Consider the Plan of Ayala in light of the Declaration of the Rights Essay

Consider the Plan of Ayala in light of the Declaration of the Rights of Man - Essay Example This is because â€Å"one’s right ends when another’s right begins†. Aside from that, the Declaration of the Rights of Man was perpetrated to curb the abuse of power of the legislative and executive powers of those that are in position which was one of the strongest causes of chaos and disillusionment among societies. The declaration is supposed to provide utmost transparency of the government’s responsibility to its people which indeed gave way to the close scrutiny of those in power’s action at any moment by all political institutions, thus, preventing contestations of principles and exercising power that only appeals to a chosen few. Some of the provisions of the Declaration of the Rights of Man would be gender equality, liberty without encroaching on the rights of others, right to property, security, resistance to oppression, sovereignty of the nation, laws based on the general will and etc. (Declaration of the Rights of Man, 1789). There are a lot of considerations of the Plan de Ayala in the light of the Declaration of the Rights of Man. First of all, Plan de Ayala was a movement that was surged because of the desire and need to end the tyranny and be able to redeem Mexico and its people from dictatorships. What was happening at this time was that the Mexican people who were led by Don Francisco I. Madero are now taking the law in their hands as the government or any political institution which is supposed to make sure the rights of man is served is already controlled by a single party which is headed by Madero. Aside from that, what rightly belongs to the people are not being served and moral laws are being crossed. To provide concise examples of Madero’s abuse, he clearly went against his commitment to push for revolution which he gloriously initiated to prosper the land. This is because of the fact that he gave in to corruption that defeats the purpose of the National Sovereignty and keeps it out of the equatio n; the numerous jailing and killings of revolutionary elements who helped him bag his presidency so all the power would be centered to him alone; the brute force done towards people who question or demand from him the fulfillment of the promises of the revolution, these people whom he called rebels to cover up to his brutality; and forcing more people into an alliance with him to form a new dictatorship where only their specific interests and rights are served (Womack, J., 1969). Thus, because of all the corruption of not only the people but also of the government and the other political institutions, the people of Mexico took initiative to solve anarchy and tyranny by seeking help from the remaining pro-Revolution chief justices to lead the movement. Aside from overthrowing Madero and Porfiro Diaz, an ally, they seek to regain what is rightful to each Mexican such as giving back the fields, timber, and water usurped by the landlords from citizens who actually have the titles to the se corresponding properties. However for the landlords who do not have documents to support their claim of property, the goods will still be confiscated from the corrupt leaders and will be nationalized - to be given to the victims of war, pensions for widows and orphans etc. (Womack, J., 1969). This course of act, overthrowing their leader is a right they can demand for as it is

Setting up a business - new business case study questions Essay Example for Free

Setting up a business new business case study questions Essay AO1: Knowledge AO2: Application and analysis: developing your explanation and using examples relevant to Josefs business. Explain two ways in which a bank can help a new business such as Josefs (4 marks) The first way in which a bank can help Josef is by giving him a loan of à ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½10,000 to help him to set up his business, there are many start up costs ie: equipment and computers that he will need to cover and it is important that he has enough money. Another way they can help is by offering advice; the bank can appoint a small business advisor as Josef is a young, inexperienced small business owner, they can help him with financial issues, keeping records and taxes. Would completing a business plan make sure that Josefs business was successful? Give reason for your answer. (9 marks) AO1: Kn. 1 mark AO2: App 2 marks (explain and developing your point, with examples relevant to Josefs business AO3 / AO4: Evaluation: Justify (give reasons) your ideas. Drawing up a business plan would certainly help Josefs business but it does not guarantee its success. It is important for Josef to put together a plan as it helps him realise everything that needs to be done, for example, all the different market research and promotions. He will also put together forecasts for cash flow and budgets and this will help him foresee any problems so therefore he can organise an overdraft for that time. The business plan will certainly help him obtain a loan which will allow him to invest the money into developing his service and keeping ahead of the competition this will help him be successful. On the other hand the business plan may not be accurate and could lead to bad decision making. The banks may not have faith in his business idea and may not lend him money, therefore not having cash in his business to cover all his start up costs. More importantly he may not run the business very well and this will lead to many problems further down the line. I think a business plan is very important to guide an entrepreneur but it must also be flexible and reviewed over time. Explain two reasons why someone might choose to buy a franchise from The Greenhouse (5 marks) AO1: Kn: state reasons AO2: Ap An give the benefits and provide a detailed explanation using examples from the case study As stated in the case study the Greenhouse restaurants are known for their quality food and quality service, the business is already a success and an entrepreneur maybe interested because they know the business will do well because of its excellent reputation, it is seen as less of a risk. Another benefit of owning the Greenhouse franchise is that an entrepreneur will receive training from the franchiser, much of the hard work is done in terms of marketing and design of the restaurants and menus etc this will save an entrepreneur a lot of cost and therefore allowing them to enjoy higher profit margins. Phil and Sandra are thinking of offering higher wages than those paid in other restaurants. Do you think that this is the best way to motivate staff? Give reasons for your answer. (9 marks) AO1: Kn. 1 mark AO2: App 2 marks (explain and developing your point, with examples relevant to the business) AO3 / AO4: Evaluation: 6 marks Justify (give reasons) your ideas. There are many ways in which Phil and Sandra can try to motivate their workforce to work harder. Offering higher wages is just one way and in many cases can be appropriate. Money is the main motivate for many people, especially those employed in the low wage catering industry and if wages increase your workers are less likely to leave and more likely to feel happier in the work place and work more productively. Some people view wages as an indication of their worth however many other people and theorists believe that other things are just as important, such as free health insurance, being recognised for hard work through rewards such as employee of the month and also given trust and extra responsibility. All of these are important in building confidence of your workforce and therefore an effective workforce. Although money is a motivator for some it could increase the costs of Phils and Sandras business and they maybe better off choosing other non-monetary methods to ensure they make as much profit as they can. Explain why batch production might be a better way for Connie to make cakes (5 marks) AO1: Kn: state reasons AO2: Ap An give the benefits and provide a detailed explanation using examples from the case study Connie makes different types of cakes, birthday, weddings and other occasions, if she bakes them in batches than it will be more efficient as it can save on costs ie: cooking fuel. It will also save a lot of time as baking one individual cake at a time would take much longer than if they were baked in batches. Being more efficient will save money and help connie make more profit.

The Importance Of Branding

The Importance Of Branding 1. INTRODUCTION: Now a day, the companies have recognized the importance of branding as an important key to success. This assignment is aims to analyse the importance of branding and its role in ensuring success in business. The scope of assignment covers the introduction to the brand, need of branding, key concepts in branding, importance of branding, brand architecture and role of branding for creating value. The exploratory studies include the both business to business (B2B) and business to consumer (B2C) markets. The research is based upon secondary data, collected from secondary sources such as journal articles, scholarly reviews, books and websites. In the end, a conclusion has been presented, based upon the research findings along with recommendations. 2. BRANDING: The American Marketing Association (AMA) defines the brand as, a design, name, symbol, term, logo or symbol or combination of them, intended to identify the goods or services of one seller or group of sellers and to differentiate them from those of competitors. The branding is, endowing products and services with the power of a brand (Kotler and Keller, 2009, p241). The Malhotra (2012) defines the branding as, process of utilizing marketing strategies to enhance their products or services image so that it is more readily recollected by the customer. A product or service is called brand only when its dimensions differentiate from others, but satisfy the same need. The point of difference can be related to products performance (functional, tangible and rational) or related to the image/abstract of brand (intangible, emotional or symbolic). The success of branding strategy of a company is mainly dependent on its brand planning, consists of branding models. The Keller (2009, p2) presents two important models for building brand. (a) Brand Positioning Model: The focus of the brand positioning model is to establish the competitive advantage in the minds of customers. Its all about positioning brand better than others. The competitive positioning can be developed through four steps. Competitive Framework of Reference: identify the competitors and the nature of competition in the market. Creating Point of Difference (POD): identify the attributes and features, different from competitors products. Creating Point of Parity (POP): Identify the attributes and features, similar to the competitors products. Creating Brand Mantra: A core promise or brand essence, three to five word phrases, presents the spirit of the brand. Like Nokia Connecting People, TESCO, every little help, Sony Ericson Finger Talk, McDonald I M loving it (Gangal, 2011); (TESCO-Strategy, 2012). (b) Brand Resonance Model: The brand resonance model focuses creating intense and loyal relationships with customers. The key components of this model are following (Appendix 1) (Keller, 2009); these four steps are also guided by brand pyramid (six building blocks) consist of brand salience, brand meaning, brand response, brand judgement, brand feeling and brand resonance, which help in connoting the sequence. Brand identity: Describe who are you? Through brand awareness. Brand Meaning: Describe what are you? Through defining POP POD. Brand Response: Describe what about you? Through positive actions. Brand Relationships: Describe what about you and me? Through loyalty. 1.1 Need of Branding: The marketers engage in creating brand and promoting brands due to many reasons, because they understand the significance of branding into their business. The different authors / researchers presents the different reasons (motives), behind making their brands. The Kotler and Keller (2009, p241) and CMS (2011) indicates towards differentiating motive as a major reason of branding. The marketers are engaged in branding, because they want to make their products different than other branded and non-branded products, so that the consumer can easily identify their brand, otherwise, without branding, the consumer cannot identify the products of a particular seller (brand). The Malhotra (2012) presents the reason behind branding is to enhance the image of a product that can be recalled by customers. When consumers are having high image of product in their minds, they can easily recognize the brand among other brands. A chocolate lover can easily recognize KitKat Chocolate as it is his favourite chocolate brand and he is having high image in its mind, so he would be only KitKat chocolate among other chocolate brands. The ultimate impact of high brand image results in higher sales and higher customer loyalty. The Foster (2011); Hankinson (2012, p974) states that the branding plays vital role in the success of business. When a company does create brands of its products and services, it enjoys many benefits such as, (a) branding differentiates the companys products from other products. (b) branding provides the company with communication ways in order to communicate the messages, principles, values and characteristics of products to customers. (c) Branding builds the report of company in the market, as new products with good quality and reasonable quality are best known in the market. (d) Branding is an effective way of developing the loyalty of customers. (e) Once the brand is established, the companies also feel ease to launch a new brand or product under its established brands. (f) Strong brands also help the company in difficult times or at the time of crises. (g) branding helps the companys in winning the purchase decisions of customers. (h) branding increases the branding recall among customer and ends up with strong customer loyalty. 1.2 Key Concepts of Branding: The key concepts of branding are the pillars, which help the companies to promote their brands towards their target customers. (a) Brand Positioning: Branding positioning is all about placing an image of the brand in the minds of customers. The Keller (2009, p6) describes the positioning as, act of designing the companys offering and image to occupy a distinctive place in the minds of the target market. (c) Brand Attributes: The brand attributes are bundle of features and characteristics which highlights personality aspects of brand (Managementstudyguide.com, 2009). The brand attributes are developed through actions, images and advertising. (c) Brand Elements: The brand elements are components, which creates the identity of brands such as name, slogan, colour, characters, symbol, sound, jingle, shape, graphic, tastes and movements etc. (Kerr, 2012). For example, the symbol of Honda (H), slogan of TESCO every little helps, character of KFC KFC + old man, the yellow colour of McDonalds (M) and jingle of Nokia (Tune) etc. are the examples of brand elements, which creates the brand. (d) Brand Personality: The personality of brand is, sum total of characteristics of the organization or its culture, which reflects the organizations philosophy and mission (brandXpress.net, 2008). (e) Unique Selling Propositions (USP): The effectiveness of branding strategy can be enhanced through better identification and highlighting the USPs. The USPs are the key characteristics and factors, which presents that the companys product is better than competitors products (Kerr, 2012). (f) Brand Image: The brand image is basically customers set of beliefs about a specific brand (Managementstudyguide.com, 2009). The image of a brand is built up with the core association about brand in the mind of customers. (g) Emotional Branding: The emotional branding is consumers attachment to a specific, relevant and strong emotion (bonding), love or companionship to the brand (Rossiter and Bellman, 2012, p291). The focus of companies is to gain the emotional attachment of people, because when people are emotionally attached to a brand, it creates attitudinal loyalty that is beyond of behavioural loyalty. The emotional branding is effective for those products, which seeks the high involvement of people and positively motivated. The traditional advertising (based upon USPs) is also much effective for creating emotional attachment, but the impact of customers positive experience of products is effective in highly competitive dynamic environment. (h) Internal Branding: Due to the paradigm shift from product to services, a need of internal branding has been increased rapidly. There people actually deliver the services to final customers, so their role is vital in service delivery. They can deliver the service only when they truly understand the brand identity, commitments, values and elements, which can be communicated to internal employees through internal branding (Patla and Pandit, 2012, p115). The effectiveness of internal branding can be measured through employee complaints and feedbacks. Further, employees emotional attachment and lesser communication gap also enhance the efficiency of internal branding (Franà §ois-Gagne, 2012). 1.3 Importance of Branding: The most distinctive capability of marketing managers is to create, maintain, enhance and protect the brands, because they know the importance of branding for their business. It is said that the great brands, such as Nike, Sony, Mercedes etc. are not accidently become great, but they are the result of planned and thoughtful branding strategies (Keller, 2009). The important aspect of branding is that it enables the companies to launch their own brands and also protect their brand through registering copyrights (Kotler and Keller, 2009, p242). The high street clothing brands such as Next, Nike, Levis and Wallis etc. are running their own branded products through registering their own brands, which not only differentiate them from market competitors but also protect their brands from the copy. The big retailers such as TESCO, Sainsburys, Morrisons and Primark etc. have also launched their private label brands, which helped the companies establish their own brands in competition and thei r brands and trade market are registered, so its protection for them due to branding. According to CMS (2011), branding also supports the advertising strategy of a company, because when people are quite familiar with the brand name, colour, logo, symbol or any other brand element, then people, when they see advertised, feels their emotional attachment and feelings for the brand. In addition, if the people are having a good branding experience, then a high level of attachment will be formed and it will take the customers towards buying decisions and remain loyal. The key aspect of a brand is that, an effective branding strategy does not work for a sole brand but also works for the entire companys brand. The Kerr (2012) states that an effective branding increases the sales, but the impact of effective branding is not limited to the one brand or service, but all other brands receive the impact, associated with a particular brand. An effective branding of Apply iPhone 4 is not only promotes the brand equity of Apple and promotion of iPhone 4, but also promotes the other iPhone models and products of Apple. The Ashton and Pressey (2011, p1027) claim the branding reduces the competition. This concept is similar to the differentiation strategy, opposite of cost leadership strategy. A company that is facing high competition from its competitor can avoid the competition through differentiating its products from others with the help of branding. There are many examples about avoiding competition from branding. The Mercedes is a brand of automobiles, but it positioned itself as premium and luxury brand, bring out itself out from competition of regular car brands. TESCO belongs to the retail industry, but it positioned itself as wholesaler or cheaper product brand. Redbull belongs to the beverage industry, but it positioned itself as energy drink and separated itself from other beverage brands. This is how branding differentiates the products from the competition. The red action and blue ocean strategy also help the companies to avoid from competition (Appendix 2) (Kim and Mauborgne, 2010). The key responsibility of brands is to create value for their stakeholders. According to Kotler and Keller (2009, p242), the branding works for both consumers and companies. For consumers, brandings help them in identifying their favourite brands, because when brands are identical, consumer can easily recognize them. It also helps the consumers to identify the brands, based upon the experience, which brands satisfy their needs and which dont. Consumers are also saving from risks of buying such products, which are not giving them the true value of money. In the modern world, in which consumers are time starved, complicated and more rushed, so branding makes their lives easy with decision making and reducing risk. From the perspective of the firm, the key form of the value of a company is monetary benefits that means branding increases the returns on investment for their companys stakeholders through increasing sales. Further, brands also provide other benefits to companies. Branding simplifies the product tracing, product handling, maintaining accounting records, organizing inventory, legal protection and predicting demand for a particular product. Nestle UK Ireland is dealing in many brands across the UK, so branding of Nestle provides the company to differentiate its products from other companys products. The in-house facilities include locating the product, handling inventory and maintaining records of products (Kotler and Keller, 2009). Apart from internal attribute characteristics, brand elements and associations the branding strategy also leverages the brand equity from secondary sources such as Things (third party endorsements, events, causes), places (channels, country of origin), People (employee, celebrities, endorsements) and other sources (company, alliances, ingredients and extensions) (Appendix 4). The brand uses the foreign brand names, language and country of origin (Coo) in order to enhance brand equity of their product (Melnyk, Klein and V-lckner, 2012, p21); (Herstein, 2012, p147). The branding creates the value for its stakeholders through increasing sales, profitability and return on investment. When a strong brand is successful in achieving loyalty (both behavioural and attitudinal), then customers make repeat purchase and also recommends its fellows and friends to buy from the particular company (called positive word of mouth and referral group impact) (Kapferer, 2008, p20). Further, the strong brand can easily charge higher from their loyal customers, so using the premium pricing strategy for strong brand is an easy and strong brand also makes the customers less elastic to price increase (Kotler and Keller, 2009, p244). In short, from a financial perspective, the strong brands can get higher returns on investments. 1.5 Role of Brand Architecture: The brand architecture represents the structure of brands in an organization. Brand architecture basically sets of all components of the brand, like brands visual requirements, operational requirements, story, promises, meaning and personality traits, under a single unified structure (Moderandi Inc, 2006). In brand architecture, the corporate brands or umbrella brands (overreaching brand, top brand) are used across the products in the company such as; Virgin Train, Virgin Cola, Virgin Mobiles and Virgin airlines etc. Brand architecture can be unitary (one company name for all brands: Virgins), hybrid (sub-brands work individually but linked with company brand: Nestle SA), and diversified (brands are marketed individually: Yams Food (Pizza Hut, KFC) Pepsi Brands) (MarketingforWAHM.com, 2012, p260). There are several benefits of advantage of brand architecture (Verma, 2009); (Kotler and Keller, 2009); (KENNEDY and McCOLL, 2012); (a) the company can easily manage the products across fa mily brands. (b) The consumers can easily recognize the brands as part of their favourite brand. (c) It develops understanding about brands, how brands are related to specific portfolio and how they are different from each others. (d) It also reflects that how sub-brands along with corporate brand support the core purpose of the overall corporate brand. (d) It helps to develop new brand elements for new products. (e) It can help to assess performance of corporate brand, family brand and sub-brands individually. The characteristics of brand architecture, simplicity, no more than two levels, flexibility and proper arrangement of brands improves the performance of brand architecture (Daye, 2009). 1.6 Branding for Business to Business (B2B) markets: The previous discussion on branding and its importance presents the role of branding for business to consumers (B2C) markets. The business to business (B2B) branding is almost same as B2C branding but there are few differences, which indicates towards using slight approach for B2B branding. (a) The corporate brand is more visible in B2B branding than product branding. (b) The B2B target market is smaller than B2C large customer population (selection of advertising strategy is important). (c) The contracts with customers are long term (so pricing and product details are important). (d) The decisions of branding in B2B are more inclined towards functional aspects. (e) B2B buyers are using rational decision making rather than emotional decision making. (f) B2B buyers focus business relationships more than individual sales. (g) B2B buyers are elastic more on price (Brown, 2009); (Miller, 2007). These differences stimulate the marketers to take different approach for branding in business to business markets. In B2B branding, the companies build their brand equity and achieve competitive advantage through their core brand values. For example, the brand value of Dell is flexibility, Sony is famous due to innovation and IBM is having brand value of quality. So, when buyers (other companies) would like to make purpose decisions, they would focus on key value of company before making buying decision (Hague, 2010). Secondly, the B2B buyers make buying decisions on the basis of product performance, product availability, product price and services (guaranty warranty), so marketers of B2B markets highlights these particular benefits of their products in advertising rather than focusing on attributes of products. Further they focus on tangible advertising materials such as indoor and outdoor material, one to one marketing, relationship marketing etc. One research findings states brands when personified as a human can be used to manage B2B customers relationship with in a B2B network (Gupta, Melew ar and Bourlaskis, 2010, p395). 1.7 Implications for Brand Managers: This section highlights the implications for brand managers, because there are some counter arguments on a few concepts of branding and suggestions for brand managers to understand these keep points in order to correct their focus and ripe the optimal benefits of branding (Malhotra, 2012) (Royston, 2006). Branding should be simple: The people can remember and recall the brands, which are simple and having positive associations. The complex brand elements and ideas are difficult to remember and recall. Brandings should be safe: The game of branding should be played safe. Especially in global brand marketing, brand managers must focus on following local culture, customs, norms and legislations that would keep the brand safe from social or legal threats. Branding should be different: The success of branding is only when it is different from competitors through using innovative strategies and methods as part of branding strategy. Its all about creating opportunities through telling the customers that you are different than competitors. A brand is not only a Logo: Although the logo and brand name is an important element of branding (CMS, 2011), but brand is not only the logo. Brand Loyalty never was telling: The success of branding strategy is not evaluated how good you are doing advertising and promotions in order to tell the people they should trust you, but this trust must be initiated by people by themselves that would reflect the true effect of branding. Positioning is presence: Now a day, actions speak louder than words. The positioning of brand is not what people feel about your brand, but what you really make them feel about your brand. 2. CONCLUSION: The findings of secondary research conclude that the branding is having significant importance for the success of business. The marketers get several advantages of branding such as, greater financial returns, greater loyalty, improved brand perception, larger margins, improved employee performance, opportunities of extensions and licensing, improved communication, less threat from competition and more elastics to price increase and less elastic to a price decrease and overall success of the business. For consumers, the branding helps the customers to select their favourite brand, make buying decisions easily and reduce the risk of buying less valued product against their money. Apart from business to consumer markets, the branding is also very helpful for business to business markets. Brand architecture is good practice of arranging the brand into sequence in accordance with their positions in architecture as corporate brand, sub-brand, line extensions etc. The use of brand architect ure is helpful for companies to manage their brands effectively. The implications for brand managers are to understand the true spirit of the brand, develop effective associations and manage the brand across the architecture in order to reap the maximum benefits of architecture.

The Roles of NREM and REM Sleep On Memory Consolidation Essay -- Resea

The Roles of NREM and REM Sleep On Memory Consolidation All mammals exhibit Rapid-Eye-Movement, or REM, sleep, and yet on certain levels this type of sleep would seem to be disadvantageous. During REM sleep, which is when most dreams occur, the brain uses much more energy than during non-REM (NREM) sleep. (1) This "waste" of energy coupled with the increased vulnerability of this state on account of the body's paralysis at this time suggests that there must be a very important reason, or reasons, for the existence of REM sleep and in extension of dreams. Determining the function of dreams, however, has proved very problematic with many arguments which directly oppose each other. Some of the primary functions of dreaming have been tied to is role in development, its production of neuro-proteins, and also to how it may allow for the "rehearsal" of neurons and neuronal pathways. The influence of dreaming on learning is one of the hottest debates. Some argue that dreams aid in learning, others that dreams aid in forgetting, and yet other s that dreams have no effect on learning or memory. That REM sleep seems to aid in development might argue that REM sleep may be connected to learning. It seems that most scientists believe that REM sleep aids in certain memory consolidations although some argue that it actually leads to "reverse learning. Before discussing the role of NREM and REM in learning, it is necessary to clarify the identity of and differences between the two. This type of sleep is marked by different stages based on different the different brainwaves exhibited. REM sleep differs from NREM in that most dreams occur during REM sleep although the two activities are not synonymous. REM is also marked by an incre... ...ource http://serendip.brynmawr.edu/bb/neuro/neuro03/web1/alippman.html 3)The REM Sleep-Memory Consolidation Hypothesis," article on Center for Sleep Research's homepage, Interesting site for sleep disorders http://www.nrip.ucla.edu/sleepresearch/science/1058full.html 4)Nature website, good for scientific articles http://www.nature.com/doifinder/10.1038/news020218/020218-20 5)MIT News website, interesting articles http://web.mit.edu/newsoffice/2002/dreams.html 6); TALK ABOUT SLEEP, Inc., basics answers about sleep http://serendip.brynmawr.edu/bb/neuro/neuro03/web2/)%20http://www.talkaboutsleep.com/basics/Sleep_Understanding_NINDS.htm 7)Harvard Undergraduate Society for Neuroscience, connected to Computer Science Program http://hcs.harvard.edu/~husn/BRAIN/vol1/sleep.html 8)UCSC Psych Website, http://psych.ucsc.edu/dreams/Articles/purpose.html

The Impact of E-Business

An E-Business strategy allows a typical business to take advantage of Internet technology to improve communications and increase productivity. An E-Business utilizes digital media such as email, data conferencing, e-commerce, and B2B to streamline business operations. These are made possible through a network infrastructure like Local Area Networks (LANs), Wireless communication, and the Internet. Customer relationship can be improved due to fast response time and efficient business transactions. Through email, businesses can communicate with their customers instantaneously. This is important for sales, support, and marketing activities. E-commerce websites can also be utilized to sell products and perform business transactions in real-time. Customers can do their shopping online, pay electronically, and have their products delivered the next day. This reduces cost drastically because there are no more physical overheads such as shops, printed brochures and human cashiers. Collaboration with business partners is also strengthened through B2B exchanges. Using this technology, companies can partner with each other buy cheaper products placed directly from suppliers. At the same time, they can integrate and synchronize their individual business operations. One company might handle product design, while others manage procurement, shipping, and marketing. This translates directly to reduced cost and improved business efficiency. E-Business can also increase a company's internal productivity. Using Local Area Networks (LANs) and Intranet, employees can share information faster and more efficient than traditional phone or paper communication. Various services such as email, file transfer, directory services, and knowledge management systems can increase productivity and reduce manual work. Wireless networking can also allow executives to be connected anywhere and anytime, so they can manage their business more effectively. A company can transform to become an E-Business by adopting Internet technology along with certain business considerations and decisions. The main strategy should be aligned with the main goal to reduce cost and increase the company's productivity. The importance of the transition should always be highlighted, emphasizing these two benefits. The reason for this is because most people are resistant to change, especially those related to technology. They view these as a threat to their jobs, to the status quo, and to internal politics. Studies will have to be made that will show the return on investment (ROI) and how it will improve the business as a whole. A transition plan should also be made so that the adoption of the technology would be much easier and not drastic. User education and training is also an important aspect because it helps people understand the benefits they can get from the E-Business. Considerable investments will also have to be made in IT consulting, hardware, and software. IT companies and consultants will be hired for the the initial setup of the system, and training for the users who will comprise the IT department. This department would then have the expertise to continue the transition and implement technology-related changes. Computer hardware such as personal computers and network cables will be purchased and changes in the office layout will be implemented. New guidelines and protocols should be also created in order to maintain system integrity and security. The company will be exposed to new threats such as unauthorized access, viruses, worms, hackers, and spam. Because of this, security procedures such as Intrusion Detection and Disaster Recovery should be implemented. Computer and network policies should also be in place so that these risks will be minimized.

The Cat in the Rain Essays

The Cat in the Rain Essays The Cat in the Rain Paper The Cat in the Rain Paper A. E. Hemingway â€Å"Cat in the Rain† Text Interpretation We tend to think of marital life as of a wonderful time, when two soul mates live happily, worshiping each other. However, having a family and seeming happy, one can be misunderstood and feel lonely. And this is the theme of Ernest Hemingway’s story â€Å"Cat in the rain†. The story is about a young American couple, who spend their time in Italy. The reader knows nothing about the couple’s past, and even the American wife’s name is unknown, which is a part of the author’s intention: Hemingway generalizes on the problem of marital life, and builds up a typical image of a wife, unhappy in her marriage. The story begins with the description of a hotel where the American wife and her husband stay. This descriptive paragraph occupies a strong position of the beginning. Everything seems to be ideal with the characters: a cozy room on the second floor, a lovely view from the window, but the author’s description of rain evokes a mood of sadness. To bring this air of melancholy home to his reader, Hemingway introduces parallel constructions: The rain dripped from the palm trees. †¦ in a long line in the rain. The nouns rain, pools, and sea belong to one semantic field – that of water, which comes to be associated with inevitability. Indeed, one cannot hide from the rain. Water is everywhere: it is on the ground, it is pouring from the heavens as though the nature were weeping for something. Alliteration, namely the repetition of the sounds -r-and -l-(Rain dripped from the palm trees, the sea broke in a long line in the rain), brings the necessary measured rhythm into the utterance, imitates the sound of rain. In such a dull evening the American wife sees a cat in the rain, and feels a strong inexplicable desire to get it. Hemingway writes: â€Å"The cat sat under the table and tried to make herself so compact that she wouldnt be dripped on†. The reader easily imagines a small, wet homeless creature, crouching under the table in the empty square. In the course of the story it turns into a symbol of loneliness for him, a parallel character to American wife: both characters are inconvenient and lonely. The girl’s decision to go down and get the cat â€Å"makes the reader acquainted† with her husband. He is lying on the bed, reading. First he proposes to go out for the cat his wife wants so much, but soon the reader understands: he does it out of politeness, not out of love and understanding. His answers are short and indifferent (â€Å"I’ll do it†, â€Å"Don’t get wet†), whereas the wife is explicit in her emotions. When the girl goes downstairs she is greeted by the hotel-keeper, who â€Å"stood up and bowed to her as she passed the office†. Her husband’s attitude radically differs from the hotel-keeper’s attitude towards her: the verb bowed in the latter’s speech implies respect. As the old man seems to be more caring than the husband, she takes a liking to him. To expose this feeling of the young lady the author resorts to anaphoric repetition: She liked the deadly serious way†¦ She liked his old, heavy face and big hands . The implicit details old heavy face and big hands point to those care and support the American wife cannot find in her husband. As the author says: The pardon made her feel very small and at the same time really important. She had a momentary feeling of being of supreme importance. Hemingway juxtaposes two epithets: small and important, and this paradoxical combination emphasizes the woman’s needs and feelings. She needs to be heard, to be understood, and to be important. It seems that the situation improves somehow because in the course of narration the husband â€Å"gets† a name – George, and it is him, who starts the conversation, when his wife returns to their room. He even stops reading for a while: â€Å"Did you get the cat,† – he asked, putting the book down†. The verbal elements – both the interrogative sentence and the phrase forming the gesture detail show that the husband wonders, he seems to be interested. But he doesn’t manage to keep this interest for too long: â€Å"George was reading again†. Then comes the climax of the story. â€Å"I get so tired of it,† she said. â€Å"I get so tired of looking like a boy. † The American wife is tired of her routine, she doesn’t say directly that she is not satisfied with her family life, but the reader can see it in the context. And this internal conflict – the conflict between the wife’s wishes and her inability to realize them – is the main conflict of the story. She says: I want to pull my hair back tight and smooth and make a big knot at the back that I feel. I want to have a kitty to sit on my lap and purr when I stroke her. She wants to have long hair to look solid and respectable. She wants to have children and her own house, which are associated in her mind with silver and candles. And the cat in her dreams is a symbol of refuge. â€Å"I want it to be spring,† the girl says. She desperately needs changes, something new in her life. She needs someone to care about. To disclose the girls emotional state and to accentuate the idea of dissatisfaction the author bases upon parallelism reinforced by the repetition of the verb want (I want). Even this pronoun I makes the reader believe the American wife is lonely: heshe cannot see the pronoun we instead, for instance. The American wife feels insulted with her husband’s behaviour and stays looking out of the window. It is still raining. The rain, a silent witness of this high drama, forms the leitmotif of the story. The image of rain has a symbolic meaning. It symbolizes an unfortunate family life. To the end of the story the author gratifies the girls wish and â€Å"gives† her the cat, but it is not that cat from the street. And though the writer leaves it to the reader to guess a further development of the events, it seems predictable that the girl wont be satisfied, that she will never be happy with her husband. This big tortoise-shell cat does not seem to symbolize home, coziness and, as a result, happiness, it symbolizes a missed opportunity.