Operational Management Business Plan Term Paper

Operational Management Business Plan - Term Paper Example (National Center for Education Statistics) Operations management is essentially overseeing processes that turn inputs into outputs. The goal is to achieve organisational objectives at the lowest cost in order to maximise profits. I work for General Trading which is a grocery and dairy supplier. The portfolio includes distribution, wholesale as well as export operations. The company trades in approximately 10,000 grocery items and 2,000 products and sports its own brands Parade and Better Valu. The export markets range from Europe, South America, Africa, Caribbean and the Middle East. (General Trading) The largest branch of operations exists for food items delivery to supermarkets within the metropolitan area. General Trading acts as the middle man between the wholesalers and the larger grocery stores. Myriad physical resources including warehouses, offices, transport equipment, support services are required to support operations. On the human side, hundreds of workers are required ea ch day by General Trading to ensure prompt delivery of food items. The business philosophy is rather archaic and well set in and the management is not highly committed to change (in terms of modernisation). Business operations demand investment in physical and human resources in order to maximise efficiency and production. At General Trading the, top management has been relentlessly unwilling to invest money in company operations in the short-term to prosper in the long-run. The company’s operations suffer due to lack of training, archaic physical resources, inefficient warehouse operations (stacking and retrieval), lack of employee metrics as well as the lack of a coherent quality management scheme. Operation Analysis and Evaluation General Trading being a logistics operator has to deal with warehousing and transportation. These two operations form the bulk of the company’s operations management. Goods flow both into and out of the warehouse. The material needs to be stacked in order of certain preferences so that it can be readily deployed as required. These preferences include delivery dates, nature of food materials (preserved or fresh), room for fire fighting and escape etc. Food orders are created to record all transactions of incoming and outgoing food materials. Experienced personnel are required to create food orders so that the right amount of detail is entered flawlessly intro records. Similarly, experienced store handlers are required to locate the food materials both when they arrive and when they are about to leave. Investments in the physical equipment have also been lacking which have promoted inefficient operations. A description of the operations is provided below for areas where improvements are desired. Relevant weaknesses are listed alongside the process evaluation so that continuity and relevance can be maintained. Warehousing Warehousing refers to the storage of materials for further processing. In terms of business value a ddition, warehousing

Air Asia Case Study Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Air Asia - Case Study Example However, they tend to value quality service, and are willing to pay for excellent service. On the other hand, Asians are less likely to concentrate on quality of service, and are willing to compromise quality service for a low price. Furthermore, people in the U.S. and Europe can use other forms of transport for short trips such as speed rail, bus etc. However, there are hardly any world class rails in Asia, and air travel remains the only option for many travelers. Some people in Asia might use bus, but the advent of budget airlines has made it cheaper for travelers to fly instead. Given today's economic climate, low-fare service would be a hit in any part of the world and the Gulf region is no exception. Although, the Gulf region has a good per capita income, lower and middle class travelers would nevertheless welcome low-fare service and it would definitely affect the large carriers in the Gulf Region. Q2: Air Asia is a budget airline which was on the verge of bankruptcy, but sprang up in 2001 to become the world's cheapest airline. Air Asia is a budget airline and succeeded in getting the lowest cost per kilometer of any airline. It was largely in part because of the declining demand for air travel and fleet purchases in the aftermath of 9/11. Thus, time was a key player in ensuring that Air Asia got the lowest cost structure possible. Furthermore, Air Asia also differentiated itself from other carriers by initiating ticketless travel. Under this new method, travelers had to book tickets online and there was no hassle to for travelers to go through agents. This made travel easy for the passengers and helped further in the reduction of distribution costs. However, Air Asia was similar to other carriers because all carriers of its type focused on low cost travel and targeted small business travelers. Moreover, Air Asia just like other carriers also offered only three types of fares. This was to stimulate demand for these carriers and attract travelers from major airlines like Malaysian Airlines. Q3: By reading the case study, I feel that Air Asia was wrong in its decision of Internet booking. Although this has been a viable option for many travelers, it has also meant that the airline is losing potential passengers who do not have access to the Internet. Air Asia is targeting relatives and small travelers and many might not have access to Internet. Furthermore, I also feel that expanding too much in a short period of time might have its disadvantages. Purchasing a lot of fleet might be a cause of concern given today's shifting business climate. It would be difficult to make monthly payments if uncertain conditions force demand to plunge. First, Air Asia came into the market at the right time. Just after the terrorist attacks of September 11, the aviation industry took an uncertain turn and there was a drop in demand. This caused the market for fleets to go down and leasing costs were reasonable, causing Air Asia to penetrate the market. Also, Air Asia expanded beyond national borders and grabbed the opportunity to serve neighboring countries. Moreover, Air A

The Personality And Academic Achievement

The Personality And Academic Achievement ABSTRACT Chemistry achievement is one of the major interests of educators. Educational psychologists have been always concerned to identify the factors that affect students achievement. The emphasis continued to change and shift from one aspect to the other from time to time. The purpose of this study is to determine the effect of students personality and attitude on Chemistry achievement. Data were collected by self-prepared survey instrument. The opinions of personally approached 780 secondary school students of government, semi-government and private school sectors were surveyed through stratified random sampling. Data was analyzed by calculating mean, and by applying one way ANOVA. The results revealed that Gender, Family Type, School sectors, Parents Education, and Choice of Course have significant effect on chemistry achievement. Findings of study also revealed that out of five sub-factors of personality, the two sub-factors (Conscientiousness and Openness to Experience) effect signific antly on students having 50-80% marks achievement in chemistry. From 81-90% the significant determinant of chemistry achievement is the sub-factor Achievement Motivation and above 90% marks the significant predictor of Chemistry Achievement is sub-factor Motivation. The research will benefit Educators, Curriculum developers, Teacher, Parents and students. Findings of the factors influencing academic achievement will help educators to develop fair academic curricula that can compensate for known weaknesses a student might carry in the classroom, and those that can nurture a students strengths. Keywords: Attitude towards chemistry; Personality traits; Chemistry Achievement; Openness to experience; Conscientiousness; Motivation; Achievement Motivation. Introduction Academic achievement represents the understanding of the student about different concepts and skills developed in different subjects. In most of the countries, parents usually desire that their children show high level of academic achievement which sets a lot of burden on children, teachers, schools and in general the whole education system. Thus the whole education system revolves round the academic achievement of students so, the schools set a lot of time for helping students to achieve high grades. Academic achievement may be influenced by different factors like intelligence, study habits, and attitudes of students, socio economic status, motivation, opportunities, and different characteristics of their personality. Academic achievement is considered as a core standard to measure students total potential and capabilities of learning. Hence academic achievement occupies a very vital place in our education as well as in the learning process. Achievement is the major outcome of education, the level to which a student, teacher has accomplished their educational goals. According to Crow and Crow (1964) academic achievement is reflected by the extent to which a skill or knowledge has been acquired by a person from the training imparted to him. Previous studies in science education revealed that students at all levels struggle to learn chemistry, but most of them remain unsuccessful (Herron, 1975; Nakhleh, 1992; Sawrey, 1990). Knowledge of the factors that influence academic success has important implications for learning and education. Academic success is strongly influenced by individual differences in personality and attitude. Literature Review Personality and Academic Achievement: Personality is the basic area of study for psychologists. Hall and Lindzey (1991) state that personality may be defined in terms of characteristics or abilities, that are highly representative of an individual and is an important part of the overall impression created on others. According to Pervin, and John (2005) Personality comprises of unique set of characteristics that define an individual feelings, way of thinking, and behavior. Personality is a person set of relatively stable characteristics that account patterns of behavior, in various situations each individual in some ways is different and in some ways is unique. There is much concern about the science achievement of the students in high schools recently. Accordingly a strong emphasis is currently placed on improving the quality of science education (Morrel Lederman, 1998). A widely used personality model, McCrae and Costas NEO Five Factor Model, or Big Five Model (1990), comprises of Extraversion, Neuroticism, Conscientiousness, Openness to Experience and Agreeableness. Recent studies show that Big Five traits measurement is powerful enough to explain a moderate percentage of the variance in academic achievement (Blickle, 1996; Rolfhus Ackerman, 1999). The relationship between Extraversion and academic achievement shows that Extravert students perform better in primary schools where as introverts perform well in secondary schools and university (Eysenck Cookson, 1969). Introverts are benefited in written exams, while extraverts have an advantage in oral exams (Chamorro- Premuzic Furnham, 2003a; Furnham Medhurst, 1995). Table 2.1: Characteristics of Big Five Personality Traits Big five traits Characteristics Sample Items Extraversion Impulsive, Ambitious, Social, Caring, optimistic, Confident I learn more through cooperating and discussing with my classmates. Agreeableness Friendly, helping, trusting, Kind, Cooperative Kindhearted, Supportive. I realize that helping my classmates in chemistry benefits me. Conscientiousness Hardworking, Motivated, well organized, dutiful, achievement-oriented I strive to achieve excellence in everything I do. Neuroticism Nervous, Sensitive, disturbed, confuse, distract I cannot understand the imaginary concept of Chemistry. Openness to Experience Open-minded, Inventive, Curious, Imaginative, Innovative I am always willing to accept the new experiences of Chemistry. Neuroticism is the condition of fear, nervousness in stressful conditions i.e., exams (Hembree, 1988; Siepp, 1991). Neuroticism leads to poor self-concept (Wells Matthews, 1994) and low self-estimated intelligence (Furnham, Chamorro-Premuzic, and Moutafi, under review). Chamorro-Premuzie and Furnham (2003) found that Neuroticism may impair academic achievement or has no significant associations with academic achievement (Puklek Levpu[scaron] [caron] ek Zupan[caron] i[caron] 2009a).Openness to experience is significant predictor of academic achievement(Bratko et al., 2006; Laidra et al., 2007). Openness to experience and agreeableness are positively related to academic achievement (Lounsbury et al., 2003; Farsides Woodfield, 2003). Researchers have shown significant associations between Conscientiousness and academic achievement in school (Noftle Robins, 2007) because careful, organized, hardworking, and achievement-oriented students may expect to succeed in academic settings. Attitude and Academic Achievement Osborne et al. (2003) state that attitudes are the feelings, beliefs, and values held about an object, in terms of chemistry may be enthusiasm about chemistry, perceptions of chemistry, and the contribution of chemistry to society or scientists. Thus attitude play a vital role in fostering long-lasting learning and to determine students academic achievement. Affective characteristics are considered as an important domain of attitude so in this study we select seven affective characteristics that are motivation, interest, confidence, enjoyment, importance, anxiety and achievement motivation. Table.2.2: Characteristics of Affective Domain of Attitude Scale Description Sample Item Enjoyment Fascinating, Exciting, Fun, Interesting, Attractive, Captivating Chemistry lessons are interesting and fun to study. Anxiety Worry, Nervous, Fear, Confuse, Uncomfortable Chemistry usually makes me feel uncomfortable, nervous and confused. Importance Useful, beneficial, Advantageous, Helpful, Aware Chemistry is useful if the topics are connected with our daily life. Interest Aware, Curious, Like, I am interested to know about the new researches in chemistry. Motivation Inspiration, Reinforcement, Stimulation, Encouragement When I fail in Chemistry course, it encourages me to try much harder to do well in Chemistry. Confidence Success, Sureness, Sef-reliance I am sure I can learn and can do advance work in Chemistry Achievement Motivation Extent to which students are motivated to achieve their goals. I get good grades in Chemistry than any other subject. An examination of literature on attitude and chemistry achievement reveals conflicting results (Shibley et al., 2003; Turner and Lindsay, 2003). While some claim a low correlation between attitude and achievement, others claim the two are strongly positively correlated. Wei-nburghs (1995) meta-analysis of the research suggests that there is only a moderate relation between attitude and achievement. Previous researches show the effect of affective characteristics of attitude on academic achievement. Skaalvik and Rankin (1995), Egitimidergisi, (2007) found that motivation is correlated with academic achievement. Academic achievement is most likely to occur when learning is self-directed and students are motivated (Ryan, Connell, Deci, 1985). Furthermore, researchers have found that motivation leads to engagement in academic tasks, which is related to achievement (DeCharms, 1984; Dweck, 1986). Interest is an individual predisposition and a psychological state of mind, which is important for cognitive engagement, learning, and achievement (Ainley, Hidi, Berndorff, 2002; Pintrich Schunk, 2002). Krapp approach interest in two different point of views, Personal and situational interest. Personal interest is topic-specific, persists over time (Schiefele 1991). However, situational interest is aroused as a function of the interestingness of the event or object and it is also changeab le and partially under the control of teachers (Schraw, Flowerday, Lehman 2001). Interest is related to students devotion, goals, and depth of learning (Hidi Renninger, 2006). Interests increase when students feel competent, so even if students are not initially interested in a subject or activity, they may develop interests as they experience success. (Stipek, 2002). Whitfield (1979) reported chemistry and physics as the least enjoyable subject. Analysis indicates that there is significant mean difference between Grade 9 and Grade 10 students attitudes toward chemistry as a school subject on enjoyment and importance dimensions (Can Boz, 2012). Achievement motivation is correlated with academic achievement (Camara, 1986). Individuals academic achievement depends not only on their motivation to achieve but also on whether they expect to achieve and whether they fear failure. Students work hard when they perceive a reasonable chance to succeed than when they perceive a goal to be o ut of reach (Atkinson, 1964). Demographics (Gender, School Sector, Parents Qualification, Choice of Course) and Academic Achievement: Previous studies demonstrate that achievement in science is gender dependent. Male and female students achievement in science is significantly correlated (Schibeci and Riley 1986, Weinburgh 1995). Previous research revealed that boys outperform girls in science in most countries (Pinchas 1988, Wang Staver 1995). Gender differences in science achievement test scores have not typically been large when compared. However, recent studies on gender differences in science achievement reported a change in pattern, thus reporting either no gender differences (Ventura 1992, Calsambis 1995) or girls outperforming boys in science (Young and Fraser 1990, Soyibo 1999). Fraser-Abder (1990) investigated the effects of gender, school-type (single-sex or coeducational schools, private denominational or government schools), parental occupation, and socioeconomic status on science achievement in Trinidad. Fraser-Abder found that girls scored significantly higher than boys on the science test. Zappala ( 2002) argue that the type of school a child attends influences academic achievement. Schools according to Sentamu (2003) are social institutions in which groups of individuals are brought together to share educational experiences and such interactions may breed positive or negative influences on learners. Parents education is positively related to students academic achievement. This is supported by Dills (2006) and Owens (1999). Considine and Zappala (2002) Kwesiga (2002) reveal that School sector (public or private) is linked to academic performance of students. Parents who scaffold learning experiences and provide support to their children when needed early in childrens lives may prepare their children for school entry and provide basis for them to benefit from educational activities (Pianta Egeland, 1994; Pianta et al., 1990; Pianta et al., 1997). Parents own behavior as well as joint family activities have been shown to influence childrens academic motivation and behavior ( Chen, Lee Stevenson, 1996; De Garmo, Forgatch Martinez, 1999; Grolnick Slowiaczek, 1994; Heiss, 1996). Authoritative parenting, has positive effects on how students approach the demands they face in school (Bradley et al., 2000; Gutman Eccles, 1999). Interest and attitude of learners towards the subject plays a decisive role for the success of the learner. Students choose course by their interest are believed to be highly motivated to learn than students placed in a department without their interest. High motivation is a factor which can lead students to a better achievement. Studies done by different authors disclosed that motivated students perform better academically than unmotivated ones (Bank and Finlapson, 1980; Broussard and Garrison, 2004; Sandra, 2002). Significance of the Study Attitude towards Chemistry and personality traits vary over time and effect academic achievement of students in different ways. Previous studies show that attitudes and personality towards Chemistry achievement are cultural dependent. Culture varies between and within countries. Therefore, it is reasonable to assume large number of variations in students achievement in chemistry reported from different parts of the world. Gender role varies in different cultures; it is therefore likely that chemistry achievement is gender dependent. Chemistry achievement is one of the major interests of educators. Although being not very frequent affective characteristics are studied together with personality and achievement in chemistry education. However studies based on Affective Characteristics and Achievement or on Personality and Achievement is found separately but combine study of all these three factors is not found in chemistry education. Prior research has established that both personality traits and attitude are associated with academic achievement. However, not much is known about the joint influence of personality traits and attitude on learners Chemistry academic achievement. In the current study, researcher sought to fill in this gap in the literature by directly examining the relationship between personality, attitude and academic achievement. Three major research questions were investigated: (1) what is the relationship between secondary school science students Big 5 personality traits and affective characteristics of attitude on their Chemistry academic achievement? (2) How demographic factors (age, gender, family type, school sector, choice of course and educational levels of parents) influence Chemistry academic achievement of secondary school science students. (3) Are the Affective Characteristics of Attitude depends on each other? Methods Development and Validation of Instrument To investigate the aim of this study, the first step was to develop a valid and reliable questionnaire for measuring students personality trait and attitudes toward chemistry achievement. Rather than translating an attitude and personality questionnaire among those available in literature, we constructed a new questionnaire, in order to be more relevant to the curriculum and conditions applied in the Pakistan schools. The questionnaire was prepared on the basis of Likert scale type. It was prepared by keeping in view different aspects of the problem. All participants completed a 37-statement investigator-developed questionnaire. The Questionnaire includes six demographic variables as well as two factors (Personality Attitude). Six demographic variables are included that elicits respondents background information. All participants were asked to rate each item using a five-point scale where a 5 represented strongly agree and a 1 represented strongly disagree. The ratings for all statement on each scale are summed, and a higher score indicates more obvious trait characteristics. All items were written in a structured alternative format design to reduce the tendency to give socially desirable responses (Harter, 1982). The pilot testing was done on a sample of 50 students. The reliability of the research instrument was 0.84 and level of difficulty of questionnaire was moderate. Procedures The authors obtained authorization from school administrators to conduct the study. Through individual meeting communications were provided to the school counselors (or classroom teachers) to explain the purpose of this study and the research instrument. Students were recruited through voluntary participation. There were 780 students who participate in this study. The investigators administered the Questionnaire to consenting students either during classes. Before administering the survey, the purpose of the study and the procedures to complete the Questionnaire were explained to the students. Students understanding of the survey was verified and questions about the survey were answered. Data Analyses Quantitative analysis was performed with the help of SPSS (Statistical Package for Social Sciences). Mean and one way ANOVA was applied on the data to investigate questionnaire in terms of personality traits and attitudes toward chemistry. Effect of Gender and Family Type on Students Chemistry Achievement Figure 1 illustrates a significant effect of Gender and Family Type on students Chemistry Achievement. Figure indicates that Male students have the mean value 3.66 and are high achievers in chemistry as compare to female students having mean value 3.60, while students belongs to Nuclear Family have the mean value 3.65 and are high achievers in chemistry as compare to students who belongs to Joint family system having mean value 3.62. Figure 1: Mean values of Class, Gender and Family Type on the basis of secondary school students Chemistry Achievement. Effect of School Sector on Students Chemistry Achievement Figure 2 shows a significant effect of School Sector on students Chemistry Achievement. Figure indicates that the Private school show highest mean value 4.14 of Chemistry Achievement while the Government School show lowest mean value 2.78 of Chemistry Achievement and Semi-Government School show moderate mean value 3.98 of Chemistry Achievement. Figure 2 shows Mean values of School Sector on the basis secondary school students Chemistry Achievement. Effect of Father Qualification on students Chemistry Achievement Figure 3 indicates that the students whose Father qualification is Masters show highest mean value 4.17 of Chemistry Achievement and the students whose fathers are Uneducated show lowest mean value 2.34 of Chemistry Achievement as compare to the students whose father qualifications is Matric, Intermediate, Graduation and Masters. Figure 3 illustrates a positive significant effect of Father Qualification on secondary school students Chemistry Achievement. Figure 3 shows Mean values Father Qualification based on secondary school students Chemistry Achievement. Effect of Mother Qualification on Students Chemistry Achievement Figure 4 indicates that the students whose mother qualification is Masters show highest mean value 4.21 of Chemistry Achievement and the students whose mothers are Uneducated show lowest mean value 2.37 of Chemistry Achievement as compare to the students whose mother qualifications are Matric, Intermediate, Graduation and Masters. Figure 4 illustrates a positive significant effect of Mother Qualification on secondary school students Chemistry Achievement. Figure 4 shows Mean values of Mother Qualification on the basis of Secondary School students Chemistry Achievement. Effect of Choice of Course on Students Chemistry Achievement Figure 5 illustrates a significant effect of Choice of Course on Students Chemistry Achievement. Figure indicates that the students who choose chemistry for Better Academic Accomplishment show highest mean value 3.93 of Chemistry Achievement and the students who choose chemistry Out of Interest show lowest mean value 3.36 of Chemistry Achievement. Figure 5 shows Mean values of Choice of Course based on secondary school students Chemistry Achievement. Sum of Squares (df ) Mean Square F-values (p-values) Post hoc (p-values) 51%-60%Vs. 61%-70% 51%-60%Vs. 71%-80% 91%-100%Vs. 50% below 50% 91%-100% Vs. 51%-60% 91%-100% Vs.61%-70% 91%-100% Vs. 71%-80% Extraversion Between group 2.445 (5) 0.489 1.136 (0.340) Within group 333.101 (774) 0.430 Agreeableness Between group 5.249 (5) 1.050 2.196 (0.053) Within group 369.982 (774) 0.478 Conscientiousness Between group 8.395 5 1.679 4.180 (0.001) -0.2453 (0.015) -0.2992 (0.001) Within group 310.866 (774) 0.402 Neuroticism Between group 4.343 (5) 0.869 1.485 (0.192) Within group 452.680 (774) 0.585 Openness to Experience Between group 10.273 (5) 2.055 3.661 (0.003) -0.55686 (0.009) -0.34645 (0.048) -0.31730 (0.042) -0.38241 (0.005) Within group 434.327 (774) 0.561 -0.15460 (0.017) Personality Between group 2.616 (5) 0.523 3.044 (0.010) Within group 133.024 (774) 0.172 Table 3: One way ANOVA and Tukey post hoc for multiple comparisons of Chemistry Achievement on secondary school students Personality trait Effect of Personality Traits on Students Chemistry Achievement Table 3 indicates that there is no significant effect of secondary school students Personality trait Extraversion, Agreeableness, Neuroticism on Chemistry Achievement. Table 3 also reveals that there is significant effect of secondary school students Personality trait Conscientiousness on Chemistry Achievement. From the Tukey Post Hoc Test of Multiple Comparisons reveals that the students who got marks 61%-70% and 71%-80% show more Conscientiousness that the students who got 51%-60% marks. Table 3 also specifies that there is significant effect of secondary school students Personality trait Openness to Experience on Chemistry Achievement.Tukey Post Hoc Test of Multiple Comparisons reveals that the students who got marks 50% below 50%, 51%-60%, 61%-70% and 71%-80% show more Openness to Experience than the students who got 91%-100% marks. Table 3 also illustrates that there is significant effect of secondary school students Personality on Chemistry Achievement.Tukey Post Hoc Test of Multiple Comparisons reveals that the students who got marks 71%-80% show more Personality than the students who got marks 51%-60%. Sum of Squares (df ) Mean Square F-values (p-values) Post hoc (p-values) 81%-90% Vs.51%-60% 81%-90%Vs. 61%-70% 91%-100%Vs. 50% below 50% 91%-100% Vs.61%-70% 91%-100% Vs. 71%-80% Interest Between group 3.199 (5) 0.640 0.857 (0.510) Within group 577.815 (774) 0.747 Motivation Between group 12.250 (5) 2.450 3.923 (0.002) -0.61783 (0.005) -0.33498 (0.042) -0.36734 (0.015) Within group 483.388 (774) 0.625 Enjoyment Between group 5.923 (5) 1.185 1.197 (0.309) Within group 766.010 (774) 0.990 Confidence Between group 4.141 (5) 0.828 1.790 (0.112) Within group 358.069 (774) 0.463 Importance Between group 2.379 (5) 0.476 0.832 (0.527) ) Within group 442.382 (774) 0.572 Anxiety Between group 5.907 (5) 1.181 1.419 (0.215) Within group 644.330 (774) 0.832 Achievement Motivation Between group 12.150 (5) 2.430 3.637 (0.003) 0.36081 (0.015) 0.28473 (0.033) Within group 517.194 (774) 0.668 Attitude Between group 1.168 (5) 0.234 0.671 (0.646) Within group 269.496 (774) 0.348 Table 4: One way ANOVA and Tukey post hoc for multiple comparisons of Chemistry Achievement on secondary school students Affective Characteristics of Attitude Effect of Attitude on Students Chemistry Achievement Table 4 also indicates that there is no significant effect of secondary school students Interest, Enjoyment, Confidence, Importance, and Anxiety of Chemistry lessons. Table 4 indicates that there is significant effect of secondary school students Motivation towards Chemistry on Chemistry Achievement. Tukey Post Hoc Test of Multiple Comparisons it is evident that the students who got marks 91-100% show more Motivation as compare to students who got 50% below 50%, 61%-70% and 71%-80% marks. Table 4 illustrates that there is significant effect of secondary school students Achievement Motivation towards Chemistry on Chemistry Achievement.Tukey Post Hoc Test of Multiple Comparisons revealed that there is significant effect of secondary school students Achievement Motivation on Chemistry Achievement. The students who got marks 81%-90% show more Achievement Motivation than the students who got 51%-60% and 61%-70% marks. Table indicates that there is no significant effect of secondary school students Attitude towards Chemistry on Chemistry Achievement. Inter-relationship between different sub-factors of affective attitude Variable r- value Sig. Enjoyment and Interest 0.765 0.000 Interest and Motivation 0.694 0.000 Interest and Confidence 0.623 0.000 Interest and Importance 0.574 0.574 Interest and Anxiety 0.031 0.389 Interest and Achievement Motivation 0.666 0.000 Motivation and Enjoyment 0.566 0.000 Motivation and Confidence 0.824 0.000 Motivation and Importance 0.476 0.000 Motivation and Anxiety 0.014 0.687 Motivation and Achievement Motivation 0.464 0.000 Confidence and Importance 0.500 0.000 Confidence and Anxiety 0.009 0.793 Confidence and Achievement Motivation 0.445 0.000 Importance and Anxiety 0.008 0.834 Importance and Achievement Motivation 0.407 0.000 Anxiety and Achievement Motivation 0.196 0.000 Table 1 shows that r-ratio (0.765) SO, there is strong positive relationship between secondary school students Interest in chemistry and students Enjoyment in learning chemistry lessons. r-ratio (0.694) indicates strong positive relationship between secondary school students Interest in chemistry and students Motivation in learning chemistry lessons. r-ratio (0.623) illustrate the strong positive relationship between secondary school students Interest in chemistry and students Confidence in learning chemistry lessons. r-ratio (0.574) is not significant at pà ¢Ã¢â‚¬ °Ã‚ ¤0.05 level of significance and there is no significant relationship between secondary school students Interest in chemistry and they do not know the Importance of chemistry lessons. r-ratio (0.031) is not significant at pà ¢Ã¢â‚¬ °Ã‚ ¤0.05 level of significance so,there is no significant relationship between secondary school students Interest in chemistry and their Anxiety about chemistry lessons. r-ratio (0.666) il lustrate the strong positive relationship between secondary school students Interest in chemistry and students Achievement Motivation about chemistry lessons. Table 1 also shows that r-ratio (0.566) shows the moderate positive relationship between secondary school students Motivation about chemistry and students Enjoyment of chemistry lessons. r-ratio (0.824) represents strong positive relationship between secondary school students Motivation about chemistry and students and Confidence about chemistry lessons. r-ratio (0.476) shows the intermediate positive relationship between secondary school students Motivation about chemistry and Importance of chemistry lessons. r-ratio (0.014) is not significant at pà ¢Ã¢â‚¬ °Ã‚ ¤0.05 level of significance So, it is evident that there is no significant relationship between secon

What Buddhism and Christianity Teach about the Significance, Purpose, and Value of Human Life :: essays research papers

What do Buddhism and Christianity Teach About the Significance, Purpose And Value of Human Life? BUDDHISM " The concern of Buddhism is with man rather than with the material universe. The phenomenal world is held to be without substance and to be in a constant condition of flux. Man himself is no less impermanent than the material world."* Â ¾ Human life is subject to Anicca, the law of impermanence. This means that nothing ever stays the same To be born human is a rare opportunity. Buddhists take this notion so seriously that a story was written for the sole purpose of illustrating it. It is called ‘The Turtle and The Yoke'. A turtle is described, swimming around in the ocean, popping up for air every thousand years or so. It is claimed that the chance of being incarnated human are the same as that of the turtle putting his head through the yoke (which also floats around the ocean) on one of his trips to the top. It follows, therefore, that to waste it is to waste numberless lives spent trying to gain this precious rebirth and also the chance of enlightenment. The law of Karma says: All actions will entail consequences in the next life, so a Buddhist's freedom could be said to be somewhat compromised. This law means that, to be reincarnated human, you must live a near-perfect life. Any wrong doing on our part is foolish, because the condition experienced in present existence is regarded as having been caused by past deeds. It is beneficial, therefore, to use the golden opportunity wisely, as you are unlikely ever to get another `crack at the apple'. Buddhism and therefore human life is ‘a quest to free us and the world from suffering and to promote happiness.' CHRISTIANITY "Human life is the basis of all values; it is the source and indispensable condition for every human activity and all society" Each human is made in the image of God, with power to reason and choose. Therefore every human life should be cherished and preserved and all lives, rich or poor, strong or weak, young or old. ‘Society itself can be judged by its attitude towards its weaker members.' God `owns' our lives and bodies, or rather he gave them to us as a gift and we must not give it up or abuse it. "Do you know that your body is a temple of the holy spirit, which you have from God? You are not on your own, you were bought with a price. So glorify God in your body. Pope Jean Paul II summed up this idea in a statement he issued in 1980.

Economic Globalization: an Unstoppable Force Essay

Economic globalization has been occurring since the Hellenistic Age (323 BC) but it is since the industrial revolution, particularly from the mid 1800s, that trade between countries has had a notable increase. Today, however, there appears to be a parabolic rise due to the advent of information technology which enables the transmission of shared knowledge, foreign ownership, and business transactions to be performed with exponential speed between businesses, citizens, denizens, and governments. Not only is mass globalization inevitable but it is already occurring with the increased use of new computer and telecommunications tools, and the sharing of knowledge between organized groups and regular citizens who now have instant ‘access’ to each other worldwide. There are several indicators as to why information technology and society’s thirst for information will increase economic globalization. 1. It is because of information technology and how society uses them that businesses themselves are beginning to find success by moving away from a proprietary culture to an open-source or mass collaboration system. This is a major shift from the closed-door policies and hierarchical systems that ensured their livelihood in the pre: social media era where information was kept secret. Business models that open them to new ideas shared by an online knowledge base can often offer them access to a larger share in the global market. Society has been changing the way business is done by demanding transparency and inclusion in the process and by providing greater payoffs for the business as a result. An example is the company Goldcorp (TSE:G). Don Tapscott (author of Macro Wikinomics) writes that Goldcorp, an obscure small-cap company in trouble with debt and unable to spend developing a new mining site, did the unimaginable in the mining industry. It disclosed its new digging location on its website and then invited ideas as to where would be the ideal place to dig within the large property. †The ‘Goldcorp Challenge’ made $575,000 in prize money available. There were entries from graduate students, management consultants, mathematicians, military officers, and a virtual army of geologists. More than 1,000 virtual prospectors from 50 countries got busy†. source: 1 â€Å"More than 80 percent of ideas yielded substantial quantities of gold. This catapulted [an] underperforming $100 million company into a $9 billion juggernaut†. source: 1 Not only did online mass collaboration help them reduce expensive exploration costs but it would have given the small-cap company visibility to a worldwide global investor base. 2. Developing countries are now major world players on the stage of economic globalization, and it is possible they may succeed developed countries in future in terms of world trade. In order for developed nations to be competitive they will need to understand, utilize, and know how to collaborate using the knowledge available to them through information technology and society. CNBC journalist Albert Bozzo has written an article on developing countries and their impact. â€Å"Emerging markets now account for about 40% of world trade, almost double what they did in 1995, according to the IMF, and more and more are entering the world stage. † Source: 2 3. The stats speak for themselves. International trade figures provide a look at the growth of economic globalization from a time when information technology first took hold (about 1980) up until 2007. According to the International Monetary Fund (IMF) economic globalization has grown substantially. â€Å"Between 1980 and 2007, the ratio of goods and services trade to global GDP has risen from about 42 to 62 percent† Source: 3 Foreign ownership by individual and institutional investors clearly shows the impact that an information society has had on individuals who seek knowledge outside their country. It is a clear indicator that economic globalization is on the rise. â€Å"Foreign direct investment has risen from some six to 32 percent [between 1980 – 2007]†. Source: 3 An argument against globalization is the global financial meltdown that began with the Lehman Brothers bankruptcy in 2008 that became a contagion to all financial institutions and countries that had dealings with these institutions. It has rippled down to protests throughout Europe. And this leads me to the 2nd question of whether social capital will increase or decrease given our society of sharing information. ‘SOCIAL CAPITAL’ WILL ONLY INCREASE If mass economic globalization is likely to continue then ‘social capital’ will certainly rise in our ‘information society’ as a result of the surge in numbers of large groups of people who can effectively use the internet to ‘gather’ together to protest, strategically rally, and disseminate information to the world. An advantage to IT is the speed within which ‘the message’ can be carried. These large group of gatherers can affect and may very well define a corporation’s or government’s future ethical policies because their voices makes corporations transparent whether they want to be or not. This is especially true in South America, the Middle East, north Africa, and North America where there is a high proportion of young unemployed people. In North America the echo boomers (1982-1995) are even larger (representing 33 percent of the population) than the baby boomers. Source 4 Collectively they will become the digital generation where their voices will be heard on mass, on-line, and immediately. According to Don Tapscott employment has been a key issue for youth. â€Å"In the UK young people aged 16 to 24 account for about 40% of all unemployed. In Spain more than 40% of young people are unemployed. We said that if they worked hard, stayed out of trouble, and attended school, they would have a prosperous and fulfilling life. And then we rub salt in the wound by saying we’re in a â€Å"jobless recovery†.† Source 5 A high proportion of unemployed youth are well educated and when you consider that they can be heard simultaneously via portable devices and computers using cloud platforms like facebook, youtube, twitter, and blogs you get a glimpse as to the impact they will have on how business may be conducted in the future and how employment for their generation will likely change. In Egypt and Tunisia the lack of employment for young people was a key issue as was the corruption of their governments, and it was transmitted by them using information technology. This is only the beginning of change to the world’s social capital as globalization increases.

Effective Time Management Essay

Through the use of modern technology, businesses have an easier way of collaboration. However, with this easier method of collaboration, this means the potential of being a busier business professional. Within a business management system, there is the constant need of needing to have effective time management within the organization. A key priority to effective time management is to identify and correct time wasters. One type of time wasters is an external environment. External time wasters are interactions that occur between two business professionals. The interactions can be between anyone outside and inside the organization, regardless of who it is within the organization (co-workers, managers, business partners, etc. ). A very common means of communication is the telephone. While telephones can be necessary for communicating, they can lead to distraction of issues that are not part of the core task or completely unnecessary (Cooper, 2000. )A key function of time management, regardless of the communication method is to make sure it affectively addresses the task of getting things done. In the case of inbound phone calls, it is imperative to thing and prioritizes as one speaks. When dealing with complex and time-consuming answers, the receiver of the inbound call should tell the caller about how the answer is complex. It is then important to determine from the caller when the receiver should call he or she back to discuss more of the complex answer. In addition it is imperative to paraphrase and summarize the key points while being on the phone. This serves two functions. One of them is that it keeps someone who either chats or strays away from important points of business communications. The second is that it focuses on establishing the key agenda for a business meeting. Another example of a common external environment distraction is email. For the busy business professional, there can be a time of literally going through hundreds of emails a day. When developing a simple and effective email reference system, it is necessary to understand the difference between reference information and action information. Reference information refers to receiving emails that are not required to complete an action. The purpose of reference information is the storing of emails that can be used later (Sapadin, 2006. ) The stored emails can either be an email folder or somewhere easily accessible (such as a documents folder, intranet site, etc. ) Action information is emails that are necessary for completing a task or project. These types of information are stored in a to-do list or a scheduled calendar. In order to effectively communicate via email, it is fundamental to have an easy method of transferring messages from the email inbox into an email reference system. Once there is a successful way of filing referenced information, emails that has an action item can be concentrated on. In addition to having an effective organizational system for email, it is necessary to schedule an uninterrupted time for processing and organizing email. When processing email, it is valuable to use the â€Å"Four Ds for Decision-Making† model. This tool is valuable for processing email and deciding if it is actionable, reference material, or not necessary. (Allen, 2001. )The 4D’s of the decision making model are deleting, doing, delegating, or defer it. With deleting, it can create the fear of deleting an email for important items. However, it is absolutely necessary to determine if the information is honestly usable for the email receiver. In order to determine if it is usable, the first step is to see if the objective is meaningful. The next step is to determine if the information is not available elsewhere. Then, it is to be determined if the information is to be used within the next six months. Finally, the last step is to determine if there is required information to keep. If the answers to all of these steps are â€Å"no,† the best action is to delete it. With the doing part of the 4D model, it is to be determined if an action can take less than two minutes. If it can, then the email receiver should simply complete the task. Delegating can yield to great help within the decision making model. If the task can take longer than two minutes and someone would be available to complete the task, it would be best to hand the message to the recipient. Let’s suppose that the email can’t involve doing, deleting or delegating it. Then, the next step would be to defer the task. Once deferring a message, it can be turned into either an actionable task or an appointment (which can be handled within an email suite such as Microsoft Outlook. ) Time wasters can also be within an internal environment. These characteristics can include procrastination, poor scheduling, and lack of self-discipline. It can also include failure to plan, set priorities, or delegate. The first step towards the right direction of internal time wasters is to set a goal. That way a destination is set in order to make the best use of time. When setting goals, they should be put in writing and reviewed frequently. From these goals, a daily â€Å"to-do† list should be used within the workplace. By referencing Italian economist Vilfredo Pareto’s 80/20 rule , 80 percent of what happens in the workplace is the result of 20 percent effort. This would mean by incorporating goals, someone can be 80 percent effective, by simply accomplishing completion for 20 percent of goals. In order to be effective, it is necessary to concentrate on the most important items first. When scheduling, a block of time should be reserved without interruption (Sandberg, 2004. ) With the power of habit, it makes accomplishing a to-do list more doable. When facing big projects, it is easier to break them into more manageable sizes. A common overlooked goal setting is to forget scheduling long-term goals. Those are also important as they relate to the health and relationship of individuals. In conclusion, sometimes saying â€Å"no† is needed when someone is overwhelmed to more jobs than he or she is committed to. References Allen, D. (2001). Getting things done: the art of stress-free productivity. New York: Viking. Cooper, C. L. , & Rousseau, D. M. (2000). Time in Organizational Behaviour. Chichester: Wiley. Sandberg, Jared â€Å"Though Time-Consuming, To-Do Lists Are a Way of Life†. 2004, September 10) The Wall Street Journal. Sapadin, L. (2006, August 30). Time management. Washingtonpost. com. Retrieved from http://go. galegroup. com. db24. linccweb. org/ps/i. do? id=GALE%7CA150674268 &v=2. 1&u=lincclin_spjc&it=r&p=AONE&sw=w

Global Electric Guitar Market Essays

Global Electric Guitar Market Essays Global Electric Guitar Market Paper Global Electric Guitar Market Paper The electric guitar is not a commodity or a regular good, is an instrument that becomes an extension of the player and helps him to convey emotions, gives him the sense of belonging to a certain group and helps to show his or her own Individuality; customers as well as the brand value, in this respect is similar to a luxury product, with the addition that there is a huge loyalty towards brands. Two companies clearly dominate the market: Fender and Gibson. They were also the pioneers of electric tartars and boast a wide range of products for diverse target markets: their entry- level products range from 1000 and their high standard production models are offered for about 10000, from that price and higher they seek to appeal to the collectors market, going to as high as 800000 for a guitar from a particular year, in this aspect they not Just sell the guitar as an instrument but as an investment. Is it not unusual for guitar players to identify themselves as a Fender guy or a Gibson guy to the extent of attributing personality values to the stated phrases, even if the onto actually possess an instrument from one of this two brands. The Global Electric Guitar Market is highly differentiated, with companies offering a wide palette of colors, materials, sound and features, as well as heroes to promote a particular model. Introduction to Porters Five Forces Framework The Bargaining Power of Suppliers : Before assessing the impact of suppliers to the manufacture of electric guitars, it is important to know the structure of the guitars, and the materials that have been used. As can be observed in the image, 3 main parts compose the electric guitars: The headstock, the neck and the body, and all are made in wood. There are other small pieces in metal, plastic and the strings. Electric guitar parts Therefore, wood is the main raw material for the manufacture of electric guitars. The wood has a great influence on the sounds the guitar can create so its quality is important. The primary requirements are that the wood must be consistent, flawless, knots or cracks; normally Mahogany, Maple, Basswood, Agates, Alder, Ash, Poplar, Spruce and Walnut are used. Although the quality of the wood is very important for making guitars, wood suppliers eave no bargaining power as firms can easily switch supplier since it is a very common material. Moreover, the production process of electric guitars of some traditional companies such as Gibson or Fender is done manually, and the machinery used does not have any significant level of sophistication. The Bargaining Power of Playing a musical instrument more specifically an electric guitar is not an essential need, in fact could be classified in the last level of Masons hierarchy of needs Self- Actualization which include realizing personal potential and creativity. Consequently, people play the guitar to enjoy, because they like it and nobody forces them. Keeping this in mind, buying the musical instrument is a whole experience to explore, because of the type of good and price, a regular Gibson or Fender electric guitar cost about 1000?, the customers tend to do a very meticulous purchasing process. Electric guitar purchasing process In fact, buying a electric guitar is not spontaneous, there are some crucial factors to the consumers as, the recognition of the brand, the specific characteristics of the product, the quality, the kind of music that is going to be played and among other incinerations. On the other hand, the guitar industry is a unapologetically competitive market (Guitar Center), which means, there is a significant number of companies operating in the market without a dominant control by any of these particular, the key issue in this type of market is product differentiation, not homogeneous goods are presented, ii, the guitars depending on the producer, have variations that allow it to be different. However, the producers must be very active and keep the advantages of the company, because the consumers can easily change the brand if does not fit totally with their expectations. In the same way and according to Porter If the product or service can be easily substituted, and if there is no risk involved, the bargaining power of the buyer is increased which means that the bargaining power of clients in the electric guitar market is high. For instance Fender and Gibson have long been the dominant electric guitar makers, but in the asss the Japanese guitar firm Beanie saw an opportunity and realized that they could make higher-quality products than the American firms, but at very competitive prices. Beanie focused on product innovation, while the American firms seemed to rest on their laurels. Beanie has been a big success, and it is one of the top guitar firms today (Edwards). V. The Threat of New Entrants Another of Porters five forces is the threat of new entrants. This refers to the threats and barriers new competitors of the same product or service undergo to try and succeed in the market amongst already established competitors. In the global electric guitar industry, seeing how it is a very unapologetically competitive market, the entry of barriers is quite moderate. In a monopolistic competition many producers sell products that are differentiated from one another, there are many producers and any consumers in the market, and no business has total control over the market price (Wisped). Globally, there are hundreds of electric guitar manufacturers and According to Guitar Center, There are few barriers to entry in the electric guitar industry, resulting in the ability for small guitar makers to build high quality instruments for reasonable prices. Small customized guitar makers make the inflated prices and poor machine made quality of the large vendors like Gibson and Fender look like robbery However, what the average and ignorant consumer does not know is that small businesses naturally eave an advantage in customization and unique application of products because of its ease of management and close ties with customers. Those startup businesses, which develop new quality products and services in existing markets, are able to enter novel products and markets to broaden their customer base. Many studies support the concept that consistently improved innovation or quality in production can satisfy and help create more customer demand. Although is hard to make a profit when your competitors are already making great revenue, if new entrants to the market focus on having a competitive advantage over he bigger rivals with high quality, personalized yet not too price electric guitars that could possibly be easy to ship to multiple places around the world, the new entrant could have a chance. However, as easy as that sounds, lets not forget the loyalty of already existing manufacturers. Another barrier to entry is the cost to manufacture an electric guitar. If one is based in the United States, the basic cost of building using pre-fabricated parts could cost over $700 (Seymour Duncan). Having the guitars being manufactured abroad might cost you less, if you take a look at Korea or Mexico for example, Mexican-made fenders come with a higher quality and the prices are quite low, yet it is still somewhat expensive, and hard to enter the global market as well. You have to consider the body of the guitar, the neck, the tuners, electronics, such as pots, switch, wires, the pickups, the bridge, neck plate, strap pins, etc. And lets not forget, the labor. And if this wasnt enough, throughout the years, electric guitars have decreased in price tremendously. What is happening with electric guitar industry is somewhat complex, but the main factor seems to be that the guitar manufacturers have simply over-produced. They have put far more electric guitars into the marketplace than the present demand for the guitars will bear. However, as a result of the overbuilding, the street prices of electric guitars have fallen dramatically. For the consumer this is a very positive thing in general. For small music stores it is a disaster. Small music stores survived by selling an electric guitar or two at a 30% margin. The extra profit paid their bills. That margin has dropped for them. The guitars stay longer on their shelves. Plus, there is a true critical mass of investment in the guitars before the dealer can create a local market for the attar (Gilligan). One of the main reasons of why the market for electric guitars have dropped is because the trend of now a days is a much different one. Electric guitars used to be real big back in the baby boomers era and it is time that the baby boomers outgrow the electric guitars. The new hip music of today, although electric, contains no electric guitars. Electronic Dance Music is to be known as the music of today globally. News and financial information, Forbes, writes that EDM/Pop is the music of the world now and that type of music has little to no electric guitar in it. So all you kids trying to make the decision whether its better to learn how to make beats or Join a garage band, choose wisely. The music of today might not be the music of tomorrow. Think hard before you give up on that plank of wood with metal wires. The electric guitar may be dead in music today as evidenced by guitarists everywhere scrambling to find new lines of work, but it may Just as likely rise from the musical ashes of tomorrow. Trends are like that If entering the global electronic guitar market was not hard enough, Porter mentions another force that it is essential to take in mind before starting your own company, and that is the threat of substitutes. The Threat of Substitutes The threat of substitutes, according to Porter, is the availability of a product that the consumer can purchase instead of the industry product. This could be seen as another barrier to entry. Like mentioned above, there are hundreds of competitors in the electric guitar market and if your company does not have a solid and strong competitive advantage, itd be really easy for a consumer to Just purchase another brand. However, its not only about consumers buying another brand of electric attar, its also about consumers choosing to buy a complete different guitar, such as an acoustic guitar. An Acoustic guitar offers similar benefits to the consumer as the product produced by the firms within the industry and according to Porters 5 forces, threat of substitutes shapes the competitive structure of an industry. (SCOFF). In the Musical Merchandise Review Current Issue, MI Stats: Guitar Market Breakdown, they give a brief explanation of why is it that Acoustic guitars have been outdoing electric guitars. Electric guitars make up less than half of all guitar sales at 47 percent with acoustic dominating the market by a small margin r the last few years, in our annual 50 Dealer/50 State report that is featured in the December issue, retailers have consistently told us that electric sales have been flat, but acoustics have been growing. In this months At a Glance, Tommy Collette of The Music Zoo seems to back that up. He says that while hes always been known primarily as an electric guitar shop, his increasing embrace of acoustics in the last year has proven to be a winning strategy (Mitchell). Only time when its said for electric guitars to outsell acoustic tartars is when consumers already have in mind paying a high price. High price tends to be associated with high quality and if they are already thinking of purchasing an expensive guitar, they tend to prefer an electric guitar more than an acoustic one. Another high threat of substitution, when trying to localize in different countries is that many countries, especially in Asia, rather spend a few more and purchase an already known brand than purchase a local one. Local brands cant compete with a Martin, Taylor, Fender, or Gibson [Asians] are keen to show that they can afford products of that status (Multidimensional). According to Porter, there is a high risk in threat if Consumer switching costs are high, if the substitute product is more expensive than industry product, if substitute product quality is inferior to industry product quality, if substitute performance is inferior to industry product performance and if there is no substitute product available. The last of the forces that Porter describes is the Extend of Competitive Rivalry. The Extent This is how the different factors impact the competition. The electric guitar market is a monopolistic competitive market because all producers differentiate their products. This means that on this point, the competitive rivalry is not so big as long as the producers keep their differentiation. But on the other hand, there is a big threat for substitutes, partially because of acoustic guitars which will be cheaper than electric guitars, and also guitars mainly coming from Asia, which are cheaper, but the population there would rather buy a brand as a way to show they can afford it. Moreover, the buyers have a high bargain since it is not a need to buy a guitar, and this kind of buying needs to be thought about because the electric guitars are quite expensive. Finally, suppliers dont have so many bargains since it is easy for the producers to choose another supplier (of wood principally). In overall, we can say that the competitive rivalry is quite high because there are a lot of producers, even if they can differentiate their products, and the consumers dont need this product. Moreover, there is not so much rivalry with acoustic guitars which are thought for different customers. And those three factors are more important than the fact that suppliers dont have much bargain. Conclusion From a threat, substitutes and rivalry point of view the guitar market is very interesting, because competition is not seen as a substitute, rather they are seen as a complementary good. Most guitarists aspire to own Fenders, Gibson, Beanie, and other brands whether they are Gibson guys, Fender guys or not. Is not surprising that many superstars own 400 or more guitars average, collecting instruments from several brands and periods. This means that as far as companies maintain their differentiation and be good with it, they will retain their customer base. Both companies have their golden years in which they were particularly revolutionary in heir designs (mostly in the late asss), some of the previously noted collector models are from these years, and both companies have incorporated Reissues Series in order to create standardized replicas of the models of those years, this constitute more expensive products but not prohibitive, for example a brand new Gibson Less Paul 59 Reissue sells for about 5200. We can separate the market into three segments: entry level, professional level, and luxury level. Customers from entry level are people who are starting to play, and considering whether to buy an instrument or not, probably considering the prices a little high and thus struggling with it, when we talked about migration in the threads section we were referring mostly to this segment, this segment could decide to pick up another instrument following the current trend or simply not be that interested in buying a guitar. Customers from the professional level and luxury level already play the guitar for years, have some preferences already and are not likely to quit playing or selecting a this point).

The Woman in black The Fortune theatre Essay Example

The Woman in black The Fortune theatre Essay Example The Woman in black The Fortune theatre Paper The Woman in black The Fortune theatre Paper Essay Topic: Black Boy Woman On the Edge Of Time This is a ghost play by Stephen Mallatratt. The play sees the elderly Arthur Kipps, played by Pip Donaghy, attempt to exorcise the ghosts of his past by having a young actor, Colin Hurley, portray his experiences on the stage of a currently empty theatre. The set and lighting that was used during the play was very basic, this was done purposely because the lay is set in an empty theatre, which is still tidying up after a past production. The main items used during the play were visible from the outset. There was a large wicker basket, a stool, two wooden chairs and a clothes wrack. Seeing as these items had to be used to portray most items and settings, the lighting would have to be used cleverly, and it was. It enhanced the simple set and added to the illusion of place and created an atmosphere. The lighting and sound in the following places was; London office- A low and dull light with sound =s of horse and carriages trotting past outside. A ticking clock was cleverly used to create an office feeling. Tomes had his room down stage right in this scene. Kipps Young Kipps Tomes room Train-Different chairs were used to give us an idea of the three trains comfort. A big comfortable chair and warm lighting was used in London to show optimism, where the wicker basket and cold lighting were used on the final train to create an ominous feeling, this train was ancient and comfortless. A clever piece of lighting was also used in this scene. It was a revolving gobo to create the look of the train going through a tunnel. Tannoy announcements between trains to create atmosphere. Hotel- Busy bar sound effect, which went quiet with the mentioning of Alice Drablows name. Church- A laundry basket was the alter and it was positioned upstage centre. Footsteps of coffin bearers are heard as well as a vicars voice as he gives the funeral sermon. A gobo of a cross is projected upstage centre where it is thrown onto gauze. In the Churchyard a leaf gobo is projected onto the floor to represent the outdoors, sounds of crows are heard which is unpleasant and gives an anonymous feeling, vicars voice is still heard as coffin goes into ground, vicars last words, ashes to ashes, dust to dust. Outside eel marsh house- A gobo of the house has been projected onto the first gauze. The gobo represents an unwelcoming, doted mansion (this gobo is shown every time a scene is set outside eel marsh house) he is quoted as saying A tall gaunt house. Inside eel marsh house- A musty yellow lighting, the sound effects are the door slamming every time Kipps enters, whilst Kipps is looking through the house a grandfather clock is heard ticking, this creates suspension. One of the best scenes for visual acting was scene 7. this was the horse and trap scene. It was good because even though all the actors had to work with was an old wicker basket, they managed to create the image of two people riding in a carriage. They did this by bobbing up and down and swaying from side to side. They also shouted things like giddy up and made a whipping action towards the horse. Everything they did was supported by sound effects. The lighting in all scenes was good as it created the places and made us feel as if we were actually there. These were; the gobo of Eel Marsh House, a tall dark and eerie building that created a feeling of discomfort. And a cross (crucifix) to represent the inside of the church, along with a leaf to represent the outside. The set behind the two gauzes was brilliantly concealed and surprised us when it came into the play. One section behind the play was used to represent two settings. The cemetery and the childs bedroom. Covering the bedroom furniture with old dustsheets that you would have found in a theatre during a production, created the cemetery. The period that child died was late 19th century and the furniture represented this. It was mahogany and very expensive. There was padding on the rocking chair, which was red to symbolise blood. The toys and clothes are neatly stored and folded for the little boy, this shows that even though he was dead, Jennet and Alice still cared for it and one of the dolls was a golliwog, which also shows period as they would probably be banned if brought put now. The Music box played Swanlake. There was an even bigger shock in act two when we saw it in disarray after Jennet had vented her anger at not being able to kill Spider, Kipps canine companion in the marshes. This again told us of Jennets deranged State of mind. Second gauze reveals arched stairway, which he walks up revealing his silhouette. This was also effective as, again, it was a surprise to see it appear. These were made to appear by the use of the lighting from above shining through the gauze. The use of the second gauze impressed me even more than the first one as when used you could not see the nursery in front of it. Both actors did brilliantly throughout the performance, here is a brief itinerary and description of the parts they played; Acting as old Kipps Pip Donaghy- He walks on very shyly with nose in script, not very confident in his own acting ability (and rightly so! ). He speaks quietly with no emotion (monotonously). We realize how boring and rubbish old Kipps is at acting when he comes back on, this time with a pair of glasses, and speaks with real confidence and moves with prowess. Old Kipps looks the actor in the eye, it must be told he says, to show his age the actor leads him upstairs hand in hand. He snorts instead of sniffs, and walks a bit kift, this is because Tomes is a comic character. Arthur old Kipps now becomes the actor young Kipps boss. Hes now well spoken and clips the end of his words, he now becomes joyous, and laughs as this character, making him seem friendly and approachable. He sits casually and blows his nose, a feat not accomplished with any other characters, he also taps his foot, another sign of happiness. In the first part of the play and he is still reading from the script, however. as mentioned earlier he now wheres glasses, and with this he learns his lines and can act. He now speaks in a well-spoken Yorkshire accent. Holding his head high (confidence) he makes eye contact with young Kipps because he is friendly and bobs up and down. As the barman he is not well spoken, and when young Kipps mentions Alice Drablow he acts shocked and moves away and acting shocked again, starts to stutter and talk slowly. Back as old Kipps and he is now going through various emotions as he watches the play progress from the wings of the stage, for instance when the actor says that he doesnt believe in ghosts he holds his head in despair of his own naivety. He acted Jerome by dropping slightly at his knees to show that he is older than Daily but not quite as old as Tomes. The woman in black killed Jeromes child and when the actor asks who the woman with the wasted face is, Jerome wont look. The actor then asks Jerome if he could find him someone to help with the paperwork at Alice Drablows house, Jerome says you will find no-one suitable shudders and walks away. As Keckwick he is non-communicative, he never looks at the actor and grunts occasionally but when the actor (young Kipps) mentions that he is going to the Drablow house he goes uhhh! In a surprised manor, he also holds the reigns differently to when he played Daily. When the actor is explaining of the death of his wife and kids he hugs himself and looks very upset. DOG They acted the dog by ;- 1- looking down at the same time to show the dog. 2- He (the actor) looked down and shouted here Spider and 3- He tilts his head away from the dogs wet tongue. Acting as The Actor Colin Hurley When we first hear Colin Hurley he has a big loud voice, which he amplifies brilliantly from the back of the theatre, when playing the part of the actor, he is also very confident in doing this. When narrating about his family telling ghost stories he spoke as an excited young child, the line he spoke was, were telling ghost stories. When he went back to being Kipps he spoke quietly and with fear, because he was remembering the woman in black, he also sounded angry and resentful of the fact that people were treating ghost stories as light entertainment, he spoke with real bitterness. When he walks onto the train he walks sideways and dodges air to make it look as if it is a crowded railway station with lots of people. On seeing the woman in black at the graveyard he acts cautiously and scared. When he walks from eel marsh house he panics and collapses in horror of the woman in black and when he realizes that the horse and trap sounds are ghosts he looks terrified with his eyes wide open, eyebrows drawn and tensed muscles. On rescuing Spider he lay flat on the floor down stage right and lent over the edge as if the pit was the marsh. He tenses his arms to show that he is struggling to tug Spider out of the deep pull of the marsh, he eventually pulls spider up and collapses on the stage. When hearing music from the jewellery box, he pauses and focuses on the door to create tension. Acting to show his toddler son Joseph, he puts hand down towards the floor and leans slightly to show hes holding Josephs hand, he took small slow childlike steps. He mimed lifting Joseph by bending down low, putting his hands child width apart and smiled as he put his happy child onto the pony and trap. Later in the same scene he describes his childs death as, crumpled on the grass dead! He pauses to show us how difficult he finds it to speak of this tragic event. He then quietly sniffs as though trying not to cry. I really enjoyed watching The Woman in Black and would recommend it to anyone. The quality of acting was superb and with limited resources in the way of props, they portrayed the obstacles brilliantly, especially the horse and trap (see earlier). The Director Robin Herford, who has directed this play for fourteen years and travelled to Tokyo to direct the Japanese adaptation, wanted the audience to experience the fear of this ghost story through their imaginations and not through the use of special effects, which can be seen far too easily on T. V today.

Life of Konstantin Tsiolkovsky, Rocket Science Pioneer

Life of Konstantin Tsiolkovsky, Rocket Science Pioneer Konstantin E. Tsiolkovsky (September 17, 1857 –  September 19, 1935) was a scientist, mathematician, and theoretician whose work became the basis for the development of rocket science in the Soviet Union. During his lifetime, he speculated about the possibility of sending people into space. Inspired by science fiction writer Jules Verne and his stories of space travel,  Tsiolkovsky became known as the father of rocket science and dynamics whose work directly led to his countrys involvement in the space race. Early Years Konstantin Eduardovich Tsiolkovsky was born on September 17, 1857 in Ishevskoye, Russia. His parents were Polish; they raised  17 children in the harsh environment of Siberia. They recognized the young Konstantins great interest in science, even as he suffered an attack of scarlet fever at the age of 10. This illness took away his hearing, and his formal schooling came to an end for a while, although he continued to learn by reading at home. Eventually, Tsiolkovsky was able to gain enough education to start college in Moscow. He finished his education and qualified to become a teacher, working in a school in a town called Borovsk. That is where he married Varvara Sokolova. Together, they raised two children, Ignaty and Lyubov. He spent much of his life living in Kaluga, a small village near Moscow. Developing the Principles of Rocketry Tsiokovsky began his development of rocketry by considering philosophical principles of flight. Over the course of his career, he ultimately wrote more than 400 papers on that and related subjects. His first works began in the late 1800s when he wrote a paper called Theory of Gases. In it, he examined the kinetics of gases, and then went on to study the theories of flight, aerodynamics, and the technical requirements for airships and other vehicles. Tsiokovsky continued exploring a variety of flight issues, and in 1903, he published The Exploration of Cosmic Space by Means of Reaction Devices. His calculations for achieving orbit, along with designs for rocket craft set the stage for later developments. He focused on specifics of rocket flight, and his rocket equation related the change in velocity for a rocket to the effective exhaust velocity (that is, how fast the rocket goes per unit of fuel it consumes). This came to be known as the specific impulse. It also takes into account the mass of the rocket at the beginning of launch and its mass when the launch is finished. He went on to work on solving problems in rocket flight, focusing on the role of rocket fuel in lofting a vehicle to space. He published the second part to his earlier work, where he discussed the effort a rocket must expend to overcome the force of gravity. Tsiolkovsky stopped working on astronautics prior to World War I and spent the post-war years teaching mathematics. He was honored for his earlier work on astronautics by the newly formed Soviet government, which supplied backing for his continued research. Konstantin Tsiolkovsky died in 1935 and all his papers became the property of the Soviet state. For a while, they remained a closely guarded state secret. Nonetheless, his work influenced a generation of rocket scientists around the world. Tsiolkovskys Legacy In addition to his theoretical work, Konstantin Tsiolkovsky developed aerodynamics test systems and studied the mechanics of flight. His papers covered aspects of dirigible design and flight, as well as the development of powered airplanes with light fuselages. Thanks to his deep research into principles of rocket flight, he has long been considered the father of rocket science and dynamics. Ideas based on his work informed later achievements by such well-known Soviet rocket experts as Sergei Korolev  - an aircraft designer who became the chief rocket engineer for the Soviet Unions space efforts. The rocket engineer designer Valentin Glushko was also a follower of his work, and later in the early 20th century,  German rocket expert Hermann Oberth was influenced by his research. Tsiolkovsky is also often cited as the developer of astronautic theory. This body of work deals with the physics of navigation in space. To develop that, he carefully considered the types of masses that could be delivered to space, the conditions they would face in orbit, and how both rockets and astronauts would survive in the conditions of low Earth orbit. Without his painstaking research and writing, its quite likely that modern aeronautics and astronautics would not have advanced as fast as it did. Along with Hermann Oberth and Robert H. Goddard, Konstantin Tsiolkovsky is considered one of the three fathers of modern rocketry. Honors and Recognition Konstantin Tsiolkovsky was honored during his lifetime by the Soviet government, which elected him to the Socialist Academy in 1913. A monument to the Conquerors of Space in Moscow contains a statue of him. A crater on the Moon is named for him, and among other more modern honors, there was a Google Doodle created to honor his legacy. He was also honored on a commemorative coin in 1987. Konstantin Tsiolkovsky Fast Facts Full Name: Konstantin  Eduoardovich TsiolkovskyOccupation: Researcher and theorist  Born: Sept. 17, 1857 in  Izhevskoye, Russian EmpireParents: Eduoard Tsiolkovsky, mother: name not knownDied: September 19, 1935 in  Kaluka, Former Soviet UnionEducation: self-educated, became a teacher; attended college in Moscow.Key Publications: Investigations of Outer Space by Rocket Devices  (1911), Aims of Astronauts (1914)Spouses Name: Varvara SokolovaChildren: Ignaty (son); Lyubov (daughter)Research Area: Principles of aeronautics and astronautics Sources Dunbar, Brian. â€Å"Konstantin E. Tsiolkovsky.† NASA, NASA, 5 June 2013, www.nasa.gov/audience/foreducators/rocketry/home/konstantin-tsiolkovsky.html.European Space Agency, Konstantin Tsiolkovsky. ESA, 22 October 2004, esa.int/Our_Activities/Human_Spaceflight/Exploration/Konstantin_TsiolkovskyPetersen, C.C. Space Exploration: Past, Present, Future. Amberley Books, England, 2017.

Competitiveness of HK Cruise Tourism Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 6000 words

Competitiveness of HK Cruise Tourism - Essay Example I identified that I will have to improve my confidence level which will in turn improve my communication and socialization skills. I am reserved and introvert in nature which makes it difficult for me to socialize with people and open up easily. To establish a successful career as a hotel manager in the cruise tourism industry I will have to possess excellent communication skills and a pleasant personality. I believe I have a positive personality but my inability to communicate smoothly makes it difficult for me to express my personality in my behaviour. To work in the position of a hotel manager and ensure the future development of my career, I will focus on enhancing my communication abilities and the ability to understand and respond to what other people have to say. This will help me in the future to manage the customers in the cruise where I would work as a hotel manager. The position of a hotel manager would, call for a friendly, outgoing, pleasing and helpful personality. Thus I will have to improve on these skills. Also, I will have to improve on my ability to communicate with other team members and to manage a team as I will have to manage a group of people working under me in my work. I will have to communicate wi th the customers, teammates and personnel in other departments. Therefore, I will have to install more confidence in my speaking and communicating abilities. A considerable level of empathy and ability to establish rapport with the customers and fellow workers would help me in the future development of my career. The essay is aimed at studying and evaluating the different aspects of the Hong Kong cruise tourism industry. The study is prepared by providing a suitable background to the Hong Kong tourism industry encompassing the different aspects of the tourism and hospitality sector in Hong Kong and the evolvement of the Hong Kong cruise industry through the establishment of terminals and other infrastructures. I have

Vision Paper Case Study Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Vision Paper - Case Study Example Finally, the strategy statement establishes precisely how the organization will achieve its vision statement by leveraging its competitive advantage. Ultimately, these perspectives form a cornerstone element of an organization’s strategic plan. Statements a. The specific organization under consideration is L-3 Communications. This organization is a defense contractor. The organization designs products and services for the United States and this country’s allies and strategic partners. Specifically the organization designs Command, Control, Communications, Intelligence, Surveillance, Reconnaissance, as well as aircraft modernization and maintenance (â€Å"L-3 communications,† 2012). The company was founded in 1997 and is named L-3 for Frank Lanza, Robert LaPenta, and Lehman Brothers (â€Å"L-3 communications,† 2012). It was originally a subsidiary of Lockheed Corporation who decided they did not want to own the unit (â€Å"L-3 communications,† 2012). Since the organization’s 1997 beginnings it has progressively expanded through a number of prominent acquisitions (â€Å"L-3 communications,† 2012). b. Vision Statement L-3 Communications seeks to further establish its market position to benefit stakeholders by implementing state of the art research, organizational efficiency, and unparalleled commitment to excellence. Mission Statement Our organization aspires to develop cutting edge of defense innovation and efficient maintenance to effectively contribute to the United States mission at home and abroad. Strategy Statement We seek to gain further market share by building on already business partnerships with the United States government and their allies. This relationships will be advanced and strengthened through ensuring that L-3 Communications maintains an unrivaled commitment to excellence at the forefront of defense innovation. Statement Validation a. The vision, mission, and strategy statements are essential el ements of an organization’s strategic planning. The mission statement as a structural determinant of the organization’s purpose to ensure that its employees, leaders and customers recognize this framework. Still, it’s noted that this statement’s prime purpose is for â€Å"the leadership team and stockholders,† as it gives insight into the firm’s purpose and directs decision making in times of crisis ("Mission statements and," 2011). While the mission statement establishes bottom line measures, the vision statement establishes an approach to organizational planning that is more focused on values and purpose. As such, one recognizes that this statement is more applicable to employees, as it helps guide their conduct and contributes to the effectiveness, or ineffectiveness, of the organizational culture. In addition, the vision statement serves as a degree of advertisement and public relations, as the values and goals established therein work t o inform potential clients of the form of meaning and cultural elements driving the organization in question. Indeed, it has been noted that this statement â€Å"is a stable foundation on which to base planning-both for the long- and short-term† ("Building a team," 2011). Finally, the strategy statement functions to establish the means by which the organization will put into practice the values and intentions articulated in the mission and vision statements. b. The vision, mission, and strategy statements can drive change in the organization through a variety of means. One of the most prominent is that

Great deprassion Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Great deprassion - Research Paper Example This saw most of the Americans loose their farms and homes which led to some of them deciding to escape from America using trains which crossed over their borders to the neighboring countries and other states within America which were not adversely affected by the depression. These people who migrated to other states and countries thought that they would find new jobs wherever they went but that was not to be as the depression had affected almost the whole of America and its neighbours.From the studies it was noted that America was the first country to recover from the Depression which started at around 1933 but the recovery was slowed down in the following two years but after the two years of slowing down the economy started to have a steady recovery in the year 1935.As the economy was recovering and doing well in the 1940 there came the World War 11 started and America was drawn into economic depression again which slowed down the process of recovery and that’s why it was ca me to be known as the Great Depression. In the history of U.S this depression which is said to have affected the whole world has come to be known as the ‘defining moment’. This depression made the federal government change the Way it was performing towards the economy. The government had to control all the business activities which the businessmen objected to in order to control the economy. Some of the drastic measures that the federal government took to recover the economy included laying down of the elderly citizens who were working thus giving them involuntary unemployment compensation. It as well changed the labor engagements between the employers and the employees through the Wagner Act which promoted the formation of unions to act as their arbitrator so that they could be fairly represented. But all this changes needed an increase in the federal government size. After the expansion of the federal government there were some economical changes which were experience d like in the case of paid citizens in the 1920s they increased in number as they approached the 1930s.The depression also changed the way people looked at the economy as many of them blamed lack of adequate demand which all the economists thought that the federal government should intervene and stabilize it through formulating good economic policies. Overtime many Economists have tried to demystify the cause of the depression and its reasons to affect other nations adversely than others but they have not come to a unanimous conclusion on what caused the depression. During this economic hardship America was very cautious with all the nations that it associated itself with economically. This was so because other European countries which had been hit by the depression had decided to operate within their borders this meant that there was less global trade which in turn would hurt the American economy due to its presence in most of these countries. The reason why some countries detached themselves from the global trade is that they blamed it for the emergence of the two world wars and they did not want to see the occurrence of such wars again. So as to resuscitate the global trade and promote the economy there was a dire need to form global monetary bodies so that they could assist in the supporting of the global trade. Due to this need then it led to the formation of two International Financial Institutions that would

Banking and international banking system Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Banking and international banking system - Essay Example Major financial institutions collapsed or near collapsed and credit markets were frozen. Bear Stearns and Sachsen LB (German bank), banks fell in 2007. It was followed by IndyMac Bank in receivership and demise of Lehman Brother in the quarter of 2008 (Drea 2009). After September 2008, panic in the financial global sector escalated and spread to other sectors of the economies. Investors were shocked by losses that they incurred on assets they thought were safe. There was strong evidence that contagion was linked with global financial crisis. This happened through liquidity and risk-premium channels in the financial markets. There was clear evidence informed by research that contagion during subprime crisis was clearly shown by significance of t-statistic for lagged ABX index returns in 2006 (Longstaff, 2010). Cross-market linkages were stronger and significant during subprime crisis indicating that that 2007 subprime crisis resulted in large shifts in trading activity, liquidity and funding in the financial markets across the world. A number of reasons have been advanced concerning the recent global financial crisis. ... The foreign money was savings piling up and owners wanted to invest their monies away from home where they were assured of some returns. The net inflow of foreign savings into the United States in 2006 was about 6 percent of the United States’ output. Instead of investing foreign moneys appropriately, financial institutions in the United States that received the surplus funds from Asia converted the monies to loans that were aggressively given to borrowers, especially homeowners. Mortgage market was attractive to investors because over 80 percent of mortgage market in the United States was securitized and they that their monies would be invest well (Financial Crisis Inquiry Commission, 2010). Securitization created the much needed diversification to investors and liquidity for business entities and individuals. Securitization refers to pooling mortgages together as securities. Once pooled as securities, they are sold to investors. However, investors and players in the industry lacked the business acumen to realize that securitization lacked clarity and transparency. Financial institutions also underestimated the risk associated with securitization and sold mortgage backed securities to investors across the world. The investors, which included banks, money markets, pension hedge and mutual funds, purchased the mortgage backed securities thinking they were safe. However, securitization was not able to provide protection against systematic risks. Even, credit rating agencies failed to take into account systematic risks and awarded the mortgage backed securities with AAA rating because it was considered low risk securities. Therefore, credit rating agencies could not price systematic risks into subprime mortgage pools. In

Mary Prince Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Mary Prince - Essay Example Hence, her strong willingness and intelligence proved to be her best alley in life. Mary’s life is filled with struggle and sorrow with small sprinkling of hope and joy in-between. But, her initial years were tranquil and uneventful. The day her sisters and she were sold out proves to be the most tragic incident of her life. This is a black day marked by her mother’s sorrowful words as she dresses her kids in the coarse clothes, See, I am shrouding my poor children; what a task for a mother! (Page 3). It was the end of the tranquil days and an advent into hardships and sufferings. The rest that included beatings, stripping, physical and sexual assaults were just continuous black phase suffered most of her life. Hence, her first sale at the tender young age was the landmark day in her life and marks the most sorrowful occasion of her entire existence. Mary was not the isolated slave who suffered ill-treatment at the hands of her owners. Abuse of the slaves was sadly a very common occurrence as was evident from Mary’s account of other slaves such as the little slave children, Cyrus and Jack. Both these kids were subjected to the most brutal punishments right from a very young age for almost no reasons. Hetty, whom Mary called Aunt in affection also, went to an early grave because of her master’s severe physical punishments during the off set of pregnancy. Hetty was the most efficient person of the household and apparently took the entire responsibility of the house upon herself. But, one small slip and no one spared a single bout of mercy to her spanking her so much that she had an early labor and died after some time. Colonialism and Imperialism robbed Mary of her childhood. It took her away from her family at a very young age and later also alienated with her husband whom she loved a lot. It degraded her mentally and physically as she

Profit and Loss Account Coursework Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Profit and Loss Account - Coursework Example The indirect costs (those that cannot be directly attributed to generating revenue) are then deducted from the gross profit to give a net income figure. A single profit and loss account provides information about how much it costs to generate sales, and how much room for manoeuvre the business has before an increase in the costs of generating those sales causes the business to become unviable (e.g. raw materials may increase to a point where it is no longer financially viable to make a particular product). This can be shown by considering the gross profit as a percentage of the sales revenue. The same can be applied to the indirect expenses of the business. Monitoring these costs can indicate when a particular supplier is becoming too expensive, and the business should look for another supplier who offers better value for money. The net profit figure, as a percentage of the sales revenue indicates the total effect of all costs relating to the business and whether the business continu es to be viable and generates profits for the owner (in this case Peter).Peter’s profit and loss account indicates that he rents property rather than owning his own factory or workshop. The depreciation figure is not broken down, which means that the type of assets that are subject to depreciation cannot be seen, although the motor expenses indicate that the business probably owns some form of motor vehicle.

Mary Prince Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Mary Prince - Essay Example Hence, her strong willingness and intelligence proved to be her best alley in life. Mary’s life is filled with struggle and sorrow with small sprinkling of hope and joy in-between. But, her initial years were tranquil and uneventful. The day her sisters and she were sold out proves to be the most tragic incident of her life. This is a black day marked by her mother’s sorrowful words as she dresses her kids in the coarse clothes, See, I am shrouding my poor children; what a task for a mother! (Page 3). It was the end of the tranquil days and an advent into hardships and sufferings. The rest that included beatings, stripping, physical and sexual assaults were just continuous black phase suffered most of her life. Hence, her first sale at the tender young age was the landmark day in her life and marks the most sorrowful occasion of her entire existence. Mary was not the isolated slave who suffered ill-treatment at the hands of her owners. Abuse of the slaves was sadly a very common occurrence as was evident from Mary’s account of other slaves such as the little slave children, Cyrus and Jack. Both these kids were subjected to the most brutal punishments right from a very young age for almost no reasons. Hetty, whom Mary called Aunt in affection also, went to an early grave because of her master’s severe physical punishments during the off set of pregnancy. Hetty was the most efficient person of the household and apparently took the entire responsibility of the house upon herself. But, one small slip and no one spared a single bout of mercy to her spanking her so much that she had an early labor and died after some time. Colonialism and Imperialism robbed Mary of her childhood. It took her away from her family at a very young age and later also alienated with her husband whom she loved a lot. It degraded her mentally and physically as she