Hawaiian BBQ Chicken Side items: Breadsticks, Garlic Parmesan Breadsticks, Cheese sticks, Chicken strips, Wings, Cinnamon pie, Apple pie, Sweet Sticks and Chocolate Pastry Delights Drinks: Coca-Cola soft drink products Dipping Source and Seasonings: Garlic, Pizza, Barbeque, Ranch, Cheese, Mustard, Pepperoncini, Anchovies, Jalapeà ±o Peppers, and Banana Peppers. 2.3 Situations and Risks Currently, from the 2009 annual report, the total sale revenue for 2009 was $1.11 billion. That was Papa Johns Pizza earned 11% market share after Pizza Hut (27.5%) and Domino (16.2%) which is their main competitors including the following Little Caesars getting 8.3% share. Source: Annual Meeting of Stockholder, 2010 Source: Annual Meeting of Stockholder, 2010 According to the 2009 financial crisis in United State, Papa Johns had closed 11 restaurants in domestic market compared to the previous year growth at 103 units in 2007 and 32 units in 2008. While new 100 restaurants open in the 2009 international market and international franchise system sales increased24%. Source: Papa Johns JP Morgan Gaming, Lodging, Restaurant Leisure Management Access Forum, 2010. In year 2010, they forecast the sale growth for domestic market will be between -1% (decline) and +1% by open around 40-60 new restaurants. And the company will focus more in international market and forecast to grow around 15% to 20% by trying to open 100 120 new restaurants worldwide in year 2010. In this report, well analyze and purpose the plan to expand the market in to INDIA that aligns with Papa Johns company plan. 3. Marketing Plan 3.1 Key Objective: The key objectives of Papa Johns pizza are as follows: Localizing the Menu as per the local taste and culture. Pricing and promotion as per the price range and the local people capacity to pay. Brand building through advertisement media and local newspaper. Going places literally to promote their brand and sales. 3.2 Media Coverage: To generate sales and profit for Papa John pizza, the benefits of the company should be communicated to the customers. The international marketing campaign like web page advertising and online marketing is very much needed. Other sales can be achieved through advertisement on Television, local magazines, newspaper, radio, poster and sponsorship to various local events in the city. 3.3 Marketing Descriptions: INDIA has a large market sector in tourism and information technology as well as the other products to export to other countries. A large number of factories are in INDIA and the environmental issue is a one consideration in INDIA. The majority of population is HINDU and they have strong Hindu culture in food production and restaurants in INDIA. 3.4Target Group As the population chart presented below, we will know that INDIA has a numerous Hindu ethic group of population. We also use fours marketing mix to receive the right Product, Place, Price, and Promotion in our franchise Papas pizza in INDIA. The highest number of population age is between15 to 64 years ages that it is represented at 64.3% of whole number of population in INDIA (the World fact book, 2010). Therefore, target group of our business will be this ethic group and the population who are aged between 15 to 64 years. 3.5 Marketing strategy: As Papas franchise is Fast food business, people can save their time to cook. We provide good delivery service for our customers. They can order online or calling to order. We also give our coupon discount online and customers can download to use voucher to purchase our pizza. The promotion will be followed the season and event in INDIA. We also supply the survey online to allow customers to make comment and require about our products and service. Hence, customers decision will be depended on ages group from each person to each person and people who live there and visit there. As the high visitor, it not difficult for our Papas pizza to catch up with the fast food market in INDIA. 4 PEST ANALYSES: 4.1POLITICAL ANALYSIS: It includes the regulations and Acts issued or regularised by INDIAN government. Some examples of them are: The factories Act 1948: States that to have an adequate and safety measures, also includes the safety of health and wealth for the workers working in factories. Minimum Wages Act, 1948: To provide a minimum fixation of wages to the employees who are applicable to engaged to any kind of skill, unskilled or clerical work. This act mainly works for the rights of workers. 4.2ECONOMIC TERNDS Indian Economy is quite Intersting, well say seems to emerging economy in economic expansion with the other countries like CHINA, Russia, MEXICO, Brazil. Because of its cheap labor it is always benifited for outsourcig of work from deveolped countries with strong manufacturing and industrial work. 4.3 Social and Environmental issues: With the Modern growth of economy and countries strong old cultural, India still has some extent of its old Myths and strong religious values which somewhat affects the business. Rather say India has strong Hindu religious background but there are various religious groups such as Islam, Christianity, which makes it a complete diverse nation. As the 80% is HINDU by religious the serving of Beef or pork is treated an objectionable in Indian cultural. There are lots of festive season out of which Diwali is one of the biggest one. As the British has ruled in India for decades they have certainly acquired the British way of doing Business. But before British Mughals has ruled in India so the culture has some mixed values with the architecture related to this. India has around 28 states and main 18 regionally languages. 4.4TECHNOLOGICAL PHASE Consumer food market is efficient in terms of production as of its national productivity, investment in research and development, innovation. Financial condition prevail INDIA from furthering the technological gap and capital intensity between formal and informal sectors. Productions system through innovation, design capability and product market push in INDIA is not up to the mark to leverage exogenous knowledge as to remote growth as per the quality and cost. 5 Porter Five Forces: Power of buyers: Concentration of buyers: As especially INDIA is a diverse country and the tourism as well as population is most dominant sector as per the business concern in INDIA. So the main concentration of buyers is always on the tourist as well as the people within the country. Differentiation: Well Papa John pizza is well known for its standardization in pizza industry. They have standard size, rate and quality so there will be no differentiation in their standards. Profitability of buyers: well, the hotel industry is well known business in INDIA. So buyers have very much hard competition among themselves. Also buyers have very wide range of choice to select the product. Power of suppliers: Concentration of suppliers: As we discuss earlier INDIA is a diverse country there are many people of different culture and religion so there are various different suppliers as per the choice and requirement. Branding: Well the main industrial and economical benefit of the country is through tourism industry. So especially from different countries is more concern about the brand image while buying a product. Also, INDIA is major hub for its international market and well known brands. Power of entrants: Economies of scale: As per the GDP till year 2010 INDIA 3.57 trillion dollars. Manufacturing and services are the twin engines of the INDIA economy and accounted for 28.2% and 54.9%, respectively, of India gross domestic product in 2009. The electronics and chemicals industries lead INDIA manufacturing sector, Threats of substitutes: Quality: Quality is a substitute better? Well the industry which gives the better quality and service has longer profit. So there is an always a threat of substitutes in the INDIA especially in the hotel industry, quality is important criteria in them. 6. SWOT Analyses: Strength: Papa Johns Pizza having there their strength as the quality of fresh food they used, Customer satisfaction, Delivering pizza on time to customer and most important thing they dont have call centers to make order on phone. So the direct calls are routed to the pizza shop and there are less chances of making mistake in taking order, like it happens in Pizza hut always. Weakness: The weakness of Papa Johns pizza is that they have very limited range of pizza menu as compared to Pizza hut. Which some time divert the customer from them because people want change and new variety food. Opportunities: As per the information of INDIA, it is a multi religious nation so our opportunities will be make the traditional food Pizza for the food lover. Also pizza hut dont have any kind of these pizza as they are already there. One more thing we liked to introduce is Pasta for people. Threats: Our only threats in future are Pizza hut and other fast food chains because our main competitors are hotel industry particularly the pizza industry. So we have to compete among them with good strategic planning and service. 7. Competitor Analysis: List of major competitors and any potential competitors: Pizza Hut, Dominos KFC Mc Donald Other Fast Food Chains in INDIA. Among this major competitor Pizza Hut is our potential competitor because it is well-known pizza maker and it ready set in Pizza business in INDIA. Pizza hut has built its own website online to provide both take away and dine-in restaurant for customers to make both reservation and order. Identification and analysis of strategic group Fast food chains are main competitors in our business. Service industry is good in INDIA. There are many tourist attractions. Therefore, our major strategic group will be local restaurants and fast food chains. Size, Growth and profitability Gross of national product of INDIA is approximately $ 302.6 billion. Compare with the United States and other western countries. 8. Operations Plan: Operational plan establish the activities and budgets involved for each and every part of the organization. Operational plan generally interlink with strategic plan with the activities involved and thus the organization can able to deliver all the resources required to deliver them. The main objective of Papa Johns pizza company is they are looking to attract new franchise partners all over the world. The best example is Papa Johns Pizzas UK and Ireland expansion. There are various act ivies involved in order to implement objectives. For example they have come up with the new concept to deliver pizza by launching a delivery vehicles for this they also branded Smart Car which illustrates the snaps of fresh pizza ingredients on them. Mainly it includes freezer as well as an integrated hot-bad system which ensures that pizzas are delivered properly according to the customers requirements. The main reason behind this is, if customer orders pizza as well any drink then while delivering that product it should not be get cold or hot visa-versa. They also researched from different group of people that companys branding was one of the good indication of the product quality. According to Schnatter these improvements are nothing but process of refinement rather than any change that may be disastrous. The factors such as company culture develop a framework which contains the processes and also modeling a consistent eager to deliver better plays major factors in quality improvement standards. In one of their visionary statements not only includes business growth of this company but also growth of Papa Johns employees. Finally whole quality standards would be implemented by people only therefore they are also attracting and keeping talent. This companys fundamental based on people. In other words this company is people growing machine where team building is the vital aspect in improving quality standards. The expected outputs includes now Papa John is already the third largest pizza franchisor in the world, but they still has sights on reaching number 2 position and ultimately becoming the number 1 pizza chain in the world. The factors such as looking ahead to the next task challenge and goals give Papa John strength to achieve expected outputs. 9. Financial: 9.1 Assumption and Information: The key indicators such as stock exchange, exchange rates and interest rates, assets, import and exports manage the world economy. The country this report researches on current Papa John pizza financial condition in US. They are effectively running there pizza industry business in US and need to expand more as time grows. 9.2 Financial requirement from Papa Johns: As per the international franchise development rule of Papa John pizza the company who want to take franchise has to pay $25,000 fees for per restaurant. Out of which they have to pay $5000 at the time of agreement and rest $20,000 at the opening of the restaurant. Besides that if you want to open the sub branches they have to pay $15,000 for additional each store. 9.3Financial support and Interest rate: The interest of bank vary globally due to political stability, internal policies, government regulations etc, however the financial markets are dependence on interbank interest rates Well also according to Franchise Restaurant Development. Papa John provides assistance to Papa Johns franchisees in selecting sites, developing restaurants and evaluating the physical specifications for typical restaurants. 9.4Financial Risks: Papa john pizza needs to consider the following points before entering into INDIA such as foreign tax laws, how much restriction is made on profit which is repatriated to Papa John pizza. 10. Appendices: INDIA overview Demographic Feature: Area : 3,287,263 sq Km Population : 1,156,897,766 (July 2010 EST.) Capital : Delhi Nationality : INDIAN. Language : Hindi and 18 regional languages. Racial Groups : eclectic mixture of local religion Hindu, Muslim, Christian, Sikh, Buddhist etc. Population Growth rate : 1.5407% (2010) Birth rate : 21.72 births/1000population (2009) Age structure: 0-14 years: 30.5% 15-64 years: 64.3% 65 years and over: 5.2% Median age : Total: 25.9 years. male: 25.4 years Female: 26.6 years (2010 EST.) Death rate : 7.6 deaths/1,000 population (July 2010) Infant mortality rate: total: 50.78 deaths/1,000 live births male: 49.33 deaths/1,000 live births Female: 52.4 deaths/1,000 live births (2009 EST.) Life expectancy At birth : total population: 66.09 years male: 65.13 years Female: 67.17 years (2009 EST.) Total fertility rate : 2.65 children born/woman (2009 EST.)

Huxleys Brave New World Essay -- Huxley Brave New World Essays

Huxley's Brave New World Today, in 21st century United States, people are concerned with the fast pace of new and growing technology, and how these advances should be used. In the last decade alone we have seen major advancements in technology; in science, cloning has become a reality, newer, more powerful drugs have been invented and, in communications, the Internet has dominated society. There is a cultural lag due to the fast rate of increasing technology, and while the governments of the world are trying to keep up their role as censors and lawmakers, we as individuals are trying to comprehend the effects it has on our lives. Will these advances enhance our lives to an unprecedented level of comfort, or lead to the loss of actual happiness? In the early 1930's, when Aldous Huxley wrote Brave New World, this was a question he felt was worth asking. In Huxley's Brave New World there are two forms of happiness: physical and actual. The fulfillment of physical happiness is the basis of the New World society. Residents never have to worry about food, shelter, job security, or sickness. One will never look fat, wrinkly or become weak with brittle bones and, thus, even the fear of growing old is taken away. Mustapha Mond, one of the world controllers in the novel, sums up physical happiness with the statement: ?The world is stable now?They?re well off; They?re safe; They are never ill; they?re not afraid of death; they?re blissfully ignorant of passion and old age(Huxley 220). The characters, Bernard Marx, Lenina Crowne, and Helmholtz Watson are each looking for more than what is offered by physical happiness, they are looking for actual happiness. Actual happiness ?relates more to the mind and heart? (HH Dalai Lama 21). For example, Helmholtz has the desire to be creative and Lenina has the desire to love. Bernard Marx, knowing that he is different and considered inferior to other Alpha-plus males, has the desire to not only fit in, but to be respected by others. Other individuals in the Brave New World are content while these three characters are searching for something not given to them by the government, something beyond physical happiness. They are searching for actual happiness. Individuality, which is one of the strongest values in the United States today, is taken away at the moment of conception in the B... ...e a prophetic tone seventy years after it was written. Our society?s priorities, like the one in the Brave New World, seem to be quite shallow in its obsession with physical appearance and conspicuous consumption of material objects. People undergo surgery to improve their appearance and maintain their youthful image of themselves. People, generally, judge others as well as themselves by their possessions, status, and appearance, rather than the quality of their character. Cloning is no longer science fiction, and with increasing technology, the absolute need for mothers and fathers could disappear. At what point does social stability outweigh human nature? There needs to be a balance between physical and actual happiness, and where the proper balance should be is questionable. Huxley doesn?t have the answer, but he leaves the reader with an idea of why balance is so hard to find: ?Actual happiness always looks pretty squalid in comparison with the overcompensations for misery? (Huxley 221). WORKS CITED: Huxley, Aldous. Brave New World. New York: HarperCollins, 1998. Lama, HH Dalai. The Art of Happiness. London: Hoddler and Straughton, 1999.

All That Glitters Are Not Gold Essay

All that glitters is not gold is a well-known saying, meaning that not everything that looks precious or true turns out to be so. This can apply to persons, places, or things that promise to be more than they really are. The expression, in various forms, originated in or before the 12th century[1] and may date back to Aesop.[2] Chaucer gave two early versions in English: â€Å"But all thing which that schyneth as the gold / Ne is no gold, as I have herd it told,† and â€Å"Hyt is not al golde that glareth.† The popular form of the expression is a derivative of a line in William Shakespeare’s play The Merchant of Venice, which employs the word â€Å"glisters,† a 17th-century synonym for â€Å"glitters.† The line comes from a secondary plot of the play, the puzzle of Portia’s boxes (Act II – Scene VII – Prince of Morocco): All that glisters is not gold; Often have you heard that told: Many a man his life hath sold But my outside to behold: Gilded tombs do worms enfold. Had you been as wise as bold, Young in limbs, in judgement old Your answer had not been inscroll’d Fare you well, your suit is cold. Panning for gold often results in finding pyrite, nicknamed fool’s gold, which reflects substantially more light than authentic gold does. Gold in its raw form appears dull and does not glitter. â€Å"Not all that glitters is gold† is an alternative formulation.[3][4][5] The inverse of this expression, â€Å"All that glitters is gold,† is a lyric in the Led Zeppelin song, â€Å"Stairway to Heaven†, the Smash Mouth song, â€Å"All Star† and theDeath in Vegas song, â€Å"All That Glitters†. It is also used as lyrics in the song â€Å"A Guided Masquerade† by Alesana. A variation of the saying is used in Kid Cudi’s song â€Å"Pursuit of Happiness†, in which it goes: â€Å"I’m on the pursuit of happiness and I know everything that shine ain’t always gonna be gold.†

Free Essays on Effects Of Learned Violence From Watching TV

Many television programs involve a substantial amount of violence in one form or another that affects people to think that television is the cause of violence in today’s youth. Many have questioned whether television disturbs the minds of adolescent children who can not yet comprehend the truth of fiction and reality. Violent television viewing affects younger children more since their perception of what is real or unreal is not as acute as an older adult - meaning that aggressive adults learned their behavior as children. By watching portrayals of violence, children learn to accept aggressive behavior by becoming desensitized to the effects of violence and imitating it by modeling the actor’s aggressive behaviors. According to the Institute for the Social Research, an aggressive behavior is a learned behavior which is being taught to our children by the media violence that they are exposed to daily (Chen, 1994 p.23). In Aggression – A Social Learning Analysis, written by Albert Bandura, indicates that sometimes watching a single violent program can increase aggressiveness. Children who watch television depicting violence as realistic, unpunished, and frequently repeated are more likely to imitate what they see (Bandura, pg.25). The impact of viewing violence on television may become immediately evident in the child’s behavior, or it may surface later (Canton and Wilson, 1984). While violence portrayed on television is not the cause of aggressive behavior, it is clearly a significant factor. Children â€Å"are predisposed to seek out and pay attention to violence, particularly cartoon violence (Canton and Wilson, 1984). It is not the violence itself that makes the cartoons attractive to preschoolers, but the vivid images accompanying them. Preschoolers are unlikely to put the violence in context since they are likely to misunderstand the violent images being portrayed – children cannot comprehend fiction from reality... Free Essays on Effects Of Learned Violence From Watching TV Free Essays on Effects Of Learned Violence From Watching TV Many television programs involve a substantial amount of violence in one form or another that affects people to think that television is the cause of violence in today’s youth. Many have questioned whether television disturbs the minds of adolescent children who can not yet comprehend the truth of fiction and reality. Violent television viewing affects younger children more since their perception of what is real or unreal is not as acute as an older adult - meaning that aggressive adults learned their behavior as children. By watching portrayals of violence, children learn to accept aggressive behavior by becoming desensitized to the effects of violence and imitating it by modeling the actor’s aggressive behaviors. According to the Institute for the Social Research, an aggressive behavior is a learned behavior which is being taught to our children by the media violence that they are exposed to daily (Chen, 1994 p.23). In Aggression – A Social Learning Analysis, written by Albert Bandura, indicates that sometimes watching a single violent program can increase aggressiveness. Children who watch television depicting violence as realistic, unpunished, and frequently repeated are more likely to imitate what they see (Bandura, pg.25). The impact of viewing violence on television may become immediately evident in the child’s behavior, or it may surface later (Canton and Wilson, 1984). While violence portrayed on television is not the cause of aggressive behavior, it is clearly a significant factor. Children â€Å"are predisposed to seek out and pay attention to violence, particularly cartoon violence (Canton and Wilson, 1984). It is not the violence itself that makes the cartoons attractive to preschoolers, but the vivid images accompanying them. Preschoolers are unlikely to put the violence in context since they are likely to misunderstand the violent images being portrayed – children cannot comprehend fiction from reality...

The centuries, developments in transportation and communications technologies The WritePass Journal

The centuries, developments in transportation and communications technologies Introduction: The centuries, developments in transportation and communications technologies Introduction:References:Related Introduction: Throughout the centuries, developments in transportation and communications technologies have weakened the barriers of space and time and brought people progressively closer together (Isard, 2005, p.3). Along with the increasing connectedness, the cooperation of international trade, economy, education and cultures also have become integrated, and this progress can be defined as globalization. The economic area perhaps is the most significance symbol of globalization. A well-regulated financial market is the cornerstone of the global economy. As an indispensable part of economic globalization, financial globalization plays a key role in promoting the economic development and stability. According to a number of policies and methods, it could help to raise the growth rate in developing economies through foreign direct investment, risk management, technical assistance and so on. However, the financial globalization not always show the positive effects, financial crisis could leads to pan ic and economic depression, even develop into a disaster. Therefore, global economy can profit from getting a clearly perspective of financial globalization, and to make global economy system work better. This essay describes the increasingly developing period of financial globalization through two significant organizations, and then discusses the benefits of it. For the developing economies, several strategic policy measures and organizations are established to avoid international economic disorder and promote global cooperation. In recent decades, high capital mobility and a great deal of gross international financial flows are the results of the increasingly significant financial globalization, especially in the developing economies (Obadan, 2006, p.317). In this aspect, private capital flows to developing countries increased dramatically from US ï ¼â€ž62 billion in 1991 to almost USï ¼â€ž226 billion in 2000, and falling to USï ¼â€ž160 billion in 2001(World Bank, 2002, p.32). Also, according to Obadan (2006, p.317), â€Å"between 1997 and 2000, cross-border capital flows increased from less than 3% of GDP to 17% for advanced economies and from virtually nothing to about 5% for developing economies†. The International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (the World Bank) and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) are two main or ganizations, which promote global cooperation and avoid international economic disorder. The World Bank was established to finance economic reconstruction and development. The IMF has four purposes first of all, it promotes international monetary cooperation. it also facilitates the expansion of international trade. To be specific, the IMF creates employment opportunities, improves real income and develops the productive resources. Thirdly, it maintains an orderly exchange rate system. Lastly, the IMF makes some financial resources available to members to decrease the balance of payment adjustment (Isard, 2005, p.69). Until now, there are 187 countries participated in this organization to promote international monetary cooperation (IMF, 2011). Financial globalization boosts the economic development through economic reforms and financial liberalization and capital markets able to access private global capital markets. The increasing trans-border financial flows through various channels contribute to integrate the financial markets into a global whole. And a myriad of benefits come from the development of global financial integration. One benefit of financial globalization, for the developing countries, is improving access provides a rich source of capital at a lower cost. And abundant capital makes increase potentially productive and creditworthy projects available (Das, 2010, p.100). Take the emerging-market economies (EMES) as an example, EMES are able to provide more cheaper loans than main lending markets. Secondly, the advanced industrial economies not only can get higher rates of return due to the cheaper loan interest rate, but also can diversify risk by investing in the EMES. Thirdly, a growing number of branches of financial institutions, which come from advanced industrial economies, improve the level of efficiency of local institutions with the increasingly fierce competition (Das, 2010, p.101). Fourthly, governments also profit from the competition. The authorities learn the value of market discipline and pay for the policy mistakes and establish new macroeconomic policy discipline (Das, 2010, p. xvii). As an inevitable part of financial globalization, the global financial crisis showed the huge negative effects on world’s economies. Past episodes of financial globalization were all success cases for contributing to financial stability and supporting high growth of economy, yet they all meet the crises. On 15 September 2008, Lehman Brothers, which was the fourth largest investment bank in the USA, declared bankruptcy, and this lead to the financial crisis spilled over globally (Das, 2010, p.127). The bankruptcy of this excellent investment bank shocked the financial world, causing panic in the global financial system. At this point, a great deal of the world’s largest banks were short of money, even some of them were near collapsed. However, why the current crisis happened so suddenly after more than 15 years of successful growth of the global economy? One major course of this financial crisis was the built-up of risk. Some banks and financial institutions over puddle the sub-prime mortgage because of greedy, even they lent money to some people who had problems repaying the loans. This lead to excessive risk was built-up in the global financial system for a long time, and this bubble burst until the risk was too high to afford (Das, 2010, p.132). With the financial cooperation closer and closer, this current crisis was widespread. According to IMF (2009), there were 78 countries recorded negative GDP growth in 2009. More and more economies realized that this crisis was totally a disaster of global economy, and they started to look for some measures to deal with it. Global crisis requires a global solution, for this reason, many countries and economies worked together to solve problems. For instance, Chinese government and American Government provided $ 600 billion and $ 700 billion separately to stimulate economic development. On the other hand, the IMF and the World Bank published a series of polices and provided much cheaper loans to encourage economic recovery immediately. Obviously, financial globalization plays a key role in economic globalization, and boosts the economic development. It leads to high capital mobility and a large volume of international financial flows. Financial globalization results in several benefits on the economic growth.   It also shows some negative effect on the global economy simultaneously, particularly the serious financial crises. However, the key challenge is not to resolve whether the advantages outweigh the disadvantages but to find effective measures to address the problems, which are caused by the financial globalization, to make the process of financial globalization work better (Isard, 2005, p.6). References: Das, D. K., 2010. Financial globalization: growth, integration, innovation and crisis. London: Palgrave Macmillan. International Monetary Fund, 2009. World Economic Outlook. Washington. DC. April. International Monetary Fund, 2011. About the IMF. (Updated 23 May 2011) Available at: imf.org/external/about.htm [Accessed 24 May 2011]. Isard, P., 2005. Globalization and the International Financial System. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Obadan, M.I., 2006. Globalization of finance and the challenge of national financial sector development. Journal of Asia Economics. 17, pp.316-332. World Bank, 2002. World development indicators. Washington, DC: The World Bank.

Current Event Article 5 Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Current Event Article 5 - Essay Example The article has rather taken a variable approach to find out the perception of subjects regarding corporate finance. The findings of the research show that the board size, family influence and small business growth etc. are some of the factors that have high impact on the small sized business in India (Gill, Biger2 and Mand). The authors have contributed in the existing literature of corporate finance. It should be noted that the literature regarding the corporate finance in Indian business cases have been limited. This research has taken a very systematic yet descriptive approach towards finding out the hypothesis. This research can be employed by companies of smaller board sizes that are trying to saturate their product in markets where extreme competition is being noted. The material has been backed up by relevant sources and peer reviewed journals. The facts and figures have been provided for the readers in a simplistic language. General readers can also be interested in the conclusion make by the

Introduction to the Bacteria Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Introduction to the Bacteria - Research Paper Example Bacteria differ in their nature as some contain additional features such as flagella, which helps them in moving and protecting the slim capsules. They also exist in varying shapes and sizes because some are rod-shaped, round, comma-shaped and spiral. Some bacteria cause diseases while many others are important to human beings as they support them in living healthily (Storey 339). The useful bacteria exist on the skin surface, genitals and in the intestines. The bacteria found on human skin are important because they clean the waste material on the skin surface hence preventing dissimilar skin infections. The bacteria in the intestine help in the breaking up of food molecules, thus allowing the body to absorb important nutrients (Storey 340). Cause of disease and the interaction Bacterial diseases occur in different forms, therefore, for a person to avoid it, it is vital to have the knowledge concerning the disease. The bacteria cause different types of diseases ranging from skin dis eases to tuberculosis and bubonic plague. It is easy for an individual to get bacterial diseases because bacteria are single-celled microscopic organisms, hence, seeing them with a naked eye is impossible. Bacterial diseases occur because of harmful bacteria, also called pathogenic bacteria, getting into the human body. These bacteria can get in the human body through contamination of bites, eating unhygienic food, sexual contacts with the infected person, sharing needles and touching dirty areas. When these bacteria get into the human body, they initially enter the blood system, where they find a good environment with optimal conditions for growth. Even though their growth rates are low when in blood, they reproduce considerably within a few days (Storey 342). A bacterium is capable of causing diseases such as throat and ear infections to children. In addition, the bacteria can also cause other diseases to adults, for example, tuberculosis, plague, syphilis, and cholera. Bacteria c ause disease because of varying aspects, which include their toxicity, autoimmune activity such as destroying the human body tissues while others can reproduce, hence increasing their presence in the body. This affects the body working mechanisms. Bacteria become harmful to the human body because too many of them produce toxins that have chemicals that cause inflammation and kill nearby cells. These toxins are capable of causing diseases because the bacteria producing them reproduce, hence, increasing the amount of the toxins. Therefore, these bacteria create holes within the cell membranes, killing the cells. Such bacteria negatively affect the immune system of the human body thus leading to internal bleeding and damage to the body. Pathogenic bacteria also culminate in varied infections and diseases in human beings. The bacteria infect the human body, multiplying and reproducing at a very high rate within different vestigial organs (Storey 343). The bacteria also stick on the cell membranes, destroying them and spreading infectious diseases among individuals. In addition, the bacteria found on the skin of humans are also capable of causing different types of diseases. These bacteria are responsible for causing and spreading infectious diseases, which include bubonic plague, a life-threatening disease. Bacteria of Yersinia pestis variety cause this disease. Bubonic plague occurs in different forms commonly spread by rats and fleas and then transferred to the blood system of the human body. The incubation rate of this infection ranges from two to seven days (Storey 343). Cholera is also among the common diseases resulting from bacterial infections.  Ã‚  

International tax coursework assignment Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

International tax coursework assignment - Essay Example The international tax system is required to be structured in such a way that any company carrying out its business in more than two countries should be liable to the domestic law of more than one country and the conflict of laws existing between the countries can be resolved by implementing the international law. The company residence acts have been introduced in which the company is considered as the resident of that country where its real business is being carried out. The technical fees services are required to be adopted under which the right to tax is assigned to the respective State of residence. The fundamental change to the international tax explains that the payment for technical services may erode the source country’s tax base. But the payment of technical services is not often taxed by the source country under the provision of United Nation Model Convention Treaty. Therefore the multinational companies often use this technical fees for availing technical, consulting and management services for generating profit from their subsidiaries. The main aim of the base erosion and price shifting is to provide certainty to the international businesses for harmonizing their international tax rules (Thuronyi, 2003). The main reason of addition of this provision to the UN model is that more than 100 treaties have been introduced and formulated but there is absence of proper and definite standard of doing the task. Introduction of different treaty creates a problem for the international tax payers who are required to verify the provisions laid by each treaty for carrying out its business operation within the border and abroad. The OECD transfer pricing guidelines has been formulated for the multinational companies and also for the tax administrations. This principle of transfer pricing is accepted by all the companies across the world. OECD approach associated with the intellectual property explains the functions that is outsourced to the

South Florida from Michigan Essay Example for Free

South Florida from Michigan Essay John and Jenny Grogan, a newlywed couple who move to South Florida from Michigan, work in the newspaper business, John is a reporter and Jenny is a freelance feature writer. At the advice of Johns friend Sebastian, who claims that adopting a dog will pause Jennys biological clock, John and Jenny adopt an adorable yellow Labrador puppy that is touted by the breeder as being on sale. Jenny affectionately calls the puppy Clearance Puppy, but is ultimately named Marley. A rambunctious dog, the Grogans take Marley to a trainer, only to discover that even the trainer cannot control Marley. When the couple tries to start a family, Marley gets older, and is still chewing on furniture, stealing food, and will not obey commands. John, who is the breadwinner in the family, is struggling with being a popular columnist for the newspaper he works at, continuously telling his boss that he had always wanted to be a reporter. Jenny is often left alone to suffer the frustrations of early motherhood, eventually getting so fed up with Marleys antics that she demand that John take Marley to a new home. Of course, Jenny changes her mind after she had time to herself to sort things out. From there, John gets a job in Pennsylvania, and with the move, the family becomes a picture of the American Dream; a nice home in the country, three children, and a dog. By this time, Marley is considered a senior, and his aging hits the family hard. In the end, Marley dies of a twisted stomach, a common ailment in larger dogs. After a small, and heartbreaking, funeral, the family who loved that dog so much moves on, better off for having known Marley. McCarthy, Todd. (December 21, 2008). Marley Me. Variety. April 7, 2009. http://www. variety. com/review/VE1117939263. html? categoryid=31cs=1

Linking male underachievement with stereotypical laddish behaviour

Linking male underachievement with stereotypical laddish behaviour Much of the current research on underachieving boys in education is focused on suggesting solutions in terms of teaching methods. It is possible to criticise this approach as one can argue that in order to effectively formulate strategies aimed at helping boys who underachieve, you need to actually understand why they are underachieving. Some research suggests that the phenomenon of new laddism is just the old fashioned problem of boys behaving badly (Chaudhary, 1998). The solutions therefore do not actually focus on the cause of bad behaviour just focus on dealing with the behaviour itself. Media representations of underachieving boys are also problematic. They all too often ignore important questions and issues, such as which boys are underachieving? Delemont (1999) points out the problems with the crude portrayals that suggest boys underachievement and laddishness are synonymous; they are not. Not all laddish boys are underachievers and not all underachievers are laddish. Objective 3 of this research was addressed in detail in the previous section the literature review. Objective 1 and 2 of this research will be implemented through the collection and analysis of empirical data. This study is interested in an in-depth analysis of the year 10 and 11 boys at the researchers school, and specifically the reasons why they adopt laddish attitudes. Objective 1 will be focused on through analysis of the school staff as well, in particular looking at the process that causes certain types of behaviour to be labelled as laddish. Cohen and Manions (1996) description of a case study the researcher observing the characteristics of an individual unit sums up this piece of research neatly. Howard Becker (1970) describes one aim of case studies as the attempt to arrive at a comprehensive understanding of the group under study. This researcher be attempting to gain a comprehensive understanding of boys who underachieve at Tewkesbury School. Case studies can also be used to produce typologies, or a set of categories defining types of a social phenomenon. Douglas (1967) suggested that case studies could be used to discover the different types of suicide by uncovering the different social meanings of suicide. There is a possibility that this research can produce some typologies about the different types of behaviour that causes male underachievement. The potential issue with this research strategy is that it is not possible to generalise on the basis of my findings. It is impossible to determine how far the findings of this research can be applied to underachieving boys in other schools. As Bryman (1988) suggests, one way around this would be to repeat the research in other schools looking at the same phenomenon. The issue though with attempting to repeat the research is that it is difficult to make direct comparisons of the results of studies carried out either by different people, or by the same people at different times. Historical research as a strategy is not appropriate to this topic as it is generally associated with the study of non-contemporary phenomena this research is clearly not interested in anything non-contemporary. Experimental research is also not appropriate to this topic as its very nature is at odds with what this research is attempting to do experimental research will try to objective by taking phenomena out of its natural context, this research needs to understand what is happening in a school environment. Action research was considered due to the in-depth nature of the analysis it engages in but this research is not focused on one specific problem that can be tackled this way, the researcher is interested in exploring a range of issues linked to laddish behaviour and underachievement. This research will produce qualitative data in the main. Denzin and Lincoln (1994) describe qualitative research as studying things in their natural settings, and attempting to make sense of phenomena in terms of the meanings people give to them. Some quantitative data will also be produced as well, which Myers (1997) states is often produced through survey techniques within a social setting and as such works well when used alongside qualitative methods. Orlikowski et al. (1991) say that there are three categories into which qualitative research strategies fall into, depending upon the researchers view of the world; critical, positivist and interpretivist. Whilst this researcher does believe that in terms of a critical perspective of the world, people are influenced by social and cultural circumstances, he does not believe that the main of his research should be to free people from the restraining forces that impact upon their lives. His role is simply to understand better the key aspects of laddish behaviour and underachievement. This research will also not be adopting a positivist methodology, as the researcher does not believe that human beings can be studied in the same way that the natural sciences use to study particles, gases and rocks. The French writer Auguste Compte was the first person to use the phrase positivist philosophy (Compte, 1986). He believed that scientific knowledge about society could be accumulated and used t o improve human existence so that society could be run rationally without religion or superstition getting in the way of progress. Compte believed that the scientific study of society should be confined to collecting information about phenomena that can be objectively observed and classified. He argued that researchers should not be concerned with the internal meanings, motives, feelings and emotions of individuals these states only exist in the persons consciousness so cannot be observed, and cannot be measured in any objective way. The fundamental part of positivism is its use of statistical data. Positivists believed that it was possible to classify the social world in an objective way. Using these classifications it was then possible to count sets of observable social facts and then produce statistics. You can then look for correlations between different social facts. If there is a correlation between two or more types of social phenomena, then a positivist might suspect that one of these phenomena is causing the other to take place. This can be criticised though, for example if you look working class boys underachieving in school, the correlation between those two factors is not necessarily causal. It may simply be an indirect correlation. Positivism is based upon an understanding of science that sees science as using a mainly inductive methodology. This begins by collecting the data. The data is then analysed and out of this analysis theories are developed. Once the theory has been developed it can then be tested against other sets of data to see if it is confirmed or not. If it is repeatedly confirmed then positivists like Compte assume they have discovered a law of human behaviour. Other researchers though have not accepted the inductive method. Indeed, many use an alternative, a deductive approach. This alternative methodology is supported by Karl Popper in his book The Logic of Scientific Discovery (1959). The deductive approach reverses the process of induction. It starts with a theory and tests it against the evidence, rather than developing a theory as a result of examining the data. Popper argues that scientists should start with a hypothesis; a statement that is to be tested. This statement should be very precise and should state exactly what will happen in particular circumstances. On the basis of this hypothesis it should be possible to deduce predictions about the future. Popper differs from positivists in that he denies it is ever possible to produce laws that will necessarily be found to be true for all time. He argues that however many times a theory is apparently proved correct, there is always the possibility that at some future date the theory w ill be proved wrong, or falsified. He suggests that scientists have a duty to be objective, and to test their theories as rigorously as possible. Therefore, once they have formulated hypotheses, and made predictions, it is necessary to try constantly to find evidence that disproves or falsifies their theories. Some though argue that in practice scientists operate in very different ways from those advocated by Popper or positivists. Thomas Kuhn (1962) has developed an analysis of science which sees it as being far from the objective pursuit of knowledge. He argues that science is characterised by a commitment to a scientific paradigm. A paradigm consists of a set of beliefs shared by a group of scientists about what the natural world is composed of, what counts as true and valid knowledge, and what sort of questions should be asked and what sort of procedures should be followed to answer those questions. Kuhn does not believe that the same methods and procedures are found throughout scientific history; rather, they are specific to particular sciences at particular times. Scientists may ignore evidence that does not fit their paradigm. To Kuhn, a scientific subject is one in which there is an agreed paradigm. There is no guarantee that this accepted paradigm is correct: it may well be replaced by a new paradigm in the future. If Kuhns view of science is accepted, then it is doubtful social research can be considered as scientific. There is no one accepted paradigm in social research the different perspectives all see the social world in different ways: they ask different questions and get different answers. Kuhns work has been criticised though as you can argue that it has little relevance to social science and based upon inadequate evidence. Anderson, Hughes and Sharrock (1986) believe that he has underestimated the degree to which there is conflict and disagreement in natural science. Most of the time alternative paradigms are debated. A careful examination of the history of science shows that the periods of revolution grow in size while those of settled normality contract. The approach that this researcher will be adopting as identified by Orlikowski et al. (1991) is interpretivism. This most closely matches this researchers approach to research, and as a teacher of sociology it has been refined over the past ten years of either studying or teaching the subject. The interpretivist approach suggests that qualititative data collection techniques should be used. Social action can only be understood by interpreting the meanings and motives on which it is based. Many interpretivists argue that there is little chance of discovering these meanings and motives from quantitative data. Only from qualitative data with its greater richness and depth can the sociologist hope to interpret the meanings that lie behind social action. Interpretivists reject the use of natural science methodology for the study of social action. The natural sciences deal with matter. Since matter has no consciousness, its behaviour can be explained simply as a reaction to external stimuli. People though, have consciousness they see, interpret and experience the world around them in terms of meanings. Max Weber talks about how understanding the motives behind peoples behaviour could be achieved through verstehen imagining yourself to be in the position of the person whose behaviour you were seeking to explain. Phenomenology represents the most radical departure from positivism. Phenomenologists go even further than interpretivists in that they reject the possibility of producing causal explanations of human behaviour. They do not believe that it is possible objectively to measure and classify the world. To phenomenologists, human beings make sense of the world by imposing meanings and classifications upon it. These meanings and classifications make up social reality. They believe that researchers should limit themselves to understanding the meanings and classifications which people use to give order to and make sense of the world. Studies which utilise this method concentrate almost entirely on the subjective aspects of social life which are internal to the individuals consciousness. DATA COLLECTION Convenience sampling was used to select the participants in the research project. It was convenient because the researcher works at the school involved in the study. There is nothing random about the students and staff who have been chosen and the researcher is making no claim of representativeness and generalisability to anywhere other than his school. That is not the focus of the research instead it is focused on simply gaining an in-depth understanding of the key issues involved in laddish behaviour and underachievement. This method of sampling was also used due to the fact that it is by far the easiest way to access participants. This research will use two main methods of collecting data: interviews and secondary data analysis. The main data collection technique will be semi-structured interviews. Interviews are as Yin (2003) states, able to provide insights into complex situations. And as Goldthorpe et.al (1968) found, interviewees could be prompted if they cannot decide how to answer a question. The interviews will be semi-structured because this will allow the students and staff to express their views, explain their individual circumstances and expand on any answers. The researcher though will be able to guide them towards the specific area of interest because there will always be some pre-planned questions. The key is, as Marshall and Rossman (1989) put it the participants view on the phenomena of interest should unfold as they truly view it, not as the researcher views it. The use of more than one method allows the researcher to engage in methodological pluralism. This is the idea that we should tolerate of a variety of methods in sociological research, because methods should be seen as part of the research process as a whole. (Bryman, 1998). The key advantage to the researcher is that it allows him to combine both positivist and interpretivist research methods, which allows him to benefit from triangulation, which is where the strengths of one method balance out against the weaknesses of another, and allow me to cross-examine the results. Methodological pluralism has become more and more popular in recent years amongst sociologists, although the idea itself has not escaped criticism: However, consensus over methodological pluralism is incomplete, and does not even mean that subscribing sociologists have actively sought to promote pluralism. As Bell, observed: à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦ individual sociologists no matter how tolerant, catholic and eclectic are v ery unlikely actually to be methodological pluralists à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦ . It is the structure of sociology that became pluralist not sociologists themselves. (Bell and Roberts, 1984). Indeed, Payne et al (2004) conducted research aimed itself at measuring the extent to which methodological pluralism is used in sociological research. They concluded: Only about one in 20 of published papers in the mainstream journals uses quantitative analysis, ranging from simple cross-tabulations to multivariate techniques. This is not grounds for an argument that there should be less qualitative research, but rather that there should be more quantitative research. The site for the research will be Tewkesbury School. The research project is not intended to be an exhaustive study of laddish behaviour and underachieving boys in the local area it is specific to the researchers school and the needs and priorities of that school moving forward. The research will be focused on male students in year 10 and year 11. They have been selected for two main reasons those are the two year groups for which we have the most accurate data on who is underachieving, and improving the performance of these boys is the main priority for the school moving forward. The data on underachievement is generated by subject teachers who are judging the progress of students against their FFT (D) (Fisher Family Trust) targets. These type D targets are based upon the progress made by schools in the top 25% percentile of value-added schools nationally. Also, as Epstein et al (1998) points out it is at this age group that laddish behaviour begins to impact most heavily on educ ational performance. The staff that will be interviewed will be from a range of subject areas including English, Maths and Science. The research will analyse the different levels of underachievement and seek to identify reasons why these boys may be underachieving more in certain subject areas. Interviewing different staff allows for cross-comparisons of responses which will allow key themes to emerge. Indeed, as Holstein et al (1995) suggest, the interviewing process itself often creates new knowledge rather than just revealing data that was previously present in the interviewees heads. The following staff will be interviewed: 1 Head of Maths Faculty. 2 Head of Science Faculty. 3 Head of English Faculty. 4 Head of Humanities Faculty. 5 Head of Arts Faculty. 6 Head of Technology Faculty. All these staff have an in-depth knowledge of performance in their faculties, and have specific experience of the underachievement by students. The interviews will be recorded, where possible, for two reasons to ensure that the analysis of data is based upon an accurate record, and to allow the interviewer to concentrate on the actual interview. Secondary data in the form of school exam performance and monitoring reports will also be collected to form part of the analysis. This will allow the research to understand the scope of current performance levels. To help focus the interviews in terms of reflecting the main objectives of this research they will be structured in according to key themes, for example patterns of behaviour that are labelled as laddish, understanding of current underperformance issues, awareness of the issues involved in boys choosing to behave in a laddish manner. In terms of analysing the interviews, as Bogdan and Biklen (1982) put it; the researcher should aim to work with the data, analyse and break it down into manageable units, search for patterns and decide what is important. This summarises neatly the modern interpretive approach to qualitative data analysis and the approach that this researcher will use. LIMITATIONS AND POTENTIAL PROBLEMS There are many potential problems in any research problem, and especially when researching a topic like this project is aiming to. The key one is generalisability this research cannot be generalised to any other educational setting, as it is purely relevant to the setting that the researcher is currently employed in. This does raise a question mark over the validity of the findings, but as most interpretivists argue, including Ackroyd and Hughes (1981), the researcher is not limited to what he or she can immediately perceive or experience, but is able to cover as many dimensions and as many people as resources permit. The depth of data gathered by this research should enable the researcher to find the truth, or at least the best representation of it available, hence ensuring a good degree of validity. The reliability of unstructured interviews can also be questioned as they are artificial situations, as Bryman (1988) notes, do they really capture the daily life, conditions, opinions, values, attitudes, and knowledge base of those we study as expressed in their natural habitat? Perhaps even more problematic is the issue of the researcher maintaining objectivity when interviewing colleagues in an environment in which he works. Labovs (1973) work also points out the way that school children can respond differently when interviewed in different contexts. They often respond in a certain way when interviewed in a formal setting that is very different from how they respond in an informal setting. Any research project which has interviews as the main source of data is hampered by interviewees who exhibit bias or poor memory recall, (Winlow 2001). This researcher has attempted to deal with this by gathering data from a range of sources, i.e. the various heads of faculty, and a range of students. This allows the researcher not to be dependent on one or two respondents for key data. But one must approach this research with the knowledge that people are not robots, especially school students, and that errors are bound to creep in, in terms of bias and honest mistakes of recollection. The issue of ecological validity pointed out by Hammersley and Gomm (2004) which is that interviews are unnatural social situations and the context affects the behaviour of interviewees so much that the resulting data cannot be seen as valid, does need to be allowed for, but overall it is expected that any bias or misinformation will be minimised. The researcher himself needs to alter his mindset slightly when conducting the interviews he has to view them not as colleagues but as research subjects, and this role change needs to be communicated to staff. Linked with this role change is the need for the researcher to gain the trust of his colleagues, as they may well be nervous about expressing their views openly, and so to encourage open and honest discussion, anonymity for academic staff will be guaranteed where required. (Biggam 2008). The use of quantitative statistics to measure and understand the extent of underachievement also has its issues. Atkinson (1978) believes that they are simply the product of the meanings and taken-for-granted assumptions of those who construct them. This is particularly the case when analysing teachers perceptions of who is underachieving, so the researcher must be wary of this. As Byrne (2006) states, they are useful to most social scientists they are made out of something, not nothing, and that provided we pay careful attention to the ways in which they are made, and in particular the processes of operationalisation they can be of very considerable value to us. Finally, in terms of ethics there are a range of potential issues to take into account. The researcher will be abiding by the code of ethics as set out by the British Sociological Association and the BERA. Participants will all give voluntary informed consent, which involves the need for them to substantially understand what the research involves. This ensures that no deception of any participants is involved. This does of raise the methodological issue of ecological validity, but it is not possible for the research to remove this issue. All participants have the right of withdrawal at any point, and this right is explained to each participant at the outset of any research. This research does involved the participation of children, so appropriate consent has been gained first from the school headteacher, as gatekeeper, from the parents/guardians of any children involved, and of course from the children themselves. Brookman (1999) talks about the issue of confidentiality and its impac t upon the research, but as discussed earlier, all participants were offered full anonymity as a condition of their participation. Essentially, as Israel and Hay (2006) point out, the ultimate purpose of having research ethics is to avoid harm and do good. They comment that contemporary researchers are normally expected to minimise risks of harm or discomfort to participants. This research will strive to ensure that this is the case.