Case Write-Up: Galanz Essay

This case shares with us about the story of Galanz Enterprises Group Co. Ltd. (Galanz) had transformed itself from a manufacturer of down feather products into a world class manufacturer of microwave ovens producing more than 50 per cent of the global output in 2007. This case describes the competitive and operational strategies that Galanz used to achieve such a meteoric growth. The company started out with a clear competitive strategy based on cost leadership. It designed and implemented operations system to help achieve lower cost through economy of scale, the transfer of production capacity from developed countries and full utilization of the available production capacity. Case Analysis & Problem solving 1. What were the order winner/order qualifier for Galanz in the microwave oven business during the early stage of its development? When Galanz started its business, the microwave oven business in China was in its infancy and it was less risk to invest in the technology associated with microwave ovens because this technology had been mature and stable for a long time. At the early stage, Galanz did not have any competitive edge in production technology but only an abundant supply of cheap labor and land. Thus the only way to compete the market is to offering a low price. From 1996 to 2002, Galanz adopted a low-price strategy by repeatedly implementing cycles of price cutting and production capacity expansion. 2. Rank the importance of Galanz’s operations objectives of cost, quality, flexibility, delivery, service and innovations. How has the importance changed over the years? At the very beginning, Galanz ranked cost as the most important operations objectives. The rest objectives are ranked equally after the cost. After the early success resulted by the price war and cost leadership, Galanz started emphasizing the importance of innovation and quality. Since 1996, the rapid growth of Galanz endangered the market share of foreign brands such as Toshiba and Panasonic who are also the suppliers of Galanz on magnetrons. To limited the threat from Galanz, Toshiba and Panasonic reduce the supply of magnetrons, which forced Galanz developed and produced its own magnetrons. To reduce the cost and improve the quality, Galanz started to vertically integrate its supply chain by manufacturing more of its components. 3. What is the role technology has played in the success of Galanz. The technology have play very important role in the success of Galanz. The supply crisis of magnetrons motivated Galanz put technical innovation on a more important position. The collaboration with local university and institutes helped Galanz mastered the core technology of magnetron. Continuous invest on innovation and learning the most advanced technologies from overseas partners allowed the company to reduced costs, improve the design of the products and lifted Galanz into the high-end product market. 4. What are the Galanz’s competitive and operations strategies, and how does its operations strategy support its competitive strategy? Galanz’s competitive strategy is cost leadership. To support the competitive strategy of cost leadership, Galanz use below tactics in operations. 1) To effectively expand the production capacity, Galanz escalated the production capacity through a free production line transfer from foreign OEM partners. The same tactic was applied to attract component suppliers setting up component facilities in Galanz. To further increase its production capacity, Galanz fully utilized its production facilities and labor resources to extreme by operating 3 shifts per day, seven days a week and 365 days a year. 2) Repeatedly implementing cycles of price cutting and production capacity expansion. Since Galanz enjoyed tremendous economies of scale for low cost production, the company pushes its sales team to work hard so that the market could absorb the additional inventory. 3) In an additional effort to reduce cost, Galanz started to vertically integrate its supply chain by manufacturing more of its components. About 90% of the microwave oven parts were produced by Galanz.

Public Budgeting- Revenue Sources

Three revenue sources in public budgeting Property Tax: Property tax can be defined as a levy that the government issues on a person’s property. The value assessed to the property is taxed. Revenue of local governments like cities and counties are derived from property taxes. The revenue is used for administration in government and expenses concerning law enforcement, paramedics etc. ; and also to fund courts in local governments and helps for the payment of services which include civic centers, community programs, libraries, parks and recreation, and schools.Property taxes are also often used to pay some state programs such as Medicaid (in New York for example) and also to provide public assistance such as assistance to needy family (TANF), child welfare services and other social services such as supported employment, adult protective services, domestic violence and personal care assistance. This revenue can also be tracked in public safety like in juvenile detention, probati on services and other mandates (corrections/ county jail, law library in county jail, staffing for state and county court, prosecution services, community colleges etc. ).Property tax revenue can be tracked in many ways, it depends on each state but all states generally use these revenues to fund almost the same programs. Intergovernmental Revenue: Intergovernmental revenue is the funds obtained from other governments. These funds usually include grants, taxes which are shared, and contingent loans and advances. Here, funding emanates from all governments (federal, state and local governments). â€Å"Financial arrangements for funding and delivering intergovernmental services can be complex according to the variability of government structure, organization, roles and responsibilities.For example, government support concerning elementary and secondary schools includes direct funds from the federal government that are passed through state and local governments to local educational ag encies† (www. gao. gov). There are also funds allocated to cover costs for elementary and secondary education, these funds include the rent on school buildings for example. Charges for services: Charges for services are defined as customers’ charges and others charges coming from governmental and business activities. Charges for services within the governmental activities category include items such as licenses and permits (for example, business licenses and building permits), fines and forfeits, and operating special assessments sometimes charged for services provided outside the normal service area or beyond the normal level of services. Charges to other governments for services such as incarceration of prisoners also are reported in the Charges for Services column† (Kattelus & Reck, 2007).These charges include various services rendered within the states for example park entrance fees, document fees, court-filling fees etc. It also implies any government which p urchases, uses or benefits from goods and services provided. References Wilson, E. R. , Kattelus, S. C. , & Reck, J. L. (2007). Accounting for governmental and nonprofit entities. (14th ed. ). Boston, MA: McGraw-Hill Irwin. http://www. gao. gov/special. pubs/longterm/state/intergovrevenue. html

Artificiality and Fallibility in Northanger Abbey

Artificiality and Fallibility in Northanger Abbey Jane Austen, through the development of socially conscious female characters, is able to render a remarkably accurate depiction of the social structure present during the late 18th century. Her social commentary, however, highlights certain unbecoming qualities in both her protagonists and antagonists, particularly their artificiality. This feature of her writing is especially evident in her satiric novel Northanger Abbey. While Austen is clear in her criticism of characters such as Isabella and John Thorpe, neither of whom is in Catherine’s favor at the end of the novel, the author appears to be far more accepting of the affectedness of General Tilney, who is portrayed as a severe but fair man. Through the artificiality of her characters and the claims she makes about them, Austen weakens the motifs she intends to exemplify, making her an unreliable author. General Tilney is consistently illustrated as a strange man with a somewhat severe manner. Despite this, the text never truly suggests that he is a bad man. He is kind enough to invite Catherine to stay with the Tilneys at Northanger Abbey and, although he is concerned with superficial things such as the grandeur of his home and the wealth of his childrens’ spouses, the text suggests that he wants only the best for his children. Near the end of the novel, Catherine even admits that General Tilney’s interference in their marriage may have actually strengthened the bond between her and Henry, for which she thanks the general: â€Å"†¦the General’s unjust interference, so far from being really injurious to the their felicity, was perhaps conducive to it, by improving their knowledge of each other, and adding strength to their attachment, I leave it to be settled by whomever it may concern, whether the tendency of this work be altogether to recommend parental t yranny, or reward filial disobedience† (Austen 235). Despite Catherine’s fairly positive opinion of him at the end of the novel, the general still proves to be quite artificial early on when, after trying so ardently to impress her in hopes of securing a wealthy wife for Henry, he rudely casts her out of his home without explanation upon hearing from John Thorpe that Catherine’s family is poor. Austen tries to forgive General Tilney’s bad behavior by stating that his conduct may have strengthened the bond between Henry and Catherine, yet his actions were undeniably callous, regardless of the end product. His superficial treatment of Catherine is based entirely off of his focus on money, and this quality makes it difficult to accept the positive light that Austen attempts to shine on him at the end of the story, causing her to appear unreliable as an author. The most artificial character of Northanger Abbey is arguably Isabella Thorpe. Although she initially appears to be perfectly friendly and immediately forms a close bond with Catherine, the text makes it clear that she is somewhat superficial and would be content gossiping the day away. On several occasions, she gloats her apathy toward financial status, claiming that â€Å"[her] wishes are so moderate that the smallest income in nature would be enough for [her]. Where people are really attached, poverty itself is wealth; grandeur [she] detest[s]† (112), as well as that â€Å"a [small] income would satisfy [her]†¦ [She] hate[s] money† (128). The reader, however, later finds that upon learning of her fianc? James Morland’s modest income, she immediately begins to flirt with Fredrick Tilney and eventually calls off the wedding. The reader even catches Isabella contradicting her earlier quotes when speaking to Catherine of her undesired gentleman caller, John T horpe: â€Å"You have both of you something, to be sure, but it is not a trifle that will support a family nowadays; and after all that romancers may say, there is no doing without money† (135). Even though Isabella claims on multiple occasions that finances do not concern her and that wealth even creates a deficit in relationships, she completely flips her argument in both her actions and opinions when she abandons James and tells Catherine that romance is not enough to support a family with modest income. Although Isabella is portrayed in an increasingly negative light as the plot progresses, she commits actions that are rather similar to those of General Tilney, but it is the products of their activities that appear to decide the author’s view of them. The characters’ actions are similar in that they both send away their respective Morlands upon finding that they are not wealthy, but their rewards differ: General Tilney is somewhat respected for the sternness that strengthened Henry and Catherine’s marriage, while Isabella is scorned by the narrator and essentially forgotten by the end. The narrator’s unequal judgment of each character again suggests that Jane Austen is unreliable in her portrayal of the morals she wishes to convey. In addition to the artificiality of Austen’s characters and the inconsistencies that they produce, the narrator also illustrates the same trait in her description of Catherine. Throughout Northanger Abbey, Austen repeatedly refers to Catherine as the story’s heroine. As early as the first pages of the novel, Austen builds Catherine up as the unsuspecting hero: â€Å"No one who had ever seen Catherine Morland in her infancy would have supposed her born a heroine† (13). Naturally, because of frequent recurrence of this description, the reader spends the entirety of the story waiting for Catherine to prove herself worthy of the title. Spoiler alert: she doesn’t. A heroine is admired for her courage and noble qualities, and although Catherine is consistently portrayed as having good nature and fair judgment, at no point does she truly verify that she is a great person herself. By failing to show what she repeatedly tells the audience to be true, Austen again i llustrates her unreliability as a narrator. Jane Austen is an author of critical acclaim within the literary world, but, like any other author, her writings exhibit many flaws. Her account of Northanger Abbey creates a social commentary in which she attempts to criticize the superficial foci of the era’s social scene. Her success in conducting an efficacious critique, however, is hindered by inconsistencies in the artificiality of her characters and their descriptions. Through the artificiality of her characters and the claims she makes about them, Austen weakens the motifs she intends to exemplify, making her an unreliable author in her account of Northanger Abbey. Bibliography Austen, Jane. Northanger Abbey. New York: Penguin Books, 1995. Print.

The Accounting Function in Bank Audi Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words

The Accounting Function in Bank Audi - Essay Example This helps them to communicate effectively and it makes the employees feel they are on the page. This approach generated loyalty and challenged the employees to make the business a success. Each employee should be offered stock options and given a portion of the profits as an incentive to keep working toward higher customer satisfaction. Motivation and communication are additional ways the CEO could create happy employees. Challenging employees allows him or her to be creative and generate new ideas or product lines that will increase sales and or customer satisfaction. Listening to employees opinions is vital to success. The people who work the frontline of any business will have ideas on how to better the processes. Some companies used an approach uncommon to most CEO's; walking around the store to meet and greet the associates and customers. This approach allowed the consumers the opportunity to tell him how well he or she liked the store and offer suggestions for change. The asso ciates liked this approach because it made him an approachable CEO who was willing to listen to employees and customers. In this report, it is apparent that the company should use strategic planning in order to deal with the issues since it determines the overall direction and goals of the organization. Consequently, strategic planning influences numerous aspects of the organization, including what, In strategic planning, a) Products and services will be provided by the business and how those products and services will be designed b) Organizational design and roles are needed by the organization. c) Performance goals are established for positions throughout the business. d) Board committees should be developed (in the case of corporations. e) Resources are needed to reach those goals, and consequently, how much money is needed to procure those resources -- ultimately, the goals determine the content of various budgets ("Develop strategic plan" 2007). Competition from similar products, changing technology and increasing costs all play their part in putting pressure on firms to keep rethinking and expan ding. Mergers are more and more frequent and many businesses have expanded to become global organizations. But if growth is sometimes the only option it is also very often a risky one. Expansion demands investment of time, money and people and has to be carefully managed to bring the desired returns. Though there is a way to increase the odds of success: simple and effective communication in all directions. Gap Inc. is a leading international specialty retailer offering clothing, accessories and personal care products for men, women, children and babies under the Gap, Banana Republic, Old Navy and Piperlime brand names. Gap brand includes Gap, GapKids, babyGap and gapbody. The company also operates Gap Outlet and Banana Republic Factory Outlet stores. Our world headquarters offices are based in the San Francisco Bay Area and our product design offices are located primarily in New York City, San Francisco and London. We also have offices around the globe to support our store management, distribution and product manufacturing operations (Gap Inc) HistoryAt the heart of Gap's growth is the unique culture that has

What Is the Fate of the South Korean Great Southern Gate Coursework

What Is the Fate of the South Korean Great Southern Gate - Coursework Example On December 20, 1962, the South Korean government exalted the Great Southern Gate to the position of the country’s national treasure number one. The gate is a brilliant example of the ancient architecture of the Yi Dynasty Empire. After its construction, Namdaemun was the tallest building of them all, towering majestically over the smaller buildings and palaces in the city of Seoul. At present, it struggles for prominence dwarfed by the giant skyscrapers in the fast-paced city. Despite the fact that there are four large gates and five minor gates in Seoul, only Namdaemun has been selected as a National Treasure. It was chosen as South Korea's National Treasure number one because, in 1962, when the South Korean government launched the establishment of National Treasures, Namdaemun stood as a sterling paragon of ancient Confucian architecture. Newworldencyclopedia.org further notes that the Great South Gate, magnificent and striking by the time King Sejong reconstructed it in the 1470s, ushered in all Chinese and Japanese dignitaries on their way to visit the King. That is the only gate through which they could enter. Confucianism had blended into the culture of the Korean society well before the Yi Dynasty but later on, it grew in prominence. Namdaemun thus epitomizes both the supreme power of the Korean Empire and the governing place of Confucianism not only in Korean politics but also in their religion and culture.  Ã‚   Seoul, the capital of Korea since the naissance of the Joseon Dynasty circa 1392 C.E. until now, had been a fortified city having nine gates that allowed passage in and out of the city. The founders of the city built four main gates and five minor ones. The four main gates were positioned in the direction of the four cardinal points: North, south, east and west. The south, east and west gates would open at daybreak and shut at the end of the day at the ringing of the city bell. The northern gate remained blocked and was set aside purely to facilitate the king's flight to Pukhan Sansong or more remote buttresses during times of danger. Namdaemun was the "southern gate." Yi T'aejo built all the nine city gates together with the Namdaemun gate during the fourteenth century C.E. The Joseon Dynasty also known as Choson or Chosun was the last ruling dynasty in Korea, reigning from 1392 to 1910 at the start of the Japanese annexation.

Organizational Analysis of Bank of America Research Paper

Organizational Analysis of Bank of America - Research Paper Example Bank of America is one of the largest financial institutions (Corporate Profile, 2011). The nature of the bank is to serve a full range of investing, banking, asset management along with financial and risk management services and products through its various credit and other lines of credit. Currently, the Bank serves, only in the United States, around 57 million small business relationships and consumer along with 5,900 retail banking offices together with 18,000 ATMs and with 29 million online active users of the Bank (Corporate Profile, 2011). Globally, Bank is known for its leading wealth management policies and practices particularly in investment and corporate banking together with trading in a wide range of asset classes, institutions, governments, and corporations. Additionally, the Bank is a registered member of the New York Stock Exchange and the Dow Jones Industrial Average. And, internationally, the Bank of America provides its banking services in more than 40 countries. However, having such a huge corporate portfolio does not ensure smooth sailing, particularly, in this tougher and rather uncertain period in the financial history. The Bank seems to be facing some financial and human resource problems; in this regard, the Bank, in the third quarter 2011, has announced to cut its cost by shedding 40,000 jobs out of 287000 employees currently working in the Bank (Vault.com, n.d). Several legal issues hunt the management of the Bank of America.  

Market prices, Valuation Principle, Net present Value, interest rates, Essay

Market prices, Valuation Principle, Net present Value, interest rates, and bonds - Essay Example Through the market price, the financial managers can easily know the current price of the products and services of the company and also can estimate the future price of the products and services. The managers can also be aware of the price of the raw materials and other necessary things that are required for the smooth functioning of the business. Another essential thing that is important and can be known through the current market price is the requirement of working capital of a business. Moreover, through these the future working capital requirement can also be met. Understanding the current price of the debentures and shares is also of high value for the finance manager. The price of the share and debenture are of great importance to the financial manager because through these prices the total share capital and the value of the business can be calculated. Furthermore, on the basis of these values and financial structure, the firm can expect higher investment from the public. Hence , on the basis of the above analysis it can be said that the market price is highly useful to the financial manager (Investopedia, n.d.) Question 2: Discuss How the Valuation Principle Helps a Financial Manager Make Decisions Valuation is the method of judging the potential market value of the assets and liabilities of a firm. Valuation is essential and is required in the business for the future prospects. The work of valuation generally arises from mergers, acquisition, valuation of assets and liabilities. The valuation principle is of great importance to the finance manager in order to make the decisions regarding the future possibilities of the firm. Risk is associated with every aspects of the business. Through different valuation techniques, the finance manager can estimate the future risk associated with the business or any other projects. After considering the level of risk the finance manager can estimate the profits associated with the businesses and projects. The valuation principle helps the finance manager to estimate the outlook of the assets and liabilities of the business and can also make an assessment for the future requirements by the business house. Tax assessment is one of the important aspects of the business for the finance manager. Hence, with the various tools of the valuation principles, the finance manager can easily estimate the tax structure of the future. For assessing the financial feasibility and viability of the future, the principles of valuation play a significant role in the job profile of the finance manager. Moreover, in case of mergers and acquisitions, the valuation principles are needed for the business with the available in-depth financial information of the company. Hence, it can be concluded that the valuation principles are of high importance to the financial manager in order to make decisions (Blackburn, 2001). Question 3: Describe How the Net Present Value Is Related To Cost-Benefit Analysis The distinction between the present value of cash inflows and cash outflows is known as the Net Present V

Obama Care Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Obama Care - Essay Example The Act requires that a significant percentage of the income group should have health insurance. The act is helpful to low-income adults because of the expansion of Medicaid. The act also introduces programs that aid early retirees’ insurance programs. The PPACA is also supportive to workers at their old age, who would benefit from the coverage, according to Begley et al. (2012). Employers can have insurance cover for the group of employees that go for early retirement, between the age of 55 and 64. This is helpful to these employees since they have the assurance of insurance even if they take early insurance. The Act also expands insurance to non-employed youths aged between 19 to 25 years through their parents’ coverage. According to Begley et al. (2012), the various reforms are beneficial to employees. According to Hoffman (2011), the act reduces the burden of cost of insurance on just a limited potion of employees. The act is instrumental because of its level of reg ulation of insurance rates. The various discounts on wellness programs introduced, by the act, are important and helpful to employees. The act has several financial security provisions that could be helpful in reducing the expense of medical care as well as premium cost (Hoffman, 2011). For instance, the provision that health plans should limit the cost-sharing obligation renders it cheap to afford health care. Miller (2012) provides a contradicting opinion that the PPACA to is economically burdening to the employees. The act, according to Miller (2012), has its basis on improper analysis of its economic implications on workers. The act does not follow any explainable principle and, instead, diminishes some roles of the federal government related to regulation of insurance. In the opinion of Miller (2012), the expansion of tax allocated to insurance would be a better policy provision compared to imposing the cost on workers. Tax expansion was a more suitable source to finance the in surance coverage stipulated in PPACA than making the workers pay for it. The individual responsibility outline in the act is unconstitutional and unnecessary, according to Miller (2012). McDonough (2012) identifies the extent of opposition that the PPACA reviewed since its congressional debate began in 2009 to its declaration as being lawful in 2012. Those in opposition of the act highlighted the economic effects of the provisions of the law. The law would escalate the expenses of states and further create a burden on their budgets. The burden and effects of the burden roll down to workers who directly pay for it. In general, there are more beneficial to workers that come with the approval of PPACA than those having the contrary opinion present. It remains the basis of success in achieving reforms in the country's health insurance system. The act places the role of employers in ensuring efficiency in health insurance at the center and, therefore, creating remarkable changes (Eibner, Hussey & Girosi, 2010). Insurance supported by the employer increases efficiency in expanding cover of employees. Full implementation of PPACA would transform the health insurance markets in the country. It would help to change the decision of workers concerning the enrollment for health insurance cover. The act places various advantages to workers. There is a notable reduction in direct expenditure out of pocket. High out-of-pocket expenses, notably, is one of factors that contribute to the low coverage of

US Dropping of Two Atomic Bombs on Japan Research Paper

US Dropping of Two Atomic Bombs on Japan - Research Paper Example The historical event During the final stages of the World War II (WWII), United States of America dropped two atomic bombs on the Nagasaki and Hiroshima. Under the executive order of Harry Truman, the US president, the US dropped Little Boy, a uranium atomic bomb, on the city of Hiroshima, the 7th largest city in Japan. This was on 6th August, 1945. The uranium bomb was so powerful that within minutes half of Hiroshima city vanished. The city was unbelievably destroyed. Out of its 90,000 buildings, more than 60,000 were utterly demolished (Rezelman et al, 2000 and Adamsand Crawford 2000). Information from Harry S. Truman Library & Museum (1946) reveals that as brief as it was, the flash of the explosion emitted intense radiant heat travelling through the air at the speed of light. The explosion was, therefore, followed instantly by flash burns. The US estimates that 60,000-70,000 people were killed and 140,000 others were injured (Rezelman et al, 2000). On 9th August, 1945, three days after the bombing of Hiroshima, Fat Man, next nuclear weapon was dropped in Nagasaki over the north factory. It was exploded at a height of 1,800 feet above the city in order to attain a maximum blast effect. At its blast, buildings collapsed, there was shortages of electric systems and as a result of this, as well as a wave of secondary fires which contributed to massive deaths. Most of the casualties to the inhabitants of the city were caused by primary heat waves. Many others were burnt and killed when their homes, offices or other buildings were burst into flames. Flying debris also contributed to more injuries. 39% of the buildings standing were destroyed. Air was being drawn back to the middle of the burning area, a firestorm of winds immediately followed and because of this, trees were uprooted. The bomb killed 42, 000 people and injure d over 40,000 more (Rezelman et al, 2000 and Adamsand Crawford 2000). The Radiation Effects Research Foundation (2000) estimates that within the 2-4 months after the bombings, 90-000-166,000 people in Hiroshima were killed by acute effects of the blasts, while 60,000-80,000 were killed in Nagasaki but roughly half of the death in each case occurred on the first day. During the two explosions, the causes of deaths were generally the same. Thousands died instantly from flash or flame burns, falling debris and other secondary causes; over the following months others died from acute radiation sickness and other conditions arising from compounded effects of injuries and sicknesses. Most of the people who died were civilians (Harry S. Truman Library & Museum, 1946). Analysis of the historical and contemporary causes of the event On 7th December, 1941, Japan invaded Thailand. It then moved to invade British Malaya and the Pearl Harbor in the US territory of Hawaii. This war was referred to as the Pacific war or the WWII. The war saw the US, China and UK as members of the Allied Powers coming together against the Empire of Japan. The allied power wanted Japan to withdraw from the WWII. On 26th of June 1945, the Harry Truman, the US president, Winston Churchill, the UK Prime Minister and Chian Kai-shek, the chairperson of the Nationalist government of China, issued a document called the Potsdam Declaration. The Potsdam Declaration document which was agreed upon during the Potsdam conference outlined the terms of surrender for Japan. The ultimatum clearly stated that, if Japan did not pull out of the WWII, it would face quick and utter destruction (Villa,

The Basketball Diaries Movie Review Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

The Basketball Diaries - Movie Review Example Reggie Porter is a man whom Jim first meets on the basketball court, but will eventually play the part of Jim's savior rather than the man who might have been expected to play that part, Father McNulty. The characters who devolve into drug abuse are the three boys who form the nucleus of St. Vitus High School's basketball team and their too-short-to-play best friend: Jim, Mickey, Neutron and Pedro. Even while enjoying massive success on the court, they engage in low-rent drug highs involving inhalants. This addition fuels their kinetic energy rush to do things like cut school, jump off rocks into a river filled with toilet waste, and steal from and beat up rival teams. It may even play a part in their success on the court by giving them an inflated sense of confidence. It is only after a sexual encounter with two sisters and the first exposure of hard drugs that things being to spiral completely out of control. Although they could be described as mostly harmless little punks before the turn to hardcore drugs, afterwards they all clearly display severe antisocial behavior as their addictions lay hold to all forms of functioning. Stealing in secret from lockers transforms into wholesale mugging of defenseless old women. Basketball ceases to retain any meaningful place in their lives and in the process Jim at least seems ready to sacrifice what might have become a NBA career. Every choice presented in their lives is consumed with the need to fulfill the required high: sexual preference, the choice between food and drugs, and the choice between drugs and family. The presentation of drug use in the film is ambivalent at best. Although clearly intended as an anti-drug message, the first half hour shows drug abuse without any consequences. The boys begin with inhalants and then go off on a fun round of throwing up on profane jerks and getting up the nerve to jump from a tall height into the water. There seems to be no downside to using drugs when it comes to playing roundball, either. Only after Winkie and Blinkie have acted as the serpent in this garden by introducing the boys to cocaine do the consequences of drug use finally get revealed. This message is clearly undermined by the attractiveness of the two girls; what high school boys would turn down drugs if they had a shot at these blonde goddesses Nevertheless, eventually the effects of using drugs are presented with the intention of getting more viewers to just say no. The boys are kicked off the basketball team after taking downers just before a game. Jim in particular becomes the latest in a long line of movie characters to have his descent into total drug addiction portrayed in glorious shivering, drooling, frenetic wide-eyed Technicolor. The low point comes after Jim lies bloody and beaten and still in his urine-soaked pants. The film seems to be geared specifically, perhaps even exclusively, to adolescents and twenty-somethings, or at least those who have seen few similar movies. The casting of Leonard DiCaprio and Marky Mark Wahlberg attests to the filmmaker's interest in appealing to younger fans, but it is the fact that the movie essentially adds nothing to the drug-addict genre that has been seen before that makes it less likely to appeal to older viewers. Anyone who has watched The Man with the Golden Arm has already seen this movie minus its four-letter words and nudity and sexuality. In addition, since the film seems to exist only as an anti-drug public

Dead Man in Deptford and Any Old Iron Essay Example for Free

Dead Man in Deptford and Any Old Iron Essay Using the extracts from Dead Man in Deptford and Any Old Iron, and the whole of A Clockwork Orange, discuss the effectiveness of Burgess wide and varied use of language and dialect. If I were to begin this essay with a foreign word, a phrase that had been obsolete for four hundred years, and a totally incoherent sentence, complete with fabricated slang terms, then the fair or foul reader (but wheres the difference) would probably dismiss it and I would receive an F. And yet I would be imitating the style of one of the twentieth centurys prolific and widely discussed authors: Anthony Burgess. In every novel that he has written, Burgess has displayed a love of, and an acute skill for, words and word-craft, which a blacksmith might display in his trade. As soon as I started to read A Clockwork Orange, I wanted to put it down again. In the second paragraph, I counted eighteen words that I did not understand, including such timeless gems as droog, rassoodocks and, my personal favourite, mozg. I was equally baffled when confronted with the two extracts. But I slavishly stuck to it (partly because of my rather demanding English master), mostly because I was personally intrigued as to what those terms meant. One soon realises that Burgess actually likes to do this it is his wordplay. But equally, it is also an integral part of the book; he adapts his style of language for a number of reasons Firstly, in order to complement the era within which his plot takes place. For instance, Dead Man in Deptford is full of extinct words such as simulacrum and inkhornisms, and further to this, it is written in the grammatical style of a sixteenth century playwright, with long and jumbled sentences such as You must suppose that I suppose a heap of happenings that I had no eye to eye knowledge of or concerning. And in A Clockwork Orange, there are many unknown words since the novel is set in the future, and presumably the language has evolved over time. Secondly, he includes certain words and phrases in order to set the scene and establish a certain ambience. An effective example is Alexs entrance into the treatment clinic in Chapter Three of Part two of A Clockwork Orange. Whereas before Alex has relied heavily on his invented words in his narration, here he only uses the basic words such as horrorshow. Instead he concentrates on the description of his surroundings, using the word white many times. The lack of slang contributes to this description and tells the reader what Alex is thinking at that moment. Here, for instance, he is wary of his new environment and not yet comfortable enough to use his familiar language. A third explanation for Burgess use of language lies in the variety of the various characters, in the novel and both extracts. This is where dialect and implied accent become very important. Any Old Iron provides a good example in Dai Williams. His speech does not really include unfamiliar words and phrases, but there is a huge difference in his style. Lets take the sentence, Back to it with your youth and your vigour and it is your shout now. Its length, enhanced by the use of and and the repetition of your, seems to imply the intonation and speed with which it should be read. There is a certain rhythm that cannot be avoided when reading it. In other words, it looks Welsh, and when read, it sounds Welsh. Examples in A Clockwork Orange where dialect is used to distinguish characters come at the end of Part One, where the starry old ptitsa uses swashbuckling and old-fashioned language, such as wretched little slummy bedbug. The several comic book villains in Alexs cell in prison also add some variety, and in this case, humour: Yeth, yeth, boyth, thatth fair. But the final explanation for Burgess wordplay is by far the most important: it influences the reader to think in a certain way. This is most prominent in A Clockwork Orange. In the first half of the novel every tolchock or kick that Alex makes is usually preceded by the word horrorshow, so that it is constantly drummed into the readers mind that what Alex is doing is good. In contrast, the description of violence in the second half of the novel, after Alexs treatment, lacks any poetry, elaborate slang, and therefore glorification. We see what Alex sees: pure, repulsive and undisguised violence. We feel what the narrator feels. This can be said of another part of A Clockwork Orange and a certain part of Dead Man in Deptford: wherever there is an argument leading up to a fight. In Dead Man the verbal jousting comes before a particularly large brawl, one that is described in a rapid and flowing manner, almost as a commentary. Marlowe enjoys what is happening, like Alex. But also like Alex, when Marlowe is describing violence later on in the novel (the executions), there is a complete lack of enjoyment and fancy wordplay. As a side note, there is one extra reason why our great philologist Mr Burgess uses such language and dialect. It is for the simple reason that it is vastly enjoyable, both for him and for the reader. In Clockwork and Dead Man, Burgess has had the opportunity to create words and styles that go against the rules of contemporary English (this is true of Dead Man because there are no records of how Elizabethan citizens spoke). At first this can prove to be extremely irritating and demanding, and the reader feels the need to reach for a dictionary after every sentence. It is particularly annoying because the reader knows that this is English, a language he or she should understand, and yet it is totally incomprehensible. But I personally enjoy immense satisfaction by simply reading the novel without help, and interpreting the words in my own time. It soon becomes easy and very rewarding.

Fedex Essay Example for Free

Fedex Essay If you were the HR Head of a major competitor of FedEx: a) List down the 3 HR practices which you would emulate of FedEx. Explain reasons for the same. Ans) * Leadership Evaluation And Awareness Process (LEAP) This policy gave FedEx’s Non-Managerial Employees an opportunity to seek Managerial Positions. LEAP created the chance for Non Management Employees to try out their Managerial Skills. LEAP helped Employees of FedEx check whether they were capable of managing Organizations or not. It also gave a chance to FedEx to check out the leadership and managerial skills of its internal Employees. * â€Å"Guaranteed Fair Employee Procedure† (GFTP ) Via â€Å"People –Service-Profit â€Å" (PSP) Philosophy – One of the major HR practices which made FedEx a success story was the Guaranteed Fair Employee Procedure where all type of Employee Grievances were taken care of. The philosophy of â€Å" People-Service-Profit† where Employees were kept before the company’s profit making motives lead to more motivated employees ,leading to more profits in the long run . It was believed that people before profits were would lead to more efficient work on behalf of the employees to the customers , thus strengthening the brand image of FedEx. * Succession Planning Executive Education (SPEED) – The SPEED program introduced at FedEx were done mainly to give feedback to the high level employees reporting directly to the CEO or to the top management of FedEx. Feedback was given periodically n order to rate the skills and promotability of the people who were likely to replace them in the near future. Such Employees were suggested which areas they needed to work on to improve their skills for their new positions some years down the line. b) If you had to attract top Talent from Fedex, what would be your strategy for this, assuming compensation and role were not the key factors for attracting talent from Fedex? Develop your response based on the case study (identifying areas where Fedex may not be as good) and state your assumptions, if any. Ans) To lure top Talent from FedEx, we can go in for the following strategies: * Fringe Benefits * Perks * Job Enlargement And Enrichment More Exciting Job Opportunities Q2. Based on the industry FedEx is in and on the nature of its business, list down 1 or 2 competencies which you think are core to the organization (across functions and levels) and which are essential for employees to possess in order for the organization to succeed. Justify your answer suitably Ans) * Recruitment Focusing on Entrepreneurship The recruitment style followed by FedEx is to hire people who have a mind for new Entrepreneurial ventures. They have to be creative in nature and have the ability to think out of the box. This Recruitment strategy has worked well for FedEx. * Employee Centricity and Retention – FedEx Core Competency lies in the fact that all the Employees are treated equally and every grievance are taken care of. No stone is left unturned to see to it that all problems faced by employees are always addressed to before the company objectives. Q3. What do you think would be the top 5 measures the CEO of FedEx would want his HR Head to measure and report on an ongoing basis.

Share Repurchase and Taxation among UK Companies

Share Repurchase and Taxation among UK Companies The aim of the research project is to examine the relationship between share repurchase and taxation in the UK companies. Project Objectives To examine the motivations of share repurchase in the United Kingdom. To analyze the recent trend in share repurchases over last 20 decades among UK companies. To explore the relationship between shares repurchase with taxation in the UK companies. To explore the impacts of taxation on share repurchase activity for UK companies Context For decades, most of the corporations are preferred to pay out cash in the form of dividends rather than share repurchases, despite the relative tax advantage of capital gains over ordinary income. In some countries, such as U.S. and UK, companies can buy back their own shares in the stock market, also known as a share repurchase. In the last 20 decades, share buybacks become extremely popular in the United States. According to aggregate data from Compustat, companies announced share repurchases increased from 4.8 percent in 1980 to 41.8 percent in 2000, while dividends only grew at an average annual rate of 6.8 percent (Grullon Ikenberry, 2002). Researchers also found that during 1985 to 1999, corporations in the U.S. announced intentions to repurchase about $750 billion of stock (Vermaelen Rau, 2002). Moreover, studies show that from 1999 to 2000, industrial firms spent more money on share repurchases than on dividend pay out, and that is the first in history, share repurchases p rograms have become more popular than dividends (Grullon Ikenberry, 2002). What are the reasons for the companies buy back their own shares. Jensen (1986) pointed that firms repurchase stock to distribute excess cash flow. A share repurchase distributes cash to existing shareholders in exchange for a fraction of the firms outstanding equity. This hypothesis has been supported by Stephens and Weisbachs (1998) study. They found share buy backs have a positive relationship with the level of corporation cash flow. Moreover, they also found a negative relationship between share repurchase and prior stock returns, which means, firm repurchase when their share prices are undervalued in stock market. This theory has been supported by Vermaelens (1981) study. He found that firms repurchase stock when they are undervalued and have the excess cash to distribution. In later studies, researchers pointed that firms may repurchase stock to increase their leverage ratio (Opler and Titman, 1996). For the tax perspectives, researchers pointed that tax changes have a major impact on share repurchase. In the UK, companies are sensitive to tax environmental changes. For example, studies shows that in 1994, there were significant increase in the number of open-market stock repurchase programs. This cause by the introduction of tax favored agency share repurchases programs (Vermaelen Rau, 2002). But in 1996, when the tax credit given to tax exempt pension funds in agency buybacks was abolished, the number of the companies announced share repurchase fell significantly. However, in 1997, when all tax credits were abolished, share repurchase became popular again. As some evidence showing above, share repurchase become more popular than any time in the history. Researchers stated that the majority of companies start to use cash payouts to shareholders through share buybacks rather than cash dividend (Grullon Michaely, 2002). Therefore, it is important to better understand the motivation behind the recent surge in share repurchase activity. Although, share buy backs growing popularity, most of the established studies focus on the U.S. firms. Whether the share buybacks in UK as popular as in the U.S., because the different of tax and regulation systems between this two countries. The aim of the research will not only enhance our understanding of corporation pay out policy but also examine the share repurchases programs under UK taxation system and how this impacts effect on UK companies payout strategies. Moreover, the reason for me to focus on the UK companies rather than other EU companies because there have lacks of share repurchase activities in Europe countries. According to the Securities Data Corporation (SDC) reports shows that during 1980 to 1998, there were only 489 stock buybacks announcements made by European companies. And nearly 60% of those announcements were made by the UK companies. There have various reasons for the lack of share buy back activities in EU companies. Firstly, share repurchase is still illegal in some European countries, such as France and Germany. Secondly, some countries proposed specific tax provisions to discourage share buy backs. For example, in Netherland have the high taxes on dividends and low taxes on capital gains. Thirdly, the share repurchase do not fit European company culture. Traditionally, most European companies focus on maximizing stakeholders value rather than shareholders value (Vermaelen Rau, 2002). Moreover, in European countrie s the stakeholders (such as managers, banks) prefer to maximize the size of the companies rather than focus on stock prices. They are not interested in share repurchase. Finally, there are little relative studies examine the relationship between share repurchase and taxation with UK companies. Literature Review 4.1 Introduction This search focuses on share repurchase and taxation among UK companies. Bibliographic database used were Business Source Premier (EBSCO), Econo Lit with Full Text (EBSCO), JSTOR Business, Psyc ARTICLES (CSA), Science Direct and Swets Wise. The details of these and full text database were searched in Table 1. The total numbers of retrieved articles were 30. Keywords used were dividend, share repurchase, buybacks, payout policy, dividend policy, taxation and regulation with limited to academic journals and non-academic articles on the last 20 years. 4.2 Motivations of share buy backs There are number of reasons a firm repurchase stock. First, Share repurchase could improve the retained profits. Because when companies purchase their own shares, the remaining number of shares left in the public will lower. The reduction of shares in the public means the earning per share will increase even the profits remain the same. So when companys share price undervalued, repurchasing shares may still result in a strong return on investment. Secondly, firms may use share repurchase announcements to signal the market that their shares are undervalued and the positive stock price reaction at the announcement of share repurchase should correct the misevaluations (Dann, 1981; Vermaelen, 1981). However, Ikenberry, Lakonishok, and Vermaelen (1995) argued that this increase may not be sufficient to correct the misevaluations, particularly in the open market share repurchase- programs. According to Stephens and Weisbachs (1998) study, they investigated on 450 open-market share repurchase programs in the U.S. between 1981 and 1990. They found that between 74% and 82% of the shares targeted at the time of announcement are later repurchased and this actual share buybacks are negatively related to stock price performance after the stock repurchase. Thirdly, share repurchase may increase the leverage ratio. The leverage ratio will increase when a firm distributes its capital. Therefore, assuming that an optimal leverage ratio exists, a firm may more likely to buy back their own shares when their leverage ration is below the target ratios (Bagwell Shoven, 1988). Fourthly, companies where there are few opportunities for growth, share repurchase may the possible way to improve the earning per share in order to meet executives or managers targets. Thus, companies structures may affect their decisions to buy back own shares. Finally, share repurchase make a takeover more expensive. Because share buybacks avoid the accumulated amount of cash in the firm, when a firm with a strong cash position but needs limited spending on capital will accumulate cash on balance sheet, therefore, it make the firm more attractive for takeover. However, recent studies shown share repurchases are only benefit shareholders wealth in the short term, but do not add any long term value to the company (Guay and Harford, 2000). Eberhart and Siddique (2003) did a survey based on 7,079 share repurchase programs between 1981 and 1995. The results showed that after the share buybacks, there were a slightly increase in the number of share outstanding. Often the share purchases in the share buybacks programs are used for employee stock options and stock grants. As one article suggested, share repurchases in general are just à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã…“backdoor compensationà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬? for company employees (Henry, 2006:74). 4.3 Taxation with share repurchases Tax changes have a major impact on share repurchase. Study shows that in 1994, there were significant increases in the number of open-market stock repurchasing programs cause by the introduction of tax-favored agency share repurchase programs (Vermaelen Rau, 2002). Grullon and Michaely (2000) also find that the differential tax between capital gains and dividends is a significant determinant of the market reaction to share repurchase announcement. Grullon and Michaely (2002) pointed that in the U.S., corporations start to substitute share repurchases for dividends because capital gains are taxed at more favorable rates than ordinary income. They found that even in 1986, the Tax Reform Act greatly reduced the relative tax advantage of capital gains, but there was still a significant positive difference between the marginal rate on ordinary income and the marginal rate on capital gains. Raghavendra and Vermaelen (2002) studied on the relationship between taxation and share buybacks among the UK companies. In their studies, the result showed that buyback activity increased significantly when the agency buybacks introduced during 1990 to 1998 in the UK. This consistent with the hypothesis that taxation has a significant effect on share buybacks. Moreover, they also pointed that the ability of pension fund to recover dividend credits has a major impact on the buyback activity in the UK (Raghavendra and Vermaelen, 2002). However, some researchers have argued that taxes alone do not explain the extent of repurchases activity in the U.S. Brav at al (2005) stated that managers view tax considerations as of second important factor in the choice if disbursement mechanism. Ikenberry et al (2004) suggested that since the tax changed in 2003 in the U.S., the dividend had increased significantly. He also pointed that although dividends in the U.S. remain slightly tax disadvantages, that due to the delay of the capital gains by the investors. However, based on the results from research conducted in the U.S., the extent to whether the taxation dominant the managers decisions announce share repurchase rather than dividends is still an unresolved issue. 4.4 Regulation framework in the UK In order to better understanding the effect between taxation and share repurchase among the UK. It is important to develop our knowledge in the legal and tax frameworks governing U.K. share buybacks, moreover, to recognize the difference between these frameworks and those in the U.S. In The UK, share buybacks allow the company to manipulate its stock price. In order to avoid the share repurchase reduce creditors benefits, the Companies Act states that only distributable profits or the proceeds of fresh issue of share can be used to finance the purchase. Moreover, the companies are not allowed to announce share repurchase programs during the period when directors are not allowed to trade in their companys shares. This means that in the UK, share repurchases are not allowed in the 2 month period preceding the publication of annual earnings. Finally, compare with the U.S., in the UK, share repurchase are much less flexible tool for capital management. All the firms buy-backed shares may ask to cancelled, because the UK regulators more concerned about the preemption rights of shareholders (Vermaelen Rau, 2002). Not like in the U.S., the regulators more concern about the à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã…“treasury stockà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬?, such as repurchased shares can be re-issued without s hareholder approval (Vermaelen Rau, 2002). Conclusion There are various reasons for firms to announced share repurchase, although share buyback activity become extremely popular in the U.S., but the UK repurchase scene is different from the U.S. scene in many respects. Although the UK is the European country where buybacks are most popular, but it is still relatively small numbers of share repurchase programs announced compare with the U.S., where about 100 U.S. firms announce open-market share buybacks each month. However, the UK taxation system may make share repurchase less attractive than they are in the United Stated. What the impact of taxation system on share repurchase announcement among UK companies? How these impacts affect UK companies in last 20 years? Which industry is more likely to announce share repurchase program? The proposed research will review the potential relationship between taxation and share repurchase among UK companies. 5 Research Method 5.1 Desk Based Research The desk based research used to my study. Because desk based research is very useful to get a broad understanding of the topics and is relatively easy to use (Bryman and Bell, 2003). The data usually used in desk based research is referred to as secondary and includes collecting information from third party sources such as company website, magazine articles, books, journals, published statistics and marketing research reports (Collis Hussey, 2003). There are many advantages to using secondary research. This includes the relative ease of access to many sources of secondary data with little or no cost to acquire. The use of secondary research may help researcher to clarify the research question and help align the focus of large scale primary research. However, there are also some disadvantages of using secondary research. Sometimes, secondary data may not presented in a form that exactly meets the researchers need and the research may not get the full details of the research to gain t he full value of the study. Moreover, with companies competing in fast moving industries, the secondary research may out of date have little or no relevance to the current market situation. 5.2 Reasons of using Desk Based Research There are several reasons for me use desk based research. First, there is a tremendous amount of literature available, but limited studies focus on the taxation and share repurchase among UK companies. Therefore, the desk based research may help me to limit the articles to focus on my research topics. Second, the desk based research may possible to obtain companies annual report and account from companies websites. Because the UK Companies Act (2006) requires all quoted companies to publish their annual reports available on their website. (CA S430). Finally, in order to explore the relationship between taxation and share repurchase among UK over 20 years. The specific data need to be obtained, such as market-to-book ratio, return in capital employed, equity to debt ratio, market value. All of that information could obtain through on-line data base, such as Data Stream, which can be used in Aston Universitys library. However, some of the information may out of date or the results may not be directly related to UK companies situation. And the amounts of information available may be very limited. Also, due to the lack of study on relationship between taxation and share buybacks under UK taxation system, it is difficult to find sufficient sources from limited useful information. 5.3 Sample Section and Analysis Method The company shares repurchase announcement information been collected between 1 January 1999 and 31 December 2009. The information obtained from various ways, including London Stock Exchange (LSE) online service, UK-wire Company Announcement service, news articles from the Financial Times. The independent variables of stock returns and data have been provided by DataStream. Moreover, the data and sample had to satisfy the following criteria: The repurchase must exclusively be ordinary shares The firms is listed in the UK Repurchases announced during the last quarter of 2001 are excluded to dampen the volatility effects of 11 September 2001. Only the first announcement of share repurchase programme is included. The sample includes all open market share repurchases, private repurchases Descriptive statistics of the repurchases and independent variables used in this study to summarize and organize the companies repurchase data. Then, the main tax regimes divided into four equal periods during the sample period. The repurchases announcement data will be analyzed into the four tax periods. The correlation matrix on the variables will be needed to analyze whether there is the correlation between companys stock returns and share repurchase. Finally, the result will be interpreted and presented. Ethical issues The following ethical issues will be conducted with this research: Recode the data and results accurately Follow the Aston University rules on plagiarism Describe and discuss the research result objectively Task List Task Problems Solutions Obtain journals and literatures about firms dividend policies, share repurchase and taxation Tremendous amount of literature need to reviewed Limit search to articles that study on share repurchase within UK companies Obtain the information about the firms announced share repurchase programs within the UK for last 20 years Relatively small data need collect from numerous information Limit the research to companies announced share buybacks listed by data stream between 1989 and 2009 in the UK Create a list of relative UK companies Which company should include The company announced share repurchase over million Obtain the information about taxation and regulation changes over last 20 years in the UK A lot literatures need to reviewed Limit search to articles about taxation and regulation changes in last 20 years Find the impact of taxation change for share repurchases activity A limit studies/result on this area, especially for UK companies. Analyze the data on my own, use the statistical methods to explore the relationship between taxation and firms payout policies. Write up report Easy to exceed 15000 word limit Work with supervisor to only include the most relevant information Review the dissertation before the submit it Easy to make some grammar, spelling mistakes. Ask my friend read it, see whether the dissertation make sense for them. Help me to find the grammar mistake.

Background and Summary of King Lear :: Essays Papers

Background and Summary of King Lear Background of King Lear King Lear was written between 1603 and 1606, and is considered to be Shakespeare's greatest tragedy. The main plot was drawn from an old chronicle play called The True Chronicle History of King Leir and his Three Daughters, supplemented by treatments of that story in Raphael Holinshed's Chronicle of England, Scotland, and Ireland, Spenser's The Faerie Queen, and perhaps others. The subplot of Gloucester and his two sons comes from Sir Philip Sidney's popular romance The Countess of Pembroke's Arcadia. Shakespeare also makes considerable use of Samuel Harsnett's Declaration of Egregious Popish Impostures (1603) for Edgar's language of demonic possession as Poor Tom and the mock exorcism he works to cure the blinded Gloucester's despair. The play was performed December 26, 1606, for King James, as part of the court's Christmastide celebrations, as well as on the public stage at the Globe. Recoiling from the bleakness of the play's tragic vision, Naham Tate revised it in 1681, providing interpolated love scenes between Edgar and Cordelia and a happy ending in which Lear and Cordelia survive: his version held the stage for a century and a half. Dr. Samuel Johnson and the Romantic poets testified to the original play's greatness--Shelley terming it "the most perfect specimen of dramatic poetry existing in the world"--but they also began a critical tradition that judged the work too large and sublime for the stage. Lear has, however, proved notably successful in the modern theatre, accustomed to nonrealistic stage techniques and Samuel Beckett's apocalyptic dramas as well as to the contemporary horrors of concentration camp and Gulag. - Norton, 888 Summary of King Lear ACT I This tragedy play tells of the downfall of King Lear and the death of his daughter Cordelia. The play begins with the old Lear, deciding to retire, plans to divide his kingdom between his three daughters Goneril, Regan, and Cordelia.. With his daughters and men gathered around him, Lear asks his daughters, "Which of you shall we say doth love us most?" (Act I, Scene 1. 43). Both Goneril and Regan reply with flattering words of love which satisfied their old father, in turn he gave each of them a third of his kingdom. Cordelia, Lear's favorite daughter, answers with words from her heart, saying that she loves him as much as he loved her and as she should. However, Lear sees her words as disrespectful and demands Cordelia to reply again like how her sisters did, with flattering words.

Free Awakening Essays: A Reader Response :: Chopin Awakening Essays

A Reader Response to The Awakening  Ã‚   I had not read The Awakening before, and these notes are on a real â€Å"first reading† , and as a result deal mostly with my emotional response and thoughts on the style and general content of the story, I enjoyed the language and the â€Å"texture† of the writing. The subtle characterizations were done well, although the introduction of the characters seemed a bit unclear at times. The languid pace of the novel seem to fit the story and location of the action on one level, but seemed at odds with the violent, brash , turbulent nature of the emotional heart of the novel, Edna’s trying to connect to her true self. I often found myself wanting things to move on. At times the writing reminded me of Hemingway(of all people) in its description of eating and drinking , small actions that tell a lot about a character, and frequent use of French or Spanish phrases within the text: â€Å"Robert rolled a cigarette. He smoked cigarettes because he could not afford cigars,...† (44) â€Å"She was hungry again, for the Highcamp dinner, though of excellent quality, had lacked abundance. She rummaged in the larder and brought forth a slice of â€Å"Gruyere† and some crackers. She opened a bottle of beer...† (116) â€Å"Well, good-by, a jeudi,†...(108) â€Å"The sun was low in the west and the breeze was soft and warm.†(53) But unlike Hemingway, I often got the feeling that Chopin did not trust either her writing and the images and metaphors she used, or the reader to understand her more subtle sections. She seemed to feel often that she had to go back and tell the reader what a certain image or action â€Å"really† meant , as if we wouldn’t understand. It was difficult, especially at first, to identify with Edna. I thought at first that this woman just had too much time to think and little else to do with her life,(Which ultimately might be Chopin’s point). A woman with so little to really â€Å"worry about†, in the context that most of us have daily problems, mostly of a material kind, to take up our thoughts. Also. her reaction to her children,(as well as her husbands), made me feel for them.(This was the first thought that came into my mind when Edna walked into the ocean. Is finding freedom for our soul synonymous with freedom from our responsibilities?

Electronic Security Essay -- Internet Technology Essays

Electronic Security Have you ever wondered what happens to your credit card number when it's sent through a "secure" server to Yahoo or Amazon? Have you ever wondered: Is my data safe? Unfortunately no activity on the Internet is private or secure. Anything stored on a home system is completely vulnerable to the outside world (unless of course the system is isolated from the Internet). Another thing to think about is the fact that any data on any type of disk can be salvaged. So if a corrupt disk is discarded, the data can be recovered with the right tools. The same is true with computer hard drives, flash memory, compact Disks etc... There are actually people who recover data for their income. These people usually don't discriminate against one customer or another they just extract the data and hand it to them on a silver platter. In the movie The Net Ms. Bennett (Sandra Bullock) works for a software company. She beta tests and de-bugs programs. She finds dangerous information that ultimately launches her into an epic battle against a group of terrorist hackers, the stakes: her life and identity. Could this really happen? In theory, someone's life could be screwed up and/or stolen. To gain control of a whole country's databases and networks would require a better-laid plan than the plot in the movie. In order to have access to secure national data; a very powerful decrypting program would be needed, as well as a way to cover up the point of ingress. Having a contact on the "inside" wouldn't hurt either. The movie plot seems a little far-fetched. World domination is not as easy as Hollywood makes it out to be. In the real world most network hacking is used to cover up secret events and information, which could pos... ...oice is to be careful with the information released to the public, forcing anyone who wishes harm to work for the information. Electronic security is a false notion, due to the fact that humans created the code or encryption in the first place. So other humans could also think up ways to break or modify other People's work. It is impossible to make a code so amazing that it is unbreakable. If it is invented by a human mind, it can be understood and used by another human mind, in time. Works Cited The Net. Screenplay by John Brancato, Michael Ferris. Dir. Irwin Winkler. Perf. Sandra Bullock, Ray McKinnon, Jeremy Northam. Columbia Pictures, Winkler Films. 1995. Holeton, Richard. Composing Cyberspace: Identity, community, and knowledge in the electronic age. New York, San Francisco, St. Louis: Stanford University, 1998 (Wolves of the plateau. 132-142)

Global Procurement and Supply

GlaxoSmithKline:Sourcing Complex Professional Services Erin Edwards Global Procurement & Supply April 22, 2018IntroductionGlaxoSmithKline also known as GSK is currently losing millions of the dollars annually in legal process. Normally, GSK always billed the law firms on hourly basis but this was not practical for the company. The team not had to research and innovate new ways to cut the spending through a new procurement process. GSK, GlaxoSmithKline uses an innovative approach to procure outside counsel by trading relationship based selection of law firms to an online reverse auction. However, the quality of the work, and selecting the right the law firm was a challenging hurdle to jump. GSK was willing to take up the challenge to come up with a better process of handling their spend.GSK is hit with a devastating suit and only has a certain number of days to hire a firm in time to respond. Their managing attorney Sophia Keating grapples with GSK approach to selecting suppliers. GSK employees ensured Sophia that this approach drives down cost and improves the quality of work submitted by the lawyers. Still skeptical about the process, she still runs process by comparing the competing firms and their bids. Furthermore, it was the decision by Harlow to outsource the services. GSK made strides to come up with the suitable options, and options to meet the criteria of less cost, and quality work. However, there were other concerns that could be discussed more broadly to avoid the pitfalls during the process. This case also describes the process in which this process was made and adopted beyond the implications for law firms and other service providers. Many processes seemed to only be adopted by selecting vendors for a variety of supplies and products but can be used for services also. This procurement process can be incredibly beneficial, especially streamline purchasing and tracking spend. This process can ensure a company pays the best price for goods or services, save time by choosing the most reputable vendors, and minimize order delays and mistakes. After getting early endorsement from the general counsel, Marty Harlow worked with GSK's global external legal relations team (GELRT) in legal to develop a matter-specific, mini-RFP tool that enables in-house counsel to assess firms' specific qualifications for a particular representation. The other main component of the OCSI is the electronic reverse auction which encourages fee competition among qualified law firms instead of hourly rates. GSK's preferred firm roster work with procurement to draw up a shortlist of firms to invite to an OCSI event. GSK lawyers use a form-driven process to state as much detail about the matter as possible and these are passed to Harlow's team for submission to firms. This case is very useful in talking about institutional change and how the procurement process can be adopted to many fields and services.Main IssuesUncontrollable SpendingThe company was spending millions of dollars annually on the spending on the legal matters. It was identified that there was also extra unnecessary cost incurred that could have been avoided through a better process that was more centralized. â€Å"More than a quarter of companies in the U.S. and UK spent over $5 million annually on litigation costs in 2012, and among healthcare companies that proportion was estimated to be 30%– 40%. Because legal fees had become a prominent line item in company overheads, top management in many companies pressured their general counsel (GC), the chief lawyer of a legal department, to rein in legal spending† (Gardner and Silverstein 2)There were some moments when the company even did not know about the spending on the legal matters, and legal department exceeded the budget sometimes. This was an issue many companies were being affected by, not just GSK. However, GSK noticed the high costs and need to be able to have a better centralized process. Therefore, it was challenging for the company to manage the spending on the legal matters and find another solid process that could not only cost less, but also provide quality services since quality is very important in the legal work. Relationship Vs. QualityGSK is engaged with the same law firms that they have had long relationships with. â€Å"One involved consolidating the number of firms with which their company regularly worked—sometimes ending long-standing relationships.† (Gardner and Silverstein 3) Relationship management is very key is long lasting business relationships, which has allowed GSK to be very successful with prior legal matters. However, through this process, the company would incur extra cost on the legal matters, because there is no cap on spend since it was tracked hourly. Since there was no centralized system to track the work and spend, GSK had no idea about the urgent matters and problems of the company. It is very important the firms that are selecting ensure that quality work is being completed without overspending. Cost does not always mean quality. GSK should have to risk quality during their cost for the best legal pursuits. Even though supplier relationship management is great, but it becomes challenges when spend is starting to become uncontrollable and unmanageable. Building closer relations with your strategic partners will minimize supply chain risks. Having strategic partners whose goals are aligned with business objectives are highly valuable and important to long term success.KPIsThere was not performance management in place to determine how the firm is performing. GSK did not have a quantifiable measure that is used to track and assess the status of the firm process. Every area of business especially complex professional services should have specific metrics that should be monitored. Having metrics will focus more on big picture financial metrics, which was an issue for GSK without the procurement process. The case does not mention how performance of the firms will be tracked. â€Å"GELRT leveraged technology to obtain?the information it needed to optimize financial performance and strengthen strategic planning. Matter management, electronic billing, and reporting systems were already in place within the legal department.† (Gardner and Silverstein 6) There is a lot of information about how GELRT uses technology to acquire information. The system is able to track spending, but there is no system in place to track KPIs.AnalysisThe process of sourcing involves the company to select suppliers for a product or service. The complete an evaluation of the supplier and finally contract with the supplier to deliver the required products or services. While procurement refers to the activity of getting the deliveries from the supplier identified and ensuring that the payments to the supplier are made. GSK adopting procurement process has helped make changes within their spend. â€Å"By 2006–2007, procurement had become heavily involved in the sourcing of many ancillary services. Harlow's tough stance in negotiations saved GSK an estimated $23 million: $19 million from Legal Staffing/eDiscovery, $1 million from Court Reporting, and $3 million from Medical Records.† (Gardner and Silverstein 4) By taking the right initiatives in sourcing and procurement, GSK is able to see the benefits. Having a process in place will save the company time; ensure that one is getting the right solution to meet business needs. A procurement process will ensure you pay the right price and avoid overlooking vital steps that may come back to haunt the firm later. Procurement policies and procedures allow a business to arrange its buying strategy to its long-term goals and objectives. Procurement helps with a better chance to meet business goals. â€Å"This system reminds me of buying office supplies or landscaping services. Can it really be applied to a complex legal case like this one†¦.?† (Gardner and Silberstein 1) This is what Sophia Keating thought to herself when the idea of a reverse auction process was presented to her. The vendor selection process initially starts as part of a company's strategy. A procurement process can measure the direct costs and the team timesaving achieved through better management. For example, GSK was very focus on their legal spend, which in turns means you need to select firms that would be able to handle the request in the right budget. The nice thing they had a selection of firms who meet their cost, quality and service requirements needs, but also add some firms who were new. After they shortlisted their firms, GSK was able to use OCSI for their quotes, terms and minimum service levels. Finally, review their proposals from the reverse auctions and reward the firm with the lowest number. Procurement increases an organization's productivity by providing visibility into transactions.Benchmarking is the process of paralleling what companies are doing with what the best performing company in your industry is doing. In textbook, Purchasing & Supply Chain Management describes bench making as, â€Å"Benchmarking is the continuous measuring of products, services, processes, activities, and practices against a firm's best competitors or those companies recognized as industry or functional leaders.† (770) In Exhibit 3 of the case, you able to see how GSK compares with the other Law Firms Self-Assessment. Unfortunately, GSK managing attorney assessment does under perform in a couple areas like understanding business objectives, involvement of diverse team members, and reactiveness and creativeness. One of three types of benchmarking, process benchmarking compares operational processes. Performance benchmarking compares product or services, marketing and sales to determine how to increase profits. Short term benchmarking goals, produce quick results. But it is the long-term goals that help with the direction and strategies of the company that will make it more competitive in the market. Performance management is a performance controlling style that has grown increasingly popular with a variety of companies. Performance management is the process in which it challenges the company's overall performance and abilities. It challenges them to bring their best foot and work forward. Performance manage usually involve setting goals, then evaluating their progress or work with a reward or penalty depending on how the firm or vendor performs. RecommendationsRun Reverse AuctionsA reverse auction is best used to obtain the best rate by embracing competition among firms bidding on price. GSK using this method will allow the law firms to compete with their best idea to win the business and also be within budget. The idea of reverse because during the auction makes sure the price drops. Price was definitely an issue for GSK previously because there was no way to track the spending. Using the method of reverse auction has a number of advantages. Some of the benefits of reverse auction is the amount of time it takes to make a decision. Before something that could takes months, can now be shortened into weeks or even days. Also, the bidders are able to see who their competition and how they compare to them. There is a lot more transparency when it comes reverse auctions. Law firms would calculate their preliminary prices and confirm the very lowest price they would go to secure the business. II. Conduct Routine Performance ReviewsPerformance management is a mutual agreement about how companies or individuals contribute to an organization's goals. This is what OCSI can do for GSK. OCSI can act as a process of performance management and appraisals focusing on aligning GSK's workforce, building capabilities, improving employee performance and development, and influencing better business results. GSK should complete annual performance reviews to evaluate the firms' performance. This entails gathering feedback from co-workers and clients into consideration and observations by management. These assessments can be very detailed and elongated to include a review of the previous years' evaluation and an assessment of services. Many firms may have the company complete an evaluation of their own performance that is then discussed during the evaluation and compared to the official evaluation. Monitoring gives the company an opportunity to make a course correction or adjust a timeline if it is needed so that the vendor will produce the desired outcome of successfully achieving goals. If GSK concludes the vendor has unacceptable performance, monitoring performance enables them to identify the problem early and get an opportunity to rectify before being evaluated incorrectly.III. Implementing a Performance-Based IncentiveThese systems are designed to retain top-performing vendors, motivate the desired performance, and control costs. If a company wants to pay for performance, it must define performance in very specific, objective, quantifiable terms, measure it and track it. Introducing a performance based incentive program with help firm collective help GSK reach their business goals and legal objectives. This r eally entices firms to align their work with the business goals. Having a reward for exceptional performance and penalties for poor performance really ensure that money is not being wasted but invested properly. IV. Routinely Fresh Preferred SuppliersIt is healthy to refresh suppliers and firms from time to time. If you consolidate your supplier base, it will allow better visibility over the billing process. It will be easier to track payments leaving the business and going to the suppliers, so any errors will be identified more rapidly. When you deal with less suppliers and vendors, there is less administration and paperwork to handle. This allows more time to focus on other areas of the business. When it comes to decreasing the number of suppliers GSK uses, it is best to control what's best for the business. Above all, GSK needs to find the best overall fit so that there's a steadiness between the time it takes to achieve their supplier base and the profitability of the business.Conclusion Procurement is should be viewed strategic function working to improve the organization's cost-effectiveness. Procurement helps streamline processes, reduce service prices and costs, and identifying better firms to do services. It is essential to any business that purchases anything such as products or services. Since GSK buys services like other companies, then the better its procurement function works, the more money it can make. Typically, businesses buy products or services from multiple vendors. Procurement handles the details of procuring these purchases at optimal prices. Combining your strengths with stakeholder' helps find new progressive solutions to remain successful in business and stay ahead of the competition. To maintain sustainable supply chain, procurement management has a profitable impact on a company's processes. It helps avoid supply chain risks by better collaborating with vital partners and providing added value to diverse business practices. The bottom line: Performance management is an ongoing practice, not a yearly task. The success of an organization, if aligned to your organizational goals, will drive business results.ReferencesCapko, Judy. â€Å"Five Steps to a Performance Evaluation System.† Family Practice Management, 1 Mar. 2003, www.aafp.org/fpm/2003/0300/p43.html.Gardner, Heidi K, and Silvia Hodges Silverstein.â€Å"GlaxoSmithKline: Sourcing Complex Professional Services.†Ã‚  Harvard Business Review, 26 Feb. 16, hbr.org/product/glaxosmithkline-sourcing-complex-professional-services/414003-PDF-ENG.Accessed 18 Apr. 2018.Markgraf, Bert. â€Å"How to Evaluate a Company's Performance.†Ã‚  Small Business – Chron.com, Chron.com, 5 Feb. 2018, www.smallbusiness.chron.com/evaluate-companys-performance-67095.html.Monczka, Robert M., et al.  Purchasing and Supply Chain Management. South-Western, 2011.Wincel, Jeffrey P.  Lean Supply Chain Management: a Handbook for Strategic Procurement. Productivity Press, 2008.

Book Card: the Adventures of Huckleberry Finn Essay

The story of Huckleberry Finn was placed in the 1830’s and was wrapped around the thought of slavery and Freedom. Mark Twain began writing the story of Huckleberry Finn in the year 1880 but as times got harder in the battle of slavery in the south, Twain stopped working on his story for another 2 years. After finishing two other works of literature, Mark Twain once again picked up the story of Huck Finn to complete their adventure. Character List: Huckleberry Finn – The main character of this story, Huck Finn goes on adventure with his friend Jim and Tom Sawyer. Along the way he is put up against obstacles that, for the most part, make him consider the foundation of the logic that society has. Huck Finn’s Father – Huck’s Father is a constant drunk. He is abusive and seeks to control Huck’s fortune. Tom Sawyer – Tom Sawyer is the same age as Huck Finn and his best friend. He is a natural born conman who is able to persuade almost anyone to do anything that he wants to. Jim – An African American who starts out as the slave of Miss Watson and later becomes Huck’s travelling companion down the river. Jim at first glance does not seem like the smartest character in the story but while on the island Jim shows a hidden â€Å"intellectual† side with the natural world around him. Widow Douglas – Widow Douglas is the guardian of Huck Finn in the beginning of the story. She attempts to â€Å"civilize† Huck but he finds the rules too binding for his lifestyle. So as a result he fakes his death and travels upstream to avoid both Widow Douglas and his father. Judge Thatcher – The Judge who issued both Huck and Tom their share of the money and tries to protect Huck from his Father. In the end she is replaced by another judge who ends up allowing custody of Huck and his money to his father. Themes and Motifs: The theme of this story is based on the fact that racism was still an issue in the United States, even after the Emancipation proclamation. With the story of Huckleberry Finn set a few years before Mark Twain’s Time and portraying the facts of his time, Twain was able to produce a story that showed how blacks were still being downed upon in the Southern States. Another theme of this story is that of the hypocrisy of the United States earlier society in a way that defies logic and reasoning. An example of this is evident in the beginning of the story when the judge gives Huck’s father the right of custody to his son, Huck, as well as his fortune in money. This resembles that of the slave days where huck –portrayed as a black slave in this example- is still under the mercy of his father –portrayed as the white man in society- Literary Elements: One of the major literary elements in The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn would be the conflict of the individual (Huck Finn) versus society. Huck Finn is in a constant battle with the people around him when they try to civilize him. Also, the story is told in a more humorous tone which is another literary element that is observable in this novel. Quotes: â€Å"What’s the use you learning to do right, when it’s troublesome to do right and ain’t no trouble to do wrong, and the wages is just the same? † (Pg.  91) â€Å" The pitifulest thing out is a mob; that’s what an army is–a mob; they don’t fight with courage that’s born in them, but with courage that’s borrowed from their mass, and from their officers. But a mob without any man at the head of it is beneath pitifulness. † (Pg. 146) â€Å"But I reckon I got to light out for the territory ahead of the rest, because Aunt Sally she’s going to adopt me and sivilize me, and I can’t stand it. I been there before. † (pg. 293) Bibliography: Twain, Mark. The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. Classic Reissue. New York: Bantam Dell, 2003.

A Brief History of Economics Essay

Through his use of dialectical materialism, Marx not only changed the history of economic thought, but found great illumination for himself regarding the bonds of human society. The concept that seems relatively simple in today’s complex economic world was utterly revolutionary in the time of Marx: people develop their ideas about the world (and thereby, their ideas for how society should be organized and stratified) based on the material aspects of their lives. It was an elegant extension of basic Marxist theory: capitalism, according to Marx, is interested in offering naked materialism as a kind of booby prize to make up for the means of production being taken away from the people. If the people can no longer work for themselves and no longer work at perfecting their own craft as individuals, then, as Marx correctly deduced, people would require something to validate their work. This became the center of capitalism, as Marx understood it: materialism exists as a kind of justification for capitalism, and since materialism has permeated our culture to such an extreme degree, eventually social orders began to revolve around it. Hence, what capitalism serves as the cause of what Marx saw as nothing less than ongoing class warfare. It is interesting to note that Marx believed a violent revolution on the part of the proletariat was not simply a possible method of changing things, but actually served as the only method of changing things. This is because materialism was so embedded into class structures (which, in turn, was so embedded in power structures), and the only way for society to functionally survive was for it to become overturned completely. It is also interesting to note the ongoing effect that Marx has had on philosophic thought: materialism had previously been dislodged by Descartes and the famous declaration â€Å"I think, therefore I am;† as far as most people who pondered these things could conclude, thought preceded matter. However, Marx not only brought materialism to the philosophic forefront—the then-controversial idea that material preceded thought—but illustrated the notion that the abstractions of materialism had been concretized by capitalism into purchasable goods. 2: Marx and the Secret Source of Profit Perhaps the most enduring notion of Marx’s is the so-called secret of the source of profit under a capitalistic society†¦though such is Marx’s legacy of intellectual thought, a great many people simply accept this notion as reality: the source of profit is the surplus value that an employer gains from laborers. After all, the means of production have been taken from the people: skilled artisan cobblers have been replaced by factory line workers churning out shoe after shoe after shoe. The money saved by employing this assembly-line method of industrial production becomes pure profit for the employer. Interestingly, Marx tethered this to his own theories on circulating capital—that is, something that does not last, and is used up in the production of other goods and services, in direct opposition to fixed capital, which is traditionally held for over a year by a business or institution. Marx astutely deduced that the distinction between these concepts is not only relative, but arbitrary: the idea that capital held for 365 days is circulating and that capital held for 366 days is fixed is absurd. However, it allows the proletariat to essentially gloss over their own necessity to the entire institution of capitalism: they are led to believe that society is held up by the fixed capital of major investors and their long-term investments. In reality, society is held aloft by the ongoing purchases of the common man (and woman): their disposable income is burned off to provide them a sense that capitalism is worth it†¦it turn, their disposable income is used to make the rich richer, as the cliche goes, all the way up the capitalist pyramid. In Marx’s view, this is one of many ways that those in power forestall the seemingly unavoidable class war that he advocates: those with power—the purchasing power of the common man—are convinced they have none, and are bought off with trinkets. It is interesting to note that this echoes the master/slave morality inversion of Nietzsche. 3: Marginalists and the Economy In the evolution of economic theory, the impact of marginalism cannot be overstated. Once one had accepted the blunt realities of Marx—specifically, that society was organized based on the perceived value of items—the logical question remained: how does one quantify the value of an item? Marginalism illustrated the diminishing returns on the marginal utility of resold products, which dramatically impacted analysis of capitalist economy, the focus of economic analysis, and theories of value and distribution. Regarding the analysis of capitalist economy, marginalism helped solidify the supply and demand notion of economics as that of mainstream economic thought, as opposed to the labor theory of value espoused by Karl Marx. To put it mildly, this has had ongoing economic effects for the last century and a half. The focus of economic analysis shifted accordingly, as marginalism interacted with price theory: this allowed economics to project demand curves utilizing marginal rates of substitution as a means of determining not only when, but why a seller is willing to relinquish a product for a particular price. Perhaps one of the most lasting effects of marginalism on economic thought has been its effect on theories of value and distribution. With the previous measures in place, economists (as well as common people) now had a more-or-less accurate measure of determining the value of any given product in any given social context. Of course, this also effects the ongoing distribution of certain products to certain demographics in order to maximize profitability. Interestingly, this is one of the chief criticisms of marginalism as well: that it is a vague pseudoscience whose intent is to maintain not only the economic status quo, but the appearance of the status quo. It is no surprise, then, that Marxists continue to grapple with marginalist theory: they see it as a means of keeping the proletariat in check, and preventing any uprisings from them. 4: Thorstein Veblen: Survival of the Fattest Thorstein Veblen, for better or worse, specialized in bringing the human element into economic theory. Specifically, he theorized that the institution of the leisure class was a parasite feeding upon America: upon the backs of workers who are actually productive are a class who seek only profit and produce nothing but waste. He essentially created and popularized the notion of conspicuous consumption as the epitome of this theory: that wealthy individuals spend large amounts of money on ostentatious goods whose sole benefit is to publicly display their wealth to the world. Unfortunately, this has become an integral part of the economy: although an engineer might weep at the man spending over a hundred thousand dollars for a car, the American economy would be crippled if conspicuous consumption vanished overnight. Hence, the parasite metaphor: conspicuous consumption and naked profit helps the wealthy to bloat themselves on the backs of the poor until the entire enterprise inevitably crumbles under its own weight. Veblen perceived quite clearly that human notions about the world are social constructs created by individuals, and as time went on, those notions would change, necessitating a change in economic thought as well. He makes frequent comparisons to evolution to further this end: idle curiosity spurs innovation, innovation spurs conflict between the old guard and the innovators, and an economic Darwinism is born. The advent of industry and technological revolutions merely expanded his original point: the parasitic relationship continued unabated, as the innovations of the productive engineer class were inevitably utilized as means of conspicuous consumption and waste on the part of the leisure class. Planes are developed as a result of idle curiosity, for instance, but it is the leisure class that necessitates the invention of first class as a way of displaying their own status in the social hierarchy.