Finance and Accounting Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words - 1

Finance and Accounting - Essay Example Both these ratios address the bankruptcy issue. According to the calculated ratios, Qatar Telecom’s liquidity position seems to be strong as compared to Vodafone in both the years 2010 and 2011. Qatar Telecom’s personal liquidity ratios have deteriorated in 2011, compared to 2010, but then even the company has a stronger position as compared to Vodafone, which almost has balanced proportion between its current liabilities and its current assets. Vodafone’s personal current and acid test ratio has reduced in the year 2011 and it currently has a ratio of 0.49:1 and a 0.48:1 current and acid test ratio. Gearing Ratios Gearing ratios analyze the proportion of debt to equity within the financing of a company. These ratios illustrate as to how much a company is financed via and how much via equity. A company having more loans and less equity is said to be highly geared and is considered to be more risky but having said that, it can never be stated that a low geared com pany is good, since it is considered to be taking less initiative, hence a balance is to be maintained. According to the calculated ratios, Qatar Telecom is highly geared as compared to Vodafone. The ratios clearly illustrates that the Qtel’s debt financing is 1.59 times its equity financing. Qtel has reduced its debt financing by paying off some of its debt as compared to the year 2010 but this has not been a significant reduction. Qtel’s debts almost amount to 61% (0.61) of their total assets, hence it can be seen that the company has heavily relied upon debts. Vodafone on the other hand has too little debt financing and it can be seen from the ratios that the company prefers equity financing over debt financing. As...By June 2008, Vodafone received was awarded telecom operating license within the country, making the company as the second mobile phone service provider within the country. Vodafone started its services within Qatar on 1st March 2009. This ratio provides an idea to the investors as to the return that that would extract from the company. The return on investment for Qtel has improved and has increased by 1.79% (5.82-4.03). Vodafone’s return on investment has also improved but the company’s losses would not be able to make them give any good to their investors. Since both the companies operate within the same sector, a fair comparison between the performances of the two would be more fruitful. The best technique available to analyze the financial performance of both the companies would be to use ratio analysis. There are various ratios which can be used to evaluate the performance. Following are the ratios which have been calculated to assess the financial performance of both the telecom service providers. From the ratios, it can be derived that the financial performance of Qtel is way better than Vodafone but it can be argued that Vodafone is still within its early and growing phase and that the company has shown good prospects, hence it can improve with the passage of time.

Transformational Leadership Paper Essay Example for Free

Transformational Leadership Paper Essay Abstract The purpose of this paper is to identify the the role a transformational leader can play in order to minimize the volatility that a change or transformation brings about in an organization. The paper discusses the two most common leadership styles, transactional and transformational leadership, and their differences. The qualities and traits of a transformational leader have been discussed. Most importantly this paper tries to associate the qualities of emotional intelligence to a transformational leadership style, and how the two feed into one another. Introduction Today the world has become a global village and markets have expanded to the extent that now firms are competing on a global level. This on one has provided firms with a massive opportunity and on the other hand it also demands more hard-work and effort from the workers. The challenge therefore is how to tackle the ever-changing work-environment. When one speaks of the dynamic work environment one has to realize the importance of Good Leadership in such a scenario. So, the leaders of todays companies have a lot to care about and a lot of responsibilities to take care of. Therefore, it is totally up to the leadership to make most of the human skills at hand and motivate them in order to make sure that they adapt quickly and easily to the work environment and thus maximize efficiency. Leaders broadly may be categorized into two groups, transactional leaders and transformational leaders. Transactional leaders are the kind of leaders whoguide or motivate their followers in the direction of established goals by clarifying role and task requirements (Robbins and Judge, 2005). The other type of leaders inspire followers to transcend their own self interest for the good of the organization. They are able to have a profound and extra-ordinary effect on their followers, these are transformational leaders (Robbins and Judge, 2005). Transformational leaders are are charismatic in nature and have the ability to provide individualized consideration and intellectual simulation (Robbins and Judge, 2005). Transformational leaders pay attention to the concerns and development needs of individualized followers; they change followers’ awareness of issues by helping them to look at old problems in new ways, and are therefore able to excite, arouse and inspire followers to put in extra effort to achieve group goals (Robbins and Judge, 2005). Analysis Leadership at the top is never easy for even the most experienced people. For someone taking on the job of CEO for the first time, mastering the new skills and sorting out the uncertainties that go with the position can be an overwhelming challenge. The fact is that for most of the CEOs especially the freshly appointed ones it is exceedingly difficult to familiarize themselves with the responsibilities and the risks that are associated with the job, and usually it requires some time and experience before they can deliver. The Centre for Creative Leadership has estimated that 40% of new CEOs fail in their first 18 months (Dan Ciampa 2005). What’s more, the churn rate is on the rise: In a 2002 study, the centre found that the number of CEOs leaving their jobs had increased 10% since 2001 (Dan Ciampa 2005). As a recent report from the outplacement firm Challenger, Gray Christmas points out, â€Å"The biggest challenge looming over corporate America [is] finding replacement CEOs.†(Dan Ciampa 2005) Take Coca Cola for an example, when the company lost its CEO Robert Goizueta in 1997, the two subsequent CEOs suffered in his shadow, as people expected them to perform the same way Goizueta did, however, leading as suggested earlier is the toughest job amongst all. Goizueta had guided Coke through its glorious years of the 1980s and the most of 1990s, leading it to perennially unrealistic expectations by shareholders. This is why change management is regarded as a tough job, because changes can occur in the external macro-environment and at the same time in the internal environment, as incase of Coke, whose CEO Robert Goizeuta died of cancer. And since then Coke has never been able to make up for the loss, and Pepsi has gained a significant market share since then. Jack Welch is probably the first name that comes to mind when we speak of transformational leaders. Richard Branson of the Virgin group is another very famous transformational leader (Robbins and Judge, 2005). When we speak of transactional and transformational leaders, they shouldn’t be considered or viewed as opposing approaches to getting things done. Transformational leadership is built on top of transactional leadership, as it produces levels of follower effort and performance that go beyond what would   with a transactional approach alone (Kotter, 1995). A transcational leader believes in exchange of rewards for effort as a major source of intrinsic and extrinsic motivation. He rewards good performance, and recognizes accomplishments. He tries to identify deviations from rules and standards, and subsequently reverts to corrective measures, and intervenes only if he believes that the standards have not been met. Transactional leaders usually abdicate responsibilties to others empowering them but also avoiding to go throw the challenging phase of decision-making. Trasformational leaders, on the other hand, are charismatic by nature, i.e. they provide vision and sense of mission, instills pride, gains respect and trust of his followers (Kotter, 1995). But, transformational leadership is more than just charisma. Because all charismatic leaders would want is to make sure their followers share the same viewpoint on things as they do, whereas transformational leaders will try to instill in followers the ability to question views, views established by the leaders themselves. Transformational leaders act as a source of inspiration to their followers, communicating high expectations, using symbols to focus efforts, expressing important purposes in simple ways. Transformational leaders also promote intelligence, rationality and careful problem solving skills (Robbins and Judge, 2005). But the most obvious and impotant trait of a transformational leader is that they offer individualized considerations to their followers, giving them personal attention, treating them all individually, coaching and advising them on a one to one basis. The evidence supporting the superiority of transformational leadership over the transactional variety is overwhelmingly impressive. For instance, a number of studies were conducted with American, German and Canadian military officers, belonging to different ranks, and the eventual verdict was that transformational leaders were evaluated as more effective than their transactional counterparts. Similarly, managers at Federal Express who were rated by their followers as exhibiting more transformational leadership were evaluated by their immediate supervisors as higher performers and more promotable. Much has been written about leadership and the qualities that fuel leadership such as intelligence, passion, toughness, determination, ethics, credibility, integrity, vision, etc. Often left off are the lists softer and more personal qualities, but recent studies have proven that they are equally important. Researchers have proposed a new term called Emotional Intelligence, and it may well help differentiate the outstanding leaders from the merely adequate ones. Emotional intelligence is one of the major aspects of transformational leadership. This may be because, effective transformational leaders rely on the expression of feelings to help convey a message; therefore, they possess a higher level of emotional intelligence. Emotional intelligence helps leaders manage the mood of their organizations which is an integral part of the transformation process (Satterlee, 2007). Emotional intelligence is what makes transformational leaders self-aware and empathetic to a greater extent. They can read and regulate their own emotions while intuitively grasping how others feel and gauging their organization’s emotional state. According to Daniel Goleman, who conducted a lot of research on Emotional Intelligence, there are five main components to emotional intelligence. Self-awareness is the trait where emotional intelligence actually begins (Goleman, 1998). Transformational leaders with a greater degree of self-awareness are never hesitant to talk about and discuss their weaknesses and it is this attitude that later brings upon a positive change in them as they are able to improve upon such weaknesses with time. This helps a leader in bringing about a transformation as he is someone who knows his limitations and he knows when and where he can actually stand-up and deliver for the rest of the workforce and be a motivator for them, i.e. when can he lead by example. Thus he knows which tasks and changes can actually be brought about in an organization and which ones cannot. The second trait is self-regulation, and that leaders with this trait can control their emotions and impulses better and channel them for good purposes (Goleman, 1998). This brings about an openness to change and transformation in their attitude and behavior, and increases their trustworthiness and integrity, and also helps them remain comfortable in ambiguous situations and scenario. And this is what subordinates try to see in their leaders, especially in times of change and transformation. Motivation is perhaps the most important trait and the most obvious one that a leader is judged upon. It’s the motivational abilities of a leader that gives the sub-ordinates the notion that the leader has a strong drive to achieve. It portrays the optimism of the leader towards the followers, such that they know their leader would still be optimistic when facing failure, so it has to do more with the mind than anything else. It is the positivity of the mind, it emanates from the mind of the leader and leads its way to the minds of the followers (Michael Roberto and David Garvin 2005). Empathy is the ability to understand the emotional makeup of other people. Empathy is the trait that enables a leader to be an expert in building and maintaining talent, something that is critical to the process of transformation. It enables him to treat people according to their emotional reactions. This is why he can be successful in getting the most out of the talented people that work under him, making him a better man manager. He is able to manage and lead people from various different backgrounds and cultures, belonging to various social and economic classes, i.e. it increases the cross-cultural sensitivity of the leader himself. With the businesses and economies globalizing, leaders have to lead and manage people belonging to different cultures which is the major reason why change management in such a scenario is very difficult, however, if only a leader can empathize with his followers, it makes the job half as difficult as before. The last trait that comes under emotional intelligence is the social skills of the leader. Transformational leaders need to be proficient in managing relationships and constructing networks that lead to effectiveness in change management ans transformation. Such a leader is able to find common ground between individuals and situations and scenarios and is able to build rapport. It also improves his persuasiveness and the ability to build and lead teams. A transformational leader combines emotional intelligence with the courage to raise the tough questions, challenge people’s assumptions about strategy and operations and risk losing their goodwill, i.e. he does not care about pleasing individuals but rather believes in the greater good of the company. A leader gets into trouble when there’s dissonance between the inside and outside what today we’d call a â€Å"disconnect.† (Mayer 2004) If a single theme runs through this issue, it’s the importance of keeping the two aligned. Every leader ought to want a more supple emotional intelligence, and â€Å"Leading by Feel† is a great place to begin (Mayer 2004). Another important tool in ensuring effective transformation is collaboration and good communication, which is essential and plays a vital role in process. All processes, practices and functionalities give more values to customer, goals and performance for achievement of goals. There should be internal solutions. Horizontal, Vertical and multi directional interaction must be carried out before change in organization. For a transformational leader, it is important to study the present culture of the organization and to know where one is. It is also necessary for a him to identify employees who want change and those who are not happy with the process of transformation. Take examples from existing model that has effectively implemented change and also communicate with them regarding their experience with transformation. The process has to be subtle and gradual, and a transformational approach would not demand immediate and complete change in the existing culture. Transformational approach to leadership also encourages one to seek advice from people about ways to implement change and methods to solve the problems while transformation. A clear vision definitely accelerates the transformation process. References Ciampa, Dan (2005). Almost Ready: How Leaders Move Up. Harvard Business Review. Goleman, Daniel (1998).What makes a Leader?. Harvard Business Review. Mayer, John (2004). Leading by Feel. Harvard Business Review. Kotter, John P. (1995). Leading Change: Why Transformation Efforts Fail. Harvard Business Review Leadership As A Boss In The Workplace. Retrieved July 29, 2008, from Manager Newz Web site: http://www.managernewz.com/managernewz-21-20070125LeadershipasaBossintheWorkplace.html Roberto, Michael and Garvin, David (2005). Change through Persuasion. Harvard Business Review. Robbins, Stephen P.   and Judge, Timothy A. (2005). Organizational Behavior, Twelfth edition: Pearsons Publishers Satterlee, Anita (2007). Essential of Management: Core principles, concepts, and strategies. Synergistics Inc.

Foreclosure Essay -- Real Estate

Recent setbacks in the mortgage and financing sectors of the economy have modified the process of real estate acquisitions. Specifically, entry level investors with un-established or insignificant credit history have experienced difficulty securing collateralized loans with competitive interest rates. This is not to say that a weak credit history was disregarded prior to the real estate and bond market collapse in 2008, though, it has certainly become more difficult to attain financing for the purchase of real property.1 Fortunately, the proposed scenario for this essay indicates that I, the investor, acquired $150,000 cash to purchase a distressed property, which presents a unique opportunity from both investment and financing perspectives. However, achieving the greatest return on my investment requires a solid financial strategy, which includes: 1. Defining my risk parameters, familiarizing myself with the process of purchasing a distressed property, and performing thorough due diligence, prior to engaging in the purchase. 1. Exploring my financing options 1. Estimating a potential return on investment (ROI) For this exercise, I will focus on purchasing a distressed property to generate rental income, as a long-term investment. Therefore, the following sections of this essay will discuss my financial strategy as is relates to a distressed real estate purchase. DEFINING RISK PARAMETERS A Brief Discussion of Risk Management Regardless of investment type, an investor’s portfolio must account for risk. Whether it relates to stock or real estate acquisitions, risk directly correlates to the returns one can expect on an investment. Accepting higher levels of risk typically indicates that potential returns c... ...ategy, given $150,000, I chose to pursue an all-cash purchase of a distressed property, located in a generally stable area along the outskirts of Philadelphia. The property will likely be a two-story, 2 bedroom, tenant- occupied row home, priced between $115,000 and $125,000. The purchase price leaves approximately $25,000 - $35,000 cash, which I can use towards capital expenditures, and as a financial buffer in the event of tenant default. Additionally, from my knowledge of rental rates in the area, I am confident that I can earn $800 - $950 per month, which yields a ROI of 8% to 12%. My decisions were based on a logical and well-planned approach. Although accounting for risk is imperative, and success is never guaranteed, following my detailed financial and investment approach for acquiring a distressed property can maximize my present and future returns.

The First Inhabitants of America Essay -- American America History

The First Inhabitants of America The First "Europeans" reached the Western Hemisphere in the late 15th century. Upon arrival they encountered a rich and diverse culture that had already been inhabited for thousands of years. The Europeans were completely unprepared for the people they stumbled upon. They couldn't understand cultures that were so different and exotic from their own. The discovery of the existence of anything beyond their previous experience could threaten the stability of their entire religious and social structure. Seeing the Indians as savages they made them over in their own image as quickly as possible. In doing so they overlooked the roots that attached the Indians to their fascinating past. The importance of this past is often overlooked. Most text or history books begin the story of the Americas from the first European settlement and disregard the 30,000 years of separate, preceding cultural development (Deetz 7). The going theory of the First Americans is the ever-popular land bridge hypothesis, which connected Siberia and Alaska. This is believed to have happened at least twice during the ice ages between 32,000 and 36,000 years ago and, again between 13,000 and 28,000 years ago. This repeated connection took place where the eastern and western hemispheres come the closest to one another. The best illustration that I found explaining the land bridge was the analogy made to a seesaw. On one side being the glaciers and on the other side is sea level. When the glaciers get bigger or "go up" the sea level withdraws or "goes down". Basically when all the earth's water is in the form of snow or ice sea level is lowered. At least 180 feet lower to form that Siberian land connection. Direct proof of this... ... ago, but the way it happened is still uncharted territory". The specific date of the first migration into the Americas is unknown but there was likely more than one. The new discoveries and theories presented have given us a better understanding and more possibilities for the First American then ever before. Bibliography Begley, Sharon. "The First Americans." Newsweek Fall/Win. 1991: 15-20. Begley, Sharon and Andrew Murr. "The First Americans." Newsweek 26 Apr. 1999: 50. Claiborne, Robert. "The First Americans." New York: Time-Life Books, 1973. Dixon, E. James. Quest for the origins of the First Americans. University of New Mexico Press. 1993. Nichols, Johnanna. "The First Americans." Discover Jun. 1998: 24. Owsley, Douglas. "The First Americans." Economist 24 Feb. 1998: 79. Wright, Karen. "First Americans." Discover Feb. 1999: 52.

Ten Little Indians

Fritz Perls once said â€Å"I am not in this world to live up to other people's expectations, nor do I feel that the world must live up to mine. † In the short story The Search Engine, by Sherman Alexie, the Native American culture is trying to live up to the expectations of the white world. The main character Corliss, a Spokane Indian, is expected to do well in college so she can move back to the reservation to help her tribe. There is also a cultural difference between our world and that of the Spokane when it comes to the roles of gender.Corliss is a very bright individual who has plans beyond the Spokane reservation. When Corliss was younger she was ridiculed for her love of reading. Even though her passion for reading is part of the reason she was able to attend college, the men in her tribe still disagree with reading about nineteenth century white people. Despite the disagreements they are all very proud that she is pursuing a higher education. Corliss’s parents boast about how Corliss will one day come back to fix everything that is wrong with the tribe.In reality they are ignorant to Corliss’s real dreams and ambitions. Gender roles can be defined as the behaviors and attitudes expected of male and female members of a society by that society. In the Spokane tribe the women made more money and held better jobs than the men. In our society, even with more equality for women today, men earn a substantial amount more than women do. For the Spokane men to just sit around and brag about their spouses’ accomplishments seems unreal to our culture.Native American culture is very different from that of American culture. Rather than the Spokane tribesmen trying to better the tribe themselves, they are counting on Corliss to graduate law school and fix the problems of the tribe. The men of the tribe are not fully applying themselves to employment, the tribe, or each other. The values, goals, and practices of the Spokane tribe make their culture foreign to the average American.

Financial Management Essay Example

Financial Management Essay Example Financial Management Essay Financial Management Essay Financial Management Name: Course: Instructor: : Instructor: Date: Financial Management A stock split happens when a company decides to multiply its number of shares by a certain number in order to bring down the market price of its shares (Kimmel, Weygandt Kieso, 2008). For instance, if a company wants to have its shares of stock selling at below $50, but the market price rises for the shares to around $100, the company could approve a 2-for-1-split, which would mean that the number of shares would be doubled. However, the size of the assets, liabilities and retained earnings will not change, as well as the number of shareholders. Therefore, this will not mean that shareholders wealth will be doubles as the shares are doubled. Rather, the number of their shares will double, but the value will remain the same since the price will be reduced by the same proportion (Kimmel, Weygandt Kieso, 2008). In the example provided, it the company declared a 2-for-1 split, a shareholder with 1000 shares will have 2000 shares. 1000 shares will go at $100 before the split, making it $100,000 worth of stock. After the split, the shareholder will have 2000 shares, going for $50, thus, the value will remain the same, at $100,000 worth of stock. The point is usually to reduce the price of shares (Accounting Coach, 2012). For XYZ Company, the split of 5-for-1 will result in the following way. The price for common stock currently at par is $5. Value of total shares $20,000,000 Number of shares == $20,000,000 $5 == 4,000,000 shares of common stock In a split of 5-for-1, the number of shares will be multiplied by 5. Resulting number of shares after the split == 4, 000, 000 ? 5 == 20, 000,000 shares. The price for each share after the split == $ 20,000,000 20,000,000 == $1 The resulting stockholders’ equity section will look as shown below Common stock ($ 1 par) == $20,000,000 Retained earnings == $ 176,000,000 Total equity ==$ 196,000,000 After the split, the value of equity does not change, since the price of shares drops to $1, to maintain the value of shares even after the split. For a shareholder with 10,000, before the split they had a total value of $50,000. After the split, his number of shares multiplied by 5 to 50,000 shares. Their price dropped to $1, thus, keeping the value of his shares at $50,000. References Accounting Coach. (2012). Stock Splits and Stock Dividends. Retrieved from accountingcoach.com/online-accounting-course/17Xpg05.html#stock-splits-dividends Kimmel, P.D., Weygandt, J.J. Kieso, D.E. (2008). Accounting. Hoboken, N.J: John Wiley and Sons.

Why north won the civil war essays

Why north won the civil war essays From the onset of war, the North had obvious advantages. Over all, in terms of both the population and productive capacity, the North had a commanding edge over the South. The North has two and a half times the Souths population (22 million to 9 million, of whom 3.5 million were slaves) and enjoyed an even greater advantage in industrial capacity (nine times that of the South). The North produced almost all of the nations firearms, cloth and footwear. And it had 71 percent of its railroad mileage. The North was able to feed, clothe, arm, and transport the soldiers. These advantages were ultimately to prove decisive. Delaware, Maryland, Missouri, and Kentucky chose to stay in the Union which was a severe blow to the Confederacy. The North also found many ways to support the war. They developed ways to finance the war. The Treasury used patriotic appeals to sell war bonds to ordinary people in amounts as small as $50. But the South failed in the area of the finance. The Secretary of S tate, William Seward, did the job of making sure that Britain and France did not extend diplomatic recognition to the Confederacy. Although the outbreak of war overshadowed everything else, the Republican Party in Congress still developed many programs for the economic development. For example, the Homestead Act gave 160 acres of public land to any citizen who agreed to live on the land for five years. These were powerful nationalizing forces. They connected ordinary people to the federal government during war time. The Emancipation Proclamation also gained the Free African Americans support for the war and encouraged southern slaves either to flee to Union or refuse to work for their master. Though there were some dissenters in the North, they had a very strong president, Abraham Lincoln, who never seemed to give up. He was the first president to act as Commander-in-chief in both a practical and a symbolic way. ...

Learn the French Verb Conjugation for Attraper

Learn the French Verb Conjugation for Attraper In French, the verb attraper  means to catch or to pick up. What if you wanted to say I picked up? Then you would need to conjugate the verb into the past tense, which is either jattrapais or jai attrapà ©. There are, of course, other conjugations for  attraper  which French students will want to know. A quick lesson in transforming it to match the present, future, and past tenses will help. Conjugating the French Verb  Attraper Attraper  is a  regular -ER verb. This means that its relatively easy to conjugate because it follows a prescribed pattern. Once you learn which endings to use, you can apply that knowledge to similar verbs such as  attacher  (to attach) and  blesser (to hurt). In order to find the correct conjugation, use the chart and pair the subject pronoun the I, you, we, etc., or in French  j, tu, nous   with the appropriate tense for your sentence. For example, I catch is jattrape and we will pick up is nous attraperons. Subject Present Future Imperfect j attrape attraperai attrapais tu attrapes attraperas attrapais il attrape attrapera attrapait nous attrapons attraperons attrapions vous attrapez attraperez attrapiez ils attrapent attraperont attrapaient The Present Participle of  Attraper The  present participle  of attraper  is a verb, but it can also act as an adjective, gerund, or noun when needed. To make this change, we simply replace the -er  with -ant  to form the word attrapant. Another Past Tense of  Attraper You have two options when using attraper  in the past tense. One is the imperfect and the other is  known as passà © composà ©, which is more common and a little easier. In order to use the passà © composà ©, you will need two elements. First, is the appropriate conjugate for  avoir,  which is an  auxiliary verb. Second is the  past participle  attrapà ©Ã‚  and this does not change with the subject pronoun. As an example, to say I picked up in French, you will use jai attrapà ©. In a similar fashion, we caught is nous avons attrapà ©. Notice how the  ai  and  avons  are the conjugates of  avoir. More  Attraper  Conjugations When you are starting out, feel free to concentrate on the present, future, and past tenses of  attraper. As you dive further into French, you may also find a need for some of the following verb forms. You will find the subjunctive and conditional useful when the action is suspect, in question, or uncertain. The passà © simple and imperfect subjunctive are primarily found in formal writing. While these are not common, its good to at least be able to recognize them and associate them with  attraper. Subject Subjunctive Conditional Pass Simple Imperfect Subjunctive j attrape attraperais attrapai attrapasse tu attrapes attraperais attrapas attrapasses il attrape attraperait attrapa attrapt nous attrapions attraperions attrapmes attrapassions vous attrapiez attraperiez attraptes attrapassiez ils attrapent attraperaient attraprent attrapassent One final verb form is helpful to know and that is the imperative. This is used in direct requests and demands and theres no need to use the pronoun here. Instead of tu attrape, simplify it to attrape. Imperative (tu) attrape (nous) attrapons (vous) attrapez

A part of an author's life that heavily influenced their writing Essay

A part of an author's life that heavily influenced their writing - Essay Example Sylvia Plath was born in Boston, Massachusetts in 1932(â€Å"Sylvia Plath Biography,† 2011). Her early life was marred with tragedy when, at just eight years old, her father died(â€Å"Sylvia Plath Biography,† 2011). Plath’s experience with her father’s death influenced many of the poems that she wrote as both a child and an adult. It was due to this realism that she incorporated into her written works that an eight year old Plath received a measure of success when she had her first poem published in The Boston Herald(â€Å"Sylvia Plath Biography,† 2011). Her poems and stories are said to be primarily autobiographical which illustrates that Plath lived by the motto of writing what she knew. Perhaps the best example of Sylvia Plath’s writing being influenced by her own life can be found in her most famous work The Bell Jar. This novella is about a severely depressed woman who seeks help from a psychiatric hospital. The main character ends up being able to conquer her mental illness by the end of book and appears to go on to live a happy life(â€Å"Plath, Sylvia : The Bell Jar†). The book is said to be largely autobiographical and many of the experiences that the main character has in the book are similar to those experienced by Plath who attempted suicide in 1953 and received treatment at a hospital in Massachusetts(â€Å"Plath, Sylvia : The Bell Jar†). The main character deals with common treatments of the time such as electroshock therapy and psychoanalytic therapy which mirrors Plath’s ordeal at the hospital(â€Å"Plath, Sylvia : The Bell Jar†). Plath dealt with chronic mental illness, and it was her own life experiences that influe nced this particular book as well as her poetry. The happiness that the main character in The Bell Jar displays at the end is likely wishful thinking on Plath’s part as she

Comparison and Contrast of Kukaniloko Birthing Stones and Queen's Essay

Comparison and Contrast of Kukaniloko Birthing Stones and Queen's Medical Center Birthing Unit - Essay Example She had to follow a strict diet and do exercises recommended by the Kahuna. Only green vegetables, herbs and a small amount of raw fish were allowed. After six months she was asked to eat less because of the fear that a large baby will be difficult to deliver. Many relatives gathered on the delivery day. 36 chiefs eye witnessed the ceremony and birth. The mother was taken to Kukaniloko birthing stone on a woven rug. She was encouraged to walk to increase the pain. She then took kneeling position. It was gravity type birth. She was given morning glory leaves to eat. Some were also rubbed on her stomach. After delivery placenta was buried under tree. Mother was given herbs and soup (Empleo, 2012). There are many similarities between Queens Medical Center’s birthing unit and Kukaniloko Birthing Stones in Wahiawa, Hawaii. Women in Kukaniloko used to give delivery in kneeling position and they had to do exercises recommended by Kahuna. Queens Medical Center encourages women to have upright position like squatting and kneeling. They also recommend exercise during pregnancy which helps in easy delivery. . Ultrasound is done to determine the position of baby. In Kukaniloko mother was monitored many times during pregnancy. Nowadays pregnancy is monitored by the use of ultrasound which is equivalent to the monitoring practice that was witnessed in Kukanilolo. Despite the similarities, quite a number of differences exist. Early skin-to-skin contact is recommended in Queens Medical Center. It is believed that skin-to-skin contact between mother and baby reduces crying and creates bonding. Breastfeeding is given a lot of importance ("Breastfeeding: The First Weeks at Home",  n.d.). Breastfeeding is beneficial for both the mother and the baby. While in Kukaniloko the baby was taken away by a nurse who was called "kahu". The kahu fed the child. As far as the environment is concerned, a number of aspects need to be covered

United Kingdom fashion retailers' strategies of internet branding Dissertation

United Kingdom fashion retailers' strategies of internet branding - Dissertation Example Internet technology is progressing and it has empowered customers to shop from online fashion retailers. In this setup customers can undertake a shopping tour whenever they like to. One of the advantages of this kind of fashion retailing is that customers have the luxury to express their needs and wants more accurately. These online retail stores are equipped with the capabilities which enable online shoppers to make the retailers understand what they are looking for. According to Tzokas and Saren (2004) businesses are able to have closer relationships with their customers through their website and online business. Dayal, Landesberg, and Zeisser (2001) said that strong relationship with the customers is important in the success of online business. Moreover Cuthbertson and Bridson (2006) have said that effective marketing campaigns, loyalty programs, and other marketing strategies can be helpful in increasing customer satisfaction level even in the online businesses. Dayal, Landesberg , and Zeisser (2001) have suggested that businesses need to create familiarity, reassurance and intimacy if they want to be successful as an online business. They also said that these factors influence the customer satisfaction level. Therefore, advancement in technology and adaptation of technology by the firms in the fashion industry has been one of the differentiating features of online retail stores as compared to traditional retail stores (Fashion United). Since the fashion industry of UK comprises of diverse customer segments, therefore it is imperative that fashion retailers and manufacturers employ different marketing and branding strategies to reach out to these diverse customer segments.... United Kingdom fashion retailers' strategies of internet branding Introduction The United Kingdom’s fashion industry is one of its most vibrant sectors of its economy. Characteristics of consumers of this industry make it a customer and brand driven market-place. In order for brands to compete successfully in this industry they need to be market driven, meaning that they need to design their unique selling proposition according to the needs and aspirations of the customer segments they want to target (Wol?nbarger, and Gilly, 2001) Diversity of customer preferences presents attractive opportunities to manufacturers and retailers of this industry. Consumer behaviour and preferences have been changing with the passage of time, and today consumers can shop from anywhere. The marketing and branding strategies adapted by the online fashion retailer play an important role in increasing the sales of the product. Moreover, appropriate online branding strategy reduces the risk of the failure of the product (Laroche, Habibi, Richard, and Sankaranarayanan, 2012). Moreover, it allows organisations to reduce their marketing costs and thus they are able to reach their customers easily and in a cost effective manner. Therefore, the significance of the online branding strategies cannot be ignored in the online fashion retail industry. The research study and its findings will be useful for different analysts, economists, researchers and fashion industry participants. The most important aspect of this research is that it analyzes the strategies that are needed by online retailers to succeed.

Homework Coursework Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words - 15

Homework - Coursework Example Investment in securities by companies leads to the creation of capital markets. This capital market results due to the widespread ownership, which leads to better allocation of resources thus improving the economic growth. Investment in securities such as fixed income securities ensures more of its financing is done through issuing of bonds. This results in an advantage of cash flows to the fixed income securities as the interest payments (John, 2008). Another benefit of the securities in the investment of a company is that the securities are not limited to physical assets. It ensures the non-liquidity assets are pooled and shares in the diversified pool are then issued. This ensures that the complicated process of investment is simplified therefore making it easy and efficient. It reduces risk by maximizing returns due to invest in different categories that react in a different way to the same happening. This is because if a company has only a portfolio of railway, then all trains are involved in a strike then the railway company will experience great loss but if the company had a diversification of trains and buses only part of the portfolio would be affected (Chris, 2011). There is a possibility that the road stock prices would increase, as the passengers will turn to the buses as alternative means of transportation. Diversification of different assets classes minimizes risk as they react opposite to adverse situations. Variation in asset divisions such as stocks and bonds, ensures that if there is a negative effect in one it will be counterbalanced by positive results in the other one (Chris,

Letter research Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Letter research - Essay Example You may believe that my letter is a pamphlet against the war in Iraq. Mr. President, it is not as I believe the issues are much more complicated than that. I firmly consider that the will to install democracy in a country where tyranny and injustice were the fundamentals of everyday life is a noble cause. Noble not only in the fact of freeing the Iraqi people, but also as we are the World leader, to show the rest of the world that we are responsible and conscious of the issues and problems of the other countries and that we are ready to take action in order to defend the weakest at international level. At any level, one can only help another if the latter is willing to accept this help. Unfortunately, it is not the case in Iraq. We have to admit, however frustrating and deceitful it may be, that we are no longer welcome in Iraq. Our history shows a great record of rescues but we are not in Paris in 1944, where all French people were crying of joy when they see our tanks driving through the Champs-Elyses. The other aspect we have to acknowledge is the astronomic cost of the war in Iraq. To this day, we have spent over $280 billions in war effort. This brings me to the second subject of my letter: the Kyoto Protocol to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change. In 1997, the American Senate unanimously rejected to ratify the treaty. Mr.

Homework Coursework Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words - 15

Homework - Coursework Example Investment in securities by companies leads to the creation of capital markets. This capital market results due to the widespread ownership, which leads to better allocation of resources thus improving the economic growth. Investment in securities such as fixed income securities ensures more of its financing is done through issuing of bonds. This results in an advantage of cash flows to the fixed income securities as the interest payments (John, 2008). Another benefit of the securities in the investment of a company is that the securities are not limited to physical assets. It ensures the non-liquidity assets are pooled and shares in the diversified pool are then issued. This ensures that the complicated process of investment is simplified therefore making it easy and efficient. It reduces risk by maximizing returns due to invest in different categories that react in a different way to the same happening. This is because if a company has only a portfolio of railway, then all trains are involved in a strike then the railway company will experience great loss but if the company had a diversification of trains and buses only part of the portfolio would be affected (Chris, 2011). There is a possibility that the road stock prices would increase, as the passengers will turn to the buses as alternative means of transportation. Diversification of different assets classes minimizes risk as they react opposite to adverse situations. Variation in asset divisions such as stocks and bonds, ensures that if there is a negative effect in one it will be counterbalanced by positive results in the other one (Chris,

Global Perspectives on Innovation and Creativity Essay

Global Perspectives on Innovation and Creativity - Essay Example From this paper highlight that the products created by EMC are sold to customers that use a variety of computing platforms and key applications. The market target for this company is the global 2000, mid ten market and service providers. VMware is a technology firm that has enabled multiple operating systems. Some of the systems include, the MICROSOFT WINDOWS, LINUX and NETWARE. It also provided virtual infrastructure software for industry standard Intel based servers as above. The software’s performed a variety of services which included evaluation, deployment and implementation of disaster recovery. This paper discusses that the adoption of the VMware software’s in the EMC Company would allow enterprise customers to improve their server utilization rates and dynamically allocate work load across multiple services. This is because the VMware software has more potential therefore the integration with the EMC will lead to greater innovations. The main question that the essay is portraying whether the EMC Corporation should integrate with the VMW. The paper basically examines the importance of adopting the centralised system of management, the advantages and disadvantages that come with it. How resources can be allocated in a centralised organization. The central tenet of organization theory holds that the structures systems and process of a firm should be independent and must be mutually supportive and coherent. It therefore emphasizes on the need of the EMC Corporation to merge its operations with VMware. Furthermore it is proposed that the organization that is pursuing innovation, which in this case is the EMC, development of software’s should acquire a mode of supporting organizational structure. In this case, the centralized system will be settled upon.  

Death Penalties in the UK Essay Example for Free

Death Penalties in the UK Essay In PSHE we were studying death penalties in the world. All of the students had different opinions on why we should have or why we shouldn’t have it like it is now in the UK. In this case my opinion is to keep it how it is and not punish criminals with death penalties. I would like to keep the law with no death penalties in the UK. This is because even though the do horrible crimes to get a death penalty, they are still human and there are a lot of things that could go wrong. You could be taking an innocent person who done nothing wrong and giving the death penalty and realizing your mistake after they’re dead. Even if they are guilty there could be so much pain when they are getting injected or shot or any other ways to kill them. Just because they’re murderers, they are still human. Also, what if they did get their death penalty but they didn’t die until an hour after or several minutes, just imagine how much pain that person would be, how their family would feel, how you would feel if you were in that same position. A woman from the UK was sent to America to get a death penalty for something she might not have done and we’re only depending on the evidence of two people. On May 4th 1990 in Florida a man named Jesse Joseph Tafero was executed on the electrocution chair. During the execution, six-inch flames erupted from Taferos head, and three jolts of power were required to stop his breathing. State officials claimed that the botched execution was caused by inadvertent human error the inappropriate substitution of a synthetic sponge for a natural sponge that had been used in previous executions. They attempted to support this theory by sticking a part of a synthetic sponge into a common household toaster and observing that it smoldered and caught fire. Just ask yourself the question: would you liked to be treated this way? This also has a bad picture on Britain. Keep the old saying into your head: treat other people the way YOU would like to be treated. This is my opinion and I think you should take this on mind because we would like to keep a nice image on Britain and not damage it more than it already is. Please don’t put the death penalty in Britain. A lot of people would agree with me.

HM: Supply Chain and Outsourcing

HM: Supply Chain and Outsourcing A multinational corporation is a term referring to an organization that conducts business operations out of countries other than the home nation. As economic globalization becomes an increasing movement in modern society, it is not abnormal to see a greater frequency of these types of corporations conducting their business with a variety of countries. More specifically, over time, nations of the Global South have experienced a dramatic increase in corporate appeal from the garment producing industry. It is no surprise then, that with cheap labor, access to raw materials and a promise of rapid development, countries in this region have seen a rise in the demand of foreign establishments vying to carry out production here. As a Hennes and Mauritz (HM) employee of three years, I have come to be familiar with their foreign affairs in the Global South, particularly in Bangladesh. Bangladesh is the main region in which HM outsources the production of their merchandise before shipping the majority of these goods to the Western world. It is not uncommon for the company to take many opportunities each year to educate and update their employees of their interactions with Bangladesh. Being presented with one-sided information concerning these interactions, I was made to believe that HMs presence in this country is beneficial for the development of the nation on a global scale. Such things as training programs in the operation of sewing machines with the guarantee of employment at HM are features I understood to be aiding the country in economic sustainability. However, after study on the topic of the effects of globalization and multinational corporations in developing countries, I recognize that there are argu ments claiming global outsourcing in the Global South is a barrier to the possibility of progress in these nations. Through critical analysis of arguments supporting and against HM in Bangladesh, it is evident that the existence of this company in a developing nation does affect the growth of the country. Despite the fact that HM may abide by the labor and environmental policies of Bangladesh, their presence in the country as a foreign transnational corporation hinders the likelihood of economic or political growth and negatively impacts the nations steps towards development. Founded in 1947, Hennes and Mauritz (HM), is a clothing company that originated in Sweden. Today HM operates out of 38 countries, backed with 87,000 employees (HM 2011: ). Alongside having stores across the globe, HM has special relationships with certain countries in which it outsources the majority of its merchandise. One of the essential countries in which HM relies on for the outsourcing of their merchandise is Bangladesh. Bangladesh, considered being one of the Least Developed countries (LDC), has been tremendously influenced by globalization, particularly the restrictions in the apparel industry over the last decades (Uddin 2006: 7). Bangladesh achieved freedom as an independent country in 1971, and after undergoing trade liberalizations in the 1990s, Bangladesh made the switch from an agriculturally dominant economy to that of a market led one (Uddin 2006: 7). When multinational corporations such as HM learn that a country is newly liberalized, it is common for them to step in and offer the country their business, along with reasons why their business will guarantee this country fast development. For Bangladesh, the quotas acted as a guarantee for certain quantities of export sales, helping to establish market presence (Uddin 2006: 7). The concern attached to these types of export sales for Bangladesh, is that the business HM is outsourcing is the most basic among all the aspects that make up this company. HM sources their manual labor to Bangladesh so as to keep new business issues in the mother country. By sourcing non-core business activities a company can focus on its core business in a better way (Alim 2010: 30). By HM outsourcing its production tasks to Bangladesh, Sweden is sending its no-brainer business to a developing country. The business sector in Bangladesh is less likely to achieve development through HMs outsourcing habits because these second hand projects focus on manual labor. Being that the majority of its market based economy deals with manual labor, Bangladesh is deprived of working with new technology which is the norm for capitalist countries. Therefore development in Bangladesh cannot be attained, as the nature of the work force is not advancing. The emergence of American, European, Japanese and Third World multinationals has created a new competitive environment, requiring the globalization or at least semi-globalization of corporate strategy (Alim 2010: 24). HM is among the worlds leading multinational garment retailers, they promise their customers fashion and quality at the best price (HM 2011: ). In order to remain in a position of competitive advantage, some would say corporations of this nature have to maintain a certain reputation concerning all the aspects of business they conduct. In modern society, methods of sustainable production are being favored as the general public is aware of certain on goings in the production of goods such as child labor, and the exploitation of human rights and environmental laws. Companies of this nature than need to take certain precautions to ensure that their business is being conducted in a manner that follows regulations of the outsourcing country, and in a manner that will result i n a satisfied consumer. It is fair to say that the consumer has a significant influence on the way HM conducts their business. Now that awareness regarding the environment is important on a global scale, many consumers first verify that a sustainable company is manufacturing the merchandise they are purchasing. For example, HM has taken initiative in ensuring that the cotton they use in their products is increasingly organic à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦cotton is the raw material we use the most. Although we do not source any raw materials, directly, we are committed to actively contributing to reduce their impacts (HM 2009: 33). This is extremely popular for HM, who stresses the importance of their products being made in an eco friendly environment. Often times, transnational corporations view outsourcing as a win-win situation (in terms of maintaining a good reputation among customers) as they take their production over seas to developing countries that offer cheap production costs, alongside lenient labor and environm ental laws. A unique fact when analyzing the outsourcing habits of HM in Bangladesh is that they do not own any of the factories in which production of HM merchandise takes place. Instead, roughly 700 independent suppliers deliver their products (Alim 2010: 62). This allows HM to maintain a clean reputation amongst other multinational corporations to its customers in terms of abiding by environmental policies and human rights laws. Due to their large purchasing volumes: HM is the second largest buyer in Bangladesh as a single buyer (Alim 2010: 65), HM plays a large role in the economy of Bangladesh. Seeing as the business they bring to the country is mainly exporting primary material, the country needs to produce these goods in volume for cheap. This can lead to neglect of human rights, The claims surfaced as in Bangladesh, violent protests by tens of thousands of garment workers demanding higher pay forced the closure on Tuesday of 700 factories that supply the top names in Western retail, incl uding HM (Fashion Giant HM evades Taxes in Bangladesh: ). Being that HM does not own the factories in which this neglect takes place, they often claim to encourage management of factories to abide by human rights laws. Although, it is hard for one to tell for certain if this is the case. In an industry where the demand for these products continues to rise, it is very difficult for Bangladesh to break a cycle of human rights abuse in order to meet a quota. A history of exploitation of human rights due to the demand by foreign corporate parts in the country is a factor contributing to the lack of development or potential for development in Bangladesh. There are 2 million individuals that make up the workforce of the garment industry of Bangladesh; of this figure, 70% are women (Wulff 2008: 1). HM takes time to inform their employees of employment opportunities they provide for those in developing countries. They are particularly proud of the work-training program implemented for those who show interest in making clothes in Bangladesh. HM trains prospective factory employees in operating sewing machines with the promise of guaranteed work after successful completion of the program. Though there are obvious benefits to the idea of providing jobs for people of Bangladesh (especially women), the work-training program HM has put into practice has long-term negative effects on the development of the country. An evident gain of the program being that women are provided an opportunity to work and help support their families, has the negative side effect of women continuing to be perceived as a domestic figure sewing clothes while men man age the factories. Aside from a gender bias that will be hard to break as the popularity of this program grows, there is also the issue of young adults not continuing in a higher education. A direct correlation can be seen with respect to the number of people working in a factory, and the number of people in that factory who have received a higher degree of education. Of the amount of individuals producing clothes in a given factory in Bangladesh, the majority has achieved no more than a high school diploma (Uddin 2006: 72). With less of the population attaining a hire education, difficulty in developing an interdependent economy arises due to the dependence on entry-level positions created by HMs work-training program. One of the reasons why outsourcing in Bangladesh is extremely popular for HM, a company that stresses the importance of their clothes being made in an eco friendly environment, is a result of the leniency of labor and environmental laws. Important for consumers to be reminded, is that policies protecting the environment in the Western world are generally much more strict than those protecting the environment in the Global South. Multinational corporations are often the reason why environmental laws in developing countries are so lenient. Governments and authorities in these countries generally feel pressured to comply with the influences of the business needs of transnational corporations. According to the BGMEA (Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association) officials, the social responsibility initiatives of BGMEA directly responded to the concerns of multinational buying companies the group they believed constituted the most powerful stakeholder group. The BGMEA exec utives made specific reference to the expectations of, and pressures exerted by, buying companies such as Nike and HMà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦ (Azizul 2009: 108). These pressures felt display a direct relationship with the development of a country. When the government which is supposedly the highest authority in a given region, is pressured to act a certain way by a foreign investor, the country ceases to develop in an independent manner, as there is a dependence on the business this investor provides. The extent of Bangladeshs dependence on multinational clothing companies such as HM is seen in the fact that around 4,500 garment factories accounted for roughly 80% of the countrys 16-billion-dollar export income in 2009 (Anger after deadly HM factory fire: ). In the process of outsourcing the production of their merchandise, HM often demands the usage of raw materials that need to be sourced from various countries. It is interesting though, that they leave the chore of purchasing these materials to the production factories in Bangladesh. à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦most of the time, suppliers import the raw materials from abroad due to unavailability in the local market. In some cases, HM nominates the raw materials supplier. In that situation, suppliers purchase the raw materials from those nominated sources, whether they are local or foreign (Alim 2010: 72-73). HMs Sustainability Report from 2009 states that transporting raw materials from a country outside Bangladesh can take up to 44 days to arrive, causing potential delays in the production of merchandise (Alim 2010: 73). Importing materials from nations outside of Bangladesh for the production of goods presents a conflict in terms of development. Firstly being that Bangladesh produces merchandi se under the condition of cheap labor, expenses of importing materials from other countries can damage their overall profit rate. More importantly however, is that by sourcing raw materials from places outside of Bangladesh, domestic businesses suffer when trying to compete against more powerful foreign corporations. Through this cycle, foreign transnational corporations shape the economy of Bangladesh. Through investigation on the subject of the impact of globalization and the presence of transnational corporations in the Global South, strong arguments declare that global outsourcing in these regions is a barrier to the possibility of development. As an employee of a multinational corporation, I have considered its relationship to Bangladesh through two perspectives. Firstly, the relationship presented to me through HMs viewpoint; being that their presence in Bangladesh allows for them to outsource quality merchandise for cheap labor costs while increasing capital of the export sector and creating jobs. As well I have analyzed a more negative stance on the issue of HM in Bangladesh. This being that HM is hindering the possibility for development in Bangladesh through creating dependence and pressuring the government. Both perspectives have in common the argument that HM in Bangladesh acts as a major influence on the development of the country. Although HM follows the labor and envi ronmental policies in Bangladesh, the companys existence in the country is enough to decrease the likelihood of both economic and political growth while negatively affecting the nations ability to develop.

Understanding Alzheimers Disease Essay -- Alzheimers Disease Essays

I remember the days when my grandma would be the one taking care of me after school. Each and every school day, I would eagerly wait for school to end so that my grandma could come and pick me up to bring me back to her apartment. Each and every day, she would come 15 minutes after school had ended to avoid the hassle of dealing with all the parents coming at the same time to pick their kids up. I didn’t mind though, that gave me time to talk to my teachers about issues that I had or just to socialize with my friends. Once my grandma arrived, I would quickly drop what I was doing, say goodbye to whomever I was talking to, and go straight to the car to keep my grandma from waiting. My grandma would immediately greet me and ask how my day was. During the car rides, she would listen to my little rants and issues that I would have from time to time and give me advice for it. One of the things that she would always tell me was that â€Å"life is too short to be mad†. I took everything my grandma told me to heart and always learned from the things that she said. After we got back to her apartment, my grandma would always cook my instant noodles just the way I liked them. There was a special ingredient that she would always add that made the noodles better than anyone else could ever make for me. After eating, my grandma would then help me with my homework and make sure I understand the homework. She’d always make it easy to understand by comparing the problems in the homework with real life situations that I already understand. She’d explain simple addition and subtraction problems with my legos to make it easier for me to see and understand. Once my homework was finished with for the day, my grandma would let me watch TV or play with me. S... ...org. Web. 6 June 2015. "Elderly Companion Care." Senior Home Care & Elder Care Services. VisitingAngels.com. Web. 3 June 2015. "Home Safety and Alzheimer's." Alzheimer's Association. Alz.org. Web. 08 June 2015. "Homemaker Services." :: ASA Services. Dss.sd.gov. Web. 6 June 2015. "Incontinence." Alzheimer's Association. Alz.org. Web. 6 June 2015. "In-Home Health Care." Alzheimer's Association. Alz.org. Web. 6 June 2015. "Mabel Ha." Personal interview. 27 Nov. 2013. Macgill, Markus. "What Is Alzheimer's Disease? Causes, Symptoms and Treatment." Medical News Today. MediLexicon International, 31 July 2009. Web. 1 June 2015. "Personal Services." Home Instead. HomeInstead.com. Web. 6 June 2015. Saison, Joanna, Doug Russell, and Monika White. "A Guide to Nursing Homes." : Skilled Nursing Facilities and Convalescent Homes. HelpGuide.org. Web. 4 June 2015.

Stress in Athletics Essay examples -- Sports Athletics Athletes Teams

Stress in Athletics In the Journal article by Mark H. Anshel, entitled Qualitative Validation of a Model For Coping With Acute Stress In Sports. Explains how stress affects athletes, and how they can go about to deal with the problem, or cope with the problem. The author breaks this down into four categories. First, they want to perceive a stimulus or experiencing an event, secondly, appraising that event as stressful, thirdly, using either approach or avoidance coping strategies each consisting of either cognitive or behavioral strategies, and finally enacting post-coping activity that consists of either remaining on task, reappraising the stressful situation, examining the effectiveness of the coping strategy, or disengaging from further sport participation. Stress itself is a widely studied characteristic; it is defined as an interaction between an individual and the surrounding environment. Most research on stress is just new, but has been a topic for the last 20 years. But most new studies on stress have to deal more with the coping process. â€Å"Coping is the person’s conscious attempt at reducing or managing the demands of a stressful event or expanding the person’s resources to deal with the event (Anshel, 2001).† Previous research by Gottlieb (1997) explained â€Å"how coping strategies related to acute forms of stress differ from chronic stress, and that many contexts of chronic stress do not end themselves to an event-centered strategy of measuring coping (pg...

What if anything was surprising about the post-war economic recovery of Europe

In the immediate period after V. E Day there was a realization by all sides of the conflict that the Versailles Peace Treaty of 1919 had itself been one of the main catalysts to the Second World War. This meant that a new approach would need to be taken to reconstruct Europe and it would need to do so with a broader view of Europe as a whole. The Second World War inflicted appalling loses on resources, infrastructure, and, above all human lives. The war cost anything up to fifty million lives and displaced millions more. However although conditions were anything but propitious for economic growth a dramatic transformation took place over the next â€Å"30 glorious years†. Both Eastern and Western Europe†s economies were massively distorted by the demands of war; normal production ground to a halt and trade decreased further weakening Europe†s position in the world economy. The subsequent result of the unprecedented destruction was starvation and inflation together with a legacy of conflict that left Europeans mentally and emotionally exhausted. The fact that the war was the first to be directly targeted at civilians, both through ethnic genocide and warfare in urban areas (most destructively from the air), meant that economics would need to be at the core of any peacetime solutions. There were three elements to the economic impact that affected Europe, and the measures that were introduced to solve these crises paved the way for the turn-around that Europe experienced between the late 1940†³s and early 1970†³s. The first factor was the disruption to Europe†s productive assets, a rise in military production had exhausted capital stocks and many factories were themselves destroyed by the conflict. Industrial capitals such as transport and communication infrastructures were also debilitated. The second effect was of Capital loss, the colonial powers had been forced to dispose of foreign assets and had simultaneously accumulated huge debts. A drop in domestic consumption and investment also left their economies depleted. Thirdly European states (especially France and Britain) were under the obligations of the Lend-Lease agreements which sponsors like the U. S. A and other lending states had supplied to boost their war effort. Despite these extreme difficulties rehabilitation followed surprisingly quickly. In the west in particular there was rapid reconstruction and recovery, meaning the first phase of economic development lasted no more than ten years. In the east, where the scale of devastation and loss of life had been far greater, the process needed to go beyond mere rebuilding and the imposition of Soviet communist control meant that transformation would take significantly longer. The ‘super-boom† that began in post-war Europe can therefore be seen as somewhat of an economic miracle, with many of it†s features being the only positive repercussions of the war. In the west priority was given to rebuilding the infrastructure rather than to satisfying consumption needs (except food). At the same time the economic methods of John Maynard Keynes were being used to squeeze out inflation through financial controls, higher taxes and currency reform. Since controlling inflation added to unemployment and shortages in essential products, new social services were introduced to minimise these negative affects on the population, who after all were still recovering from the hardships of war. The Welfare States that were created also helped in getting the economies moving quickly. The other crucial benefit that the western states had over the communist east was the financial help they received from the U. S. A through Marshal Aid. Between 1947 and 1952 $23 billion was made available to Europe, this hard currency enabled Western economies to ensure their recovery by buying the goods they needed to reconstruct and modernise. So, while in 1946 West European production was only 8% of the world†s total, by 1950 it accounted for almost 20%. In the east, where the starting situation was far worse than in the west due to ferociously destructive battles and Nazi depredations, reconstruction was unimportant compared to the more immediate concerns of feeding and housing the vastly displaced population. In fact in the USSR more people died after the war had finished of starvation, than had during the actual conflict. The period was also witnessing huge social and political changes with Stalin consolidating his firm grip on power, the effect this had on the East†s economic recovery was negative compared to that of the West. Land was distributed to the poor and most industrial property was nationalised. However most importantly there was no support given to Eastern Block states by the U. S. A as Marshal himself distrusted Stalin and thought that he was planning to seize more of Europe. However, Stalin was only utilising the satellite states to help rebuild the soviet economy, yet these factors ensured there was no ‘boom† in the east for at least a decade. In the west when reconstruction was achieved growth was barely interrupted for the next thirty years until the oil crisis of 1973. The technological advances and new production methods during this period were another of the positive after effects of the war. New consumer goods such as televisions were the visible side of the booming economies and by the 1960†³s Western Europe was once again the largest trading block in the world with Gross Domestic Products up to eight times that of the first half of the century. All this was achieved without massive inflation because productivity rose enormously and capacity was fully used. However, to economic historians this economic revival can be seen as surprising and somewhat unexplainable. Technical factors played a part, with new sources of energy, more modern communications, new styles of management and new production practices all helping to streamline the economies. Most of these were derived from the war or the more advanced America, who†s economy was unscathed by war. Another factor was the more ‘hands on† approach taken by western governments in managing their economies. In this way they were able to stimulate a ‘mixed economy† which had elements of private finance and nationalised industries. Keynes ideal was to have no sector of the economy that did not have a government presence. He saw that the mistake of forgetting economics at Versailles led to the boom and bust that enabled nationalism to influence Europe. One other reason for these changes was to attempt to catch up the more advanced economies, most notably the U. S. A. The high levels of capital investment and the move of resources from agricultural to more productive sectors all benefited this goal. The actual stimulus to employment and trade that reconstruction created also kick-started the boom. Social elements also affected the economies of Western states. The ‘baby-boom† of the war years produced a younger and better-educated work force, who also reflected the impact of the new welfare provisions that had been constructed. As demographics changed the population was also modernised in other ways. Urbanisation began at a greater level to compliment the new industries that were developing. Also women, who had entered the work place during the war, meant that the work force was diversifying as well as specialising. Family structures were therefore changing, with the ‘nuclear family† being more mobile and functional. All of these factors helped ensure that the population was becoming more affluent and adapted to the new economy. This population was also becoming more at ease with buying consumer products as the burdens of the thirties and forties gave way to a more positive looking future. More money was also being spent in new industries such as tourism and leisure. This new wealth also meant that class structures were being eroded as a new economically independent middle class emerged. The West was also experiencing political stability, better labour relations and, by utilising the new attitudes in economy management, ensuring low unemployment. These factors all contributed vastly to the boom. Externally the protection that Western Europe was experiencing from the U. S. A helped growth. The Bretton Woods system that ensured exchange rate stability across the Atlantic until the 1960†³s was one part of this. Perhaps none of these factors can explain the surge in economic growth on their own. It was probably a fact that so many things came right at the same time and that the mistakes that had been made after the First World War were heeded. By 1970 the Western European economies had transformed beyond recognition, not only in size but also in organisation and geographical terms. One negative effect of this was the greater divergence from Eastern Europe that the new society exacerbated. It is easy to ask why this ‘economic miracle† was so surprising as the scale of destruction the Second World War wrought was so huge. However this was not the first time that Europe had needed to rebuild itself and governments had come to realise that they should forsake economics at their own peril.

Praying for Sheetrock: A Work of Nonfiction Essay

So emphatic is Melissa Fay Greene that Praying for Sheetrock is a work of nonfiction that she includes the phrase as a part of the title. Perhaps she feared that her use of novelistic techniques might lead the reader astray into believing that the stories she tells, the history she recounts, are imagined or distorted. Without resorting to journalese, she employs some of the reporter’s tricks to make her work more immediate: background stories, anecdotes of local color, repetition, and just enough narrative tension to push her tale forward. Consciously or subconsciously, she absorbs and uses to great effect some of the techniques Truman Capote developed for In Cold Blood (1966). She re-creates conversations without unnecessary asides and, more important, in the language she heard in McIntosh County. This skillful use of dialect establishes character in ways that expository description could not. Her own narrative voice is distinctive, assured, often poetic, as in her introduction to the place about which she writes: â€Å"McIntosh County, on the flowery coast of Georgia-small, isolated, lovely.† She never forgets that it is home to the men and women, black and white who help tell her story. She says, â€Å"If the Messiah were to arrive today, this cloudless, radiant county would be magnificent enough to receive Him.† Its beauty, however, is deceptive. The grinding poverty of its residents is all too real and ugly, and, until recently, the corruption so pervasive that the county’s name was synonymous in the state with good-old-boy political chicanery. For example, one of the effective ploys to keep the black citizenry in line was to allow them to plunder wrecked transport trucks on busy U.S. 17. From the aftermath of just such a wreck, the book gets its title, and for a people as dependent on miracles as on the economy to get by, God took on the epithet of â€Å"Sheetrock- Deliverer.† Finally one man, a disabled black boilermaker named Thurnell Alston, decided his community could no longer depend on the whims of God or the vagaries of white men for justice. The men and women of McIntosh County had lived so long under a time- honored, not always benevolent despotism that, at least on this local level, Alston was revolutionary in thinking that law could be impartial and that each man and woman deserved a voice in deciding how he or she would be governed. If  McIntosh County resembled a feudal realm, it was because the sheriff, Tom Poppell, had made himself lord and master, and under him certain whites and one or two chosen blacks as his nobles. Poor blacks and whites were, pure and simple, the serfs, destined to await the largesse of Sheriff Poppell and the other elec ted white officials. Yet, as the author describes the place, it was peaceful for the inhabitants, if not for the unlucky transients who stopped enroute to Florida: â€Å"For most of this century, there was a strange racial calm in the county, consisting in part of good manners, in part of intimidation, and in part because the Sheriff cared less about the colors black and white than he did about the color green, and the sound it made shuffled, dealt out and redealt, folded and pocketed beside the wrecked trucks and inside the local truckstop, prostitution houses, clip joints, and warehouse sheds after hours.† It was a place, then, where everyone knew what was going on and, in general, accepted it, a place where problems for the old were taken to the church and for the young to the juke joint. Greene emphasizes that special local circumstances, at least particularly Southern ones, dictated that â€Å"when angry groups of blacks and whites faced each other, everyone would know everyone else’s names and addresses, and know their mamas.† They would also all be armed to the teeth, a dangerous stalemate that ironically forestalled violence. The confrontation came when a white deputy, annoyed by the drunken bantering of courtship, shot a black man in the mouth and threw him in jail without medical attention. The black community, abuzz with the news, came together in protest, and the Civil Rights movement in McIntosh County was born. Its undisputed leader was Thurnell Alston, who along with Sammie Pinkney, a retired policeofficer, and Nathaniel Grovner, a preacher, brought the tactics of protest and confrontation to bear on a system of patronage controlled by Sheriff Poppell. He had actually employed black deputies and had â€Å"allowed† blacks to register to vote in the past. He depended on their voting in a bloc for his hand- picked candidates after 1966. Until that time, he manipulated the process so that no black man or woman could have been elected to the county commission, but he was a wily and astute politician who thought that he could control the shape of the inevitable  changes he saw elsewhere when they came to â€Å"his† county. In that year, his black candidate, a 78-year-old man, was elected to the commission so that federal minority participation guidelines were satisfied. Poppell guaranteed federal funding of county projects, and although he was never indicted for any crime, some of those funds are said to have lined his and his relatives’ pockets. Sheriff Poppell already had, therefore, a respected black churchman, Deacon Thorpe, on the commission, and when Thurnell Alston ran against him the year after the shooting, the at-large voters returned the sheriff’s yes-man to office. Once again, Poppell proved his clout. Among other things he controlled in the county was the selection of grand juries, and soon after the first election Alston lost, these white men exercised what they thought would be a routine bit of county business by appointing the brother of the county grand jury’s foreman to the county board of education. â€Å"And to create that opening, they displaced Chatham Jones, the only black member of the board of education. Thus, operating out of a system of patronage and nepotism, the all-white grand jury created in its own likeness the all-white school board to preside over the majority-black public schools.† The grand jury also had the responsibility of selecting trial juries, and in such fashion, the system took vengeance on blacks who had demonstrated a raw, as-yet undisciplined, power after the shooting. The black community organized, and its leaders contacted lawyers with the state’s legal-aid network, the Georgia Legal Services Program. These â€Å"young, upper-middle-class, mostly urban, mostly Yankee lawyers,† most of whom were white and nearly all of whom shared the messianic idealism of early 1970’s radicalism, were eager to help once they realized that enfranchised blacks-the county had roughly 44 percent of its blacks registered to vote-could effectively be cut out of local politics even when they constituted a majority of the population. With help from the legal-aid attorneys, the black community eventually won a series of suits that by 1979 stipulated a random, nondiscriminatory jury selection process and that divided Darien, the county seat, into two wards, one of which is majority black, and McIntosh County into four districts, two of which are majority black. To achieve these ends, the black community transformed itself into an activist, cohesive bloc not at all reluctant to use tactics of confrontation, including boycotts, that had been successful elsewhere. They had a charismatic leader in Thurnell Alston, who appeared to relish the challenge. He became the first independent black man, untethered to the Poppell political machine, to be elected to the county commission. Greene’s description of that long, hot election day in August, 1978, combines levity with suspense to emphasize the historic nature of the occasion. She says that the celebration that night, one she recounts in vivid, you-are-there prose, was over a principle, hardfought and won, â€Å"the principle that if a person is freezing to death in the winter, she shouldn’t have to pray for sheetrock. Municipal services ought to provide her with some. â€Å"Equally momentous for this backwater of Georgia-and, probably, Greene does not give it the weight it deserves in her chronology-was the opening of the final stretch of Interstate 95 through the county. Along U.S. 17, the no-tell motels, the clip joints, the gambling dens, the rough bars dried up from lack of business and went away, and, suddenly, it was less necessary, less profitable, to control county politics in order to assure that highway robbery remained legal. Or, as Greene puts it more poetically, â€Å"The old highway became a long, hot daydream of Florida.†Meanwhile, Alston annoyed his fellow commissioners by pushing a social program while they wrangled over attracting industry, paving roads, and promoting business. His accomplishments may appear small compared to changes elsewhere, but for the rural, isolated county, they were extraordinary. In his decade in office, ignoring, defying the sheriff at every turn, taking the issues to the public, he oversaw the creation of a hospital authority and a physician-staffed medical building deep in the county. He brought plumbing and water to settlements where people used outhouses and wells. He arranged for renovation assistance programs that aided homeowners in adding bathrooms to their cabins. He saw that a multipurpose building was built for the antebellum black community on Sapelo Island. He attracted a grant to build a mental facility out in the county. He did all these things without help or hindrance from the sheriff, who was too smart not to read the writing on the wall. Local politics in Georgia are notoriously byzantine in their good-old-boy machinations, and so in a peculiar twist of fate, Thurnell Alston, in his capacity as county commissioner, served as a pallbearer at Poppell’s funeral in 1979. It is fitting death-of-an-era symbolism, especially seen against the interstate’s eclipsing of commerce, legal and otherwise, along the busiest road through the county. Had the story ended here, Praying for Sheetrock would have been a compelling study of current events, one that could be universalized to what was happening across the South. Unfortunately, the story has a coda, one equally relevant to what is happening all across the country. Thurnell Alston and his wife, Rebecca, lost a child in a mindless accident. They drifted apart, and Alston became embittered, indifferent, and eventually, careless. A local spokesman against drugs, he was nevertheless nabbed in a sting operation and sentenced to five years in prison for conspiracy to possess cocaine with intent to distribute and for using a telephone to facilitate the sale of drugs. In spite of what some in the county saw as ultimate treason to his own people, Thurnell Alston had helped effect great changes in McIntosh County. In 1992, two members of the McIntosh county commission were black, the chairman, elected on an at-large basis, was white. Two members of Darien’s city council were black; the mayor, again elected at-large, was white. Half of the county’s deputy sheriffs were black, as was half of Darien’s police force. In 1989, two black women were elected in at-large countywide elections to positions as superintendent of schools and tax commissioner. Praying for Sheetrock, among other honors, was nominee for one of the National Book Awards. It is worthy of all the critical and popular praise it has received. Beautifully written, perfectly paced, and authentic in voice and action, the book is a model history, one less gifted writers will have  trouble emulating. Its greatest success is in dramatizing one small chapter of important, very human, history. McIntosh County’s people, for the most part, are still desperately poor, and in spite of the well-deserved attention stirred by this book, the county is still an economic wasteland. Yet its people, true to their traditions, still pray for help to a busy God. More practically, they have learned that they have the United States Constitution on their side as well. references Atlantic Journal Constitution. September 22, 1991, p. N8. Chicago Tribune. December 1, 1991, VI, p. 3. The Christian Science Monitor. December 2, 1991, p. 13. Commonweal. CXVIII, December 6, 1991, p. 722. Library Journal. CXVI, October 15, 1991, p. 106. Los Angeles Times Book Review. December 15, 1991, p. 1. The Nation. CCLIII, December 23, 1991, p. 821. The New York Times Book Review. XCVI, November 3, 1991, p. 7. Publishers Weekly. CCXXXVIII, August 16, 1991, p. 40. The Washington Post Book World. XXI, November 24, 1991, p. 3.

The Buyer Utility Map Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

The Buyer Utility Map - Essay Example Wal-Mart has focused on improving the purchase experience by enabling its customers to get access to its products online. They can access product information at their comfort locations using mobile application. Moreover, customers can purchase from Wal-Mart stores online. It saves time and money for the customers. Delivery of commodities especially fresh farm produce services makes shopping simple and convenient. Customers will always consider the price of commodities and compare it with competing business irrespective of their economic status. The company intends to diversify customer convenience by increasing the number of retail branches and associates to enable customers purchase merchandise in their communities without incurring extra travelling expenditures. The price of its commodities is sensitive to people of all lifestyles and income levels. Through low-cost competitiveness, the company aims to remain the price leader to maintain its value-conscious

The expansion of Civilization in South ans Southeast Asia Essay

The expansion of Civilization in South ans Southeast Asia - Essay Example ia that developed printing in China, health care information from Buddhists, and technological advancements in astronomy, mathematics, and linguistics. The Gupta Dynasty replaced the Kushans, wherein afterwards, Buddhism changed from being a way of life to other sub-branches of Buddhism. Buddhism branched out to Therevada Buddhism that asserted that they preserved the old teachings and that Buddhism is a way of life, and Mahayana Buddhism that taught Buddhism as a religion and that must be attained through both devotion and painstaking observance of proper behaviors. Buddhism became less popular in India probably because of the rise of competition in religions and its rejection of dominant cultural and socioeconomic Indian beliefs. The development of a revived Hinduism and the arrival of Islam increasingly became more popular than Buddhism. Buddhism also rejected the existence of a soul that opposed a dominant Indian spiritual belief. At the same time, Buddhism resisted social class definitions, which threatened the socioeconomic structure of India. Islam arrived at India through its eastward spread from the Arabian Peninsula during the seventh and eight centuries to Persia and the mountains of the Hindu Kush. After Indian pirates attacked an Arab ship near the Indus River, the Muslim ruler demanded an apology from the rule of Sind, a Hindu state, but the latter declined. Muslim forces attacked and conquered Sind in 711 and expanded to Punjab. Mahmud of Ghazni expanded the Islamic state in India from 997 to 1030 up to the upper Indus valley and far into the South of the Indian Ocean. Though subsequent Islamic rulers were not as successful as Ghazni in widening Islamic territories, the Muslim peoples established states there because Indians often warred with one another and were not as united as the Muslims due to the latter’s different religions and ethnicities. Islam changed Indian society in terms of religion by offering an alternative religion to Hinduism

As a Spiritual Leader, a Member approaches you in Private with the Term Paper

As a Spiritual Leader, a Member approaches you in Private with the following questions. How do you take on Leadership in answering their Questions Scriptures provided to assist if needed - Term Paper Example he church that rise to the occasion of leadership through either appointment to an office within the church or merely by showing that they have leadership qualities that naturally puts them in the position of confident and mentor. When a leader of a church is presented with the question â€Å"What does a Christian do when their pastor sins?†, the first answer should always be to forgive them as God would forgive their sins. However, Timothy 5:19-21 gives us further insight in that accusations against an elder should not be entertained unless there are two or three witnesses. The passage states that if sin is proven, accusation should be made in public. However, Mathew 18:15 suggests that one should approach in private, bringing in others if the person does not listen to the advise that suggests giving up the sinful activity. If they will not listen, then it should be brought to the church, and finally treated as if they were a pagan or a tax collector. However, the best advise would be to tell the member to be very sure before making an accusation and if they feel uncomfortable, to speak to someone with whom they can approach the pastor for a dialogue about the subject. â€Å"Our pastor has sinned and the elders do not want to take action. How do you approach your pastor?† When this question is posited, the first question will relate to finding out why the elders choose not to act. A member should always feel comfortable in approaching a pastor as they are the spiritual leader to whom they should first look to for guidance. Even if the issue concerns the pastor, the topic should be brought forward in a manner that shows continued respect until the issue is confirmed as a reason to withdraw that respect. If the pastor chooses to keep the issue between himself and God and the elders choose not to act, then a choice must be made by the member as to whether or not to remain under the spiritual guidance of those who have sinned in his or her eyes. There is a difference

Studies on Photosynthesis Using the Hill Reaction Report Lab

Studies on Photosynthesis Using the Hill Reaction - Lab Report Example The primary ‘light reaction’ stage requires light and involves the excitation of electrons of the chlorophyll. These electrons then proceed along a series of electron carriers embedded in the thylakoid of the chloroplast resulting in synthesis of ATP in the stroma and the reduction of NADP. The dark reactions of photosynthesis do not directly require light involve the use of ATP and NADPH formed during the light reaction (figure 1) (Berg et al., 553). Hill reaction named after its discoverer Robert Hill (1937) involves the photoreduction of an electron acceptor by the hydrogen atoms of water, along with evolution of oxygen. In laboratory, Hill reaction is demonstrated when isolated and illuminated ‘chloroplasts’ reduce an electron acceptor present with it, and release molecular oxygen: The electron acceptors used in laboratory conditions are not the natural electron acceptors or NADP but instead are artificial electron acceptors (Walker, 109). These artificial electron acceptors intercept the electrons before they reach PS1700. Further they are generally dyes that change color when reduced e.g. DCIP (2,6-dichlorophenolindophenol). Thus Hill reaction can be written as: Thus using the above equation, rate of Hill reaction in isolated protoplasts can be experimentally estimated. The change in absorbance of the dye at 600nm measured under varied conditions of experiment gives the rate of Hill reaction occurring under the preselected set of conditions. Several of the detergents are also known to be inhibitors of photosynthesis such as DCMU [3-(3, 4-dichlorophenyl)-1, 1-dimethylurea], DNP [dinitrophenol] and triton-X etc. Chloroplast was extracted from deveined, washed and blot dried fresh baby spinach leaves. The standard fractionation protocol for extraction of chloroplasts was followed. 50g spinach leaves were homogenized in a pre-chilled blender jar along with buffered isotonic salt solution and antioxidant solution. The homogenate was

Samsung Company analysis Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

Samsung Company analysis - Essay Example Product/services and geographic scope The company would promote the products through advertising campaigns in UK. Samsung will continue the brand promotion strategies using celebrities with promotional activities in malls and outlets (Semenik, Allen, & O'Guinn, 2008). Samsung offers a variety of products ranging from LCD and LED panels, mobile phones, semi-conductors, televisions and digital cameras. Till 2005, the company allocated more than 75% of the in-house production capacity to the countries like China, Mexico, India, identified as low cost countries. The operations of mobile phone operations of the company are mainly based in Northern China. In the first part of 2006, Samsung began to produce mid- and high-end handsets in India. The mobile phone manufacturing centres include Korea, UK, China, Japan and USA (Samsung-c, n.d.). Competitors Although the company enjoys a large market share, the company faces some serious threat from the other developed or developing companies, nam ely, Sony Corporation, Videocon and some other well-known brands. If these are direct competitors, the indirect competitors include Media Player from Microsoft, Ovi player from Nokia and several local brands (Schwarzinger, 2012). Sony is a company from Japan and leads the market in consumer-durable products. The prices charged by Sony are generally high, but if one looks for quality, then Sony is the best option to opt for (Sony, 2012). PEST Analysis Political: The political conditions of the countries where Samsung operate pose some risk. The political climate of South Korea became a worrying factor. In the African continent and in the countries of South East Asia, Samsung has distinct disadvantages as the business environment is hostile (Husso, 2011). Economic: Samsung follows a healthy marketing strategy in the countries where they operate. Since high levels of disposable income are required from the consumers to buy their products, Samsung targets the middle income classes. The company tries to enter into the countries where the business cycle for the offered products is in initial stages. Social: The company has been able to integrate itself according to the market structures. The ‘think global, act local’ mindset strengthens the landscape. It has effectively bridged the gap between culture and society. The company initiates to link a balance between the tastes and aspirants of the consumers with the amount of disposable income they possess (Henry, 2008). Technological: The company can take pride depending on the innovative approaches it launches. The products are made using cutting-edge technologies, and the attractive designs are the incentives it provides to the customers. The innovations are the biggest strength of Samsung, and the technological advancements lay the foundation stone to cement the place of Samsung in global markets. SWOT Analysis Strength: The brand value of the company is the biggest strength. The new innovation of 3D tel evision is selling like hot cakes in the market. It is of no surprise that Samsung is the company with the largest market share of 3D television. Other types of television, namely, the LED television, have been successful in providing a large consumer base to the