International Bank Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

International Bank - Essay Example With this combination of traits, F.C. will be perceived by her subordinates as highly professional and a less emotionally-attached supervisor. With the probable high-esteem perceived by these loan officers, they are being sent a clear and firm directive that this boss ‘means serious business.’ Thus, F.C.’s work characteristics will positively impact the subordinate loan officers’ behavior through the reinforcement of discipline and due diligence. To aid me in deciding which candidate is best for the position, I may require the invaluable information about the candidate’s capacity to solicit and rationalize the subordinate’s responses on the bank’s organizational approaches. This capacity is important because an understanding of the subordinates’ behavior is the primary key in formulating solutions in work problems like selling loans to low credit-worthy clients to reach or exceed the allotted quota, or lowering the set standards to accommodate all types of clients. Another criterion for judging the candidate’s suitability in the position is the capability to enforce individual accountability among the subordinate loan officers. The lack of such accountability may be the probable culprit behind the loan officers’ reckless exposure of the bank to financial risks. Moreover, the bank evidently fails or has a considerable lapse in enforcing accountability to these loan officers (else there would be no financial bath). The candidate who possesses such enforcing capacity and serves as a model of accountability has the potential to further and reinforce the bank’s risk-mitigating measures. For this particular supervisory position, personality assessment should be given as much weight as the technical qualifications. This is because technical tasks are difficult to delegate or coordinate without a healthy framework of soft skills. Moreover, decisions and actions are

Germany’s Violations of the Versailles Treaty Essay Example for Free

Germany’s Violations of the Versailles Treaty Essay Adolf Hitler rose to power after Germany was defeated in the First World War. There are a number of things that led Germany to be defeated in the war. For example, the British and French armies kept on advancing against Germany, the joining of the United States in the war which affected Germany greatly, the economy of Germany had already collapsed and people were starving and finally there were a lot of divisions in the army which rendered the army dis-united. After Germany was defeated in the First World War the victorious nations met in Paris where they agreed on various things and how they would deal with Germany. Under this treaty, Germany was given some conditions which it was expected to comply. For example, its army size was to be reduced to 100000 men, to accept to be responsible for the war outbreak and therefore to pay for damages that were caused by the war. These were called reparations and were to be divided amongst the victorious nations which included: Britain, French, Belgium and Italy. Hitler believed that if his army was not divided then, he could not have been defeated. He thought Germany was defeated because it was betrayed by the army but not because it was defeated by the Allies. Because of these reasons he violated the Versailles treaty by re arming. In this essay, I am going to discuss on the relationship between Germany’s aggression and her weapons or how arming his army led to the Second World War. Hitler was the leader of the Nazi party. He became a chancellor of Germany in 1933 and in 1934 he became its leader. He remained in power from that time until he committed suicide in 1945. Hitler used his oratorical skills, charisma and propagandas in putting hope to the population of Germany that had been traumatized by the war. Hitler started building up his army again increasing its size more than it was agreed. He revived the economy and also refused to accept that he was solely responsible for the First World War. He accepted only when he was promised another war by British and France. Those nations thought that by Germany paying the reparations, they could reverse their economic statuses which had been destroyed by the war but Germany refused to pay. The treaty of Versailles was signed on 28th June 1919 in the palace of Versailles near Paris. The victorious or the allied powers forced two Germans to accept the terms on behalf of the Germany. This treaty refused Germany to join the League of Nations. The territories it had conquered were taken by the allies and then shared amongst them. Germany was not allowed to have submarine and air force. The navy was to have only six war ships. Its army was limited to only 100000 men. Also Rhineland –an area of 50 miles wide was declared no man’s land or a buffer zone and Germany was not allowed to place its army there (Hoover A. J. ,1994) This treaty backfired because instead of making the world a better and safer place, it caused more problems and helped Hitler to ascend to power. Germany was not happy with those terms. They complained against its army size that it was vulnerable to attacks. It refused to pay the reparations giving the reason that its economy had been destroyed by the war, it was also bitter because it lost a tenth of its land to the victorious nations. Other nations even smaller than Germany were given free determination as opposed to Germany. The German in other states were not allowed to unite for example, the Australian Germans. They felt they were not to be blamed for the Russia was responsible. They also hated it because they were not allowed to be in the conference. This treaty created a political atmosphere for they blamed everything that went sour to the treaty and the lost war. Also whenever Hitler violated the Versailles treaty he shouted that ‘Germans have refused or want no more. He stated to them openly that he would do away with the oppressive treaty of Versailles. He promised to rearm and unite all Germans who were in other smaller nations. Germany was technical keeping to the terms but in real sense he was not. Hitler violated this treaty in many ways. For example in 1925 under the Locarno treaty he agreed that he would not cross the area bordering France, Belgium and the demilitarized Rhine land but on 7th March1936, Hitler violated this treaty by marching on to Rhineland. Britain and France complained but neither of them took action. In 1932 at a conference at Lausanne, Germany France and Britain signed a treaty to cancel the reparations that Germany was supposed to pay the allied powers. In 1935 Hitler introduced a compulsory military conscription thus mobilizing his army. These included the new navy and air force. Also in 1935 in appeasing Germany who had already started rearming himself, the treaty was violated again by allowing Germany to have submarines. This happened when Germany and Britain signed Anglo Germany Naval Agreement. In 1936, Hitler took the demilitarized territories especially in the Rhineland. In 1938, 12th March Germany entered Austria after gaining a lot mass support. On the following day, he conquered Austria and it became part of Germany. In 1938 Hitler wanted to break war unless he was allowed to take Sudetenland which was on its border. Also in the same year on September 29 the allied powers allowed Germany to take The Sedeten land and on 29th September 1938 they allowed Germany to move ahead but on condition that he would maintain world peace. At first Czechoslovakia refused but it was pressurized to accept that. In 1939 Hitler violated this treaty and occupied Czech province and Slovakia became independent. Later Hungary invaded and Czechoslovakia ceased to exist. In 1939 Hitler made demands on Poland because he wanted the Danzig province and be given a route for accessing it through the Polish Corridor. Since the time Hitler started to violate the treaty, the allies were trying to appease Germany but it proved that Germany’s desires were insatiable. Whenever he was allowed to take a section of its former colonies it insisted on all of it. When it gave an ultimatum to attack Poland, another war was promised by the allies to Germany and when he refused to bow down, he was attacked and the second war broke out in September 1939. There was a relationship between the way Hitler armed himself and the way he resulted to be aggressive. The more he equipped his army the more he became aggressive because he thought he would attack and defeat other nations. In his 2001 book Breuer says that Hitler armed himself more than before in terms of research and development. He even trained new crew members in the U-boat business. Something that was contrary to the treaty. The Germany’s military which had so many limitations after the First World War started developing new and most efficient tactics. They started using tanks and aircraft for the ground warfare. Germany also learned about more advanced ideas from British military scholars. In 1929 a German infantry officer was given the task of administering the German-Russian school which was located in Kazan. Its goal was to train Germans on how to operate tanks in Russia. Hitler was militarily creative and wanted the future war to be a totally different from the First World War (Breuer W. B. , 2001) It can be said that Hitler was sorely responsible for starting the war of 1939 because immediately he became the Chancellor of Germany in 1933 he began building up his army secretly. He also started compulsory army conscription. All these moves were against the Versailles treaty and although the allies were aware of this, they tried to appease Hitler so that he could help them fight against the spread of communism which had proved to be a big threat to them. They thought that by making Germany stronger, it would check the spread of communism. This policy of appeasement continued until Germany went as too far as to attack Poland (Weinberg G. , 1994) Hitler felt that he was fully prepared for the war because of the loyalty he received from his people plus the outstanding army he had built. He had a very potent army and his air force had become second to none in the whole world. He prepared his army with the new war strategy called blitzkrieg (lightning war) where by heavy ground armies were established and many war aircrafts accompanied these men who were highly mobile. This was a new strategy which had never been seen before. He believed that he was a great power in Europe and thus there was a need to strengthen his army. That is why in 1933 he ordered war planes to be increased to one thousand and army barracks were built. He even quit the Geneva conference after his plan of having his army to re-arm to the level of French or French to his level was refused. For the next two years his military might expand in secret and by 1935 march, he felt that he was prepared enough to arm his Nazi army publicly thus violating the Versailles treaty. As time went by, Germany had 300,000 army men and 2,500 war planes in Luftwaffe and Wehrmacht respectively. He ordered the army to be comprised of 550,000 men. In 1936, he repossessed the Rhineland, in 1938 he annexed Austria and in 1938 he demanded to be allowed to occupy Sudeten land at Munich. In 1939 he took over Bohemia and Monrovia and then made strident move to acquire back his territory –Danzig at the Polish Corridor. The attack he made on Poland is what led to the Second World War outbreak. To conclude this essay, we can say that Hitler idea of building up his army made him to feel that he was ready to face any other nation that appeared to be a threat to him. He assumed that no other nation especially the allied powers would dare attack him and that is why he went ahead to reclaim all the territories that had been taken from him and were now being administered by the victorious powers like France and Britain. If the Versailles treaty was not violated, perhaps then there could not have been a second world war. Reference: 1) Breurer W. B. ,( 2001) Deception of World War II, New York: John Wiley and Sons Inc 2) Hoover A. J. , God (1999) Britain and Hitler in World War II: the view of the British clergy, 1939-1945. Praeger publishers. 3) Weinberg G. L, (1994) A World at Arms: A global history of World War II, Cabridge, Cabridge University Press.

Information Systems Capstone

Information Systems Capstone Richard Lecator   Background information of the Company The company is known for its dominant role in the collection and analysis of data. The firm has been operational for a duration almost equaling two years and has a total of approximate 20 employees, where four have been delegated to the IT department. Due to the rampant growth that has been exhibited by the firm, pundits predict that it is going to experience a staggering 60% growth for the next one and a half year. The organization collects data by the help of the Web analytics and then combines it with the data obtained from the operation systems. Web analytics hold a significant role in the majority of the marketing plans for the business, and it involves measuring, collecting, analyzing and then reporting the data collected from the website for the sake of development and optimization of usage of the web. The firm is a very young one and hence is struggling to adapt to the limited technological infrastructure it has to keep it running. However, regardless of this, the firm still anticipates having the business expanded in the next half a year by having its operational activities moved from its current one floor to a spacious three floors. The company has all the information regarding its operations kept in the form of both hardware and software and stored on-site. Details regarding the Type of Business that the Company is Engaged In. The firm works on web analytics and effective qualitative reportage. The software used by the firm enables it to have high quality, data collection that is very effective that starts in minutes without any necessity of additional programming (Aalst, 2009). Therefore, whether it is a huge document, review or digital sets of data, the organization will be able to provide you with analytical services, which will be of great help for you in acquiring answers that are simpler to ambiguous business queries. Types of Data that the Company Collects The firm is further able to collect native and email data from almost all the electronic sources, with the inclusion of the individual computers, storage devices for mobile media, backup tapes, networks belonging to the companies, and the mobile devices for personal use (Aalst, 2009). This shows that the company is well equipped to manage almost all of the devices. The Current Outsourcing and offshoring activities. Globalization and an increase in the competition on the global standards have pushed the organization to incorporate a wider range of economical transfers and the process of exchanging goods and services, technical know-how, personnel, and numerous other related intermediate activities that are part of the value chains for the global markets. When it comes outsourcing and offshoring, there is always a very close relationship amid the locations, motivational standards and the organizational strategy for the company (Warranty Data Collection and Analysis, 2011). Technological advancements will ultimately play great roles in reshaping this subject more in the organization. The main reason behind the organization resolving to the activities related to outsourcing and offshoring when it comes to knowledge is because the firm has an objective of cementing its competitive advantage. This will only be achieved through exploitation of the locally available talent and proficiency in the host economies. The skilled information personnel in position and their responsibilities The following are the duties and the responsibilities of the team that will ensure the fulfillment of the project. The Senior Project Director  Ãƒâ€šÃ‚   The individual will be in charge of ensuring that the project is planned, directed and ensures a  smooth running of the project. The individual will also be in charge of ensuring that the project deliverables and their functions are achieved as stated in the Charter of the project (Ward, 2006). He will also be in charge of ensuring that accountability is maintained when it comes to managing the resources for the project. The Quality Manager and the Technical Lead Will ensure that both the proposed product and that the qualities of the process for the project are maintained. Will manage every days activities for the project and that there is a good liaison with the projects technical management. Will ensure that the technical disciples regarding the project are maintained. Will partner with the IT department to ensure that adequate technical assistance is accorded to the project handlers. Will be in charge of advising on the insight regarding the health of the project. Will be available to offer leadership assistance to the technical staff throughout the life cycle of the project. Will provide necessary assistance to the Senior Project Director in establishing the best technical policies, procedures, and processes for the project. Implementation and test lead Will be in-charge of: Managing the implementation phase of the project. Providing leadership when it comes to implementation management by forming, synchronizing, scheduling, and closely overseeing the activities during the implementation phase. Directing the testing process of the newly created structure. Will work with the state and the federal departments to ensure that the test is carried out as provided for by the law. Operation Lead Will be in charge of: Coordinating and supervising how the new system works The particular data collected by the company The information systems that is currently being used by the company: Operational Systems and Databases Below are some of the operating systems and Databases that the organization has been using to help with its day to day activities. Operating System They include: Microsoft.NET 2.0 Framework ASP.NET 2.0 master pages, the gratified pages, and Web Parts. Windows Workflow Foundation. Databases Business Request Data Site custom data InfoPath Forms Services Analytics and Interfaces The most used analytic interface being used by the organization is the graphic interface. Infrastructure and Security To ensure the security of the collected data, the firm has resolved to the use of the combination of both the technologies of the cloud computing and Software-as-as-a-Service (SaaS). Therefore, when the organization thoroughly implements the above-outlined structure, then the structures it will have initiated in place will be able to assist with holding the demand for the expansion that the business requires. References Aalst, W., Joseph, M., Mylopoulos, J., Sadeh, N. M., Shaw, M. J., Szyperski, C., Gotel, O., Meyer-Stabley, B. (2009). Software Engineering Approaches for Offshore and Outsourced Development: Third International Conference, SEAFOOD 2009, Zurich, Switzerland, July 2-3, 2009. Proceedings. Berlin, Heidelberg: Springer Berlin Heidelberg. Ward, P., Dafoulas, G. (2006). Database management systems. London: Thomson. Warranty Data Collection and Analysis. (2011). London: Springer-Verlag London Limited. Information Systems Capstone Information Systems Capstone Richard Lecator The organization is proud to be able to review and enter into a partnership with its customers in the goal of overhauling the company visibility. This visibility will be done in hopes to increase brand awareness while increasing the residential customer base and the industrial IT services. Through the improved visual appearance of the company assets the brand will become known for its appearance and with the known presence will make changes within the organization. The graphics will provide information in regards to the company as well as local contacts and the company website. With that, the organization will strive to increase its quality of field service as well as improve the quality of the customer service through face to face interactions as well as online and telephone interactions. To ensure maximum satisfaction of the organizations customers, the following Project Implementation plan has been drafted to assist with ensuring that the project is smoothly and comprehensively carried out. The refurnishing process of the organizations IT department is a huge project that the organization would like to capitalize on greatly. The IT Plan The IT department holds a vital role in the process of realization of the project. The organization understands this with a very strong implication. This is why the firm has taken necessary steps to ensure that the IT plan developed has a close association with its Business Plan. This Organizations IT plan will help in achieving the successes of the project by making sure that the best IT personnel that bear recommended qualifications are brought on board. If put to use according to plan, the plan will prove to be a great tool in assisting with controlling the activities of the IT department throughout the whole process. Roles and Responsibilities of Team Members of the Project The list provided below outlines the duties and the obligations of the Organizations project team. The Senior Project Director In charge of planning directing and overseeing the project, and making that the project deliverables and its functionality are realized. Ensures that there is maintenance of accountability when it comes to managing all of the resources being used in the project. Acts an intermediary with between the project and its sponsors. The Quality Manager In charge of managing the quality of the product and the process involved in the project. Ensures that the traceability matrix of the requirements is maintained. In charge of providing insight into the health of the project. The Roles and the duties of: The Technical Lead have been clearly outlined. The Implementation Lead. The Application Support Lead. The Test Lead have been properly and thoroughly outlined. The Configuration Lead and, The Operations Lead have all been clearly outlined in the Human Resource Plan. Project Organizational Charts The graphic structure below, derived from DMOZ Regional: North America: United States: Tennessee: Guides and Directories. (2016), is a representation of the reporting hierarchy for the project. The chart below, shows the existing association of the tasks for the project and the members of the team. All of the changes that are proposed to the responsibilities of the project must receive a direct approval from the Office of the Project Manager. Proposal of change will only occur with a basis to the control process of change for the project. When the change is made, all of the documents for the project will be updated and then redeployed by the procedures. Roles Infrastructure Preparation Requirements Gathering Design Configuration Development Implementation Software Testing Conduct Training Senior Project Director A A R R C C Quality Manager A R C C Technical Lead A R Implementation Lead I A R C I Application Support Lead A C R I Test Lead A C R C C Configuration Lead R A R C Operation Lead C Key: R Responsible for completing the work A Accountable for ensuring task completion/sign off C Consulted before any decisions are made I Informed of when an action/decision has been made Gantt Chart Staffing Management Plan       The Staffing Management Plan helps with the formalization of the processes that are used in managing the project. This plan positions itself with the available processes like refurbishment, cultural and people policies, the policies for the supply chain, and the collective agreements that have been continuously applied by organization for its staffing. During the resources planning, there is significance in considering the resources that are commonly used in the project and the ones from the external environment. The Staffing Management Plan will aim to provide a solution to the required resources to offer support to the program through the life cycle of the project. However, it is of significance to note that the details contained in the plan will only be for the foreseeable future and will be updated with a continuation of realization of the process. When it comes to the staffing of the project and the resources, the requirements will vary with time as the project progresses. This document will be subjected to continuous updates as deemed necessary for the phases that are to come. Finally, purchased services contracts from the external that includes Amplified Staff, particular, and accomplished task contracts will help greatly in bringing in new staff in the course of realizing the project (Project Management Institute, 2004). When it comes to the management of the organization, the focus has been solemnly put on ensuring that the goals of the process are achieved so that the mission and vision of the organization are achieved.   The quality program is inclusive of the team members who have basic duties of making the processes, ensuring that their effectiveness, and overseeing the actions that will make an improvement in the manner in which the organization manages quality during  and after the project. References    Project Management Institute. (2004). A guide to the project management body of  knowledge (PMBOK guide). Newtown Square, PA: Project Management Institute. DMOZ Regional: North America: United States: Tennessee: Guides and Directories. (2016).

Volleyball :: essays research papers

Title:Blocking in Volleyball Description: Blocking in Volleyball Blocking is a very important defensive aspect of volleyball at higher levels. Blocking is one of the hardest skills to learn, and does not always show direct results. The Body: Blocking in Volleyball Blocking is a very important defensive aspect of volleyball at higher levels. Blocking is one of the hardest skills to learn, and does not always show direct results. The block serves four basic functions. The first is to stop the ball, and hopefully return it to the opponents side for a point or side out. The second is to eliminate as a much of the court for the opposing hitter to hit into, also making the court easier for the back row to defend. The third is to deflect the ball up so that it can be used for an attack. The last function is to force the use of a secondary (possibly weaker) hitter, or a secondary hit such as a tip or half hit. The basics of the block begin at the feet. The feet should be parallel, about fourteen inches from the net, and about shoulder width apart. The weight should be on the inside of the feet, with more weight on the foot opposite the direction of the most likely movement. Knees should be slightly bent. Hands should always be kept at shoulder height, elbows flexed, and the forarms should be parallel to the net. Prior to jumping a half squat position should be assumed, with back straight, leaning slightly to the net. Ater jumping hands should go up and slide over the net as far as possible. The arms and hands should be rigid, with thumbs upward and fingers spread apart. Before contact, the arms, shoulders, and hands should be turned inward to the center of the court. The body should pike. The hands should be open to surround, and try to catch the ball. There are two main methods of movement. These include the side step and the crossover. The side step is meant for covering a short distance. The body stays square to the net. The foot closest to the direction of the movement moves first. The outer foot then follows sliding back to a shoulder width position. Setting the block involves several variables. These include the distance of the set from the net, height of the set, attacker, angle of hitters approach, what hand the hitter uses, and lastly the position of the attacking arm and elbow in relationship to the ball.

Meaning of life †Philosophy of life Essay

What is the meaning of life? The answer to this question has sought over since mankind became capable of exercising their brain capacity past a level of primal instinct. In general life is rather meaningless, we all simply exist together on this planet. But before one dwells on the pointlessness of human existence, they should think about the purpose of each individual person in our society. We create goals for ourselves; we all have a role to play in our society. In a sense, we choose our future and in doing so, give ourselves a purpose to live. The purpose of human existence in general may be absent, but in our society and through our goals and achievements, I believe each individual creates their own purpose. Through one question I realized this great truth: what do you want to be when you grow up? For the longest time, I didn’t know what I wanted to be when I grew up. What did it matter to me anyway? I was a kid (well, I suppose I still am) and didn’t like any of the generic jobs they told us about in elementary school. Police force, teachers, fireman, none of them interested me. Then, in middle school, my life changed, a lot. I got completely new friends, after the old ones left me behind. I slowly started to become more and more enclosed, I spent most of my time out of school alone. As I developed into this over-dramatic teenage state, life suddenly became meaningless. I would often find myself sitting bored in my room, mindlessly surfing the internet or playing videogames. I slowly started to hate it; it was like I could feel my brain melting inside my head. I needed to find a more constructive hobby, and so I found myself musical instruments and started creating more and more music every day. Music became my life and from then on, I knew that my goal, the meaning of my life, was to become a musician. I believe that life was meant to be enjoyed; nobody wants to spend their life in a dead end job. After all, just how much meaning is in an unhappy life? Just ask Monty Python’s John Cleese, who states, â€Å"If I had not gone into Monty Python, I probably would have stuck to my original plan to graduate and become a chartered accountant, or perhaps a barrister lawyer, and gotten a nice house in the suburbs with a nice wife and kids, and gotten a country club membership, and then I would have killed myself. † I find this quote strongly inspiring because instead of choosing a highly respectable, well paying job and living a comfortable life, he choose to work with some of most popular men to ever wear woman’s clothing. Comedy is what he finds gives meaning to his life, and although his second choices would have been nice, Cleese didn’t find as much value in them as he did in Monty Python. Perhaps life itself is meaningless, but I believe it doesn’t have to be. I believe that a happy life is a meaningful one. I believe that mankind may not collectively have a reason for existence or a common goal, but each individual certainly does. I believe that each and every person has to create their own reason to live, instead of waiting for that reason to come to them, or they must just find themselves waiting forever.

Barack Obama Speech Analysis Essay

In the compelling Inauguration speech of Barack Obama, the first African-American President, a large range of language and oratory techniques are utilized to convey his message to an audience of over a million Americans. The speech was delivered on the traditional inauguration date of the 20th January 2009, on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial where, 45 years earlier, Martin Luther King Jr. delivered his iconic ‘I Have a Dream’ speech. During Obama’s speech, he uses a range of oratory devices to present himself as credible, the techniques include; the proficient use of tone and performance aspects, extensive use of biblical references, allusion to history, and an important underlying theme. These techniques help to convey his strong message of hope and reapplying the good old American values of honesty, courage, tolerance and loyalty. On the 20th January 2009, democrat Barack Hussain Obama became the first African-American to take the presidential oath for America . He delivered his inauguration speech to an audience of over a million Americans, and at a time when the world’s economy had taken a downturn and America had a controversial presence in the Middle East. Americas history had been darkened by its racism and history of slavery and so the significance of this event was amplified as it showed a new acceptance and a positive step in American Civil Rights. Obama also delivered his inauguration speech on the steps of the Lincoln memorial where, 45 years earlier, Martin Luther King delivered his iconic ‘I Have a Dream’ speech. Congressman James Clyburn, the highest ranking African-American congressman of that time said about the event, â€Å"Today is about the validation of the dream Dr. King initiated 45 years ago on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial†, this shows the significance of the event, and put pressure on Obama to put on a show of strength. In Barack Obama’s Inauguration speech, it soon becomes obviou s that he is a seasoned orator who has a natural ability to persuade the audience’s emotions. His use of tone and pitch, amplified by his presentation, has a convincing effect on his delivery. In his opening sentences he says â€Å"I stand here today humbled by the task before us, grateful for the trust you’ve bestowed, mindful of the sacrifices bourne by our ancestors.† In hearing this, the listener is struck by his humbleness and sense of humility. The tone urges caution which  contrasts with the celebratory mood of the audience. His choice to use words like humbled, grateful and mindful along with his natural charisma and charm, causes the audience to respect him and listen to what he has to say. To increase the desired effect of his speech on the audience, Obama repetidly uses an allusion to history, this also helps to strengthen the audiences confidence in him. His statement â€Å"all are equal, all are free, and all deserve a chance to pursue their full measure of happiness† is a clever twist on the Declaration of Independence, a founding document of America and something all Americans can relate to. He uses a patriotic appeal and asks for a â€Å"†¦return to these truths†, a return to the old and true American traits of â€Å"honesty and hard work, courage and fair play, tolerance and curiosity, loyalty and patrionism†. The appeal effectively utilizes pathos, coupled with with allusion and historic references, to pursuade his audience to believe in him. During the delivery of his speech, Obama repeatidly alludes to biblical references, which acts not only as a useful language technique, but also shows a link to his background and heritage. In saying â€Å"the time has come to set aside childish things† (1 Corinthains 13:11), Obama exploits the ethos appeal and cleverly alludes to the refence, as his audience is not all christain and he did not want to offend them. This is yet more proof of his natural oratory ability and it also reflects on his African-American background, in which biblical references and hymns were used and widely known. These effects combined with the seamless delivery proves his incredible speaking ability and his charisma and charmwhich has helped him in his American dream, from being raised by a single mother, to becoming the first African-American president. Obama’s inauguration speech includes the interesting theme of ‘Drawing strength from out heroic past’. There are many references to history that Obama then applies to the current time. He took office at a troublesome time when the economic downturn was occurring and people were growing weary of the war on terror, so Obama cleverly addresses these issues with references to returning to the ideals of founding fathers, which raises a note of patrionism and brings the audience together. To help portray his theme, Obama includes extensive use of personal pronouns, for example â€Å"We the people have remained faithful to the ideals of our forebearers, and true to our founding documents†, he commends the audience for rem aining faithful to past ideals while using the  personal pronoun ‘we’, which deepens their confidence inhim and continues to draw the audience and speaker together. The speech effectively serves its purpose and addresses the issues of the day, while being strengthened with the use of personal pronouns, which has a constructive effect on the audience in view of getting the audience to believe in Obama, and accept what he is saying. The effectiveness of Barack Obama’s inauguration speech is complimented by his compelling use of oratory devices and techniques, including; the convincing effect of his tone and pitch, amplified by the presentation, the combined effect of allusion and historic references in making his appeals, an extensive use of biblical references which represents his heritage – and which are thoughtfully alluded to, as well as an underlying theme which helps Obama to elaborate on his message and address the issues of the day. These techniques are the cornerstone to gaining acceptance from the audience and persuading them to believe in what he is saying, and he also uses his charisma and charm in conjunction. The result is, a critically acclaimed speech which the NYTimes states as â€Å"Reveling in a moment of national significance† where Obama puts on a positive show of strength, rises to the occasion, and establishes himself as the 44th President of the United States of America.

Privacy paper essays

Privacy paper essays I believe law enforcement should do a better job of protecting private information from abuse. Law enforcement tells us they are tracking down more criminals with surveillance. Since the introduction of surveillance techniques the crime rate has not dropped. If law agencies observed peoples actions more responsibly, it would protect citizens without jeopardizing their privacy. Instead, law enforcement is compromising our privacy under the guise of crime prevention by using cameras, wire tapping, and the Internet. The use of cameras for the purpose of law enforcement most often does not deter criminals. Crime rates have not decreased since the introduction of cameras in public places. Some criminals, who actually desire recognition for committing a crime, are encouraged when video surveillance is being used. Strossen states, In Tempe, Arizona, officials stuck a rotating camera-nicknamed Sneaky Peak-atop the municipal building (Barnet and Bedau 681). Invasion of privacy resembling sneaky peak spying abilities are constantly going on, such as the highly ineffective camera put up in Times Square. Strossen stated, Surveillance cameras that had been mounted for 22 mounts in New York Citys Times Square led to only 10 arrest before they were dismantled... (Barnet and Badau 681). Ineffective cameras, like the one in Times Square, should be removed to guarantee the preservation of our constitutional right to privacy. If law agencies are not satisfied with camera usage, they can also use tapping techniques to hear and see everything inside or outside a house. Law enforcement agencies can easily wiretap and eavesdrop on every conversation in a citizens home. A 1994 case has made it relatively easy for law enforcement to get permission to tap our personal conversations. Simson states In 1994, Congress passed the Communications Assistance ...

buy custom American Public Schools essay

buy custom American Public Schools essay The United States public school education system has come to cheat city-residing children from poor families out of their future. The classrooms of this minority group in the society are characterized by a shortage of equipment, staff and money. In addition, racism has become widespread in the public schools across inner cities and less affluent suburbs. As a result, innocent American children end up being deprived of their right of an equal opportunity to education. These are the observations of Jonathan Kozol, in his book, "Savage Inequalities", which he compiled after touring numerous public schools for two years, and speaking to students and teachers among other stake holders in the education sector. These discrepancies, according to Kozol, can be attributed to indifference in the administration of property taxes, the emotive racism issue and the unending quarrel between state and local authorities (Kozol, 1992). From the property tax perspective, districts, which are poor, received less funding compared to their rich counterparts. The explanation of this is that, the funding is proportional to the respective districts tax contribution. In this regard, the only circumstance under which they can receive extra funding is through more taxation. To illustrate this, Kozol gives an example of a public classroom in Chicago whose funding was $90 000 less the amount received by a New Trier High classroom (Kozol, 1992). Foundation Program has been described by Kozol as a possible solution to this taxation problem. This approach is meant to set a threshold funding of every district to safeguard the poorer ones from getting too little. However, its impacts were far from being reflected on the ground, as evidenced by the picture of the education arena presented in this book. The environment, under which students in this school thrive as conceived by the book, is precarious. In one of his conversation with the students when collecting material for this book, Kozol relatesthe story of a teenage boy whose sister had been raped and murdered afterwards. To emphasize how such a callous act might be an issue of little or no concern in this schooling environment, this young boy had forgotten when the incidence took place. Needless to say, many other young girls must have as well been raped and murdered since then. When rain falls, these schools have no measures to caution them from rain water, and as such, they turn into swamps and have to be closed. It even gets worse when the sewerage systems back up in the schools cafeteria and kitchens. As a result, health problems are prevalent among the students (Kozol, 1992). If, through some of the revelations in this book, Kozol intended to make the reader angry, he was successful. In chapter three, the poignant racism issue is portrayed through a revelation that a funding towards education of a black or Hispanic child is perceived as a poor investment. In these public schools, classrooms have been classified along racial lines. One classroom is predominantly white with one or two blacks while at the same time, there is a special classroom of blacks. According to him, if this is not racism, then he does not appreciate the meaning of this particular term. A shocking report by the State Commissioner of Education revealed that three in every four black students do not complete their high school education within the traditional four year time frame. This, in my own view, can be attributed to this rampant racism in public schools. In a nutshell, Kovol has successfully demonstrated that the American societys aspect of segregation along racial line has narrowed down to the public school system. Reading through Savage Inequalities", one feels agitated by the widespread racism in the contemporary American public school system. The condition under which minority black and Hispanic young and innocent children are acquiring an education makes a person to feel sympathetic about them. Indeed, if this was the solle motive of writing the book, then Kovol got it. Although some of his examples in the book are quite repetitive in terms of the message they are intended to deliver, this book underlines the importance of an equal opportunity in education (Kozol, 1992). However, in writing this book, Kovol dwells so much on rather insignificant issues. For instance, he talks of an inadequate supply of sports gear, basic furniture and computers. Although having them is good, these, in my view, are not pre-requests in the learning process. In addition, while Kozols argument on racism might be true, this issue can be viewed from another anglethe aspect of affluence. The phenomenon whereby poor districts are predominantly occupied by the minority blacks and Hispania is an aspect of the American society which cannot be entirely blamed on the education system. Reading through this book, one gets an insight of the operation of American magnet schools. Kozol notes, factually, that these schools have served to widen the gap between the rich and the poor. True, students from poor city families are not informed on the application criteria of joining these schools. In addition, these schools have now developed a business approach in the American public educatio n system. In conclusion, Savage Inequalities is an impartial book which sheds much-needed light on the American public education system. True, Kovol has employed his writing passion and brilliance to bring forth a work that is greatly supporter by facts and highly effective. Through reporting numerous interviews with students and teachers among others, this book connects the reader to what is happening on the ground. Kovol is a highly persuasive writer and uses this booknot to promote hatred towards the American public education systembut to let the truth be known. Although this book was written two decades back, I would recommend it to anyone who wants to get an insight into the American public education system (Kozol, 1992). Buy custom American Public Schools essay

An Analysis of Dark Nights Harvey Dent

The Two Faces of Harvey Dent Just like the proverbial adage of love and hate, superheroes and villains have a very thin line that separates the two. The I Ch’ing offers the Yin and Yang arguing that good cannot exist without evil. The question arises to try to determine what exactly makes someone a villain or a superhero. There is often a personal or emotional connection that the authors and film directors tries to convey so the audience can identify with the characters. Sometimes, fictional characters are made to seem obviously one-sided. Shakespeare wrote, â€Å"Villains that were plainly evil without any explanation which then made it clear who the protagonists were. † This kind of character does not satisfy human curiosity and reasoning. The question still remains at the end which continues to gnaw at our intellect. In the film, Dark Knight directed by Christopher Nolan, the writer tries to answer this question with the character of Harvey Dent, otherwise known as the villain Two-Face. Harvey Dent comes out in the second film of a grittier and darker version of the legendary comic superhero Batman series. Much of the audience is well-versed in the Batman villains so the character Harvey Dent comes out as the morally incorruptible, by-the-book District Attorney of Gotham city; the revelation of his duplicitous nature is inevitable because of how principled he is when it comes to fighting crime. Usually, those people who are so polarized on one side tend to fall the hardest to the other side. Nolan uses the character of Rachel, Dent’s love interest, a sort of love triangle with Bruce Wayne (Batman’s alter ego) to explain his true emotions. Using the different personality theories, the question can be answered with more satisfaction. Myers-Briggs has a dichotomous scheme of how people are configured while Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs sets up stages of a person’s life. Ultimately, Freud’s Superego, ego, and Id identify the level of maturity that a person demonstrates. These theories expose the character of Harvey Dent and how a hero can become a villain because of his inherent traits, life experiences, and bad choices. The inherent traits that lead Harvey Dent into a spiral of shame can be explained by Myers-Briggs dichotomous chart of personality types. Harvey Dent starts out in the film in the spotlight, brand new leader of Gotham City as the prosecutor. He is a role model of principles and law. He is unflinching and unwavering in his ambition and fight against crime. Dent tends be extraverted in his personality. He likes being in the spotlight. He likes things to be black and white because he is a very principled man. Dent does not like to make deals with criminals and he makes it very clear to everyone that he will not be bribed in any way. He will not bargain which seems like a characteristic that he was born with. He is very straight forward with people. If he does not like someone, he will make it known to that person right away. On the other side, his affections for Rachel, the deputy district attorney, are apparent as well as the audience sees them out together besides their professional relationship. (Dark Knight) The audience can tell that Dent is very meticulous and logical sometimes appearing cold but his internal passion for what he believes drive him to do the things he does. The law is his guide and he does not let emotion get the best of him until the Rachel dies because of the choices of others. Dent is an easy target because of these traits. He is very predictable. â€Å"Live to see yourself become the villain, or die a hero,† says Dent after he lives. Dark Knight) Only he lives by principle while others live on emotion. He makes it very clear after Rachel that he will no longer be controlled by his principles. This inherent disillusionment alters his outlook on life and he becomes the other extreme. By the time, he dies in the movie; he abandons all reason and goes with his emotions of apa thy and revenge. Harvey Dent’s struggle with dealing with Rachel’s death can be further explained by Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs. He begins as the highest level with self-actualization where he can truly serve the will of the people and the law. But, the experience ultimately is too much for him to deal with. Above all, he has fought for the safety of himself and the people, but since he could not protect the one he loved, he cannot face losing anyone else thus his revenge leads to blood. The ideals he stood for go out the window and he punishes the wrong people. He is blind to morality after this tragedy. He has no distinction between right and wrong, a good person and an evil person. In this sense, Nolan wanted to show the audience how certain experiences affect people and no one can control every situation or circumstance. It all becomes luck and fortune which somebody like Harvey Dent cannot accept. Thus, because of these experiences of pain and regret, he cannot move on in his life and make the proper decisions of his rank and person. He falls and ultimately pays his own price by his flip of the coin. Freud’s theory of subconscious levels seems to depict the choices that Harvey Dent makes that lead him to become a villain rather than stay a hero. After the death of Rachel, Dent could have mourned and moved on in his life, but his selfish desires of revenge compel him to make bad choices that harm innocent people like the Gordon’s family. In a sense, his altruistic nature at first seemed all too clean and perfect. The audience all knows no one can be that perfect and be a human being. His true selfish nature comes out that it was really all for his egotistical gratification and when he was hurt, then everyone should also suffer. Nolan tries to reach the audience with Dent’s emotional pain. Most people are not sure whether to like and support Dent or hate him for being so weak and selfish. He is actually dishonoring the memory of Rachel by being a villain. In the end, he could have done the right things but he chose to take the darker path. This then shows how the line is not a very wide line between good and evil. It is all the choices that people make that make them good or evil. Harvey Dent is a character that is a facade of good and evil. Everyone has a choice to be good or evil throughout their lives. All human beings go through difficult times; it is how we deal with it that makes us who we are. Nolan tries to capture that theme with Harvey Dent. The different personality theories help explain the fictional character to better understand ourselves.

Black Swan English Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Black Swan English - Research Paper Example It is not only Natalie Portman’s acting that grabs the audience. The film is a virtual acting tour de force with all of the actors turning in spectacular performances. Barbara Hershey as Nina’s mothering has managed her role with aplomb. She does not fall into the temptation of taking over the stereotype of the pushy mother with her own issues to resolve, who sees in her own daughter’s success, the success she could not have. There is enough rawness and originality in the character of Barbara Hershey to make us believe that we are seeing that character for the first time. Mila Kunis is darkly and richly sensual. A scene between Nina and Lily is suggestive of lesbian sex, but it is well-crafted and artistically-executed. Winona Ryder’s role was perhaps a satire of her own career – the has-been ingenue, the doted upon pet that is now no more. If there is one thing that is disappointing about the acting in the movie, it is in the character of Vincent C assel, who plays the director with lascivious designs on Nina. In contrast to the textured characters played by the female characters, Cassel’s Thomas Leroy is two-dimensional. The cinematography was dark and gritty, with enough claustrophobia to mimic Nina’s transformation. As she finds herself being smothered further and further by the â€Å"Black Swan† inside of her, we experience the same sense of terrifying asphyxiation through clever cinematography and deft use of lighting. The musical score also helped to convey the sense of darkness and increasing despair, although in parts, the use of the Swan Lake music was a bit too heavy-handed in parts: one feels as if he or she is being manipulated to feel something, to react in a particular way. The editing of the movie is flawless, and one can see the expertise of the director as he recreates through visuals the complex relationship webs between the characters. There is Nina and Lily, dancing rivals locked in a c omplicated friendship with sexual undertones. There the relationship between Nina and her mother, a relationship where both are prisoners: the mother, by regrets and unattained dreams of the past, and the daughter, by the relentless ambition of her mother that she has come to appropriate as her own. And then of course, there is Nina and Thomas, mentor and mentee, young ingenue and manipulative professor, Pygmalion and his Galatea, dance partners, lovers. The movie was also replete with cinematic metaphors: the rash that begins small and then grows and festers on Nina’s body until it becomes the beginnings of black feathers as a metaphor for transformation, the pink-cupcake-and-doily theme in Nina’s room as a metaphor for the her child-like innocence and fragility, but some people might say, forced infantilization by her mother who demanded that she remain breathlessly feminine. And then of course, there is dance as a metaphor, the graceful (and sometimes graceless) neg otiations and dynamics of human beings within relationships, tiptoeing and smoothly sailing sometimes, but at other times, spinning with frenetic movement and a raw, primal violence that consumes the partner and ultimately the dancer herself. It

Data Warehouse, Data Mart and Business Intelligence Essay

Data Warehouse, Data Mart and Business Intelligence - Essay Example Data Warehouses, Data Marts and Databases A data warehouse refers to a data storage location used to secure, archive, and analyze data. It comprises of many integrated databases in an organization. Data stored in a data warehouse must be easily accessible to facilitate the daily operations of an organization. There are several types of data ware houses. There are offline operational data warehouses where data is copied from real time data networks and stored offline. Offline data warehouses store integrated data that is frequently updated and can be easily accessed. Real-time data warehouses are updated whenever new data comes in, for example in point of sale systems. Integrated data warehouses can be accessed by other systems (Jensen, Pedersen, and Thomsen, 2010). Data marts refer to smaller data warehouses covering a specific department or subject. They differ from data warehouses in that they are less complex, and are easier to develop and maintain. Data warehouses also focus on many subject areas and collect their data from various sources while data marts deal with one subject and collect data from few sources. There are dependent and independent data marts. Dependent data marts source their data from a functional central data warehouse while independent data marts get data from external sources. A data mart can be a small division of a data warehouse (Jensen, Pedersen, and Thomsen, 2010).... Databases contain records of data that can be easily accessed. While databases are designed to record and store data, data warehouses are designed to respond to critical business queries. All data warehouses are databases but few databases can be considered to be data warehouses. Databases are usually online transaction processing systems for recording transactions while data warehouses are online analytical processing systems for querying and analyzing data (Jensen, Pedersen, and Thomsen, 2010). Data Warehouse Architectures and Tools Data warehouses are developed using several steps including data collection, data cleansing, data aggregation, and analysis and presentation. Data collection involves identifying the suitable data for the warehouse and where it can be sourced from. In data cleansing and transformation, the collected data is restructured to make it usable for reporting, querying, and analysis. Data aggregation and analysis involves the use of query tools to transfer data from the central data warehouse and processing it to produce the required results. Presentation involves giving end results to the users in form of text, charts or tables (Barry, 2003). There are various data warehouse architectures varying from one organization to another depending on their data. These architectures include independent data marts, hub-and-spoke, federated, centralized data warehouse and data mart bus architecture that has linked dimensional data marts. Independent data marts architecture involves developing autonomous marts with different data definitions, measures and dimensions. Data bus mart with linked dimensional data marts architecture is designed to meet the needs of a specific business process. It involves the development of one

Using a UK retailer of your own choice, assess their Own Brand Essay

Using a UK retailer of your own choice, assess their Own Brand strategy - Essay Example The retail business is highly related to the perception and preference of customers. Sainsbury’s in order to develop its brand strategies has become completely customer oriented and has adopted strategies accordingly. The market share of Sainsbury’s in the year 2011 first quarter is estimated to be around 16.5 percent (Shannon, 2011). The market position of Sainsbury’s is quite strong in London as well as South East. It is observed that the retail branding is generally a customer oriented approach. The five major areas where Sainsbury’s has recognised growth were ‘great food at great prices’, ‘greater number of complimentary food chain’, ‘reaching maximum customers by means of extra channels’ and ‘increasing the space of supermarket’ along with ‘active property management’. These strategies have helped the retail store to sustain itself in the third position. Sainsbury’s possesses two formats of stores namely traditional super market stores and convenience stores (Li, 2008). The retail business strategy is different from the strategies of other businesses. In this paper, the brand strategy in retail sector has been discussed. The paper seeks to discuss about the brand strategy of Sainsbury’s. The brand strategy developed by the company in their retail business enables it to acquire more customer loyalty and this aspect has been highlighted in the paper. The importance of this strategy in fulfilling the need and expectation of customers has also been included in the paper. The paper also comprises of the relationship between services of the company and the need of customers. 2.0 Retail Branding The retail branding is considered as a well known concept in present scenario. The business in retail industry is growing rapidly and generating more chains of businesses. The branding of retailers is different from other product brands. The retail branding is genera lly ‘multi-sensory’ and it is developed by focusing on the knowledge of consumers. The brand image is adopted in different ways in this type of business. In the retail outlets there are various attributes that act as persuading factors for consumers such as quality of products, brands that are sold, services, appearance of store, the price level, behaviour as well as service of employees among others (Ailawadi & Keller, 2004). The business of retail industry is based on their adaptation towards the trends of society as well as taste of customers for new products. This adaptation generally influences more consumers. There is a chance of retail business to be eliminated from the society if it is incapable to fulfil the requirement of market. In this type of business, major focus is provided towards the customers as they are directly linked to the product of the stores (Mansoory & Mehra, 2010). 3.0 Strategy of Sainsbury’s The brand of Sainsbury’s was essentia lly developed with an intention to provide customers with healthy, fresh, secure and delicious foods. The company has focused towards various approaches before adopting strategies. Their main focus has been on quality, fair price, fresh food, innovative food and other product lines. Based on these aspects, the company developed its strategies to fulfil customers’ expectation (J-Sainsbury, 2010). The strategy of the company is principally based on the five areas and based on this strategy, brand image is developed. It also provides emphasis on the five selected strategies so as to enhance their business and retain customers (J-Sainsbury, 2010). In the first strategy of ‘great food at fair price’ the company has an intention to provide healthy, fresh, safe and tasty food and thus it has continued to make innovation in their product. These innovative products facilitate them to be a leader in delivering the quality products at fair prices (J Sainsbury Plc, 2011). Th e main focus in this strategy is to provide extreme importance on

NASA Project Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

NASA Project - Essay Example Multiple measurements and models have been put in place to improve and create an understanding hence improving on precision. Sea surface temperature comprises a three grid map in the western part of Atlantic is 2500 lines and 3900 samples. Mediterranean Sea is 2048 lines and 4096 samples and Mediterranean area which are 220 lines and 1350 samples. It is considered to be the most known sources of NO2 are in the combustion engines, pulp mills and thermal power stations. Its consequences include rivers are loaded with excess of this nutrient, excess deposits will pollute large water bodies. On the human consequences, the eyes, throat, nose and repertory system irritates when one come in contact with it. If a person gets exposed more often, it will lead to a chronic bronchitis which may lead to asthma disease. Children are at the high risk of being infected with respiratory infections. The intention of Giovanni interface is to provide an introduction to learners on environmental issues globally, regionally and also touches on local climatic changes. It is normally used by teachers and learners. This has been set on the DICCE-G basic portal to create relevance in detail thus enabling the user to come up with local climate change and thus expanding the idea into a global perspective. Giovanni is an application used alongside with the web in order to investigate the earth’s scientific data. It collects and analyzes data without necessarily downloading the data. It is also an interactive online infrastructure. Giovanni is used by researchers, teachers, policy makers, modelers, proposal writers and students. In order to use a Giovanni a web browser is required. The procedures are self explanatory and thus easy to

Business economy Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Business economy - Essay Example This will bring them to the Sainsbury store, aside from the fact that Sainsbury is the only supermarket with all sorts of food and other available product in that area. On the other side there is Oxford Street which has a huge amount of employees and costumer. Again for the same reason people would prefer to shop in Sainsbury store. Two major determinants of demand are at work in this situation: population and absence of related services. First, we expect Sainsbury to have higher demand since the population in the area is large (Fao Corporate). Given that it is the meeting place of two major streets, the location can be conveniently reached by many consumers. Second, the absence of related services provides no rivals for the services given by Sainsbury (Mankiw). This also increases the demand for this particular store. However, the problem with the service is the absence of self-serve cashiers. Given a higher demand for the service, this would mean that people will always have to queue when paying. Queues in this particular store are usually long and given that people have to use their nectar cards, it would take long before they can finish their transactions. This is a lack of service thereby reducing customer convenience. Certainly, inconvenience is one that can possibly drive the demand down. Employees 2. Upon observation, I realized that employees are not skilled enough or properly coordinated. Apparently, the planning and design of the employees' tasks were not properly done, so that when the store gets so busy, the employees fail to help each other, thus the problem of long queues cannot be addressed. Employees were not trained enough to do the tasks of others in case some experience a problem. This makes the operation paralyzed whenever the number of customers increases beyond usual. Size 3. The size of the store is very much important in delivering the service. Given that there is a large population of buyers in this particular store, it is necessary to also expand the floor area. This is a problem with Sainsbury since the area of the store remains small, compared to the number of possible customers. This problem has many possible bad effects. First, a small store area against the number of customers will bring inconvenience to the shoppers. Instead of enjoying their shopping experience, customers might feel it a burden. Second, this prevents the store from maximizing the existing demand for the product. Third, this will be a problem if a competitor builds a bigger store in the future. Sainsbury might find them divested of customers. Part Two In today's retail market, evermore discerning customers are requiring a wider range of goods and services. Increasing competition is putting profit margins under pressure and businesses across the industry must learn to manage objectives and resources professionally, efficiently and effectively. There are many factors and circumstances affecting the industry and as a result retail executives must consider fundamental solutions to their businesses in order to secure success in the market place. In order to achieve this, a large retailer such as Sainsbury's Supermarkets Limited (SSL) must improve customer service and meet customer demands continuously taking into account

Using a UK retailer of your own choice, assess their Own Brand Essay

Using a UK retailer of your own choice, assess their Own Brand strategy - Essay Example The retail business is highly related to the perception and preference of customers. Sainsbury’s in order to develop its brand strategies has become completely customer oriented and has adopted strategies accordingly. The market share of Sainsbury’s in the year 2011 first quarter is estimated to be around 16.5 percent (Shannon, 2011). The market position of Sainsbury’s is quite strong in London as well as South East. It is observed that the retail branding is generally a customer oriented approach. The five major areas where Sainsbury’s has recognised growth were ‘great food at great prices’, ‘greater number of complimentary food chain’, ‘reaching maximum customers by means of extra channels’ and ‘increasing the space of supermarket’ along with ‘active property management’. These strategies have helped the retail store to sustain itself in the third position. Sainsbury’s possesses two formats of stores namely traditional super market stores and convenience stores (Li, 2008). The retail business strategy is different from the strategies of other businesses. In this paper, the brand strategy in retail sector has been discussed. The paper seeks to discuss about the brand strategy of Sainsbury’s. The brand strategy developed by the company in their retail business enables it to acquire more customer loyalty and this aspect has been highlighted in the paper. The importance of this strategy in fulfilling the need and expectation of customers has also been included in the paper. The paper also comprises of the relationship between services of the company and the need of customers. 2.0 Retail Branding The retail branding is considered as a well known concept in present scenario. The business in retail industry is growing rapidly and generating more chains of businesses. The branding of retailers is different from other product brands. The retail branding is genera lly ‘multi-sensory’ and it is developed by focusing on the knowledge of consumers. The brand image is adopted in different ways in this type of business. In the retail outlets there are various attributes that act as persuading factors for consumers such as quality of products, brands that are sold, services, appearance of store, the price level, behaviour as well as service of employees among others (Ailawadi & Keller, 2004). The business of retail industry is based on their adaptation towards the trends of society as well as taste of customers for new products. This adaptation generally influences more consumers. There is a chance of retail business to be eliminated from the society if it is incapable to fulfil the requirement of market. In this type of business, major focus is provided towards the customers as they are directly linked to the product of the stores (Mansoory & Mehra, 2010). 3.0 Strategy of Sainsbury’s The brand of Sainsbury’s was essentia lly developed with an intention to provide customers with healthy, fresh, secure and delicious foods. The company has focused towards various approaches before adopting strategies. Their main focus has been on quality, fair price, fresh food, innovative food and other product lines. Based on these aspects, the company developed its strategies to fulfil customers’ expectation (J-Sainsbury, 2010). The strategy of the company is principally based on the five areas and based on this strategy, brand image is developed. It also provides emphasis on the five selected strategies so as to enhance their business and retain customers (J-Sainsbury, 2010). In the first strategy of ‘great food at fair price’ the company has an intention to provide healthy, fresh, safe and tasty food and thus it has continued to make innovation in their product. These innovative products facilitate them to be a leader in delivering the quality products at fair prices (J Sainsbury Plc, 2011). Th e main focus in this strategy is to provide extreme importance on

Business economy Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Business economy - Essay Example This will bring them to the Sainsbury store, aside from the fact that Sainsbury is the only supermarket with all sorts of food and other available product in that area. On the other side there is Oxford Street which has a huge amount of employees and costumer. Again for the same reason people would prefer to shop in Sainsbury store. Two major determinants of demand are at work in this situation: population and absence of related services. First, we expect Sainsbury to have higher demand since the population in the area is large (Fao Corporate). Given that it is the meeting place of two major streets, the location can be conveniently reached by many consumers. Second, the absence of related services provides no rivals for the services given by Sainsbury (Mankiw). This also increases the demand for this particular store. However, the problem with the service is the absence of self-serve cashiers. Given a higher demand for the service, this would mean that people will always have to queue when paying. Queues in this particular store are usually long and given that people have to use their nectar cards, it would take long before they can finish their transactions. This is a lack of service thereby reducing customer convenience. Certainly, inconvenience is one that can possibly drive the demand down. Employees 2. Upon observation, I realized that employees are not skilled enough or properly coordinated. Apparently, the planning and design of the employees' tasks were not properly done, so that when the store gets so busy, the employees fail to help each other, thus the problem of long queues cannot be addressed. Employees were not trained enough to do the tasks of others in case some experience a problem. This makes the operation paralyzed whenever the number of customers increases beyond usual. Size 3. The size of the store is very much important in delivering the service. Given that there is a large population of buyers in this particular store, it is necessary to also expand the floor area. This is a problem with Sainsbury since the area of the store remains small, compared to the number of possible customers. This problem has many possible bad effects. First, a small store area against the number of customers will bring inconvenience to the shoppers. Instead of enjoying their shopping experience, customers might feel it a burden. Second, this prevents the store from maximizing the existing demand for the product. Third, this will be a problem if a competitor builds a bigger store in the future. Sainsbury might find them divested of customers. Part Two In today's retail market, evermore discerning customers are requiring a wider range of goods and services. Increasing competition is putting profit margins under pressure and businesses across the industry must learn to manage objectives and resources professionally, efficiently and effectively. There are many factors and circumstances affecting the industry and as a result retail executives must consider fundamental solutions to their businesses in order to secure success in the market place. In order to achieve this, a large retailer such as Sainsbury's Supermarkets Limited (SSL) must improve customer service and meet customer demands continuously taking into account

IP Art Appreciation AIU Online Essay Example for Free

IP Art Appreciation AIU Online Essay Among the three artists Rubens, Caravaggio, and Rembrandt there have been many magnificent works of art. There are many different similarities and differences within each Artists works, aesthetic qualities and symbolic significance, as well as the artists points of view for each work of art. Rubens, (Peter Paul Rubens) â€Å"was a prolific seventeenth-century Flemish Baroque painter, and a proponent of an exuberant Baroque style that emphasized movement, color, and sensuality. He is well-known for his Counter-Reformation altarpieces, portraits, landscapes, and history paintings of mythological and allegorical subjects. † He began by visiting many famous artists and copying some of their works of art to develop a sort of sense of understanding for this type of art and how it is create. One of his paintings â€Å"Head of Medusa† can be seen by many as very grotesque, yet it is incredibly detailed and realistic. Medusa was known as a Gorgon in Greek mythology, and that was of evil. Many often described her as a winged type creature with head of snakes. Though, she was mortal and Perseus killed Medusa by decapitating her. Medusas death is found in the epic, Argonautica. This painting is most likely depicting the defeat of evil, and intended to be very dramatic, catching the viewers’ attention immediately. (Rubens.org 2013) Caravaggio (Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio) â€Å"was an Italian artist active in Rome, Naples, Malta and Sicily between 1593 and 1610. He is commonly placed in the Baroque school, of which he is considered the first great representatives.† He was also one of the many artists that Rubens copied in his times of studying art. â€Å"The intense realism or naturalism, for which Caravaggio is now famous, is used in the majority of his paintings. He preferred to paint his subjects as the eye sees them, with all their natural flaws and defects instead of as idealized creations. This allowed a full display of Caravaggios virtuosic talents. He was also widely known as the most famous painter in Rome. His painting of Medusa in a leather jousting shield is very similar in meaning to that of Rubens painting, though  Caravaggio’s depicts that of the incident where the Goddess Athena placed in upon her shield because any who looked upon the head of Medusa would turn to stone. Both Caravaggio’s and Rubens painting are grotesque and dramatic, yet a beautiful display of their own imagery. (Caravaggio.org 2013) A writer named Walter Wallace gives an incredible and justifying description of Rembrandt ( Rembrandt Van Rijn). He states â€Å"In life Rembrandt suffered far more misfortune than falls to the lot of an ordinary man, and he bore it with the utmost nobility†¦. The child of poor, ignorant Dutch peasants, Rembrandt was born with near-miraculous skill in art. As an uneducated young man, he established himself in Amsterdam, married a beautiful, wealthy, sympathetic girl named Saskia, and enjoyed a brief period of prosperity and fame. However, because men of genius are always misunderstood by the public, fate snatched him by the throat†¦. Rembrandt responded with a masterpiece, a fact unfortunately apparent only to him and his wife. Everyone else, from the burghers to the herring-peddlers, thought the painting was dreadful. Rembrandts patrons hooted in rage and derision, demanding changes that the artist, secure in the knowledge that posterity would vindicate him, stubbornly refused to make.†(Wallace 1968) Like Caravaggio and Ruben, his works could be just as realistic and gruesome, yet seem to take your breath away at the meaningful imagery that they all portrayed. One of his paintings The Blinding of Samson, he depicts armored men holding down Samson, and taking a knife to his eyes, thus blinding him. This is of course representing the Blinding of Samson that is portrayed in the Holy Bible. This artist captures the viewers attention by the emotion of this moment. It was also very common to see stories of the Bible depicted in artists work during this time period due to The Roman Catholic Church’s stand point at that time. The three artists Ruben, Caravaggio, and Rembrandt all created amazing works of art, with similar interests as well as display of their own imagery. All three works of art depict similarity that suggests they are from the same time period, such as the style, detail of dramatic facial expressions, and that each was of some sort of mythology or theory that they firmly believed on or felt an intense obligation to share. References: Caravaggio, The Complete Works. (2013). Retrieved on September 28, 2013 from: http://www.caravaggio-foundation.org/Medusa,-painted-on-a-leather-jousting-shield,-c.1596-98.html Peter Paul Rubens, The Complete Works. (2013). Retrieved on September 29, 2013 from: http://www.peterpaulrubens.org/biography.html Wallace, Walter. (1968) The Legend and the Man, in The World of Rembrandt: 1606-1669. pp. 17-25.

Western Front on 1914 Strategies for the Entente

Western Front on 1914 Strategies for the Entente Christopher Mike White Once the fighting deadlocked on the Western Front by the end of 1914, what strategic courses of action should the countries of the Entente and Germany have adopted? Once the fighting deadlocked on the Western Front on 1914 the Entente, specifically the British should have opened a second front while the Germans should have conducted submarine warfare to draw the Grand Fleet into a favorable battle at a time and place of their choosing. Both actions are secondary operations and illustrate how the warnings of Clausewitz to open secondary operations only when they present exceptional rewards still hold true. In the case of the British and the second front in the Dardanelles, the risk relative to the primary operation and achieving its strategic objective of providing relief for Russia and preventing it leaving the war was low. Additionally, it presented a direct way to attack the enemys alliances as suggested by Sun Tzu.1 Finally there was a distinct possibility of the Entente being able to draw undecided nations into the war on their side, nations who already had a reason to fight both the Ottomans and Austria Hungary. In the case of the Germany, submarine warfare would have been a useful tool in the attrition of the British Grand Fleet given the Strategy used by the Admiralty for several reasons. First, submarine attrition of the Grand Fleet would create the conditions for a more favorable battle for the German High Seas Fleet preventing the blockade and subsequent starvation of the German population. Second, the Submarine was a great threat to the British Grand Fleet which was the centerpiece of British control of the seas. Finally, while the use of German submarines would have the effect of forcing the Grand Fleet into action favoring the Germans, it would not have the unwanted consequence of creating a potential enemy of the United States. With the current stalemate, neither France nor Britain could afford to have Russia, whose forces currently tied down German troops in the east who otherwise would join the Western Front, leave the war. To break the stalemate and provide relief for their ally, Britain suggested the opening of a second front. In On War, Clausewitz states that secondary operations only be undertaken when they look exceptionally rewarding.2. In this case, the plan was a landing in the Dardanelles, the narrow strait separating the Mediterranean from the Black Sea on which Constantinople is located. The immediate objective of the operation was to show support and commitment to the alliance with the added benefit of renewing the patriotic spirit of the Russian soldiers giving them greater scope in the fighting.3 Control of the straits would provide a much-needed link between Russia and her allies. This new link would allow Britain and France access to wheat while simultaneously providing a way to give Russi a much needed weapons from the more industrially developed allies. Both coastlines were littered with forts and artillery positions while the waters were lined with mines. The big guns of battleships would quickly neutralize the enemy cannons, and the armada would include minesweepers to clear the way. The battleships would confront Constantinople, shell it if necessary and then accept the Ottoman surrender. A large fleet was raised consisting of 82 ships including 18 battleships both British and French. The loss of control by the Ottomans would pose an existential threat to the Empire. The Entente control of the straits would threaten control of Constantinople which was the Capital of the Empire as well as its principal industrial center for the war effort. This threat would endanger the Ottoman forces from all sides and increase the value of any possible gains in the war and possibly drive them to peace reliving the Suez.4 Any victory against the Ottoman Empire would give a boost to the morale at home increasing national resolve and the strength of the war effort. A final reward from the campaign would be the possible influence of those powers in the region which had not yet entered the war. The taking of the straits and removal of the Ottoman Empire from the war would embolden those nations. Taking the Straits would also provide the opportunity for the campaign to draw in Greece, Bulgaria, Rumania, and Montenegro; who all had reasons to fight both the Ottoman and Austria-Hungary, into the war on the side of the Entente. The new allies would provide a boost both in troop and equipment strength as well as a boost in the morale of the civilian populations. With these nations in the Entente and access to the Black Sea there would be another potential avenue of attack on Austria-Hungary, another German Ally further attacking German alliances. This combination of rewards from what should be a simple amphibious landing performed by the greatest Naval power of the age should produce a positive outcome. The Royal Navy in conjunction with the Royal Army and aided by the French would quickly defeat the already beleaguered Ottoman forces swinging the pendulum of momentum in the war to favor the Entente resulting in a breaking of the stalemate on the Western Front. When war broke out in 1914, the British Navy was the largest and most powerful in the world. The German High Seas Fleet, while formidable, stood little chance against it numerically.5 The German High Seas Fleet prepared for Der Tag, a decisive fleet on fleet engagement that would decide the fate of the High Seas Fleet and could Destroy the Grand Fleet eliminating British rule of the seas and effectively taking them out of the war. With the Grand Fleet blockade of the Northern Sea and the English Channel keeping the High Seas Fleet in port the only type of ship that could leave and perform any type of operation was the U-boat. The U-boat threat had already caused the Admiralty to station the capital ships of the Grand Fleet far away from the German coast to ensure their safety. If the German commanders could go out and use their boats to attack the Grand Fleet at anchor or while unsuspecting at their posts far from the German homeland, then they could have eliminated many of the capital ships of the Grand Fleet. The fear of such an attack was what drove the Admiralty to station the valuable dreadnoughts as far away as Loch Ewe, out of range of the enemy U-boats but creating an opportunity for the High Seas Fleet to disrupt the cross-channel line of communication had they been aware of it.6 This fear displayed by the Admiralty shows how the U-boats had already started to direct the movements of the Grand Fleet even before they had caused any British ship casualties. This ability to create openings, such as the opportunity of the cross-channel line of communication disruption, would have been vital to stopping the distant blockade of the German coast. The result of the blockade was a decrease in the average German citizens diet to 1100 calories per day, resulting in a significant decline in the will of the people to continue the fight.7 If we consider the strength of a nation as a product of force and will to fight, the blockade was a detractor which could have been mitigated but instead sizably reduced that strength. It had already been proven in 1914 that the German U-boat threat to the Grand Fleet was a reality when the cruisers HMS Cressy, Hogue and Aboukir were all sunk by a single U-boat.8 This prompted the Royal Navy to admit that the North Sea was not occupied by the Grand Fleet but by submarines and began to erode their willingness to accept the primacy of the capital ship championed by Mahan. The British Admiralty knew of the dangerous nature of the U-boat, as stated by Admiral Wilson submarines were underhanded, unfair, and damned unEnglish!9 If German U-boats had been used offensively against the Grand Fleet, then the action of admiral Beatty and his battle-cruisers into Heligoland Bight to cover light forces which were under fire from a German force would have resulted in losses to the Grand Fleet vice the High Seas Fleet. The whole of the battle of Jutland could have been more even or, could have started with a German numerical advantage. In the end the idea was that even a fleet action could not force Britain to surrender because a win could not be attained by Germany but it would have been possible with proper submarine employment. Finally, if Germany had gone with attacking military targets instead of merchant shipping then they would have had a much lower risk of bringing the United States into the war as an enemy. The United States was a major industrial power during WWI supplying the Entente and profiting from its trade. The United States had 1.2 million Tons of shipping on the high seas moving between its ports and those in Europe and Asia.10 While that is a lot of merchant traffic it was dwarfed by the British ability of 12.4 million tons. The United States did supply the Entente however the amount of shipping under US flag compared to English was small. If the Germans did not act against the neutral United States, the probability of them entering the war was small given their stated neutrality and desire to stay out of the war that was enveloping Europe and instead would have remained neutral. It can be argued that while the Dardanelles was a great idea it was poorly executed. The poor execution had the opposite effect of what it should have had and therefore was the wrong course of action even given the possible positive rewards. The operation would fail because of lack of real strategic guidance, failure to clearly articulate what objectives were and how important they were and incomplete commitment of forces and resources to run a successful operation. The War Council was seeking a quick, cheap victory. They expected a campaign of sharp gains with minimal resources, in fact, Churchill believed a Navy-only operation would suffice to force the strait.11 The War Council had fallen into the trap of assuming away the risks based simply on the fact that the British were an Empire that was a Great Power and a racist feeling of superiority over the Turks who were no match.12 This overconfidence led to them placing the planning responsibilities upon the operational commander with no actual strategic guidance. There were mistakes at all levels of leadership from the War Council to tactical commanders with little or no experience and a lack of initiative ready to stop fighting at any inconvenience. The result of this lack of guidance was an incomplete commitment of forces and resources throughout the campaign. Without clearly articulating what the objectives were the operational commanders were at a distinct disadvantage. The operational commander takes the strategic objective of the civilian leadership and turns that into his operational idea to be able to attain those objectives. Without clear objectives in this case they were unable to translate the unknown strategic objective into a plan that could be adapted for changes during the unfolding of the battle. As Clausewitz states The Strategist must therefore define an aim for the entire operational side of the war that will be in accordance with its purpose.13 Additionally, the incomplete commitment of resources and forces create another problem, not only was it impossible to come up with a coherent plan but it would also be impossible to adapt that plan due to lack of either resources or troops. Initially there was a stated need of 150,000 troops to succeed in the operation, but due to the prevailing thought of Naval bombardment being sufficient and the Western Front reduced the final number of troops to less than half that needed.14 The summation of lack of guidance, lack of commitment and lack of experienced leaders led inevitably to the failure of the operation and lack of realization of desired outcomes. It can also be argued that the unrestricted submarine warfare was the only viable option for the German Navy to undertake to turn the tide of the war. Since 1914, the war was at a stalemate and not going well for Germany on the Western Front. The Battle of Jutland proved that the High Seas Fleet was not strong enough to defeat the Grand Fleet with the result that any attempt by the High Seas Fleet to attack British merchant traffic would not work as the Grand Fleet would prevent it. This brought about the thought that any attacks on Britains shipping supply would have to be done by submarines. The desired effect would be to break the backbone of British energy and enterprise by depriving her of imported goods.15 The result was Germany deciding on a policy of wholesale unrestricted attack. Unrestricted submarine warfare would deprive Britain of needed supplies for industry and by extension break the will of France and Italy who were being kept afloat by the British and diminish the wi ll of the people to fight by depriving them of necessities and if done swiftly would prevent the United States from entering the war on the side of the British. By German estimation, there was an availability of 10.75 million tons of shipping available to Great Britain. The Grain harvest for the year had been bad world-wide and the supply ships to Britain would have to take longer routes making them more susceptible to German attacks. A monthly destruction of 600,000 tons of shipping would deprive Britain of needed grains forcing rationing and scare Denmark and Holland from trading and in total reducing British sea traffic by 40%.16 The reduction of shipping and needed supplies would force rationing, reducing the will to fight and deprive industry of raw materials reducing the ability to fight while additionally reducing British exports to France and Italy. If the campaign were announced and commenced rapidly, then there would be no time for negotiations between Britain and neutrals, scaring the neutrals and possibly keeping them out of the war.17 The United States would again have to decide against neutrality, and even if they did decide against neutrality, their shipping capacity would have a small impact and take some time to increase to a level that would affect the war. In the case of the Dardanelles, it is easy to look back with the benefit of hindsight and say that the Dardanelles were a poorly executed operation. However, with British Naval superiority supported by the French and a sizeable ground force, there is no reason that the campaign should have failed. The proper course of action was to open a second front and the Dardanelles were a good choice due to location being good for relieving the Russian allies, relieving the Suez, setting up a clear line to commence operations against Austria-Hungary, and most importantly bring in undecided nations in the area into the war on the side of the Entente increasing combat capability. Slight alterations to base strategy were needed but the importance of opening a second front to break the stalemate on the Western Front was a necessity to end the war and lower the cost of victory to a more acceptable level. In the Case of Germanys unrestricted submarine warfare campaign, they would have been better off sticking to purely military targets to decrease Grand Fleet strength compared to High Seas Fleet strength. The submarine force was a danger to the British, and they acknowledged the face by the stationing and distant blockade they chose to implement. Bringing British combat power to their level and selecting the place and time of engagement was the only way they would have been able to achieve victory. If they chose unrestricted submarine warfare, they would have had to have realistic estimates of the shipping capabilities of the British and of the damage that the submarines would be able to inflict on it. Most importantly, they would have to deal with the angry United States which had become the dominant industrial power and would be able to build and deploy ships almost as fast as the submarines could sink them effectively taking away any advantage that they would have achieved. Both available choices were secondary operations or fronts, and secondary operations or fronts must have a definite and direct effect on the enemy. If the impact on the enemy is not direct and obvious, then it was a poor choice for the location or to even start the operation. While the ultimate objective is always victory, it does not mean that the result must be a direct combat success, only that the effect on the enemy has positive impact on your war aims. Secondary operations and fronts must be aimed as directly as possible at the enemy, or they will waste vital resources for little or no gain in the pursuit of the primary object, winning the war. For example, the Gallipoli campaign, in seeking a route to Russia for supply and relief would have been a direct effect on the Germany through the Ottoman Empire. In this case, the whale of Britain, not having an army of sufficient size to meet the elephant of Germany head-on, the result being a stalemate, sought a secondary theater wher e it could use its naval forces. In Germanys case, their choice of secondary operation increased risk by expanding the scope of the war and drawing in a new enemy. While the negative aspect and the possibility of bringing neutral parties into the war as enemies was evident to the German leadrship, the reaction of the United States was poorly estimated by them. By itself their employment of the U-boat fleet didnt impact the German military, making it a low risk but high reward to the war effort on the Western Front. Unfortunately, for the campaign to have the desired effect, US shipping had to be targeted as well which would dramatically increase overall risk. The lesson here is that you should analyze the risks of a secondary front or operation as the worst case, so you dont put your primary objective in danger. 1 Sun Tzu. The Art of War. Translated by Samuel B. Griffith. Oxford: Oxford University Press, (1980), III 5. 2 Carl von Clausewitz. On War: Edited and translated by Michael Howard and Peter Paret. Princeton. Princeton University Press, (1976), 618. 3 Ibid., 186. 4 Kevin McCranie. The War at Sea.(presentation, Strategy and War Course, Naval War College, Newport, RI, 14 December 2016). 5 Paul M Kennedy. The Rise and Fall of British Naval Mastery. New York. Humanity Books, (1976), 242. 6 Ibid. 245 7 Kevin McCranie. The War at Sea.(presentation, Strategy and War Course, Naval War College, Newport, RI, 14 December 2016). 8 Paul M Kennedy. The Rise and Fall of British Naval Mastery. New York. Humanity Books, (1976), 245 . 9 Ibid. 248 10 Kevin McCranie. The War at Sea.(presentation, Strategy and War Course, Naval War College, Newport, RI, 14 December 2016).), 147. 1 Elliot A. Cohen and John Gooch. Military Misfortunes: The Anatomy of Failure in War. New York. Free Press, (1990), 134. 12 Ibid. 134. 3 Carl von Clausewitz. On War: Edited and translated by Michael Howard and Peter Paret. Princeton. Princeton University Press, (1976), 177. 4 Elliot A. Cohen and John Gooch. Military Misfortunes: The Anatomy of Failure in War. New York. Free Press, (1990), 136. 5 Admiral von Holtzendorf. German History in Documents and Images. Selected Readings. Naval War College, Newport, RI, (2016), 2. 6 Ibid. 3. 7 Ibid. 4.