Maju Jaya Supermarket (MJ Supermarket) Essay

Maju Jaya Supermarket (MJ Supermarket) advertises in the newspapers that there is a vacancy for the post of manager. The advertisement stated that those who are interested can come anytime to MJ Supermarket for an interview from 11th April 2014 until 21st April 2014. Ahmad who was very interested with the post came to MJ Supermarket on 20th April 2014 and was informed by the owner that the post was already filled. Ahmad was very angry as he has already tendered his resignation to his former company. On the day that Ahmad came to the MJ Supermarket, he saw Mr Chan, his neighbour, entering the MJ Supermarket and selected some canned food, shampoo, eggs and vegetables. He put all the items into his trolley. However, while he was still looking for other items, Mr Chan received a call from his son asking him to pick him up from the train station. Mr Chan left the items in the trolley and went out from the MJ Supermarket. Advise Ahmad and Mr Chan whether there is any contract between them and the MJ Supermarket. (20 MARKS) ANSWER to Part A (Ahmad Case) Introduction The definition given under the Section 2(h) of the Contracts Act 1950 is that a contract is an agreement enforceable by law (The Commissioner of Law Revision, 2006). Therefore in the Ahmad’s case, one of the parties (Ahamd or MJ Supermarket) has to make an offer that is duly accepted by the other. Issue First issue that we need address in this case is to see whether the advertisement stating the interview deadlines contains an offer. If it does, can Ahmad’s willingness to attend the interview be considered as an acceptance of the offer? In case the advertisement is not considered as an offer, or if it is just an invitation to treat, then there is no contract between them. Second issue raised by the question is whether Ahmad’s presence in the MJ Supermarket to attend the interview on time, after his resignation from his previous job, is an offer. In that case, does MJ Supermarket can reject Ahmad’s offer? Based on the limited information given in the Ahmad’s case, the issues were analysed to see whether there is a contract between both parties? The Law According to Section 2(a) of the Contracts Act 1950, an offer exists â€Å"when one person signifies to another his willingness to do or to abstain from doing anything, with a view to obtaining the assent of that other to the act or abstinence, he is said to make a proposal† (Rahman , 2011). As given in the Carlill v. Carbolic Smoke Ball Co Ltd (1893) 1 QB 256 case, a proposal or an offer can also be made to the general public to be accepted by any person who knows about it and willing to perform the requirements of the proposer. On the other hand, an invitation to treat can be defined as giving information or requests to others to make offers. Application of the Law to the Facts of the Problem The advertisement by the MJ Supermarket clearly states that those who are interested can come anytime to MJ Supermarket for an interview from 11th April 2014 until 21st April 2014. This raise the question whether the advertisement is intended to bound in contract with the participants who come for the interview. In case of COELHO v. THE PUBLIC SERVICES COMMISSION[1964] M.L.J.12, the applicant, a Health Inspector under the Town Board, Tanjong Malim, applied for the post of Assistant Passport Officer in the Federation of Malaya Government Oversea Missions advertised in the Malay Mail dated 19 February 1957. Consequently, the applicant was informed that he was accepted and, after undergoing training, he was posted to the Immigration Office, Kuala Lumpur, where he remained until December 1958 when he was transferred to the Immigration Office at Johor Bahru (Rahman , 2011). The High Court ruled that the newspaper advertisement was an invitation for qualified persons to apply and the applications were treated as offers. Same can be expressed to the case of Ahmad that the newspaper advertisement by the MJ Supermarket is an invitation to those who are interested to participate in the interview. In the case of Gibson v Manchester CC [1979] 1 All ER 972, HL local council write to tenants inviting them to apply to purchase their homes. One such tenant P did apply, and a price was agreed. Following a change of party control, the new council DD refused to go ahead with the sale. The House of Lords said there was no binding contract: P had made an offer which DD had not yet accepted. Phrases in the correspondence such as â€Å"may be prepared to sell† and â€Å"please complete the enclosed application form† were indicative of an invitation to treat (Thomson  Reuters, 2004). Similarly to this case, the advertisement by the MJ supermarket stated th at those who are interested â€Å"can come† any time to the interview is crucial to consider that the advertisement was a step in the negotiation for a contract. Conclusion Considering the court ruling on both Coelho’s case and Gibson’s case, the advertisement made in the newspaper was an â€Å"invitation to treat†. However, the presence of Ahmad to participate in the interview is considered as an offer. The MJ Supermarket rejected this offer. Therefore the advice to Ahmad is that there is no contract between himself and the MJ Supermarket. ANSWER to Part B (Ahmad Case) On the day that Ahmad came to the MJ Supermarket, he saw Mr Chan, his neighbour, entering the MJ Supermarket and selected some canned food, shampoo, eggs and vegetables. He put all the items into his trolley. However, while he was still looking for other items, Mr Chan received a call from his son asking him to pick him up from the train station. Mr Chan left the items in the trolley and went out from the MJ Supermarket. Introduction The definition given under the Section 2(h) of the Contracts Act 1950 is that a contract is an agreement enforceable by law (The Commissioner of Law Revision, 2006). In the case of Chan, there should be an offer made by Chan and this offer should be accepted by the MJ Supermarket to make a contract. Issue The issue raised in the question is whether the Mr Chan’s action of taking goods from super market racks and put it into the basket contains an offer or an acceptance of an offer. Does he or MJ Supermarket fulfil the requirements of a contract? The Law According to Section 2(a) of the Contracts Act 1950, an offer exists â€Å"when one person signifies to another his willingness to do or to abstain from doing anything, with a view to obtaining the assent of that other to the act or abstinence, he is said to make a proposal†. An invitation to treat can be  defined as giving information or requests to others to make offers. In the Contracts Act 1950, Section 4(1) states that the â€Å"communication of a proposal is complete when the proposal comes to the knowledge of the person to whom it is made. To fulfil the pre-conditions of a contract, the proposal should be clearly communicated to the acceptor. Under Section 5(1) of the Contracts Act 1950, â€Å"a proposal may be revoked at any time before the communication of its acceptance is complete as against the proposer, but not afterwards. Application of the Law to the Facts of the Problem Mr Chan took goods by himself suggests that there is a display of goods in the MJ Supermarket and allows customers to voluntarily pick goods they like and purchase from the counter. â€Å"In the case of Fisher v Bell [1960] 3 All ER 731, DC it was a statutory offence under the Restriction of Offensive Weapons Act 1959 to offer for sale any of various items, including flick-knives. A Bristol shopkeeper R displayed such a knife in his window, with a ticket reading â€Å"Ejector knife – 4s.† [4 shillings = 20p], and was prosecuted for an offence under the Act. The Divisional Court took a literal interpretation of the statute and said he had committed no offence: the display was an invitation to treat, not an offer to sell† (Rahman , 2011). In relation to the Mr Chan’s scenario, this case can be used to justify an argument of changing mind at any point of purchase before a contract is made. Therefore Mr Chan’s decision to leave the goods without buying is acceptable based on Fisher’s case. â€Å"In the case of Pharmaceutical Society v Boots [1953] 1 All ER 482, CA certain products that were to be sold only under the supervision of a registered pharmacist were displayed on shelves in a self-service shop. The Pharmaceutical Society of Great Britain (who are responsible for enforcing this legislation) brought a prosecution against the shop for allowing customers to buy these products by helping themselves, but the Court of Appeal (upholding Lord Goddard CJ) said they had no case. The customer having selected the goods made an offer to purchase when he took them to the cash desk, and there was a registered pharmacist supervising that point at which the sale took place† (Rahman , 2011). Mr Chan does not take the goods  to the sales counter. In the case it is also mentioned that he was still looking for goods to purchase. However, he revoked from the process of making an offer to the sales staff when he got a phone call. As mentioned in the Boots case, the action by Mr Chan indicates that he did not properly complete an offer to purchase. In other words, he was involved in an invitation to treat from the MJ Supermarket. Conclusion To complete a contract between Mr Chan and MJ Supermarket, there is should clear communication of an offer and acceptance between both parties. Based on the discussed cases above, the display of goods are considered as an invitation to treat. Mr Chan does not complete an offer to purchase the goods as he quit his process of purchasing in the middle before taking goods to the sales counter. Futhermore, the MJ Supermarket does not have knowledge of a possible offer from Mr Chan.

Disney Corporate Strategy(a).Pdf Essay

Introduction The next big takeover fight – and it would be a beauty – may involve Walt Disney Productions. By the time you get this issue, Disney’s defense strategy may already be unfolding. But it will produce no quick victory for Disney even if a white knight comes along, and even if the principle attacker, Saul Steinberg, can be bought off. One by one, Hollywood’s great studios have been plucked by the smart out-of-town moneymen. Paramount by the late Charles Bluhdorn. Twentieth Century-Fox by Marvin Davis and Marc Rich. MGMUnited Artists by Kirk Kerkorian. Columbia by Coca-Cola. Now, it may be Disney’s turn. But Disney will not go quietly. – Forbes, June 4, 1984 Ron Miller, Disney Productions’ CEO reflected on the remarkable events of the past several months. Disney, the symbol of wholesome family entertainment, had become the target of a hostile takeover attempt by a well-known raider, Saul Steinberg. Steinberg now owned 12% of th e firm and was threatening to acquire more. While Miller had orchestrated several defensive maneuvers, Steinberg had now announced a public tender offer to purchase 49% of the equity at a price that was a 45% premium over where the stock had been prior to the raid. To fund this purchase, Steinberg was promising to sell the film library and certain real estate assets to outside investors. Steinberg also had a track record of accepting greenmail, having received $47 million just months prior from Quaker State Oil Company. Miller faced a clear dilemma as to how best to respond. Should he continue the defensive fight by paying greenmail or should he encourage the board to sell the company? History of Disney With a $500 loan, animator Walt Disney and his brother Roy founded Walt Disney Productions, an animation film studio, in 1923 in Anaheim California. One of Disney’s first popular cartoons was â€Å"Oswald the Lucky Rabbit.† Unfortunately, Disney lost the 1 Research Asso ciate Peter Eberle prepared this case under the supervision of Professor Todd R. Zenger of the Olin School of Business for exclusive use as an in-class discussion piece. The information in this case was obtained from published sources and in some instances raw data has been estimated. *This case is based upon â€Å"Walt Disney Productions: Greenmail† published by Harvard Business School Publishing, 1988. September 2002 Revised September 2009 contract dispute with his distributor because Disney did not own the copyright. After this incident, Disney was very astute about maintaining copyright control over his characters and content. Disney’s breakthrough came in 1928 with the animated short, â€Å"Steamboat Willie,† the first animated film featuring sound. It also introduced the first of many famous and timeless Disney cartoon characters, Mickey Mouse. Disney also was the first to use color animation with the cartoon â€Å"Flowers and Trees† in 1930. In another innovative and risky move, Disney created and released the first feature-length animated film, â€Å"Snow White,† in 1937. At the time, full-length animated films were not considered commercially viable. Nonetheless, â€Å"Snow White† was a critical and commercial success and was the first in a string of animated films over the next decades, including: â€Å"Pinocchio,† â€Å"Fantasia,† â€Å"Dumbo,† â€Å"Bam bi,† â€Å"Peter Pan,† â€Å"Cinderella,† and â€Å"Sleeping Beauty.† Disney’s films were initially successful due to the style and high quality of animation, attention to detail, timeless and family-oriented story lines, and timeless characters such as Mickey Mouse, Goofy, and Donald Duck. Disney not only used these characters throughout multiple films and cartoons, but also leveraged and increased their reach through merchandising, beginning in 1929 with a licensed Mickey Mouse pencil tablet. Placing these characters on T-shirts, watches, toys and other items increased both profits and recognition of the characters, and Disney, among consumers. Following his success in animated films, Disney moved into non-animated films in the 1944 with the establishment of the Educational and Industrial Film Division. The first major success of this division was â€Å"Seal Island,† a nature film that won an Oscar in 1949. Also in 1949, Disney formed a mus ic company to create, produce and maintain control over the music and songs featured in Disney productions but often performed by famous artists. Disney later moved into live-action features with â€Å"Treasure Island† in 1950. Disney continued to innovate in the live-action format by combining animation with live action in the film â€Å"Mary Poppins.† As Disney’s film library had grown, Disney brought distribution in-house with the formation of Buena Vista Distribution Co., in 1953. In films, Disney kept costs low by developing its own talent pool. For cartoon features, characters were infinitely reusable and never required a salary, while for live-action features, Disney shied away from using well-known and expensive talent. Audiences were drawn because of the reputation Disney had established for providing quality, reliable, and predictable family entertainment. In the early 1950s, Disney was quick to recognize the growing medium of television to provide new outlets for Disney characters with â€Å"The Wonderful World of Disney† first airing in 1953 and â€Å"The Mickey Mouse Club† in 1955. Disney’s television productions both the long-running shows and features were quite successful. During the same time, Walt Disney envisioned a theme park that would bring the characters and stories of Disney to life featuring entertainment for all ages. Again, his idea was considered too risky and he was unable to raise substantial outside funding for the project. He purchased 225 acres outside of Anaheim and opened Disneyland in 1955. Disney Strategy (A) 2 Olin Business School September 2002 Revised September 2009 Disneyland was hugely successful, grossing $10 million in 1956. Cross-promotion of the park was achieved through featuring it on the â€Å"Wonderful World of Disney.† The only drawback of Disneyland was that private hotel, restaurant and shop owners who built adjacent to the park profited hugely from park attendance, but Disney was unable to share in these revenues. Additionally, due to the small size of the park there was little room for further development both inside and outside of the park To address the drawbacks of Disneyland, Disney purchased 28,000 acres near Orlando Florida in 1964 and 1965. This would provide the site for Walt Disney World, which would include not only the theme park aspects of Disneyland, but also hotels and accommodations, shopping, camping, natural areas, and permanent residential and industrial areas. Also, with 28,000 acres (as opposed to Disneyland’s 225) there was ample room for future expansion. As with Disneyland, Walt Disney World was extremely well planned and laid out with no expense spared to achieve the quality and attention to detail for which Disney was known. Following the opening in 1972, the park was wildly popular and extremely profitable, attracting 11 million visitors and bringing in $139 million in revenues its first year. Walt Disney World would shortly become the number one travel destination in the world. Disney formed the Walt Disney Travel Company to work with travel agents, tour organizers and airlines in order to drive travel to the Walt Disney World area. Walt Disney World provided the stage for another of Disney’s visionary exploits, the Experimental Prototype Community of Tomorrow (EPCOT), the concept for which Disney laid out prior to his death in 1966. EPCOT’s construction began in the 1970’s and it opened in 1982. Following Walt’s d eath, Roy O. Disney assumed leadership and focused on the theme parks: completing Walt Disney World and EPCOT. The successes of the theme parks led to a joint venture with the Oriental Land Company of Japan in 1976 to develop Tokyo Disneyland, which opened in 1983. This project required no capital investment from Disney, who received a percentage-based licensing fee, as well as provided consulting services during operations. The venture was completely owned by the Japanese partner, but was planned and operated by Disney. In 1983, the Disney Television group entered the cable TV distribution with the Disney Channel. Also in 1983, they launched Touchstone Films, an independent film label, to allow Disney to produce and market films with more mature content and reach a more adult audience where movie attendance was strong. It was hoped that an independent label would not tarnish the Disney image. The first release was â€Å"Splash,† in 1984, which was the highest grossing Disney film since 1964. Walt Disney Productions’ Businesses As Disney grew over time, new subsidiaries and divisions were created as Disney engaged in new activities. The corporate office grew to manage the various subsidiaries and divisions. By the late 70’s, Disney had four primary business lines: Entertainment & Recreation, Motion Pictures, Consumer products, and Real Estate. Disney Strategy (A) 3 Olin Business School September 2002 Revised September 2009 The Motion Pictures group oversaw animation and production of films, managed rerelease of existing film properties, television production, and the cable television channel. This division’s contribution to revenues and net income to the overall company had steadily decreased over time, falling off significantly by the mid-70’s (with the groups actually losing money in 1983). Production of animated films fell off with the slack being taken up by live action films including sequel series such as Herbie, â€Å"The Love Bug.† Walt had been averse to sequels and following popular sentiment. Live-action films released during the 70’s had been perennial money losers contributing heavily to the drag in divisional earnings. It was hoped that the newly established Touchstone Films studio would appeal to a wider range of audiences and increase both revenue and profitability. In 1983, Disney’s long standing presence on prime time television ended with the cancel lation of â€Å"The Wonderful World of Disney.† The group relied on re-release of the classic animated features to bolster revenue, often tying distribution of new films to the re-releases. This also had the effect of constantly introducing younger generations to the Disney classics. While the value of Disney’s film library was significant, the group found difficulty in determining the best vehicle to realize the maximum value. It was felt the television and home video releases would cannibalize or otherwise lessen the existing, profitable, theatre re-release channel. It was estimated the value of Disney’s film library was worth $275 million (Exhibit 6). While having a successful launch, the Disney cable pay-channel would take a number of years before becoming profitable. The Entertainment & Recreation division managed the theme parks, hotels, managing the licensing arrangement with Tokyo Disneyland, and management of the land surrounding Disney World. While the theme park and resort business was the most recent new business, or â€Å"diversification† move by Disney, it had grown to dominance in the corporation. In terms of revenue and net income, it accounted for close to 79% of total revenue and 90% of total corporate profits (Exhibit 1). While operating income jumped significantly in 1983, the prior years provided very modest growth. Moreover, attendance at Disneyland had been flat for five years. Consumer Products managed the merchandising of Disney characters and intellectual properties that included character merchandising (the lead revenue generator), publishing and books, music and records, and educational media. The division had been consistently profitable, but there was concern because of increased competition from newer cartoon characters with more television exposure. Operating income had been rather flat over the prior four years. Leadership at Walt Disney Productions From the founding of the company until his death, Walt Disney created or approved every major strategic move and development. He provided the vision and decisive leadership that made Walt Disney Productions successful. He realized his belief that one Disney Strategy (A) 4 Olin Business School September 2002 Revised September 2009 could create a timeless entertainment experience that would appeal to the entire family, children and adults a like. Additionally, he maintained complete control over the customer’s entertainment experience in order to ensure that the Disney philosophy and experience was complete. Walt Disney constantly innovated and took significant risks on new ideas and concepts, most of which met with significant success. His confidence and acumen in identifying and vigorously pursuing good ideas led to many firsts in entertainment. Walt Disney also placed great importance on passing the Disney culture and values on to all employees, including executives, with all new employees attending a training program where the company’s value and strategy were explained. Great value was placed on communicating openly, teamwork, creativity, and cooperation. Walt inspired a congenial, informal atmosphere throughout the organization. This culture was very deep among employees, many of whom spent their entire careers with Disney. Disney University was founded to be the keeper and purveyor of the Disney culture. Walt, who died on December 14, 1966, was succeeded by his brother, Roy O. Disney. Upon Roy’s death in 1971, Card Walker, who had been with the company since 1938, assumed the leadership position. Following the completion of EPCOT center, Card resigned and was succeeded by Ron Miller. Being Walt Disney’s son-in-law, it had been expected that Ron Miller would eventually be appointed to CEO. Prior to his appointment to CEO in 1983, he had led the Disney film studio since 1976. Ron Miller, a football star at USC, had met Walt’s daughter Diane while in college and married shortly thereafter. Following a brief stint in the Military he played for the Los Angeles Rams football team. Concerned over his being knocked unconscious in two games, Walt urged him to quit football and work for the company. In general, people were promoted from within the company ranks, usually based on seniority. Through 1984, Disney was managed by its founders, family and insiders who had grown up within the organization. Although possessing many years of experience within Disney, the post-Walt management lacked Walt’s vision and leadership. At the core of Disney were Walt’s ideas and grand accomplishments to which it seemed that no one but Walt could build upon. And, attempts to capture and pass down his leadership style were unsuccessful. Additionally, much of the focus following Walt’s death was on fulfilling his final wishes and serving as caretakers to the kingdom. Upon taking control, Ron Miller saw the need to create new legacies for Disney, particularly in the films gro up. Some positives resulted, including the creation of the Touchstone label and release of successful films like â€Å"Tron† and â€Å"Splash.† Nonetheless, these additive actions lacked the impact that many of Walt’s grand ideas had had on the company and the industry. Disney Strategy (A) 5 Olin Business School September 2002 Revised September 2009 In 1983, the Disney family collectively held around 13.7% of Disney with Roy E. Disney being the largest of the family shareholders with around 3% ownership and a seat on the Board of Directors. Managers and long-time employees held 2-7% of the company. With the super majority vote rule in place, requiring in excess of 80% shareholder approval to affect a management change, and unified Disney and management shareholder group, the current management felt that it could operate without concern of shareholder and market pressures. Financial Performance and Condition From the early 1960’s until a peak in 1973, Disney’s stock price had steadily outperformed the S&P 500. In the following years the stock price had declined somewhat and then stagnated through the late 70’s and early 80’s (Exhibit 4). While the share price had peaked at $84 per share in early 1983 after the initial success of EPCOT, it fell into the $40-range following news of losses in the film division. Additionally, EPS performance had declined significantly from a peak of $4.16 per share in 1980 to $2.70 per share in 1983, the lowest EPS in the past 6 years. Throughout its history, Disney had generally operated completely free of debt, only occasionally taking on debt for completion of large projects, such as with the final construction phases of EPCOT in 1981, 1982 and 1983 (Exhibit 1). Prior to 1981, Disney was relatively debt free since 1977. Even when Disney took on debt, leverage was low (with a coverage ratio of 11.6 in 1983). Due to the tremendous amount of free cash flow thrown off from the theme parks, Disney had been able to internally fund growt h without needing to access the capital markets regularly. The debt taken on to complete EPCOT, as prior experience dictated, would be paid down rather quickly once revenue from EPCOT was realized. However, there was growing dissatisfaction and impatience among the investing community in regards to management’s lack of urgency regarding Disney’s lackadaisical stock performance. Although near-term earnings forecasts predicted improvements, there were no signs of improvement in stock value. Analysts and the media had begun to increase pressure on management by publishing the break-up value of Disney’s business lines. These values ranged from $60 to as much as $110 per share, well above the current trading value (Exhibit 3). Moreover, the end of year 1983 book value per share (total assets/shares outstanding) was around $68 per share while the year-end stock price was $52-5/8. Hostile Takeover Attempts, Defense and Greenmail On March 9, 1984 the price of Walt Disne y Productions stock was $52-1/4 and had been stable over the past 6 months. On March 9, Roy E. Disney resigned from the Board of Directors after being re-elected to the Board in February. Shortly thereafter, trading volume of Disney stock increased several times over the average daily volume, pushing the price upward (Exhibit 5). By March 23, Disney stock closed at $66-7/8. In Disney Strategy (A) 6 Olin Business School September 2002 Revised September 2009 preparation of an apparent takeover attempt, Ron Miller and his management team increased Disney’s credit line from $400 million to $1.3 billion. At the end of March, Saul Steinberg’s Reliance Financial Services Corporation announced that it had purchased 6.3% of Disney’s stock and intended to buy more. By April 13, Steinberg had increased his share of Disney to 9.3%, costing around $176.9 million. Roy E. Disney had also increased his share of Disney to 4% from 2.7%. In late April, Steinberg declared his intent to increase his share to as much as 25% and executed a million share block purchase on May 1st for $65.50 per share. After assembling a takeover defense team, Disney announced a deal to acquire Arvida Corporation on May 17th. Arvida was a southeastern US real estate development company that was controlled by the Bass brothers of Texas who had purchased 70% of Arvida for $20 million five months prior. The Bass brothers would receive $200 million in Disney s tock. The deal was denounced separately by both Steinberg and Roy E. Disney as destroying shareholder value. Steinberg threatened to block the transaction by buying control of Disney and selling the assets. In spite of Roy E. Disney’s opposition and Steinberg’s threat, the acquisition was closed, issuing 3.3 million shares, or 8.8% of Disney, to the Bass Brothers. Steinberg’s 4.2 million shares now controlled only 10% of the company down from 12%. The move also diluted Roy E. Disney’s ownership stake. In a further move to dilute Steinberg’s ownership stake, Disney announced a deal on June 6th 1984 to acquire Gibson Greeting Cards for $310 million in stock from an LBO partnership. Gibson Greeting cards had licensed numerous popular cartoon characters (Bugs Bunny, Garfield the Cat, etc.) for its cards but did not have any licensing agreements for Disney characters. The acquisition of Gibson, which had been purchased from RCA in 1982 for $80 million ( most of which was debt), would add $41 million to Disney’s debt and dilute Disney’s equity by an additional $310 million in stock. Two days later in an attempt to block the deal, Saul Steinberg made a tender offer of $67.50 per share cash for 37.1% of Disney Stock with a promise to boost the offer to $72.50 in cash and securities for cancellation of the Gibson acquisition. By that time, Steinberg had spent $265.6 million for his 10% ownership stake in Disney. Steinberg obtained additional financing to support this tender offer by granting Kirk Kerkorian, the controlling shareholder in MGM/UA, an option to purchase all of Disney’s motion picture and cable TV assets and to the Fisher Brothers, the right to develop Disney land surrounding the theme parks for hotels. The Present Dilemma Nothing in Ron Miller’s experience had prepared him for these circumstances. He had assembled a defensive team to fight the hostile takeover, but perhaps allowing Disney’s breakup was a better option. Should he buy off Steinberg with greenmail? If so, at what price and how could this be justified to shareholders? Disney Strategy (A) 7 Olin Business School September 2002 Revised September 2009 Exhibit 1 WALT DISNEY COMPANY FINANCIAL INFORMATION source: Disney Annual Reports, Disney Corporate Fact Books, Mergent, Global Access Note: Some numbers are estimates and slight structural modifications have been made to produce â€Å"standardized† statements CONSOLIDATED STATEMENT OF INCOME (in millions of dollars) Year Ended September 30th Revenues Filmed Entertainment Theme Parks & Resorts Consumer Products Total Segment Revenue Costs & Expenses Filmed Entertainment Theme Parks & Resorts Total Segment Costs Operating Income Filmed Entertainment Theme Parks & Resorts Consumer Products Total Segment Operating Income Total Operating Income Corporate Activities General & Administrative Expenses Net Interest (Income) Expense Acquisition Related Costs Design Projects Abandoned Total Corporate Expenses (Income) 7.3 56.9 5.1 21.3 4.6 -2.3 4.3 -16.7 2.4 -8.2 35.6 14.1 30.9 -14.8 26.2 -33.1 21.3 -42.1 17.8 -28.4 -$33.4 197.0 56.9 220.4 $220.4 $19.6 132.6 47.8 200.0 $200.0 $34.6 129.4 50.6 214.7 $214.7 $48.7 127.5 55.0 231.3 $231.3 $4 0.2 120.6 44.8 205.7 $205.7 $198.9 834.0 1,086.7 $182.5 593.0 830.2 $162.2 562.4 790.0 $112.3 515.9 682.9 $111.8 387.8 535.4 $165.5 1,031.0 110.7 1,307.4 $202.1 725.6 102.5 1,030.3 $196.8 691.8 116.0 1,005.0 $161.0 643.4 109.7 914.5 $152.0 508.4 80.6 741.0 1983 1982 1981 1980 1979 Income Before Income Taxes (EBIT) Unusual Charges Income Taxes Net Income Earnings (Loss) Per Share Avg. Number of Common Shares Outstanding 163.5 70.3 $93.2 $2.70 34.5 178.8 78.7 $100.1 $3.01 33.2 217.0 95.5 $121.5 $3.72 32.6 248.0 112.8 $135.2 $4.16 32.5 213.9 100.1 $113.8 $3.51 32.4 Disney Strategy (A) 8 Olin Business School September 2002 Revised September 2009 WALT DISNEY COMPANY FINANCIAL INFORMATION CONSOLIDATED BALANCE SHEET (in millions of dollars) September 30th Assets Cash & Cash Equivalents Investments Accounts Receivable Merchandise Inventories Inventories Income Taxes Refundable Film & Television Costs Prepaid Expenses Theme Parks, Resorts and Other Property, at cost Attractions, Buildings and Equipment Accumulated Depreciation 2,251.3 -504.4 1,746.9 Projects in Progress land 108.1 16.7 1,871.8 Other Assets Total Assets Liabilities & Stockholders’ Equity Accounts Payable Income Taxes Payable Borrowings Unearned Royalty & Other Advances Other Deferred Income Taxes Other Long Term Liabilities, Unearned Royalties & Advances Stockholders’ Equity Common Stock (1) Common Stock Internet Group Paid-in Capital Retained Earnings Less Treasury Stock & Compensation Fund Shares Total Stockholder’s Equity Total Liabilities & Stockholders’ Equity 1,401.0 $2,381.2 1,274.8 $2,102.8 1,167.1 $1,610.0 1,075.0 $1,347.4 961.0 $1,196.4 738.6 1,400.5 686.5 1,274.8 626 .2 1,167.1 537.1 1,074.4 425.2 961.1 661.9 588.3 540.9 537.7 535.9 321.8 110.0 181.0 94.7 89.0 61.9 96.8 98.0 $187.6 50.6 346.0 109.6 $210.8 26.6 315.0 $148.5 33.1 110.0 $109.0 36.2 30.4 $74.6 45.2 18.6 93.7 $2,381.2 1,916.6 -419.9 1,496.7 160.1 16.4 1,673.2 103.0 $2,102.8 968.2 -384.5 583.7 469.2 16.4 1,069.4 21.3 $1,610.0 935.2 -352.1 583.1 163.1 16.4 762.5 19.4 $1,347.4 882.1 -310.8 571.4 60.7 16.3 648.4 19.2 $1,196.4 $18.1 0.0 102.9 77.9 77.9 70.0 126.9 19.8 66.7 41.0 108.0 18.2 59.8 0.0 120.6 15.4 120.3 11.4 85.8 8.9 54.6 41.9 $13.7 0.0 79.0 $5.9 248.4 69.3 $9.7 318.5 50.7 $8.8 346.1 37.1 1983 1982 1981 1980 1979 (1) For the years 1983 and prior; Disney Stock no par value, 75,000 shares Auth., 33,729 billion shares issued & 34,509 outstanding Disney Strategy (A) 9 Olin Business School September 2002 Revised September 2009 WALT DISNEY COMPANY FINANCIAL INFORMATION CONSOLIDATED STATEMENT OF CASH FLOWS (in millions of dollars) Year Ended September 30 Cash Provided by Operations Net Income Income from continuing operations before taxes and cumulative effect of accounting changes Income taxes (paid) refunded, net Charges to Income Not Requiring Cash Outlays Depreciation Amortization of Film & Television Costs Other Changes in Receivables Merchandise Inventories Prepaid Expenses and Other Assets Deferred Income Taxes Total Cash Provided by Operations Investing Activities Film & Television Costs Theme Parks, Resorts, and Other Property Other Total Cash Used by Investing Activities Financing Activities Borrowings Reduction of Borrowings Repurchases of Common Stock Dividends Other Total Cash (Used) Provided by Financing Cash Provided by Discontinued Operations Increase (Decrease) in Cash Cash Balance, Beginning of Year Cash Balance, End of Year 4.4 13.7 $18.1 -240.6 254.3 $13.6 -74.0 328.3 $254.3 -26.6 354.9 $328.3 80.6 274.3 $354.9 41.1 102.8 $151.7 39.7 48.2 $277.1 32.4 32.1 $142.4 23.3 11.6 $11.7 15.5 8.5 $10.0 137.5 -99.9 205.0 110.0 0.0 n/a 83.8 333.7 26.0 -$443.5 52.3 614.4 85.9 -$752.8 55.4 333.4 5.9 -$394.7 68.4 149.7 1.6 -$219.7 -$91.5 44.4 56.6 -25.9 -11.2 13.3 -2.6 $337.4 1.1 -6.9 15.2 4.6 $274.8 $210.8 $204.7 $182.8 -18.6 -5.1 24.1 -13.6 -12.8 23.8 90.2 65.6 15.5 41.9 64.9 9.9 38.9 52.2 9.4 43.1 33.9 6.5 40.4 5.3 2.4 $163.4 29.0 $178.8 -34.6 $216.9 -106.1 $247.9 -121.8 $ 113.8 1983 1982 1981 1980 1979 Disney Strategy (A) 10 Olin Business School September 2002 Revised September 2009 WALT DISNEY COMPANY FINANCIAL INFORMATION KEY FINANCIAL RATIOS ROE (NI/total shareholder’s equity) (ROE was 22% in ’65, 16% in ’55, and 7% in ’45) ROA (NI/total assets) Operating Margin (operating rev. – sga/total rev) Debt to Equity (total debt/total shareholders equity) Total Debt to Assets (Current & L/T Borrowings/Total Assets) Divisional Operating Margins (div. op. inc./div. rev.) Filmed Entertainment Theme Parks & Resorts Consumer Products Divisional Contributions to Total Revenue (div. rev./total rev) Filmed Entertainment Theme Parks & Resorts Consumer Products 12.7% 78.9% 8.5% 19.6% 70.4% 9.9% 19.6% 68.8% 11.5% 17.6% 70.4% 12.0% 20.5% 68.6% 10.9% -20.2% 19.1% 51.4% 9.7% 18.3% 46.6% 17.6% 18.7% 43.6% 30.2% 19.8% 50.1% 26.4% 23.7% 55.6% 3.9% 14.1% 24.7% 14.5% 4.8% 16.4% 24.7% 15.0% 7.5% 18.8% 9.4% 6.8% 10.0% 23.0% 2.8% 2.3% 9.5% 25.4% 1.9% 1.6% 1983 6.7% 1982 7.9% 1981 10.4% 1980 12.6% 1979 11.8% 1975 10% 1970 10% Divisional Contribution to Operating Income (Div. Op. Inc./Total Segment Op. Inc.) Filmed Entertainment Theme Parks & Resorts Consumer Products -15.2% 89.4% 25.8% 9.8% 66.3% 23.9% 16.1% 60.3% 23.6% 21.1% 55.1% 23.8% 19.5% 58.6% 21.8% Disney Strategy (A) 11 Olin Business School September 2002 Revised September 2009 Exhibit 2 WALT DISNEY PRODUCTIONS, JUNE 1984 Other Financial Date (in thousands) Entertainment and Recreation Walt Disney World Admission and rides Merchandise sales Food sales Lodging Disneyland Admissions and rides Participant fees, Walt Disney Travel Co. Tokyo Disneyland royalties and other Total revenues Theme Park Attendance Walt Disney World Disneyland Total Motion Pictures Theatrical Domestic Foreign Television Worldwide Home-Video & NonTheatrical Worldwide Total revenues Consumer Products and Other 1983 $278,320 172,324 178,791 98,105 102,619 45,669 1982 $153,504 121,410 121,329 81,427 98,273 44,481 1981 $139,326 121,465 114,951 70,110 92,065 44,920 1980 $130,144 116,187 106,404 61,731 87,066 41,703 1979 $121,276 101,856 95,203 54,043 75,758 35,865 83,044 $1,031,202 22,712 9,980 32,692 28,502 $725,610 12,560 10,421 22,981 29,282 $691,811 13,221 11,343 24,564 28,005 $643,380 13,783 11,522 25,305 26,843 $571,079 13,792 10,760 24,552 $38,635 43,825 27,992 55,006 $165,458 $45,429 20,006 30,666 10,269 4,327 $55,408 64,525 44,420 37,749 $202,102 $35,912 20,821 26,884 15,468 3,453 $54,624 76,279 43,672 22,231 $196,806 $30,555 24,658 27,358 21,148 12,704 $63,350 78,314 19,736 10,565 $171,965 $29,631 22,284 23,432 21,908 1,905 $49,594 57,228 27,903 9,273 $144,058 $24,787 18,985 16,129 19,967 1,768 Character merchandising Publications Records and music publishing Educational media Other Disney Strategy (A) 12 Olin Business School September 2002 Revised September 2009 Exhibit 3 Comparable Valuations For Disney’s Businesses 1984 source: Analysts’ comments in June 4, 1984, Forbes Magazine article, â€Å"Who Will Win the Keys to Disney’s Magic Kingdom?† Shares Disney Outstanding = 34.5 million Disney annual royalty revenue from Tokyo Disney Land = $20 million Business Line Transaction/Source Taft Broadcasting Theme Parks purchase Date Valuation Multiple/Worth Comments Disney may deserve an additional premium due to the brand name Some still see this as one of the most unexploited assets in Disney Tremendous library and recent signs of turnaround may erase poor performance Theme Parks 1984 2 times Revenues Consumer Products Forbes/Analyst Comments 1984 3-3.5 times Rev. Film, Studio & Cable Forbes/Analyst Comments Hotels Land Forbes/Analyst Comments Forbes/Analyst Comments 1984 1984 1984 2-2.5 times Rev. $ 300 million $ 300 million Disney Strategy (A) 13 Olin Business School September 2002 Revised September 2009 Exhibit 4 Disney Share Price Performance Compared to the S&P 500 January 1970 – August 1984 Disney Strategy (A) 14 Olin Business School September 2002 Revised September 2009 Exhibit 5 Walt Disney Share Price and Trading Volume During the Hostile Takeover January 1984 – August 1984 Disney Strategy (A) 15 Olin Business School September 2002 Revised September 2009 Exhibit 5 Continued: Disney Strategy (A) 16 Olin Business School September 2002 Revised September 2009 Exhibit 6 WALT DISNEY PRODUCTIONS, JUNE 1984 Estimated Probable Minimum Library Values as of 1983 Value ($ millions) 500 275 950 Approximate No. of Titles 1,800 features 25 animated, 125 live action, 500 shorts 4,600 features (2,200 MGM), 1,310 shorts, 1,080 cartoons 700 features 1,400 features 3,000 features, 12,500 TV episodes 1,600 features Columbia Pictures Disney MGM/UA Entertainment Paramount Twentieth Century Fox Universal Warner Bros. Total 275 350 700 450 3,450 Disney Strategy (A) 17 Olin Business School

Theories of Communication: Narrative Theory

In other words, language use in self-narratives accurately reflects human personality. According to communication theorist Walter Fisher, humans are natural storytellers (1978, 1984, and 1987). We continually weave discrete events and experiences together into coherent wholes that have all the features of stories; a plot: characters: action: a sequence of beginning, middle and end: and a climax. 1. 1. 1 Narrative Paradigm Narrative paradigm is a concept in communication theory and was developed by Walter Fisher. The concept is adopted from the oldest form of communication – story telling.He stated that all meaningful communication is in the form of storytelling. Calling his theory narrative paradigm, Fisher defined narration as â€Å"symbolic actions- words and/or deeds that have sequence and meaning for those who live, create or interpret them† (1987, p. 58). Fishers claimed that narrations abound in everyday life. You go to a mosque, church or temple, and a religious leader tells stories. Lawyers too tells stories when they give Jurors accounts of what happened and why and who is to blame (Burner, 2002).Peoples past experiences influence our need for communication and also base our behavior. Thus narrative paradigm is very helpful in analyzing the nature of human communication. 1. 1. 2 Good Reasoning In western cultures, rationality is considered extremely important. We are taught to evaluate the worth of ideas and arguments by Judging how much evidence is provided. Fisher thought the Western emphasis on â€Å"pure logic† and conventional rationality was excessive. He also thought that logic or strictly rational thinking do not always explain why we believe what we do.In his original statement about narrative theory, Fisher (1978) claimed that telling compelling story is more persuasive than cads of statistics, expert testimony, and logical deduction. People are basically story telling beings. We make decisions and form beliefs on the bas is of good reasons. We consider a good reason depends on history, culture, personal character and biography. Narrative rationality is evaluated by the coherence and fidelity of stories. Life is a set of stories: in choosing to accept some stories to reject others, we continuously re-create our lives and ourselves. 1. 1. Narrative Rationality, Coherence and Fidelity To answer reservations that the narrative paradigm provided no standards for judging the quality of various stories, Fisher presented the concept of narrative rationality. He claimed that not all stories are equally compelling : that is not all stories have the same power to gain our belief. We Judge stories on the basis of a distinctively narrative form of rationality, which Fisher saw as quite different from conventional criteria of rationality. Fisher identified two standards for assessing narrative rationality, which is coherence and fidelity.Coherence refers to formal features of story conceived as a discrete sequenc e of thought and or action in life or literature (any recorded or written form of discourse) e. It concerns the question of whether or not a story coheres or ‘hangs together' whether or not the story is free of contradictions. In a story, we examine how the story strings together, how probable the story seems, are the important details included, is it free from contradictions, how does it compare with other stories, and do characters behave/think consistently.How do you decide whether the story makes sense? Fisher suggested that we first ask whether a story has internal coherence. We Judge whether the storyteller has told us all of the important details so that the outcome is believable. The way we assess coherence is to compare a specific story we are told with other stories about the same or similar situations, events and so forth. Fisher's (1987) second standard for narrative rationality is fidelity, which is defined as â€Å"the extent to which a story resonates with list eners personal experience and beliefs†.According to narrative theorists, we find stories believable when they are act as we do or as we would like to see ourselves acting. Fisher's explains that the standard of fidelity involve Judging the values in narration. When we identify with a character, we regard her or his action as admirable, worthy, reasonable. When we accept a story as true and right, we Judge it to reflect the values in which we believes and the ways of the world as we have experienced them 2.Weakness of the theory There are 3 major weaknesses that are commonly being brought forth by other scholars and they are: I) Incomplete description I') Too broad iii) conservative bias Incomplete description: Most scholar are skeptical that the theory could comprehensively describe all forms of communication. One of the arguments are from Robert Roland(1989) that stated that not all form of communication are narrative and do not attempt to be. As an example, Robert highlighte d that science fictions and science fantasy stories do not attempt to make sense in term of most people's experience and value.He stated that the main purpose of science fictions and science fantasy is to challenge prevailing values, experience and ways of being in the world. In the perspective of communication, scholars have identify 2 types of communications that do not apply to the narrative theory. 1st, Kirkwood (1992) argues that Fisher's view of narrative had failed to explain how stories create new possibilities, new version of ourselves and social life. This is because like the story of Martin Luther King is out of the standard form of storyline among the people within that timeline in how they see themselves and how they are suppose to act. Andy, James Cheeseboard (Bibb) believes that the theory are unpractical to the extend that if it is true it could cause harmful social consequences. For an example, the narratives of injustice and the right to revenge that are very commo n in most stories. Thus we could infer that assuming that the narrative theory is true it would incite riots and killing, thus it seem that Fisher did to account the impact of stories in developing new vision or how it would instigate harm.Too broad: In establishing a communication theory, it is essential to create a distinguish it self from another. Thus when Fisher stated that all form of communication is a form of narrative thus he is simultaneously stating that everything and nothing in the same time. Such sweeping statement on the view of communication do not assist researchers, scholars and the general public to identify the important distinction among the myriad forms of communication.Conservative Bias: Finally the third weakness that one could identify is that the theory is very insensitively bias. In the context of evaluating theory, conservative is referred to the preservation of existing or established values and practices thus due to that, according to William Kirkwood ( 1992)Fisher's idea of good reasons give privilege to prevailing value and attitude and focus less on to the ways in which stories can promote positive changes in the human condition.This contradiction can be seen in one of the narrative rational criteria of fidelity. Whereby there are cases of when even if the stories that we here ‘resonates with the listeners personal experience and lives'(Fisher 1987) but in truth even if it is consistent with our experience we tend to find some stories to be more credible from one to another. As an example, a video entitled ‘A Man Falls down and Cries for Help Twice. The Second Time, My Jaw Drops. On the www. Purports. Mom shows a man wearing a hooded,pair of Jeans and a snowman lying down at a town square calling for help, but after 45 minutes there was no one that came to assist despite of the large crowd passing through. This shows that despite of the general experience of being sick, and the general believe of doing DOD no one was convinced that the guy was sick or need any form of assistance. In addition to that, Kirkwood argues that this standard of Judgment encourage us to say only what will square with the other's experience and to avoid challenging prevailing views, vale and the status quo in social life. . Strength of the theory There are 3 major strengths that are commonly being brought forth by other scholars and they are: I) Heuristic Value it) Parsimonious iii) Dynamism Heuristic Value: Narrative theory is viewed as an original work of study that has a high value of evolve as it has provoke new perspective of communication, the nature of reason and the bases of Judging rationality Narrative is considered to be a major approach to rhetorical criticism (Bureaucrat, 1995, p. 271).Within rhetorical studies, narrative has been theorized as a rhetorical paradigm, and has been used in the analysis of various case studies from the speeches of Ronald Reagan to the rhetoric of the American Civil Rights movem ent (Lewis, 1987; Sells, 2008). The concept of narration also has been said to compliment well with Aristotle ancient treatise on rhetoric, ND it redefined as a primary component of a speech. In a section discussing the organization of speeches, Aristotle (2007) conceives of the narrative as the part of the speech in which a speaker leads the audience â€Å"through the facts† of the speaker's subject or case (p. 38). The narrative section of the speech should vary according to the type of speech delivered. In an influential work, Fisher (1984) has argued that narrative is a fundamental paradigm of human communication. Under the narrative paradigm, human beings are defined by their roles as storytellers, and narrative is a constitutive part of human nature. According to Fisher (1984), rhetoric is â€Å"communicated ultimately as stories meant to give order to human experience† (p. 6).Furthermore, narrative can be conceived as an alternative to rationality as a way of un derstanding the world, and is more intuitive than reason because it does not need to be taught Fisher's narrative paradigm has since been critiqued and expanded upon (for more on the narrative paradigm, see also Fisher, 1985; Fisher, 1989). Parsimonious: Due to the simplistic nature of the theory that uses a limited number of concepts to explain communication, the theory had multiple applications in different fields.Narrative has been studied in fields such as: rhetoric, literary theory, philosophy, history (see for example: White, 1980), psychology, political communication, journalism, studies of folklore, persuasion theory, media studies rhetorical studies, and political communication. In communication, scholars have studied narrative's role in politics and their use in news media. For example, Bennett & Delano (1985) present a pessimistic view of political narrative, arguing that narratives transmitted through mass media act as barriers to solving social problems by casting polic y issues in simplistic, ideological terms (p. 8). For Bennett & Delano (1985), the power of narratives to label political participants as â€Å"heroes† or â€Å"villains† or â€Å"deserving† or â€Å"undeserving† create â€Å"public policies that are rationalized by the construction of social problems for which they become solutions† (p. 159). Other scholars have also examined the ways in which Journalists use narratives in the construction of news content (see for example: Lull, 2001, p. 11-26; Gangs, 1979, p. 78-115) Dynamism: The theory is very dynamic to the extend where it could evolve and compliment in any form or context in the view of life .Fisher had rebutted the idea of how his theory could and would maintain the status quo. In his critical article in 1987, Fisher stated human beings are wonderfully creative and imaginative beings. Thus he claims that we are able to invent and accepts new stories when they are better explained or offer a better direction for future living than the stories had heard and believed. This is proven in the case of Hill vs. Thomas. During and immediately after the court hearing, the national polls reported that a majority of those polled had thought that Thomas story to be more credible than the one told by Anita Hill.However, a year after the hearings, when the people thought more about it, the majority of that poll has shifted their votes toward Anita Hills account. This shows that given time to consider and weigh of both stories, people could come to believe one that initially they had found lack of credibility. This shift suggest that fidelity ,may not be fixed at a moment but may shift in response to additional experiences and or reflection. 4. Examples f the theory 4. An article about narrative theory http://www. Marketing's. Co. UK/trends/brand-storytelling-narrative-theory/ 4007279. Article The Marketing week has made a cover on application, effectiveness ND importance of The narra tive Theory in delivering an effective branding image building. In the article Jonathan Bacon stated that ‘Storytelling, or providing consistent and compelling content to build a picture of a company, is becoming more important as people scrutinize brands and businesses. A research done by Monopole; which was commissioned by brand storytelling agency Aesop; attempts to define storytelling according to 10 criteria, including whether brands â€Å"have a clear sense of purpose†, whether consumers are â€Å"intrigued to see what they'll do next† and whether those brands â€Å"create their own world†. More than 1,500 1-J adults were asked to rate 100 major brands against these criteria before Monopole used the responses to compile a 81st of the best storytelling brands. The following are the results of the research.Thus we could conclude that a good brand story is important and this is supported by Deed Woodcock, strategy director and co-founder of Aesop which believes that a transparent and famous goal is paramount too believable brand story as an example, he state that Apple's top ranking is the result of its almost evangelical commitment to creating technology that improves people's lives and the clarity with which it tells that story. â€Å"Its sense of mission manifests itself in everything it does: from the design of its products and stores to the simplicity of its advertising,† he says.Apple is currently running a campaign using long copy to explain the story behind its products. Woodcock commented that in the cases of utility firms, the ineffectiveness of their branding strategy is due to poor marketing or bad publicity. â€Å"Even though utilities could be said to have a noble mission, perhaps the story the consumer tends to hear is fat cat utility rips off defenseless consumers',† he says This is consistent to Fisher's theory which stated that fidelity and coherence are crucial in evaluating a story.Thus a bad publ icity would tainted the rationality of the theory, with even if it has good reasoning it is not consistent with how the general public perceive these utility companies. Given the central role that storytelling plays in developing a brand's identity, it is perhaps not surprising that the ranking is dominated by some of the world's biggest brands, with Apple topping the list and other brands such as Coca-Cola, McDonald's and Heinz featuring in the top 10. But the study also offers an interesting insight into perceptions towards different industries.For example, while retail, food and drink and FMC brands fare particularly well in the rankings, brands in the utilities, financial services and automotive sectors are considered less adept at storytelling. The highest ranking financial services brand (Visa) is 30th out of 100, while the best storytelling bank or building society (Nationwide) is only 53rd. The top storytelling brand in the utilities sector comes 55th (British Gas) and the b ottom four brands overall are all utilities, with Scottish & Southern Energy (SSE) receiving the lowest ranking 4.Participation Observation & Interview SURVEY QUESTION ANALYSIS 4. 2. 1 Respondent background A survey was conducted on 21st of April 2014, at KILL cafe and the following are the backgrounds of our respondents. They are separated in two types of demographics which is local and international student of KILL. There are four local students which is consist of 2 Malay, 1 Chinese, 1 Indian ,and there are six international students which is consist of two Indonesian students and four from Arab countries (3 Sudanese, 1 Nigerian ). They are ages group are ranging from 18- 25 years old.The survey was conduct by a face to face interview. . 2. 2 The Finding Overall during our survey, there were one main question that was focused which is how does the general public of KILL student identify and rationalize a lie and it was found that 7 out of 10 respondent has given a response that i s consistent with Fisher Narrative Rationality Criterion. Which are Fidelity and Coherence. This can be seen throughout respondent 4-10 whereby when ask about being lied to all would have similar methodology of identifying a lie.Which are either through Fidelity Leg: There were lack of details that was told (lack of value in narration), She use the lying that I also use to tell people (personal experience) or Coherence [The story that the liar told me doesn't hang together (consist of contradiction). The flow of his story was not consisted with what I know (Inconsistence in sequence)] On the other hand, there are instances during our interviews that were not align with the Narrative Paradigm. [By looking at the pace of his speech (body language), He acted guilty (body language+ personal experience) He confess it by himself] 4. . 3 Summary It can be concluded that; in general, Fisher's Narrative Paradigm theory is applicable to the masses to KILL student but to a curtained extend. As what has been found via the analysis above there are a few findings that shows that there are some of the general student that do not Judge reason only from the sequence of a story and whether it make sense but they use other technicians like body language, analyzing body reaction, or some would Just tell the respondent that they had lied previously.Which to a certain extend derailed from the perspective that Fisher had brought forth which is communication is a form of narration â€Å"that all forms of human communication need to be seen fundamentally as stories-?symbolic interpretations f aspects of the world occurring in time and shaped by history, culture, and character;†( Human Communication As Narration: Toward a Philosophy of Reason, Value, and Action, Walter R. Fisher 1987) as for body language require a skill set and intuition rather than a layman interpretation off unconvincing story.Narrative theory by Walter Fisher is still applicable in this current society. Ther e are certain people who usually talks to themselves but most of them are talking to other people and that makes them involve in becoming the narrator or a storyteller. Secondly, we make decisions on the basis of good reasoning or logic. When we deciding things in our life, we tend to think logically rather than Just Jump into it. In order to make a good decision in life, people will think logically especially in making decision. Fisher's Narrative Paradigm is a very useful theory that explains one aspect of human nature.Fisher tells of how we are basically â€Å"storytelling animals† and how the receiver of the message Judges the credibility of the message due to its consistency or coherence. For example, when we feel sad and automatically our face will turn to something unpleasant. Suddenly there is someone notices the changes of our motions and he or she will automatically ask us about what happen and we explain it to them. The explanation done by us is what we call as nar rative and this is what Fisher trying to explain that human is a natural storyteller.Nowadays the theory is most prevalent in marketing. Marketing executives are actively seeking to fulfill these two criteria to make their brand more appealing towards their customers. Even though there are only two criteria stated by Fisher, there are more criteria a person would Judge a person narrative, especially in two way communication. Thus, even though Fisher succeed to capture on why human is a storytelling species, it does not explain fully on the traits that an individual would Judge others in real life.In conclusion, narrative theory is applicable in the current society and it is present in our everyday life. 6. Suggestion to improve the theory Our suggestions to improve this theory so that it is applicable in current society are to narrow down the scope of the theory. Two major criticism of narrative theory is it could not comprehensively describe all forms of communication and the broad ness of the theory. This problem can be avoided by narrowing down the scope of which narrative theory can cover.This meant that narrative theory needs to specify what type of communication it should represent. Another criticism faced by narrative theory is conservative bias. This criticism the nature of theory that conclude that human beings have a set of template on how they would respond to a specific conditions. Responding into this criticism, narrative theory needs to acknowledge that a person acceptance of a narrative can change overtime. This way, narrative theory can accommodate the flexible nature of human being.

Repulse travel Pharmaceuticals Coursework Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

Repulse travel Pharmaceuticals - Coursework Example In order to find out the profitability of the product the Earnings Before Interest and Tax (EBIT) accumulated from the product needs to be calculated. Based on the financial data estimates the EBIT of the product is calculated. However the calculation of EBIT, the depreciation was also needed to be calculated on a straight line basis based on the formula: Depreciation= (Historical cost- Residual value)/ Life of the Asset (Gupta, & Sharma, n. d, p.376) In order to calculate the EBIT, the sales value was considered and the total amount of fixed cost and variable cost was subtracted to get the ultimate results (Correia, et al, 2007, p.3-4). Based on the calculation shown in Appendix 2 the company will reap a profit of ?185,000 annually from the launch of the new product. However the figures of sales are based on assumption. The change in market condition and the rise of competitor in the market however can cause a variability in the sales which has not been considered in the calculation of the EBIT or the operating profit of the product. After the profitability of the project is considered, a look at the total cash flow using the undiscounted method is taken into consideration. For the calculation of the cash flow, the difference of the cash inflow and the cash outflow is considered. An assumption has been made in the calculation of the cash flow as the cash inflows are taken to be constant for the five years. Total cash flow is calculated based on the formula of Total cash flow = Total of cash inflow – Cash outflow. (Ahmed & Meehan, 2011, p.599) The calculation done on Appendix 3 shows that the total cash flow of the company is ?475000 However the undiscounted method for cash flow evaluation does not provide a true picture as the future value of the money... The research analyzes the feasibility of the new product to be launched by Repulse Travel Pharmaceutical. During the analysis, the data have been taken based on the estimate of the research. The financial parameters which have been taken into consideration are the payback period, Net Present Value analysis, and Sensitivity analysis. The result of the payback period reveals that the product will take a period of 3.5 years to generate the total amount invested by the organization in its implementation. Considering the total lifetime of the project to be 5 years as decided by the company, the time period of 3.5 years seems predominantly long. However further studies were conducted and the result of the discounted cash flow analysis, involving NPV suggested that the project has a positive result and is quite viable to be implemented. In the sensitivity analysis factors of demand and the selling price was manipulated to observe the change in NPV under each case. The results show that the decrease in demand or the selling price of the product will put the product in danger. However it is suggested that the organization can implement the product if they can maintain a constant demand of the product and they should be specific in not decreasing the unit selling price below 10 percent from the original value of 7, as found in the sensitivity analysis. Further the organization must consider a thorough market analysis to understand how the product will perform in the market after a comparative analysis of the competitors.

International Trade Contracts Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

International Trade Contracts - Essay Example As noted by Hannold, both English law and the CISG maintain that if a sales contract stipulates that the seller deliver the goods to the carrier or buyer at a specific location and time, and if the goods are delivered in the required condition, risk of damage passes from the seller to either the buyer or the carrier (depending on whom they were delivered to).2 In this case, and as is evident from the fact that B contracted directly with C, with S being responsible for the delivery of the wine to C at a specified place (quayside) the risk of damaged passed from S to C. In other words, as per both English law and the United Nations Convention for the International Sale of Goods, B cannot sue S who rightly claimed that his responsibility ended at the quayside. While B cannot sue S, he is entitled to sue C. The validation of the aforementioned assertion necessitates a brief review of relevant CIF terms, English law and case law. In accordance with the CIF contractual matrix, and as further supported by the laws governing marine transport and insurance, inclusive within the parameters of contracts for the maritime transport of goods is a guarantee that the goods will be delivered in the condition that they were originally delivered to the carrier in. In further guarantee of the stated, and as established by both English law and CIF terms, an insurance policy covering the economic value of the transported goods is included within such contracts.3 In direct reference to B's case, the implication here is that upon his entrance into contract with C for the delivery of the wine, and given that the assumption here is that S delivered them to C in the required condition, C is liable for the damages. The fact that B is entitled to hold C liable for the damages to the wine and is in a position to sue him according is further established by English case law. In Bayview Motors Ltd -v- Mitsui Marine and Fire Insurance Co., et al., [2002] the buyer contracted for a consignment of motor vehicles, whose specifications were clearly outlined in the contract. However, the goods he ultimately received were non-confirming consequent to the fact that they had been damaged during shipment. The seller successfully proved that the goods he had delivered to the carrier met the contractual requirements and therefore, established passage of risk. The buyer, thus, sued the carrier and the court found in favour of the claimant and held the carrier responsible for the damages.4 The aforementioned case is immediately relevant to the one at hand, insofar as it invaluably aids in the identification of the party responsible for the damaged consignment. Quite simply stated, passage of risk applied upon S's delivery of the goods to C in the required condition. The fact is that the goods were damaged during shipment and irrespective of whether C or his master of ship knew of the presence of the AFWA, the law is clear: C is responsible for the damages once he took possession of the goods at the quayside and, especially since S delivered them in the required condition. To this extent and given both the parameters of English law and CIF, B is entitled to sue C. (2) Even though, as previously stated, B is not responsible for t

Ending Hunger in the Elderly Population Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Ending Hunger in the Elderly Population - Essay Example Although students are not required to conduct an interview as research for the final project, the process of thinking about potential questions and responses related to the final project topic will help stimulate further ideas and questions related to conducting relevant and reliable research. Of course, you may also decide to interview the person discussed here or another appropriate subject and use the material in your upcoming projects as a primary source. I selected Ms. Haist, because she is the chief researcher at a famous university. She is also an expert on the topic of poverty and hunger reduction methods. I am sure, that she will provide me, with the detailed insight about the topic of my paper. The topic of this interview is focusing on the methods to alleviate hunger among the older people. According to the, Gomez & Ranney, (2002) There is a statistically significant relation between the health expenditure and fitness of old people, so if the government wants to keep them healthy, it has to stabilize their income, which can be achieved through offering them flexible insurance packages. This observation indicates a firm and logical relation between the health and financial well beings of individuals in question. During another study, the researcher finds that the proportion of homeless people is increasing with leaps during last two decades (Bowering, Clancy, & Poppendieck, 1999), majority of individuals among them, is older and has no family. They also lack the luxury of having proper shelter. At the same time they suffer with nutrients deprivation (Saad, 2000). It is the due responsibility of federal and regional governments to spare resources of the betterment of these people. In any country the most powerful entity is the government, so in my opinion this is the ultimate responsibility of the federal government to take care of these people, because the culture of US is individualistic, so people are busy

Future, past. present Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Future, past. present - Essay Example Therefore, this discussion seeks to analyze the past, present and future of law enforcement, with a view to establishing how this particular component of the legal system has evolved over time, how it has related with the other components forming the criminal justice system, its present state, and the likely nature of this component in the future. The past of law enforcement The history of the concept of law enforcement dates back to the settlement of the colonists in America, where the colonists who settled in America imported their constable system of law enforcement, with each community required to constitute a watchdog force that kept peace while dealing with the criminals and crime resolution, under the leadership of a chief peacekeeper, also referred to as the constable (Bumgarner, 2006). This was mainly applicable in the urban regions where the settlers had established their settlements. In the southern states, the concept of law enforcement developed with the establishment of the slave patrols, which was meant to whip and terrorize slaves, to prevent them from holding meeting or leaving their plantations without the express authorization of their masters, or even travelling (Roth, 2011).The first organized and paid policing force was established by City of Boston in 1635, followed by Texas in 1835, whose police force was referred to as the rangers, followed by the Municipality of New York in 1884, and eventually the other cities started following suit, but it is only until the Civil War, that a uniformed law enforcement force was established, which used nightsticks as their main weapon (Roth, 2011). Despite this organization, the law enforcement forces were controlled by politicians who presided over the cities and the municipalities, and thus they operated on the basis of their orders. However, the data of the number of the police officers in America remains scanty especially regarding the past, considering that the police officers established by diffe rent municipalities and cities could not be practically enumerated, since the law enforcement forces were not organized into a full disciplined force (Bumgarner, 2006). However, the existing data regarding the earliest disciplined force that was well organized is that of the U.S. Capitol Police (USCP) formed in 1852, which comprised of the 7 officers, with a chief officer, 4 assistant chiefs and 2 other ground patrol officers (Bumgarner, 2006). The U.S. Capitol Police (USCP) forms one of the few primary law enforcement force, still maintained by the federal government, which currently comprises of over 1,000 disciplined officers, forming the USCP federal department. The major reforms in the law enforcement started in the 20th century, where reforms regarding the qualifications, education and training of the enforcement officers, as well as the elimination of the political control over the law enforcement came into the limelight. The present of law enforcement The present state of la w enforcement in the US now comprises of well trained and disciplined forces, with well structured recruitment formulae and requirements. The other aspect of the current state of the law enforcement component of the justice system is that their duties and responsibilities are now well cut out, with such provisions enshrined in the constitution and in the law enforcement policies and regulations that guide their operations. Presently, as

INTERNATIONAL FINANCIAL MARKETS Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

INTERNATIONAL FINANCIAL MARKETS - Assignment Example These incentives provide new revenue opportunities for Acme in the United States. Countries in the EU that can provide these incentives are backed by the strong power of the euro currency and it also creates a linkage between other European countries that are already developed with a quality infrastructure for manufacturing and distribution. Being able to rely on these networks and existing business expertise makes JEL Industries a much better option than trying to work from the ground-up at DBC Industries outside of the EU. The strong euro has also provided developing countries in the European Union with knowledge of metallurgy, motor vehicles, glass production and heavy machinery production (Weidenbaum). Therefore, if Acme desires ample raw materials or the ability to select from a skilled labor pool of talented individuals, the EU is the most vital option for long-term growth and security for the business. Further, the value of the U.S. dollar is currently falling compared to the euro, therefore there are some cost advantages to selecting JEL Industries over DBC Industries. When consumers or industrial buyers make purchases of Acme products, they are using currency that will provide a higher profit. Why is this? The business can establish a higher pricing policy on its products to offset the costs of operations and/or distribution, and when the exchange between the EU and the U.S. dollar occurs, there will be more profit than if the products were sold domestically. Because the EU value is relatively stable, there is not the concern of sudden economic collapse that might occur with a more self-contained currency outside of the European Union. Thus, for profit purposes, JEL Industries is the recommended choice. Because more communications occur between EU partners, there will be less long-term costs associated with

Constantine Trucking Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Constantine Trucking - Assignment Example We are easy to access as our trucks are made available on an hourly basis, and delivery can be arranged by the ton/yard, and we provide complete solutions for trucking needs on the go. 2a. Plan Highlights: Our main objective is to ensure client satisfaction through timely and fast delivery, and providing best-quality mulch, excavation services and related products. As the construction industry is booming currently, we have decided to expand our horizons in order to improve profit margins and increase local market share. We have also created organizational diversity into our product line by launching into farming industry and provide our freshly baked home-made bakery items and locally harvested organic produce. 2b. Key to success: The local transportation and trucking industry is booming at the moment, so in order to stay not just defendable but in a combative position, in an ever growing competition we have to focus upon quality as well as cost reduction strategies such as:   a) We can deliver daily, from a minimal 3 yards up to 1,000,000 yards with a fleet of trucks from one ton dump to dump trailers. b) We aim to achieve at least four large-scale contracts for the coming three years. c) Expand our customer base by venturing into other geographical areas to achieve a sustainable level of productivity d) increase marketing expenditures by 15% (â€Å"Trucking Services†). Section Three: Company Summary 3a. Vision: Constantine Construction Inc in Loudonville, New York is a licensed, insured and privately owned construction and Trucking Company which falls in the category of Trucking-Contract Hauling, excavating contractors’ mulch. It is in the business since 50 years (â€Å"Constantine Truck and Repair Service†). The prior vision of this company is to deliver top quality products and services. We are a dedicated team striving to expand our community, helping to maintain existing

Zara Technoligy can Change Everything Term Paper

Zara Technoligy can Change Everything - Term Paper Example So he integrated forward, opening the first Zara store in La Coruna in 1975(Mcafee et al., 2007, p.3). The growth of Zara was phenomenal since its establishment in 1975. The success of first Zara store encouraged Ortega to open more clothing stores across Spain. It is often said that the innovation and ability to produce new products and services are decisive factors in boosting the growth of an organization. Zara did succeed in introducing new clothing products and trends in the market quite rapidly. Moreover, Ortega gave more emphasize to the production of new designs based on the rapidly changing industry trends, which helped him to compete effectively in the market. 1985 was a year which has huge importance in the history of Zara. Two major events occurred in this year that changed the entire face of the company. â€Å"First, Inditex (Industria de Diseno Textil) was formed as a holding company atop Zara, other retail chains and a network of internally owned suppliers. Second, Jo se Maria Castellano Rios joined the company† (Mcafee et al., 2007, p.3). Being an expert in IT, Castellano did everything possible to incorporate computer related technologies at every corners of the company. He had realized that without computers and internet, no industry can look forward and he changed the face of the company from a low end clothing company to a high end technology based clothing company. It should be noted that the net margin of Inditex increased from 7.21% to 11.2% during the period of 1996 to 2002 (Mcafee et al., 2007, p.16). The above statistics clearly suggest that the company is growing in the right direction since the introduction as a result of the innovative business strategies and the judicious use of technology in all the functional departments. â€Å"At the beginning of 2003, Inditex operated 1,558 stores in 45 countries, of which nearly 550 were part of the Zara chain. For its fiscal-year 2002, Inditex had posted a net income of A438 millionâ⠂¬  (Mcafee et al., 2007, p.5). The growth of Zara can be better understood with the help of Michael Porter’s five forces model. Zara and Porter’s five forces model Michael Porter’s famous five forces model is used extensively at present in business sectors to analyze the competitive power of an organization in the market. It helps business people to realize their strengths and weaknesses. Since market is changing rapidly because of the rapid technological growth, no organization can secure their top spot in the market, if they are reluctant in making periodical changes in their business strategies. For example, the rivalry between Apple and Microsoft is famous. Even though Microsoft concentrated only in the operating system market, Apple diversified its portfolios to many other fields and they became the most valuable technology company in the world at present, pushing Microsoft far behind. In other words, organizations should make changes in their business st rategies based on the changes in the market in order to keep their competitive power intact all the time. Porter’s five force model helps organizations to measure their competitive power at a given time period. Porter model can be used to foresee the future threats and opportunities and the organizations can plan well accordingly. According to Michael Porter, five competitive forces that may affect an organization are; Threat of substitute products, Threat of new entrants, Intense rivalry among existing players, Bargaining power of suppliers and Bargaining power of Buyers (Porter’s Five Forces Model, 2009). The following illustration makes these points clearer. (Porter’

The Princess Bride Essay Example for Free

The Princess Bride Essay It would not come as a big surprise if the Princess Bride is better known on its movie version than on its literary genius. There are a great deal of people who prefer to watch a movie than to read a good book and that is exactly where they are missing some of the fun a good book could offer. Sure, many would argue that movie is better since your eyes could capture what the book could not illustrate. However, there is also a certain magic in reading a book and envisioning the scenes than having them spoon-fed at you, not to mention that in a book, you could have the original and the full story. This does not mean, however, that the movie version of the Princes Bride is not worth watching since it is. The film and the book version alike shares a great deal in common, although there are certain things on which the two differs. Both could be considered a great masterpiece because the exciting and touching element of the story is always there that it is hard to miss. Westley and Buttercup for one, went overboard with their love for each other that it leaves no doubt in the audience mind that both means everything and that the two are worthy of each other. Inigo could convey the knack of fascination to a completely new level, and there could be no doubt that he was greatly devastated by the killing of his father and that he is justified for his plans of revenge. Fezzik, ion spite of his being a hired thug, is sweet at heart and is justified to do something right and good for once in his life. The audience, upon watching or reading the Princess Bride could not help but feel for these people and be mesmerized and held up on their escapades. The Princess Bride is basically divided into two stories. The 1st one of which is allegedly an shortened version of S. Morgenstern’s enigmatically, amusing take on the typical fairytale of great adventures in opposing good and gallant young innocents in opposition to the deceitful bad or evil guys. The second part of the story narrates the transformational occurrences which led Goldman to write the good parts abridged version and screenplay of the tale in which the good conquers evil. The story of fairytale is also ever present in the story; it is just as classic and exemplary which concerns the reconciliation of father and son as well as the search to recover an apparently lost gift. This too, is an entertaining story with indistinguishable connotations, both of which makes the audience unsure if the ending would be happy or tragic and these elements are similar in the film and the novel version of the Princess Bride although the novel version is more detailed in its telling something one could not hope to meet in a film version. William Goldman has one artistic stunt which is very beneficial for him in writing his literary masterpieces and was greatly evident in this particular story. Goldman is definitely an expert when it comes to run-on-sentences used to illustrate an action scene. The most notorious action scene in the story is the swordfight between Indigo and the Man in Black which is full of such sentences; however, one could not deny that the book holds a much greater succession of these scenes which is not present in the film. One could not help but notice that with its detailed plot and classy wittiness, this finely honed fairy tale is meant to suit tweens, teens, and adults. The version of the book, however, is more graphic than that of the film’s version to the point that the adventurous and exciting moments are more concentrated and the creepy scenes are much more scarier when read through the book than watched on the film. In the most passionate scenarios, Goldman concentrated on erecting tension and suspense wherein a small amount of illustrative accounts are kept short and concise. In the story (in film and in book) they managed to show that heroes comes in different shapes, sizes, gender, and the like wherein this particular story of good vs. evil showed how friends and strangers alike joined teamed up with each other to beat the bad guys and help the fight in keeping a great love alive. It is not possible to analyze the story without comparing the version of the book from that of the film. William Goldman, the author of the book, is also the one responsible in writing the film’s screenplay so the movie did not break away much from the original plot of the book. However, although there are certain scenarios which are similar in the screen and page version of the story, there is no arguing that the book is more detailed in so many parts, and that it contains more sinister, and frightening settings which are at times not in the film version or were toned down for cinema purposes. The version of the book also goes more profound into the mentalities of the major characters, and side characters are much cultivated, adding the sort of profundity one could never hope to obtain by watching a movie bound by time limits. As was the case in so many fairy tales, the Princess Bride did not depart from the traditional case wherein the story is narrated by a storyteller, with the effect of prompting the book lovers away from their daily lives and on into a world of magic and fantasy. Goldman’s wild journeys bring to mind every sensation and sentiment possible and the plot moves so fast in some areas that have the audiences catching their breaths. One of the things sure to catch the audience attention in the book are depictions of Prince Humperdinck’s Zoo of death as well as additional character advancement of Fezzik and Inigo Montoya by means of moving childhood memories. The portrayal of Humperdinck’s hobby enhances the element of pure evil which is lacking in the film version of the story. The film version of the Princess Bride is also enveloped in a syrupy story of a sick boy who is fortunate enough to have a loving grandfather who read the story to him. The novel version of Goldman’s story however, is enveloped in a completely different, not-so-syrupy story and it is this particular story which raises the captivating account of the Princess Bride from a cunning riff on fantasy stereotypes to a much more momentous and touching book. There are those who holds that the Princess bride is nothing more than a story of passion, duels, miracles, giants, and true love however, the Princess Bride is all that and something more. It is about the function of fantasy as well as its enticing promise of a break from the tiring world of which we are in. This is evident in Goldman’s prologue: true love and high adventure. I believed in that once. I thought my life was going to follow that path Obviously it didnt, but I dont think theres high adventure left any more. The Princess Bride is a story of fantasy which entices its audience to escape the world of reality and have a taste of fantasy and magic at its most demonstrative way. The story is presumably an edited version of a much longer work of S. Morgenstern. Goldman often disrupts the tale to remark on why he decided to remove a particular section of the story or he presents small clarifications on how effectual he felt some passages are. There are those who would view these breaks of narrative as nothing short of irritating, however, if one looks close enough, one would realize that the breaks came from a part of the storyteller who does not want to let go of the diversion and high romanticism of the said tale. The book is supposedly a tale wherein the hero always triumphs over evil and wherein the enemy is so evil, so immoral and dishonorable to the point that the audience would not feel an ounce of understanding or compassion for him, and wherein true love defeats everything and always succeed. However, all of these things mentioned above are fantasy and the point of the author’s intermissions (most particularly his delicately touching ending) is that life is not fantasy, life is not fair, and life is not inspiring â€Å"It’s just fairer than death, that’s all.† What makes the novel version of the story more touching than the film version is that, at the end, one could not help but realize that the enchanting tale of Westley and Buttercup is not really anything but a long mourning for confused and lost romanticism. This book, in a way, tells a person, by relating the most ludicrously tale of them all, is that our ideals or notions of love is of any real use and that by the time one’s end is near one would realize that they have lived a life nothing short of ordinary, and if perchance one did something out of the ordinary, that something occurred by means of serendipity and nothing more. It would make one realize that all that one would have left in the end is the recollection of a time when one have great faith on all of those ideals to the point that the prospect of disappointment did not even cross one’s mind. Of course, there could be other interpretations for the book, yet I believe that this is basically the reason why Goldman stated that the moral of the tale is â€Å"What you do with it will be of more than passing interest to us all.† To conclude, the one thing which I would greatly recommend is for one to read the book and watch the film, however, it would be much better if one read the book first to avoid confusion or to have better understanding of the plot of the story once you watch it in the screen. This advise is mainly because one would have a better understanding of the movie once one know the story behind it by reading the version of the book, it would also save one from getting left behind (if he is watching with someone who has read the book) in the story. Also, save for the fact that the film changed the book’s vague ending with a happier one and one would anticipate a mass entertainment film, the film version of the Princess Bride remained close and devoted to the abridgment of the book, and one would not be surprised to find this out especially if they know that the book’s author and the film’s screenwriter is the same. Works Cited Goldman, William. The Princess Bride: S Morgenstern’s Classic Tale of True Love and High Adventure. Del Rey; 25th anniversary edition 1987.

The Tipping Point by Malcolm Gladwell Essay Example for Free

The Tipping Point by Malcolm Gladwell Essay The Tipping Point, Malcolm Gladwell’s 2000 bestseller, discusses how some trends becomes gigantically popular while others fade away in the background without even leaving any mark. The Tipping Point, he says, is â€Å"the moment of critical mass, the threshold, the boiling point,† (12) where the â€Å"unexpected becomes expected, where radical change is more than possibility† but already a certainty. (13-14) It is when certain ideas, products, messages or behaviors suddenly turn into something of an epidemic, where everyone or majority of the people all of a sudden gets caught up in it without warning. We know right away that a certain trend has become an epidemic: its spread demonstrates contagious behavior, little changes had affected its growth tremendously, and it happened fast. According to Gladwell, these characteristics of an epidemic can be rooted to three factors.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚     The Law of the Few is discussed in the second chapter aptly titled, â€Å"Connectors, Mavens, and Salesmen.† Gladwell explains that phenomenal trends can be attributed to the few people that, through word-of-mouth, are able to influence others to either love or hate the trend. Gladwell explains that â€Å"the success of any kind of social epidemic is heavily dependent on the involvement of people with a particular and rare set of social gifts.† (33) Connectors link different people to each other and are referred to as â€Å"people specialists† (59). Mavens, on the other hand, are â€Å"information brokers† that possess, share, and acquire information on a lot of different products, prices, or places. (62, 69) The third type of influential people would be the salesmen, who can persuade and convince others into believing what they want.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   The Stickiness Factor is a trend’s unique quality of being memorable, or of being able to â€Å"stick† to the minds of the public. The elements that make something sticky are not really wonderfully big or exciting; in fact, they are actually the small and seemingly trivial things that appear to be counterintuitive to the norm or conventional wisdom. For instance, the makers of Sesame Street thought it would be a good idea to educate children through television, even though experiments and educational experts saw television as having low involvement. (99-110) The simple idea of using television to teach children surprisingly became a success, which had been followed by other educational viruses such as Blue’s Clues. As Gladwell puts it, â€Å"there is a simple way to package information that, under the right circumstances, can make it irresistible† or sticky. (132)   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Finally, the Power of Context consists of the conditions and circumstances of the times and places in which trends occur. The environment and historical moments where the trend originates are also responsible for making it phenomenal. Contextual changes are responsible for tipping an epidemic, as is in the case of the crimes in New York City, wherein crime became a contagious behavior due to the circumstances in the city. (140-143) However, Gladwell also adds that Environmental Tipping Points can be changed and reversed, and even prevented. (167) Another element in the third factor would be social groups, which makes people â€Å"susceptible to peer pressure and social norms and any number of other kinds of influence that can play a critical role in sweeping us up in the beginnings of an epidemic.† (171) Socialization plays a large role in context, because the popularity of a trend also depends heavily on how the public responds to it.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   In his conclusion, Gladwell redefines Tipping Points as â€Å"a reaffirmation of the potential for change and the power of intelligence action.† (259) After investigating two case studies that further exemplify the Tipping Point and its factors, he suggests that we reframe the way we think about the world, and accept that change is possible and constant. Work Cited Gladwell, Malcolm. The Tipping Point. New York: Little, Brown and Company, 2000.

Employment And Gender Equity Sociology Essay

Employment And Gender Equity Sociology Essay Introduction: Although there is a significant progress that has been achieved to gender equality in the labor market over recent decades and women are moving steadily into occupations that have been reserved for men and have managed to overcome the institutional discrimination that prevents them from certain jobs that hinders their career development, but there are many obstacles remain and rooted in the way that the work itself is organized or in the challenges that face women who try to reconcile work and family commitments or for cultural and religious reasons that have social / cultural and anthropological aspects. Women are still concentrated in the most unsteady forms of work and still far reaching from getting equal working opportunities, facing the phenomenon of glass ceiling which hinders them to get into high positions. Women worldwide have achieved higher levels of education than ever before and represent more than 35% of the global workforce in 2007  [1]  . The majority of top management positions in almost all countries are primarily held by men while female managers are holding lower management positions with less authority than men. It is something goes beyond just sex differences. Although women in general may be less emphasis on career success than men, but there are considerable huge number of professional women seeking top management positions and are unable to get them. Women seeking top managerial positions levels face large amount of challenges and may require different skills to be successful in the work place than their male counterparts. The causes are varies depending upon the size of the organization, level of management, and requisite job duties. Gender mainstreaming has been defined  [2]  as a process of assessing the implications for women and men of any planned action, including legislation, policies or programs, in any area and at all levels. It is a strategy for making the concerns and experiences of women as well as of men an integral part of the design, implementation, monitoring and evaluation of policies and programs in all political, economic and societal spheres, so that women and men benefit equally, and inequality is not perpetuated. The ultimate goal of mainstreaming is to achieve gender equality. Gender mainstreaming is a synthesizing concept that addresses the well being of women and men. It is a strategy that is central to the interests of the whole community. Although men and women are entering the labor force in equal numbers and qualifications, but the majority of top management positions still belong to men, and women share of management positions remains unacceptably low. Perception of Gender Roles: In 1960s-1970s, liberation movement has helped in changing the public perception of traditional gender roles. The introduction of the Equal Employment Organization, Affirmative Action, and Discrimination Laws helped shape public awareness. Although economic roles between men and women have become more similar over time, sex differences are still prevalent and tensions still exist in the workplace. In the United States in 2003, the most significant difference between men and women in the workforce is between Hispanic men and women 76% to 56% and the lowest difference is between black men and women (only 6% difference)  [3]  . There is a huge amount of theories explaining why sex differences exist, but most can be categorized in supporting either a nature or nurture theory. Those that support biological factors argue that people behave as they do because they are biologically male or female. Those that support the nurture approach view social-environmental factors as influencing be havior and believe that biological sex has very little to do with how people behave. What comprise sex discrimination? Article 11 of the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW), states that appropriate measures should be taken to eliminate discrimination against women in the field of employment in order to ensure, on the basis of equality of men and women. The US Civil Right Act of 1964 provides strong protections against sex discrimination  [4]  . In modern societies, skilled women have the power, right and ability to compete with every field engaged with men including, employment, athletics, academics and politics without sex discrimination. Unfortunately, there is a fundamental nature all around the world to keep womens salaries lower and opportunities fewer in the employment realm. Less common, men too can be subjected to unlawful sex discrimination regardless the shape and form it takes. Unequal pay and discriminatory job standards on the basis of sex discrimination are prohibited by law. Unequal treatment on the basis of sex is the core of sex discrimination. Se parate rest rooms, does not constitute sex discrimination, but it is sex discrimination to provide different working conditions, salaries, hiring, promotion or bonus criteria to women and men. Everyone, men and women has the right to secure and perform their jobs free of unwanted demands for romantic or sexual relationships, or unwanted communications or behaviors of a sexual nature that interfere with their ability to work. Another form of unlawful discrimination is the workplace harassment. It is not enough for employers to offer his women and men employee equal pay and opportunities; they must also remedy any sexual harassment situations that are known such as: Harassment of lower-tier employees by a manager or executive of lower position. Sexual harassment among coworkers. Harassment involves unwanted sexual advances, requests for sexual favors, and other verbal or physical conduct of a sexual nature. Make sexual conduct a condition or term of employment, to base employment decisions on such conduct, or to permit sexual conduct that unreasonably interferes with an employees work performance or creates an intimidating, hostile or offensive work environment. Offensive or rude comments, unwanted touching, displays of sexual objects or photographs, or offensive cartoons or drawings may constitute sexual harassment when they interfere with an individuals work performance. Is there a real limitation on women employment capabilities? The role of men and women in the society is clearly segregated. This division of role is part of division of labor. Unfortunately the nature of division of labor between men and women became too firm and continued to persist when it was no longer appropriate. The initial division of labor between men and women was primarily influenced by the child bearing role of women and their lower average of their physical strength. These differences in characteristics have not changed and the importance in division of labor becomes marginal. The most important requirements for most important jobs are mental capacities that both men and women have. With changing technologies and social structure, women are not tied down to the home to the same extent for performing their child bearing role. Changes in economic structure and culture have greatly reduced the importance and need for domestic duties. Therefore, most of the jobs today can be equally carried out quite well by men or women. For some jobs, it can be performed better by women because of their thin fingers and other jobs can be carried out better by men for it require heavy or physical manual labor. Women continued to encounter obstacles in first getting employment and advancing in jobs although of the change in the reality that women become equal to men. These obstacles can be referred to two main reasons. Women were not encouraged to acquire the education and skills that are needed to do many jobs. There was a cultural resistance in certain societies against women carrying out many of the jobs performed by men. This resistance came not only from men, but from women too, describing them as unladylike. Women employment situation today has considerably improved and these obstacles are no longer serious enough to be a significant barrier for women with a little determination. Ascendancy of so many women across the world occupying senior most position in government and business, including as prime ministers of countries and chief Executives officers of large corporation is a testimony to this fact. The Glass Ceiling and its Causes Although women are entering the labor force in large scale, but they cannot reach top managerial level positions that oppressed by men. About 70 percent of women and 57 percent of men believe that an invisible barrier, the glass ceiling (a term coined in 1986 by the Wall Street Journal), prevents women from advancing to top positions  [5]  . There are varied causes of the glass ceiling. Some refer the causes to self-imposed by some women for choosing for example to work fewer hours than men in order to spend more time with their families. Women measure their success in the workplace differently than men while men tend to measure success by high salaries and important job titles whereas women place a higher value on their relationships with colleagues and community service. Others refer the glass ceiling cause in organizations to the good old boy network when deciding who to promote in these organizations, women are often not even considered. The majority of employees in any companies or organizations have a life outside the office. These companies or organizations that are called family friendly organizations recognize this fact and introduce to their employees options such as flex-time, onsite child care, employee-assistance programs, and telecommuting to allow them to have a better chance to accommodate and balancing their home and work lives. But the problem lies in fact that some employees have no children, no family obligations and do not want to work in a family-friendly organization dislike their organization offering services that do not apply to them. To determining what employees want in the work place is to determine how people define career success. Men and women use different types of measures when determining what makes a career successful. Men focus on earnings, promotional opportunities and success while women focus on positive interpersonal relationships and feelings  [6]  . There are also difference between men and women in their career gaps. Women not like the men in regards that they are more likely to take a leave of absence and work a part-time job. Organizations need to adopt a culture that will allow them to stay competitive but also allows their employees to maintain a balance with their lives outside of the office. Employees should take advantage of work-family programs offered but women may feel reluctant to take advantage of these programs as they feel it may lessen their chance for success within the company. Extensive travel is another issue that women must face when considering executive jobs within an organization. Women have to find a solution on how to balance and accommodate family and work life and deal with doing business in countries like Saudi Arabia as an example that might not be as receptive to women in top positions. Although that video and teleconferencing has given companies as well as managers on the top of the companys hierarchy the ability to offer alternatives to extensive travel but they will not replace face to face meetings for relationship building and contract negotiations. Great efforts were made by women to knock on the glass ceiling but have not quite broken through it yet. It is true in high business companies where women represent less than 10% of executive positions  [7]  while they were represent almost 50% of worldwide workforce. This concludes discrimination due to hiring practices. Women will continue to push towards breaking the boundaries of their employment discrimination until companies recognize the value in securing a diverse work force. The glass ceiling may not be shattered for some time, but there are more holes in it than ever before. Gender Inequality in the Economy Around 200 million women worldwide have managed to find jobs in the last decade. In 2007, working women were 1.2 billion and men 1.8 billion but still the number of unemployed women increased from70.2 to 81.6 million  [8]  . If equitable and sustainable progress is to be achieved, womens status must be improved, their rights must be respected, and their contributions must be recognized. Women freedom has improved and has more power than before. However, they are still disadvantaged not receiving the full rights compared to men in virtually all aspects of life. Women, in developing countries in particular, often lack the education and skills necessary to gain employment in more lucrative sectors. The reasons can be summarized to the following categories: Capacity: Girls likely are less than boys enrolled in primary school and less likely to attend irregularly or not at all. If gender gap exists in primary school, it widens dramatically when it comes to secondary and higher education. Girls and women are vastly overrepresented among the worlds illiterate. Women are less likely to receive professional or vocational training once employed, significantly limiting their chances at promotion and success.   Even when resources are made available to women in the form of microcredit and help with starting small businesses, business management practices are not generally taught.   Most women-owned microenterprises do not experience growth beyond subsistence level. Access to Resources Women have not much access to resources necessary to start and grow businesses. Divorce, inheritance, and land laws often discriminate against women and girls, robbing them of valuable capital and property. Without capital, women are often unable to obtain credit, an absolute necessity of business transactions.    Decision-Making Women often lack of ability to act as their own agents of change and improvement. Women are often underrepresented in positions of power and influence, and are less likely to be able to effectively pursue and protect their interests.    Women lack accessibility to informal channels of power and influence. Household Responsibilities Women are generally responsible for the majority of unpaid work associated with care of the home, children, and the elderly. Household responsibilities thus take away from the time women have to spend in paid employment, whether full-time or part-time.   This reduces female earning power and economic status. Norms and Stereotypes Even when laws prevent official employment discrimination, the participation of women in a diverse range of jobs, gender inequality may still result from cultural norms, stereotypes, and traditions. Economic activity cannot be separated from the socio-cultural context occurred from families to communities.   Values, norms and attitudes shape both hiring and job-seeking; choices are made by men and women alike that serve to economically marginalize many women. Muslim women are not permitted to leave the house while western women strive to balance traditional motherhood with work. Policies to enhance gender mainstreaming at workplace: Recruitment policies or processes should be the same, clearly written and phrases not to discriminate employee on the basis of race, color, national, ethnic origin, gender, religion, disability, etc  . Non discrimination policy encompasses the operation of any work programs or activities. The law is the authority that protects anyone from being directly or indirectly discriminated  [9]  . Direct discrimination would include treating somebody differently and less favorably than others on the bases of gender, indirect discrimination that would include rules and working regulations within the workplace that advantages males against females or vice versa. Anny Human Resource Manager in any organization, recruitment process usually has three stages: Announcement or advertising, selection criteria and interview, and appointment. Before creating recruitment policy, a considerable and well thought -out approach is needed rather than trying to tackle issue on an ad hoc basis. Employers should take in consideration the following recruitment principles before formulation a recruitment policy: To be objective in identifying necessary skills and qualifications of the post candidate that will be able handle the job. Avoid any discriminatory language or implications Remain open-minded. In the announcement stage, it is unlawful to publish any advert that might be understood or hold an intention of discrimination against applicants from a particular racial group or sex. Gender neutral language must be selected and used. If the post title denotes a specific gender, it is necessary to state that application will be welcome from either sex. No graphics, style or expression indicate tendency to recruit a specific gender or race. It is of paramount importance to encourage applications from all categories of the community through including an equal opportunities statement within a job advert. Sex and race are not the only areas of discrimination, but disability, religion, belief, sexual orientation, marital status and age are grounds on which a person may not be discriminated against during the recruitment process. Selection criteria and interview should be related to the requirement of the post. Employers must be clear, precise and objective in their selection. No assumption as to stereotypical requirements for the job. Because of job criteria requires physical strength, it does not mean to exclude female candidates from the selection process. Employer should consider individual wish to work on part-time basis if he or she could undertake the required job. A covered refusal will negatively affect one gender and might raise complaint for indirect sex discrimination. If the selection process falls down on the basis of gut- feeling selection, more than one person carries out the interview to ensure that discrimination do not affect the selection process. In the appointment process, some employers use system of points to remove subjectivity from the process. Job is not necessary to be offered to individual with highest points but if it is offered to who did not score higher points is discrimination with no satisfactory explanation. No legal obligation to tell applicants why they have been unsuccessful, but many employers committed to equal opportunities which enable them to explain to the candidates why they were not selected. This approach will reduce the likelihood of a claim for discrimination being made and demonstrate the objectivity and openness used in the appointment process. Gender equality promotes the equal participation of women and men in decisions making. Supporting gender equality can reduce the gap between womens and mens access to and control of resources and the benefits of development are still out of reach for most women worldwide. Women continue to have fewer rights, lower education and health status, less income, and less access to resources and decision-making than men. Nevertheless, womens critical roles in food production, income generation, and management of natural resources, community organization and domestic responsibilities are essential for sustainable development. Gender Mainstreaming and Development effectiveness In the new conceptualization of poverty reduction, access to livelihood resources, capabilities building, security against vulnerability and equality of gender have come to be viewed as one integral process of the national plans of macroeconomic and social policies to promote growth and reduce poverty  [10]  . Scholars have identified the following dimensions of poverty  [11]  +  [12]  : Lack of access to labor markets and employment opportunities and productive resources. Lack of access to capabilities and public services as education and health. Vulnerability to economic risks and to public and domestic violence, as well as constraints on mobility. Lack of representation/empowerment, being without voice and without power at the household, community and national/international levels Gender mainstreaming introduced changes that were community sanctioned and supported, precisely because they provided identifiable and visible benefits for the house hold and communities such as: improved health status, expand primary school enrollment or both girls and boys, increased harmony in households and community , greater integration of children into community life etc.. Gender mainstreaming has integrated women more fully into communities in ways that enhanced their status. Instead of withdrawal from the house hold and separation from the community, gender main streaming increased womens opportunity, collaboration and contribution to the family and to larger community. Hence, gender mainstreaming quietly challenged long held cultural traditions and practices that ruined individual and community progress. Moreover, embedded in gender mainstreaming is a flexibility that enabled individual and communities to embrace the process at their own level of comfort and need. It dealt a direct blow to poverty, leaving in its wake a change that was desired, positive, purposeful, community driven and sustainable. Gender mainstreaming encouraged total involvement of all and became the driving force for development effectiveness. Conclusion: Since the start of the womens movement, changes in social acceptance of gender equality have been primarily due to changing perceptions among women and men themselves. Gender concept must be truly understood to be promoted effectively. It is neither an easy nor a straight forward process. It requires efforts to reduce gender inequities, whether they favor men or women. A true understanding to gender approach would eliminate gender gap, on the basis that no gender inequality is good either for individuals or the society as a whole. Gender interventions should not stop at gender equality; it should promote positive synergies that will act throughout the social system as generators of development. Gender equality should be seen within a dynamic system of relations embedded in a development process that seeks to empower its actors. The spread and enforcement of equal opportunity laws have lessened institutional discrimination and add considerable impact on the awareness of populations. Working women have become characterized by more continuous labor force participation. Women have entered many of the professions previously reserved for men, and their earnings have become an essential part of household income. They enjoined the choice for being independent earning that allowed them decide send their children, especially girl children to school. Womens economic empowerment emerged as key gender mainstreaming benefit and opened opportunities for womens participation in community development activities, with potential for their emergence as positive force in local and national politics.