The poem Beowulf was written in England sometime in the 8th century Essay Example For Students

The poem Beowulf was written in England sometime in the 8th century Essay The poem Beowulf was written in England sometime in the 8th century. It was written during a time when the society was in the process of being converted from paganism to Christianity. The Christian influences are combined with early folklore and heroic legends of Germanic tribes. Yet, the pagan elements in the epic poem Beowulf clearly overshadow the Christian elements, and it is visible in the characters superhuman personifications, their hunger for revenge, and their strong belief in fate. The main character, Beowulf, is depicted as a superhero in many of his extraordinary battles. During the battle with Grendels mother, when Beowulf realizes that Unferths sword is useless against the monsters thick skin, he grabs à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦the best of all weapons / But so massive that no ordinary man could lift / Its carved and decorated length1558-1561. This shows the significance of Beowulfs strength, because if it were any other man, they would not be able to lift this sword and kill Grendels mother. His strength is far superior to any other human, and therefore Beowulf fits the epic and pagan quality of being head and shoulders above the rest. We will write a custom essay on The poem Beowulf was written in England sometime in the 8th century specifically for you for only $16.38 $13.9/page Order now Another instance where Beowulf demonstrates his superhero abilities, is his final battle with the dragon. Beowulf is a very old man by now and although he is, in the end, fatally wounded, he manages to deliver the final blow that kills the dragon. His lack of fear to fight the dragon by himself, is portrayed when he tells his friends to stay outside so they will not get injured. Even as an elderly person, Beowulf still has the same extraordinary courage and strength as earlier in the poem. And even with age, he has not lost the qualities that make him universally well known, and an outstanding hero. These battles are examples of epic folklore during pagan times. Another pagan element is visible in the craving for revenge by many of the Anglo-Saxons. Beowulf illustrates this wish for vengeance after Hrothgar loses one of his counselors to Grendel: Let your sorrow end! It is better for us all / To avenge our friends, not mourn them forever 1384-1385. This passage disproves the idea that Beowulf is a Christian poem, because taking an eye for an eye is not at all a Christian belief. Revenge is an idea promoted by Pagans, and was thought to be necessary to avenge to death of a friend. Another act of revenge is seen when Beowulf attempts to defeat the dragon after it wreaks havoc on the land of the Geats, causing much damage. Even though Beowulf was very old, the fame-hungry king was seeking retribution for the fury the dragon had lashed out onto his city. Beowulf is obviously very arrogant and hot-headed, and does not follow Christian ideas and beliefs. It is proven that this epic poem is a pagan work, because of the accepted seeking of revenge. One final pagan aspect of this poem, is the strong belief that everyone was in the  hands of fate, the idea that your life is predetermined. For instance, when the men of Herot are awaiting Grendels wrath, Beowulf states, Fate will unwind as it must! 455. This shows that the warriors did not worry about what would happen, because they are unable to change what is already planned for the future. Beowulfs courage is also explained in this segment, since he could not alter the future no matter what he did, he was not afraid of what would happen. Another occasion where fate takes control is when the dragon kills Beowulf. He has lived a long and meaningful life, but this tragic event proves that everyone is in the hands of fate. This also negates the belief that Beowulf is a Christian poem, because the Christian belief is that ones life is in the hands of God, and is not determined by fate. .u460bd020afd933f8bda23dab5a9efba3 , .u460bd020afd933f8bda23dab5a9efba3 .postImageUrl , .u460bd020afd933f8bda23dab5a9efba3 .centered-text-area { min-height: 80px; position: relative; } .u460bd020afd933f8bda23dab5a9efba3 , .u460bd020afd933f8bda23dab5a9efba3:hover , .u460bd020afd933f8bda23dab5a9efba3:visited , .u460bd020afd933f8bda23dab5a9efba3:active { border:0!important; } .u460bd020afd933f8bda23dab5a9efba3 .clearfix:after { content: ""; display: table; clear: both; } .u460bd020afd933f8bda23dab5a9efba3 { display: block; transition: background-color 250ms; webkit-transition: background-color 250ms; width: 100%; opacity: 1; transition: opacity 250ms; webkit-transition: opacity 250ms; background-color: #95A5A6; } .u460bd020afd933f8bda23dab5a9efba3:active , .u460bd020afd933f8bda23dab5a9efba3:hover { opacity: 1; transition: opacity 250ms; webkit-transition: opacity 250ms; background-color: #2C3E50; } .u460bd020afd933f8bda23dab5a9efba3 .centered-text-area { width: 100%; position: relative ; } .u460bd020afd933f8bda23dab5a9efba3 .ctaText { border-bottom: 0 solid #fff; color: #2980B9; font-size: 16px; font-weight: bold; margin: 0; padding: 0; text-decoration: underline; } .u460bd020afd933f8bda23dab5a9efba3 .postTitle { color: #FFFFFF; font-size: 16px; font-weight: 600; margin: 0; padding: 0; width: 100%; } .u460bd020afd933f8bda23dab5a9efba3 .ctaButton { background-color: #7F8C8D!important; color: #2980B9; border: none; border-radius: 3px; box-shadow: none; font-size: 14px; font-weight: bold; line-height: 26px; moz-border-radius: 3px; text-align: center; text-decoration: none; text-shadow: none; width: 80px; min-height: 80px; background: url(https://artscolumbia.org/wp-content/plugins/intelly-related-posts/assets/images/simple-arrow.png)no-repeat; position: absolute; right: 0; top: 0; } .u460bd020afd933f8bda23dab5a9efba3:hover .ctaButton { background-color: #34495E!important; } .u460bd020afd933f8bda23dab5a9efba3 .centered-text { display: table; height: 80px; padding-left : 18px; top: 0; } .u460bd020afd933f8bda23dab5a9efba3 .u460bd020afd933f8bda23dab5a9efba3-content { display: table-cell; margin: 0; padding: 0; padding-right: 108px; position: relative; vertical-align: middle; width: 100%; } .u460bd020afd933f8bda23dab5a9efba3:after { content: ""; display: block; clear: both; } READ: Environmental Poetry EssayBeowulf is clearly a pagan poem because it conveys standards that are almost the opposite of Christian beliefs. The pagan beliefs of the time are accepted and followed entirely. The very apparent aspects of this poem that make it pagan are, characters superhuman personifications, a strong belief in fate, and a longing for revenge.

Robinson Crusoe Essay

Robinson Crusoe Essay The amazing story I read was the tale of Robinson Crusoe, written by Daniel Defoe, which is the account of a man who was stranded on an uninhabited island for more than twenty years. This story was published by the English writer, Defoe, in the year 1719, about eighty years before the French Revolution. The fiction was in a relatively simple manner but was so masterfully done that it has achieved much praise. In Robinson Crusoe, there are very few characters that the author describes with much detail. The main character is Robinson Crusoe who is the son of a well-to-do middle-class father. He is very immature in the beginning because of how his emotions change like a stormy sea. He keeps jumping from wanting to become involved in law to obey his father’s wishes and sailing out to sea to show he is a rebel. Later on, his character becomes more mature while he is living on the deserted island and he shows the amount of ingenuity he has by completing his priorities to survive with very little in supplies to help him complete them. There are a few other characters in the story that have some significance to Robinson’s life like his servants Friday and Xury. He has these friend-servants at different points in the story and they help him survive in one way or another. Xury helps him escape from his Moorish slave master and stays with Robinson until they are picked by a Portuguese captain. Friday comes into Robinson’s services when Robinson saves him from cannibalistic savages that want to eat him and helps Robinson survive on the island. There are numerous characters in Robinson Crusoe but only a few of them have any real significance to the life of the main character, Robinson Crusoe, in the story. The story of Robinson Crusoe has a very straightforward and basic plot. It is about a young man disobeying his father and going out to sea to explore the world. He encounters many problems, though, but seems to overcome everything that happens to him one way or another. The largest predicament he gets into is shipwrecking on an uninhabited island in the Caribbean and having to survive there for over twenty years. In the end, though, he even overcomes that situation and eventually travels back to his home in England to settle down and have children. Other problems he encountered were being captured and enslaved, fighting bloodthirsty savages, and nullifying a mutinying ship crew. Throughout all this Robinson stayed mostly levelheaded and worked strategically to accomplish his goals. The whole story is just about Robinson encountering problems and overcoming them which is not that complex of a storyline. There are many underlying historical facts in the tale of Robinson Crusoe. Robinson’s father represents the Protestant ideal of being a hard-working individual while the savages of Brazil are considered to be the lowest form of life with their pagan practices and attitudes. Defoe also shows that during the time he was writing the book Catholics were not trusted in England because he makes Robinson suspicious of the Catholic Spaniard he saves from the savages. Christianity is shown as a form of deliverance for foreign servants that want to become free and shows that the Christian religion was seen as the best religion to believe in during the 1700s. It is also shown that the Inquisition is happening in the book because Robinson is afraid that the Spaniard will give him to the Inquisition if he lets the Spaniard take him back to Europe. There are many clues and phrases that show what was happening in the European world in the tale of Robinson Crusoe. The novel, Robinson Crusoe, was one of the greatest books I ever read in my life. Daniel Defoe captures Robinson’s own personal view, instead of the view of the masses, perfectly with Robinson’s own individual way of thinking and viewing the world around him. He shows how Robinson matures throughout the book and has a deeper understanding of life until he goes back to the corrupted European world and becomes an ignorant man looking for adventure again. The in-depth descriptions of what Robinson did to survive demonstrate that Defoe had extensive knowledge on survival tactics and enhances the story to the point of it being believable. This book is a must-read by anybody who wants to experience real English literature in all its glory. The story of Robinson Crusoe was a great book to read and was written by an amazing author from England. Even though the plot was quite simple and there were very few characters with any real significance to the story, the style of writing that the novel was done with was truly amazing and more than makes up for everything else in the story. The fiction, Robinson Crusoe, was a real English masterpiece of a novel and was done by Daniel Defoe, one of the greatest English writers of all time. You can order a custom essay, term paper, research paper, thesis or dissertation on Robinson Crusoe topics at our professional custom essay writing service which provides students with custom papers written by highly qualified academic writers. High quality and no plagiarism guarantee! Get professional essay writing help at an affordable cost.

Albert Nobbs (2011) Movie Review Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Albert Nobbs (2011) - Movie Review Example Albert worked as a hotel waiter for thirty years during which she exhibited extreme dedication, and was known for her introvert nature. The hotel appointed Joe Mackins for repairing of boilers, who soon went into a relationship with the flirtatious maid Helen Dawes. However, Joe proved to be a drunk and extremely dominating man. Albert then narrates her life story to Hubert Page who is a housepainter and a fellow transvestite. Albert had chosen her present life out of economic needs after she was gang raped at the age of fourteen. However, Albert refrains from revealing her true name since she considers herself as a man. Seeing that Hubert is married and has a wife, Cathleen who is a dressmaker by profession, Albert too dreams of having a life partner. Albert’s objective in life is to open a tobacco shop with her savings and for that she offered Helen to stay with her. In spite of her reluctance, Joe insists Helen to agree since he thought Albert would give her the money that he needed to leave Ireland for America with Helen. During this time, typhoid epidemic broke out in Dublin for which hotel business began to drop thus calling financial problems for Albert. Soon she learns that Cathleen has died of the epidemic. In memory of Cathleen, Albert and Hubert dress up as women wearing the clothes made by Cathleen. During a walk together, although they manage to overcome their initial uneasiness, Albert soon trips and falls which returns her to reality. They then revert to their old lives, i.e. playing the role of men. Immediately after this Albert learns that Helen is pregnant with Joe’s child. In response to Helen’s fear that Joe may abandon her and leave for America, Albert offers to marry her. Later that eveni ng, Helen and Joe get involved in a fight in which Albert intervened and physically attacked Joe. Joe, in a fit of rage, pushes Albert

Drug Trafficking in the United States Research Proposal

Drug Trafficking in the United States - Research Proposal Example Illegal immigration has proved to be the main cause of this issue. The United States of America has been facing the issue of drug trafficking for many years. In the United States, drug dealers make use of illegal immigrants for the manufacturing and exchange of drugs. The drug dealers are aware of the insecurity and fear which illegal immigrants have in their minds, and they use that fear for making immigrants work for them. The network of the drug trafficking industry has expanded, not only to the United States, but also to other parts of the world. People involved in the illegal drugs business send their representatives to other countries in order to expand their illegal activities there. However, no country voluntarily permits such individuals to migrate into their territory and continue their illegal activities. Therefore, such people use illegal methods to cross the boarders of other countries. The government of the United States needs to take effective measures to stop illegal immigration because it is one of the major contributing factors to increased drug trafficking. The purpose of this research is to reduce drug trafficking in the United States by finding ways to stop illegal immigrations. The hypothesis for the research is that limiting illegal immigrations from countries which are the homes of drug cartels can help the government restrict drug trafficking in the United States. Personal interviews with drug dealers, smugglers, drug users and victims will be conducted for the collection of data. Visits to drug users and drug dealers will also be made to gather information about the sources through which they get their narcotics. Some of the likely sources for current information on this research topic will be books, scholarly journals, and internet articles. I will collect data and statistics and organize them into charts and tables. The time required for the completion of this research is estimated

Accounting graded unit 2 Coursework Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3000 words

Accounting graded unit 2 - Coursework Example The goals can be significantly categorised as planning, development and evaluation. The planning process is very crucial and should be devoted moderate amount of time. The expected time frame for the planning process is approximately two weeks. The development stage require gathering of various primary information as well as secondary information for careful assessment and budget planning. A time period of three weeks can be considered thereof. Evaluation process can be conducted within a span of 10 days. The key factors are quantity of the final product the wholesaler is willing to stock, direct and indirect material required for production, manpower for operational activities and hours required for determination of total cost. Additional requirement of resources such as manpower and method of costing require more research and attention. It was determined that the company has implemented traditional as well as activity based costing for budgeting for its products. Since the new product is going for production for the first time, appropriate cost method requires significant consideration. The company is planning to make some additional investment in CNC machine and should research whether the investment is worthy. There are two research methods that can be implemented in research process, namely, primary research and secondary research. Primary research indicates towards first hand obtained data while secondary research is pursued by evaluating various readily available data such as company database, journals, books and other sources. The case study is a prominent secondary source in this paper and the other secondary sources that will be used in this regard are books and journals. The report is a multifaceted project and requires evaluation of several minor and major aspects underlying the situation. Costing

Organisational Structure Of The Ikea Company Commerce Essay

Organisational Structure Of The Ikea Company Commerce Essay Ingvar Kamprad, the founder of IKEA, as a child, started a profitable business selling matches to neighbours on his bicycle. In 1943, at just 17 using money he received as a gift from his father for doing well in school he formed IKEA which is an acronym made up of his initials and the first letters of Elmtaryd and Agunnaryd, the farm and village in Sweden where he grew up. In 1947, furniture was introduced for the first time in IKEAs product line in the form of armchairs. Local craftsmen made the furniture using wood from a nearby forest. IKEAs furniture became very popular and the line was extended to include more products. Its interesting at this point in the companies history because Kamprad was based in a very poor area of Sweden, and because of this, the people were naturally frugal and highly resourceful, in other words they had to maximise and be inventive with the limited resources available to themThe author believes that this is the setting and cornerstone for all of IKEAs subsequent success. IKEAs vision was To create a better everyday life for the many people. According to Ingvar Kamprad, the founder of Ikea; To design a desk which may cost $1,000 is easy for a furniture designer, but to design a functional and good desk which shall cost $50 can only be done by the very best. Expensive solutions to all kinds of problems are often signs of mediocrity. (Chandler, 1993: 12) Ikeas success is based on the relatively simple idea of keeping the cost between manufacturers and customers down. Costs are kept under control starting at the design level of the value-added chain. Following on from this the culture of the company emphasizes efficiency and low cost, which cannot be achieved at the expense of quality or service. Bureaucracy is fought at all levels in the organization. Kamprad believes that simplicity and common sense should characterize planning and strategic direction (Bartlett et Al, 1993: 78). Bartlett C.A. Ghoshal S. (1993) Transnational Management. Irwin Publishers Boston Massachusetts Symbolic policies, such as only flying economy class and staying at economical hotels, employing young executives and sponsoring university programs have made cost part of corporate culture and have further inspired the influx of entrepreneurship into the organization. Despite his vast wealth it is reported he used to only drive an eleven-year-old modest Volvo. By 1951, furniture sales dominated his sales inventory and he decided to specialize exclusively in low priced furniture. The author recognises here that he is playing to his market strengths and again this is a further cornerstone of his subsequent success. In the same year, the first IKEA furniture catalogue was published. IKEA opened its first furniture showroom in 1953, which allowed customers to check the quality and use the items they were buying. The author recognises that any company that is prepared to allow customers to use its products before buying them will likely ensure that the quality of the product is if anything substantially above its utility specification. People also like to handle and view a potential product before purchase, which is part of the reason, that ecommerce will always take on limited success. Today IKEA is actually a privately held company owned by Stichting INGKA Foundation, a non-profit registered in Leiden in the Netherlands that is controlled by the Kamprads three sons. The Dutch foundation is worth US$36 billion in 2006. IKEA Group with its headquarters in Denmark, is a multinational operator of a chain of stores for home furnishing and furniture. It is the worlds largest furniture retailer with a reputation for low cost, style and design. IKEAs annual home furnishing sales are 20 billion euros with more than 260 IKEA Group stores in 25 countries (Ohlsson, 2010). IKEA has about 40 distribution centres worldwide in 16 different countries, and implemented the automated Astro warehouse management system in 2005 (2005) in 15 of their Distribution Centres (DC) and Customer Distribution Centres (CDC). IKEA has approximately 1,220 suppliers from 55 different countries split more or less evenly between Europe and Asia, the top five of which are China 20%, Poland 18%, Italy 8%, Germany 6% and Sweden 5%. The company holds 3.5m stock keep units, with 10000 different product types amongst them, 10% of which are new every year. It is also a major global employer with 125000 employees in 40 different countries. Human resources The companys ethos was quite Christian in its values-their philosophy was to treat others as one would like to be treated oneself and their belief is akin to that shown by Japanese companies to their workers today that is to increase commitment and hence productivity from staff, one has to provide them with the belief of belonging to the company. For instance, all design teams enjoy complete autonomy in their work, but are expected to design new appealing products regularly. Ikeas employment philosophy is widely welcomed in the USA where historically moral amongst staff and working conditions and benefits are poor in the retail sector. This accounted for the fact that the sector had one of the highest turnover rates of all industries. Consequently, it also suffers from high human resource (HR) costs, as companies have to recruit and train replacements at frequent intervals. Definition: Management Information Systems (MIS) is the term given to the discipline focused on the integration of computer systems with the aims and objectives on an organisation. Information systems can be broadly divided into operational level for transaction processing, knowledge level for knowledge and office management, management level for decision and intelligent support and strategic level for executive support. The information systems support an information value chain for both business process-supply chain, enterprise, customer and knowledge management and management activities-planning, co-ordinating, controlling and modelling. Ultimately all the systems process data and provide feedback and for executive support for decision making planning, monitoring and implementation of strategy and the general workforce. Definition of an organisation -a stable formal structure that takes resources from the environment and processes them to produce outputs. An organisation can be said to be a formal structure with a standard operating procedure, politics and culture. Environmental factors affect their outputs -these maybe resources, government, competitors, financial, institutional culture, technology. Impact of information systems is seen in terms of a microeconomic model, transaction cost model, agency theory and behavioral theory. sociotechnical systems, redefining boundaries, recognising work flows, flattening, electronic market. Diagram Organisation Information technology mediating factors -environment culture structure standard procedures politics management decisions chance Information systems Information systems relate to the way in which Ikea is organized, its management and its technical layout. Information systems do not just consist of information technology (IT) and information transfer systems-the technical requirements should act as an adjunct to the business strategies of the enterprise rather than being a hostage to its fortune. Often business strategy requires the execution of complex processes of control and automation and the ability to quickly analyze and react to relevant data, not in an uncontrolled firefighting or reactive manner but with anticipation and forward planning based on likely demand and external changes in the business environment. Diagram showing interdependence between Business strategy, software, hardware, data management, telecommunications Organisational framework The problem is that in complex business organizations SBUs tend to design their information management needs according to their best interests rather than to the interest of the enterprise as a whole. This is termed the silo affect. To survive in an every more competitive environment, management must be strong enough to ensure that their strategy is implemented in the execution of cross-functional business processes and that information can be managed and shared across spatial, functional, geographic and segmental boundaries. Stakeholders interests e.g.are often ignored at the expense of damaging other parts of the supply chain, and the chain weakens. This maybe for several reasons, particularly because corporations are often intimidated by the thought of sharing competitive information with their suppliers. Their information security facilities often prohibits suppliers from gaining advantage by withholding from them key information e.g. manufacturing processes can benefit from effi cient production through accessing a real-time demand system. Companies therefore face a dilemma-do they share information to the extent that it allows their potential competitors access to their market information or do they with-hold information and become less competitive. In the end and on balance, a closeted attitude becomes self-defeating and exposes them to the risk of a more aggressive competitor. Ikea does not actually manufacture products, however it plays a very large design and innovative role in their production. By outsourcing manufacturing they can retain a competitive advantage -if one company fails to provide product as specified they will find another company that can and they do not suffer from set-up costs and ultimately ROI costs. One can immediately see the main problems relating to information management for IKEA. None more so than with a company whose strategy demands supply from a worldwide network and delivery to a worldwide customer base. One can easily understand that where there is a disparate group of suppliers, co-ordination between various supplier and DC is critical. A range of kitchen products e.g.may be produced by different manufacturers who have different supply times, manufacturing ability, geographical location, delivery times etc. On one hand one does not want idle inventory stock as this costs money, on the other one wants to ensure a constant supply which can meet fluctuations in demand-otherwise customers will become frustrated and will purchase elsewhere. In addition customer demand may vary between geographical location e.g. a country maybe has mainly city based stores where there would naturally be higher demand e.g. for space saving furniture which may be manufacturered in a country r ound the other side of the world. Ikea faces huge logistical problems, particularly as their ethos is to supply medium range quality product at low price. Supply planning is key to this strategy. One needs in this situation to forecast across the whole company and to organise its distribution centres into groups and hold one lot of a float of stock for a number of DCs. The capacity and geographical location of the CDCs become crucial to the companies strategic planning. Clearly a high capacity geographically distant CDC or a low capacity near CDC have redundancy issues because of the volume of product they hold and there impact on delivery time. Technology At operation level, Astro WMS (Group, 2010) is a modular WMS that IKEA adopted in 2010 and increases and improves efficiency in their distribution centre. Astro simplifies and streamlines the work process to provide total control of warehouse management with full tractability, accuracy, and on-line planning. In order to optimise capacity, handling equipment and storage spaces must be fully utilized. Astro is an automated warehouse management system that allows for ordering fulfilment automatically so reducing manual cost with automated re-ordering purchase orders being sent to suppliers when stock levels are low. Fully automatic double-aisle cranes from LTW Doppelmayr operate without any manual input as if robots have taken over the world leaving man redundant. In IKEA DC in New Jersey USA is running Astro WMS at full capacity with 175 warehouse employees. Ed Morris, Operations Manager at the site comments, We have seen that we are already back to picking 4,500 customer order lines per day and able to ship 34 trailers to the stores by the end of week one. I am confident that we will be exceeding our previous daily expectations in the very near future. Through the partnership we have built with the Consafe team, I am sure that both sides will take things away from this project and use them in the future. I really believe that this cutover was a success for both IKEA and Consafe. There will be space for 70.000 pallets in the 2 conventional modules and 100.000 pallets in the high-rack system. The warehouse capacity will be 270.000 pallets and therefore the largest IKEA Distribution Centre in the world. Taking a product to market involves many steps and information management is crucial to the products success. Ikea often designs and develops products from their inception to market. In order to do this they work from CAD drawings and have prototype machines model real products from their design drawings. But product manufacturing is more involved than just prototype production and testing. One must consider material source and process cost with the manufacturer as well as packaging development. IKEA is famous for its flat packs that were designed not just to fit into the customers car easily, but are mainly designed to maximize use of space during transport and warehousing so reducing costs storage and handling costs to a minimum. (Economist, 1994: 101). IKEA realized early on that space is often redundant during storage or transportation, yet costs money regardless of whether it is utilized or not. Hence the idea of a flat pack where storage and transport demand can be anticipated easily and utilized efficiently. In addition products have to market researched and tested and there has to be careful consideration in rollout, forecasting and financials. Neglecting one of these areas can cause immense damage to the company as a whole e.g. if a product reaches the shelf which is faulty may damage the brand of the company e.g. if the manufacturing process is too costly to set up it can place borrowing costs and liquidity capital under significant strain. The product must also be indexed, catalogued, labeled and displayed correctly. All of these represent part of the supply process, all of them require huge information analysis and appropriate information transfer. Order planning is therefore crucial to their operation and differences between expected demand and supply will affect their bottom line. In 2005 realising that these issues were becoming critical, the company decided to use an SAP based demand-planning tool solution with Manugistics and their goal was to reduce inventory levels in distribution centres by at least 10%. In its deployment the software must be able to identify critical resources such as people, equipment, storage, suppliers, finances, and be able to forecast with reasonable accuracy supply and demand fluctuations. Diagram-Forecast, stock, orders, material resource planning, requisition, quality, invoice, payment, structure of DC, CDC manufacturers. Production manager and finance officer. Management issues In modern corporate culture constant improvement has become a leading concept, and the technology has to keep up. Therefore the system needs to be flexible and adaptive, i.e. they need to be able to adapt changes in the flow. The limits of this flexibility are set at an early stage, by the choice of system and provider/supplier. As the company has such a vast range of stock there is also a tendency to be production-oriented, rather than customer focused which has made its supply chain more push than pull which naturally creates a supply-demand imbalance. The Supply Chain Council is an independent group of international supply chain industry executives and experts who developed the Supply Chain Operations Reference (SCOR) Model over a ten-year period using in-depth industry research and analysis. The models however are often based on forecasts and on theories, which are exact in them selves, but whose results maybe incorrect. The reason is that they require great quantities of data that are hard to gather and have to be estimated and calculations often have to be carried out for entire batches. One such example is the Wilson formula. The Wilson Formula The Wilson formula is a traditional method for determining production quantity where the total consumption during a period of time is known. The formula assumes that the only costs entailed are a warehousing cost per stock keeping unit and a one-time cost every time an order is placed, known as administrative re-ordering costs. The formula tries to find an optimal balance between the two costs to minimize the total cost, which is known as the economic order quantity (EOQ). In order for the Wilson formula to work, a number of conditions have to be met: Demand is constant and continuous The lead time for receiving ordered goods is constant Administrative re-ordering costs and warehousing costs are constant The order quantity does not need to be expressed as an integer The entire order quantity is delivered to the warehouse on the same occasion No shortages allowed The price/cost is independent of time requirements and ordered quantity Goods handling is ignored which is often a considerable cost e.g. the value of the article is often not proportional to the handling cost of the good. The administrative re-ordering cost is hard to determine. Price and demand also varies over time making judgement obsolete. Management by Objectives Ikea uses Opportunity Analyzer, which makes use of the Supply Chain Operations Reference (SCOR) Model. Best practices and key performance indicators are embedded in Opportunity Analyzer Management. Opportunity Analyzer recognizes important key performance indicators (KPIs) e.g. delivery performance. While MIS systems are extremely useful in generating statistical reports and data analysis they can also be of use as a Management by Objectives (MBO) tool. MBO is a management process by which managers and subordinates agree upon a series of objectives for the subordinate to attempt to achieve within a set time frame. Objectives are set using the SMART ratio: that is, objectives should be Specific, Measurable, Agreed, Realistic and Time-Specific. The success of any MBO objective depends upon the continuous tracking of progress. In tracking this performance it can be extremely useful to make use of an MIS system. Since all SMART objectives are by definition measurable they can be tracked through the generation of management reports to be analysed by decision-makers. http://www.supply-chain.org/resources/scormark/tutorial SCOR considers management processes and planning. Ikea has such a large range of products that one has to be able to benchmark supply chains against products in order to best assess the most profitable items. SCOR takes product and cross references them individually against customer sub-type then groups similar supply chain characteristics. It then applies performance matrices-those of agility, responsiveness, cost, assets and reliability and scores each group of supply chains accordingly creating a ranking of supply chains. The advantages are obvious in that the more efficient supply chains can be more heavily relied upon, to create profit, the weaker ones losing out from future reliance. However, the disadvantage is that supply chains may cut across market segments and unifying groups by supply chain efficiency rather than by market segment may destroy market uniformity. The executive team can select a relevant KPI for the particular target area. Today, companies connect into networks or chains, increasing the flow rate throughout the supply chain to satisfy an ever more demanding customer. Increased power is given over to the vendor to keep stock at the desired level. http://www.jda.com/company/display-collateral.html?did=636dcid=1 The demand supply chain software must also be able to provide key metrics in areas where demand exceeds supply and available capacity. This will improve order fill rates and network utilization and will free working capital tied to ineffective inventory. However, understanding the supply demand chain in its practical execution is not all that is required. The product, must also align with its financial evaluation in an integrated business plan. It must be able to identify any performance concerns and gaps at the lowest practical level across the strategic/business plans. The software must become a forecasting tool and be able to perform a what if scenario for management to make best estimate prediction on future capacity demands. It must be able to relate assumptions, risks and opportunities to specific hierarchy levels in the SOP plan. These are decision support systems. Like all good army strategy there must be a backup plan when all goes wrong with practical and well-worked altern atives e.g. its no good having a back up generator if its not properly serviced regularly. The information tool must also be able to track changes over time and carry out real-time review analysis of supply and highlight areas where inventory positions violate pre-defined tolerances. It must also be able to highlight critical resource constraints related to material, labor and other capacity variables. Clearly there is a position that optimizes resources, distribution, transportation, stock inventory, production and materials. http://www.allbusiness.com/company-activities-management/operations-supply/10574219-1.html Recommendations IKEA is undoubtedly a highly successful global firm. Like all firms they must ensure competitive advantage. In information transfer terms they have problems relating to the fact that their suppliers are multiple and demand can vary. It may be better for them to consider horizontal back integration and begin to act as suppliers to ensure consistant information flow-from factory to customer. They will undoubtedly sometime soon saturate their market and further market expansion may not be possible. They must look toward expansion elsewhere either by parallel related market considerations e.g. home or commercial furnishing design or by backward horizontal integration. Both would be ideal targets for integrated information design providing the company with synergistic information value and ultimately increasing their information value chain.

Insider trading :: essays research papers

Insider trading has been a commonly discussed topic since Martha Stewart was accused, tried, convicted, and served a prison term for her involvement with the Inclon trading scandal. However, the definition of the term â€Å"insider trading† is not necessarily always connected with illegal activity. As a matter of fact, in some jurisdictions, â€Å"insider trading is no crime. Traditionally, it has been an expected, and perfectly acceptable prerequisite of certain sorts of employment.†(Insider Trading). But since the latter part of the 1960’s, stricter enforcement of insider trading practices have been put into place because of financial scandals.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  First to be discussed is a concrete definition of â€Å"insider trading† as it is discussed in this essay. According to the â€Å"European Communities 1989 Insider Dealing Directive: insider trading is the dealing on the basis of materials unpublished, price-sensitive information possessed as a result of one’s employment.(Insider Trading)†   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ivan Boesky pleaded guilty to the biggest insider-trading scheme discovered by the United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). He made 200 million dollars by profiting from stock-price volatility on corporate mergers. What he actually did was cheat by using illegally obtained secret information about impending mergers to buy and sell stock before mergers became public knowledge/ Although insider trading is nothing new, the SEC knows it has become a threat to the public’s confidence, and they must enforce regulations to stop criminal activity. The SEC has put pressure on managers to regulate information leaks, promising strict legal enforcement if a business fails to police misuse of privileged employee information.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  In his plea bargaining, Ivan Boesky agreed to pay one-hundred million dollars in fines and to fully cooperate with the SEC members in other investigations of insider trading cases. His cooperation has also led to major charges against Kidder Peabody, Martin Siegel, and other financiers. Without Boeskey’s help, catching other insider-trading criminals would have been almost impossible. Ivan Boesky even wrote a book about his involvement in the world of insider trading; he called it Merger Mania.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  This case illustrated that there were real consequences to white collar crime. In addition to paying the fifty million dollar fine, he relinquished another fifty million dollars of his illegal trading profits. (He still had millions remaining, however, from his illegal gains.) His actual prison sentence was three years, yet he served only twenty-two months in the federal prison at Lompoc, California, which was known to have a â€Å"country-club† atmosphere.

Economic Concepts Involved Essay

The economic concepts involved in this song are basically the credit carts and the loans. Interest rates are also involved as well. Interest is charged by lenders as costs for the loss of the asset’s use. In the process of lending money, the lender could have invested the funds instead of lending them out. With lending a large asset, the lender may have been able to generate income from the asset should they have decided to use it themselves. People started to take loans for housing purposes in America at that time. They wanted to buy houses or to invest these loans or to buy bonds so that they could get more money on returns. Investments are negatively related to interest rates. So when interest rates increases, investment will be high. They could also buy bonds with these loans. If interest rates are high, value of money decreases and the bonds purchased by the people for future prospects will be of lesser value in present but when interest rates declines, bonds will be more profitable. THE FINANACIAL CRISIS IN AMERICA The financial system in USA was hit by many factors among which the main was the change in ability to create new lines of credit. This made to dry up the reserve cash of the financial institutions and hinged their credit and ability to make new loans. Also, it must be noted that cheap credit made people to buy more houses or investments. This created more money in the market causing inflation. The increased loan packaging, market and incentives had prompted borrowers to presume difficult mortgages in the belief they would be able to quickly refinance at more favorable terms. But due to a drop in housing prices and rise in interest rate, difficulty in refinancing started. The consequences of this trend led to a huge loss of banks. The credit dried up, the housing market declined; etc. The whole financial system was crushed. This song does not demonstrates the actual scenario of the USA crisis but it simply presents an outlook of a working man who is paying hard due to government’s system. References:- Cowboybleau, Single Review: â€Å"Shutting Detroit Down† by John Rich. February 11, 2009.Available at http://countrycentral.wordpress.com/2009/02/11/single-review-shuttin-detroit-down-by-john-rich/ Shakil-ur-Rahman,Mir.   â€Å"Overview of Economic Survey 2008-09†.The News[Karachi]. June 12, 2009.Available at http://www.thenews.com.pk/daily_detail.asp?id=182548 Interest Rate at Investopedia. Available at http://www.investopedia.com/terms/i/interestrate.asp

Italian versus American Christmas Essay

Merry Christmas or Buon Natale! Let us all celebrate the birth of Christ. It is that time of year when family and friends come together to rejoice for the savior is born. It is when we the love is most felt between family and friends and even strangers. The voices of carolers add to the festivities of the season (Miles 359). The Christmas tradition takes its roots from Christianity. This is also the reason behind the non-celebration of Christmas in some countries, especially those which are non-Christian. Nevertheless, there are places like the United States and Italy where Christmas traditions are observed for the purpose of celebration, which transcends religious customs (Miles 359). As traditions dictate, Italians take turns drawing out a wrapped gift from an ornamental bowl which is called the urn of fate (Miles 359). As most Americans are Christians, holidays are encouraged during this time of year. This includes the tremendous amount of gift – giving and shopping (Barnett 144). Italians decorate their homes during Christmas time with a ceppo (tree of light) or l’albero di natale, their version of the traditional Christmas tree (Miles 359). It is a wooden frame shaped like a pyramid. Resembling a ladder it is formed by several layers of wooden shelves as support. The presepe is placed at the bottom of the ceppo. Candies, fruits and other presents occupy the upper shelves. The ceppo is adorned with miniature pennants, gilt pine cones and colored paper. Candles are placed on it and further topped by either a doll or a star to complete the look. The origin of the manger scene was in Italy. This is the reason why it has been an important part of the Italian Christmas tradition. Italian homes decorate their presepe or nativity scene as elaborately as they can afford it. Americans, on the other part of the globe adorn their homes with wreaths, mistletoes and Christmas trees too. The streets of New Mexico are lined with luminaires or candles in a bag full of sand during Christmas time. Houses with flat roof are also adorned with these. These serve to light the way for the newborn child. In Washington D. C., the first national living Christmas tree was planted way back in the year 1924. From then on, it has been the tradition of the President of the United States to turn on the ceremonial lights at Christmas. Going around with a star is characteristic of an Alaskan Christmas. A large star made out of bright colored paper is carried by boys and girls as they go door to door on Christmas day. They even bring lanterns on poles with them as they sing carols. Hospitable neighbors let them in for refreshments as young and old gather in observance of this joyful occasion at this time of the year (Barnett 144). If the Italians have their Babbo Natale, Americans know him to be Santa Claus. He is known in the United States as the fat man on red robe and black boots, riding on his sleigh. He slides down the chimney to leave his presents to the nice kids at Christmas time. Gift giving in Italy happens on the la festa dell’ Epifania or the Epiphany which falls on the 6th of January. Babbo Natale makes his rounds on la vigilia di natale or Christmas Eve. In other parts of the region, he is known as La Befana, an Italian folk character. The gift – giver of Christmas gifts in other areas is believed to be St. Lucia. On other places, he is known to be Gesu’ Bambino or the Child Jesus (Miles 359 – 360). The United States is a cultural melting pot indeed. In this part of the world, different customs and traditions blend in harmony. It is during Christmas time when this cultural diversity is very much evident. Nevertheless, the combination of different cultures eventually produced a distinctly American taste although traces of diverse roots of these traditions are somehow still evident. The most common among these influences are British in origin. The Americans find a way to make Santa Claus feel at home. This is the reason why they created homes for him across the country. In one of the villages at Torrington, Connecticut, one can find a real life Santa, along with his elves. At Whiteface Mountain in Wilmington, New York a permanent home for Santa Claus was designed by Arto Monaco. This house replaced the reindeer for a blacksmith. It even has a post office and a chapel in its overall design. Every year, about 100,000 people visits the Monaco designed Santa home (Barnett 144). Italian kids are not out reciting poems around the neighborhood, they lovingly write letters to their parents during Christmas while American kids list the things they would love to receive as presents from Santa Claus (Miles 359; Barnett 144). The holiday season does not start and end on the 25th of December as far as the Italian calendar is concerned. The Italians practice certain customs and traditions to mark this season. On la vigilia di natale or Christmas Eve, an elaborate meal called the pronzo delta vigilia is served. Here seafood soup or stew, fish, cannoli (Italian pastry) and other treats are served but no meat included. When il natale (Christmas) falls, the whole family feast with panettone or the Christmas cake together with other meals (Miles 359). Potatoes, meat, onions and beans are boiled over campfires for a Christmas feast at New Mexico. To cup the meal, buns, breads and donuts are served with coffee. Polish Americans have their own unique holiday tradition. On the morning of Christmas Eve, no meat is served. However, when the first star appears over Wigiliais, meat can already be served for dinner. The main features of the meal are sweet meats made from poppy seeds and honey, various fish, mushroom, cabbage and beetroot soup. The head of the house gives out an oplatek which is an oblong wafer. The nativity scene is imprinted on this oplatek. A piece of the oplatek is broken off as each family member including their friends who are present exchange wishes for one another. As tradition dictates, there is a place set especially for Mary and his son in case they come in search for a place to stay for the night. Hay is spread on the floor and under the tablecloth reminiscent of the manger where Christ the savior was born (Barnett 144). Carolers singing Christmas hymns provide entertainment in America. As compared to their fellow Americans, Hungarian Americans place a high premium on church services and carols during Christmas Eve. On this day, they gather around the Christmas tree as they do their gift giving when the first star of the evening appears. Right after the gift giving seasonal foods are served. The rest of the family feasts on poppy seed, walnuts, biscuits, topped with aniseed, caraway or sesame seeds and dumplings. The Italian version of this is the Zampognari and Pifferai. Flute players and bagpipers from the Abruzzi Mountains of Rome are dressed in sheepskin vests, dark cloaks, white stockings and knee – high breeches. They travel all the way to religious shrines to entertain the crowd (Barnett 144). We may not speak one language, we may not share one religion, we may not observe the same ritual but December 25 means the same thing for all of us. It is the day when the savior was born. It is the day when the promise of salvation was made flesh. On that night at a manger in Bethlehem, Jesus came to the world. In all humility, he lived his life on earth. In this light, let us remember that while there is nothing wrong with extravagant celebrations during Christmas, there is a much deeper meaning behind all these trappings. There is more to the food served and the gifts given and received. It is the birth of Christ, and this is the perfect reason to celebrate. In all certainty, wherever in the world you are in at Christmas time, whichever way you celebrate it, one truth remains the same, it is the most wonderful time of the year (Maloney NP). Works Cited Barnett, James Harwood. The American Christmas: A Study in National Culture. New Hampshire: Ayer Publishing, 1976. â€Å"Christmas in United States. † 2008. TheHolidaySpot. com. Retrieved February 21, 2008, from http://www.theholidayspot.com/

The First 30 Days of the George W. Bush Presidency

The First 30 Days of the George W. Bush Presidency Setting priorities for his first term in 1933 was easy for President Franklin D. Roosevelt. He had to save America from economic ruin. He had to at least begin to pull us out of our Great Depression. He did it, and he did it during what has now become known as his First Hundred Days† in office. On his first day in office, March 4, 1933, FDR called Congress into a special session. He then proceeded to drive a series of bills through the legislative process that reformed the U.S. banking industry, saved American agriculture and allowed for industrial recovery. At the same time, FDR wielded the executive order in creating the Civilian Conservation Corps, the Public Works Administration, and the Tennessee Valley Authority. These projects put tens of thousands of Americans back to work building dams, bridges, highways and much needed public utility systems. By the time Congress adjourned the special session on June 16, 1933, Roosevelts agenda, the New Deal, was in place. America, though still staggering, was off the mat and back in the fight. Indeed, the successes of Roosevelt’s First 100 Days gave credence to the so-called â€Å"stewardship theory† of the presidency, which contends that the President of the United States has the right, if not the duty, to do whatever best addresses the needs of the American people, within the limits of the Constitution and the law. Not all of the New Deal worked and it took World War II to finally solidify the nations economy. Yet, to this day, Americans still grade the initial performance of all new presidents against Franklin D. Roosevelts First Hundred Days. During their first hundred days, all new Presidents of the United States try to harness the carryover energy of a successful campaign by at least starting to implement the main programs and promises coming from the primaries and debates. The So-Called Honeymoon Period During some part of their first hundred days, Congress,  the press, and some of the American people generally allow new presidents a honeymoon period, during which public criticism is held to a minimum. It is during this totally unofficial and typically fleeting grace period that new presidents often try to get bills through Congress that might face more opposition later in the term. The First Thirty-or-so of the First Hundred Days of George W. Bush Following his inauguration on January 20, 2001, President George W. Bush spent the first one-third of his First 100 Days by: Getting himself and his successors  a raise in presidential salary to $400,000 a year as approved by Congress in the closing days of its last session;Reinstating  the Mexico City policy denying US aid to countries that advocate abortion as a method of family planning;Introducing  a $1.6 trillion tax cutting program to Congress;Launching  a Faith-Based Initiative to help local charitable groups;Launching  a New Freedom Initiative to help disabled Americans;Filling out  his Cabinet including the controversial appointment of John Ashcroft as Attorney General;Welcoming a pistol firing visitor to the White House;Launching renewed air strikes against expanding Iraqi air defense systems.Taking  on big labor unions in government contracting; andFinding  out that an FBI agent may have spent years spying for Russia. So, while there were no depression-busting New Deals or industry-saving reforms, the first 30 days of the presidency of George W. Bush was far from uneventful. Of course, history will show that most of the rest of his 8 years in office would be dominated by dealing with the aftermath of the September 11, 2001 terror attack a mere 9 month after his inauguration.

LAND LAW Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

LAND LAW - Essay Example It states above that the property was only registered in one name and therefore it would only require one signature for the sale or mortgage of the property1. This effectively means that Harry is entitled to mortgage the house without consulting with Ella. Subsection 2 lists the other interests or charges over the land that can be classed as legal interests and includes such things as easements2, rights of way, rentcharges3, legal mortgages4 and other similar charges. Under the Land Registration Act 1925 s5 the courts recognise the registered land as belonging to any person to whom the land has been registered as having an absolute title to that land5. This would effectively mean that Ella would not have a legal interest in the property. It is possible that she could argue that the money she paid towards the purchase of the house entitles her to a share of the property6. If Ella can show that she made a direct contribution to the purchase price the court would be free to concur that by her actions a resulting trust has been duly created7. The equitable presumption of resulting trusts is that a person who contributes to the purchase price of the land must have done so with the intention of acquiring an interest in that land in proportion to the amount that they have paid towards the purchase price8. If the courts can find that such an intention is to be inferred by Ella’s actions then they will give effect to the presumption thereby whilst recognising Harry as the legal owner of the property requiring him to hold the property on trust for Ella9. A resulting, implied or constructive trust†¦is created by a transaction between the trustee and the cestui que trust in connection with the acquisition by the trustee of a legal estate in land, whenever the trustee has so conducted himself that it would be inequitable to allow him to deny the cestui que trust a beneficial

New York Activist - Debating Park 51 Research Paper

New York Activist - Debating Park 51 - Research Paper Example The significance of the first amendment to the Park 51 debate remains undeniable. The debate revolves around the construction of an Islamic Community Center on the 51 Park place in Lower Manhattan in New York. The major problem arising from this construction is its proximity to the World Trade Center site. The World Trade Center site is under construction to replace the building lost in the 9/11 terrorist attack. The Islamic extremists claimed responsibility of the 9/11 attack that killed over 2500 people. Therefore, the majority of American citizens dispute the construction of an Islamic center two blocks away from the terrorist scene. The Cordoba Initiative, responsible for the construction of the Islamic Community Center aims to create a place where all the religions interact. The 16 story building contains a 2 story prayer space open to anyone from any religion. People supporting the construction of the building argue using a constitutional point. They believe that the first amen dment of the constitution allows the Muslims to construct a mosque or a community center in America. The supporters also view the community center as an avenue for healing and reconciliation after the events of 9/11. However, the opponents of the construction of the Islamic Center argue appealing to an emotional point of view. The opponents feel that the building displays insensitivity and disrespect to 9/11 victims. They think that the surrounding territory around the World Trade Center should remain a sacred place of mourning for lives lost, without the irritating presence of a mosque. The spiritual leader of the Islamic community center, Imam Feisal Abdul Rauf, also raises controversy. While the leader professes to be a moderate Muslim, he appears to support Muslim extremists. His protection of Muslim extremist in public on many occasions raises questions about his good intentions. Imam Rauf attended a CNN interview conducted by Soledad O’Brien. In the interview he seemed evasive on the issue of the Hamas (Butler, Grant and Randall 24). He failed to clearly state whether he thought their acts were terrorist or not. Newt Gingrich commented on the issue of Park 51 saying, â€Å"Nazis don’t have a right to put up a sign next to the Holocaust Museum in Washington†. This comment found its way into an article by Timothy Garton Ash in the Guardian Newspaper. However, the proponents of the building responded by pointing out an incident of 1977. At the time, neo-Nazis peacefully demonstrated in a holocaust survivor’s occupied neighborhood. This happened with the authorization of the United States Supreme Court respecting the constitution’s first amendment. The opinion polls in America proved that 61% of Americans and 77% of New York residents opposed the construction of a mosque on the territory next to Park 51. Proponents insist the community center, which will also have a gym, culinary school, restaurant, swimming court, basketba ll court, child care facilities and a library among others, affirms America is a free country that respects its constitution. Meanwhile, the opponents of Park 51 like former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani doubt the goodness of constructing the center. He speculates that the construction of Park 51 creates further divisiveness between American and Muslims. More than a half of America takes offence of the proximity of Park 51 to the World Trade Center, hence constructing it might result not in reconciliation, but in divisiveness. Other opponents of the construction like Donald Trump think the Islamic center signifies victory of the 9/11 attack. RELIGIOUS TOLERANCE AND CULTURAL DIVERSITY