Islam and Arabic Language Essay

In 571, Mohammad the Prophet took his first order from the God, which is â€Å"read†. Then after many orders, Kor’an the holy book was completed. After the completion of Kor’an, it has been single and certain guide for all the muslims. Yet, if a person want to read and understand that book, that person has to know Arabic Language. The problem is why is Arabic main language of Islam and Koran even though the islam is universal? Before the Islam, arabic was just one of the Language that was spoken in only certain regions in Arabia. But after the Islam whole Arabia had started to talk in arabic because arabia is the region which is starting point of Islam. It was natural but after spreading other parts of the World, The arabic had became main language of some regions which was unnatural. In christianity, for example, for many centuries, Latin was the language of Bible but it could not influence people that made people’s who live in Europe lanugage change. Because unlikely to Islam, people can prey and worship in other language. These restrictions in Islam influence people’s language because worshipping and preying take a lot time and they have to be done everyday. In addition to that Kor’an has to be read in Arabic. Due to these reasons from tunus to Iraq arabic is the main language even though it is not their ancient language. Due to many reason arabic language has spread but some countries such as Iran and India has preserved their language altough they are muslims. The answer lies under their culture. Changing religion just not change belief of community, it also changes culture of community. Thus Iran and India which posses strong culture and language whose roots are older than 3000 years old. It is impossible to change cultures that old. After the Islam, India has become a Great Britain Empires Colony and Iran was ruled by Seljuks yet the results were same these cultures could preserve itself. In a nutshell, spread of arabic language inevitable because of spread of Islam whose main language is arabic but also this influence cannot approach to certain nations due to their strong cultures. Yet it is still unclear that why is the universal religion islam’s main language is arabic? It is still being claimed that Kor’an has not been changed but this reason makes people think that maybe it has been changed because of this reasons.

Advertising has become a normal part of humanity Essay

Indeed, advertising has become a normal part of humanity lives in this era of globalization. Advertise clear plastered everywhere as newspapers, posters, giant billboards, and radio. This situation seems to show how strongly the influence of advertising in our lives. So the ads do bring positive influences and negative on human life in this world. Positive influence of advertising is advertising causes consumers have the option to purchase. Existence ads cause consumers to know how many similar products but different brands produced at this time. Users will use all available information in the ad to make their best choice. Advertise ensure that consumers purchase the best product based on their needs. See more: Foot Binding In China essay In addition, the ad could lead to a healthy competition between the producer of a product. If we look, producing a product that will try to produce the best ads according to their ability to attract buyers. This resulted in all parties are highlighting the advantages of their product over a competitor’s product. Clearly, the ad caused manufacturers ensure that their products meet quality as quoted in their ad’s. However, advertising also has its negative face. Advertisements often exploit women especially sexy women to promote sales of their products. In fact, there is a product that has nothing to do with women but uses a sexy female face for the ad. Use model handsome and well-built man who was exploited by advertising. This situation seems to give a false meaning of such use of this product will produce such faces or use of these products cause these women will be attracted to someone. Imagine the influence on our youth? Furthermore, the existence of the ad will cause prices to rise. The cost to produce an advertisement is very high because of the use of models, technology and experienced production crew. In fact, the advertisements in the mass media had to pay the cost of broadcasting time that is too expensive. This resulted in manufacturers will raise the prices of their products to make sure they can produce. Advertisements will also produce a group of users who are only concerned with the brand.consumers this type of advertising is obsessed with certain brands and only buy or use the product without thinking of the brand the pros and cons to them. Ads have resulted in a status-conscious consumer culture themselves in the eyes of society. Consumers want them highly regarded and respected when using a brand. In fact, the ad also led to consumers of goods they do not need. Their purchases solely on the basis of an interesting seeing ads. Ad serving has caused them to be interested and buy it even though it was not their need for a long period. This attitude is geared towards waste and purchases can cause users owe or financial difficulties. In conclusion, the ad has a dual role. One to tell and one to destroy. Perhaps consumers should be wise to make a rational assessment after seeing an advertisement. Users should not rush into buying after seeing the ad. Or maybe the ad should be banned.

Unilever Product Life Cycle

Introduction †¢William Hesketh Lever founded lever Brothers in 1885. †¢In the beginning as soap manufacturer but later diversified in to food and personal care products. †¢Unilever's corporate centers are London and Rotterdam. Walls’ Introduction †¢Walls introduced in Pakistan in 1997-98. The product line consists from lollies to ice creams. This includes Cornetto, Callipo, Max, Kulfis, Top Ten Choc Bars, Feast, Milky Way and etc. †¢Unilever committed its own resources to acquire ‘Polka' and consolidate the ice cream market for Lever Brothers Pakistan. Low gearing and reputation as a multinational blue chip give Lever ready access to capital at good terms to fund growth †¢Magnum! huuuuuuuuuuuuu †¢Magnum was introduced in 15th of June,2001 †¢Effective weights of mass audience advertising publicly displayed in the summer landscape, would strengthen consumer attachment to the brand and develop strong associations with the summer season †¢The first premium-quality ice cream to enter the adult impulse market.. ;l †¢Product Life Cycle If one looks at a category, the product life cycle seems to be an important determinant for all sorts of decisions †¢Generally a product should be kept in the growth stage as long as possible. †¢Magnum’s Life cycle †¢Magnum is in the growth stage. Due to the amount of awareness in the market, and the sales figures crossing targets, the product can be seen in the growth stage. On the PLC, market growth is also associated with increase in sales. This leads to the market becoming more attractive. Cycle-Recycle Pattern †¢The Cycle –Recycle Pattern is adopted because of seasonality of the sale. In Eid,Happy New year, Valentines day,Christmas and other seasonal events the sales follow pleasant upward trend due to the new flavors and varieties introduced by the firm. †¢Total Quality Management †¢Its all about ever barricading eminence i. e ever improving quality. †¢The quality of the product should be increase with the passage of time to keep customers as well induce new customers. Magnum’s TQM Introduction of new Magnum’s Cup will certainly improve the quality because of inclusion of â€Å"choco-topings†. The new Cup will increase the value to the customer because of its â€Å"take away† facility. pricing? † †¢Magnum’s TQM Again †¢Since Magnum is a premium choc bar and people are paying the premium to get this premium choc bar ,the TQM does have a great vitality in th is context. †¢Magnum is thought as a superb quality choc bar that’s why people wouldn’t compromise on the quality . †¢They know â€Å"they are paying for the best† †¢Forecasting and Demand Management †¢The ice cream market is particularly influenced by the weather and Wall uses a weather index to gauge conditions for sales †¢Also during peak seasons like Eids, Happy New Year and Independence Day demand is high and rices are lowered so as to compete with the other rivals prevailing in the industry . Magnum’s sales forecast †¢In terms of Magnum, this seasonality is relatively low. This is because Magnum is an impulse buying item . †¢In examining the seasonality one must consider the target market of Magnum. Will these people refrain from having a magnum in cold weather? †¢The variation in sales will not be as high or drastic as other ice creams or categories. †¢Positive Aspects for Sales †¢Pakistan’s population growth rate is almost 2% per annum. †¢Urbanization trend on the boom i. people are inducing towards higher life standards of living in cities. †¢Growth in GDP/capita reflects in the consumption pattern of the people. †¢Improved level of law and order conditions results in more FDI’s hence an attractive market. Product and Product Mix †¢A product is anything that can be offered to a market to satisfy a need and and want of the customer. †¢Product includes different product levels which are, †¢Core benefit: The fundamental service or benefit that the customer is really buying †¢Basic product: the marketer has to turn the core benefit into basic product. Levels of Product †¢Expected product: A set of attributes and conditions buyers normally expect when they purchase the product. †¢Augmented product: Augmented product means things beyond the expectation. †¢Potential product: which encompasses all the possible augmentation and transformation Magnum’ Levels †¢The core benefit of the Magnum are satisfaction and the indulgence †¢The basic product is the premium Choc Bar †¢Expectations are related with the Magnum is that it would provide that quality others can not. †¢Potential product,introduction of Magnum in new jar. Product mix †¢Product mix is the set of products the company is offering to the customer. †¢Product mix includes, width, length, depth and consistency. †¢Magnum’s Product Mix †¢Unilever is the parent company and it operates in many businesses like tea, soaps, shampoos etc. this includes in width †¢Length includes different products of the walls like Magnum, Feast ,Cornetto etc. †¢Depth includes variants of the similar product like Magnum, Feast, Sunday all are chocolate related items. †¢Unilever product lines are consistent because most of them are consumer goods. SBU Strategies †¢Almost every business unit of Unilever including Walls holds a lion’ share in their respective markets. †¢For Magnum. hold strategy is appropriate and its holding by the firm. Corporate and division Strategic planning †¢Mission Statement †¢The Mission Statement underlines the dedication to the satisfaction of the everyday needs of the customers. †¢Quality is priority in all senses. †¢We are the part of the society in which we operate. †¢Our Vision is â€Å"Touching hearts changing life† Boston Consulting Growth Matrix †¢Star †¢Question Mark †¢Cash Cow Dog Internal Environment Analysis †¢Strengths †¢- Brand Image †¢- †¢Brand recall is high †¢- †¢Qual ity is one of the best in the market †¢Weaknesses †¢Multiple Brands therefore lack of focus †¢Unhealthy competition in the corporate culture External Environment Analysis Opportunities: – Westernization of Pakistani Society – No DIRECT competition except Quanta Relatively good growth of market †¢Threats: †¢- Threat of bigger competition in the next two years †¢- Instability of Pakistani Political system Marketing Alliances Promotional Alliances The strategic alliance by the Walls with leading fast food corners like KFC and Pizza Hut outlets was an attempt to promote their product. †¢ Marketing Channel †¢These channels are essential to move product from the manufacturer’s warehouse to the consumer’s house. †¢Firms have options to decide levels of channels I. e how many channels does it want to include in the distribution of its product. †¢Walls’ Channels †¢Walls’ uses multi level channel marketing. †¢Walls uses backward integration. †¢Walls’ sales men whirl in the streets of the city on their lorries ,I. e direct marketing. Walls’ own supplier make its product available to consumers. †¢Pull and Push Strategies †¢The painstaking music produce by the whirling lorries of WALLS let its voice count ,pulling the kids to pull their parents. †¢The usage of billboards and print media is a device to push up the target customer. †¢Promotion al Tools †¢In Pakistan, Ice-Cream industry competition may be healthy but there are very few brands to name. †¢Companies have to fight for their market share and use various strategies from price to promotional, which could make them leader in the market. †¢Firms try to compete on the basis of quality, uniqueness and brand name Magnum’s Promotion †¢The most commonly used are the major media that includes billboards and posters in the display media †¢The retailers were provided with free refrigerators by the Walls to motivate them †¢Since the logo of Walls was endorsed on these refrigerators,the brand was promoted as well. †¢Pricing †¢ Historically, for most products price has been the major factor affecting the buyer choice †¢Ice cream companies’ pricing decisions are influenced by both internal as well as external factors. †¢Pricing †¢Internal Factors †¢Survival †¢Company’s objectives †¢Marke t Profit Maximization Market Leadership †¢Product Quality †¢External Factors †¢Economic Factors †¢Governmental rules and regulations. †¢Social concerns. †¢Resellers. †¢Pricing Strategies †¢The management of the Magnum uses â€Å"Price Premium Strategy†. †¢The notion of â€Å"Self Indulgence†transferred the brand advertising doctrine to brand experience I. e â€Å"have a bite please†. †¢Price doesn’t matter to target consumer of Magnum. †¢What's wrong with the Price! †¢Its is said that â€Å"Magnum is too expensive† †¢It is thoughts as a reason of minimal sales. †¢There are relatively inexpensive choc bar exists. †¢Price is not the problem! The Magnum is targeted to the people of elite class ,higher in the socio-economic ranks. †¢The target set for Magnum’s sales have achieved up to maximum extent. †¢Lowering the price will usurp its supremacy and satisfactio n level may decline because of this move. †¢Marketing Management Philosophies †¢The philosophies speak about the different strategic behavior adopted by the firm to sell their product. †¢The philosophies are adopted in the foremost interests of consumers. †¢Magnum’s Marketing Philosophies †¢Product concept , better the quality and the product attributes the better will be the sales. Selling Concept,pushing and pulling consumers time and again , inducing them to buy Magnum, otherwise it will be left †¢un noticed. †¢Marketing Concept,better than that of competitors in satisfying customers’ needs the better will be you share in the market. Magnum’s Marketing Philosophies Customer concept,provide customer what he wants at the price you want The customers decide what we serve to them. Societal Marketing,Walls started a campaign to keep the environment clean in the northern areas to preserve them †¢Brand Decision †¢Creation ,maintenance ,protection and enhancement of a brand is an art. Brand is a symbol,name,term,design or a system or amalgamation of them. †¢It’s a marketing tool and tactic. †¢A promise by seller to deliver specific set of features and values to the buyer †¢Brand Equity †¢High brand awareness of Magnum as a member of Walls’ family. †¢Magnum possess high degree of brand preference. †¢Customer is satisfied with the brand and devoted to it . †¢Customer doesn’t want to change the brand over price issue. Brand Building Tools The campaign inaugurated by the Walls to â€Å"Save the environment† added privileged to the Walls as well its family. Wall’s â€Å"Heart Branding† captures the enthusiasm of the young and the young-at-heart, laying claim to 72% of the frozen desserts market share in Pakistan. Analyzing Competitors †¢By knowing our Competitors we may be able to predict their next moves, exploit their weaknesses and undermine their strengths †¢Who are your competitors? †¢What customer needs and preferences are you competing to meet? †¢What are the similarities and differences between their products/services and yours? Magnum’s Competitors †¢Competitors for walls in general are many; in fact they include all the ice cream providers. For Magnum we would like to define our competition strictly in terms of the target market. In this definition we would consider the product category level. Major Competitors †¢In this list we consider Igloo Quanta to be our main competitor due to similar attributes of the product and a very similar target market. †¢For the purpose of a nalysis we will group the competitors into two. First we would discuss our main competitor i. e. Igloo Quanta and then the rest in one group Who Is The Competitor †¢Igloo Quanta †¢Moven Pick Ice cream †¢Snoopy Ice cream parlor †¢Gelato Affairs Ice cream parlor †¢Igloo Dip Shop Imported Ice creams like Hagen Dazz, Dove, and Galaxy available at places like Aghas Stake Holders †¢At Unilever we are dedicated to meeting the everyday needs of people everywhere. †¢We participate in the well being of the society ,we live and work †¢Touching hearts by changing lives RESOURCES †¢Unilever committed its own resources to acquire ‘Polka' and consolidate the ice cream market for Lever Brothers Pakistan †¢Low gearing and reputation as a multinational blue chip give Lever ready access to capital at good terms to fund growth. †¢In the local ice cream market not many have the capability to invest in completely new technologies. Financial ass ets of more than RS. 7 BILLION. Human Resources †¢People are the driving force for success. †¢HR initiatives focused on encouraging empowerment and transparency in the organization. †¢E-town project brought the Chairman and top team to everyone’s desktops via live streaming video and allowed employees to address their concerns to the panel via a chat server. Resources †¢Me and U,an interactive HR portal that brings employee information to to everyone’s desktop. †¢Child Day Care center allowing employees to have their infants in close proximity under very best care Resources †¢Distinctive Capabilities advantage. †¢Walls has a weather index that helps in describing peak seasons for selling ice creams. †¢Sharp market sensing. †¢Intimate linking with the customers. †¢Strong channel bonding. Organization and it’s Culture †¢Uni Lever ,a visionary organization. †¢Highly professional Organization with the highly professional people. †¢The society is the family and look after of family is my own responsibility Market Segmentation The Magnum has segmented the market on the basis of income ,social and economic class and esteem level. Nice marketing strategy has been adopted focusing on the smaller but elite segment of the society as well as of market. Psychographics Segmentation Life style The people from the A/A+ class are considered for customer ship. Personality People having high level of esteem ,standing high on the need hierarchy pyramid. Behavioral Segmentation Occasions The Magnum focuses on the occasions when somebody wants to rejoice himself by himself. â€Å"I hate somebody nobody hates me! I love somebody no body loves me† Self Indulgence is the underlining theory. Loyalty Status Hard Core Loyals. TARGET MARKET †¢Magnum focuses on the upper niche market. The upper class segment is whom we want to buy our product. †¢These are people who wouldn’t mind spending †¢Rs 25 for an ice cream; rather they would impulsively buy the product whenever they go out for a drive or something. †¢Magnum is â€Å"Just for You† †¢The concept of sharing is not embedded Target Market †¢Target market people from the ages of 18-30, upper class, possessing a very high set of self esteem people †¢People who have style and don’t mind spending more for better quality, brand value etc Market Positioning An art of designing the product of the company and it’s image to occupy a distinctive place in the mind of the target market. Positioning is not what you do to the product. Its what you do to the mind of the panorama Market Positioning †¢Marketing positioning means how the customer rate your product in comparison with your competitors. †¢The firm should offer a substantial value to its customers to sustain the positioning of its product. Magnum’s Positioning Attribute Positioning For self immoderation User Positioning Appealing to stylish people Quality and Price Positioning High price for the higher quality Magnum’s Positioning Since a Rs 25 choc bar is quite prestigious bar,so people feel good when buying the Magnum. The higher the price the higher will be the quality & the higher will be the satisfaction level. People rank it as a premium brand with priceless quality Marketing Research System †¢Walls has its own department for Marketing Research. †¢Primary Data is provided by Sales team. †¢Secondary Data is gathered from publications and other sources.

Examine how Alices Adventures in Wonderland major theme of growing up Essay

Examine how Alices Adventures in Wonderland major theme of growing up and finding ones identity are a reflection and product of a Victorian age, and how Wonderland is a social satire of Victorian culture - Essay Example t while Alice’s circumstances share commonalities with these other heroines – she finds herself in an unfamiliar place full of strange people – her experiences are entirely different. Unlike Dorothy, Susan, Lucy or Wendy, Alice has no purpose to guide and direct her wanderings through Wonderland. Even more significantly, Alice has nothing to offer the strange country she temporarily inhabits; nor does she change and grow emotionally as a result of her time in Wonderland. And though some feminist critics like Nina Auerbach have argued that Alice is a subversive feminist heroine, in fact, Carroll’s youthful protagonist seems to be nothing more or less than an ordinary Victorian girl – and rather than limiting the possibilities of the narrative, this realization expands them, allowing us to understand Alice as a creature of her own era, so that she – more than the Wonderland she traverses – becomes the vehicle of Carroll’s Victoria n satire. In this paper, I will argue that Carroll’s Alice deconstructs the Victorian notions of femininity and female coming of age in several ways. First, rather than being a sweet and charming female heroine, Alice is bossy, pretentious and often downright unlikable – isolated by her manners and her education from creatures who might have been her friends. Second, that Alice’s behavior toward the Wonderland creatures is a reflection of how Alice herself is treated in her own â€Å"real† life, revealing problematic dynamics between children and adults in Victorian culture. And finally, I will show that Alice’s adventures in Wonderland have merit and meaning only when they are reconstructed — through the Carroll/Narrator, through Alice’s sister and finally through Alice herself — to â€Å"interpret† a hodgepodge of facts and experiences into a memory of happy childhood. In fact, Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland can be read as a satire of a Victorian girl’s education into the rites of womanhood, a satire that

Education Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words - 4

Education - Essay Example These days, students are treated with kid gloves in an effort to make them feel better about themselves and not harm their young psyche. However, by misleading students into believing that they can accomplish anything they want to and that simply trying is good enough, we are raising a generation of prideful students who think that they do not need to try harder to be better than the next guy in order to succeed in life. They have become a â€Å"prideful† generation without really having anything to take pride in. That is the argument of Thomas Benton in his article â€Å"the Seven Deadly Sins of Students†, and that is the main focus of this argumentative paper. I will also focus on how the Peter Thiel Fellowship helps to make matters worse for our prideful students because it encourages them to forgo the regular college route in exchange for instant gratification of their ideas. Peter Thiel, the man after whom the grant is named is described as; â€Å"... the Silicon Valley investor who believes more young people should be chasing breakthrough technologies instead of wasting their time and money in college. â€Å" (Miller, Claire â€Å"Drop Out , Start Up†). ... Out of this pride -- nurtured by the purveyors of unearned self-esteem, personal grievance, dumbed-down courses, and inflated grades (often in the guise of liberality) -- the opportunity to earn an education is squandered by prideful students who can make a potential heaven seem like hell. The students of today take pride in being able to â€Å"achieve† without really doing the work. Although there is some good to be said of positive encouragement, the fact that this type of encouragement has taken over the educational system leaves one wondering as to the direction that these students will actually have in their lives. After all, there is nothing worse than being rewarded for mediocrity. Let us also not forget that long known saying â€Å"A little knowledge is a dangerous thing.† It is that little knowledge that these students possess that people such as Peter Thiel exploit for all the wrong reasons. Thiel believes that students should not waste their time languishing in college and spending college money that their parents most likely do not have when they can actually be pursuing their dreams and working on turning it into a reality. That is the precise reason that he created the Thiel Fellowship Grant. He caters to the need for instant gratification of the prideful students, forgetting the fact that these are still young people barely out of their teens and without the proper training nor guidance to succeed in their adult endeavors in their current status. That ripening of their minds and ability to manage their lives and professional careers comes with the completion of a college degree. However, Claire Miller (Miller, Claire â€Å"Drop Out , Start Up†) explains that these kids do not understand what they

Sexually Objectifying Music Videos and Lyric Increase Sexual Violence Research Paper

Sexually Objectifying Music Videos and Lyric Increase Sexual Violence - Research Paper Example pared to male characters since music videos portray women as sex objects because they use revealing or provocative clothes which display excessive skin exposure. Recent analysis of rap and hip hop music videos documents the presence of misogyny, which is defined as a sexualizing women and the dominance of men over women. The theme is visible in when numerous and highly sexualized women dance provocatively while wearing revealing clothes and being submissive to male artists other characters who are male in the music video. The result suggests that even though male characters are associated with various themes, female characters are mostly associated with position of objectification. Another recent content analysis study examined various sexual objectifications in other video music genres that include country and hip hop. The study showed that most of the sample video of female artists contained sexual objectification indicators like close-up shots of private body parts, touching of pe rsonal sexual body parts, sexualized dancing or ample skin exposure. Therefore, sexual objectification is not exclusively done to female characters by their male counterparts; but rather most female artists engage in acts of sexual objectification of their bodies. In accordance with objectification theory, sexual objectification is conceptually defined as a considering an individual as a body only valued by its use by others. Thus, basing on the definition, sexual objectification operationalized both in visual representation of female artists’ bodies and their behavior. Sexual objectification is common in media culture; however, music videos offer the potent example of it (Aubrey, Megan and Wanjiru 365). To understand how exposure to sexually objectifying music videos link to constructs... This "Sexually Objectifying Music Videos and Lyric Increase Sexual Violence" outlines how such types of video affect level of sexual violence. Research show that music video often differs in the way they portray men and women; generally showing men in more positive light compared to females. Specifically women are depicted in positions of submission compared to men; besides, men are likely to perpetuate violence and women are portrayed as victims. Music videos often show women dressed in provoking clothing specifically in sexually objectified music videos, the variation in the depictions of both men and women signifies the significance of considering gender differences in music video (Conrad, Travis, and Yuanyuan 137-138). Significant increase in sexualized videos results in idealized body perfection in young children, which is difficult to attain even for models that perpetuate the industry practice. Objectified music videos lead people to believe in reality that never exists which is detrimental especially to adolescents. Repeated exposure to sexually objectified music results in gender-stereotyped ideas and images that contribute to sexist attitudes and beliefs like sexual harassment and etc. Though, sexual objectification is one type of gender harassment, it takes into consideration other hosts of oppressions that women face ranging from employment discernment, trivialization and sexual violence. Consumption of sexually objectified music allows women to accept the tendency of viewing women as objects.

Nano Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Nano - Assignment Example Tompkins has been titled the CEO because his background closely fits the position. He is likely to be doing more work than the other founders. Since he is doing more work he deserves a different salary and equity level. The other founders are fair with the equity but not fair about the salary that Tompkins receives. The decisions made regarding split equity and compensation is unfair and leaves no room to share equity amongst other employees. Without being able to share equity amongst other employees, the new employees may not be as driven to get the company where it needs to be. The founders are the creators of the company and share in ownership. All though they may share in ownership it does not mean that they should share equity and compensation if there job duties are not the same. A change is equity and compensation needs to be made to create a real fairness and ability to offer equity to other employees. The size of the founding team is five men that are all from the same company. Don Rupert is the head of AMSL. He is a co founder of NanoGene. Will Tompkins is a bio chemist and founder along with three other scientist and biologist. Mark Masterson and Ravi Rhoota were former AMSL scientist and an important asset to NanoGene. Gary Garfield who was also important to NanoGene is a doctor in biology. Each founder is vital to NanoGene in a way that the type of development for NanoGene requires each founder to make it work. Having five founders starting up a company can cause problems early as well as later on in the company life. Having five founders requires the need to receive acceptance from each of the five founders each time an issue arises. It is unlikely that all five founders will agree on each issue. When issues come up of importance it is likely that a vote will need to take place. Being a founder of a company is an important role. Founders are the

Earlier ideas can influence later ideas Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Earlier ideas can influence later ideas - Essay Example It is unavoidable that such a state of affairs will exist because no one has a monopoly of ideas and very few ideas are truly original. In most instances, later ideas build on earlier ideas, expound on them, extend their boundaries, and explicate further obscure concepts. However, many ideas are simple in the sense they are self-evident but still they require constant repetition in some cases because people have a disquieting tendency to take these ideas for granted. This is what the paper will discuss; it is about how democracy and freedom are all intertwined by a series of ideas expressed over a period of time and how these ideas are all brought together by their similarities and close connections. Each idea seems to build on a previous idea and this paper attempts to show how these are all interconnected to each other. History travels in a one-way deterministic street and analysis will reveal the connections. Pres. Franklin D. Roosevelt’s third inaugural speech on January 2 0, 1941 contained the four basic freedoms he deemed important and these freedoms were later found in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights adopted by the United Nations General Assembly on December 10, 1948. Both the article of Robert Kaplan and the second inaugural speech of Pres. Obama also relate to the two documents mentioned earlier, but not with each other. Discussion President Franklin Delano Roosevelt first came to power in 1933 during the height of the Great Depression. As a visionary president, he undertook massive reforms in government, big industry, and other sectors of American society to help steer it towards the so-called 3Rs which are relief for the poor masses and millions of jobless workers, quick recovery for the weakened economy in the shortest time possible using the government’s stimulus funds (the concept of Obama’s stimulus funds for the Great Recession came from FDR’s original idea to pump-prime the economy) and massive reforms neede d in the financial system as a whole by strong government intervention to avert a similar catastrophic failure in the future. Roosevelt crafted these policies and passed them through Congress to achieve his aims for the 3Rs and called it the New Deal to sell it to the American electorate despite some opposition. Many of these government programs are still in place without many people knowing what these are. Key pieces of legislation in the New Deal era included laws for the creation of the Social Security System (SSS), Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC), Federal Crop Insurance Corporation (FCIC) and the Federal Housing Administration (FHA) which is now the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) and laws that guaranteed a minimum living wage and the maximum working hours for workers (Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938) and other social safety nets. Roosevelt got re-elected three more times and his term saw the outbreak of Second World War. Having seen the despair of the Great Depression, he is now confronted with the widespread desperation and devastation associated with a truly global war and he saw it fit to declare in his Third Inaugural address to specifically mention these four freedoms which he considered to be very vital to humankind in general. The â€Å"Four Freedoms† speech centered on the freedom of speech, of religion, from want, and lastly, from fear (Edsitement 1). The very first freedom he mentioned, freedom of

Computer Incident Response Teams Are Needed for Controlling the Impact Research Paper

Computer Incident Response Teams Are Needed for Controlling the Impact of a Security Breach - Research Paper Example CIRT or Computer Incident Response Teams are especially those kinds of teams that are formed for the purpose of minimizing and controlling the impact of a security breach or other emergency (Brussin, Cobb, & Miora, 2003). They are also known as CERT (Computer Emergency Response Teams) and CSIRT (Computer Security Incident Response Teams), but they basically attempt to do the same in case of a computer security threat. This question can only be truly answered by predicting the trends in intrusion and the level of threats expected. Usually, the answer is yes to the above question since an organization rather be safe than sorry! With the increasing number of viruses, spyware, backdoors in the systems being detected, having a CIRT is a must for any organization having informational data on the computers. Before assigning the team and its task, the management needs to make a proper business plan in case of an incident. The plan includes all the details about the CIRT and all the information that the CIRT need to know. Furthermore, for the plan to be successful, the strategy must be feasible, approved and legally reviewed. "It is critical that practice emergencies are staged and response times measured. This would require financial and executive/upper management support and commitment to the CIRT need". (RHE, 2004) Policies regarding the computer system must be in place beforehand. The breach would usually occur when that policy is not obeyed, thus it is imperative to have policies so that the root cause of the problems can be found. These policies need to be documented and provided to every member of the organization so that everyone is aware of security guidelines and the procedures for emergency situations. (Lucas & Moeller, 2003)

Outsourcing Product Distribution the Right Way Essay Example for Free

Outsourcing Product Distribution the Right Way Essay Chain online magazine Aug. 2, 2000 For Internet companies that cannot afford to buy and store their inventory or hire an internal logistics staff, outsourcing the product distribution function can be either a smart business decision or a disaster. Success or failure in distribution depends on how carefully and continuously you manage this function to make sure your distribution partners are doing the job that is expected. When distribution is not a core competency for your company and you do not have the resources to make it one, outsourcing the function can help your company grow by allowing you to focus on your mission-critical activities. There are two types of outsourcing that are common among start-ups traditional distribution and drop ship fulfillment (DSF). Traditional distribution outsourcing involves hiring a third party to store and distribute your products through its national or international distribution network; this party provides the staff, warehouses, distribution center and transportation fleet. The second type of outsourcing, DSF, has grown in parallel with B2C retailing over the Internet. With DSF, a start-up company sells a product, charges the customer, generates a purchase order, and sends the PO to the manufacturer or supplier, who then fulfills the order by shipping the product directly to the customer. Since the start-up never possessed the product, the company does not incur any of the costs associated with storing or purchase the product. Many Internet start-ups have adopted this streamlined business model. Unfortunately, companies need to be careful when choosing an outsourcing partner. Outsourcing is not a panacea if your third-party distributors procedures and performance are not carefully monitored, you risk permanently alienating the customers you have worked so hard to attract. The key to a successful outsourcing relationship includes understanding the process, specifying objectives, establishing internal procedures for evaluating performance against objectives, and deploying systems that help to manage the function effectively. Watching Costs and Service If the manufacturer or distributor, which may be the same company, fulfills the customers order correctly, everyone is happy. However, in most cases, there are problems in one or more of these key areas: Â · Customer service Another company may be distributing your products, but ultimately you are responsible for the customer relationship. True, your company does not have direct control over the distribution process, but the customer only cares about receiving the product not who sent it or how it got there. If something goes wrong, you are responsible and must do what is necessary to correct the situation. Shipping costs Most manufacturers are setup to ship truckloads or pallets of products, not multiple orders of a single product. There are also manufacturers that require you to purchase more products you need, others set ridiculously high prices for the service, and some simply will not ship the orders. In some cases, start-ups are kitting a number of products, not because it adds value for the customer, but because it pushes the dollar value of their order above a threshold where the manufacturer will agree to DSF the products. Profitability Shipping costs directly affect your bottom line. Many start-ups are passing along the manufacturers shipping costs to their customers, raising the price of their products and putting themselves at a disadvantage in a competitive market. If the start-up does not pass along the entire cost, the shipping expense cuts into the profitability of every transaction. Getting Automated Help Successfully managing a third-party distributor requires establishing internal monitoring processes and requiring that specific employees are responsible for this function. These employees should also be responsible for developing and deploying computer systems to help automate the management function. Here are five critical requirements for your outsourcing relationship with your distributor: Â · Establish measurable standards for distributor performance. Â · Conduct periodic performance reviews. Â · Visit distributor sites to check security procedures (only if the start-up owns the inventory). Â · Monitor customer feedback and satisfaction levels. Â · As sales volume grows, periodically revisit the decision to outsource the distribution function. The right computer system can improve your ability to manage the distribution function in three areas: Â · Communication To allow you to automate communication with your suppliers and manufacturers, you must establish a back-end system. This means that you should not rely just on basic email, generated by an employee, to track orders. For example, you send the supplier an email to check on a backlogged product, someone then emails you back with a response, and finally you re-key the information into your system imagine a handful of employees checking 500 products. To be more efficient, you need a system that will scale this function as your volume expands and will use automated email, fax, Web portals and/or EDI to communicate order information. Â · Visibility You must know if a product is available before it is sold, and you cannot know this until you view your suppliers inventory to find out how much product you have been allocated and what is available. To do this, you need an application that provides you with visibility into your suppliers inventory tracking system. Track and Trace Customers want to know the status of their order: When was it shipped, where is it now, and when will I get it? If you want to retain customers, you need to be sure your computer system helps you manage returns, exchanges and refunds efficiently. A consulting organization that specializes in distribution and transportation can help you setup effective internal processes and, if necessary, build and deploy the computer systems you need to manage an outsourced distribution function for maximum benefit. Part of a consultants value can be in the area of knowledge transfer, educating your organization on how the distribution and transportation function works at the macro level and helping you set realistic expectations. In the final analysis, outsourcing the distribution function can make perfect sense for your small company but only if you remember not to outsource the responsibility of keeping your customers happy.

Refugees and Biopolitics

Refugees and Biopolitics Refugee: The Victim of Biopolitics While we acknowledged as citizens of our country are enjoying our basic rights as a human as well as a citizen, have turned a blind eye to those millions of people around the world who are forced to live on the margins of social, political, economical and geographical borders. These people are known as the refugees; people in search of a refuge. They can also be called immigrants or asylum seekers. Victims of their nation’s political functioning these people are forced to find haven on an alien land. At times, these people (called the ‘Others’) are constructed as a danger to ‘Us’. â€Å"Fear of the Other is produced, circulated and capitalized on to achieve political and economic purposes† (Robin). The questions that arise here are as many as why are these refugees treated as the ‘Others’? Aren’t they humans like ‘Us’? Weren’t they born as Man and, as a result, are entitled to be acknowledged with the basic human and citizenship rights? And most importantly, why and how do these people become the victims of biopolitics? This paper is an attempt to find the answers to such questions. In his book Homo Sacer: Sovereign Power and Bare Life, Italian philosopher Giorgio Agamben has devoted an entire section titled ‘Biopolitics and the Rights of Man’ to describe the suffering of these refugees who are denied even the basic human rights in a new country. Becoming a victim of his fate â€Å"the very figure who should have embodied the rights of man par excellence the refugee signals instead the concept’s radical crisis† (Agamben 126). The crux of Agamben’s essay is based on Hannah Arendt’s claim that the fates of human rights and the nation-state are linked together, which means that the decline of one also implies the end of the other. This means, that by altering the rights of these people who later become refugees, the nation is leading towards its own decline. â€Å"The paradox from which Arendt departs is that the very figure who should have embodied the rights of man par excellence the refugee signals instead the concep t’s radical crisis† (Agamben 126). Agamben completely understands the refugees’ condition as it is and that’s why he has titled his book as Homo Sacer. To understand the meaning behind this we need to go back to the Roman antiquity, where the cancellation of a citizen’s rights by the sovereign produced the threshold figure of homo sacer, the sacred man who can be killed by anyone as he has no rights but can’t be sacrificed because the act of sacrifice can only be done within the legal context of the city from which homo sacer has been banished, as can be seen in the case of refugees from Rwanda (Agamben 133). â€Å"He is an outlawed citizen, the exception to the law, and yet he is still subject to the penalty of death and therefore still included, in the very act of exclusion, within the law† (Downey). Homo sacer blurs the line between an outlaw and a citizen and, hence aptly portrays the figure of Agamben’s refugees. In his essay ‘Biopolitics and the Rights of Man’, Agamben has talked about the devastating impact of biopolitics on the refugees. The word ‘biopolitics’ has been formed out of two words: bio (the life) and politics, and means the â€Å"regulation of the life of populations† by politics (Zembylas). When Agamben says â€Å"Biopolitics† or â€Å"Biopower†, he refers to the social and political power that the nation-state has over human life. In order to protect the population’s biological well-being, the state acts preventively and thus it goes against the ‘Other’: â€Å"If you want to live, the other must die† (Foucault 255). And in this way, the killing is justified in the name of security. Biopolitics â€Å"establishes a binary categorization between ‘us’ and ‘them’, or between the ‘normal’ (legitimate citizens) and the ‘abnormal’ (illegal immigrants, un-qual ified refugees or bogus asylum seekers). The former deserve to live, while the latter are expendable† (Zembylas). Agamben talks about the first move of classical western politics: the separation of the biological and the political. This can be seen in Aristotle’s separation between life in the polis. Bios is the political life and zoÄâ€Å" is the bare life. â€Å"The entry of zoÄâ€Å" into the sphere of the polis the politicization of bare life as such constitutes the decisive event of modernity and signals a radical transformation of the political-philosophical categories of classical thought† (Agamben). For Agamben, at the political level, biopower means that what’s at stake is the life of the citizen itself; not only his existence but also his life. Agamben also examines the French Declaration of the Rights of Man and Citizen, 1789 and concludes that the bare natural life (birth) is the source and bearer of rights as mentioned in the first article of the Declaration, which says that â€Å"Men are born and remain free and equal in rights†. This should mean that despite leaving their country, the refugees deserve equal rights. But at the same time, he reminds us that the very natural life vanishes into the figure of the citizen, in whom rights are â€Å"preserved†. This means, that although a man is born free and has equal rights, these rights are valid only as long as he is a citizen. So, when he leaves his country and becomes a refugee, he is devoid of any citizenship rights. And, since the Declaration can attribute sovereignty to the â€Å"nation†, Agamben says, â€Å"the nation closes the open circle of man’s birth† (Agamben). Now, that the sovereignty lies with the nation, this is where the biopolitics enters the scene. Now, when biopolitics enters the scene, what we can see is the discrimination it does. A format of this discrimination can be seen in the real life accounts of Mexican-American writer, Luis Alberto Urrea, who in his book Across the Wire: Life and Hard Times on the Mexican Border, talks about his experience in Tijuana (a city in Mexico adjacent to the Mexican-American border) where thousands of immigrants/refugees from different parts of Central America arrive every day, with the hope that they might be able to cross the Mexican-American border and make it to The United States. He provides an account of the struggles of these refugees, who after spending all their money, leaving their homeland behind and facing all sorts of violence do make it to Tijuana but only to face more violation. Reaching Tijuana isn’t the most painful hurdle for them, the real struggle begins after they reach there and begin the journey of crossing the highly-guarded Mexican-American border. The border, strengthened by Border Patrol, makes the idea of reaching the other side of the fence (USA) a ‘dream’ for these refugees. The biopolitics comes here in the form of both nations’ Border Patrols who stop these immigrants from entering North America. The danger is present not only in the form of the ‘foreign’ Border Patrols but also in the form of the ‘local’ coyotes (guides) who at times turn on these refugees and take all their money away from them. If the coyotes don’t attack them, there are rateros (thieves), if the rateros don’t, there are pandilleros (gangs) who will. If the refugees are lucky enough (or rather, smart enough) to avoid these thugs, they will eventually collide with the authoritative Border Patrols who catch them and transport them back to Tijuana, forcing these desperate refugees to start their struggle from scratch. When these refugees return back unsuccessfully to Tijuana they are without a place to live, without any money to fulfill their basic needs, sometimes they are even without clothes and shoes. In many cases they are even â€Å"bloodied from a beating by pandilleros, or an â€Å"accident† in the Immigration and Naturalization Service compound. They can’t get proper medical attention. They can’t eat, or afford to feed their family. Some of their compatriots have been separated from their wives or their children. Now their loved ones are in the hands of strangers, in the vast and unknown United States† (Urrea 17-18). It is clear that North America doesn’t want these Central American refugees, and after a time even these refugees’ spirit starts to break. They start ‘living’ in Tijuana where they sell chewing gum, their children sing in traffic and at every stoplight they wash the car windshields. â€Å"If North America does not want them, Tijuana wants them even less. They become the outcasts of an outcast region† (Urrea 19). All these circumstances are a result of biopolitics which stops these ‘Others’ from mixing with the ‘Us’. These refugees are not welcomed in Tijuana, which is a place that itself isn’t welcome in Mexico. Tijuana is Mexico’s cast-off child. Although, she brings money and attracts foreigners, no one would dare claim her. Some people there don’t count Tijuana as a part of Mexico. For them the border is nowhere. But, in reality a border does exist there. That borer is ‘invisible’. Here, we can refer to Etienne Balibar’s concept of ‘inner borders’ which are â€Å"invisible borders, situated everywhere and nowhere† (Balibar 78). While talking about Europe’s Schengen Convention, Balibar says that â€Å"one of the major implications of the Schengen Convention [†¦] is that from now on, on ‘its’ border [†¦] each member state is becoming the representative of the others† (Balibar 78). By this, he is referring to the exploitation a refugee/immigrant/asylum seeker faces when more than one (Schengen) nations come together to exploit these refugees by prohibiting them entry (to asylums, etc.) in nearly every European nation (who have signed the Schengen Agreement). The border of these Schengen nations is biopolitically constructed, and â€Å"is indeed the only aspect of ‘the construction of Europe’ that is currently moving forward, not in the area of citizenship, but in that of anti-citizenship , by way of coordination between police forces and also of more or less simultaneous legislative and constitutional changes regarding the right of asylum and immigration regulations, family reunion, the granting of nationality, and so on† (Balibar 78). Although, the Declaration of Rights, (based on the birth-nation link and leading to national sovereignty) was expected to succeed the collapse of the ancien rà ©gime (where the concept of national citizenship was absent), Agamben clearly says that after World War I â€Å"the birth-nation link has no longer been capable of performing its legitimating function inside the nation-state, and the two terms have begun to show themselves to be irreparably loosened from each other† (Agamben 132). This leads him to talk about the immense increase of refugees and stateless persons in Europe. He lists several Europeans (1,500,000 White Russians, 700,000 Armenians, etc.) who were displaced from their countries in the first half of 20th century. Then, he talks about the mass denaturalization and denationalization of their own populations committed by France in 1915 with respect to naturalized citizens of â€Å"enemy† origin and by Belgium in 1922 who revoked the naturalization of citizens who have committed â€Å"anti national† acts during the war. He then mentions the â€Å"most extreme point† of this process when the Nuremberg laws on â€Å"citizenship in the Reich† and the â€Å"protection of German blood and honor† introduced â€Å"the principle according to which citizenship was something of which one had to prove oneself worthy and which could therefore always be called into question† (Agamben 132). This highlights the fact that by u sing the biopolitical weapons of Fascism and Nazism, countries stripped their own citizens off of their citizenship and human rights and ultimately pushed them towards their death. Agamben claims that, â€Å"Today it is not the city but rather the camp that is the fundamental biopolitical paradigm of the West† (Agamben 181). The two resulting phenomenons: 1) The massive increase in the number of refugees and stateless persons in Europe, and 2) European states allowing the mass denaturalization and denationalization of their own populations, â€Å"show that the birth-nation link, on which the Declaration of 1789 had founded national sovereignty, had already lost its mechanical force and power of self-regulation by the time of the First World War† (Agamben 132). What actually happens is that the governments suspend civil rights during social crisis and decide who is to be excluded and who is to be included. The refugees are the ones who are excluded. The camp signifies a state of exception in which â€Å"the originary relation of law to life is not application but Abandonment† (Agamben). The one who is banned is not simply set outside the law but rather abandoned by it. This highlights the fact that the nations and their biopolitics truly lack the humanitarian aspect. Agamben sees a separation of humanitarian concerns from politics. Instead, what’s visible to him is a solidarity between humanitarianism and the political powers it should fight. This contradiction is a primary reason for the failure of several committees and organisations (United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, for example) who work for the problem of refugees and the protection of human rights. They simply refuse to comment on the actions of political regimes. â€Å"This distinction is also seen in the general populace of many nation-states in which great compassion is demonstrated by donating millions of dollars to fund humanitarian aid, while showing great hostility to those same suffering faces when they are more proximate strangers† (qtd. in Zembylas). Although, these organizations function for the right of these refugees, they fail to resolve their problems in any way. These humanitarian organizations â€Å"maintain a secret solidarity with the very powe rs they ought to fight† â€Å"The separation between humanitarianism and politics that we are experiencing today is the extreme phase of the separation of the rights of man from the rights of the citizen† (Agamben 133). Now, the big question is how to stop the exploitation of these refugees at the hands of nations’ biopolitics? Some might suggest that since the concept of ‘refugees’ is a result of ‘borders’, a ‘borderless world’ would aptly solve the problem of refugees. But, â€Å"such a ‘world’ would run the risk of being a mere arena for the unfettered domination of the private centers of power which monopolize capital, communications and, perhaps also, arms† (Balibar 85). By saying this, Balibar is pointing towards the omnipresence of biopolitics which makes the fact clear that a world without borders and biopolitics can only exist in a state of utopia. First of all, what Agamben suggests is that the concept of the refugee must be separated from the concept of the human rights because refugees are devoid of any of those rights. It should be clearly visible to everyone where they stand. Secondly, the refugees are born in a nation and they should belong to it but they aren’t allowed to, and since they are born as Man they should be considered citizens but they aren’t. This is why the refugees must call into question the existing fundamental concepts of the nation-state: the birth-nation and the man-citizen links. Refugees should make nations and humanist organizations see how much they are lacking in their humanitarian approach. Lastly, refugees have got the power to ask the nations to renew their existing political categories where â€Å"bare life is no longer separated either in the state order or in the figure of human rights† (Agamben 134). If there would be no separation of bare life, then there wouldnâ€℠¢t be any discrimination against the refugees. This way they will be recognized as humans and citizens just like any other person and their discrimination at the hands of biopolitics will eventually see a decline. Works Cited Agamben, Giorgio. Homo Sacer: Sovereign Power and Bare Life. Stanford: Stanford UP, 1995.  126, 132, 133, 134, 181. Print. Arendt, Hannah. The Origins of Totalitarianism. New ed. New York: Harcourt, Brace World,  1966. N. pag. Print. Balibar, Etienne. Politics and the Other Scene. London: Verso, 2002. 78. Print.  Downey, Anthony. Zones of Indistinction. http://www.sothebysinstitute.com/files/research/zones.pdf. Sothebys Institute of Art, 26  Apr. 2009. Web. 11 Nov. 2014. Foucault, Michel, and Mauro Bertani. Society Must Be Defended: Lectures at the Collà ¨ge De  France, 1975-1976. New York: Picador, 2003. 255. Print. Robin, Corey. Fear: The History of a Political Idea. New York: Oxford UP, 2004. N. pag. Print. Urrea, Luis Alberto. Across the Wire: Life and Hard Times on the Mexican Border. New York:  Anchor, 1993. 17, 18, 19. Print. Zembylas, Michalinos. Agambens Theory of Biopower and Immigrants/Refugees/AsylumSeekers. Journal.jctonline.org/index.php/jct/article/viewFile/195/83. Journal of  Curriculum Theorizing, 2010. Web. 11 Nov. 2014.

the spanish american war :: essays research papers

  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The Spanish-American war was the first and biggest step that the United States of America took toward imperialism. It was the war that secured the US as the most powerful country in the world. This war was a benefit to the USA because we gained land, gained respect, and taught a lesson to one of our enemies. In addition to this, the losses that we suffered were almost nothing compared to other conflicts or wars. The Spanish-American war was by no means for the sole purpose of gaining land and respect, the United States freed an oppressed country and took pieces of land that were better off under US control. In the late 1800’s and early 1900’s, Imperialism was a popular trend among the large, powerful countries. Imperialism is defined as â€Å"The policy of extending a nation's authority by territorial acquisition or by the establishment of economic and political hegemony over other nations† Imperialism cannot be said as either good or bad, but as a general rule; If you live in an annexed country, imperialism is not good, if your country annexes smaller ones to gain profit, land, and respect, then imperialism is good. The United States was not much of an imperialistic country until we won the Spanish-American war. As a result of this war, we annexed Guam, The Philippines, and Puerto Rico. This is the point at which the US becomes and imperialistic nation, and though it was a hard struggle to keep these annexed countries under control and eventually gave them all back to their rightful owners. The importance of taking these countries is that we then could have coal st ations around the world to fuel our navy, and we got respect from other countries around the war. This respect and intimidation helped the allied powers defeat the central powers during World War II. Ever since the US became the most powerful nation after the Spanish-American war, we have retained the title. One reason why the Spanish-American war was good for the US is the relatively small losses we had. 332 Americans were killed and 1642 were injured, and 2957 died from disease. These numbers amount to a total of 3289 soldiers killed because of the Spanish-American war (McSherry). This seems like many casualties, but if one compares it to any other war, it is almost nothing, considering there were 15 million battlefield deaths in the Second World War (Ash 71).

Buried at Sea :: Creative Writing Essays

Buried at Sea "Ahh, there's no wind today," sighed Cobi as he tacked his sail around and headed for the shore. Cobi was a sailor. Cobi wasn't a typical sailor, Cobi was a National Championship winning sailor. A sailor who thrived on high winds and rough seas, who has accomplished everything there is to accomplish in Canadian sailing. He is the envy of every young sailor and child. They wish, aspire, and dream to be like Cobi. "Hii Cooobiii," wines Julie. Julie just happened to be standing on the dock of the Yacht Club as Cobi tied his luminous, new, nine-thousand dollar boat to its mooring. Julie, was just one part of Cobi's large female entourage, who followed and prayed on his every move and breath. Cobi Jones was not only very skilled in the nautical art of sailing, he was the most popular, the best looking, and even one of the smartest kids in school. "Hi Julie," moaned Cobi in reply, "what are you doing here?" A shocked, but smiling Julie answered, "Just came to see ya." "Well visiting hours are over," Cobi uttered as he pushed past Julie and trekked up the rocky shore to his home. His home! His home was a picturesque array of hand-crafted pillars and intricate woodwork that beautified even the aesthetic sandy ocean beach that encompassed it. As always, after sailing practise, he was greeted by a honk and a wave from his father returning from work. His father was a partner in Jones, Jefferson, and Deveau, the most successful law firm in Nova Scotia. He was able to fund Cobi's sailing career from the start, and his money played a very large role in Cobi's sailing success and popularity. Other than Cobi's majestic surroundings, Cobi led a typical eighteen year-old after school life. He ate, did homework, spoke to his many friends the phone, and then fell asleep with a remote control in his grip. This evening wasn't an exception. The following day at school, Cobi was greeted by all of his friends and sailing cohorts and he sauntered to his first class. The greetings ranged from "Hey man", to "What's up", and to the simple "Hi". Cobi habitually responded with a mumbled "Yo." Sometime after an insightful, and invigorating lecture from his favourite English teacher Dr. Noble, he ran into his friend and sailing crewman Greg. "Hey man, what're ya doin' after school today?" asked Cobi. "Nothin' man, it's too messy out. That hurricane's gonna hit tonight you know," replied Greg. "I know man, that's why I asked"

Product Life Cycle: iPod Essay -- Apple Ipod Product Essays Papers

Product Life Cycle: iPod Development of the iPod: The iPod is a portable digital music player that holds up to ten thousand songs in a small, hand-held device that is lighter and thinner than two CD cases. iPod features a touch-sensitive navigational wheel and buttons, and an intuitive interface designed for one-handed operation. Songs are stored in several digital audio formats, delivering the highest sound quality. The iPod was born out of the idea dreamed up by Tony Fadell, an independent contractor and hardware expert, to take an MP3 player, build a Napster music sale service to complement it, and build a company around it. Fadell shopped the idea around to several companies and was turned away by all of them, except Apple. Apple hired Fadell in early 2001 and assigned him a team of about 30 people to develop the iPod. Fadell predicted that the iPod would remold Apple and that 10 years from now it would be a music business, rather than a computer business. Introduction of the iPod: The iPod was introduced into the market just in time for Christmas, 2001. The first iPod was priced at $399. Apple relied on a hard disk for storage instead of flash memory or interchangeable CD-Roms and focused on promoting the uniqueness of the small size, power, and ease of use of the device. This first iPod had a 5 GB storage capacity—which is enough to hold over 1,000 songs—and it worked only on Macs, using iTunes as a music organization and CD-to-iPod conversion tool. iTunes, digital jukebox software that let Mac users import songs from CDs by converting audio files to the MP3 format and storing them on the computer’s hard drive, was introduced in January of 2001. Along with the iPod, Apple announced an enhanced version of iTunes that included a 10-band equalizer with presets, as well as a cross fading feature for smoother transitions from one song to another. An Auto Sync capability facilitated the downloading of music from a Mac to the new portable media device. Once the music was downloaded, Apple promised 10 hours of continuous play from the iPod’s rechargeable lithium battery. The device supported MP3, with bit rates of up to 320kbits/s, as well as AIFF and WAV file formats. Its amplifier could deliver 20-20,000-Hz frequency response. Apple sold 125,000 iPods by the end of December 2001. During this introduction stage, the quality level of the iPod was ... ...arly 2.5 years, iPod shipments are approximately 1 million units ahead of the Walkman’s pace after being on the market for the same period of time. During the 80s-90s, Sony sold over 300 million Walkmans. Given this information, it appears that iPod is showing no signs of being close to the decline stage in the near future. In summary, I believe that the iPod is still in the growth stage of its life cycle. According to Roger Kay, IDC analyst, Apple is very good at releasing its iPod generations with incremental features which lure in new users and tempt other users to upgrade. Because of this, some iPod users have several generations of the player, and it is probable that mini owners also could follow that course. Apple now has a full product family that capitalizes on the original iPod’s success. Looking at the entire iPod line, the iPod is becoming a platform in of itself within Apple, as essentially a subsidiary within Apple. Based on the information I have read, Apple has many avenues that it could take with future development of the iPod and similar capabilities. The indicators show that the iPod will continue to have substantial success for a significant period of time.

Case Study Lonely

1. Prepare a report in which you analyze the marketing channel conflicts and cannibalization issues that Lonely Planet faces as it is currently operating. Suggest solutions that might reduce revenue losses or operational frictions that result from these issues. Channel Conflict: when sales through the company’s web site interfere with sales in that company’s retail stores. The potential for significant channel conflict exists in Lonely Planet with the same product (books or content) being sold via multiple channel. Lonely Planet has worked hard to minimize channel conflict by selling books on their website only at the recommended retail price, therefore it does not undercutting their retail resellers. Moreover, most retailers hold only a small selection of the five hundred Lonely Planet titles, and for the many titles they do not hold, channel conflict is minimal. The CitySync product is also carefully positioned to reduce channel conflict, since it targets a specific segment (time-poor, cash-rich travelers) with a new offering that is somewhat different from the existing Lonely Planet city guidebooks. However, over time there may be some conflict between CitySync and products such as customized guidebooks. Cannibalization: The loss of traditional sales of a product to its electronic counterpart. The well-known travel guides company, Lonely Planet gives a lot of guides for free on its website. A few years ago, many major travel-guide publishers were concerned that Lonely Planet website will hurt their sales. If travelers have to travel on board, they could just go on the website in order to read all the information they need without buying the Lonely Planet travel guide paper version. But far from cannibalizing sales instead, the net has helped publishers build their brands and expand into new territory. Moreover, giving information on its own website is a way to do free advertising. Without this display of guides on the website, customer would not have bought the travel guide paper version. Lonely Planet and other leading publishers have recorded growth rates of 15% to 25% per year over the past four years, as much as their guidebook content has migrated online. 2. Prepare a list of a new products that Lonely Planet might introduce to take advantage of Internet technologies (including wireless technologies for mobile devices) and address customer’s concerns about the timeliness and currency of information in the printed travel guides. Briefly describe any problems that Lonely Planet will face as it introduces these new products. In 2008, Lonely Planet launched Pick & Mix which enables travelers to go to a section of the Lonely Planet Website ( http://shop.lonelyplanet.com), select the country or region to which they are travelling and download the chapter for the place they are visiting. Rather than carry loose pages, chapters (served as PDF files) can be downloaded into a hand-held device or e-book reader. Interactive e-book travel guides: Emerging the best of both medium – digital and print – into one interactive ebook guide. Lonely Planet introduced e-books on ipad, so the layout and design is to flip through a guidebook and includes signature stunning images, expert author content and tips from local. Unlike traditional print guide book, the digital format allows to include over 3,000 hyperlinks so readers can get to a particular chapter or map with just a tap of a finger. Thus, travelers can get information on a particular region, point of interest or hotel/ restaurant without flipping through the pages. More, travelers can search terms in Google or Wikipedia for additional content. Travelers can also bookmark the places they don’t want to miss and make notes on the page, just like a print guidebook. Usually traditional publishing cycle for the print guides is every 2 years, but with e-books, it will be updated in a real time. However, unlike apps, ebook updates are not pushed out to end user, and readers will have the opportunity to repurchase the new edition. In addition, due to handheld’s limited memory and bandwidth, the new applications focus on cities, not countries. They obviously can not replace a guidebook for a month-long odyssey in Thailand or an exploration of Italy’s Amalfi Coast. Â  But for the traveler who wants to figure out how to spend a free afternoon or where to go for dinner, these mobile guides – plus a good map are ideal substitutes for printed guides. Lonely Planet therefore should continue to invest in product development to work with the likes of Apple, Google, Amazone, Nokia, etc. 3. Many loyal Lonely Planet customers carry their travel guides (which can be several hundred pages thick) with them as they travel around the world. In many cases, these customers do not use large portions of the travel guides. Also, Internet access can be a problem for many of these customers while they are travelling. Describe a product (or products) that might address this customer concern and also yield additional revenue for Lonely Planet. Your answer here could build on ideas that you developed in your solution to part2. By using interactive ebook travel guides, travelers doing longer trips do not need to carry three or four guidebooks during travelling. Travelers can buy the content directly and save it in their hand-held or ebook before they are going to travel on board if the current destination does not provide good internet connection. It is also an ease to carry around. Moreover, travelers can bookmark the places they don’t want to miss and make notes on the page, just like a print guidebook.

Academic Strategies

This is a five-part assignment. You should have already accessed the assignment in Canvas and completed the previous four steps: 1 . Watch the Academic Strategies video. 2. Practice annotating Plat's Allegory of the Cave using the concepts taught In the video. 3. Watch the video lecture on the Allegory of the Cave and practice taking notes during the lecture. 4. Take the practice quiz In Canvas to see how well you were able to anticipate the questions. The fifth and final part of the assignment Is to save and submit this file, along with a copy of your annotated allegory and lecture notes.Note: there are scanner is each of the 1 1 open-access computer labs on campus. Assignment Assess how effective your notes and annotations were. Before scanning your notes and annotation, clearly identify by quiz number where relevant information is present. For example, if question one was answered in your annotation marks, put a number one next to that part in your annotation. Complete the two gri ds and questions below before saving and submitting in Canvas along with your two other scanned files. Quiz Question Did you miss the question? Is the answer to the question In your text annotation or lecture notes?Text Annotation Lecture Notes Match each part of the allegory with the best possible interpretation. Partly This information I found in my notes. I think I Just got confused about how I had written it and how I interpreted it. Based on the lecture, which of the following Is NOT true of Socrates? No Both Which of the following fictional works was given In lecture as an example of an allegory. No The prisoners chained at the base of the cave are like . Yes Again, I think I Just misinterpreted my notes and what I thought was the idea. What does the sun outside the cave represent?No Which of the following is not true in the Banking Model of Education? Yes I didn't read the â€Å"not true† part of the question and instead answered what I thought was true. What is the si gnificance of the activity of â€Å"naming? † Liberal Arts Education is the process of becoming a free person liberated from intellectual vices such as apathy, lack of curiosity, and ignorance. Using the metaphors and symbols of the cave, why does the university require students to engage in the process of Liberal Arts Education? No Both. Could have connected it better to the story.Even the best students often encounter challenges with their study skills throughout their college career. In fact, it is not uncommon for students who earned As in high school to seek out additional study strategies once they experience the variety of coursework in college. Identify a couple of challenges that you may expect to encounter with regard to your own study skills, and then discuss the resources available and your action plan to overcome those challenges. Challenges Resources Action Plan Example: Inability to fully concentrate and take notes during a long lecture. US Academic Resource Ce nter online information and workshops, I. . Information about active listening during lectures. Read the information on the ARC website about listening during lectures. Practice habits of an effective listener listed on the website. Take a quick nap before class, put phone and laptop away, and practice concentrating during history class. Visit ARC workshop if that doesn't work. 1. I am worried I will be a procrastinator, and not work as hard as I should on my studying. I can go use the US Academic Resource Center and watch helpful videos. I can also offer to some of the videos that have been used on the US 1010 Canvas course.Start making study schedules. I need to start doing my homework when it is handed out and fresh in my mind. I need to do homework when it is first available for me to do it. I can also make calendars and plan out my weeks. 2. I will also struggle to keep up with the rest of the class. I am a slow learner, and I am worried I will fall behind. I can use the resour ces my professor gives me, like Supplemental groups and use the opportunity to study with my peers. I need to start going to Supplemental Instruction Courses and make time to learn more when I am not aught up.I need to make sure I put in extra time to study and stay caught up. Did you use your annotation and notes while taking the quiz? If so, would you have done as well if this was a closed-note quiz? I did use my notes and annotation, but I think I would have probably done Just as well as I did without them. What did you learn while doing this assignment? It is important to do well on note-taking and annotating. Even if you are not able to use those on a test or quiz, you retain more information by writing it down and going through the material repeatedly afterwards.

Reinhard Heydrich Essay

When we remember or hear of the holocaust, the common names that follow , Anne Frank, Oscar Shinler, Hitler and so on, but has anyone hare Hitlereard of Reinhard Heitritch? Reinhard Heitritch is a man who played a very large role in the developement of the holocaust, he was the achitect who implemented the solution to the â€Å"Jewish Question†. He started out by joining the SS in 1931, and formed an organization for gathering information, the SD (Sicherheitsdienst), or SS Security Service. This organization was created to organize and gather information on those who were any threat to Hitler and all members of the Nazi Party as well. It started out small, with a single typewriter but it was not long before many others joined and expanded onto the organization. Because of the SD or SS security Service and it’s success, ReinHard Heydrich was sent the direction of his own personal success, power, and role in the hollocaust. From joining the SS as an ordinary SS member, to being promoted as SS Major by Dec. 1931 (the same year he joined), SS Colonel in 1932, and SS Brigadier General in 1933. In this highest position, Heydrich was now arresting, instead of gathering information on those who were any threat to Hitler. The number of people Reinhard Heydrich arrested was massive and lead to many being put into Dachau for there was no room left in the prisons. In between the arrests, Heydrich began using greater punishment to anyone against Nazism. Such as murdering and torturing suspect who he selected without careful judgement. As his power increased, along with the power of the Nazis, so did the darkness inside of him as a Nazi. Reinhard Heydrich had slowly become more and more involved in the developement of the first steps of the hollocaust, and also the seconf world war. As the Nazis took over Austria in March 1938, Heydrich opened an office there for Jewish Emigration. It’s purpose was to give permits to Jews who wanted to leave Austria, and an estimate of 100, 000 emigrated. Reinhard Heydrich had also been part of Kristallnacht, what some say was the very start of the hollocaust. After the attack of the jews, 25, 000 Jewish men were ordered by Heydrich to be sent to concentration camps In 1941, Reinhard Heydrich had made the calls that killed a massive number of people. The half a million jews who died from starvation and murder in Ghettos such as Warsaw and Krakow were ordered by Heydrich to be sent there. By 1939, he was given complete control over the Reich Main Security Office (RSHA). This final group he’d gained power over, involving the SD, Criminal Police and Gestapo was the group responsible for the unthinkable amount of deaths in Europe. While leader of this organization, he’d now been attending important Nazi conferences. While at a conference on January, 20, 1942, Reinhard Heydrich declared the final solution to the Jewish question The usage of Zyklon-B had then been decided for the extermination of Jews at death camps after being deported to the east. The first camp that this methode began at was Auschwitz, where three million had been killed, most from gas chambers. That was Reinhard Heydrich’s rise to power, his role and impact on the developement on the holocaust. Froming joining the SS to announcing the â€Å"final solution† at a Conference, it’s absolutely scary how simple it was for a man to reach the positions he did, and leave such an inconceivable mark in the history of the world. What is also just as terrifying and inconceivable is that Reinhard Heydrich also had a family that he loved very much and he played a very peaceful instrument. When learning that Heydrich had a gentle, innocent and loving side to him outside of his work, it’s very difficult to think he had it, while knowing what this man did. This is why i created this model, to demonstrate the two opposite sides to him, and my wonder (Like Mr. Jarvis talked about before) how he could switch his mind and heart when coming home to a normal life with his family, after designing a plan to kill an unthinkable amount of people. People who could have been almost identical to the people he loved at home. At the back, this is a picture of the car he’d been assassinated in. The constant power he’d been gaining along the way to the position where he declared the â€Å"final solution†, made him over confident, arrogant and stubborn. He one day decided to leave his house in his car without any security, and was assassinated by Czech underground agents who threw a bomb at his car. The bomb injured him badly and he died days later in the hospital from blood poisoning, he died on June 4 1942.

International Management Research Paper Essay

Assessing the Environment As we look to take our business, International Jean Company, into the ever expanding global market, it’s important that we choose locations that are going to fit our needs. This location selection cannot just be random, nor can it be done hastily. Our time learning how to be International Managers have taught us that only through careful research into many topics like the Environment, the Geography and Climate, the Culture, and Communication, can we really have the information necessary to make an informed decision. Therefore, we began to look at Denmark, and extensively researched the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats that lay before us here. Denmark is a small country with a population of just over 5 million inhabitants. It has achieved a remarkable degree of economic success over the last 50 years or so. With GDP per head of around $56,000 the country ranks fifth in the world and ahead of both Japan and Germany in terms of purchasing power. This remarkable economic success has been achieved by the Danes thanks, in no small measure, to their pragmatic business style.(1) According to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Denmark, it has the most efficient distribution system, the best labor regulations, and the second highest GDP per person. According to Forbes.com, Denmark is the best country to do business in. The Danish economy’s mix of low inflation and low unemployment along with emphasis on entrepreneurship and lower taxes make Denmark an attractive company to business investors and entrepreneurs. These qualities combined with high marks for innovation and technological savvy lift Denmark to the top of the busin ess world. Denmark is a country that is filled with many small and medium sized, independently owned businesses. Compared to the rest of the European Union, Denmark has a significantly less amount of large corporations, with the exception of Spain. They are known for their top quality production standards. Danish companies tend to concentrate on highly specialized products with a high margin production and rely more on product innovation and design instead of improvements in production technology and price competitiveness. Many small and medium sized companies are able to have major control over their market because they base themselves in small towns and rely on relationships with the community. This makes it difficult for large corporations to take their market share. Although Denmark has a significant amount of independent businesses that support its economy, it is highly dependent on foreign trade and international cooperation. Denmark is made up of a highly developed infrastructure, an advanced telecommunications system and a well-educated and stable workforce. Throughout all relevant levels of the workforce, English is spoken and written at an exceptionally good level. This is a very beneficial factor to the role that Denmark plays in the global market. Geographically, Denmark is in the perfect position for international trade. It is in the center of the Scandinavian countries and has easy access to the Northern and Eastern European countries. International surveys show that Denmark has top ratings in transportation, in all modes, energy, communications, and distribution systems. It is also highly rated in product quality, organizational quality, customer relations, credibility, and social responsibility. Denmark’s legal system is very similar to those of other European countries. Foreign business men may find some difficulty in legalities due to the use of civil law system and statutory law. Unlike the common law system used in countries such as the US, the Danish courts are not limited to the strict lettering of the law, but instead the purpose of the statute. This interpretation is also applied to private agreements. Compared to other countries, lobbying of the government is not as common and not as organized as in other countries. Usually, trade bodies will bring up issues to the government instead of individual persons or companies. The most common forms of companies used in Denmark are Public Limited Companies and Private Limited Companies. Denmark is known for having a high tax rate although when taking to account other costs of doing business (wages, benefits, cost of living, etc.) it balances out. The Danish tax regime relies heavily on direct taxes, such as taxes from labor, but there is little to no dependence on indirect taxes, such as social security and contributions from employers. Managing Interdependence Denmark is a significant player in the global market when it comes to social responsibility and ethics. It has the lowest rate of corruption of any other countries in the European Union. It also has very strict government regulations and very beneficial reasons to be socially responsible. Since the 1970’s, Danish environmental law has developed as part of public, private and European Community law. The National Agency for Environmental Protection, the National Forest and Nature Agency and the Department of Planning all make up the Ministry of the Environment. The have local and regional councils which are elected by the public and are responsible for environmental and planning procedures that conform to local wishes. Denmark is one of the few countries that have several kinds of green fees and green taxes. This is to motivate companies to use cleaner technologies, resource management, and/or environmental audit and management schemes. In 2008, Danish parliament passed a bill that forces large corporations to report on their corporate social responsibility (CSR) on their annual report. The Danish companies that have engaged in CSR have reported that it has had a positive effect on the companies. They claim that while it is flexible, it does bring up some legal burdens on them. It is the belief of the Danish government that the legal requirement marks the starting point for increased reporting on CSR, and in the forthcoming years the government intends to encourage progress and improvement of Danish businesses’ CSR work and reporting. Upon this laws implementation, 1100 companies were required to report CSR on their next annual reports. According to the 2009 reports, 89% of the required companies complied and 3% did not comply (8% complied by default because of being a subsidiary of a company that complied). The most common form of CSR among Danish companies related to environmental and climate issues. According to International Management, by Helen Deresky, Denmark is tied for the number one spot for the country with the least amount of corruption. This is because the Danish culture has a much more direct approach to business practices. They prefer openness and honesty, which sometimes seems rude to foreigners. It is clear to see that Denmark is ahead of almost all other countries in being Socially Responsible and having sound business ethics. For a new company, good ethics and social responsibility can be a make-it or break-it issue for a company. In one aspect, these issues can cost the company money. When just beginning, you should try to get your costs to be as low as possible. On the other hand, being viewed as an ethical company and by being socially responsible you improve the image and branding of the company. That will give the public a better perception of the company and can increase the demand for your product. Fortunately, in Denmark, only large companies are legally required to report their activities relating to social responsibility. While it would be a smart choice to make, not having to spend money on social responsibility during the beginning phases of the company will allow ease for penetrating the market and will allow us to be more socially responsible in the future. Overall, Denmark’s cost of doing business is about the same, if not lower than other countries, and the benefits of doing business in that country are much more significant. As long as our company helps locals and abides by their cultures and their rules, then the company should be very successful. Understanding the Role of Culture Before we can truly consider starting our business in Denmark, we need to understand the culture of the area. The viability of the economy, the labor market, the work environment, are all crucial to our success overseas. Taking the time to build a cultural profile of Denmark can help International Jean understand how to transition our business, and our expatriates to a very new experience. We begin our cultural profile by looking at the Government and Economic systems of Denmark. The politics of Denmark could best be described as a â€Å"Social Democracy† Though they do have a constitutional monarchy, like England it is a mostly ceremonial position. Elections occur democratically, similar to the United States without the Electoral College, which leads to a more direct representation of democracy. There are very low levels of corruption, not just in Denmark but in the entirety of the surrounding Nordic countries. As far as picking a market to operate out of, Denmark is a very excellent selection. Denmark has a prosperous, well-developed mixed market economy, ranking 16th in the world in terms of GDP (PPP) per capita. They use the Nordic Model, which is a version of what is traditionally called a â€Å"welfare state† The Nordic Model differs from other welfare states with an emphasis on maximizing labor force participation, promoting wage and gender equality, and a large amount of wealth distribution. A so called â€Å"welfare state† goes hand in hand with wealth distribution, citizens can count on monetary support during periods of unemployment and on welfare. The redistribution of wealth goes towards many societal needs, which will be explained further. Furthering supporting our transition, Denmark features low barriers to free trade, as well as little product market regulation. In fact, according to OECD rankings, Denmark has one of the highest ratings as far as product market freedom is concerned. We will be able to easily enter into this market, and will have a lot of freedom in regards to product selection, as well as advertising and marketing. This plays into the next few sections of our cultural profile: Kinship and attitudes towards leisure and recreation. Denmark, similar to most of the Nordic region, is one of the most liberal nations in Europe. They have an open attitude towards sex, nudity, and freedom of expression. As you walk around cities in Denmark, you can find advertising that features risquà © situations, and even cursing. The people of Denmark tend to have a darker sense of humor than what we’re acclimated to here in the United States, and often find ways to poke fun even at traditionally somber topics like death. Though we should be careful of how we utilize humor, both in our advertisements and in our work environment. Though good natured, citizens here tend to intensely dislike any joking at the expense of Denmark and its culture, particularly from outsiders. They are very proud of their country, and their family units reflect this. Families in Denmark are traditionally tight, well-knit units, who enjoy a good quality of life. They tend to live a relaxed lifestyle with a focus on family and friends. Bicycles are one of the predominant ways to travel around, especially in bigger cities like Copenhagen. We come to a big difference between the United States and Denmark, in terms of the attitude towards work. Whereas most Americans â€Å"work to live†, in Denmark the opposite is true. The Danish are taught from an early age to choose a profession that they would enjoy working, as opposed to a job taken out of financial necessity. This is reflected on Denmark’s scores in G.L.O.B.E/ Hofstede cultural dimension rankings in â€Å"masculinity†, which are very low, as well as â€Å"Uncertainty Avoidance† also being low. This is partly due to the fact that most of the labor market is a part of Trade Unions, as of 2008 Denmark had 67.6% labor union density. There is a partnership between employers, trade unions and the government, whereby these social partners negotiate the terms to regulating the workplace among themselves, rather than the terms being imposed by law. As we transition, we will need to make contact with these unions, and work closely with them to come up with rules and regulations for International Jeans that work for the native population. Another workplace difference is in the amount of work per week and the vacation time allotted. The Danish work an average of 37 hours a week, generally calling it a day around 4pm local time. Expatriates should be made aware that the Danish are not impressed with managers that work 50-60 hours a week. As mentioned previously, they believe in a balance between work and life, and would view those who worked considerably more hours to be less efficient at their jobs. In the United States, there are no laws concerning paid vacations or time off. To contrast, in Denmark paid time off is actually mandated by law. The Danish usually receive a minimum of 5 weeks of vacation, plus national holidays. These are factors we need to consider when hiring local workers. Other characteristics of the Danish work environment include high job mobility, as employees and managers are encouraged to take risks and make decisions that a more conservative American manager might not make. In general, Danish company activities are less structured and less formal, which is reflected again by the low score in the â€Å"Uncertainty Avoidance† category. There is a low level of Assertiveness on the Hofstede scale, as the strength of unions and the desire of the Danish to care about their work come together to make a highly productive and group oriented workplace. We would do well to hire a lot of local talent immediately. We mentioned the large amount of wealth distribution earlier. Denmark ranks highly on the Collectivism scale. Being a social welfare economy, much of that money is poured into both the Educational system as well as Healthcare. The Danish education system provides access to primary school, secondary school and higher education. All university education in Denmark is free; there are no tuition fees to enroll in courses. Danish universities and other higher education institutions offer international students a range of opportunities for obtaining an internationally recognized qualification in Denmark, and many classes are taught in English. Our company should take advantage of this when looking to hire. In addition to free education, there is also Universal Healthcare for all Danish citizens, paid primarily by taxes. Denmark spends 9.8% of GDP on healthcare. The life expectancy in Denmark is 78.6 years, and there is one doctor for every 294 persons in Denmark. It should be noted, that these social services also leads to a high tax rate for Danish citizens, hovering near 48-49% Communicating Across Cultures As we work towards bringing International Jean Co. to Denmark, we need to be aware of the similarities and differences in the way our two countries communicate. The characteristics of that communication, and the interplay between American expatriates and Danish locals will determine how well our new company will function as an overseas entity. We will begin by looking at native language, as well as the amount of English saturation in Denmark. The native language of Denmark is Danish, with other regional languages such as Faroese, Greenlandic, and German officially recognized. In selecting expatriates, we should look to be choosing managers that are able to speak Danish, or willing to quickly learn. However, we shouldn’t feel like the ability to speak the language is mandatory for expatriates. One of the great aspects of setting up our business in Denmark is that there is a very high proportion of Danish citizens who speak English. In the educational system, it is taught as the primary foreign language. English will be spoken and written well by all relevant levels of the workforce. This is further demonstrated by the fact that many commercials and advertisements, as well as trademarks, are used directly in Denmark without translation. The people of Denmark are, generally speaking, friendly but blunt in their speech with one another. Concerning Hofstede dimensions, they rank very highly in the â€Å"Humane† category. They tend to shy away from confrontation, so our expatriates are going to need to tread softly when it comes to moment of direct communication regarding mistakes or problems. Direct debate is encouraged, but keeping confrontational phrasing out of it is important. The Danish tend to be very plain speaking when communicating, which can be mistaken for rudeness in other cultures. Our managers need to be aware of this, so they know that they aren’t necessarily being insulted when talking about work issues. Like the United States, Denmark is a â€Å"low-context† culture. They tend to be direct and explicit when communicating among one another, and tend not to rely on non-verbal communication. They prefer to have direct conversations, either by phone or face-to-face, though increasingly more electronic communication has taken over. Also like the United States, Denmark is also considered a â€Å"low-contact† culture. They prefer a minimum of an arm’s length of personal space, and do not enjoy overly aggressive physical contact. Body language is very restricted, which can make interpreting responses and feedback difficult. Time is another major factor that we as Americans have in common with Denmark. The Danish follow a monochronic time system, which is more linear in structure as compared to polychronic time. Those practicing monochromic time, such as the Danish, tend to complete tasks one at a time as well as adhere to a stricter schedule. We also share similar views on proxemics, or proximity. The Danish see larger offices and more space as reflective of having more power and esteem. The United States and Denmark have a surprising amount of similarities in how we communicate, both in regards to interpersonal communication as well as in a work environment. This should greatly aid International Jean Co. in a smooth transition from the United States to Denmark. Cross-Cultural Negotiation and Decision Making The Negotiation Process: Danish people of business are usually very experienced in interacting and doing business with visitors from other cultures. They pride themselves on their Danish culture and tend to sometimes not be very open to information or assistance from the outside. Similar to many other countries, people of Denmark shake hands upon meeting. This is also the case when departing. It is good to familiarize yourself with the Danish culture before going in full steam. The Danish official language resembles Swedish and Norwegian, and shares a few commonalities with German, but DO NOT remark or even assume that they are similar. Most businessmen and women in Denmark speak English well, but it is recommended to stay away from using jargon and slang. Danes like to leave space between themselves when interacting, so be aware of other’s personal space and try not to be too touchy-feely. They usually speak in quiet, gentle tones and interrupting is considered rude. Danes usually do not openly show their emotions. Come well prepared! The Danes are meticulous when it comes to analyzing information and proposals. Know your information and bring in copies for your Danish counterpart to examine. Everything should be well organized and do not steer off topic; straight and to the point. Business relationships are often only fairly important in the country, and are typically not a needed requirement for initial business interactions. Just like your goal is to get to know one’s contacts in a host country and build mutual trust before embarking on business discussion and transaction, your counterpart is also trying to learn about you. Danes are cautious and appear to be reserved and proceed slow. Once the trust is well known, there will be a sense of allegiance to you as a respected business partner. Denmark is a democratic and understanding country. It can be cohesive to criticize other people or systems. Bosses are expected to be team leaders rather than private decision-makers. In the country’s business culture, the respect a person takes pleasure in depends mainly on his or her achievements. Well-liked personal traits include individual initiative, knowledge, and expertise. To the Danes, negotiation is a joint problem solving process and the buyer and seller in a deal are equal partners. The primary negotiation style is cooperative and they believe in the concept win-win. It is strongly advisable to avoid any open disagreement and to remain calm, friendly, patient, and determined. The Danish believe in information sharing as a way to build trust with their counterparts but this doesn’t mean that they are going to say everything. A good part of the communication may be in writing, which Danes often prefer. They move through things rather quick and are less observant over detail. They strive to conclude negotiations quickly but this does not mean they will readily accept unfavorable terms. Danes do not like bargaining or haggling such that they do not appreciate aggressive sales techniques. They do prefer negotiating in a straightforward and honest style and may use pressure techniques. When persuading your counterpart avoid aggressive tactics and negotiating with the Danish. If confronted, they will not shy away, but this is almost guaranteed to deteriorate your bargaining position rather than strengthen it. It can also eliminate your relationship. Although a verbal agreement can be considered binding and will most likely be kept, do not consider them final. Only a contract that is signed by the two parties makes up a binding agreement. Written contracts are a serious matter in Denmark. It is best to keep them concise without including too many legalistic details. Signing the contract not only shows your commitment but a strong confirmation of your Danish partners’ commitment also. Works Cited Brunson, Winnon â€Å"Cultural Perspective: A Year in Denmark† 2008 â€Å"Danish Communication Styles† 2012 â€Å"ET Ã…R I KØBENHAVN: FOLKESUNDHED OG KULTUR† 2011 â€Å"The Monarchy today† – The Danish Monarchy 16, June 2012 â€Å"ETLA: The Nordic Model† â€Å"The Nordic Model† Nordic Labour Journal: In Focus. 2001 â€Å"Business Negotiations in Denmark† â€Å"Business Etiquette in Denmark† â€Å"Negotiating International Business – The Negotiator’s Reference Guide to 50 Countries Around the World† Katz, Lothar. 2007 â€Å"Doing Business in Denmark† Kroman, Reumart. 11 February, 2005.