Summary of Joyce Carol Oates's Is This the Promised End Essay

Summary of Joyce Carol Oates's Is This the Promised End - Essay Example He could not rely on his common sense and did not see the difference between real and unreal world. The author connects the tragedy with transcendence as the main driven force of the tragedy itself. Joyce Carol Oates uses oppositions to unveil transformations in Lear's personality: real vs unreal, "self" vs "other", flesh vs soul, which "poetically symbolized by a union of male and female elements" (Oates, 1974). The notion of grace is opposed to masculine tyranny of Lear. Cordelia is the bearer of "grace" embodied in her personality. A special attention is devoted to historical process as the tool of dramatization depicting that the world exists in history. The main questions arisen from this essay are: Is it necessary to Lear to become insane What is the role of transcendence in the tragedy Is "King Lear" really a tragedy or triumph of justice For Lear, It is necessary to become insane because only in this state he can achieve spirituality and distinguish between "self" and "other. His insanity is a journey into self. Shaking up a thinker involves demolishing his reliance on "common sense", but common sense is not a quality of heroes, and Lear cannot achieve his status as a hero within a system linked to it.

The Social Impact of Two Artwork Collections Case Study

The Social Impact of Two Artwork Collections - Case Study Example This leads to the question that needs answers, which is: what does art research contribute to the society? The question can also query what the influence or the impacts of arts research are, outside the circles of academic work. Through the exploration of two artwork collections, the impact should be demonstrated in social, economic, and cultural circles. Through this paper, the author will demonstrate the social impact of the exhibitions created by two artists; more attention will be offered to the reactions and the responses of visitors. This study will be used to explore the role played by artworks and its impacts in the society. For this particular case study, the researcher will only focus on the social impact of artworks, as tools that can be used to drive change or to communicate a message within the society. A descriptive model will be used for this study. The study will rely on the reactions offered by the viewers of the two artworks, as well as a review of available literature about the two artworks used as the cases for the study. Through the combination of the information collected from different sources of literature, as well as the views offered by the visitors that viewed the two artworks After consolidating the information collected from the different sources, the author will consolidate the information into a unified set of conclusions, summarizing information about the intended audience, the intended outcomes, the role of the artworks in society and also the impacts of the works. Through the review of the literature, it was found that the ‘translation’ exhibition was developed by Jim Pattison, who is a lecturer at the School of Fine Art, at the University of Dundee (University of Dundee). The research of Jim Pattison took more than ten years, focusing on the translation of information and images using digital equipment, entailing the remodeling and the transformation of  the virtual images captured during his exposure to medical procedures.  

Variable and Fixed Costs Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words - 1

Variable and Fixed Costs - Essay Example Unlike in the absorption costing, all the variable expenses under the contribution income statement are deducted from the sales to get the contribution margin. This is followed by deducting fixed costs from the contribution margin to get the net profit or loss for a particular period. Under the absorption costing and contribution costing the net income is always the same only when the inventory is the same. Otherwise the income is higher under the absorption income statement that in the contribution income statement when the inventory is higher. Even though the fixed production costs under the contribution income statement are aggregated at the lower part of the income statement, all the variable and the administrative expenses are taken into consideration during the computation of the net profit thus making the two methods to have similar net profits when the income is the same. However, the similarity ends when a firm increases its inventory. Companies should create another income statement in a different format in order to undertake a comparison. Based on the impact of the inventory on the income of a company, an extra income statement helps the financial managers to show actual income of the company. One of the major aspects that are depicted by the preparation of income statement using the contribution margin format is that it helps the management in determining the proportion of the expenses that has impact on the revenues of a company. In this regard, it helps the management on adopting ways of minimizing such expenses in order to increase the profits. It is vital to note that fixed costs in the manufacturing of any product must be incurred. This implies that under the variable costing techniques, management is assisted on how to recover the fixed expenses in order to survive. Break-even analysis is a useful tool especially to the marketers. It entails the sales volume expressed in units that is

Employability & Personal Development Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words - 1

Employability & Personal Development - Essay Example The experience of attending a social gathering in London was a pleasurable and enjoyable one. The American culture and social norms are very divergent from those prevalent in the English community. The American social rules permit certain level of disorganization and less formality (Maureen & Sandra 2013). The essence of American community is embedded in the need for allowing people to express themselves and their feelings and emotions. The American culture is developed with the help of submerging different cultural and national identities and therefore, the society is exhibiting various colors of different cultures and societies. The English nation on the other hand, is famous for having its roots in formalization. The English are more than happy to uphold their family names and honors. The societal norms are designed to fulfill the abovementioned need. The historical context must be taken into account in order to understand the marked differences in both of the featured societies. The social occasions are identified as an effective and efficient measure of understanding cultural outlook of the community. I have observed while attending a party in London that youngsters were heavily guarded from socializing with strangers. The behaviors of the juniors were also strictly regulated and monitored by elders. The youngsters are also encouraged to exchange pleasantries with close family friends with passing on physical clues such as raising an eyebrow for pointing out a behavioral flaw (Jin & Li 2013). The youngsters’ conversations were interrupted by elders on more than one occasion as they were heading in the wrong direction. The humans are always noticed to seek legitimization of their actions from the society. However, in the case of English community, the need for acceptability is much higher than that in the American one (Muntaner 2013). The American parties are more rocking in style and therefore, the groupings form naturally. The participants from the same age groups hang out together. The individual behaviors are not guided intensively. The historical need and want of American society to accommodate people from number of cultures is being consistently translated in accommodative societal and normative behaviors and attitudes. The American society’s ability to produce artists and scholars is supported and enhanced by relaxed societal norms (Sousa, Martins, & Fernandesa 2013). The concept and idea of participative and open book management grew out of American culture because of its tendency to give everyone the basic and fundamental right of self-representation and freedom of speech. The English corporate culture is recognized as more rigid and due to this reason, the companies operating in the country are observed to follow a machine metaphor towards organizational existence and culture. The country is therefore, plagued with tall organizations with high formalization. The England in the view modern social scientists is b eing run in the light of old and outdated managerial concepts and therefore, its poor performance as a nation is understandable. The personal freedoms are denied in the name of culture and norms. The people are not allowed to speak their mind. They are being herded like mindless animals. The elders feel proud and take credit for training the next generation to be civilized. Nevertheless, the senior citizens are not aware of the fact that they are

Module Two Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Module Two - Essay Example Here is a generic form of function: 4. Economic Order Quantity (EOQ) formula is also represented as a function. EOQ is the number of units in an order that minimizes the total costs. EOQ is a function of setup costs and the cost of holding inventories. 7. Make or Buy decisions are the most important decisions made by the managers. Managers define the models as functions and then make decision for whether to produce the materials themselves or outsource them. 9. Forecasting of various variables can be represented using functions. For instance if we want to predict the next year profit then we will first find out the linear equation from the past data using regression tools and then we can simply put the value of the year for which we want to predict the profits. Sets are fundamental concept of mathematics. A set is a well-defined collection of objects. For instance, a set of people who have defaulted on loans amounting $500,000. The set theory involves operation related to sets (union, intersection and complement etc.). These sets are also vital for business applications. For example, let’s say that, The set theory has a limited usage in business world but set theory concepts provide a useful vehicle for presenting and discussing probability concepts. These probability mechanisms are applied thoroughly in business world. Fuzzy set theory is also an emerging concept that is being applied now days for business

The Great Baby Einstein Scam Essay Example for Free

The Great Baby Einstein Scam Essay The text â€Å"The Great Baby Einstein Scam† was written by Mira Jacob. This text is an argumentative issue giving details supporting why parents should not buy materials, such as videos, in hopes of their babies becoming geniuses. The sole purpose of this article is to inform the public of Disney’s inconspicuous way of apologizing for their attempt at misleading parents to believe that they had developed a â€Å"Baby Einstein† video for babies, in whom these videos hopefully would turn your baby into little geniuses, was to issue out refunds. This video, called â€Å"Baby Einstein,† have had a disappointing outcome, which caused an upset, especially with parents. This video used a known genius â€Å"Einstein† to promote its sales. The readers are parents with babies six months to two years, wanting their children to have an advantage of being very smart. These readers are those that knew Einstein was a genius, which gave the scammers leverage for the â€Å"Baby Einstein† video scam. The readers are those who wanted to believe that there is a magical, wondrous, no parental-guidance-required product that will turn their kids into Mensa members. Mira Jacob, is an editor at the online magazine Shine. She was intrigued by an article in the New York Times that said Disney was offering a refund to buyers of â€Å"Baby Einstein† videos that did not do as it promised. The author wants the parents not to depend on every â€Å"educational† toy out there. One constraint is a large number of parents with babies ages six months to two years were convinced to buy the â€Å"Baby Einstein† videos. Another constraint is parents believing that if their babies watched the video the babies would become geniuses. Another constraint is the combination of our lack of time, our paranoia over our kid’s performance, and our faith in technology that caused this generation of parents to accept the clever advertising of the video to be considered as truth. The Exigence of this article is parents with babies six months to two years bought the videos that help their child a chance at becoming a Genius? The only problem with all of this is the video didn’t work.

Tobacco industry

Tobacco industry Tobacco industry Tobacco industry plays as a pioneer in the modern marketing. Tara Parker-Popes ‘Cigarettes: anatomy of an industry from seed to smoke acknowledge that the tobacco industry represents promotion and marketing itself. It is the industrys marketing ability which made tobacco a high necessity good for billions of people around the world, despite the products nature of harmfulness. The world tobacco industry has been recently hit by the criticism on major companies social responsibility as the awareness of the products harmfulness increases. This is followed by anti smoking campaigns and various regulations in the global market. Despite the adverse environment, the industry is still growing and its influence on the world economy has not weakened. A question then arise, what type of marketing strategy the industry has been applying in order to form a huge global market and what would be effective strategy to adopt in changing environment. The question can be tackled by analysing an individual company which has been adopting its strategy successfully to changing environment. BAT (British American Tobacco) The worlds biggest market is China where 35per cent of the global total output is consumed and industry is state owned monopoly. Outside China there are four major companies which account nearly half of the global market, which PMI (Philip Morris International), with a global market share of 15.6per cent, BAT (British American Tobacco) with 12per cent, JTI (Japan Tobacco International) with 10.6per cent, Imperial Tobacco with 3.5per cent. (Yuk. Pan Kwan, 2008, p18) BAT was founded in 1902 and has sustained a significant industrial presence for over 100 years. They produce 684 billion cigarettes a year through 47 factories in 40 countries with 53,000 employees worldwide. Their continuous growths can be identified from their financial performances, where the figures for growth turn over, revenue and profit is in increase. BAT is the most multinational cooperation among the international tobacco companies operating in five regions around the globe. They are America Pacific, Latin America, Europe, Africa and Middle East and Asia Pacific where Its brands hold robust market positions and have leadership in more than 50 markets. While their competitors focusing on the large and base markets (Philip Morris- US, Japan Tobacco- Japan), BAT successfully adopted marketing strategies to the new environments and developed new markets. BATs success in the South Korean tobacco market is the typical example where its effective marketing strategy adopted to fast changing environment. By looking at the market closely, the factors which led to the success will be identified. BAT in South Korean Tobacco Market BAT has entered South Korean tobacco market in 1988 when state monopoly company KTG (Korean Tobacco and Ginseng)s exclusive monopoly on tobacco sale has abolished. Until 1990s its forefront brands KENT and KOOL has failed to adopt the Korean market and experienced market divest for twice. However by re-positioning its brand to DUNHILL in 1993, the sail started rise and in 1996 BAT successfully occupied the competitive position in Marketing Environment The analysis will start with looking at strengths and weakness the BAT obtained internally over the competitors. The opportunities and threats will then be verified to investigate the external environment the BAT is facing in the Korean tobacco market. This will help understanding BATs strategies and will provide solutions to current environment changes. Strength BAT had effective quality control process which ensures customer satisfaction. Over 300 quality tests exist through the manufacturing process from purchasing raw materials to finished products. The products produced in Korea are regularly sent to the BATs lab in London to ensure its quality is maintained. This helps to deliver the BATs image of high premium tobacco producer, which also aid by its 100 years of history. BATs localisation strategy enforces its competitive position in the market. By having a local production facility, its products are made by locals which dilute possible variance the foreign imported goods obtain. With over 500 salespersons operating through 19 regional offices, BAT is able to gather effective information on sales. Salesperson visits 7,200 retailers across the country twice a week, and conducts monthly marketing surveys which not only improve marketing decisions, but improve company reputation. Weakness Local consumer can be hostile to BAT as there is ambiguos impression of greedy foreign multinationals. Also the products nature of being harmful to health multiplies the issue; a good example would be a campaign held in November 2002 by the Korean Writers Association opposing governments grant on BATs manufacturing plant. The hostility to foreign company can be expressed through various way especially in the tobacco market where many governmental restrictions exist. Opportunity Increasing awareness of tobacco products harmfulness, led to demand rise in high quality and low tar tobacco products. This matches with the image of BATs forefront brand DUNHILL-light and the companys reputation of quality tobacco producer. Threat Privatisation of KTG triggered the competition war between global rivals in the Korean tobacco market. This year JTI (Japan Tobacco International) revealed its plan on construction of new manufacturing plant in Korea where as PMI (Philip Morris International) announced the  £65m expansion on its manufacturing facility by 2009. While the competition between incumbent companies grew stronger, Altadis Group which occupies 27per cent of the world cigar market entered Korean filtered tobacco market with its high premium brand at forefront. Korean tobacco market also suffers from increasing awareness on tobacco products harmfulness over the world. The prohibition campaigns led by social groups effected government legislations to restrict the products promotion, sale and consumption. While looking at BATs opportunity and threat, the external environment factors are identified which had big influences on both company and the industry. In order to look into the strategies, needs arise for more thorough investigation on its current market environment. PEST analysis will be conducted to divide the environment into political, economical and social terms which will be defined in more depth. Political Recently governments around the world have applied added restrictions on the tobacco markets Korean market is no different. Restrictions are mainly set in two different ways; restrictions on the manufacturer and restrictions on the consumer. In Korea the direct promotion of tobacco products are only allowed on the printed publications which its reader groups are verified as male adults, excluding daily publications such as newspapers. However even this way has limit on number of appearance, which is set not to exceed more than 60 times a year per brand. On daily publications, only indirect promotions are allowed where only promotions on the company image can be advertised not the product. In July 2002 BAT was prosecuted by Ministry of health and welfare for directly promoting tobacco products on daily publication which cost company with fine. The international organisations pressure on tobacco market is also growing. In last 30th May, WHO (World Health Organisation) said ‘Governments need to ban all tobacco advertising and promotions to deter adolescents from smoking announcing international agreement on prohibiting tobacco companies product promotion through sponsorship on sports, music, etc. If the government sta rt to force this by legislations, BATs current marketing strategy would be affected strongly as most of its promotions are done through sponsorship. Economical Current recession in world economy spreads negative effects throughout the industries, although its results come out to vary between industries. In 2003 Korean economy experienced a recession caused by what is known as ‘Card-crisis, when major finance companies collapsed. The recession spread across the industries except for alcoholic drink and tobacco market. Through the period, the survey reports that sales for alcoholic drink rose by 3.1per cent and sales for tobacco rose by 8.9per cent. (cho-sun il bo) These results put forward the issue on growing tobacco industry in recent hit by health warning and economic recession. Figure1 and Figure2 also support the argument on increasing demand for tobacco in recession period. KTB Investment Company forecasted as ‘considering the current economic recession, the tobacco sales in Korea will increase in next year. The economic recession also affect the trend of the tobacco market. The recent trend in the Korean tobacco market was on low tar high quality brand and this was the reason BATs DUNHILL-light was successful. However analysts argue that the trend is shifting from low tar cigarette to high tar cigarette due to long recession over economy. If this turns out in true, BATs low tar brands will face decline where as PMIs high tar product; Marlboro will be gained. Social Social concern on the tobacco users health is not a very new issue. However increasing concern on the health-right of the passive smoker brought active antismoking campaigns across the world. by nearly 30% from 67.6% in 2000 to 40.4% in 2008. The figure is still declining and the Ministry of national statistic forecasts that the rate will fall to 30% by 2010. The environmental factor of BAT in Korean tobacco market is now defined. The analysis will be used to identify the BATs current marketing strategies and possible changes to be made in adopting with changing environment. Marketing Strategy Marketing strategy is defined through two main processes. Positioning strategy by correct target segmentation and marketing mix strategy by defining four Ps (Product, Place, Promotion and Price). Positioning strategy can be identified through three processes; defining market segments, targeting selected segments and positioning of products on customers perception. Segmentation Korean tobacco market can be divides into demographic region and psychographic region. With nature of tobacco companies being large co-operations, segmenting geographic region is not necessary especially defining a relatively small Korean market. Also Behavioural segmentations is not effective since all tobacco products are consumed regular basis. Demographic region include segment of different ages and social class. Psychographic region include segment on life style and taste. Age group of 19 to 25 and 25 to 30 have characteristics of putting brand image more important than practical use of the products. Many of these groups admire western culture. Group of age between 30 to 50 and 50 onwards share opposite characteristics from younger group. They are royal to the brand based on their personal favour of the taste of the cigarette. Social classes are divided into upper class, middle class, working class and low class. Upper and middle classes are followers of trend and obtain constant income whereas middle and working classes often influenced by environments such as decreased income, economic recession. Life style groups in Korean tobacco market are divided into patriotic personal group, trend setter group and low price follower group. Patriotic group would prohibit foreign products. They tends limit their choices only to KTG products whereas trend setter group has no limit on the choices. As its name represent low price follower group limit their choices to low price cigarette. Characteristics of both life style group and age group are interlinked. The types of tobacco tastes are mild taste, strong taste and special taste. Mild taste group favours low tar cigarette products and strong taste group favours high tar products. Special taste usually refers to group favouring menthol flavour products and rarely strawberry, banana and other fruit flavour also exist. Targeting BATs marketing strategy in Korean tobacco market starts with targeting correct segments. BAT has been operated globally as a high quality premium cigarette producer and premium brand market is their expertise. They will gain advantages by selecting target market where the premium brands work effectively. BAT has a phrase representing their target segment of ‘ASU30 which stands for adult smoker under 30 and age group of 19 to 25 and 25 to 30 suits into this category. Their characteristics of following brand image and admiring western culture comply with BATs product image. In order to comply with their premium brand the social class need to be focused to upper and middle class. The nature of the cigarette product contains consumption behaviour of continuance purchase and this requires constant income to maintain the behaviour. For segments in taste of the cigarette, BATs DUNHILL-light brand complies with those who favour mild taste. With the increasing health concern, smokers are switching from strong taste cigarette to mild cigarette which contains lower tar rate. While the international rival PMI focuses on strong taste high tar market (Marlboro), BAT can also be benefited by weak competition. Positioning In Korean tobacco market, BAT has targeted ‘age group of under 30s, ‘upper and middle social classes, ‘trend setter group and ‘mild low tar favourers. The positioning strategy which would successfully comply with the targeted groups would be implanting the image of ‘BAT produces high quality premium tobacco. This is achieved through prestige pricing, package design, promotion on company reputations and strict quality measures. Defining 4Ps (Product, Promotion, Price and Place) identifies the products position on the marketing mix. Product BATs forefront brand DUNHILL-light has 84mm length and charcoal filter blended. The design of its package is a key driver to image of the premium brand which consist with unique bevel edged style and octagonal shape. As mentioned in the strengths section, BAT conducts over 300 quality checks during production process insuring customer satisfaction. Promotion BAT often uses promotion method of image positioning than product positioning. Rather than appealing with product itself, image positioning focuses on implanting ambiguous image of product. BATs promotion of DUNHILL-light delivers image of luxurious and conservative. However as BAT targets young consumers under 30s, image re-positioning is vital. The rival companies promotion strategy aiming for young consumers threatens DUNHILL-lights market position. PMIs Marlboro-light obtains active image and JTIs Mild Seven has liberal images. Price BATs current pricing strategy contains prestige pricing which ensures its premium brand image. However as identified in threats part, current economic recession decreases the consumer loyalty to its brand. Correct pricing strategy is required which will satisfy both side of the issues. Place BAT has its unique distribution structure over competitors in the market. They are only tobacco manufacturer which runs own sale system of dealing directly with their retailers. Also by conducting monthly survey on retailer BAT can get to its customers more closely. Chain of 500 salespersons and 7,200 retailers are key success to BAT. Analysing marketing strategies of BAT in Korean tobacco market has helped understanding of how strategies adopt to different marketing environments. BATs current strategies are not only identified but evaluated with suggestion of possible improvements to be made. On the whole through the analysis work, strategy which led industrys continuous growth is identified. Finally applying the BCG (Boston Consulting Growth) model, BAT is a Star company in Korean tobacco market which currently enjoying high market share with high industrial growth. In order to become a Cash Cow, BAT should apply passive marketing strategies increase investments to secure its market share.