Tuesday, December 10, 2019

Inherit The Wind Analysis Essay Example For Students

Inherit The Wind Analysis Essay Inherit the Wind, a play written by Jerome Lawrence, and Robert E. Lee, is one of the greatest and most controversial plays of its time. It was written at a time of scientific revolution to benefit people of the day and in the future, however, people of the day had a hard time accepting new ideas. It is societies unwillingness to change, and accept new ideas that create racism, and hate groups of today. This unwillingness is one of the major themes of this play. This thesis will be further explained, and supported by such literary elements, as setting, and character throughout the essay.The first example of the peoples unwillingness to accept new ideas, such as Darwinian theory, is towards the beginning of the book when both sides of the prosecution arrive in Hillsboro. The town is parading up and down the streets chanting, give me that old time religion, and down with Darwin. The irony of this is that none of them have read Darwins book, for example, when E.K. Hornbeck was talking to Eliza, the Bible salesman. Eliza said, that he, cant neither read nor write, so he could not have read Darwins book, but yet he is calling Hornbeck a sinner, and evil-utionist for believing in its ideas. None of the towns people on Mr. Bradys side of the trial have read, The Evolution of Species, not even Mr.Brady himself. Nevertheless, they will not accept the idea or take it into consideration. It is the towns people who represent society, and even today people will make false accusations about issues without even researching or knowing about the topic. Just saying something that they hear someone else say, then someone will hear them say it and so on, and that is the theme the book addresses, and this has created a problem in our society. The setting of this play has a lot to do with the main theme. Because the setting is a small town, it is not use to new ideas, and major cultural shock such as a large city. The people of the town have followed more traditional ancestral views about society, whereas people in a large city have been exposed to different cultures, and new ideas. A small town, in general, has no economic stature, and therefore, people of conditioned thought and tradition does not easily accept scientific revolutions from the big city. It is a great setting for the major theme, because those people are unwilling to accept new beliefs because they have been taught only one. In a large city, there will not be as much picketing and hatred for the idea, and that is why the people of Hillsboro make a great representation of our society, and their unwillingness to accept new ideas and changes. The characters in the novel also play an important part in the theme of the play, in that what they really represent to us. Cates portrays the change in our society when he is talking to the children of his class about evolution, and not abiding by the law. The town represents society, and Colonel Brady represents the unwillingness to change, and helping to warp the minds of the towns people having them cling to every last word he says. Colonel Drummond represents the minority of the people who agree with the change, and that he is representing Cates in this trial. Other characters in this play have a few significant roles, but not that directly relate to the theme. In conclusion, there are many different themes of this play, but there is only one to be selected. The one chosen, societies unwillingness to accept new ideas and changes, is a subject that we are fighting today, and one in which people need to change and learn more about what is different. .uf90df18368591537f0355d61a1ed2b63 , .uf90df18368591537f0355d61a1ed2b63 .postImageUrl , .uf90df18368591537f0355d61a1ed2b63 .centered-text-area { min-height: 80px; position: relative; } .uf90df18368591537f0355d61a1ed2b63 , .uf90df18368591537f0355d61a1ed2b63:hover , .uf90df18368591537f0355d61a1ed2b63:visited , .uf90df18368591537f0355d61a1ed2b63:active { border:0!important; } .uf90df18368591537f0355d61a1ed2b63 .clearfix:after { content: ""; display: table; clear: both; } .uf90df18368591537f0355d61a1ed2b63 { display: block; transition: background-color 250ms; webkit-transition: background-color 250ms; width: 100%; opacity: 1; transition: opacity 250ms; webkit-transition: opacity 250ms; background-color: #95A5A6; } .uf90df18368591537f0355d61a1ed2b63:active , .uf90df18368591537f0355d61a1ed2b63:hover { opacity: 1; transition: opacity 250ms; webkit-transition: opacity 250ms; background-color: #2C3E50; } .uf90df18368591537f0355d61a1ed2b63 .centered-text-area { width: 100%; position: relative ; } .uf90df18368591537f0355d61a1ed2b63 .ctaText { border-bottom: 0 solid #fff; color: #2980B9; font-size: 16px; font-weight: bold; margin: 0; padding: 0; text-decoration: underline; } .uf90df18368591537f0355d61a1ed2b63 .postTitle { color: #FFFFFF; font-size: 16px; font-weight: 600; margin: 0; padding: 0; width: 100%; } .uf90df18368591537f0355d61a1ed2b63 .ctaButton { background-color: #7F8C8D!important; color: #2980B9; border: none; border-radius: 3px; box-shadow: none; font-size: 14px; font-weight: bold; line-height: 26px; moz-border-radius: 3px; text-align: center; text-decoration: none; text-shadow: none; width: 80px; min-height: 80px; background: url(https://artscolumbia.org/wp-content/plugins/intelly-related-posts/assets/images/simple-arrow.png)no-repeat; position: absolute; right: 0; top: 0; } .uf90df18368591537f0355d61a1ed2b63:hover .ctaButton { background-color: #34495E!important; } .uf90df18368591537f0355d61a1ed2b63 .centered-text { display: table; height: 80px; padding-left : 18px; top: 0; } .uf90df18368591537f0355d61a1ed2b63 .uf90df18368591537f0355d61a1ed2b63-content { display: table-cell; margin: 0; padding: 0; padding-right: 108px; position: relative; vertical-align: middle; width: 100%; } .uf90df18368591537f0355d61a1ed2b63:after { content: ""; display: block; clear: both; } READ: Mental Illness Essay This is the theme of this play, and the most important one, one we need to learn from in which not everything is black, and white, right or wrong, good or bad, but it is the gray area that people need to come to a compromise about. Society would then be a better place for children to grow up in, and minority

Monday, December 2, 2019

The Advantages and disadvantages of Using Celebrities in Advertisements

Introduction In today’s business environment, advertisements are a part of our everyday lives as business aim to gain a competitive advantage over their competitors. Advertisements appear in any conceivable legally acceptable place as organizations aim to capture the attention of their prospective clients. TV programs are punctuated by commercial breaks which increase in intensity at the time of day when advertisers concede that there is maximum viewership and towering billboards continue to litter our highways.Advertising We will write a custom essay sample on The Advantages and disadvantages of Using Celebrities in Advertisements specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More Advertising as a marketing medium for business promotion is here to stay owing to the huge successes it yields to the organizations which employ the means. Advertisements have evolved in complexity and creativity throughout the years as a result of numerous resear ch efforts undertaken in advertisements. In the recent past there has been the prevalence in the use of celebrities by organizations in advertisements. The fashion industry in particular has been notorious for its usage of celebrities to endorse its products. This begs the question as to whether employing celebrities to front fashion marketing campaigns results to greater gains for a particular organization. To answer this question, this paper shall set out to discuss the significant advantages and disadvantages that may come about as a result of using celebrities in marketing campaigns. An analysis of the merits and demerits of celebrity advertisement in the fashion industry shall enable the paper to authoritatively state if these means of advertisement is worthwhile for the industry. Advertisement and Celebrities There is no universally accepted definition of the term â€Å"advertising† but the legal and statutory definition puts it as â€Å"a paid form of message dissemin ated by businesses†¦ specifically and systematically designed to influence the attitudes and decisions of individuals in relation to their consumption of goods and their use of services† (AGCM 2010). As such, advertising is always aimed at biasing the attitudes of the market to be favourably disposed to the company’s product. Despite the lack of a universal definition, the core function of advertising remains the say: to sell a good, service or product to a targeted audience (MacRury 2009, p.1). One can therefore infer that good advertisement is that which results in the increase in sales of goods or services to the targeted audience. The fashion industry stands out for its use of celebrity endorsement as a major marketing communications strategy. A celebrity is a well-known personality who is famous to the public for his or her accomplishments in some area e.g. acting, entertainment or athletes. Celebrity endorsement is generally defined as â€Å"any individual w ho enjoys public recognition and who uses this recognition on behalf of a consumer good by appearing with it in an advertisement† (McCracken 1989, p.310, cited in Wong 2009, p.1).Advertising Looking for essay on advertising? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More A report by Cooper (2010) indicates that the reason that celebrities are so prevalent in fashion marketing strategies is as a result of the acknowledgement by marketing executives that celebrities actively influence the public’s taste. Advantages of Celebrity Advertisements For a product to sell there must be some positive regard to the product by the consumers. If the consumers can perceive the product as being of a superior quality to other similar products by differing companies in the market, the consumers are more likely to purchase the alleged quality product. Celebrity advertisements are very effective in creating this perception of quality in the eyes of the consumer. This allusion of quality as a result of the products being used by the celebrities springs from the fact that the public assumes that being a celebrity is synonymous with having a taste for quality products. A case in point is the Nike â€Å"Just Do It† campaign in the early 1990s which made use of a number of celebrity sport figures including Michael Jordon and Bo Jackson. The Center for Applied Research (2000, p.2) asserts that the use of celebrity sports figures was very effective in reassuring consumers that the brands they picked (Nike in this case) was a quality brand. As a result of the celebrity endorsement, Nike rose to become the leading sports apparel company in the world. This goes on to demonstrate the power of celebrities to showcase a product as being of high quality hence leading to increased sales. The core goal of any advertisement efforts is to expand the consumer base of a product and ensure that the current consumer base is maintained. Cele brity endorsement enables an organization to tap into the fan base of a particular star (Elberse 2009). This is especially significant if the organization desires to reach a certain group of consumers who are known to make up a significant presentation of a celebrity’s fans base. Devoted fans of a celebrity have been known to don the product that the particular star vouches for regardless of their prior like/dislike for the same. Contrasting this with non-celebrity advertisement personalities who have no fan base and are unknown to the public, one can see why an organization would prefer to use celebrity advertisers whose mere endorsement of the products represents an intrinsic increase in the products consumer base. One of the defining attributes of using celebrities in advertisements is that they are generally very expensive. However, celebrity endorsements are in most cases regarded as worthwhile investments in advertising since the company makes up for the costs incurred through the positive stock returns and increased sales.Advertising We will write a custom essay sample on The Advantages and disadvantages of Using Celebrities in Advertisements specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More This may be because a product always has a higher likelihood of being successful if it is well known to the consumers and the use of celebrities invariably leads to the generation of a lot of publicity and attention by the public to the product in question. While the high cost may be seen as undesirable since it cuts into the company’s bottom line and the success of the celebrity endorsement is not always guaranteed, Elberse (2009) reports that a survey she conducted indicated that use of celebrity endorsements mostly led to the increase in a firm’s stocks. It can therefore be reasonably argued that despite the high cost for celebrity endorsements, an organization gains more than it losses in advertisement co sts. Today’s market is saturated with multiple products serving the same purpose but made by varying manufacturers. This is especially the case in the fashion industry where the there may exist multiple dresses, hand bags and shoes to name but a few, all made by different designers. In such a case, celebrity endorsement can achieve the invaluable task of differentiating the organization’s products from those of its competitors (Elberse 2009). In an attempt to differentiate its products from those of other organizations, a company will have to invest a lot of time and money into ensuring that its products remain visible to the public. As a matter of fact, celebrities are more exposed to mainstream media than anonymous models (Bergstom Skarfstad 2004). Celebrity endorsement will therefore bring a great amount of attention to the organization’s unique product therefore differentiating it from the others in the market. Celebrities can be used to bring about credibi lity to a particular brand. If a celebrity is perceived as being trustworthy and respectful, the audience to the advertisement will see the celebrity as believable and hence take his/her word for it in relation to the product that he/she is endorsing. Credibility is given high value in the fashion industry since some of the products sold are especially expensive and as such, consumers need to be convinced before parting with a small fortune to purchase the product. Elbers (2009) suggest that while â€Å"consumers cannot easily assess the true quality of products†¦ seeing a celebrity attaching his or her name to a product may help alleviate some of the uncertainty.† The consumers trust will therefore be built as a result of this celebrity connection leading to higher sales for the organization.Advertising Looking for essay on advertising? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More Disadvantages of celebrity Advertisements A significant disadvantage of using celebrities in advertisements is that if a company repetitively uses the same celebrity, consumers may subconsciously begin to link the brand to the celebrity. For example, Till 1998 (cited in Bergstom Skarfstad 2004, p.2) notes that the consistent use of Michael Jordan in Nike’s advertisements encouraged customers to think about Nike whenever they thought of Jordan and vice versa. This may be detrimental to a company’s goals should the celebrity endorser fall out of grace with the public. This is a very real danger as can be demonstrated by the product endorser giant, Tiger Woods. Until 2009, Tiger Woods was one of the most popular celebrity endorser earning up to $100 million from his endorsement deals with multiple companies (Shimp 2008, p. 250). Nike in particular made use of this athletic star to endorse some of its products. The negative publicity that came about as a result of Tiger W oods infidelity cases which were over publicized by main stream media resulted in a bludgeoning of his image and by extension, a negative perception for the products he endorsed. Another demerit of celebrity advertisement comes from the fact that fitting a celebrity endorser with a product may be a hard task and if it is not done correctly, an organization may end up spending millions on advertisement costs and not reap any benefits from it. A research by Bergstom Skarfstad (2004) indicates that most companies do not employee a clear strategy when they are selecting celebrities to use in their advertisements. As such, the companies rely more on intuitions and feelings in the selection process. For example, the sports apparel company, Gap, enlisted the high-fashion celebrity Ms. Parker (the star in Sex and the City) to market its sportswear (Ferla 2005). This was a mismatch which had disastrous results for Gap as its consumers could not identify the celebrity with the product. The o rganization therefore ended up spending millions of dollars in celebrity advertisement despite it not reaping any significant gain as the sales decreased. Conclusion This paper set out to highlight the significant advantages of employing celebrities by an organization to front its marketing campaigns. To this end, this paper has discussed some of the advantages as well as disadvantages that are apparent in celebrity endorsements. From the discussions presented herein, it is evident that the main aim of using celebrities is to obtain as much media coverage for the organization as possible which results in the generation of more sales. The facts presented in this paper demonstrate that this is a role that celebrities play successfully. It can therefore be authoritatively stated that the use of celebrities in advertisements is more advantageous to a company. Celebrity advertising should therefore be employed wherever possible by organizations in the fashion industry. However, care shou ld be taken to ensure that the celebrities chosen to endorse a product are well fitted for the role and fairly predictable to avoid the losses that can be incurred by the organization should the celebrity fall out of favour with the public. References AGCM, 2010, The Statutory Definition of Advertising. Web. Bergstom, C. Skarfstad, R. 2004, Celebrity Endorsement: Case Study of J. Lindeberg. Web. Center for Applied Research (CFAR) 2000, Mini-case Study: Nike’s â€Å"Just Do It† Advertising Campaign,. Cooper, R. 2010, Celebrity Fashion: Terms of Interest to the Fashion Industry. Web. Elberse, A. 2009, Risks and Rewards of Celebrity Endorsements. Web. Ferla, R. L. 2005, The Celebrity Endorsement Game. Web. MacRury, I. 2009, Advertising. Illustrated. Routledge. Shimp, T. A. 2008, Advertising Promotion, and Other Aspects of Integrated Marketing Communications, Cengage Learning. Wong, C. 2009, Risky Business: The Pitfalls of Celebrity Endorsement, Otago Marketing Review. We b. This essay on The Advantages and disadvantages of Using Celebrities in Advertisements was written and submitted by user Dylan George to help you with your own studies. You are free to use it for research and reference purposes in order to write your own paper; however, you must cite it accordingly. You can donate your paper here.

Wednesday, November 27, 2019

A Web of Symbolism essays

A Web of Symbolism essays The use of symbolic language enhances a story by displaying the authors message and offering new meanings for the story. Marie-Louise von Franz, a writer and psychologist, was an expert on the significance of fairy tales. In her book, Interpretation of Fairy Tales, von Franz states, ...we can put forward the hypothesis that every fairy tale is a relatively closed system compounding one essential psychological meaning which is expressed in a series of symbolical pictures and events and is discoverable in these (1). Von Franz suggests that the message the author expresses in his or her fairy tale can be deciphered through the authors symbolic language. Our website attempts to better understand Snow White and Bluebeard by explaining the symbols found in the stories. The site Julia and I created is titled Symbolism in Fairy Tales. Our site discusses the affect literary symbolism has had on fairy tales. The site includes a page that provides the meanings and importance of certain symbols in Snow White and a similar page on symbols in Bluebeard. Our site also includes a page with links to other symbolism web sites, Snow White sites, Bluebeard sites, and other relevant sites. Through the information we provided in our site, fairy tale readers can interpret different versions of Snow White and Bluebeard. Our descriptions of symbols from the two stories can be applied to other stories, which have the same symbols, and used to help understand those stories. It took awhile for Julia and I to decide on a topic for our site. First, we tried to combine our research papers in a creative way but we could not find any way to relate them. We went through our old papers and searched through our books. We brainstormed and each came up with a few ideas and eventually settled on my idea of Fairy Tale symbolism. After deciding on our topic we talked by phone and emailed back and forth frequently. ...

Saturday, November 23, 2019

Organizational studies Essays

Organizational studies Essays Organizational studies Essay Organizational studies Essay The main characters in this movie are James p. Sully and Mike Waxworks as the workers at the Monster Inc. Another key characters are Henry J. Watermelon the Company Chairman, Randall Bogs the co-worker, Number 001 the Chief Of Children Detection Agency (CAD) and Boobs as the children. Generally, Monster Inc. Is viewed as a power sourcing company with target to produce energy source as many as they can and they have a slogan Mime scare because we care. They have scaring doors as a production doors and numbers of highly skill and professional scare teams. It is assumed that Monster Inc. Is the sole electrical energy provider for Monstrosities using children fearful scream as a source. The source is collected and preserve in the energy bank in the form of yellow bottle can. Monstrosities is populated with monster being and the films showed that the connection between monster world and human world is the children. The technique to scare the children is not easy as it perceive because from the beginning the monster believe that children are toxic and touching them would be fatal. Monster Inc has a training centre to produces the special scaring team that can go into the unman world and scare the children effectively without physical touch to their body or any of their belongings. How the Monster Inc does reflect as an organization? What elements of organization that can we expound from the movie? Company Theory Monster Inc as a commercial organization, they employ monster to achieve the target, and they bring together the monster and the sources to produce the solutions of the needs. Monster Inc has a leader to manage the organization. The company in the movie is a large power company. Just like any factory, employees bunch in to start work and bunch out at the end of he day. Employees and managers are separate in the hierarchy of the organization. In the Organizational theory, study of the organizational behavior with the environments, Monster Inc fit in the Resource Dependence Theory. Resource Dependence Theory is a theory of organization that seeks to explain organizational and inter-organizational behavior in terms of those critical resources which an organization must have in order to survive and function. As an open-systems theory, the resource dependence argument suggests that a given organization will respond to and become dependent on hose organizations or entities in its environment that control resources which are both critical to its operations and over which it has limited control. From the Movie, Monster Inc. Have three external environments that they need to adapt in their organization, the population, CAD and the children. The production of the power of the screaming children contributes to the survival of Monster Inc. They have imperative responsible to provide daily needs of the monster world, without Monster Inc. The monster world will have disastrous circumstances. So they have the obligation to maintain their revises in order to avoid that situation. Apart of that they have to complied with the regulations that no physical contact with the human world. Monster Inc. Company Organizations has been designed adapting to those environments. If any of the factor changes, Monster Inc. Also need to change. Their setback with one of the environments is that their only source of energy has evolved; the children are becoming hard to scare and Monster Inc. Chairman found that the situation is critical. This is where Henry and Randall secretly find alternative means to extract children scream by force. Their lack operation is a reaction of the scarcer resources and the policy set by the CAD. There is no observation that indicates Monster Inc. Acquire Research and Development department that can innovate the technology of power extraction. All by coincidence, they found other alternative resource to acquire the power source, which are by extracting children laugh that are ten times stronger than their scream. Scaring technique is not required anymore and technique making the children laugh is the preferable skill. Also there are no harms of physical contact with the human. At the end Monster Inc. Have hanged and may evolve into better organizations which the resources are multiple now. Company Structure @ Company System Monster Inc. Organizational structure is designed in hierarchy structured. First there is distinction between the workers what might be called administrators like the CEO and COO and the training manager. This shows that there are a hierarchy of managers and workers in the company. Second the leadership is shown on personnel level when Mike and Sully go out their way to save the company and the child form destruction. They uncover scandal in the organization that goes all the way up to the CEO. Their main components in the organization is the Scarecrows, they have numbers of scaring team working daily producing the power resource. The scaring team comprise of the scarcer and assistant. The scaring team on the Scarecrows in structured in horizontal line provides mass outcome daily. It is assumed that the account department, marketing department and training department are at the same level structured where they are direct link to the chairman. CAD is not part of the company, but CAD may not relevant in future in their operational after finds that there is no toxic effect by the children if contact. Company Strategy Monster Inc fosters good image and a reliable power company to the perception of the public in their advertisement. Even after the reveal of the scandal, Monster Inc they have promoted new paradigm of power sourcing where by the end of the film, the company is back in the black and a positive light when they change from screams to laughter as the best practice for powering their world, During the movie we see television commercials for the company with its slogan and tagging. We also see magazine covers and advertisements with corporate image messages. They continuously enhance laity of create power where the scarcer compete each other to be the high score scare leader. Through their work and through the training program, the organization is trying to improve their efforts to create power for the city. Turning to laughs in the end, instead of screams, is really TTS. Corporate culture Monster Inc presents corporate culture that shown in the routine of the workers. Employees of different job types socialize together in the break room and in the hallways. Workers relationships have created a culture which is the workers activities, the company history in the intranet and the way the errors look up to Sully and Mike and the CEO, who uses a walking around type of management style. Sullen is a hero of the company because he has been the lead scarcer for years. Other employees look up to him for advice. The company values safety and quality work. This is shown through the display of safe days and high production of the scarcer. Rites and rituals are also there through the procedures that are used and reinforced by the employees. Conclusion It seems that in this movie, Monster Inc the only company that serves the public for power resource. Without Monster Inc, the disruption of power apply may unavoidable, and this is unacceptable circumstances. As a Company in the Movie, more or less, few organizational lessons can be extracted as example for learning purposes. Company seems to be observed as classic bureaucracy but equipment and technology may change the management theory into scientific management after finding out the laughter is the best options for power source. Company strategy must have far vision to make sure there will be no disruption of resource.

Thursday, November 21, 2019

Apple, Inc. Business Analysis Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Apple, Inc. Business Analysis - Essay Example Apple Incorporation was established in the year 1976 by Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak and has its head office in California. The company enjoys a well reputed history over quite an extended period in the field of manufacturing, designing as well as in marketing. These mentioned services were offered in relation to personal computers along with the associated services software, networking solutions and peripherals across the globe. Presently, the company has been observed to benefit from a market share of above 87.3 percent in the global automotive market with regard to its MP3 players and iPod along with its products related to personal computer. The mentioned products named Macintosh was found to command its share to around 2 percent in the global Personal Computer market. Apart from iPod, Apple also indulges in designing, marketing and developing the associated accomplices as well as services. The company even deals online in music stores along with making available its software rel ated to iTunes in Windows as well as Mac OS. The music store operated by the company online has a strong legal presence in the download market and dominated it by around 70 percent. The company even offers products as software for the reason of offering information to the students. In addition, the company offers other additional third-party computing products as well as supplies in a wide range (Lin, 2005). The financial position of the company Apple is compared with two other companies in this paper so as to ascertain its financial health based on the income statement, cash flow and balance sheet. The two companies with which Apple would be compared are Dell and IBM. With this concern, the balance sheet, income statement and the cash flow statements of Apple Inc. has been studied in order to ascertain the financial health of the company. Financial Comparison & Review In its current performance, Apple recorded a net income of $25,922 million and the cash generated from the operatin g activities amounted to $37,529 million which depicted a huge increase compared to its previous year, 2011. The net revenue of the company was also recorded to be $28,270 million, increasing by a huge margin from the previous year that is 2010. The total assets had also increased remarkably in contrast to the previous years. Furthermore, a huge increase in the goodwill of the company was also recorded which proved to be a favorable indication for the company. The total equity was observed to depict an increase compared to the previous year (Apple Inc, 2011). Therefore, it could be inferred that the company displays a strong financial position currently. It was observed after studying the financial statements of Dell that the revenue of the company increased by a significant 16 percent. The revenue amounted to $61.5 billion in the year 2011 which was recorded to be the highest increase in the history of the company. It was ascertained from the balance sheet and the cash flow stateme nt that the net cash derived from the various operating activities increased substantially. A rise was also recorded in the assets of the company along with a sharp increase in the overall stockholder’s equity. The operating profit or revenue of the company is considered to be the fundamental source of capital for supporting its regular business functions. Therefore, the increase in the net cash from the other operating activities would prove beneficial for the company. The cash flow from the operations was determined to be $4.0 billion which again depicted an increase from the previous year that is 2010. The increased returns from the cash flows played a vital role in helping the company to increase their competencies along with attaining fresh competitive advantages. The net income of the company was ascertained to be $2635 million which showed an increase from the previous years. Therefore, it can be stated that the financial health of the company is quite favorable for it s growth (Annual Reports, 2011). The financial

Wednesday, November 20, 2019

African American Vernacular Tradition Focuses on Spirituals Songs Essay

African American Vernacular Tradition Focuses on Spirituals Songs - Essay Example This proved to be the foundation for â€Å"white† and â€Å"colored† discrimination in the United States, which still thrives ceaselessly in the area. With immense African migrations, slavery was legalized in many regions of America (Zinn 23).The African Americans were referred to as â€Å"blacks† or â€Å"negroes† due to their dark complexion they inherited from their homeland environments. This discrimination proposed a widespread racial feeling of mixed emotions – hatred, contempt, pity or patronization (Zinn 23). Several conflicts have risen within the country due to this racism, leading to the Civil War of 1861. Even though attempts have been made to promote equalization of rights for all citizens alike, the cities are now divided into racially segregated segments. The term â€Å"Vernacular† refers to a traditional trademark, specifically associated with a nation. Hence the African American Vernacular traditions refer to their trademark characteristics that differentiated them from masses. African Americans are known to possess unique language skills and values. Their spiritual songs have been their primary source of inspiration since time unknown. Though their vernacular traditions have now been highly influenced by the modern cultures, attempts have nevertheless been made by the African Americans to save their traditions from extinction.... rect addresses and dialogues, as well as erasing all specific time markers in identifying specific episodes, Jones constructs a complex text of characters and events whose authority and authenticity are occasionally undermined by its ambitious elasticity and heteroglossia† (Bell). This reflects the uniqueness of the African American Vernacular language from the Standard English of today. However, it has not been this simple for preserving oral vernacular traditions like spiritual songs. These were essentially conveyed from parents to offspring and down through the generations. The originality could therefore not be protected since the newer generations â€Å"†¦ learned all their songs by ear, they often strayed into wholly new versions, which sometimes became popular, and entirely banished the other† (Higginson 160). Hence the oral vernacular tradition was heavily influenced by the cultural and environmental factors through times and has evolved in many stages into the forms and genres as we see today. The African Americans love their spiritual songs, and they continue to inspire them even today. Their deep respect for the songs stemmed from their relevance with the sufferings of Christ. When the African Americans toiled on plantations and labor in the capacity of slaves, many of them identified themselves as Christ undergoing the troubles and sufferings of his life, often asking God for help and the strength to overcome these problems. But the sufferings of the African Americans turned into their faith – a faith that found its solace in songs. Therefore the African Americans regard their spiritual songs in highest esteem. The African American Vernacular traditions are described as that â€Å"which refers to the church songs, blues, ballads, sermons, stories †¦

Sunday, November 17, 2019

Beer Industry Case Study Essay Example for Free

Beer Industry Case Study Essay Beer industry is one of the oldest industries particular in EU as it is one of the biggest beer consumption markets. This industry has seen fluctuation of the demand and consumption of the beer over the last quarter of 20th century due to many factors. This analysis will look in to those factors by taking into account the case given and will analyze the general reasons, growth and effects of the industry keeping in mind the macro-environment and its main component such as political, legal, environmental, economical, technological, social- cultural, and international aspects. Furthermore industry analysis will be discussed in details by analyzing the critical factors such as the threats of new entrants, suppliers and buyers power on the industry, product substitutions, and alliance and merging of the companies. The details of micro-environment and industry analysis will be available in the appendices. In addition, current strategy, links between the micro-environment and industry analysis, will be discussed along with brief recommendations. The fore European brewing company will be analyzed in terms of strength and weakness. Current strategy The beer industry has been in the existence for as long as the barley have been harvested and used for the making of the beer. The drink is mixed with alcohol in order to give it tantalizing taste with addictive quality. The beer is used as an everyday drink by many around the world and it by creating a taste and demand in the market. It probably will not be controversial, if argued that it is in the top 5 most drinkable beverage in the world. The demand of the beer has increased significantly in the last half of the century and some cultural such as German has included it, as part of their culture and celebrates beer drinking festivals annually. The industry has been facing some threats in the market due to increased number of brewery companies, who over supplies cheap beer in the market, which could possibly kill the industry. Some other new and non-traditional threats such as increased health risks, potential abuse of the beer, new legal challenges, globalization and environmental has put a question mark on the future of the industry. These threats are real and the industry needs to address them effectively and efficiently in order to survive in the future. Some of the threats are addressed by adopting new strategies, such as being environmentally friendly production line, innovation, GM foods, and many more in order to be in the market and create consumer for the future. Summary of macro environment analysis Economic One of the biggest current threats almost on every business is the current financial crisis and the beer industry is not immune to it at all. The global crises have forced many workers out of their jobs, increased unemployment, which means less finance to purchase basics for a everyday life. Many had to cut unnecessary activities such as going to the local pub for a drink after work on regular basis or purchasing beer off the self from super markets. The uncertain financial times have dropped the consumer confidence and most of the people are afraid of spending any money on unnecessary activates. There is very strong evidence that consumers are saving money during these crunch times. Europe has been one of the hardest hit by the financial crisis, and some of the countries such as Island were almost to the brink of the bankruptcy. This uncertainty will have huge impact on the industry in short term and will affect the profitability. The usual willing buyers might cut down to consumption of the beer significantly or even chose to switch to a cheaper brand in the market, in order to fulfill their alcohol appetite. In terms of macro-environment, it simply means the buyers becomes price sensitive. The fuel price and beer have direct relationship, since the early stages of this crisis, the fuel prices had dropped significantly which means less overheads cost for the company in terms of logistics and supplies, however this drop in fuel prices may drop the beer price but it will not be enough to create a demand and increase sales for the beer in the market due to the financial crisis. Financial crisis would mean the availability of credit will be almost none existence for the company to borrow and carry their daily operations across the borders. Not only the credit will be a major issue, but the unavailability of the funds means, less money to compete in the market and high chances of being takeover, merged, and acquisitions with other major companies. Irrespective of the size of the company, the threats will remain hanging around their heads for as long as the markets picks up. The different taxation law around the European countries remains another challenge for the industry as despite being as a collective states and regulating a common taxation law around the Europe. The gradually increasing labor cost remains as a constant threat for the industry, regardless of the any other factor, it will be a long term threat to be dealt with on a regular basis. Political/Legal The expansions of EU will certainly be positive point towards the industry as it will increase the business boundaries and will create an open market. It also mean, increased customers to be targeted for the beer industry and at the same time it will increase competition among the existing breweries and the invader breweries. The competition will bring down the price for the customer and decrease the profitability for the business. The over consumption of alcohol due to many reason has forced the politician and law makers to make much more stricter legislation and rules with the use of alcohol in particular with drink driving. Forcing a very limited pubs and bars opening hours will reduce the consumption of the beer by a large margin. It is defiantly a negative effect on the business and high chance of getting harder in the near future. The well known negative effects of alcohol on the public health means that it would cost more to the government’s health sector annual budgets. The government will try to decrees the consumption of alcohol as much as possible as alcohol related health cost are rising on the government. It is a negative effect on the industry as customers are discouraged to drink alcohol as it carries health risks. Other factors may also include to limitation on the issued licenses for the breweries to make beer, which means less breweries. Over all the political side of the macro-environment remains negative for the industry in short and long terms as anti-alcohol sentiments are echoed in the legal and political section of the EU. Technological The advancement of the technology has affected the way businesses are operated and products are produced. The use of robot in the brewery for the propose of production line, assembly line and in particular packaging of the product has been used significantly and reduced the reliability of the labour and their costs and overheads. The on time tracking of the barley to the brewery and finished product to the stores are made much easy as GPS are used to track the movement of the product and on time deliveries are made possible. On the other hand it may in occur as a one-off purchase cost to the company, but the long term use and benefits outweigh the costs. The advancement in technology will be able to make mini home brewery, so the customers could have their own personal brewery at home. It will be a negative effect on the industry, as customer will make their own beer at home, however the home brewery will not be able to compete with the taste produced by the master brewer for the major brands. Environmental The climate change will affect the industry as unpredicted weather patterns are expected, which will affect the crops produced for the brewery. In this case the imports of barley from other countries cannot be ruled out, but the importation will carry transportation costs with it and it will certainly be passed on the customers at end of the supply chain. The climate change has affected Europe in many ways, as some parts are getting too cold for the barley to be grown and some parts are totally opposite to it. Climate change has affected the supply of water for the farmers, as less water simply means less crop for the industry. The industry does not have any alternative to use for the beer making as barley remains the one and only key ingredients. Water is not only required for the crops to grow but also for the making of the beer in the brewery, a good quality water will be hard to find in the future. The Genetically Modified (GM) crops could possibly be an option, which requires less water to grow and gives a batter taste to the beer. However the GM is still in the experimental stages and there are question in terms of reliability and health benefits with the GM. Social-cultural The social and cultural effects on the beer industry will be mix as demographically arguing that European populations are getting old but at the same time they are replaced by ever binge drinking younger population, however the replacement are not sufficient enough. The female buying power have increased as more and more European female are working and socializing outside and have the money to spend. The new fruity flavored beer are specifically designed for the female and it has been very successful to capture the feminine side of the industry. It is positive sign for the future of the industry. The increased EU population has been effected by a very reasonable number of Islamic community, who does not consumer beer due to religious reasons. It will carry negative effect on the industry unless non-alcoholic beers are produced to target this section of the industry. The excessive consumption of beer has not been approved by the society as a whole due to the valid reasons such as increased obesity, alcohol related violence and health related issues and underage drinking. It will be a negative effect on the industry and will be carried away in the future. International The international side of the beer market seems to be very interesting in regards to the political shifts of power from West to Asian region. In the near future the growing Asian market will play heavily on the industry as more and more beers are brewed and consumed in Asian region. European companies will have to make strategic moves towards the Asian market and possibly will be required to make alliances in order to survive. The shift will not affect the European market and it possible means decrees in the beer cost as beer produced in Asian will come to the European market for the customers. Globalization has promoted the free trade, which has opened new market and dropped the tariffs but it may result as negative to the European breweries as the cheap Asian beer will pour in the market. The cross border business might have some barriers as the taxation and tariff law differs from one state to another. Summary of industry environment Threats of new entrants The threats of a new entrants remains reasonably low as it is subjected to the scale of operation for the new entrants. Business within the local or regional area will require very little set up capital, however on an a broad scale of import and export across to the EU will require much bigger capital, logistics and distribution channels. The new entrants will face the brand loyalty and product differentiation as the existing customers already have mature tastes for their brands available in the market. Certainly the threats remain high for the current players, however the survival in this tight industry might be very hard as existing brands have very strong marketing knowledge and established customers. Bargaining power of supplies In this industry the barley suppliers does not have much of bargaining power as the alternative use of the crops are very limited and the suppliers does not have much of a choice. The number of suppliers out weights the buyers and there are huge number of buyers but the major beer companies purchase barley in huge volumes and has the upper hand. The bargaining power may increase in case of a natural disaster, which could destroy the crop of an entire regain and decreases the quantity demanded for the beer market, but the chances of it happening is very less. The suppliers might have an alternative option of forward integration as to enter in the brewery industry, however the life within the industry may be short lived due to monopolistic nature of the industry by the brewers. The demand for a skilled master brewer remains very high and the skill supplier has the upper hand in this case. Bargaining power of buyers According to the analysis in the appendix 2, the buyer seems to be in a much stronger position then the suppliers. Due to the very nature of the critical product barley, which can not be stored and needs to be sold to the buyers as soon as its harvested. The buyers uses the volume perches power to negotiate with the suppliers and gets a better price. The number of suppliers are increasing within the European market and in some case the raw product could possibly be imported from Asian and South American destination with much cheaper price. Over all the buyers have the power to control the industry and manipulate in many ways. Substitutes The substitutes available in the market are one of the real threat to this industry as the negative effects of the alcohol are coming forward, which are backed by strong scientific evidence. The number of substitutes such as Water, milk, soft drinks, wine, tea, coffee, energy drinks, and traditional cultural drinks are and most of them almost posses no health threats of any kind. In fact the substitutes are well accepted socially, legally, economically and does not have any age restriction of any kind when consumed. Industry rivalry The issue of rivalry depends on the sector of market controlled by the companies. In general Europe has a very high number of companies operating within the EU. Europe has one of the highest consumption of beer then US and Asian market, so competitors has very good reasons to be in EU market. Some of the companies are merging in order to create an oligopoly or even a pure-monopolistic markets to drive out others from the industry. Generally the rivalry remains very high at all times, with the other companies in the industries. Interconnections between two analyses The beer industry is one of the oldest industry and growing over times. It has seen some fluctuations over the last half of the 20th century, but it has not deterred it any way. The macro-environment’s components faces constant changes as factors such as environmental, economical, political, and technological are interrelated to one and other. These factors are beyond the control of the industry and the industry does not have any other choice to adapt the micro-environmental changes in order to survive. The effects of the micro-environment carries on the industry and many ways such as environmental changes will increase or decrease the power of suppliers and buyers. The ever changing weather pattern does not guarantee crops for the next year and breweries remains uncertain at all time. The globalization remains another unavoidable factor affecting the macro-environment and the industry as whole. Recommendations what will it take in 2015 to be an industry leader and who may that be? Recommendation and 2015 directions * The future of the industry remains clear as long as the industry remains flexible to change. * The environmentally friendly approaches needs to be taken on for the production and packaging. * Globalization is a fact and EU beer industry needs to make changes, accept players coming from USA and Asian markets. The same could be expected to USA and Asian markets. * In order to gain maximum market shares, merger with other companies should be encouraged as it will decrease the operational cost, exchange of expertise in particular master brewer. It will make them a strong player in the industry. * More investment are required in area of new flavor. * GM barley needs to experimented as it could possibly provide benefits both ways. * Non-alcoholic beer should be produced to target the growing Islamic community in EU and in the Middle East. * Geographic expansion needs to be considered out of EU. * In order to reduce the harsher law against the use of excessive alcohol, industry needs to educate their customer and advice them of moderate drinking habits. * With the assistance of the transportation department, Community based programs should be designed to educate the new drivers, of the dangers of the drink driving. The strength and weakness of the fore brewing companies As appendix 3 provides detail list of the weakness and strength of the fore brewing industry as 1. Heiniken ( The Netherlands) Strengths One of the biggest brewery in Europe as with the sales of more than 8bn pound in 2006, it’s a global company expending in to Asian markets and US by 5% and 17 percents. Weakness The weakness of the Heiniken would be as it has given more attention to the EU and ignored the ever growing Asian market. It may be enjoying the current EU market but the future holds with the Asian and Sub-continents. The future will be bright if the company considers moves in to other markets and makes alliances with intended region. 2. Grolsch (The Netherland) Strengths It is one of the oldest brewery with experience of all time. It has moved out of its European bases in to the US market and has successfully make alliance. It is one of the most innovative brewery and has a specialized experimental brewery. More then 50% of the products are exported out of Europe. Weaknesses The only weakness of the Grolsh would that it uses only one brewery to produce all it productions. The distance between the only brewery and some of the markets are enormous, which occurs in to huge logistics and transportation cost. The future looks very good as it does not rely on one market and the some of the new experimental beer could become market leading brands. 3. InBev (Belgium/Brazil) Strengths The largest brewery in the world as it is merger of the two companies. It is the largest market power to manipulate the price. It has gained big sector in to the Asian markets and are very innovative and environmentally conscious. Weakness Their does not seems to any weakness except the ignoring of the US market. The future seems to be very bright as it has the capacity and resources to grow and lead the market. 4. Scottish and Newcastle (UK) Strengths It is the 4th largest in Europe and 4 major established brand in the Europe. It looks in to the future and has tried to shares into the other bewaring companies. Weakness The company is not a big one and has tried to stretch it self into other breweries. The over reliance on the 4 brands has stopped them of innovation with new brands of beer. The future in European market seems to be well underway successfully but the entrance in the Asian market might be very risky as some of the major companies are well established in that market. APPENDICES Appendix 1 Macro-environment analysis Factor | Issues | Effects on Industry | Rulings | Economic | * The economic downturn * Increased unemployment * Uncertain financial times * Job insecurity of the customers * Global recession * Expansion of Euro * Tariffs and taxes * The increasing oil price * Labour cost | Controversial, as it may or may not increase the demand for beer. Could mean less money to spend on of going out for drinks at pubs and bars. People tend to save money as times are uncertainIt could possibly bring a very positive effect on the brewery business as the expansion will increased market boundaries with more customers to target. The expansion might be good on one hand, but on the other it will increase the Tariffs on the product as it has to go through many state borders. The taxation law varies from on EU country to the others, it will affect the profitability in short and long terms. The inevitable increasing oil price will need to be passed on the customer eventually. The labour market will demand an increase in their pay in the future, which will have to be included in the beer price. | +/-__++/-+/-__Final rulingsNeutral | Political/Legal| * Expansion of EU * Greater concern from politicians about effects of alcohol * Stronger legislation around drink-driving * Legislation on the pollutions * Marketing campaigns around effects of binge-drinking * Competition policy Licensing controls| It will increase the customer approaches as the boundaries will be diminished, creating open borders will encourage competition among the business within EU. The negative affects of alcohol will make the politician to take drastic action as to limit the use alcohol to reduce certain effects of it. The well known effects of alcohol, will put pressure on the customers to decrease the amount of consumption at pubs. Tighter legislation on the pollutions will put pressure to be environmentally clean industry. Health sector and public outcry will force the government to make stricter law for the use of beer. It may not be as an issue as the EU is very flexible with the licensing. | +____+Final rulingNegative | Technological| * Efficient production systems * GPS for tracking transportation Logistics and supply chain management * Product enhancements Bottling and packaging alternatives * Mini home Brewing | With use of robot in the production and assembly line will become efficient and effective also decreases the overheads Will monitor and make sure the product gets on time with the efficient routs to the customs and suppliers. It may incur some cost to the industry. The packaging and bottling cost will decrees with the use of alternative packaging such as plastics and papers. The compact mini home brewery will have minimal effect on the market as some of the customer will produce their own beer at home. | +++ +Final Ruling Positive | Environmental | * Climate change Variable * Seasonality of weather * Natural disasters * GM products * Pollution * Water scarcity * Energy costs| The increased outcry will affect the industry as the climate change will affect the production of crop by the farmers. The unpredictable weather with variation in rain pattern will put doubts the crops. The changing climate has made the nature unpredictable as Europe is getting colder every year and barley cannot be grown in a cold environment. The GM product will be beneficial to the industry as it will assist to produce the specific kind of crop, resistant to the pesticide and herbicides with maximum yield. As a result of the production, the industry will produce different kinds of wastes or pollutions. Beer brewing requires good quality water and it good quality water will be scares in the future. The energy cost will increase most of the source of energies are extracted from scares natural resources. | ___+_ _ _Final RulingNegative | Socio-Culture| * Ageing population * Feminine buying power * Increased multiculturalism * Peer pressure * Stress-relieving * Binge drinking * concerns about obesity * Alcohol related health issues * Under-age drinking| The EU population is getting old, it will not make much of difference on the industry as the younger binge drinker will replace them. Female are coming in the market with money to spend and adopting the beer tastes. EU’s population has increased significantly by multicultural, Islamic community, who does not drink beer. With the youth, the peer pressure makes them to act alike and promotes binge drinking culture. The current economic down turn has resulted into job losses, which has resulted into high level of stress. excessive beer is used as stress-relieving. Obesity is not accepted socially and considered to be unhealthy. Beer may be blamed to be one of the causes and it would affect the industry in future. The modern research has found strong reasons on the side effects of the alcohol and continued to do so. It will affect the business in long term. One of the unacceptable issues will be the underage drinking; however it may not be an issue when supervised. | ++ _++__+/-Final ruling Positive | International| * Shift in geo-political power to Asia * Increased awareness and global consumption of alcohol * Alternative religious aspects on alcohol * Falling tariffs * Global alliances * Globalization| Increased political power means increased income, which means more demand for the beer in the Asian market. New findings and Research increase the global awareness, most of them awareness appears to be advising to decrease the consumption of the beer. The increasing religious influences globally means less beer consumption as most of the religions discourages the use of alcohols such as Islamic religion with more than followers. The globalization has promoted the free trade among the states, which results in falling tariffs. The global alliances of the companies will help to increase their power in the market and act like a monopolistic. The globalization opens new markets and drops the tariffs, but it may result badly for the EU as the cheap Asian beer might pour in the market. | +__+++Final ruling Positive | Appendix 2 Details of Industry Analysis Factor| Issue Analysis| Rating of the Threat| Threat of New Entrants | Market Type:Monopolistic, with many number of brewer, Entry conditions: Relatively easy, with limited resource required on small level production. Product Differentiation: It is one of the key factors in this industry, the new comer will be required to create different and an acceptable taste for the customers, who already has matured tastes and brand loyalty with available brands in the market. Switching Cost: The switching cost for the buyers is very low as the product price is very low and trying another brand does not cost as much. Brand Loyalty: Most of the customer have a very strong brand loyalty and it will be very had to break that cycle in the market. EU well known brand such as Heineken, Inbev, Baltika, and Coopers. Logistics requirements:The new comer will have to establish a chain of logistics and supply from suppliers and to the brewery to the customers. Capital requirement:a very low capital is needed to enter in the market at a local level, however as on the international level the capital requirements will be medium to high. Globalization:Due to the globalization and open market, non EU players with cheap labor cost could enter in the EU and penetrate the market with cheap brands. Islamic countries:The market will not be allowed to enter in some of the Islamic countries as the consumption of alcohol is prohibited. | LowHigh LowHighLowMedium Medium Medium Low | Bargaining Power of Supplier| Master Brewer: The human capital of master brewer has the power of switching the company and move to another one of even changing jobs. Barley suppliers: The barley suppliers does not have much of choice to sell the crop to the brewery as the alternative use of the barley are very limited. Presents of substitute input:There is no other substitute for barley to be used in the making of the beer, so the supplier could have power in this regards. Due to a very high number of suppliers in the market, this power eliminates itself. Threats of forward integration:The supplier could possibly enter in the market as the entrances are too easy. In this case the suppliers will have huge impact on the industry. Switching cost of supplier: The numbers of suppliers are enormous as the buyers could easily switch suppliers in the market. It gives less power to the suppliers. | High Medium Medium Low Low | Bargaining Power of Buyers| Presents of substitute: A buyer does have power in the market as the product will needs to be purchased within a short time as use of barley in other products are very limited and it cannot be stored for a long time. Impotents of volume to buyers:The high volume of purchase decreases the power of supplier and increases the power of buyers. Buyers concentration: There are less buyers compared to the number of suppliers in the market for the use of barley, which means more power for the buyers to bargain with the suppliers. | High Low Low | Power of Substitutes | Strong substitutes : There are a very large number of substitute available in the market for the end user, such as Water, milk, soft drinks, wine, tea, coffee, energy drinks, and traditional cultural drinks. Most of the entire alternative has less or no side effects at all in the human body, which makes them all time favorite and increased in their demand for the future. | High | Appendix 3 Four Brewing Companies in EU Company| Strength| Weakness| Future outlook| Heiniken( The Netherlands)| * Biggest brewery in EU * 2006 sales 8bn pound * 5 % sales in Asia * 17% in US * Family business * Uses local business to sell their products | * More attention into EU and forget the ever growing Asian market * Very tight controlled due to family business in nature| Positive in EU, but negative in the Asian and US market. Over all in a good health. | Grolsch (The Netherland)| * One of the oldest * Medium size * Has alliances with US * Innovative with products * Licensed to export 50% of their products overseas * Has specialized brewery for experiment | * Centralizes brewery, uses only one brewery for the production| Looks good compared to its size and exports 50%. The innovation and experimental beer might capture market in the future. | InBev (Belgium/Brazil)| * Merger of two companies * The largest brewery in the world * Market power * Second largest in Chinese market * Looks for innovations * Environmentally conscious | | Very good and bright future due to the innovations, size, market power, environmentally awareness. | Scottish and Newcastle (UK)| * 4th largest in EU * 4 major established brands * Has global approach by purchasing shares in other brewing company. | * Over stretched company due to its size. * Lack of innovation with new tastes. | The future seems to be in doubt as company is entering to Asian market where the biggest brewery are well established brands. | REFERNCES Hubbard, G Rice, J Beamish, P 2008, Strategic Management: Thinking, Analysis, Action, 3rd edn. , Pearson Prentice Hall, French Forest, NSW, Austra