“His fiend-like queen” Does this seem a fitting judgement of Lady Macbeth? Essay

Upon beginning the play, one first believes that Lady Macbeth does indeed possess the evil, inhumane characteristics of a fiend. Within minutes of reading Macbeth’s letter, in which he informs her that according to the prophecy of the witches’ he is a â€Å"king that shalt be†, she contemplates regicide, in the belief that â€Å"fate and metaphysical aid doth seem to have [Macbeth] crown’d withal.† Though this introductory scene portrays her as â€Å"fiend-like†, despite condemning Macbeth for being â€Å"too fill o’ the milk of human kindness†, she herself is worried that â€Å"compunctious vistings of nature† will † shake [her] fell purpose† of murder. She then turns to demonic spirits, calling them to â€Å"fill [her] from the crown to the toe full of direst cruelty.† It is the feminine traits of compassion and fallibility often attributed to women of the Jacobean era that causes to Lady Macbeth beg the spirits to â€Å"unsex [her] here [†¦] and take [her milk for gall]†, for women’s capacity for cruelty was considered to be inferior to that of men. Lady Macbeth is fully aware of her weaknesses both as a human and especially as a woman that may â€Å"impede [them] from the golden round.† From this we see that Lady Macbeth is not naturally evil, for she calls upon the supernatural to aid her in the murder they are planning to commit. This is also shown in terms of language, for Lady Macbeth speaks in iambic pentameter, which conveys the human heart beat. This is in contrast to the non-human, fiendish, witches who use a different verse form. Therefore Lady Macbeth’s verse shows that not only is she human, she, unlike the demonic, has a heart. Though it is Lady Macbeth, through seductive verse, emotional blackmail and her powers of manipulation, who finally persuades Macbeth to kill Duncan it must be remembered that murder was not, initially, the idea of Lady Macbeth. It was Macbeth who, on the fulfilment of the first prophecy of the witches, entertains â€Å"horrible imaginings† of â€Å"murder yet [†¦] fantastical.† As a woman, it is true that Lady Macbeth was only able to achieve success through her husband and, perhaps, she may have exploited his weaknesses in order to gain power. Nevertheless, from a different perspective, it may appear that Lady Macbeth simply encouraged and supported her husband’s ambition, for it is Macbeth himself who satisfies his â€Å"black and deep desires† by killing Duncan. It is also evident that though Lady Macbeth may be â€Å"fiend-like† in word, she appears to be quite human in her actions. For Malcolm’s judgement on Lady Macbeth seems utterly justified when she talks of â€Å"the babe that milks [her],† for she claims that even â€Å"while it was smiling in [her] face/ Have pluck’d [her] nipple from his boneless gums,/And dash’d the brains out, had I so sworn†. It follows that â€Å"fiend-like† is a true description of her character, for it is only an evil, inhumane fiend who would murder an innocent and helpless baby. However, Lady Macbeth soon reveals her inconsistency when she confesses that she would have murdered Duncan â€Å"had he not resembled [her] father as he slept†. From this comment we see that Lady Macbeth is more humane than she would like to believe. She also claims that she has known â€Å"how tender ’tis to love the babe that milks [her]†. Lady Macbeth has experienced love and this love must still remain, for it is her love for her father that stops her killing Duncan. Therefore Lady Macbeth cannot be fully fiend-like as she possesses the decidedly human quality of love. Paranoia causes Macbeth, against his wife’s wishes, to hire murderers to kill his former friend Banquo, and his son Fleance. Lady Macbeth feels that â€Å"[their] desire is got without content† and begs her husband to â€Å"leave this† when he hints at disposing of Banquo. He ceases to involve his â€Å"partner of greatness† in his plans and she is evidently no longer dominant in the relationship. Instead Lady Macbeth is now in the position which befitted a Jacobean wife, for, according to prevalent Christian belief, the husband was the head of the family. Whereas Macbeth appears to no longer possess a conscience, Lady Macbeth is plagued by hers. She sleepwalks regularly, for â€Å"unnatural deeds do breed unnatural troubles† and is afraid of the dark, having â€Å"a light by her continually†, even carrying a candle whilst sleepwalking. This is in contrast to the time when she called â€Å"come thick night†; she is afraid of the darkness which she once summoned. She, who scorned Macbeth when he feared that regicide will cause them to â€Å"jump the life to come†, now fears eternal damnation. She pleads with the damning guilt to leave her, crying â€Å"out, out damned spot†. In her disturbed sleep she instructs herself to â€Å"wash your hands†, in the hope that â€Å"a little water will clear [them] of this deed. However, it is soon clear that Macbeth’s fear as to whether â€Å"all great Neptune’s ocean wash this blood/Clean from [his] hand† is not unfounded, for Lady Macbeth soon despairs that â€Å"these hands [will] ne’er be clean.† Earlier in the play Lady Macbeth is shown to be a master of language in her manipulation of Macbeth. Due to her distressed state of mind she has lost the ability to speak in verse and instead uses distracted prose. At one point her language breaks down to doggerel, on her remembrance that â€Å"the Thane of Fife had a wife†. Lady Macbeth is no longer aware of her surroundings, as her mind recalls the various murders of Duncan, Banquo and the Macduffs. It is difficult to ascertain whether at times she is talking to herself or to Macbeth, for she is evidently in conversation with someone, exactly who is not clear, though she makes one reference to â€Å"My Lord†, Macbeth. Her insanity is also shown by her the inconsistency of her speeches and her total disregard for chronology, for she confuses the order of the murders as well as the present with the past. Her parting words recognise the hopelessness of her situation, for she knows that â€Å"what’s done cannot be undone†. This also shows that, unlike her husband, Lady Macbeth feels remorse for their actions. She is sorry that their actions â€Å"cannot be undone†. Macbeth, on the other hand, shows no sign of regret, for he feels that he is â€Å"in blood/Stepp’d in so far, that should [he] wade no more, /Returning were as tedious as go o’er.† Murder, including that of innocent, women and children are part of course with him. A distraught Lady Macbeth begs â€Å"No more o’ that my Lord, no more o’ that†, for memories of the murders serve only to torment her, though it is she who earlier unfeelingly remarked that â€Å"what’s done is done† with the belief that â€Å"things without all remedy/Should be without regard†. Her guilt has driven her to near insanity and her conscience is so disturbed as to confuse her mental faculties. Eventually, Lady Macbeth â€Å"by self and violent hands/Took off her life† for Lady Macbeth is unable to bear the burden of guilt any longer and suicide appears to be her only option. According to Jacobean belief, suicide led to certain damnation, and Lady Macbeth’s untimely end is evidence of her despairing of hope in the next life, for she will now â€Å"jump the life to come† having resigned herself to â€Å"deep damnation.† This, if anything, is proof that Lady Macbeth is not â€Å"fiend-like†. Lady Macbeth regrets their actions, begging her husband to cease his murdering, a sign that unlike her husband, she still possesses a morsel of humanity. Lady Macbeth is by no means evil, for evil has no conscience, whereas the conscience of Lady Macbeth is very much in evidence As an audience we witness, through the medium of the stage, the breakdown of Lady Macbeth. We watch her eventual unravelling, from her initial ambitious determination to murder the king, to her final, desperate act of suicide. We gradually realise, that Malcolm, blinded by the knowledge that Lady Macbeth was instrumental in his father’s death, is too harsh in his judgement of her. By showing signs of remorse, not to mention an unwillingness to kill Duncan and an inability to be cruel without aid, Lady Macbeth proves that she has not the evil of a fiend. She is certainly not without conscience, having been tortured by guilt, nor is she without feeling, for she has known â€Å"how tender ’tis to love†. I conclude, therefore, that though Lady Macbeth is not, by any stretch of the imagination, a â€Å"gentle lady†, she is certainly no fiend. Though, at the beginning of the play she may have appeared to be as evil and inhumane as a fiend, by its closing, she is seen to be a wretched, desolate woman who deserves our pity.

Apple, a Socially Responsible Corporation

Apple, a Socially Responsible Corporation It is no mystery that companies exist and desire to make a profit from their product or service being offered. However, it is becoming increasing popular that companies desire to achieve social responsibility in order to increase their public image, which in turn should lead to increased profits. In this class, we learned that social responsibility is the duty to take an action that will benefit the interests of society and the organization (Kinicki & Williams 2011).One of the ways to become more socially responsible that is adopted by many companies is through green management, which is referred to using various policies to reduce environmental problems (Tim Barnett, n. d. ). More and more companies are becoming concerned about the impact their organization is having on the natural environment. Green management can, and should be, done by small and large organizations since it can increase the public image of the organization, thus affecting consumer’s perspectives and investors’ behavior.In the short-term, going green means that management assists in saving the natural environment. However, in the long-term, the costs will be reduced, thus increasing profits as well as achieving green management through waste minimization and improved energy efficiency. Therefore, making â€Å"going green† a win-win situation. By contrast, those companies that continuously cause pollutions will be criticized as companies of social irresponsibility, which will damage their public image and affect the sales of their products. For this research paper I have chosen to discuss Apple Inc. nd how they are a socially responsible corporation. Apple (then Apple Computer) was built by Steven Wozniak and Steven Jobs in April of 1976. For more than two decades, Apple was predominantly a manufacturer of personal computers, including the Apple I, II, Macintosh, and Power Mac lines. In 1985 Jobs was fired from the corporation he had help start. However, due to the low market share and rocky sales experienced during the 90s, Jobs returned as Apple’s CEO in 1996 (Company History, n. d. ). Apple’s products now include MacBook, iPod, iPhone, iPad, as well as some online services like iTunes and iCloud.Since Apple is currently the largest technology firm in the world, its policies about environment protection are certain to carry weight by public and even have some level of impact on the behavior of its suppliers. [update] One way that Apple has become socially responsible is by creating products that are multi-functional. In 2010, Apple launched a new product, the iPad. The iPad provides multi-functions such as e-book reader, cameras allowing for Face Time and HD video recording, Wi-Fi, 3G, and theater and music repository to name a few.This means that consumers who own an iPad no longer need to purchase e-book reader, camera, mp3 or mp4, and even the DVD player since it has gathered the functions of various products in one. In other words, it has fulfilled the different desire of the consumers in just one product. Perhaps this is why the iPad had been sold out in the first quarter of the 2010 financial year. Apple has also successfully developed a longer-lasting battery which outlasted competitor’s batteries.This means that consumers could save money since they will need not to buy new batteries frequently, which is important to consumers in deciding which technological products to choose. Moreover, Apple is also concerned with the energy efficiency. Every single Apple product not only meets but exceeds the United States Environmental Protection Agency’s strict ENERGY STAR guidelines for efficiency. Apple is the only company in the industry that can make this claim. The experience about designing the software and hardware system gives Apple a convenience to achieve this mission.For instance, the power consumed by Mac mini is one-sixth of power consumed by a ty pical light bulb! Such design can satisfy the demand of consumers since it can reduce the expenditures of electricity and thus can reduce their living expenses. In long-term, it can help this company to increase sales of their products. Apple has also developed a smaller and lighter packaging which has the ability to protect the products as well. For example, the new version of MacBook is fifty-three percent smaller than the first generation of MacBook.This kind of efficient packaging design not only enables the company to reduce the raw materials needed in and waste brought from the production process, it also helps to reduce the emissions produced during product transportation since a vehicle can carry more products, thus, reducing the amount of boats and planes used in distribution. Obviously, the smaller packaging decreases the cost of production such as fees for warehouses used and materials used as well as make their product easily carried by consumers. Another example is the packaging for the iPhone.It is almost entirely recyclable and its retail box is made primarily from bio-based materials. In addition, its packaging is extremely material efficient, allowing more units to be transported in a single shipping container. The paper used in packaging of every unit of iPhone 4 were reduced from 136g to 120g compared with that of the iPhone 3GS. Apple iPhone packaging is now getting smaller and smaller with each and every generation which is more economical and environmental. On the other hand, Apple’s retail stores implemented a â€Å"no plastic bags† policy in order to cut back on unnecessary packaging a few years ago.Plastic bags are difficult and costly to recycle, they will break down into tiny particles that contaminate the soil and waterways and penetrate the food chain when animals ingest them. They clog up gutters and drains causing water and sewage to overflow and become the breeding grounds of germs and bacteria that cause diseases. Therefore, this policy taken by Apple can help to significantly reduce the pollutions caused by thrown away plastic bags, especially since the quantities of products sold by Apple are over millions.Apple uses the Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) to calculate greenhouse gas emissions for each product. The Natural Resources and Environmental Protection Act requires that manufacturers of new televisions, computer and printers must have established an electronic recycling program by April 2011. (Roger Mock, 2011) As one of the manufacturer of technology production, Apple offered Electronic Waste Takeback Program which was established as part of Michigan Law which refers to proper disposal of hazardous materials.Hazardous material can damage our health by increasing cancer risk, damaging our body system and even lead to death. The European Restriction of Hazardous Substances Directive restricts the use of lead, mercury, cadmium, hexavalent chromium, polybrominated biphenyls and polybrominate d diphenyl ether, which Apple complies with. Apple also complies with the Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act of 2008 which pertains to the lead content of consumer products and the Registration, Evaluation, Authorization and Restriction of Chemicals Regulation CH (REACH) which pertains to chemicals and their safe use.In addition, Apple is on the European Chemicals Agency list for producing products that do not contain any substances of very high concern. Further, Apple, along with other top smart phone companies, signed an agreement on the standardization of mobile phone chargers which reduce the electronic waste and greenhouse gas emissions of such by the thousand tons (Apple Inc, 2012). To minimize the environment impact, Apple refers to precautionary principle to reduce and eliminate environmentally hazardous substances from their products.There are three important elements of this principle: preventative action, voluntary elimination and proactive search for safer substitut es (â€Å"Latest News about Environmental Protection Laws and Regulations,† 2010). They planned to completely eliminate the use of hazardous substances such as PVC and brominated flame retardants (BFRs) in its products by the end of 2008. They have worked with the manufacturing partners to eliminate BFRs and harmful toxins. Finally, all Apple products are now free of BFRs and PVC and Apple plans to eliminate all forms of chlorine and bromine.The effects of hazardous substances can be skin irritation, asthma, losing consciousness, cancer, infection from bacteria and other micro-organisms, and on occasion, death. So, it is necessary to eliminate these harmful substances. Apple carefully manages the environmental impact of its facilities, and as a result they represent only two percent of its assessed greenhouse gas emissions, which come from the production, transport, use, and recycling of products (Apple Inc, 2011).Apple now discloses full product lifestyle emissions and carbo n footprint; it primarily reports on their facilities as a gauge of its environmental impact. For purpose to reduce the environmental impact, switching off the light and recycling office waste are not enough. There is the biggest impact of this company on the environment when using Apple’s products. That’s why Apple focuses on their product’s design and innovation. Apple has taken significant steps to lessen greenhouse gas emissions produced by its facilities worldwide (Apple Inc, 2011).Code of Ethics is a formal document that states an organization’s primary values and the ethical rules it expects managers and non-managerial employees to follow. The code of ethics for Apple is â€Å"Ethics: The Way We Do Business Worldwide, 2005. † It is applying all employees, including its top management. Apple’s stated policy includes expectations about maintaining high standards of business conduct, to be ethical in business dealings, to avoid conflicts of interest, to respect confidentiality, to conduct business within the law and to conduct business which benefits communities.Apple now requires suppliers to commit to their comprehensive Supplier Code of Conduct as condition of their contract with them since Apple is committed to ensuring that the highest standards of social responsibility throughout their supple base. Apple requires suppliers to provide a safe and healthy work environment, so suppliers must eliminate chemical hazards or minimize the use of some harmful materials according to the legal requirement (Apple Inc. 2012). In 2005, Apple started a recycling program. At that time, Apple decided to hold a free recycling program for its iPod digital music player.Their customers were able to bring the iPod to any of Apple’s (then) one hundred retail stores in the United States for free, environmentally friendly disposal. Besides that, those who brought their iPod in to recycle would receive ten percent discount on th e purchase of a new iPod on that day. This program continued until 2010. In 2010, Apple announced the updated program which increased the products eligible to be recycled. Now, iPod, iPhone, iPad and Mac can be sent to Apple retail stores for recycling (Apple, 2012).They have two categories on the recycling program which are computer reuse and recycling as well as iPod and mobile phones recycling. For the computer reuse and recycling program, they undertake the community to solve the environmental problems, especially the pollutions which may be caused from Apple’s productions. People can bring their old Mac batteries or computers whether they are working or nonworking. If it can be reused, then they will be given an Apple gift card which can be used to purchase Apple’s products. Otherwise, they will recycle it responsibly at no cost to the customer.Apple also accepts the computers which are non-Apple-brand because Apple contracts with WeRecycle! to process recycling f or those products. iPod and mobile phone recycling is a program that is similar to the two programs mentioned previously. However, if the person doesn’t live near any Apple retail store, he or she can simply go online to the Apple website and complete the form and recycle the iPod or mobile phone via mail (Apple 2012). Finally, Apple has become a socially responsible corporation with the implementation of a commuter alternative program which has more than ten thousand employee participants.At Apple headquarters in Cupertino, California, the company pays one hundred dollars per month of employees’ bus, train, light rail, vanpool, and other transit costs through its Apple Commuter Alternatives Program. They have more than eleven hundred Apple employees that ride their free biodiesel commuter coaches daily. Apple also provides lockers, showers, and turn-up subsidies for their employees who cycle, walk or run to work. In addition, Apple maintains a database of the employee ’s addresses and working schedules for those who are interested in ridesharing or carpooling.Further, Apple has offered free shuttle services for its employees as their workers transport between the Bay Area and Cupertino. Those shuttle buses provide seats with individual power connectors to run and charge notebooks while in transit as well as being equipped with Wi-Fi for internet connectivity. Apple estimates that these programs have eliminated the use of over a thousand single-occupant cars per day, thereby saving the environment of the pollution of over a thousand single-occupant cars per day.As you can see, Apple has put forth a lot of efforts in green management and being more socially responsible. According to Senior Vice President of Hardware Engineering, Bob Mansfield (2012), â€Å"Apple makes the most environmentally responsible products in our industry. † They achieve this through several perspectives: the product (e. g. multi-functional products), the emplo yees (e. g. commuter alternatives programs) and the environment (e. g. reduce using material that will harm the environment). Apple is strict and has a high demand in environmental safe programs.That’s why they design them to use less material, ship with smaller packaging, be free of toxic substances, and be as energy efficient and recyclable as possible (â€Å"The Story Behind Apple's Environmental Footprint,† 2012). Further, Apple not only meets government requirements, but they exceed them and still continue to improve their products to continually reduce the harm to the environment. Perhaps other companies should consider using Apple as a role model and together try to save the environment. After all, it is the only one we have. References 1. Unknown. (n. d. ). Company History: 1976-1981. In undefined.Retrieved November 18, 2012, from http://www. apple-history. com/h1. 2. Mansfield, Bob. (July 13, 2012). A Letter From Bob Mansfield. In Apple and the Environment. Re trieved November 18, 2012, from http://www. apple. com/environment/letter-to-customers/. 3. Unknown. (2012). The Story Behind Apple's Environmental Footprint. In Apple and the Environment. Retrieved November 18, 2012, from http://www. apple. com/environment/. 4. Apple Inc. (January, 2012). Apple Supplier Code of Conduct. In undefined. Retrieved November 18, 2012, from http://images. apple. com/supplierresponsibility/pdf/Apple_Supplier_Code_of_Con

Health promotion Term Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Health promotion - Term Paper Example The authors have defined health promotion within the literature review. It should be noted that the definition has not been discussed in the research paper but it rather undertakes a practical implication of the definition of health promotion (Brunero & Lamont, 2011). The working definition of health promotion in this study is that it is a process of providing individuals with ways in which they can effectively undertake prevention and treatment of a disease which is already diagnosed (mainly because it is a suggestion for health promotion at a tertiary level. The authors of the study have marked that the main purpose of health promotion within the nursing field is to align the responsibilities and goals of nursing as well as health promotion. It is noted that there is an increased burden on the nurses which can only be normalized with the help of clinical supervision at a teaching level. This will help nurses provide better services for meeting the goals of health promotion. It shou ld be noted that the authors has suggested a clinical testing or screening method which will allow nurses to make their areas of service much responsible (Brunero & Lamont, 2011). In addition, another study entitled â€Å"Determining factors in evidence-based clinical practice among hospital and primary care nursing staff† conducted by Pedro et al. also recommends health promotion plan on a primary prevention level. According to the article, health promotion is rather defined as a process which allows nurses to provide healthcare facilities with the application of evidence-based clinical practice (Pedro-Go ´mez, Morales-Asencio, Veny, & Vives, 2011). The authors have suggested that the health promotion practice will not just allow the healthcare seekers but also the healthcare practitioners to practice healthcare facilities with efficient distribution. As a matter of fact, the health promotion will serve the purpose of allowing nurses to conduct evident-based

Methods of Pain Relief in Children Literature review

Methods of Pain Relief in Children - Literature review Example Research has shown that management of pain in children and infants is more often than not inadequate, despite evidence that pain in these age groups can be managed effectively and safely through proper dose adjustment and safe clinical practices. It is important to control pain in infants and children because of the unwanted and devastating consequences they have. Some evidence has shown that procedures performed in a neonatal period without proper control of pain can increase distress during future procedures like immunizations. In children, the memory of a bad experience on the first occasion of a procedure can increase the amount of pain and distress in subsequent procedures due to anxiety and anticipatory fear. Pain during procedures can lead to stress which can contribute to negative cognitive, social, physiological, psychological and emotional outcomes not only for their children but also for their family members. According to the American Academy of Paediatrics, "the concepts of pain and suffering go well beyond that of simple sensory experience. It has emotional, cognitive and behavioral components as well as developmental, environmental and socio-cultural.† Thus, it is very important to manage pain in infants and children adequately and appropriately. Such an effective clinical practice is possible through "thorough current knowledge of analgesics, age-specific doses, appropriate routes of administration and possible side effects." Another important aspect of pain management in children is that only pharmacological pain management is ineffective and for successful pain relief, "a family-centered approach combining pharmacological methods with psychological and behavioral methods is needed for the optimum comfort of children ».

To What Extent Does the Current Use of Imprisonment as Crime Control Research Paper

To What Extent Does the Current Use of Imprisonment as Crime Control Reinforce Existing Inequalities and Segregation in the UK and the USA - Research Paper Example Traditionally imprisonment has been used – along with other crime prevention/ punishment measures - in order to control crime within a specific region. However, the terms under which the specific policy has been applied around the world have not been quite clear up to now. In any case, mass imprisonment has been found to be related to specific social ‘characteristics, like the unemployment, gender, and race. On the other hand, despite the fact that a series of measures have been taken by the British and the USA government regarding the improvement of the terms of mass imprisonment, still, the specific measure enforces inequalities among the population. It could be stated that the terms of mass imprisonment that are currently applied present many similarities with the ones used in the past. In accordance with Hallett (2002) ‘due to late 20th-century imprisonment policies, a renewed understanding of prisoners as commodities has emerged; the historical pattern of raci ally distinct commerce in imprisoned human beings, most of whom are poor, non-violent, minority offenders, has returned’ (Hallett, 2002, 369). The terms of mass imprisonment applied today would be improved so that inequalities are no longer enforced; but this target is a challenging task – especially if taking into account the resources (employees, funds, and technology) required. The development of technology in the developed countries around the world – including the USA and the UK – has not necessarily led to the improvement of the terms of justice or the limitation of inequalities in the society. The above fact is clear through the studies and the findings presented below.Current use of imprisonment as crime control and reinforcing of existing inequalities and segregation in the UK and the USA

Project2 Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Project2 - Essay Example After site visits to the corporate headquarters and one manufacturing plant, along with interviews of both key personnel and employees alike, careful consideration have been made of the many situations facing MPC. We have decided the following problems need to be fixed in the order they are referenced. The eighteen month time period that the company projects for modernization is realistic, provided they continue to use outsourcing for most of the projects. The first problem that needs to be addressed is the issue of the mainframe computer. ANDC agrees with Ms Hsu that the mainframe is a money pit and will only get worse as the machine gets older. Bradley University converted in the same fashion in the late 1990’s, an old report in the field of technology but relevant to this situation nonetheless (Bradley 1997). Their report is honest, listing both benefits (Same as MPC; cost and maintenance) and realized disadvantages. One was that they also experimented with environments oth er than Windows (including DOS and MAC) and eventually had to revert to a strictly PC based environment. Not only would that be standardized but since most users are familiar with Windows, new system training was mineralized. The first benefit realized would therefore be the costs. One thing Bradley stated they would do different was purchasing network ready servers and buying them as identical systems from one vendor. A check with Dell (2012), shows that a new computer to be used as a rack server would cost around $6,000 apiece. Since MPC would require three servers, database, web, and internal (intranet), the initial cost would be around $20,000, since Dell would also send the servers preloaded with Microsoft Server 2012 for a predetermined cost (based upon number of clients per machine). A vendor such as Dell would also be able to provide an answer to another of the customer’s questions. Long term maintenance agreements can be purchased for a nominal fee and the company ev en offers lease arrangements. In order to keep the mainframe functioning until shutoff time, with minimal service interruption, it is recommended that both environments function side-by-side. The Intranet can be transitioned first, in conjunction with the database server. One advantage of the Intranet system is the fact that the internationally remote manufacturing plants can also be connected securely, so that redundant systems would not be necessary; a simple internet connection is all that is required. Then the web server can be up and running well before the eighteen month deadline. During the changeover and for six months thereafter ANDC personnel will be at company headquarters to ensure a smooth transition, during which time ANDC will assume full responsibility for changeover. Another financial consideration MPC should consider is upgrading their cabling to T-1 throughout. The increased traffic would probably soon result in overloading their current system (Mitchell 2012). Th e second problem is the relatively antiquated call center system with a non-functioning web ordering system. One of the major customer complaints are long waiting times for customer service (Your call is important to us) and is the main reason more customers are turning to the internet for ordering and service. MPC is correct in that some customers will continue to want to call but that call volume will probably be less than ten per cent of what it is now (Bleuell 2009). Fujitsu (2012) presents the case of a Japanese optical

Cultural Relativism and Improving the Lives of Women Essay

Cultural Relativism and Improving the Lives of Women - Essay Example However, as demonstrated by the overwhelming number of reservations to CEDAW there is an underlying reluctance to part with social and cultural traditions.4 This study assesses the problem of cultural relativism as a barrier to improving the lives of women by reference to the weakness of the implementation and enforcement mechanisms of CEDAW. Cultural relativism takes the position that there is no universally accepted standard for judging all cultures. This is especially unfair to feminists who attempt to draw attention to all forms of gender discrimination and oppression among diverse cultures.5 Cultural relativism is characterized as a â€Å"doctrine† that recognizes that there are some moral codes and social institutions are different and are â€Å"exempt from legitimate criticism by outsiders† and such a doctrine is â€Å"supported by notions of communal autonomy and self-determination†.6 There are two diametrically opposed views on cultural relativism. One view is referred to as radical cultural relativism and this view holds that culture provides the only validity for proffering a moral rule. The other view is radical universalism which takes the position that culture is not relevant for validating moral rules because they are â€Å"universally valid†.7 †¦people are categorized and identified by social identity, especially as it is expressed in religious, ethnic, or tribal terms. These group-based identities often help determine our position in the social and political hierarchy of a society and also condition people’s attitudes and perceptions toward us as we go about our daily business.8 For a number of women, they derive their respective identities from their experiences within specific settings that are dominated by males. Even so, the way that they perceive themselves emanates from how women are treated and quite often they confront levels of discriminatory treatment within their social settings.

Fully researched Legal Interoffice memorandum based on my class Research Paper

Fully researched Legal Interoffice memorandum based on my class hypothetical - Research Paper Example Brief Answer Yes. The fact that the child’s father filed a paternity action in Illinois when paternity had already been established by court order in Florida, thus the Florida court had continuing custody jurisdiction, following the Uniform Custody Jurisdiction and Enforcement Act (750 ILCS 36/101 et seq. (West 2004)). In order to obtain any custodial rights, the correct filing would be in Florida for a temporary change of custody or a petition requesting a change of jurisdiction to reflect the parties’ new home state. In addition, due to Ms. Porter’s active duty status in the military, the action falls under the Service Members Civil Relief Act of 1997 and contains several, reversible errors under that law and its adoption by Florida statute 61.13002, et seq.. Statement of Facts Our new client, Melissa Porter, has a five- year old son with former partner, John Straub. Paternity, custody and child support were established in Florida in 2008, where the child and t he parents resided for approximately four years. The Florida courts have not relinquished jurisdiction, nor is there any pending action to do so. All parties relocated to Illinois a year ago. There were no filings, motions or correspondence between courts to change home state jurisdiction. At that time Ms. Porter had custody of her son, David. Ms. Porter joined the U.S. Army Reserves in August 2010. There was a verbal agreement between mother and father that Mr. Straub would provide a home for his son during six weeks of Basic Training, at which time Melissa would resume care and custody of their David. During active duty in the Reserves, Ms. Porter suffered a serious training accident and spent six months recovering. She was recently re-settled in Chicago and attempted to arrange the return of her son to her care. Mr. Straub and his new wife refused and filed a paternity action in Illinois, the conclusion of which he was awarded custody of the son. Our client wants to understand wh at rights she has to the return of her son under applicable State and Federal statutes, as well as any other issues or concerns that arise from her service and subsequent injury. Discussion It is likely that the Illinois Appellate Court will overturn the lower court decision on custody jurisdiction and vacate the custody order because it occurred while Ms. Porter was covered by the Service Members Civil Relief Act (50 U.S.C. Â §520, et sec) and the Florida courts had continuing custody jurisdiction under the Uniform Child Custody Jurisdiction and Enforcement Act of 1997 (750 ILCS 36/101 et seq. (West 2004)) (UCCJEA). The original Florida custody order of November 3, 2008 takes precedence over the Illinois custody order obtained in error in 2011. The Uniform Child Custody Jurisdiction and Enforcement Act presents the States with more transparent principles to use in deciding which States have original jurisdiction with regard to paternity and custody determinations. Article 2, Secti on 202(a) states: Except as otherwise provided in Section 204, a court of this State which has made a child-custody determination consistent with Section 201 or 203 has exclusive, continuing jurisdiction over the determination until: (1) a court of this State determines that neither the child, nor the child and one parent, nor the child and a person acting as a parent have a significant connection with this State and that substantial evidence is no longer available in this State concerning the child's care, protection, training, and personal relationships; or (2) a court of this State or a court of another State determines

The Student Movement and 1968 Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3000 words

The Student Movement and 1968 - Essay Example The essay "The student movement and 1968" will help to understand, that political oppression is one of the main factors that encouraged student action in the 1960s, where students wanted to offer an alternative opposition that the government lacked. In 1966, the two main West German political parties, the Social Democratic Party (SPD) and Christian Democrats (CDU), merged to create the Grand Coalition. The Grand Coalition selected Kurt Georg Kiesinger of the CDU to become the chancellor. The decision sparked controversy because Kissinger served as the radio propagandist of the National Socialist German Workers' Party (NSDAP), also called the Nazi Party (Allinson, 2013, p.141). In addition, the formation of the Grand Coalition created social unrest because it decreased and curtailed parliamentary opposition (Allinson, 2013, p.142). With the union of CDU and the SPD, the only remaining opposition party was the relatively small organization of the Free Democratic Party (FDP). The studen t movement formed part of the â€Å"extraparliamentary opposition† or APO (Von Dirke, 1997, p.34). Andrei S. Markovits, an Arthur F. Thurnau Professor and American sociologist Philip S. Gorski assert that APO is not a monolithic movement. They stress that the â€Å"term APO never designated a single organization or tendency. Rather, APO was a loosely negative alliance between a diffuse array of groups united against a shared opponent† (cited in Von Dirke, 1997, p.34). The Socialist German Student Union served as the leader of the student movement in Germany.

Theory Building Essay Example for Free

Theory Building Essay Some of the theories used to explain different aspects of organizational management include Maslow’s Hierarchical Theory of Needs and Freud’s Psychoanalytic Theory. According to Maslow’s theory physiological needs supervene psychological needs. Maslow’s theory states that certain needs which are inborn internal motivations influence the decisions made by individuals (Landy Conte, 2006, p.335). His theory allowed for the environment to play a significant role in motivated behavior by suggesting that once a set of needs are satisfied by environmental forces, the next higher needs are activated in an individual. As opposed to Maslow’s theory, Freud places emphasis on the role of an individual’s mind [specifically his unconscious mind] in the determination of an individual’s motivation. Within Freud’s Psychoanalytic Theory, an individual’s unconscious desires determine his motivations. Both theories can be used to explain the motivations behind individual’s actions and decisions within the field of business. How do propositions and hypotheses differ? According to Zikmund (1988) a proposition is â€Å"a statement concerned with the relationship among concepts. It is an assertion of a universal connection between events that have certain properties† (p. 44). As opposed to this, a hypothesis is â€Å"an unproven proposition or supposition that tentatively explains certain facts or phenomena. It is a proposition that is empirically testable† (Zikmund, 1988, p.45). The main difference between the two may be traced to the investigatory use of a hypothesis as the hypothesis is used to investigate and test a claim. It is important to note that the hypothesis itself is a proposition; the difference of a hypothesis from other propositions merely lies in its use to verify or falsify a claim. Given this context one might thereby state that although a hypothesis is a proposition not all propositions are hypotheses. How do concepts differ from variables?   According to Zikmund (1988) a concept refers to a â€Å"generalized idea about a class of objects, attributes, occurrences, or process that have been given a name† (p. 41). As opposed to this, a variable is â€Å"a concept whose value changes from case to case† (Macionis Plummer, 2005, p.51). Consider for example the concept ‘price’ wherein ‘price’ refers to the value of an object. Within the context of the department store, the ‘price’ of different objects differ from each other due to the differences of the factors used in determining the value of an object. In addition to this although some concepts may correspond to a set of empirical measures, not all concepts do as opposed to variables that may correspond to two or more values. Comment on this statement: â€Å"There is nothing as practical as a good theory.† A theory refers to a â€Å"coherent set of general propositions used to explain the apparent relationships among certain observed phenomena† (Zikmund, 1988, p.41). Theories are important as they provide a framework for the analysis of a particular event. A theory may thereby provide an individual with the necessary assumptions that may trace the reason for the occurrence of a particular event. In a sense, one might state that it provides an individual with the causal explanation on how an event q was caused by an event p. It is necessary however that the theory used for the explanation is a good theory. A good theory here refers to a theory whose â€Å"empirical content is less than or equal to the ‘logical content’† (Boland, 1989, p.56). Such is the characteristic of a good theory since it ensures that the theory is empirically verifiable and hence testable. Given this context, there is nothing as practical as a good theory since it ensures that one’s explanations for the occurrence of a particular event is continuously verifiable and hence testable and thereby easily proven to be valid easily. The 17th-century Dutch philosopher Benedict Spinoza said, â€Å"If the facts conflict with a theory, either the theory must be changed or the facts.† According to Spinoza, when facts conflict with a theory there is a necessity to either change the theory or change the facts in order to ensure the theory’s validity. A theory is either formulated through the use of inductive reasoning or deductive reasoning. Deductive reasoning refers to â€Å"the logical process of deriving a conclusion about a specific instance based on a known general premise or something known to be true† (Zikmund, 1988, p. 46). Inductive reasoning, on the other hand, refers to the â€Å"the logical process of establishing a general proposition on the basis of observation of particular facts† (Zikmund, 1988, p.47). In the case of a theory formulated using a deductive argument, there is a need to assess the validity of propositions [facts] in order to ensure the validity and soundness of the argument. In the case of inductive arguments, the change or addition of a proposition [facts] changes the conclusion thereby leading to the change of the theory itself. Find another definition of theory. How is the definition you found similar to this book’s definition? How is it different? Kerlinger (1979) defines a theory as â€Å"a set of interrelated constructs (variables), definitions, and propositions that presents a systematic view of phenomenon by specifying relations among variables, with the purpose of explaining natural phenomena† (qtd in Creswell, 2002, p. 120). As opposed to this Zikmund (1988) defines a theory as a â€Å"coherent set of general propositions used to explain the apparent relationships among certain observed phenomena† (p.41). As can be seen above, both definitions note that a theory is composed of more abstract components in the form of propositions wherein each proposition is interrelated in such a way that when combined together they formulate one coherent and systematic worldview. The difference of Kerlinger’s definition however may be traced to his addition of what a theory is trying to explain that being ‘natural phenomena’. Hence, Zikmund’s definition may be seen as presenting a broad definition of a theory whereas Kerlinger narrows his definition by stating what a theory refers to. References Boland, L. (1989). The Methodology of Economic Model Building: Methodology After Samuelson. London: Routledge. Creswell, J. (2002). Research Design: Qualitative, Quantitative, and Mixed Method Approaches. London: SAGE. Landy, F. J. Conte. (2006). Work in the 21st Century: An Introduction to Industrial and Organizational Psychology. London: Routledge. Macionis, J. K. Plummer. (2005). Sociology: A Global Introduction. Np: Pearson. Zikmund, W. (1988). Business Research Methods. California: University of California Press.

Indian Biscuit Market: Segmentation and Customer Analysis

Indian Biscuit Market: Segmentation and Customer Analysis For an effective and efficient segmentation, however, a mix of all of these above mentioned parameters have to be used. Extending the above concept of basis of segmentation, the criteria of segmentation across different conditions is naturally different. For example, for the general understanding of a market, one should keep in mind the benefits sought, product purchase and usage patterns, needs, brand loyalty and switching patterns On the other hand, for positioning studies, product usage, product preference have to be taken into account. On one hand, incase of advertising decisions, when media usage and psychographic /lifestyle is considered seriously, on the other hand for distribution decisions, store loyalty and patronage clubbed with benefits sought in store selection is contemplated over. Also, it has been often concluded that the segment profitability is affected by five principal factors : Industry Competitors and the threat of segment rivalry Potential entrants to the market and the threat of mobility The threat of substitute products Buyers and their relative power Suppliers and their relative power Last but not the least, to decide on segmentation, a knowledge of following five patterns of market coverage is important . They are :- Single segment concentration, selective specialisation, product specialisation, market specialisation, full market coverage. PROMOTION :- For any promotion strategy to be successful, it is primarily important that the flow of thought process behind it be understood. A Marketing Plan is essentially a mix of Product, Place, Price, Promotion, physical evidence and Process Management . This Marketing Plan is a derivative of Marketing strategies and objectives, which is in turn derived from Corporate Objectives. And on an overall level, all of these are derived from the Final Corporate Strategy . Amongst these, the Promotion mix consists of a wide variety of selling tactics like Product Placement, Advertising and advertorials, Packaging, Personal Selling, P.O.S., Publicity .Sponsorship, Sales Promotion, Exhibitions, E-Mails, Text messaging etc. While developing the communications Plan, the following points have to be kept in mind by a Marketer :- The nature and detail of the target audience. The Short-term and Long-term communication objectives The messages that are to be used The Communication channels that will carry the message The Budget The Mix of communication tools that is to be used and how the elements of the promotion mix are to be integrated and how, in turn, the promotions mix is to be integrated with the marketing mix. The measure of the ROI of the campaign. Apart from the above mentioned, approaching the customer in a Integrated Marketing Communication Channel is the most effective. i.e. by achieving a higher level of integration between the individual elements of the communication mix, the planner should achieve a greater degree of clarity and consistency, with the result that there will then be a seamless integration of messages and a broader reach . Brand Management A fundamental element of any product strategy is the role played by the brand. Brands are designed to enable customers to identify products or services that promise specific benefits. As such they are a form of shorthand in that they create a set of expectations in the mind of customers about purpose, performance, quality and price. This in turn allows the strategists to build added value into products and to differentiate them from competitors. To be truly effective, a brand strategy has to develop over time and reflect environmental conditions. There is therefore a need from brand development, the key elements of which involve a detailed understanding of: Current perceptions of the brand amongst customers and the trade The expectations of both customers and the trade The strengths and weakness of each brand within the portfolio The value of each of the brands The links that exist between the different brands owned and the nature and significance of any overlaps and gaps The dangers of brand cannibalization When and where new brand names need to be developed The opportunity for brand stretching Probable competitor moves The starting point for this involves analysing the brand in order to understand detail what it means to customer and how much it is worth. In doing this, the strategist needs to identify the core values, the scope that exists for extending the brand name into other product or market sectors, and the areas that must be avoided at all costs. Developing a brand strategy For many organisations, branding is a fundamental element of the product strategy and provides the basis for a consumer franchise that, if managed effectively, allows for greater marketing flexibility and a higher degree of consumer loyalty. However, it needs to be recognised that branding involves a great deal more than simply putting a name on a package. Instead it is about creating, maintaining and proactively developing perceived customer value, it is only in this way that the organisation is able to promise and continue to deliver to the consumer a superior value than that offered by competitors. It follows from this that any brand strategy is, of necessity, a long term process that involves an investment in and commitment to the development of the brand over time. This long term perspective involves the dovetailing of a number of issues, but in essence can be seen to be concerned with the two principal issue that emerge from the discussion above 1. Where the brand is currently and how it is perceived 2. How the brand is to be perceived in three, five and ten years time, and how this might best be achieved. With regard to the first of these, the starting point for any brand strategy involves identifying: The brands current market positioning Competitors positioning strategies and resource bases The way in which the market is likely to develop, and the implications of product, brand and market life cycles Customers perception of the portfolio of brands in the market Customers expectations and the extent to which these are being met both by the brand and its competitors Levels of customer loyalty across the market The financial, managerial and operational that can be called in managing a brand The bases for competition The relative importance of the brand to the organisation Managerial expectations of the brand It is only against this background that the strategist is able to develop a vision for the brand. Finally in developing the brand strategy, the planner needs to give consideration to a series of financial issues, including the margins and contribution that the brand is required to generate in both the short and the long term, and the levels of investment that the brand needs if it is to achieve the objectives set. Consumer Behaviour From the viewpoint of the marketing planner, the mix of cultural, social, personal and psychological factors that influence behaviour is largely non-controllable. Because of the influence they exert upon patterns of buying, it is essential that as much effort as possible is put into understanding how they interact and ultimately, how they influence purchase behaviour. in doing this, it is important not to lose sight of the differences that exist between customers and consumers, and the implications of these differences for strategy. Against the background of an understanding of the factors influencing motivation, the marketing strategists needs them to consider the influence of perception, since it is the way in which motivated individuals perceive a given situation that determines precisely how they will behave. Consumer is at the centre of all decision making in an organisation. The linkage of the consumer to other aspects is shown in the following diagram. We can see that on the left, the consumer interacts through his perception, understanding (cognition), beliefs and social influences. These aspects determine the behaviour of the consumer. The search for this behaviour is through market research and insight mining. The market Research gives fodder for the strategy to be formulated. MARKSTRAT SUMMARY Before entering any market, it is important to understand what the market stands for, the kind of products in the market, the competitors that the company will face and various external and internal factors that will play a crucial role in making decisions after every quarter/period. The Industry Cheetah has 6 players in the Market namely A, E, I, O, U, Y. After the initial feelers of the whole simulation, it was evident that we would have to focus on certain key areas and others would be on low priority. The key-focus areas that were decided were :- Philosophy, Guiding Principals and Organization Product Portfolio Research Development Advertising and Sales Force Decisions Pricing Effects Competitor Dynamics New Product Launches Production Planning and Inventory Management Financial Focus After setting the above agenda, the next step was to decide what needs to be done in the first period. The single point agenda in this case was to enter the Sonite market while keeping away from the Vodite market . The logic behind this was that to, make Vheetah Y the Stock price leader clubbed with highest ROI. A snapshot of results varying across different periods are as follows :- Base (period 0): 1000 Period 11 (End): 1687 Highest: 2485 (Period 6 End) Lowest: 1000 (base) Highest Stock Price in Industry: 3244 (Cpny. I) Some of the pertinent stock prices Index observations over the periods were :- SPI increased by 68.7% after 11 periods compared to base value. A very encouraging positive growth was seen from Period 0 to Period 6 (138.9% growth from Period 0 to Period 6) On the Contrary there was a continuous decrease in SPI from Period 7 to 11 (32.11% decline in Period 7 to period 11). The high-point of the SPI game was that at the end of Period 6, Cheetah Y was the market leader in terms of SPI. A company vs Company comparison of SPI shows the following results :- The next focus shifted to pushing the Product through Sales and advertising .The logic behind our heavy Advertising Budget was that there was no point in having a perfect product if the target market does not know about it. A fine balance of quality and quantity does the trick.Down the line, Cheetah Y also realised that it is wisest to allocate the money to the products with the highest Return on Investment. Also, from a strategic point of view, it makes a lot of sense to be opportunistic and increase the advertising money when the competitors are squeezed for money . In this regard, the most important function is Competitive Advertising which defines a product (in this case SYGU and SYCA) against what its communication dimensions and message quality are. Initially, the dimensions Economy and Performance and Performance and Convenience fared pretty badly . But towards Period 7 (from Period 3 to Period 7), it reached the message Quality Excellent. Parallely, in the Vodite Market, the product VYLE on the communication dimension Economy Felxibility it scored a message quality of Excellent. A combined overview of how the sales department fared for Cheetah Y is given below. Also, it gives the insight into what cheetah Y fared vis-a-vis competitors and current market scenario. Base (Period 0): (a) Sales Volume: 167.53 Kilo Units (b) Revenue: K$ 48659.3 Million Period 11 (End): (a) Cumulative Sales Volume: 539.60 Kilo Units (b) Cumulative Revenues: K$ 1463564.9 Million Highest Sales in any Period (Units): 788.4 (Period 7 End) Highest Sales in any Period (Revenue): K$ 193776 (Period 7 End) Lowest Sales in any period (Units): Base Lowest Sales in any Period (Value): Base Highest Cumulative Sales (revenue) in industry after 11 periods: K$ 1949822 (Company I) (A snapshot of Sales Volume across all the competitors) After investing in adequate sales force across Speciality Stores, Department stores and Mass Merchandise, the next logical step was to analyse the Market Share after each period. Some of the key highlights in case of market share were :- Market Share at Period 11 (End): 7.03% Highest: 28.35% (Period 5 End) Lowest: 7.03% (Period 11 End) Highest Market Share in Industry (Period 11 end): 38.88% (Company U) The broad strategy to achieve the initially set agenda is that first we enter the Cheetah market with minimum number of products, and with zero product in the Vodite Market. Also, offering the same product across multiple segments enhanced the revenue base. There was an overall increased emphasis on targeted advertising to increase brand awareness. The Pricing strategy also worked in this direction, i.e offer the product at a cheaper price than the competitors (even when the product is superior) . But as dynamic as our market strategies, even the Market threw up a lot of surprises. There were the constantly changing consumer needs, aggressive product development of competition, large disparity in growth rates in different segments of the two markets. Thus a snapshot of the strategies pursued are given below, vis-a-vis what actions were taken . Thus, from the above describes strategies pursued and an analysis of their results, the following lessons were learnt : Offer customized products to each segment in the market Keep track of changing consumer needs; modify products accordingly If the product is not performing well, remove from market Pay emphasis to RD Observe competition and their strategy; tweak strategy suitably Advertising spend does not necessarily lead to greater sales Lowering price will not improve sales even in a price sensitive segment Possible Applications of the learnings :- There is space for growth for additional brands in the customer segments of Buffs and Singles as the entire market is concentrated in just a couple of players. A well positioned and well priced brand definitely has a lot of promise in these segments. We need keep a tap on ideal value evolution of the physical characteristics or dimensions. Continuous re-evaluation and modification of existing brands like SYGU and SYCA should be done and marketing and advertising efforts should be employed keeping the changes in mind. The position of SYGU brand needs to be questioned and, if need be, repositioned with a modified RD project. A product/brand catering exclusively to the Followers segment in the Vodite should be launched with the desired physical characteristics. Need to define the space for competition so that maximum efforts can be employed there with minimal overlap and wastage with any concurrent efforts for any other brand of the company a case in point is Company I which has excellently defined brands in each of the customer segments of Singles, others and followers. Need to use the MDS and SEMANTIC scales more precisely for setting advertising objectives for SYGU and SYCA. COMPANY STRATEGY :- Biscuit industry is the third largest producer and fastest growing industry in FMCG sector.Its Estimated Value is approximately Rs 5000 Crore. It forms a part of the Organized sector: 60% (approximately). Major Segments in which it operates are Glucose, Marie, Cream, Crackers, Milk. Major Brands in the industry right now are : Britannia, ITC, Parle, Priyagold, Dukes etc COMPANY OVERVIEW :- Britannia is Indias second largest food company with Sales close to Rs. 20 billion. Over the years it has shown a Consistent annual growth rate of 15-20% . It Sources products from more than 50 factories spread across the country. Key product lines include Biscuits, Bread, Cakes and Rusk .Product range serves to the whole spectrum from mass market to the premium segment . FINANCIAL ANALYSIS :- An indepth analysis of past few years shows that the Gross sales increased to Rs 2317.11 Cr in 2006-07 indicating a growth of 28% . Britannias Profits declined by 33% due to increase in input prices and stiff competition (like Parle, itc, Priya ). An interesting trend showed that Dividends of the order 100-150% were provided for the past 5 years. Although Britannia followed the industry growth rate for the past 3-4 years, the profit margin followed a zigzag pattern. But owing to Inflation, Costs have increased significantly on the production as well as on selling front. Company has very small debt and its Debt-Equity ratio is 0.01. Company is maintaining good debt rating for future requirements.PBITDM (Profit Before Interest Tax Depreciation Margin) expressed as a percentage of Sales is 6.58.ROE is at a healthy Rate of 21.14% .Current ratio has been improving over the years and hence the solvency position of the company. COMPETITIVE ANLAYSIS :- (Marketing Mix of Britannia ) PRICING :- On the basis of price, the biscuit market can be segmented into the following: Low Range Biscuits (less than Rs 40 per kg.) Medium Range Biscuits (Rs. 40-70 per kg.) High Range Biscuits (over Rs.70 per kg.) Britannia caters to the upper middle and high end of the market with a touch of premium to it. On the price quality matrix, Good Day biscuits can be classified as following a High-Value strategy. PROMOTION :- Britannia has engaged into various Integrated Marketing Communciation activities some of the more prominent ones are mentioned as follows. Since Consumers are becoming more health conscious Swasth Khao Tan Man Jagao (Eat Healthy, Think Better) campaign directly addressed this new trend (Tiger Biscuits). A new logo was created encapsulating the core essence of Britannia healthy, nutritious and optimistic. Good Day is positioned as a healthy and nutritious product and it advocates values that stand for health, hygiene, family, trust and taste. Since events form a major chunk of the Brand visibility agenda, Britannia sponsors a lot of Sports and sporting events as key channel for promotions. One of the majorly acclaimed campaigns of Britannia is Britannia khao, World Cup jao campaign in 1999 and 2003 and was awarded the most recognized sales promotion among all Cricket World Cup-related sales activity SEGMENTATION AND CUSTOMER ANALYSIS :- Before delving deep into Segmentation Targeting and Positioning, it is important to identify what the Key information areas are, specially the Demographic profile of the consumer on the parameters age, sex, income level and occupation. Some of the personal characteristics of consumers include the identification of When do customer consume biscuits, Type of biscuits consumed, Where do the customer purchase, Purpose of buying (personal consumption, gifting, serving guests), How much do consumers spend on biscuits, Factors Affecting the buying decision, order of preference etc. Different products will have different target group depending on the above mentioned factor. Though a Good-day would appeal to the consumers as a mid-range biscuit, a further extension of that product called Good-day Choco-nut falls in the category of High-end biscuits. RD :- Qualitative Research includes an in-depth analysis of the consumer needs and wants and for this, a wide variety of tool may be used. For ex ample, FGDS with a set of consumers to identify major factors influencing the purchase decision of biscuits (and Interacting with friends and family Quantitative Research Customer survey using questionnaire.Survey done through both face to face interviews as well as online. Tools Used are Factor Analysis, Cluster Analysis and Fishbein analysis . Consumer Behavior and MARKET RESEARCH IN CHEETAH Y Market Research forms the basis of almost all of the strategically important decisions that a Company makes over a period of time. Consumer psyche, Brand perceptions, Buying behaviours, Priority or preferences, all of these form the building blocks of information, on the basis of which a decision maker even goes to the extent of changing the very core proposition of a Brand ! BRAND AWARENESS :- To understand the awareness level of brands across our own company Cheetah Y and across competitors, it is important to have a comparative analysis. This has been made possible by Consumer Survey on brand Awareness Segment by Segment . The report delves deep into what exactly is the level of brand knowledge amongst the following segments :- Buffs, Singles, Pros, HiEarners and Others. Initially when the game began, the product SYGU occupied highest mindspace share amongst Singles while the product SYCA occupied highest mindspace amongst Pros. At the end of all 12 periods, SYGU continued to occupy the highest share amongst Singles while also capturing a significantly high percentage amongst Buffs. On the Contrary, the mindspace percentage of SYCA increased excessively for Buffs and Hiearners.Also one more product SYCO was introduced which managed to gain the highest mindspace . This helped in taking proper measures to increase brand awareness amongst the desired segm ent and helped in understanding the impact of increasing advertising expenditure . The next logical step after studying the Brand awareness is to find out that how much of it is actually getting converted into Purchase. To study the Purchase intentions, the report Consumer Survey-purchase Intentions is the apt report. Here we inferred that purchase intention for SYGU was the highest amongst the Singles, which is in sync with the level of Brand awareness amongst them. Also the purchase intention for SYCA was highest amongst the Hiearners which is again in sync with the Brand awareness.IF we analyse the trend across 12 periods, we notice that there is a visible trend reversal i.e. SYGU purchase intention was highest amongst the segment Others while incase of SYCA, the PROS showed the highest purchase intentions . This can be attributed to the fact that a lot of investment was made in the Advertising research and hence overall advertising budget which increased the brand awareness and purchase intention considerably. BUYING BEHAVIOR of consumers :- So where exactly are Cheetah Ys target audience buying from ! This is important to understand because it helped us plan the salesforce and distribute the salesforce accordingly amongst the Speciality stores, Departmental stores and Mass merchandise stores. At the start of period 1, Buffs were mostly buying from Speciality stores, Singles were mostly buying from speciality and Departmental stores while 50% professionals were buying from Speciality stores.High earners preferred to buy through Departmental stores. However, after understanding the buying behaviour, appropriate salesforce was installed in each of these store types. Hence after period 12, singles ended up buying equally from Speciality, Departmental stores and mass Merchandise stores. The result of all the efforts and budget put into Marketing has a direct impact on the market share and stock prices. In this regard, the Report Consumer Panel- Market Shares based on Unit Sales provide the perfect insight into the market share distribution of the two products amongst Buffs, Singles, pros, Hiearners and others. In the Period 1, the highest share of revenue for SYGU was coming from Singles, while highest share of revenue for SYCA was coming from Hiearners (this is in sync with the BRAND AWARENESS report). However, down the line after 11 periods, the highest share of revenue for SYGU was coming from Others while major revenue contributors for SYCA was the segment pros. Since the brand awareness for the product SYCO was low, this duely reflected in in share of revenue being almost nil from each of the segments. After understanding the current scenario and facts and figures related to Brand awareness and Brand purchase intentions, it becomes imperative to do an apt amount of Advertising Research and an estimate of Competitive advertising. The Market research report tells us that initially all the products in the Sonite Market had a rating of poor against the various communication dimensions, except SULI . But over a period of 12 periods, while the communication dimensions and ratings and its corresponding ratings for all the products (and companies) changed, the ratings for SYGU AND SYCA remained poor and only SYCO got a message quality of Good. This can be analysed through the fact that though investment in advertising was being made, simultaneously the changes in the parameters Design, Power, Weight etc through RD was not made. This resulted in a mismatch between the product quality and what is being advertised, hence resulting in poor message quality.

Based loosely on an interpretation of the painting by Kevin Sinnott :: Drama

Based loosely on an interpretation of the painting by Kevin Sinnott called â€Å"Running Away with the Hairdresser†. The performance was based on the idea of running towards, and reaching, Earthfall Drama Essay During the week spent in the Earthfall residency, we produced a performance based loosely on an interpretation of the painting by Kevin Sinnott called â€Å"Running Away with the Hairdresser†. The performance was based on the idea of running towards, and reaching, your dreams and ideas for a perfect life. Kevin Sinnott’s work is largely based on emotions and human relationships; he deals with personal experiences and expresses them through his artwork. Each of his paintings has an individual theme which enables viewers of his piece to come up with their own understanding of how it relates to their personal emotions. The painting, â€Å"Running Away with the Hairdresser†, has two themes both running away with the hairdresser and leaving the past behind. We incorporated both these themes into our performance through two different physical portrayals, firstly the hairdressing motif and running away scene. These are the scenes which reveal and visualise the true understanding of the themes and morals of the performances. This performance was centred around the art of dance and physical movement. These techniques were linked into our performance by Earthfall from different artists. We used skills from the company DV8 who base themselves on physical theatre portraying a particular emotion. These provided the stimulation for the main running away section, adding a lively and contemporary twist, which the audience could take in and develop individual interpretations for the reasons behind running away. Thus proving, like DV8, the idea that there is no official meaning of the performance. The use of physical movement and gestures also reflected more meaning on the audience, and not only that, allowed them the ability to experience others personal outlooks on their reasons behind running away and what they would like to achieve from doing so. The ideas also inspired the dream sequence within are performance, as like DV8, this piece of theatre was formed on radical and eccentric personal ideas. However it was worked within our routine so that it fitted comfortably in with the themes and morals. Earthfall’s work is concerned with seeking a personal honesty, passion and economy in physical performance to produce quality work of depth, they used this idea to motivate us and encourage us to come up with our own ideas from personal experiences and dreams. They then used these to create a performance relevant to us pupils, through the use of monologues which allowed us a chance to express ourselves and also

Legal and Political Environments Essay -- essays research papers

Legal and Political Environments The legal and political environments of global markets differ by country and often by region within a country. Global marketers must be aware of each environmental risk in global markets and develop contingency plans to overcome them. Legal Environment Clearly, the global legal environment is very dynamic and complex. It is the result of three forces: international law, U.S. domestic law, and legal requirements of host nations. According to Czinkota and Ronkainen, (2004), when a marketer conducts international marketing transactions with a country, it is very imperative that managers know and remain abreast of the policies and regulations of that country. Whether a firm is located abroad or domestically, it will be subject to government policies and the legal system. However, even though many of these laws and regulations do not pertain to international marketing transactions, they can have a major impact on a firm’s opportunities abroad. Therefore, the best course to follow is to get legal help. However, the astute, proactive marketer can do a great deal to prevent legal conflicts from arising in the first place, especially concerning the following legal issues such as establishment, jurisdiction, environmental superfund, intellectual property rights, counterfeiting, antitrust, licensing and trade secrets, bribery, gray market, trade sanctions, and embargoes. Further, the services of counsel are essential for addressing these and other ... Legal and Political Environments Essay -- essays research papers Legal and Political Environments The legal and political environments of global markets differ by country and often by region within a country. Global marketers must be aware of each environmental risk in global markets and develop contingency plans to overcome them. Legal Environment Clearly, the global legal environment is very dynamic and complex. It is the result of three forces: international law, U.S. domestic law, and legal requirements of host nations. According to Czinkota and Ronkainen, (2004), when a marketer conducts international marketing transactions with a country, it is very imperative that managers know and remain abreast of the policies and regulations of that country. Whether a firm is located abroad or domestically, it will be subject to government policies and the legal system. However, even though many of these laws and regulations do not pertain to international marketing transactions, they can have a major impact on a firm’s opportunities abroad. Therefore, the best course to follow is to get legal help. However, the astute, proactive marketer can do a great deal to prevent legal conflicts from arising in the first place, especially concerning the following legal issues such as establishment, jurisdiction, environmental superfund, intellectual property rights, counterfeiting, antitrust, licensing and trade secrets, bribery, gray market, trade sanctions, and embargoes. Further, the services of counsel are essential for addressing these and other ...

Gov’t Paper

People each have different personalities that others like and dislike about them. These individuals can be funny or serious; nice or a jerk; a talker or a listener. All this makes up a person and who they are. A person's personality is similar to a news program; sometimes they can be biased and unreliable; other times they are spot-on and trustworthy. Hardball and O'Reilly are both news programs that display their news differently. While both commentators give their opinions on the subjects, Chris Matthews pushes his opinion more than O'Reilly. During times where Matthews has guest speakers, he always tends to argue with the one that does not agree with his opinions; he pushes his ideas into his opponents' head, not letting them express their thoughts. Even though he refuses to let one's opinions out, Matthews allows the other, who agrees with him, to talk. In other words, he is hard-headed and believes his opinion is right. On one occasion, Jonathan Alters, gave his opinion about how the Republicans are attempting to woo the Latinos' votes, Matthews shuts him up by talking over him, basically yelling. Alters looks as if he was about to burst into tears. On the other hand, O'Reilly tends to ask for his guest speakers' view first, then adding his own. He actually allows them to finish their views, seeing their points out, instead of cutting them off. O'Reilly and Chris Matthews both have different perspectives in the topics that were discussed. O'Reilly leans towards the liberal side, while Matthews is a conservative. For example, O'Reilly notices how everything is based on race, and believes no one should be judged by that. However, it seems that Matthews only wants the Republicans to focus their targets on the white people and not Latinos. In one specific topic that both commentators discussed, the Zimmerman trial, it seems each were on one or the other sides. Chris Matthews argues that Zimmerman acted on self-defense, while O'Reilly gave both sides, but showed sympathy towards Trayvon Martin's family. O'Reilly has more facts, making it seem like his show was a news' show, while Hardball with Chris Matthews is all about argumentative opinions. O'Reilly adds statistics to show subjects and backs each topic with facts. For example, there was a segment about the Arizona forest fire that killed nineteen firefighters. O'Reilly gave facts like how the firefighter had contacted the headquarters, saying that they are using their heat shelters, which was the last resort. Then O'Reilly explains what these heat shelters are, a foil-like blanket that can protect the firefighters from the heat for a certain amount of time. Unlike O'Reilly, Matthews did not give facts, only his own opinions. During the Zimmerman trial segment, he only showed Mark Osterman taking the stand to defend his best friend. He then argues with the guest defense attorney, when she was explaining the harm that was inflicted on Zimmerman. It seems that O'Reilly is more genuine and actually cares about the public's interest. At the end of his show, he had a tip of the day, giving feedback to the audience who sends him e-mails. Hardball had a serious attitude, while O'Reilly had a calm attitude. During Hardball's segments, there was a lot of tension with the arguments. Also, his introduction had the serious music like it was life or death. In O'Reilly's introduction, it had funny captions, and in his segments, he had a calm manner. While Chris Matthews attempted to add humor and jokes into his show, it was not understood. He used a blue cow reference, but some people do not know the meaning of it, so it proved to be ineffective to draw the audience in. However, in O'Reilly's segments, the humor and jokes had a positive impact. After a serious discussion about the Zimmerman trial, to lighten the tension, Megyn Kelly and O'Reilly joked around. Megyn Kelly had given him a chocolate bar as her way of buying dinner. Then she explains that she is going on maternity leave until the fall, but O'Reilly jokingly said she won't be back until next year. Both persons continue to banter back and forth, while the camera crew laughed in the background. This was of course not planned, making it actually humorous. There has been significant issues about race in political topics. In Fremont, Nebraska, the townspeople are frustrated with the undocumented immigrants obtaining jobs in the town. Since Fremont is a meat packaging town, these townspeople need the jobs that the immigrants are taking. These illegal immigrants are sending money back to their home country to their families, so Fremont does not profit from this. In an attempt to stop this, he townspeople want to banned the undocumented individuals from renting apartments and houses without proper documentations. According to U. S. District Judge Laurie Smith Camp, it is a discrimination to deny housing permits to those who were not in the country legally and it interferes with federal laws. However, the town counters back with a policy that requires businesses to use the federal E-ve rify software to check on the employees. Another topic discussed was how Republicans were trying to win the Latin American voters. The Republicans think that if they talk about the immigration reforms they will gain more voters. However, it was stated that no matter what, Latinos will most likely vote for Democrats even if immigration reforms were discussed by the Republicans. The most important topic discussed was the Zimmerman trial. When this first happened, people across the country defended Trayvon Martin, thinking that he was targeted for being a colored person and looking suspicious by wearing a black hoodie at night. Zimmerman was on the night watch around his neighborhood when these two ran into each other. A fight broke out, leading to Zimmerman pulling and shooting the gun at Martin. Zimmerman pled that he was acting in self-defense. All over the country, people even news station wanted Zimmerman to plead guilty to avoid race riots to occur. Nowadays, news delivery is on the decline of being trustworthy. Reporters, journalists, and those who deliver the news to the public now will spin the news to fit what the audience wants or to fit their own opinion. These people can twist a person's opinion just by intensifying the language and speech. The audience will then notice, â€Å"Hey, they are using powerful words; this makes them sound smart so therefore correct. If the newscasters exude confidence and seem to â€Å"know what they are talking about†, they will have more followers. The public tends not to look for the credibility of the sources or even the sources themselves to see if they are reliable. Instead, the public will definitely look for superficial materials like the appearance of the person delivering the news, how the program looks, or if other p eople like it. If someone were to wear casual clothes, their credibility increases; also if the newscaster was attractive, people tend to listen to them. For example, people tune in to Anderson Cooper on CNN and practically worship the ground he walks, just because of his appearance. If the delivery of the news looks not well done, not all people will want to read or view it. People want professional, not something that someone can program in five minutes. An individual will also tend to get advice from their peers as to what to read or watch. For example, if a person trashed a news station to his or her friend, the friend will not want to get information from that news station. With that being said, nowadays, people judge the book by its cover and not by the information provided. Most news station are affiliated with a political party. For example Fox News, when taking politics will favor the Republican view while MNSBC will favor the Democratic view. With that being said, each will attract a different group of people who agree with that the news station has to say. This makes the shows heavily biased. What I've learned through these research sources, is that there are still racial conflicts throughout the United States. Watching the two news program, Hardball and O'Reilly, each segment had something to do with race and ethnics. Latinos are especially targeted, whether it is to win their votes or to get them out of â€Å"American† jobs. Even though, today there are still some segregation in the communities, people will band together to defend someone of different skin color. What I do not get is that if people will defend Trayvon Martin and not know what actually happened, why can't they support the Latin Americans coming into America in search of an opportunity? I think people are just on the bandwagon. They think that supporting Trayvon Martin will make them look like the good guys, but in reality it just makes them look ignorant and stupid. I also learned that each news program is affiliated with a political party, making them biased and untrustworthy because they only address one side of the story. I know that they are just doing that to gain viewers, but if they just address both sides, there will be more educated people and not opinionated. I think the audience should also be aware of what is happening in our country right now. After watching these two shows, I am more aware of these topics. I never paid attention to the political topics and did not know how the Republicans were trying to woo the Latin American voters. My opinions on the two shows differ from each other. I absolutely could not stand watching Hardball. I think Chris Matthews is a hard-headed jerk. He does not think the other opinions matter but his. He yells at his guests when he is talking to them. I could not wait for it to end, and I nearly celebrated when it was over. On the other hand, I was more interested in O'Reilly just by how he represented the topics. He did it in a formally fashioned way; it felt like a conversation with some debates. I actually paid closer attention because of the humor and learned a few things along in the show. I felt that O'Reilly actually cared about the subjects because he gives both sides to the story. Both Hardball and O'Reilly display their information differently. These news shows are like a person's personality; they express emotions and thoughts. Each individual has a different personality that makes them who they are. A personality can make someone like or dislike an individual.

Osteoarthritis Essay

Osteoarthritis or degenerative joint disease is defined as a form of arthritis in which one or many joints undergo degenerative changes, including subchondral bony sclerosis, loss of articular cartilage, and proliferation of bone spurs or osteophytes and cartilage in the joint, according to Mosby’s Medical Dictionary (Anderson, 2001). Bullock, on the other hand, defines osteoarthritis as destruction of the articular cartilage and subchondral bone with cyst and osteophyte formation (Bullock and Henze, 2000). Osteoarthritis is the most common form of arthritis affecting more than 20 million people in the country (Shiel, 2008). Osteoarthritis is usually acquired by the elderly (Smeltzer and Bare, 2004). In males, there is a greater chance of contracting osteoarthritis before the age of 45, while in females, the greater chance is after the age of 45 (Smeltzer and Bare, 2004). Osteoarthritis can be called primary osteoarthritis when there is no known cause, or it has an idiopathic etiology and it is called secondary osteoarthritis when it is caused by another underlying disease condition (Shiel, 2008). Risk factors that can predispose an individual to developing this disease condition are an increased age, obesity, previous joint damage, trauma to joint due to repetitive use, occupations that involve carpet installation, construction working, farming and sports injuries, anatomic deformity, and genetic susceptibility (Kaplan, 2007). Osteoarthritis most often targets weight bearing joints at the hips, knees and cervical and lumbar spinal area; it also affects finger joints, most especially those at the proximal and distal regions (Smeltzer and Bare, 2004). Osteoarthritis occurs when the articular cartilage matrix is depleted thus exposing the basic collagen structure (Bullock and Henze, 2000). Due to the stress of everyday usage of the affected joint, the articular cartilage matrix will try to spread this compression hydrostatically but will fail to do so. This will cause the collagen fibers to rupture and the articular cartilage will flake, fissure and erode (Bullock and Henze, 2000). The exposed subchondral bone will crack and the synovial fluid will enter the cracks towards the marrow, and subchondral cysts are formed (Bullock and Henze, 2000). Since the subchondral bone is already exposed, there will be proliferation of fibroblasts in order to form new bone in this area. The periosteal bone growth increases at the joint margins and at the attachment sites of ligament or tendons and will develop into bone spurs or ridges called osteophytes (Bullock and Henze, 2000). The development of osteophytes will lead to an increase in synovial capsule size which in turn causes limited movement (Bullock and Henze, 2000). Also, osteophyte formation will irritate nerve endings in the periosteum causing pain (Smeltzer and Bare, 2004). Both the pain and movement limitation causes functional impairment in and individual suffering from osteoarthritis (Smeltzer and Bare, 2004). Clinical manifestations of osteoarthritis include the symptoms of pain, most specifically joint pain, possibly due to an inflamed synovium, stretching of the joint capsule or ligaments, irritation of nerve endings in the periosteum over the osteophytes, trabecular microfracture, intraosseous hypertension, bursitis, tendonitis, and muscle spasm (Smeltzer and Bare, 2004). There is stiffness which is usually experienced in the morning but has a less than fifteen minutes duration and can be lessened with movement (Gardner, 2005). The patient’s functional impairment is due to pain on movement and his or her limited motion is due to the structural changes in the joints and is seen as Heberden’s and Bouchard’s nodes (Smeltzer and Bare, 2004). Physical assessment for osteoarthritis will reveal tender and enlarged joints (Smeltzer and Bare, 2004). Diagnostic tests of choice will be an x-ray of the affected area and it will show narrowing of the joint space due to progressive loss of the cartilage (Smeltzer and Bare, 2004). Osteoarthritis can be managed with conservative treatment, pharmacologic treatment, and surgical management. Conservative treatment involves heat application, weight reduction if obese, joint rest and avoidance of overuse, use of orthotic devices to support the affected joints, and isometric and postural exercises (Smeltzer and Bare, 2004). Medications to give patients include an analgesic therapy and acetaminophen is the drug of choice, glucosamine and chondroitin can be given too, to improve tissue function (Smeltzer and Bare, 2004). Surgical management involves osteotomy, arthroplasty and tidal irrigation of the knee (Smeltzer and Bare, 2004).

Their Eyes Were Watching God / a Streetcar Named Desire Comparison Paragraphs

While Janie and Blanche have their similarities, they are also very different. Blanche is born white and affluent; Janie is born black and poor. Blanche grows up on an old plantation in Mississippi, and Janie is raised in Florida by her grandmother, who has a house in the backyard of a white family she works for. Janie is brought up with their children; in fact, until she sees a picture of herself standing next to them, Janie does not realize she is black.While Janie eventually learns to not care about what people think of her and become self-sufficient, Blanche is always depending on others. She relies on Stella to take care of her. When Stanley threatens to send Blanche away, she quickly begins a relationship with Mitch, hoping to secure her future by marrying him. However, this is unsuccessful: Blanche eventually goes insane after she is raped by Stanley, and is sent to an asylum in the country. In contrast, Janie gets everything she wants out of life: sexual love and adventure.Te a Cake provides for her sexually and allows her to be the person she wants to be, unlike her previous two husbands, who each had their own ideas as to how she should act and live out her life. When Pheoby attempts to dissuade her from seeing Tea Cake, she tells her â€Å"Ah done lived Grandma’s way, now Ah mean tuh live mine† (Hurston 114). Janie has been living the life her grandmother planned out for her, but she is unhappy, so she has decided to start over and go her own way. You can read also  Similarities and Conflicts in † a Streetcar Named Desire†Janie is the better feminist protagonist for her time period; unlike Blanche, she makes choices based on her own beliefs and desires rather than worrying about how those around her may perceive her. In Their Eyes Were Watching God, Zora Neale Hurston uses vivid imagery and metaphors paired with a unique dialect in order to paint a colorful picture of black life in West Florida during the 1930s. The more â€Å"literate† language of the narrator paired with the â€Å"uneducated† way of speaking in the dialogue creates a sort of balance that is not often found in literature.Her distinct, melodic, and almost poetic style of writing flows almost effortlessly with the contrasting speech of the characters. Hurston’s use of local color helps to give the reader a better image of her characters’ background and way of life, particularly in the scene where Eatonville holds a fune ral for Matt Bonner’s mule. The funeral is not a somber occasion as one might expect it to be: it consists of shouting and chanting. Hurston writes, â€Å"Everybody enjoyed themselves to the highest and then finally the mule was left to the already impatient buzzards† (Hurston 61).This scene alone is effective in portraying much of the customs and culture of the people of Eatonville, as the funeral is more of a celebration than a bereavement. Lastly, Hurston’s use of slang gives the reader insight into the language of the time, and while it may be somewhat coarse, its use does not affect the tone of her writing. Their Eyes Were Watching God is memorable not only because of its story, but because of its originality in style as well. The pear tree, which grows outside Janie’s grandmother’s cabin, is important throughout Their Eyes Were Watching God.Janie, in her youth, often spends time underneath it, thinking about love and its connections to marria ge. The tree and its cycle through the seasons are a symbol for the stages of sexual maturity, â€Å"from barren brown stems to glistening leaf-buds, from the leaf-buds to snowy virginity of bloom† (Hurston 10). Under the pear tree, Janie sees â€Å"a dust-bearing bee sink into the sanctum of a bloom; the thousand sister-calyxes arch to meet the love embrace and the ecstatic shiver of the tree from root to tiniest branch creaming in every blossom and frothing with delight† (Hurston 11).This represents the kind of sexual love that Janie desires and believes will come to her through marriage. However, the pear tree is desecrated when Janie’s grandmother forces her into marrying Logan Killicks, a man Janie finds to be very unattractive, in order to secure her the â€Å"comfortable† life she herself was unable to have. When she leaves Logan for Joe Starks, a wealthy man looking to build up a town of only black people and make himself mayor, she thinks that sh e will finally have â€Å"flower dust and springtime sprinkled over everything. A bee for her bloom† (Hurston 32).Her image of Joe, however, is changed when he hits Janie for messing up his dinner, and she no longer has â€Å"blossomy openings dusting pollen over her man, neither any glistening young fruit where the petals used to be† (Hurston 72). Janie does not find the love she desires until after Joe’s death, when she meets Tea Cake, who is much younger than she is. The pear tree is especially significant because during the time period Their Eyes Were Watching God was written in, it was unheard of for a woman to acknowledge her sexuality, an important part of feminism, and is rguably the most important metaphor in the story. With Their Eyes Were Watching God, Zora Neale Hurston asserts her view that the idea of never-ending racial oppression is degrading and a falsehood, that â€Å"the man himself must make his own emancipation† (Gates 199). She respo nds to the Harlem Renaissance movement, centered on rising above oppression through the arts, by almost entirely leaving out racial issues from her novel.Unlike other black artists and writers of her time, she believes that not acknowledging racism and discrimination will have more of an effect on society than constantly speaking out on its ways. With this method, Hurston effectively makes her point, as her unusual ideology stands out against the repetitive voices of her contemporaries. Works Cited Hurston, Zora Neale. Their Eyes Were Watching God. New York: Harper Perennial Modern Classics, 2006. Print.