Reflection on Chronicles of a Death Foretold

Reflection The cultural and historical context of Marquez life played an important role in his novel Chronicles of a Death Foretold. In the 16th century, Spain colonized many parts of South America and replaced the native religion with Catholicism. While the indigenous cultural practices celebrated openness about sexuality the orthodox Catholic ideals of chastity and purity that penetrated into the local tradition during colonization.The archaic perception of honour was founded on the grounds of the Catholic ideals and it promoted gender inequality and organized crime cultures promoted violence. Marquez offers a critique of the religious system when he describes the arrival of the Bishop who is representative of the power of the Church. In preparation of the Bishop’s arrival the town prepared many cocks which are rather a physical offering to the Church rather than a spiritual offering.The state’s inability to act upon the Vicario’s brother’s action is a M arquez’s critique of the decadence of the Old Christian value system. Father Amador does not condemn the Vicario brothers for their actions but instead he says that they are forgiven on the bases of acting to avenge their sister’s honour. The mayor is also unable to take action and he simply takes away their knives. We also explored the influence of Marquez’s life on his style of writing.The influence of Marquez’s grandmother on his style of â€Å"realism† was also explored. Marquez’s grandmother’s way of telling unlikely stories as if they were facts influenced his style in Chronicles of a Death Foretold. The murder of Santiago Nasar remains a complete mystery until the end of the novel and the episodes that unfold in the story seem extremely unlikely however; the death was accepted by the reader because of factual tone in which it was told. Word Count: 298 Dissociating the allusion elements from their referents

Palmal Group of Industries

Palmal’s Background: Established in the year 1984, Palmal group of industries ensure its quality, standards and is engaged in manufacturing of all kinds of knitted garments. Engr. Nurul Haque Sikder is the founder of company. Now he is present chairman of group. Managing director Mr. Nafis Sikder, son of Engr. Nurul Haque Sikder took the leadership in the year 2001. He is guiding the group with his wide experience and skill. Business Intervention: †¢ Palmal is mainly RMG focused group of industries. Expanding in the areas of knit composite and other backward linkage industries. Palmal’s Vision: Palmal stands behind its garments products with quality assurance. Palmal believes that quality is never an accident. It is always the result of high intention, sincere effort, intelligent direction and skilful execution. To provide customers with the most comprehensive sourcing, production, design & product development service, guaranteeing quality, competitive pricing & qu ick turnaround times with an excellent professional personalized service. Palmal’s Mission: Palmal’s mission is to be the market leader, in providing clothing from Bangladesh to its customers around the globe. To be a market leader it is committed to develop high quality, sophisticated and deviation-free products in its capacity and make on time delivery to its customers. Objectives of palmal: Palmal has name objective for the development of the society. The objectives of palmal are giving below: 1. To increase the economic development of the country. 2. To create employment opportunity. 3. To play positive in the process of industrial development of Bangladesh. 4. Palmal Assures quality and customer services. Palmal’s Commitment- †¢ Regular production updates to the Importer. †¢ Facilitate & Co-ordinate the Buyer’s visits to Bangladesh. †¢ Handle orders of any volume, style & color. †¢ Short lead times & in time delivery. †¢ Best quality and first service. †¢ Handle orders of any volume, style & color †¢ Excellent customer service. †¢ Best service from others. †¢ A headache & hassle free one stop solution to Importers †¢ 100% clients satisfaction Corporate Offices of Palmal Groups : | |Due to space constraint, Palmal had to arrange its corporate office in 4 different buildings located in Gulshan-1 area. | |Offices identity |Location | |Corporate Head Office (MD and C. O. O’s Secretariat) |House # 16, | | |Road # 30, Gulshan-1 | |Admin. Compliance Dept. |House # SWB/20, Road # 08, Gulshan-1 | |Comme rcial, Transport, Maintenance, Wal-Mart Sample and |House # 2B, | |Banking |Road # 29, Gulshan-1 | |Mainstream HRM, Factory HR, Sweater Division, Local |Crystal : Point, H # 2, R # 21, Gulshan-1 | |Procurement, Accounts, T&OD Dept. Merchandizing(Partly) | | Board of Directors |Name |Position | |Engr. Nurul Haque Sikder |Chairman | |Mr. Nafis Sikder |Managing Director & CEO | |Mrs. Meherunnesa Haque |Director | |Mrs. Sylvana Sikder |Director | |Mrs. Tajrina Sikder. |Director | |Mr. A. K. M Sazzadul Karim |Director & C. O. O | |Key persons | |Name |Designation | |Mr. Nafis Sikder |Honorable Managing Director | |Mr. A. K. M Sazzadul Karim |Honorable Director & C. O. O | |Mr. Amzad Hossain |Chief advisor to MD | |Mr. Ashith Laxmidas Dayalal |Director (Marketing), Garments Div, | |Mr. Aseem Sood. |Vice president, (Marketing –GAP Div | |Mr. Tahmid Zaman Khan |Director (Marketing), Sweater and AWL | |Mr. Aseem Sood. |Vice president, (Marketing-GAP Div) | |Major Sofiul Azam Chowdhury (Retd) |Director, (Admin. & Compliance) | |Mr. A. A. M. Munir |Director(P. P & Q. A Coord) | |Key Persons | |Name Designation | |Mr. Emdad Hossain |Director (Production) & In-charge, ACML | |Mr. Shakil Rahman |Director (Marketing) | |Mr. Ruhul Amin Siddiqui |General Manager (Commercial) | |Mr. S. A. Nakib |General Manager, HRM | |Mr. Shair Nasser Azad |General Manager (Administration) | |Mr. Kazi A. Muhit |General Manager (Accounts) | |Shelkh Obaidur Rahman |GM-Quality, CSI | |S. M. Sanowar Hossain. |GM-PP & Cord, W*M | |Md. Hossain Ahmed |GM-Quality | Sister Concerns | |Type of Business |No of Concerns | |Garments Factories |20 | |Sweater Factories |02 | |Knit Composite Mills |02 | |Washing Plant |02 | |Embroidery |01 | |Central Store |05 | |Sample Section |05 | |Cutleries Industry |01 | |Total |38 | Corporate strategy of Palmal: To develop a comprehensive strategy for palmal, it integrates the finance, marketing, human resource, accounting, quality, and operations functions. According to the corporate strategy, it carries out all the organization’s functions. Under the corporate strategy, it determines for which customers or clients it will produce product, which new product it will produce in future, which new strategy it will take for international market to survive. Operations strategy: To do its daily activities palmal takes operations strategy. These strategy help palmal to achieve the company’s corporate strategy. By using these strategies, it takes decisions about when the products produce, where it produces the products, how many workers it needs, what are the training requirements of the worker, what is the target level of quality for the products, how should suppliers be selected, what is expected from the suppliers, what types of technology it should be used to develop its product etc? Palmal’s product: This company produces knit garments product especially. The main products of palmal are: Man’s T-shirt | | Sport wear | | Long sleeves polo shirt | | Man’s sweater | | Women’s sweater | | Man ’s jacket | | Women’s jacket | | Corporate uniform | | Baby long sleeve T-shirt | | Baby suit | Technology used in Plamal: Palmal group uses version types of technology to run their daily activities such as – 1. Telephone 2. Fax 3. Entrance control system: This is the system that controls employee entrance and leave employee uses their entry card to enter office. A central computer record employee they use the card and computer saves their leaving time. 4. E-mail: Palmal widely use e-mail. To communicate with its customers and suppliers. They order raw material through e-mail. They also receive order by mail. The employees of Palmal use e-mail to communicate among themselves. This type of communication helps interdepartmental communication. Palmal is not using ERP because management thinks that ERP will disclose confidential data to employers. However, at present its management team have award about the importance of ERP. They are planning to implement ERP in their organization very soon, as they are facing many types of problem not for using ERP. Manufacturing strategy: To produce products palmal applies Make-to-order strategy. After taking the order from the buyers then it produces the product. Therefore, inventory is kept at a minimum level. Strategic vision Manufacturing process: Palmal follows assembly process to produce the product. It collects different finished goods from its suppliers. After collecting various finished goods then it produces a whole product. To produce a shirt as a whole product it collects buttons, nylon fabrics, and such kinds of different finished goods. Different Stitch Number and their applications: Stitch Class |Application | |100 Stitch Class |Basting Button sewing BTN whole spot taking | |Chain Stitch |hamming, belt loops filling | |Blind Stitch | | |200 Stitch Class | | |Back Stitch |To attach laise and elastic | |Catch Stitch | | |Running Stitch | | |300 Stitch Clas s |To lock parts of bodies bottom rolling | |Lock Stitch | | |400 Stitch Class |To attach main seam permanent edges | |Chain Stitch | | |500 Stitch Class | | |Over lock C/S |Surging blind hemming | | |Seaming Surging | | |Break open Surging | Stitching process: All the above stitch used to make any garments. But what stitch will follow in which process will be notified by the buyer. By following that instruction, Palmal can only stitch the garments. Stitch also depends on the process of stitching. For heavy fabric or critical process, the stitch will be different and for the thin fabric and easy style, stitch will not be same. Quality Assurance: Palmal group is highly committed to produce and supply highly quality product to its customers. To produce high quality garments products they collect high quantity raw material from their suppliers. Palmal groups have quality assurance department that is responsible to control and check the quality of raw products from their suppliers. As customers of Palmal group requires high quality products, they emphasis on high quality product. Their production control department ensures production is exactly as approved quality standards. Three or more inspections are carried out during the production process. Initial inspection, checks on fabric, wlor thread and first run of production. Second inspection and final inspection check on products and ensure whole production is up to quality standard. Palmal group believe quality products are the key to repeat business. Turnover of Palmal In 2007: Approximately US$ 100 Millions equivalent to Tk. >700 Cores from Export. In 2008: Approximately US$ 110 Millions from Export. In 2009: Projected Turnover is US$120 Millions from Export [pic] Embroidery CAPACITY: ? 6 threads with different color at the same time. ? 20 lines in each machine ? 650 Stitches per minute. ? Same machine cannot be used for diff. jobs at the same time Why Palmal is the order winner? Palmal’s Knowledge and commitment has made it a multi product company with clients all over the world. It works hard to address the expectations of its customer in an innovative way. It tries to maintain long listing relation with its clients and ensures serving best to them based on following parameters: †¢Ã‚  High Product facility   Sourcing of products from reliable manufacturers at competitive prices   Ã¢â‚¬ ¢Ã‚  Good quality & on time delivery †¢Ã‚  Believes in cost effective productivity †¢Ã‚  Enjoys a reputation for â€Å"clean business practices† †¢Ã‚  Strong network of manufacturers and vendors †¢Ã‚   Regular Supervision of products right from the production to the shipment stage . Ordering system of Palmal: At this time, Palmal does not offer on-line ordering. Before ordering the product clients should communicate with the company through fax, telephone, letter or e-mail. Clients should print out the order form, fill it out completely and send with a check, money order, or credit card information to the address at the offices. They should also send the sample of the product to the company. If everything is favorable for the company then Palmal take the offer from the clients. PALMAL’S CLIENT LIST: It is palmal’s ambition to has a lateral thought process which will help in designing unique and innovative range of apparels. All its endeavors are well appreciated by its clients, which has motivated it to go beyond the expectations of its clients. As an accomplished house, it has clients across the globe. The customer satisfaction it is acquired has led to a strong credibility for UK & Europe in market. It is established its export market in Germany, Italy, France, Bangkok, Mexico, UK, Europe. List of major clients or buyers: | Gap Inc. | WaL*Mart USA | | WaL*Mart Canada | | Charming Shoppes | | New Wave | | GEORGE | | Primark | | Zara | | Nygard | | K. Mart | | SEARS | | TESCO | | TARGET-Stores | | Li & Fung | Suppliers of Palmal: Supplier’s selection criteria of Palmal: To select suppliers Palmal follows some rules. Such as- †¢ Quality-to purchase raw materials from suppliers at first it thinks the quality of the product. Because the future of garments factories heavily depends on quality. †¢ Cost- it thinks about the cost of the raw materials which it will purchase †¢ Delivery-on time delivery is a major to select a supplier †¢ Financial soundness-before purchasing it considers the financial soundness of the suppliers. Kinds of raw materials: Inventory control system of Palmal: Palmal controls inventory to meet its future customers demand. It controls the inventory based on quantity. This system is designed to ensure that an item will be available on an ongoing basis throughout the year. Types of inventory Palmal maintain: Palmal stock some important goods for its future safety. Like- |Nylon fabrics | |Cotton fabrics | |Different kinds of buttons | |Plain Machine | |Button Attach machine | |Chain stitch machine | Palmal’s layout: The factories under the palmal group of industries are designed in such a way so that they can do their work properly. In factories similar machines are grouped together to do work. For example, to sew all sewing machines are grouped together in one area. Cutting sections are separated from other sections to do its cutting work. Inspection sectors are detached from others for checking fabrics. Select a location for a new factory of Palmal: To establish a new factory Palmal basically thinks about- †¢ Trade Zone †¢ Transportation facility †¢ Labor cost †¢ Export – Import facility †¢ Power supplies †¢ Rent †¢ Political environment †¢ Near to the competitor SWOT analysis of Palmal: Palmal group of industries has achieved great success over a short time of period. However, the global market environment for textile and clothing industries is in transitional stage and will change at the end of the phasing out quota. This change in global trade will create new challenges for the company. Therefore, high productivity, free access in backward supply line, shorter lead-time determines the company’s competitiveness. The following analysis of strength, weakness, opportunities and threats (SWOT) concisely sum up the conclusion of the competitiveness of palmal group of industries. Strength- †¢ Low labor cost. †¢ Energy at low price. Easily accessible infrastructure like sea road, railroad, river and air communication. †¢ Excellent Tele-communications network of E-mail, Internet, Fax, ISD, NWD & Cellular services. †¢ Scope for career development. †¢ Country leading Pay Master in RMG Sector. †¢ People developer. †¢ Having fully COMP LINT Factories. †¢ Consider people as â€Å"Resources†. †¢ Avoid discriminations to the best possible extent. †¢ Exercising fair practices in Employment. †¢ Value good workers and avoid troublemakers. †¢ Assure workplace safety. †¢ Factory is located in industrial area where company can enjoy uninterrupted power supply. Labor union is not all owed in the KDS groups since all labor related matters are dealt by KDS industrial area. Factory is able to ratify of their customer in the specific market according to their demand. Weakness – †¢ Lack of marketing tactics. †¢ A small number of manufacturing methods. †¢ Time-consuming custom clearance. †¢ Subject to natural calamities. †¢ Most of the raw materials from abroad, this is cause of high price, which are affected the production cost. Opportunity- Cheap and abundant labor force. Availability of foreign buyer in Steel Products. Palmal has a chance to create his own market by showing the quality of the products and working condition of the factory. To establish a new factory without long term agreement which is also based on the another buyer or customer by showing the new technology which is now at present Threat- Political situation of under developed country like Bangladesh is a major threat for Palmal. Technology is developing day by day. Therefore, technology is also changing rapidly. There is hardly any local source of raw materials Palmal, since backward linkage industries have not been developed in our country. Therefore, it is a threat for Palmal. Awards: For consistence and good product and service provided to their customers, â€Å"Palmal Groups† won several national and international awards. â€Å"National Award†: For their contribution to the national economy and for successful operational activities â€Å"Palmal Groups† achieved President best Performance Award in two consecutive years. International Award: Palmal is always committed to provide their customers with high quality product and service. In return, of their quality maintenances they have got several awards from international buyers. The awards are— Best supplier award from â€Å"Wal-Mart† in 2004, 2006 and 2007 Recommendations & Conclusion: . The company does not apply Operation Research models as well as tools. Initiative steps should be taken to apply Operation Research models as well as tools as early as possible to establish efficiency, productivity, competitive advantages etc. in the company. Palmal should use modern technology and software to develop its productivity and to increase its profit. However, Palmal has strong managerial support for which over a period of last seven years the company’s business growth is more than 300%. ———————– Customer Palmal Society Market Corporate Strategy Marketing functions Financial functions Operation functions Accounting functions Human resource functions Purchasing functions Quality assurance functions Product development functions Customer needs New products Current products Competitive dimensions Best Quality Customization Low price Timely delivery Company’s capabilities: Produce the required products New product development Sales the required products

Lakeside Country Club tour report Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Lakeside Country Club tour report - Essay Example The Mansion forms the central part of the clubhouse even today. The house had three stories with 8 spacious rooms that faced the lake that was built by Mr. Mooers. The lake is presently known as the Pine Lake. Mr. Mooers sold the property to Ralph Rupley in 1946. Rupley became a charter member of the club. Mr. Rupley and his family immediately occupied the mansion, which was known, as the Pine Lake Farm until 1951. Mr. Rupley moved to a more appropriate residence in the city in 1951 when the Lakeside Country Club signed its charter. This brings us to the date when the club was founded; 1951.In 1952, the club bought additional acreage. This was intended for the construction of the original locker room wing, trap ranges, bathhouse, swimming pools and tennis courts. The Lakeside club has a complete scale of operations with 73 golf carts, which offers the club high level of revenue. For instance, a half million dollars of the total revenue is generated from renting the golf carts. In addition, the available teaching programs add up to the revenue collection. Some of the teaching program available includes the junior gold, women’s program and individual group lessons. On equal measure, the fee charged on members on the carts usage also contributes to the club’s revenue basket. For the case of employees, the Lakeside Club has 24 full time employees. The working time during weekdays is 6.00-2.00 and 5.00-10.00 during weekends. The Club’s source of water is the Buffalo bayou. The club always endeavours in maintaining it grass root system and on the side of wildlife; the club’s management has ensured sustainable protection of diverse species for a health environment and nature. However, the club management cites maintainin g the golf course weather condition as the hardest challenge. For instance, when the Hurricane Ike came it destroyed the club with water almost a half way

Properties of an element Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Properties of an element - Essay Example The value of silver has not been affected by time. The metal is still being used to make ornaments and championship medals. However, its use as a medium of exchanged has been replaced by the use of legal tenders. Human beings are gaining knowledge with the passage of time. Many applications of the silver metal have been unearthed. For instance, silver is used in the manufacture of the crystalline solar photovoltaic panel. Due to its reflectivity, the metal is being used in the making of the mirror-like panels that act as air conditioners when mounted on a building. Silver’s catalytic action helps in the sanitization of water. The metal is therefore used in water purifiers. It goes ahead to prevent the buildup of bacteria and algae in the filters. Many hospitals and spas prefer the use of silver to chlorine in the purification of water. Due to the imperfect nature of human beings, any organ in the body fails. In cases of tooth decay, silver is mixed with mercury and the amalgam is used to fill the teeth (Garg and Garg, 2010). The conductivity properties of silver are very high. Therefore, some electronic products make use of silver for its superior conductivity and immunity to rusting (Silverinstitute.org, 2015). Other manufacturers go a step further to produce audio connector cables and wires that possess a six percent higher conductivity than ordinary copper. Silver dioxide batteries are preferred by many due to their long life. Silver can reflect some forms of infrared radiations. That is why the metal is used in the making of the inf rared telescopes. Silver is very important in the world of biology. Its stains are used in biology to enhance the contrast and visibility of cells in the microscope thus facilitating research. Silver is very essential in the medical field. The metal is incorporated into the dressing of wounds and as an antibiotic

SPSS exercises Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

SPSS exercises - Assignment Example Measures to control false alarm should be put in place, considering the confidence intervals , if all the these intervals are independent at 5% there is a probalility that one event will be rejected at 99.4%. This error can be controlled by using Tukey HSD. As shown in the table 2.8 and 2.9 below. Vicky conducted a study to evaluate time fathers spend playing with there disabled children. The study was analysed on SPSS and a two – way ANOVA was conducted to evaluate their difference in groups, according to gender and disability, and the time spend playing with the kid by their fathers. The population set was 60, the average time spend was 4.63 and a standard deviation of 2.47 as presented in Table 2.2 above. Table 2.4 shows a F(2,54) = 27.140, p We have to control false alarm and setting alpha to .05 as presented on Table 2.9, there is no difference between the disabilities at p-value = .000 and as noted above there was a interaction between the gender and the disability. P-value < 0.001 an indication that the results are highly significant at .1% level (William Mendenhall III,

Content Analysis on Prime Time Television Using Cultivation Theory Research Paper

Content Analysis on Prime Time Television Using Cultivation Theory - Research Paper Example Cultivation Theory was developed by George Gerbner and Larry Gross based on their research in order to identify and understand the effects of television on its viewers. They focused more on the culture of violence that is evidently and explicitly embedded in television programs and on how this message is inculcated in its audience, thus affecting their social behavior and disposition. Gerbner and Gross also correlated that as the exposure to such programs increases or becomes a constant factor on the daily lives of people, they tend to develop and adopt the same notion of thinking that, indeed, the world is full of violence. Cultivation theory remains to be one of the most popular theories in mass communication phenomena and is an essential theory in understanding behavioral (Bryant, 2004). n the Saturday program, FOX aired two episodes of Cops and an episode of Bones. The plot of these TV shows clearly depicts a violation of criminal law and grave offenses against society. The former is an action-packed documentary and reality show that revolves around what transpires in the line of duty of law enforcement agencies from various areas and departments of United States, while the latter is a fictional series about a team of forensic investigators who solve crime mysteries by analyzing, examining human remains, and determining the cost of death of the victims. While these shows can be easily concluded, and rightly so as to having themes of heavy violence, they also portray other messages as well.

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

Compair - Essay Example Khafre also refers to a block cipher. The name Khafre also refers to  kefren  (a pharaoh of Egypt of the fourth dynasty). This pharaoh had his  capital  based at Memphis. The statue of Khafre is made of  stone  that is exceptionally  stylish  or  smooth. Several lines that penetrate deep into the stone  depict  the  texture  of his skirt and headdress. The forms of both bird and  man  faces are remarkably  exact  in  proportion  and their carvings are of a true nature as compared to the Guedea’s  statue (Pickering 43). A closer look at the khafre  statue  reveals more muscle definition and the firmly fixed feet. The statue of Gudea and that of Khafre are different in  purpose  or there functionality. The statue of Gudea represents a  ruler  in the temple while that of Khafre represents the pharaohs. The two statues are also different in terms of the  period  they were created. The statue of Gudea represents a  leader  who ruled in the temple. The statue of Khafre represents pharaohs who were political leaders and not proponents of any faith. The statues are similar in the  period  of their  creation  that is 2900-2600 BCE (Pickering 54). The statues were also created by the Sumerians, which makes another similarity. The statues also represented rulers of two  different  territories. Parthenon is the allegory of Greece and Athens. Parthenon is regarded to be the perfect temple ever built. It also happens to be one of the highly known and recognized memorials in the universe. The temple is outstanding because of its impressive position in appearance on the Acropolis. Secondly, Parthenon’s architectural civilizations and its reflection of the Greek culture over hundreds of years contribute to its recognition as a symbol of western civilization by historians and philosophers. The term Parthenon is derived from a Greek word (Parthenon’s) which means virgin. In the Greek culture of the building, there were two main styles namely, the

Mass Extinctions in the fossil record during End Permian Research Paper

Mass Extinctions in the fossil record during End Permian - Research Paper Example What distinguishes the theories is their validity in empirical terms as well as relevance scientifically. The first significant theory alludes that at the time of the mass extinction of species occupying the earth, there could have been a very catastrophic occurrence of volcanic eruption. The magnitude of the volcanic eruption could have been so big that it ended up wiping out a significant proportion of the earth’s population. The other postulation alludes that a meteorite might have struck the earth thus instigating the death of different species that occupied it. What intrigues is the magnitude of catastrophe that could have wiped out almost all the species adorning the earth without causing a major damage to the earth’s crustal rock layers. Besides, the selectivity in the survival of the species also raises doubts in reference to the theories alluded to offer the explanation to the occurrence of the wipe out. Evolutionary and archeological studies have pointed out to the possible occurrence of a period of a near extinction of all the species on the earth’s surface. This was irrespective of their habitat. This period is referred to as the end Permian time. The occurrences at the time have not been ascertained. The fact is that there have only been theories put forward to possibly try and explain the phenomena that occurred at the time. The following discourse puts the occurrences during the end Permian time into perspective. The focus is to try and critically analyses the occurrence of events during the time. In doing that, the works seeks to make references to theories postulated by scholars in regards to explaining the occurrence. The theories or stipulations are categorically selected depending on their relevance, accuracy, as well as empirical validity. The objective is to try and give a possible chronological account to the occurrence of the near extinction of

Industry Environment Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Industry Environment - Essay Example It has also put down strategies that would ensure that it maintains its state over a long and short term. The nature of competition exhibited in the industry is a monopolistic competition. There are various competitors produce similar products but of a slightly different structural composition. The retailers exhibit the highest level of competition, which is typically fragmented. Competition on the football footwear records the highest rate followed by the athletes among the products of the company. This is more evident in the sectors dealing in customer service provision, brand name merchandise collection, pricing and friendly shopping procedures. The sporting products industry experiences changes in diverse dimensions including prospects on new products. New products cost relatively higher than those already in the market. On the other hand, the products have higher demand compared to those already in the market. The suppliers have control over their brands; they must market their products so as to create demand for them. This goes along with rivalries among the vendors dealing in different brands, which, is forwarded to the retailers. The changes in the macro environment have led to both negative and positive results in the operation of the business. To begin, prospects in new products have led to fair pricing as the products exhibit higher stock flow as compared to the initial conditions. According to Borowski (2011), competition from other brands and higher rate of introduction of new sporting products in the market has led to the production of more superior quality stock by the companies. The level of advertisement has also increased so as to maintain the levels of competence. This brings about more expenses as compared to the initial time before such changes were introduced. Haig (2011) found the following: The Company is planning on specializing in quality brand production so as to win the customers loyalty and outshine their

Designing an Evaluation Reporting and Communication Assignment

Designing an Evaluation Reporting and Communication - Assignment Example People communicate to fulfill their wants both in their work and non-work related spheres of life. They desire to be heard, to be valued and to be wanted. They also wish to finish tasks and accomplish their goals. For true communication and reporting the evaluation findings, there must be a broadcast of view, feelings and thoughts from one mind to the other. 2) To whom (what audiences) did you communicate the findings to? The audiences to whom the findings are communicated should be the Potential Users. A good strategy for communicating more efficiently is to assist audience to listen more efficiently. Study shows that communicators who identify their audience are more successful in attaining their communication goals. Optimizing communication will require identifying not only who the audience is, but also what they require from the communication task. â€Å"Effective communication is about getting your message across. Specifically, it involves capturing the audience's attention, ensuring that audience understands the idea that is being conveyed, and encouraging audience to do something with that information, such as remember it, apply it, or provide feedback† (Effective Communication, 2013, 1). Effective communication, therefore, is centered on the audience. It is audience-friendly, just as effectual software is user-friendly. It shows respect to audience by keeping away from undue informality and by proofreading and crafting text thoroughly, but not speaking or writing in a special method to ‘sound scientific.’... Please explain. From the very beginning, reporting is seen as a fundamental part of evaluation, and it permits to: Communicate what one does; Examine and track development; Show impact; Document lessons learned; And be answerable and translucent to donors, benefiting communities and partners. Reporting timelines frequently present a chief constraint on the evaluation program. Particularly, the need to report findings in time in order to inform decisions of the funding for the next stage of a program often means that reports are required previous to impacts being observed. In these circumstances, it will be essential to report on interim results, and to present any evidence of the research that demonstrates how these are significant pre-requisites or predictors to the final impacts. With the primary intended users, their needs of learning, and their timelines in mind, building up a communication plan to show the process of evaluation reporting is essential. 4. Please describe the form at your organization used to communicate the evaluation findings. An evaluation represents a huge savings in time and funds, yet organizations frequently report that evaluation reports are not read, and in various cases, a report’s recommendations are unused. There are mainly four steps used to communicate the evaluation findings. Step 1: Identify Reporting and Communication Challenges: In theory, resistance and anxiety must be lessened by the participatory, â€Å"utilization focused evaluation approach and mitigated by a focus on evaluation as dialogue and learning, rather than on judgment and accountability† (Stetson, 2008, 2). Step 2: Describes the Communication Purpose: The communication purpose is to allow the

Obsession and the consequence Essay Example for Free

Obsession and the consequence Essay Agrippas work inspired Frankenstein and he describes the effect of it, as a new light seemed to dawn upon my mind. This is the birth of his obsession As Frankenstein grows older his craving for knowledge dwells and if anything becomes more potent as his obsession grows. One could think that Frankensteins thirst for knowledge is partly driven by his fathers comments such as calling the work of Agrippa and such scientists trash, Frankenstein later explains that if instead of such remarks his father had taken time to explain that Agrippas principles had all become highly disreputable he would have thrown Agrippa aside. Instead he was left to read the book and decide for himself if it was trash or the highest level of intelligence. During the novel Frankenstein even names his father as the sole contributor to his obsession with science if instead of his remarks my father had taken the pains to explain that the principles of Agrippa had been entirely exploded I should certainly have thrown Agrippa aside. Frankensteins obsession for knowledge is constantly growing especially during his days at Ingolstadt but is accelerated when M Waldman starts to teach him. Frankenstein immediately gains a good understanding and high mutual level of respect for each other an aspect expressive of the greatest benevolence. Waldman later explains that miracles can happen, this gives wind to Frankensteins imagination and after Waldmans Death ultimately leads him to fulfill his wildest dreams to be respected, obtain more knowledge and most importantly play God. Frankensteins obsession is at its strongest during the creation of the monster. By this point the thirst for knowledge has even started to take over his inner thoughts Cornelius Agrippa, Albertus Magnus and Paracelsus the lords of my imagination. This shows that due to Frankensteins self isolation, working through both day and night darkness has no effect upon my mind he has lost all touch with the borders of society and even reality, furthermore the use of the word Lord implies that Frankenstein looks up to Agrippa etc as if they were Godly figures. One very powerful point that Shelley puts across during the novel is that with desire and obsession come consequences; the most potent example of this comes with the consequences that come with Frankensteins ambition that leads to the creation of the monster. After the monsters creation Frankenstein quickly comes to his senses and sees the now dubbed monster for the monstrosity it is and rejects it how can I describe my emotions at this catastrophe. Now rejected the monster soon learns that rejection and hatred are the only affection he will receive from man, although he does find friendship with an old blind man for a while but he is soon discovered by the mans family, beaten and driven away. This shows that although he meant well only hatred and loneliness came as a consequence of Frankensteins selfishness. Now realizing he must live in solitude the monster goes back to Frankenstein to ask him to create a companion for him, you must create a female for me with whom I can live in the interchange of those sympathies necessary for my being I demand it of you as a right that you must not refuse to concede. This statement shows that there is a degree of control about the monsters persona with regards to Frankenstein; furthermore the word demand implies that instead of asking Frankenstein to do this he is now ordering him as if he were a superior power and intellect, this is another consequence. Frankenstein is reluctant to fulfill the monsters request as he knows it will more than likely double the problem, Frankenstein explains his reasons for this to the monster, the monster brushes these aside and blames Frankenstein solely for any misfortunes he has endured and uses persuasive and empathetic language in order to change Frankensteins mind, have I not suffered enough that you seek to increase my misery this language Shelley uses makes the reader start to sympathise for the monster. In addition to this the monster threatens not just Frankenstein but his loved ones also, if I cannot inspire love I will cause fear this is a threat aimed at Frankensteins one real weak point his family. Frankenstein eventually agrees to make his companion and is told I shall watch the progress with unutterable anxiety when you are ready I shall appear, this implies that now that Frankenstein has agreed to take the task he cannot escape it unscathed. When Frankenstein eventually decides not to complete his most abhorred task the monster is enraged and holds to his threat if I can not inspire love I will cause fear. Because of Frankensteins refusal to make the monster a companion the monster starts to kill his family, starting with his younger brother Will, he later kills his wife Elizabeth on their wedding night and then his father dies, this is but another consequence of his obessesion. The death that seems to effect Frankenstein most is that of Elizabeth, he describes the effect as why am I here to retale the destruction of the best hope an purest creature of Earth, this means that he has played a major part in the destruction of not only his wife but the purest being on Earth. Frankenstein eventually pays the ultimate consequence for his creation of the monster with his life. After all the death of his loved ones that he has had to endure Frankenstein finally decides he has nothing more to loose and decides he will find and confront the monster but because of exhaustion he cannot go on, there is a strong sense of irony about the deaths of Frankenstein and his loved ones as they all came as a consequence of Frankenstein wanting to create life. Frankenstein is a well-known classic about on mans ambition to create life, but ironically as a result of its creation; ultimately life is destroyed. 1 Jack Sponder Explore Discuss and Consider the ways in which Shelley Presents the Discovery Scientific Possibilities, Obsession and Consequences of desire In Frankenstein Show preview only The above preview is unformatted text This student written piece of work is one of many that can be found in our GCSE Mary Shelley section.

Basketball Gender Discrimination

Basketball Gender Discrimination Many studies from past centuries in countless different fields of research have shown that there are rampant increases of gender inequality in many fields. In the field of sports, this not something unheard of, but it has been a common trend in the past games and sports events. Several sociologists have been reported to claim that sport inequality has taken several dimensions such as gender, wealth and social class categories. These are said to have been brought about by cultural and economics differences which are the key players to discrimination in all sort of classification. (Wolff, 1994) Although many people despite sport and games, there is a major role played by both in bridging and alleviate the norm of community cultures that brings social discrimination leading to inequality. While focusing on my favorite hobby basketball, I am first and foremost thrilled to give brief details of its history. Basketball is a sport that started at about two centuries ago. It begun in early December in the year 1891 by a famous man named James Naismith. This was at a time when there was serious search for indoor games intended to keep students occupied. Furthermore, like any other sporting event, it was not only for the keeping of the student occupied but also for the maintenance of proper level of fitness during the winter season in New England. This followed after the search for proper game that was neither tough nor too poorly designed in door plays. During such early times, the event used peach baskets which were replaced in the early twentieth century by metal hoops with blac kboards. The rules which the founders of the game wrote were found in the year 2006 and were basically invented from children’s game named duck and rock. (Wolff, 1994) Basketball game was first played by a group of young men in the young Christian gymnasium in the year 1892. This was founded in London England, which was an institutional organization that was dedicated to using Christian principles into practice to young men. The living conditions for these young men were not safe and were often neglected, thus the beginning of the game was a hallmark of bring change in the sociological arena, as this was a way substituting there life on the streets for prayer and bible study and drawing them into a new social kind of life. However, the first encounter of the composition of the sport participants is of great concern in terms of inequality. Despite the noble ideas of George William for starting such an organization which were quite unusual, and which crossed the inflexible lines that separated all the different social classes of all those lived in the England boundary; the whole community was entirely male dominated. Perhaps, this was as a result of the first intentions for creation of male institution and not an institution for both genders. Thus, the young men’s Christian association was initially composed mostly by males, showing an enormous skewed trend in the men’s side in the institutional composition. Following the interest of some of the enlightened women, there was a great struggle between the basketball leaders of the early period to include females this particular sport. However, this was all in vanity. The only achievement that yielded from such struggles was the abolishment of admitting the only males to the organization and soon or later the association would provide opportunities to all men, women and even children without any regard to racial, religious or nationality back grounds. (Axthelm, 1971 The inclusion of women in the organization was a major advantage to them. This paved way and gave them a chance to in the participation of this today’s world class game. They had opportunities to watch how the game was organized and they even got entertained as they watch the men play. The inclusion of females to actively take part in such a game was a real ordeal. Men were unwilling to help the women group to establish their own club. Therefore, it took a lot of time to establish a women’s team as they lack full support from the expert side of men. It took all the efforts of one of the females to come up with a women’s. This work was under taken by a renowned woman in the history of basketball by the name Senda Bereson. She set on his work to teach women basketball in the year of 1892, which is almost at one year after the men’s play had begun. In her work, she was fascinated by the new sport and the values it could teach. Thus she organized the first wom en’s basketball in the following year. In order to improve the performances of the women play, she used to watch plays performed by smith’s freshmen as they played against sophomores. She was also interested on improving the rules and regulations for the female basketball. Her work of writing new guidelines came into culmination when she published the first women’s basketball guide. This furthered the spreading of the women basketball and lead to improvement of the version of basketball for women. (Bonsor, 2006) Although, the spreading of basketball from young men’s Christian association was one of the major events that saw great removal social barriers in most countries, by enabling the spreading of the game throughout the United States and Canada. But due to some misuse of their initial ideas by some groups in the development and improvement of the game standards, within a few decades, they had to discourage the new sport terming it as rough and rowdy game. The game had turned to be involved in spreading political and economic challenges. Women had started to turn into lesbians during such games. However, their efforts to do away with it were all in vain. Amateur clubs, colleges and professional clubs could quickly fill the void and argument the spread faster than before. Pro –league were formed in the beginning of the twentieth century which included the national basketball league. This was put in place to protect all the players from exploitation and to promote a lesser rou gh game. The parties who were involved were supposed to provide security to men, boy. (Axthelm, 1971) With the effect of the spreading of the game, many institutions also embraced it. By the time it had gone for over five decades, basketball had become a major college sport. This in turn gave birth to the growth of professional basketball. Following the great concerns of different people from all parts of the worlds in the early 20s to 30s, the game had been almost in practice in all the developed and developing countries. Due to its introduction in most countries, the game has formed part in the major competitions that are taking place in the today’s world competitions. This includes Olympic Games and many more others. This as one way of providing opportunities to people to interact, it gave people from different continents, countries and ethnic groups to come together and share experiences and cultural traditions from different backgrounds. From the early researches, it is shown that head’s school played its first women’s inter-institutional game against the Un iversity of California in the year of 1892. From this period, several women clubs were started for basketball events. This lead to increased intercollegiate women’s game. However most of the coaches of that time were men drawn from the different part of the states. Thus, there was disparity in the composition of the bodies which were charged with the responsibilities of organizing, managing and controlling the sport. This perhaps was due to the fact that most men had developed much interest in the event, thus they had an ease of learning the requirements and operation of the game. At the same time most college seemed to encourage the participation of men in the play than any other group. For instances, by the start of the twentieth century, many colleges and universities in the United States began sponsoring men’s sports. These included universities such as university of Chicago, Columbia University, university of Manniseto, U.S. naval academy, university of Utah, Yale University and many more others. This accelerated the disparity in the participation of men to women basketball. Another major reason which might have contributed to this disparity is that, historical, participation of women in sports was discouraged or banned as they were viewed as people with tender masculine who could not tolerate the strenuous stretching activities which are involved in sports and games. (Axthelm, 1971): However, as civilization and education enlighment dawned to most of the people, the altitude towards the basketball sporting changed with time in an amazing manner. In the developed countries where civilization and technology begun, they had formed several folds of women’s basketball committees in the year 1910. These were geared towards the mitigation of girls’ child performances in sports. National and international women’s basketball executive committees were also raised. These could organize women’s basketball competitions in different colleges and universities. In addition, they were in charge of state tournaments and nationals women’s basketball championships hence being mandated with the same powers as men. On the same empowerment, men and women were given the same equality, and this resulted into the application of men rules in the play game. The women’s competitions of 1940s were conducted using the men’s rule hence it is said that women played against men in several championships. (Wolff, 1991) In the recent reports from different broadcasting and news papers, journals and internet sources, it has been reviewed that there is enough supporting bodies for the both men a basketball. These bodies ensures that there enough money to spent on equipments, training, travel and uniforms for males. They are mostly focusing on both the child boy child in schools, so there is more disparity which is being experienced in the present and the near future. To a larger extend, they are committed to ensuring that even cheering opportunities are areas of discrimination. By mixing the cheering squads for both men and women, they can try to alleviate the general phenomenon of favourism. Once the authorities are on their hand, they have recently fired and made reshuffling of coaches in various men and women basketball teams. There are increases in percentages in the admissions of recruits for women to curb the problem of disparity which was created by the old practices and culture by our forefath ers. (Bonsor, 2006) References: Axthelm, P. (1971): The City Game. Wolff, A. (1991):100 Years of Hoops. Wolff, A. (1994): The Official NBA Basketball Encyclopedia .2nd Ed. Bonsor, K. (2006): Newly found documents shed light on basketballs birth. ESPN.com. Associated Press -Retrieved on 2008-03-7.

Emotional intelligence three schools of thought

Emotional intelligence three schools of thought Emotional intelligence. What is it and what role does it play in work and life effectiveness? Is emotional intelligence just a repackaging of people skills in scientific clothing? Research suggests it is not. Academics and business people alike are intrigued by the possibility that emotional intelligence is a distinctive and measurable form of intelligence that is important to success as a leader. But how important is it to effective leadership? Are there some aspects of emotional intelligence that are more important than others? And, importantly: are there any downsides to having too high an EQ? What is Emotional Intelligence? From the review of the research there is no proper consensus about what actually emotional intelligence constitute.According to the research there are 3 schools of thoughy: 1)First school of thought like Goleman 1998 thinks factors influencing emotions and intelligence as initiative,self confidence and drive for results 2)Second school of thought like Bar-On 1997 view emotional intelligence as a personality dimension, like extroversion, agreeableness, and emotional stability. 3)Third school of thought like Mayor,Dipaolo thinks that emotional intelligence is the set of abilities which constitutes the capacity of the person to understand,reason about and how to use emotions to think and act. All three share a fault in terms of measuring leadership effectiveness. The tests are designed to assess specific aptitudes, traits, abilities, or behaviors thought to relate to emotional intelligence, but without regard as to how those may relate to success in particular situations.This is also the fundamental flaw in how emotional intelligence is being applied to effective leadership: we are beginning with competing constructs of emotional intelligence and attempting to relate them to leadership success, instead of going the other way around. We are, in effect, looking through the wrong end of the telescope at leadership performance. How Effective Leaders Demonstrate Emotional Intelligence At Cambria Consulting, we have taken the approach advocated by McClelland: identify the most effective leaders and study what makes them different from the average. During the past 30 years, we have observed and interviewed over 1000 highly effective senior managers and executives in prominent Fortune 500 companies, federal agencies, nonprofits and the military.. Based on this research, we have noted several critical aspects of emotional intelligence that are highly important to leadership effectiveness, as well as others that can actually be dysfunctional. What follows is a brief summary of our conclusions about what works and what doesnt work based on our observations. 1. Effective leaders are aware of their impact on others and use it to their advantage. Efffective leaders in an organization know that their strong personalities ,their position and even their physical presence makes a strong impact on others.they are also sensitive about hoe they come across to others.They form channels to bring about best in others.Such kind of leaders thinks that they are in perfect control over about their own feelings nad how they express them.But at the same time there is a big risk involved with such kind of leaders that these may come across as overbearing.Perfect balance is being created by the effective leaders. 2. Effective leaders have empathy for others; yet can still make tough decisions. Effective leaders often are best from thinking on placing himself in others position.They place themselves in others shoes and are able to think why and how employees react at the time of personal crisis,any changes may it be transformational or transactional,any prganizational events.But it doesnot prevent them to take tough decisions.They make people acknowledge that the decisions really make sense.The risk attached to it is that its easy to over-identify with others or let empathy be confused with sympathy, and not make the tough decisions as needed. 3. Effective leaders are astute judges of people without being judgmental. Effective leaders are able to judge others in terms of strengths and weaknesses and are able to apply and recognize diverse talents of the organization.The risk is that thay may overly critical about what they perceive about others weakenesses nad may make them feel undervalued or disrespective by dimissing the advice of such people. . 4. Effective leaders are passionate about what they do, and show it. Good leaders are passionate, highly optimistic and believe in the inevitability of success. They encourage others to believe that the most challenging goals can be met and the most daunting obstacles overcome. But it doesnt mean that they are always cheerleaders; their passion may be expressed as persistence in pursuing an objective or a relentless focus on a valued principle. However,theres a fine line between being excited about something and letting too much passion close your mind to other possibilities and ignoring realities that others see. 5. Effective leaders balance feeling and logic in making decisions. Effective leaders are in touch with their gut instincts about the right thing to do in the absence of supporting data. They also recognize their internal warning signs that something might not be the right thing to dodespite the seemingly compelling analysis. They understand that logic and facts are not the only things to consider. Nevertheless, they do not just go with their gut without checking out their instincts with others. The drawbacks are the temptation to rely largely on their feelings about things and bet that they are correct without further investigation. They are essentially gambling with the resources of the organization, and can lose big. 6. Effective leaders are excellent communicators. Effective leaders understands that the information should reach to people on time about the business.though they are not good speakers but still they kknow the hot buttons of the organization.They know that timely information always motivates people and make them connected to the organization.The only problem they face is that they get into the trouble of providing too much or too less information to the people connected with the organization.sometimes information not passed with the fear of people being upset from the truth. As in most things, emotional intelligence as a leadership requirement should be kept in perspective. The key to effectiveness is balance: a strong mix of cognitive capacity (logical, conceptual and creative thinking), people skills (interpersonal astuteness, influence skills, and communication skills), and the wisdom borne of experience and having to make unprecedented decisions based on a strong set of personal values and personal integrity. Taken together, this is what makes for effective leadership.

An essay on man -- essays research papers

  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã¢â‚¬Å"An Essay on Man† by English poet Alexander Pope is a philosophical poem, which was published, in the 18th century during a historical period called the Enlightenment. A huge emphasis was placed on the ability to think and reason during the Enlightenment. People during this era reflected about a variety of topics. Some people concerned themselves with the issue of God, which consequently caused many to question the church. Others were concerned with the organization of the Universe, and man’s place within that Universe. Often times, a literary work can reflect the thoughts and feelings of the society during the period in which it was written. In â€Å"An Essay on Man,† Pope effectively illustrates the major concerns of the people during the Enlightenment when he addresses man’s ability o reason and think for himself, and speculates about man’s place in the world, as part of the â€Å"great chain of being.†   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The ability to reason was the central focus of the Enlightenment also called â€Å"The Age of Reason.† Pop begins the poem by appealing to the logic and reason of his audience. He writes, Together let us beat this ample field,/ Try to open, what the convert yield†(lines 9-10). Pope encourages his audience to use the reason they have been given to examine those things that they have been advised against. To reason against those things that have been kept hidden to them. He is trying to bring them into the 18th century, asking the...

The Impact of Surveillance Technology on Privacy Essays -- Expository

The Impact of Surveillance Technology on Privacy      Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   David Brin in The Transparent Society warns us of the future of privacy that is on the horizon.   With millions of cameras recording our every public move, who should have control of the information: companies and governments or we the citizens?   If we take a look at Brin's vision of our future, his solution to the problem, the role of ICTs and the Kelley Cam at IU, we can come to a conclusion that our privacy is on the line and we as citizens must act soon in order to keep our country's foundational liberties.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Brin's vision of our future included the choice between two lifestyles that were illustrated by two cities.   Both of the cities were based on who had the control of the cameras.   In the first city the cameras were controlled by the authorities.   In this city, Brin argues, we will loose our privacy, independence and liberty which are all valued by Americans.   Eventually, he says, it could eliminate all crime.   The new technology could allow police to solve 100% of crimes, but on the opposite side it will turn the nation into a prison.   In the second city, the cameras are controlled by anyone who wants to use them.   Brin argues that by giving everyone control of the cameras there will be a 'reciprocal transparency' in society.   Meaning that, the once powerless now have power and anyone who wants to collect information on the public must make the same information about their self publicly available.   Tho se that have been watched by someone will now have the ability to watch back.   Brin's vision of city life in the future may be an accurate presentation.   Since our need for information is growing there is no doubt that privacy is eroding.   Ã‚  ... ...d out as silhouettes in the pictures. It was fun to operate and move the camera around, and it see each other walking way down on the ground.   The camera can zoom pretty close in to see faces, and would really be the only strong ability it has to be a threat on our privacy.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   The information age has arrived, and Brin has given us a direction to take in order to protect our privacy we have always cherished.   By showing us the options between a government controlled, ?Big Brother? society to a reciprocal transparency society where everyone has access to the cameras, we can take specific actions to go in the direction that is most profitable for our privacy.   The technology will always be there, but everyone must be allowed access to it.   Clearly Brin wants to save our privacy, and the only way to fight back is to be users of the technology ourselves.   

Linguistics and Language

1. The underlying assumptions, theories, and methods used by psychologiest, linguists, and researchers are believed to strongly affect the way each defines psycholinguistics. Please discuss some different conceptions of psycholinguistics in its relation to other branches of linguistics. Then, define yours. One of your reference should be â€Å"fundamentals of Pyscholinguistics by Fernandez and Cairns (2010)†OPsycholinguistics is an interdisciplinary field of study in which the goals are to understand how people acquire language, how people use language to speak and understand one another, and how language is represented and processed in the brain. Psycholinguistics is primarily a sub-discipline of psychology and linguistics, but it is also related to developmental psychology, cognitive psychology, neurolinguistics, and speech science (Fernandez: 2011). OPsycholinguistics examines the psychology of language; psycholinguistics is the name given to the study of the psychological processes involved in language.Psycholinguists study understanding, producing, and remembering language, and hence are concerned with listening, reading, speaking, writing, and memory for language. (Harley, Trevor A. 2001. The Psychology of Language. ) O†Psycholinguistic studies have revealed that many of the concepts employed in the analysis of sound structure, word structure, and sentence structure also play a role in language processing. However, an account of language processing also requires that we understand how these linguistic concepts interact with other aspects of human processing to enable language production and comprehension. ( William O'Grady, et al. , Contemporary Linguistics: An Introduction. Bedford/St. Martin's, 2001 O†Psycholinguistics, there is a constant exchange of information between psycholinguists and those working in neurolinguistics, who study how language is represented in the brain. There are also close links with studies in artificial intel ligence. Indeed, much of the early interest in language processing derived from the AI goals of designing computer programs that can turn speech into writing and programs that can recognize the human voice. (John Field, Psycholinguistics: A Resource Book for Students. Routledge, 2003) OPsycholinguistics refers to the efforts of both linguists and psychologists to explain whether certain hypotheses about language acquisition and language competence as proposed by contemporary linguistic theories (e. g. : transformational generative grammar) have a real basis in terms of : perception, memory, intelligence, motivation, etc. (Hartmann and stork: 1973) Oâ€Å"†¦.. psycholinguists are interested in the underlying knowledge and abilities which people must have in order to use language in childhood.I say â€Å"underlying knowledge and abilities† because language, like all systems of human knowledge, can only be inferred from the careful study of overt behavior. † (Dan Isa ac Slobin: 1979) OBased on my reading, Psycholinguistics is study about language acquisition, language used one another, and study how language is represented and processed in the brain. Psycholinguistics is primarily a sub-discipline of psychology and linguistics, but it is also related to developmental psychology, cognitive psychology, neurolinguistics, and speech science. . Linguistic analysis might use similar language data or language corpuses as the object of analysis. Please give an example of language use which can be analyzed from different point of view, particularly from semantics, pragmatics, socialinguistics, discourse analysis, and psycholinguistics. Support your answer in term of their focuses of analysis. How are they similar, different, and how are they related one other. Linguistics study about human language as communication. In other hand, linguistics as fild of study that the object is language. Semantics is one of study that hand-in-hand with pragmatics. specia lizing in semantics studies, languageis study about the meaning of words, that is influenced by the context in which the words are presented. Semantics study how words are given meaning by their structure, tone, and the situation in which they are used.  ·Pragmatics is concerned with the role of context in the interpretation of meaning.  ·Pragmatics and semantics is different parts but the same general study. Both semantics and pragmatics are concerned with people’s ability to use language meaningfully.While semantics is concerned with a speaker’s competence to use the language system in producing meaningful utterances and processing (comprehending).  ·Sociolinguistics a close neighbour of psycholinguistics, can be defined as the linguistic study dealing with the functioning of language in society. Sociolinguitics has to do with the study of language from the viewpoint of how social, regional, individual and historical aspects influence the language and its use i n society which is specifically called speech community. OPsycholinguistics is the study of language acquisition and linguistic behavior.Psycholinguistics refers to the efforts of both linguists and psychologists to explain whether certain hypotheses about language acquisition and language competence as proposed by contemporary linguistic theories (e. g. : transformational generative grammar) have a real basis in terms of : perception, memory, intelligence, motivation, etc. (Hartmann and stork: 1973)  ·Discourse Analysis is approaches to analyzing written, vocal, or sign language use. discourse analysis is, like descriptive linguistics, a way of studying language.It may be regarded as a set of techniques, rather than a theoretically predetermined system for the writing of linguistic ‘rules'. (Yule, George. 1983. Discourse Analysis. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press). ‘Doing discourse analysis certainly involves doing syntax and semantic, but it primarily consists o f doing pragmatics. In discourse analysis, as in pragmatics, we are concerned with what people using language are doing, and accounting for the linguistic features in the discourse as the means employed in what they are doing. . The objects of psycholinguistic studeis are addressed to language production, acquisition, and comprehension. Could you explain how are the processes of the three language uses in term of psycholinguistics analysis.  ·Language production based on Levelt, speech production divided into four stage; I. Conceptualization and formulation Primitive linguistic concept about first conceptualized in human mind by David Mcneill stated that linguistic concepts are formed as two current and parallel modes of taught. These are syntactic thinking and imagistic thinking.Then syntactic thinking and imagistic thinking ellaborate to conceptualize conversation in which speech utterance and gestures to be tied together in time. But this concept has gone record. Formulation as the output of the process language production. Lashely stated that production and comprehension of speech is linear process. Based on tradition od examining speech production, sleep tangue as a window of the formulation process. II. slips of the tongue Slip of the tongue is normal mistake, it happen to catch the goof ourselve. Then we can immediately correct. Slip the tongue as the production process . ut this concept has gone record too. III. Articulation In this stage we consider about what happens when all of he information go from our brain to articulation. IV. Self-Monitoring Self – monitoring seems that as final stage. It is not only produce speech and listen one to another, but also to keep one ear open on what they themselve saying.  ·Language acquisition Language acquisition is the process by which humans acquire the capacity to perceive and comprehend language, as well as to produce and use words[-;0] and sentences[-;1] to communicate. Language acquisition began the same with the cognitive science at 1950’s.Chomsky argued that language acquisition falsified these beliefs in a single stroke: children learn languages that are governed by highly subtle and abstract principles, and they do so without explicit instruction or any other environmental clues to the nature of such principles. While Hence stated language acquisition depends on an innate, species-specific module that is distinct from general intelligence. Chomsky believes that every child has a ‘language acquisition device’ or LAD which encodes the major principles of a language and its grammatical structures into the child’s brain.In other point of view There are five stages in language acquisition stated by Chumbow and Adegbija (1984) such as babbling stage, the holophrastic stage, the two-word utterances, the telegraphic stage and recursive stage.  ·Language comprehension Clark and Clark argue that language comprehension is mental process by listeners ta ke in the sounds uttered by speaker and use them to construct an interpretation of what they think the speaker intended to convey. (Clark and Clark: 1977)In sum up, language comprehension is building the meaning from sounds.While Language comprehension is generally viewed in cognitive theory as con-sisting of active and complex processes in which individuals construct meaning from aural or written information (Anderson 1985; Byrnes 1984; Call 1985; Howard 1985; Pearson 1985; Richards, 1983). An-derson (1983, 1985) proposes that the mental processes necessary for comprehending aural and written texts are sufficiently similar that comprehension of both can generally be discussed as a common phe-nomenon. 4. Following Clark and Clark (1977), comprehension involves two processes-construction and utilization processes.The first is concerned with the way listeners construct an interpretation of a sentence from the speakers’ words. The second deals with how listeners utilize this int erpretation for further purposes for registering new infromation, answering questions, following orders, and registering promises. What really happens in our cognitive domains (memory) for both processes? Examplify your answer that the first happens earlier than the second OClark and Clark (1977) say that short-term memory is roughly related to the working memory in the construction process; long term memory is dealt with the process of utilization.In other word In short, short-term just focus on the surface of the utterance (how the sentence is constructed) while the long one concern on the meaning more (how the sentence is properly utilized). Outilization, consists of relating a mental represen-tation of the text meaning to declarative knowledge in long-term mem-ory. This process is referred to as elaboration in other descriptions of the reading process. Utilization is the key to comprehension and the basic determinant that facilitates it. In any mes-sage, there may be an interpla y between information we already know and information that is entirely new. . Production of a speech requires speakers to plan what to say before its execution. Theoritically, the plan begins firstly with discourse plan followed by sentence plan and, at last, constituent plan. What should be the underlying concepts of this order? In the execution of a speech plan, several mental activities happen, what are they? Explain your answer OSpeech production is the process by which spoken[-;2] words are selected to be produced, have their phonetics[-;3] formulated and then finally are articulated by the motor system[-;4] in thevocal apparatus[-;5].Speech production can be spontaneous such as when a person creates the words of a conversation[-;6], reaction such as when they name a picture or read[-;7] aloud a written word[-;8], or a vocal imitation such as in speech repetition[-;9]. Speech production is not the same as language production since language[-;10] can also be produced manually by signs[-;11]. The production of spoken language[-;12] involves three major levels of processing. The first is the processes of conceptualization[-;13] in which the intention[-;14] to create speech links a desired concept to a particular spoken word to be expressed.The second stage is formulation in which the linguistic[-;15] form required for that word's expression is created. This process involves such processes as the generation of a syntactic[->16] frame, and phonological[->17] encoding which specifies the phonetic[->18] form of the intended utterance, the third stage is articulation[->19] which involves the retrieval of the particular motor phonetics[->20] of a word and the motor coordination[->21] of appropriate phonation[->22] and articulation by the lungs, glottis, larynx, tongue[->23], lips[->24], jaw[->25], and other parts. Levelt, WJ (1999). â€Å"Models of word production. â€Å"[->26]. Trends in Cognitive Sciences 3 (6): 223–232) 6. Children acquire language fas ter than adults’. Please give your arguments to agree or disagree to this statement. How do children use their utterance compared to adult. You should refer to, at least, four references. OChomsky points out that a child could not possibly learn a language through imitation alone because the language spoken around them is highly irregular – adult’s speech is often broken up and even sometimes ungrammatical.In ways understanding and establish meaning in words, children and adults are different. Children tend to focus more on the superficial physical characteristics of an object when defining the prototype for an object and when comparing a stimulus to that prototype. Thus, children will gradually their understanding of an object. Steinberg at all (2001) conclude the progress started from vocalization to babbling, babbling to speech, naming and using holophrastic for one word utterances, and using telegraphic speech for two and three words utterances.Another exper t Mc Neill in Steinberg at all (2001:36) gives another opinion that the child who is learning language can compare the language that they have in their mind with what they hear from his parents. Children give priority to collocational links between words. For example, a child might respond with the word ‘night’ when told the word ‘dark’, whereas an adult more likely to respond with the word ‘light’ when presented with the same word ‘dark. Children may take time to discover the criteria by adult classify item as co-ordinates. 7.Language structure and language function can be seen differently by different scholars from the side of the meaning of an utterance. Please discuss your opinion about the function approach to meaning (the procedures and uses) Outterances has different meaning in context (including the situation, condition, location and the time in which the utterances are produced). For example : †Masak begitu saja jadi gila s ih? † this utterance May be in giving support or motivate somebody who just got disappointed or depressed. 8. Please quote a mass demonstrant’s discourse (at least consisting of ten sentences).Please analyze psycholinguisticly the discourse of the demonstrant by considering his/her mass psychology. ODemo guru bantu : ‘angkat kami jadi PNS. Kami telah lama mengabdi untuk negri ini. Kalau kami tidak diangkat jadi PNS, gaji kami tidak cukup untuk memenuhi kebutuhan primer kami. Yaitu kebutuhan hidup keluarga dan kebutuhan pendidikan anak-anak kami. Guru bantu perlu diperhatikan kesejahteraan hidupnya. Dari demo guru di atas terlihat semua individu memiliki kepentingan menjadi satu yaitu meminta kenaikan Gaji yang tidak sesuai standar untuk memenuhi kebutuhan utama.Dari kalimat demo di atas, setiap idividu guru lebih memiliki power yang lebih besar untuk meminta kenaikan gaji dikarekan mereka bersatu menjadi satu. OMass psychology is a branch of social psychology[->27 ]. Mass psychology is concerned with the behaviour and thought processes of individual mass members and the mass as a whole. The main idea of Sigmund Freud[->28]'s crowd behavior theory is that people who are in a crowd act differently towards people from those who are thinking individually.The minds of the group would merge to form a way of thinking. Each member's enthusiasm would be increased as a result, and one becomes less aware of the true nature of one's actions. Other major thinkers of crowd psychology include Rene Girard[-;29], Gustave Le Bon[-;30], Wilfred Trotter[-;31], Gabriel Tarde[-;32],Sigmund Freud[-;33], Elias Canetti[-;34], Steve Reicher[-;35] and Julia Constintine. 9. How do you agree (support) or disagree to the following ideas: a. language need not be taught, nor can it be suppressedOI agree that language need to be taught nor can be suppressed, Fernandez stated that language acquisition in the child is a naturally unfolding process, Every normal human acquires alinguistic system, and failure to do so is evidence for some sort of pathology. that children need to experience social, interactive language in order to acquire language. In fact, people acquire language at about the same speed during about the same age span, no matter what kind of cultural and social situation they grow up in. b. hildren everywhere acquire language on a similar developmental schedule OI agree that children everywhere acquire language on a similar developmental schedule. Based on (Fernandez: 2011) state that babies coo in the first half of their first year and begin to babble in the second half. The first word comes in the first half of the second year for just about everyone. In all societies, babies go through a one-word stage, followed by a period of early sentences of increasing length; finally, complex sentences begin. By the age of 5 the basic structures of the language are in place, although fine-tuning goes on until late child-hood.Children all over the wo rld are sensitive to the same kinds of language properties, such as word order and inflection. They make remarkably few errors, but their errors are of a similar type. While there is much individual variation in the age at which children acquire aspects of language, that variation is conditioned by individual char-acteristics of the child rather than by the language being acquired or the culture in which the language is used. c. language is universal in human being OI agree with that statement about there are close to 7,000 languages spoken in the world today and, on the surface, they differ greatly.However, there are profound similarities among the languages of the world – so many similarities, in fact, that human language can be thought of as a single entity. Language universals result from the way the human brain organizes and processes linguistic information: language universals are a product of human neurology. Thus, a person’s ability to acquire and use language is natural These universals do not derive from social, cultural, or general intellectual characteristics of humans. Instead, List of references: Clark, H. H. and E. V. Clark (1977): Psychology and Language, New York, Harcourt Brace Jovanovich.Fernandez, Eva M. (2011). Fundamental of psycholinguistics. Oxford. Wiley-Blackwell Steinberg, at all (2001): Psycholinguistic: Language, Mind, and World. Malaysia, Pearson Education. Scovel, T (2001): Psycholinguistics. Hong Kong, Oxford University Press. Yasin, Anas. (2010). Tindak Tutur: sebuah model gamatika komunikatif. Padang: Sukabina Press [-;0] – http://en. wikipedia. org/wiki/Word [-;1] – http://en. wikipedia. org/wiki/Sentence_(linguistics) [-;2] – http://en. wikipedia. org/wiki/Spoken [-;3] – http://en. wikipedia. org/wiki/Phonetic [-;4] – http://en. wikipedia. rg/wiki/Motor_system [-;5] – http://en. wikipedia. org/wiki/Vocal_apparatus [-;6] – http://en. wikipedia. org/wiki/Conversati on [-;7] – http://en. wikipedia. org/wiki/Reading_(process) [-;8] – http://en. wikipedia. org/wiki/Writing [-;9] – http://en. wikipedia. org/wiki/Speech_repetition [-;10] – http://en. wikipedia. org/wiki/Language [-;11] – http://en. wikipedia. org/wiki/Sign_language [-;12] – http://en. wikipedia. org/wiki/Spoken_language [-;13] – http://en. wikipedia. org/wiki/Conceptualization [-;14] – http://en. wikipedia. org/wiki/Intention -;15] – http://en. wikipedia. org/wiki/Language [-;16] – http://en. wikipedia. org/wiki/Syntactic [-;17] – http://en. wikipedia. org/wiki/Phonological [-;18] – http://en. wikipedia. org/wiki/Phonetic [-;19] – http://en. wikipedia. org/wiki/Manner_of_articulation [-;20] – http://en. wikipedia. org/wiki/Phonetics [-;21] – http://en. wikipedia. org/wiki/Motor_coordination [-;22] – http://en. wikipedia. org/wiki/Phonation [-;23] – http://en. wikip edia. org/wiki/Tongue [-;24] – http://en. wikipedia. org/wiki/Lip [-;25] – http://en. wikipedia. org/wiki/Jaw -;26] – http://www. columbia. edu/~rmk7/HC/HC_Readings/Levelt. pdf [-;27] – http://en. wikipedia. org/wiki/Social_psychology [-;28] – http://en. wikipedia. org/wiki/Sigmund_Freud [-;29] – http://en. wikipedia. org/wiki/Ren%C3%A9_Girard [-;30] – http://en. wikipedia. org/wiki/Gustave_Le_Bon [-;31] – http://en. wikipedia. org/wiki/Wilfred_Trotter [-;32] – http://en. wikipedia. org/wiki/Gabriel_Tarde [-;33] – http://en. wikipedia. org/wiki/Sigmund_Freud [-;34] – http://en. wikipedia. org/wiki/Elias_Canetti [-;35] – http://en. wikipedia. org/wiki/Steve_Reicher

Nike Company Analysis

Nike Inc. International Strategic Marketing 8 Prepared for: 22-03-2009 Prepared by: Table of contents Case summary3 Analysis Growth strategy4 Competitor Analysis6 SWOT analysis8 Five forces model9 Nike Case Summary Nike is a major publicly traded sportswear and equipment supplier based in the United States. It is the world's leading supplier of athletic shoes and apparel, and a major manufacturer of sports equipment. They have a market share in the United States exceeding 40%. Nike also distributes its products outside the US. In 140 countries, Nike sells products through independent retailers , distributors etc. In the ever changing markets, Nike is facing multiple challenges to remain market leader. Foot Locker was always a great partner for Nike. Foot Locker, as the world’s largest footwear retailer, was an perfect way for Nike to distribute and introduce their new products. But Foot Locker wants to meet consumer demands. So Foot Locker said that they would reduce the more expensive Nike shoes, and focus on more midpriced shoes. This caused a break in the close relationship between Nike and Foot Locker. Nike is basically a distributor. They do not produce their products by themselves. Nike’s products are manufactured by third parties. So the main focus at Nike is on R and marketing. Innovation, and making the consumer actually want the product is key for Nike. Nike products are manufactured in Southeast Asia. The producer of Nike products are independent contractors where Nike does not own any of. The main reason why Nike products are manufactured in these countries is because of the low wages. Low cost labor significantly increases the gross margin on their products. These low wage countries had some significant downsides, thought . When the working conditions, as well as allegations of abuse and harassment became public (done by activists) Nike suffered serious bad publicity. For a company that heavily relies on marketing and PR, this is a serious problem. While Nike tried to neglect these allegations, activist continued to blame Nike. Because the focus at Nike is heavily at marketing and R, Nike always tries to create the right image for the consumer. They do this by constantly innovating (such as the Nike+ series), and attaching famous sports players to the brand. Players such as Tiger Woods, Roger Federer and Wayne Rooney. The last years Nike sees that competitions is catching up and in several segments demand is decreasing. While these are all external factors that influence the company, Nike remains stable in terms of sales, gross margin and operating profit (increased to 10,2 percent in 2002, from 9,3 percent in 2001). While Nike remains to have positive numbers, the industry growth is hard to predict. While, for example, women casual tennis footwear sees an explosive growth, premium priced athletic shoes is clearly declining. Also competition is not standing still. The main competitors of Nike are New Balance, Adidas, and Reebok. New Balance is a company focused on athletic sports. They operate in the market segments of running, walking , tennis basketball etc. Along with this, New Balance expanded their target market by acquiring Dunham Bootmakers. With this they were now also on the market of outdoors such as hiking, boat shoes and sandals. Another acquisition of New Balance took place in 2001 with PF Flyers which gave them acces to the casual market. Another competitor, Adidas, is the world’s number two on footwear and apparel worldwide. Adidas is very much comparable to Nike. With high end technology, and important sponsors. The last of the very important competitors is Reebok. Reebok is the largest growing company. The company changed of strategy when they got the exclusive NFL deal and stated sponsoring the in-field gear of NBA teams. The challenge for Nike is to remain ahead of the competition, continue to be innovative and make sure their image stays on top. Analysis Nike and its subsidiaries are selling an extensive line of sports products throughout the world. Nike is competing in the market with Adidas, Reebok, New Balance and many other brands. [pic] Growth Strategy Nike operates in several market segments. Within these segments Nike is always looking for ways to grow. Nike is an international company that makes sure they can sell their products in the best possible way. That is why Nike today has several different retail possibilities such as Nike factory outlets, Nike stores and others. In April 2002 Nike acquired the Hurley International and gained access to the market segment for surfing, skateboarding and other youth lifestyle extreme sports. Nike was already selling different products under brand names such as Bauer. But still Nike’s core business was athletic running shoes. But growth in sales in 2003 was not very large. Only the women tennis casual footwear was experiencing significant growth. But this was due to the fact that the casual lifestyle segment was gaining popularity at that moment. So Nike decided to shift some of its main focus to other markets in the casual market. The casual market is the market with the most potential growth according to analysts, but weak growth in equipment (basketball , running etc). The growth in the casual market takes place in the non-performance segment. Thus Nike has to adapt to the fact that Nike can also be seen as a fashion object. Nowadays Nike is still the company with the most market share not only in the US, but also globally. And with making innovations in the consumer market, Nike was able to increase the market share. An example is the ‘Air-Jordan shoe line ’ which became extremely popular. Nike should stay focused in analyzing the changing demands of consumers in order to maintain the market share. The Air Jordan shoe line were very popular, but when Jordan retired Nike should be ready to come up with a successor. Also, the company should not be afraid to shift to other markets. The casual non-performance market is clearly growing, and in the athletic market (Nike’s core business) growth is clearly declining. Internally, Nike should keep their focus on marketing and R, which is their strength. Nike does not produce its own products. Nike clearly made some mistakes in the past by hiring independent contractors they have no influence over. [pic] Nike has clearly suffered with the image of sweatshops in Southeast Asian countries. Because Nike does not produce the products by their own factories, they heavily rely on the image consumer has of the company. R is also a heavy factor for Nike. Nike is the global leader on the market, but they have to come up with constant new ideas product development and maintaining a high level of research in the desires of the consumer, Heinz will maintain successful. Competitor Analysis The market where Nike in is operating is high competitive. The athletic footwear, apparel and equipment segments are intensely competitive all around the world. Main competitors are the German-based Adidas, New Balance Athletic Shoe Inc and REEBOK. Adidas-Salamon AG The well known ‘three stripes’ Adidas is popular all around the world. Just like Nike, is Adidas producing all kind of products, most of them related to sports. Adidas is one of the largest competitors in the industry. One of the flagships of Adidas is still the ‘old-style’ sneakers (See picture). Also Adidas is working with sport stars in their marketing campaigns, in order to increase brand awareness and revenues. In 2002, this lead to an overall market share of 11% and global sales with a revenue of almost $7 billion. REEBOK In comparison with Nike and Adidas is REEBOK also producing casual clothes. With the brands Greg Norman, Rockport and Ralph Lauren, the company is selling casual clothes. Since 2000, the company is competing again with Nike. With the return of Paul Fireman, operating activities increased and Reebok was able to compete again. The company’s marketing budget for 2003 was reported to be $40 million. A high percentage of this amount is going to the basketball world. Reebok is sponsoring a lot of teams in the NBA in order to create brand awareness. Since 2005, Reebok is part of Adidas. New Balance Athletic Shoes For many years this company was working with the same shoe outlets. The shoe outlets were successful, but New Balance wanted more. Therefore the company decided in 2000 to include independently owned retail stores. In this stores, more products could be sold. By the end of 2002, New Balance was distributing their products to over 90 independent retail stores. With this new corporate strategy, the company was able to increase sales with 25% in 2001 and 2002. SWOT Analysis Nike Strenghts Brand awareness Nike is the most well known sports brand in the world. Everyone knows the Nike logo (the ‘Swoosh’) and the brand is popular because of its premium quality, design and image. Product range The company is offering many products on the market and therefore can compete in many segments. Because of the global market, Nike can produce on economies of scale. Nike does not own any factories, but chooses the cheapest location to produce (almost always Asia). When a cheaper location is found, Nike can easily switch because it does not own the factory. Research & development Nike is famous because of the nice design, and innovative products. Because the company is producing many products, a high amount of R is invested. But this money is worth it. Nike is always able to come up with innovative designs of clothes and products. Weaknesses Production circumstances Because of negative publicity, a lot of people nowadays associate Nike with bad working conditions for the people who manufacture the products. Child labor, unhealthy factories and dangerous work, all contributed to this image what some people have from Nike. The ethical responsibilities from Nike are important in order to create brand loyalty. Opportunities Product development Coming up with innovative products can be really profitable. Or producing so called ‘high profit’ margin products like watches and sunglasses. Threats Competition The market where Nike is in operating is very competitive. Especially the shoe market, has a lot of competition. Therefore Nike should stay focused on innovation, price/value ratio, marketing and customer service. Economic situation Most of Nike’s products are higher priced then comparable products. This mainly because of the brand image. When there is a recession, consumers are more persuaded to buy cheaper, comparable products from a different producer. 5-Forces Model [pic] The power of suppliers is low. For most products, Nike is using simple raw materials. These materials are available with many suppliers. Also Nike is famous for replacing its production many times. Nike produces the products, where it is the cheapest. [pic] The power of customers is also low. Because most of the sales are B2C, the buyers cannot concentrate and have low power. Only threat is that customers, can easily switch to other (comparable) products. pic] The threat of new entrants is low to moderate. The market is high competitive and dominated by a few large players. First of all, a high amount of investment is required. It is not cheap to produce such a high quantity of shoes, like Nike is doing. Next to this, the costs for R and marketing are extremely high. Therefore we can conclude, that a possible new entrant must possess over a lot o f capital, patience and qualities. [pic] The threat of substitutes is medium. Although the ‘switching costs’ for consumers are not there, Nike is noticing high brand loyalty. This is mainly because of the brand image, quality and with the shoes, the level of comfort. But consumers are price sensitive and are seeking for high value with their sports clothes and related products. In times of economic recession, consumers are seeking for ways in order to save money. This can be, searching for alternative brands. Therefore Nike must closely the monitor the consumer market and the domestic economy. [pic] The rivalry in the industry is high. Exit barriers are quite high, therefore the same players are already for a long time competing in the market. ———————– Market Share 2008

Teacher and Grandmother

Interestingly, the person who had the most impact on my life was my grandmother. My grandmother was a retired College Principal, but for me she was always my Grandmother. She taught me the kinds of things that school teachers never could teach in the classroom. Because my parents were at work and my grandmother was retired, I spent a lot of time with her. She was a mother, a grandparent and a teacher at the same time. She always prepared an interesting activity for the day. We visited museums, theatres, went to the zoo, visited the library, watched movies or just stayed at home and did something fun together. She always created the proper schedule with the weather and my age in mind. I loved the way she could find the tone and the language with me, keeping in mind my capacity. She had a good sense of humor and always tried to cheer me up when she saw lack of interest or tiredness. The biggest lesson I learned from her was how to be a happy and independent child. She let my free spirit wander, making me curious and adventurous. She never lectured me or gave me boring speeches; she always found ways to engage my interest through stories and examples from her life. It were very important for her. She wanted my imagination to grow and explore different ideas and topics in my head. When I could not read by myself, she was the one who introduced me to picture books, and when I went to first grade she sat down with me and held my hand during my discovery of reading independently. My Grandmother was the first person who put a pencil in my hand. First we drew and colored together, and then slowly I learned how to form my letters and to write my name down before I started my school education. As I mentioned before, my parents had to work, so my Grandmother picked me up from school everyday. When we arrived home we always had snack and then a little free time before we sat down to do my homework. If I had a difficult assignment, for example from chemistry or physics, we tried to associate with baking as a science, or made an experiment to see how it could work in real life. She never disciplined me. How it worked between us was very natural; she was older and wiser, I was little and hungry for knowledge. I admired her knowledge, life experience and her enthusiasm; I asked question after question, begged for stories of her life and never let her sit down for a moment. She tried to keep up with me and never complained of being tired and I was never bored. I was the engine of her life and she was the educator in mine. When I was older and went to stay at overnight camps during the summer, she wrote me letters every single day. I learned how important it was to keep contact, communicate and express my feelings and ideas in writing. My grandmother made a huge impact on my life: I learned how much I should appreciate life everyday. I learned how I can make changes if I have an open and curious heart.