The difference between nonviolent resistance and pacifism Essay

The difference between nonviolent resistance and pacifism - Essay Example lds of human action and interaction. On the other hand, where some who have less understanding of nuance sees that nonviolence is the absence of violence in all its forms and has a unitary meaning, there are those who differentiate among different forms of nonviolence basing the classification of different types on what motivates the actors in nonviolent action, and how those actors behave in the arena of human action (Sharp 41-43). On the other hand, Sohail Hashmi relates pacifism to the actions of Gandhi and makes use of the term Gandhian pacifism to brand the kind of an absence of violence as a means to achieve peace.... thics of pacifist and nonviolent actions and their conceptual formulations have special significance in Islam that warrants making the distinction, for instance (Hashmi and Lee; Sharp). Discussion To take the question into perspective, there are non-Muslim perspectives that make distinctions between nonviolent resistance and what is termed in the literature as modern pacifism. Nonviolent resistance or simply non-resistance refers to the phenomenon where people shun violence and acting to shun all forms of war on the basis of religious beliefs that such actions are disallowed by God on a fundamental level. This is in contrast to modern pacifism, which in comparison has a broader footprint and includes justifications for not going into war and supporting war from non-religious perspectives. Pacifism, as discussed here, is a larger umbrella term of which non-resistance or nonviolent resistance is a part. This distinction allows for a proper discussion, for instance of pacifism in differ ent ideological, political and even religious contexts, with religious here in reference to all kinds of religion, not just Islam and not just Christianity. One can talk for instance of Gandhian pacifist stances, where the roots are political and partly includes references to Gandhi’s Hindu religious leanings and philosophical stance (Sharp 42). On the other hand, in the literature too, there are discussions that interchange the use of pacifism with nonviolence and nonviolent resistance, alluding to the overlaps in the definition and the contexts of use of the two terms. Such is the case in discussions on the political contexts of the attainment of freedom as shifts in the political affairs of states from dictatorships to democratic and free nations. Sharp himself interchanges the use of

British Colonization Essay Example for Free

British Colonization Essay Europe expansion to India began in 18th century had great changes in various field such as economics politic, society, culture and so on. Especially, after British imperialism which became a ruler of India had great effect on India. As a result, there are many essential changes in language and customs in India and even thought they gained independence from British rule 200 years ago, the influence on the British colonial era has still remained in many ways. One of the most factors that the British lunched the colonization of India was the establishment of the East India Company. Throughout the 16th century to early 17th century, the demand for spices in Europe had continued to increase. At early 1600s, the Portuguese were the only European country which imported spices from the East. They dominated the spice trade with Asia because Vasco da Gama was the first European to arrive in India. Having arrived in Calicut he obtained from Saamoothiri Rajah permission to trade in the city. However the Dutch ousted the Portuguese from East and became the exclusive supplier of spices to Europe. British traders frequently engaged in hostilities with their Dutch and Portuguese counterparts in the Indian Ocean The East India Company had the unusual distinction of ruling an entire country. In 1600, the East India Company was chartered by Queen Elizabeth I for trade with Asia. They decided to head on to India for trade because at this time Portugal that had powerful trade with East Asia was losing control of East Asian Spice trade transformed by the European Age of Discovery. However, the East India Company had to confront and deal with the Dutch to increase the trade. At that point, The Dutch East India Company was a peak in 1669. They employed around 10000 soldiers, 40 warships and 150 merchant ships. and had a good position trading with Asia by reason of good ship captains, merchants, banker and financiers. Therefore, it was important for England to be done about the Dutch to increase trade. According to The East India Company Lobby, Charles ? ’ sought favorable terms for the East India Company in European nation and established the Council of Trade of 1660 to deal with their grievances. Parliament also helped the merchants. In 1663 it sanctioned exports of bullion and foreign currency for the first time. It tried to restrict Dutch commercial superiority in the fishing, spice, and wool trades. In short, the effort of the British government to help the Company against the Dutch provided benefits for many English traders. So they began to send ships to the Spice trade with India. In addition, the East India Company was comparatively easy to expand in India because of the decline of Mughal power. In that time, the Mughal Empire was an lslamic imperial power in Indian subcontinent which began in 1526. They were descendants of the Timurids and controlled most of the Indian Subcontinent. In 1612, The British got a major victory over the Portuguese in the Battle of Swally. And the East India Company decided to explore the feasibility of gaining a territorial foothold in mainland in India and requested the Crown to launch a diplomatic. In 1627, the Mughal Emperor Jahangir granted the India Company permission to build a fortified factory at the principal Mughal port of Surat. However, the factory at Bombay became the headquarters of the Company. Eventually the region was divided into the three presidencies of Calcutta, Madras, and Bombay. In consequence, they were still responsible to the Court of Directors in London and the East India Company garnered huge profits generated by a system of triangular trade that saw English gold and silver coins traded for Indian goods. It is not much say that British rule in India was originated from having begun in 1757. On June 23rd of that year, at the Battle of Plassey, a small village and mango grove between Calcutta and Murshidabad, the forces of the East India Company under Robert Clive defeated the army of Siraj-ud-daulah, the Nawab of Bengal. The battle lasted no more than a few hours, and indeed the outcome of the battle had been decided long before the soldiers came to the battlefield. The battle of plassey is said to be one of the pivotal battles leading to the formation of the British in South Asia. The British gained the enormous wealth from the Bengal treasury, and access to a massive source of foodgrains and taxes. It also allowed them to significantly strengthen its military might, and opened the way for British colonial rule, mass economic exploitation and cultural domination in nearly all of South Asia. In 1757, by reason of the victory at Plassey, where a military force led by Robert Clive defeated the forces of the Nawab of Bengal, Siraj-ud-daulah, the East India Company had varied to be transformed from an association of traders to rulers exercising political sovereignty over a largely unknown land and people. So the Parliament of Great Britain imposed a series of administrative and economic reforms and by doing so clearly found its sovereignty and ultimate control over the Company. During this time, it ame into conflict with the Marathas, the British and the Nizam of Golconda which culminated in the four Anglo-Mysore wars. In 1779, Haider Ali had token parts of modern Tamil Nadu and Kerala in the south, enlarging the Kingdom’s area to about 205. 000km. In 1779, Haider Ali invaded Karnataka with 80. 000 army, descending through the passes of the Ghats amid burning villages, before laying siege to British forts in northern Arcot starting the Second Anglo-Mysore War. That was to say that they did damage to the British but he died after 2 years his son Tipu Sultan succeed to the throne. Haider Ali’s successor, Tipu Sultan, kept to fight the war so the following year, he took many British army and officers dispatched from Bombay. As a result, the treaty of Mangalore was signed in 1784 bringing hostilities with the British to a temporary and uneasy halt and restored the other’s lands to the status quo ante bellum. The East India Company could gain control of all India by the aggressive policies of Lord Wellesley and the Marquis of Hastings without the Punjab, Sindh and Nepal. Also Indian Princes had become barons of the East India Company. However there were finances to the breaking point in the Company comparing with the expense of wars leading to the total control of India. The Company was extorted to petition Parliament of assistance. Certain Indian social or religious practices that the British found to be abhorrent were outlawed, such as aati in 1829, and an ethic of improvement was said to dictate British social policies. In the 1840s and 1850s, under the governal-generalship of Dalhousie and then Canning, more territories were absorbed into British India, either on the grounds that the native rulers were corrupt. , inept, and notoriously indifferent about the welfare of their subjects, or that since the native ruler had failed to produce a biological male heir to the throne, the territory was bound to â€Å"lapse† into British India upon the death of the ruler. The peace the company made to India helped undermine Indian society. In 1813, English Protestant missionaries were permitted by the company to come to India, establishing missions and schools among the Indian population. Increasingly British authority started to reform in India. For instance, William Bentinck who was governor general from 1833 to 1835 outlawed the practice of sati, by which a Hindu widow was burned on her dead husband’s funeral pyre. In the second of the 19th century, both the direct administration of India by the British crow and the technological change ushered in by the industrial revolution, had the effect of intertwining the economies of India and the Britain. Basically many of the important change in transport and communications had already begun before the Mutiny. The beginning of dispute between the company administration and the Indian governor-general came under the marquess of Dalhousie, who served from 1848 to 1856. He aggressively tried to increase lands under the company’s control by the doctrine of lapse that allowed the company to annex Indian principalities. So many points of friction culminated in a violent outbreak. According to the Revolt in Delhi and Its Afterlife written by Nayanjot Lahiri, in 1857, a sepoy mutiny broke out in Meerut, which was the headquarters of a division of the Bengal army. In less than a day, by the early hours of the morning of 11 May, the Meerut mutineers crossing the bridge of boats on the Yamuna river, reached Delhi. The garrison there, almost immediately, revolted, many British residents were massacred and Bahadur Shah ? , the Mughal king who resided in Helhi, accepted the nominal leadership of the rebellion. That was the start in the Sepoy Mutiny. The source of the Sepoy Mutiny, Sepoy Rebellion, was that The East India Company began recruiting native citizens as trios in 1667, in order to maintain control during their trading operations. In 1748, the British followed suit and began recruiting and training Indians to fight with their weaponry and methods. The Indian units were called â€Å"native sepoys† and became the largest part of the forces in India. After British had gained two-thirds of India’s land imperialism had begun to affect every part of Indian life, there was an incredible amount of tension that only needed a small spark to set off a huge revolt. The spark that came to begin the period of revolts was the introduction of new, more accurate breech-loading Enfield rifle. The first event was the bloody uprising at the garrison in Meerut, in which the mutineers murdered every European they found. Then they marched to Delhi and â€Å"placed themselves under the leadership of the impotent and bewildered Mogul Emperor Bahadur Shah†. The idea of rebellion spread through the Ganges valley, the Rajputna, Central India, and parts of Bengal. Then, Cawnpore had surrendered to Nana Sahib, and Lucknow, the only British-held outpost in Oudh, was besieged† and it was discovered that 200 European men, women, and children murderd a month earlier in the mutiny and siege at Cawnpore. Vengeance was swift and harsh: suspected mutineers were tied to cannons and executed. In six month, the mutiny had been broken, and, within the next year, British power was restored. In 1858, the Sepoy Mutiny, the Indian Rebellion, broke out. This was the huge threat posed to the British during the British India. At that time, they abolished the East India Company and replaced it with direct rule under the British. Large swathes of territory in the Gangetic plains had fallen to the rebel. Atrocities were conducted on both sides. British troops, which were units controlled by the East India Company and were paid for by their profis, recaptured Delhi in 1857 and the Emperor Mughals, Bahadur Shah, was put on trial for sedition and convicted. Finally the Rebellion had been crushed in 1858. The East India Company was disbanded by John Stuart Mill, the Commissioner of Correspondence at India House and the unacknowledged formulator of British policy with respect to the native states, furnished and elaborate but ultimately unsuccessful plea on behalf of the Company. Thus, India became a Crown colony of the British which governed directly by Paliament. Queen Victoria announced that she and her officers would work for the welfare of their Indian subjects. However there were some debates among Indians surrounding the policies like female education, widow remarriage, the age for marriage, the state of women, English education, the expansion of the government and more member of Indian joined government service. On the strength of that, there was a considerable increase in both English and Indian journalism and the Indian National Congress was founded in order that Indians who was educated well could gain a voice in the governance in India. But, they did not allow nationalist sentiments within the organization like the Congress. In 905, the British partitioned Bengal because it was the large size of the presidency and so provoked the first major resistance to British rule and administrative policies. During that time, Indians started many strategies of non violent resistance, boycott, strike and cooperation. Finally the British agreed to revoke the partition of Bengal. The partition attempted partly to divide with the Muslim area from Bengal which was Hindu and The capital in India was changed with Calcutta to Delhi. The railway was built by the British India government for military reasons and with the hope that it would stimulate industry. It was overbuilt and much too elaborate and expensive for the small amount of freight traffic it carried, The India railways system provided India with social savings of 9 percent of India’s national income. The Rowlatt Act that the British enacted to the Indian help in WWI allowed that the government could imprison anyone without a trial and a conviction. and thousands of people protested peacefully against the law and British troops coped with the protest by armored vehicle. As a result, more than thousands people, women and children, were massacred. The event also caused the non-cooperation movement against the British by Mathtma Ganhi in 1920 to 1942. Negotiations for some agreement with independence took place in 1930 in London. And finally, the British would grant India its independence. India got more deeply to effort the British during WWII. Also troops, the princely states donated substantial amounts of cash. By the end of the war, India had an incredible 2. 5 million man volunteer army. Approximately 8700 Indian soldier were killed in the war. As a result, the Indian independence movement was very strong by that time and the British rule was widely resented. 0000 Indian were recruited by the Germans and Japanese to fight against the Allies in exchange of their freedom. Indian fought in Burma, North Africa, Italy and so on. In 1946, there was a violent fighting broken out between Hindus and Muslims in Calcutta. And the trouble spread across India. The trouble flared again as independence approached and they agreed to divide India along sectatian lines. While Muslim areas in the north became the Pakistan, Hindu and Sikh stayed in India and by unprecedented horrors of partition, 500000 was killed and many women were abducted or raped. Finally it is true that the British made positive contributions to Indian life. During the British India, India inherited from the British their university, agriculture system and Industry but remains religious conflict. Social institutions like clubs and gymkhanas were a important factor of British. The Indian language was also developed well. The influential school of painting emerged in 19th century and can scarcely be understood without a reference to the creation of a modern market. In sports, cricket is the most famous in India. However, they also brought serious negative consequence with colonialism.

I am a Child of the World :: Law College Admissions Essays

I am a Child of the World One of the questions I was asked most frequently when I arrived at college was "where are you from?" Unlike most students, I could not quickly answer this question. Whereas many students have spent most of their lives in one or two areas, my feeling of "home" was not that simple. I was born in Canada and lived there until I was seven; then my family moved to Belgium. After five years in Belgium, we moved to Minnesota, where I spent my high school years. As I left for college, my parents moved to Switzerland and have since divorced. Currently, my mom lives in Minnesota, and my dad resides in Liechtenstein. I am still a Canadian citizen, but have permanent residency status in the United States. While these events could have led to a confused identity and feeling of homelessness, I believe that my experiences have given me a unique perspective on the world and an ability to feel "at home" wherever I may be. The experience of living in Europe was one of the most important aspects of my personal development, as exposure to different at a young age gave me a broad worldview that I would not have gained by staying in one place. Daily life in a foreign country teaches one to have patience, respect, and tolerance for people who speak a different language and have different customs. Cultural differences can make simple tasks such as going to the grocery store difficult at first, but over time my family adapted to the norms of Belgian culture. The opportunity to travel throughout Europe also gave me a unique set of experiences that have stayed with me. After all, how many ten-year-olds from Canada have stood in awe of the Acropolis or felt the somberness of the war cemeteries at Normandy? These experiences, combined with my Canadian heritage, have provided an important backdrop for developing a sense of respect for those who are different, a sense that I have found lacking in American society. While my experiences abroad have contributed a great deal to my personal growth, they have also made it difficult to identify with one place as home. Minnesota became the closest thing to home after spending my teenage years there, but my parents' divorce during my sophomore year of college further tested my ability to maintain a sense of identity.

Buddhism as a religion

Buddhism is a religion with a major following of believers from the Far East Nations. These nations are among the most populous countries of the world commanding about three quarters of the world population; with large part of China professing Buddhism it can be regarded as that religion enjoying the largest number of believers. Bearing in mind that many of this nation are (or they were) communists by ideology it is doubtless that establishment of any form of religion has not been easy, and Buddhism has not been an exception.Craik Kenneth: (1943). In this narration two most important names feature-a devoted Buddha who runs away at the time of heightened persecution, and the second one belonging to an American author and artist, George Crane. Tsai ran away from Mongolia as a young Buddhist monk in the wake of attack by the Red Army in 1959. Unfortunately many of the remaining monks are killed in this operation that was meant to do away with the Buddhism religion.According to Tsai, the main character in the Bones of the Master, he ran away to save the teaching of Buddha. Craik Kenneth: (1943). His exodus takes him to Hong Kong and eventually to the United States where, in New York he meets his neighbor and friend George Crane. As they were all working on translation of poems their relationship gets to grow deep despite their age, although it appeared quiet unusual for Crane in the way the Buddha friend expressed his faith.In observing the Buddhism culture to the maximum Tsai seeks to return to Mongolia with the main aim of searching for the bones of his master and also construct a shrine for his master. Tsai also has a statue of the master which was given him by his student of meditation, but this seems so awkward to Crane who fears for its size and weight. Crane feared because with such a massive thing with them they might not even be allowed to go beyond the boundaries of China. In this return journey he asks his friend Crane to accompany him, and the later is more than willing to come along.The land at this moment is still very dangerous for any individual who professes Buddhism as his religion and for this very reason Crane is worried on how they will enter Mongolia, a land which is more obvious that he is the only one remaining of the stock of Buddhist monks. Craik Kenneth: (1943). George Crane (2000), came out to explain the very basic concepts of Buddhism and begins by saying that this religion is built on main principles and one of them is basically that life is about suffering. He notes that human life is centered on striving and attachments and therefore according to Crane it is this struggles that bring about suffering.Futhermore, of utmost importance according to his views is how to overcome this sufferings in which he suggests that the believer should choose the way of the right action and views. At this point, Crane, who most obviously has been influenced by the Buddha practices points out that this actions lead to a path or a way of nirvana or unification with the universe, in which the author says it is about one being in control of her own experiences. Further on Crane says that this path is brought down into four divisions, three of which deal with mental experiences and the remaining one deal with the physical part of the approach.By doing this the author is giving as the insight of the importance of emotions for any believer of the religion of Buddhism. In addition, an individual of the Buddhism faith should act with emotions in addition to his or her mind as a sign of understanding the faith. Concequently, the believer should use the triangle of emotions, imagination and wisdom as a rule of following the right path. This insight therefore makes us to understand that Buddha religion brings an individual to closer understanding himself and the influence of his actions affect his relation with the spiritual world.Death appears to play a central role, an important pillar in the Buddhism philosophy. In fact, according to this philosophy death has never existed because the spirit undergoes a reformation called reincarnation, a kind of a circle involving deaths and births believed to be eternal up to the point of spirit achieving Enlightment and eventually enters nirvana. Another believe is in the idea of Karma which is actually the totality of good and bad deeds associated to an individual during his or her lifetime and which his future life in nirnava.Devotional Practices The Buddhism religion is characterized by a series of practices which are meant to show how devoted the faithful is in the religion. These devotional practices are a sign of veneration expressed before Buddha. Craik Kenneth: (1943). Shrines It is difficult for a Buddhist to worship without the use of shrines. Shrines are special worship points where the image of Buddha is placed and the worshippers bow down around the image during worshipping.For along time Buddha images and shrines have been used as objects of w orshipping and devotion to Buddha – being important in the sense that they are used as objects of inspiration and helps one to remain focused in worship hence showing maximum reverence and gratitude towards the teachings of the Buddha. Images and shrines reminds one of the importance of having perfection in wisdom and compassion in Buddha in addition to the inspirational aspect which serve in developing important qualities as one recalls the majesty of the teachings of Buddha.A Buddhist will tell you that the image in the shrine helps them to be peaceful because when they go to the temple and see the image it helps them to know that there are some peaceful beings elsewhere and they also ought to be so. Psychologically therefore one settles down. Craik Kenneth: (1943). There are several ways in which the faithful of the Buddha show respect to their majesty, the Buddha. This by: Folding palms and placing them on the chest. This action expresses deep respect to Buddha; Dharma an d Sangha.Another way is by Prostration before the image of the Buddha as a sign of showing deep veneration and makes one set to listen to the teachings. Prostration before Buddha helps a Buddhist to focus on the qualities of Buddha which include compassion, patience and wisdom. George Crane (2000). Therefore, the practices employed by Tsung Tsai from USA are the clear ways of showing how devoted he was to his traditional religion. The first expression of the practice is that of meditation. In the travel account we come of the meditation class organized under Tsung Tsai through the of appreciation him by one of his students.The class organized under Buddhist meditation types of the Western world appreciated their teacher on his return to Mongolia by giving him a gift of a statue of Buddha. Possibly they had understood the weight contained in this act of devotion because establishing a shrine for Buddha is the highest form of devotion one expresses to Buddha. George Crane (2000). Mast ers are highly respected among the Buddha because they are the teachers of the traditions, meditations and devotional practices among the monk communities. As an act of devotion therefore there has to be some respect and reverence to masters of the religion.We remember vividly that before Tsung Tsai left for Hong Kong while escaping the massacre he had to visit his master before leaving. While away his master dies, most likely by the bullets of the insurgents, and is buried not in accordance with the proper Buddhist traditions he used to teach. Consequently, Tsung Tsai seeks to come back to accord his master the required burial as per the Buddhist culture. George Crane (2000). Finally we recognize an act of wisdom as a devotional practice. Wisdom is about having a right understanding about all aspects of life, that is, recognition of one’s environment as it is.This act of wisdom is not viewed by Buddhists as any act of intelligence but the way one is refined and with time bec omes freed of ignorance of this religion wisdom is described as a devotional practice where should give in fully to be transformed . Wisdom is achieved through ethical practices and therefore our mental displine is important in the achievement of understanding. To the Buddhists wisdom is very imperative during meditation where one requires clarity of the mind . This is probably the main reason the old master teacher of Tsung Tsai spend times alone in meditation.According to the Buddha wisdom is a characteristic of an enlightened personality and the possessor is compassionate and is likely to operate wisely. George Crane (2000). Conclusion Devotional practices are the basis of any religion and the determinant of how engraved to the acts of the religion one is. To Buddhism in particular they show reverence and respect to the master and his Buddha. Bones of the master is a clear insight to explaining to us the clear insights of the culture of worship evolved behind the curtains of Budd hism. Craik Kenneth: (1943).T sung Tsai can be described as a Cha’n master and monk and is seen as the last Ch’an on earth. Ch’an is a form of Buddhism from Chinese and when it was later introduced in Japan it was renamed as Zen. Therefore a Ch’an monk is associated with the Mongolian or Chinese while the Zen is to Japan. According to Ch’an traditions in Buddhist writings women are accorded the same status as men, and that is why Crane receives a gift from a lama woman and also believed that he was taught the religion by this woman. Craik Kenneth: (1943). Hinduism and Buddhism are closely related religions and evolved together in the Far East.As a result it has been documented that Buddhism and Hinduism a rose from closely related ideas. In addition the early development in the Indian valleys as documented show that there was a strong flow of faith between the two religions such that at one time the Buddha temples were built under the control of Hi ndu kings. Furthermore, the worship through the use of images brings them together in addition to a strong culture embodied in devotional acts of meditation, building of shrines and the role of teachers in the passing of this beliefs to the next generations. Both religions show venerations to many deities. Kadodwala, Dilip. (1995). References Kadodwala, Dilip. (1995). Hinduism. World Religions Series. New York: Thomson Learning, ISBN 1-568-47-377-X. L.C. BL1203.K33. Grades 5Â ­7. Craik Kenneth: (1943). The Nature of Explanation Cambridge University Press. George Crane (2000). Bones of the Master: A Journey to Secret Mongolia Bantam Books, (paperback) 304 pages.

Is Faustus a Tragic Hero Essay

Much of the information in Dr Faustus is derived from a collection of semi-fictitious German stories (the ‘Faustbuch’) in which the life of German scholar and purported necromancer, Georgius Faust are narrated. Where the Faustbuch narrates a simple tale of sin and retribution, Marlowe creates a tragedy in which a human being makes a clear choice for good or bad, with some knowledge of the possible outcome. In order to do this, Marlowe has drawn on the conventions of classical Greek tragedy, many of which dictate the nature of the hero or heroine. In ancient times, a hero achieved heroic status not because of saintliness or wickedness, but because of the acts he performed in life. The hero should have a socially elevated status and suffer a reversal of fortune in which he experiences great suffering. This is all certainly true of Faustus, who is highly regarded as both a lecturer at the University of Wittenberg, and an accomplished scholar. During his life, he performs extraordinary feats, which were unlike anything experienced by lesser mortals. Even by modern standards, the notion of necromancy is disturbing; for a contemporary Elizabethan audience, for whom religion permeated all aspects of life, it would have been inconceivably horrific. Once Faustus is â€Å"glutted with learning’s golden gifts and surfeited upon cursed necromancy† he uses his powers to embark upon amazing adventures (for example learning the secrets of astronomy upon the summit of mount Olympus) which, again, are befitting of the tragic hero. Faustus reversal of fortune is also typically tragic. During the final scene of the play, in which we witness Faustus’ final hour before being taken off to hell, he is, like all heroes of classical tragedy, completely isolated. There is a poignant contrast in Faustus’ degeneration from the successful, revered conjurer of the previous scenes, to the disillusioned scholar we see here. In despair, he tries to conjure and command the earth to gape open but realises that, â€Å"o no, it will not harbour† him. His terror, desperation and frantic hopes are all conveyed by the final soliloquy, which is both graphic and physical in its nature. The dramatic moment of Faustus’ death, as his flesh is torn by devils, is at the same time horrendous and moving. His experiences the type of physical anguish reminiscent of the blind Oedipus, and this enactment of the spectacle of pain and death is at the heart of a true tragedy. In order for the audience to engage with the hero, and feel empathy and pathos as a result of his suffering, it is essential that he is presented with the opportunity to make conscious decisions about his fate, all be they the wrong ones. The plot of Dr Faustus contains several such opportunities. Faustus is given a chance to repent on several occasions; before signing the contract with Mephastophilis, he seems to heed the voice of the good angel, and is about to â€Å"turn to God again†, but denies this as a possibility because God does not love him. However, despite the â€Å"vain fancies† of God and heaven which clearly plague him, Faustus is resolute and clear about what he is committing himself to. Here, we see another trait of the classical tragic hero, hell bent on a course of action which he believes is right, even thought he knows it will eventually bring about his downfall. Even at the very end of his 24 years, when the hope of salvation comes along in the form of the old man, Faustus (fearful of the wrath of Lucifer) instructs â€Å"sweet Mephastophilis† to torture his would-be saviour. When Faustus chooses to kiss the image of Helen of Troy, whom he knows is nothing more than a demonic spirit in disguise, we feel that he must realise he has made a fatal choice. By now the tragedy is inevitable; of his own free will Faustus has rejected all hope of salvation and the audience waits in trepidation for his impending doom. The question of fate versus free will is a key theme in Dr. Faustus, and one which is important when considering Faustus himself as a tragic hero. If, indeed, Faustus has the freedom necessary to change or reverse his predicament then he is truly a tragic hero. The chorus’ assertion that â€Å"cut is the branch which might have grown full straight†, does seem to support the idea that Faustus was not doomed from the beginning, but was given choices and opportunities to repent his wicked ways. Mephastophilis sums this up perfectly when, in response to Faustus’ desperate, remorseful accusation: â€Å"thou hast deprived me of the joys of heaven†, he reminds Faustus that â€Å"’twas thine own seeking†¦thank thyself†. However, when we consider the religious beliefs held by most of Marlowe’s contemporaries, there appears to be a contradiction in Faustus’ apparent free will. In Elizabethan times, the ideas of a popular branch of Christianity known as Calvinism (of which Marlowe himself would certainly have been aware) were widespread. Calvinists held the belief that human beings, as a direct consequence of original sin, have no free will. Also, Christianity has traditionally taught of God’s omnipotence and omniscience- i. e. God knows all and sees all. It follows, therefore that God has planned our fate and knows it long before we are even born. If this is the case, then doubt must be cast upon the notion of Faustus as a true tragic hero; if his fate was already mapped out then all the ‘choices’ presented to him are rendered arbitrary. When debating with himself at the beginning of the play, Faustus does seem to have some awareness of this, reasoning that we are all inherently sinful and therefore are condemned to die, because â€Å"the reward of sin is death†. Despite the fact that Faustus essentially cheats, twisting quotes from the Bible in order to justify his intended pursuit, one cannot help but feel that he shows insight into the problems raised by fate/free will, concluding that what is meant to be shall be (â€Å"che sara, sara†). In conclusion I would say that for the most part, Faustus is the perfect example of the tragic hero. He is an engaging character who holds the audiences’ attention until the very last, even when we do not find his personality particularly appealing. Indeed, the arrogance and blasphemy apparent in many of Faustus’ speeches (â€Å"a greater subject fitteth Faustus’ wit†, â€Å"Faustus, try thy brains to gain a deity† etc) are characteristic of the classical tragic hero. For example, Faustus’ pride and arrogance (which the Greeks called ‘hubris’) is strikingly similar to that of Aeschylus’ tragic hero, king Agamemnon. As far as the issue of free will is concerned, I think that Faustus does have the opportunity to make his own decisions, despite Marlowe’s paradoxical portrayal of a God whom, whilst able to control our predestination, cannot (when it comes down to it) control or undo the contract which Faustus makes.

Free Essays on St. Augustines Belifs

St Augustine had similar beliefs as Plato. For example â€Å"In the beginning was the word and the word was with God and the word was God: the same was the beginning with God; all things were made by Him and without him was made nothing that was made; in Him was life and the life was the light of men, and the light shines in darkness and the darkness did not comprehend it.†(p.116/IX) What he is saying here is expressed in a metamorphic way. The light is God and, the truth, all his teachings and everything that he had created. It projected itself on the darkness which is the humans, everyday people. Augustine states that â€Å"one must believe in order to understand.† He states that god must give one faith. This gift from God which is grace, determines if one believes or not. To understand one must have faith in God. When they have faith in God they will then be able to open their minds and begin to understand his teachings. â€Å"Again I found in them that the word, G od was born not of flesh nor blood, nor of the evil of man nor of the will of the flesh, but of God, but I did not find that the word became flesh.†(p116/IX) What he is saying here was that the word came not from these places but from God himself and it will not become flesh until it is loved and believed. Until we believe we will not understand. Once we believe an understanding will begin to bloom. He says we should hid these teachings from the wise and share them with the young. Meek and humble of hearts shall absorb his teachings and learn to forgive sins and love one another and find peace. While those who wear high boots shall not learn his ways and will remain ignorant to his teachings and carry a foolish heart. We must have faith in order to understand God and reach a state of grace. There are some things in the world that we might think as evil. They might be stormy winds, tornadoes, or flash floods. We see them as evil because they do not fit in with our ways of l... Free Essays on St. Augustine's Belifs Free Essays on St. Augustine's Belifs St Augustine had similar beliefs as Plato. For example â€Å"In the beginning was the word and the word was with God and the word was God: the same was the beginning with God; all things were made by Him and without him was made nothing that was made; in Him was life and the life was the light of men, and the light shines in darkness and the darkness did not comprehend it.†(p.116/IX) What he is saying here is expressed in a metamorphic way. The light is God and, the truth, all his teachings and everything that he had created. It projected itself on the darkness which is the humans, everyday people. Augustine states that â€Å"one must believe in order to understand.† He states that god must give one faith. This gift from God which is grace, determines if one believes or not. To understand one must have faith in God. When they have faith in God they will then be able to open their minds and begin to understand his teachings. â€Å"Again I found in them that the word, G od was born not of flesh nor blood, nor of the evil of man nor of the will of the flesh, but of God, but I did not find that the word became flesh.†(p116/IX) What he is saying here was that the word came not from these places but from God himself and it will not become flesh until it is loved and believed. Until we believe we will not understand. Once we believe an understanding will begin to bloom. He says we should hid these teachings from the wise and share them with the young. Meek and humble of hearts shall absorb his teachings and learn to forgive sins and love one another and find peace. While those who wear high boots shall not learn his ways and will remain ignorant to his teachings and carry a foolish heart. We must have faith in order to understand God and reach a state of grace. There are some things in the world that we might think as evil. They might be stormy winds, tornadoes, or flash floods. We see them as evil because they do not fit in with our ways of l...

The Grapes Of Wrath Essays (856 words) - U.S. Route 66, Dust Bowl

The Grapes Of Wrath Essays (856 words) - U.S. Route 66, Dust Bowl The Grapes of Wrath The Grapes of Wrath is a novel by John Steinbeck that exposes the desperate conditions under which the migratory farm families of America during the 1930's live under. The novel tells of one families migration west to California through the great economic depression of the 1930's. The Joad family had to abandon their home and their livelihoods. They had to uproot and set adrift because tractors were rapidly industrializing their farms. The bank took possession of their land because the owners could not pay off their loan. The novel shows how the Joad family deals with moving to California. How they survive the cruelty of the land owners that take advantage of them, their poverty and willingness to work. The Grapes of Wrath combines Steinbeck adoration of the land, his simple hatred of corruption resulting from materialism (money) and his abiding faith in the common people to overcome the hostile environment. The novel opens with a retaining picture of nature on rampage. The novel shows the men and women that are unbroken by nature. The theme is one of man verses a hostile environment. His body destroyed but his spirit is not broken. The method used to develop the theme of the novel is through the use of symbolism. There are sevestronger, uprooting the weakened corn, and the air became so filled with dust that the stars were not visible at night. (Chp 1) As the chapter continues a turtle, which appears and reappears several times early in the novel, can be seen to stand for survival, a driving life force in all of mankind that cannot be beaten by nature or man. The turtle represents a hope that the trip to the west is survivable by the farmer migrants (Joad family). The turtle further represents the migrants struggles against nature/man by overcoming every obstacle he encounters: the red ant in his path, the truck driver who tries to run over him, being captured in Tom Joad's jacket: And now a light truck approached, and as it came near, the driver saw the turtle and swerved to hit it. The driver of the truck works for a large company, who try to stop the migrants from going west, when the driver attempts to hit the turtle it is another example of the big powerful guy trying to flatten or kill the little guy. Everything the turtle encounters trys its best to stop the turtle from making its westerly journey. Steadily the turtle advances on, ironically to the southwest, the direction of the mirgration of people. The turtle is described as being lasting, ancient, old and wise: horny head, yellowed toenails, indestructible high dome of a shell, humorous old eyes. (Chp 1)The driver of the truckow is described as being unmovable and never bending to the wind or dust. The Joad family does not want to move, they prefer to stay on the land they grew up on, much the same as the willow does. The willow contributes to the theme by showing the unwillingness of the people to be removed from their land by the banks. The latter represents the force making them leave their homes. Both of these symbols help contribute to the theme by showing a struggle between each other. The tree struggles against nature in much the same way that the Joad family struggles against the Bank and large companies. The rains that comes at the end of the novel symbolize several things. Rain in which is excessive, in a certain way fulfills a cycle of the dust which is also excessive. In a way nature has restored a balance and has initiated a new growth cycle. This ties in with other examples of the rebirth idea in the ending, much in the way the Joad family will grow again. The rain contributes to the theme by showing the cycle of nature that give a conclusion to the novel by showing that life is a pattern of birth and death. The rain is another example of nature against man, the rain comes and floods the living quarters of the Joads. The Joads try to stop the flood of their home by yet again are forced back

If I Was vs. If I Were

If I Was vs. If I Were If I Was vs. If I Were If I Was vs. If I Were By Maeve Maddox In 1964, when Sheldon Harnick wrote the lyrics for the musical Fiddler on the Roof, he had the poverty-stricken Russian milkman Tevye sing â€Å"If I were a rich man.† In 1992, affluent rock star Bon Jovi sang â€Å"If I was your mother,† but then in 2008, Beyoncà © sang â€Å"If I were a boy.† Clearly, both forms persist in popular usage. Curious to see how the two constructions compare in the world of pop music, I searched a site called ReverbNation. According to the search results, â€Å"If I Was† and† If I Were† as song titles are tied at â€Å"over 500 songs† each. According to linguist Geoffrey Pullum, co-author of the Cambridge Grammar of the English Language (CGEL), there’s no significant difference between using was or were in what the CGEL calls â€Å"the irrealis form of the copula.† (A copula is what linguists call a word that links subject and predicate. Irrealis is unreal.) In Pullum’s view, both â€Å"if I was† and â€Å"if I were† mean the same thing in such a statement. A web search will bring up both acceptance and rejection of the â€Å"if I was† construction. Merriam-Webster illustrates its discussion of the usage by pointing out that F. Scott Fitzgerald used both forms for statements of unreality. Here are two: I wish I were twenty-two again †¦ - F. Scott Fitzgerald, letter, 27 Dec. 1925. †¦ if I was Vassar, I wouldn’t take you †¦ - F. Scott Fitzgerald, letter, 18 Apr. 1938 The M-W editor concludes: Clearly there is a choice to be made here, and if Fitzgerald could use either form, so can others. Unfortunately, not everyone will agree with Merriam-Webster on this one. To many people, â€Å"I wish I was a rich man† is not standard usage. There are contexts in which â€Å"if I was† can be justified. For example, â€Å"If she was ill, no wonder she left the party early.† In a statement that does not describe reality, or the possibility of reality, were is still the better choiceif only because a great many employers, clients, and customers still regard â€Å"if I was you† as nonstandard usage. Want to improve your English in five minutes a day? Get a subscription and start receiving our writing tips and exercises daily! Keep learning! Browse the Grammar category, check our popular posts, or choose a related post below:16 Substitutes for â€Å"Because† or â€Å"Because Of†List of Greek Words in the English Language

Dells Supply Chain Management Case Study Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

Dells Supply Chain Management - Case Study Example It also highlights the key issues or limitations of existing SCM process followed by Dell and recommends specific measures to prevent or overcome those limitations. Dell Inc ('Company') is a multinational technology company that offers a broad range of product categories, including computer desktop systems, servers and networking products, mobility products, software and peripherals and enhanced services. The Company has often been cited as one of the premier innovators in supply chain design and execution. Its demand-driven, outsourced operational model enabled it to achieve market domination, which then allowed it to dictate costs and standards to suppliers. This report is based on analysis of information available on the Company's website and publicly published reports. Supply chain management (SCM) is a comprehensive activity including management of the flow of materials, information, and funds across the entire supply chain, from suppliers to component producers to final assemblers to distributors, and ultimately to the consumer; including after-sales service and sales returns Johnson.(M. Eric & Pyke F. David 1999). In a global environment, firms have to deal with multiple suppliers and customers and are required to manage inventories in new and innovative ways. Various industrial researchers have stressed the importance of viewing SCM as an integrated system. With different methodologies of SCM implemented by various businesses in the same sector, it is more of a competition amongst the various methods of managing the supply chain for businesses, even those belonging to the same sector. SCM has generated much interest in recent years for a number of reasons. It has become crucial for businesses across sectors to realize that weak performance of one member of value chain could ultimately influence the profitability of the entire business. In this highly competitive business environment, cost of poor coordination between suppliers and customers can be extremely high. Especially in sectors characterized by fluctuating demand, a weak SCM can result in inefficient use of production, high transportation costs and high inventory costs. This cost increases as we move up the supply chain from consumer to distributor to producer, a phenomenon known as a 'Bullwhip Effect' (Johnson .M. Eric & Pyke F. David 1999). Similarly, an efficient SCM which is well integrated across the value chain of the business can provide a significant competitive advantage. On a broad level, supply chain management can be based on one of the two approaches; 'push approach' or 'pull approach'. The push system takes full benefit from economies of scale in production and input acquisition by producing optimal output size and then distributing to wholesalers and retailers (Papadakis 2002). On the other hand, pull approach is known for its adaptive efficiency and is applied by sectors where demand is highly volatile and technology is depreciated fast. According to the pull system, a value adding transformation takes place only after someone demands it, in a Just in Time (JIT) fashion, thereby inventory risk is minimized (Papadakis 2002). Dell has applied the pull system of supply chain mana

E-Business Resit Coursework Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

E-Business Resit Coursework - Essay Example The adoption of e–business is not restricted to any particular industry or particular company. From high tech aerospace industry to the farming industry, several companies of various sizes are conducting e–business activities at present. The paper will analyze the impact of internet and other digital technology in the supply chain process of retail industry (Jorge, 2008). The company chosen for retail industry is Topshop, a retail apparel company of the UK. It is a brand of Arcadia Group, a retailing giant of the UK. Topshop had earned its uniqueness through its own marketing strategies, retailing methods and online businesses (Topshop, n.d.). Impact of Internet on Supply Chain Process The impact of internet and digital technology in the market and within the general business performances are significant. In retail industry of the UK, the direct business system through internet had been applied by many companies. With regard to Topshop, it allows customers to choose any product through website and sell products without heavily depending on third–party distributors. The e– business of Topshop also assures convenience and cost cutback (Levi & Et. Al., 2004). A retail company such a Topshop is very successful in developing internet business model that let it to increase revenue radically and capture the market. According to Topshop, it sold almost 30 brace of knickers per minute, 500 brace of legging per hour and 6000 brace of jeans per day in the year 2006. The internet acts as a driver for business alteration (Rushton, 2007). The supply chain process is often viewed as a tactical asset as it has the strength to make a difference and develop sustainable advantage in the competitive economy. Presently, several new business enterprises had appeared to have complete advantage of the e–business e.g. ‘drop shipping’ which had rapidly gained reputation among retailers. In this system, an e–tailor takes order for pr oduct and provides the producer or distributor opportunity to send the product to the purchaser. In this system, the e–tailor does not possess any stock. Through the alteration of conventional supply chain process, the ‘drop shipping’ system helps to transfer the inventory management related difficulties to the producers (Feng, 2008). Impact of Internet on Retail Sector The retail industry had reacted lately to the competition from e–business environment and to identify the prospects offered by the internet. In recent times, the scene has changed, as many retail companies such as Topshop had introduced internet shopping to their offerings. Topshop knows the benefit they can have by entering into e-business. TopShop has its own virtual trade store and it services the products by its existing storehouse and supply chain network. High quantity products, whose demand is balanced with the supply on the basis of long-term estimation, are stocked in stores. In ca se of low quantity products, the storing is done centrally for the purpose of internet marketing. The products which are purchased online have high volatility of demand, thus the centralised stocking helps to

Ethical Viewpoints Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Ethical Viewpoints - Essay Example According to Dr. Tod Mikuriva , a former national administrator of the U.S. governments marijuana research programs, "After dealing with about 10,000 patents in the last 15 years, Id say about 200 different medical conditions respond favorably to cannabis". Of those diseases that responded favorably to marijuana treatment was Alzheimers disease, epilepsy, multiple sclerosis, glaucoma, arthritis, depression among the 200 diseases that it can possibly treat. Just recently, Uruguay legalized not only the distribution and selling of marijuana but also the growing of it. As expected, controversy arose from it but the move made other countries receptive to the debate of legalizing marijuana and away from the usual hardline stance of banning it. The debate may still be long and bitter but the mere fact that it is being debated indicates an openness of accepting marijuana as harmless and medically helpful that could be a good source of revenue for the government. The draconian measures imposed against the distribution and use of marijuana is not only pointless but economically costly as well. The most stringent law nor the broader use of the state’s police power have not deterred people from its used and this only manifests that the escalation of control and police enforcement is a wrong response and therefore pointless. It only pushed the industry into the black market which begets another set of problems. Worst, the medical benefit of the regulated use of marijuana is foregone by banning it as illegal. It only makes cartels rich just like what happened to alcohol when it was banned. It was the mafia who got rich. It is also economically costly because maintaining law enforcers to go after marijuana distributors and users needs funding which will be taken out from tax payers. In addition, there is also an opportunity cost associated in banning marijuana. The taxes that should have been collected in regulating marijuana was lost becau se

Group Productivity Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Group Productivity - Essay Example It links the management’s philosophy to the employees. Prominence is accorded to the customer service aspect and the organizational values are emphasized by this document. Thus, it conveys the vision of J&J to all its employees and the groups and provides direction to their efforts. Clear objectives wards off the ambiguity on their expectations and improve their performance (Griffin & Moorehead, 2008). The training given to the employees on Diversity and Inclusion (Johnson & Johnson, 2012), helps the members from different backgrounds to appreciate the significance of heterogeneity and respect the various cultures. Such an accommodative behavior breeds trust within the group, refines the communication channels and builds a healthy relationship among the members. This factor, along with the other features such as ‘Common Ground’ program for conflict resolution and ‘Employee Resource Groups’ that take advantage of the interests of employees, promote productivity (Johnson & Johnson, 2012). J&J is a workplace that relies heavily on research and development, especially the pharmaceutical division (Johnson & Johnson, 2012). The work culture that fosters innovation also promotes competition, not only between different groups, but also within the group. The employees in some cases need to fight with their own group mates for resource allocation and sharing. Further, the achievements of the groups are highlighted rather than individuals and thus, there is a scope that discrepancies arise among the high and low performers within a group. These aspects lead to a climate of anti-trust and differences ultimately disturbs the group

URGENT 8 HOURS DEADLINE Brief Summary oF Macroeconomics chapters 5 and Essay

URGENT 8 HOURS DEADLINE Brief Summary oF Macroeconomics chapters 5 and 12 - Essay Example it is necessary to take note the total net export of goods and services which are also known as the Trade Balance given that a healthy economic activity should not have excessively large amount of total net import as compared with the net export. (p. 118) What happens when the total net import exceeds the total net export is that the country may eventually feel the negative economic consequences of not having sufficient money that flows within the domestic market. When this happen, there is a strong possibility that the normal domestic demand and supply for goods and services will be disrupted. In worst case scenario, it is possible for some domestic companies to implement massive lay-offs to ensure the business profitability and stability. Therefore, unemployment rate in the long-run is expected to increase. The same theory and economic consequences applies when a country’s net capital outflow of domestic lending abroad exceeds the total amount of foreign lending that enters the country. (pp. 118 – 119) Trade Balance uses the formula S – I and NX respectively (p. 118 – 119). In other words, a Trade Deficit and Trade Surplus occur in case the total Net Output and Trade Balance is negative and positive respectively (p. 119). Trade Balance occurs only when the total Net Capital Outflow and Trade Balance is equals to ZERO. It means that the total value of import is equal to the total value of export. A Bilateral Trade occurs when two countries agree to enter into a regular trading contract. However, it is not possible for a country to have experience a Bilateral Trade Balance. (p. 120) For instance: There is an agreement between China and U.S. to strengthen their import and export activities within one another. Even though both countries agreed to import and export goods and services, it is not possible for both countries to experience equal import and export. For this reason, it is possible to say that China has recently experienced Bilateral Trade

What key skills do employers want fresh university graduates to have Research Paper

What key skills do employers want fresh university graduates to have - Research Paper Example Now-a-days, the employers are trying to find effective and fresh university graduates to enhance their several business operations. It is important for the fresh graduates to avail effective knowledge and skills in their educational fields to achieve significant employment opportunity. However, the employers usually look for general behaviors and competencies that are important for the successful working. These aspects are often overlooked by the fresh university graduates but these are the basic things that the employers or recruitment officials want to find. Discussion The recruitment officers or the employers generally want ten important skills and competencies from the fresh university graduates. These are communication, commercial awareness, teamwork, problem solving, negotiation and persuasion, leadership, perseverance and motivation, organizations, confidence and ability to work under immense pressure. These ten aspects are discussed below in details. Communication Verbal comm unication and ability to listen are considered as important skills of an employee. Clear, focused and concise communication helps an employee to tailor his or her message for the target audience. On the other hand, listing to the views and suggestions of others can enhance and effective communication process. Clear and concise communication is required in an organization between the employers and employees to reduce the possibilities of conflict. Inadequate communication process can affect the business performance of the organization in several ways (Heneman, 22). Ultimately, it can affect the business performance of the organization. Looking into these mutterers, the employers try to hire fresh university graduates who avail good communication skill. Commercial Awareness Commercial awareness or business awareness is quite important of the fresh university graduates. The recruitment professionals always try to observe the knowledge and awareness level of the applicants during the re cruitment process. According to the employers, effective knowledge about an organization can help an employee to perform in significant way. Teamwork Effective teamwork within the workplace can drive an organization towards successful business performance. The fresh university graduates need to prove that they are effective team player. In addition to this, the fresh university graduates should have the ability to delegate and mange other team members within the workplace (Lipman & Hall, 2008). Effective team management is about developing positive and effective working relationship to achieve professional and personal goals. Problem Solving Problem solving and decision making method is quite important for business operation. Effective problem solving and decision ability of the employees can help an organization to achieve successful business outcome. In addition to this, effective problem solving ability of the employees can help an organization to resolve critical issues during s erious situations. Negotiation and Persuasion Effective negotiation and persuasion process of employees can help them to put forward in their desired ways. In addition to this, effective negotiation and persuasion process helps an employee to understand the background of several unknown individuals (Paper, 2007). This key understanding process and the effective negotiation ability of the employees can help the organization to meet business objectives within quick time period. Leadership It is true that each and every leading organization around the globe is trying to improve and maintain their workplace and

URGENT 8 HOURS DEADLINE Brief Summary oF Macroeconomics chapters 5 and Essay

URGENT 8 HOURS DEADLINE Brief Summary oF Macroeconomics chapters 5 and 12 - Essay Example it is necessary to take note the total net export of goods and services which are also known as the Trade Balance given that a healthy economic activity should not have excessively large amount of total net import as compared with the net export. (p. 118) What happens when the total net import exceeds the total net export is that the country may eventually feel the negative economic consequences of not having sufficient money that flows within the domestic market. When this happen, there is a strong possibility that the normal domestic demand and supply for goods and services will be disrupted. In worst case scenario, it is possible for some domestic companies to implement massive lay-offs to ensure the business profitability and stability. Therefore, unemployment rate in the long-run is expected to increase. The same theory and economic consequences applies when a country’s net capital outflow of domestic lending abroad exceeds the total amount of foreign lending that enters the country. (pp. 118 – 119) Trade Balance uses the formula S – I and NX respectively (p. 118 – 119). In other words, a Trade Deficit and Trade Surplus occur in case the total Net Output and Trade Balance is negative and positive respectively (p. 119). Trade Balance occurs only when the total Net Capital Outflow and Trade Balance is equals to ZERO. It means that the total value of import is equal to the total value of export. A Bilateral Trade occurs when two countries agree to enter into a regular trading contract. However, it is not possible for a country to have experience a Bilateral Trade Balance. (p. 120) For instance: There is an agreement between China and U.S. to strengthen their import and export activities within one another. Even though both countries agreed to import and export goods and services, it is not possible for both countries to experience equal import and export. For this reason, it is possible to say that China has recently experienced Bilateral Trade

Dress code Term Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Dress code - Term Paper Example In order to achieve this, we do require you to gain full understanding of the management’s expectations from you so that you may act accordingly. Although most of you are aware of the standards maintained by ABC Institute, yet a lot of new employees have been recruited recently and the management wants to once and for all, make clear the dress code that they are obliged to follow as a requirement of their contract with the ABC Institute. Old employees should review the memo to find slight additions that have been made to the last dress code policy. Being Muslim, our standards for dress are derived from the teachings of Islam. Modesty is the principle determinant of the eligibility of dress for both men and women in the institute. Dress code for men: Dress pants (jeans are not allowed), collared shirts with full sleeves, tie, and boots (sandals are not allowed). Jersey can be worn as per the need. Dress code for women: Trousers (jeans are not allowed), knee long skirts (can be longer but not any shorter), full sleeved blouses till waist (can be longer but not any shorter), boots (sandals are not allowed), and scarf (compulsory). Half sleeved blouses can be worn by the female staff members provided that the sleeve covers the elbow. T-shirts are disallowed! Knee length skirts should cover the knees in all positions i.e. sitting and standing. It is advisable to wear a knee length skirt with full sleeved or three-quarters sleeved blouse, and a full length skirt with a half sleeved blouse. Full length trousers are to be worn in either case! ABC Institute Code of Behavior: All staff members are expected to completely comply with the ABC Institute Code of Behavior. Staff members are obliged to: Display professionalism always while representing the ABC Institute Serve as a role model for others by always showing perfect mannerism Respect the religious as well as traditional beliefs of all communities in UAE Follow the ABC Institute Dress Code at all times All mem bers of the staff should be aware of the fact that ABC Institute provides the public with full time customer service. The service continues 24 / 7 uninterruptedly. That essentially tells that many of the staff members have to work in the night shift. They are advised to adjust their schedule accordingly so that they are able to deliver their best in the night. ABC Institute requires its staff members to present themselves to the public in a getup that is expected of them in context of the Islamic teachings and the indigenous culture of UAE which accords with them. UAE maintains a multicultural society, and people from all over the world dwell here. The staff members, should never, in any way, comment on the getup of any customer. ABC Institute’s workforce is expected to always display excellent mannerism, which essentially constitutes all three areas of language, behavior and dress. Upon recruitment, all staff members are made aware of what the management expects them to disp lay with respect to each of the three areas of mannerism. While we talk of language, it essentially includes body language in addition to the verbal language. ABC Institute expects every staff member to be very formal in both kinds of languages, and make excellent use of emotional intelligence in the workplace. Smoking is strictly prohibited both within the workplace. No staff member is allowed to use cigarettes or any other kind of drugs

Of Mice and Men Essay Example for Free

Of Mice and Men Essay Discuss the theme of exclusion in relation to one or more characters and how its presented in of Mice and Men In the novel, there is a strong link to the theme exclusion within the characters. Steinbeck presents this by describing the character in a certain way to make the reader aware of the social ranking and judgement, and does this by also giving the reader an idea of how the characters refer to each other and why this may portray exclusion and how. Crooks is a highly isolated and excluded character in the novel as the stable buck. We know as the reader that he is excluded from the moment he is introduced. This is first presented when Candy says â€Å"the stable bucks a nigger†. Using the term ‘nigger’ to describe the character tells us that there is a strong racial exclusion and that Crooks isn’t very socially high up. Steinbeck later then develops the exclusion of this character when Candy also says â€Å"the boss give him hell when he’s mad†. This just tells us that the Boss, who is much higher up than Crooks excludes him and makes his life ‘hell’. By this Steinbeck might mean that the Boss takes out all of his anger on Crooks because of his low status due to his race. He can be treated however by people that are at a higher status ranking than he is. In my opinion Crooks has the lowest social ranking and the most negative judgements compared to all the other characters who are excluded as even Candy refers to him simply as a â€Å"nigger†. Another character that is highly excluded is Curley’s wife. Right at the beginning of the novels George is describing Curley’s wife to Lennie listen to me you crazy bastard, he said fiercely. Don’t you even take a look at that bitch. I don’t care what she says and what she does. I see em’ poison before but I never seen no piece of jail bait worse than her, now leave her alone. † George is telling Lennie to stay away from her. Steinbeck uses an imperative where George is telling Lennie to ‘listen’ to what he is saying. Meaning itâ⠂¬â„¢s very important because he says it â€Å"fiercely† as he really wants Lennie to take on board what he has said. George is really quite horrible in that hes is describing Curley’s wife as a â€Å"bitch† and â€Å"poison. † There is derogatory language used here by Steinbeck to really ethicize how George is feeling. And they are insults, specifically to her. Steinbeck also uses slang from around the time that the book was written. George says that she is like â€Å"jail bait†. This is slang to describe somebody who gets other people into trouble, even by just going near them. Curley’s wife knows how all the other men feel about her nd she has ways of showing how she feels back. â€Å"she turned on him in scorn. â€Å"listen nigger†, she said. â€Å"you know what i can do if you open your trap? † for a moment she stood over him as though waiting for him to move so that she could whip him again she turned at last to the other two. † Here Curley’s wife is trying to seek attention from Crooks, Candy and Lennie. From this quote it shows e xclusion within all the characters. Curley’s wife is excluded as she is the only woman and nobody will speak to her. Also she gets no attention. The other three characters are excluded as all the other men have gone out from the ranch and they’ve been left behind. Steinbeck shows us that Curley’s wife reacts to how excluded she is as she has to turn to insulting people sp that she can feel above them and more powerful. Physically she also â€Å"stood over him†, to feel better about her self esteem and less worthless. An imperative is used to begin with also so she feels higher ranked than the men around her. Steinbeck represents her as a bully by being racist to Crooks and describing him as a â€Å"nigger†. But just let two of the guys get together an’ you won’t talk. Jus’ nothing but mad†. Here Candy and Crooks are being spoken to by Curley’s wife. She was speaking to Crooks, seeking for attention when Candy showed up and there was silence form both characters. She’s telling them that she has experienced things like this before obviously. As Curley’s wife says â€Å"the† guys it makes me think that she is describing them as objects and not as real people. We, as the reader can tell that she is getting more and more upset as we reach halfway through the passage. She shortens her words such as and to â€Å"an’ and just to â€Å"jus’†. This proves that she is losing her temper and patience as to why they will not talk to her. We can also tell this as her sentence structures are getting shorter as she goes on. This quote clearly promotes exclusion as nobody really wants to talk to Curley’s wife. This is because they believe that they will get into trouble if they do so. It also shows how much Curley’s wife is excluded. She’s being excluded from a black man and an old disabled man who are already excluded against.

Eighteenth Century Women Playwrights Essay examples -- European Europe

The following essay gives a short biography of eight of the most well known women playwrights of the eighteenth century. The essay runs in chronological order by each playwright’s birth date and describes the better known accomplishments of each playwright. The playwrights that I have included in this essay are: Mary Delariviere Manley, Mary Griffith Pix, Susanna Carroll Centlivre, Catherine Trotter Cockburn, Eliza Fowler Haywood, Elizabeth Griffith, Hannah Parkhouse Cowley, and Elizabeth Simpson Inchbald (Benedict 2003). Mary Delariviere Manley has a strange early history. It is unknown whether or not her first name really was Mary. It is unknown exactly when and exactly where she was born. The name of her mother is unknown. The resting place of her father is unknown. Mary Manley was born either on April 6 or 7, 1663, or in any year between 1667 and 1672. Her father, Lieutenant-Governor of the English island of Jersey, abandoned her around 1688. She lived with her cousin, John Manley, who married her, although he was already married. Later, John Manley abandoned her and their son (Schlueter and Schlueter 1988). Mary Manley’s first two plays, The Lost Lover and The Royal Mischief, were written in 1696 while she lived in Exeter. Both plays were performed in London: The Lost Lover at Drury Lane and The Royal Mischief at Lincoln’s Inn Fields. Although The Lost Lover was not successful, The Royal Mischief brought her wealth and recognition. Mary believed that the plays were not as successful as they could have been because they were written by a woman. From this time on Mary was what we today call a women’s rights activist (Rozny 2001). Mary began to write political satires for wh... ... Vows. Oxford: Woodstock Books, 1990. Ingrassia, Catherine. â€Å"Eliza Haywood.† http://www.people.vcu.edu/~cingrass/chronology.htm (13 November 2003). Ricciardi, Cynthia B. â€Å"Welcome to the Elizabeth Griffith Homepage.† 10 June 2000. http://webhost.bridgew.edu/cricciardi/griffith.htm> (11 November 2003). Rozny, Noel and Margaret Vincent. â€Å"The Official Website of the Secret Society of British Gentlewomen.† 19 April 2001. (11 November 2003). Schlueter, Paul, and June Schlueter, ed. An Encyclopedia of British Women Writers. NY: Garland, 1988. Todd, Janet, ed. A Dictionary of British and American Women Writers 1660-1800. NJ: Rowman and Allanheld, 1985. Warren, Kate M. â€Å"New Advent.† 15 September 2003. (14 November 2003).

Seamus Heaneys Poems Essay -- Seamus Heaney Poetry Poets Essays

Seamus Heaney's Poems Heaney was born on April 13 1939. He was the eldest of nine children. In modern day society it is common to have 2 or 3 children, and to have eight or nine children is considered very unusual. Heaney lived on the family farm, Mossbawn, about thirty miles northwest of Belfast, in County Derry. The majority of UK residents live in urban areas, and a small minority live in rural areas. It used to be more popular in the past to live in a rural area. People in rural areas live, and have lived, in a totally different culture to that of the people in urban, industrialized areas. Heaney is Irish, which is also another culture to that of the English, today. The conflict in Northern Ireland is almost always a backdrop to his work, stated or implicit. Heaney's Poems are based on real life experiences, which can be related to in only so many ways, because of the differences in lifestyle, culture etc. For example in 'Blackberry Picking', he is talking of picking berries as a boy, and then hoarding them until they rot. This may imply that he went berry picking just for the fun of it, but today it is unusual for children to go berry picking, let alone without an adult. The adult would have known to store the berries properly, but in Heaney's day berry picking was a ritual for children only. To my knowledge, the majority of Heaney's poems were written/ published between 1960 and 1990, though many of the poems refer to his childhood in the 1940's. Therefore, even though he is writing from a child's perspective, he has the understanding of an adult. He is also able to recall events in more detail. Many of the poems I have read are about his parents or major events in his childhood, e.g. 'Foll... ...e poems are written specifically about his childhood, and the third one links in. They tell of his loss of innocence, 'The Early Purges' tells us of his loss of sentimentality, loss of idealism as he grows up 'bloody pups', 'Blackberry Picking' tells us of his loss of optimism and idealism ' each year I hoped knew they would not' 'The past is another country and they do things differently there' This is a very true phrase. Heaney's has a very different past from us. Therefore, his poems even though some have been written fairly recently, can only be related to in context. People living an urban life and childhood, would have very different views on life and death, than Heaney does in his poems. The past is certainly another country, they didn't have the technology that we have today. And foreign countries also have different ways of living than we do.

A Place That Gets Worst From Time To Time

There is a country in South East Asia known as the Philippines. It is composed of 7.100 islands and has its roots dating back to Spanish occupation. The country has a long history of being an occupied nation.Spanish slavery by the Americans only to be occupied by the Japanese during World War II. The Americans once again liberated it and eventually gave the country independence.The country has never stood a chance to develop and become a player in the emerging economies of the world due to poor political leadership. It was under a dictatorship spanning twenty years begging in the 70's.The dictator president, Ferdinand Marcos was ousted in a bloodless revolution known as People power only to have the new leaders hounded by countless military uprisings that continue into the present leadership of the country.It is this political turmoil that has caused regression in the country. It has been getting worse since the Americans left because the people do not know how to govern themselves. They could be the Asian equivalent of Nigeria in the future most specially with their national elections, known for its violence, being underway with the opening of the campaign season this January.In the end, it seems like bad leadership and selfishness is causing an already bad situation to get worse in a country that seems to be getting into even worse situations with each passing day. In this situation that seems to have no solution, only the ordinary citizens of the country come out at the losers because they do not have the voice to be heard and the conviction to fight for what is due to them. Â  

Marketing: video game console and shoppers stop Essay

Ask the company top brass what ‘almost there’ means. The answer: a premier Indian retail company that has come to be known as a specialty chain of apparel and accessories. With 52 product categories under one roof, Shoppers’ Stop has a line-up of 350 brands. Set up and headed by former Corona employee, B. S. Nagesh, Shoppers’ Stop is India’s answer to Selfridges and Printemps. As it proudly announces, ‘We don’t sell, we help you buy. ’ Back in 1991, there was the question of what to retail. Should it be a supermarket or a departmental store? Even an electronics store was considered. Finally, common senseand understanding won out. The safest bet, for the all-male team was to retail men’s wear. They knew the male psyche and felt that they had discerning taste in men’s clothing. The concept would be that of a lifestyle store in a luxurious space, which would make for a great shopping experience. The first Shoppers’ Stop store took shape in Andheri, Mumbai, in October 1991, with an investment of nearly Rs. 20 lakh. The original concept that formed the basis of a successful marketing campaign for seven years is here to stay. And the result is an annual turnover of Rs. 160 crores and five stores, nine years later. Everything went right from the beginning, except for one strange happening. More than 60 per cent of the customers who walked into Shoppers’ Stop in Mumbai were women. This gave rise to ideas. Soon, the store set up its women’s section. Later, it expanded to include children’s wear and then, household accessories. The second store in Bangalore came in 1995. The store at Hyderabad followed in 1998 with the largest area of 60,000 sq. ft. The New Delhi and Jaipur stores were inaugurated in 1999. All this while, the product range kept increasing to suit customer needs. The most recent experiment was home furnishings. Secure in the knowledge that organised retailing in global brands was still in its infancy in India, Shoppers’ Stop laid the ground rules which the competition followed. The biggest advantage for Shoppers’ Stop is that it knows how the Indian consumer thinks and feels while shopping. Yes, feeling – for in India, shopping remains an outing. And how does it compare itself to foreign stores? While it is not modeled on any one foreign retailer, the ‘basic construct’ is taken from the experience of a number of successfully managed retail companies. It has leveraged expertise for a critical component like technology from all over the world, going as far as hiring expatriates from Littlewoods and using state-of-the-art ERP models. Shoppers’ Stop went a step further by even integrating its financial system with the ERP model. Expertise was imported wherever it felt that expertise available in-house was inadequate. But the store felt there was one acute problem. A shortage of the most important resource of them all was trained humans . Since Indian business institutes did not have professional courses in retail management, people were hired from different walks of life and the training programme was internalized. By 1994, the senior executives at Shoppers’ Stop were taking lectures at management institutes in Mumbai. The Narsee Monjee Institute of Management Studies (NMIMS) even restructured its course to include retail management as a subject. Getting the company access to the latest global retail trends and exchange of information with business greats was an exclusive membership to the Intercontinental Group of Department Stores (IGDS). It allows membership by invitation to one company from a country and Shoppers’ Stop rubs shoulders with 29 of the hottest names in retailing – Selfridges from the UK, C. K. Tang from Singapore, Lamcy Plaza from Dubai and the like. With logistics I in place, the accent moved to the customer. Shoppers’ Stop conducted surveys with ORG-MARG and Indian Market Research Bureau (IMRB) and undertook in-house wardrobe audits. The studies confirmed what it already knew. The Indian customer is still evolving and is very different from, say, a European customer, who knows exactly what he wants to purchase, walks up to a shelf, picks up the merchandise, pays and walks out. In India, customers like to touch and feel the merchandise, and scout for options. Also, the majority of Indian shoppers still prefer to pay in cash. So, transactions must be in cash as against plastic money used the world over. Additionally, the Indian customer likes being served – whether it is food, or otherwise. The company’s customer profile includes people who want the same salesperson each time they came to the store to walk them through the shop floors and assist in the purchase. Others came with families, kids and maids in tow and expected to be suitably attended to. Still others wanted someone to carry the bags. So, the shops have self-help counters with an assistant at hand for queries or help. The in-house wardrobe audit also helped with another facet of the business. It enabled Shoppers’ Stop to work out which brands to stock, based on customer preferences. In fact, the USP of Shoppers’ Stop lies in judiciously selected global brands, displayed alongside an in-house range of affordable designer wear. The line-up includes Levi’s, Louis Philippe, Allen Solly, Walt Disney, Ray Ban and Reebok, besides in-house labels STOP and I. Brand selection is the same across the five locations, though the product mix may be somewhat city-based to accommodate cuts and styles in women’s wear, as well as allowing for seasonal variations (winter in Delhi, for instance, is a case in point). Stocking of brands is based on popular demand – recently, Provogue, MTV Style, and Benetton have been added. In-house labels are available at competitive prices and target the value-formoney customer and make up around 12 per cent of Shoppers’ Stop’s business. Sometimes in-house brands plug the price gap in certain product categories. To cash in on this, the company has big plans for its in-house brands: from re-branding to repositioning, to homing in on product categories where existing brands are not strong. Competition between brands is not an issue, because being a trading house, all brands get equal emphasis. The in-house brand shopper is one who places immense trust in the company and the quality of its goods and returns for repeat buys. And the company reposed its faith in regular customers by including them in a concept called the First Citizen’s Club (FCC). With 60,000 odd members, FCC customers account for 10 per cent of entries and for 34 per cent of the turnover. It was the sheer appeal of the experience that kept pulling these people back. Not one to let such an opportunity pass, the company ran a successful ad campaign (that talks about just this factor) in print for more than eight years. The theme is still the same. In 1999, a TV spot, which liked the shopping experience to the slowing down of one’s internal clock and the beauty of the whole experience, was aired. More recently, ads that spell out the store’s benefits (in a highly oblique manner) are being aired. The campaign is based on entries entered in the Visitors’ Book. None of the ads has a visual or text – or any heavy handedly direct reference to the store or the merchandise. The ads only show shoppers having the time of their lives in calm and serene locales, or elements that make shopping at the store a pleasure – quite the perfect getaway for a cosmopolitan shopper aged between 25 and 45. The brief to the agency, Contract, ensured that brand recall came in terms of the shopping experience, not the product. And it has worked wonders. Value-addition at each store also comes in the form of special care with car parks, power backup, customer paging, alteration service and gift-wrapping. To top it all, cafes and coffee bars make sure that the customer does not step out of the store. In Hyderabad, it has even created a Food Court. Although the food counter was not planned, it came about as there was extra space of 67,000 sq. ft. Carrying the perfect experience to the shop floor is an attempt to stack goods in vast open spaces neatly. Every store has a generic structure, though regional customer variances are accounted for. Each store is on lease, and this is clearly Shoppers’ Stop’s most expensive resource proposition – renting huge spaces in prime properties across metros, so far totaling 210,000 sq. ft of retail space. Getting that space was easy enough for Shoppers’ Stop, since its promoter is the Mumbai-based Raheja Group, which also owns 62 per cent of the share capital. Questions 1. What are the significant factors that have led to the success of Shoppers’ Stop? 2. Draw the typical profile(s) of Shoppers’ Stop customer segments. 3. How are Indian customers visiting Shoppers’ Stop any different from customers of developed western countries? 4. How should Shoppers’ Stop develop its demand forecasts? Case let 2 The rise of personal computers in the mid 1980s spurred interest in computer games. This caused a crash in home Video game market. Interest in Video games was rekindled when a number of different companies developed hardware consoles that provided graphics superior to the capabilities of computer games. By 1990, the Nintendo Entertainment System dominated the product category. Sega surpassed Nintendo when it introduced its Genesis System. By 1993, Sega commanded almost 60 per cent of Video game market and was one of the most recognized brand names among the children. Sega’s success was short lived. In 1995, Saturn (a division of General Motors) launched a new 32-bit system. The product was a miserable failure for a number of reasons. Sega was the primary software developer for Saturn and it did not support efforts by outside game developers to design compatible games. In addition, Sega’s games were often delivered quite late to retailers. Finally, the price of the Saturn system was greater than other comparable game consoles. This situation of Saturn’s misstep benefited Nintendo and Sony greatly. Sony’s Play Station was unveiled in 1994 and was available in 70 million homes worldwide by the end of 1999. Its â€Å"Open design† encouraged the efforts of outside developers, resulting in almost 3,000 different games that were compatible with the PlayStation. It too featured 32-bit graphics that appealed to older audience. As a result, at one time, more than 30 per cent of PlayStation owners were over 30 years old. Nintendo 64 was introduced in 1996 and had eye-popping 64-bit graphics and entered in more than 28 million homes by 1999. Its primary users were between the age of 6 and 13 as a result of Nintendo’s efforts to limit the amount of violent and adult-oriented material featured on games that can be played on its systems. Because the company exercised considerable control over software development, Nintendo 64 had only one-tenth the number of compatible games as Sony’s PlayStation did. By 1999, Sony had captured 56 per cent of the video game market, followed by Nintendo with 42 per cent. Sega’s share had fallen to a low of 1%. Hence, Sega had two options, either to concede defeat or introduce an innovative video machine that would bring in huge sales. And Sega had to do so before either Nintendo or Sony could bring their next-generation console to market. The Sega Dreamcast arrived in stores in September 1999 with an initial price tag of $199. Anxious gamers placed 300,000 advance orders, and initial sales were quite encouraging. A total of 1. 5 million Dreamcast machines were bought within the first four months, and initial reviews were positive. The 128-bit system was capable of generating 3-D visuals, and 40 different games were available within three months of Dream cast’s introduction. By the end of the year, Sega had captured a market share to 15 per cent. But the Dreamcast could not sustain its momentum. Although its game capabilities were impressive, the system did not deliver all the functionality Sega had promised. A 56K modem (which used a home phone line) and a Web browser were meant to allow access to the Internet so that gamers could play each other online, surf the Web, and visit the Dreamcast Network for product information and playing tips. Unfortunately, these features either were not immediately available or were disappointing in their execution. Sega was not the only one in having the strategy of adding functionality beyond games. Sony and Nintendo followed the same approach for their machines introduced in 1999. Both Nintendo’s Neptune and Sony’s PlayStation 2 (PS2) were built on a DVD platform and featured a 128-bit processor. Analysts applauded the move to DVD because it is less expensive to produce and allows more storage than CDs. It also gives buyers the ability to use the machine as CD music player and DVD movie player. As Sony marketing director commented, â€Å"The full entertainment offering from Play Station 2 definitely appeals to a much broader audience. I have friends in their 30s who bought it not only because it’s a gaming system for their kids , but also a DVD for them. † In addition, PlayStation 2 is able to play games developed for its earlier model that was CD-based. This gives the PS2 an enormous advantage in the number of compatible game titles that were immediately available to gamers. Further enhancing the PS2’s appeal is its high-speed modem and allows the user’s easy access to the Internet through digital cable as well as over telephone lines. This gives Sony the ability to distribute movies, music, and games directly to PS2 consoles. â€Å"We are positioning this as an all-round entertainment player,† commented Ken Kutaragi, the head of Sony Computer Entertainment. However, some prospective customers were put off by the console’s initial price of $360. Shortly after the introduction of Neptune, Nintendo changed its strategies and announced the impending release of its newest game console, The GameCube. However, unlike the Neptune, the GameCube would not run on a DVD platform and also would not initially offer any online capabilities. It would be more attractively priced at $199. A marketing vice president for Nintendo explained the company’s change in direction, â€Å"We are the only competitor whose business is video games. We want to create the best gaming system. † Nintendo also made the GameCube friendly for outside developers and started adding games that included sports titles to attract an older audience. Best known for its extra ordinary successes with games aimed at the younger set, such as Donkey Kong, Super Mario Bros, and Pokemon, Nintendo sought to attract older users, especially because the average video game player is 28. Youthful Nintendo users were particularly pleased to hear that they could use their handheld Game Boy Advance systems as controllers for the GameCube. Nintendo scrambled to ensure there would be an adequate supply of Game Cubes on the date in November 2001, when they were scheduled to be available to customers. It also budgeted $450 million to market its new product, as it anticipated stiff competition during the holiday shopping season. With more than 20 million PlayStation 2 sold worldwide, the GameCube as a new entry in the video game market would make the battle for market share even more intense. For almost a decade, the video game industry had only Sega, Nintendo, and Sony; just three players. Because of strong brand loyalty and high product development costs, newcomers faced a daunting task in entering this race and being competitive. In November 2001, Microsoft began selling its new Xbox, just three days before the GameCube made its debut. Some observers felt the Xbox was aimed to rival PlayStation 2, which has similar functions that rival Microsoft’s Web TV system and even some lower level PCs. Like the Sony’s PlayStation 2, Xbox was also built using a DVD platform, but it used anIntel processor in its construction. This open design allowed Microsoft to develop the Xbox in just twoyears, and gave developers the option of using standard PC tool for creating compatible games. In addition, Microsoft also sought the advice of successful game developers and even incorporated some of their feedback into the design of the console and its controllers. As a result of developers’ efforts, Microsoft had about 20 games ready when the Xbox became available. By contrast, the GameCube had only eight games available. Microsoft online strategy was another feature that differentiated of the Xbox from the GameCube. Whereas Nintendo had no immediate plans for Web-based play, the Xbox came equipped with an Ethernet port for broadband access to Internet. Microsoft also announced its own Web-based network on which gamers can come together for online head-to head play and for organised online matches and tournaments. Subscribers to this service were to pay a small monthly fee and must have high-speed access to the Internet. This is a potential drawback considering that a very low percentage of households world over currently have broadband connections. By contrast Sony promoted an open network, which allows software developers to manage their own games, including associated fees charged to users. However, interested players must purchase a network adapter for an additional $39. 99. Although game companies are not keen on the prospect of submitting to the control of a Microsoft-controlled network, it would require a significant investment for them to manage their own service on the Sony based network. Initially the price of Microsoft’s Xbox was $299. Prior to the introduction of Xbox, in a competitive move Sony dropped the price of the PlayStation 2 to $299. Nintendo’s GameCube already enjoyed a significant price advantage, as it was selling for $100 less than either Microsoft or Sony products. Gamers eagerly snapped up the new consoles and made 2001 the best year ever for video game sales. For the first time, consumers spent $9. 4 billion on video game equipment, which was more than they did at the box office. By the end of 2001 holiday season, 6. 6 million PlayStation 2 consoles had been sold in North America alone, followed by 1. 5 million Xbox units and 1. 2 million Game Cubes. What ensued was an all out price war. This started when Sony decided to put even more pressure on the Microsoft’s Xbox by cutting the PlayStation 2 price to $199. Microsoft quickly matched that price. Wanting to maintain its low-price status, Nintendo in turn responded by reducing the price of its the GameCube by $50, to $149. By mid 2002, Microsoft Xbox had sold between 3. 5 and 4 million units worldwide. However, Nintendo had surpassed Xbox sales by selling 4. 5 million Game Cubes. Sony had the benefit of healthy head start, and had shipped 32 million PlayStation 2s. However, seven years after the introduction of original PlayStation, it was being sold in retail outlets for a mere $49. It had a significant lead in terms of numbers of units in homes around the world with a 43 per cent share. Nintendo 64 was second with 30 per cent, followed by Sony PlayStation 2 with 14 per cent The Xbox and GameCube each claimed about 3 per cent of the market, with Sega Dreamcast comprising the last and least market share of 4. 7 per cent. Sega, once an industry leader, announced in 2001 that it had decided to stop producing the Dreamcast and other video game hardware components. The company said it would develop games for its competitors’ consoles. Thus Sega slashed the price of the Dreamcast to just $99 in an effort to liquidate its piled up inventory of more than 2 million units and immediately began developing 11 new games for the Xbox, four for PlayStation 2, and three for Nintendo’s Game Boy Advance. As the prices of video game consoles have dropped, consoles and games have become the equivalent of razors and blades. This means the consoles generate little if any profit, but the games are a highly profitable proposition. The profit margins on games are highly attractive, affected to some degree by whether the content is developed by the console maker (such as Sony) or by an independent game publisher (such as Electronic Arts). Thus, the competition to develop appealing, or perhaps even addictive, games may be even more intense than the battle among players to produce the best console. In particular, Nintendo, Sony, and Microsoft want games that are exclusive to their own systems. With that in mind, they not only rely on large in-house staffs that design games but they also pay added fees to independent publishers for exclusive rights to new games. The sales of video games in 2001 rose to 43 per cent, compared to just 4 per cent increase for computer-based games. But computer game players are believed to be a loyal bunch, as they see many advantages in playing games on their computers rather than consoles. For one thing, they have a big advantage of having access to a mouse and a keyboard that allow them to play far more sophisticated games. In addition, they have been utilizing the Internet for years to receive game updates and modifications and to play each other over the Web. Sony and Microsoft are intent on capturing a portion of the online gaming opportunity. Even Nintendo has decided to make available a modem that will allow GameCube users to play online. As prices continue to fall and technology becomes increasingly more sophisticated, it remains to be seen whether these three companies can keep their names on the industry’s list of â€Å"high scorers†. Questions 1. Considering the concept of product life cycle, where would you put video games in their life cycle? 2. Should video game companies continue to alter their products to include other functions, such as e-mail? END OF SECTION B Section C: Applied Theory (30 marks). 1. What is meant by sales promotion? Describe briefly the various methods of sales promotional tools used by business organizations to boost the sales. Explain any four methods of sales promotion? 2. Write notes on the fowling : a) Explain right to safety. b) What is right to consumer protection? END OF SECTION C.