American Gothic Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

American Gothic - Essay Example American Gothic is a highly expressive painting which captures the spirit of an age. Depicting a Midwestern farmer and his daughter, the dour expressions of the faces of both father and daughter, their highly modest clothing and the conservatism which they exude, communicate the hardship of the times. Whether from the modesty of their clothing, the utter dourness of their expression or the plainness of the house in the background, the picture tells the story of an age. It is an age where people lived by their own labor and had to work long hours, leaving hardly any room for pleasurable pursuits, just to survive and make ends meet. Certainly, the picture does not tell a tale of poverty but it tells one of a life of work with no pleasure in order to satisfy the basic requirements of livelihood, decent clothing and shelter. The painting further provides readers with an understanding of male-female relations and roles during the age in question. In this picture, the farmer is pictured holding a large pitchfork and dominates the painting. His daughter is standing just behind him and while he is looking straight ahead, gazing at onlookers, her eyes are averted. The pitchfork is a symbol of the manual labor for which men were responsible and the fact that the daughter is standing behind the father is indicative of the subservient status of females. Added to that, the fact that the man is looking straight ahead and the daughter’s eyes are averted could be interpreted as evidencing the public role of men versus the private role of females. It is, thus, that the male figure is boldly looking at the painter and, hence, directly at us while the female figure is not.

Answer the two questions Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Answer the two questions - Essay Example s the executive sword (commander in chief of the country’s armed forces) and the legislature purse (which endorses all the government’s spending measures and tax). The only thing the judiciary possesses is the ability to judge. Because of its weakness, it is protected from the other two branches of the government (the legislature and the executive) by the U.S. Constitution. According to Hamilton, making the judges permanent through the Constitution makes sure that they cannot be changed according to the executive’s or the legislature’s interests (law.jrank.org, 2011). In conclusion, the Federalist 78 aimed at making sure that the judiciary was protected from interests of the executive or the legislature. This is because it was the weakest of the government branches and it did not possess the purse of the legislature and the sword of the executive. The only power left for the judiciary was the ability to judge. In Hamilton’s essay Federalist 78, the judiciary was supposed to be provided with the judicial review power. This is to enable it to declare laws that deemed unconstitutional as not binding (law.jrank.org, 2011). The judicial review power is important for the judiciary since it is the one that is capable of interpreting the law and the constitution. In other words, the judicial review power serves the purpose of protecting the particular privileges or rights of the American people. The purpose of the judicial review power given was to protect the particular privileges or rights of the people as indicated in the Constitution. In order to protect these rights, the judiciary has to be given the judicial review power to declare any law that is unconstitutional null and void. There are other people who claim that the judiciary has been given power superior to that of the executive and the legislature. However, the people’s power is superior to that of the government branches, and the role of the judiciary is to make sure that the legislature does

Evaluation report of NLA and Work Based Learning Essay

Evaluation report of NLA and Work Based Learning - Essay Example I believe it is very essential and undeniable for everyone as well as for me that educational qualifications and continuous self-assessments help in grooming and developing ones perspective as well as refining his/her understanding regarding the possessed potentials when defining their career plan. Undoubtedly, this course has played a pivotal role in structuring and polishing my knowledge substantially, helping me to redefine my career goals and plans further. Overall, it guided me to have a great career ahead. In context to the above-mentioned points, the main objective of this essay is to evaluate the importance of the Negotiated Learning Agreement (NLA), contributing to my abilities and critical understanding. The essay also emphasises the value and the importance of the work base knowledge in my career. It also reflects the way the education and the career goals have changed my viewpoints towards life in the competitive job market environment as well as in the employer organisation as well. Ultimately, it can be asserted that the course has helped me to review and access my performance throughout the NLA process and during my placement process. To be noted in this regards, the work-based learning program, in lieu of the placement process has helped me to overcome many problems and issues about which I lacked previous understanding, further helping me to clear the interview mitigating the gaps between the requirements of the employer and my competencies. Nevertheless, it has helped me t o notify the gaps, which may arise in the future related to my career and take preventive measures accordingly. It also clarifies my doubt of how to develop my CV and to build a better career. I am a marketing management student. It was owing to my passion towards organisational management that I ultimately decided to select this management course. I believe that it will help me to meet the criteria that are needed to build a strong career in the field of

Thematic Analysis Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Thematic Analysis - Essay Example According to the original story, Charlie’s father had lost his job as a result of automation and mechanization. Wonka’s motivation in getting the Oompa-Loompas work for his factory could be cost reduction. The way the Oompa-Loompas are portrayed makes them no different from slaves. They are like commodities, without any intellect, individuality or demands. They are content with cacao beans and do not mind being experimented on. In fact, there is little distinction between man and machine inside this wonderful chocolate factory (Lucas 208). Dark-skinned pygmies change to knee-high dwarves and their homeland shifts from Africa to Loompaland due to a public outcry. The capitalist wants someone like ‘him’ to inherit the empire. So he asks Charlie to leave the family behind. The Wonka-Charlie equation is much like the owner-worker equation. From this angle, one of the major differences between Mel Stuart’s ‘Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory†™ (1971) and Tim Burton’s ‘Charlie and the Chocolate Factory’ (2005) is Charlie’s reaction to Wonka’s offer at the end. In the former, Charlie very gladly and readily accepts the ‘special gift’ but in the latter, interestingly, Charlie declines the offer saying that his family is his top priority. Wonka comes round to Charlie’s viewpoint. ... One wonders as to what qualities of Charlie go into making him the hero of the story. Probably to fill this gap, Mel Stuart’s film adds the episode of Slugworth trying to lure Charlie, when he finds the golden ticket. Otherwise, Charlie is a hero by default. The most positive thing about him is that he has few or no negatives. Being poor, meek and polite seems to be sufficient for one to taste great success in life (Frey 4). That amounts to selling dreams to the common man. Wonka’s idea of the golden ticket contest is a universal business strategy to this day. Ethically such campaigns cannot be endorsed because they play on people’s greed for quick money. But that is how Charlie’s journey to riches begins and that too with a coin found in the gutter. Certainly, Wonka would not have got rich that way. Instead of encouraging the value of knowledge, planning and diligence, the story appears to overemphasize the role of luck. In this aspect again, we see a var iation between the two films. In the 1971 adaptation, Charlie is tempted to steal a swig of a Fizzy Lifting Drink and has to expiate later. The indication is that a member of the workers class can never be so honest as to meet the expectations of Wonka’s sophisticated class. He is bound to slip. The 2005 version, however, makes no mention of this episode. Till the end of the story, Charlie makes no mistakes and does not have to be ‘excused’. On the contrary, it is Wonka who realizes the defect in his own viewpoint which made him believe that family and business are incompatible. This difference is suggestive of a U-turn in attitude within the three-decade-plus time gap between the two films. The way the four naughty children get their punishments

Karl Marx's Estranged Labor vs. Adam Smith's Division of Labor Research Paper

Karl Marx's Estranged Labor vs. Adam Smith's Division of Labor - Research Paper Example While Marx sought to minimalize the effects of capitalism, Smith sought to emphasize the brilliance of the free market economy. Naturally, these two individuals’ ideologies clash, but there is value in both perspectives, as one shall soon see. Karl Marx’s ideas about estranged labor, Smith’s ideas about the division of labor, and a comparison of the two ideologies will be herein attempted. II. Karl Marx’s Estranged Labor Karl Marx identifies estranged labor as labor alien to man. Marx explains the condition of estranged labor as the result of man participating in an alien to his nature. It my interpretation that man is alienated from his labor because he is not the reaper of what he sows. Because he is never the recipient of his efforts, the laborer lacks identity with what he creates. For Marx then labor is alien to the worker and does not belong to his essential being. Marx identifies two explanations of why man’s lack of identity with labor leads him to be estranged from labor. The explanation that the laborer does not develop freely his physical and mental energy, but instead mortifies his mind, may extol the virtue of communism. In other words, labor fails to nurture man’s physical and mental capacities, and instead, drains them. Because the worker is denied any nurturing in his work, no intimacy between the worker and his work develops. Although, it’s very hard to see how working in a sweat shop in Communist China, for example, is creating intimacy with one’s work to the point that one is able to develop one’s energy freely. Thus, this quote â€Å"lack† of an intimate relation with what he creates, man is summarily estranged from his labor. Furthermore, labor estranges man from himself. Marx argues that the labor the worker produces does not belong to him, but to someone else. Given this condition, the laborer belongs to someone else and is therefore enslaved. As a result of being ensla ved the worker is reduced to a â€Å"subsisting animal,† a condition alien to him. As an end result man is estranged from himself and is, in his words, mortified. Marx points to these situations as the reason man is essentially estranged from his labor. The incongruence between the world of things the worker creates and the world the worker lives in is the estrangement. As the worker gives up his or her contribution to the work, he or she begins to lose importance to the work and the work becomes more superior to the worker. As this happens, the owner of the company or organization accumulates more wealth and power and is able to overcome competition and have more power over the worker. ? I find this to be true based on my personal experience when I worked for a logistics company as a shipping lead. The harder I worked, the more powerful the department became, hence the more powerful the company became—and the less important I became to the company and its superiors. T he department improved a lot under my leadership whereby it generated more revenue. The result was that the company became more important than the person—as stated by Marx in the above paragraphs. ? The worker becomes all the poorer the more wealth he produces, the more his production increases in power and range. The worker becomes an ever-cheaper commodity the more commodities he creates. According to Marx in Calhoun and Gerteis (2007), â€Å"On the basis of political economy itself, in its own words, we have shown that the worker sinks to the level of a commodity and becomes indeed the most wretched of

Customer Relationship Marketing in Action within the Retail sector Coursework

Customer Relationship Marketing in Action within the Retail sector - Coursework Example Quality of customer service is central to service marketing, which is possible through CRM. Quality of customer service can be enhanced when trust, commitment, communication, empathy and conflict handling are given importance in relationship building. These become important because relationship quality has significant influence on customer loyalty (Prasad & Aryasri, 2008). CRM is also about acquiring the right customer and not all customers. This is justified because 80 percent of sales are derived from 30 percent of the customers (Hawkes, 2003). Apart from identifying high value customers, CRM is also about managing the entire lifestyle of customers (Lambe, 2001). Retailers have to look beyond the transactions of the customer. It is equally important to derive information on how the customer became the customer as well as the interactions surrounding customer’s departure. These would help the retailers to better retain customers. Knowing of their life style implies that CRM s hould be able to anticipate and predict the future needs of the customers Suitability and effectiveness of CRM strategy of Tesco and Sainsbury Tesco’s Club card scheme generated information on pricing, customer services, merchandizing, promotions, media effectiveness, customer acquisitions and communications (Hassan & Parves, 2013). ... Their tesco.com is also aimed at keeping in touch with their customers. The Nectar card scheme of Sainsbury is aimed at attracting more customers by having increased number of partners (Hassan & Parves, 2013). Sainsbury customers redeem their loyalty points and the retailer experienced the highest number of Nectar card users during Christmas 2011. Such redemption enabled the retailer to understand the potential customer base. Sainsbury also has a strong presence on social networking sites such as Facebook and Twitter. Sainsbury gathers information on customer experience which is lacking at Tesco. Both Tesco and Sainsbury have loyalty cards aimed at retaining customers. Boedeker (1997) however, contends that loyalty cards are based on the assumption that special offers and bonus points would be the only reason that customers would not deflect. Economic aspects are only one of the benefits that consumers seek. A study by Turner and Wilson (2006) found that customers at Tesco may be sho pping more because of Tesco Club cards but they do not feel more valued because of these cards. This undermines the very purpose of CRM as no relationship has been built. The success of loyalty cards is not limited to enhanced sales or profits. Their card only promotes incentivized loyalty and no emotional loyalty has taken place as customers are not influenced by brands. Hassan and Parves also found that loyalty card holders at both Tesco and Sainsbury do not limit their shopping only within these two retailers. Possibly this could be because of weak value proposition and flawed design of the loyalty cards (Bayraktar, Yilmaz & Yamak, 2010). Also, the companies may not be able to analyze all of the data generated through

Environmental Analysis Essay Example for Free

Environmental Analysis Essay Sample Responses to Questions 1.Laws and Regulations. What are some key laws and regulations under which this company and the music industry must operate? Key laws and regulations in the music industry might include copyright regulations, contracts, royalty practices in both retail sales and radio broadcasting, anti-trust, advertising regulations, foreign-trade practices. 2.Economy. How does the state of the economy influence the sales of this company’s products? The state of the economy has traditionally had less of an immediate impact on the music industry than on some others. CDs and on-line music sales tend to be low-ticket items, and are less likely to be affected too adversely even by a recession. A key driver of sales is the presence or absence of popular new talent. 3.Technology. What new technologies strongly affect the company you have selected? New technologies permitting on-line music sales, like iTunes, and recording and playing devices like iPod and upcoming cellphone technologies, increase the easy availability and sale of music products. They also allow music companies to avoid the expense of manufacturing and distributing CDs, and sharing sales revenues with retailers. A major downside is that new technologies permit easy copying of music without payment. Technology that can provide copyright protection (e.g., preventing unauthorized copying) may be one solution to this problem. 4.Demographics. What changes in the population might affect the company’s customer base? Demographics affecting the company might include changes in the population of young people who are the primary purchasers of pop music (conversely, the gradual decrease in classical music sales as the demographic for that segment ages), and the growing importance of the Hispanic market. 5.Social Issues. What changes in society affect the market for your company’s music products? Social issues affecting the company include not only the increased tolerance for illegal copying of music, already mentioned, but also the increased fragmentation of public tastes and interests. Objections to obscenity in lyrics, and the rising influence of the religious market, are other social factors influencing the music business. 6.Suppliers. How does your company’s relationship with suppliers affect its profitability? The lower the cost of supplies, the more profit the company will make. In the music industry, supplies are both tangible (the cost of CDs and jewel cases, for example) and intangible (the money paid to artists.) Companies that introduce new artists take bigger risks, but also have smaller costs than companies that record and distribute the music of established acts. 7.Competitors. What companies compete with the firm you have selected? Do they compete on price, on quality, or on other factors? Key competitors in the industry include Bertelsmann, EMI, Sony, Universal, and Warner Music. There used to be many more companies, but the industry has experienced considerable consolidation. (There might be even more consolidation but for anti-trust regulations in the U.S. and Europe.) The companies do not compete on price at all, or even on the quality of their products per se; the main sources of competitive advantage are the companies backlist the music copyrights they own and, even more important, the new talent they are able to find and sign. Most music buyers do not know or care which company is selling the music they are buying. 8.New entrants. Are new competitors to the company likely? Possible? Traditionally, new entrants were extremely unlikely; given the large capital investment the music business requires (millions to launch a new album, for example). That may still be the case, but today potential new entrants include music distributors themselves, like Apple, who can decide to bypass music companies and sign new talent on their own. This is unlikely, as companies like Apple currently do not have the expertise, experience, or perhaps even interest in the business. But it remains a possibility that music companies need to take into account, particularly as on-line distributors become an increasingly important part of the supply chain. In addition, the ability to sell music on line may reduce the need for some well-known artists to rely on the marketing and distribution capabilities of music companies, and to sell directly to consumers on their own. 9.Substitutes. Is there a threat of substitutes for the music industry’s existing products? There are many substitute delivery systems for music, and the music industry is constantly being threatened by non-paying delivery systems. Music itself is more difficult to replace, however time spent on other forms of entertainment may decrease the amount of time and money spent on music. 10.Customers. What characteristics of the company’s customer base influence the company’s competitiveness? Customers in the industry are characterized mainly by the fickleness, volatility, and unpredictability of their tastes. Only a small fraction of new releases succeed and these are new releases issued by extremely experienced, knowledgeable companies, in an extremely competitive industry. Even sales of new albums by well-known groups are difficult to predict, and very few stars maintain their longevity. Customers also think theres nothing wrong with making free copies of music for their friends, nor do they have great affection and respect for music companies. Sample Responses to Discussion Questions 1.What has the company done to adapt to its environment? To adapt to the environment, music companies are taking over more of the supply chain, manufacturing their own CDs and managing their own music clubs. They are making deals with on-line music distributors to sell individual songs. They are also increasing their on-line marketing efforts, as in letting AOL offer its customers music video and song samples. 2.How does the company attempt to influence its environment? To influence the environment, music companies pay slotting fees to retailers to gain shelf space, and pay fees to ensure play time on radio stations. They heavily market new releases. They are aggressively seeking to enforce copyright laws forbidding illegal copying their success in shutting down Napster is an example of that. They are also enlisting the artists themselves in an effort to educate and influence the public on the illegal copying issue. In the U.S., they are also asking the government to pressure China to reduce the widespread music piracy in that country.