The main themes of the story Christmas Carol Essay Example

The main themes of the story Christmas Carol Essay Furthermore, Dickens uses effective language to give us a vivid picture of what the character of Scrooge is like. Firstly, he uses present participles to show the reader how important money is to him. Scrooge is described as a squeezing, grasping, scraping, clutching, covetous old sinner. The verbs all emphasise that money means everything to Scrooge by associating with hands and thereby showing his desperation ; he is a money grabber. The rhythmic use of these verbs which are repeated could also imply that the list does not stop and that Scrooge is even crueler than depicted. This already makes the reader think negatively about the character from the beginning of the story, because it gives him the idea that he does not value important things in life, like family and friends, but that money takes precedence for him. Furthermore,Dickens uses cold words when describing his character to emphasise that he is not a kind person ; a frosty rime was on his head and his eyebrows and he carried his own temperature about with him. It tells us that he is a cold-hearted person, and that there is nothing warm or friendly about him. It also allows us to picture his features- they are cold and sharp, making him appear unapproachable. He does not care about what state other people are in; he only cares about himself and money. Dickens also makes use of pathetic fallacy to describe Scrooges character. In the first stave he again uses weather to give the reader insight into his character; The heaviest rain, and snow, and hail, and sleet, could boast of the advantage over him in only one respect. We will write a custom essay sample on The main themes of the story Christmas Carol specifically for you for only $16.38 $13.9/page Order now We will write a custom essay sample on The main themes of the story Christmas Carol specifically for you FOR ONLY $16.38 $13.9/page Hire Writer We will write a custom essay sample on The main themes of the story Christmas Carol specifically for you FOR ONLY $16.38 $13.9/page Hire Writer The harshness of the weather reflects Scrooges character; its as though wherever Scrooge goes, the atmosphere becomes cold and harsh. Scrooges character can be explained through his past as when he was young he had a tough life because he grew up without any love from his father. These descriptions of Scrooge reflect his unforgiving, unwelcoming and heartless personality. Lastly, Dickens used similes to demonstrate to the reader how unsociable and cold-hearted Scrooge is. They encourage interpretation as they let the reader imagine Scrooge in his own way. The first simile he uses is: as solitary as an oyster, which shows how unsociable he is. An oyster lives in a shell in its own little world; Scrooge is the same- he likes to be isolated away from the rest of the world and he avoids contact with other people as much as he can. It could also imply that he is a good person inside, but has a hard shell around himself and does want to get close to anyone. His enjoyment of isolation can be explained through his past as he was abandoned by his father when he was young, so he got used to being on his own. This brings in the theme of change, as the reader sees that Scrooge is like this because that is how he grew up and he didnt know any different, not necessarily because that is how he wants to be. It shows the reader that if Scrooge learned how much better it is to socialise with other people he would want to change and spend more time with his nephew. Moreover, the simile hard and sharp as flint tells the reader how heartless and uncaring Scrooge is. Flint is a piece of rock that is very sharp and hard and nothing can get to it. .The characteristic hardness of flint links to Scrooges character, showing how Scrooge is just as unchanging: nothing will make him feel sympathetic towards poor people, and nothing will make him a nicer, more caring person. It emphasises that he is very callous and only cares about how he is doing and how much money he has, but he does not care the slightest about other people. You can tell a lot about a character by observing the way they behave and by other peoples attitudes towards them. Firstly, we get to know that Scrooge does not like to socialise and be pleasant to people. We get to know this as we see that he is miserable towards his only relative- his nephew. When he invites him to Christmas dinner, Scrooge repeats Good afternoon to show that he is not interested in socialising and he does not wish to discuss it. He is infatuated with money, so on Christmas he wants to be in his office working. He also thinks that love is ridiculous, and he criticises his nephew for marrying for love: Because you fell in love growled Scrooge, as if that were the only thing in the world more ridiculous than a merry Christmas. Scrooge thinks love is ridiculous because when he was younger, his fianci e Belle left him because he became obsessed with money and started to love it more than her. He now does not have any time for love because it gets in the way of making money.

Write an article about Bluetooth technology and applications Essays

Write an article about Bluetooth technology and applications Essays Write an article about Bluetooth technology and applications Essay Write an article about Bluetooth technology and applications Essay Find resources on this subject from the e-Library and the web.Choose two resources from the e-library and one from the web.Make notes from resources (by writing some short phrases under different headings, or drawing a mind map).Write your answer from your notes, NOT directly from the resources. This will help you to use your own words in your answer. Make sure you don’t copy text directly from any of your sources, unless you use quotation marks and give a reference.Make sure that your resources are up to date.You should structure your answer as follows: ·Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   An Abstract.(3 marks) ·Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   A keyword list.(2 marks) ·Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   An introduction.(3 marks) ·Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   the body of the report should cover the following points:o  Ã‚   Why we need it?o  Ã‚   Standard and protocolo  Ã‚   Featureso  Ã‚   Uses (applications)o  Ã‚   Deploymento  Ã‚   Potential drawbacks(12 marks) ·Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   A conclusion.(3 marks) ·Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   A references list giving full references for the three websites that you selected. (if not exactly two resources from the e-library and one from the web then no marks given for this part)(3 marks) ·Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Your answer should use correct grammar, spelling and punctuation.(2 marks) ·Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Your answer should use headings and subheadings(2 marks)Your answer to this question should be between 1000 and 1300 words (excluding the references list) and you should state how many words you have used. You will lose marks if you exceed 1300 words or do not give a word count.Recorces from E-library.1-Public buses play an important role in public transportation in most parts of the world and it is still the dominant public transportation mode in some regions. Nowadays, as people switch to a mobile lifestyle, they spend significant amount of ti me on the traveling to work, back and forth. However, not much research has been done on how to provide some on-board service for those commuters in the public bus. This paper presents a Bluetooth-based system which is inexpensive, yet flexible, and scalable to serve commuters in a personalized manner using Bluetooth enabled mobile phones. However, from the Bluetooth specification, one Bluetooth dongle can connect to at most seven other Bluetooth devices. As we expect more than 7 users to use the services provided in the Bluetooth-based system (a full double-deck bus can carry around 100 passengers), we need to work out an effective scheduler to schedule all the private services on the Bluetooth servers in the bus. This paper also describes a scheduling algorithm that exploits the park mode feature of the Bluetooth specification to allow more users to have access to the Bluetooth services on the bus2-The article reports on Bluetooth 4.0, a new version of the Bluetooth technology tha t will enable transfer rates of 100 megabits per second and provide the option to use IEEE 802.11n radios. The low-energy Bluetooth will conserve energy by turning off the radio when not in use and may be used in small devices such as wristwatches. Testing for interoperability between devices is scheduled for completion by the end of June 2010, at which time the Bluetooth Special Interest Group expects to adopt the Bluetooth 4.0 standard.

Cahokia and Moundville Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Cahokia and Moundville - Essay Example The early human interaction is very minimal to most people today, yet many experts and historians suggest that there was no outside contact with the Natchez until around the spring of 1682 when an expedition descended the famous Mississippi River where shortly after the Natchez Indians met with a Frenchman, La Salle. Even though these strange outsiders were weary of these white faces, they still allowed them to pass on their territory under conditions they had worked out with in some of the first meetings with La Salle and his militants, and it was not too long after that that the white men had built and found Fort Rosalie in 1716 which was the center of the society. As the French and the military and other civilian population continue to grow so did the infrequent to often unsettled issues between the Indians and the French which lead to some unfortunate battles in the end. Yet, it was not until the tribe ended up in the middle of the melee among England and France as they pushed to control American lands which made the Natchez show their true hate for the French and knew what they were up to and wanted to fight for what was rightfully theirs. After four years of hostility the Natchez worried daily about their fate in their vast lands of goods, fields of crops, waters, plenty of harvesting, hunting, lumber, cooking, families, and a normal peaceful camp life along with other closely related Indians within some of the same parts of the lower part of Mississippi. By this time, English soldiers had most of the Natchez natives convinced that the French were out to take what was theirs and they began looking at the French as their enemy. After nine years in the late fall 0f November 1729, was the first time this tribe went against the French’s wishes and war broke out immediately and within no time so many unprepared, unarmed, unequipped, and outnumber Natchez were dead, and what ancestors were left of the tribe ended up migrating to a different land to start rebuilding with what little resources and family that was left from the ancestors. As a result of such loss, the Natchez exiles decided to unite with other local tribes to build the native power to save their homes with Indian tribes like the Cherokee and the Chickasaw Creek Indians. Archeological aspects are recognized of the Natchez who were the last Indians were the last tribe of Mississippi, and began to decline increasingly in number when the war with the French nearly did them in to be lost forever. However, the tribe stretched as far as parts of Louisiana all the way through Mississippi on in to Alabama, up to Oklahoma, on to North and South Carolina and up in to some parts of Tennessee. Yet, there are very few native Natchez ancestors that still live around the southeastern part of the United States who became known for several reasons including they were the biggest and by far the sturdiest tribe of Indians of lower Mississippi, who knew how to live off the land extremely well because they grew a multitude of vegetation which included the essentials to most native Americans including: corn, beans, cabbage, sage, onion, flour, oats, squash, and other wild plants for medicine men. This culture were plentiful hunters as they were farmers mostly living off of stream and

Why didn't the United Nations pursue intervention in Rwanda Research Paper

Why didn't the United Nations pursue intervention in Rwanda - Research Paper Example The world, however, stood by while hundreds of thousands of Rwandans died, taking effective action only after the situation began to stabilize. The United Nations plays an essential role in any legitimate intervention. The two principal rationales justifying UN intervention in intra-state conflicts are the preservation of international peace and the protection of human rights. In case of Rwanda, UN was unable to play effective role to stop Genocide. Therefore, this paper will address following question: Why didn't the UN Pursue Intervention in Rwanda? This paper hypothesizes that several factors, including the structure of the UN, states' interests, international law and norms, and domestic factors of the conflict impeded effective UN intervention in the Rwandan conflict. It is hoped that this research paper will discern to the reader the incidents surrounding the Rwandan conflict and why UN didn’t intervene. Methodology This paper will employ qualitative research methodology to find out why UN was unable to pursue Intervention in Rwanda. It examines available literature on Rwanda Genocide, UN charter and international law pertaining to humanitarian intervention. It will specifically look for the impediments which obstructed UN intervention in the Rwandan conflict. It will begin with a brief history of the Rwandan conflict. Next, the case will be examined to determine whether the structure of the UN obstructed involvement in Rwanda. Following this, the case will be analyzed to determine if international law and the norms of the state system hindered UN intervention. The paper will then look to examine whether states' interests frustrated UN operations. Finally, the paper will explore whether domestic factors within Rwanda-such as the complexity of the conflict and terrain of the region stopped effective UN intervention. Background On April 6, 1994, hope for a peaceful transition to democracy and a broadly representative government ended when the plane ca rrying the Presidents of Rwanda and Burundi was shot down near the Kigali airport, allegedly by extremists in Habyarimana's own party (Des Forges 1999, 31). The death of the Rwandan President was followed by the systematic killing of political opponents of the regime, both Hutu and Tutsi, and a resumption of the civil war. The massacres that followed the death of the President appear to have been well planned, because the speed with which the militia singled out its victims suggests the 'Interahamwe', the pro-government militia, was prepared with their names and addresses (Power 2002, 41). For over three months, Rwanda was gripped by chaos and death which left, out of a population of 7.9 million, up to one million dead and five million internally and externally displaced. The events ground to an eventual stop, not through international pressure or intervention, but through the success of the RPF, which had taken control of most of the country. On July 19, 1994, the RPF established a broad- based national government, a day after declaring a unilateral cease-fire (Ronayne 2001, 13). The international community had responded to the tragedy in Rwanda with inaction (Stanton 2004, 9). Following the death of ten Belgian peacekeepers and the subsequent removal of the Belgian contingent from UNAMIR---reducing the mission's strength to 1,515 troops-the UN pulled most of its remaining peacekeepers out of Rwanda. This event coincided with the intensification of the genocidal campaigns. It seems the plan to drive the UN forces out of Rwanda through armed attack, clearing the way for the genocidal cam

Homosexual Love Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

Homosexual Love - Essay Example Of 70 groups, homosexuality was accounted for to be no attendant or extraordinary in recurrence in 41, and present or not exceptional in 29. In societies impacted by Abrahamic religions, the law and the congregation secured homosexuality as a transgression against heavenly law or a wrongdoing against nature. The judgment of butt-centric sex between guys, then again, originates before Christian conviction. It was incessant in old Greece; "unnatural" might be followed once more to Plato.clarification needed This is clearly the most widely recognized sexual introduction on the planet, because of science. (You can just get posterity if a male and female have intercourse) and likely because of religious and social components (it’s a wrongdoing in a few spots to not be hetero, and numerous religions denounce homosexuality/androgyny) Notwithstanding, simply on the grounds that it’s the most well-known, and "socially/organically/religiously" correct, doesnt fundamentally mean homosexuality and cross-sexuality arent right or "abnormal". Everybody ought to have the decision and right to be what he or she needs to be, including his or her sexual decision. It is in nobody spot to judge or censure individuals in light of their sexuality. Much the same as it is inappropriate to judge individuals dependent upon his/her race, sex or socio-financial class. Numerous recorded figures, including Socrates, Lord Byron, Edward II, and Hadrian, have had terms, for example, gay or promiscuous connected to them; a few researchers, for example, Michel Foucault, have viewed this as taking a chance with the chronologically erroneous presentation of a contemporary social develop of sexuality remote to their times, however others challenge this. An ongoing theme of constructionist contention is that nobody in classical times or the Middle Ages accomplished homosexuality as a selective, changeless, or characterizing mode of sexuality. John Boswell has

BP Angola Supplier Relationship Management

BP Angola Supplier Relationship Management Introduction The results of this study are based on a qualitative research conducted in BP Angola with Procurement and Supply Chain Management professionals, Suppliers Performance Leaders (SPL) from Operations Department and Suppliers. The selection of the interviewees was based primarily on their involvement in supplier management and their availability at the time when the researcher was gathering data. The researcher intended to interview at least nine people, three from each group (Procurement professionals, Suppliers Performance Leaders and Suppliers), since three people from each group had been deemed as an appropriate sample size. A period of two weeks was set for the completion of the interviews. Therefore, at the end of the two weeks period, only seven interviews, not nine, were completed. Three from Procurement department, two suppliers and two from BP Angola Operations Departments (end users of supplier services or Supplier Performance Leaders). The Researcher attempted to obtain confirmation for the interview with the third supplier, but for reasons unknown until today, this supplier never confirmed or rejected the invitation, although the constant follow up with telephone calls. The third interviewee from the End User group had to leave the country due to unplanned compassionate leave. Although the reduced number of interviewees, the Researcher decided to keep the sample size at seven, as the key stakeholders involved in supplier management in BP Angola were included in the interviewed population. As may be inferred from above, this chapter presents the results of the interviews conducted and also the internal BP Angola document reviewed. There are several purposes to doing so. The first is to examine the current methods and systems in place in BP Angola (Exploration and Production) for Supplier Relationship Management, second identify whether the current Supplier Relationship Management (SRM) process is adding value. Third is to determine whether or not, as earlier hypothesized, these methods and systems for supplier relationship management post contract award were effective and compare them with best known practice models. The fourth and final purpose is to evaluate the validity of the earlier stated hypothesis pertaining to the implementation of Supplier Management strategy. The main themes that emerged through the research are vastly consistent with the reviewed in the literature. These themes are definition, business drivers leading to supplier relationship management, value that can be derived from proper supplier relationship management, types of relationships, forms of implementation, benefits, challenges and improvements. However, the research shows that there are some differences between the literature and the case under study especially around the understanding of what supplier relationship management really is, modes of implementation, as well as the challenges. The key themes that emerged from the research and the identified differences will be discussed throughout this chapter. Supplier Relationship Management is a very broad topic and it was not possible to cover all aspects of this topic in this research, however, the Researcher tried to cover as much as possible the key elements pertaining BP Angola SRM, challenges and benefits that can be obtained through SRM. Supplier Relationship Management in BP Context The main objective of this research was to investigate and explore the effects of various dimensions of supplier relationship management (SRM) through effective contract management at BP Angola (Exploration and Production) in order to improve added value. More specifically, this study aimed at analyzing the perception of various internal stakeholders in BP Angola about the concept of Supplier Relationship Management, who should own it, interface between internal stakeholder in BP Angola with suppliers, type of relationships that BP Angola maintain with its suppliers and to examine the issues associated with the implementation of Supplier Relationship Management initiatives from Supply Chain Management perspective. Furthermore, the purpose was to increase the understanding of Supplier Relationship Management approach and its benefits. As may be inferred from above, this Chapter explores and explains the relationship between the contracting strategy used to establish the relationship between BP Angola and its Suppliers and what value can be derived from this approach. Before addressing this connection through the analysis of primary data, it is worth explaining the Supplier Relationship Management in BP context. Over the past several years, there has been a growing interest in BP to develop a strategy that helps to optimise the relationship with its key suppliers. In todays highly competitive environment, there is intense pressure to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of procurement activities. BP is implementing globally a segment defined practice for procurement, to drive effective management of suppliers and segmented spend across major categories of goods and services called Category Management. This approach is supported by key four pillars. The first pillar is Category Management Planning, which defines spend categories the business needs to focus on, defines an integrated plan to address the prioritised categories; the second pillar is Market Sector Strategy, which identify strategic levers to be pulled to maximize value from the supply markets and provides overall direction for a market sector. The third pillar and one of the most used by the Local Business Units is Strategic S ourcing, the same as the previous pillar identify the strategic levers to be pulled to maximize value from the supply markets, define approach to the supply market, negotiate and deliver contracts in line with the strategy. The last but not least is the Supplier Management, which rigorously manage supplier performance with realistic key performance indicators (KPIs), determines the appropriate management approach and structure so that supplier performance meets or exceeds BPs stated expectations and goals. This last pillar of the Category Management strategy was the focus of our primary data analysis, as it is where the Supplier Relationship Management takes place. However, BP Category Management approach seems to contradict with OBrien (2009). The four pillars that OBrien (2009) referred to support the Category Management strategy are: breakthrough thinking, customer focus, cross-functional teams, facts and data supported by three foundations like: strategic sourcing, managing the market and driving change. OBrien, 2009, argues that Supplier Relationship Management is big enough to be a concept entirely separate from Category Management. However, although these foundations and the pillars are different; the principles of Category Management are the same. According to OBrien, 2009 in his book Category Management in Purchasing, Category Management can deliver dramatic results to organizations in different economic and market conditions and can help to respond positively to a variety of different business needs and drivers. The former CEO of the Chartered Institute of Purchasing Supply, Ken James, stated that: Category Management when deployed effectively delivers many benefits to the organization through optimizing the value that can be derived from the supply chain. It gives a clear structured framework that can be applied across the organizations purchasing requirements. (OBrien, 2009) Although the academics and practitioners tend to agree on the benefits of Category Management, however the secret of the success reside in the implementation of that strategy. IntOpsR1 supports the view: We pick a strategy and we drive everyone towards execution of that strategy and then something will happen and adjust our strategy and make an intervention. Another strategy appears instead of developing existing strategy, we tend to go to one size fit all, we tend not to take into account the unique circumstances of the locations. The success of a strategy is not the type of strategy you choose, but it is mainly linked to how you implement it. BP Group in the interest of determining how to develop more effective relationship with its key suppliers has enlarged the focus from formal contracts to more behavioural and relational approach in the current Category Management approach. The Supplier Relationship Management approach and its implementation is discussed in greater in the section below. Supplier Relationship Management Approach and Implementation Most respondents declared that they are not familiar, even though aware, of an entirely separate Supplier Relationship Management initiatives being undertaken in other business units other than the Supplier Management approach under Category Management initiative which is being implemented globally in BP, and therefore did not provide insight into similarities or differences between the different business units. However, the review of answers to other questions, other documents, company data from global Category Management initiative implementation revealed that the initiatives are broadly similar in strategic intent in the sense that they respond to the strategic objectives of BP to establish an appropriate supplier relationship management approach and structure to ensure that the performance of the suppliers are meeting or exceeding BPs stated expectation and goals. However, the data also revealed that there is not a cohesive view of the baseline activities undertaken to achieve th is BP strategic objective stated in the Supplier Management. Before discussing this difference, we will look at the general approach adopted to implement Category Management and the principle that underlines the Supplier Relationship Management under supplier management in the Category Management. The primary data revealed that Supplier Management is implemented through four steps. The first step is validation of the appropriate type of relationship with the supplier. The aim is to ensure delivery of the value objectives identified in the Sourcing Strategy and to focus the resources on suppliers who have the greatest impact on BPs performance. Suppliers are prioritised based on spend and their criticality to the business. Suppliers are categorised into four levels of relationship types, which require increasing levels of BP effort and rigour to manage: Transactional, Managed, Core and Strategic. Transactional are those suppliers where performance has limited impact on day-to-day ope rations, low expenditure and minimal opportunities for Total Cost of Ownership (TCO). However, this is similar to what Kraljic, 1983 called in the Product Purchasing Matrix as Non-Critical Items (low profit, low supply risk). Managed are those suppliers with commodity services/materials, with moderate volume spend and with some opportunities to address TCO through improved supplier performance. In the Kraljic Model, this is similar to Leverage Items (high profit, low supply risk). Core are those suppliers with major impact on core processes, high spend, high risk, can provide competitive advantage and opportunities for TCO reduction, value creation and risk mitigation may exist. In Kraljic model this is similar to Bottleneck Items. Strategic suppliers are those which are critical to BPs core processes; can stop operations if issues arise, highest volume/highest expenditure or highest risk, can provide competitive advantage, significant Total Cost of Ownership reduction/value creatio n/risk mitigation opportunities may exist. In Kraljic model this is similar to Strategic Items (high profit impact, high supply risk). This, therefore, brings clarity on what suppliers BP needs to focus on. IntSCMR2 claims: if we keep using Category Management as a base, also helps to determine the strategic, core and managed suppliers and helps to determine what type of relationship are you going to have with them Dyer (1998) supports the view that with limited resources that firms has to focus on supplier relationship management, it is important that companies segments their suppliers based on criticality of the services or goods provided and impact on bottom line revenue. Gordon (2008) added, with so many suppliers companies cannot possibly manage performance plans for every single supplier of their supply base. Firms should concentrate on strategic suppliers who are integrated business partners as well as core suppliers, who require integration and development plus other suppliers that may supply a high-cost or high risk services, (Gordon, 2008). Gordon (2008) concluded that supplier segmentation process is a starting point for discussion among Procurement and other stakeholders about which suppliers may have the greatest impacts on the companys own performance, which suppliers harbour the greatest potential risks, and which suppliers need to be measured, monitored, or improved. Supplier segmentation also helps identify supplier relationships that should be targeted for termination (Gordon, 2008). The second step is establishment of Supplier Relationship Management governance structure. The aim of this step is to define the roles, responsibilities, accountabilities and decisions rights so that they are known and understood by all participants from PSCM, the End User and other Functions. This step reinforces the company standards defined under companys code of conduct and how each individual must behave individually or collectively. According to BP process and procedures for Category Management, the supplier management governance structure exists to ensure that suppliers comply with the contracted service levels and to provide assurance of the suppliers performance. The governance structure also ensures that appropriate management resources are being allocated in accordance with the importance of the supplier to BPs business. This also helps to establish an accepted structure for the management of risk and escalation of issues within BP and supplier organisation. IntSCMR3 claims: I think Category Management model is the way forward. It defines what everybody should be doing and what the relationship with supplier should be, which is fantastic. OBrien, 2009 supported this view when argues that Category Management helps to provide structure to supplier management and define roles and responsibilities for the supplier relationship management. The third step consists of developing and agreeing performance metrics based on value objectives. The targets for performance are reviewed annually to promote year-on-year improvement. Qualitative and quantitative data is collected, collated and reported through the communication channels established by governance structure. However, the legal contract between BP and supplier does not state BPs intent to implement Supplier Management through Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) on the scorecard in order to improve supplier performance year on year through improving safety, reliability and efficiency and thereby reducing Total Cost of Ownership. However, respondent IntSCMR2 contended that BP treats its suppliers equally regardless the distinction that BP Category Management process says. IntSCMR2 claims: We actually treat our strategic, core and managed suppliers pretty much the same, the only change we do is the number of meetings we have with them per year and actually the discussions are the same. However, IntSCMR2 argues that even the process of setting up the key performance indicators is not consistent with what is promised in the Category Management process. IntSCMR2 claims: I think even more fundamental than that, on my previous role, I have seen examples where a billion dollar contract we defined the KPIs and Metrics before the contract was agreed and actually the business did not understand the KPIs and the Metrics, you do not understand why they are there in the first place and do not understand how to measure them, the contractor does not understand them and does not know how to measure those KPIs Respondent IntSCMR2 arguments are in line with Cai et al. (2009), when he argues about supplier performance management scorecard. Cai et al. (2009), states that many companies pursue supplier performance management as the quest for the perfect supplier scorecard. Companies believe that if they get the right metrics on the scorecard, then supplier performance will improve. Cai, et al. (2009), added that supplier performance management involves more than supplier scorecards, which are only one element of the process. The success on supplier performance improvement through supplier management depends upon putting an effective business process in place (Cai, et al., 2009). The last step is to ensure consistent and rigorous management of performance to assure delivery against targets. The performance of supplier and the relationship is reviewed and tracked at set intervals against the stated objectives and goals. This step is intended to make interventions as required and performance is monitored against improvement plans and the lessons learned are fed back into the strategic sourcing process for the next contracting cycle. This step also defines the frequency of meetings depending on the relationship type defined at the first step. Strategic suppliers quarterly performance review meetings are required at business unit level, of which two performance review meetings have an additional strategic focus with executive level management in attendance (or can be separate executive relationship management meetings if required by specific business unit). For Core suppliers BP process aims for quarterly or semi-annual meetings and annual or ad hoc meetings. How ever, IntOpsR2 contended: .looking at Key Performance Indicators during the Performance Review Meetings is retrospective. The constructive way of doing this will be to look of what we need to do to get things better. It is looking forward and not backward Good supplier performance is a key driver in enabling companies to achieve performance excellence. But for the author, the question still remains, how BP Angola can effectively influence a good performance of its suppliers? Type of Supplier Relationships Wagner, 2002, argues that numerous internal and external factors have an impact on the type of relationship company maintains with its suppliers in the supply chain. The external factors are the environmental factors and characteristics of the industry. The internal factors that affect supplier relationships include interpersonal factors, disposition of the company, other company-internal factors and, in particular the type of service to be contracted (Wagner, 2002) Oil and Gas industry is a capital intensive with very high cost contracts, high risk and high technology where only few suppliers are specialized in certain strategic services. Most of these suppliers tend to dictate the rule in the relationship. This view has been evidenced during the research interview. IntSCMR3 argues that relationship with the larger suppliers who have very high technical services like Drilling Rig service providers, BP struggle to maintain a collaborative relationship, as those suppliers tend to govern the relationship and dictate the rule. IntSCMR3 claims: for example with tendering for Drilling Service for a new exploration block in 2010, we developed a scope of work which was very shiny, gold where only two suppliers could provide it. The supplier we selected to negotiate with had several barriers for negotiation and we were forced to pay these vast billions of dollars, which is a lot of money. We went through a number of negotiations with this supplier and we felt we were going to a point where we were achieving some degree of value and they turned around and said that is it. If you want this service, this is what will cost you. It was three or four times higher than our estimate. I think we tried to be collaborative with our suppliers, but I think because of the characteristic of the industry high technology, high risk, we could not develop a good type of relationship. Although all the seven interviewees knew what supplier relationship management was in term of concept and are all involved in active supplier/customer relationship management, however, the viewpoints are different around the type of relationship that BP Angola maintains with its key suppliers (strategic suppliers). While IntSCMR3 believes that BP Angola maintains collaborative relationship with its key suppliers and arms-length relationship with non-strategic suppliers, the two PSCM respondents do not agree with this view. IntSCMR2: I think it is difficult to generalise across the board, but in overall it is arms-length/transactional relationship BP Angola maintains with the strategic suppliers. Based on my experience and in what I have seen, particularly on project side it is definitely an arms-length/transactional relationship IntSCMR1 supports this view: The focus should be on strategic and collaborative approach but the reality shows otherwise. Key suppliers perception and behaviour is to look at BP as exploit. Because of the criticality of the service/ material they provide and high switch cost, BP will need to invest to change or equilibrate the power in the relationship. It is clear from the primary data collected from the review of the internal literature within the company and the data obtained through the interviews that BP Angola sees suppliers as a critical resource and as a source for competitive advantage. BP as global company seeks to structure its supplier portfolio and collaborate with its key suppliers in such way that they can take full advantage of the potential that these suppliers can offer (BP PSCMcp Handbook; Category Management 2010). While BP Leadership believes that the current Category Management approach can create more flexible, responsive relationships thereby improving BPs performance, however, the Supplier Management under the Category Management approach does not describe the model of relationship to have with different service providers. Apart from the numbers of meetings per year to have with strategic, managed and transactional suppliers, there is no difference in the approach in relationship with these suppliers. The type of relationship adopted for strategic or non-strategic suppliers is a subconscious approach rather than a defined strategy under BP relationship management approach. Interestingly one of the two suppliers interviewed argued that BP Angola maintain fantastic working relationship with his company, while the other believes that BP Angola relationship with his company vary from arms-length to collaborative. This view is supported by IntOpsR2: It ranges from Arms-length to collaborative. When we started the contract we were in position of conflict and moved to cooperation, where we build the trust in the relationship and we are now moving to more collaborative way of working. The important observation made at this stage was that when all factors and their weightings are taken into consideration, the supplier/customer relationship that results can be plotted along a continuum ranging from adversarial/arms-length relationship to long-term strategic partnerships (Dyer et al., 1998; Wagner and Boutellier, 2002.) Drivers and Benefits of Supplier Relationship Management All the respondents violently agreed on reasons and benefits for developing a good supplier relationship management with key suppliers. The reasons and benefits fall into two main categories. The first is commercial element. Most of the respondents believe that adopting the right approach for the right supplier, a good supplier relationship management leads, in long-term, to commercial benefits, of lower costs, quicker lead times, better quality, safer and reliable operations. IntSCMR2 claims: if you are actually leveraging your scale and providing a substantial volume of your work to those suppliers, you will be expecting to get lower rates while they will have a certain flow of demand Respondent IntSCMR3 agrees with above view and added that good supplier relationship in supply chains lead to reduced cost and safer operations and claims: . the only way you can understand the cost base of your suppliers is having a good relationship with them. We know that supplier will always build on some extra cost, because they want to make as much money as they can, to which with good relationship this extra cost can be minimized or reduced Respondent IntSCMR1 does not only believe on cost reduction at short run, but also argues that good supplier relationship gives a long term sustainable cost savings enabling tighter process integration. One of the supplier interviewed, strongly agrees that good supplier relationship can bring benefits to both supplier and customers. IntSupplierR2 claims: Working closer to resolve issues, shared risks and in turn benefits, transparency of activity where possible solutions can be made to cut costs to both client and supplier and in turn payments collected on time, and developments onto new contracts/facilities and areas. This in turn would reduce added costs and streamline the BP contracts globally However, respondent IntOpsR1 casts some doubt on the claim that supplier management delivers commercial benefits. This respondent state: I think it gives you a quicker response, you get a better chance to pull in the right people at the right time and they get comfortable and familiar with your expectations and your standards so we are not always reinventing the wheel because your changing your suppliers.. I guess to me is more operations efficiency than cost reduction Ambrose, et al., (2010) stated that as companies pursue a supplier relationship management approach, they do so in a sequential manner. Beginning internally, with efforts aimed at reducing costs, particularly through better sourcing strategies and then externally through Supplier Management. It can be argued that when a supplier relationship management reaches a level of maturity, the overall relationship focus expand beyond a specific contract and focus on the overall relationship with a supplier as whole (Ambrose, et al., 2010). The second category is the enhanced performance or operations efficiency through continuous improvement. Again some of the respondents believe that Supplier relationship management leads to enhanced performance or operations efficiency in long-term. Once the suppliers are selected the challenge quickly becomes ensuring that the promised value coming out of their selection actually finds its way into company. For the two suppliers interviewed, they believe that performance management is an important element in the supplier relationship management and contract management, when well implemented, make a huge difference but require discipline and rigour to implement. Respondent IntSupplierR2 claims: We believe supplier relationship management is one of the main strengths that collaborate to deliver successful contract outcomes and performance. Respondent IntSupplierR1 agrees with the above view and stated that good supplier relationship delivers enhanced value for both client and supplier and claims: working with same suppliers in a long term relationship provides stability, continuity of service, and enhanced value as the supplier has a better understanding of BPs values, goals and methods of doing business. From the suppliers perspective, the relationship provides opportunities for increased business, and an ability to deliver better results to the customer as the relationship progresses and the customers values, goals and methods are better established and understood However, respondent IntOpsR2 argues that supplier relationship management also includes working the people interface because it is the people that make decisions to support (or not) and execute the initiatives that supplier offer for a better performance. InOpsR2 claims: In term of Performance Review Meeting during supplier relationship management, it works well; there is a process and people. It allows flexibility to raise things that are important to us. The value in that is having constructive conversations. The constructive way of doing this will be look of what we need to do to get things better. All this is dependent to people behaviour BP Head of Procurement claims: The Supplier Management process helps to drive performance improvement year on year, through increased safety, reliability and efficiency, thereby reducing total cost of ownership of goods and services. This expectation is defined in the contract. However, Ambrose, et al., (2010), argues that some companies implement Supplier Relationship Management process because they have been told that it is the right thing to do. They are convinced that supplier performance will improve and the results will speak for themselves. Emiliani (2010), states that while supplier performance improvement is a distinctly possible outcome, a specific cost reduction based on that improvement cannot be guaranteed because different companies implement supplier relationship management with varying degree of proficiency. Emiliani (2010) argues that success will have a much higher probability when senior management understands the business drivers for Supplier Relationship Management and therefore truly gives it support. One of the biggest challenges, however, is that the business drivers for Supplier Relationship Management is not cut and dried. That is, it is hard to guarantee a precise return on investment for Supplier Relationship Management. Accountability for Developing and Maintaining Supplier Relationship Management It is recognised that supplier relationship management requires both top management and people at operational level commitment. Which the author believes mean that accountability for delivery of supplier relationship management needs to be established and roles defined. The respondents were asked if they knew who the Single Point of Accountability (SPA) was for Supplier Relationship Management in the Angola Business Unit. The answers vary, depending on the respondent background (Technical or PSCM). In general, for the technical respondents, the SPA for Supplier Relationship Management is definitely the End User (Technical), for PSCM is the combined role between PSCM, supplier and the Technical team. IntOpsR1 claims: To me I think [Supplier Relationship Management] still belongs to the Line, because the relationships with a supplier is owned and administrated and driven forward in terms of learning by the technical side of the equation. So if we want to manage a vendor at higher level across locations and assets, then I still think it should be owned by technical group that have ownership on it. If we try to drive all it from PSCM perspective, from a setting up contract perspective, then we kind of missing the trick. What we may get is a little bit more a cost effective solution, but you are not necessarily getting to a point of having good technical discussions. They are technical companies and they will run circles around you This view is supported by IntOpsR2: I think that the relationship should be owned by the Line (Technical), because we understand it, and we are also dealing with people who are in the technical team in supplier side. I think PSCM role is to support and to enable and help with that relationship The above answers seem to suggest that the driver for supplier relationship management is, in one hand, improving the supplier technical performance, and in the other, that relationship with supplier is limited to the serv

Comparing two pre 1914 ghost stories to show how the writing creates :: Free Essay Writer

Comparing two pre 1914 ghost stories to show how the writing creates and sustains tension. The two ghost stories that I have chosen are, The Signalman by Charles Dickens and The Old Nurses Story by Elizabeth Gasbell. â€Å"Compare and Contrast two pre 1914 ghost stories and show how the writers create and sustain tension.† In this essay I will be discussing and comparing two pre 1914 ghost stories to show how the writing creates and sustains tension. The two ghost stories that I have chosen are, â€Å"The Signalman† by Charles Dickens and â€Å"The Old Nurses Story† by Elizabeth Gasbell. The two writers have very different writing approaches â€Å"The old Nurses Story† has a slow pace which means that the tension builds over time. This story is also more hyper-bowl by this I mean everything is much more unrealistic. However â€Å"The Signalman† has a more realistic storyline, because they realize the ghost in the story ends up being a normal person. The pace in this story is almost the opposite of â€Å"The Old Nurses Story† because it goes in a slow then fast motion. So this story does not have one big climax like the other story, but it has small outbursts made by tension. The narrator in â€Å"The Old Nurses Story† is the Nurse. The Nurse is telling the story to Miss Rosamond’s Daughter â€Å"Miss Rosamond (that was the baby, who us now your mother)†. It makes you feel as though you are the little girl, which makes you feel as though you are involved which means that the tension not only builds in the story but it builds on you. The narrator in â€Å"The Signalman† is a visitor who visits the signalman. It feels as though he is telling the story a lot after the events have happened. This makes you feel as though you need to be ready for a dramatic story. The setting of â€Å"The Old Nurses Story† is in a hunted mansion which is one of the most popular settings for a ghost story. The Mansion is set in an old area, â€Å"old oaks. all white and peeled with aged†, this makes you feel that the place is hunted as soon as they arrive. The term â€Å"all white† in a ghost story gives you images of death and ghosts. In the Victorian times many houses were old and big because only the rich could afford houses so they made them as big as they wanted, due to no laws and masses of land. The setting of â€Å"The Signalman† is set on a train station. A train station is a very mood changing place.

The Strengths and Weaknesses of the Movie 2012?

Nowadays, movies have become the spiritual food which always comes along with our lives. However, because almost all movies have both strengths and weaknesses, there are not only positive but also negative attitudes of the viewers toward them. 2012 has also received such a wide range of mixed reviews about its quality. Being produced in 2009, 2012 is a fiction movie telling viewers about the end of the world on December 12th, 2012.The content of this movie mainly focuses on the reactions of American government officers and the spectacular escape from death by Jackson Curtis' family with his ex-wife's boyfriend before the moment in which the earth is being destroyed because of the greatest disasters in history. Even though there are a few illogic scenes in the movie, 2012 has still attracted millions of viewers because of special effects and the way humanity is portrayed.? Watching 2012, viewers are satisfied the most by special effects.In 2012, the surface of the earth is totally cha nged due to a series of the biggest disasters coming at the same time: the moving of continental fragments, the erupting of volcanoes, and the attacking of the most violent tsunamis. This is absolutely a product of imagination; however, the way that the director of the movie imitates the appearance of those disasters is so real that viewers have a feeling of watching a documentary movie, not an entertainment movie.Beside visual effects, sound effects also contribute to the success of the movie because there is a diversity of sounds in the movie, and each sound is perfectly combined with the scene, which increases the reality of this imaginary product. As the 21st century is the century of technology, tastes of viewers have changed very much. Viewers, especially new generations, highly regard products that use highly technical solutions. Therefore, the higher the quality of a movie' special effects is, the more successful it is. That is the reason why success in creating outstanding visual and sound effects obviously gratifies viewers.?Special effects might fascinate viewers from the first sight; however, to become unforgettable for viewers, a movie also needs good content. The story about humanity in 2012 will be always in the viewers' minds because of the clever way that film makers tell it. Humanity is always an interesting topic, and humanity which is placed in the scene of the end of the world is even more intriguing. 2012 reflects truly both positive and negative aspects of the way that humans treat each other when they have to step on the edge between ife and death. Viewers may be moved to tear because of the sacrificing of President Thomas Wilson (Danny Glover) in the movie, who decides to stay and help his citizens in the greatest chaos instead of sitting in a safe ship, the effort to send the loving words among family members before the death arrives, or the persuasive urging of the American geologist Adrian Helmsley (Chiwetel Ejiofor) to convince lea ders of all ships to open the gate for everyone to come in before the most terrifying tsunami arrives.In contrast, the selfish act of the White House Chief of Staff, Carl Anheuser (Oliver Platt), who tries to stop opening the ship's gate for other people even though there is enough room in the ship for them, shows the viewer the negative side of human beings.? Although 2012 has succeeded in creating special effects and building the story about humanity, some illogical scenes may lower its grade for quality.These illogical scenes are all about the spectacular escape of Jackson Curtis and his family. Perhaps, in order to make the film more thrilling, the director always lets them survive in few last minutes. The film makers might forget that viewers are smart enough to distinguish between the truthfulness and untruthfulness in a movie, and it is very annoying them when they have to watch something too fake.Briefly, 2012 deserves to be watched as the film makers cleverly and successful ly bring to the viewers the special effects and the story about how people treat others at the end of the world. The weakness in scriptwriting sometimes may disappoint the viewers; however, it is minor. As a viewer, I had special feelings while watching 2012, and it is never boring to me to watch this movie again. I believe many other people also had the same feelings that I had for this great movie.

Analysis of Samsung Marketing and Brand Strategies The WritePass Journal

Analysis of Samsung Marketing and Brand Strategies Introduction: Analysis of Samsung Marketing and Brand Strategies Introduction: MEANING OF BRANDMain goals which a good brand includes:Strategies of BrandingBrand Image of SamsungSamsung Logo: Character: Slogan of Samsung: Country of Origin Marketing StrategyProduct strategy teamMarketing strategy teamRegional strategy teamMarket Driven ChangeTarget MarketMarket SharesMeaning of Brand ValueStrategies adopted by Samsung:Brand PositionBrand Relationship Customer PerspectiveStrengths of SamsungConclusionRelated Introduction: In this report we have evaluated the literature and actual brand strategies used by Samsung. Samsung Electronics Company is worldwide leading consumer electronics brands which have very high opponents in the same business field like HTC, Sony, Panasonic, and Nokia. With the help of its creative products and services it is attracting lot of customers. It was founded in 1938 by Lee Byung-chull as a trading company. In 1969 it establish and developed the different business to electronic market that make Samsung flourish into the world’s leading electronic brand. Samsung became the leading electronic manufacturers in Korea by catering to the international market. It makes Samsung to be a champion to international market with high-tech products. Later on in 1993 Samsung became the world’s best popular because of joined into the LCD industry. Samsung set up its branding strategy by Chairman Kun Lee who planned to originate universal program to make Samsung to be an international brand in 1996. For increasing its brand awareness in the world, Samsung paid budget to the investment in marketing and branding and it’s about US 3 billion. (Business Week,2006) In addition, Samsung has spend lot of money in sports for its brand image for example, for sponsoring in Olympic Games Sydney 2000, In Athens 2004 Olympic Games furthermore, Samsung also supported tools and distributed 14,000 cell phones during the games. Afterwards, Samsung has joined Yahoo Company in strategic marketing. In 2001, Samsung is to be voted to the number one in 100 brands by Business Week. To highlight on its brand awareness, Samsung encourage the official sponsor of Chelsea, the popular English Premier League football club in 2005. To continue to increase perception of brand Samsung became the official sponsor of 2010 Guangzhou Asian Game. MEANING OF BRAND Brand is the identity of a product, sign, symbol or design and how it describes to key points like customers, staff and partners etc. Main goals which a good brand includes: Conveys the message purely. Convince the buyer. Confirms credibility For success in branding we have to concentrates on requirements and needs of customers. With the help of branding we can convince the customers to great extent. Strategies of Branding Developing a brand strategy can be one of the most challenging steps in marketing plan process. It plays a vital role in creation of company’s identity. Brand Image of Samsung Brand imaging is an essential tactic for company’s marketing plan and consumer behavior research (Dobni Zinkhan, 1990). A clear image of a brand enables consumers to know about the brand, use the brand, and talk about the brand. All these factors are beneficial for the brand in identifying it from any rivals in the market. Good brand image strategies can lead to a good brand performance (Roth, 1995). Brand image has three components: Product Attributes Customer’s benefit Brand Personality Samsung Logo: The first expansion of brand image of Samsung Electronics Company was started in 1993. Samsung Electronics Company has driven into a new corporate identity by changing its logo from the basic black bold type letters of the word Samsung with red star signs at the side into white Samsung word on a blue color background (Spaeth, 2007). The blue background was designed to be an elliptical shape which gives an impression of modernization and advance. It is determined to agree that Samsung has succeeded in the development of its brand logo. Gardner and Levy (1955, as cited in Park, Jaworski, Maclnnis, 1986) once stated that the brand will be successful in a long term could depend on a company’s strategies of choosing a brand image and to maintain the image over time.   Samsung has clearly proved that it has driven on the right track as the brand is now widely well known around the world with its reputation of global electronics brand Character: Its character obviously describes that it is a strong brand approximately innovation, cutting edge technology and world class design. To clear its brand image, it reinforces Samsung’s strong connection to the brand community to customer; besides, it reinforces its brand image of always being in leading position of innovation and design. (Martin Roll,2006.The global bestseller Asian Brand Strategy (Best Business Books 2006 by Strategy Business magazine) Another powerful development of brand image of Samsung was to design an impression of the brand with global sport events. Samsung became the official sponsor of the wireless technology in the Olympics when Seoul was hosted in 1998. By representing its brand into sport events, the brand will be greatly notice by lot of consumers. Nowadays also Samsung is using the same strategy. Samsung has decided to become an official sponsor for Chelsea football club since 2005/6 season and it was the second largest sponsorship signed by Samsung since the Olympics Games (Jones, 2005). By doing this Samsung logo is now appearing on every shirt of Chelsea players and it can be seen as an impressive way to maintain image of the brand. Slogan of Samsung: In this year, Samsung informed its all-new brand slogan â€Å"Turn on tomorrow†, to chase of a better future. This new slogan started from mid of July a series of promotions was showed to every customer to improve Samsung’s new brand strategy. Country of Origin Samsung has been involved to promote the country image of South Korea since Seoul Olympics in 1988 (Nebenzahl and Jaffe, 1991). The company image has to focus on the â€Å"country-of-origin† known as COO which is highlighted the impact of purchase behaviors (Martin and Eroglu, 1993). The perceptions of consumers on Korean products as overall image are still not considered as â€Å"high quality products† but known as a â€Å"good value products† (Nebenzahl and Jaffe, 1991). Marketing Strategy Samsung mission is to continue to become a world’s leader of digital convergence with the number one market share of most products segments. ( Ilse Jurrien, 2005). Samsung ambition is to boost sale volume in every segments of product. In addition, Samsung objective is to stand on top of the world ranging electronic market; accordingly, it has team which is named as â€Å"Global marketing team†. This team separated from another part and divided in to three layers that are: Product strategy team Marketing strategy team Regional strategy team. Product strategy team In Product strategy team managing market research , collection the information   and analysis data of competitors in daily task. Marketing strategy team Marketing Strategy team’s main responsibility is to expand global marketing strategy for example to present the core message that Samsung want to communicate to customer and every promotional activities to international-wise. Regional strategy team Regional strategy team’s main job is to move the task from Marketing strategy team and managing to different regional. One attempt that appropriate in the United States does not mean that it would success in other countries. Regional Strategy team’s duty is to recover strategy concerning in regional demographics. Market Driven Change In earlier days Samsung’s attempt was promoting in own way that resulted in confuse information and obscurity brand image that make consumer confused in company. Afterwards, the blockbuster launched movie called â€Å"The Matrix† and Samsung have the opinion of that it was a perfect time to improve brand image under slogan â€Å"Digital All-Everyone’s Invited†. Moreover, Samsung choose to corporate with Warner Brother for product placement at â€Å"The Matrix†. Samsung’s important place on customer’s insight to new product development method. (Kinda,2008) Target Market Samsung has changed and emphasizes on the high-end target group and business which means Samsung spend budget to promotional in niche market like the main competitor’s Sony. That directly affects the brand image in high-class value and to certify higher margins and efficiency. (Business weekly,2002) Market Shares Product Samsungs global M/S Competitors M/S Year Source DRAM 40.4% Hynix 19.8% Q3   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  2010 [69] NAND Flash 40.4% Toshiba 33.1% Q2   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  2010 [70] Large-size LCD Panel (revenue) 26.0% LG Display 25.9% Q3   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  2010 [71] Active-Matrix OLED 97% LG Display, AUO 1~3% 2010 [72] Lithium-ion battery 18.7% Sanyo 19.4% Q1  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚     2010 [73] LCD Monitor 18.0% Dell 12.8% 2009 [74] Hard disk drive 9% Seagate Technology 31% Q4   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  2009 [75] Television sets (LDC, PDP, CRT, LED) 17.2% LG Electronics 14.8% Q3   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  2009 [76] Mobile phone 21.0% Nokia 32.4% Q3   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  2010 [77] Digital camera 11.8% Sony 17.4% 2010 [78] Meaning of Brand Value The success of brand is the goal pursued of companies whose attempting to lead the market. Brand value is one of significant criteria that enhance branding of the company. The uniqueness of the brand is influenced consumers in both directly and indirectly, hereby improving the company value (Melewar and Karaosmanoglu, 2006). The strong and successful brand was able to dominate and persuade decision making of consumers. Samsung ranks 19th in the Top 100 Global brands in 2009 to 2010. That shows Samsung brand value up 11 percent from year earlier, according to annual report by global branding inter brand.   The reason for this success is Samsung approach to develop in marketing strategy for different regions; moreover, to increase in perspective in brand, Samsung sponsored in Olympic Games and other sports such as sponsor Chelsea Football League in England, sponsored Texas motors speedway. (Interbrand,2010) The growth of Samsung’s brand value is always put main emphasis to response demand and approach to experience in customers. Moreover the company focused on every detail of their brands, develop products, cohesive identities compatible in every products, every market round the world and every communicate to customers.(Business Week,2008) To expand an integrated method to endeavors, the context of brand has to change to adopt culture, expertise and organizational systems include products, if senior management is using these assets and ability effectively (Doyle, 1998) Strategies adopted by Samsung: Creating Identity of the Brand. Reaction from rival’s Cost involved in repositioning of   brand Research and development Best global brands of 2010 16 16 France Luxury 21,860 4% 17 20 United States Electronics 21,143 37% 18 17 United States Tobacco 19,961 5% 19 19 South Korea Electronics 19,491 11% 20 18 Japan Automotive 18,506 4% 21 21 Sweden Apparel 16,136 5% 22 24 United States Business Services 14,881 9% 23 23 United States Beverages 14,061 3% 24 22 United States Financial Services 13,944 -7% 25 26 United States Sporting Goods 13,706 4% 26 27 Germany Business Services 12,756 5% 27 25 Switzerland Beverages 12,753 -4% 28 28 Sweden Home Furnishings 12,487 4% 29 37 United States Financial Services 12,314 29% 30 30 United States Alcohol 12,252 4% 31 31 United States Transportation 11,826 2% 32 32 United Kingdom Financial Services 11,561 10% 33 33 Japan Electronics 11,485 10% 34 29 Japan Electronics 11,356 -5% 35 34 United States FMCG 11,041 6% According to the table of Brand Value in Global brands in 2010, Samsung was stable in rank 19th in last year and current that show it can manage marketing strategy in good brand value in crisis economic situation. In term of Sony the main competitor, in the chart of Brand Value showed it rank is   up from 34th to 29th in 2010 ;nevertheless, Sony still stay behind of Samsung. And in Change of value Sony is -5percent and Samsung is 11 percent. The reason of achievement to be in global brand of Samsung are many strategy that company chosen; for example, Samsung considered to customer experience that make it placed 2nd after Coca-Cola sponsorship in Olympic Games. Samsung assemble the organization for brand building and the key of brand building is employees and consumers. The employees received the emotional benefits from pride in being associated with the sponsorship and direct connection to the Olympic activities. In term of consumers, Samsung provided a new experience to the customers; for instance as a part of Samsung’s brand proximity program it put up in Olympic [emailprotected] Samsung, The Athens Olympic Sports Complex located in a 1,064 square meter entertainment complex which was a central company place for athlete, their families and viewer coming to the Games. The [emailprotected] give a wide range of activities; for example, the customers were received the opportunity to try out Samsung’s revoluti onary products by themselves. Brand Position In term of Samsung company has position the brand position as innovation, cutting edge technology and high-class design. In marketing plan, Samsung created team of global marketing to develop to assign the identity of products. The design of product is the important part to attractive to consumer to purchase. Samsung present the different of leading of electronic to innovation, high-end and focus on niche market. In addition Sony focus on high-end and niche market according to, the group assessment that show in perceptual map. In growing competition and more require consumer that CEOs facing these day, they have to know how to created more value into products and services because of nowadays, there are many competition, fast innovation and more demanding consumers. (Court et al.,1999) According to, Samsung has developed technology to standing in leading of electronic market; for example, Samsung is the first brand of Thinnest Blue-ray player in 2009, Released the world’s first infrared video phone in 2009. That make Samsung is the No.1 in customer loyalty for 8 years in succession by Brand Keys of the USA Brand Relationship To created more value into Samsung product, the company chosen to communicated in campaign that satisfy with slogan; moreover, Samsung has joined the campaign with the movie call â€Å"The Matrix† to customer perspective in brand image is innovative and high technology. The company chooses the right time and right place to show the way of company. The campaign in advertising, Samsung show the high-end and luxury design to the Television commercial. That makes customers absorb brand image of Samsung and effected to brand value in consumer’s mind. Samsung continue to purchase budget to promote brand in advertising campaign and continue to sponsor in the Olympic Game. Samsung be concentrate in strong of brand image including selecting the distribution channel, to research and developing the products, creating the new technology to be the number one of the electronic world. Customer Perspective After evaluating the brand value, position and image the next step is the customer perspective of Samsung we get this information from different websites. The evidence shows that Samsung attracted lot of customers it creates a very good image in customer’s mind. In most of products and Brand value range confirms that the customer is trustworthy and satisfied with the brand. In eco-friendly blue earth phone are also embedded with solar panel which helps in making .Samsung growing up from 4th to 2th in mobile market share. The design of product of Samsung emphasis to approach the customer insight is very effective. Nowadays mobile phone is not used only for communicating purposes but also use as fashion accessories with latest models and technology. The customers require the mobile phone for self-image which includes design, function and reliable of product. Samsung come to stand in customer’s mind and gain more market share from its main competitor Nokia. (Business Time, 2010) Strengths of Samsung CDMA Handset market Brand Position Product Quality Horizontal Integration Core Competence Distribution Network Conclusion Samsung has created lot of attraction among customers during last year’s and nowadays also by using different marketing strategies. The main goal of CEOs is to drive their brand to worldwide which shows that Samsung have good management of and intention to identify their brand to global whiles improve and develop the products among to premium quality with main competitor is Sony. The marketing strategies help to contribute to be a good brand image such as to sponsor in Olympic game; including, product placement in the movie. Samsung concerned to the environmental and launched the products that are eco-friendly.

Biography of Chandragupta Maurya, Indian Emperor

Biography of Chandragupta Maurya, Indian Emperor Chandragupta Maurya (c. 340–c. 297 BCE) was an Indian emperor who founded the Maurya Empire, which rapidly expanded across much of India into modern-day Pakistan. Maurya did battle with Alexander the Great, who invaded the Indian kingdom in 326 BCE, and prevented the Macedonian king from conquering the far side of the Ganges. Maurya went on to unite almost all of what is now India and defeat Alexanders successors. Fast Facts: Chandragupta Maurya Known For: Maurya united ancient India under the Maurya Empire in 322 BCE.Born: c. 340 BCEDied: 297 BCE in Shravanabelagola, Maurya EmpireSpouse: DurdharaChildren: Bindusara Early Life Chandragupta Maurya was reportedly born in Patna (in the modern-day Bihar state of India) sometime around 340 BCE. Scholars are uncertain of some details about his life. For example, some texts claim that both of Chandragupta’s parents were of the Kshatriya (warrior or prince) caste, while others state that his father was a king and his mother a maid from the lowly Shudra (servant) caste. It seems likely that Maurys father was Prince Sarvarthasiddhi of the Nanda Kingdom.  Chandragupta’s grandson, Ashoka the Great, later claimed a blood relationship to Siddhartha Gautama, the Buddha, but this claim is unsubstantiated. We know almost nothing about Chandragupta Maurya’s childhood and youth before he took on the Nanda Empire, which supports the hypothesis that he was of humble origin- no records about him exist until he founded the Maurya Empire. Maurya Empire Chandragupta was brave and charismatic- a born leader. The young man came to the attention of a famous Brahmin scholar, Chanakya, who bore a grudge against the Nanda. Chanakya began to groom Chandragupta to conquer and rule in the place of the Nanda emperor by teaching him tactics through different Hindu sutras and helping him raise an army. Chandragupta allied himself to the king of a mountain kingdom- perhaps the same Puru who had been defeated but spared by Alexander- and set out to conquer the Nanda. Initially, the upstart’s army was rebuffed, but after a long series of battles Chandragupta’s forces laid siege to the Nanda capital at Pataliputra. In 321 BCE the capital fell, and 20-year-old Chandragupta Maurya started his own kingdom. It was named the Maurya Empire. Chandragupta’s new empire stretched from what is now Afghanistan  in the west to Myanmar (Burma) in the east, and from Jammu and Kashmir in the north to the Deccan Plateau in the south. Chanakya served as the equivalent of a prime minister in the fledgling government. When Alexander the Great died in 323 BCE, his generals divided up his empire into satrapies  so that each of them would have a territory to rule, but by about 316, Chandragupta Maurya was able to defeat and incorporate all of the satrapies in the mountains of Central Asia, extending his empire to the edge of what is now Iran, Tajikistan, and Kyrgyzstan. Some sources allege that Chandragupta Maurya may have arranged for the assassination of two of the Macedonian satraps: Philip, son of Machatas, and Nicanor of Parthia. If so, it was a very precocious act even for Chandragupta- Philip was assassinated in 326  when the future ruler of the Maurya Empire was still an anonymous teenager. Conflicts With Southern India and Persia In 305 BCE, Chandragupta decided to expand his empire into eastern Persia. At the time, Persia was ruled by Seleucus I Nicator, founder of the Seleucid Empire, and a former general under Alexander. Chandragupta seized a large area in eastern Persia. As part of the peace treaty that ended this war, Chandragupta gained control of that land as well as the hand of one of Seleucus’s daughters in marriage. In exchange, Seleucus received 500 war elephants, which he put to good use at the Battle of Ipsus in 301. With as much territory as he could comfortably rule to the north and west, Chandragupta Maurya next turned his attention to the south. With an army of 400,000 (according to Strabo) or 600,000 (according to Pliny the Elder), Chandragupta conquered all of the Indian subcontinent except for Kalinga (now Odisha) on the east coast and the Tamil kingdom at the southern tip of the landmass. By the end of his reign, Chandragupta Maurya had unified almost all of the Indian subcontinent. His grandson Ashoka would go on to add Kalinga and the Tamils to the empire. Family Life The only one of Chandragupta’s queens or consorts for whom we have a name is Durdhara, the mother of his first son Bindusara. However, it is believed that Chandragupta had many more consorts. According to legend, Prime Minister Chanakya was concerned that Chandragupta might be poisoned by his enemies, and therefore  started introducing small amounts of poison into the emperor’s food in order to build up a tolerance. Chandragupta was unaware of this plan and shared some of his food with his wife Durdhara when she was pregnant with their first son. Durdhara died, but Chanakya rushed in and performed an emergency operation to remove the full-term baby. The infant Bindusara survived, but a bit of his mother’s poisoned blood touched his forehead, leaving a blue bindu- the spot that inspired his name. Little is known about Chandragupta’s other wives and children. Chandraguptas son Bindusara is likely remembered more because of his son than for his own reign. He was the father of one of India’s greatest monarchs, Ashoka the Great. Death When he was in his 50s, Chandragupta became fascinated with Jainism, an extremely ascetic belief system. His guru was the Jain saint Bhadrabahu. In 298 BCE, the emperor renounced his rule, handing over power to his son Bindusara. He then  traveled south to a cave at Shravanabelogola, now in Karnataka. There, Chandragupta meditated without eating or drinking for five weeks until he died of starvation in a practice known as sallekhana or santhara. Legacy The dynasty that Chandragupta founded would rule over India and the southern part of Central Asia until 185 BCE. Chandraguptas grandson Ashoka would follow in his footsteps in several ways- conquering territory as a young man and then becoming devoutly religious as he aged. In fact, Ashokas reign in India may be the purest expression of Buddhism in any government in history. Today, Chandragupta is remembered as the unifier of India, like Qin Shihuangdi in China, but far less bloodthirsty. Despite a paucity of records, Chandragupta’s life story has inspired novels, movies such as 1958s â€Å"Samrat Chandragupt,† and even a 2011 Hindi-language TV series. Sources Goyal, S. R.  Chandragupta Maurya. Kusumanjali Prakashan, 1987.Singh, Vasundhra.  Maurya Empire. Rudra Publishers Distributors, 2017.

Personality of Abraham Lincoln Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words

Personality of Abraham Lincoln - Essay Example In the last part, the paper will discuss the different methods of assessing personality and the related results. Personality of Abraham Lincoln Introduction Abraham Lincoln was the 16th President of the United States and led the country to victory during the American Civil War (Sandburg, 2002). He contributed immensely towards ending slavery in America. He was a lawyer by profession before he was elected as President. He had previously served as Illinois State legislator and a member of the House of Representatives (Sandburg, 2002). His Presidency was marked with abolition of slavery, neutralization of the war in United Kingdom and defeat of secessionists. He is regarded as one of the most remembered Presidents in US history (Sandburg, 2002). Abraham Lincoln was born on 12 February 1809 in Southeast Hardin County. His father was Thomas Lincoln and his mother was Nancy Hanks. Though his parents were not educated, they were respected and affluent citizens of Kentucky back country. The family was forced to move to Indiana in 1816 (Sandburg, 2002). His mother later died from milk sickness when he was nine years. His father remarried Sarah Bush who Lincoln embraced as his mother. Surprisingly, Lincoln did not relate well with his father. Lincoln had only 18 months of formal education but he was a keen reader and writer. He married in 1842 and later had four sons whereby only one survived to adulthood. (Sandburg, 2002). Lincoln started his political career by vying for Illinois General Assembly position in 1832 which he lost and joined the military during the Black Hawk war. In 1834, he was elected a State legislature and was influenced by the England law hence he joined law school. He was admitted to the bar in 1837 and moved to establish start practicing law in Springfield (Sandburg, 2002). He once labeled slavery as inhumanity which was based on bad policies when he was the leader of the Illinois Whig Party. He joined Republican Party in 1860 and was endorsed to r un for the presidency which he won with landslide victory later in the same year. After his win, secessionist’s movements sprung (Sandburg, 2002). His major goal was abolishment of slavery which he accomplished in 1862 by signing â€Å"emancipation proclamation† law. After the war, he initiated reconstruction of America by signing â€Å"homestead Act in 1862† where government land was sold to the poor citizens at low prices (Sandburg, 2002). Legal tender act of 1862 also created the first currency of US while the National banking Act of 1863 and 1865 formed the sound financial system which ensured economic growth and stability. He was assassinated by Confederate spy on 14th April 1965 and was pronounced dead the following day (Sandburg, 2002). Abraham Lincoln was friendly to other people since he trusted them. Lincoln has strong appreciation for the motivation of others. Lincoln was also honest hence this trait my have been influenced by his previous service to the country during the Black Hawk war. He maintained that integrity and truth was the basis of good character. Lincoln was also charitable since he occasionally purchased books for Phi Alpha Society hence this trait may have been influenced by his understanding of the sufferings of Americans during slavery time (Sandburg, 2002). Lincoln was a good listener hence this trait may have been influenced by his love for writing and reading. Each visitor to the White House was welcomed with appreciation and

CUSTOMER SATISFACTION IN INTERNET BANKING Essay

CUSTOMER SATISFACTION IN INTERNET BANKING - Essay Example More evidences and marks of banking activities are found in the ancient times as well. In fact, the word digs its origins back to the Ancient Roman Empire, where the moneylenders used to set up their stalls in the middle of enclosed courtyards called macella on a long bench called a bancu, from which the words banco and bank are finally derived. The merchant of the bancu, being a moneychanger, simply converted foreign money the Imperial Mint, the sole legal Roman tender. He did not invest a lot of money. (Matyszak & Philip 2007). A banker or bank has been in the status of a formal financial institution whose primary activity is to serve as a payment agent for customers to borrow and lend. The name of the first modern bank was Banco di San Giorgio or the Bank of St. George which was established in Italy at Genoa during the year 1406. As the human life style started ticking faster, the modes of transaction also indicated a shift to fit in the pace of the human wants, movements of goods and services and the time value factor that became crucial. The paper is concentrating on the aspect of one of the modern banking pattern; most contemporary and commonly known as the internet banking and the customer satisfaction in its service. The precursor for the modern day’s home or office based internet banking services were the distance banking services over electronic media from the early 80s. the late eighties saw the popularity of internet rise and this brought with it the utility of a keyboard, monitor and terminal. The phone might or might not have been used in the process. Home banking can also refer to the use of a numeric keypad to transmit tones through a phone line with instructions to the bank. In 1981 four banking giants of New York, Citibank, Chase Manhattan, Chemical and Manufacturers Hanover began to re nder home banking service through the application of internet and this marked the