The American Dream in Of Mice and Men

The Epic of America (ironically written in the asses), the American Dream Is â€Å"that dream of a land in which life should be better and richer and fuller for everyone, with opportunity for each according to ability or achievement. † (Tortuous). In the 20th century, we have significantly warped that dream to slut a more selfish type of person. Colleens base the American Dream on something much more different then what it originally meant. Today, many Americans believe to achieve the American Dream means to be ICC and famous or have a successful business.People get caught up in this â€Å"American Dream†, that they forget the true meaning set by our Founding Fathers. Abraham Lincoln stated, â€Å"You can have anything you want – if you want it badly enough. You can be anything you want to be, do anything you set out to accomplish if you hold to that desire with singleness of purpose. â€Å", agreeing with Mr†¦ Tortuous. Despite this, society became so dis torted when discrimination played a role. Obviously, the Founding Father's didn't take the future's problems into consideration when making the Ideal dream for Americans.They were unaware of the hardships the discriminated would face, which made It hard to make the American dream more than Just a dream. In Of Mice and Men, John Steinbeck shows the death of the American Dream and why It was unattainable by many. The sass's was considered one of the toughest times in the history of the United States. Americans felt hopeless, saddened, and depressed. After the Wall Street crashed, the economy became complete chaos and a great downfall after a already being in a steep hole, in result of the World War II.Close to 10 percent of the population were unemployed. The country soon became filled with Jobless citizens, wanderers, and migrant workers. Owning a house was becoming something that was very rarely heard of. During this time, we see how humans struggled to survive. Not having a roof ov er your head seems bad enough, but imagine sleeping hungry, night after night. All the success, hopes, and dreams were lost and went down the drain. As people continued to suffer daily, they're pursuit of happiness seemed farther and farther away from the grasp of their palm.However, this all has to do with the equal opportunity that everyone should have to fulfill this dream. Some could not achieve the American dream because of a disadvantage pertaining to that person. Because of this, the dream isn't fully obtainable to all of those who wish to fulfill it. The Land of Opportunity was well on its way to being the Land of Misfortune. In Of Mice and Men, to show ageism during this time, the author Includes Candy In his novella. Candy dreams to own his own piece of land.It Initially starts when Candy hears about George and Lien's dream to â€Å"live off the fate the contribute to the investment of the property. Describing the dream land to Candy, George says, â€Å"Expose they was a carnival or a circus come to town, or a ball game, or any damn thing. We'd Just go to her. We wouldn't ask nobody if we could. Jus' say, We'll go to her,' an' we would. Jus' milk the cow and sling some grain to the chickens an' go to her. † (Steinbeck, pig. 57). The idea of this land is their motivation to keep working hard, hoping to one day be able to own land. â€Å"You God damn tramp.You done it, didn't you? I spouse you're glad. Everybody endowed you'd mess things up. You wasn't no good. You anti no good now, you lousy tart. â€Å", Candy says viciously to the corpse (Steinbeck, pig. 95). Here, Candy's voice shakes from expressing his true feelings. He blames Curler's wife for ruining his dream since Lien's share of the money is gone. Candy told George and Leonie the possible dangers of Curler's wife, but Leonie Just didn't know any better. Steinbeck depicts how the aged could not attain this dream of having land and being pertinent to a society where everyone was equa l.Throughout the novella, Steinbeck depicts how the disabled could not fulfill their dream because they were discriminated against and treated differently. One would think that the mentally handicapped got special treatment, but that was not he case. During the Great Depression, everyone received equal treatment. Some were institutionalized. Other times, some couldn't stand in line for rations due to their liability, which left them hungry and helpless, since everyone else already had someone to care for, whether it was for themselves or for their family.In the story, Steinbeck uses Leonie to publicize that the mentally handicapped could also dream like the rest. Lien's dream is to own land, but for one thing only; to tend rabbits. â€Å"The hell with the rabbits. That's all you can ever remember is them rabbits. â€Å", George says as he explains the dream land to Leonie and all he hears out of it is the rabbits (Steinbeck, pig. 4-5). Even though Lien's dream is to tend rabbits, George also has a dream and Leonie slows the process down greatly. â€Å"God mighty, if I was alone I could live so easy.I could go get a Job an' work, an' no trouble. No mess at all. An' what I got. I got you! You can't keep a Job and you lose me ever' Job I get. Jus' keep me shoving' all over the country all the time. â€Å", George complains furiously (Steinbeck, pig. 11). After fleeing Weed (because of Leonie touching a girl's dress), he says if it isn't for him, his life would be so much better. Later in the story, Leonie kills Curler's wife by accident. â€Å"l done another bad thing†, Leonie tells George, Just as he is getting ready to kill Leonie.After George kills Leonie, Slim states, â€Å"You Haddam, George. I swear, yah Haddam. † (Steinbeck, pig. 107). This quote illustrates the hard choice that George had to make. Even if George had not killed Leonie, Curler would have, along with George's American Dream. Their goals because they issued less rights than men. To show this in the book, the author exploits Curler's wife. She states, â€Å"Everybody! An' what am I doing'? Standing' here talking' to a bunch of bindle stiffs†a Niger an' a dumb-dumb and a lousy 01†² sheep †an' liking' it because they anti nobody else. (Steinbeck, pig. 79). This quote demonstrates how Curler's wife's right were constricted; even more than the ranches. She can't even have fun or do anything without Curler, which goes to show why her name isn't even said. She Curler's belonging. However, before Curler, there was some hope in her life. â€Å"l tell you I anti used to living' like this. I could made something' of myself. Come there when I was a kid. Well, a show come through, an' I et one of the actors. He says I could go with that show. But my 01†² lady would' let me. She says because I was noon fifteen.But the guy says I could. If I'd went, I wouldn't be living' like this, you bet. † , she explains (Steinbeck, pig. 88). Curler's wife had a chance to become a star, but her mother ruined it. She killed her dream by keeping her from being in the pictures since she was too young. If it wasn't for her â€Å"01†² lady† she would've been living her dream. From beginning to end of the novella, John Steinbeck exudes how African Americans during this time also had an American Dream, but could not make it a laity because of segregation. Crooks was the only African American on the ranch.Therefore, he was separated and put in a bunk next to the horses. Crooks dream was to be accepted and for everyone to be equal. â€Å"l tell yah a guy gets too lonely an' he gets sick. â€Å", exclaims Crooks to Leonie to try and explain to him his loneliness. Steinbeck shows how Crooks has his dream snatched away from him through racism. Even though the reader may see that the American Dream for these characters is way beyond reach and Just an illusion, I don't think it's clear if they see that. However, when Crooks stat es, â€Å"Nobody ever gets to heaven, and nobody gets no land. It's Just in their head. , he is facing the harsh, bitter reality (Steinbeck, pig. 74). Crooks knows that such comfort and happiness are not to be formed in that ambiance. In Of Mice and Men, an American Dream was evident for all characters, but they were beyond the bounds of possibility because of their skin color, gender, disability, age, or even a friend. Everyone was getting treated the same and prejudices during this time. Very little Justice lingered in the air. In Of Mice and Men, John Steinbeck splays the impossibility of the American Dream to the discovered, discriminated people of the asses.

American Revolution Essay

The American Revolution is said to be one of the most impacted events that shaped America into what it is today. The American Revolution was also known as the American War of Independence, which lasted for eight long dreadful years. There were many causes that caused the revolution which also lead to terrible events afterwards (although some of the outcomes were good). One of the causes was the Stamp and Sugar Acts, 1763–1766. The Stamp Act (1765) was â€Å"designed to raise revenue from the American colonist in the thirteen colonies.† (landofthebrave.com) The Sugar Act (1764) set a tax on sugar and molasses that was imported into the colonies, and also taxed other foreign trading goods. (historyrocket.com) Another cause of the American Revolution was the Boston Massacre and Boston Tea Party, 1770-1773. The Boston Massacre was a â€Å"protest against the tax collector’s, government officials and merchants,† British troops were called in to handle the crowd s, but when they got there the crowd had grew. When the crowd and troops fought, only 5 civilians were killed. The Boston Tea Party happened on December 16, 1773, which was when the crowd in Boston dressed up disguised as American Indians, then they boarded ships which contained the tea, and then proceeded to dump 342 chests of tea that belonged to the East India Company into the sea. Another cause of the war was that the American colonies had a growing demand of freedom, to get away from the British. One of the effects that came out of the American Revolution was the Declaration of Independence. The Declaration of independence was written in July of 1776, by Thomas Jefferson. It â€Å"explained why the colonies have overthrown their ruler and chosen to take their place as a separate nation in the world.† (sparknotes.com) The Declaration Independence was to express the way that the colonies were now their own, not under British rule anymore. People in the United States of America now celebrate this very special holiday every year on July 4. Another effect of the American Revolution was the Bill of Rights, December 15, 1791. The first ten amendments of the Constitution are known as the Bill of Rights, and are ten of the most important amendments written in many peoples opinion. After the war, trading with other countries in the Mediterranean became even more difficult. This was because there was a lack of protection by British navy from all of the pirates out in the open sea.

Commentator on the human condition Essay

Michael Leunig is a commentator on the human condition who uses simple, short cartoons to express his ideas to the public. In The Plotter, he conveys the message that society operates in a created sense of urgency. The idea is that the majority of the people believe that acting too slowly upon seeing an opportunity means there will be no other chances of success later on and thus must move quickly. Another idea that arises in The Plotter is that life is a journey and not a destination. This is all shown using intriguing techniques in his interesting and comical cartoon that captures its viewers. The episode starts out with an individual character walking towards the left slowly followed by the screen. Every step is taken with precision, taking about the same amount of time for each step to land, and this is emphasised by the musical beat of the background. The music is motion-toned as the pitch rises as a hurrying man runs from right to left, passing the individual. As the man runs past he calls out † â€Å", and the individual’s response is † † After this, the pitch is lowered again and the individual continues walking slowly. Only in a matter of seconds, a lady comes running by in the same direction and as she passes she yells † † to which he replies † â€Å". One by one, people run past him trying to condemn and mock the leisurely individual for not conforming, however, the individual remains unhurt by their sayings and repeats pleasant words as an answer to the runners. The technique of dialogue and its setting out is very important. It tells the viewer that the individual thinks in his own ways, not conforming to the society that believes in the created sense of urgency. This individual has his own objective in life and wants to live by experiencing everything slowly while others try to make him keep in touch with the real world hence the call â€Å"you wont know whats happening, you wont be clever. † Visual techniques used by Michael Leunig to deliver his ideas include colour, foreground/backgrounding and body language. The colour of the background is natural, with the sky in blue and the ground in green as grass usually is. This use of natural colour has connotations to the natural instincts of human beings and thus links with the issue that Leunig suggests. The colour of the people running in the background is darker than the individual who stands in the foreground, possibly containing the meaning of evil in the runners, who together represent the majority of the world. The foregrounding of the individual and the backgrounding of the runners signifies the individual over the other people, as if criticising the world in the background and using the individual character to portray the world that should be as it always is with Michael Leunig’s works. The posture and body language of the characters in The Plotter is organised so that the individual is slightly hunched showing the person’s humbleness while the runners are portrayed standing tall and strong showing false confidence. Through these techniques, Michael Leunig illustrates a simple and interesting story with deep meaning,

Evidence Based Practice & Nursing Research Essay

Evidence Based Practice & Nursing Research - Essay Example In severity, the deep veins may also become incompetent. When there is ineffective blood flow to the legs, peripheral veins remain clogged even when walking. These veins remain filled with blood even and pressure therein does not drop; a condition referred to as chronic venous insufficiency (CVI). It may result in ulcers, edema or skin change. In treatment, nurses dress the patient’s legs with Anti-Embolism Stockings. These are close fitted, circular knitted elastic socks designed to be worn by patients exhibiting venous disorders. They were designed to increase the linear velocity of blood by exerting external pressure on the legs. These special socks are designed to prevent thromboembolism by the use of graduated pressure. These special socks are prescribed to patients experiencing blood pooling in the legs, blood clots and lower limb edema due to long hours of sitting. It is recommended that nurses should effectively access the patients’ legs and measure them for the correct size of Anti-Embolism Stockings. Nurses need the following things before the socks can be applied: Wall chart, tape measure, T.E.D stocking order pad/sizing chart and package of the covidien T.E.D; the anti-embolism stockings. The nurse is responsible for application, sizing and maintenance of the special stocking. Proper sizing of the Anti-Embolism Stockings is necessary so that the patient can enjoy the maximum benefits of the therapeutically treatment (Miller, 2011). Nurses should record the condition of the stocking during each inspection. The stockings should be washed after every 3 days to remove any body secretions. No ointment shall be used; instead, talcum powder should be used. Many times, Anti-Embolism Stockings may be issued to patients without proper analysis and assessment of other conditions that be generated due to the therapeutically use of the Anti-Embolism

Econ Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words

Econ - Essay Example This should not be astonishing, as transaction cost economics was formulated in the first place to assist in explaining the presence and structure of firms, and of by far and large economic institutions and these are fundamental aspects in the area of strategic management. Undoubtedly, of all the developed recent branches of economics, transaction cost economics has the most apparent resemblance with strategic management. Within the field of strategic management, transaction cost economics is the foundation in which economic thoughts, business frameworks, and organizational theory meet. Due to its emphasis on institutional element, rather than statistical demonstration, it has wider spectators among non-economists than other subfields of organizational economics. The resemblance comes from similar sectors of inquiry. They as well acquire from a similar intellectual mode, which motivates inquiry into the justifications for particular institutional aspects. Not astonishingly, the clinical investigations carried out by strategy researchers and economic historians as well have aided influence the progress of transaction cost economics (Dosi 1998). This paper will review the intellectual accounts of strategic management and determines the influence of transaction cost economic on the discipline. Thereby, it demonstrates the wide array of managerial economics topics and dimensions to which transaction cost principle valuably applies. Transaction cost economics aims to give details on the reasons an agreement has a definite structure and has specific attributes, and this micro-analytical preciseness has great appeal for academics of strategic management, who have a clear-cut empathy for disaggregation (Buckley 1996). Furthermore, the transaction cost economics paradigm is clearly comparative and facilitates one to mention something regarding the efficiency components of various

Program project Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Program project - Essay Example Background This project undertakes to offer a business plan for an entrepreneurial venture in the household furniture industry. The business plan will be completed in sections and this project presents the first section of the business plan. The proposed project, for which this business plan is written, is an entrepreneurial venture in the country’s household furniture industry that offers a viable business opportunity in both the United Kingdom’s domestic market and in major international markets. The enterprise will first be established in the United Kingdom’s capital city, and its independent branches established in other parts of the United Kingdom and other countries. In the United Kingdom, the industry projects positive prospects with expanding market capacity. The domestic market has grown over the past decade except in 2008 and 2009 when major world economies suffered from recession. The trend in growth, however, resumed in 2011 and 2012 and this identifi es confidence in availability of market for the proposed product. The industry’s scope is also wide with different types of commodities, types of houses and types of rooms, for offer. Types of rooms that offer the greatest demand for furniture are living room, dining room, bedroom, and kitchen, all of which have depicted increasing market potentials (Keynotes, 2013, p. 1). The market also identifies a good opportunity for an innovative approach because consumers are developing a trend of renovating their furniture as opposed to new purchases. While this may appear as a barrier to success in the market, consumers have retained their desire to communicate their social status through their property, and this means that an outstanding innovation that portrays high social standards will attract high demand for services. Highly perceived utility levels in newly invented brands of furniture will also attract new purchases. The industry’s projected growth also promises availab ility of market despite the existing competition from both domestic and international markets (Keynotes, 2013). The industry also has extensive market opportunities in developed countries such as the United States that has not been able to meet its household furniture demand from its domestic productions. For example, the past two decades have identified an increasing trend in the nation’s importation of furniture. Importation of â€Å"nonupholstered† commodities has increased from a bare 20 percent in the early 1990s to a more than 60 percent record reported in 2008. The current percentage is most likely higher with expected positive trends. Importation of upholstered furniture in the same period increased from 5 percent to almost 30 percent (Buehlmann & Schuler, 2009). The market in the United States is also indiscriminative against foreign products, but values developed image by exporting countries (Buehlmann, Bumgaedner, Lihra, & Fryer, 2006). These factors, theref ore, identify available market for the household furniture project, both domestically and in other developed countries. I also prefer the project because the wide scoped market that underscores unfair competition offers room for product differentiation through innovation. Introduction The enterprise, Golden Furniture, will operate as a private limited company. Its scope of operation will include designing household furnitu

Minimum Wage Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Minimum Wage - Essay Example Critics are of the view that minimum wage forces employers to appoint only skilled workers and therefore employees with lesser skills may struggle to get employment. This paper argues in favour of minimum wage after analysing both the sides of the issue. â€Å"The vast majority of economists believe the minimum wage law costs the economy thousands of jobs†(Messerli). In their opinion, enforcement of minimum wage will decrease the demand for workers. They explain their argument based on the supply and demand theory of economics. When salary goes up, supply of workers will also goes up and thereby the demand for the workers will geos down. In other words, when supply increases, demand decreases. The above theory might be true in theoretical terms, but in practical terms, it may not be so. It should be noted that majorities of the western countries are outsourcing their jobs to India like Asian countries at present because of the labour shortage. It should be noted that in countr ies like America and Britain, an ordinary worker is getting salaries, three to four times more than that an Indian worker is getting in his country. In other words, even though the wages are high, supply of labour force is not increasing in countries like America and Britain. On the other hand, in India like countries even though the wages are low, excess of supply of labour is in place. ... Part-time work and full time work should be separated from each other. Minimum wage for part time work need not be the same as that of the full time. Authorities can prescribe separate norms of minimum wage with respect to part time and full time work. Moreover, separate minimum wage norms can be enforced with respect to the qualification and experience of the employees. â€Å"Abolishing the minimum wage will allow businesses to achieve greater efficiency and lower prices. Anytime you give businesses more flexibility, you will increase efficiency and lower prices† (Messerli). It is an accepted fact that only a satisfied worker will try to deliver more than 100% of his efficiency. In other words, workers who struggle to get a decent salary may not be fully committed to the organization. It is better for an organization to have more committed workers to increase its efficiency and productivity rather than having a huge workforce of unskilled or cheaper labours. Salary is the maj or motivating factor for the employees and therefore minimum wage will definitely motivate the workers more and thereby the organization will be benefitted. â€Å"Adults who currently work for minimum wage are likely to lose jobs to teenagers who will work for much less. Many adults trying to make a living are forced to work minimum wage jobs† (Messerli). Employers may exploit the workers in the absence of a minimum wage law. They will try to terminate experienced workers even without any reasons, for appointing fresh workers in order to reduce their employee wage expenditure. Thus, even experienced employees will be forced to work under tremendous pressure if minimum wage law is not implemented. In the absence of minimum law, business will take undue advantages in the form of

ABB Case Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

ABB Case - Essay Example In the 1990s, ABB was to consolidate its market space by going for major acquisitions. The company's sales that was at about USD 15 billion in 1988 and 1989, went to over USD 30 billion in the mid 1990s. But the acquisitions did not yield the results that were expected by the company and the company went into a spin. By 1997 and later in 1998, there was a steep fall in the sales turnover of the company.The turnover fell to USD 20 billion in 1999 and the company started its divestitures. Though a higher profit was indicated in the years 1999 and 2000, it was primarily out of these divestitures. Now under this background a new strategy was worked out for the company and the strategy has to be viewed under this perception.2. Solid foundation and operating profitability is more critical than the number of businesses the company does. The company moved into a number of new areas of business that were not really contributing to the profitability of the company.2. A corporate culture for ex cellence and perfection in execution has to be stressed by the company. This would help the company capitalize on the man power and on the efficiency of operation of the company.These formed the core of the strategy adopted by the company. The implementation of every one of these issues was brought about in both the structure of the organization and in the spirit of the organization.... 'At home everywhere' was made the slogan of the company. 5. Innovation will be core of the growth in all areas of business. More research establishments were positioned and more patents registered during the next five years. These formed the core of the strategy adopted by the company. The implementation of every one of these issues was brought about in both the structure of the organization and in the spirit of the organization. Question 2 Organization Structure Figure 2: Interlinked business structure The company would essentially work on a business structure that is interlinked and would produce the required result. The organization will have two major product groups; one, the process automation and two, the power systems. And derivatives of these products will also interlink the businesses and strengthen them as well. In either of the cases, this will help in customer sharing as well as in strengthening the technology in addition to cost sharing. 1. This strategy will help in strengthening the basic strategy of concentrating on the core business strengths of the company, namely, the automation and power sector. 2. This will also help in identifying the major revenue sources or customers who would provide better margins to the company's operations. 3. By providing this kind of product organization and support, the customer will get supporting products and services that complement one another. This will increase the overall margins of the company which is also the major thrust for their operation. 4. The company visualizes this to provide an effective cost leadership in the market place. By concentrating on specific product lines, the economies of scale could be leveraged to their advantage. This would help the

Preparing a Budget Request Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Preparing a Budget Request - Assignment Example However, the rising population could make it hard for the police to carry out their duties as effectively as they should. There have been reports that the crime rate in the downtown area has gone up. I wish to request three to five additional police officers for the city. This will ensure that crime rate is at a minimal level and the officers are not overworked (Mikesell, 2010). Currently the town’s police department has 30 uniformed officers and 12 support staff. This translates to a ratio of 1 police officer for every 2,500 residents. Studies have shown that places with higher populations are likely to harbor more crime than less populated areas. In this town, the population is increasing at a steady rate, which means that the likelihood of increased crime is a reality that needs to be dealt with as early and as fast as possible (Reif-Lehrer, 2005). The town residents are well aware that the police department is currently understaffed. Individuals who are out to cause troubl e also know this. The downtown area is most vulnerable to crime due to the businesses situated in the area. Most of the economy of this town depend son the retail trade that is solely centered on the downtown area. If crime rate around this downtown area goes unchecked, the businesses will suffer, and so will the economy of the town. The other areas are relatively secure and regular police patrols do ensure that law and order are maintained at all times. An additional three or more police officers would ensure that business in the downtown area continues without people fearing that they might loose business due to crime. Currently the officers are overwhelmed with work, and this situation is not likely to become any better due to the increasing population. The town does need more officers on patrol, especially at night. Due to the shortage the police department is facing at the moment, most officers are forced to work over time past their designated shifts. The department has not ha d any extra officers for the last six years, despite the fact that the work load has been increasing during the same duration. Most of these officers are family men and women while others have other commitments. We have tried to reassign some of the duties performed by uniformed officers to other employees, but this strategy has failed to make the work of the officers any less. It would therefore be futile to continue in this line of action since it will not bear fruit (Reif-Lehrer, 2005). As chief of police, I was aware of the growing need for additional officers. I had tried to request for more officers last year, but my request was not granted. The manager has already been briefed of this growing workload situation. With three to five more police officer, the work load in the department will go down. Work will be distributed equitably among all the officers so that no one will have to spend more time at work than other officers. Failure to fund this request may have multiple nega tive effects on the department and the town’s residents. The officers available for duty will continue to suffer under too much pressure due to too much work. If the extra officers do not come within the year, we will have to disregard some duties and concentrate on the most pressing of the town’s security needs. This will bring on another problem: that of inefficiency (Kemp and Dunbar, 2003). The department will need to perform exemplarily in all its responsibilities for the greater good of the community. This is an urgent

Benefits of Activity Based Costing Essay Example for Free

Benefits of Activity Based Costing Essay In order to make a profit on production, the firm would have to charge a price that is greater than the cost of production. Generally, the cost of production is understood to be the cost of producing a good plus the cost of transportation to the consumer. In order to stay in business, and therefore, to avoid losses at all possible costs – the firm must cover all costs related to the production of the good and include all costs to deliver the same to the consumer at a price that is higher than the cost of production. The operating or overheard expenses of an enterprise are generated by its activities to perform its business and/or manufacturing processes successfully. As its name implies, activity based costing relates the costs facing the enterprise to its various activities. By so doing, this system of costing provides pretty accurate information about costs, allowing businesses to effectively manage their overhead expenses in order to increase their revenues (Cooper, 1988). It is but commonsensical that companies may work on cutting their costs once they know what is driving these costs. By improving their processes in order to cut costs, businesses may realize greater profits than before. What is more, by identifying high costing activities needed to produce certain goods or serve certain customers, companies may decide to focus instead on low costing products or customers by reducing their production of or service to high costing products or customers. In this way, they may shift their focus to products or customers that are more profitable to produce or to serve. Thus, management experts cite the following benefits of activity based costing as opposed to traditional methods of costing: Identifying the most and least profitable customers, products and channels. Determine the true contributors to— and detractors from—financial performance. Accurately predict costs, profits and resource requirements associated with changes in production volumes, organizational structure and resource costs. Easily identify the root causes of poor financial performance. Track costs of activities and work processes. Equip managers with cost intelligence to drive improvements. Facilitate better Marketing Mix. Enhance the bargaining power with the customer. Achieve better Positioning of products. (â€Å"Activity Based Costing,† 2008). Businesses that benefit the most from activity based costing are those with high manufacturing operating expenses or overhead costs. These costs may result from a diverse range or products, intensity of capital, or vertically integrated system of manufacturing. Activity based costing may help such businesses not only to understand but also to control their operating expenses so as to increase their revenues (O’Guin, 1991, p. 76). Organizations with large marketing, sales or distribution costs may also reap great benefits from activity based costing. As mentioned previously, this method of costing identifies those customers that are most profitable from those that are least profitable. This provides insight to management on how to improve operations. With activity based costing, such businesses may be able to answer questions such as: â€Å"What discounts are appropriate for large orders? What size accounts should salespersons no longer call on? How effective is advertising to different markets? † (O’Guin, p. 76). Firms that are experiencing sluggish or low profitability on increasing sales may be suffering from growth that is unmanaged. It may very well be that these businesses are selling products at losses to a number of customers. The accounting system of accurately measuring costs, that is, activity based costing, would allow these firms to determine which of their customers and products are generating revenues and which are not (O’Guin, p. 76). O’Guin describes another benefit of the activity based costing system thus: Even with a diverse product line or customer base and very high profitability, a company lacking an ABC system is surprisingly vulnerable. Product profitability probably varies widely across the company. Highly profitable products present an irresistible target to new market entrants. Management should know which products are reaping enormous margins, so they can erect barriers to entry. (p. 76). Also according to O’Guin, the activity based costing system provides not only strategic but also tactical benefits to businesses that implement it. Whereas benefits that are strategic in nature may be realized only once in a blue moon, for the simple reason that organizations cannot be expected to change their pricing, business operations, distribution or manufacturing processes each year – tactical benefits may be realized constantly. Indeed, activity based costing could help businesses not only with reduction of overhead costs, but also just-in-time support, improvement of quality, decisions about design, and investment in capital. Thus, businesses that implement the activity based costing system may improve their profitability on an ongoing basis (O’Guin, p. 76). In the twenty first century, companies that have a competitive edge are those that maintain flexibility, a trend that has been recognized as a critical factor for success since the 1990s. Life cycles of products have been shortened and focus on the customer has become increasingly important. As economies of scale virtually disappear, manufacturing plants that are successful are those that are able to quickly introduce innovative products and economically produce small quantities. Activity based costing system can help businesses tremendously to achieve these goals. What is more, this system of costing could assist businesses of the twenty first century to achieve their goal to increase employee motivation. With the activity based costing system in place, employees increase their understanding of business activities and therefore their involvement in business operations. So, for example, whenever they see a mound of papers they would see overhead costs, leading them to the following questions: Why do we have so many bills? Why are there so many process involved in our purchase orders (O’Guin, p. 76)? Thus, the activity based costing system encourages businesses to push their rates of cost drivers down. This helps in the reduction of time to setup, streamlines buying, in addition to time taken to development a product. When costs are attached to each of these processes or activities, management may not only measure but also plan improvement (O’Guin, p. 76). As mentioned before, some of these improvements may entail reducing production of goods or service to customers that cost more to produce or service than the others. Hence, the activity based costing system may also lead the business that implements it to improve upon its marketing mix or positioning of its products. If products and customers that cost more than the others are required by the company to produce or serve in the same quantity as before, however, activity based costing system helps the organization to improve its processes in order to decrease its costs without reducing the quantity to produce or serve. After all, it is only possible to improve inefficient processes. Because activity based costing allows the company to weigh the costs of activities against their benefits, firms that use it are in a great position to increase the efficiency of all of their processes so as to gain competitive advantages. References Activity Based Costing. (2008). Value Based Management. Retrieved Jan 27, 2009, from http://www. valuebasedmanagement. net/methods_abc. html. Cooper, R. (1988, Summer). The Rise of Activity-Based Costing – Part One: What is an Activity-Based Cost System? Journal of Cost Management, pp. 45-54. O’Guin, M. C. (1991). The Complete Guide to Activity-based Costing. Chicago, IL: CCH Tax and Accounting.

Cause and Effect Analysis of Information Data

Cause and Effect Analysis of Information Data Cause and Effect Analysis System Improvement Objectives Problem or Opportunity Causes and Effects System Objective System Constraint 1. Information contained in quarterly publish employee directory becomes out of date quickly 1. Companys rapid growth with new employees make quarterly publish directory constantly out of date. Lessen the impact on the administrator from 12 hours weekly to 1 or 2 hours Delete the micro system Enable e-mail system accessibility Dispose of hardcopy directory savings of $27,000 Engage employees to enter data in real time Maintain security of the system to prevent unauthorized access from all locations All computer desktops from all locations must be independently accessible to the system Reduce the redundancy of keying in employee information into the mirco and System Improvement Objectives Problem or Opportunity Causes and Effects System Objective System Constraint 2. Duplicate employee information in the micro and mainframe systems 1. Automation is non existent between the micro and mainframe systems user interface 2. Employees information is not centrally stored in one location Eliminate the need for the micro system Develop single source of entering employee information to eliminate duplicate keying information Maintain security of the system to prevent unauthorized access from all locations All computer desktops from all locations must be independently accessible to the system Cause and Effect Analysis System Improvement Objectives Problem or Opportunity Causes and Effects System Objective System Constraint 3. Maintaining and operating Mainframe system cost are high Out of date technology of the system increases costs to maintain Transactions are source of high cost with constant reprocessing to correct discrepancies 1. Decrease operating cost to a more manageable   level goal of 50% reduction 1. None   noted Cause and Effect Analysis System Improvement Objectives Problem or Opportunity Causes and Effects System Objective System Constraint 4. Employee data not current throughout current system Administrator has to key in information on each employee submitted form causing a delay in system accuracy Employee data is not available in real time Allow employees to enter their own information into the system Develop single point of entry to ensure employee data is in real time and made available to other legacy systems 1. Interfaces need to meet legacy specifications Cause and Effect Analysis System Improvement Objectives Problem or Opportunity Causes and Effects System Objective System Constraint 5. Employee information processing done by HR department is costly 1. HR staff labor is very extensive thus driving cost upward because of having to interface with each employee to fix discrepancies and input their data into the system Eliminate the need for the micro system Allow employees to enter their own information into the system Develop single point of entry to ensure employee data is in real time and made available to other legacy systems Maintain security of the system to prevent unauthorized access from all locations All computer desktops from all locations must be independently accessible to the system Cause and Effect Analysis System Improvement Objectives Problem or Opportunity Causes and Effects System Objective System Constraint 6. Employees information is stored in different databases across the system Employee data is not being stored in a single repository Databases for storing employee data are application specific 1. Develop a database that is single source for employee information storage Single source employee database will exceed the $225,000 budget when modifying the legacy application. Provide the appropriate interfaces in lieu of modifying legacy applications Cause and Effect Analysis System Improvement Objectives Problem or Opportunity Causes and Effects System Objective System Constraint 7. Reports are not accessible when users need them Current system does not have the capability to submit a query or ad-hoc function Backlogs and priorities prohibit IS from responding on reporting requests 1. Provide a feature to enable the ad-hoc and query function to the users Maintain security of the system to prevent unauthorized access from all locations Cause and Effect Analysis System Improvement Objectives Problem or Opportunity Causes and Effects System Objective System Constraint 8. United Way lacking employee participation 1. No means to track employee contributions Provide management the means to monitor contributions and status by the use inquiries and reports Enable each employee the ability to make contributions online Maintain security of the system to prevent unauthorized access from all locations All computer desktops from all locations must be independently accessible to the system

Indias Economic Engagements with Sub-Saharan Africa

Indias Economic Engagements with Sub-Saharan Africa INTRODUCTION Africa till recent past quite easily qualified for the unceremonious category of â€Å"hopeless continent† that largely failed to provide basic services to their people that have non-existent or fragile government and are subjected to regular outside interference. Decades of impoverishment, factional feuds, power struggles, natural calamities, harsh living conditions and exploitative attitude of global powers ravaged most of the countries of Africa pushing them to bottom of the third world, incapable of sustaining themselves despite enormous wealth of natural resources. A lot has changed recently, wherein democracy has not only found its feet but also, strengthened manifolds leading to economic growth. There has been renewed interest of many powers, world over to engage with Africa as its equal partner, while boundaries of power take a new shape. This has its roots in ever increase in positive narrative of Africa. The history indicate a long and ancient account of indo-African relations[1], with Africa being a host to Indian Diaspora for a reasonably long time. Recent times have witnessed a new set of dynamics emerging in the form of rapid expansion of relations. In 2010/11 Indo-African trade reached USD 45 billion and is expected to grow beyond USD 75 billion by 2015[2]. While carrying out any study on Africa it will be important to understand the human scene with an attention toward a general review of the kinds of peoples and social organisations that are to be found in Africa. In societies, such as those of traditional sub- Saharan Africa, which have a fairly simple socio-economic structure, the various sectors of human life which are organised and from which stem a measure of established authority are more closely interwoven than in more complex societies[3]. Each area of life is more sensitive to change and to influences emanating from every other part. Human life is simpler, because its needs are fewer and the methods of satisfying them are more restricted and more sharply defined. The native Africans need to be contrasted with millions of Europeans, Indians and Syrians apart from sprinkling of people from all over the world. A special character emerges owing to the disparity which has been impacted by outside world on its original form. Hence it becomes imperative that any evaluation of present situation on the continent and particularly any planning for the future, regard the indigenous African and his traditional way of life and thought as a major factor in determining the facts and assessing the probable results of change. While US shifts its focus on Asia-Pacific region, China competes with all emerging powers for energy resources and markets for finished products apart from a big time engagement in infrastructure development. India’s growth, though not as spectacular as China, its capitalist interests are ambitious to extend their commercial reach. The pursuit for economic growth has superseded previous outlook of Indian foreign policy which has provided drive to the commercial ventures in newer avenues. Africa, as portrayed by ex Prime Minister Manmohan Singh as ‘a major growth pole of the world[4]’, can be viewed for new investment sites, export markets and capital accumulation for Indian-based interests[5]. The launch of Export-Import Bank of India (EXIM) as part of its â€Å"Focus Africa† initiative can be regarded as a stepping stone towards upsurge in economic activity[6]. The project initially targeted Ethiopia, Kenya and Mauritius with extension of lines of credit i n support of goods export to these countries. Engagement is the buzz word for today’s world and involves many dimensions, to include politics, trade and commerce, security, infrastructure, capacity and capability building etc. India continues to deploy troops in Peace keeping missions in Sudan as well as Democratic Republic of Congo under UN flag apart from provision of expert advice as part of defence cooperation to many countries such as Nigeria, Zambia, Lesotho and Botswana in development and transformation of their militaries. The western analysts have propounded many theories with respect to nature of Indian engagement with Africa; some see it as a supplier of investment and aid donor whereas others narrate ‘benign and nuanced approach; while it lacks in foreign reserves to compete with Chinese cheque book diplomacy and futility of economic munificence alone. Ian Taylor in his paper titled India’s rise in Africa questions if â€Å"India is a scrambler or a development partner†, a self interested actor bent on exploitation or one that aspires to some level of mutual benefit[7]. Amidst these analyses the most pertinent factor which needs to be seen is how African leaders seek to leverage Indian engagements. Thus politics comes to fore, which has two related dimensions, the competitive pursuit of private interests, and the determination of public policy. Observing the priority of African elites to accelerate efforts to improve the conditions, develop institutions and enabling infrastructure for overall growth, a discussed/researched approach for symbiotic relationship holds the key to any engagement. While addressing its national interests in the area, a holistic study of all possible areas of mutually beneficial engagements will add to focussed betterment of the region at large. The mutually beneficial engagements should allow a lasting impact in polity as well as common public of sub Saharan Africa that their true interests and future lie with India. The skilled yet jobless youth of India can find meaningful engagements in these countries contributing to th eir capacities while earning goodwill, friendship and favourable environment for enhanced engagements. The study seeks to analyse existing engagements of India with sub Saharan Africa in fields like economy, military, education etc. with examination of feasibilities to enhance the same, as the opportunities, which emerge in contemporary times in the backdrop of highly competitive world may not arrive/ relent in times to come. The study has been organised into various chapters as under:- (a)Chapter I: India’s Africa Policy in Contemporary Times. (b)Chapter II: India-Africa Security Cooperation and its Evolution. (c)Chapter III: Economic Situation in Sub Saharan Africa. (d)Chapter IV: India’s Initiatives in Sub Saharan Africa. (e)Chapter V: Indian Diaspora and its Contribution. (f)Chapter VI: Way Ahead. CHAPTER I INDIA’S AFRICA POLICY IN CONTEMPORARY TIMES Post independence, seventeen years of Nehruvian era witnessed non-alignment as the corner stone of India’s foreign policy. This was adopted primarily as a visionary policy based on idealism. The geography as well as fragile economic conditions acted as material reasons for following a policy of non alignment, which certain academicians view as a safe path to seek cooperation of big powers and prevent any power bloc from turning hostile, apart from Nehru’s strong conviction against balance of power, military alliances and rush to exhibit military power. India became extremely inward looking during Cold war era as it was marred by its domestic problems. Persistent levels of poverty, rising corruption and poor governance during 1970’s and 1980’s along with tumultuous neighbourhood tied India to sub-regional and national issues, overlooking African Continent as being irrelevant to its National interests. Post cold war the policy mandarins in Delhi were compelled to reshape its foreign policy, taking into account the new impulses of global arena. In addition, India’s growth rates have averaged at around 6% per annum since 1990’s, after taking off in 1980’s[8]. India’s pro-business strategy followed by liberalisation in early 1990’s along with refocus of Indian Companies to fresh markets and investment opportunities in regions having large Indian diasporas resulted in consolidation of old ties. Impressive growth rates allowed India to address its internal problems and fine tune its foreign policy with economic ambitions. After a detailed arrangement to send envoys to sub Saharan countries during 1996-97 as a mark of reaffirmation of India’s assurance to strengthening cooperation with these countries in a spirit of south-south partnership[9], the Government of India increased its involvement with African states further in 2003. This was followed with announcement of Indian Development Initiative. India is in drastic need of finding new suppliers of energy and other primary resources. For India to become a global power it must grow above 8 percent annually for at least two decades. The assured availability of energy will be a key factor. India despite its domestic production of oil and natural gas will still incrementally require additional resources of energy. India’s hydrocarbon import dependency has been predicted to rise from current 70 percent to almost 92 percent by 2030[10]. As true to any Nation, the continued growth of India depends on availability of raw materials for industrial production and energy sources to support industries. As per reports till 2009, India imported 70% of its oil requirements and provided heavy subsidies on domestic prices, leading to double digit inflation figures after being under 6%[11] for 13 years. India’s Africa policy has laid emphasis on expansion and diversification of supply sources and to that end Indian national oil co mpanies have purchased equity stakes in overseas oil and gas fields to ensure reserves and provide a boost to production capability. These include fields in Africa, Southeast Asia South, America and Caspian Sea region. Despite these efforts the majority imports arrive from Middle east where Indian companies struggle for direct access or investments[12]. The tilt in relations of immediate neighbours of India towards China, tensions with Pakistan, competition with China and demonstration of African partners as all weather friends during world wide sanctions post nuclear tests were the major motivators for India to reformulate its foreign policy. While India is seeking to be a more dominant power and credibility in global scene, it is increasingly relying on Southern backing. Objectives of Indian National interests appear to be fulfilled through newly identified means of â€Å"Aid†. On one hand India rejected foreign aid from most of its donors in 2003 to draw attention of world order to its self sufficiency in tackling its internal problems of poverty, corruption etc. and on the other hand to reflect its role as a new donor. India initiated its development assistance way beyond its immediate neighbours along with scaling up of diplomatic initiatives within Africa, increasing the number of Indian embassies in the continent. It a lso covered the regional divisions of Africa by creating three joint secretaries[13]. Historical and ideological linkages between India and African countries have been important factor, too.1950s witnessed south-south cooperation as a platform for struggle by former colonies for independence and greater autonomy. Bandung conference of 1955 brought together 29 Asian countries with Africa to promote cultural and economic cooperation in Asian-African region. Mutual interest and respect for national sovereignty was the basis of this conference. NAM came to being in 1961 and Group of 77 in 1964, which were viewed as anti hegemonic. India and China championed these movements and have been in competition to lead the representation of Southern states, since then. While China provided military assistance for liberation movements, India was assisted in anti- apartheid struggles in Zimbabwe and South Africa. Ideals of Mahatma Gandhi were integral to India’s foreign policy, who has been quoted to have said that â€Å"ideas and services will be drivers of commerce between India and Africa unlike Western exploiters busy in trading manufactured goods against raw materials†. This resulted in emergence of India’s philosophy of developmental assistance to Africa which culminated in creation of ITEC programme[14]. This placed training and capacity building ahead of financial assistance. During Delhi declaration of India-Africa Forum Summit in 2008 Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, announced that: â€Å"The time has come to create a new architecture for our engagement in the 21st Century. We visualise a partnership that is anchored in the fundamental principles of equality, mutual respect and mutual benefit. Working together, the two billion people of India and Africa can set an example of fruitful cooperation in the developing world†[15]. The Indian policy makers identified the pre conditions of Western donors which was attached for a long time on any aid without aligning it with the aspect of developing the productive ‘supply side’ of economies. A model of developmental assistance with minimal conditions and respect for the national sovereignty worked out by Indian policy makers appeared to be more acceptable and less imposing. A new body for governing India’s outgoing development assistance, called development Partnership Administration (DPA) has been set up under the Economic Relations Division of MEA, which is just short of an â€Å"aid† agency. It is mandated to streamline administrative issues of entire process apart from assessing the effectiveness of credit lines that India is extending to its partners.[16] It primarily allowed African states to set terms of agreement and overall purpose of aid. In 2009, Paul Kagame, president of Rwanda, announced his desire that:- â€Å"All would benefit if the world focused on increasing investment in Africa, and if Rwanda and the rest of the continent worked to establish more equitable international partnerships. A trade relationship built on this new approach would be more helpful in reaching what should be our common goal: sustainable development, mutual prosperity and respect†[17] Value and Sector based distribution of Lines of Credit   Source: Indian Development Cooperation Research at Centre for Policy Research India’s security concerns and contribution into stability of African security are also related issues with an aim to secure its National interests. Owing to deteriorating conditions of piracy at sea on West Africa and existent threat off the coast of African horn, there lies an opportunity to exercise its well espoused maritime doctrine published in 2004 and revised in 2009[18]. India’s experience in UN peace keeping missions especially in Africa has its origin in contributions to ensure stability of the region. There exists a framework for defence cooperation in the form of training teams to evolve better training programmes for the countries it is engaged with. India’s naval presence is largely restricted to anti piracy in the gulf region, but there exists a wider scope for enhanced engagement in operations as well as training with a broader aim of addressing strategically important Indian Ocean rim. Analysis What emerges from the study of evolution of India’s foreign policy with respect to Africa, is that the main drivers of India’s relations with Africa present a tricky mix of strategic, economic and political factors based on national interests of India with complex set of internally diverse actors and historically stated policy of non alignment generally understood as non interference, thus providing enough space for the other partners to have a say in engagements. In effect, India has sought to develop and pursue a strategic partnership simultaneously maintaining bilateral policy objectives. African relations are suggestive of being a conduit to India’s wider international objectives with a focus on improving trade as well as political conditions not only for itself but also developing nations at large employing its economic and political muscle. As part of revisionist approach India has pushed hard for reconfiguration of some of the institutions of global govern ance. African nations have been observed as useful allies in such ventures, as almost all of them have backed India in its bid for permanent seat in UN Security Council. The critics of the subject have highlighted certain specific issues with respect to hidden intent of India, incoherent policies, pitfalls in thought process by way of over reliance on nostalgia of Nehruvian era and over stretched MEA with limited staff to address a huge area and lack of decentralised agency to ensure correct and transparent implementation policies on ground. A relatively ad-hoc system of overseeing various policy issues have led to significant gaps in implementation of identified thematic areas. Though India’s private sector actors drive numerous commerce related agendas, businesses haven’t progressed based on the regional strengths against the backdrop of fragile security conditions. Issues of poor infrastructure, lack of access to finance for small traders and limited logistic support act as impediments that need to be addressed to harness unprecedented opportunities that emerge for Indian companies. The experts also point at pitfalls in public-privat e economic diplomacy approach to Africa largely due to poor coordination, lack of long term vision and enthusiasm to pursue apart from poor market intelligence. Despite provision of Lines of Credit commitments, in consonance with the principle of mutually beneficial development cooperation, engagement on economic affairs also should seek enhanced role and integration of Confederation of Indian industries, with pan-African mechanisms such as NEPAD (The New Partnership for Africa’s Development), AU (African Union) and AfDB (African Development Bank Group). As more and more oil imports are planned from traditional oil producing countries in Africa, security strategies need to be put into place in greater details. Countries like Nigeria which are one amongst the largest oil suppliers to India from Africa face internal as well as external security crisis. While groups like Boko Haram pose threats closer home to various oil producing infrastructure, emerging piracy in the west coast of Africa pose threat at sea. The scrounge of piracy has been addressed in a very limited manner by certain groupings like Economic community of West African States(ECOWAS), India’s capabilities in defence and familiarity with wide ranging security concerns can empower ECOWAS to address insecurity caused by rising piracy on the region. India needs to consider initiating economic diplomatic strategy including maritime defence cooperation and innovative infrastructural financing mechanism aimed to benefit local development in gas and oil producing countrie s in Africa while securing imports that could assist in India’s need for fuel. To sum up the analysis it is felt that India has tremendous potential and value to stimulate development and economic growth across Africa, but it has lacked to articulate a coherent Africa Policy which appeals Africans. In addition, more clarity needs to be brought into the actual agencies dealing with India’s development cooperation to Africa along with a vibrant spokesperson who clarifies any ambiguities which are perceived in daily discourse of business. A greater coordination of Indian private sector with African regional and continental governance frame works rather than bilateral engagements will bring better prospects. [1] Beri R, ‘India’s Africa policy in the post-Cold War era: an assessment’, Strategic Analysis 27: 2, 2003, p 216–32 [2] Noury V, ‘Trade levels grow by 400% in five years’, African Business, Jan. 2012, p. 35. [3] Peter FM Mc Ewwan and Sutcliffe Robert B, ‘The Study of Africa’, p 13. [4] Times of India, 24 May 2011. [5] Agrawal S, Emerging donors in international development assistance: the India case (Ottawa: International Development Research Centre, Partnership and Business Development Division, 2007), p.7 [6] Noury Valerie, ‘Trade levels grow by 400% in five years’, African Business, Jan 2012, Issue 382, p. 35. [7] Corkin L and Naidu S, ‘China and India in Africa: an introduction’, Review of African Political Economy 35: 1,2008, pp. 115–116. [8] Jenkins Edwards, 2006:2007 [9] En.wikipedia.org/wiki/Foreign_relations_of_India#Africa, accessed on 03 Nov 2014. [10] Gupta Ranjit, Special Commentary, India and Gulf: Looking beyond Energy, Islam and the Diaspora, www.ipcs.org, accessed on 03 Nov 2014. [11] Mc Carthy Tom, Assessing China and India’s New Role in Africa, www.e-ir.info /2011/07/26, accessed on 03 Nov 2014 [12] Independent Statistics and Analysis by US Energy Information Administration, www.eia.gov/countries/cab.cfm?fips=in , accessed on 03 Nov 2014 [13] Mc Carthy Tom, Assessing China and India’s New Role in Africa, www.e-ir.info /2011/07/26, accessed on 03 Nov 2014 [14] 50 years of ITEC, www.mea.gov.in / uploads/PublicationDocs/24148_Revised_50yrs_of ITEC_brochure.pdf, accessed on 03 Nov 2014 [15] www.idsa.in, 9 April 2008, accessed on 04 Nov 2014 [16] www.thehindu.com/opinion/op-ed/aid-from-india-coming-to-a-country-near-you/article 3859607.ece , accessed on 04 Nov 2014. [17] www.paulkagame.com/speeches_main_3.php, accessed on 04 Nov 2014 [18] Indian Maritime Doctrine release (release ID: 52223), Indian MoD, 28 August 2009, pib.nic.in /newsite/erelease.aspx?relid=52223, accessed 04 Nov 2014 ; News article titled â€Å"Maritime doctrine makes subtle changes in principles of war†, published in THE HINDU, on 30 Aug 2009, accessed on 04 Nov 2014 www.thehindu.com/todays-paper/tp-national/maritime-doctrine-makes-subtle-changes-in-principle-of-war/article216179.ece

Philosophy and Education Essay -- Education Schooling

In this assignment I will look at the relationship between the foundational disciplines, which are history, philosophy, psychology and sociology, and education and see how they fit in with contemporary society. I will mainly look at how philosophy has made education what it is today and how philosophers would change education to make it better in their opinion. According to the American Sociological Association (ASA) sociology is the study of social life, social change, and social causes and consequences of human behaviour. Sociologists look at the structure of society and how people conduct themselves within society. They look at human behaviour and how people react to certain situations etc. They focus on how society is organised and how we experience it. The sociology of education is an analysis of the relation between society and the education system. They look at the actual institution, the individuals in the institution, the practices, processes and the concepts. Sociologists believe that a person’s life chances are affected greatly by the education they receive and choices they have. Marxists would believe that education was a way of controlling the masses and keeping people in their place. History is looked at in relation to education as it is important to understand hot education started and what events in the past, such as Industrialisation, growth and development in society and globalisation, have influenced the education system and caused change in the way we are educated. The main aims of education according to this key discipline are to train people to the social character or pattern of culture which is dominant at the time; we need to separate specialist training from the education system, this is because we don... ...t-Welfare Society. 2nd ed., London, Open University Press. †¢ ARTHUR, James and DAVIES Ian (2010). Education Studies Reader. Abingdon, Routledge. †¢ KASSEM Derek, MUFTI Emmanuel and ROBINSON John (2006). Education Studies Issues and Critical Perspectives. Maidenhead, Open University Press. †¢ Philosophy of Education Sessions 9 & 10 (2010). [online]. Last accessed 30/11/2010 at: http://shuspace.shu.ac.uk/webapps/portal/frameset.jsp?tab_group=courses&url=%2Fwebapps%2Fblackboard%2Fcontent%2FcontentWrapper.jsp%3Fattachment%3Dtrue%26navItem%3Dcontent%26content_id%3D_2957690_1%26course_id%3D_221563_1%26displayName%3DPhilosophy%2Bof%2BEducation%2BSeminars%2B9%2Band%2B10.pptx%26href%3D%2F%2540%2540%2FC93AC2856BD502D507D1B3CEC6EEC200%2Fcourses%2F1%2F77-4925-00S-A-20101%2Fcontent%2F_2957690_1%2FPhilosophy%252520of%252520Education%252520Seminars%2525209%252520and%25252010.pptx

A Walk to Remember by Nicholas Sparks Essays -- school students, logic,

Nicholas Sparks’ A Walk to Remember is a classic â€Å"coming-of-age† novel that is a simple enough read to allow high school students to relate to the storyline. When Landon Carter finally accepts his feelings for Jamie, who has helped him become a better person in more ways that either of them know of, he reaches the pinnacle of his transformation from a troubled and resentful teenager into a respectful and selfless young man. A text included on a required reading list for high school students should have a theme that allows them to relate to the characters, to figuratively put themselves in their shoes and feel as if they are part of the story. It should also develop the students’ moral compass and teach them a valuable lesson that will help them throughout their lives. A Walk To Remember is a great Coming-of-Age novel for high school students to read because it allows students to hear the main character’s voice change and mature throughout the novel an d provides an opportunity for them to reflect on whether it is best to listen to logic or to listen to one’s heart, Landon’s personal growth, and the brevity of life. Landon Carter is a typical high school senior who’s always behaved himself based on logic, but as he encounters many fateful events that grant him a sense of self-awareness he realizes who he truly is, and is appalled by what he finds. Throughout the story, Landon spends more and more time with Jamie, a girl who is ousted by most of the senior class because of her religious devotion. Although he is not thrilled by her company at first, he truly ends up appreciating what she represents, which we see when he says, â€Å"The more I hung around Jamie, the more I realized she had a lot of different emotions†¦ that was the first tim... ...ould be a part of required reading lists for high school students because it introduces them to concepts like logic and feelings, levels of maturity, and the brevity of life that allow students to find their true calling. This novel will teach them to develop the skills they need to make conscious decisions, whether they base them on logic or they go with their hearts as well as developing the right level of maturity they need to succeed in the real world. Students need to be able to reflect on matters that will be meaningful regarding the decisions they will have to make in the future so that they are knowledgeable about their choices. This novel is a great example of how a required book should teach students an indispensable lesson about logic, feelings, and moral values. Works Cited Sparks, Nicholas. A Walk to Remember. New York: Warner Books, 1999. Print.

Benefits of Recycling in Your Organization

A strategical approach to recycling program is required in order to gain out of recycling program. Whereas recycling program involves investment of finances for equipment, labor and marketing for resale of recycled products, although the raw material for recycling need not be purchased as it is available as waste. [e. g. waste water, cars for recycling etc. ,] Potential gains of recycling program One of the biggest gain that can be derived from recycling program is the non-levy of taxes in terms of cost as governments do not consider payment of taxes on recycled products.The second gain in terms of cost is a long-term investment in equipment/land to generate revenues from recycling program. [e. g. recycling plant for waste water/land for preparing compost to sell as fertilizer etc. ,] Potential losses of recycling program One pre-emptive loss that is unpredictable could be from the competitors of recycled products who may pull a market share through low-price bidding in order to win contracts. The second loss that is predictable is the volatility in market basing on local conditions, which fluctuates the costs, revenues and services of recycled products. ConclusionThe reduce of costs in recycling program is in adopting an efficient system such as to use opportunities which reduces costs, jurisdictions that extend tax benefits and a provision for bargaining power and to use a combination of resources. Also a constant watch over market conditions also result in gain / loss of a recycling program in an organization. References Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection (2005) Building Financially sustainable recycling programs Retrieved on 10 February, 2007 from http://www. dep. state. pa. us/dep/deputate/airwaste/wm/RECYCLE/document/Sust_Rpt/part_1. pdf

Rose

Lee is unafraid to show emotion, especially when writing about his father or his wife. The images Lee finds, such as the rose and the apple, can refer to the life-span off human. Life (on the tree branch), falling off tree (Life- span), then how death Is portrayed by using the ground as the end of life. Even his father's blindness and death can become beautiful. From what I gathered from the poems in Rose, was Lee grew up in a strong tight-knit family environment.He is not afraid to describe is feelings with colorful adjectives, and has a powerful relationship with his mother and father throughout his poems. It is clear that Lee grew up in an atmosphere where there is a certain level of humility, love of speech, from where he also searched for wisdom understanding. Lie-Young Lee's poems are very beautiful and meditative. The way that Lee captures love & longing, subtle forms of love, nuances of parental relationships, and the sadness and reflection that makes it meaningful and though t provoking to the reader.Lee draws on his own life experience in such a way that readers will wonder if he is ring to extract those experiences from his inner self. While these poems are deeply personal, they are also universal in their appeal. Like a child who possesses a sensual, adult relationship with the world, Lie-Young Lee shines with an open gentleness and delicate Iverson 2 sensitivity. Nothing escapes his keen eye and, as he so greatly illustrates, the greatest art is all around us. Lee's poetry results in a clarification or awakening of feelings that summon the reader's desire to examine his or her feelings, and by examining them, express them.Therefore, by reaching into our own self-awareness, we are able to eek redemption. We forgive ourselves. Young Lee's poetry is lucid in the way he captures the details of living with accuracy and tenderness, it moves the reader to awe . Lee reveals the way our families create who we are in a manner that heals the reader and makes u s examine our own lives. Lee often writes about his father and his own attempt to understand his connection to him and the heritage bestowed on him. Lee also uses many forms of symbolism throughout his work. For example, in â€Å"Dreaming of Hair,† the hair is an evil thread of death.This Lee sees the simple image of his father braiding his mother's hair. Lee's work is filled with these varying symbolic representations of the ordinary. This is one of things that make his work so unique and interesting. The poetry of Lie-Young Lee consists of simple forms that create a natural and earthy feel for the reader. The symbolism and imagery in his work comes from the deep well of experience and Lee writes in a style that gives the reader a sense of his urgency – almost as if Lee is trying to purge himself from what lies within him. Because of this, Rose is a very interesting and thought provoking read.

Ocean Park Brand Equity Essay

I am genuinely tank to Mr. Nicholas Tam for supporting me all the time and spending many hours on my final year project. This was totally appreciated that he provided many professional and useful advices and recommendations to me. Otherwise, I would also like to thanks Mr. C. N. Lo as my second marker and give me suggestion to improve my project. ABSTRACT Ocean Park Hong Kong is a home-grown treasure. It is also one of the most popular amusement parks in the world, providing educational, conservation and entertainment. Ocean Park Hong Kong has brought joy to local and overseas visitors throughout her 30-year history. She lets everyone in Hong Kong has a special and memorable experiences. In these 30 years, it experienced many impacts that are occurred by outside and inside of the organization. They also recorded a deficit for a certain years. But it was carried out the revolutions continually. Afterwards, the business is still running. Recently, some information indicated that the ranking of the most popular amusement park of the world, which is the Ocean Park Hong Kong higher than Hong Kong Disneyland. Finally, through survey, focus group interview and brands performance measures, to conclude that the brand equity of Ocean Park was better. Better leadership, better quality, builds up customer loyalty. CHAPTER I – INTRODUCTION Ocean Park is one of the theme parks in Hong Kong. â€Å"Marine† is the majority theme of the park. It is located at the Southern District of Hong Kong, and it was opened on 10 January 1977. It was constructed at a land granted by the government, and then the funding of construction is granted by the Hong Kong Jockey Club (HKJC), and it also operated by HKJC. In January 1979, Ocean Park introduced a Killer Whale for the visitors. It becomes a one of the selling points of the park. In the inception stage, there is not enough amusement rides for the public. But, there was expanded their scale of the park, and increased much more amusement rides into the park. The operating capital of Ocean Park was depends on the revenue from tickets and donation from HKJC in earlier stage. It also has a significant deficit for a long time because the price is set on the low side. In 1 July 1987, the â€Å"Ocean Park Ordinance† is constituted by the government. HKJC will granted that they are established the trust with $200M funding. In this time, Ocean Park becomes a non-profit making organization and needs to self-finance. The park changed their business to commercial-oriented, and increasing its ticket price. Thus, the park enhanced its financial conditions to be positive. In 1998, the park recorded deficit again caused by some factors, such as East Asian Financial Crisis. Although it received 2 pandas from China, it still could not increase the visitor’s attraction of the park. The park also closed the water attractions and the Middle Kingdom. And then, it introduced more amusement rises for visitors especially for the teenagers such as the Abyss Turbo Drop and the Mine Train. In Fiscal Year 2004/2005, there are more than 4 million visitors during a year. This is renewing the record since the park is opened. It is caused that PRC government implemented the â€Å"Individual Visit Scheme† under CEPA. Ocean Park revealed its redevelopment plan in 2005, which will upgrades the quality and availability of features at the park. This is response the impacts from the opening of Disneyland. Ocean Park is also held a groundbreaking ceremony for its redevelopment project in November of 2006. According to the Attraction Attendance 2008 releases by Economics Research Associates (ERA) and Themed Entertainment Association (TEA) on 16 April, Ocean Park is the world’s number 15 theme park, Asia’s 5th theme park (Judith Rubin, 2009). (Appendix 1b) 1. Industry Background The tourism industry is one of the four key industries in the Hong Kong economy. There were two types of tourism which were inbound tourism and outbound. For inbound tourism, there were 5 groups of sub-industries which included retail trade, hotels and boarding houses, Restaurants, Cross-boundary passenger transport services and others. The value added of tourism in 2006 and 2007 were HK$45,300 Million and HK$52,300 Million. There was increased around 14% from 2006 to 2007. And the employment in this industry in 2006 and 2007 was 176,300 and 193,800. There was increased around more than 8% from 2006 to 2007 (Census and Statistics Department, HKSAR, 2009). (Appendix 9) In order to support the poor economic condition, Hong Kong government was provided some supporting projects to the tourism industry such as â€Å"the Closer Economic Partnership Arrangement (CEPA)† and â€Å"Individual Visit Scheme†. These projects both were cooperated with PRC. Ocean Park is one of the participators in the amusement park market. Its major competitor is Hong Kong Disneyland. Before Disneyland involved its business in Hong Kong, Ocean Park was the only one participator in this market during the other amusement parks were closed their business such as Lai Chi Kok Amusement Park. On the other hand, the amusement park from neighbor country should also be the major competitors for Ocean Park such as Happy Valley from Shenzhen, PRC. As a famous landmark of Hong Kong, Ocean Park was a successful company in this industry. In accordance with the Attraction Attendance 2008, the 2008 attendance was equal to 5. 03 Million. It was a leading brand of the amusement park market (Judith Rubin, 2009) (Appendix 1b). In conclusion, Ocean Park should be capturing the opportunity derived from increasing attendance and the supporting from government, and focus its competence for facing the threat generated by intensive competition from the neighbor country. 2. Statement of issue In past certain years, Ocean Park faced impacts in different period of time, for example, East Asian Financial Crisis, SARS, and external environment. For the financial issue, Ocean Park was faced the financial distress on past certain years especially for the East Asian financial crisis. Besides, for the external environmental issue, Ocean Park should also be faced to the new entrants of Hong Kong amusement park market that was Disneyland. Ocean Park was a domestic famous brand in Hong Kong. On the other hand, Disneyland was an international famous brand. The overall size of organization of Ocean Park should be smaller than Disneyland. 3. Purpose of the study Propose of this study is to understand customer’s brand equity of Ocean Park. A result of questionnaire survey is to ascertain the sources (Brand Equity Ten) of brand equity of Ocean Park. Base on the findings of the survey, propose that the critical success factor of the theme park. CHAPTER II – LITERATURE REVIEW The Brand Equity Ten will be applying in this study, which is an effective method to evaluate brand equity. Ten sets of measures grouped into five categories, are shown in Table 1. The first four categories are to measure customer perceptions of the brand. The four categories of brand equity are including loyalty, perceived quality, associations, and awareness. The last category is to collect information from the market based information rather than directly from customers (D. Aaker, 1996). 1. Loyalty Measures Since it is now widely recognized that it is much less costly and much more profitable to keep existing customers than to win new ones, customer retention become an important goal for most organizations. In principle it’s simple: you just have to keep your existing customer (N. Hill, J. Alexander, 2006). The Hong Kong amusement park industry was created a monopoly loyalty during there was only two participators in the market, such as Ocean Park and Disneyland. The loyalty of these two amusement parks might be generated by devotion of its customers, for instance, the customer would be sought some adventure experiences at Ocean park during there was provided many thrill rides. Besides, if the customer would be found some story of fairy tales, they would go to Disneyland, it is because customer can be met many famous characters like Mickey Mouse. 1. Price Premium â€Å"A basic indicator of loyalty is the amount a customer will pay for the brand in comparison with another brand (or set of comparison brands) offering similar benefits†(D.Aaker, 1996). For the admission fees of both Ocean Park and Disneyland, there was a large difference between parks. For instance, in the adult’s general admission fees, Ocean Park was HK$208, and Disneyland was HK$350. Therefore, the price premium should be HK$142. 1. Perceived Quality/Leadership Measures â€Å"Perceived quality is often the key positioning dimension for corporate brands (such as Toshiba or Ford) and other brands that range over product classes (such as Weight Watchers, Kraft, and store brands such as Safeway Select). Because these brands span product classes, they are less likely to be driven by functional benefits, and perceived quality is likely to play a larger role. (D. Aaker, 2009) For Ocean Park, it provided different amusement facilities to visitors. Besides, Disneyland provided the story of fairy tales to visitors. Visitors could earn the different experiences during they are visiting these two parks. They would use the last experience to evaluate the perceived quality of the parks. â€Å"Leading brands are perceived to be relevant, unique and compelling. They inspire customer loyalty and enable organizations to charge price premiums. They increase bargaining power with business partners, make it easier to hire and retain talented employees and provide organizations with clear strategic direction and platforms for future growth. †(B. VanAuken, 2007) Both Ocean Park and Disneyland were performed their services at a unique and compelling ways. For example, Ocean Park provides a lot of amusement facilities for visitors; some facilities were very unique in Hong Kong such as Giant Panda Habitat. On the other hand, Disneyland arranges many owned international famous characters that visitors may take some photos with them. 2. Associations/ Differentiation Measures â€Å"The key associations/differentiation component of brand equity usually involves image dimensions that are unique to a product class or to a brand. The challenge, then, is to generate general measures that will work across product classes. † (D. Aaker, 1996) Since Ocean Park was opened, it was established a personal image for visitors that it was provided some messages like ocean protection and education, exciting experience. Visitors had no doubtful that the meaning of Ocean Park, and they was knew that it was not an amusement park only. Also, Disneyland was generated a dreaming place for visitors to enjoy a childlike and entertaining tour for their each visit. But it was not provided other functional characters to the public such as educational activities. 3. Awareness Measures â€Å"Brand awareness measures the accessibility of the brand in memory. Brand awareness can measured through brand recall or brand recognition. Brand recall reflects the ability of consumers to retrieve the brand from memory when given the product category. † (P. Chandon, 2003) Both Ocean Park and Disneyland were achieved to brand awareness. For Ocean Park, visitors may be bethought its owned characters when they were went to it such as Dolphin, Giant Panda, thrill rides and etc. On the other hand, also, Disneyland was gained the high level of international attention. Visitors were recall its owned characters like Winnie the Pooh, Stitch, and they can be got this memory outside it such as TV and other side-products of its owned characters. The dimension of differentiation in the association category is a summary of brand associations (D.Aaker, 1996). 4. Market Behavior Measures 1. Market Share â€Å"The performance of a brand as measured by market share (and/or sales) often provides a valid and sensitive reflection of the brand’s standing with customers. When the brand has a relative advantage in the minds of customers, its market share should increase or at least not decrease. † (D. Aaker, 1996) The performance of an amusement park can be measured by some elements such as its functions, service level, customer relationship management and etc. It can be grew its admission income during the higher service performance that it can be performed. 2. Price and Distribution Indices â€Å"Market share can be a particularly deceptive brand equity measure when it increases as a result of reduced prices or price promotions. Thus, it is important to measure the relative market price at which the brand is being sold. † (D. Aaker, 1996). â€Å"Market share or sales data are also extremely sensitive to distribution coverage. Sales may be dramatically affected when a brand gains or loses a major market or expands into another geographic region. A measure of distribution coverage is thus a second logical companion measure to market share. † (D. Aaker, 1996). As an amusement park, the market price data was equal to the admission income of a year, because this was majority source for capturing its operating resources. Besides, it indicated that the admission income might be affected by the change in attendance directly. On the other hand, the price and distribution indices should be reflected the market share that can be evaluated by admission attendance during a year. This may be found out the true picture of the growth of admission attendance rather than depends on admission income. CHAPTER III – METHODOLOGY 1. Sample Design Data will be collected by using a questionnaire. It is use to measure customer perceptions of the brand along with the four categories (D. Aaker, 1996). The questionnaire is use to survey those people who are visited Hong Kong Ocean Park and Hong Kong Disneyland before. It is to ensure that the data from respondents are effective and reliable. The questionnaire will be distributed to them through e-mail, and the respondents are classmates, teachers, familiars, friends, and colleagues. 100 samples were collected through this survey. 2. Questionnaire Design First, questionnaire is used to measure the four categories, which are Loyalty Measures (price premium and satisfaction/loyalty), Perceived Quality/Leadership Measures (perceived quality, and leadership), Associations/Differentiation Measures (perceived value, brand personality, organizational associations, and differentiation), and Awareness Measures (brand awareness). Second, setting demographic factors, respondents were required to answer their personal information, including gender, age, monthly income, occupation and education. It is in order to compare the general information with the 25 items, and find out the critical success factor of Ocean Park. Nine dimensions including 25 items, plus 5 items of general information, there are totally 30 questions. Third, this study will compare with Disneyland because it is the mainly competitor in Hong Kong. The questionnaire format is Part A is Ocean Park, Part B is Disneyland, and Part C is the general information. â€Å"5-point Likert Scale† is usually used in questionnaires, and is the most widely used scale in survey research. †. There were used 5 choices of answer question for respondents to answer their questionnaire except general information. It was included â€Å"Strongly Disagree†, â€Å"Disagree†, â€Å"Neutral†, â€Å"Agree† and â€Å"Strongly agree†. (Answers. com, 2009) Fourth, set â€Å"Missing Data†. It is to reduce or ignore the answer of unclear, ambiguous or answer more than one choice, etc. The questionnaire format could refer to Appendix 7. 3. Statistical Package for the Social Science(SPSS) SPSS was established in 1968 by Norman H. Nie, C. Hadlai (Tex) Hull and Dale H. Bent. They want developed a revolutionary software system in order to turn raw data into representative information in an easily way. According to the SPSS’s website, â€Å"This revolutionary statistical software system was called SPSS, which stood for the Statistical Package for the Social Sciences. Nie, Hull and Bent developed SPSS out of the need to quickly analyze volumes of social science data gathered through various methods of research. † (SPSS INC. , 2009). In addition to statistics analysis, the features of the base software, which are included Descriptive statistics (Cross tabulation, Frequencies, Descriptives, Explore, Descriptive Ratio Statistics), Bivariate statistics (Means, t-test, ANOVA, Correlation (bivariate, partial, distances), Nonparametric tests), Prediction for numerical outcomes (Linear regression), and Prediction for identifying groups (Factor analysis, cluster analysis (two-step, K-means, hierarchical), Discriminant) (Wikipedia, 2009). In this report, there was using SPSS to analyze the statistical information, there are included Cronbach Alpha Reliability Analysis, Mean and Standard Deviation, Crosstab Test. 1. Reverse Scoring In order to calculate some opposite data in one dimension, there should be rescored the negative data to turn into positive data. This can be increasing the reliability and correlation among data in one dimension. â€Å"Items that are negatively worded in a scale must be rescored in a positive direction in order to match the other items in a scale† (S. Stark, et. al. , 2001). In the questionnaire, Question 22 & 25 of Part A and B was used this function that in order to find out the reliable and correlated data, and these sets of data should be opposite to other data in same dimension. 2. Cronbach’s Alpha Reliability Analysis â€Å"Cronbach’s alpha measures how well a set of items (or variables) measures a single unidimensional latent construct. When data have a multidimensional structure, Cronbach’s alpha will usually be low. Technically speaking, Cronbach’s alpha is not a statistical test – it is a coefficient of reliability (or consistency). † (UCLA Academic Technology Services) There were used the Cronbach’s Alpha Reliability Analysis to find out the reliability. The output table will then be displayed the Cronbach’s Alpha of the dimension. 3. Mean and Standard Deviation â€Å"The mean, indicated by ? (a lower case Greek mu), is the statistician’s jargon for the average value of a signal. It is found just as you would expect: add all of the samples together, and divide by N. † (S. Smith, 2007) It is the use to find out the average in a group of population. There were calculated the means by all of the scoring of each question. Afterwards, added up the separate mean from all dimensions which were found out the total mean of each category. â€Å"The standard deviation is one of several indices of variability that statisticians use to characterize the dispersion among the measures in a given population. To calculate the standard deviation of a population it is first necessary to calculate that population’s variance. Numerically, the standard deviation is the square root of the variance. Unlike the variance, which is a somewhat abstract measure of variability, the standard deviation can be readily conceptualized as a distance along the scale of measurement. † (R. Hoffman, 2002) Besides, the standard deviation was displayed on the output table of SPSS in order to analyze the dispersion of the result of nine dimensions. 4. Crosstab Test â€Å"Cross-tabulations give us much more insight into the data than do simple profiles or frequency distributions. Cross-tabulations are an example of bivariate analysis (i. e. , examining the relationship between two variables). However, cross-tabulations are of limited value, too, because we are realistically restricted to examining the relationship between only two variables at a time (e. g. , customer status and age; customer status and income; etc.). If we try to examine a cross-tabulation of more than two variables at a time, the results are very difficult to visualize and interpret meaningfully. † (SmartDrill, 2008) There was used the crosstabulation to compare the variability of general information. This can be easily found out the difference between two set of data. 4. Focus Group â€Å"Focus groups are a powerful means to evaluate services or test new ideas. Basically, focus groups are interviews, but of 6-10 people at the same time in the same group. One can get a great deal of information during a focus group session. † (C. McNamara, 2006) 5. Data Analysis. 1. Calculated the mean and standard deviation for all of 9 dimensions in order to find out the overall performance of both Ocean Park and Disneyland. 2. Used SPSS reverse scoring function in order to make some conflict data that reversed into same way. This can make that the reliability must higher than origin data. Besides, Cronbach’s Alpha Reliability Analysis can be found out the reliability of all of the dimensions, and ignored some irrelative items in the dimensions. This can improve the reliability for each dimensions that if deleted the items. 3. Calculate the mean with both Ocean Park and Disneyland. 4. Used crosstabulation to compare which the general information of both Ocean Park and Disneyland such as age, gender and income, 5. After used of SPSS, there were formed a focus group that was invited 7 interviewees in order to discuss the issues that occurred in the result from SPSS. 6. Besides, found some corporate information of Ocean Park and Disneyland which how to performed the market behavior. 7. Match the result of mean analysis and the result of crosstabutaion analysis, in order to find out the source of brand equity and the critical successful factor of the theme park. CHAPTER IV – RESULTS. 4 Sample and Descriptive Statistics This survey totally collected 100 samples, 57 respondents are male and 43 respondents are female. The majority respondents aged between 20 to 24 years olds (83%). In the monthly income group, nearly 50% of respondents their salaries were $5,001 to $10,000 per month. Monthly income was â€Å"less than $5,000† which had 41% of respondents. Many of respondents were students and workers (80%). Over a half of respondents had education level at diploma levels or associate degree, and 37% of respondents had education level at undergraduate or postgraduate. (Appendix 2) 2. Cronbach Alpha Reliability Analysis. This research has nine dimensions which are belong to the four categories. The dimensions are including 25 items. Use the Cronbach Alpha Reliability Analysis to find out the reliabilities between the 25 items and the nine dimensions. The reliability test in order to define questions whether it is fit/relative to the nine dimensions. This can find out which items can be more significant and which are the insignificant. The existence of the items was whether or not to affect the result of the dimensions such as completion, reliability and accuracy. (Appendix 3) 3. Mean and Standard Deviations Table 2: Comparison of Mean and S. D. of dimensions with Ocean Park and Disneyland |Categories |Dimensions |Ocean Park |Disneyland |Mean Differences |Ranking | | | |Mean |Std. Deviation |Mean |Std. Deviation | | | |Loyalty Measures | |Dimensions |Ocean Park |Disneyland | |Price Premium |Medium |High (Negative) | |Satisfaction/ Loyalty |High (Positive) |High (Negative) | |Perceived Quality |High (Positive) |High (Negative) | |Leadership |High (Positive) |High (Negative) | |Perceived Value |Medium |High (Negative) | |Brand Personality |High (Positive) |Medium | |Organizational Associations |Medium |Medium | |Brand Awareness |High (Positive) |High (Negative). | |Market Share |- |- | |Price and Distribution Indices |Medium |Medium | 1. Loyalty According to the result after crosstab the items, it found that in the loyalty category, the effect of price premium for Ocean Park was medium. The acceptability of the admission price for Ocean Park was relatively higher than the Disneyland. Its admission price was cheaper than Disneyland. Comparatively speaking, the effect of price premium for Disneyland was high. The acceptability of the admission price was low, that was relatively expensive. The influence of price premium on Disneyland is negative. Besides, the result reflected that price was not the determining factor for respondents to switch brand. On the other hands, the effect of satisfaction for Ocean Park was high. The park was better than Disneyland in satisfied customers needs and wants. Loyalty was built by a cumulative result, which were the customers’ past visit experiences with the brands. The result indicated that the opportunity of respondents’ revisit the parks was based on their last visit experiences. Ocean Park was better than Disneyland, respondents were willing to recommend Ocean Park to others rather than Disneyland. The influence of satisfaction on Ocean Park is positive. However, the effect of satisfaction for Disneyland was high. It brings a negative influence on the park. In satisfied customers needs and wants, Disneyland was worse than Ocean Park. Respondents were unsatisfied with their last visit experience. Only seldom of respondents would revisit the park on the next opportunity and recommend the park to others. During the result of satisfaction was negative, the management from Disneyland would improve the quality for satisfying customers’ needs and wants. 2. Perceived Quality/Leadership. The result reflected that there was a linkage between perceived quality and leadership, Compare with Disneyland, Ocean Park was popular and more innovative, it was the leading brand in Hong Kong, and overall Ocean Park was better in quality. It implied that better leadership, better quality. It helps Ocean Park to keep closer relationship with loyal customers and less of switchers. The effect of perceived quality/leadership for Ocean Park was medium. Oppositely, Disneyland was worse, it was not innovative enough and not much popular than Ocean Park, and therefore Disneyland was not the leading brand in Hong Kong. One of reasons might cause by the negative news about the park. The effect of perceives quality/leadership for Disneyland was high and negative. 3. Associations/Differentiation Ocean Park could provide good value for the money. The effect of perceived value for Ocean Park was medium. Disneyland could not provide good value for the money. The effect of perceived value for the park was high and negative. Ocean Park had its own personality and it was interesting. Respondents had a clear image of the type of person who would visit the park. The effect of personality for Ocean Park was high and positive. Disneyland also had its own personality. However, seldom of respondents were agreed the park was interesting. Normally, respondents had a clear image for what type of person would visit the park. The personality of Disneyland was medium. The personality of Disneyland was indistinct. It could reflect the respondents’ imagery, which was a key driver of brand personality. About the organization management of Ocean Park, the results reflected that respondents were answered â€Å"neutral† about the organization trust and admire the Ocean Park Company. But the respondents thought that the organization association with Ocean Park had credibility. The effect of organization for the park was medium. On the other hand, many respondents were answered â€Å"neutral† about the organization trust with Disneyland, and admire the Disneyland Company, and the credibility of organization association. The results implied that the respondents were lack of knowledge about the organization management beheld Disneyland. The effect of organization for the park was medium. Organization management back of the theme parks is usually ignored by the visitors. It is because its lack of attractive for the visitors associated with its services. Therefore, the effect of this dimension with both companies was medium. Overall, Ocean Park and Disneyland were different. 4. Awareness Recognition of Ocean Park and Disneyland were high. Respondents had heard of the two parks, it was important for the exist brands. Moreover, respondents were knew what the parks stand for, it reflected that customers had a level of brand knowledge. Besides, respondents were no opinion about Ocean Park, but respondents had opinion with Disneyland. The result of brand opinion implied that respondents were less confidence with Disneyland. The effect of awareness for Ocean Park was high and positive, and for Disneyland was high and negative. . 5. Market Behavior For the market share measure, there was lack of information to compare the sales performance between Ocean Park and Disneyland. Therefore, the effect of market for both Ocean and Disneyland would not be evaluated. As the result, the market price was not compared between Ocean Park and Disneyland, because Disneyland’s admission income was not being provided in the Annual Report individually. The financial information of Hong Kong Disneyland was combined with European Disneyland. In the distribution coverage, the result of Attraction Attendance 2007 and 2008 (Appendix 1a & b) indicated that Ocean Park had higher indicated that Ocean Park had recorded higher attendance rather than Disneyland. It is implied that Ocean Park should be more successful on the admission income, and gained a large number of visitors rather than Disneyland. On the other hand, Disneyland had higher distribution coverage on the world, because it involved that its operations were involved 5 countries in the world. Besides, Ocean Park had lower distribution coverage in the market, because it only had one amusement in the world. As a result, both of Ocean Park and Disneyland were medium in the effect of market price/ distribution indices. To conclude that after use high/low method to compare with the two parks, it found that the brand equity of Ocean Park was better. Table 3 shown each category has a key driver of influence. Loyalty, the key driver is satisfaction. Perceived quality and leadership measures, leadership variable in this category should be considered. The key component of associations and differentiation measures is including the personality. In the category of awareness measures, brand awareness is the important component. Attendance of distribution coverage in market behavior is the most important. Matching mean analysis with crosstab test analysis, it found out that the loyalty is the most influence category among the brand equity of Ocean Park. The dimension of satisfaction in the loyalty category is the critical success factor of Ocean Park. CHAPTER VI – DISCUSSION During the study, there were faced such problems. This part of discussion would point out the problems, in order to share the editor’s opinions with those people who would having study or survey in the future. 1. Questionnaire Setting 1. Sample of the survey is not many, only collected 100 samples, representation of the result is low. 2. The method of collecting the data is not good enough. It is because through e-mail, which is inconvenience, low efficiency, and usually will ignore by addressees. E-mail is a passive method, and the respondents their replies are also passive. 3. Questionnaire is distributed to visitors through e-mail. Some respondents had their feedback about the questionnaire, such as wrong words, the questionnaire format, etc. 4. Focus on the questionnaire design, it could be improved. For example, in the price premium, the questionnaire did not ask respondents some questions about the â€Å"dollar metric†, and market research approach (conjoint/ â€Å"trade-off† analysis). Therefore, the dimension of price premium can not be accurately and clearly to analysis whether it can build up customer loyalty and whether it is important part of loyalty measures. 2. Information Collection 1. In the category of Market Behavior, there were not found some accurate information about the â€Å"Market Share† and â€Å"Market Price†. That is the admission price of Disneyland. According to the Disneyland Annual Report 2008, the financial information about Hong Kong Disneyland was displayed that it was combined the financial information associated with European Disneyland. This is indicated that the financial information should not be compared with Ocean Park directly, because any changes of the financial information may be occurred by both Hong Kong and European one. Therefore, the related information should not be really reflected the true information especially for Hong Kong Disneyland. 3. SPSS – Data Entry and Output 1. When setting the questionnaires, sometimes, may need to set some reverse questions. For example, asking respondents that â€Å"Ocean Park is different from Disneyland† and â€Å"Ocean Park is basically the same as Disneyland†, that is reverse question.