Wednesday, July 31, 2019

Every child is special Essay

Every child is special. Every child has its own personality. Every child tries to endeavor and focus best in its life. Primarily, every child has its own dreams. But the main factor to ponder is, for us to understand his/her dreams. And the truth is, we lack stability, patience and understanding as far as the child is concern. The movie, Every Child Is Special, was about a certain child named Ishaan Awasthi. Ishaan was a talented child; he can think outside the box and paint with such passion and creativity. But he was not understood by his teachers, he was only thought of as a mischievous and a very naughty boy. He was often called an â€Å"idiot, duffer, lazy and crazy†, even his parents didn’t understand him. They only thought that the boy was misbehaving because he did not want to go to school. It is perhaps the structure and restrictions of the normal expectations of the school system that rub him the wrong way, because one day, after having been punished by being sent by the teacher to stand in the hallway, he goes AWOL and wanders the streets, savoring the exciting sights of tourist-film India. He appears to be somewhat hyperactive. If his parents attempted to have him tested, it may be that he never sat still long enough to get a diagnosis. After finding out that Ishaan will be kicked out of school after the school year, his parents decided to send him to a boarding school where Ishaan suffered more from his strict teachers. These incidents crushed Ishaan’s confidence in him and he became depressed, very depressed. He did not speak to anyone, not even to his mother or his brother. No one would even try to help him because they did not try to understand him. Luckily he met Ram Shankar Nikumbh, the temporary art teacher, saw himself in Ishaan, he stayed persistent to help Ishaan in his studies and his life. Through his unconventional teaching methods and graceful presence, Ishaan’s attention was caught up. Ram did everything to understand Ishaan’s problem in reading and writing, he consulted Ishaan’s parents and told them that Ishaan has dyslexia, wherein he finds it hard to recognize letters and numbers. I love where he tells Ishaan’s father that in the Solomon Islands, villagers don’t chop down a tree when they want to clear land, but curse and hurl abuses at it, and the tree withers and dies soon after. Ram helped Ishaan in every way, first he gave Ishaan a confidence boost so that he will not be afraid to express  himself, and then, he also gave Ishaan lessons in writing, reading and in math. Ram taught Ishaan using different methods, he made learning fun by applying games to his lessons. Gradually, Ishaan begun to improve in his studies, he has now little trouble in reading, he can right properly and can solve math problems. Teaching should not only be done in one way, we should use different ways to teach our students because each and every one of us has a unique and special talent. It is also good to understand the needs of our students, let them be free – free to imagine, free to learn in their own special way. Listen to your students opinions and learn from it. Somehow the movie touched in an exceptional way and it broke my heart seeing that the dear people that child thought would understand him were the very ones who judged him and failed to understand his problem. But I cannot really judge the parents though, all they wanted was the best for their child that is why they tried so hard to push him and discipline him at the same time. It tug the heartstrings and at the same time gives hope that having dyslexia is not a desperate and in hopeless situation. To help the students, family support, teacher’s patience and love is needed, so with the interesting and enjoyable teaching and learning strategies should be employed. The theory of multiple intelligences in education plays an important role here and that can be a vessel in informing the teachers and most importantly the parents for them to assist their children. With time, patience and care, he ultimately helps Ishaan find himself and the harsh father realized his child’s wo rth and needs.

Tuesday, July 30, 2019

Project Plan- Risk and Quality Requirements Essay

IT Project Plan IT projects are complex in nature. A proper plan gives not only maps the elements of the project but also ensures that the progress of project is going in the desired direction. In other terms, a project plan reduces the risk of project failure or over runs and improves the quality of the project. Project plan is the initial step in executing the project management. Project management strives to meet the expectations of the project stakeholders in terms of cost, quality, delivery and operations.   Project management is a crucial process that involves, people, process, price, infrastructure and cost. Project management should balance the interests of different stakeholders of the project like Project team members, management of the working group, client parameters, industry practices and the budget restrictions. In IT industry, it becomes the responsibility of project manager to look after the co-ordination of the above aspects. Project plan becomes an essential helping tool to the project management in directing the project requirements to the people and system. The project plan aligns the activities with the project life cycle and gives visibility to different phases of the project. IT will be like indicating the stakeholders of the project like client and project team to act upon the different activities of the project like, development, testing, rollout, training and implementation. The project plan is developed in connection with Organizational plan, Risk plan, Cost plan, Test plan, Roll out plan, Quality plan, Maintenance plan etc., So it is evident that Risk identification and Quality parameters act as forecasters for the project phase activities and does have a great significance in the successful implementation. However project plan includes the The Project Plan provides complete overview on how and when a project’s objectives are to be achieved, by expressing different activities to resources to achieve targets at different milestones The major elements of the project plan are as following: Description of the project or an over view of the project plan. Project specifications and requirements of the client Project Initiation plan and requirements in terms of technology, budget and people Project dependencies- external, internal Project milestones like Analysis, design, development, testing, implementation and training Identification and specification of project assumptions like availability of resources, technical inputs, skills and competency requirements. Project plan with work break down structure through Gantt chart or bar chart and control points at different levels. Project level activity specifications for different stakeholders like client team,, analysis team, design team etc., Project level resource specifications Project budget and cost plan Project tolerance, through put and capacity in terms of users and boundaries Technology to be implemented with constrains and rationale for the usage. Network contingency plans and infrastructure layout plans to be required for the project work out Risk identification and risk tolerance specifications of he system Quality framework under which the project is expected to execute Risk Risk can be termed as the possible loss or damage to a process. Risk identification is the estimation of possible potential dangers that can occur or hinder the progress of the project.   Risk in IT project management is a major component to consider even before the project execution, as the unidentified risks not only obstruct the progress but also may turn the entire project into loss. A risk will have a probability something above 0%.   And there is an identified chance to happen, which other wise is not a risk. So a deliberate approach to identify and mitigate the risks is highly appreciable from the project learning from decades. According to Dr. Barry W. Boehm, (as cited in kjordan) the top 10 identified software risks are as follows: Personal Shortfalls in perception of risk and resources Unrealistic schedules and budgets Developing the wrong functions and properties Developing the wrong user interface Gold-plating Continuing stream of requirements changes Shortfalls in externally furnished components Shortfalls in externally performed tasks Real-time performance shortfalls Straining computer-science capabilities So, IT projects do have a risk management process that is expressed through the risk management plan. The risk management plan contains the four major areas to observe in the plan: Risk Identification: The project manager or risk management personnel will identify the possible potential threats to the project management before well in advance. Eg; Shortage of workforce due to the withdrawal of people from the team; this can be from different reasons like, maternity leave, transfers to other projects or contract termination etc., Risk Quantification: The risk identified should be quantifiable, other wise which it is will not be of much useful. Eg; What percentage of people are going to be placed on another major project or percentage of testers that may not be available on project A. Risk Response: The consequences of risk should be specified, in the sense, sometimes the system may be less altered with certain types of risks. With this, the low response of system indicates and attributes the risk as a less priority risk. And the risks that may cause major alterations to the process will be given high priority by the project plan to address them and mitigate them. Risk Monitoring and Control: Risk monitoring and controlling involves the risk mitigation tools and practices for the easy execution of the project. Eg: Training the new people to fill the gaps on attrition by the time they leave or to be transferred from the current project process. The common risk scenarios in IT projects are as follows: Schedule Risk This is the highly possible risks in IT projects, when projects over run with scheduled times or slip the release schedules or the client priorities and queries are not answered Schedule risks alters the project phases and disturbs many dependencies. Other project dependencies like testing schedules, release schedules and infrastructure costing etc., can be altered and result in excessive costing and   losses. Schedule risk can happened due to the following reasons: Inappropriate or wrong project time estimation Poor tracking and monitoring of work break down plan with the resources. Over estimation of system functionality and through put. Eg: When the existing system support only 50 resources to work, scheduling of 60 or 65 may result in non availability of proper infrastructure. Wrong estimation of effort or skills. Eg: the project with low skilled work force or low effort estimation may take much time compared with the scenario of experienced people on task. Failure to specify or identify complex functionalities or requirements that emerge and become stumbling blocks for the progress execution, takes longer time to resolve and them to continue with the projected phases. Unexpected project scope expansions: These can happen due to the poor business analysis and feasibility guidelines. Budget Risk All the above schedule risks can ultimately result in increase in resource cost. In addition to this, the following at the initial project plan phase also result in budget risks Wrong budget estimation: When the cost of resources is going to be increased in future, adaptation of old compensation rates will ask for more funds to meet the project execution after some time. Cost overruns: These will arise when the project activities are not aligning with the planned activities Project scope expansion: Wrong specification of requirement may lead to extra budgets.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Eg:   Some IT projects fail to define the project scope very specifically in terms of design,   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   development, training (on site), installation, maintenance, and support. A project that fails   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   to differentiate between on site training support and training support through   Ã‚  Ã‚   documentation like user guide and admin guide has to face a situation in which the   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   company has to bear the traveling and expenses of training resource when on-site training   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   is demanded in the last moment. Operational Risks Operational risks arises due to non specification of appropriate project methodology and non implementation of project processes like daily meetings (scrums), communication reports, Change requirement reports. Such risks will again result in over runs in operational schedules and results in high costs. Some causes of Operational risks are as follows: Failure to address priority conflicts: when tasks and conflicts are not nor prioritized, people sit on unnecessary or low priority tasks resulting the operational delays. Failure to resolve the responsibilities: The non-defined roles and responsibilities work on the similar operations or raise conflicts at some point of time in the operations. Insufficient resources : A project with in sufficient resources may execute poor operational performance and may result in operational delay.   No proper subject training : When the project stakeholders are not given project training at consecutive levels, there will be no direction and clarity in the project operations.   No resource planning : If the resource allocation is not properly planned, conflict arises between the different activities of the system   No communication in team: poor communication is the major hindrance for smooth project execution. Excessive communication and less communication will also alter the project schedules. Non -defining the desired level and form of communication hampers the information flow . eg: Non-maintenance of Change request forms from the client may result in wastage of work on the old configuration of modules by the developers and may result in project over runs. Technical risks Technical risks are the most unidentified risks with great damage and result in failure of functionality and performance. The causes of technical risks are: Continuous changing requirements: The initial technical specifications may require different technology platform to the technology that is appropriate for the recently added requirements Poor suggestion of technology: Lack of technical expertise of resources may result in compatibility problems. Some advanced features that may not be ready by the time of release, or that may not be compatible with the already developed functionalities will hamper the project execution. Product is complex to implement: When the product development is too complex and there is a dearth of skill and expertise in the market, the project needs to suffer delay or failure. Difficult project modules integration: When different modules are products are to be integrated, incompatibility problem arises between them that result in re work or failure. External Risks    These are the external risks beyond the boundaries of project management. These are all uncertain and may result of the following: Shortage of fund. Market Changes: Transferred demand Changing customer product strategy and priority Government rule changes. Quality Requirements of Project Quality refers to the delivery of projects and products that meet the expectations of all the stakeholders. A project that may meet all the specification of the client, but may over run the project schedule is not termed as a quality project, as it has resulted in extra cost to the management. So in order to bring down the risk, IT projects adopt different Quality models. For example Software design and development projects adopt quality models like CMMI, ISO, BSI, etc., he quality model frames a risk management plan and ensures the system to adhere to the planned project activities until the successful implementation. Usually the quality models identify some risk areas and constantly work on controlling the risk areas. The parameters that are commonly observed by different Quality models for IT systems are as follows: Correctness, Reliability, Integrity, Usability, Efficiency, Maintainability, Testability, Interoperability, Flexibility, Reusability, Portability, Clarity, Modifiability, Documentation, Schedule, Validity, Functionality, Generality and Economy. The quality management department or manager will ensure the project that it is being executed properly as per the plan. All the stakeholders monitor the project activities according to the quality parameters and control the error or risk as per the risk mitigation guidelines. Project Quality Plan defines the expectation of the stakeholders in terms of project specifications, schedule time, technology inputs, dependencies etc., and also maps the process to ensure the system to balance. A Project Quality management supports the following through quality plans and system guidelines: Defining organizational and project level quality objectives and parameters Customer requirements and expectations in terms of functionality, delivery Acceptance criteria of the IT product, which is a prioritized list of criteria for the customer to accept the final product. Roles and responsibilities of Quality management team. Functionality boundaries of the project quality system Reference to Industry practices or standards to be met The quality-control and audit processes to be applied to project management Quality-control and audit process parameters and requirements Change management procedures in case of scope change in project Configuration management plan Validation and verification controls Quality control and Assurance plan and procedures By adopting quality monitoring procedures Defining test lab procedures like- test documentation, testing resources, Test cases, scenarios, error logs and other testing documentation Metrics for quality analysis System guidelines for quality management procedures Maintenance of configuration management and change control requirements Conclusion For the Successful IT Project implementation, the project plan must address the risk issues and Quality requirements to mitigate the risk issues. Effective project planning, quality control, and monitoring will ensure the quality assurance of the project mitigating the identified risks. References Elizabeth and Richard Larson, How to Create a Clear Project Plan, Retrieved February 2,   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   2008 from www.projectmanagement.ittoolbox.com/documents/industry-articles/how-to–  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   create-a-clear-project-plan-844 – 26k – EPA Requirements for Quality Assurance Project Plans (EPA QA/R-5), Retrieved February   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   2, 2008 from http://www.epa.gov/QUALITY/qs-docs/r5-final.pdf kjordan, Introduction to Software Risk & Risk Management, Retrieved February 2,2008   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   from   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   http://baz.com/kjordan/swse625/intro.html Hyatt & L. Rosenberg, A Software Quality Model and Metrics for Identifying Project Risks and Assessing Software Quality, http://satc.gsfc.nasa.gov/support/STC_APR96/qualtiy/stc_qual.html Project Management Planning, Retrieved February 2, 2008 from   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   http://www.cio.ca.gov/itpolicy/pdf/PM3.2_Planning_Process_and_Plan.pdf Project Quality Plan , Retrieved February 2, 2008 from   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   http://www.ogc.gov.uk/documentation_and_templates_project_quality_plan.asp Project plan, Retrieved February 2, 2008 from   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   http://www.ogc.gov.uk/documentation_and_templates_project_plan_.asp QUALITY ASSURANCE PROJECT PLAN REQUIREMENTS, Retrieved February 2,   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   2008   Ã‚   from     Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   http://www.wipp.energy.gov/library/CRA/BaselineTool/Documents/Appendices/  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   WAP%  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   2010.PDF Quality Assurance Planning, Retrieved February 2, 2008 from   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   http://www.chesapeakebay.net/info/qa_planning.cfm Risk management strategy, Retrieved February 2, 2008 from   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   http://www.ogc.gov.uk/documentation_and_templates_risk_management_strateg  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   y_.asp Risk management framework, Retrieved February 2, 2008 from   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   http://www.ogc.gov.uk/documentation_and_templates_risk_management_framew  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   ork_.as p Risk management strategy, Retrieved February 2, 2008 from   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   http://www.ogc.gov.uk/documentation_and_templates_risk_management_strateg  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   y_.asp Risk log (risk register) Retrieved February 2, 2008 from   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   http://www.ogc.gov.uk/documentation_and_templates_risk_log_risk_register.asp Types of Risks in Software Projects, Retrieved February 2, 2008 from   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   http://www.softwaretestinghelp.com/types-of-risks-in-software-projects/   

Monday, July 29, 2019

AP Euro Notes on Renaissance

AP Euro Notes on Renaissance Essay The balance of power among the Italian associates 1 . Italy had no political unity; it was divided into associates such as Milan, Venice, and Florence, the Papal States, and a kingdom of Naples in the south. 2. The political and economic competition among the associates prevented centralization of power. 3. Shifting alliances among the associates led to the creation of permanent ambassadors. 4. After 1494 a divided Italy became a European battleground. Intellectual hallmarks of the Renaissance A. Many, like the poet and humanist Patriarch, saw the fourteenth century as a new olden age and a revival of ancient Roman culture. B. Individualism 1 . Literature specifically concerned with the nature of individuality emerged. 2. Renaissance people believed in individual will and genius. C. Humanism 1 . Italians collected ancient manuscripts and monuments, and copied the ancient Roman lifestyle. 2. The study of the classics led to humanism, an emphasis on human beings. A. Humanists sought to understand human nature through a study of pagan and classical authors and Christian thought. B. The humanist writer Pico Della Miranda believed that there were no limits to what human beings could accomplish. . Ancient Latin style was considered superior to medieval Latin. D. Secular spirit 1 . Secularism means a concern with materialism rather than religion. 2. Unlike medieval people, Renaissance people were concerned with money and pleasure. A. In On Pleasure, Lorenz Villa defended the pleasure of the senses as the highest good. B. In the Dodecahedron, Vacation portrayed an acquisitive and worldly society. 3. The church did little to combat secularism; in fact, many popes were Renaissance patrons and participantsand the church even gave up its opposition to usury. Art and artists achievements, led by Florence and Rome. B. Art and power 1 . In the early Renaissance, powerful urban groups commissioned works of art, which remained overwhelmingly religious. 2. In the later fifteenth century, individuals and oligarchs began to sponsor works of art as a means of glorifications. 3. Wealthy people began to spend less on warfare and more on art and architecture. A. At first the bed chamber room was the most important, but later many other rooms were even more decorated. B. The homes private chapel was the most elaborate and expensive. 4. As the century advanced, art became more and more secular, and lassie subjects became popular. A. The style of art changed in the fifteenth century. B. The individual portrait emerged as a distinct genre. C. Painting and sculpture became more naturalistic and realistic, and the human body was glorified, as in the work of the sculptors Donated and Michelangelo. D. A new international style emphasized color, decorative detail, and curvilinear rhythms. E. In painting, the use of perspective was pioneered by Brucellosis and Della Francesca. C. The status of the artist 1 . The status of the artist improved during the Renaissance; most work was done by commission from a prince. . The creative genius of the artist was recognized and rewarded. 3. The Renaissance was largely an elitist movement; Renaissance culture did not directly affect the middle classes or the urban working class. 0 Social change of the Renaissance A. Education and political thought 1 . Humanists were interested in education, particularly the training of rulers, and moral behavior. A. Verger wrote a treatise on education that stressed the teaching of history, ethics, and rhetoric (public speaking). B. Castigations The Courtier, which was widely read, described the model Renaissance gentleman as a man of many Allens, including intellectual and artistic skills. C. Machiavellian The Prince described how to acquire, maintain, and increase political power. D. Machiavelli believed that the politician should manipulate people and use any means to gain power. E. Machiavelli did not advocate amoral behavior but believed that political action cannot be governed by moral considerations. B. The printed word 1. The invention in 1455 of movable type by Gutenberg, Fuss, and Such ¶offer made possible the printing of a wide variety of texts. . Printing transformed the lives of Europeans by making propaganda possible, encouraging a wider common identity, ND improving literacy. C. Clocks 1. By about 1320 some Europeans had learned how to quantify time by use of the mechanical clockmeaning bells. 2. Clocks were important for understanding and controlling urban-economic life. D. Women and work in R enaissance society 1 . Most women married, were responsible for domestic affairs, and frequently worked outside the home. 2. Women worked in ship building, textiles, agriculture, as well as midwives and servants. 3. READ: renaissance/sonnet study guideCompared to women in the previous age, the status of uppercases women declined during the Renaissance. 4.. The Renaissance did not include women in the general improvement of educational opportunities. Women were expected to use their education solely to run a household. E. Culture and 1 . With respect to sex and love, a double standard was applied as sex for women was restricted to marriage, while men could pursue sex outside of marriage. 2. The rape of women by uppercases men was frequent and not considered a serious offense. 3. Sex crimes occurred and were punished, but women appear to be victims in fewer cases than earlier. . Homosexual practice appears to have been common, particularly based on relationship between men and boys. 5. Some of this sexual activity seems to have evolved out of social-community needs of men. 6. The frequency of anti-sodomys laws in the fifteenth century suggests that homosexuality was widespread, difficult to out law, and important in shaping masculine gender identity. F. Blacks and ethnicity in Renaissance society 1 . Enslavement of Slavic peoples in eastern Europe was commonas Germans and others enslaved and/or sold Polish and Bohemian people. 2. Italians brought many white slaves to Europe by way of the Mediterranean. 3. Beginning in the fifteenth century, black slaves were brought into Europe in large numbers. 4. Black slavery in Europe appears to have been less harsh than that in America. 5. Some black rulers in Africa adopted a European lifestyle and participated in selling their black people into European slavery. 6. Africans, in fact, were of different ethnic groups and thus biracial. 7. Blacks as slaves and freemen filled a variety of positions, from laborers to dancers and actors and musicians. 8. The European attitude toward blacks was ambivalentblackness symbolized both evil and humility. 9. In the Renaissance, blacks were displayed as signs of wealth. 0 The Renaissance in the north began in the last quarter of the fifteenth century. A. It was more Christian than the Renaissance in Italy, and it stressed social reform based on Christian ideals. B. Christian humanists sought to create a more perfect world by combining the best elements of classical and Christian cultures. 1. Humanists like Left ©ever believed in the use of the Bible by common people. 2. Thomas More, the author of Utopia, believed that society, not people, needed improving. A. More was a Christian lawyer and minister of King Henry VIII. B. His Utopia was a socialistic society based on common ownership and social equality. 3. The Dutch monk Erasmus best represents Christian animus in his emphasis on education as the key to a moral and intellectual improvement and inner Christianity. C. The stories of the French humanist Rabbles were distinctly secular but still had a serious purpose. 1. Like More, Rabbles believed that institutions molded individuals and that education was the key to moral life. . His books on the adventures of Gargantuan and Pentagonal were spoofs on French social life. D. Northern art and architecture were more religious than in Italy and less influenced by classical themes and motifs. 1. Van Check painted realistic works with attention to human personality. 2. Busch used religion and folk legends as themes. 3. The city halls of northern Europe were grand architectural monuments. 0 Politics and the state in the Renaissance (ca. 1450-1521) A. Afterburners rulers began the process of order through centralization of power. 1. The result was the rise of many powerful and ruthless rulers interested in the centralization of power and the elimination of disorder and violence. 2. Many of them, such as Louis XSL of France, Henry VII of England, and Ferdinand and Isabella of Spain, seemed to be acting according to Machiavellian principles. 3. These monarchs invested kingship with a monarchs were not entirely originalsome of them had their roots in the Middle Ages. 5. The ideas of the new monarchs were not entirely originalsome of them had their roots in the Middle Ages. B. France after the Hundred Years War 1 . READ: Humanism in Renaissance Art EssayCharles VII ushered in an age of recovery and ended civil war. A. He expelled the English, reorganized the royal council, strengthened royal finances, reformed the justice system, and remodeled the army. B. He made the church subject to the state. 2. Louis XSL expanded the French state and laid the foundations of later French absolutism. C. England also suffered from disorder. . Feudal lords controlled the royal council and Parliament in the fifteenth century. 2. Between 1455 and 1471, the houses of York and Lancaster fought a civil war called the Wars of the Roses that hurt trade, agriculture, and domestic industry. . Edward IV and his followers began to restore royal power, avoided expensive war, and reduced their reliance on Parliament for funds. 4. The English Parliament had become a power center for the aristocracy but was manipulated by Henry VII into becoming a tool of the king. 5. Henry VII used the royal council and the court of Star Chamber to check aristocratic power. 6. Henry VII and his successors won the support of the upper middle class promoting their interest in money, trade, and stability. D. Spain turned against its own cultural diversity 1 . The reconstitutes was the centurions attempt to unite Spain and expel Muslims and Jews. 2. The marriage of Ferdinand and Isabella was the last major step in the unification and Christianization of Spain. A. Under their reign, however, Spain remained a loose confederation of separate states. B. They used the harnessed, or local police forces, to administer royal Justice. 3. Ferdinand and Isabella restructured the royal council to curb aristocratic power. . The church was also used to strengthen royal authority. 5. Ferdinand and Isabella completed the reconstitutes in 1492, but many Jews remained because they aided royal power. A. Jews were often financiers and professionals; many (called converses) had converted but were still disliked and distrusted. B. Needing a scapegoat during the Black Death, Spanish mobs killed many Jews. C. Ferdinand and Isabella revived the Inquisition and used its cruel methods to unify Spain and expel the Jews. 6. Spanish Christians rejected converses on the basis of raceout of fear of converses taking over public offices. Most Jews fled from Spain.

Canadian criminal system of justice Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Canadian criminal system of justice - Essay Example The Criminal Code of Canada and other legislation laws such as the Criminal Justice for Youth Act, the Conditional Act and Correlation Release Act, as well as Canadian Rights and Freedoms Charter, offer the basis upon which the system of criminal justice functions, and so do United States Code of Criminal and other legislation pieces. In both nations, system of criminal justice offers an impartial crime response rather than the public taking criminal matters into their hands, (Boydell and Ingrid 82). Judicial independence is a precondition to justice is witnessed in American and Canadian systems of law. The two nations originates from the system of shared law, even though, they have diverse systems of justice. The judicial system of Canada is unified system all courts form the same system and the Canadian Supreme Court exercises the final authority all over the nation, (Kraska 42). Additionally, the United States has two distinct and sovereign systems of justice whereby the federal s ystem of justice imposes federal law and systems of the state ate powerful over the state law interpretation. Historically, racial, class and gender differences have pervaded the justice administration in United States and Canada. For instance, for crucial historical and political explanations, grounded on treaty claims and fiduciary role of the aboriginal peoples Crown, aboriginal people are excluded from administration policy purposes as an ethic group together with the immigrants and their people.

Sunday, July 28, 2019

A Feminist Examination of Pride and Prejudice Research Paper

A Feminist Examination of Pride and Prejudice - Research Paper Example Defining women in these terms has served to benefit men in all arenas, in the political, public, and private realms, while making this divide between the genders appear as a natural given that has always existed, throughout time. The ideology of gender has successfully placed women into a box, in which their voices are silenced, and their actions are rendered trivial, and thus invisible, or are highly scrutinized, and thus punished. However, the realization that the category of ‘woman’ is a social construction and not a biological imperative gave rise to a myriad of feminist theories that endeavored to locate and deconstruct â€Å"predominantly male cultural paradigms,† while salvaging women’s experiences from the wreckage of traditional historical and literary criticism that ignored, silenced and marginalized them (Green and Kahn 1). At the center of the male cultural paradigm is the power to create and recreate meaning from a male perspective, however unilateral or skewed it may be; de Beauvoir argues that the â€Å"representation of the world, like the world itself, is the work of men; they describe it from their own point of view, which they confuse with the absolute truth† (qtd. in MacKinnon 537). Men have used this power to name, and thus own, everything from the beginning of time; in the Genesis story of creation, not only was Eve created from Adam’s rib, she was also named by Adam, and accordingly, she became perceived as his property. This ability to create and recreate meaning is deeply entrenched in telling stories, most conventionally known as the writing of history, which has been dominated by men, who have written about men for men. Feminists have argued that, as a result of being able to write things into existence, men wield an uncontrollable amount of power to write the female body into a multitude of oppressed roles, and through systemic racism, sexist, heterosexism, and classicist domination, women have been

Saturday, July 27, 2019

Marketing Campaign for a Successful Product Launch Essay

Marketing Campaign for a Successful Product Launch - Essay Example In particular, this report focuses on the four promotional tools that were used that are public relation, direct marketing, promotions and advertising. The report seeks to inform the team about the appropriateness of the selected promotional tools in bringing about a successful marketing campaign. It also demonstrates how the selected promotional tools will be fully utilized in devising a creative mix of marketing activities suitable for a successful marketing campaign. 2.0 Introduction The marketing department of Nokia Company was tasked with devising the marketing campaign plan that would be used in ensuring that the two new Nokia brands sell well in South Africa and they proposed that the company utilize advertisements, sales promotion, direct marketing, and public relation as promotional tools (Awad 2004). Promotion is one of the elements in the marketing mix, and just like all the other elements, it deserves a lot of evaluation before being approved by the senior management team of a company (Armstrong & Kotler, 2012). ... The research aimed at establishing and identifying the characteristics of the target audience. This was done through observation and interviews. 4.0 Main Findings The team found out that i. Both Nokia Luminia 920 and 820 will appeal most to young customers who are particularly tech-savvy. ii. The company needs to come out with strategies that will make the prospective customers aware of the new Nokia phone models on the market: Nokia Luminia920 and 820. iii. The company needs to come up with promotional tools that can create interest in prospective customers. iv. The company needs to have promotional tools that will sustain client’s satisfaction during and after sales. It is out of this finding that the team settled on public relation, advertising, direct marketing, and sales promotion as appropriate promotional tool to be used. Armstrong and Kotler (2012) describe advertisement as a promotion technique whereby words, signs, or songs are used to create awareness among the audi ences about the product, service, or an upcoming event. In this case the two Nokia models would be advertised via popular South African radio and television stations, billboard and posters, internet, via popular sites such as face book and twitter. This is guide necessary because the target audience is the youth who are tech survy. Advertisement in this case, would also be appropriate because it will be able to create awareness amongst the mass audience by positioning a product in the mind of the audience and inform them about the advantages of Nokia Lumia 920 and 820 (ibid) . Wood (2010) support the use of advertisement as a promotional tool when he states that advertisements help in boosting consumer’s confidence

Friday, July 26, 2019

Fast food sector Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3500 words

Fast food sector - Essay Example Having taken advantage of the economic growth, the organization has expanded phenomenally and has presence in virtually every country in the world (Orji, 2005). Their business model too is unique as their restaurants are owned and operated by local people in the country of presence. In mature and developed markets, however, they have company-owned restaurants. The key to McDonald's success is the use of franchising. McDonald's however, has reached the saturation point in their home market – the US – and hence started looking for overseas opportunities. The growth in the US has been slow but in the other markets it is leading. There still exists high potential in the developing countries but they need to realign their strategies. McDonald's wanted to create a multi brand corporation and hence invested in other brands such as Piles Cafe, Boston Market, Pret a Manager (Orji, 2005). They also had a majority stake in had a majority stake in Chiptole Mexican Grill and owned D onatos Pizza for several years. Their idea was to offer healthier options and compete with the fast casual sector. McDonald's has been reeling under difficult times as the global economy worsens. Consumer lifestyles, preferences and tastes have changed along with the changed business environment. It experienced declining sales as consumers and investors moved away from the brand. Globalization appears to have impacted the standards and operations at McDonald's (Cuneen, 2008). These require a change in the marketing strategy of McDonald's in the UK. An environmental analysis would help evaluate the right marketing strategy under the circumstances that should be applied in the UK. 1.2 Environmental analysis 1.2.1 PESTLE analysis This helps scan the external environment and is the acronym for Political/Economic/ Social/Technological/Legal/Environmental – all of which are external to the organization. Political Currently the UK is facing a period of instability as there is no sig nificant popular support (Social Equality Party, 2010). The country is more divided than ever before. Economic According to Keynote the fast food sector was valued at ?9.3bn in 2007 which shows the market has increased during recession (Riley, 2010). Economic factors such as prices and income have an impact on consumer behavior. As the food prices rise the purchasing power declines and the price changes affect the composition of the food basket in the UK (Knowledge Scotland, 2009). Socio-cultural factors More than half the adults are heavier than recommended and this is particularly rising among the young adults (EMIS & PIP 2005). Tasty food in the UK can be found at any location at any time of the day or night. Most foods are high in calories and dense in energy. Food portion sizes have increased and there is a tendency to eat more. Physical activity levels have gone down and are considered as the major cause of obesity in the recent years. However, there have been growing concerns of obesity in the UK and consumers have become health conscious. The UK has a high number of immigrants and good habits differ across cultures. Each culture and society has its own set patterns of behavior and food preferences and cultures are not pervasive. Globalization has been unable to penetrate these set patterns and converge the food habits. Technological factors Fast food brands are using technology to target kids via games, videos and cartoons on their websites. They thus exploit the legal

Thursday, July 25, 2019

Multiattribute Theory of Wal-Mart Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Multiattribute Theory of Wal-Mart - Essay Example The relative personal importance of each attribute was considered on a scale of 1-10 and indicated. Similarly, each belief about the establishments was scored on a scale of 1-10. Finally, the Multiattribute index for each firm was computed using the Fishbein model’s formula. The purpose of this study was to determine whether scored attributes and beliefs of establishments correlate to the purchasing behavior of the consumer (Deb & KÃ ¶ksalan, 2010). The study revealed that the scored attributes and beliefs do not correlate to the purchasing behavior of the consumer. Kmart was found to have the highest index of 298 followed by Wal-Mart with a score of 271. The establishment with lowest score was Sears with 187. So, there was a perceived difference in the overall score of attributes. This means that the beliefs concerning various attributes vary from one establishment to another. In terms of the price, which is rated as highly important, of the various establishments, K-Mart is believed to have fair prices, followed by both Wal-Mart and Sears, which have equal ratings. The belief that a certain store charges lower or higher prices as compared to other stores influences the purchasing behavior of the buyers (KÃ ¶ksalan & Sagala, 1995). Convenience, quality, guarantee of satisfaction and job security were also rated highly in terms of importance, with each having a score of at least 7. However, their scores of believes vary from one establishment to another. Wal-Mart has the highest score in terms of quality followed by K-Mart, while Sears has the lowest score of 3. Both Wal-Mart and K-Mart are rated equally in terms of convenience and satisfaction guarantees. Variety, wages, good neighbor, and environment protective are all rated with scores of not more than 5, in terms of importance. Even in terms of believes, they still rated below 5. This means that these attributes may not matter so much to a buyer when making a purchase. This attributes are clearly known

Wednesday, July 24, 2019

New Product on the Market Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

New Product on the Market - Research Paper Example To come up with a new product, a company may consider optimizing the things their customers need and the various other resources they have, which can facilitate production without making losses. To succeed in the different areas of the business, the companies a company need to carry out a proper market research that will lead them to understand the customers to whom they intend to supply the new product. This process of production and presenting new products to a market needs to be planned so that each step can help raise the number of customers who show interest in them and buy them at any time in their lifetime (Wesley and Barczak 23). In producing a new product in the market, a company needs to implement a strategic plan that will put into consideration all the needs of the customers and weigh them against the potential of the company and the goals they have to develop a product that is preferred by customers. Through strategic planning, a company produces the products that fall w ithin the goals it has for the market and which attracts potential buyers, to whom it intend to sell its products. Strategic planning in a company aligns itself with its mission statement, which implies all things that company targets to achieve in their delivery of the services to customers. These goals of a company do not focus on their customers but it speaks of what the company is able to accomplish to any person in the society regardless of the choice they make concerning their products (Brooke and Mills 34). In producing some products, a company needs to have a consideration of the different interests that arise from the different social classification of the customers. The social classification characterizes the different things that different people do in the society as well as their behavior of buying different commodities in the market. For this reason, a company will be in a position to determine the different the sizes of the product they intend to produce so that they c an preserve the prestige of the people in specific social class. In this respect, social classes determines the quality, quantity and the variety of a product that should be presented to the market at any time as well as the population of the potential customers (Annacchino 127). This ensures that the company will implement a marketing strategy that will not only help customers to know the product but also the one that will conform to their needs and interests. Marketing can be done through different media so long as they ensure that all the intended people get the information they need to provoke their choices to buy a product a company has produced. In the current market, some of the most popular methods of communication and advertising in the social media network where different people can supply information that can reach many people within a short time. In communicating to different customers, a company aims to provide promotional sales that could be necessary to ensure that ma ny people are able to change their motives concerning what they need to purchase to meet their needs. Marketing offers sales promotion, which are the incentives that manipulate the different beliefs of customers and ensure that they purchase the products. The information that a company supplies to its clients to ensure that they change their perception about the quality of the new product it

Tuesday, July 23, 2019

Western history Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Western history - Essay Example Around the start of the 16th century, the weakening of the Church was in conjunction with the strengthening force of socio-economic, philosophical and scientific liberation. The period witnessed important religious, political, social, and philosophical changes in Europe. The medieval age was characterized by the strong power of the Catholic Church that was more often greater than that of the ruling king. Thus, even the political and social aspects of the medieval life were dependent on the Church. However, the Protestant Reformation of the 16th century which was initiated by the arguments of Martin Luther, founder of Protestantism, weakened the Church. Kings and Princes worked together to challenge the power of the Church leaders, primarily the Pope. The cultural consensus of Europe based on universal participation in the Body of Christ was broken. Along with the Reformation came challenges to secular society. The nature and organization of power and government came under reevaluation as well. The huge impact of the Church in the medieval times2 caused the religious change to go hand-in-hand with changes in politics and society. Along with the decentralization of power from the Church and its supported rulers (kings and queens) came the rise of an expanding social class. The middle class, also known as the class of the bourgeosie, was growing and generally becoming more powerful. Merchants and learned artisans characterized this class, as opposed to the royal bloods and Church appointees who dominated the medieval age. The period was also home to the Commercial Revolution which was a time of European economic expansion, colonialism, and mercantilism which lasted from approximately 1520 until 1650. Voyages of discovery in the 15th and 16th centuries allowed European powers to build vast networks of international trade. This then resulted to the generation of a great deal of wealth for them. This growing global economy was based on silver, which allowed an easier

Bounce height when a ball is dropped Essay Example for Free

Bounce height when a ball is dropped Essay There maybe the odd factor of staying away from units and corners of tables as you could have a nasty head accident since you could be leaning down to record the results of the bounce height. But I am almost certain that nothing serious can happen unless stupid behaviour occurs. Items During this investigation some items will be needed in order to perform the experiment efficiently and easily as possible. Here is a list of the main items being used throughout the investigation: Metre ruler stick Ball of some type   Pencil and paper to record results Plan cont. Now with the basic outline of the plan sorted all we have to is sort out the variable I will change during the investigation in order to find the best results to conclude my prediction or theory. Here is the list of recordings I will use for the investigation: Height (m)   We felt these would be the right amount of results and would give us a wide range of results good enough to prove and test my prediction or theory and be satisfactory enough for our targets. One more factor we had to consider is how we would make the recordings. Of course all you had to do was drop a ball from a certain height and then see how high it bounces back up again, then work out the energy factors involved, but we were faced with another problem. We had to work out, since it was a rounded tennis ball (a sphere), where we would make the recordings from. We had three options to choose from: the top of the ball, the centre of the ball or the bottom of the ball. After a short discussion we decided to use the bottom of the ball as it would be easier for us to calculate the bounce height and drop height. While doing this a partner would then record the results onto paper while the other performed the experiment. Last of all we had to decide how many times we were going to repeat the experiment. Since we had a good range of recordings, we decided to repeat the experiment six times at each height and therefore leaving us with a nice set of results along with a good average result. We also felt that it was enough to perform this investigation properly with a good set of results. Since we had already done the experiment three times (preliminary work), we only had another three set of results to do. But little did we know that we were not allowed to include our preliminary work with our results and therefore only had three sets of results. Results Height (m) Exp 1 (cm) Exp 2 (cm) Exp 3(cm) Average (1dp) Height (m) Engy Conv 1 (%) Engy Conv 2 (%) Engy Conv 3 (%) Average (1dp) 0Key (m) = metres Exp = Experiment (cm) = centimetres (1dp) = 1 decimal place Engy Conv = Energy Conversion (%) = Percent Conclusion Now from the results you can definitely see many factors that need to be taken into consideration. You can patterns occurring and also see where mistakes were made and need to be fixed. First of all I am reasonably happy with the results except maybe a few values, but then again nothing is perfect and without mistakes, it makes your evaluation shorter. You can see from the first set of results from the first table that there is a wide range of results, enough to perform this investigation. But then once you work out the energy conversions you can see a pattern occurring throughout the table, except for a few values. These values are from Experiment 1 Height 1. 6m, Experiment 2 Height 1. 6m and the first few values in Experiment 3. Now these mistakes can easily be made due to they are recorded by the naked eye and therefore and not all perfect by any point. But since there only a few extreme values, you can cancel them out and take the rest of the appropriate data to create many patterns. For instance in table one you can see from the averages column that the height two of the ball is about twice as great each time you increase the height by 20cm. For example, at 1. 0m, the average is 54. 3cm, then at 1. 2m, the average is 64. 3cm; therefore making a 10cm increase in drop height 2 when you increase the height 1 by 20cm. This means that it loses about half its potential energy from its original drop height. About a 50% energy conversion. In table 2, the energy conversion table, you can also see a regular pattern occurring. But this time its not through the averages as much, but per column. You can see that the energy conversion from a certain start point (0. 2m) gradually increases to another certain point (around 1. 4m) then begins to decrease again. It is a gradual decrease but you can still see that the average energy conversions all stay around 50% which therefore shows you once again, that the potential energy loss is about 50% each time from drop height 1 to drop height 2. Evaluation During this investigation I manage to find many errors and corrections in which needed to be fixed and found much room for improvement in which would benefit the experiment if it was to be performed again. I felt that the experiment did go well in many ways, but then again, improvements can be made from place to place. One thing I would definitely change is the amount of experiments made for the experiment. After I have done my first three experiments I then was told that they are for the preliminary work and therefore couldnt use them in my official experiment and report. This is a shame, because I would liked to of added them to my report as it would have given me a wider range of results. But due to lack of time I was un-able to do this and therefore time was against me. Nevertheless I carried on with the time I was given and managed to produce three separate experiments and put them into tables. You can see from the results, that there is the odd value or values out of place, due to the fact that the figure is different to what it should be. This basically means that the naked eye is not always the best option to use for this experiment. To perform this experiment with the utter most perfection, a machine or tool of some type could be used to record the exact height of both height 1 and 2 to perfection. With this you know your results are done properly and no major mistakes were made. Luckily since I had enough results, I could spot where mistakes were made in judging the height 2 of the ball and therefore you can count them as extreme values but mistakes are always going to be made by accident. Therefore there is not much we could have done to have changed this factor. Another thing I would have liked to have done is to have tried to record the exact mass of the tennis ball, with doing this I can work out Potential and Kinetic Energy at each height and worked out the Potential Energy Loss per result. With this I could have produced more figures in my report which could have supported my prediction with more facts. Show preview only The above preview is unformatted text This student written piece of work is one of many that can be found in our GCSE Electricity and Magnetism section.

Monday, July 22, 2019

Citizen Kane Essay Example for Free

Citizen Kane Essay The film Citizen Kane (1941), directed and written by Orson Welles and Herman Mankiewicz, is an American film drama that use various film techniques to illustrate themes, attitudes, and the development of a story. Welles use of camera angles, lighting, movement, symbolism and expression allow the audience to comprehend and understand the themes such as power and exploitation that are present in this movie along with many other themes that pertain to the life of the main character, Charles Foster Kane. Many of the filming techniques that are used in this film illustrate Kane and his feelings and transitions through and about his life. Citizen Kane is a film that demonstrates the importance of how simple scene techniques can help develop a story. After viewing the film, the audience comes to understand that the main theme of the movie is centered around the importance of childhood. Throughout the movie, symbolism is used to reinforce the theme. Thompson, the reporter, attempts to figure out the meaning of the word â€Å"rosebud†, Kanes last words before passing away. Kanes life seems to be a mystery to some people, and the word â€Å"rosebud† is that missing piece to Kanes life. Thompson never figures out what â€Å"rosebud† means, but at the end of the movie we see the word â€Å"rosebud† on the sled that was thrown into the fire. At this point the audience understands that rosebud is indeed symbolic of his childhood and the missing piece of his life. Earlier in the movie, Kane is outside playing with that same sled while his parents are discussing a plan to send him away. â€Å"Rosebud† can now be connected to the snow globe which represents his childhood in Colorado. Thomson said that â⠂¬Å"rosebud† was a missing piece in a jigsaw puzzle. He is illustrating that Kane always felt that he lost his childhood and himself. All he had to show for it was that sled and the snow globe. Further importance on the theme of his childhood is illustrated through lighting when Thomson the reporter investigates Tatcher to get a better understanding of Kanes childhood. When he enters the room there is a very distinct, glowing light that is angled in such away that it focuses on a book containing information about Kanes childhood. Right away, we see the importance of Kanes childhood in the developing plot. To further emphasize this importance, when Thomson opens the book, the audience notices the very distinct contrast between the bright light on the book and the dark area surrounding the book. Throughout the movie, the director is hinting to the audience that his childhood is symbolic of something very important which just might be the answer to the question, â€Å" What/who is Rosebud?† By now the audience understands that that Kane was unable to have a normal childhood due to a lack of say and power. This is illustrated using a depth and focus effect. In the early parts of the film there is a scene in which Kane is outside playing while his parents and banker are negotiating his fate. The actors are ordered in such a way that the mother is always in front, followed by the banker, Kanes father, and then Kane. Kanes mother seems to have the power due to her position in this scene. It is important to notice that although Kane is in the far depths, he is still in focus, but with limited power. As we transition through the movie, Kane gains power and is in the front of this scene but there is always depth and focus in the shot to illustrate a hierarchy of power. Another theme in the movie that is reinforced by this technique of depth focusing is relationships. As Kane develops through the movie, the audience recognizes that he is losing his power and his weakness leads to broken relationships. When he takes control of the Inquirer, he is constantly surrounded by people and they are not physically distant from him, but as his status on the hierarchical system dwindles down, he begins to distance himself from others in scenes. When Kane fires Leland, we see a great deal of depth and distance between the two but both remain in focus. In this same scene Bernstein is standing in the doorway at a distance away from Kane but he has no significance. The way the actors are positioned illustrate how Kane is developing as person and with other people around him. When Kane gets taken away by Tatcher at a very young age, his life is transitioning into one of power and corruption. When his employees and partners welcome him for the first time at the Inquirer, all the shots are low angle shots. The angle also makes it seem as though Kane is significantly larger than everyone else in the subsequent scenes. It is as though the audience is looking up to him just as his employees are, illustrating the theme of power that Kane now holds. Exploitation is a theme that begins to develop after Kane has taken control of the Inquirer. His need for power continues to grow and he becomes more and more corrupt. Not only is there corruption within his company, but he comes to exploit other peoples thoughts and ideas. As Kane obtains more power and greed, he gets the idea to run for governor, but in the process he gets exploited in regards to his developing relationship with Susan. This is where the movie transitions from power to weakness. Up until this point there has been many low-angle shots to illustrate Kanes growing power. When Kane loses the election, the film moves transitions into high-angle shots. Prior to anyone even saying that the election was over, the scene setting clearly illustrates that the election was lost. Even though the office looks like it is a mess, it is very empty. No campaign crew, no feeling. The shot then moves to Kane. During this scene Kane speaks with two different people but his face is down and hidden from the audience. The camera is constantly at a low angle illustrating Kanes diminishing power. Furthermore, this is the first scene with Kane in which there is limiting lighting in the room, which reinforces the concept of an empty feeling. As mentioned before, the director uses deep focused shots to illustrate a hierarchy of power. Throughout the movie, deep focused shots are also used to put significance on a specific actor. In the deep focused shots, actors are usually separated by long distances, like in the scene where Kane is talking to Susan across a long corridor with Thompson as the interviewer. When either Kane or Susan speak, the camera shot is always focused in front of them to draw attention to what they are saying. Another technique used to put focus on Kane throughout the movie is by drawing in on Kane by passing through and object or person through a continuous shot. This filming technique is used in the first scene of the movie. The scene begins with the audience closing in on a â€Å"No Trespassing† sign, and then passes through the sign to reveal a house with light coming from one window. This might not be a significant amount of light, but the lighting does illustrate the importance of what lies beyond those windows. The scene continues through a garden, over fences, etc. but the whole time the lighted window stays in the same position, continuously bringing a attention to its significance. Of course as the scene continues it is that of Kane passing away and revealing the mystery which follows throughout the film. The director attempts to always keep the attention on Kane even when it seems as though he is fading out of the discussion. The audience can always find a relationship between the characters of a story/film and the main themes. In the film Citizen Kane, the relationship between the characters and important themes are illustrated by filming techniques that range from camera angles to symbolism. Throughout the movie symbolism played an important role in determining the main theme and what â€Å"rosebud† meant. Kanes development as a person and place in society was illustrated through camera angles, lighting, and depth. These techniques not only assists the audience in understanding Kane, but also understanding other characters and the relationship Kane had with them.

Sunday, July 21, 2019

Analysis of the Coca Cola Companys Organizational Behaviour

Analysis of the Coca Cola Companys Organizational Behaviour This document contains a broad analysis of The Coca-Cola Company and addresses several Organizational Behaviour and Human Resources issues. Recommendations are anticipated based on the findings and the problems that were discovered within the study. The goals of the recommendations are to address several issues that The Coca cola Company are facing in their Organization Stucture, Leadership and Management issues, their Organization Culture, Human resources issues and Communication skills of the organization and also align company decision-making with the structure of the organization. Contents Abstract i Contents ii List of Abbreviations ii CHAPTER ONE 4 INTRODUCTION AND BACKGROUND INFORMATION. 4 1.0. Organizational History 4 1.1. The Coca Cola Company 5 Meet Our Company 5 Who we are 5 What we Do 5 Why is our role Important 5 1.2. Mission, Vision Values 6 Our Mission 6 2.0.Organization structure and Span of Control 8 Mechanistic vs Organic structures 8 2.2. Span of Control 9 3.0.Human Resource and Management Practise 10 3.1. Human Resource Planning 10 3.2. Resourcing 10 Outsourcing 10 3.3. Training and Development 10 3.4. Performance and Motivation 11 3.5. Management System and Policies 11 3.6. Team working 12 3.7. Management of Change 12 Types of change 12 Strategic change 12 Operational change 13 List of Abbreviations HFCS High Fructose Corn Syrup CEO Chief Executive Officer CAO Chief Administrative Officer CFO Chief Financial Officer. CHAPTER ONE INTRODUCTION AND BACKGROUND INFORMATION. Organizational History It was 1886, and in New York Harbor, workers were constructing the Statue of Liberty. Eight hundred miles away, another great American symbol was about to be unveiled. Like many people who change history, John Pemberton, an Atlanta pharmacist, was inspired by simple curiosity. One afternoon, he stirred up a fragrant, caramel-colored liquid and, when it was done, he carried it a few doors down to Jacobs Pharmacy. Here, the mixture was combined with carbonated water and sampled by customers who all agreed this new drink was something special. So Jacobs Pharmacy put it on sale for five cents a glass.    Pembertons bookkeeper, Frank Robinson, named the mixture Coca-Cola ®, and wrote it out in his distinct script. To this day, Coca-Cola is written the same way. In the first year, Pemberton sold just 9 glasses of Coca-Cola a day.    A century later, The Coca-Cola Company has produced more than 10 billion gallons of syrup. Unfortunately for Pemberton, he died in 1888 without realizing the success of the beverage he had created.    Over the course of three years, 1888-1891, Atlanta businessman Asa Griggs Candler secured rights to the business for a total of about $2,300. Candler would become the Companys first president, and the first to bring real vision to the business and the brand. (The Coca cola Company website) Its popularity would not stay within the United States for long, though, because in the year of 1906, Coca Cola was bottled in Cuba and in Panama. Bottling operations were soon started in Hawaii the next year, then in the Philippines, France, Belgium, Bermuda, Colombia, the Honduras, Italy, Mexico, Haiti, and Burma in later years. By the year of 1940, the famous soft drink was bottled in forty countries. Advertising for the cola has included many product slogans including, The Pause That Refreshes, which was used in 1929, Have a Coke and a Smile, which was used in 1979, and Always Coca Cola which was used in 1993 when sales from this soft drink exceeded ten billion cases worldwide. (Essortment Articles) 1.1. The Coca Cola Company Meet Our Company The coca cola company i the worlds largest beverage company. We operate in more than 200 countries and market a portfolioof more than 3000 beverages products including sparkling drinks and still beverages such as waters,juices and juice drinks and still beverages such as waters, juice and juice drinks, teas, coffees, sports drinks and energy drinks. Who we are Headquarted in Atlanta, Georgia, we employ approximately 92,400 associates across our six operating groups-Eurasia Africa,Europe,Latin America, North America, Pacific and bottling Investment in addition to Corporate. What we Do Our Company manufacturee the concentrates, beverage bases and syrups thats make our brand unique, and sells them to bottling operations. We oown our Licence the Brands adn, to connect our brands to our customers, we focus on marketing activities including print and television advertising, online programs retail store displys, sponsorship, contests and package design. Why is our role Important Our focus on beverage creation and marketing enables us to understand and meet the diverse and ever-changing beverage needs and desires of our consumers around the world. We are a global business that operates on a local scale, in every community where we do business. We are able to create global reach with local focus because of the strength of the Coca-Cola system, which comprises our Company and our more than 300 bottling partners worldwide. While many view our Company as simply Coca-Cola, our system operates through multiple local channels. Our Company manufactures and sells concentrates, beverage bases and syrups to bottling operations, owns the brands and is responsible for consumer brand marketing initiatives. Our bottling partners manufacture, package, merchandise and distribute the final branded beverages to our customers and vending partners, who then sell our products to consumers. All bottling partners work closely with customers grocery stores, restaurants, street vendors, convenience stores, movie theaters and amusement parks, among many others to execute localized strategies developed in partnership with our Company. Customers then sell our products to consumers at a rate of 1.6 billion servings a day. (The Coca cola company website) 1.2. Mission, Vision Values The world is changing all around us. To continue to thrive as a business over the next ten years and beyond, we must look ahead, understand the trends and forces that will shape our business in the future and move swiftly to prepare for whats to come. We must get ready for tomorrow today. Thats what our 2020 Vision is all about. It creates a long-term destination for our business and provides us with a Roadmap for winning together with our bottling partners. Our Mission Our Roadmap starts with our mission, which is enduring. It declares our purpose as a company and serves as the standard against which we weigh our actions and decisions. To refresh the world To inspire moments of optimism and happiness To create value and make a difference. Our Vision Our vision serves as the framework for our Roadmap and guides every aspect of our business by describing what we need to accomplish in order to continue achieving sustainable, quality growth. People: Be a great place to work where people are inspired to be the best they can be. Portfolio: Bring to the world a portfolio of quality beverage brands that anticipate and satisfy peoples desires and needs. Partners: Nurture a winning network of customers and suppliers, together we create mutual, enduring value. Planet: Be a responsible citizen that makes a difference by helping build and support sustainable communities. Profit: Maximize long-term return to shareowners while being mindful of our overall responsibilities. Productivity: Be a highly effective, lean and fast-moving organization. (The Coca cola Company website) Organization structure and Span of Control All organizations have some form of more or less formalized structure that is the framework for getting things done. Structure is the pattern of realtionships among position in the organization and among members of the organization. Structure makes possible the application of the process of management and creates a framework and creates a frame work of order and command through which the activities of the organization can be planned, organised directed and controlled. (Mullins 2005) According to (Amstrong 2009:365)Organizations vary in their complexity, but it is necessary to divide the overall management task into a variety of activities, to allocate these activities to the different parts of the organization and to establish means of controlling, coordinating and integrating them. The structure of an organization consists of units, functions, divisions, departments and formally constituted work teams into which activities related to particular processes, projects, products, markets, customers, geographical areas or professional disciplines are grouped together. The structure indicates who is accountable for directing, coordinating and carrying out these activities and defi nes management hierarchies the chain of command thus spelling out, broadly, who is responsible to whom for what at each level in the organization. Mechanistic vs Organic structures Mechanistic Organic High formalisation Low formalisation Narrow span of control Wide span of control High centralisation Low centralisation Hard change Easier to changeEasier We can say Coca-Cola Companys structure is a tall structure, a hybrid of both mechanistic and organic models. The organization has a more centralized structure, however in recent years there has been a movement towards decentralization for easy managemant in regions. The central point of The Coca-Cola Company is on responsiveness. The complex integrating mechanisms are characteristic of an organic structure. The surveys and interviews used by the company allowed information to flow from the bottom-up, and the intranet allows for information to be exchanged laterally. According to surveys done it have make the Company to pursue simplification and standardization (The Coca-cola Company Website). Centralization and high standardization are associated with a mechanistic structure. 2.2. Span of Control Span of Control arises in line authoority and refers too the number of subordinates who report directly to a given manager or supervisor. (Mullins 2005) If the span of control is too wide,its difficult to supervise the subordinates effectively and this places more on the manager. The Coca-Cola Company currently employs approximately 92,800 employees up to december 2009. According to a general details obtained from the companys website, there are at least 5 hierarchical levels at the corporate level. Eg there is aboard of Directors, Operating group leadership and Functions leadership. This span of control seems slim for the CEO of such a large organization. The CEO is also a member of the Senior Leadership Team. This team consists of each head of the eight operating groups abovementioned, and also has other top executives in areas like innovation and technology and marketing. Although there are only six people that answer directly to the CEO, the CEO is able to receive input from a wide variety of divisions because of this leadership team. Since the team is comprised of members from various divisions, the CEO will be able to obtain a wide variety of information. The move to decentralization has caused structural changes for the Company. Generally, The Coca-Cola Company does a good job of managing its hierarchy of authority. Considering they have a tall structure, they are still able to keep to some extent more organic style of management, allowing them to be more flexible to changing conditions. The CEO and CFO both have six people that report to them. Human Resource and Management Practise In this chapter we are going to discuss the Human Resource planning, recruitment and selection, Human Resource development and Training. 3.1. Human Resource Planning Human Resource planning is the process of systematically forecasting the future demand and supply for employees and the deployment of their skills within the strategic objectives of the organization. (Bratton and Gold, 2007) 3.2. Resourcing Recruitment is a process of getting a pool of capable people to apply fro employment to any organization. It can also be referred to as searching for and obtain potential qualified candidate for a required position. Recruitment of employees in Coca Cola Company follows their rules and regulations to ensure they have got the right candidate who will fulfil the mission and vision of the company. The company advertise the post in the Newspapers and on their website and shortlist the candidate who meet the requirements. The Management team interview the candidates and select the qualified candidate. Also the company promotes the individual whose performance is good according to his skills and experiences. Outsourcing Sometime Coca Cola Company is using some other recruitment agent/organization to advertise and Interview the candidates for them. 3.3. Training and Development Cocacola employees are set through a formal training program in different aspect. Most of it their training involves diversity education. In this they focus on minimizing differences and amplifying, valuing each other and respecting to help get better results. The Coca-Cola Company believes that this training helps to creates a work environment that values diversity and power employee commitment, and improves productivity. The Company also uses a lot of team training. This team training allows new employees learn how to respond to certain situations and to get to know one another. The organization also provides all new hires with guidelines on conduct and employee involvement in the political process in the business code of conduct. This code is communicated through orientation of new-hires to ensure all employees will conduct themselves with high degree of honesty and integrity that governs the companys culture. 3.4. Performance and Motivation Performance Management refers to the set of interconnected practices which are designed to ensure that a persons overall capabilities and potential are appraised, so that relevant goals can be set for work and development and through assessment, data on work behaviour and performance can be collected and reviewed. (Bratton and Gold, 2007) By training employees and to get the workers engaged and feellike they are the part of the company. Salesmen are getting percentages of their sales which make them work hard to ensure they are getting more. 3.5. Management System and Policies Management system refers to what the organization does or a proven framework to manage its processes, or activities, so that its products or services meet the objectives it has set itself, such as satisfying the customers quality requirements, complyin with regulations, or meeting environmental objectives. Governmental Regulation Our Company is required to comply, and it is our policy to comply, with applicable laws in the numerous countries throughout the world in which we do business. In many jurisdictions, compliance with competition laws is of special importance to us, and our operations may come under special scrutiny by competition law authorities due to our competitive position in those jurisdictions. (Annual Report 2010) The Coca cola company follow the rules and regulations of all countries which its operates. 3.6. Team working Coca cola company people are working as a team. They are saying their people are working as a global Team Our company is built around two core assets, its brands and its people. Thats what makes working here so special. We believe that work is more than a place you go every day. It should be a place of exploration, creativity, professional growth and interpersonal relationships. Its about being inspired and motivated to achieve extraordinary things. We want our people to take pride in their work and in building brands others love. After all, its the combined talents, skills, knowledge, experience and passion of our people that make us who we are. Our 92,800 associates around the world live and work in the markets we serve more than 87 percent of them outside the U.S. In this geographically diverse environment, we learn from each market and share those learnings quickly. As a result, our Company culture is ever more collaborative. From beverage concept and development to merchandising, our associates are sharing ideas across departments and markets in new ways. Consequently, our associates are increasingly enthusiastic about their work and inspired to turn plans into action. (The Coca cola Company Website) 3.7. Management of Change Change management is defined as the process of achieving the smooth implementation of change by planning and introducing it systematically, taking into account the likelihood of it being resisted. (Amstrong 2009:424) Types of change There are three types of change: strategic, operational and transformational. Strategic change Strategic change is concerned with broad, long-term and organization-wide issues involving change. It is about moving to a future state that has been defi ned generally in terms of strategic vision and scope. It will cover the purpose and mission of the organization, its corporate philosophy on such matters as growth, quality, innovation and values concerning employees andmcustomers, competitive positioning and strategic goals for achieving and maintaining competitivemadvantage and for product-market development. These goals are supported by policies concerning marketing, sales, manufacturing, product and process development, fi nance and human resource management. Strategic change takes place within the context of the external competitive, economic and social environment, and the organizations internal resources, capabilities, culture, structure and systems. Its successful implementation requires thorough analysis and understanding of these factors in the formulation and planning stages. (Amstrong 2009:424) The coca cola Company are as other many comapanies always forced to change due to competition from their competitors like pepsi, also some environmental issue make the company to change their way of Manufacturing and changing they bottle printing method which were claimed to destroy the environment. Operational change Operational change relates to new systems, procedures, structures or technology that will have an immediate effect on working arrangements within a part of the organization. But its impact on people can be more significant than broader strategic change and it has to be handled just as carefully. (Amstrong 2009:424) Cocacola companies always changes the systems, procedure and Technology soas to satisfy its customers need.Like changing their bottle type, addition of more product etc. Transformational change Transformational change takes place when there are fundamental and comprehensive changes in structures, processes and behaviours that have a dramatic effect on the ways in which the organization functions. (Amstrong 2009:424) This happen when there is a change in country policy and reguations which force some structure change. Some other management of change issues is Coca-Cola decentralised its organisational structure by cutting half of the staff at its Atlanta headquarters and moving the regional chieftains closer to their local markets. In India, decision making has been moved further down to different areas of that diverse country. Other is Company uses the incremental method in decision making. Especially in the last 20 years or so, the board was extremely conservative and looking to avoid any drastic changes. However, recently they used the unstructured decisionmaking model. This was demonstrated in 2004 through the process that CEO Isdell used when creating the companys Manifesto for Growth when the company show the sign of decline. Rather than modifying what the company has been doing, the company surveyed about 400 of their top managers what they thought was problematic in the company. Based on information in the surveys done, 150 leaders in the company met to create solutions for the problems. The alternatives were analyzed thoroughly and all final decisions were made by groups.

Saturday, July 20, 2019

Mimic Essay -- Matrix Snow Society Essays

Mimic Throughout history, writers have attempted to mirror reality in their literature. Sometimes, an author may attempt this feat using the tool of realism, trying desperately to replicate the world that surrounds them everyday. They make only subtle changes, perhaps inventing characters, maybe even a location or two. In other stories, the creator will attempt to parallel life using exaggeration and some rather complex warping of reality and time. This method of well placed hyperbole, and inventive worlds could be considered the foundations of movies such as The Matrix and novels such as Snow Crash In many ways, the motion picture and the book resemble our society. In other ways, they demonstrate what we may become, or extremes of what we are. Either way, they are both thought provoking, albeit sometimes frightening glimpses into the darkness of humanity. The future is a desolate place. The United States as we know it has collapsed, shriveling up into little more than a vague notion of th e great nation that once was. From the ashes of this distraught realm has risen a system of countries within a country. Individual neighborhoods have broken down to become their own independent nations. In this wasteland of a society, laws no longer exist. Such absence of authority has allowed the mafia to grow, or rather morph into what would appear to be a legitimate pizza franchise. This is the future as predicted by Neal Stephenson in Snow Crash. On the other hand The Matrix, written and directed by the Wachowski brothers, shows an alternate outcome of human existence. With the rise of artificial intelligence, man and machine wage war against each other. The society of men think that without the sun, the machines will not survive. T... ... find our world today more chaotic than we, in the modern world, find the future civilizations portrayed in these modern works of literature. The authors may have intentionally made life more complex in the future, to make it seem as overwhelming to us as our world may seem to someone living a hundred years ago. Throughout time societies have changed greatly, and if all goes well, it will continue to do so. But one thing that has not changed very much is the desire of writers to write what they see. Often writers will take what is around them, and distort it into some sort of setting that is more pleasing to the storyline. But one their characters and situations still mirror the current life. This is true most great literature. Works Cited Stephenson, Neal. Snow Crash. New York: Bantam Dell, 1992. Wachowski, Larry & Andy. The Matrix. DVD. Warner B Mimic Essay -- Matrix Snow Society Essays Mimic Throughout history, writers have attempted to mirror reality in their literature. Sometimes, an author may attempt this feat using the tool of realism, trying desperately to replicate the world that surrounds them everyday. They make only subtle changes, perhaps inventing characters, maybe even a location or two. In other stories, the creator will attempt to parallel life using exaggeration and some rather complex warping of reality and time. This method of well placed hyperbole, and inventive worlds could be considered the foundations of movies such as The Matrix and novels such as Snow Crash In many ways, the motion picture and the book resemble our society. In other ways, they demonstrate what we may become, or extremes of what we are. Either way, they are both thought provoking, albeit sometimes frightening glimpses into the darkness of humanity. The future is a desolate place. The United States as we know it has collapsed, shriveling up into little more than a vague notion of th e great nation that once was. From the ashes of this distraught realm has risen a system of countries within a country. Individual neighborhoods have broken down to become their own independent nations. In this wasteland of a society, laws no longer exist. Such absence of authority has allowed the mafia to grow, or rather morph into what would appear to be a legitimate pizza franchise. This is the future as predicted by Neal Stephenson in Snow Crash. On the other hand The Matrix, written and directed by the Wachowski brothers, shows an alternate outcome of human existence. With the rise of artificial intelligence, man and machine wage war against each other. The society of men think that without the sun, the machines will not survive. T... ... find our world today more chaotic than we, in the modern world, find the future civilizations portrayed in these modern works of literature. The authors may have intentionally made life more complex in the future, to make it seem as overwhelming to us as our world may seem to someone living a hundred years ago. Throughout time societies have changed greatly, and if all goes well, it will continue to do so. But one thing that has not changed very much is the desire of writers to write what they see. Often writers will take what is around them, and distort it into some sort of setting that is more pleasing to the storyline. But one their characters and situations still mirror the current life. This is true most great literature. Works Cited Stephenson, Neal. Snow Crash. New York: Bantam Dell, 1992. Wachowski, Larry & Andy. The Matrix. DVD. Warner B

Brain Damage from the Perspective of a Spouse Essay -- Neurology Disab

Brain Damage from the Perspective of a Spouse Depending on which area of the hypothalamus is damaged, the biological and behavioral effects differ. For example, if one were to damage the preoptic area of the hypothalamus, one would experience a â€Å"deficit in physiological mechanisms of temperature regulation,† (Kalat, 2004). From the perspective of the spouse, the subject might complain of being perpetually hot or cold regardless of environmental temperature. Sleeping in the same bed with the subject could cause problems, as they might need several blankets and/or none at all. In addition, the need to carry warm clothing on warm day might be necessary, and/or shorts or t-shirts on a cold day. Damage to the â€Å"medial preoptic area/anterior hypothalamus (MPAH) or a subthalamic region that includes the caudal zona incerta,† (Maillard-Gutekunst, et. al., 1994) has been show to â€Å"eliminate mating† in rats. In other words, from the spousal perspective, damage to this area might cause a lowering – if not complete annihilation – of the subject’s sex drive. When the lateral preoptic area of the brain has a lesion, osmotic thirst, â€Å"the thirst that results from an increase in the concentration of solutes in the body,† (Kalat, 2004) is decreased. This is thought to be partly a result of cell damage and â€Å"partly to interruption of passing axons,† (Kalat, 2004). A spouse might notice that the subject drinks less, unless regularly reminded to do so. They might also hear the subject complain of highly concentrated urine and a burning sensation accompanying urination. They should also be alert to any signs of dehydration, â€Å"the physiological state in which cells lose water and metabolic ... ...d.). Belmont, CA: Wadsworth/Thomson Learning. Kalat, J.W. (2004). Biological psychology (8th ed.). Belmont, CA: Wadsworth/Thomson Learning. Maillard-Gutenkunst, C.A., & Edwards, D.A. (1994). Preoptic and subthalamic connections with the caudal brainstem are important for copulation in the male rat. Behavioral Neuroscience, 108 (4), 758-66. Semrud-Clikeman, M. (2001). Traumatic brain injury in children and adolescents. New York: Guilford Press. Women’s Health Law Weekly (2005, February 27). U.S. Food & Drug Administration; new findings in the area of endocrinology described. Retrieved April 29, 2005 from the World Wide Web: http://web.lexis- nexis.com/universe/document?_m=b7dcfb788384d6f8dfb1153c7b7444ed www.uni.edu/walsh. Biological psychology. Retrieved April 29, 2005 from the World Wide Web: http://www.uni.edu/walsh/biolec.htm

Friday, July 19, 2019

The Borderlands: 1880 - 1940 :: American America History

The Borderlands: 1880 - 1940 The time of change in the region called the "borderlands" occurred during the period between 1880 and 1940. The region became urbanized and ended its years of isolation from the rest of the world. In the past the region's economy was based on ranching and farming. As the region became more urbanized the economy changed. The economy did not change equally between the United States and Mexico, the United States' side of the border boomed while Mexico's side did not. The cities that did prosper in region were based on the actions of the United States. Actions that affected the cities in Mexico were Prohibition and the Great depression. Events in the United States were not the only economic factor to effect the region. The Mexican Revolution had great social and economic influence to the region. On November 10 1910, the Mexican Revolution began and did not end until President Diaz was overthrown. The United States and its border towns were heavily involved in the conflict. The fighting was mainly in the north and they need supplies. The majority of the weapons and supplies for the Revolution was brought in the United States. The border cities in the United States became the chief suppliers of guns to the Revolution. This form trade was illegal and mainly done on the Black Market. The legal trade that existed before the Revolution disappeared with the outbreak of war. Mexico had closed the border during the conflict to prevent the supply of arms. The United States had also tried to stop the flow of arms but not successful. Eventually the United States had sent troops to the region when the fighting spilled over the border. The troops stayed in the region after the Mexican Revolution and were an economic boom to the region. The United States at the turn of the century was under going a major social movement. The United States was trying to change its society to a more moral country. The groups involved in the movement consisted of many groups from around the United States. Some of the most notable groups involved in the social reform movement were the churches in the country. They targeted many aspects of life of the normal Americans. The social reforms targeted social ills such as adultery, crime, and lastly, drinking. These groups had large number of followers, and had considerable height in government.

Thursday, July 18, 2019

Case study in marketing Essay

By the end of your reading, you should be able to answer the following questions: 1. What do you understand by the term Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR)? 2. Explain two actions that Amway and its IBOs are currently taking that involve CSR. 3. Analyse the key ingredients in Amway’s CSR strategy. Show how the strategy is designed to translate the vision into practical steps on the ground. 4. Recommend ways in which Amway could enhance and develop its impact on making every child matter. Introduction Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) means businesses and organisations working responsibly and contributing positively to the communities they operate in. It involves working with employees, their families, the local community and society at large to improve their quality of life. Companies that operate in a socially responsible way strengthen their reputations. In business, reputation is everything. It determines the extent to which customers want to buy from you, partners are willing to work with you and your standing in the community. The company  Amway is one of the world’s largest direct sales organisations with over 3 million Independent Business Owners (IBOs) in over 80 markets and territories worldwide. It is a family-owned business with a strong emphasis on family values. Its IBOs are often couples. Many of these are raising families. They therefore have a strong bond with children. These families are more than happy to partner with Amway, who, as part of its Corporate Social Responsibility strategy, works with UNICEF, the United Nations Children’s Fund. As a family company, Amway is committed to playing a part in improving the lives of children in need across the globe. In this way, the company is able to show its commitment to the support of global causes. Amway defines a global cause as ‘a social issue affecting many people around the world engaged in a struggle or plight that warrants a charitable  response’. This case study shows how Amway is a business that does more than provide customers with good quality products. It shows the practical realities of Amway’s global commitment and how it plays a key role in the communities in which it operates. Growth and responsibility An understanding of how Amway operates as an organisation gives a clearer picture of the contribution it can make to help children in need across the globe. Amway’s vision is to help people live better lives. It does this every day by providing a low-cost low-risk business opportunity based on selling qualityproducts. What does Amway do? Amway distributes a range of branded products. These products are sold to IBOs worldwide. The IBOs are Amway’s links with consumers and the communities in which they operate. The IBOs are self-employed and are highly motivated. They work within the guidelines of Amway’s Rules of Conduct and Code of Ethics, which are about being honest and responsible in trading. IBOs sell to people that they know or meet. They can introduce others to the Amway business. Typical products that IBOs sell include: personal care – fragrances, body care skin care and cosmetics durables such as cookware and water treatment systems nutrition and wellness products such as food supplements, food and drinks. IBOs play a key part in helping Amway to deliver its Global Cause Programme. In order to give many of the world’s children a chance to live a better life, Amway launched the global One by One campaign for children in 2003. The One by One programme: helps Amway to bring its vision to life declares what the company stands for builds trust and respect in Amway brands establishes Corporate Social Responsibility at a high level. Amway encourages staff and IBOs to support its One by One campaign for children. Since 2001, Amway Europe has been an official partner of UNICEF and has been able to contribute over â‚ ¬2 million (about  £1.4 million). The focus is on supporting  the worldwide ‘Immunisation Plus’ programme. This involves, for example, providing measles vaccines to children across the globe. The ‘Plus’ is about using the vehicle of immunisation to deliver other life-saving services for children. It is about making health systems stronger and promoting activities that help communities and families to improve child-care practices. For example the ‘Plus’ could include providing vitamin A supplements in countries where there is vitamin A deficiency. Since 2001, Amway and its IBOs across Europe have been supporting UNICEF’s child survival programme. The need is great. One out of ten children in Kenya does not live to see its fifth birthday, largely through preventable diseases. Malaria is the biggest killer with 93 deaths per day. Only 58% of children under two are fully immunised. The work of the One by One programme is illustrated by a field trip undertaken by Amway IBOs to Kenya. The IBOs travelled to Kilifi in 2006 to meet children and to find out what the problems are in various communities. They act as champions spreading the message throughout their groups. In Kilifi, the focus is on trying to reach the most vulnerable children and pregnant mothers. The aim is to increase immunisation from 40% to 70%. Other elements of the programme involve seeking to prevent the transmission of HIV/AIDS to infants. As the Amway organisation grows and prospers, it is able through CSR actions to help communities to grow and prosper too. Developing a strategy A strategy is an organisational plan. Implementing a strategy involves putting that plan into action. In other words a strategy shows how a business will achieve its goals. The strategy thus enables an organisation to turn its values into action. Values are what a company stands for. An important value for Amway is being a caring company. Amway believes in demonstrating this caring approach and this is why it has partnered with UNICEF. All Directors design strategies for the whole of an organisation. Effective strategies involve discussion and communication with others. The views of IBOs are influential in creating strategies for Amway. Amway’s strategies for corporate social responsibility are cascaded through the organisation as shown below. Amway’s Global Cause strategy involves creating responsible plans that make a difference. However, the strategy is flexible. In shaping the strategy, research was carried out to find out which global causes IBOs support. The results showed that many favoured a cause that helped children. There was a clear fit between Amway’s aims to help children and UNICEF’s ‘Immunisation Plus’ programme for children. Objectives From the outset, Amway set out some clear objectives for its strategy. These were to: build loyalty and pride among IBOs and employees enhance Amway’s reputation as a caring organisation  make a real difference to human lives. Child mortality is particularly high in developing countries because of infectious diseases. Many children could still be alive if they had been vaccinated. For under  £12 a child can be vaccinated against these diseases and has a fighting chance to reach adulthood. UNICEF’s world child ‘Immunisation Plus’ programme is a fitting focus for the activities of Amway UK and its IBOs. The UK initiative is part of a European-wide fundraising campaign for children. It recognises the importance of building good working relationships with UNICEF in each market in order to launch fundraising programmes through Amway’s IBOs and their customers. The objective is to raise â‚ ¬500,000 (about  £350,000) every year until 2010 across Amway Europe. In 2005 Amway UK’s partnership was deepened through becoming an official Corporate Partner of UNICEF UK. The Corporate Partnership is a closer longer-term relationship which benefits both partners. Working together the two parties raise money for UNICEF. Identifying stakeholders  Amway’s Corporate Social Responsibility strategy has been developed with the interests of the followingstakeholders in mind: Communicating the strategy  Good, clear communication is essential in making sure that the CSR strategy relates directly to the company business objectives. Communication also helps in putting the strategy into practice. A number of communications media are used: 1. Face-to-face communication: Regular meetings take place between UNICEF, Amway and its IBOs. Through meetings with UNICEF staff, Amway is able to discuss the vision and objectives. It then passes the message on by meeting with IBOs. In 2005 the two organisations arranged a joint briefing day for  IBO Leaders. They were able to hear firsthand experiences from UNICEF staff about their roles and UNICEF’s work as well as where the money goes. 2. Printed material: Amway produces a monthly magazine for all IBOs called Amagram. 3. Public relations materials are also important, particularly at launch events for the initiative (e.g. in Milton Keynes in 2006). 4. Email communication: Email is very important in the company – it plays a significant part in keeping IBOs up-to-date. 5. Online activities: There is a micro-site dedicated to the Amway UK/UNICEF partnership on the UNICEF UK website. Fundraising Amway Europe provides support for fundraising to the extent of â‚ ¬500,000 (about  £350,000) per year through selling items such as: greetings cards multi-cultural gifts and cards stationery and wrapping paper toys for children. However, Amway UK’s support goes well beyond these activities. In addition, it involves staff fundraising events and raffles organised by the IBOs. UNICEF attends IBO major events (usually supported by 1,000 or more IBOs) where requested. A UNICEF stand outlines the work with speakers, literature and merchandise. Conclusion Amway is a family business with family values. Its IBOs are people who want to make a difference to the communities in which they operate and to the wider world community. This is Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) in action. The clue to Amway’s success is the careful planning of its strategy and its involvement with manystakeholders in getting the strategy right. Of course, it is early days in the latest chapter of a strong relationship between Amway and UNICEF. Evaluation is taking place to measure the success of the initiative in terms of meeting fundraising goals. Customer research is carried out to test customers‘ views on the relationship and to find out how aware the general public is about what Amway is doing in the field of CSR. Sample study questions 1. What do you understand by the term Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR)? 2. Explain two actions that Amway and its IBOs are currently taking that involve CSR. 3. Analyse the key ingredients in Amway’s CSR strategy. Show how the strategy is designed to translate the vision into practical steps on the ground. 4. Recommend ways in which Amway could enhance and develop its impact on making every child matter.