Monday, September 30, 2019

Promotional Strategy Essay

1.1 Background Nowadays, cafà © is one of the most demanded businesses. Cafà ©Ã¢â‚¬â„¢s business development continues to grow day by day, so differentiation every cafà © has its own advantages. For example, there are cafà © for reading books, watch live music, watch football, meeting, or just as extra facility (such as in the workshop, or in the car saloon), etc. Cafà © taken from French language, that means coffee, but later become a place where people can drink not only coffee but also other beverages. In Indonesia, cafà © means a simple place, but quite interesting where people can also eat. Cafà © regarding to common encyclopedia is a place that serve food and beverages or place used to eat. Cafà © regarding to The New Collins Dictionary & Theosaurus is a cheap restaurant that serving an easy cooked food. Cafà © is a place that similar to restaurant but has a special restriction. From definitions above author conclude that cafà © is a place like restaurant with a smaller scope that s erve food and beverages with variety facilities such as live music or free internet that provided for their customer. Hanging out with friends, or family definitely becoming something that makes us happy. Especially if it is we do in a relaxed atmosphere in a room or a special place. There are several ways you can do to it, especially the design space for a coffee, tea or a chat with the family, namely by: Create a comfortable sofa and put in seating space, the comfort it would certainly have made us feel at home and comfort to sharing stories. Put your stereo or home theater set in the corner of the room, where the sound effects are produced not disturb your ears nor anyone else was in the room. Put some ancillary equipment such as coffee maker, toaster, microwave or dispencer, which makes us easy to have drinks or warm food to be able to linger together. Create the atmosphere is not too bright and exotic with the right lighting. Can be placed lamp or standing lamp and other trinkets enough to read but perfect for hanging out together. If some of above things are done, they may be called a cafà ©. Beside for relaxing and hanging out with friends, cafà © nowadays also become a place to work. University of British Columbia has recently launched a study on the effectiveness of the work based on the level of noise in the workplace. More than 300 participants were asked to complete a series of tasks to test the concentration of thought. At the same time, the noise level in the room is constantly changing, ranging from very quiet until the sounds were deafening. As reported by Genius Beauty, the participants proved to be more easily accomplishing tasks in a room that has a noise level of average sound. Atmosphere in cafà © that were not so quite but not disturb the concentration able to make them more comfortable at the thought. â€Å"And the idea of just wandering off to a cafà © with a notebook and writing and seeing where that takes me for awhile is just bliss† J.K. Rowling (Author of Harry Potter) 1.2 Brief History of Kofielosophy Cafà © Most of restaurans and cafes in Bandung has wi-fi facilities nowadays. One of those cafes is Kofielosophy. It is located in Jl. Anggrek 36. Kofielosophy was established on June 2010. Since the owner of Kofielosophy love to work while relaxing, the owner builds a cafà © that provide food, beverage, entertainment, background music, and also meeting room. There are a lot of cafes in Bandung, which provide wi-fi for work, but there are just a few which provide a meeting room inside the cafà ©, especially in Bandung Central area. What is the atmosphere like? What does Kofielosophy look like i.e.: furniture, lighting, colors, art, etc? its very classy and elegant, relaxed with Indonesian-European sophistication. Kofielosophy have small cool stage on the second floor. This cafà © create a comfortable casual dining experience through their creative walls, woody and white walls with many accecorries , even their staff wear all black uniform And how about the outdoor seating? Kofielosophy concept is all about relaxed dining atmosphere, with back-sound music. Kofielosophy have a soft lounge area for relaxing, bar, and outdoor seating area for dinners, which is great for relaxing lunch in the sun or dinner. They don’t need any air-conditioning because the atmosphere at the location itself is already fresh. The reason why Kofielosophy still stands out is because they are a fresh injection into the Bandung central area scene. And the mission statement of Kofielosophy is relaxed, sophisticated, accessible casual dining, and peacefully working. The author asks to the Koffielosphy’s management about why they build business in Bandung Central area, and asks about are they like the surrounding area. And Koffielosophy’s told that Bandung Central area is sophisticated, neat, and hard working. They feel their cafà © concept goes hand in hand with that environment and suits their patrons perfectly. They also have very lovely neighbors; they all support each other, which are other cafes and restaurants. Even the others had more customers. About the staffs and employees of Koffielosophy, they are dynamic, friendly and of course they wear black shirts. Koffielosophy’s encourage their staff to talk to customers and be educated about its food and beverages and the facilities. Koffielosophy is also offer many else beside food and beverages, Koffielosophy can lease a place on the 2nd floor for family gathering, birthday party, wedding party, karaoke, music events, or watch football. And company meeting, seminar on t he meeting room. 1.3 Problem Identification Kofielosophy cafà © has actually managing its company poorly. It has some problems that need to be fixed. The managements of Kofielosophy are also open for insights and suggestions from visitors. The management of Kofielosophy realized that they are not as good as their other competitors in Bandung such as Bober cafà ©, etc. Therefore they would like to improve theire competitiveness on order to be able to compete with the existing competitors. There are some problems facing in the Kofielosophy, which are: first, the promotional program of the Kofielosophy is not attractive, not creative and not innovative.   In addition, there are some other things have become problems of Kofielosophy, that are the waiters in the cafà © are less communicative and tend to be passive (it means that the waiter at this cafà © is less able to show kindness and friendliness to consumer who come, they are less close to consumers), and then Kofielosophy is less able to care or maintenance of facilities they have (there are some facilities that are not functioning properly). 1.4 Research Objectives This research will be conducted to analyze, observe, and answer the specific problems with a valid method and knowledge. The purposes of this research are: 1. The author wants to find out how the managements of Koffielosophy make strategic breakthrough promotional programs, effective, and efficient. 2. The author wants to know about the service quality improvement of Koffielosophy to increase competitive strength 3. The author wants to help find solutions of problems facing in Koffielosophy The personal objectives are to fulfill the final thesis requirement for the bachelor of management business degree in School of Business and Management ITB, participate in giving ideas and recommendations for development of Koffielosophy, and also gaining experiences on managing a cafà © as basic knowledge for personal future business. Finally after all of the preliminary objectives are met then it will be able to find the gap analysis and the solution which will lead to the conclusion that will show what should the management do to improve the quality of the Koffielosophy Cafà ©. 1.5 Problem Limitation In this final project, there are several limitations of scope did by the researcher; which are the following: 1. The scope of study in this research is to know about the promotional management and promotional strategies improvement of Koffielosophy to increase their competitive strength 2. This research has been limited only to see costumers perceptions of Koffielosphy, and what should Koffielosophy do to attract customers and increase competitive strengths of Koffielosophy 3. The research will be identified through some theories (Literature Study), internal data and some articles/journals, which then saw the real facts on ground like Observaton Jump (Field Observation), In-depth Interview on customers and management of Koffielosophy itself; and the distribution of questionnaires. 4. The spread of the questionnaires only to customers of Koffielosophy, which is located in Jl. Anggrek no 36, Bandung Central Area, as the respondents of this research 5. The analysis result of this research is a case study and based on the situation of surroundings and the date resulted during the research. The observation of this research was done in Koffielosophy that is located in Jl Anggrek no 36, Bandung Central Area. To reduce the possibility of digressing from the topic, the scope of research shall be limited by these specifications: The scope research is only to measure Koffielosophy customer’s perception toward the Koffielosophy’s current management promotions condition, therefore a study of Koffielosophy current internal management is not too necessary. The research and discussion explored is all a customers based problem not the management or the employees of the Koffielosophy. The condition that is discussed in this report is based on the condition of Koffielosophy on the latest February 2013, which was the last month of the observation. 1.6 Research Questions In order to achieve the research objectives, requires some questions according to the author problems are discussed, such as: 1. Who are the potential targets of Koffielosophy? 2. How customer’s perception about the quality of service of Koffielosophy? 3. Who are the competitors of Koffielosophy? 4. What differences of Koffielosophy with their competitors? 5. What should Koffielosophy do (promotional strategies) to attract consumers to come to Koffielosophy? 6. How are the marketing strategies for Koffielosophy? 7. How is the competitive condition? 8. How is the public awareness of Koffelosophy? 9. How to increase the revenue or profit of Koffielosophy? The research questions design will mainly focus on the quality of Koffielosophy management promotions according to the customer’s perception, especially in Bandung Central Area, which in the end will result the perceived management promotion and also how to take back the customers of Koffielosophy. This thing is conducted in order to know what is the current perception about Koffielosophy of the Bandung Central Area’s customers and communities, which will give the management some suggestions, what kind of promotion strategies of Koffielosophy should be improved in order to take back the existing customers in Bandung Central Area and also to create the superior promotion management according to the customers perceptions 1.7 Research Methodology In order to help the researcher collect proper data during the research and investigation, some methods that will be used are: 1. Field Observation (Exploratory Research) Field observation is an observation that the author will do directly to condition around Kofielosophy. The author will observe about five things that related about the research topics, which are based on the facilities; then based on the services; then based on the prices; and then based on the promotions. In field observation, the author can find what the customer’s want and need; and then through the field observation, the author can get some recommendation to the Kofielosophy, especially what should they do for marketing planning in the future. Through the field observation, the author can know about the competition in around Bandung central area, and author can get, which is the key competitor, where SWOT analysis can be used to know how much the condition of music cafà © competition. 2. In-depth Interview (Exploratory Research) In-Depth Interview also belongs to qualitative method. In-Depth interview, we have confidential and secure conversation between the author as the interviewer, and customers as a respondent continually, and management of Kofielosophy. In this method, the interviewer also has to make sure about the topics that are crucial to ask for the reasons of the purpose and the issues of the survey in the conversation and the client have to approve it. The author as researcher hopes they will give the best and honest answers to be considered in applying the Kofielosophy. In addition, the interviewer will also interview the management of Kofielosophy; where the interviewer will get more information’s about the cafà ©. After that, the author will get important variable that can help me to create the questionnaire later. 2. Questionnaire (Descriptive Research) For quantitative research, the primary data collection instrument is the questionnaire. To enhance the analysis and facilitate the classification of responses, into meaningful categories, questionnaire includes both substantive questions that are relevant to the purposes of the study and pertinent demographic questions. Questions can be open-minded (requiring answers in the respondent’s own word) which yield more information but are more difficult to code and analyze, or close-ended (the respondent merely checks the appropriate answer from a list of options) which are limited to the alternative responses provided. And then, all questions in questionnaire are based on the field observation and in-depth interview. 1.8 Report Structure This report structure is discussed here to describe how the research was done in steps; therefore readers will be able to understand the report holistically. This report also consist of chapters explained below: 1. Chapter I: Introduction This chapter explains about the overview; research background, problem statement, research objectives, research questions and research scopes, and the short explanation of research methodology. 2. Chapter II: Theoretical Foundation This chapter explains theoretical foundation from various literatures regarding the subject. It is started with the theoretical concept about marketing generally. 3. Chapter III: Research Methodology This chapter explains detailed methodology use to address the problems, including the research concept, research steps, the research objectives, and also the methods, and data gathering 4. Chapter IV: Data Analysis This Chapter present the data gathered about the company, such as brief history, organizational structure, survey and interview results, also the primary data from the questionnaires spread to customers. 5. Chapter V: Conclusions and Recommendations This chapter incorporates a discussion of the result, a conclusions, and a project for the problem formulated, which is a conclusion about the customers perception toward Kofielosophy, and recommendations to Kofielosophy what should they do in the future planning.

Sunday, September 29, 2019

Disadvantages Of Balance Scorecard Accounting Essay

Robert Kaplan and Norton came up with balance scorecard in 1990s.The balanced scorecard consists strategically oriented set of ends which are grouped into four different positions which includes fiscal, internal procedures, client, larning and growing. It is known to be a model for public presentation measuring that added strategic non-financial public presentation steps to traditional fiscal prosodies to give directors and executives a more ‘balanced ‘ position of organisational public presentation. ( Balance scorecard insititute ) The BSC is a theoretical account that integrates fiscal and non-financial strategic steps. Bing a high profile theoretical account BSC has attracted attending from practicians and faculty members. BSC relies on the scheme construct developed by Porter where he argues sing the kernel of explicating a competitory scheme lies in associating a company to the assorted competitory forces in the industry. Kaplan and Norton emphasize that non-financial strategic aims should non dwell of an random aggregation of steps but they should consist balanced representation of both fiscal and non-financial information. ( The Economist )Advantages of balanced scorecardImproved creativeness along with unannounced Ideas. It besides helps aline cardinal public presentation steps with scheme at different degrees of an administration and provides the direction a comprehensive image of the concern operations. Balanced scorecard facilitates effectual communicating and apprehension of concern ends and schemes of an administration. Transformation of scheme into action. This construct provides strategic feedback and acquisition. Reduced time-frame and improved competitory advantage Improved determination, procedures and better solutions. Enterprises are often measured and evaluated against the industry criterions. ( Balance scorecard Australia ) The empirical survey conducted by Sun blare, Granlund and Brown ( 2010 ) concluded that the balance scorecard is eligible to make a balance in multiple aims and the survey highlighted to hold balanced both in footings of procedure and results. In instance of Philips Medical Systems North American ( PMSNA ) the company used balanced scorecard in order to upturn answerability for consequences. Through the execution of world-wide scorecard system Philips has realized its important benefits and has besides succeeded in concentrating the company on diverse set of concern steps. ( SCRC articles )Disadvantages of balance scorecardIt is merely considered as a list of prosodies which does non supply bottom line mark with clear recommendations. The tonss obtained are non based on any fiscal or economic theory in other words the procedure is subjective. Critics have besides claimed that the positive feedback from the balance scorecard users may be due to the placebo consequence as there is are no ascertained surveies related to the usage of balance scorecard to improved determination devising or better fiscal public presentation of companies. Resistance towards equilibrate scorecard from employees or even higher degree directors. It is clip devouring to accommodate to equilibrate scorecard strategic system. High execution cost is involved at the initial phase. ( Vector survey )Criticisms and options of BSCMany options have emerged to equilibrate scorecard such as public presentation prism, consequences Based Management and Applied Information Economics. In 2000, the Federal CIO Council commissioned a survey to compare the two methods AIE and BSC by funding surveies in side-by-side undertakings in two different bureaus. The Dept. of Veterans Affairs used AIE and the US Dept. of Agriculture used Balanced Scorecards. The consequence in study revealed that while AIE was much more sophisticated, AIE really took somewhat less clip to use. AIE was besides more likely to bring forth findings that were newsworthy to the organisation, while the users of balance scorecard felt it merely documented their inputs and presented no other specific penetration. Neely ( 2002 ) argued that the most ambitious job of balance scorecard is that it lacks legion of import involvement groups in its construction such as providers, co-operation spouses and close neighbors. Neely besides recommends that it would be executable to utilize a public presentation prism method as a possible beginning for adding new involvement groups to the model of balance scorecard whereas Simons references that it might be reasonable to add a elaborate characteristic where specific undertaking force or a certain individual will be assigned in every administration who is straight responsible for roll uping information about external chances and menaces. Pandey ( 2005 ) after critically analyzing the balance scorecard argued that he had no uncertainty sing the public presentation betterment procedure being a critical portion of strategic planning but he raised a inquiry that whether the balance scorecard linked with the scheme leads to break public presentation and communicating as claimed by the advocates. In 2008 Othman suggested that there must be a nexus in the balance scorecard and scenario planning mentioning to the strategic planning that is robust to different external conditions and this will guarantee that balance scorecard is non merely representation of present state of affairs. Kaplan, Norton and Rugelsjeon ( 2010 ) answered to the unfavorable judgment sing the external orientation. They answered how the administrations can be saved from failures of confederation jobs and the writers claimed that the confederations can be better managed through balanced scorecard due to its strategic orientation. ( World applied science diary )DecisionMany international research studies have revealed that the balance scorecard construct is a extremely widespread tool around the universe. Despite legion success narratives at that place have been besides several unfavorable judgments and instances where the execution failed. The 2005 study conducted by Brains and company shows that 57 % of th e universe & A ; acirc ; ˆâ„ ¢s houses use balanced scorecard as their public presentation direction system. A study conducted by the 2GC in 2011 the study consequences show that the primary function of the Balanced scorecard is still strategic direction. The figure of participants who view the Balanced Scorecard as a really or highly valuable direction tool consist of 75 % . From the above statistics we can reason that broad figure of administrations utilizing balance scorecard to better their organizational public presentation. ( 2GC active direction ) It can be concluded that balance scorecard is an effectual public presentation tool but the suggested betterments have to be undertaken in order to increase positive consequences. Some of the recommendations can be given in order to better the balance scorecard public presentation measuring: The focal point should be future oriented non simply consist of the past and current state of affairs prevailing in the administration. Common steps of balance scorecard should be adopted by all SBU & A ; acirc ; ˆâ„ ¢s in order to guarantee uniformity in public presentation rating. Supportive civilization should be predominating in the administration in order to guarantee successful execution of balance scorecard. Balance scorecard should non merely be utilised for high public presentation but besides organizational invention and merchandise development. Responsiveness to different external state of affairss in the concern environment.

Saturday, September 28, 2019

Effective E-learning To Students Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Effective E-learning To Students - Essay Example Therefore, this study defines the factors influencing e-learning effectiveness and enforcing quality measures for the consistent effectiveness and how influencing factors and quality measures are observed by various e-learning experts with respect to business and academics and business ones. Keeping all this in mind, this research will be addressing the following questions used for research: 1. How can we measure the e-Learning effectiveness? 2. What factors impact the programs of e-Learning effectiveness? 3. What are the major significance factors and differences between the business and academic e-Learning practitioners? Literature Review Effectiveness of e-Learning The fast pace growth of e-learning industry made the researchers and experts ended up wondering, that how to measure the effectiveness of e-learning programs. Besides, the disparity in between effectiveness and efficiency should be made visible. Effectiveness is related to outputs though efficiency is fraction of output to input (Rumble, 1997). As he quotes, â€Å"An organisation that meets the production outputs that fulfils the demands and needs of their clients is effective. This exhibits the criteria by which the organisation’s success can be measured.† Furthermore, the degree of e-learning programs explaining the enhancement of â€Å"learning† is important. For instance, improving students’ satisfaction, improving learners’ grades and helping learners to perform certain tasks with efficiency and etc. can be interrelated to a successful enhancement of â€Å"learning† experience. In order to make e-Learning more effective and to change the perception of the student with respect to the same, we... This research will be focusing on the outcomes of Hiltz and Johnson’s study which was conducted in 1990, along with some different studies, which will help in the advancement of the measurement of e-Learning effectiveness as well as defining the organism of factors which affect e-Learning, but, modified to the requirements and framework of this research. In 1994, Alavi claimed that previous collaborative learning literature recommended that effectiveness of learning can be measured with respect to the perception of student and their learning and evaluation of experience which the attain from their classrooms. In contrast, in the year 2001 Piccoli, Ives and Ahmad carried out a research to widen the framework of effectiveness of e-Learning. They put forward three major measures for effectiveness, which are, performance, self-efficacy and satisfaction.This research is planned to be conducted in order to share the experience of the e-Learning professionals and to share the knowled ge of the students of e-learning. The research is planned in order to attain firsthand knowledge and experience of planning, preparing and designing and to gauge it with respect to develop better understanding of effectiveness of E-Learning. The purpose of this study is to understand what the benefits of e-Learning are and what are the measure which can be taken in order to enhance the e-Learning effectiveness. People will be asked to share their experience about how much they have benefited by opting towards this field or by choosing e-Learning as their career.

Friday, September 27, 2019

The Learning Environment Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 11500 words

The Learning Environment - Essay Example As I developed my relationship with students and began to learn more about their educational experiences, a rather bleak picture began to emerge about the nature of class placement and standardized test assessment. Although the institutional divisive system of academic segregation-tracking-should no longer be a reality in LAUSD schools, students are, to some degree, still segregated into classes based on their skill level. At my school, such "tracking" systems are still fully functional. Ninth grade students are placed in their English and math classes based on their state standardized score results, regardless of the grades they received in previous classes. As a result, some of the "lower-level" students placed in sheltered or remedial classes were actually the A-students in middle school who failed to take the state standardized exams seriously. These students are next programmed into classes designed for low-skilled students. Unlike designated "high-level" students, "low-level" s tudents are often not provided with the same resources, nor are they placed in classes with a quality standard of performance. Low-level students have virtually no access to higher-level1 college-preparatory materials, experienced teachers, and most importantly, rigorous academic training that could lead to greater motivation for success. Thus, by reducing and limiting access to these resources, the groundwork for an informal tracking system is created. My own personal experiences led me to understand that many of the endemic problems of the urban school system arose from the lack of access to higher expectations and a college

Thursday, September 26, 2019

The Bird Flu in the United Kingdom Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

The Bird Flu in the United Kingdom - Essay Example Sturcke and Batty (2006) report stated that as many as 46 countries have recorded bird flu cases in Asia, Africa, Europe and the Americas. Aside from being a health risk, the bird flu is also a massive economic threat. Freeman (2005) stated that "the UK has about 120 million poultry, including chickens, turkeys, ducks and geese, worth 1.3 billion a year. About 25 per cent of the egg-laying flock are kept outdoors and about 10 per cent of chickens raised for meat are free-range." (Sturcke, J. & Batty, D., 2006. Q&A: Bird flu [online], The Guardian, 27 April, viewed 14 May, 2006, http://www.guardian.co.uk/birdflu/story/0,,1591620,00.html) Boseley and Watt (2005) reported that after a meeting of EU veterinarians on the problem of bird flu, the British Veterinary Association's President stated that bird flu is inevitably going to arrive in the UK[and] there is a small but real danger that migrating wild birds could bring us a highly dangerous strain of the virus. (Boseley, S. & Watt, N., 2005. Vets say arrival of bird flu in UK is inevitable [online], The Guardian, 26 August, viewed 14 May, 2006, http://www.guardian.co.uk/birdflu/story/0,14207,1556846,00.html) In a 2006 report, Sturcke and Batty stated incidents of the bird flu virus in the United Kingdom. A dead swan was found in Cellardyke and a parrot died in an Essex quarantine zone. Both incidents occurred in 2005, and both birds were found to have died from the H5N1 virus. In a farm west of Norwich, a number of chickens were found to have tested positive of the less deadly H7 strain of bird flu, which also infects humans. (Sturcke, J. & Batty, D., 2006. Q&A: Bird flu [online], The Guardian, 27 April, viewed 14 May, 2006, http://www.guardian.co.uk/birdflu/story/0,,1591620,00.html ) Needless to say, the alarm and threat of a widespread bird flu infection has prompted the UK government to take various measures in an attempt to prevent such a pandemic. BBC News (2006) reported that one such step was the UK's ban on imports of live chickens from Croatia, Turkey, Romania, Russia, Kazakhstan, Thailand, Cambodia, China, Hong Kong, Laos, Indonesia, Vietnam, Pakistan, Malaysia, South Africa, and North Korea, where bird flu outbreaks have occurred. (BBC News, 2006. Britain's bird flu preparations [online]. viewed 14 May, 2006, .) The finding of dead swans in Fife and in Scotland prompted government to create a huge exclusion zone to prevent any further spread of the bird flu virus. Henderson, Macleod and English (2006) reported that a 1,000 square mile exclusion zone was set up, stretching from the Forth Road Bridge, north of Edinburgh, to Stonehaven in the north east and Perth in the north west. It greatly expands the 3km (1.8 mile) radius protection zone and 10km (6.2 mile) surveillance zone established around Cellardyke. (Henderson, M., Macleod, A., & English, S., 2006. 1,000 sq mile exclusion zone set up to combat risk of virus spreading [online], The Times, 07 April, viewed 14 May, 2006, http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,25149-2122749,00.html) Within that exclusion zone, there are found around 3.1 million domestic birds kept on about 175 poultry farms and would require that owners of 48 free-range farms will have to bring their

Wednesday, September 25, 2019

There is a real danger of a house price bubble in London. Discuss Essay - 2

There is a real danger of a house price bubble in London. Discuss - Essay Example ms to be a danger in the house price bubble, which results from a combination of different factors and there are several signs that the property market in London may be headed to an adjustment. The house prices in London seem to be changing each and every day and barely does a week go without the good news that the prices will supposedly rise. This is as a result of the investment circle spreading through the major towns of London. There have been other optimistic predictions that the prices in London to go up by about 40% according to Knight Frank. There are several factors and evidence that shows that show prospect for a real danger in the housing industry. Buyers from outside London are limited but are an important part of the housing market. The urge from these clients for new homes has catalyzed the current building of the luxury apartments (Barkham, 2012). Despite all these, changing the world economic conditions together with tough government controls on some important things like the visas threatens London housing industry. (Balling, 2006) If there will be a halt in the buying of houses by foreigners in London, it may result in a significant drop in demand and supply will increase reducing the price of the houses. The erection of new houses contributes for majority of the upcoming house stock, but they have a limited life on the market shelves and will appreciate slowly than the existing counterparts. More so, newly constructed buildings tend to a little bit expensive compared homes per Unit Square. London is expected to experience an increase in the number of new homes in the recent years, which threatens the house supply and demand in the country. The new homes will help in the elevation of Londons property prices near the future but may lead to long- term effects on the market prices (Barkham, 2012). There is a gradual appreciation in the house prices in areas where there have been new buildings, but this, in the long run, comes down, and foreign

Tuesday, September 24, 2019

Model in the projection of equity portfolio Essay

Model in the projection of equity portfolio - Essay Example Company owners, executives, as well as all stakeholders assess various aspects in strategic planning and analysis of uncertainty using modeling techniques. Using financial modeling, various stakeholders can engage in calculated risks and as such minimize failure dangers while at the same time keeping client rewards at optimal levels. The aim of literally any investment analysis is being able to come up with appropriate investment decisions and even advice others on the best ways in making their investment decisions. Consequently, there exists an inextricable link between equity analysis and management of equity portfolio. Nonetheless, even for those with sufficient comprehension of equity analysis, there are a number of mechanical portfolio management elements which need to be addressed prior to construction and running of the respective equity portfolios. As exercised with professionals, real-life application of hypothetical investment ideas involves looking beyond expertise and one ’s training levels. More often than not, managing a group of portfolios incorporates comprehensive detail attention, computerization of the information, as well as embracing the need for administrative effectiveness. Generally, the mechanics of portfolio management and more particularly projection of equity portfolios require a comprehensive and more object-oriented approach. In essence, managers who look after equity portfolios have to make a choice as to whether or not they adopt a given approach in management of the respective equity portfolios (Onyango, 2003, pp. 45). Investment firms often have strict defined parameters which they make use of in stock selection and general management of their investment. Background information In the recent past, managers and many other stakeholders have taken to portfolio modeling. Portfolio modeling has come to occupy a central place in the business landscape. Whether one is running a single portfolio or lots of them in a single equity investment product, style construction and maintenance of a portfolio model is a common procedure in management of equity portfolio. More often, portfolio models acts as the standards upon which individual portfolios are equated. In general, the managers of a portfolio assign a weighting percentage to each stock in the model of the portfolio after which individual portfolios are further modified to match against the assigned weighting mix. Usually, computerized portfolio models assisted by software such as Excel, SPSS, and matlab, among others. As an example, after running a mix of corporation analyses, departmental analyses, as well as macro-economic analyses, a manager make a decision as to whether or not to own a substantial weight of a specified stock. In essence, models help in obtaining of portfolio efficiency with regard to portfolio analytics. With models, a portfolio manager may need to get an understanding of may be 30 or 50 stocks owned in similar ratios in the entire po rtfolio, instead of 100 or 250 stocks owned in different ratios in over a thousand varying portfolio accounts. Analyzing 30 or 50 stocks can be easily applied to the entire portfolio by altering weights in the model of portfolio over a specified time. What makes portfolio models outstanding is that as the individual stocks vary with time, a portfolio mana

Monday, September 23, 2019

Report Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words - 9

Report - Essay Example However, Dobson, S. & Palfreman, S. (1999) argues that even with open ended questions and there is no un-biasness in the selecting of the representatives, the data will not be complete. Other methods of data collection exist e.g. interviews and observations. To Doyle, E (2005), the two cannot be used in this case since some of the information required cannot be captured through observations and interview since it may not yield much. About 320 questionnaires were mailed to both local small and medium businesses. Only 100 managed to fill and send them back. The questionnaires had 8 questions. The council wanted to know the area of business one was involved in; where the business is based; the number of employees; whether the business is freehold or under leasehold; the size of the business premises; reasons for initially for locating the business in Stapleton Borough; constraints to business operations and whether there are plans of relocating to another place in the next 5. Most of those who have businesses in Stapleton have set them there since they live locally or where born there. Availability of premises is another reason for setting up businesses in the council. Customer base, cost of premises and business opportunities are the other reasons why businesses have been set up within the council. Most of those who took part in the study alluded to the fact that there are no constraints to business growth. However, 18% agree to the problem of parking slots within the council while 17% said that the council has no enough skilled manpower. Other constraints though not statistically significant include un-availability of new premises and land. As at know, 54% of those who own businesses in the area have no plans of relocating to any other town or local village. However, some 18% have plans of relocating although within the council while 25% say they don’t know whether they will be making any move. A meagre 3% say they will be moving out of

Sunday, September 22, 2019

Masks and Disguise Essay Example for Free

Masks and Disguise Essay In William Golding’s novel ‘Lord of the Flies’ and Shakespeare’s play ‘Romeo and Juliet’ masks and disguises are used to serve different purposes. Both texts use masks and disguise to allow characters to behave in ways that they usually would not or could not. For example, in Lord of the Flies, the boys go from being civilised to becoming savage. This is evident when it says â€Å"the mask was a thing on its own, behind which Jack hid, liberated from shame and self consciousness†. The fact that the mask is â€Å"a thing on its own† shows that the boys, Jack in particular, feel as if they are not responsible for their actions because of the mask. This is supported by the quote â€Å"The mask compelled them.† It also suggests that the boys have become completely different people after wearing the mask. The word â€Å"hid† suggests that the boys are also protected from the repercussions of their violent actions because the mask creates anonymity. At the masquerade ball in Romeo and Juliet, people are able to speak openly to each other as their true identities are hidden beneath their masks. This is evident when Capulet says â€Å"I have seen the say/ That I have worn a visor, and could tell/ A whispering tale in a fair lady’s ear.† This shows that Capulet was able to charm a lady with his stories with the aid of his mask. The word â€Å"whispering† suggests that Capulet’s action was something that had to be done with secrecy and that the mask allowed him to speak openly with the â€Å"fair lady†. Romeo, hidden beneath his mask, is also able to charm Juliet. This is shown when Juliet says â€Å"My only love sprung from my only hate! / Too early seen unknown, and known too late!† The word â€Å"unknown† reinforces the fact that people are anonymous beneath masks and are able to do things they usually wouldn’t. It also shows that Juliet fell in love with Romeo because she did not know his true identity. Also, if Romeo did not wear a mask, he would not have been able to meet Juliet, so the plot would not be able to move forward to reveal their â€Å"death-mark’d love†. During the time in which Romeo and Juliet is set, people often had masked parties as cultural occasions or for celebrations, â€Å"†¦the nuptial of Luciento†¦ and then we masked†. However, in Lord of the Files, masks are used to represent the removal of culture and the dehumanisation of the boys. This is shown in the quote â€Å"The forest near them burst into uproar. Demoniac figures†¦ rushed out howling†¦ stark naked†¦Ã¢â‚¬  This shocks the reader as the boys go from completely civilised children to savages. The word â€Å"uproar† makes it sound as if there is chaos on the island. The word â€Å"demoniac† shows that Jack and the boys have become the embodiment of evil, unlike their former selves. The word â€Å"howling† makes the boys sound more like animals than humans. It may also suggest that the boys have freed their inner beasts and that wearing a mask makes it easier for their inner beasts to come out. The fact that they are â€Å"stark naked† shows that they are not civilised anymore and have become ‘less British’. The boys are also hidden behind masks when they brutally kill Simon and behave like savages. The masks used during Simon’s death protect the boys from punishment as their identities are hidden so no-one can be held accountable. This makes the reader feel upset because Simon gets no justice. Golding may have included this to show that all humans have the potential to become uncivilised and evil, and to show that civility is what contains a person’s inner beast.

Saturday, September 21, 2019

Using research (eating Christmas in the Kalahari) explain how social actors give meanings to their actions through social interactions. Essay Example for Free

Using research (eating Christmas in the Kalahari) explain how social actors give meanings to their actions through social interactions. Essay Using research (eating Christmas in the Kalahari) explain how social actors give meanings to their actions through social interactions. Also consider how this can lead to cultural misunderstanding. In ‘Eating Christmas in the Kalahari’ Richard Lee kills an Ox for Christmas dinner. Richard kills a big ox for the tribe to eat on Christmas but instead of being greeted with the tribe saying well done for killing such a big ox like he clearly expects he is greeted with tribesmen telling him that the ox is just bones and how no one will eat or dance on Christmas. The tribesmen are the social actors in their Culture, the Kalahari and Richard Lee is a social actor from another culture, America. As they are from different cultures their actions and the way they act will be different because they have completely different social statuses so the way they act socially will be different. The !Kung give this reaction to the ox because they believe that no man should be greater than another man just because he can bring the tribe food and they don’t want anyone to be arrogant. Richard misinterprets their actions and feels bad, as he believes that the tribe will not have a good Christmas because of his misjudgment but learns in the end that it was just how they acted. In every culture there are social actors and social statuses but for every culture these social statuses may be different which means the way people act are different too. Because in every culture people have different roles this will lead to misunderstandings because different roles have a wide variety of meanings in separate cultures as Richard Lee finds out.

Friday, September 20, 2019

Aging and Women’s Sexuality

Aging and Women’s Sexuality Liqi Liu The World Health Organization regards sexual health as a state of physical, mental, emotional and social well-being related to sexuality (Woloski-Wruble et al., 2010). It is not limited to the absence of disease, infirmity dysfunction or the mere presence of sexual intercourse activity. These factors are a reflection of a successful aging model that incorporates physical well being reflected by a low susceptibility to disease. It also includes social and emotional well-being associated with active engagement with life and mental well being exhibited by a high capacity for physical and cognitive function. Sexuality is an essential component of health at all developmental ages and an important aspect of life satisfaction (Kalra, Subramanyam, Pinto, 2011). The factors that influence the sexuality of women in their middle and old age are socio-cultural, feminine, medical, political, economic factors (Birkhauser, 2009) and international factors. Other influencing factors include social representations of sexuality, physiological conditions, and relationship factors (Ringa, Diter, Laborde, Bajos, 2013). Cultural practices play a critical role in determining sexuality (Shea, 2011). In China, some clinical educators view sexual activities in middle and old age a taboo. Other health professionals view womens feudal attitudes as the main obstacle to sexual liberation. The change in womens social status due to higher education, participation in the labor force and increased use of contraception has intensified sexual activity. These activities within the social environment largely affect the womens responses to their aging process. Other contributing factors include improvement of living standards and life expectancy (Ringa, Diter, Laborde, Bajos, 2013). Health is another key factor affecting sexuality in middle and aged women (Birkhauser, 2009). Cardiovascular disease in postmenopausal women affects their physical, social and general well being. This leads to deterioration of quality of life and adds on the negative effects of menopause (Birkhauser, 2009). Access to health is determined by the financial ability of the women and enabling political framework. Contrary to popular belief, the menopausal status is not a risk factor in sexual dysfunction. In some instances, it led to low sexual desire. Several studies have shown that women past the age of 50 are still sexually active (Ringa, Diter, Laborde, Bajos, 2013). This essay aims to evaluate the various factors that affect sexuality in older women. Background The worlds aging population is increasing, as the current life expectancy is increasing. The life expectancy of women in Israel estimated at 82 years (Woloski-Wruble et al., 2010). About a third of womens life is lived after cessation of menstruation. China constitutes the world’s largest middle-aged and elderly population. Approximately one-fifth of the worlds elderly population and a quarter of the middle-aged population live in China. In 2010, 381.6 million people were between the ages of 40 and 59 while an estimate of 170.9 people was above 60 years of age (Shea, 2011). Demographic studies project a rapid increase in these proportions over the next several decades. By 2050, it is expected that 35.4% of the population in China will be above 60 years of age (Shea, 2011). As such, understanding the needs, desires and capabilities of this group is of paramount importance. As of now, very few studies have focused on sexuality in the elderly and the existing literature contains contradictory information. For instance, some studies indicate that hormonal determinants have no effect on the sexual drive while others show a correlation between hormonal changes and sexual activity. Hence, further studies would greatly help in ascertaining assertions that sexual life is an important determinant of satisfaction in life (Shea, 2011). Cultural Factors Certain cultural norms are the cause of negative attitudes towards sexuality in older people. In some Western cultures, men are considered ready for sexual activity at a younger age than women (Woloski-Wruble et al., 2010). They also claim that women become asexual with age. However, women have in the recent time challenged this view and regarded sex as extremely important (Woloski-Wruble et al., 2010). Research has focused on the sexual dysfunction that is likely to occur after menopausal transition rather than the normal spectrum of normal activities due to the changes arising from hormonal changes. However, it is worth to note that menopause does not necessarily result in sexopause. The belief that sexual activity decreased with age was held since sexuality was limited to intercourse. In recent years, sexuality has been broadened to mean any sexual arousing activity (Woloski-Wruble et al., 2010). Using this broader definition, studies have shown that women remain sexually active even in old age. An intimate relationship is one factor influencing sexuality in older women. Being able to address their expectations would enhance life satisfaction. The Chinese culture is marked by three traditions; Confucianism, Buddhism and Daoism (Shea, 2011). The Confucian tradition advocated for sex for a married couple and only for the purpose of reproduction. Otherwise, it regarded other sexual activities as unrespectful and undignified. Buddhist taught that in order to enjoy perfect peace, one had to give up worldly pleasures and desires. As such, sexual activity beyond the purpose of reproduction was viewed as distracting one from their improvement. Daoist on the other hand regard sex as harmful and self-defeating as it makes men lose their semen (Shea, 2011). A study conducted in China showed that a third of the studied population was of the opinion that sex later in life was unhealthy or abnormal. It also showed a correlation between the womens attitude and the sexual activity. The women who viewed sex as normal were more likely to engage in sexual activities. Further, the women with positive attitudes led healthy relationships with their spouses. The study also suggested that the household composition such as the number of family members and number of generations contributed to the sexual activity later in life (Shea, 2011). Social Factors Women from different regions view menopause differently(Birkhauser, 2009). In the Muslim culture, menstruation is regarded as impurity. Hence, menopausal women gain a higher social status. It is therefore regarded as a happy event that calls for a celebration. In some cases, this is not the case, and hormonal therapy is considered in order to improve patient outcomes. Hormonal therapy provides symptomatic relief and restores sexual activity (Birkhauser, 2009). Hormonal therapy should also be recommended for women with cardiovascular events unless there are associated risks. Some cultures do not allow bleeding and hence alternative medicine is sought to relieve the symptoms while allowing only the desired amenorrhea.The effect of the natural products has not been sufficiently studied (Birkhauser, 2009). Medical Factors The state of health influences the level of sexual activity (Birkhauser, 2009). Women who are of an advanced in age and are in poor state of health are less likely to engage in sexual activities. During the management of somatic diseases, clinicians often neglect the implications for sexual life and hence go undiagnosed (Maciel Lagana, 2014). These problems may cause the patient to be socially withdrawn and result in depression. Cardiovascular diseases are one major cause of reduced activity. Women who suffered from myocardial infarction do not lead a sexually active life (Kalra, Subramanyam, Pinto, 2011). Besides cardiac problems, elderly women may suffer from physical disabilities that affect the motor function (DeLamater Moorman, 2007). This group of patients experience pain and discomfort in sexual activities and are likely to withdraw. In addition, patients may suffer low libido and unwillingness to engage in foreplay (Woloski-Wruble et al., 2010). Feminine Factors Hormonal changes that occur during the onset of menopause result in vagina dryness and, as a result, affect sexual satisfaction (Lindau, Schumm, Laumann, 2008). However, several studies in this area found no correlation between menopausal state and sexual activity (Ringa, Diter, Laborde, Bajos, 2013). Perimenopausal women have increased levels of masturbation suggesting that hormonal changes do not hinder penetrative intercourse. However, some studies have reported that menopausal changes have a negative effect on the sexual life. These inconsistencies could be due to different characteristics of samples used in the different studies(Ringa, Diter, Laborde, Bajos, 2013). Political Factors Older women have few sources of funds to pay for insurance premiums and taxes(WHO, 2007). Inadequate finances may result in delays to seek medical attention following illness. The developing disease compromises the state of health and affects sexual activities. Hence women living regions in which the health policies promote accessibility to health services regardless of the ability to pay enjoy relative health and hence healthy sexual health. It is the duty of each country to develop the best mix of policies in healthcare, income and social services in order to safeguard the well-being and health of older women (WHO, 2007). Economic Factors Poverty is a key player in compromising the health of aging women. Worldwide, women have lower participation in the labor force and are often underpaid as compared to men of equal qualifications. Older women receive employment in low-paying and part-time jobs. Insufficient funds limit the ability of old women to access the most basic needs such as healthcare, shelter and food. It is estimated that 70% of the women in the world live below the poverty line of less than US $ 1 a day (WHO, 2007). A large number of these are found in the developing countries. These income inequities compromise the well-being of the elderly women and, as a result, their sexual health is affected. Conclusion A satisfactory sexual life is an essential component of good quality of life. However, Sexual activity changes with age and may affect the quality of life. The factors that influence these changes include state of health, socio-cultural values political and economic factors. Different regions practice different traditions that may affect how women in their menopausal age view sexual activities. Some practices limit sexual activity for reproduction purposes while in some cultures sexuality is liberal. One of the major health factors is cardiovascular events. Myocardial infarction leads to depression and anxiety. These factors affect sexual satisfaction and hence decrease sexual activity. While managing these conditions, it is essential that the healthcare providers engage the patients on sexual health. The level of economic empowerment determines the accessibility of social services such as health. Since older women have fewer financial resources, the right policy mix should be adopted to enhance accessibility to health services and other amenities. Recommendations It is of utmost importance to give sexuality issues in the older population priority same as the other vital needs. Therefore, health professionals should formulate interventions aimed at improving sexual health in menopausal women (Taylor Gosney, 2011). A participatory approach would lead to meaningful interventions, as it would allow the professionals to understand the perception of the different women to sexual satisfaction. It would also ensure that the designed interventions help the women in arriving at successful aging (Shea, 2011). An analysis shows that the present literature is based on speculation rather than facts. Healthcare professionals should carry out participatory research involving women of different ethnic groups, age, and languages. Development of evidence-based knowledge would aid in understanding the different aspects that constitute sexual satisfaction among older women. It would also help in designing of group-specific interventions aimed at improving the quality of life (Woloski-Wruble et al., 2010). Reference Birkhauser, M. (2009). Quality of Life and Sexuality Issues in Aging Women. Climacteric, 52-57. DeLamater, J., Moorman, S. (2007). Sexual Behaviour in Later Life. Journal of Aging and Health, doi.10.1177. Kalra, G., Subramanyam, A., Pinto, C. (2011). Sexuality: Desire, Activity and Intimacy in the Elderly. Indian Journal of Psychiatry, 300-306. Lindau, S., Schumm, P., Laumann, E. (2008). A Study of Sexuality and Health among Older Adults in the United States. New England Journal of Medicine , 762-774. Maciel, M., Lagana, L. (2014). Older Womens Sexual Desire Problems: Biophysichosocial Factors Impacting them and Barriers to Their Clinical Assessment. Journal of Biomedical Research , doi. org/ 10.1155. Ringa, V., Diter, K., Laborde, C., Bajos, N. (2013). Womens Sexuality: From Aging to Social Representations. Journal of Sexual Medicine, 2399-2408. Shea, J. (2011). Older Women, Marital Relationships, and Sexuality in China. Ageing International, 361-377. Taylor, A., Gosney, M. (2011). Sexuality in Older Age: Essential Considerations for Healthcare Professionals. Journal of Age and Ageing, 1-6. WHO. (2007). Women, Ageing, and Health: A Framework for Action. Geneva.

Thursday, September 19, 2019

Dropouts and CTE Essay -- Resarch Career Technical Education Essays

Dropouts and CTE In October 2000, the overall picture of high school dropouts had changed little since the late 1980s (Kaufman et al. 2001): For every 100 young adults enrolled in high school in October 1999, 5 had left school without completing a program; of 34.6 million U.S. young adults aged 16-24, 3.8 million—almost 11 percent—had not completed high school and were not enrolled. Some studies have shown that students in schools with a concentration of multiple risk factors (e.g., large schools, large classes, high poverty, inner city location) have less than one chance in two of graduating from high school; furthermore, the economic costs of dropping out have increased as time goes on (Castellano et al. 2001). Adjusting for 50 years of inflation, young male college graduates at the end of the 1990s earned about one and half times as much as their peers in 1949, but the young male high school dropout earned less than half as much as his counterpart. The conventional wisdom that CTE is one solution to the problem of dropouts is made clear in one statewide evaluation of STW (Schug and Western 1999). In telephone interviews, most randomly selected school district curriculum directors reported a belief that STW had beneficial effects on student outcomes like high school completion, but all 45 agreed that there was not reliable information on achievement, attendance, or completion rates. Another statewide study (Brown 2000) noted that state systems for collecting and reporting Tech Prep outcomes were poorly developed, perhaps because they were not required in the Tech Prep Education Act (Title III-E of Perkins II). So it would seem that the question remains: Is CTE one solution to the dropout problem or not? Early Statis... ... the Balance: An Analysis of High School Persistence, Academic Achievement, and Postsecondary Destinations. St. Paul: National Research Center for Career and Technical Education, University of Minnesota, 2001. (ED 461 721) http://www.nccte.org/publications/index.asp Publications and Materials: Case Studies. Atlanta, GA: High Schools That Work, Southern Regional Education Board, n.d. http://www.sreb.org/programs/hstw/publications/pubindex.asp Schug, M. C., and Western, R. D. School to Work in Wisconsin: Inflated Claims, Meager Results. Report 12, No. 1. Milwaukee: Wisconsin Policy Research Institute, 1999. (ED 427 246) Stern, D.; Dayton, C.; and Raby, M. Career Academies: Building Blocks for Reconstructing American High Schools. Berkeley: Career Academy Support Network, University of California, 2000. (ED 455 445) http://casn.berkeley.edu/buildingblocks.html

Wednesday, September 18, 2019

Appearance Vs. Reality Essay -- essays research papers

In Hamlet, one of Shakespeare's greatest plays, the young prince of Denmark must uncover the truth about his fathers death. Hamlet shows a play that tells the story of a young prince whose father recently died. Hamlets uncle Claudius marries his mother the queen and takes the throne. As the play is told Hamlet finds out his father was murdered by the recently crowned king. The theme that remains constant throughout the play is appearance versus reality. Things within the play appear to be true and honest but in reality are infested with evil. Many of the characters within the play hide behind a mask of falseness. Four of the main characters that hid behind this mask are Polonius, Rosencrantz, Guildenstern, and King Claudius. From behind this mask they give the impression of a person who is sincere and genuine, in reality they are plagued with lies and evil. Their appearance makes it very difficult for Hamlet to uncover the truth, because the characters hide behind their lies. Polonius, the king’s royal assistant, has a preoccupation with appearance. He always wants to keep up the appearance of a loving and caring person. Polonius appears like a man who loves and cares about his son, Laertes. Polonius speaks to his son with advice that sounds sincere but in reality it is rehearsed, hollow and without feeling. Poloniusgives his advice only to appear to be the loving, caring father. The reality is he only speaks to appear sincere as a politician, to look in front of the king good rather then actually be good: "And borrowing dulls the edge of husbandry. This above all: to thine own self be true, And it must follow, as the night the day, Thou cans’t not then be false to any man. Farewell; my blessing season this in thee!" Act 1 Polonius gives his son Laertes his blessing to go away, and then he sends a spy to follow him and keep an eye on him. This shows his lack of trust for anyone. He gives the appearance of a confident father who trusts his son to go off on his own, when in reality he lies about his trust for his son. This is made obviuos by the fact that he sends a spy to watch him. Polonius further adds to the theme of appearance verses reality by ordering Ophelia to stop seeing Hamlet. He lies to her telling her that Hamlet does not love her, he only lusts for her, in truth he has no idea whether or not Hamlet loves her. He says to her: â€Å"Ay,... ...is ,making Claudius a more deserving person to be king. As Claudius speaks in council he gives the appearance of someone who is a deserving person that should be king. Claudius is voted in as king meaning he is already approved by everyone. Claudius gives respect to his subjects giving the council the impression that he respects them. The king shows general concern for Hamlet, his nephew. These things make it very difficult to prove the truth about Claudius in the future for he has not only won the love and respect of council, But also possibly prevented a attack on Denmark (from Fortinbras) proving that he is good king that can protect the state from harm. Claudius makes it very difficult for Hamlet to prove the truth about the true nature of Claudius. Throughout the play, the characters all help to show the theme of appearance verses reality. Polonius, Rosencrantz (Guildenstern) and the king all appear to be good and honest. As Hamlet finds out, all contain lies and have hidden intentions within them. As each character is presented in the play all appear to be good and honest making it a difficult task for Hamlet to uncover the hidden truth about the nature of each character.

Tuesday, September 17, 2019

Kodak Company Case Study

Hyun Lee Eastman Kodak v. Image Technical Services — Plaintiff This is yet another case that concerns the standard for summary judgment in an antitrust controversy. The principal issue here is whether a defendant's lack of market power in the primary equipment market precludes — as a matter of law — the possibility of market power in derivative aftermarkets. Eastman Kodak Company manufactures and sells photocopiers and micrographic equipment. Kodak also sells service and replacement parts for its equipment. Respondents are 18 independent service organizations (ISOs) that in the early 1980s began servicing Kodak copying and micrographic equipment. Kodak subsequently adopted policies to limit the availability of parts to ISOs and to make it more difficult for ISOs to compete with Kodak in servicing Kodak equipment. Respondents instituted this action in the United States District Court for the Northern District of California alleging that Kodak's policies were unlawful under both  §Ã‚ § 1 and 2 of the Sherman Act, 1 and 2. After truncated discovery, the District Court granted summary judgment for Kodak. The Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit reversed. The appellate court found that respondents had presented sufficient evidence to raise a genuine issue concerning Kodak's market power in the service and parts markets. It rejected Kodak's contention that lack of market power in service and parts must be assumed when such power is absent in the equipment market. Kodak manufactures and sells complex business machines — as relevant here, high volume photocopier and micrographics equipment. Kodak equipment is unique; micrographic software programs that operate on Kodak machines, for example, are not compatible with competitors' machines. Kodak parts are not compatible with other manufacturers' equipment, and vice versa. Kodak equipment, although expensive when new, has little resale value. Kodak provides service and parts for its machines to its customers. It produces some of the parts itself; the rest are made to order for Kodak by independent original equipment manufacturers (OEMs). Kodak does not sell a complete system of original equipment, lifetime service, and lifetime parts for a single price. Instead, Kodak provides service after the initial warranty period either through annual service contracts, which include all necessary parts, or on a per call basis. It charges, through negotiations and bidding, different prices for equipment, service, and parts for different customers. Kodak provides 80% to 95% of the service for Kodak machines. Beginning in the early 1980s, ISOs began repairing and servicing Kodak equipment. They also sold parts and reconditioned and sold used Kodak equipment. Their customers were federal, state, and local government agencies, banks, insurance companies, industrial enterprises, and providers of specialized copy and microfilming services. ISOs provide service at a price substantially lower than Kodak does. Some customers found that the ISO service was of higher quality. In 1985 and 1986, Kodak implemented a policy of selling replacement parts for micrographic and copying machines only to buyers of Kodak equipment who use Kodak service or repair their own machines. As part of the same policy, Kodak sought to limit ISO access to other sources of Kodak parts. Kodak and the OEMs agreed that the OEMs would not sell parts that fit Kodak equipment to anyone other than Kodak. Kodak also pressured Kodak equipment owners and independent parts distributors not to sell Kodak parts to ISOs. In addition, Kodak took steps to restrict the availability of used machines. Kodak intended, through these policies, to make it more difficult for ISOs to sell service for Kodak machines. It succeeded. ISOs were unable to obtain parts from reliable sources, and many were forced out of business, while others lost substantial revenue. Customers were forced to switch to Kodak service even though they preferred ISO service. In 1987, the ISOs filed the present action in the District Court, alleging, inter alia, that Kodak had unlawfully tied the sale of service for Kodak machines to the sale of parts, in violation of  § 1 of the Sherman Act, and had unlawfully monopolized and attempted to monopolize the sale of service for Kodak machines, in violation of  § 2 of that Act. Kodak filed a motion for summary judgment before respondents had initiated discovery. The District Court permitted respondents to file one set of interrogatories and one set of requests for production of documents, and to take six depositions. Without a hearing, the District Court granted summary judgment in favor of Kodak. As to the  § 1 claim, the court found that respondents had provided no evidence of a tying arrangement between Kodak equipment and service or parts. The court, however, did not address respondents'  § 1 claim that is at issue here. Respondents allege a tying arrangement not between Kodak equipment and service, but between Kodak parts and service. As to the  § 2 claim, the District Court concluded that although Kodak had a â€Å"natural monopoly over the market for parts it sells under its name,† a unilateral refusal to sell those parts to ISOs did not violate  § 2. Noting that the District Court had not considered the market power issue, and that the record was not fully developed through discovery, the court declined to require respondents to conduct market analysis or to pinpoint specific imperfections in order to withstand summary judgment. The court then considered the three business justifications Kodak proffered for its restrictive parts policy: (1) to guard against inadequate service, (2) to lower inventory costs, and (3) to prevent ISOs from free riding on Kodak's investment in the copier and micrographic industry. The court concluded that the trier of fact might find the product quality and inventory reasons to be perpetual and that there was a less restrictive alternative for achieving Kodak's quality related goals. The court also found Kodak's third justification, preventing ISOs from profiting on Kodak's investments in the equipment markets, legally insufficient. As to the  § 2 claim, the Court of Appeals concluded that sufficient evidence existed to support a finding that Kodak's implementation of its parts policy was â€Å"anticompetitive† and â€Å"exclusionary† and â€Å"involved a specific intent to monopolize. † It held that the ISOs had come forward with sufficient evidence, for summary judgment purposes, to disprove Kodak's business justifications. The dissent in the Court of Appeals, with respect to the  § 1 claim, accepted Kodak's argument that evidence of competition in the equipment market â€Å"necessarily precludes power in the derivative market. † With respect to the  § 2 monopolization claim, the dissent concluded that, entirely apart from market power considerations, Kodak was entitled to summary judgment on the basis of its first business justification because it had â€Å"submitted extensive and undisputed evidence of a marketing strategy based on high quality service. A tying arrangement is â€Å"an agreement by a party to sell one product but only on the condition that the buyer also purchases a different (or tied) product, or at least agrees that he will not purchase that product from any other supplier. † Such an arrangement violates  § 1 of the Sherman Act if the seller has â€Å"appreciable economic power† in the tying product market and if the arrangement affects a substantial volum e of commerce in the tied market. Kodak did not dispute that its arrangement affects a substantial volume of interstate commerce. It, however, did challenge whether its activities constituted a â€Å"tying arrangement† and whether Kodak exercised â€Å"appreciable economic power† in the tying market. We consider these issues in turn. For the respondents to defeat a motion for summary judgment on their claim of a tying arrangement, a reasonable trier of fact must be able to find, first, that service and parts are two distinct products, and, second, that Kodak has tied the sale of the two products. For service and parts to be considered two distinct products, there must be sufficient consumer demand so that it is efficient for a firm to provide service separately from parts. Jefferson Evidence in the record indicates that service and parts have been sold separately in the past and still are sold separately to self service equipment owners. Indeed, the development of the entire high technology service industry is evidence of the efficiency of a separate market for service. Kodak insists that because there is no demand for parts separate from service, there cannot be separate markets for service and parts. By that logic, we would be forced to conclude that there can never be separate markets, for example, for cameras and film, computers and software, or automobiles and tires. That is an assumption we are unwilling to make. â€Å"We have often found arrangements involving functionally linked products at least one of which is useless without the other to be prohibited tying devices. Kodak's assertion also appears to be incorrect as a factual matter. At least some consumers would purchase service without parts, because some service does not require parts, and some consumers, those who self service for example, would purchase parts without service. Finally, respondents have presented sufficient evidence of a tie between service and parts. The record indicates that Kodak would sell parts to third parties only if they agreed not to buy service from ISOs. Having found sufficient evidence of a tying arrangement, we consider the other necessary feature of an illegal tying arrangement: appreciable economic power in the tying market. Market power is the power â€Å"to force a purchaser to do something that he would not do in a competitive market. † It has been defined as â€Å"the ability of a single seller to raise price and restrict output. † The existence of such power ordinarily is inferred from the seller's possession of a predominant share of the market. Respondents contend that Kodak has more than sufficient power in the parts market to force unwanted purchases of he tied market, service. Respondents provide evidence that certain parts are available exclusively through Kodak. Respondents also assert that Kodak has control over the availability of parts it does not manufacture. According to respondents' evidence, Kodak has prohibited independent manufacturers from selling Kodak parts to ISOs, pressured Kodak equipment owners and independent parts distributors to deny ISOs the purchase of Kodak parts, and taken steps to restrict the availability of used machines. Respondents also allege that Kodak's control over the parts market has excluded service competition, boosted service prices, and forced unwilling consumption of Kodak service. Respondents offer evidence that consumers have switched to Kodak service even though they preferred ISO service, that Kodak service was of higher price and lower quality than the preferred ISO service, and that ISOs were driven out of business by Kodak's policies. Under our prior precedents, this evidence would be sufficient to entitle respondents to a trial on their claim of market power. To review Kodak's theory, it contends that higher service prices will lead to a disastrous drop in equipment sales. Presumably, the theory's corollary is to the effect that low service prices lead to a dramatic increase in equipment sales. According to the theory, one would have expected Kodak to take advantage of lower priced ISO service as an opportunity to expand equipment sales. Instead, Kodak adopted a restrictive sales policy consciously designed to eliminate the lower priced ISO service, an act that would be expected to devastate either Kodak's equipment sales or Kodak's faith in its theory. Yet, according to the record, it has done neither. Service prices have risen for Kodak customers, but there is no evidence or assertion that Kodak equipment sales have dropped. Respondents offer a forceful reason why Kodak's theory, although perhaps intuitively appealing, may not accurately explain the behavior of the primary and derivative markets for complex durable goods: the existence of significant information and switching costs. These costs could create a less responsive connection between service and parts prices and equipment sales. For the service market price to affect equipment demand, consumers must inform themselves of the total cost of the â€Å"package† — equipment, service and parts — at the time of purchase; that is, consumers must engage in accurate life cycle pricing. Lifecycle pricing of complex, durable equipment is difficult and costly. In order to arrive at an accurate price, a consumer must acquire a substantial amount of raw data and undertake sophisticated analysis. The necessary information would include data on price, quality, and availability of products needed to operate, upgrade, or enhance the initial equipment, as well as service and repair costs, including estimates of breakdown frequency, nature of repairs, price of service and parts, length of â€Å"downtime† and losses incurred from downtime. Much of this information is difficult — some of it impossible — to acquire at the time of purchase. During the life of a product, companies may change the service and parts prices, and develop products with more advanced features, a decreased need for repair, or new warranties. In addition, the information is likely to be customer specific; lifecycle costs will vary from customer to customer with the type of equipment, degrees of equipment use, and costs of downtime. Indeed, respondents have presented evidence that Kodak practices price discrimination by selling parts to customers who service their own equipment, but refusing to sell parts to customers who hire third party service companies. Companies that have their own service staff are likely to be high volume users, the same companies for whom it is most likely to be economically worthwhile to acquire the complex information needed for comparative lifecycle pricing. A second factor undermining Kodak's claim that â€Å"supracompetitive† prices in the service market lead to ruinous losses in equipment sales is the cost to current owners of switching to a different product. If the cost of switching is high, consumers who already have purchased the equipment, and are thus â€Å"locked in,† will tolerate some level of service price increases before changing equipment brands. Under this scenario, a seller profitably could maintain â€Å"supracompetitive† prices in the aftermarket if the switching costs were high relative to the increase in service prices, and the number of locked in customers were high relative to the number of new purchasers. Moreover, if the seller can price discriminate between its locked in customers and potential new customers, this strategy is even more likely to prove profitable. The seller could simply charge new customers below marginal cost on the equipment and recoup the charges in service, or offer packages with life time warranties or long term service agreements that are not available to locked-in customers. Respondents have offered evidence that the heavy initial outlay for Kodak equipment, combined with the required support material that works only with Kodak equipment, makes switching costs very high for existing Kodak customers. And Kodak's own evidence confirms that it varies the package price of equipment/parts/service for different customers. In sum, there is a question of fact whether information costs and switching costs foil the simple assumption that the equipment and service markets act as pure complements to one another. We conclude, then, that Kodak has failed to demonstrate that respondents' inference of market power in the service and parts markets is unreasonable, and that, consequently, Kodak is entitled to summary judgment. It is clearly reasonable to infer that Kodak has market power to raise prices and drive out competition in the aftermarkets, since respondents offer direct evidence that Kodak did so. It is also plausible, as discussed above, to infer that Kodak chose to gain immediate profits by exerting that market power where locked in customers, high information costs, and discriminatory pricing limited and perhaps eliminated any long term loss. The alleged conduct — higher service prices and market foreclosure — is facially anticompetitive and exactly the harm that antitrust laws aim to prevent. Respondents also claim that they have presented genuine issues for trial as to whether Kodak has monopolized or attempted to monopolize the service and parts markets in violation of  § 2 of the Sherman Act. â€Å"The offense of monopoly under  § 2 of the Sherman Act has two elements: (1) the possession of monopoly power in the relevant market and (2) the willful acquisition or maintenance of that power as distinguished from growth or development as a consequence of a superior product, business acumen, or historic accident. † The existence of the first element, possession of monopoly power, is easily resolved. As has been noted, respondents have presented a triable claim that service and parts are separate markets, and that Kodak has the â€Å"power to control prices or exclude competition† in service and parts. Monopoly power under  § 2 requires, of course, something greater than market power under  § 1. Respondents' evidence that Kodak controls nearly 100% of the parts market and 80% to 95% of the service market, with no readily available substitutes, is, however, sufficient to survive summary judgment under the more stringent monopoly standard of  § 2. The second element of a  § 2 claim is the use of monopoly power â€Å"to foreclose competition, to gain a competitive advantage, or to destroy a competitor. † If Kodak adopted its parts and service policies as part of a scheme of willful acquisition or maintenance of monopoly power, it will have violated  § 2. As recounted at length above, respondents have presented evidence that Kodak took exclusionary action to maintain its parts monopoly and used its control over parts to strengthen its monopoly share of the Kodak service market. Liability turns, then, on whether â€Å"valid business reasons† can explain Kodak's actions. Kodak contends that it has three valid business justifications for its actions: â€Å"(1) to promote interbrand equipment competition by allowing Kodak to stress the quality of its service; (2) to improve asset management by reducing Kodak's inventory costs; and (3) to prevent ISOs from free riding on Kodak's capital investment in equipment, parts and service. † Factual questions exist, however, about the validity and sufficiency of each claimed justification, making summary judgment inappropriate. As respondents argue, Kodak's actions appear inconsistent with any need to control inventory costs. Presumably, the inventory of parts needed to repair Kodak machines turns only on breakdown rates, and those rates should be the same whether Kodak or ISOs perform the repair. More importantly, the justification fails to explain respondents' evidence that Kodak forced OEMs, equipment owners, and parts brokers not to sell parts to ISOs, actions that would have no effect on Kodak's inventory costs. None of Kodak's asserted business justifications, then, are sufficient to prove that Kodak is â€Å"entitled to a judgment as a matter of law† on respondents'  § 2 claim. In the end, of course, Kodak's arguments may prove to be correct. It may be that its parts, service, and equipment are components of one unified market, or that the equipment market does discipline the aftermarkets so that all three are priced competitively overall, or that any anticompetitive effects of Kodak's behavior are outweighed by its competitive effects.. Accordingly, the judgment of the Court of Appeals denying summary judgment is affirmed.

Monday, September 16, 2019

International Business Entry Case Study Essay

High turnover. Small companies tend to have a small structure, then job opportunities are few, which force employees to change job. Poor customer service. Distributors mostly only care about selling off a product, then they direct customers with Microsoft. The main problem is that Microsoft Customer service is focused on developed countries, where the needs and tools are greatly different. In some cases the technical service is non-existent, heavily hurting the image of the company, not the distributor. Poor input for further developing products. If all the deployment and input is being done and received by a distributor, then it is most likely that the information will never reach Microsoft’s engineering department. Without that knowledge products will stall for that particular market in a short period of time, inflicting loses in the long run for the company. 2. Are there countries where Microsoft’s strategy might not work? Why? Small countries with an unique language possibly are the toughest. Microsoft strategy mean that while local partners are relied to market the products, Microsoft is still in charge of the code and language. In that regard Microsoft is very vulnerable to small IT companies that develop solutions for their language. With small partners, it is easy for local developers to attract those distribution channels for their own product, therefore using Microsoft’s resources and know-how to make profit out of other products, making Microsoft lose money. 3. What other kinds of businesses might find Microsoft’s strategy to be effective? Please explain. Car manufacturers. They basically operate the same scheme with distributors. When a car’s manufacturer enter a new country most times they give the concession to sell the cars to a local person or company. Almost entirely those distributors operate in a very small area. The manufacturer covers Marketing and promotion, while the distributor has to develop their sales only in their area. 4. How might Microsoft need to change its strategy once it has established a strong position in a foreign market? They need to deploy a strong services net. They need to be in constant contact with customers in order to assure that they meet their current and future needs. They need to deploy training facilities for their products in order to have a strong pool of expertise from where enterprises can nurture in order to keep fidelity with the products. They need to partner with high profile local companies to develop solutions in order to gain traction in the country. 5. Describe how host governments might react to Microsoft’s entry strategy? Governments usually react in a good way. The way Microsoft do business benefit host countries a lot, since it creates a lot of jobs for the locals. Nonetheless there might be some countries who could think that Microsoft is a danger for their local IT industry. In those cases their strategy also soften their position a lot, since the entry in indirect. Reference Glusing, J. (2006, June 1). The third world goes high-tech: The dirt road to the information superhighway. Spiegel. Retrieved from http://www. spiegel. de/international/spiegel/the-third-world-goes-high-tech-the-dirt-road-to-the-information-superhighway-a-419034. html

Sunday, September 15, 2019

How Is Chapter 5 Significant to the Noval as a Whole/ Frankenstein

How is chapter 5 significant to the novel as a whole? The significance of chapter 5 to the novel as a whole can be observed through the relevance of the writer's use of language to describe the setting, character and what it shows about social and historical influence of ‘Frankenstein’. Mary Shelley wrote and conceived of Frankenstein while she and her husband Percy Shelley were visiting Lord Byron in Switzerland in June 1816. They had spent an evening around the fire telling horror stories. By the support of her husband, she continued to develop the story at the age of 19 and was published in March 1818. Mary Shelley became one of the most famous authors by writing ‘Frankenstein’, one of the best works of gothic horror, unfortunately in the 19 century; women were not credited well and did not have many rights. Mary Shelley could not publish the novel because she was a woman. Therefore, Mary Shelley published the novel under her husbands name ‘Percy Shelley’. Mary Shelley had written the novel because in her past she had experienced many deaths in her family. All the circumstances in her life brought her to write Frankenstein, one of the world’s greatest horror novels. The idea of this book was to bring the dead back to life and was a reflection of Mary Shelley’s own life. Chapter 5 is written as an imperative chapter; this is because in the novel the creation is brought to life, first described that, ‘as the yellow eye of the creature opened’ his creator Victor Frankenstein flees into the streets in fear. Shelley shows descriptive features of Frankenstein’s monster. One example from the text is ‘shrivelled complexion’; she uses descriptions like this in long sentences to create imagery in the reader’s minds. In those times, people were very religious and Frankenstein was about resurrecting the dead back to life. People were very strict religiously and became offended by novel and were utterly disgusted. Today scientists have proven and discovered a lot about humans and how the world was created so people have begun to believe in science. This novel is one of the most enduring works of gothic genre and compared to the novels written today, they are not equivalent to Frankenstein. Chapter 5 is the main part of the novel. This is hugely important to the story because this tells us Shelley’s feelings and accomplishments. In those times, men were credited more than women were. Therefore, Mary Shelley made her main character as a male called Victor Frankenstein who is a doctor that studied natural philosophy. He is very obsessed with science and particularly in bringing, the dead back to life; something man had never done before. Referring to the text, ‘I work hard for nearly two years, for the sole purpose of infusing life into an inanimate body’, the obsession Victor has of just resurrecting the dead is shown clearly and how much science is important to him. Victor continued and started to create a creature out of dead remains. He begins to create the creature as it says in the text ‘I collected the instruments of life around me’ this shows us that Victor Frankenstein is trying to bring the monster to life with his machinery. Another point that proves that he is beginning to give his ultimate design the gift of life is, ‘I might infuse a spark into the life into the lifeless thing that lay at my feet’, this proves that the creature Victor was trying to bring to life was still inactive and dead. In another part of the chapter it says ‘I saw the dull yellow eye of the creature open’ this sentence is describing that the monster has been brought to life and is alive; so the experiment was a success. Mary Shelley describes the atmosphere and introduces the opening of chapter 5 as ‘it was on a dreary night of November’ and then follows with ‘the rain pattered dismally against the panes’. Both quotations suggest a dark, gloomy, gothic atmosphere and both quotes use pathetic fallacy. Mary also tells what time it is, ‘by the dim yellow light of the moon’ which proves that it is nighttime and gives an extra feature of gothic horror. Shelley shows that they didn’t have any electricity in those times as they were using candle-light, as it says in the text ‘by the glimmer of the half-extinguished light’, which means that Victor was working very hard, late at night. These few points all refer to pathetic fallacy because it sets the atmosphere well, which improves the gothic setting, to make it more horrifying. These gothic features build up and make a bigger impact on the reader, which improves the storyline. Mary also uses long, complex and descriptive sentences to describe Victor Frankenstein. She shows that Victor is worried when he creates the creature. By referring to the text it says ‘unable to endure the aspect of the being I had created’ which means that he could not absorb the reality of the situation and that he felt regret and remorse at his invention. Shelley describes some of the monster’s features, some examples are ‘his shrivelled complexion and straight black lips, his teeth of pearly whiteness’ These features give a stronger image on how he was created, and the use of sentence structure and strong adjectives delivers this well. The reason why Shelley uses these techniques is to bring the gothic explanation to the reader in a more understandable form; this is why Shelley used complex words like ‘inanimate and endeavoured’, The use of strong wording links the story together by making it more understandable. Shelley describes the creature with powerful adjectives; she uses words like ‘convulsive and demoniacal’ this gives the reader a clearer picture, which adds on to the readers imagination. When the monster is created, Victor Frankenstein rejects his creation. Shelley has written ‘I took refuge in the courtyard belonging to the house which I had inhabited’, Victor was very disappointed because he did not know how to teach his monster, was worried about what people would say to him. Therefore, Victor abandoned his creation and ran into the streets. This shows that it had a great effect on Victor Frankenstein, referring to the text, it says ‘I escaped, and rushed down the stairs’, this explains how he didn’t approve after he had created the monster as he realised that he had created something that would shock thousands of people. He would also need to care for it like a child. As Victor rejected his creation, he left it vulnerable against everything. At one point in the novel it describes Victor’s creation has awakened and is trying to speak. ‘He muttered some inarticulate sounds’, this proves that the monster cannot speak but is trying to communicate as the creation is a new born and thinks Victor as his parent. The monster picks upon speech very fast and is able to communicate with his creator who he finds by reading Victors diary. Frankenstein was written for intelligent readers because the ideas and the words used would have a bigger impact on them, as well as challenging one’s imagination. Shelley made it clear by adding this line to the novel; ‘anxiety that almost amounted to agony’, this adds alliteration for emphasis and proves that Frankenstein is a very worried man. Frankenstein is upset and confused about what he has just done. We learn about this when Frankenstein says ‘how can I describe my emotions at this catastrophe’, this proves to us that his obsession has paved over and he has finally realised hat sort of monstrosity he has created; the consequences of his actions are great. He then becomes afraid; when he sleeps, he starts to fear for his life and his family. Mary makes it clear that he is troubled in his sleep by adding this line to the novel: ‘I started from my sleep with horror’. Frankenstein is so worried about himself and his family that he ge ts nightmares; he left his creation to suffer. This leaves Victor frightened that the creature is going to approach him and take his revenge. Before becoming afraid for his own life, he was so tired that he threw himself into his bed in his clothes; this implies that he was weary. Frankenstein is also a very pessimistic man. He is confused. His feelings are confusing him after he creates the monster. Throughout chapter five Frankenstein feels and says that he is filled with calm and serene joy. At the start of the chapter, Frankenstein's feelings were unhappy, but towards the end of the chapter, he is happy until he became ill. When Frankenstein became ill, his friend Henry Clerval helped him regain full health once again. Chapter 5 tells us about how Frankenstein feels and acts; this gives a completely better picture of the character, ‘Dr Frankenstein’. Mary Shelley at such a young age used pathetic fallacy really well in this novel. At the start of chapter five, she sets the scene up as dark, gloomy and wet. This adds to the bad atmosphere. Dark and gloomy are words that are added to create a sinister atmosphere. Most people prefer sunny days to dark and gloomy days. This shows us that even within the first paragraph of the chapter the bad atmosphere is already being set. As well as being able to set bad atmosphere, Shelley can also make the atmosphere happy and joyous. Shelley used words such as ‘unable to contain myself’. This suggests that Shelley was a competent writer because she had experienced death and joy in her life. This helped her to use descriptive language like, ‘a convulsive motion agitated its limbs’; this quote is not a very joyous sentence but has a macabre tone, which makes the gothic horror creepy. Shelley also quickly changed the atmosphere all of a sudden; she rapidly changed it from Frankenstein being worried to being relieved. Shelley created the novel on her point of view; based on her life, as in the text it proves that she wrote the novel on herself or a first person. If it was written on a third, person’s point of view, it may be written as ‘a cold dew covered his forehead’ which you can tell is more made up than real. This means that it is better to write as first person because it makes more sense and sounds more believable. When he had created the creature the text says ‘I beheld the accomplishment of my toils’; this shows us that he was very proud of his creation until it came to mind that he had done a very bad thing and could not proceed any further; he would have to dismantle the being he had created. Chapter 5 tells us how hard Victor Frankenstein has worked to create the creature; it is written: ‘I had deprived myself of rest and health’. This tells us that he did not have even a little break until he had created the creature and shows us his enthusiasm; he is determined to finish and create the monster. He wanted to prove that it was possible to bring the dead back to life. As Frankenstein is giving life to the creature, it says, ‘I had gazed on him while unfinished’; this means that as he took one last look at the monster he was unaware of any problems to come. This tells us that you could already see how obsessed and blinded he was, that he did not consider the consequences he would have to face. Frankenstein is caught up in his feelings; not caring at all for what he had created and selfishly leaves his creation to suffer. Frankenstein leaves the monster alone, which is classed as terrible parenting in society. Chapter five is when the monster gets the gift of life; just like a baby. When a parent leaves his or her child, it is regarded as mistreatment. The main thing that parents do with their children, which Frankenstein did not, is to educate him. They need to teach them how to live; to get through life smoothly, to be civilised, and they should be taught the laws of society that you must abide by. Frankenstein did not teach the creature this, so the creature took it upon himself to kill his creator's family in a fit of childish revenge. Frankenstein brings the creature to life, and then the creature massacres his family; this links in with the obsession theme. The monster was disliked and ignored by everyone. The creation is rejected, and as he is very intelligent, he hides in a house. In that house a child is learning from her mother and is being taught how to read, write, and speak; the monster learns how to communicate and confronts Frankenstein. Victor cannot tolerate him, as he is frightened and cannot confront it because he had left it to suffer and die. There are many descriptive features of Victor’s creation. When the monster is brought back to life, Shelley illustrates it as, ‘a convulsive motion agitated his limbs’; this means that the monster made his first movement and has been given life. Frankenstein escaped and was regretful of his actions, so became seriously depressed. This is another point that proves that Frankenstein is based on her own life. There is a link between Frankenstein and Mary Shelley; Shelley is hugely obsessed in writing her story which she dreamt about at night, this appeared to her as she had many deaths in her family. This shows us why she wanted to write her story and how it was extremely important to her. On the other hand Frankenstein is obsessed in resurrecting the dead back to life. This shows us that Mary Shelley and Victor Frankenstein are closely equivalent to each other as they had the same desires in resurrecting the dead back to life. Chapter 5 is hugely important to the novel because it is when the monster awakens; this is when the impossible happens and it has an impact on the the readers, as there is suspense. In addition, more importantly, the notion of bringing the dead to life reflects Shelley’s own despair and the circumstances that overcame her during her life. Her mother died ten days after Mary Shelley was born. Her husband also drowned. All the religious people were shocked and disgusted because she had written against their religion by writing on the topic of resurrection. On the other hand, she had written something so unique that people admired her for her achievement. Mary had written one of the greatest gothic horror stories in history, leaving people inspired by her work. The novel presented readers with the incredible images of creation and death. There are many key points that link up chapter 5. One point is ‘obsession’. In the text it says, ‘I had desired it with an ardour that far exceeded moderation’; this is one of the most important facts about Victors passion in creating the creature; he knew that this was something that will shock the world and he wished to be the first to succeed in resurrecting a being. Chapter 5 is about Frankenstein being so obsessed, he does not know how repulsive the creature will be. His obsession backfires on his family and friends who fell foul of the creature. This implies that this is a key point contributing immensely to the novel. The concepts of birth and death also run throughout the novel. In chapter 5, Frankenstein is giving life to the creature. Frankenstein behaved wrongly as a parent to his creation; he abandoned it. Regardless how ugly or deformed your child is, a parent should love it and give it protection. Frankenstein acted atrociously; he condemned his own creation. In the 19th Century, scientists wanted to bring people back to life. Some scientists managed to revive some dead tissue; this is the furthest anyone got to revive the dead. Mary Shelley interpreted it into her novel; this shows her awareness of current affairs and scientific thinking. Mary Shelley interpreted this in a different way though; Frankenstein did not bring a particular person back to life, but he added different body parts from different dead people to make a creature. Frankenstein made the creature against the laws of nature, so he reaped the consequences. Overall, I have learned about how Mary Shelley used gothic horror and how she used long descriptive sentences to have a bigger effect on the reader. I have also learned how bad parenting can affect the minds of people psychologically. In addition, I have observed how effectively she describes a monster, and stimulates the reader’s imagination. I can see how she uses pathetic fallacy, which uses the atmosphere to make the mood and creates the genre of the story. I have observed how Shelley bases the novel on a first person, so she will be talking about herself, which will be effective at connecting the reader with Dr Frankenstein’s experiences. Also, the problems and grief that Mary Shelley experienced in her life is evident through the storyline; this makes it a more personal account. I have learned how important chapter 5 is to the novel as it is directly pointing at the life of Mary. I can see how she describes the creature visually, by giving long, descriptive features e. g. his hair, his eyes and his lips. She gives so much detail about the creature that you can even relate to the state Victor Frankenstein is in after he creates the monster and how he reacted to it. In the text, it tells us e. g. , how long he worked, why he worked and what he was doing it for. Automatically it brings imagery in to your head and gives a brief image on how he would have looked. By Frankenstein being intensely horrified, he and the public reject the monster and it is chased out of the community. This shows that people were not tolerant of differences or bizarre people in society. Therefore, the creature is unable to endure its phase of life, and feels rage towards the one person who should have cared for him. The creature felt betrayed and sought revenge. I now understand the message of this novel; Shelley is actually warning the readers to consider their actions and the consequences on others. If you do wrong to someone, you will eventually regret it, as you will face punishment in some way or another. Frankenstein was a good novel for its time; by studying chapter 5, I have learnt that 19th century life was a lot different to mine. This novel is very captivating and moving, considering when it was written, and the ethics behind it.