Microsoft Corporation

Microsoft Corporation is a leading software company in the world. Its core businesses include Platform Products and Services Division, Business Division and the Entertainment and Devices Division. It is committed to the long term mission of helping its customers realize their full potential. It constantly updates and improves its products and continuously accelerate new technologies as they emerge serve its customers better. The web site of Microsoft is one of the best developed websites providing a wealth of online information to its visitor. The information includes that of the company, its social initiatives, news, contact details, careers at Microsoft etc. The company provides a number of sites for its products. These sites provide online information about the company products and their features, product upgrades, product downloads and all the assistance required by the customers to use their products. There is a great amount of valuable information on the products site of Microsoft Corporation. The first useful information is the links to Microsoft’s product families including windows, Windows Server Systems, Business Solutions, Office, Developer Tools, Games and Xbox, MSN and Windows Mobile. This information will enable me to easily identify the product of my interest. The next useful information is about the product categories including Home and entertainment, Finance, Hardware and Books and training. There is also valuable information about the more popular products of Microsoft and its key technologies. I can also find valuable information in the link to trial software. The link helps me to get online information about the different trial software of Microsoft that are available in different product families. From each trial software link we can get the overview about the benefits of each product, its main features and support and security features. It provides details about the system requirements. Once we are able to evaluate and decide on the product to be ordered for trial then the site helps is in the procedures that are involved in buying a trial compact disc or downloading the trial software along with the necessary system requirements for the trail download. The site provides information as to how the product of our choice can be ordered online and the retailer through whom we can place the order for our product. If we plan to purchase five or more licenses, information of the volume licensing can be got based on whether our organization is a business or an educational institution. Information of the license agreement is also displayed. Once order has been placed information about how to track the status of the order is also provided. The site also provides the information about how I can use the product information center better using online chat and telephone. The Website Link to Microsoft office word 2003 provides detailed information to me about one of the best selling product of Microsoft Corporation. I can get the overview of Microsoft Word 2003 along with the features of the product like its ability to collaborate using Windows share point services, help control distribution of sensitive documents, create organizational solutions with XML and gather information on MS Word. The site provides information about the requirements of the system with reference to the operating system, processor, memory, hard disk, drive, display, Internet connection and other information necessary to use the product effectively. The site provides the price of the full version of the product and also states the price of the upgrade version. I can use a link on the site to order online the full version or the upgrade of the product. I can check the status of back order using an appropriate link in the web site. The most helpful feature of the site to me is the information provided on the link of Word 2003 tour. It provides information with the aid of pictorial presentations, about how to simplify collaboration and reduce version control issues, control document distribution, control editing and formatting changes, see comments and revision marks more easily, create organizational solutions with XML, use smart documents to reuse data stored in word 2003 documents and customized functionality with enhanced smart tags. The site also provides assistance as to how to find facts easily, get help when needed, read comfortably, mark documents and send faxes by internet. I can also take the online test drive of the latest version of MS Word. MS Product licensing advisor provides an easy-to-use online tool with reference to product licensing. For the small business I am running there is comprehensive information about MS small business edition 2003. The site provides an overview of the product and its benefit like the ease of use and its suitability to help me managing customers and sales opportunities, create marketing material, manage e-mail communications and information sharing. The information with reference to price and system requirements and the procedure to buy online are also provided. Microsoft Corporation has developed an excellent website that provides comprehensive information that enables me to study and buy their products with the utmost ease. References Microsoft. Retrieved November 17, 2006 From http://www.microsoft.com/ Â   Â   Microsoft Corporation Microsoft Corporation is a leading software company in the world. Its core businesses include Platform Products and Services Division, Business Division and the Entertainment and Devices Division. It is committed to the long term mission of helping its customers realize their full potential. It constantly updates and improves its products and continuously accelerate new technologies as they emerge serve its customers better. The web site of Microsoft is one of the best developed websites providing a wealth of online information to its visitor. The information includes that of the company, its social initiatives, news, contact details, careers at Microsoft etc. The company provides a number of sites for its products. These sites provide online information about the company products and their features, product upgrades, product downloads and all the assistance required by the customers to use their products. There is a great amount of valuable information on the products site of Microsoft Corporation. The first useful information is the links to Microsoft’s product families including windows, Windows Server Systems, Business Solutions, Office, Developer Tools, Games and Xbox, MSN and Windows Mobile. This information will enable me to easily identify the product of my interest. The next useful information is about the product categories including Home and entertainment, Finance, Hardware and Books and training. There is also valuable information about the more popular products of Microsoft and its key technologies. I can also find valuable information in the link to trial software. The link helps me to get online information about the different trial software of Microsoft that are available in different product families. From each trial software link we can get the overview about the benefits of each product, its main features and support and security features. It provides details about the system requirements. Once we are able to evaluate and decide on the product to be ordered for trial then the site helps is in the procedures that are involved in buying a trial compact disc or downloading the trial software along with the necessary system requirements for the trail download. The site provides information as to how the product of our choice can be ordered online and the retailer through whom we can place the order for our product. If we plan to purchase five or more licenses, information of the volume licensing can be got based on whether our organization is a business or an educational institution. Information of the license agreement is also displayed. Once order has been placed information about how to track the status of the order is also provided. The site also provides the information about how I can use the product information center better using online chat and telephone. The Website Link to Microsoft office word 2003 provides detailed information to me about one of the best selling product of Microsoft Corporation. I can get the overview of Microsoft Word 2003 along with the features of the product like its ability to collaborate using Windows share point services, help control distribution of sensitive documents, create organizational solutions with XML and gather information on MS Word. The site provides information about the requirements of the system with reference to the operating system, processor, memory, hard disk, drive, display, Internet connection and other information necessary to use the product effectively. The site provides the price of the full version of the product and also states the price of the upgrade version. I can use a link on the site to order online the full version or the upgrade of the product. I can check the status of back order using an appropriate link in the web site. The most helpful feature of the site to me is the information provided on the link of Word 2003 tour. It provides information with the aid of pictorial presentations, about how to simplify collaboration and reduce version control issues, control document distribution, control editing and formatting changes, see comments and revision marks more easily, create organizational solutions with XML, use smart documents to reuse data stored in word 2003 documents and customized functionality with enhanced smart tags. The site also provides assistance as to how to find facts easily, get help when needed, read comfortably, mark documents and send faxes by internet. I can also take the online test drive of the latest version of MS Word. MS Product licensing advisor provides an easy-to-use online tool with reference to product licensing. For the small business I am running there is comprehensive information about MS small business edition 2003. The site provides an overview of the product and its benefit like the ease of use and its suitability to help me managing customers and sales opportunities, create marketing material, manage e-mail communications and information sharing. The information with reference to price and system requirements and the procedure to buy online are also provided. Microsoft Corporation has developed an excellent website that provides comprehensive information that enables me to study and buy their products with the utmost ease. References Microsoft. Retrieved November 17, 2006 From http://www.microsoft.com/ Â   Â  

How to Adapt Melville’s “Bartleby the Scrivener” for Film

The two existing adaptations of Herman Melville’s short story â€Å"Bartleby the Scrivener,† released in 1970 and 2001, show two legitimate interpretations of this dense, strange story. The 1970 version, starring John McEnrey as Bartleby, elects to prioritize the drabness of Bartleby’s laconic take on life in its color palette and generally dreary atmosphere. The more recent adaptation, starring Crispin Glover in the titular role, is more comic and, in the parlance of our times, â€Å"screwball† in its portrayal of office life.Such an interpretation seems closer to the text for me: while Melville’s story is profoundly sad, this sadness is not a uniform, blanketing affect, falling like Joyce’s snow over the living and the dead, but the failure of even comedy to overcome the characters’ alienation from themselves and each other. Melville’s tale is strange, and as such it calls for a strange adaptation to make it fit on the silver screen. What continues to be amiss in these adaptations is that Melville’s story is about misunderstanding Bartleby, yet both adaptations aim to understand Bartleby.The pathos of the tale, which in its literary form instantiates itself in the relationship between the reader and the text, is lost when a film version purports to offer mimetic verity. The reader of â€Å"Bartleby† is made to feel that she has missed something, that there is some clue to the secret of Bartleby and â€Å"Bartleby† that has been overlooked and which would resolve the pervading feeling of dislocation. In a crude sense, Bartleby represents the very incapacity of language to say what it means to say–that it always says too much and too little, and that even a simple mantra like â€Å"I prefer not to† can become opaque if we look too closely.Any interpretation of â€Å"Bartleby† will fall into this trap to some extent, of offering a definition of what is essentially n ebulous. To circumvent this problem, I propose the same tactic that Melville employs in his framing of â€Å"Bartleby. † Rather than focusing on the titular character, the film should focus on the story’s narrator, the lawyer who will become Bartleby’s boss. After all, what we learn from reading this story is that a name does not tell us who someone is, but misdirects us into the illusion of knowledge.The word â€Å"Bartleby† remains an enigma, and the attached epithet–†the Scrivener†Ã¢â‚¬â€œfurther obscures the â€Å"real† Bartleby that this story invites us to seek. Bartleby’s job as a scrivener is seemingly the least interesting, unique, or existentially relevant fact to know about him, and yet this is what we are misled by the title into defining him by. The narrator, on the other hand, is unnamed throughout. While Bartleby is anomic in the existential sense, he does at least have a name.The narrator, who generally fit s in well with the boring injustice of his socio-economic position, is anomic in that he does not have a name. If â€Å"Bartleby† is in some way a cultural critique, and it is hard not to think so, then this is the man who we should focus on to make him claim a name for himself. Bartleby’s name gives the reader and and people around him a false sense of knowledge of him, as does his identification as â€Å"scrivener†Ã¢â‚¬â€œas if a rote task could actually define him. The weapon of naming should be turned back on the class who is entitled to wield it.Giving a name to the narrator is not the solution to this problem, as that would repress the whole issue of the name. Instead, the film should be framed as an implicit challenge to the narrator to find his name and reveal it, to pick a fixed location in the world of words where he can be found and confronted. (This is similar to the protocol of protesters who ask for police badge numbers so that there is accountabil ity for police actions. ) This need not be an overtly or clumsily militant film.The demand that the narrator name himself cannot be proclaimed literally by the film without adding an additional interlocutor, perhaps the filmmaker as documentarian, and this would only redouble the economy of the shield of namelessness. This would almost be worse, since it would decenter the mechanism of namelessness from the dominant class–where it can at least be located to some extent in the sole nameless character of the narrator–and make it into a roving weapon for all parties vying for power. Rather, we should remember that film can function without gimmickry as a demand for characters to name themselves.The characters in Little Miss Sunshine are all suffering from disparate types of personal flux and the film comes to a conclusion when they are able to define themselves through their relationship as a family. What we have here are actually two forms of social policing that need to be clearly articulated for the purposes of effective translation between literature and film. Literature operates in the domain of words, and so its dominant procedure is naming; film operates in the domain of image (as well as sound, but the eye is the vastly dominant organ for human perception) and its dominant procedure is the gaze.So while Melville’s text puts pressure on the narrator to reveal his name if he truly wants to be Bartleby’s comrade, rather than his patron, we need to switch methods for film adaptation and focus the gaze on the narrator. Simply by looking at him we pose the film question analogous to revealing his name. Appropriately enough, an excellent example of this technique can be found in the television show The Office. The character Michael Scott, a low level manager played by Steve Carell, is shown to be a buffoon just by showing him.With different editing–removing his gaffes, inappropriate pauses and laughter, and the apathetic and un inspired responses of the employees he manages–he could appear to be confident and in control. The persistence of looking determines the difference in social perception. I would support using a camera technique similar to that of The Office in which camera movement between characters often supplants cuts so as to give the effect of the camera belonging to a person in the room.This technique would not be used quite as aggressively as on The Office–characters in my version of â€Å"Bartleby† would not look or speak directly into the camera, nor would there be out of sequence cuts to characters’ interviews or commentary. A mobile camera, both moving between characters during dialogue, and following characters when they are walking, would help to prevent this from becoming a visually boring adaptation (a dangerous temptation for a movie about people stuck inside doing repetitive labor).At the same time, this camera technique would also reveal that this place and this job are boring. Cuts to close-ups obscure the alienation of the figure in his office landscape and falsely re-face persons who professional context de-faces. Coupling this camera technique with the above mentioned preference for showing the narrator and ignoring Bartleby would add an extra layer of visual intrigue, even suspense, as Bartleby would only appear sporadically, incidentally, contingent on his relevance to other characters.Although I would not want to entirely mimic the cinematography of The Office, one thematic element that informs both the style of the television show and my production of â€Å"Bartleby† is the camera as confessional. The demand for a name as the opening for confession creates a stylistic tension: on the one hand, to depict a figure against its ground asks for a wide angle shot that minimizes the proportion of character to environment; on the other hand, the visual poetics of the confession work best when the face of the individual is hi ghly legible.This legibility is one of the oldest criteria of the confession. Without being able to read the face, the veracity of the confession is uncertain; it might be a feint. So when the narrator is interacting with other characters, we would use a wide shot that would pan between them as they took turns speaking, catching Bartleby almost by accident in the marginal, in-between-space, that happens to exist within the zone of the camera’s movement. When the narrator is agonizing over his problematic relationship with Bartleby, the job of the camera is to listen closely and to watch him closely.The internal monologue, the narration as heard/read by the reader, would be performed as spoken monologues that provide dramatic action during the actionless life of the narrator–as he walks the streets of New York or sits at his desk. To reinforce Bartleby’s marginalization, these internal monologues (in Melville’s text) could be performed in Bartleby’s presence to emphasize his non- or quasi-existence. As far as color palette, a unified scheme would help to portray â€Å"Bartleby† as a story about analyzing a single form of consciousness, and hence not guided by the mimetics of realism.Heavy monochromaticism through tinting the film stock is a bit too heavy handed. I think a very light use of a gray-scale filter would be beneficial, but to really capture the horror of â€Å"Bartleby† the muted light and gray-scale lifestyle should be immanent in the mise en scene and costuming. By dressing all the characters and their surroundings in similar colors their alienation is made apparent by the absurdity of them all appearing like chameleons in a colorless environment.Turkey, Ginger Nut, and Nippers, Bartleby’s co-workers, have powerful distinguishing traits that Melville comically exaggerates, and these caricatured personalities appear best against an equally caricatured ground. With everything draped in unending gray, small colorful details could easily mark the personality of these character–as well as marking how ludicrous it is to think that personhood can be signified by the single note characteristics that Melville uses to mark these apart.The soundscape of this film would take after the blurred, mechanically processed effects of Jacques Tati’s Playtime. This would help to take the magic out of Bartleby’s somewhat famous mantra, â€Å"I would prefer not to. † Nothing would be worse than for a fetishist of Melville to be waiting breathlessly for the story’s catch phrase, to construe this refusal of everything (including refusal) as a catchphrase. The narrator does not truly pay attention to Bartleby when he first begins to defer activity because this deferral is virtually unthinkable.In the manner of the Whorf-Sapir hypothesis, refusal to participate in capitalism almost conceptually impossible for the narrator to process. Bartleby’s proclamatio n originates almost entirely out of mind, sight, and hearing. But as the narrator is forced to notice that work is not being done, he and the directionality of the microphones close in on the source of the trouble. Bartleby is saying something very strange: he would prefer not to.In giving attention to Bartleby’s speech it is important to register his words as they occur to/within the consciousness of the narrator. The audio is not supposed to suddenly begin listening to Bartleby as if he is a messianic figure (as he has been construed in the past) but to take note that his deferral has become a (troubling) object of thought for the narrator. The narrator’s responses would always be louder than Bartleby’s words, except when he is repeating them to himself later, fitfully.

Full Metal Jacket Psychological Analysis

War brings out the worst of us. It turns innocent people into men of arms, soldiers, and murderers. It destroys morality, wipes out an entire culture, and tears families apart. War is something human beings can’t help but meddle with, sometimes not even knowing why they are fighting for, or what is their cause. It changes people from inside out, either transforming them to blood-thirsty soldiers, or breaking their minds, driving them beyond reason. The one positive aspect of war, though, is the camaraderie and brotherhood that sparks between the men of a unit in its midst. Full Metal Jacket† is the perfect example of both the negative and positive aspects of a war, perfectly depicting all the psychological tests men are put through under the stress of it, and how some of them fight to keep their humanity. â€Å"Full Metal Jacket† in an anti-war film. It stares straight at the ugliness of war and the potential for violence within almost every human being, especiall y those who were trained, conditioned, and even twisted into military roles. The film starts at Gunnery Sergeant Hartman’s Boot Camp on Paris Island during the Vietnam War. There, this type A personality man motivates his platoon by ceaselessly insulting and demeaning them, giving them abusive nicknames. A pragmatic recruit who talks behind his back becomes â€Å"Joker. † A Texas recruit becomes â€Å"Cowboy. † And a slow-witted recruit with no intelligence or ambition becomes â€Å"Gomer Pyle. † It seems as if this man needs to inspire fear in the men he is training to obtain respect and have his orders followed. There is, however, one specific soldier who is the constant subject of Hartman’s brutality. Gomer Pyle is the overweight boy of the group, and he constantly fails to keep up with the other more physically fit recruits in the grueling obstacle courses of Paris Island. He is a soft, good-natured kid that wants to be a Marine. It is obvious that he lacks the necessary personality and physical qualities to be a Marine, though, him being a type B personality, makes him an easy target for Hartman’s insults. There is a point in the film in which the Sergeant finds a jelly doughnut among Pyle’s belongings. This is forbidden in the barracks, and so, enraged he dictates that instead of punishing Pyle, he’ll punish all the other recruits in the platoon. This is obviously done to inspire peer pressure among the men, perhaps thinking that with this, Pyle would stop making mistakes. This is not the case though, and one night, the recruits attack Pyle with soap bars wrapped in towels while Cowboy gags him and a few others hold him down. At first, Joker is reluctant to attack Pyle, as he had grown close to him after days of teaching him how to do everything, from polishing his weapon to making his bed. However, after Cowboy persuades him, Joker hits Pyle longer and harder than the others. While Pyle howls in pain, Joker covers his ears while lying in his bunk, ashamed of his actions. This was positive punishment. The tactics used to make him â€Å"hard† destroy Pyle’s soul. After the traumatic experience, he slowly begins to go insane, his personality changing drastically. He, however, shapes up and becomes the fastest and quickest rifleman of the entire platoon, impressing Hartman. Nevertheless, when Joker sees Pyle talking to his rifle and staring off into space blankly, and not responding to interaction, he realizes that Pyle is losing his mind, and confides in Cowboy about Pyle’s growing mental breakdown. By the end of basic training, Pyle clearly has been completely dehumanized by its rigors, and ends up killing both Sergeant Hartman and himself. Private Joker is that, a joker who doesn’t take things too seriously but is adept at being a soldier nonetheless. This may be what makes him the most humane character in the movie as his jokes relieve the stress that can eventually cause death. After being assigned to teach Pyle to be a proper soldier, he proves to be a patient, gentle teacher, who uses a different tactic from the one used by the Sergeant to motivate the slow private. He then witnesses Pyle kill the Sergeant after eventually going mad at initial training. At the beginning of the movie, Joker insists that he is a killing machine; that he was â€Å"Born to Kill. This highly contrasts with his gentle personality. The liberal Joker arrives in Vietnam as part of a Media Liaison Unit with the US Army. He, instead of just taking pictures for â€Å"Stars and Stripes Magazine† actually sees a lot of combat during the movie and is ultimately tested when he kills a Vietnamese girl sniper who is responsible for killing several of the men in his unit. The sniper girl may as well symbolize the violence and desperation that war brings to the ones who are supposedly innocent. This may also show that women, or girls, can be ruthless in protecting what is theirs; in this case, their country. The girl’s two braids symbolize her innocence, the fact that she left the stage of childhood rather quickly due to the circumstances. By the end of the movie, we see that Joker has developed from a mere protester wearing the Peace symbol showing the â€Å"duality of man† on his uniform, the Peace symbol perhaps standing as the morality that he still carries, to being a reliable grunt in the heat of battle. The movie shows in a crude way how a war affects people’s personalities and lives in different ways. Most soldiers see their lives turn upside down when facing the violence of it. Civilians that live in the areas under attack are forced to either yield or fight back in any way they can without distinction of sex or age. Sometimes peer pressure makes us act in ways far from our nature, and this is one of the many things that can ignite a war.

The Beatles Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

The Beatles - Essay Example Two of the Beatles are now dead, but the icon of "Beatles" remains, having moved from a Modernist, central position within world culture to a postmodernist, ironic placement as a mixture of nostalgia and commercialism. When The Beatles first appeared on music scene in 1963, the idea of a musical band being anything more than simply a group of young men (and sometimes women) who played live and who would, if successful, release records, had yet to be invented. Pop groups, even those that became phenomenally successful in a manner never seen before, were clearly definable, and limited Modernist figures. A clear delineation could be made between the pop group and the musical culture/general world in which they performed and lived. In a modernist and semiotic sense, the relationship between signifier ("The Beatles") and signified (the live performances and records) was fairly clear (Barthes, 1978). But as early as the late stages of Beatlemania in 1964, a postmodern uncertainty was coming into the sign "Beatles" as a slippery commutability between signifier and signified started to occur. Essentially "The Beatles" became a signifier for much more than the signified of their music. The hysterical "love" that surrounded the four young from Liverpool reached such extreme and massive proportions that some seriously suggested that the fans were suffering from some kind of mass hysteria. "The Beatles", to put them in a Freudian context, were bringing out an id within their fans that dominated their ego and superego. While the raw sexuality of Beatles music was making the previous icon of rebellion, Elvis Presley, seem relatively tame by comparison, their success within Britain caused them to become icons of the mainstream establishment as well. In 1965 Queen Elizabeth II bestowed the MBE, a civil honor, on the band. Their dominance of the music industry - on April 4th 1964 they had all top five records on the Billboard Top 100 (Spitz, 2006) - had apparently led them to become icons of that most traditional of British institutions, the monarchy. When John Lennon told the Royal Command Audience that they should applaud, only the rich should jangle their jewelry the "servants" of the Queen who had been commanded to perform for her (and who bowed so low) were now ironically commenting upon the British class system. The move to postmodern irony had already started before the famous mop-tops were grown long, the Beatles stopped performing live, and the concept studio album took over. The role of the Beatles as something more than merely a pop group began to take on far greater proportions as the Sixties rolled on. Thus they were seen as having snubbed the President of the Philippines' wife and barely escaped the country with their lives, and John Lennon caused a huge uproar by his less-than-diplomatic, but probably correct assertion that the Beatles were at the time more popular than Jesus (Spitz, 2006). Much of 1970's fashion can be traced to a single Beatles album cover: that of Sergeant Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band. Thus the sheer range of culture and society that the Beatles influenced eventually drowned out the importance of their music. An ideal symbol of this tendency was the perhaps apocryphal moment when the band stopped playing at a gig only for the audience not to notice because of the noise they were

History of elizabeth Arden (Make-Up company) Research Paper

History of elizabeth Arden (Make-Up company) - Research Paper Example The Spa was opened on Fifth Avenue, and it has formed the basis of the existing world cosmetics giant, which has been involved in acquiring many other brands and products from various producers, to boost its line of products. The proprietor of the company was a women’s advocate who was very active in advocating for the rights of women, through searching for all ways to empower women, at an age when the rights of women was a disturbing subject that many avoided to confront with. As a way of empowering and showing the solidarity of women, she advocated for beauty and fragrance of women through the use of make-ups, which then gave her the motivation to establish the make-up salon, the Red Door salon, which she could use for advocacy campaign, where alongside other 15,000 women who were suffragettes, she matched past her salon wearing red lipstick, as a show for women’s solidarity2. Initially started as the Red Door salon, the company obtained its present name from the coin age of a name from a previous partnership that Florence Graham had with Elizabeth Hubbard, which dissolved in 1909, and then added the name Arden from her favorite poem, Enoch Arden, to come up with the current name of the company3. She embarked on a journey of growing the business, both as a motivation for other women to get into independent productive ventures, and also to prove to those who were opposed to giving women their rights. Florence Nightingale Graham increased her business management skills through travelling to France in 1912 to learn the techniques of running a beauty salon, while also learning the kind of products that were used in such salons. There, she learnt the beauty and face massage skills, as well as learning how to prepare various powders for use in the massage process. When she returned back home later in that year, she had all the requisite skills of diversifying her business from just offering beauty services and products, to the inclusion of massage serv ices. By 1914, the expansion strategy for the business was well shaped, with the business starting to formulate, manufacture and sell its own beauty and cosmetics products. Thus, the Red Door salon grew and expanded immensely, and by 1915, she embarked on making her business international, through opening other salons in different parts of the world, where the first the Elizabeth Arden salon was opened in France in 19224. By 1930, the Red Door salons had been established in the major fashion capitals of the world, and thus the company, as a brand, had become as popular as the Coca-Cola Company. Until her death in 1962, Elizabeth Arden, Inc. had been recognized the world over as a giant in the cosmetics industry, and she had won several honors for her contribution to the 21st century entrepreneurship. However, the company was highly affected by the great depression occurring in the period 1938, although the brands of the company were still popular, thus it continued to make reasonabl e sales that enabled it to survive the economic crisis, while earning low profits. The Elizabeth Arden, Inc. during the World War II Elizabeth Arden, Inc. was especially active during the World War II period, with a special focus on facilitating women who were joining the fighting forces. This way, the Elizabeth Arden, Inc. engaged in the production of various brands meant for the women soldiers, which included lipsticks that were required to match the uniform of

Assignment 1 - Behavior Contract Part A & B Essay

Assignment 1 - Behavior Contract Part A & B - Essay Example emotional health, physical health, social health, spiritual health, intellectual health and environmental health. In other words, when a person strives to achieve wellness, he or she endeavors to strike the balance between these aspects. Thus, such a person is said to be leading a healthy lifestyle (McConnell 2014, pg. 49 ). As a young woman and a single mother of two daughters, life demands can at times overwhelm me. I have to keep track of every activity I partake to ensure that I observe all the aspects of my health and wellness. I have come to realized that I need to watch various areas of my life for achievement of health and wellness. Some of these key areas include my family’s nutrition, body exercising, management of friendships and family relationships, decision-making, stress management, life fulfilment and financial management among others. I hope that by formulating this health behavior contract, I will manage my health better, and expectedly, develop more as a good mother to my daughters and be more physically fit. Like anybody else, I have my strong points and my weaknesses in life. For this reason, I clearly understand the need to focus more on my strengths while striving to improve on my weaknesses. For example, I have very creditable socializing skills, and thus I am able to keep friendships for long. It is through this strength that I have developed a very cordial relationship with my daughters and family as well. Additionally, I have devised great ways of fighting and managing stress in my life through engaging in activities such as taking yoga classes, openness and problem sharing with trusted friends and meditation. On the contrary, I have some few areas that I need to improve such as on financial discipline, eating patterns and inconsistent exercising. Looking at my strengths and weaknesses as highlighted above, I can acknowledge some of the positive health behaviors that I

Let's Be Lefties for a Day Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Let's Be Lefties for a Day - Essay Example However, there are also many people that differ from others in some way – either because of disabilities or of some outstanding abilities. Some disabilities are permanent, other could be only temporal, e.g., immigrants might have difficulties speaking language of their new country, and they would have other cultural differences which will be overcome in time. Often times these differences are becoming a reason of being discriminated in some way. Some differences people learn to overcome; other peculiarities make life significantly more difficult. And there are times when it is not a diversity in itself that puts a person in the position of being discriminated and disadvantaged. Often it is the case of institutional discrimination, caused by stereotypes and institutional organization. The disadvantages may be caused by physical, cultural, ethnic, or gender differences. However, if these diversities are recognized, taken into consideration and thought through, it might turn out that many disadvantages can be used for the benefit. The experiment of being a â€Å"lefty† was very educational and made me think a lot. Undoubtedly, any trivial task became very difficult to perform. It seemed that the whole world turned up-side-down. Whatever I had to do, it took a long time; it was not performed as perfectly and it was also frustrating and drowning emotionally.

Democracy in Singapore Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Democracy in Singapore - Essay Example Despite all of this, Singapore is consistently ranked as one of the least corrupt countries in the world. The Singapore government is led by a Prime Minister and a President. The latter plays largely a ceremonial role, although the position does contain some veto powers. The Members of Parliament are voted into parliament by the first-past-the-post system. The PAP has controlled Parliament every since the first election in 1959, although the opposition Workers’ Party was able to make significant inroads into Parliament in the 2011 elections. If Singapore’s citizens are able to demand more freedom, it is possible that the country will be able to become a more democratic society. The one thing in Singapore’s favor is that it is relatively corrupt free and is one of the better educated nations in Southeast Asia. If the government realizes that greater freedom will lead to a more productive economy then political change is possible in the not too distant

Nursing Concept Analysis Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2250 words

Nursing Concept Analysis - Essay Example It is concerned with promoting, maintaining, and restoring health. Nurses are committed to the goal of promoting an optimal level of functioning for all individuals, families and groups, thereby contributing to the health of the nation. It determines health status of individuals, families, and populations and makes clinical decisions regarding the appropriate action to be taken. It is important that the nurse maintains the positions that aging is normal and is not related to disease. Age is a date in time and is influenced by many factors, including emotional and physical health, development stage, socioeconomic status, culture, and ethnicity. Ageism is a negative attitude based on age. It leads to discrimination in the care given to the older adults. The nurse who demonstrates negative attitudes may fear of his own aging process or be misinformed about aging and the health care need of the older adults. The care of the aged is provided mostly in institution. Care for an individual adult is delivered in a variety of quite different settings (e.g. privately run nursing home or government institution). The care of the aged is called clinical gerontology or geriatrics .Besides the needs and problems concerned with the psychology and physiology of aging the social aspect of aging a great challenge to the caring profession especially the nurse. Back This paper was done to explore the relationship between the dependency levels of older people who are part of the community nurse's caseload and the volume and nature of nursing input required. Background. Healthcare policy has consistently emphasized the reorientation of health services from hospital to community care. It is necessary to determine ways to use nursing resources appropriately to meet service needs of an increasing older population There are various approaches to address caring for the older adults. These are: 1) Family and welfare approach: Many of the aged are reluctant to go to institutions for the care of the aged. Thus family care is encouraged. 2) Medical approach: Many hospitals are now having special units for the care of the aged both in-patient and out-patient departments where health promotional and specific Nursing Concept Analysis 3 preventive measures such as health examination for early diagnosis and treatment are provided. 3) Community approach: The elders are encouraged to participate in activities that are beneficial to health and to avoid those that are injurious. These approaches would enhance trust of older adults to their environment especially to the nursing care involved. Dignity may be defined as a concept that relates to basic humanity. Dignity consists of inherent and external dimensions, which are common for all humans and at the same time are unique for each person, relating to social and cultural aspects. The attributes of preserving dignity are individualized care, control restored, respect, advocacy and sensitive listening. Method: In order to establish an appropriate nursing care for older adults, a quantitative study was conducted using the "Community Client Need Classification System". The community nursing team recorded the amount of care time spent with each individual client for over a 4-week period. Findings: They were assessed in low and high

The Global Financial Crisis of 2007-2008 Essay Example for Free

The Global Financial Crisis of 2007-2008 Essay Economists and scholars spend years dissecting financial markets and evaluating the causes of booms and busts. Throughout United States history there have been multiple economic booms that were underestimated and followed by recessions. In the situation of the 2007-2008 global financial crisis many culprits have been identified as causes, such as loose monetary policy, credit booms, deregulation, over complexity, and greed. Since the economic boom was solely dependent on weak policies and misconceptions, this leads me to believe prevention was possible with adequate regulatory policy, risk assessment and clarifications for commercial banks. Monetary Policy The Federal Reserve uses monetary policy to control the supply of money in order to determine interest rates and manipulate currency values. Markets commonly favor lower interest rates because people are able to pay less for capital. When the capital costs decline, banks and other entities are able to build up leverage for financing activities. When banks become highly leveraged they begin to take on more credit and liquidity risks without providing addition collateral. This is sometimes in reckless proportions that drive institution into possible closure and the need for bailouts (Investopedia, 2012). At the turn of the century during the infamous â€Å"dot-com bubble†, the stock market was flooded with new investors trying to take part in the newest financial craze. These investments were overestimated and premature, and as the stock market crashed high interest rates nearly crippled the economy. The Federal Reserve reacted by lowering the interest rates in order to stabilize the economy and aid in its recovery. In response, consumers, bankers and other investors took advantage of the cheaper borrowing costs and flooded the economy with capital (businessinsider, 2012). Aside from the United States, many countries’ economies behaved similarly and the global economy prospered. Cross-country borrowing and investing began to increase relative to the flow of capital. Historically cross-country capital exchanges happen at disproportionate levels and create global financial imbalances amongst countries (IMF, 2012). At this point domestic economies begin to blend and become globally dependent, increasing their vulnerability and sensitivity to market fluctuations. Housing Bubble At the start of the century the U.S. economy experienced a credit boom that was underestimated on regulatory, institutional and consumer levels. Low interest rates attracted consumers and increased the demand for asset acquisition. Real estate and other marketable assets increased in value (dailybeast, 2012). Traditionally investment bankers invested in Treasury bonds, but interest rates were so low the yields were not worth the investment. At this time there were drastic increases in home ownership and a booming market for mortgages. Investment bankers began to purchase individual mortgages as a means to acquire more debt leveraging to continue financing more mortgage purchases. These mortgages were grouped together with other comparable mortgages then they were reformed, rated and packaged as a marketable product known as a collateralized debt obligation (CDO). The CDOs had different levels of risk and returns based on the estimations of default probability (NY times, 2012). To insure their investments, investors also purchased derivative instruments known as credit default swaps (CDS). Credit defaults swaps are known as insurance contracts that protect the investor’s investments by gambling on whether a company or homeowner will default on debt obligations. The CDO and CDS markets were not new concepts, but had never experienced this level of investing in prior periods. In the past consumers generally purchased a CDS to go along with their bond or CDO investment. Since the CDS markets were facing large potential returns, external investors began to flood the market without having any principal ties. As these markets began to take hold, there was a realization of finite number of qualified homeowners (Wikipedia, 2012). Generally homeowners were required to meet certain qualifications in order to borrow funds for mortgages, also known as prime mortgages. Since the prime mortgage market had receded, lenders were encouraged to lower their requirements for lending and began to allow subprime mortgages. These less responsible homeowners began to default on their mortgages, which turned investment bankers’ stream of mortgage payments into empty houses. Increases in foreclosures raise the supply of available houses, which lowers the fair market values of houses. The prime mortgage homeowners were left with houses that were highly devalued relative to their mortgages and began to abandon their mortgage obligations. Mortgage lenders, investment bankers, and outside investors froze their activities, as they faced possible bankruptcy. Regulatory/Supervisory Inadequacies Deregulation is believed to be the underlying cause of all economic downturns, as its scope of responsibility reaches all markets. In the 1930s the United States experienced a bank crisis that sparked a widespread distrust in the banking system and people withdrew their money from the depository institutions overnight. The sudden retraction of the money supply from the economy caused many banks to close and the economy to suffer. The Banking Act of 1933, also known as the Glass-Steagall Act, was created to insure depositors’ savings and restore confidence through the limitation of bank security activities and the affiliations between commercial banks and securities firms(Wikipedia,2012). The Glass-Steagall Act was successful for many years, but grew to be disliked by the banking community. In the 1980s-90s the world experienced economic booms and recessions that fueled the banks preoccupation with regulation. The Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act was enacted in 1999, this removed barriers in the market among banking companies, securities companies and insurance companies that prohibited any one institution from acting as a combination of an investment bank, commercial bank, and an insurance company(Wikipedia, 2012). This act repealed part of the Glass-Steagall Act of 1933 and allowed banks to function with limited regulation. During the House of Representatives debate, Rep. John Dingell argued that the bill would result in banks becoming â€Å"too big to fail†, which will result in a bailout by the Federal government. In light of the most recent economic boom, investors demanded greater return yields from their investments. This search led many people and entities to invest in unregulated securities markets. In some securities markets there were no regulations available, because the securities were overly complex and dependent on the recently deregulated banking industry. Some examples of unregulated securities are credit default swap derivatives, collateralized debt obligations and predatory lending connected were tied to the housing bubble. This era of financial engineering and limited regulation could be the main cause for our financial crisis and its following recession. The financial crisis cost Americans trillions in investment losses, home equity declines, unemployment increases and lost wages. The broad spectrum of the global financial system is complex and involves almost everyone. It is difficult to isolate the causes of the financial crisis to a short list, but many economists and scholars commonly agree and a select few major contributors to the crisis. Whether it be deregulation, loose monetary policy, or global financial imbalances; the economy must return to some state of normalcy. In response to any mistake all participants should learn from the crisis and attempt to cultivate a plan for prevention and sustainability. References * http://news.investors.com/ibd-editorials-on-the-right/103012-631374-financial-crisis-was-caused-by-bad-policies.htm#ixzz2DLcCmbVd * http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gramm-Leach-Bliley_Act * http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Financial_crisis_of_2007%E2%80%932008 * http://www.imf.org/external/np/seminars/eng/2012/fincrises/pdf/ch6.pdf * http://www.imf.org/external/np/res/seminars/2010/paris/pdf/obstfeld.pdf * http://www.investopedia.com/terms/m/monetarypolicy.asp * http://topics.nytimes.com/topics/reference/timestopics/subjects/c/collateralized-debt-obligations/index.html * http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Credit_default_swap * http://www.businessinsider.com/the-consequences-of-easy-monetary-policy-2012-9 * http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2012/09/06/the-clinton-recession.html * http://thinkprogress.org/economy/2012/09/13/846281/financial-crisis-lost-trillions/?mobile=nc

Career Aspirations Of Individuals Commerce Essay

Career Aspirations Of Individuals Commerce Essay Every individual has an aspiration regarding his or her career. However organisation plays an important role in individual career aspiration. Recruitment plays a vital role in career aspirations because organisation need to be a learning organisation so that when they recruit employees, they have the motivation factor and the employees would have a feeling that they will develop and learn new ways that could be beneficial for their career growth.An individual leaves the company when there is no learning and motivation and he or she gets bored with the culture and environment of the organisation. Companies should mainly target the high performance of the employees. Good examples for this can the company Accenture. Accenture always focus on their responsibility of organisational change and transformational work. They involve talent and organisational performance to make workers more productive even under complex changes taking place in the working environment. Career transitions are result of improper work environment and stagnant learning behaviour of the organisation. The involvement of talent and organisational consulting helps the business operations even under pressure. Accenture also involves the customer relationship management. The recruitment procedure of Accenture is transparent as they look for applicant that has got broad understanding of the business. People who have got multi skills are recruited who are then nurtured by senior leaders of the organisation. Training and development program are one of the best way of retaining staff (John wiley and sons). Accenture provides on job training which helps the employees to learn and reach the top level and help them top grow continuously.() Mentoring is the important process which helps the recruitment because Accenture provides the support to their employees. Along with this they provide sound and competitive environment to cultivate mentoring relationship among the co-workers. They also involve the reviews and revising of their product so as to update them according to their taste and demand of the customers. The leaders are always working to implement the new ways for their employees to learn(-). They also provide online courses so that their employees always undergo the learning process. People from different culture works in Accenture that automatically creates the competitive and learning environment which is the basic requirement for the people to learn and develop their career goals.(www.accenture.com/careers) Organisation generally looks for people who can act as team workers. Knowledge enhancement and sharing can be another way of learning because this leads to the development of views from different individuals having different perspective (John Hall and Peter Oppenheim). Organisations search for people having a directed and focused target. Talent management is another important aspect that should be kept in mind during the process of the recruitment(-). Accenture process on long term consequences because companys regret when their decisions prove to be wrong and the employees start leaving the organisation. Implementation of innovative and effective approach to talent management can prove beneficial to improve the condition of the company even in the bad time. Accenture believes that if an organisation response quickly to talent management it can solve problem in much lesser time. Accenture has resource based strategies. It evaluates the talented workers as their asset and not the cost (www.accenture.com). By using the workers analytical talent, organisations can expand their analytical capabilities which in turn can increase the KSA of the employees.() New career forms have lot of importance on organisational activities. Recruitment should be done keeping in mind the flexibility for the employees so that employees feel that organisation cares for them. Availability of part time and full time options allows the employees to work more effectively. Job sharing can be a reason for staff retention. Job sharing is increasingly used by companies as broader views can be encountered because this may not be an individual persons view. Hence, view from different people can be beneficial for the company. Accenture can be a good example that favours for the flexible working. They believe that part time workers are more enthusiastic and energetic as they work for lesser time than a full time employee. Part time working is beneficial for Accenture because it helps to retain people with great potential.Flexi time helps to use the workers more effectively rather than making the employees to work long shifts every day as it decreases their efficienc y. Job sharing can be another possible flexible working style. Accentures working style is such that the work load is divided among different people because it ultimately involves more external views that can result in the better output. Job sharing is helpful in keeping people in career track(). Accenture does not discriminate on the basis of sex, colour or ethnic origin, in fact the only criteria is performance and qualification. Career transition can also be another mode of flexible working because in this case the companies send people outside the organisation around different locations of the world so as to get international experience of diversified culture which can be helpful in getting the extra factor for the success of the organisation. Job Analysis Before recruiting a candidate it is necessary to decide the nature of the job. It is necessary to overview what could be the possible output and whether it fits into the requirement criteria of the organisation and the job profile. Some of the ways of finding information regarding this can be interviews and questionnaire. However job analysis should be framed by keeping in mind using the Job/Person specification (CIPD).Job design is a group of motivational work patterns for improving the efficiency and satisfaction (Daft, 1990:530).Due to industrial revolution it is important for companies to switch to new methods that provide job satisfaction for employees which can help in providing positive outcomes (Morgan 1997:15). Job description and person specification A job description basically defines the roles and responsibilities of an individual in an organisation. A job description is important because it clearly describes the expectations of the employer for a particular vacancy in the company. A part from this a proper job description is also helpful in attracting the potential and talented applicants because it describes the nature and corporate image of the company. A job description may also be used as appraisal system to evaluate individuals performance. A person specification describes the skills and the knowledge required from a candidate to successfully operate a task. It clearly defines the requirement from the applicants and also provides the overall view of the expectations of the experience required to complete the task. A person specification is also helpful for the organisation in recruiting the candidates during the recruitment process. Person Environment Fit Person environment fit is the matching or alignment among the company culture and environment with the employees characteristics. The more is the alignment, the greater will be the positive the positive result (Schneider, Smit Goldstein,2002, OStroff,Shin Feiberg,2002).If there is mismatch among different ideas ,the employees will start to leave the organisation. Sometimes new comers may not be fit he organisational; characteristics and may develop conflicts which may decrease the efficiency of the employees(Chatman Barsades,1995).Person environment fit further adds to low staff turnover and establishes communication among different levels of the organisation. Organisational brand image plays an important role in attracting the potential applicants. This is because it is the organisations brand and recruitment image that increases the probability of applicants of contacting the organisation (Gatewood et al, 1993).The mail idea of employer branding is to attract the applicant that have the capacity and ensure that they identify the organisations mission and vision and then work to produce the desired outcome (Graeme Martin, 1998) E-Recruitment The purpose of E-Recruitment is to attract the potential employees to apply for posted vacancies. The Human Resource Management plays an important role in an organisation because recruitment is done keeping in mind the vision and mission of the company. The recruitment strategy of any organisation is to first identify the type of person necessary to fulfil a vacancy and then provide them with other training and development programmes to acquire KSA that may be required to deliver the vision and mission strategy. The principle aim of recruitment strategy is to attract quality and potential applicants. E-Recruitment is also sometimes known as online recruitment. E- Recruitment is recruitment of potential employees using the latest technology to attract and then recruit the candidates. There are several methods of recruitment. Internal recruitment is one in which a company find a replacement within the organisation, that is, someone from the organisation fills the vacancy whereas external recruitment is the process in which business works for the suitable applicant outside the organisation. There are several advantages of both the type of said recruitment. Some of the advantages of internal recruitment are that since the candidate is chosen from within the organisation, he/she is familiar with the environment and is quicker and cheaper to recruit. Apart from this company may already know the strength and weakness of the candidate. However there are some disadvantages like no new ideas from outside the organisation is inherited and also it creates another vacancy which anyhow needs to be filled in from other sources. The disadvantages of internal recruitment can be overcome in external recruitment like innovative ideas from outside the organisation can be generated. Another disadvantage is poor availability of people from which recruitment needs to be done, however it is an expensive and time consuming process. Comparisons of e- recruitment with traditional methods Companies prefer to use e- recruitment because it is quicker and attractive for applicants. E.g: an employee fills a vacancy application online. Now it is easier to receive the feedback via emails because it is faster and quicker. On the other end if we entertain applications in the form of resumes and covering letters, the first problem is to gather the hard copies. However, if it is online, it can be accessed from anywhere. Apart from this, in order to give the feedback, companies may need to post the letters. Some of the problems with these postal letters may result in delay or loss of the copy. Hence, the employee does not get the good impression of the company since he or she could not receive the feedback. Another possibility is that the organisation may provide the feedback over a phone but telephonic feedback can be more personal and hence, companies tries to avoid it and use it to minimum extend. Another reason for the companies using e-recruitment is that the companies get the chance to express their brand image via website. More attractive is the website greater will be the application of the applicant. Applicant gets the complete information of the company with its back ground and future goals and also the vision and mission statement to be accomplished. It is easier to post jobs specifications and realistic job previews (RJP) on websites. Companies can represent themselves and can be more transparent using the e-recruitment methods. Apart from this companys can be more descriptive on the websites. Another reason for the companies in posting job vacancies on web site is that it is easier and cheaper to advertise on websites rather than newspapers or advertising on hoardings because in the second case they need to first do the analysis as to where are their targeting customers and then need to make postings. On the other hand, posting on the websites is easier and easily accessible from anywhere. Survey suggests that using e-recruitment has almost cut 80% of the input cost as compared to traditional method. Another aspect of the e-recruitment is that user can use it 24 x 7. However, traditional methods do not provide such flexibility. Hence, E-Recruitment can be a win win situation for the employee as well as the employer. E- Recruitment is beneficial for the employer because it is easy to check the status of the candidate at the time of hiring. However, there are some disadvantages as well of the e-recruitment. Companies need to update their website on regular basis. This is because if there are no new updates on the website this may deteriorate the brand image of the company. There may be occasions where, there can be technical problem on the website which may prove to be disaster because the organisation could not access any data from the website. Apart from this it may require great funds to get technical assistance. Another problem is that websites cannot provide two way communications. Sometimes possibility of passive (duplicate) resumes is also another problem being faced by the companies in e- recruitment and there is no proper solution to this problem till now. E-Recruitment can be beneficial for a company and the company can learn a lot from it, says the Head of Recruitment of 3s (U.K Mobile Company).The company states that the principle reason for redesigning of their websites is to attract employee to apply for the job since the E-Recruitment has completely changed the attractiveness of the company. Now new employees can complete a form in very less time as compared to other previous recruitment methods. 3s online E-Recruitment strategy In year 2002, 3 (mobile company) started to recruit the employees though online recruitment. This is because they thought that online recruitment can provide more positive experience of the company as compared to other methods. It increased their efficiency and speed of hiring the employees. It helped them to access loads of application systematically. The head of recruitment department further states that not only E-Recruitment has made recruitment easier and quicker but it has also helped the company to improve its brand image which in turn has helped them to attract the potential employees (Rebecca Baker, Head of recruitment department).She continued saying that now candidates can track the status of their application at any stage of the recruitment process. She added saying that in year 2002, company hired 41% employees from the agencies. However these figures have dropped down to only 19% in the year 2007.This is the reason why they rely more on e E-Recruitment rather than other traditional methods. The company encountered a profit of  £1760 per year. Furthermore it became easier for the company to post job vacancies on websites rather than posing vacancies somewhere else which was much more complicated and expensive(www.three.co.uk) Another company named Stonefish Software also experienced tremendous advantages and profit of using E-Recruitment. Caroline Catmur (HR Administrator) states that use of E-Recruitment in October 2007 proved to be a boon for the organisation. Everything looks to be simple and more streamlined after the involvement of E-Recruitment. She further stated that another advantage of E-Recruitment was saving on both time and paperwork. She further added saying that E-Recruitment has been a driving force for the development of their organisation (www.stonefish.co.uk) Conclusion The essay briefly describes the career aspirations and the impact of recruitment and selection on individual career. It throws light on the company Accenture that provides flexibility and works consistently for retaining their staff. This describes as to how companies should prepare the job and person specifications so as to attract the potential applicants. The advantages of learning organisation and talent management are explained that helps the company to decide the basis for recruiting the potential applicants. The importance of E-Recruitment, its advantages and disadvantages are explained that helped the companies in recent time to overcome the problems of recruitment and selection. Two companies 3(Mobile Company) and Stonefish Software are illustrated showing their comments on the result of using E-Recruitment in their organisation.

The History Of Mahindra And Mahindra

The History Of Mahindra And Mahindra K. C. Mahindra is the person who established Mahindra and Mahindra when he visited United States of America as Chairman of the India Supply Mission. When he met Barney Roos who invented general purpose vehicle or Jeep who was the inspiration for K. C. Mahindra. K. C. Mahindra Brothers joined with Ghulam Mohammed. And Mahindra Mohammed was set up as franchise for assembling jeeps from Willys, USA on October 2nd, 1945.After Two years Mahindra Mohammed changed its name to Mahindra Mahindra. Mahindra Mahindra grown in size and stature and it also occupied a premier position in all key sectors of economy. Mahindra Mahindra group is engaged in an ambitious and prolonged penetration into the global arena. DIFFERENT VEHICLES IN MAHINDRA MAHINDRA: FIG a: Indias first Prime Minister.   FIG b: Mahindra Scorpio A passenger in the past FIG c: The electric car of Mahindra and FIG d: Mahindra tractor. its name is Mahindra REVA. FIG e: Mahindra Jeeps are used FIG f: Two wheeler model in Mahindra Mahindra for daily transport in Agra. and its name is Mahindra Flyte. The company encapsulated its ambition, spirit and inspiration from golden words of Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru: The woods are lovely, dark and deep,   But I have promises to keep,   And miles to go before I sleep,   And miles to go before I sleep. The golden words are translated into many more milestones to be set up before it rest. Today, It has evolved into a premium SUV(Sport Utility Vehicle) and MUV(Multi Utility Vehicle) with a large number of cars in the Indian car market. Today in the Indian car market we can see three types of Mahindra cars they are Mahindra Bolero, Mahindra Maxx, Mahindra Scorpio. In the present scenario Mahindra Mahindra total turnover is of about 6 billion dollars. Organization analysis: Mission/Vision Goals and Objectives Strategy followed Vision: Indians are second in the world in manufacturing automobiles. The founders of our nation and our company passionately believed by us. We will prove them right by believing in ourselves and by making MM Ltd. known worldwide for the quality of its product and services. And its new innovations. The important goal of Mahindra Mahindra is to provide highly technological innovative product and services . E-business Initiatives and by out sourcing of technology Products that redefined the market By 2015 Mahindra Mahindra wants to enter almost all continents in the world. Joint ventures, acquisition and merger with different players in other countries Foreign competition. Mission of Anand Mahindra: We dont have a group-wide mission statement. Our core purpose is what makes all of us want to get up and come to work in the morning. Mr. Mahindra awards: Rajiv Gandhi Award 2004 for outstanding contribution in business field. From President of French Republic as Knight of the Order of Merit. In the year 2005 from Auto Monitor as Person of the year. From American India Foundation 2005 Leadership Award for his, and the Mahindra Mahindra group for its commitment to CSR(Corporate Social Responsibility). CNBC Asia Business Leader Award for the year 2006. Business Man of the year 2007 from Business India. Business Leader of the year 2009 by Economic Times. Miles stones of Mahindra Mahindra: In 1948 Mahindra Mahindra LTD associated with UK for Steel trading business. In 1957 Mahindra Owen established- a joint venture with Rubery Owen Company LTD, UK. In 1969 the Company entered the world market which exports utility vehicles and spare parts. In 1975 Mahindra Engines developed an diesel engine for its vehicles. In 1982 the Mahindra brand tractors were launched. In 1986 Tech Mahindra (formerly known as Mahindra British Telecom) is established. In 1994 Mahindra group created 6 Strategic Business Units they are: Automotive or Automobiles, Trading, Farm Equipment, Infrastructure, Financial Services, Information Technology(earlier it is Telecom and Software) and Systech(earlier it is MSAT). In 1999 Mahindra group launched a 3-wheeler vehicle which is environmental friendly, a battery-operated. In the year 2007 Mahindra group focused on health and the environment. It launched Mahindra Hariyali, which aims to add 1 million trees to Indias green cover and it also launched Lifeline Express. In the year 2007 Tech Mahindra LTD launched Tech Mahindra Foundation on June 13th 2007. These are the some of the milestones of Mahindra Mahindra groups. FOUR Is of Mahindra Mahindra: The four Is: INNOVATIONS. INFRASTRUCTURE. INVESTIMENT. INSTITUTIONS. INNOVATIONS: Mahindra Mahindra is one of the top industry in India. The director of the Mahindra Mahindra Anand Mahindra put innovation is the core of its growth strategy. The radical innovation is successful in managing the balance between the structured processes and the creation of an environment. According to this MM group: Innovation should start with the insight about customer, which the Mahindra Mahindra group found by going to fields and observing the lives of farmers. And this group found that the tractors were used for personal use. The Mahindra Mahindra group encourages the experiments. The new inventions should add value to companys bottom line that is nothing but profit. The important point is that great products should have great design. Thus Mahindra Mahindra took this initiative and made the culture of innovation. INFRASTRUCTURE: The Mahindra Mahindra infrastructure is a JV between Mahindra Group and International Finance Corporation. It works close association with global companies to bring world class technologies and practices. It mainly focus on ownership, development and management of infrastructure projects. It is becoming the leading infrastructure developer in the country. INSTITUTIONS: The Mahindra Mahindra group is placed in all sectors like Telecommunications and it is named as Tech Mahindra. Software, Mahindra Mahindra came to software field after buying Satyam company and it is named as Mahindra Satyam Mahindra Mahindra also has its recognition in the Infrastructure and it is named as Mahindra Infrastructure Developers. In this it also have holiday resorts it named as Mahindra Holidays and Resort LTD (MHRIL) Mahindra Mahindra is one of the top industry in India for automobiles and it is the starting point of Mahindra Mahindra company. Mahindra Mahindra also involved in financial sector and its name is Mahindra Mahindra Financial Service LTD. Mahindra Mahindra Group also have Mahindra Special Services which was established in 2001 as a separate division in Mahindra Mahindra. Mahindra Mahindra also have Mahindra Defence Systems which oversees the requirement of Indias Defence and Security forces. INVESTIMENTS: Mahindra Mahindra group have shares in many companies. Presently Mahindra Mahindra Group want to acquire Ssangyong and expand its business in international market. But on other hand, its investors are quite suspicious regarding the investment. In the past Mahindra Mahindra Group made many Joint Ventures and acquisitions and it has forayed into different sectors of automobiles like light, medium and heavy commercial vehicles. It also ambitious to acquire two wheelers also. PESTEL ANALYSIS ON MAHINDRA MAHINDRA: Many factors in the environment that affect the organization are: Tax changes. Trade barriers. Government policy changes. New laws. Demographic change. These are the some of the macro changes. Thus to analyze these factors we categorize them using PESTEL analysis. The PESTEL analysis includes Political, Economical, Social, Technological, Ecological, Legal factors. Political Factors: This is a Government policy which includes what are the goods and services does a Government want, to what extent the government can subsidize firms and its priorities in political decisions and business support. The factors related to Mahindra Mahindra group: For Mahindra tractor industry the Government laid stress on mechanism of agriculture to boost food grain production. Change in Taxation policy. Regaining Agricultural dynamism is the key goal in eleventh Five year plan. ECONOMICAL FACTORS: The Economical factors which includes taxation change, inflation, interest rates, economic growth and exchange rates. The factors related to Mahindra Mahindra group: Cost of tractors in India are more cheaper when compared to other countries. 95% of tractors are on credit based. For agriculture inputs Less interest rate charged by the banks. Social Factors: As the population increases the demand on goods get increased. Thus there will be demand for firm products and industry. As there is increase in awareness in farmers there is a need technology and thus there is a requirement of tractors and farmers can buy tractors on credit bases. To meet the farmers demand the mechanized operations are preferred to eliminate delay, also labor shortage. The other main important thing which Mahindra Mahindra do for its long-term sustainability is CSR(Corporate Social Responsibility). Mahindra Mahindra group spend Rs. 1.3 crore it is head donation in its annual report. Its activities include K. C. Mahindra Education Trust which provides education at various levels. There is another program for helping unprivileged girl child at the Mahindra foundation it is Nanhi. This are the main things which are done by Mahindra Mahindra group for its long-term sustainability. The Mahindra Mahindra also have its own foundation as Mahindra Foundation which was set up with a specific objective that to provide medical relief to poor people. The Mahindra foundation always very responsive to any major disasters whether it has been taken as tsunami or the Gujarat earthquake, it provided support either by financially or by sending vehicles, supplying manpower or material. Technological Factors: Increase in new Technology can create new products and process which can reduce the cost, improve the quality, lead to innovation and also reduce the life cycle of the product. This technology will benefit consumers as well as organizations. The factors related to Mahindra Mahindra group: Continuous technological innovation. Continuous improvement in technology will reduce use of Renewable energy development. Ecological Factors: It include weather and climate change. The major climate changes occurring due to Acid rain, Green-house effect, Global warming thus it is becoming significant for the firms. Thus because of this impact environmentally friendly products and processes have more demand and also creating business opportunities. The factors related to Mahindra Mahindra group: Global Warming. Mahindra group is trying to release electric cars to reduce the pollution and also reduce the usage of renewable goods. Legal Factors: Legal factors are related to legal environment. In recent years the developing countries changed the Legal factors which affected the firms in other countries due to globalization. The legal factors related to Mahindra Mahindra group: Agricultural policy Collaboration with government which shapes policy issues. SWOT ANALYSIS: SWOT (Strengths, Weakness, Opportunities, Threats) of Mahindra Mahindra group Strengths of Mahindra Mahindra group: Mahindra Mahindra is one of the top players in the world in terms of number of tractors sold. This itself shows that Mahindra Mahindra market share is the biggest strength of the company. It also have highest domestic share. The some other strengths of Mahindra Mahindra group: Product portfolio of Mahindra Mahindra got extended from 20hp to 30hp. There is government support for Mahindra Mahindra Group.A Availability of technically skilled people from JTC (Jiangling Tractor Company). For its next stage of expansion Mahindra Mahindra have a strategy. It not only focus on new products, it also have a programme of intensive management development to establish its leader for future. The major strength of Mahindra Mahindra is it have ability to introduce new products and process in to the market and also can generate sales for those new products. Weakness of Mahindra Mahindra group: The production is non-competitive because of high interest costs and overheads. Infrastructure of this group is Bottle neck. The companys passenger cars are based upon 3rd and 4th generation platform. In this group there is lack of efficiency for new plant layout. Another weakness of Mahindra Mahindra is multi franchise. In Mahindra Mahindra there is no effective dealership. The MM is mainly dependent on rural sector, the rural sector mainly depends on monsoon. Thus if there is bad monsoon for two consecutive years which leads to adverse impact on demand for tractors. Opportunities of Mahindra Mahindra group: Rural demand is increased. Income level is increasing. Ban for overloading of commercial vehicles. With the support of local partners there is an easy entry to Chinese market. The Mahindra Mahindra will be more competitive in Chinese market if they provided after sales service. To get more demand the Mahindra Mahindra group should export Chinese range tractors to India and Indian range tractors to China. Mahindra also entered in to software field after buying satyam and renamed it as Mahindra Satyam. Threats of Mahindra Mahindra group: Input cost got increased. Competition also increasing. The most important threat of Mahindra Mahindra is legal consideration. In China the Banking facilities are undeveloped. The MM also involved in different fields like holidays, telecom industry, financial services and resort etc. Which should have good subsidiaries from time to time if these are unmanageable this will divert the companys attention from its business which leads to destruction of shareholders value. Mahindra Mahindra will face more competition if the foreign players enter in to the tractor segment because these foreign players are technically more competitive when compared to MM. CONCULSION: Thus according to research on Mahindra Mahindra Group it shows that the company uses the Strategic Key points in the external environment for long-term sustainability and sustained success. It is the one which encourages the new ideas and also have plan to sale the new product in the market. This company is the one which try to develop new products for consumers. Mahindra Mahindra company is also socially responsible it give 1.3 crore only from its annual report for helping poor and unprivileged girls. Which shows that the company not only think about its profits but also feel the responsible about our country India. It is that which also do international trading with other countries. It also have a clear vision and goal which shows the dedication of the company. The mission itself says that it is not thinking about profits but it want develop ourselves. Mahindra and Mahindra tries to develop the new products which do not harm the environment and save the renewable reso urces example MAHINDRA REVA which is an electric car. According to research it shows that Mahindra Mahindra is one company which is respected and trusted by consumers and it is the top industry in INDIA. .

The Andromeda Strain :: essays research papers

The book I read "The Andromeda Strain was written by the author Michael Chrichton. It is approximately 286 pages long. This book should be categorized as a science fiction book. 2.) The book, The Andromeda Strain, by Michael Chrichton starts out with two men going to investigate a satellite that crashed in Piedmont, Arizona. This satellite was sent out to collect alien organisms or bacteria. When the two men drove into town to collect the satellite they noticed that everyone was dead and within a few moments so were they. Because they were army personnel working directly for the government, several doctors and scientists were contacted secretly to deal with the issue. Once all the men were contacted, they were set to meet at the "Wildfire Project Installation", which was a top-secret government installation intended to study and correct any alien virus. When the men arrived, they immediately began studying and trying to understand what exactly happened in piedmont and why. This building was set to five levels, the first of these five was clean however not sterile the second slightly cleaner, as was the third, and fourth, the fifth was as sterile as physically possible. During the experiments they tested two people they brought back from the town, which were the only two survivors of the virus, one being an old man and the other an infant baby. They could find no similarities in them, So they tested the disease on animals and then did autopsies on their dead bodies. However they did not find anything until during one of the autopsies, Burton, one of the group of scientists, had torn his glove, meaning he was contaminated with the virus. And the automatic detonation button was turned on and set to go off within three minutes. Hall another one of the scientists was the only person able to turn it off, forcing him to crawl through the air shaft to another floor while darts filled with poison were being shot at him.

Sir Gawain Preparing Himself and His Neck :: Arthurian Legands English Literature Essays

Sir Gawain Preparing Himself and His Neck Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, written by an anonymous fourteenth-century poet, describes the Arthurian legend about the Green Knight’s game with Sir Gawain. Now almost a year passes since the Green Knight has started a friendly challenge of a blow for a blow. And it is time for Sir Gawain to prepare and to meet the Green Knight to receive his strike. Sir Gawain sees how the people around him care for him and wish he didn’t have to go. He probably feels that the first part of the game wasn’t completely fair, because the beheaded Green Knight survived what a mortal man cannot. Nevertheless, Sir Gawain acts like a true honorable knight and decides to face his destiny: 'Why should I tarry?' And smiled with tranquil eye; 'In destinies sad or merry, True men can but try.' (Norton 561 - 565) Click here to listen to this monologue Realizing that he is just human and is predestined for a test he isn’t fully aware of, the only thing he can do is to do his best and not worry about the outcome. Sir Gawain decides to fully prepare himself for this ordeal and goes alone to pray humbly to G-d. He feels very humbled now, more than before when he was willing to take the Green Knight’s challenge after Arthur had already accepted it. Now he realizes that what seemed like a sure thing doesn’t always turn out that way and that he has to take responsibility for his actions. Sir Gawain prepares for the journey and takes his favorite horse, Gringolet, with him. Gringolet is his special horse, and for this special occasion, he is honored with many golden fringes everywhere, perhaps for Gawain to feel more angelic as he leaves his life behind: By then Gringolet was grit with saddle That was gaily agleam with fine gilt fringe, New-furbished for the need with nail-heads bright; The bridle and the bars bedecked all with gold. (Norton, 597 - 600) His horse is his only companion on his long way to the Green Chapel.

CA Technologies: Bringing the Cloud to Earth Essay

CA Technologies wanted to be viewed as the leader of their business sector, offering quality service while keeping their organization aligned and thriving in a strong corporate culture. However, the leaders of the organization did not agree on how the organization should achieve these goals nor were they confident that their business structure could sustain them. Overall, CA Technologies financial performance is viewed as stable and growing. The organization had shown growth in revenue, income from continued operations and stock holders equity between March 2007 and March 2011. Furthermore, the company had grown their assets and reduced their long term debt during the same time frame (Annual Report). CA Technologies focus was/is creating solutions to contribute to their customers businesses and support them in a challenging IT environment (p2). Their main customer focus was 1000 of the Fortune 2000 organizations that were $2 billion businesses and above. None-the-less as their product line changed so did their customer base, to $300 million to $2 billion sized companies (p1,13). Their customer base is international consisting of companies from the United States, Europe, Asia, Africa, and Latin America. Their consumers come from various industries including banks, insurance companies, financial services, governments, manufactures, technology companies, retailers, educational institutes and health care providers. Their product line consists of service management and assurance, mainframe, project and portfolio management, security, virtualization and automation, and cloud computing (Annual Report). CA Technologies chooses to go to market through their own sales and marketing team and by leveraging partners. They have selected strategic partners to help them enter into new markets, grow their product awareness and integrate different technologies. At the same time they have their own direct sales team to create rapport with customers and to use initial consumer’s feedback to cannibalize on new opportunities (Annual Report). It is imperative that they use multiple ways to go to market because this is a highly competitive industry. At one point the organization’s â€Å"merger and acquisitions team had about 250 to 300 companies on their radar at one time† and in nine months they had acquired nine organizations and within twelve months they had invested close to $1 billion in acquisitions (p11). Some of these organizations are going to be commentators and others are direct competition, none-the-less there is a lot of competition. Furthermore, this market is not saturated as it is changing every day and has potential for new entrants. When the focus is on cloud technology and not their full portfolio, calling cloud technology highly competitive is an understatement. To display how competitive the industry is there is an online newspaper called â€Å"CloudTimes† that has a list of the top 100 Cloud Computing Companies (Martin Tantow). The CRN (online technology cite) goes as far as listing the coolest cloud computing vendors by their business category (CRN). There are several other articles such as â€Å"The Top 150 Players in Cloud Computing†, â€Å"85 Cloud Computing Vendors Shaping the Emerging Cloud† and more (Ray DePena). The buyers have a great deal of bargaining power. With so many organizations offering cloud services and offering to customize their services for customers business needs, there is a lot of competition. The CRN breaks down Coolest Cloud† companies by the top 20 in each cloud specialization. These specializations are: Platform and Development, Infrastructure Vendors, Security, Storage and Data Center, Applications and Software (Mark Tantow). CA Technologies was listed under â€Å"Coolest Cloud† top 20 for security. This specialization may give them a leg up especially in the Security market. On the other hand, if an organization is looking for a generalized cloud function, this may discourage that organization from choosing CA technologies. The suppliers in this situation are the employees and they have an immense amount of bargaining power. With there being hundreds of Cloud companies currently, more starting and existing companies expanding their cloud products, the job market is large. Microsoft alone has reported they will create 14 million jobs from 2011- 2015 due to public and private cloud computing (John Callaham). CA Technologies has 13,400 employees, 4,000 are in sales and marketing and 4,400 employees are in product development (Annual Report). Selling, marketing and product development are the rolls that will be created and that other companies are looking to fill. If not all employees, nearly two thirds of the organization’s employees have a great deal of bargaining power due to the expansion and demand for experienced workers in this field. There are several substitutes to cloud computing and most of them are what organizations were using prior to cloud computing. Some of these substitutes are main frames, networks, and email. The plus is CA Technologies already offers the substitute services. There are many commentators to cloud computing right now that we use every day, for example Microsoft is a complementor to Google.Docs. A company that offers the cloud also has the power to decide what complementors are going to work with their cloud, some of these complementors can be calendars, emails, word processors and many other every day applications. On the Treacy and Wiersema 3-D Chart the organization would fall under the product differentiation and customer responsiveness category. Even though the organization would like to see themselves in the middle of these two categories, realistically, they were not, when this article was written. The case states the organization was functioning vertically in all divisions, which made it difficult to focus on the customer and created inefficiencies in development (p10). With this being said, they would fall closer to the axis between the two categories on this chart. Before the reorganization, the business strategy, organization strategy and information’s strategy were not aligned. The organization was running like a manufacturing company, internally focused (p11). The mission of the organization that can be gathered from the case is that the organization wants to offer superior customer service, to create the most innovative and leading technology in an effective manner and sustain a thriving corporate culture. However, this mission was not achievable because they went to market vertically and that is not what their customers needed. The different structures of the organization worked independently which meant many inefficiencies and repetition in development (p11). The organization was not set up to reach the business needs of superior customer service and creating innovative leading technology effectively. Furthermore, the information strategy was unattainable due to the organization strategy. In the moment of truth the organization decided to reorganize. They created five focus areas to focus the information strategy and product development. Furthermore, they split the organization into 3 main categories which focused on customers, go to market and innovation. The new strategy helped align the business, organization, and information strategy. On the strategic grid, CA Technologies was acting like a factory. They were not prepared to make changes that would be necessary for future success such as creating a prosperous cloud system. They were working on their already existing product line and even showing signs of complacency with that product line. However, once they began reorganizing to a new strategy their organization went into the turnaround phase, splitting the business into a customer innovation focused. This is where they began working on getting the proper structure to create a sustainable business in the cloud revolution. On the grid, the organization would fall in the top turnaround stage close to strategic. Their management is learning new ways to go to market and handle customers and at the same time the business is going to be shaped by their future innovation. Overall, I do not believe that the organization had a choice whether or not to embrace the cloud. By 2011, they had already entered into the market and were seen as leaders in their already existing technology systems. If they backed out at this point, they may be viewed as not willing to move forward with the direction of future technologies. Furthermore, the market is fast and highly competitive, but CA Technologies has an advantage due to their rapport with already existing customers and their seniority in the industry. The cloud made the organization re-evaluate their strategy and now they will be a stronger organization in all categories due to their reorganization. The cloud is not going anywhere; however their legacy way of thinking would not be relevant if they did not move forward with cloud innovation. Bibliography Callaham, John. â€Å"Microsoft: 14 Million Jobs to Be Made via Cloud Computing.† Neowin.net. 5 Mar. 2012. Web. 21 Sept. 2012. . CA Technologies. Annual Report. One Goal Our Customer Success. Islandia, NY: CA Technologies, 3/2011. Annual Reports-CA Technologies. http://investor.ca.com/annuals.cfm CRN Staff. â€Å"The 100 Coolest Cloud Computing Vendors Of 2012.† CRN. 12 Mar. 2012. Web. 21 Sept. 2012. . DePena, Ray. â€Å"90 Cloud Computing Companies to Watch In 2011.† Business Innovations. 1 Jan. 2011. Web. 21 Sept. 2012. . Tantow, Martin. â€Å"CloudTimes Top 100 Cloud Computing Companies.† Top 100 Cloud Computing Companies. 24 Apr. 2012. Web. 21 Sept. 2012. .

Persuasive Essay Essay

When you rummage through your refrigerator what do you seek? A bag of chips, a fruity flavored yogurt, some buttery popcorn? Whatever it is, it all fills you up. Whether it is with a junky treat or something partially healthy. Whatever you choose, it impacts you. It affects the way you sleep, the energy you have, and your blood sugar. So the little discussion of picking a chocolate bar and an apple impacts you greatly in the long run. This is why you should start making healthier choices now when you are still growing. I must admit it is easier for me to choose eating junk food. It may seem yummy and delicious, but its not. Almost every single piece of junk food is either full with fat or artificial flavorings. Did you know that the McDonalds fries contain 610 calories and 29 grams of fat? If you ate a Burger King, meal that contains 1,800 calories, it would take you nearly 6 hours of intense bicycle riding to burn away the calories. The average American kid eats at McDonalds at least one time each month. Teenagers drink around the average of 760 cans of soda per year. And not only does junk food just add fat and other unwanted substances to your body, it also harms you. Obesity is the second cause of death in America. The consumption of sodas has increased the risk of diabetes. Junk food is the major cause of most heart diseases or failures. Junk food causes high cholesterol, which causes long-term damage to your liver. Wow, pretty scary right? Ways to decrease junk food consumption would be the next time when you are rummaging through your refrigerator stop and choose the vegetable section. Pick a banana, or apple. Or leave junk food off-limits until special days or weekends. There are multiple ways, but the biggest way is the next time something sugary is about to go into your mouth, stop and think about all the negative sides. Because not only does junk food affect your weight, it affects your future.