Teaching as a profession has changed drastically

This is besides a timely issue in southern Florida since one of its school territory ‘s gained national attending late because parents used a societal computing machine web forum to develop the group TINT ( Testing is Not Teaching ) . This grassroots organisation was started by parents who felt that their kids were being overly tested in the public school system. The parents were joined by instructors and pupils and used the societal web to form protests and mass meetings. Two of the groups purposes were to hold the CAO ( Chief Academic Officer ) removed from his place, along with the Superintendent who hired him. The group felt that the CAO was passing out a â€Å" written plan † , particularly in reading, that all instructors were mandated to follow. This plan was designed to increase trial tonss on the FCAT ( Florida Comprehensive Assessment Test ) , given to all pupils in classs 3 through 10. In the terminal both the CAO and Superintendent resigned and TINT is now cl osely watching local and national developments in instruction. In this epoch of high bets proving, territories, schools and instructors depend on the success of their pupils ‘ success on standardised trials. These trials are correlated with national and province criterions and are farther broken down by benchmarks. These benchmarks provide the guidelines for the content instructors cover during the school twelvemonth. Research has shown that effectual instructors participate in the planning and implementing of the course of study but the authorizations from the Federal, province, and local authoritiess take the ownership of learning off and replace it with a course of study that is out of their control. This instance survey will look at the effects of the high-stakes testing motion on single instructors and analyze the functions and duties these instructors believe they have in fixing their pupils for the high-stakes testing. This instance survey was designed to analyze the relationship between the execution of increased high bets proving and teacher efficaciousness and to reply the inquiry do teacher believe they have a function or any duty in determining instructional schemes in fixing their pupils for taking high bets trials? The focal point was on analyzing what educational patterns are working to increase instructor efficaciousness with province mandated standardised testing and looking at schools which have implemented successful plans to help instructors. Three instructors will be interviewed to determine their position in determining instructional schemes within their school that prepare their pupils for the province mandated trials. This qualitative research designed instance survey will interview three instructors in public schools in a territory in South Florida. The interview inquiries will be predetermined and the topics will hold the chance to read these inquiries before being interviewed. There will be four inquiries for each one to reply. These inquiries will be developed by the interviewer and concentrate on the instructor ‘s function sing high bets proving and if it has changed their instruction patterns. They will besides be asked what function they have in their peculiar school in determining instructional schemes for their pupils to win on these trials. The interviewer will both transcribe and tape all the interviews and after the written text is complete it will be given to the instructors for their reappraisal.History of testing:The construct of aptitude testing was introduced during World War II as a method of happening the best and most intelligent soldiers for the United States military, ( Schmidt 2008 ) . In the old ages after the war these trials became incorporated into the American society as a manner to happen persons with superior scholarly capablenesss. The SAT was adapted from Yerkes ‘ trials for the military and was used by colleges and universities as one factor in finding admittances to their installations. By the 1960 ‘s SAT scores began to worsen, raising political and public concerns about the quality of the state ‘s educational system. Before this diminution, many Americans held a positive position of public instruction in the United States. American instruction was thought to both work out society ‘s jobs and besides endeavor to include pupils from diverse backgrounds, ( West & A ; Peterson, 2003, p. 4, as cited in Schmidt, 2008 ) . After publication of the diminution in trial tonss, many Americans became concerned with the province of the American educational system. The standardised testing motion is the consequence of the a series of jurisprudence ‘ passed by the state ‘s Presidents, climaxing in 2001 with the transition of No Child Left Behind ( NCLB ) , by so president George W. Bush. The authorizations of NCLB have proved to be controversial although basic end was â€Å" aˆÂ ¦to create an inducement for pedagogues to guarantee that no one pupil, or group of pupils, is left behind in their reading, linguistic communication, and mathematics abilities † . NCLB had legion demands that provinces and school territories had to follow in order to have federal support. The foundation of the NCLB jurisprudence is that provinces must make AYP ( Annual Yearly Progress ) each twelvemonth. The jurisprudence specified that every province â€Å" aˆÂ ¦must develop, and incorporate into their course of study, a standards-based answerability plan that demonstrates student proficiency degrees in the nucleus capable countries of rea ding, linguistic communication humanistic disciplines, and mathematics † ( Schmidt, 2008 ) . These proficiency degrees are measured by standardised trials given to all pupils one time a twelvemonth and these trials had to be approved by the Department of Education prior to being given ( Abernathy, 2007, p.5 ; Sunderman et. al. , 2005, p. 5 ) . By carry oning one-year testing, territories can closely supervise the advancement, or deficiency thereof, of pupils. No Child Left Behind was the latest reproduction of President Lyndon Johnson ‘s reform of educational reorganisation known as the ESEA ( Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 ) . Both steps stressed the thought that public instruction â€Å" aˆÂ ¦requires a federal presence to guarantee academic advancement and academic equality for all pupils † . Schmidt ( 2008 ) Since the ESEA was passed at that place have been alterations made to its base, with the latest being No Child Left Behind ( NCLB ) The federal authorities has played an of import function in altering public instruction in the United States, the motive for these alterations in public schools were motivated because of concerns for America ‘s worsening trial tonss. The two chief drifts for alteration were worsening trial tonss on the Scholastic Aptitude Test ( SAT ) and the publication of A State At Risk by Terrance Bell. Three of import causes were named in the passing of the ESEA statute law. The first was the worsening public presentation of pupils on the SAT test. The second was studies conducted during this clip that repeatedly placed the United States in the lowest percentile of overall academic accomplishment when compared with foreign educational systems, ( West & A ; Peterson, 2003, pp. 4-5 ; Nichols & A ; Berliner, 2007, p. 4 ) . The 3rd factor was the relentless accomplishment spread that separated minorities and low-income pupils ‘ tonss from kids who came from a more affluent background. ( Nichols & A ; Berliner, 2007 ; p.4. & A ; Kantor, 1991, p. 51 ) . A State at Risk was published 18 old ages after the transition of the ESEA and was written by so Secretary of Education, Terrence Bell â€Å" Nation at Risk: The Imperative for Education Reform in America ( West & A ; Peterson, 2003 p. 5 ; Berry, 1993, p. 215 ) . This study focused on the United States ‘ low academic accomplishment in malice of the federal authorities ‘s focal point on bettering pupil public presentation in public schools when the ESEA was passed. The study stated that, â€Å" aˆÂ ¦the educational foundations of our society are soon being eroded by a lifting tide of averageness that threatens our really future as a State and a people † ( Bell, 1983 ) . Furthermore, the United States achieved a low academic rank when compared to other states and the authors of the study believed that America ‘s educational system was in demand of a drastic reform. The publication radius of a series of reforms that the writers believed would â€Å" aˆÂ ¦reverse the downward spiral of an unequal educational system, ( Schmidt, 2008 ) . The reforms included parental and community engagement at local schools, engaging instructors with advanced grades who were more motivated to learn, and a higher degree of engagement from all degrees of authorities. Although this publication did non excite any alterations on the federal degree, it still remained an of import factor in American public instruction. In 1994, so President Clinton passed a reauthorization of the ESEA called Goals 2000. This federal reform plan was ambitious in nature since it provided pecuniary inducements for public schools that implemented annually proving to demo student advancement towards proficiency, ( West & A ; Peterson, 2003, p.7 ) . This plan provided Title 1 schools with â€Å" aˆÂ ¦federal support â€Å" for developing ‘local reformsaˆÂ ¦the developme nt of standardsaˆÂ ¦enhanced professional development, bettering in engineering, and alterations in administration for answerability † † with the end of increasing pupil public presentation in the aˆÂ ¦ † nucleus capable countries such as, reading and mathematics ( Fuhrman, 1994, p. 84 ) . Goals 2000 laid the basis for NCLB. It was during this clip that the term â€Å" answerability † became of import since it was used as an inducement for provinces to get federal financess. This thought was added to NCLB, but President Busch extended the significance by doing the relationship stronger between the federal, province, and local bureaus. Although the answerability measures set Forth by NCLB have proved to be controversial, its basic end of the Act was â€Å" aˆÂ ¦to create an inducement for pedagogues to guarantee that no one pupil, or group of pupils, is left behind in their reading, linguistic communication, and mathematics abilities † . NCLB had legion demands that provinces and school territories had to follow in order to have federal support. The foundation of the NCLB jurisprudence is that provinces must make AYP ( Annual Yearly Progress ) each twelvemonth. The jurisprudence specified that every province â€Å" aˆÂ ¦must develop, and incorporate into their course of study, a standards-based answerability plan that demonstrates student proficiency degrees in the nucleus capable countries of reading, linguistic communication humanistic disciplines, and mathematics † ( Schmidt, 2008 ) . These proficiency degrees are measured by standardised trials given to all pupils one time a twelvemonth and these trials had to be approved by the Department of Education prior to being given ( Abernathy, 2007, p.5 ; Sunderman et. al. , 2005, p. 5 ) . By carry oning one-year testing, territories can closely supervise the advancement, or deficiency thereof, of pupils. The standards-based instruction reform and answerability motion started in the mid-1980s and raised outlooks of public presentation for U.S. schools ( Buttram & A ; Waters, 1997 ) . The province of Florida took the enterprise to better K-12 instruction and so Governor Jeb Bush instituted the A+ Plan in 1999. This program was created as a standards-based answerability system, concentrating on bettering the public presentation of all pupils, irrespective of their ethnicity, gender, poorness degrees, native linguistic communication or disablement position. The chief premiss of the A+ Plan was that â€Å" every kid can larn and no kid should be left behind † ( Executive Office of the Governor, nd. ) . A brief reappraisal of the literature found a clear division between research workers who found that standardised trials are good vs. those who believe these trials are damaging to education as a whole. Many writers began their Hagiographas by depicting the necessity of standardised testing in today ‘s schools. Bandalos ( 06 ) explained the demand for standardised testing within educational scenes today since these high-stakes trials are the method in which pupil acquisition is assessed and continuously evaluated by instructors, principals, and school territories. Bandalos besides stated that acquisition is the end in all of instruction and the function of appraisal is to assist professionals understand the degree of larning pupils have achieved. Hammeran ( 10 ) besides felt that it was possible to â€Å" learn to the trial † while still covering the of import course of study for a category. This writer studied learning a scientific discipline plan that was aligned to the National Science Education Standards ( NSES ) . She wrote that since the province criterions reflect the national criterions, and standardised trials reflect both the province and national criterions, so concentrating on learning to the trial would guarantee that pupils were having the of import content in scientific discipline category. The significance of the job is clearly discussed The significance of the inquiry of instructor beliefs in their function in determining instructional schemes to fix their pupils for proving is a timely one in the province of Florida. Performance-based appraisal is now compulsory in many schoolrooms but instructors and parents have become concerned about the genuineness of these appraisals and how assessment information can be used as formative feedback to better instruction and acquisition. Although these newer attacks are driven by a motive to do pupil appraisal informations more utile and meaningful than some traditional attacks this alteration was viewed as a positive progress by some research workers while others felt that it was hard to judge the theoretical benefits of these alterations or to get down to consistently research the nature of instructors ‘ schoolroom appraisal patterns. This trouble arises because research workers, protagonists, and specializers in school territories in the state have non arrived at a cons istent definition of what these footings mean or what these patterns look like ( Frey & A ; Schmitt, 2007 ) . Coming to Footings With Classroom Assessment 2007 Bruce B. Frey-University of Kansas, Vicki L. Schmitt-Missouri State University Those who advocate for â€Å" aˆÂ ¦test-based accountabilityaˆÂ ¦ † argue that it increases pupil success by helping instructors to set more accent on the of import content in their capable country, provides wagess for good instruction, and produces informations that is used to do determinations about pupils, instructors, and schools. For such systems to work every bit intended, the policies must advance good direction, and any resulting additions in trial tonss must back up valid illations about increased pupil accomplishment. Research has shown that high-stakes testing does so act upon direction, but these effects are complex and consist both desirable and unwanted alterations in pattern. For illustration, instructors in territories or provinces where high bets are associated with trial consequences tend to concentrate on tried stuff and de-emphasize unseasoned stuff ( see Stecher, 2002 ) . Similarly, research indicates that the additions in tonss on high-stakes trials frequently generalize ill ( or non at all ) to other trials of the same sphere, raising uncertainties about the extent to which these additions provide valid grounds of improved pupil public presentation ( Klein, Hamilton, McCaffrey, & A ; Stecher, 2000 ; Koretz & A ; Barron, 1998 ; Koretz, Linn, Dunbar, & A ; Shepard, 1991 ; Linn, 2000 ) . The literature on high bets proving is clear sing the history and development of these trials and how they are being implemented in school territories today. Conversely, the literature is divided into two factions-authors who believe that standardised testing is a good step of pupil acquisition and instruction, and writers who feel that high-stakes proving is a negative influence for instructors and pupils. The function that instructors believe they play in implementing in determining instructional schemes to fix pupils for proving is non a topic that has much coverage in the literature, but the branchings of † learning to the trial † is covered. The research inquiry is designed to understand the function instructors feel they play in determining instructional schemes to guarantee that their pupils achieve success on these compulsory province and authorities needed trials. These are the trials that they themselves are held accountable for the consequences by their schools and territories. If instructors feel they have no function in determining the direction for their ain pupils so for them it will be a affair of â€Å" learning to the trial † . If, on the other manus, they feel in control of direction the term â€Å" teacher efficaciousness † will be applicable to these instructors. Teacher self-efficacy refers to a instructor ‘s belief about his or her competency in holding a positive consequence on pupil larning accomplishment, Ashton, 1984 as cited in Denzilel, 2005. Prior research conducted in the field indicates that teacher self-efficacy is related to a instructor ‘s success in curriculum invention ( Berman & A ; McLaughlin, 1977 ) , beliefs about pupils ‘ capablenesss ( Ashton, 1984 ) and intelligence ( Klein, 1996 ) , quality of pupil relationships ( Ashton & A ; Webb, 1986 ) , assurance in working with parents ( Hoover- Dempsey, Bassler, & A ; Brissie, 1987 ) , clip spent on academic acquisition ( Allinder, 1995 ) , self-efficacy of low-achieving pupils ( Midgley, Feldlaufer, & A ; Eccles, 1989 ) , and the instructor ‘s ability to keep pupils accountable for their acquisition and public presentation ( Ashton & A ; Webb, 1986 ) . In the original Rand surveies, teacher self-efficacy was measured by inquiring two inquiries: ( a ) ‘When it comes right down to it, a instructor truly ca n't make much because most of a pupil ‘s motive and public presentation depends on his or her place environment ‘ , and ( B ) ‘If I try truly difficult, I can acquire through to even the most hard or unmotivated pupils ‘ . The first inquiry was hypothesized to measure instructors ‘ result outlooks, typically labeled learning efficaciousness ( TE ) . In contrast, the 2nd point was hypothesized to reflect personal instruction efficaciousness ( PE ) . From this position, TE relates to a instructor ‘s outcome outlooks and PE is based on the instructor ‘s judgements of his or her personal ability to act upon pupil acquisition. Early Rand research workers grounded teacher self-efficacy in Rotter ‘s ( 1966 ) venue of control concept and placed important accent on outcome outlooks and p ersonal duty when construing efficaciousness tonss. Later, Ashton and Webb aligned the concept with a societal cognitive theoretical position of self-efficacy ( 1977, 1978 ) . In contrast to the venue of control position, the social-cognitive attack emphasizes the dealingss between efficaciousness beliefs and outcome outlooks. Harmonizing to Bandura, result and efficaciousness beliefs are related but can be conceptually and through empirical observation differentiated ( 1986, 1997 ) . For Ashton and Webb, TE and PE represent steps of result outlooks and efficaciousness outlooks, severally. Teacher efficaciousness can be affected by the function they play in fixing pupils for mandated standardised trials. Author Kenneth Vogler ( 2006 ) stated in his article that in the past instructors were merely accountable to their decision makers and local school boards. It was those local boards that developed the course of study every bit good as the criterions for their school system. Now, instructors, every bit good as decision makers, are being held accountable to the populace for the academic public presentation of pupils in their charge. Standardized testing is a world in south Florida and that fact is non altering in the foreseeable hereafter. Students, parents, and instructors have mobilized to alter the importance and weight of these trials, but there is still â€Å" FCAT blackout † where no schools are allowed to take field trips, no personal yearss are given to instructors, and no conferences are held by the territory. After the blackout comes â€Å" FCAT season † where schools are on practical lock-down until all the testing is complete. From personal experience, instructors are ranked by the additions their pupils made, particularly in reading, math, and scientific discipline. When the CAO was in office, each instructor received a â€Å" book † to be completed that twenty-four hours. Sometimes the day-to-day book was 15 pages or longer. All of the control was taken away with respect to instructional schemes and learning to the trial began on the first twenty-four hours of school. The resea rch says that this focussed instruction can be positive or negative. The focal point of this survey is to inquire instructors if they fell they have control fixing their pupils for these high-stakes trials and to analyze what works in their readying and which countries they feel they have no control in direction. The consequences will be good to both the school and territory as we struggle to equilibrate the ends set Forth by the authorities with our pupil ‘s single demands. Teachers ‘ RESPONSES TO HIGH-STAKES TESTING AND THE VALIDITY OF GAINS: A PILOT STUDY. Daniel M. Koretz CRESST/Harvard Graduate School of Education Laura S. Hamilton CRESST/RAND Education Coming to Footings With Classroom Assessment 2007 Bruce B. Frey-University of Kansas, Vicki L. Schmitt-Missouri State University British Journal of Educational Psychology ( 2005 ) , 75, 689-708, 2005 The British Psychological Society www.bpsjournals.co.uk. Confirmatory factor analysis of the Teacher Efficacy Scale for prospective instructors. Gypsy M. Denzine1* , John B. Cooney2 and Rita McKenzie3 1Northern Arizona University, USA 2University of Northern Colorado, USA 3Buena Vista University, USA

Coptic Christians Essay

As one of the most dominant sources of primary readership in the world newspapers have a great deal of power over what their recipients read and believe; with this being the case it is no surprise that it is the editorial standpoint of the articles presented in your local newspaper that dictate how you feel about particular subjects, especially those of international appeal, not unlike the varying views of the recent pig culls in Egypt. With tensions in the area high and ready to boil over the Egyptian government has started a controversial pig cull that has left outside nations confused and poverty stricken pig farmers throwing stones. After having learned some very hard lessons with mad cow disease and bird flu fatalities, the Egyptian government began the cull to prevent the infestation of swine flu and it has since been deemed a general health measure of great concern and unending debate. People consider newspaper articles to be almost as valid a source as a first-hand account, often viewing news reports as individuals writing â€Å"live† from the location of the story as if a part of the incident taking place; it is never taken into account the fact that a great deal of newsprint stories are taken down from the Associated Press and reported in the way that the writer and editors of newspaper should see fit. Thus, with the story being reported and relayed differently the perceptions of readers in France, America, the United Kingdom and various other parts of the world are likely to be very different when it comes to stories like this one. Although the story has been reported all over the world, the only way to get the mixings of the real story with all of its elements would be to include the information obtained in every newspaper that has covered the story, or to at least take representative samples from varying parts of the world like what has been done here. Where one country may report predominantly on the religious aspects of the dispute another country may focus more on money and another on class, so in order to get the full story you must put together the pieces that you receive from the sources you review. In presenting information like the fact that the World Health Organization reports that the swine flu outbreak was spread through a person-to-person system of transmission and that in none of the more than 700 cases reported worldwide was there believed to be any animal-to-person transmission, nor were there any fatalities or serious cases reported outside of Mexico it is clear that BBC News is attempting to portray the views and understandings of various international organizations like the United Nations and their World Health Organization. This newspaper is attempting to present how the issue is being perceived by international health officials. BBC News also spent a great deal more time presenting the religious argument than on the monetary aspects and the class issues over the controversy of physical disputes. They reported that most people living in Cairo are Muslim, so it is the belief of the pig farmers, as Coptic Christians, that the pig cull is a personal attack on them as a direct insult against their chosen faith. With Muslims having taken a vow against pork, the pig farming and consumption that takes place in Egypt is enacted by its Coptic Christian minority, which constitutes only about 10% of the Egyptian population. BBC News is trying to make clear here that the Coptic Christians are being unfairly targeted as the lower class minority, an element not very well touched on in some of the other periodicals.

Love - veterans homelessness Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Love - veterans homelessness - Research Paper Example The term â€Å"homeless veterans† has been explained in two steps in the Congressional Research Service article written by Perl (2011). According to Perl (2011), a homeless veteran is a person who has actively served in the military, naval or air force and was not discharged dishonorably. At the same time a person is considered a homeless veteran if he or she satisfies the definition of â€Å"homeless veteran† according to the McKinney-Vento Homeless Assistance Act. According to the Act a person is considered homeless if he does not have a proper nighttime residence or his nighttime residence is temporary or not appropriate for human beings. In this paper I aim to discuss the veterans homelessness in San Francisco. I intend to explore peer reviewed books and articles for an in depth analysis of the literature, history and current status of the homeless veterans. At the same time the city policy towards the homeless shall also be discussed. Towards the end some of the main causes of homelessness among veterans shall be discussed. Homelessness has been a problem in the US since 1980s. However with the American involvement in the Iraq and Afghan war the problem has become much stronger as scores of veterans that have served the country are found dying on the streets. Veterans suffer all kinds of homelessness but their number is greater in the chronically homeless category when compared with the non-veterans. According to a survey carried out by the VA and quoted by Stone (2008), there are about 2, 075 homeless veterans in San Francisco. Out of these, 533 have been categorized as â€Å"chronically homeless†. A chronically homeless person is an individual who has a disabling condition, is homeless for more than a year or has four episodes of being homeless in three years. The needs of the homeless veterans are almost similar to the demands of the general homeless population of San Francisco.

Money and banking Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Money and banking - Essay Example Many securities that were attached to the US property prices fell drastically as well which caused problems in financial institutions globally. The initial reason why people started buying as government encouraged ownership of homes and gave people better and easier access to loans and they over valued the bundled mortgages because they perceived that the prices of property would continue to rise. Trade practices on the open market were conducted that seemed underhand and questionable and there was a lack of capital in insurance companies and banks. As a result, bank solvency on the global market fell as well and securities held by foreign banks also suffered. A credit tightening policy and a decrease in imports was noticed. Governments tried to boost the economy by injecting money in the economy and bailout packages. The US managed to get out by 2009 however places like UK due to their strict measures of increasing taxes actually slid further into this recession. The crisis could al so have occurred due to the presence of a wide base of financial products that were risky to acquire and hold. Also there were interest rate conflicts, and lack of regulators in credit rating agencies. A failure to retrace the ownership or provenance or properties and stocks etc. was also one of the reasons the recession occurred and then was so hard to get out of. Some believe that the recession was a phenomenon that arose when the Maastricht Treaty was signed. The debt of the public was agreed about less than equal to 3% of the GDP but it didn’t hold. The euro was to be doomed as soon as it got started or even before because Greece and Italy helped the euro classify as the currency for the euro zone. The decision making at that point were the worst. France has been under debt since 2008 and the situation has worsened over the years and one of their banks along with their criminal reputation is also under massive debt issues and still asked to fund neighboring countries howe ver it cannot help the bankrupt countries since it is in a fix of its own. Germany fell under a similar situation. Sovereign banks are wrongly being separated from bank debt when the government clearly controls everything a bank does and dictates to them what is to be done. The euro zone is at stake. Credit default swaps also rose in all regions and in 2011 were being traded at 180 when they were being traded at 80 in 2008. In Brazil as well they went up to 152 from 35, and this was because of the crisis that started in Europe. UK as well was cutting loans to its business by 30%. (Gupta, 2009) Banks were also pooling in their loans and giving risky loans to others. Securitization came about in the 20th century as well because loans would take ages being stuck in banks. Rating agencies were paid for giving good rating so people bought products even though they were not good. Initiated in Wall Street banks and other financial institutions were adopting measures that they were not nece ssarily good at. Banks were borrowing more and more money to give out loans and bad loans were incurred. Lehman brothers got into the mortgage market, buying mortgages so that they could sell them after securitizing them. Banks also started running out of people who would take loans

International Investment Analysis Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

International Investment Analysis - Essay Example Present Situation of TESCO The company has a worldwide presence in China, India, Hungary, Slovakia, Czech Republic, Poland, Ireland, North America and many other countries. The company employs 300,000 people and operates 3,000 stores worldwide (TESCO Plc, 2013b). The company operates 200 stores in UK itself and offers a varied range of food items (Gargeya, V.B. et al., 2012). It is the leading brand of food retailing in UK followed by Everyday Value. Tesco has always believed that the strategy of the company needs to be revised as per the changing taste and preference of consumers. The company earns 25 percent of its revenue from countries outside UK (Martin and Thompson, 2010). The underlying objective of the company is to earn higher amount of profits but their strategies are usually customer oriented. Tesco believes in improving the customer service by responding to the customer needs and wants. TESCO believes in innovation and expansion in the UK grocery market and convenience st ores electronics, clothing, beauty health and wellness and retail services like personal finance and telecom products. These strategies are followed by TESCO to strengthen its market position in UK and other countries. The stores are usually renovated from time to time, in order to give customers a warmer and refreshing feel in the stores. TESCO products are usually low priced and of better quality. The company believes in undertaking environmental and social responsibilities. It publishes its corporate social responsibility charter every year. Macroeconomic situation Prior to recession, TESCO’s sales were ?42 billion in the year 2006, which was an increase in profit by 13.2 percent from the financial year 2010-2011. The market share of TESCO was 31.4 percent, which was even more than the market share of ASDA Walmart that was 16.7 percent (Henry, 2008). Figure 1: Market share of UK supermarkets in the year 2006 (Source: Henry, 2008) The company was reaping profits and was mak ing considerable amount of sales before recession. This was mainly due to the marketing team of TESCO which monitored the trend of external environment and provided innovative products and solutions to customers. The brand became so popular among the residents of UK that customers had created a brand loyalty towards the company (Haerifar, 2011). From the above graph, we can observe that the dominant supermarket was TESCO in the year 2006 followed by ASDA Walmart and Sainsbury. After recession had penetrated into the markets of USA and UK in the year 2008, the company TESCO witnessed a slow growth (English, 2009). Majority of its revenue was coming from the overseas markets and it was facing a stiff competition from the supermarkets of UK like ASDA Walmart, Morrisons and Aldi. Although, TESCO claimed that there was an increase in sales by 11.7 percent in the fourth quarter of the year 2008 (Thompson, 2008) economist believed that TESCO was not able to reach its sales target. To add t o the woes of TESCO, the government had also increased the Value Added Tax (VAT) rate and excise duty (Peston, 2012). The net sales of TESCO was ?51.77 billion in the year 2008 compared to ?59.46 billion in the year 2009 (TESCO Plc, 2013a). TESCO is slowly recovering from the recession and

Three Perspectives of Viewing Crime Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Three Perspectives of Viewing Crime - Essay Example Traditional thinking also inhibits change in the criminal justice. Command structures must also get the priority for notable change to occur. Having talks with the community members are also, ways that the criminal justice practitioners seek to enhance their participation in the policymaking. These theories of crime have their own views as to the course of people engaging in criminal activities within a society. Personal definition of crime of criminologists defines their ultimate choice of theory preference. The three perspectives of viewing crime are the consensus view of crime, the Interactionist view of crime and the conflict view crime respectively (Siegel, 2006). According to the consensus view of crime, crimes are simply repugnant behaviors of elements linked directly or indirectly to the society. With regard to this view of crime, the substantive criminal laws serving as the written rule define crime related to punishments. This means that if one goes contrary to the written rules deserves punishment. The best example of this is when curfews come from criminologists and when one does contrary to the curfew, punishment becomes the order of the day. Substantive criminal law ultimately depicts the values, opinions and beliefs of the society. The consensus word in the consensus view of crime provides an implication that there is a general agreement among a large portion of society about the unacceptable behaviors that the society should consider as crimes. There have been many attempts in the recent past of creating thorough, concise and encompassing consent crime definition. Donald Cressey, Edwin Sutherland and a few other criminologists support the standpoint of conjoining criminality laws with crime. According to this view, crime encompasses morality, rules and beliefs. Sutherland and Cressey agree that criminal law application exists uniformly to all social classes depending on the rules to refer. This means that everybody has beliefs and hopes just as the author does in fair and legal system where all types of people regardless of the social class. The best example or illustration for consensus view of crime is that law prohibiting theft, robbery and burglary directly points towards controlling poor, the lower class, needy individuals and the disabled. At the same time laws focused on corporate price fixing, embezzlement and insider trading prevention are in existence for the purposes of controlling the upper class, wealthy and rich in the society. In consensus view of crime, criminal and illegal behavior has a close relationship with social harm meaning that there is need to stop, control and manage every bad behavior causing harm or disturbance to other people. Social harm is what progresses to social crimes and sets deviant and strange behaviors that are shocking and seem immoral but may not necessarily be criminal. In many instances, the religious people condemn such behaviors though they do not consider them crimes because t he general community consensus is that they cause no harm not unless they involve children in any way. There is much controversy attached to the consensus vie

Illegal Immigration in the European Union Essay

Illegal Immigration in the European Union - Essay Example The Maastricht treaty of 1992 created what is known as the ideology of the European citizens, the aim of this treaty was to incorporate the national identities of the citizens of the EU into a European identity without reducing the importance of the national identity of the citizens. The Amsterdam treaty of 1999 gave the citizens of the European Union the right to vote and also to participate in the elections for the European parliament. The Amsterdam treaty granted human rights to the citizens of the EU and this led to the creation of European Union Charter of Fundamental Rights. It was in the Tampere summit in 1999 that it was decided that there would be certain rights and laws for dealing with the issue of immigration, both legal and illegal. It was at the Tampere summit that it was decided that illegal immigration would be fought against using certain measures that would ensure that the illegal immigrants would be investigated quickly and hence the major goal of this paper was to send back the illegal immigrants to their country of origin as soon as possible. ... Canary Islands is an archipelago that is a part of Spain and it lies west to the African continent and is located at a close distance from morocco though the journey might look very easy but it is a very difficult one especially when the means of transport is not a very stable one. In 2005 around 4500 people entered the Canary Islands through the sea route but in 2006 the number almost grew 6 times when the number of illegal immigrants reached the figure of almost 31000. About 6000 migrants went missing or died and only 5000 people were intercepted by the coast guards. This led the then Canary Islands president to ask the centre for help with the issue of illegal immigrants by setting up a committee to address the problem which he describes as 'critical'. Aden martin, the then president of the canary islands, asked not only thy kingdom of Spain for help but also asked the EU to play its part in controlling this situation because he saw this not as a threat only to the canary islands or Spain but as a threat to a whole of Europe because once the illegal immigrants got through to the canary islands they could pretty much move through the whole of Europe freely as they were no check points because of the relaxation in visa policies for the whole of the European bloc. The problem as illustrated above is indeed quite critical because of the staggering number of people that have been trying to make it to Europe through the canary islands not only risk their lives and more than 10,000 people have already lost their lives but they also pose a threat to every party involved economically and due to the large numbers there are no facilities intact currently to deal with them that leads to the problem of crossing the line with respect to human rights issues and accommodation and

Terms of Reference Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Terms of Reference - Essay Example In this regard, the notion of â€Å"zero hours contract† will be elaborated as an effective measure or solution. A qualitative approach of research methodology will be taken into concern for completing the study with focusing on varied secondary sources. These secondary sources may comprise reviewing varied scholarly based journal articles and books relating to the notion of zero works contract and also the online websites of the selected company i.e. Control Risks, wherein the company published about the problem. It is projected that by reviewing such secondary sources, a detailed understanding can be made regarding appropriate utilization of zero hours contract within the aforesaid security company, which will aid in mitigating and improving the above identified problem facing by the company. According to Brinkley (2014), the idea of Zero Hours Contract is regarded as a type of work contract, which is especially followed with varied companies. This type of working agreement especially refers to an on-call agreement between the employers and the employees of a specific organization. It is worth mentioning that the prime facet of zero hours contract is ascertained to be forming as well as developing an informal relationship between employers and employees facilitating employees to solve varied problems like ineffective communication between these organizational members due to increased level of involvement in corruption. There are several legal risk factors that can be related with this type of work contract. The temporary vacancy in a company has been fulfilled by the process of zero hours working contract (Brinkley, 2014). In relation to the above context, the importance of zero hours contract is found to be quite useful in several working sectors. Thus, it can be affirmed that the zero hours contact can found its applicability in the security company i.e. Control Risks, which will aid in improving the above stated problem facing by the company in the

Productivity in the workplace as an lpn Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Productivity in the workplace as an lpn - Essay Example Most of the nurses view lpn roles similar to certified nursing attendants: nurses feel that lpn need to be told what to do and be closely monitored. Lpn’s believe that a professional degree gives authority and autonomy in an organization; moreover, increases motivation for workplace productivity. The feeling that they are being treated equal to nurses enforces them to work hard, care more, and be at good relation with co-workers. In order to reduce conflict and increase workplace productivity of lpn, collaboration between nurses, lpn, and management must be addressed. A health care institution with good working relationships smoothen work flow by facilitating ease of task. Time is not wasted for arguments and health care workers focus only on how to deliver quality care to clients; therefore, human resources are maximized which increases workplace

Video Case Study Write ups Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Video Case Study Write ups - Essay Example In this video, the host focused on gathering information from various sets of masses like peasants, millionaires, drag queens, students and many others. The central theme of the video is that as compared to the previous decades, the modern day Chinese masses is interested in graduating to a better life by making more money through their own method of working hard. It is interesting to point out that the video documentary brings into notice the relation of Chinese prosperity and American policy changes in the business front. Many well known companies like Ethan Allen, Wal-Mart as well as other well known retailers of the US market have focused on outsourcing their production lines in order to cut costs and generate high profit margins over the years. While this in turn promotes job loss in the American shores, yet it provides generates jobs as well as related economic prosperity in the Chinese market

The French Revolution and Modern French Socialism Essay Example for Free

The French Revolution and Modern French Socialism Essay The French Revolution Introduction How does the declaration of the rights of man and the citizen defy the political and social convection of absolutism and reflect enlightenment thinking as the basis for a new French society            The passing of the declaration of the Rights of Man and Citizen in 1789 was the most profound thing that had a significant effect on the oppressed class. Before the declaration of The Righs of Man and Citizen, France was divided into a rigid oppressive social class, the clergy, the nobility and the peasants. The unequal class created the environment for the oppressed peoples to fight for their sovereignty, fraternity and equality. The outbreak of the French revolution in 1789 also made people from the St. Domingue to fight for their freedom, which broughtabout conflict between the various classes. The French revolution decreed equal rights to all citizens. Prior to the declaration of the rights of man and citizens, conflict arose between the people of color of St. Dominge and the whites (Goodwin, 219).            The incorporation of the writings of enlightenment thinkers such as Jean-Jacques Rousseau and Montesquieu were the guiding principles of the rights of man and citizen. According to Rousseau, the social contract between the ruled and the rules required rulers to obey the general will of the people, thus, if the rulers failed to do so, the people had the right to overthrow them. These ideas declared that the sovereignty of the people is located in them and nobody could exercise power over them, unless allowed by them. Such enlightenment made the people to have the political authority over their nation. Moreover, the declaration proclaimed gave the people power to remain free and acquire equal rights and protect the rights of the Frenchmen.            Prior to the Declaration of the Rights of Man and the Citizen, a new French social contract was created whereby the constitution of 1791 was invalidated by progressive tension between the king and the deputies. The new French social contract changed the political and social contract systems to that of the sovereignty where people’s opinion had to be considered. The new French social contract that was created made the people who were divided about power to have conflict among themselves and the many elements of the people who felt themselves excluded such as women and the poor and whose status were not improved. As a matter of fact, Louis XVI was condemned to death and executed and the convections drew up a new constitution that reflected the enlightenment of thinkers such as Rousseaus concept of a social contract grounded on the general will (Goodwin, 231).            Moreover, the 1793 constitution reflected much on the enlightenment of Rousseau social contract held by the Jacobins. The imposition of this constitution in France generated a power struggle that resulted in the expulsion of more moderate divisions from the state and the concentration of power in Jacobian hands. The requirement of prosecuting the war against Europe joined Jacobian control, but competing interests and power conflicts remained. The deportment of the war, personal ambitions, and economic tensions all experimented the leadership of Jacobian so as to maintain the control and impose the version of the general will. It was all a counter check and violence against opponents so as to ensure the rights of man and citizen is maintained (S, 380). When reading the official indictment (formal charges) of Louis XVI, do you believe the National Convection is justified in condemning the king for reasonable treasonous actions? Or do these charges appear groundless?            Drawing from article 2 of the 1791 constitution, â€Å"the person of the king is inviolable and sacred: his only title is king of the French† (Paine,107), there was no need for the National Concetion to condemn the king for reasonable treasonous actions. Indeed, it’s only a vigorous challenge of royal inviolability that followed the King’s flight to Varannes. It was the work of the convections for the king to be tried by the legislature. The charges appear to have a constitutional base because the king should maintain and follow the constitution of the land. It is for this reason that the Convection places a trial against the king. However, though the charges are based on the constitution the Convection has divergence arguments about the King’s trial and have no prove that the King has committed all the crime that has been imputed to him. Moreover, the inviolability issue that was imputed on the King was by no means be confined to discus sion at the tribune of the Convection. For example, Jacques Necker acknowledges that the Convection has no power to try the King for inviolability. He argues that â€Å"The king cannot be tried as a particular and that he had not violated any constitutional laws†. Moreover, â€Å"He buttressed royal inviolability with historical references† (Paine, 110), noting that the kings could not in either way be tried by their aristocracies neither by partial men, and declared the constitutional doctrine both necessary and just. Likewise, an an anonymous pamphleteer providedandeceptive rarity for the King trial.            Moreover, the only claim that is seen is the issue about inviolability whereby the report from the Legislative body was just a question about whether Louisxvi was judgeable for the crimes he was imputed to have committed. As a result, the king was suspended by the Assembly whereby the Convection was given the mandate to elect the sovereign will. This affected the denial of noble inviolability, which seem as if it never existed. Likewise, the decision to focus consideration only on the article one of the committee report is a clear indication that Louis could not have been convicted because the convectionels were the one pushing for his conviction through attacking the â€Å"stupid dogma of inviolability†. Therefore, though there was no need for a trial against Louis XVI because he was already accused and condemn by the people, I do not agree that his condemnation was justified. It was more of a political condemnation (Paine,119). Upon reading, â€Å"The Execution of Louis XVI† as seen by Henry Edgeworth de Firmont, does the king appear brave, frightened or insolent on the way to his execution?            From the execution scene, the king appears brave on the way to his execution. The king seems to understand his mistakes. It might be the condemnation of the people that has forced the king to have extra courage because he is no longer needed in the society. It is the people who have convicted him to death and nothing he can do to go against their will. As we can see as soon as the king descended from the carriage, three executioners surround the king and wished him to take off his coat and though he repulse them, he does it with dignity and took it off himself. These are signs of a brave person.            The king also shows his bravery whereby when the executioners try to tie him, he abruptly withdraws his hands without fear, and the situation seems to exceed the executioners. He also responded in an indignant tone. Nevertheless, the king is also frightened of what he will undergo. He knows very well he must be executed. As we can see, his eyes are filled with a sorrowing look that turn to the executioners maybe to seek them to save him. His courage had started to weaken by the pain he seemed to take. According to the king, he is dying of innocent of all the crimes he has been imputed upon him. It might be true considering that he knows very sure the decision of the people is final and he has to face the death sentence. He therefore says in a frightened tone, â€Å"I pardon the authors of my death, and pray God that the blood you are about to shed will never fall upon France†. References Goodwin, A..The French Revolution,. London: Hutchinsons University Library, 1953. Print. Paine, Thomas. Rights of man being an answer to Mr. Burkes attack on the French Revolution.Waiheke Island: Floating Press, 2010. Print. S., A. W.. Book Review:The French Revolution and Modern French Socialism. A Comparative Study of the Principles of the French Revolution and the Doctrines of Modern French Socialism. Jessica Peixotto. American Journal of Sociology 7.5 (1902): 706. Print. Source document

Analyse the dramatic effectiveness in Act 3, Scene 5 Essay Example for Free

Analyse the dramatic effectiveness in Act 3, Scene 5 Essay Looking closely at the characters and language in Romeo and Juliet, analyse the dramatic effectiveness in Act 3, Scene 5 William Shakespeare wrote Romeo and Juliet in 1954, although the basic plot can be traced back as early as the third century. In the play, Shakespeare relies heavily on the poem The Tragicall History of Romeus and Juliet by Arthur Brooke. Most of the people in the Elizabethan era were perceptive enough to concentrate on how the play was being performed and engaged themselves in the language the characters were using. Shakespeares audiences had different expectations towards his play, as many of them recognised the story already, they were settled enough to watch it providing the dramatists interpretation proved to be unique and original. I have been looking closely at Act 3, Scene 5 where Romeo and Juliet have just been secretly married. The scene opens with the two lovers having to part quickly after the Nurse informs Juliet her mother is swiftly approaching. Already a dramatic atmosphere is created, the audience is almost waiting for Romeo and Juliet to be caught out, this they know can simply not happen. Juliet is understandably tearful; Romeo is sympathetic towards her, showing he really cares for her: I will omit no opportunity That will convey my greetings, love, to thee All this is in comparison to later scenes in the play showing Juliet solitary and unsupported. Between the two lovers, there is a great difference, Romeo appears more optimistic than Juliet who is full of fear, sensing premonitions of her next seeing Romeo dead in a tomb. Her premonitions affect the audience, making them apprehensive and tense: O God, I have an ill- divining soul! Methinks I see thee, now thou art so low As one dead in the bottom of a tomb. The audience hears these harsh, severe words and are reminded of Romeos earlier startling premonition that he would die young: . My mind misgives Some consequence not yet hanging in the stars.. By come vile forfeit of untimely death. A chilling effect is created on those viewing the play as they start to realise and understand the significance of the two premonitions. By looking back into earlier scenes, dramatic effectiveness is created. Juliet uses language that shows how she is fearful of how her life with Romeo could easily be destroyed. She speaks to him strongly, showing a strong contrast to her soft words used previously. The strong bond that has been created between the two lovers before the audiences eyes is momentarily going to be destroyed; tension is created as an aftermath of this feeling. This tension carries on and becomes hugely greater as the news of County Paris proposal is first heard of. The audience watch, already aware of the proposal, as the news is given to an extremely shocked Juliet. They wait anxiously for Juliets sake as she learns of it, and so a dramatic effectiveness is cast over them. The scene is made effective by the use of irony from Lady Capulet. As Lady Capulet refers to her joyful tidings and Juliets response is ironically a pleased one: And joy comes well in such a needy time But then the audience sees the real reason of Lady Capulets announcement and the hesitation of the crucial words proves to be highly dramatic, Shall happily make thee there a joyful bride Juliets intense anger would make great drama on stage, she shows her raging reaction well: Now by Saint Peters church and Peter too He shall not make me there a joyful bride! Juliets response shows exactly how she is feeling about the matter; she does not hold back at all. The audience knows the dilemma she is facing, one of bigamy, they are deeply involved and show much needed sympathy to Juliet. In the conversation that follows the cold and sharp language both Juliet and her mother used are very effective. Both sides address each other very formally, Juliet calling Lady Capulet, My Lady, Mother where Lady Capulet calls Juliet girl and child. This doesnt seem to be the language one would expect from a close knit and loving family. This could lead to the conclusion that Juliets relationship is far from the relationship she has with Romeo; a loving and stable one. When Lord Capulet enters Juliets room, it proves to be a significantly dramatic scene because of the violence and fury portrayed by Lord Capulet. He arrives in her room in a threatening manner; his wife shows fear warning us to expect the worst, Here comes your father. Tell him so yourself And see how he will take it at your hands. Lord Capulet does not expect Juliet to disobey him, he would simply expect grateful thanks and obedience from his daughter. He portrays himself as someone who is used to getting his own way and the way that he regards himself as royalty emphasises to his huge ego and elevated formal language,Have you delivered to our decree? He shows great enthusiasm as he enters Juliets room, he seems delighted with his plan and congratulates himself on stage. Being the only man on stage, he is showing domination and the audience can see that he likes to be in control. He makes the women afraid; his centre role on stage shows this. The language that he uses is indeed very dramatic and effective. He poses questions to Juliet, being sharp and short when he does so showing how bewildered he is, and he vociferously attacks his daughter overwhelming her with numerous with numerous questions which she does not have time to answer, How? Will she none? Doth she not give us thanks? Capulets sentence construction is cleverly disjointed emphasising greatly on his anger that is building up rapidly. He shows more of an interest in finding a way to answer Juliets questions and his concern is more about his cleverness than the distress of his only daughter. He uses aggressive terms to Juliet, you greensickness carrion, young baggage, both examples are very aggressive and devegiating.

Globalization In The Automotive Industry

Globalization In The Automotive Industry Globalization is one of the most controversial phenomenons of the modern business world. Today, the world map still includes the national borders; however national borders have just stayed in order to signify the political lines. Except politics, national borders have eroded between countries. In business life from finance to marketing, from economics to technology, a great degree of globalization is experienced. However, in order to make sound analysis about globalization, first of all, it is crucial to define what globalization is. There are numerous different definitions in the literature but one of them uses a humorous manner in order to define globalization through an event we all know well. According to this short story, globalization is the situation in the death of Princess Diana. It is so because an English princess with an Egyptian boyfriend crashes in a French tunnel, driving a German car with a Dutch engine, driven by a Belgian who was drunk on Scottish whisky, followed closely by Italian Paparazzi, on Japanese motorcycles; treated by an American doctor, using Brazilian medicines. (http://www.nowcwc.com/activities/globalization.htm) The story is very effectively pointing out the fact that todays life has become globalized rather than being national. In literature, many authors from all around the world with diverse backgrounds and diverse disciplines have studied about globalization and tried to define it from different perspectives. Globalization, in its contemporary meaning, has emerged in after 1980s despite the fact that it was used earlier before in different meanings. The famous American sociologist, Saskia Sassen, who has been noted for her studies on globalization, has defined it as a variety of micro-processes that are denationalizing all that has previously been constructed as national. (Sassen, 2006) Furthermore, United Nations Economic and Social Commission have asserted that in the context of economics, globalization refers to the reduction or elimination of the barriers and borders between the nations and countries in order to facilitate the free flow of; Goods and services Capital Labour Technology Despite the stronger globalization for the goods services and the capital, there have still been barriers for the flow of labour because of the imperfect mobility due to its nature. However, it is never possible to have perfect mobility for labour. (UNESC, 2002) Another author, Thomas Friedman, has defined the situation in todays world as the flattening of the world. He asserts that the changes in trade, outsourcing, and supply chain and even in politics that we all name as globalization have changed the world permanently and that the pace of globalization is accelerating. (Friedman, 2008) The emergence of globalization dates back to 80s. In the past 30 years, the changes in science and technology have brought up globalization. Flow of goods, services and capital is the key for globalization and this has been enabled by the virtue of technological advances and their application in both business life and daily life. Advances in the telecommunication have first of all permitted the flow of information across far distances. Advances in computer technologies and the rise of Internet have led to the digitalization of business. It has only, by these advances, been possible to move to a globalized economy all over the world. As a result of these advances, global companies have emerged. For example Xerox is a global organization with offices and locations in 160 different countries and 54.700 employees. Different offices in 160 different countries are connected to each other and by the virtue of the technological advances 54.000 employees in 160 countries can work in harmony. (www.xerox.com) As another example, Ford Motor Company is a global company with operations in North America, South America, Europe, Asia / Pacific and Africa. Ford manufactures cars and trucks in more than 100 plants throughout the world. (www.ford.com) As an example from financial sector, HSBC bank, the worlds largest bank, operates in 86 countries from United States to Hong Kong and Kuwait, from Mexico to France and Brazil. Furthermore, the shares of HSBC Holding are owned by 220.000 shareholders from 119 different countries. (www.hsbc.com) As it can be seen, the degree of globalization for a company may differ. One company may only have sales and distribution operations in abroad countries. Another may also have production capacities in different countries but is managed by only local executives. (Robert, 2004) Analyzing globalization becomes more meaningful as long as the analysis is conducted within a specific industry because the dynamics of different industries may require different degrees of integration among its international operations. (KPMG Global Auto Executives Survey, 2008) This report is aimed to analyze the automotive industry from the perspective of globalization. Automotive industry is a very distinct industry with many global players and a cut throat competition. The report, firstly, tries to examine whether the automotive industry and its players operate in a single global market or not. In order to do this, it is crucial to define what is meant by a single global market and what indicators could be used to measure the extent of globalization. Furthermore, these indicators are to be applied to the automotive industry where international data is available. Secondly, the factors that have contributed to the globalization for the automotive industry are to be analyzed. It is important to successfully define these factors and furthermore evaluate their importance. Lastly, the impact of globalization on levels of trade and employment is to be stated in the United States. To do this, national and international statistics on trade and employment are to b e utilized. Before proceeding to the report, it would be useful to depict a current picture of the automotive industry in general, in order to be able to set the frame and background of the analysis. Automotive Industry Automotive is a very broad industry with very different operation areas. The industry covers operations like design, sales, after- sales support, spare parts and marketing. This makes it difficult to differentiate these different operations just by naming the as automotive industry. However, the core operation areas in the automotive industry can be summarized as follows: Design of the vehicle Engineering of the designed vehicle Production and manufacturing of the vehicle Marketing and communication of the brand Sales operations through the retailer After sales and spare parts support Another important classification emerges between the different product types of the vehicles. This depends on the primary usage aim and the size of the vehicle. So, motor vehicles can be classified in the following categories: Automobiles or passenger cars LCVs Trucks Buses Light Vehicles (without commercial usage) Commercial Vehicles (McKinsey Quarterly, 2006) In line with this classification of the product types, total number of manufacturing for motor vehicles in 2007 makes up a total of 73 million units. When compared with 2006, the increase is calculated to be 5,4%. Total production in 2006 was 69,3 million units. But 2008 witnesses a rather sharp decrease in motor vehicle production. After 73 million units of 2007, total production in 2008 emerged to be 70,5 million units. (KPMG Global Auto Executive Survey, 2008) This is mainly caused by the effects of the global financial crisis that affected many parts of the world. Many automakers faced serious financial problems in 2008 and some of them even experienced the risk of bankruptcy. Governments prepared support plans for the local automakers of their countries and some merger and acquisition operations are seen in the industry. As it can be seen from the table, the biggest share of production is done in Asia and Oceania which can mainly be attributed to the fact that production costs are considerably lower in these regions. Furthermore, the local governments in these regions also support the investment plans of the automakers by some incentives and options. When production in 2008 is analyzed country by country, it is seen that leading automakers are Japan, China, Germany, USA and S. Korea. (GLG Expert Contributor, 2009) Developed economies of the world have lost production in 2008 compared with 2007. It was also seen in the general production throughout the world. However, it was also striking that emerging countries had increases in their 2008 productions. These countries can be exemplified as Brazil, Russia, China, Turkey, India and Mexico. (www.oica.net) It is an interesting fact that despite the start of the automotive industry in America by Ford Motor Company, today most of the production has shifted to the Asian countries. The main reason for this change is that Asian countries offer cost advantages in production. Making production in these countries affect the financial performance of the automakers and produce bottom line results. (Keller, 2003) This way automakers gain financial advantage whereas the Asian governments attract foreign direct investment and they have employment opportunities for their citizens. (Keller, 2003) They also support this situation by tax exemption and tariffs. The point is that since automotive is a huge industry, there also exists a competition between the governments in order to have production facilities and plants in their countries. It is for sure that the competition between companies is much more fierce compared with the competition between countries. Globalization is a very important aspect in this situation. Companies try to reach for economies of scale in order to gain financial advantages and they increase their production and these forces the companies for mergers and acquisitions. So, an important result of globalization in the industry is consolidation which is forecasted to increase in the future periods. (www.pwc.com automotive industry Analysis) Utilization rates are also important in the industry. In general, utilization rates are below 80% for the automakers which means idle production facilities. (Sturgeon Lester, 2004) Companies try to increase their utilization rates but this fact results in excess capacity when they are unable to sell the vehicles and turn it into cash. In order to sell more, companies go for price discounts and lose profitability. So overcapacity in the industry and the competition cause a price war. Price war is reflected in various forms. It can be either in terms of sales price discount or incentives and promotions to the customer. The total amount of givebacks provided to the customers is guessed to be around USD 45 million for 2007. (Pwc Report) This situation is a reality of the industry regardless of the region. Without the exceptions like a global financial crisis, the growth rate for the automotive industry is forecasted to be around 10 million units for the next 8-10 years. Even these growth rates will not heal the capacity utilization problem in the industry. The utilization rate is expected to rise to a maximum of 85% which is still low for such an investment intensive industry. (KPMG Global Auto Executives Report, 2008) This is one of the most serious problems that the future of the industry faces and needs to tackle with. Another problematic side of the industry is the suppliers. Suppliers are having pressure from the automakers both in order to keep down costs and prices and they are both expected to make innovation. For product differentiation and facing the changing demands of the customers, suppliers are very crucial to make innovations. It is only by this way possible for automakers to address the demands of the customers and the market. (Sturgeon Florida, 2000) The automotive industry is also stretched by the rules and regulations they face from both local and international institutions. Many of these regulations are related with financial issues or social issues like environment protection. Some of such regulations are as follows: IFRS Block Exemption Regulation (BER) Sarbanes Oxley End-of-Life Vehicle Regulation (ELV) EU Accession CO2 emissions Regulations These are the key issues regarding the automotive industry and I believe that they are crucial to understand the industry dynamics before proceeding to its relationship with globalization. Globalization in Automotive Industry Globalization is not a new concept for the automotive industry. When the history of the industry is studied, it is seen that automotive industry has began globalization by the start of mass production. Total different number of countries that Ford and General Motors were assembling vehicles was already 24, even as early as of 1928. These countries that Ford and GM were operating were spreading around a huge geography from Japan to Brazil and India. By the end of 1930s, both of these American automakers had plant facilities even in Europe. By 1950s, European automakers were financially recovered from the negative effects of the World War 2 and Europeans started to invest in Australia, Latin America and South Africa. By the decline of communism in the Soviet Russia and the end of the Cold War, new markets were opened to the automotive industry like Eastern Europe, India and China. 1990s witnessed the efforts of the automakers to harmonize their operations on a global scale especially i n design and manufacturing. The timeline in the history already shows that globalization has always been in the spirit of the automotive industry one way or another. (Sturgeon Florida, 2000) When the production in 1975 is compared with the production in 2005, a striking effect of globalization is visible. In 1975, the number of different countries that make up 80% of the total automotive production was 7, however when we came to 2005, the number of countries that make up the 80% of the total automotive production had risen to 11 with the dispersion of geography for the automotive industry. (Sturgeon, 2009) The entry barriers in the industry are very high. This is the reason of such a consolidation as depicted above. The design and development process for a new vehicle is very costly and it takes 3 to 5 years and billions of dollars to complete a project. In such an environment, the competition is fierce and innovation is a key element that automakers need to possess. By the advances in computer and communication technologies, the need for innovation is crucial. The automotive industry is still in a growth trend. When we look at the overall numbers for vehicle ownership, we see that only 12 % of the total population in the world has automotive products. The industry grows about 20% in each decade except the times of economic crisis. The total demand in 2010 is forecasted to be around 65 70 million units of vehicle and the leading countries in this expansion would be both developed countries and both emerging economies like BRIC countries. (Brazil, Russia, India, China) The rise of BRIC countries is a very important reflection of globalization in the automotive industry. As of today, the share of these countries in the total annual sales is not very high but in one or two decades, the global picture is expected to change. Especially, China is forecasted to account for a very large share in the increasing demand of the emerging economies, this is the reason why companies like General Motors has been aggressively working in Chinese market. (Hsu, 2002) In order to analyze the globalization in automotive industry by its todays context first of all we need to understand the current changes in the industry and the effects of globalization in these changes and the reflections in the academic literature about the automotive industry. According to Sturgeon and Florida (2000), globalization is shifting the economic geography of the automotive industry. The industry with all its side industries from spare parts and OEM to electronics is affected by a new wave of assembly and plant constructions among different places of the world. According to this new wave, China, India, Thailand, Vietnam, Brazil, Mexico and East Europe are new locations for assembly and supplier plant constructions. The reasons pushing these developments can be listed as follows: Competition is intense at home markets and as a result of the competition market saturation is reached in many local developed markets. As a result of the end of the Cold War, new investment opportunities have arisen in the countries that are stated above. There are host country requirements for local production which squeeze the automakers. Automakers are trying to benefit from regional trade arrangements. Some familiar examples are NAFTA and EU. These trade agreements provide some opportunities to automakers in order to make cost cuts. (Sturgeon Florida, 2000) The effect of trade agreements is rather important in the industry and it is the newer side of globalization that is experienced in the automotive industry. It had started with the Japanese automakers efforts that resulted in intense competition in the United States and in Europe. Against Japan automakers, Europeans and Americans focused on their cost structure and tried to reduce their operational costs. Through regional strategies of moving production to low cost countries, automakers of Europe and the United States tried to gain cost advantage against the Japanese. Those low cost countries were especially Canada, Mexico and Spain in the 1980s. (Keller, 2003) Globalization in the automotive industry is also experienced in manufacturing. Vehicles are generally designed with common under-body platforms but then they are modified in specific characteristics according to the local needs and conditions. Also through the inclination to global vehicle body platforms, the assembly capacities and skills can be designed more generic or in other words global. This way assembly and manufacturing become less model-specific. Another important issue in the automotive industry is that automakers constantly try to decrease the minimum scale of assembly plants because they have a risk in such emerging market investments since these markets are vulnerable and they possess more risk due to a possible uncertainty compared to developed markets. Thus, automakers strive on to decrease the initial risk they incur on such investments. They try to launch relatively smaller but flexible plants and these plants are designed as expandable in case it is needed. Automakers furthermore share large investments with other automakers who would also like to benefit from the assembly plant. (Sturgeon Florida, 2000) Globalization is also experienced through its impact on the structure of the automotive industry. As a result of the globalization in the industry, the relationship between the automakers and suppliers is changing. This change is much distinct for the first tier suppliers who, day by day, play more importance in the industry. This has also led to the fact that anymore global suppliers have emerged in the automotive industry. These global suppliers have a superb capacity of sourcing components on a global level in different parts of the world, simultaneously and in coherence. So, this both means geographic expansion for the global scale suppliers but it also means a consolidation in the industry as these global suppliers start to reach economies of scale and work with maximum efficiency and minimum costs. It is so striking that for the future of the automotive industry, such global suppliers may be more effective in the automotive industrys future investments. Being more effective in the investments also mean that suppliers will be more and more enjoying the benefits of such investments, either social or economical like employment. It can be asserted that as a result of globalization, the power of the suppliers versus automakers is increasing. This is the most important effect of globalization on the automotive industry and it has led to the rise of suppliers like Bosch, TRW, Magna and Valeo. (Sturgeon Florida, 2000) Sturgeon, T., Memedovic, O., Biesebroeck, J.V., Gereffi, G. (2009) have also studied on globalization of the automotive industry with its main features and the prevailing trends. The authors also accept the boom in the developing markets and emerging economies but they also emphasize on the fact that developed markets still have importance in the automotive industry. In operational levels, regional integrations play an important role but also global value chain links have been created in the industry. Another sign of the globalization on the automotive industry is seen in the change in the job market both in terms of quality of the jobs and the necessary characteristics and both in terms of the number of jobs available in the market. According to the analysis of Sturgeon and Florida (2000), automotive industry has added 103.000 jobs to the job market just between 1993 and 1996. However, later as the globalization started to affect the automotive industry, the job structure has shifted from the automakers to suppliers and this has also affected the pay levels since the pay was lower in the supplier side compared to the automakers. (Keller, 2003) The change in the job market has also been seen through the shift of locations from developed countries to emerging economies like Russia, Mexico, Brazil, India and China. So, it can easily be concluded that job opportunities of the United States and Northwest Europe have gone to other parts of the world. A relaxing factor for this issue could be seen as the fact that still some important parts and components are manufactured in the traditional centers of the automotive industry like the United States and Europe. (Keller, 2003) As production and assembly facilities have shifted from United States and Europe to low cost countries, these traditional centers that have stayed expensive for production have taken more responsibility in other functions like design, research and development and engineering. Another important aspect of globalization in automotive industry is the sharing of technology and know-how. As a result of the competition, innovation has been a key issue in order to sustain competitive advantage in the market for all industries. This need of innovation is far more important in the automotive industry because the needs and demands of customer segments are constantly changing and evolving. In order to meet changing customer needs, automakers have to innovate new product features that are in line with customer needs. One aspect of innovation in the context of globalization is seen in the design and manufacturing. Generally main body parts of the vehicles are designed globally and are used in all different models. Besides, manufacturing processes are planned globally and applied in all different plants. However, another important aspect is valid for recruitment in order to attract talent. In order to meet the need for advanced technology, companies need to attract and recruit most skilled employees wherever he / she reside and whatever nationality he / she are in. For example, General Motors recruits engineers and scientists from a very diverse range of countries and nationalities like from North and South America, Europe, the Middle East, China, Taiwan, India, and Korea. The variety in the backgrounds of the employees makes a leveraging effect in order to create new ideas and perspectives for the company. This is an essential part of the business in order to create competitive advantage through the use of innovation. So, a very important benefit of globalization is the ability to have access to technology and the employees who know and use these technologies. It is also valuable to compare the automotive industry with other global industries like electronics or consumer goods. One of the most important common features between these industries and automotive is that there has been tremendous increase in global production, cross-border trade between the countries and foreign direct investment. These increases have especially intensified after the 1980s up to today and the pace of increase is accelerating. (Sturgeon, T., Memedovic, O., Biesebroeck, J.V., Gereffi, G, 2009) Another important common feature between all these globalized industries is that the level of outsourcing is increasing in the industry and more and more operational work is transferred to the supplier firms. The fact that suppliers became global which we have addressed previously is thus valid for many other globalized industries. (Sturgeon Lester, 2004) However, automotive industry is different for some of its distinct characteristics. First of all, the automotive industry is very concentrated. Very strong small numbers of firms are very powerful against a huge number of smaller firms. Three countries Japan, Germany and the United States are the leading countries and a total of 11 firms from these 3 countries are the most effective companies of the automotive industry. This was especially shaped by the mergers and acquisitions that took place in 1990s. Secondly, another important characteristic of the automotive industry is seen in its proximity between the manufacturing and the sales. Production is generally done close to the market and the notion of build where you sell is very important. (Sturgeon Florida, 2000) Thirdly, regional integration as stated earlier in this report is much more common in the automotive industry compared with other globalized industries. In automotive industry, regional integration is seen side by side with the global integration and this is a differing side of the automotive industry compared with for example electronics where only global integration is seen. Lastly, it must be noted that in the global automotive industry there is a lack of standardization in the parts and components whereas in electronics for example processors are nearly virtually usable in all kinds of computers but the automotive industry lacks such industry standards. We have focused heavily on the globalization of the automotive industry from different aspects and identified the indicators of globalization in the industry and the causal links between these indicators and the extent of globalization. However, in order to be able to draw a complete picture of globalization, we also need to study the national and local elements of the automotive industry. There are many elements of the automotive industry that still retain as national or local. Consumer preferences, the income levels, driving conditions in the highways, regulations regarding the job market in the local countries and public policies like taxation all are subject to differ in different countries. These attributes have thus stayed national despite the fact that they have great effect on the automotive industry. (Sturgeon Florida, 2000) As a specific case, I would like analyze the Turkish automotive market as an emerging market. Turkey is one of the top-20 countries that manufacture automobiles and commercial vehicle. The following table shows the automotive production in Turkey for the years 2005 to 2008. As of 2008, the total automotive production in Turkey is 1.147.110 units. (Findikcioglu, Yildirim, Senol, 2008) When the past data for the previous 4 years is analyzed, it is seen that there is a constant increase in Turkish production in the automotive industry. Source: Findikcioglu, Yildirim, Senol, 2008 The increase from 2007 to 2008 is 4% for the Turkish automotive production. The capacity utilization ratio was 78% and Renault was the largest manufacturer by 286.995 units. (Findikcioglu, Yildirim, Senol, 2008) Source: Findikcioglu, Yildirim, Senol, 2008 Despite the increase in production, automotive sales decreased in 2008 in the Turkish market. This is affected from the recessionary environment due to the reflections of the global financial crisis and as a result of the two forces of sales decrease and production increase, inventory levels increased in Turkey. 2009 was thus a year with high stock levels, however, the government executed a rescue program and decreased the taxes on automotive until September 2009 and this way, and automakers could close the year 2009 with higher sales and lower inventories. (Findikcioglu, Yildirim, Senol, 2008) Source: Findikcioglu, Yildirim, Senol, 2008 The most important indicator concerning the effects and extent of globalization in the automotive industry in Turkey is the number of exports. Turkeys automotive exports have been constantly increasing since 2005 and as of the end of 2008, total automotive exports of Turkey is 910.270 units with an 11% growth compared with 2007. Renault and Ford Turkey were the leader auto exporter in 2008. This shows the integration of Turkish automotive industry with the global automakers industry which can be seen as an indicator for the extent of globalization in Turkey. (Findikcioglu, Yildirim, Senol, 2008) Source: Findikcioglu, Yildirim, Senol, 2008 The table shows the consolidated results for production, retail sales, domestic factory sales, exports and capacity utilization ratios for the previous 4 years. (Findikcioglu, Yildirim, Senol, 2008) Source: Findikcioglu, Yildirim, Senol, 2008 When we look at the sales in Turkey, more than half of the automotive sales are imports. In 2008, total automotive sales are 526.544 whereas the share of local brands is 41.8% and the share of imports is 58.2%. (Findikcioglu, G., Yildirim, B., Senol, B.G., 2008) This is also another indicator of the effect of globalization. However, Turkish automotive industry is weaker in suppliers side. Turkey does not have a global supplier brand. (Teker Felekoglu, 2008) Conclusion This report has aimed to analyze the globalization in the automotive industry and has tried to provide answers to the questions stated in the Post Module Assignment of the Global Business Environment lecture. To sum up, it can be concluded that automotive is an industry that is highly affected by globalization from various aspects. The degree and extent of globalization is different among different countries, however, when considered as a whole, automotive is a globalized industry. Globalization has affected the automotive industry in various business areas from design to manufacturing and from recruitment to investments. Business professionals need to understand the dynamics of globalization in the industry and need to develop appropriate strategies in order to survive in the competitive market.

A Tragic Hero :: Character, Brutus, Cassius, Caesar

A tragic hero is defined as a person of high social rank, who has a tragic flaw or flaws that lead to their downfall. These heroes’ downfalls are usually either complete ruin or death. Tragic heroes face their downfall with courage and dignity. While many characters in Julius Caesar could fit these conditions, the person who fits the role of a tragic hero the best is Marcus Brutus. Brutus develops into a tragic hero throughout the play, and this is shown though his qualifications of a tragic hero, his high status, his tragic flaws, and his courage in the face of his death. Brutus has high social status in Rome. Brutus is a senator, and a popular one at that. Cassius says that â€Å"many of the best respect in Rome... have wished that noble Brutus had his eyes† (1103). Many people look up to Brutus, and wish he would help with their problems. Brutus has enough social status and wealth to hire six servants (1097). Brutus’s wife, Portia, is â€Å"Cato’s daughter†, a highly respected man (1124). IT would take someone of high status to marry a daughter of Cato’s. Portia asks if Brutus thinks she is â€Å"no stronger than [her] sex, being so fathered and so husbanded† (1124). This implies that Brutus is a man on a near caliber to that of her father. Even after Brutus is run out of Rome, he keeps his high status by becoming a general. One of the qualities of being a tragic hero is high social status, and Brutus has this quality. Brutus has several tragic flaws. One of these tragic flaws is how he trusts people a lot. Brutus says that he â€Å"know[s] that we shall have [Antony] well to a friend† (1140). He trusts Antony will be a friend of the conspirators, yet he seems to not realize that Antony is obliviously against them, because they killed his friend. Brutus trusts Antony so much, that he lets Antony speak to the public alone. Antony turns the people against Brutus and the conspirators, leading to the wars where Brutus takes his own life. Brutus also receives letters, supposedly from the people of Rome. As he reads the letter out loud, Brutus remarks â€Å"‘Speak, strike, redress!’ Am I entreated to speak and strike? O Rome, I make thee promise, if thy redress will follow, thy receivest thy full petition at the hand of Brutus† (1118).

Electronic Commerce :: Technology, Internet

Introduction The growth of Electronic commerce made easy with the disbelieving enhance in internet and the explosion of its procedure that is illustrated like the progress of selling and buying of products, information and service between the organizations and individuals all over computer networks including the internet (Laudon & traver, 2001). The internet has brought theoretical changes for business around the world. It has created a new business standard: e-commerce, in a cover article in the Atlantic magazine, the late (peter Drucker, 1999) wrote: â€Å"in the psychological natural features of e-commerce, remoteness has been removing. Ever business must be internationally competitive. The rivalry is not local anymore.† tactical assessment will result in to the best reward, while make an investment in online marketing (Scanlon, 2009). Communication with customers through the business order to made scheduling and maintaining can be costly and untimely. For example this kind of communication channels can be familiar collect significant customer feedback and to evaluate customer satisfaction, either they are contented or not. However; most consumers gather information on products, make cost comparisons and then go or visit a local store to make purchase. Internet marketing is becoming a more and more significant tactics for the company to promoting advertises and interact more customers online. This is especially true in the environment of Malaysia where internet shopping or online purchasing is still new and consumers are less familiar and often more sceptical towards online shopping, but slight is known about them. Therefore, to know and understand consumers need and want, it is very important for us to have a survey and study to find out the impact of the internet marketing in computer industry in Malaysia towards customer satisfaction (Ahasanul and Ali Khatibi, 2007). Connectivity has increased quickly in both developed and developing countries; with one of the greatest growing regions being Asia. Malaysia is spending $5 billion on building a Multimedia Super/great Corridor. In Malaysia, the development of Multimedia Super Corridor (MSC) has concerned much attention on the development and accomplishment of Multimedia. In this regard, the use of multimedia in marketing products and services had improved in the local business activities. It is highly presumed that online marketing services can support retailers in expanding new markets as well offering real time dealings and processing feedback. Despite this though, online sales or online marketing continue to develop as internet-based businesses become more complicated; indeed many users stay involved in online shopping.

Henry IS :: essays research papers

  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  It is evident that after reading The Red Badge of Courage, there are many different interpretations as to what kind of person Henry is. Some argue that Henry’s change at the end of the novel turned him into an honor earning, noble man. While one battle can change a man, there are always the underlying traits that will never fade away. The beginning of the novel is where Henry’s psychological background is set. Henry’s personality is brutally self-centered, the only person in his mind is himself, and that’s the way it always will be.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  When Henry informed his mother that he was leaving to go to war, he was upset with her reaction. He expected a huge dramatic scene with his mother in tears and begging him to stay home. To his dismay, Henry received a stoic response, in which his mother told him to simply be careful. It was evident through the subtly of his mothers response that she was overly upset by her sons decision, and chose to support him as a good mother would. Henry was too busy worrying about the dissatisfying reaction from his mother to realize that she was hurt and distraught. This example is just a beginning to the selfish thoughts that pollute Henry’s mind.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Henry was overly obsessed with obtaining a high reputation on the battlefield. He hoped that an impressive performance during battles would immortalize him as a hero among the rest of the soldiers. Henry holds his head high throughout the entire beginning of the novel, and while he makes mistakes, he does not blame it on himself. Also, Henry ran away from battle, which ends up with one less person in line to fight. Henry was not thinking of the other soldiers he put at risk when he fled, but only his own fear and life. Although he was just one soldier, one soldier can make a difference. When Henry fled from battle, afterwards he blamed it on the other soldiers who did not follow in his footsteps. He found them to be fools for not protecting themselves from death as he did. In order to further increase his high self-image, he faked a wound. Getting hit in the head by the butt end of a rifle is not a hero like quality, so he went along with the lie of getting shot. Luckily, the unsuspecting soldiers believed that a bullet grazed his head, and the bump on his head wasn’t the only factor to how huge Henry’s head looked.

Manhood, Power and Respect instead of Childhood Essay

Dave Saunders is the main character of the story, the Theme of the Story is â€Å"Looking for Maturity, Respect and Power†. He is tired of been treated as a child, wants to spend his money to whatever he wants, because his mom holds his money, so he just wants to prove to the others that he is a Man. One day he decided to go the local store to buy a gun, which is the store of Mistah Joe, he ask Joe for a catalog, once he gets the catalog he went back home, his mom sees the catalog, and she doesn’t let him to buy, but after he tells her that the house needs a gun and also that he’s going to give the gun to his dad, she gives $2 for him to buy it. Next day he goes to Mistah Joe store to buy the gun, after buying it he goes to the field to admire the pistol. Next day of work, his is so excited that now his has a gun, he takes jenny the mule and goes far away, so he can test the gun, but accidentally he killed jenny. However, when everybody finds out that he is lying about jenny death, he decided to escape and leave all behind. And the story started like this. Dave Saunders 17 years-old, works at Mr. Hawkins fields, there is the place he makes his own money, and also when he begins his desire to get older, powerful and more respect. One day after he works at Mr. Hawkins fields he was heading home and thinking about the discussion that he had with others field hands that day, and also tired of being treated as a child. He resolves to get a gun for himself, so he can show more power to the others. Instead going home he goes to the local store that they offer a mail-catalog, which is the store of Mistah Joe, when he gets there he asks Mistah Joe for a gun, Mistah Joe Surprised says to Dave â€Å"ain’t nothing but a boy,† (Richard Wright) and he does not need a gun, but he nevertheless offer to sell an old pistol left-hand fully loaded for $2 dollars, Dave goes to his house so excited to ask his mom for $2 dollars to purchase the gun, but when he gets to his house Mrs. Saunders is angry because he has kept the dinner waiting, he sits down and Mrs. Saunders sees the catalog in his arm, and she sizes it, she takes the catalog and tells him to go wash his hands, when he comes back, Dave was so infatuated with the catalog that he did not notice that his father had spoken to him and his food is in front of him. But he knows if he asks his father the money the answer would be a straight NO, and he thinks that his mother is a little easier to persuade. But when he starts a conversation with her, she tells him â€Å"git outta here! Don yuh talk t me bout no gun! Yuh a fool!† (Richard Wright), but Dave states that the family needs a gun and after he buys it he will give to his father, Mrs. Saunders agrees to buy the gun but with one condition, as soon as he buys the gun it has to come straight to her possession and also make him promise that he will do it as she said. The first thing he does in the next morning is go to the Mistah Joe store and purchase the gun, while he comes back home, he stops in the field just to play with the gun and he starts shooting imagery objects, afterwards he gets home, he breaks his promise because he hide the gun under his pillow and tells his Mrs. Saunders that the pistol is hidden outside, and it is not true. He leaves his house very early in the morning, ties the pistol in his leg with a piece of flannel and goes to Mr. Hawkins field, he hooks up Jenny the mule and go plow the field far away so he can practicing shooting the gun and no one would hear it, but a fatality happened, he shot Jenny at his first shoot, when he realizes that Jenny is been shot he tried to plug dirty into the bullet hole to stop bleeding, but Jenny soon dies, he is frightened about what happened, he goes back to Mr. Hawkins and trying to tell a believable story about Jenny’s death, afterward someone finds Jenny and Dave make up a story that Jenny had something wrong and all of sudden fell on the point of the plow, but Mrs. Saunders knows it’s a lie, Dave is forced to tell the truth, when he assumed that he killed Jenny, Mr. Hawkins tells him that he has to pay $50 dollars for the mule, and he will take $2 dollars every month of his salary until he pays the $50 dollars. Dave feels annoyed because he has to pay back the mule, also very upset because all the others think he is a child more now than ever before. He decides to leave the city, by doing this he will leave all behind, his childhood and he will become a man as his desire. Dave Saunders is a boy that wants to get the power, the respect, the manhood and also the maturity that most of the men have. The gun seems to symbolize all this to Dave’s eyes, but it’s been showed that is just a phony imagination. Work Cited Richard Wright’s Parody of the Hunt Tradition in â€Å"The Man Who Was Almost a Man†(Fall 1986). Detroit: Gale Group, 2000