Monday, August 24, 2020

easyjet essays

easyjet articles easyJet propelled in 1995 as the UKs first nitty gritty spending aircraft. Abusing a 1987 European Commission rule change, permitting any carrier with a legitimate Air Operators Certificate to work on any course inside the EU, Stelios Haji-Ioannou propelled the aircraft with an underlying 5million. He opened with a feature getting admission of 29 from London Luton to Glasgow, putting together easyJet with respect to Southwest Airlines, a US organization offering a straightforward, low-value administration on short take courses. easyJets statement of purpose focuses on three primary concerns which are helped through their business and advertising procedure: To furnish our clients with sheltered, great worth, point to point air administrations. To impact and to offer a steady and dependable item and charges speaking to recreation and business advertises on a scope of European courses. To accomplish this we will build up our kin and set up enduring associations with our providers. The significance of a decent worth help, a predictable and dependable assistance, and the foundation and support of connections are significant in the example of overcoming adversity that is easyJet. By utilizing a forceful limited time procedure featuring the brisk, advantageous help they give, easyJet has expanded traveler numbers, income and benefits, year on year since their buoyancy on the securities exchange in 2000. While increasing money related and advertise achievement, easyJet has likewise been fruitful in picking up praises from many perceived bodies, for example, the Most noteworthy effect on showcase segment, and the Most amazing brand created over the most recent ten years grants at the Consumer Superbrands occasion. Brand extending is regularly assembled with, or confused with, brand augmentation. Geoffrey Randall features the distinction: Despite the fact that the classifications cover, and the terms extending and augmentation are frequently utilized reciprocally, we wi... <!

Saturday, August 22, 2020

Humanistic Era Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Humanistic Era - Essay Example National Labor Relations Act, additionally called the Wagner Act was presented in 1935. This demonstration picked up presence in the time of Great Depression. Because of Great Depression, the businesses need to limit their functionalities, because of which, workers confronted vocation vulnerability. Associations got dynamic so as to help workers to get their privileges. As per Jackson and Mathis (2007), aggregate haggling was advanced by the US government under the Wagner demonstration. The representatives were not required to be a piece of worker's organization to get their privileges as they had the right.According to Bohlander and Snell (2009), the Wagner Act featured certain crooked work activities, for example, oppression of workers regarding utilizing their privileges, keeping inclination against the laborers and dismissal of the thought of aggregate can hope for settling on the workers’ spokespersons.TheoristsMary Parker Follett educated in her hypothesis that administr ation ought to be definitive with representatives or not over them. Representatives and bosses should frame a relationship wherein, they share authority and settle on choices in like manner. Thusly, handling and business capacities will be backed out. She presented the term participative administration in her exposition, â€Å"The Giving of Orders†.â â Huston and Marquis (2008), illuminate about the scholar, Elton Mayo and his Harvard associates who presented Hawthorne impact. Like McGregor and Elton Mayo, Chris Argyris likewise guaranteed that definitive conduct from the management’s side demoralizes the representatives and influence their exhibition.

Monday, July 20, 2020

Announcing Free LSAT Prep for All

Announcing Free LSAT Prep for All We’re proud to announce we’ll soon offer free, personalized LSAT prep for all.Every year, more than 100,000 people take the LSAT, the Law School Admission Test. Many test takers have traditionally paid for test prep, which can cost hundreds or even thousands of dollars. Were excited to offer a free LSAT practice program designed to help students with the skills they find challenging so that they can show up on test day ready to rock the LSAT.What’s more, we’re doing this by partnering with the maker of the LSAT, the Law School Admission Council. By working with the maker of the exam, we can help many more people learn the skills they need to do well on the LSAT, in law school, and their careers.We’re honored the Law School Admission Council has chosen to partner with us, and we’re excited to work together to help level the playing field.Todays announcement continues our tradition of providing free, official practice for standardized exams. In 2015, Khan Academy launched f ree Official SAT Practice with the maker of the SAT, the College Board. More than three million students have used Official SAT Practice at roughly equal rates across income levels, race, ethnicity and gender.As always, our mission is to provide a free, world-class education for anyone, anywhere. We think free LSAT prep aligns perfectly with our goals. Look for it on Khan Academy in late 2018.

Thursday, May 21, 2020

Overseas Education To Study or Not to Study

Overseas Education: To Study or Not to Study? In most cases any travel opportunity is an exciting perspective you are impatiently looking forward to. Going overseas to study in some university is definitely an expectation of this kind, though it has its pros and cons. Therefore, the matter requires precise study before any decision is made, be it for or against. The advantages of studying abroad are quite numerous. First of all, it is intercultural experience. You mix up with new people and study their language, learn more about their culture and represent your own. This may also be considered a boosting personality building and educative activity. However, socializing and studying language can easily be done on the web. It will prevent you from cultural shock, all sorts of differences and even discrimination the other side of the coin. You have to weight you perspectives quite seriously here. However, being able to face the challenge of going abroad is a crash course in personal independence. You get to know other people and, what’s more important, get to know more of yourself. Personal independence requires more of internal dialogue, and thus, stipulates to learn more of your character and individuality. Nevertheless, the necessity to leave your family and friends may cause great inconveniences and stress when plunging into alien culture. The very essence of human nature is communication. We require society to exercise our individuality and develop. An overseas educational opportunity is a great challenge of individual growth, which cannot be regarded in strictly negative or positive way. By all means, it is an education experience to be approached in a very balanced and individual way.

Wednesday, May 6, 2020

Analysis Of The Devil And Miss Prym - 1104 Words

The conscious and sometimes unconscious act of combatting â€Å"good† and â€Å"evil†, has remained a human phenomenon for several ages. Some refer the two extremes as, right or wrong and others may reference it using â€Å"angel or devil†. If one were to view the two sides on a spectrum scale, many would envision themselves somewhere in the middle, or leaning heavily towards one side. Representations on how humans battle the two extremes can be closely observed in the film, Sophie’s Choice and the book, The Devil and Miss Prym; the two sides are explored through heart questioning decisions and journeys of self-discovery. Together, the two stories coincide beautifully— conveying the true essence of humanity. In Sophie’s Choice, a Holocaust survivor†¦show more content†¦Similarly, in The Devil and Miss Prym, Chantal’s public image is also tried when she announces to the village that they will need to kill someone to earn the gold. The village blacksmith yells to Chantal, â€Å" You’re the one who’s gone mad. You should never have allowed yourself to become that madman’s mouthpiece! What on earth do you want?†(Coelho, 94). â€Å"Think fast,† Chantal told herself. â€Å" She didn’t have much time. She took some burning twigs from the fire, went over to the rock and once again dug up the gold. She picked it up, cleaned it off on her dress and studied it for the third time† (Coelho, 132). During this time, Chantal had an internal (self versus self) conflict because she battled whether or not she should take the gold for herself and leave, or save the village. Likewise to Chantal, Sophie also experienced conflicting struggles within herself; this was through her urge to commit suicide— after having to give up her children. According to the article, Archetypal Criticism, archetypes can be symbols, images, characters and plot structures (Young,1). In The Devil and Miss Prym, gold is the leading archetypal symbol. In most universal cases, gold represents wealth, power, status, and reward. However, from the view of Chantal, the gold represents escape or freedom from the village.â€Å"She looked at the mountains, which lay hidden by lowShow MoreRelatedDevil And Miss Prym Character Analysis832 Words   |  4 PagesComparison of the Devil and Miss Prym and District 9 The Devil and Miss Prym, by Paulo Coelho, and the science-fiction film District 9, produced by Sony Picture Entertainment, both show many similarities when being compared to one another. In each of these, there are multiple similarities with the characters, as well as contrasts, including the society and philosophies. Person versus fate and person versus society are just a couple of examples of conflict that happened in The Devil and Miss Prym and DistrictRead MoreAnalysis OfThe Devil And Miss Prym And The Lottery1027 Words   |  5 Pages The question of whether humans are naturally good or evil has been asked since the existence of humans. The Devil and Miss Prym by Paulo Coelho and â€Å"The Lottery† by Shirley Jackson are stories that talk about the sacrifice of one person in a village and how other villagers play a part in it. In The Devil and Miss Prym, barmaid Chantal Prym meets â€Å"stranger† Carlos when he visits the village looking for answers. In â€Å"The Lottery†, the villagers have an annual drawing to get rid of one of their own

Social environment Free Essays

This is an example of a business changing to meet the needs of customers. Subways are trying to be more socially responsible by stunning their animals first, to appease consumers with strong moral objections. This Is Important because a study by Forbes showed that 65% of workers would seriously consider leaving their Jobs if they worked for a company that harmed the environment. We will write a custom essay sample on Social environment or any similar topic only for you Order Now Research has shown that over 88% of consumers think companies should try to achieve their business goals while Improving society and the environment. So therefore Subways diverse workforce may provide ideas that a more homogeneous workforce could miss. Also, they might eve a greater understanding of markets that may be segmented on these factors. They may also provide more natural links to market opportunities abroad, through linguistic skills, cultural knowledge and knowledge of foreign markets. This can explain why Subway operates in 83 countries, with a rapid rise in sales in Germany, its second most valuable Western European market. Income Income can affect business. A company’s products usually appeal to certain income groups. People with lower incomes are more sensitive to price and may prefer purchasing discount products. Permeates are experiencing a change In market share because of the increase of people with lower incomes and less disposable income who are sensitive to price (elasticity of demand) and a shift in tastes and trends, with cheap foods becoming Increasingly In demand. This means that the demand for discount food stores Is Increasing. Tests; an example of a food store that is experiencing a decrease in market share because people cannot afford Tests foods and prefer bargain stores like Lid. Deco’s market share over the last 12 weeks (from outhouse) compared to a year ago Is down from 29. 6% to 28. %. Tests have responded to the threat with ‘hard discounters’ by launching a poorly war on milk and other essentials. Tests has cut the price of pant milk to El to match budget chains. People are more aware of the importance of the environment and becoming ‘green consumers’; prefer environmentally-friendly goods which have less Impact on the environment e. G. Prefer to travel by bus. Cutbacks; expanding their recycling programmer to reduce waste developing more environmentally-friendly cups, evaluating store design and operations to identify ways to reduce the amount of water used, use responsible alluding materials and energy efficient designs for their stores The changing nature of the ethical environment Moral principles that should underpin decision making. Ethical behavior involves actions and decisions that are seen to be morally correct Ethics are the set of moral values held by an individual or group. An organization may make decision that it believes to be morally right, rather than one that suits the needs of some of its stakeholders. Thus a decision made on ethical grounds might reject the most profitable solution for an organization in favor of one of greater infinite to society. Possible ethical stances Organizations may take different stances in relation to ethics, including: Viewing shareholders’ or owners’ short term interests as their only responsibility Recognizing that well managed relationships with other stakeholders bring long term benefits to shareholders or owners Including the interested and expectations of stakeholders in their mission Taking an ideological approach and placing financial considerations secondary Ethical Codes An instruction from an organization to its employees to indicate how they should exact to situations relating to moral values The focus of the code will depend on the business concerned. A typical code may include sections on Personal integrity in dealing with suppliers and in handling the firm’s resources Corporate integrity such as forbidding collusion with competitors and predatory pricing Social responsibility Critics believe there is nothing more than public relations exercises Ethical Investment S tock market investment based on a restricted list of firms that are ethically sound Ethical investors do not invest in firms that Finance weapons deals to oppressive governments Make products involving tobacco, fur, animal testing and exploitative farming Do not act responsibly towards the environment or are not good employers Advantages/Disadvantages with Ethical Behavior Reviewing a firms ethical position A number of elements should be considered when reviewing a company’s ethical position. Individuals Each person has their own set of personal standards derived from their upbringing, educations and background. As they make decisions, their own ideas of what is right and wrong is involved Corporate culture Set of unwritten rules that affect the attitudes and management style of a business. This can affect how employees behave in order to do well at the business Public standards Operate in an environment that affect everything they do and the results they achieve. A public outcry against a particular type of activity will force a business to look at itself and decide if it needs to change. It may also mean other businesses look at themselves as well Competitors A USPS can be built based on emphasizing their ethical stance. Other businesses may then review their operations Ethics, Business Culture and Delegation Organizations have cultures and codes of behavior that affect attitudes, decision making and management style. If there is conflict between the ethical position of the organization and the moral values of the individuals it employs, then delegated decision making may not reflect the ethical position of the organization. The potential of this problem can be minimized if the culture is one which all employees understand and take responsibility for. Changing business cultures is not easy and investment in effective training and communication is important to ensure that all Taft behave in an agreed ethical manner. Creating an ethical culture within a business can actually improve motivation and can become part of a wider policy of employee empowerment. The duties of an organization towards employees, customers, society and the environment Benefits to Society Problems such as unemployment and pollution are likely to be reduced Quality of life is likely to be improved Society longer term needs are likely to be considered rather than simply the short term needs of a business Life and business activity will be easier if everyone involved s working together for the common good Simply the right thing to do. Firms have a duty to be concerned with the wider impact of their activities Benefits to Firms Improved financial performance Reduced operating costs due to greater recycling Enhanced brand image and reputation which could bring in more customers, trading partners and makes it easier to attract capital investment Increased sales and customer loyalty Increased ability to attract and retain employees Access to capital Arguments against CARS Efficient use or resources is likely to be reduced if business are restricted by how hey can produce and where they can locate which could lead to higher costs and prices Socially responsible policies can be costly to introduce Stakeholders tend to have differing objectives and are therefore unlikely to agree on what is socially responsible behavior Social responsibility may be Just a passing fashion and nobody can be sure of the value of firms being socially responsible During a recession the objectives are profit and survival – social respon sibility doesn’t matter here If something is important to society at large it can be argued that the overspent should pass laws to ensure everybody acts responsibly Just an extension of a firm being market orientated, meaning its only done as the customer wants it Overall, in the long term, CARS could benefit businesses, as the local community may improve in terms of wealth, quality of life and standard of living, meaning the firm could also benefit. Most large firms will produce an ethical code of practice. This will uphold the firms social responsibilities. This might include being environmentally-friendly wherever possible. Cutbacks CARS; giving back to the environment Environmental mission statement; Understanding environmental issues and sharing these with staff Striving to buy, sell and use environmentally-friendly products Recognize that fiscal responsibility is essential to our environment future Installing environmental responsibility at a corporate value Example; serve high quality coffee that is ethically traded and responsibly grown. They do this through forest conservation efforts and farmer Why be ethical Marketing opportunities: A good reputation in relation to environmental issues can act as a positive marketing tool that encourages customers to choose one brand over another. They can also build a loyal customer base through USPS. Financial opportunities: Can actually make it easier to get money off certain banks – banks like Cooperative will not lend money to firms with a reputation for damaging the environment. Lower costs through recycling and less waste. Human resources opportunities: Motivation, attract the best workers who want to work for a company with high standards. Poor reputation can damage reputation and the ability to attract high quality applicants Why not be ethical; More expensive to source raw materials, more expensive capital goods to cut pollution, Training workers to be ethical costs money, losing custom from more ruthless competitors Ethics or Public Relations? Public Relations – Activities to boost the public profiles of an organization Public relations usually involves obtaining favorable publicity via the press, television or radio. Unlike advertising, it is not paid for and there is no control over its content. When a business behaves ethically it may be good for PR. It has been suggested that the good PR is the main reason for ethical behavior – it can help enhance the image of a business and is likely to generate more goodwill. This in turn will lead to improved sales and may eventually boost the company’s share value. Example; Foxing (public relations)(benefits of not being ethical) Criticized for polluting nearby rivers with factory chemicals, black-green water dumped twice a day. Foxing said it is complying with emission standards and bring the factories into full compliance with policies and that other companies within the same industrial park are dumping water into the rivers too. This shows they are stating that their complying with emission standards for public relations because really they onto want to lose their competitive advantage from more ruthless competitors; doing it to save costs, generate profitability quick, keep costs low, keep up with demand etc†¦ More evidence that they care more about public relations is that they installed solving underlying problem of suicide so the social responsibility doesn’t reflect genuine values, don’t care about their staff, only care about deadlines and money. Example Primary: (genuine values) The roof of their factory in Bangladesh collapsed, killing more than 1000 people. Long-term compensation and support services for the errors and families who were working in the factory payments end this month ($mm) = High cash outflows so less revenue. They also had building surveys to assess the structural integrity of factories which means they are addressing the underlying problem. However this may not actually affect Primary, this may be cheaper in the long term than paying their staff higher wages; a significant variable cost. This shows that corporate social responsibility is Just a form of public relations and a way to back their reputation and offer a method to ‘shut them up’. Could be because of public relations? How to cite Social environment, Papers

Sunday, April 26, 2020

World History Study Guide free essay sample

Raw materials(metals, vegetable oils, dyes, cotton, and hemp—needed to feed the machines of Europe, not spices or manufactured goods, were the main products the Europeans wanted. | What fueled European imperialist expansion in the Industrial Age? | From internal rivalries between the European powers themselves. | What was the chief interest of the Dutch and English East India Companies? How did the communication impact the trading companies? The Commanders in the field could no longer act on their own decisions because now the owners of the trading companies could now give orders and control their companies from a farther distance, as opposed to before where it would take months to send an order to the colonies. | What Country controlled Java? | Dutch| During the 18th century, how many wars did the British and the French find themselves on opposite sides? | Five major wars| What tactic did Robert Clive use in his impressive victory over the ruler Nawab Siraj-us-duala in the Battle of Plassey? (List three tactics)| 1. We will write a custom essay sample on World History Study Guide or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page Hired spies to give him detailed accounts of Nawab’s army with money he got from Hindu Bankers. 2. Clive bought off the Nawab’s chief general and several of his key allies. 3. Paid his soldiers well while Nawab did not. 4. Nawab’ Indian allies defected and Clive had superior artillery. | Why was the battle of Plassey so significant to the British? | The British gained control of the sizeable Bengal-Bihar region which established the foundations of Britain’s Indian and global empire. | Like the Dutch, how did the British often gain control of the Indian kingdom? The British often became involved in succession disputes and ended up controlling the kingdoms being contested. The British were easily able to conquer the warring states of what used to be the Mughal Empire. | Why were Indian ports essential to the British? | They were essential to British sea power east of the Cape of Good Hope; India became the major outlet for British overseas investments and manufactured goods as well as a major source of key raw materials. | How did the tropical environments influence the Dutch and the English? They had to adapt the ancient and sophisticated host cultures of south and southeast Asia. This is because their canal cities were breeding grounds for insects and microbes that carried diseases. | How did Lord Cornwallis check corruption in India? Who did he mistrust? | He cleaned up the courts and reduced the power of local British administrators to check corruption. He mistrusted the Indians; this caused him to limit their role in governing the empire. | What did the Evangelicals and the Utilitarians try to reform in India and how? To put an end to the slave trade; to eradicate Indian social abuses to their campaigns for human improvement. They did so by pushing British institutions and ways of thinking in India as well as the eradication of what they considered Indian superstitions and social abuse. | What Indian practice became a major confrontation between the Indians and British? | Sati, the ritualistic burning of Hindu widows on the funeral pyres of their deceased husbands. | What gave Europeans power over the rest of the world?

Thursday, March 19, 2020

Department store business in pakistan

Department store business in pakistan Free Online Research Papers Pakistan retail industry is a derivative of the growing economy, changing demographics and preferences of the Pakistani consumers. Retailing format like supermarkets, department stores, mega stores, shopping malls and retail chains had come up on the country with varying intensity during the 1980’s and 1990’s, have now started proliferating. Organized retail is booming and creating huge opportunity for enterprises. Ever increasing number of hypermarkets, departmental stores and shopping malls are inviting potential investor to invest in Pakistan. Data was collected from over a 100 people including college going crowd and young professionals as they would be more interested in trying out new Department Stores and were more cognizant. Analysis was carried out using statistical tools. Findings of this research could provide useful information to potential investors for investment in departmental stores of Pakistan. Keywords : Booming, Creating opportunities, Invitation to Potential Investor, Investment 1. INTRODUCTION Department stores are places where you can find everything you need. And by everything means clothes, shoes, perfumes, cosmetics. home appliances, electronics and even home furnishings. These goods are separated into divisions and departments supervised by managers and buyers. There are also departmental divisions of merchandising, advertising, service, accounting, and budgetary control. The rise of department stores has made shopping easier and more convenient for most people. Now we no longer have to travel far and wide because these places have materialized everywhere in various cities. And since there are abundant sources of these shops, searching for the perfect shopping center has been a tad tricky for the eager shoppers. Department stores are often classified according to the kinds of goods they carry and the prices they charge; typical categories include discount, general merchandise, fashion or high fashion, and specialty. Many offer additional services, including gift wrapping, alterations. 2. SHOPPING IN TWO WAYS Years ago, shopping was a task that can only be completed through personal visits to stores. There were only a limited number of stores to purchase the peoples wants and needs. Shoppers also used to pay for the merchandise through cash. But today, shopping has become a complex yet easy process for most people. Because of the rise in the number of department stores and the various ways to shop for the things you need, shopping has become a simpler task for everyone. Department store shopping can now be done through personal or online visit. Shopping personally for the items you need would require you to visit several shops. Many prefer this type of shopping because they can have a personal view of the items they need. Department store shopping can also be performed online. Those with hectic schedules can now conveniently shop for everything they need through the internet. And like personal shopping, you will be presented with different choices of the things you need. Regardless of the way people shop, they need to have access to the various department stores nearest to their areas. Take a peek at the smallest to largest department stores within vicinity is the basic desire of each customer. 3. DEPARTMENT STORE BUSINESS IN PAKISTAN In recent years, people get used to buy daily use items from department stores and this trend is increasing in Pakistan. Some of the Foreign Multinationals like Metro, Banner Store International (Pvt) Ltd,Makro etc. have invested in departmental store business by seeing this huge opportunity. Most of the stores are running in urban cities of Pakistan. The total urban population of Pakistan is 56 Million. By applying statistical tools on data acquired through questionnaire it is observed that each 4th person who belongs to urban cities like to get shopping from Department Store. Data of some big cities of Pakistan is given below with reference to number of customers and renowned Department Stores in each city. It is observed that huge percentage of customers visiting Department Stores belongs to Middle and Upper class, with an average income of Rs.35000. The lower class is not much interested to buy goods from Departmental stores, they are more eager to buy things from small general stores, because these general stores provide credit facility to them. As both shopkeeper and shopper belongs to same vicinity, so there is less element of uncertainty of payment involved in these kind of transactions. Departmental Store business is not successful in rural areas of Pakistan, because the culture of rural areas restrict Departmental Stores to operate their business in these areas. The major obstacle for Department Store in rural areas is that the most of the payments are made at the time of crops harvesting,.people are used of these kind of practices, so they are not in a position to accept a sudden change. There wasa continuous rising number of Department Stores since year 2000 as investigated in the present research. There was a linear relationship in number of Department Stores per year until 2004. However an exponential rise was observed after 2005. Major reason attributed to this rise was the awareness and convenience felt by the customers by making purchases from Department Stores. In the year 2000 the total numbers of renowned Departmental Stores in big cities of Pakistan were 25 and now their figure increased upto 108. This trend clearly shows that the future of Department Stores is bright in Pakistan. 4.DEPARTMENT STORE FACTORS Following factors should be considered before starting a departmental store: a) Is there a definite need for the store? b) Do you have expertise and experience in operating this type of business? c) Will you get enough customers to make it profitable? d) How will you finance the property and the inventory? e) Can you find a good location? f) Can you be competitive in price and still make a profit? 5. RESEARCH METHODOLOGY I. RESEARCH DESIGN It is an overall framework that indicate what information is to be collected and from which source and by which procedure in research project. In this research, the first stage is exploratory, in which clarification of the specific problem is identified, in second stage we are interested in knowing the characteristics of certain group such as – age , sex , income , education , occupation for which descriptive study is necessary. This study involves the field survey conducted across different departmental stores in Islamabad and Rawalpindi. The respondents were approached outside the billing counter of departmental stores after they had finished shopping, before leaving stores. It also focused on the decision about choice of stores for specific purchase incident, since each purchase occasion might actually be a different decision. The respondents were given the questionnaire to respond their views about particular departmental stores. In some of the cases respondent were subjected to personnel interview. Responses were sought regarding customer patronage behavior. In Pakistan, departmental stores are proliferated with number of brands and their offering and almost all the stores is used for stocking or displaying the merchandise. The departmental stores are larger mostly 2000-3000 sq. ft. But very few of them have more than 5000 sq. ft. and are being designed for better display and browsing by the shoppers. The format was distinguished based on the facility provided to the shopper to browse and choose by themselves. This study was conducted in old as well as new format of departmental stores. The store was chosen from different part of cities to enable a wider spread of sample. The general hypothesis about stores choice drivers were that for routine purchase such as grocery items and apparels choice driver should be include in stores services dimensions and attractiveness of the physically layout. It is important to validate this hypothesis. Since the indication is that departmental stores should be providing more evolved dimensions of services to attract shopper it remain to be proven that such dimension do actually improved departmental stores. Secondary Research:External secondary data has been generated to obtain volume of sales regarding Department Stores. Survey Research: (1)Data was collected from candidates using questionnaire. The questionnaire was distributed in colleges and people on the street.(2)ï€  I distributed the questionnaires outside the Department Stores to gather data from people who hadcome to visit there.(3)ï€  I made an online questionnaire and circulated on the internet and gathered results from those II. SAMPLING DESIGN The aim was to collect 100 samples for the analysis. The samples should be such that they are consumers of Department Stores. I also tried to get an adequate ratio of men and women in the samples. The main demographics targeted were the younger age group as they are more aware of such Department Stores. Also I tried to focus more on the college going crowd and young professionals as they would be more interested in trying out new Department Stores and were more cognizant. Buyers who have been visiting Department Stores were better able to answer the questions regarding the influencing factors and the reasons for their consumption and purchase. The samples collected from internet have also been very valuable in the research. Measurement Instruments: The measurement instruments in the questionnaire was a 5 point lickert scale for values as strongly disagree = 1, disagree = 2, neutral = 3, agree =4, strongly agree =5 for shopping at Department Store. Apart from details regarding their choice of Department Stores, their frequency of visits and their spending patterns will also be mapped. The data was extracted and put in MS Excel. All the further analysis was then carried out by using Statpro. The measurement was designed to get a fair idea about the various attributes and conducted factorial analysis of the important attributes. III. FINDINGS OF DESIGN a) Reliability Test: Reliability test is to find out the reliability of the instrument. In this test the value of alpha is found to be 0.783 which is nearly equal to 0.8, and according to the thumb rule of alpha reliability is good. b) One Sample Test From the results of one sample test, we can say that: 1. Respondent are considering adequate sign board, quality of products, variety of products, plastic money service as important factor in deciding where to shop. 2. Parameters which less important for deciding where to shop are availability of open space, layout of the place, offer coupons and mobile charging zone. 3. Furniture and decor, colour and lighting, comfort and feel, adequate sign boards, courtesy and friendly atmosphere are moderately important. c) ANNOVA test From the results of ANOVA test, we can say that: 1. The F value of table is 2.18. Thus, we can accept the hypothesis that the factors quality of products, coupon and advertisement, variety of products, overall ambience affects the customer satisfaction. 2. Value of nearness to store is 3.586. Thus, we reject the hypothesis that nearness to store affect the customer approach to Department Store.. It was observed that customers are ready to travel even far from their residence for buying in departmental stores because of quality services and products. d) From the given data of Spendings and Visits of customers in a departmental store, a scatter plot has plotted, in order to analyze that whether a number of visits at departmental store have any impact on customer spendings. It was observed that as much time a customer visit Department Store, there are 85.4% chances that it will increase customer spendings. Customer spendings and Customer visits are positively correlated which is 0.854. It could be analyzed that if a customer make more visits at Department, there are 85.4% chances that the customer will make more purchases from Department Store. The broad conclusion about store choice among consumer indicates that image and perception have significant impact on final outcome. Perception about is driven substantially by tangible characteristics of departmental stores such as format of stores, size, distance from home, looks, as well as intangible factor like environment of stores. Given the limited information is available on shopping behavior of customer as even customer doesn’t know that what they like, so it was decided to design an exploratory study to identify major factor which affect behavior of customer and their satisfaction. e) From the result of time series plot , we can conclude that the major portion of spendings on department stores are made by people who belongs to the age group of 35 to 55. By offering attractive packages any Department Store can increase its share in both upper and lower age groups. 6) FINDINGS As a result of an exhaustive investigation of all the parameters and methodology adopted above, following findings were established: a) Customers have several reasons to choose any departmental store. But the primary reasons are ‘value for money’, ‘quality of product’, ‘variety of product’ and ‘service of the store’. More than 80% respondent indicated that these are the important reasons. Out of all respondents provided, 70% respondent responded that ‘ambience and layout’ was equally important as a buying behavior. This indicated that customer have one or mostly two good primary reason and other reason to visit departmental stores. b) Number of Department Stores had a steady rise from 2000 to 2005 in Pakistan. However the customers observed an exponential growth after 2005 because of the awareness and convenience of these Department Stores.. c) Speed of transactions and ease at Department Stores was a major parameter that motivated customers for visiting Department Stores to fulfill their needs. The responses were gathered through close ended questions. The respondents were probed for much reason the first reason being the top of the mind. The responses which were gathered through the questionnaire is used for further analysis. The study captured about different responses that could be classified into seven important categories. PRIMARY STORES CHOICE VARIABLES BY CATEGORY OF STORES Grocery and food items are choose by the customer strongly based on the more proximity and patronizations. The customer would like to reduce the time. However as indicated by the higher scores if customer have been buying for longer period off time , they do not mind buying from a store located at greater distance. The importance of relationship, comfort level with the departmental stores is stressed with regard to grocery and food items story. This seems to be some indication of an inherent loyalty to the stores in this category. So when experience of shopping is good there is a high chance of next visit. The customer is willing to trade-off the extra travel with the experience. However the proximity is the most important driver of loyalty to a grocery store. Ambiance is not important factor for customer in this category. In the case of consumer durable stores, consumers give more importance to merchandise, referral, and ambience. They prefer to visit those stores that depth and wide range of product. Customer in these stores looks for variety. Stores that offer good price and discount are also visited. The ambience reflected in terms of lighting, setting and comfort is also relevant in determining store choice. A good display of product, so that customer can look around and touch and feel the product becomes an important consideration in departmental stores. Leisure sections of departmental stores (books and music, accessories and lifestyle products) tend to attract customers on the basis of ambience of stores. The customer wants comfortable store as they tend to stay for longer on each visit. The lighting display and attractive decor of the store become an important factor. In case of apparels, customers value merchandise, ambience and brand. They want variety and would like to touch and feel the product. Range of merchandise, in terms of product and price, attract shopper to a store. They would like to satisfy themselves about making right choices by trying them out before finalizing their product. 7. CONCLUSION Customer satisfaction is the key to keep existing customer. Customer satisfaction must be matching or greater than the customer expectation. From the research study I have done, I concluded that the overall customer satisfaction regarding the departmental stores in Pakistan is reasonably good. If we define it in percentage term then it is approximately 61% in urban areas. Yet there are some aspects as noted in guideline section where the departmental stores in Pakistan need to focus more in order to increase market share: 1. The checkout counters are crowded, especially in peak hours and holidays. Customers have to spend 20 minutes to 45 minutes in queue. Departmental stores should take proper measures to increase number of checkout counters in case of such occasions. 2. Products kept in sections such as toys and children’s sections should not be kept at height. According to suggestions given few customers, specially children, find it difficult to get access to such products. 3. In case of trolleys used, there is not enough space to move around the departmental stores on holidays or in peak hours. This may cause hindrance in case of emergency or in case of families with small children. Departmental stores to take proper measure so as to allocate enough space for movement of trolley even during holidays or peak hours. 8. REFRENCES 1. Kothari C.R., (2004) â€Å"Research Methodology- Methods and techniques†, New Age international Publication. 2. Businesss Today (2010), â€Å"Retail revelation†. 22 July-6 August. 3. Jones T. O. And Sasser W. E. (1995), â€Å"Why satisfied Customer Defect†, Harvard Business Review, Vol. 73, No. 6. pp 88-99. WEBSITES: 4. www.livemint.com 5. www.bimtech.ac.in/indiaretailreview 6. www.trueknowledge.com 7. www.businessdictionary.com Research Papers on Department store business in pakistanAnalysis of Ebay Expanding into AsiaInfluences of Socio-Economic Status of Married MalesRiordan Manufacturing Production PlanMarketing of Lifeboy Soap A Unilever ProductIncorporating Risk and Uncertainty Factor in CapitalThe Spring and AutumnPETSTEL analysis of IndiaDefinition of Export QuotasThe Fifth HorsemanThe Relationship Between Delinquency and Drug Use

Monday, March 2, 2020

History of Multilateralism in Foreign Policy

History of Multilateralism in Foreign Policy Multilateralism is diplomatic term that refers to cooperation among several nations. President Barack Obama has made multilateralism a central element of U.S. foreign policy under his administration. Given the global nature of multilateralism, multilateral policies are diplomatically intensive but offer the potential for great payoffs. History of U.S. Multilateralism Multilateralism is largely a post-World War II element of U.S. foreign policy. Such cornerstone U.S. policies as the Monroe Doctrine (1823) and the Roosevelt Corollary to the Monroe Doctrine (1903) were unilateral. That is, the United States issued the policies without the help, consent, or cooperation of other nations. American involvement in World War I, while it would seem to be a multilateral alliance with Great Britain and France, was in fact a unilateral venture. The U.S. declared war against Germany in 1917, almost three years after the war began in Europe; it cooperated with Great Britain and France simply because they had a common enemy; aside from combating the German spring offensive of 1918, it refused to follow the alliances old style of trench fighting; and, when the war ended, the U.S. negotiated a separate peace with Germany. When President Woodrow Wilson proposed a truly multilateral organization - The League of Nations - to prevent another such war, Americans refused to join. It smacked too much of the European alliance systems that had triggered World War I in the first place. The U.S. also stayed out of the World Court, a mediating organization with no real diplomatic weight. Only World War II pulled the U.S. toward multilateralism. It worked with Great Britain, the Free French, the Soviet Union, China and others in a real, cooperative alliance. At the end of the war, the U.S. became involved in a flurry of multilateral diplomatic, economic, and humanitarian activity. The U.S. joined the wars victors in the creation of: The World Bank and the International Monetary Fund, 1944The United Nations (UN), 1945The World Health Organization (WHO), 1948 The U.S. and its Western allies also created the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) in 1949. While NATO still exists, it originated as a military alliance to throw back any Soviet incursion into western Europe. The U.S. followed that up with the Southeast Asia Treaty Organization (SEATO) and the Organization of American States (OAS). Although the OAS has major economic, humanitarian, and cultural aspects, both it and SEATO began as organizations through which the U.S. could prevent communism from infiltrating those regions. Uneasy Balance with Military Affairs SEATO and the OAS were technically multilateral groups. However, Americas political dominance of them tilted them toward unilateralism. Indeed, much of American Cold War policies - which revolved around containment of communism - tended in that direction. The United States entered the Korean War in the summer of 1950 with a United Nations mandate to push back a communist invasion of South Korea. Even so, the United States dominated the 930,000-man UN force: it supplied 302,000 men outright, and it outfitted, equipped, and trained the 590,000 South Koreans involved. Fifteen other countries provided the rest of the manpower. American involvement in Vietnam, coming without a UN mandate, was entirely unilateral. Both U.S. ventures in Iraq - the Persian Gulf War of 1991 and the Iraqi War that began in 2003 - had the multilateral backing of the UN and the involvement of coalition troops. However, the United States supplied the majority of troops and equipment during both wars. Regardless of label, both ventures have the appearance and feel of unilateralism. Risk Vs. Success Unilateralism, obviously, is easy - a country does what it wants. Bilateralism - policies enacted by two parties - are also relatively easy. Simple negotiations reveal what each party wants and does not want. They can quickly resolve differences and move ahead with policy. Multilateralism, however, is complicated. It must consider the diplomatic needs of many nations. Multilateralism is much like trying to arrive at a decision in a committee at work, or perhaps working on an assignment in a group in a college class. Inevitably arguments, divergent goals, and cliques can derail the process. But when the whole succeeds, the results can be amazing. The Open Government Partnership A proponent of multilateralism, President Obama has initiated two new U.S.-led multilateral initiatives. The first is the Open Government Partnership. The Open Government Partnership (OGP) seeks to secure transparent government functioning around the globe. Its declaration proclaims the OGP is committed to the principles enshrined in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the UN Convention against Corruption, and other applicable international instruments related to human rights and good governance. The OGP wants to: Increase accessibility to governmental information,Support non-discriminatory civic participation in governmentPromote professional integrity within governmentsUse technology to promote openness and accountability of governments. Eight nations now belong to the OGP. They are the United States, United Kingdom, South Africa, the Philippines, Norway, Mexico, Indonesia, and Brazil. Global Counterterrorism Forum The second of Obamas recent multilateral initiatives is the Global Counterterrorism Forum. The forum is essentially a place where states practicing counterterrorism can convene to share information and practices. Announcing the forum on September 22, 2011, U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said, We need a dedicated global venue to regularly convene key counterterrorism policy makers and practitioners from around the world. We need a place where we can identify essential priorities, devise solutions, and chart a path to implementation of best practices. The forum has set four major goals in addition to sharing information. Those are: Discover how to develop justice systems rooted in the rule of law but effective against terrorism.Find cooperative ways to globally understand the radicalization of ideals, terrorist recruitment.Find ways to strengthen weaknesses - such as border security - that terrorists exploit.Ensure dynamic, strategic thinking and action about counterterrorism efforts.

Saturday, February 15, 2020

The anthropology of food and meaning in Slav cultures Research Paper

The anthropology of food and meaning in Slav cultures - Research Paper Example As a matter of fact, anthropologists have made food a separate variable while doing research on cultures, in order to assess the way of living of the different societies in the past and at present. Slavic Culture: As there are a huge number of countries in this world, so is the vast number of cultures they share. Considering different regions of the world, the Slavic culture is a prominent one and indeed the largest in Europe. The ‘Great Migration’ is what tells us about the evolution of the Slavs first in the first millennium. Before the mid-fifth century, there was not any kind of data (literary or archaeological) available on the Slav culture. By the sixth century, the archaeological verifications tell us that the Slav moved in the Central Europe. All the Slavs share parallel cultures and languages. The Slav are majorly divided into three main groups, geographically; East, West and South Slavs. The Slavs have some historical association with the Turks, and that can be witnessed in the geographic and tribal names, and noticeably the cuisines. Usually the Slavs used to live aside the woods and jungles which can get them food and obviously a place for a shelter (Randall Mack and Surina). The Slavs majorly relied on food item gathered from hunting, fishing, collecting berries, different nuts, mushrooms and other available food item in the forest to complement their diet. After the World War II, the many of the Russian territories were becoming home for the salavic expatriates and the nomads. This drastic increase in the population greatly affected their cuisine across Russia. However, the Slav identity has been affected at present due to migration, and population disruption. A great part of the Slavic culture is affected by the European cultural influence, specifically, the Scandinavia, Germany and some part of East Europe. There are other abundant significant cultures that particularly affected the food culture of Russia. Famous for its intake of f ood and their perspective on how they see food as an essential element of their life, there are certain issues which underlie from the evolution of this culture and are still present (Randall Mack and Surina). Thesis Statement: For a very long period, Russia was locked from top to bottom, it had no influence of the outside world and Russia had a Slavic food culture, but with globalization and modernization it has lost that food culture and traditions of eating, transforming the entire food culture of Russia or the Slavic culture. Discussion: The study of human and human culture across the space is termed as ‘anthropology’. It is the study of human and their cultures from the past to present (American Anthropological Association). The anthropology of food is the study of human culture focusing specifically on its food and society, the relationship between the food and society with its cultural context and sometimes within a cross-cultural context (Wilk) It is basically t he analysis of food in a culture, why people in different cultures are only confined to a limited variety of food and have certain restrictions which are not only because of the nutritional point of view that they avoid certain things but because of their culture, religion, historical background, economical or geographical factors and their financial capability (Wilk). In this paper, we will only focus on the food culture of Russia. Its evolution, what it used to be and what it is at the present. It is witnessed that the Russian food culture

Sunday, February 2, 2020

Vishnu-Mythology God Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Vishnu-Mythology God - Research Paper Example Vishnu is responsible for sustaining and maintaining the universe. Shiva is the destroyer who time and again annihilates the old order, so that new life can emerge. Vishnu is the most worshiped god amongst the Hindus, especially amongst the Vaishnavite sect of Hinduism. Even a cursory study of the Hindu philosophy and mythology reveals that it is not that the beliefs of Hindus were not based on logic and rationality evident in the ways of nature. However, to a great extent, like the Egyptians and the ancient Chinese, Hindus preferred to personify their essentials beliefs and faith in the guise of mythological characters, gods and demons. This approach served many purposes. It allowed the commoners to grasp the eternal tussle between the good and the bad in a more visually understandable way (Pattanik 21). Besides, considering the fact that in the times when the essential Hindu theology emerged, it was common to disseminate religious doctrines by word of mouth instead of writing them (Pattanik 21). So, the mythological characters and the stories and myths associated with them made it easier to spread religious beliefs from one person to other, from teacher to disciple and from one generation to other. Vishnu is one major god of the Hindu mythology that accrued the awe and reverence of Hindus, in measures which supersede any other god of Hindu mythology. Iconography Primarily speaking, Hindu religion since times immemorial has been a visual religion. Each and every god of the Hindu mythology is associated with a definite form, character, and the accompanying weapons and accoutrements, which besides being visually appealing connote a specific and deeper meaning (Dimmitt 44). The forms of most of the Hindu gods have not changed since times immemorial, a trend that depicts the timelessness and eternal appeal of this faith. Like many other gods, Vishnu also has a specific form and look, depicted in the ancient and contemporary iconography, and cherished and elaborate d on in the ancient texts. In the ancient icons and texts, Vishnu is presented as being blue colored. Simply speaking, the blue color of Vishnu depicts his all pervasiveness. The blue is the color of the sky. The ocean is also always blue. Also, both the sky and the ocean are endless and immense. Similarly, the blue color of Vishnu connotes that god is all pervasive and is present everywhere. Nothing could be hidden from the eyes of god. Also, Vishnu is a male god who is always shown as having four arms. These four arms of Vishnu again convey the all pervasiveness of god, but albeit in a more elaborate way. The front two arms of Vishnu convey his pervasiveness in the physical world. The two arms at the back of Vishnu uphold him as a master and lord of the spiritual world. Surprisingly, in this way the ancient Hindus it seems to have done away with the dichotomy between the physical and the spiritual existence, or in Western terms, between the mind and the matter. In most of the icon s, Vishnu is shown as wearing a crown that conveys his sovereignty over the entire universe. Also, the earrings in both the ears of Vishnu convey the organization of the universe in terms of opposites that are good and bad, wise and foolish, big and small, beautiful and ugly and so on. Interestingly, while on the one side goodness, wisdom and beauty are shown as the accessories of Vishnu, he is equally adorned by evil, pettiness and ugliness. This in a way conveys the Hindu philosophical belief that the Universe can survive

Saturday, January 25, 2020

Negative Effects of Media Violence on Children Essay -- Television Viol

Americans have felt a growing uneasiness from the growing problem of youth violence with teens from the ages of twelve to eighteen. It is a controversial subject that is an increasingly rising with families and the in the government. Some people believe that the reason behind this national problem is because families are no longer a united unit and are not home to take responsibility of watching their children. There are others who believe that it is the influence of the media and technology. The issue this paper will examine whether youth violence has risen from unattached parenting or because the lack of censorship and influence of the media. Through the presentation of documented support, it will be shown the rising rate of youth violence is the result of the lack of censorship of the media. According to psychologist Craig Anderson, research shows that violent video games, films, television, and music in the media increase the probability of violent and aggressive behavior in long-term and immediate situations within youth (81). In the start of this decade it was estimated that 46 percent of all homes with children have accesses to at least one television set, gaming console, a personal computer or both (â€Å"Violence and the Media† 267). However, this percentage has changed and is growing everyday with the advancement in technology and because it’s easily accessible. The Federal Trade Commission reports that companies’ media and marketing plans advertise their products targeting media outlets most likely to reach children under 17. Using outlets such as commercials during the most popular programs such as South Park, websites such as Mtv.com, and teen hangouts such as pizza parlors or ... ...010. â€Å"New Technology and Youth Violence.† Cdc.gov. Usa.gov, n.d. Web. 27 Nov. 2010. Raspberry, William. â€Å"Violence on Television Begets Real Violence.† Times Union [Albany] 4 Feb. 1994, Three Star ed.: A11. LexisNexis Academic. Web. 1 Dec. 2010. Spencer, Terry. â€Å"Boy’s Murder Defense: Pro Wrestling Made Me Do It.† Charleston Gazette 14 Jan. 2001, sec. A: 5. LexisNexis Academic. Web. 2 Dec. 2010. Strahota, Hilary. â€Å"Facebook Partnership, Tip Line Add to Growing List of Anti-bullying Tools.† States News Service [Washington] 12 Nov. 2010, sec. B12: n. pag. LexisNexis Academic. Web. 2 Dec. 2010. Surette, Ray. â€Å"Media, Violence, Youth, and Society.† World & I 9.7 (1994): 370+. Points of View Reference Center. Web. 5 Dec. 2010. â€Å"Violence and the Media.† Congressional Digest 78.11 (1999): 266+. Academic Search Premier. Web. 22 Nov. 2010.

Thursday, January 16, 2020

Neolithic Revolution

The Neolithic Revolution is the single most important achievement in human history because it created civilization, developed agriculture, and new inventions were made to make life easier. Although some people may disagree with this statement, there is actual evidence that can prove it to be correct. During the time when early humans hunted and gathered, they would constantly have to move to different locations. This is because the animals that were hunted would die out and there would be nothing much to gather; this also caused starvation.When the unmans started using agriculture, they would produce their own food and that increased the populations; so bigger settlements started to form. Soon, there would be a whole civilization because there was a surplus amount of food that was grown. Also, the people that worked the farms came up with new and inventive inventions that would help them in their daily work; some of these inventions are still use today. When agriculture was first use d, some of the hunter gatherers had no choice to use it because food was scarce.However, when they did use it, they enjoyed it, causing hem to want to stay with the method. People started to build their own communities where cattle were raised and crops were grown. So much food was available that they did not have to worry about the starvation of the people. Since there weren't a lot of Jobs that needed to be completed (like hunt or gather) people lived a more peaceful life with agriculture to help supply their hunger needs. In my opinion, civilizations were created because agriculture brought people together and helped them live an easier life.Agriculture was so momentous that, I believe, human society wouldn't be where It Is today. During the Neolithic times, early humans needed to do hard laboring for long hours. So they were always trying to find a way to make It easier from them to do their Jobs. For example, In the Roots of the Western Tradition reading, when prepping the solo for the crops, the people would need to do that with a tool using their own hands. Until they found out that large animals could help do the Job twice as fast.Also In the reading, humans discovered more ways to use the animals Instead of for food; Like for clothes and for tools. These Inventions lead to more Intelligence In the communities, Like social classes and more Jobs for other people. Even though our time has advanced, people, Like farmers, still use a version of the tools that were created In 8000 B. C. The Neolithic Revolution Is a big debate whether It helped the human race or harmed It. Even though there are cons to the revolution, I believe that the pros are stronger than the negative affect that It left.The revolution lead to more excelled people and easier lives for everyone, who knows where the world would be today If agriculture was not created? Furthermore, I strongly believe that agriculture was one of the single most Important achievements In human history and ha t society today would not be the same without It. Neolithic Revolution By stairs wouldn't be where it is today. Hours. So they were always trying to find a way to make it easier from them to do their Jobs.For example, in the Roots of the Western Tradition reading, when prepping the soil for the crops, the people would need to do that with a tool using their own Also in the reading, humans discovered more ways to use the animals instead of for food; like for clothes and for tools. These inventions lead to more intelligence in the communities, like social classes and more Jobs for other people. Even though our mime has advanced, people, like farmers, still use a version of the tools that were created in 8000 B. C.The Neolithic Revolution is a big debate whether it helped the human race or harmed it. Even though there are cons to the revolution, I believe that the pros are stronger than the negative affect that it left. The revolution lead to more civilized people and easier lives for everyone, who knows where the world would be today if agriculture was not created? Furthermore, I strongly believe that agriculture was one of the single most important achievements in human history and that society today would not be the same without it. Neolithic Revolution While archaeologists are agreed on the implication of the Neolithic Revolution, it has not been so simple to determine exactly when food production began. In the first place, the classification of food production is dependent on our perceptive of domestication, an indefinite concept itself. Domestication can be distinct as the exploitation of plants and animals by humans in such a way as to cause some genetic, or morphological, change; more broadly, it is seen as a range of relationships between people, plants, and animals (Anne Birgitte Gebauer and T.Douglas Price , eds. , 1992). On one end of the range are morphologically domesticated plants like wheat, barley, peas, lentils, and bitter vetch. In these plants, changes brought concerning by artificially induced selective processes can be renowned by pale botanists studying the remains of seeds. Some morphologically domesticated plants, together with maize, dates, banana, and breadfruit, have been so altered that they are forever tie d to people, for they have lost their autonomous power of seed dispersal and germination.On the other end of the same range are plants that have been â€Å"domesticated† solely in terms of the growing space people offer for them. These plants, referred to as cultivated plants, are difficult if not viable to differentiate from wild plants, for their domestication is a matter of ecological rather than morphological change. In the middle range of the continuum lie all extents of domestication and cultivation. consequently, determining whether or not a past culture has cultivated plants often involves a fair amount of detective work.For example, the presence of seeds at Nahal Oren in Israel (ca. 18,000 B. C. ) of exactly the same cereal plants later domesticated indicates that certain plants might have been selected and cultivated at a very early date (Luigi Luca Cavalli-Sforza and Francesco Cavalli-Sforza, 1996). Determining the degree of animal domestication also entails some i nference and guesswork. As with plants, some animals (in the Near East, dogs, sheep, goats, cattle, and pigs) became hereditarily changed in time. But morphological changes did not take place for many generations, and in several instances they never took place at all. In these cases, paleozoologists should rely on other clues.The high percentage of gazelle bones in some early Neolithic sites, for illustration—three times more than any other species—probably indicates their â€Å"domestication† or at the very least their selective exploitation. In recent times the red deer, eland, and musk-ox have, for all realistic purposes, been domesticated perhaps in the same mode that the gazelle was in the early Neolithic. As with plants, some animal species are more easily cultivated than others. Studies on the herding behavior of animals suggest that definite species may be predated for domestication (Charles Heiser, 1990).The evolution from extensive dependence on gazell e to the domestication of sheep and goats may have resulted from the fact that sheep and goats utilize a wider range of foods, are added dependent on water supplies, and are better integrated into an inactive community. Because it is hard to determine the extent of domestication in past cultural systems, assigning agricultural status to a society is often a somewhat arbitrary decision that involves some ambiguity In short, there are extents of food production.Anthropologists and archaeologists can, though, agree on a working definition of food production. This definition posits two minimum requirements: first, there should be a reasonably competent level of food procurement (food acquired through direct production should amount to over half the community's dietary needs for part of the year); and second, both plant and animal domesticates are no longer bound to their natural habitat (that is, plants and animals can survive, with human assistance, in environments to which they are no t obviously adapted).The Neolithic Revolution was the result of the development of settled agriculture around 6,000 BC, which facilitated human beings for the first time to make nature grow what they wanted instead of living on what she reluctantly provided. The food surplus thus garnered supported a larger population—five or more times as large as from hunting and gathering—and permitted a small minority of them to specialize in other kinds of work, as craftsmen (especially of the new, highly finished stone tools which gave the modern name to the period), artists, warriors, priests, and rulers, and to construct the first towns and cities.The city (civis) gave its name to civilization, which formed the culture, the arts and crafts, the temples and palaces, and—it must be said—the weapons and fortifications, that have characterized history ever since. Principally, it created history itself: writing, invented for the purposes of management and ritual, had a s by-product the preservation, more consistent than oral tradition, of a record of events, and so entree to the past beyond human memory.The huge rise in the scale of organization stemming from this first revolt and the consequent growth in communal wealth and power created the first kingdoms and empires, and enabled them to grow, mainly by conquest, to ecumenical size. Over the next several millennia political entities as large as Sumeria, Egypt, China, Persia, and Rome and, by an independent and later improvement, the Inca and Aztec empires in the Western hemisphere governed stretches of the earth’s surface larger than most contemporary nation states.It was a mega-revolution in human society. Though it brought wealth and power to the few, it had venomous as well as beneficial effects for the many. Subsequent to the casual, care-free, imprudent life of hunting and gathering in humanity’s Eden, it symbolized for most a decline into heavy and continuous labor: ‘In the sweat of thy brow shalt thou eat bread. ’ It also meant yielding part of the excess food to the organizers and defenders of the community: to emend Marx, ‘All history is the history of the struggle for income.’ The prevailing elite, whether slave owners, tribute takers, or feudal lords, proscribed the scarce resource, the land, and so were able to take out ‘surplus value’ from the food producers and use it to ‘live like lords’ and inflate their span of command. The struggle for survival and conquest made combat the normal state of relations between neighboring communities. But there were benefits, in the inner peace which reigned for long periods within the borders, and the high culture, the arts of painting, sculpture, poetry, drama, music, and dance which could glee some of the people some of the time.Compared with pre-history, it was a life on a higher plane of subsistence. There were even professionals, officials, priests, docto rs, and lawyers, however they were for the most part subservient to the rich and influential, servants rather than masters (accept perhaps in the very few theocracies known to history). They were yet key players in the process. They invented, or set on a more enduring basis than oral tradition, all the arts and sciences: bureaucracy, organized religious conviction, philosophy, mathematics, astronomy, medicine, law. especially, the priests and bureaucrats invented writing, and so made history itself possible.That is why history begins with the cities of the Neolithic Revolution and not before. One other service was given by the European clergy, which made medieval Europe different from other civilizations and tiled the way for a further round of worldwide social change. as of the separation of church and state and the resultant equality of the Gelasian ‘two swords’, political control was never combined in Europe. A space was left between Empire and Papacy through which i ndependent thought, protest, and innovation could creep in and prevent the built-in stasis of most empires and theocracies.The Renaissance, the Reformation, the Scientific Revolution, and the Enlightenment, all found nutritious soil in which to grow, and independent thinkers, innovators and inventors could practice unregulated paths. Thus Europe, rather than some other area, became the origin of the next great social revolution. The earliest center of the Neolithic Revolution was southwestern Asia, more specifically the thousand miles between western Iran and Greece, including parts of what today are Iraq, Syria, Lebanon, Jordan, Israel, and the Anatolian plateau of Turkey (Wesley Cowan and Patty Jo Watson, eds. , 1992).From about 8900 B. C. , semi settled or semi permanent â€Å"protoneolithic† communities subsisted in northern Iraq, where the people de- pended in part on domesticated sheep for their survival. These settlements, with a typical population of 100 to 150, must not be seen as villages or protocities, since they were not occupied year-round and did not house the diversity of occupations and classes we associate with an urban economy. One instance of such a settlement was Jericho, which housed a protoneolithic community by 7800 B C (Kathleen Kenyon, 1994). Between 7000 and 6000 B. C. , â€Å"aceramic† (i. e., before pottery) Neolithic sites were occupied in parts of Iraq and Iran; several scholars see signs of this period as early as 8000 B. C (Daniel Zohary and Maria Hopf, 1994). Neolithic cultures with pottery existed at Catal Huyuk in Anatolia (Turkey) by 6800 B. C. and in Iran by 6500 B. C. By 5600 B. C. , Neolithic settlements with pottery subsisted in Greek Macedonia. The Neolithic means of life had its beginnings in the foothills of the Zagros Mountains and on the Anatolian plateau, where water from natural sources was passable and crops could be grown without recourse to artificial irrigation.By about 5500 B. C. , however, the se original settlements gave way to much better communities in the nearby alluvial plains on the banks of the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers. Here, crops could be grown in adequate quantities only under irrigation, and the early stages of the Neolithic were replaced by the completely different urban way of life linked with ancient cities. By about 6000 B. C. , the first stage of the Neolithic Revolution was combined in southwestern Asia, where small villages had become the customary way to organize populations.The crops and animals that had been domestic here in the fertile crescent spread to become the basis for the great river civilizations of the Nile in Egypt and the Indus in southern Asia. The rebellion also spread into Mediterranean Europe with little difficulty because of the similarities in climate and soil; between 6000 and 5000 B. C. , Greece and the southern Balkans shifted to an agrarian economy. By 4000 B. C. , agriculture was established in numerous areas around the Medit erranean. It took another millennium or two for Mediterranean crops and animals to widen successfully to northwestern Europe.The Neolithic method of life arrived in Britain, for example, no earlier than about 4700 B. C (Rodney Castleden, 1993). By that time, a different kind of Neolithic transformation had already begun to progress on the shores of the new bays and estuaries formed by the flooding that accompanied the end of the last ice age. As temperatures quickly rose to something approximating their present levels, the mile-thick ice melted and sea levels rose radically. Over a span of 2,000 years, almost half of Western Europe was immersed.Britain and Ireland became islands, cut off from the mainland by the recently formed English Channel and Irish Sea. The rising waters created frequent bays and estuaries along the new coastline, and these new ecosystems established to be rich sources of marine life for human consumption. Lured by the easy accessibility of new protein sources, Stone Age Europeans began to settle down in semi sedentary communities. Instead of staying continually on the move, they established base camps near the coast, from which they could endeavor forth to hunt large game when the fishing seasons were poor.A fairly similar change took place in newly created coastal areas of North America, including, for instance, on the shores of Chesapeake Bay. About three thousand years after agriculture began in Mesopotamia, that is, about 6000 B. C. , the Neolithic Revolution began independently in two other distant sites: along the Yellow River in China and in the tropical highlands of Mesoamerica. In China, several kinds of millet were reclaimed by 6000 B. C. , the first villages arose in the Yellow River area by 5500 B. C. , and rice was domesticated in the Yangtze area by 5000 B. C (Peter Rowley-Conwy, 1993).From China, the Neolithic culture spread to Korea, where it gradually became combined over four or five millennia from 6000 B. C. to about 2 000 B. C. In Japan, a foraging culture known as Jomon, which had succeeded from about 10,000 B. C. , gradually gave way to a wet rice culture in the southwest abruptly before the beginning of the Christian era and in the northeast a millennium later. As the Neolithic revolution took place in the so-called nuclear areas in western and Southeast Asia about ten thousand years ago or earlier, and later, independently, in central America.Although the Neolithic rebellion refers to a complex of several significant innovations, the two key evolutionary events to change human history were the domestication of animals and the cultivation of plants. From the centers of these modernizations, knowledge diffused out over the face of earth to most people (Robley Matthews, Douglas Anderson, Robert Chen, and Thompson Webb, 1990). While the cultivation of plants became established as the predominant way of life in the form of agriculture, an event typically accompanied by the domestication of animals , a diverse form of life emerged.The village became the unit of life. This is what sociologists and anthropologists believe being a major way of life in human history, in sharp contrast to modern, industrialized, urban, and complex society. Many names have been coined in order to refer to the customary, agricultural societies that filled most of our written history. By and large, sociologists and anthropologists concur as to the characteristics of agricultural society, and they use different names to explain the same thing.According to them, agricultural society is tradition-oriented; its people are controlled by informal sanctions such as rumor; social relationships are intimate and personal; there is modest division of labor, social structure is rigid with clear class differences; and people are ethnocentric and suspicious of outsiders (Richard MacNeish, 1992). The culture of such society might be described as relatively homogeneous, because the village is more or less self-relian t and excludes outsiders.In exceptional cases, there might be a racial or ethnic minority within or near the village. But because of rigid social distinctions mostly in the form of class differences, contact with them is relatively limited and is more formal, essentially in connection with trade and business transactions. Certainly, compared with the circumstances before the Neolithic revolution, cultural variation within society was likely to be greater and physical deviation as well, once there was the possibility for contact with other racial or ethnic groups.This meant, further, that the possibility for psychological difference became greater, compared with people before the Neolithic revolution. It is plausible that the observation of cultural variation as seen in class and occupational differences in the village as well as that of physical disparity in the form of racial or ethnic differences might have created a greater range of psychological responses among members of a vill age. But there was also a built-in mechanism to offset this in agricultural society.The strong pressure for conformity by means of informal sanctions based on confronting each other contact made psychological variation very difficult. Also, the firm structure of agricultural society kept the appearance of the feeling of relative deprivation, for example, to a minimum. while no possibility for achievement or change was visible, people were not likely to feel deprived, even when they saw the system as excessive. Thus, despite the probable for greater variations in physical, psychological, and cultural dimensions, life in agricultural society was comparatively homogeneous.The economy of peasant life is not productive, because land is typically limited, and, furthermore, land becomes increasingly limited as the population expands and the soil deteriorates. In interpersonal relationships, a peasant presumes that friendship, love, and affection are limited. As a result, a peasant must avo id showing excessive favor or friendship. Sibling rivalry is caused as even maternal love is limited. A husband is jealous of his son and angry with his wife for the similar reason. Health, too, is limited in extent.Blood is nonregenerative. Blood may be equated with semen, and the exercise of masculine vivacity are seen as a permanently debilitating act. Sexual moderation and the evasion of bloodletting are important. Even a woman's long hair may become a source of trepidation because she may lose her vigor and strength by having long hair. Honor and manliness, too, exist in inadequate quantities. Real or imagined insults to personal honor should be vigorously counterattacked because honor is limited, and a peasant cannot afford to lose it.While good things in the environment are assumed to be limited, and when personal gain can only take place at the expense of others, the maintenance of the status quo is the most sensible way to live, because to make economic development or to ac quire a disproportionate amount of good things is a threat to the stability of the community. Stability is sustained by an agreed-upon, socially acceptable, preferred norm of behavior, and sanctions and rewards are used to make certain that real behavior approximates the norm.As a consequence, there is a strong desire to look and act like everyone else and to be subtle in position and behavior. For the same reason, a peasant is reluctant to accept leadership roles. The ideal peasant strives for restraint and equality in his or her behavior. If a peasant should behave excessively, then gossip, slander, viciousness, character assassination, witchcraft or the threat of it, and even actual physical hostility is used by the rest of society against such a person.It is hard to say to what extent this generalization pertains to people after the Neolithic revolution and before the industrial revolution. In numerous agricultural societies, physical and cultural variations were likely to be si gnificantly greater than in hunter-gatherer societies. Yet if people were infatuated with the belief of â€Å"limited good† and thought and behaved like everyone else, their psychological deviations might not have been much greater than those amongst hunter-gatherers. Work Cited †¢ Anne Birgitte Gebauer and T.Douglas Price, eds. , Transitions to Agriculture in Prehistory, Monographs in World Archeology No. 4 ( Madison, Wisconsin: Prehistory Press, 1992). †¢ Charles Heiser, Seed to Civilization: The Story of Food ( Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University Press, 1990). †¢ Daniel Zohary and Maria Hopf, Domestication of Plants in the Old World, second edition ( Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1994), Chapter 11, esp. pp. 238-239. †¢ Kathleen Kenyon, â€Å"Ancient Jericho,† in Ancient Cities: Scientific American Special Issue ( 1994), pp. 20-23.†¢ Luigi Luca Cavalli-Sforza and Francesco Cavalli-Sforza, The Great Human Diaspora: The History of Diversity and Evolution, trans. by Sarah Thorne ( Reading, Massachusetts: Addison-Wesley, 1995). †¢ Peter Rowley-Conwy, â€Å"Stone Age Hunter-Gatherers and Farmers in Europe,† in Goran Burenhult, ed. , People of the Stone Age: Hunter-Gatherers and Early Farmers ( New York: HarperCollins, 1993), pp. 59-75. †¢ Richard MacNeish, The Origins of Agriculture and Settled Life ( Norman, Oklahoma: University of Oklahoma Press, 1992).Chapter 1. p. 5. †¢ Robley Matthews, Douglas Anderson, Robert Chen, and Thompson Webb, â€Å"Global Climate and the Origins of Agriculture,† in Lucile Newman et al. , eds. , Hunger in History: Food Shortage, Poverty, and Deprivation ( Oxford: Blackwell, 1990), Chapter 2. †¢ Rodney Castleden, The Making of Stonehenge ( London and New York: Routledge, 1993), p. 29. †¢ Wesley Cowan and Patty Jo Watson, eds. , The Origins of Agriculture: An International Perspective ( Washington, D. C. : Smithsonian Institution Press, 1992)

Wednesday, January 8, 2020

Special Economic Zones in China

Since 1979, China’s Special Economic Zones (SEZ) have been beckoning foreign investors to do business in China. Created after Deng Xiaoping’s economic reforms were implemented in China in 1979,   Special Economic Zones are areas where market-driven capitalist policies are implemented to entice foreign businesses to invest in China. The Importance of Special Economic Zones At the time of its conception, Special Economic Zones were considered so special because Chinas trade was generally controlled by the nations centralized government. Therefore, the opportunity for foreign investors to do business in China with relatively no government intervention and with the freedom to implement market-driven economics was an exciting new venture. Policies regarding Special Economic Zones were meant to incentivize foreign investors by providing low-cost labor, specifically planning Special Economic Zones with ports and airports so that goods and materials could be easily exported, reducing corporate income tax, and even offering tax exemption.   China is now a huge player in the global economy and has made large strides in economic development in a concentrated period of time. Special Economic Zones were instrumental in making Chinas economy the way it is today. Successful foreign investments galvanized capital formation and spurred urban development what with the proliferation of office buildings, banks, and other infrastructures. What Are the Special Economic Zones? The first 4 Special Economic Zones (SEZ) were established in 1979. Shenzhen, Shantou, and Zhuhai are located in Guangdong province, and Xiamen is located in Fujian province.   Shenzhen  became the model for China’s Special Economic Zones when it was transformed from 126-square-miles of villages known for sales of knockoffs to a bustling business metropolis. Located a short bus ride from  Hong Kong  in southern China, Shenzhen is now one of China’s richest cities.   The success of Shenzhen and the other Special Economic Zones encouraged the Chinese government to add 14 cities plus  Hainan Island  to the list of Special Economic Zones in 1986. The 14 cities include Beihai, Dalian, Fuzhou, Guangzhou, Lianyungang, Nantong, Ningbo, Qinhuangdao, Qingdao, Shanghai, Tianjin, Wenzhou, Yantai, and Zhanjiang.   New Special Economic Zones have been continually added to encompass a number of border cities, provincial capital cities, and autonomous regions.