Web Analytics

The explosive growth in the amount of smartness and tablets marked we have fully entered the RA of mobile computing. There are more and more people prefer to buy the products or services they desired online. The company who can success overnight must be the one who can better understand the demands of customers. For those who have no Idea of the power of Internet marketing, Axiom Technology can be a good example. It has been established since August 2010 and there are no any offline franchised stores ever opened. The only channel for customers to get their products is ordering from their online store.This is totally an Internet marketing model and no one knows what will happen to this company in the future. Now only four years have passed Axiom Technology has overtaken Samsung to become the biggest seller of smartness in China and the company valuations has approaching 40 billions dollars (BBC, http://www. BBC. Com/news/business-28684581). The success of Axiom is not accidental but u sing tons of techniques to analyses customers and trying to understand their needs. Behind this web analytics is the most important tool to achieve this in Internet marketing.What web analytics does Is the study of visitor, navigation, and traffic patterns to determine the success of a given web site then through the objective tracking, collection, measurement, porting, and analysis of quantitative Internet data to optimism websites and Internet marketing initiatives (Web Analytics Association, http:. ‘/ indicators could tell us the operation performance of a website. Such as the sources of the visitors (where our visitors come from), the conversion rates of the visitors (includes the registration rates, opportunities to sale and other conversion rates we setup to monitor).Knowing these indicators is the basis of Internet marketing initiatives. In short, web analytics is a tool to help us optimism our website and align our resources to fit the Internet marketing strategies. Th is could be divided into several aspects. I will explain them one by one in this article. Monitoring the Operation Status of the Website This is the most basic function of web analytics. Web analytics tool like Google Analytics can collect the data which provided by the website such as slipstream data, user experience data and operational data then generate different kinds of statements through analyses the collected data.These statements can give a overview of the website and tell us whether it is healthy or not. The variation trend of clicks, umber of visits, number of users and other data like this can help marketers maintain the website from different aspects. However, for those non-technical specialist stakeholders web analytics tool can be an important tool to translate the professional terms such as page views, average time per visit and conversion rates to readable information. Monthly summary is one of the most common reports that web analytics tool can generate for a compa ny to monitor its website.The information contained in the summary is of a relatively basic level. The monthly summary shows page views, visits ND visitors, as well as average time per visit and average page views per visit. The main purpose of the monthly summary is to inform key stakeholders about the level of activity on the website throughout each month (A. Phone, et al. , 2004). Figure 1 is a typical monthly summary. There are also other reports such as monthly dashboard which allow users to compare the activity on the website over a year, because of the limited words it is not possible to detail here.Figure 1. A Typical Monthly Summary The operators of the website will be panic without the support of different kinds of data. Because it means they have lost the perception to the status of the website. They have no idea how many visits today, thousands or none, will be a mystery. Without the direction of data, the operators will lost their target and path for Internet marketing. Evaluate the Efficiency of the Promotion Campaigns Like offline business processes, Internet marketing also needs promotion campaigns to acquire customers, improve brand image and customer perception.However, without web analytics we can not measure the help that the promotions bring to our websites Kips and we even can not know whether the growing Kips are profit from With web analytics we can track the sources of our visits then identify whether they are visiting through our promotions such as pay-per-click ads or banner ads. Moreover, we can further analyses the conversion rates relate to registration and order placing then find out the efficiency of our promotions and to what extent they can improve our Kips.Finally, according to the analysis we can adjust the Internet marketing strategies about the promotions. For example, to measure the efficiency of a banner ads we can easily calculate cost per acquisition to find out that: Cost per acquisition = Advertising and promotional cost/Number of click-troughs. Promote the Website Effectively Search Engine Optimization (SEE) and Search Engine Marketing (SEEM) SEE and SEEM are two vital parts in web analytics because they are the most important way for a website to fetch visits. Search engines are a key part of any company's acquisition portfolio.For good reason, citizens of the Internet use search to find everything they are looking for. The business impact of this customer behavior is that we all pour a lot of resources into optimizing our websites to show up optimally in search engines for relevant queries (Vanish Sushi, 2010). There are several indexes for us to analyses SEE such as related keywords ranking, the click through rate (CTR) of the search terms and the number of invalid pages of the website in the search results. The traffic level is the foundation of a website.So it is necessary for us to know how good our website performing on SEE and SEEM clearly (Eric Eng, et al. , 2012). Precision Marketing SEE and SEEM can improve the web exposure of the website so the users can find our website more easily. But sometimes it is also necessary to push our website to some specific users directly so called online promotions. Online promotion included customer segmentation, source segmentation and target market segmentation. Customer segmentation which based on customer behaviors can reveal the customer types our website attracts.The search terms based on source and affiliated websites analysis can let us know which parts on our website were cared about by our users and how our users found us. This analysis could direct us for our online promotion. We will know which groups of users we should send them e-mails. Moreover, web analytics can also help us find suitable places to do the online promotions. For example, the most related website we should put the advertisements on if we want to issue a product or organize an activity or the frequently searched keywords to do the sponsored links and SEE.So it can help us avoid the inefficiency promotions which will waste our operating costs. Through eliminating low efficiency costs and increase the ratio of high efficiency costs we could keep the budgets constant but have a better publicity. In the meantime, we can also find out which websites have more relevance with us then we can improve our how to organize the contents we want to promote. Optimizing the Customer Experience of the Website Simple and Effective Interactive Process The simple and easy-to-use interactive process will help the users achieve their targets and operations better.And the users are tend to visit the website which have more friendly interface that can let them surf on it without any troubles. Help the Users to Find What They Interested Recommend the contents which the users may interested are far more better than let themselves find what they want. Many websites like Amazon, eBay now have recommendation function based on the analysis of users behav iors, this function will elf on keep customers and let them browse more contents or use the services provided by the websites.Listen to the Users Web analytics is more than tons of daily statements of the websites. Actually, survey, lab usability testing and site visits are all belong to web analytics. Vanish Sushi were sorted them as the qualitative analysis in web analytics. These methods can let us listen to our users' heart. With the results of these surveys we can do better on our website includes the design of function, interactive and navigation. All of these are aimed at enhancing the user experience of the website.In a word, the websites are living for traffic level, all what we do above can be concluded as three stages: monitoring the traffic, attract the traffic and keep the traffic. The traffic level can be easily translated to users, and the users are the only core for the websites. Part 2: http://www. Activation. Co. UK/ is a local company. You are required to: Identif y its main line of business and its online marketing strategy, Critically evaluate its website designing and its online marketing strategy, and Make recommendations for improving the effectiveness of its website and online marketing strategy.Main Line of Business Active Alton is a local company operating a variety of sports and leisure facilities in Alton and it claimed itself as a non-profit organization. It currently operates 7 leisure and activity centers including Dell Farm, Inspire: Alton Sports Village, Lessee Sports Park, Highpoint Community Sports & Arts Centre, Lea Manor Recreation Centre, Stockroom Park Golf Centre and Stockroom Park Athletics Centre & Health Club.The main business that Active Alton run are the fitness and leisure events. Rely on the activity centers Active Alton provides its own brands covered a wide range of ports and services such as Profiles Health & Fitness, Hydra Swim, Active Golf, Kid Around, Active Education, Active Communities, Active Training & D evelopment and people will enjoy a discount price to access the facilities through Join the membership and this is also the main sources of income to the organization.Online Marketing Strategy As a local organization who have held so many sports centers and leisure facilities, Active Alton seems has no intention to invest vast amount of time and money in online marketing because people are ultimately prefer to choose a fitness centre by sitting it not by Just browsing it online. The website of Active Alton are more like a exhibition not an online franchise store. I have drawn a structure chart of the website below and will analyses the online market strategy by using it. Through the structure chart we can have a general understanding of the whole website of Active Alton.As I state before, the website is consist by the introduction of the sports centers and leisure facilities. The only entrance for customers to checkout is in the membership page and will be shown after click ‘s ign up online'. And there is o any online customer service but only two forms in the feedback and contact us pages. Because the organization possesses venues and stadiums and only provide very limited online transactions channel and customer service (the digital channels complementary is relatively low), the e-commerce business mode could be defined as between ‘Bricks and mortar' and ‘Bricks and clicks' refer to Figure 2.Figure 2. Three Business Modes in E-commerce In conclusion, the online marketing strategy should have objectives for online contribution in percent which means sales, service, profitability should drive the strategy. From the structure of the website I did not see much of elements which can bring extra incomes for the organization. Because of the products the organization provides is fitness and leisure services it is not possible to exploit new geographic markets. So the website has communicate benefits of existing products to existing penetration strat egy (H.Igor Anions, 2007). Figure 3. Nations Product-Market Growth Matrix Website Designing There are eight most important factors in successful e-commerce site design (Lauded and Travel, 2009), in this part I will use this figure to evaluate the designing of the Bessie. Figure 4. The Eight Most Important Factors in Successful E-commerce Site Design All functions of the website are working normally during my test but it has no obvious funnel which can guide visitors to the checkout system and finally become customers.In general, there must be a button or link to purchase the product when we click into the introduction page of a product but for this website there is not. What instead of is a sign up online button which is in membership page so we can not see it directly. This will largely reduce the conversion rates and lower the functionality of the website. The information provided by the website are quite rich, from the introduction of the organization to the details of every venu es and brands. And they have been placed in landing page so they are full accessible.But the customer service is a short slab of the website. There are only two forms provided in the contact us and feedback pages. According to Lauded and Tracer's research it will annoy 75. 1% visitors if a website has no contact information available. Figure 5. E-commerce Website Features that Annoy Customers For other aspects in the figure 4, the layout and design of Active Lotto's website are happily integrated style, both aesthetically and functionally. It has a dominant hue which is blue and the color is not been abused everywhere.The text are legible enough and the graphics are simple therefore the visitors will not be distracted. To sum up, the website is easy to use but lack of functionality and it need to be improved. Recommendations For the Web Designing To improve the effectiveness of the website can be translate to improve the user experience of it. First and the most important thing is t o add a purchase button with the corresponding price table in every introduction page of the stadiums, this will increase the conversion rates and lead to a higher incomes which is the fundamental goals of e-commerce.And for the customer service, add at least one contact information (landlines, e-mail or both) to contact us page that visitors can use it to contact the organization actively. If the visitors are confused about some descriptions the conversion rates indirectly because people will not purchase anything if they are confusing about it. For the Online Marketing Strategy According to the organization's conditions I did a SOOT analysis for it. Active Alton Strengths – S 1. Well-known brand 2.Abundant Resources 3. Extensive Services Weaknesses – W 1. Internet channel using 2. Web technologies 3. Online customer service Opportunities – O 1 . New customer segment 2. Co-branding promotion 3. Cross-selling SO strategies Integrate the services and trying to at tract new customers through cross-selling and co-branding promotion WOW strategies Improve the user experience of the website and introduce new services to attract new customers Threats – T 1 . Other competitors who have advanced technologies 2.Customer choice 3. New entrants SST strategies Attract competitor's customers by provide better services and hardware WET strategies Improve the user experience of the website and build a thorough customer relationship management system Figure 6. A Internet-specific SOOT Analysis for Active Alton Active Alton is an organization who has possessed a lot of resources including stadiums and parks. So the products and services it can provide can be varied if introduce cross-selling method.The growth point of the business is to attract new customers through new products and services and better user experience of the website. In this circumstance I would like to recommend WOW strategies for the organization. This kind of online marketing stra tegy is focused on improving the effectiveness of the website and develop new products that fit the e- commerce business such as special offers which people can only get from the online store.

Strategic Planning Case Study- Dunkin Donuts

Strategic Hospitality Management A case analysis of Dunkin’ Donuts with a focus on tools available for strategic planning. April 2013 Abstract The following essay is based on the Quick Service Restaurants brand (QSR)- Dunkin’ Donuts. The company has been studied and a case study regarding the growth of the company from 1950 till today has been studied. Growth strategies of the company have been used to understand how they reached the position of America’s largest QSR.The Legal, Moral and Ethical Issues of the company have also been studied and the solutions to those issues and the implementation has been studied Contents Abstracti Introduction1 Strategic Planning1 The Process1 Dunkin’ Donuts3 Mission Statement3 Vision Statement3 Case Study3 Growth Strategy4 Growth Strategies used by Dunkin’ Donuts4 SWOT ANALYSIS9 Legal, Moral and Ethical Issues10 Conclusion and Recommendation11 Bibliography12 Part ‘A’ Introduction Strategic Planning Str ategic planning is a process that brings to life the mission and vision of he enterprise. A strategic plan, well crafted and of value, is driven from the top down; considers the internal and external environment around the business; is the work of the managers of the business, and is communicated to all the business stakeholders, both inside and outside of the company. As a company grows and as the business environment becomes more complex the need for strategic planning becomes greater. There is a need for all people in the corporation to understand the direction and mission of the business.Companies consistently applying a disciplined approach to strategic planning are better prepared to evolve as the market changes and as different market segments require different needs for the products or services of the company. The Process There is no one formula or process for strategic planning. There are however, principles and required steps that optimize the value of strategic planning. The steps in the process described in this series of articles on strategic planning are presented below: * Current Situation Analysis Segmentation Analysis * Strength, Weakness, Opportunities, and Threat Analysis * Core Competencies Analysis * Key Success Factors * Business Unit Strategy / Business Plan * Balanced Score Card * Evaluation The choice, of the planning process that works best, should be driven by the culture of the organization, and by the comfort level of the participants. The strategic planning process must mirror the cultural values and goals of the company. There are a number of important steps to remember in the process of strategic planning.They include collecting a meaningful and broad data base, resourcefully thinking about separation, defining gaps, assessing core competencies, and understanding the identifying critical resources and skills. An important distinction in the process is to recognize the difference between strategic planning and the work being done , and strategic thinking, or the creative, intuitive input. The planning element involves the data collection, goal setting, expectation definition and statement of direction.Strategic thinking includes the intuitive and creative elements. This thinking process takes into account and helps to leverage the values of the internal culture of the business and external characteristics of the market. Strategic planning can be a challenging process, particularly the first time it is undertaken in a company. With patience and perseverance as well as a strong team effort the strategic plan can be the beginning of improved and predictable results for a company.At times when the business gets off track a strategic plan can help direct the recovery process. When strategic planning is treated as an ongoing process it becomes a competitive advantage and an offensive assurance of improved day to day execution of the business practices. (Mathews & Lee) Use of an outside, independent facilitator can help in the process and in the development of a strategic plan. An outside resource can provide objectivity and serve as a â€Å"devil’s advocate† as well as a sounding board for the management charged with plan development.In the final analysis the plan must have the authorship and ownership of the owner and the managers who must execute and follow the strategic plan. It must be their plan. The strategic plan, to be of real long-term value, must be treated as an ongoing business process. It must be reflective of the owners’ mission and vision. It must evolve and change to reflect changing market and economic conditions. It must be proactive to competitive, market and economic conditions. If those steps are followed, the strategic plan will institutionalize a culture of continuous improvement and disciplined change.Strategic planning, when treated as a work in progress, rather than as a binder on a shelf, or a file in a computer, provides business with a real a nd lasting competitive advantage. It will help determine and direct the quality of relationships with suppliers, employees, unions, customers, and bankers. To get your business to where you desire it to be, start with determination and drive to develop a useful and living strategic planning process. Give it strong support and leadership from the top down. Develop and evolve it with participation and buy-in from the bottom up.Strategic planning is your company’s road map to your vision. (Wheelin, 2005) Dunkin’ Donuts Dunkin’ Donuts is a business in food retail. They are the world’s largest coffee and baked goods chain. Dunkin’ Donuts have been in business since 1950 and have been franchising since 1995. This franchise serves more than 2 million customers a day. Dunkin’ Donuts is owned by Dunkin’ Brands. Dunkin’ Brands has two companies in its portfolio which are Dunkin’ Donuts and Baskin Robins. It works under a 100% fran chise model and reduces store costs and can then concentrate more on menu and product innovation.Mission Statement Make and serve the freshest, most delicious coffee and donuts quickly and courteously in modern, well- Merchandized stores. Vision Statement America run on Dunkin’ Case Study From the beginning from a single restaurant in Quincy Massachusetts, Dunkin’ Donuts is now a Global brand with more than 10,000 locations in 32 countries. The growth is testimony to the fact that people everywhere appreciate what Dunkin’ Donuts offers: High Quality food and beverages served all day in a friendly, fast environment at a great value.In the United States, Dunkin’ Donuts has maintained steady, strategic and disciplined growth, opening new restaurants in the core markets in the north – east and in cities all throughout Mid Atlantic, Southern and Midwest states. (Donuts, 2011)They now have more than 7,000 restaurants in 36 states and the District of Colu mbia, Dunkin’ Donuts is an important part of life for millions of Americans. While Dunkin’ Donuts has nationwide brand recognition, they have a significant opportunity to expand the number of restaurants in the United States as well as all around the world.The company believes that they can double the footprint in the U. S to 15,000 Dunkin’ Donut Restaurants over the next 20 years. The company has a strong presence internationally as well with more than 3000 Dunkin’ Donut Restaurants over 31 international countries across 4 continents. The company maintains stable global expansion, opening new restaurants in Europe, Asia, Middle East and Latin and South American countries. Dunkin’ Donuts has already opened more than 88 locations in Greater China and has nearly opened 900 shops in South Korea.In 2010, the brand Re-entered Russia with new restaurants in Moscow, and in 2012, the first set of Dunkin’ Donut Restaurants were opened in India and Gu atemala. (Donuts, 2011) To achieve this high rate of growth across most of the world, and a vision to continue to achieve and steadily grow at a high rate Dunkin’ Donuts under the company Dunkin’ Brands has a strongly formulated Growth Strategy. Growth Strategy Growing a business requires ongoing work in an environment of continually emerging global challenges.One of the most fundamental aspects of the growth process is the formation and distribution of competences within and among organizations. To a large extent, the challenges for businesses are innovation and internationalization to grow businesses. The goal of any business growth is to increase revenue and profitability with a reduced business cycle time that is more productive, innovative and export-led, delivers high-value products/services for customers and markets around the world. The following are major areas where businesses have to take initiatives to support growth strategy: * Market Growth Financial Tran sformational Initiatives * Supply Chain Management * Outsourcing Concept (Kumar, 2010) Growth Strategies used by Dunkin’ Donuts 1. Increase comparable store sales and profitability in Dunkin’ Donuts U. S. The company’s largest operating segment, Dunkin’ Donuts U. S. experienced positive comparable store sales growth in eight of the last ten fiscal years. The fiscal year 2011 with comparable store sales growth of 5. 1%, was the highest annual comparable store sales growth since 2005, and 7. 4% for the fourth quarter of 2011, which was the highest quarterly performance in the past seven years.There is a strong intention to continue building on comparable store sales growth momentum and improving profitability through the following initiatives: * Further increase coffee and beverage sales. Since the late 1980s, the company has been transformed into a coffee-focused brand and have developed a significantly enhanced menu of beverage products. Approximately 60% of Dunkin’ Donuts U. S. franchisee-reported sales for fiscal 2011 were generated from coffee and other beverages, which is believe to generate increased customer visits to the stores and higher unit volumes, and which produce higher margins than their other products.They plan to increase the coffee and beverage revenue through continued new product innovations and related marketing, including advertising campaigns such as ’America Runs on Dunkin’ in 2011 Dunkin’ Donuts created a product called the K- Cups, which is a 12$ box with 14 K-Cups. This product had been an idea from the customers themselves, as it is an easier and more convenient method. It is used in the Keurig brewing system. The company that makes them, Green Mountain Coffee Roasters Inc. , first announced its partnership with Dunkin' Donuts in February.Dunkin's decision to sell the K-Cups only in its outlets will help drive customers there and perhaps lead them to make additional purchases. It could also keep the brand from becoming too omnipresent, which is widely believed to be a mistake made by Krispy Krem`e Doughnuts Inc. when it started selling its products in gas stations and grocery stores. * Continue to develop enhancements in restaurant operations. The company will continue to maintain a highly operations-focused culture to help the franchisees maximize the quality and consistency of their customers’ in-store experience, as well as to increase franchisee profitability.In support of this, there has been an initial enhancement and ongoing restaurant manager and crew training programs and developed new in-store planning and tracking technology tools to assist the franchisees. As a result, over 164,000 respondents, representing approximately 93% of all respondents, to the company’s Guest Satisfaction Survey program in December 2011 rated their overall experience as â€Å"Satisfied† or â€Å"Highly Satisfied. † 2. Continue Dunkin’ Donuts U. S. Immediate store expansion The company believes there is a significant opportunity to grow the points of distribution for Dunkin’ Donuts in the U. S. iven the strong potential outside of the Northeast region to increase the per-capita penetration to levels closer to those in their core markets. The company’s development strategy resulted in 243 net new U. S. store openings in fiscal 2011. In 2012, it is expected that their franchisees will open an additional 260 to 280 net new points of distribution in the U. S. , principally in existing developed markets. They believe that strategy of focusing on contiguous growth has the potential to, over approximately the next 20 years, more than double our current U. S. footprint and reach a total of 15,000 points of distribution in the U.S. The following table details the per-capita penetration levels in the U. S. regions. Region| Population(ml)| Stores| Penetration| Core 36. 0 3| 768 1:9| 560| Core 36. 0 3| Eastern Established. 53. 8 2| 227 1:24| 160| Eastern Established. 53. 8 2| Eastern Emerging 88. 7 891 1:99| 600| 891| Eastern Emerging 88. 7 891 1:99| West 130. 0 129 1:1| 008| 100| West 130. 0 129 1:1| Table 1: As per December, 2011 * Increase penetration in existing markets. In the traditional core markets of New England and New York, there now is a Dunkin’ Donuts store for every 9,560 people.In the near term, there is an intention to focus the core development on other markets east of the Mississippi River, where currently there is only approximately one Dunkin’ Donuts store for every 99,600 people. In certain established Eastern U. S. markets outside of their core markets, such as Philadelphia, Chicago and South Florida, they have already achieved per-capita penetration of greater than one Dunkin’ Donuts store for every 24,160 people. * Expand into new markets using a disciplined approach. The Company believes that the Western part of the U. S. epresents a significa nt growth opportunity for Dunkin’ Donuts. However, a disciplined approach to development is the best one for the brand and franchisees. Specifically, in the near term, they intend to focus on development in markets that are adjacent to the existing base, and generally move westward in an immediate fashion to less penetrated markets, providing for marketing and supply chain efficiencies within each new market. * Focus on store-level economics. In recent years, they have undertaken significant initiatives to further enhance store-level economics for their ranchisees, * Reducing the cash investment for new stores. * Increasing beverage sales. * Lowering supply chain costs and implementing more efficient store management systems. The Company believes these initiatives have further increased franchisee profitability. Dunkin’ Donuts recently entered into an agreement with the franchisee-owned supply chain cooperative that provides for a three-year phase in of flat invoice pr icing across the franchise system, which, coupled with the cost reductions noted above, should lead to cost savings across the entire franchise system.It is believed that this will be one of the drivers of the immediate development strategy, by improving store-level economics in all markets, but particularly in newer markets where their growth is targeted. Store-level economics have also continued to benefit from increased national marketing and from the introduction of Dunkin’ K-Cups into their restaurants. 3. Drive Accelerated International Growth. They believe there is a significant opportunity to grow points of distribution Dunkin’ Donuts in international markets.Their international expansion strategy has resulted in more than 3,500 net new openings in the last ten years. The key Elements of the future Growth Strategies are: * Grow in Their existing core markets. The Company’s international development strategy for Dunkin’ Donuts includes growth in th eir existing core markets. Dunkin’ Donuts intends to focus on growth in South Korea and the Middle East, where they currently have 857 and 229 points of distribution, respectively. During fiscal 2012, the company is expected to open approximately 350- 450 new points of distribution internationally, principally in their existing markets.However, there can be no assurance that their franchisees will be successful in opening this number of, or any, additional points of distribution. * Capitalize on other markets with significant growth potential. Dunkin’ Donuts intends on expanding in certain international focus markets where the brand does not have a significant store presence, but where they believe there is consumer demand for the products as well as strong franchisee partners. In 2011, it was announced that an agreement with an experienced QSR franchisee to enter the Indian market with Dunkin’ Donuts brand.The agreement calls for the development of at least 500 Dunkin’ Donuts restaurants throughout India, the first of which is expected to open by the second quarter of 2012. By teaming with local operators, it is believed they are better able to adapt the brands to local business practices and consumer preferences. * Further develop the franchisee support infrastructure. Dunkin’ Donuts plan to increase the focus on providing international franchisees with operational tools and services that can help them to efficiently operate in their markets and become more profitable.Dunkin’ Donuts plans to focus on improving on native-language restaurant training programs and updating existing restaurants for the new international retail restaurant designs. To accomplish this, we are dedicating additional resources to our restaurant operations support teams in key geographies in order to assist international franchisees in improving their store-level operations. (Brands, 2012) Segment| Q2 2012 Comparable Store Sales Growth| Q1 2012 Comparable Store sales Growth| Q2 2012System wideSales Growth| Q1 2012 System wideSales Growth| Dunkin’ Donuts U. S| 4. 0%| 7. 2%| 7. %| 11. 5%| Dunkin’ Donuts International| 3. 5%| 2. 3%| 1. 5%| 4. 8%| The long-term prospects of Dunkin' Brands seem very impressive. Dunkin' Brands is compensated as a percent of franchisee top-line and it bears basically no store operating costs itself. With only 36 company- owned points of distribution out of a total of 17,016 as of June 30, 2012, the company is less affected by store level costs and profitability and fluctuations in commodity costs than many other QSR operators. (Saibus, 2012) SWOT ANALYSIS Strengths * High operating Profit Margin * Lower Costs than Industry High Brand Recognition * Becoming Socially Responsible Weaknesses * High Debt * Low Return on Equity Ratio * High Interest Rate * Need to better manage Fixed assets Opportunity * Pay off some debt * Open more stores in the West * Capitalize on high customer Loyal ty Threats * Low entry Barriers into Industry * Health Conscious society and Starbucks focusing on Health and Wellness * Krispy Kreme expands into the Global Market Part ‘B’ Legal, Moral and Ethical Issues * Recently in news articles, it was reported that there were approximately 350 lawsuits between Dunkin’ and its franchisees.The company has been accused of aggressively targeting shop owners in an effort to terminate franchise agreements and in the process collect hefty fees and penalties for alleged contract violations. Michelle King is Dunkin’s Director of Public Relations and he states that strongly encouraged Dunkin’ Brands to take a step back and reconsider its policy of litigation and instead embrace its process of mediation to settle disputes with franchise owners. He said, â€Å"It is the right thing to do to grow the brand in an increasingly challenging and competitive environment.DDIFO is ready, willing and able to help see this process of mediation come to fruition. † (Leiber, 2009) * Due to the sudden increase in the consciousness of health and wellness, Dunkin’ Donuts has come across a moral dilemma as most of their Products go against the code of healthy food. Their competitor Starbucks has taken a turn and concentrated more of healthy eating which has created a drop in the business of Dunkin’ Donuts, to overcome this the company has also started concentrating on health food and beverages. Dunkin’ Brands leaders have an added obligation to ensure that policies are communicated to employees and that business practices are designed to prevent improper conduct. They have a responsibility to build and maintain a culture of compliance by ensuring employees know that our integrity should never be compromised in order to achieve business results. The Code of Conduct provides employees and directors with guidance on doing the right thing. However, it is not an all inclusive list of doâ€℠¢s and don’ts.The Overview sections outline the intended behavior and the Expectations and Examples of What to Watch Out For sections provide some examples of what employees and directors should and should not do. (Dunkin', 2012) Conclusion and Recommendation Strategic planning and management is what makes or breaks a company or Brand. Dunkin’ Donuts, The Company I have done my study on is a brand which I think has put a lot of thought into the planning of business. Their techniques and business sense is what has brought them to be America’s most popular quick service restaurant chain.In this essay I have studied the growth strategies of the company and how from a single outlet in 1950, today it has a presence in most countries in the world. This is possible because of a proper vision that the company had and a set of strong Growth Strategies. The company has strongly believed in spreading and making their brand what people live by. I believe that Dunkin Donuts should aggressively target India, as it is expected to Grow over half a billion in Breakfast Food sales by 2016.The Asia pacific Region is growing rapidly and should be Targeted within the next five years. The company should capitalize more on college campuses as what they serve is directly related to the average diet of a teenager. They should target this market in both America and abroad. Bibliography Brands, D. (2012). Annual Report 2012. massechusetts: Edgar Online. Donuts, D. (2011). Global Presence. Retrieved April 12, 2013, from Dunkindonuts: http://www. dunkindonuts. com/content/dunkindonuts/en/company/global. tml Dunkin'. (2012). Code of Business Conduct and Ethics. Canton. Kumar, D. (2010). Enterprise Growth Strategy: Vision, Planning and Execution. Surrey: Ashgate Publishing Group. Leiber, N. (2009, October 8). Attorneys Criticize Dunkin' Donuts' Litigious Behavior. Business Weekly . Mathews, J. F. , & Lee, H. Business Devlopment Index. Columbus: Ohio State University. Sa ibus. (2012). Dunkin' Brands Is Brewing Up Strong Perfomance. Seeking Alpha. Wheelin, T. (2005). Concepts in Strategic Mangement.

Acts of Terrorism

An investigation into the reasons that acts of terror are committed. This paper explores the motivations behind acts of terror. It is written in the light of the September 11thattack on the USA in 2001 and it studies recent acts of terrorists both in the United States and elsewhere in the world. It focuses on the personality of Osama Bin Laden and what he symbolizes for the American people.A great deal has been written about terrorism since 11 September 2001, but this should not blind us to the fact that terrorism is hardly a new phenomenon. Although it is hard to believe that there is anyone in the world who is not now more aware of the possible reach and effects of terrorism than they were six months ago, if we are to come to a better understanding of the ways in which terrorists operate and the basic human psychology of terrorism than we must take a longer view of the phenomenon (McDermott 2002). Only if we do soif we look at terrorism over a period of centuries and include an analysis of both religiously motivated and other forms of terrorismcan w e come to any clear understanding of what happened in the United States in September as well as what has happened since then (Miller 2002).

Marketing Product Assessment--Maybelline Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Marketing Product Assessment--Maybelline - Essay Example Soon the mascara was named Maybelline after the name â€Å"Maybel† given by her daughter to the lash mascara (L'Oreal). Two years later, the company produced the first of its kind mascara for everyday use which became an instant hit with the mass market. In 1996, the company’s headquarters moved to New York when it was acquired by L’Oreal (L'Oreal). Over the passage of time, the company hired celebrities as brand ambassadors, which again was an instant hit. In 1991, the company adopted the popular slogan â€Å"Maybe she’s born with it, maybe it’s Maybelline† which continues to be its slogan to date (L'Oreal). Maybelline enjoys a strong presence in over 129 countries today and covers four broad location segments: North America, Europe, Asia and Oceania (L'Oreal). Maybelline stands at no.1 in the makeup brands category in its home country, the US. In the UK, it has acquired the second position, along with strong growth in Russia (L'Oreal). The company is expanding fast in all BRIC economies, and has managed to bag the top position in make-up brands in China in 2010 (L'Oreal). The company is struggling to penetrate through the Japanese market which has intense competition as far as the make-up category is concerned. Overall, the company registered a 13.3% growth in 2010 (L'Oreal). The company offers a variety of product lines related to cosmetics including face, eyes, lips, nails, brushes and accessories (Maybelline LLC.). Under the â€Å"face† product line, the company offers concealer, foundation, powder, blush and bronzer (Maybelline LLC.). Under the â€Å"eyes† category, it offers eye shadow, eye liner, brow liner and mascara (Maybelline LLC.). Under â€Å"lips† category, Maybelline offers lip color, lip gloss and lip liner (Maybelline LLC.). Under â€Å"nails† it offers nail color, whereas, under â€Å"brushes and accessories† it offers brushes, tweezers, curlers, combs, removers and false lashes (Maybelline LLC.). The product brand that is part of this paper is the Maybelline â€Å"Dream Matte Mousse Foundation† that falls under the â€Å"face† product line. The highest sales of Maybelline are generated by its â€Å"face† product line, followed by lips and then eye (L'Oreal). The Dream Matte Mousse Foundation fits well into the company’s product range since it offers customers the advantage of matte effect for perfect blending of foundation into their skin. It offers full coverage and it offers the added advantage of shine control. This product is the only one that offers two of the three finishes: matte and natural (Maybelline LLC.). Furthermore, this product provides a powder effect and combines the benefits of liquid and cake foundations. Other foundations by Maybelline offer a combination of matte, natural, luminous and shimmer finishes (Maybelline LLC.). Maybelline sells to the mass market and has major competitors such as Revl on, Covergirl and Avon pitted against it in this segment. As far as Avon is concerned, it has global representation in approximately more than 100 countries and is also headquartered in New York (Avon Products Inc.). Avon’s internal strengths are that it has a strong business model that allows it to differentiate itself against competitors. It also had been doing fairly well and has had a steady increase in revenue throughout history. However, the primary weakness is that the company has been facing declining operations in the North American region, primarily as it has not been able to pace up with fast changing customer trends in this region.

Concert Response Paper Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Concert Response Paper - Essay Example It was a new and different page for Ryan Montbleau, not only a songwriter but a purely awesome performer. The fan’s thirst for a good performance was well quenched with a set of ten songs with a touch of rock, soul, folk and psychedelic. The performance accommodated Ryan’s first single, â€Å"Pacing like a prince. The rapport of Montbleau and his band members that has come a long way since the establishment of the band and over their many tours was all over the stage. It served as a reunion for the band members and entailed both solo and group performances with Ryan Montbleau as the lead singer and performer. Vocals from old time lyrics were blended by a perfect guitarist to bring love theme on an RnB and blues mood 1. As the album progressed towards the end an all-around texture was brought out creating a sweet-sour feeling from the guitar and vocal performance of ‘Together’. ‘Pacing like a prince’ with the thrilling guitar tunes was an RnB genre and theme which was inspired by the ‘Purple rain’ movie. The arrangement of songs, nine of them being the bands old songs had a perfect flow coating the performance with a multi-faceted texture. The soft rock texture in the music played was attributed to the stimulating guitar plucking by a long experienced guitarist blended with some old-time lyrics 1. The event’s was well chosen with the time and age group. Paradise rock Club was a convenient venue for the performance accommodating the band’s huge fan base. The Club also has a perfect history in live performances. The organization of the show only allowed in a fan base of eighteen years of age and above. This was a morally upright move n venture due to the venue and also the time. The event took place as from 9pm thus welcoming and being considerate to the working generation. The time was perfect for a good emotional and relaxing performance after a long day’s

Contract Renewal and Non-Renewal Case Study Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Contract Renewal and Non-Renewal - Case Study Example In this case, the principal is equally responsible for doing his job that includes making a review on the success of the three contacts in place and come up with necessary recommendations. In reviewing domain 1, there is active and successful student participation and thus no reason for nonrenewal. However, the lack of evidence of improvement challenges the expectation for better performance. Since ethical violations and incompetence comes before the poor performance in deciding whether to renew a contract under TEA, I will recommend the board to vote on this contract to decide whether to renew it or not for the next school year. In reviewing domain 2, there is the adequate delivery of instruction as recommended by the TEA and subsequent level of improvement is present. I will, therefore, recommend for the renewal of this contract for the next school year with a hope that more improvement will follow. In reviewing domain 3, I find that adequate competence is in place as shown in prof essional development that results in moderate improvement. As a result, I would recommend for the renewal of the contract for the next school year as their no reason for nonrenewal. Indeed, domain 3 satisfies the terms and expectations of the TEA.

The Impact Of The Big Name Brands On The Consumers Essay

The Impact Of The Big Name Brands On The Consumers - Essay Example Luxury has the power to give to people an idealized image of beauty and satisfaction. Until the mid 20th century few people could afford to have luxurious items and only a privileged class of society had access to luxurious items. However in the past fifty years, the tide has turned and luxury has come down to the majority of the people in the shape of brands, which are targeted at upper middle class. This change to brands (luxury) started its way slowly in the 1980s, where the rise of individualism fueled the power of business and brands sprouted up to be consumed by wealthy consumers. The purpose of the brands was to spread the charm and luxury creating a personality cult, where people would identify themselves with their brands (Koehn,2001). Branding is the foundation for a business, which is meant to label a product. In marketing, the brand is considered as an embodiment of all information related to a product. A brand normally includes a name, logo, images, fonts or services, which typically arise in consumer’s mind, when a name or logo is mentioned. Thus we can say that brand is a combination of attributes, which are communicated through emotional attachment with a product. The value of the brand is in the mind of the consumer, which creates this promise of satisfaction. However brand is not merely creating the emotional attachment, but it moves beyond emotional forms and give two kinds of experiences; direct and indirect messaging. For example, a customer driving a car is gaining direct experience. However it is not possible for marketers to send a direct message for all their products, they opt for indirect experiences, such as Nikkei products are associated with fun, excitement, and sport as portrayed in TV commercials and magazines (Bush & Victoria, 2004). This kind of branding is repeated again and again to make it effective in the consumer's mind. Thus we can say that branding main purpose is to convey product message in multiple ways involving consumers in a compelling way to think and buy the product. The value of the brand lies as a security for the company earnings.

Needs to be a current argument of something in the health field some Research Paper

Needs to be a current argument of something in the health field some type of controversy - Research Paper Example They ‘without causing’ any harm to the child will help the child body produce antibodies, which will stay in the body for a longer time, fighting off viruses and bacteria in future as well. However, this vaccination process is not without controversy because there is a view among particular sections of population that it could lead to Autism. Autism is a developmental disorder of brain function. Symptoms of Autism usually occur before the age of 3 and include; impaired social interaction, problems with verbal and nonverbal communication and imagination, and unusual or severely limited activities or interests. People with Autism can exhibit a wide variety of symptoms and behaviors, thus Autism is considered a spectrum disorder. The exact cause of Autism was not yet cornered. However, researches believe it can be caused by specific genes. Other researchers link Autism with vaccinations. Still others believe toxins and pollutants could cause it. Among these reasons for Autism, the reason that vaccination could cause Autism has been subject of controversy for some time, with one section opposing it while another section believing it. The crux of the controversy is that vaccines given to children as part of immunization for various diseases could act adversely and could damage the brain regions leading to Autism. This controversial news entered the public domain in 1998, when British gastroenterologist Andrew Wakefield and his team published an article in The Lancet focusing on the detrimental role of MMR vaccines in causing Autism. (Godlee, Smith and Marcovitch 77). Wakefield and his team examined the digestive tracts of 12 children with behavioral disorders, nine of them being Autistic, who were given MMR (measles, mumps, and rubella) vaccine. On examination, they found that the 9 Autistic children had inflammation of the intestines. Based on this

The Energy Information Administration (EIA) Assignment

The Energy Information Administration (EIA) - Assignment Example in the extraction process, oil sands production cost is relatively high and therefore investments in oil sands are quite sensitive to persistent changes in oil prices. Gas emissions into the air, water pollution, toxic tailing ponds and the chances of oil spills from pipelines in the oil producing areas are environmental concerns in tar sand processing (Miller 456).   According to Kuuskra( 3), shale is a close grained, sedimentary rock made up of mud from flakes of clay minerals and small particles of other materials, which is processed to produce natural gas and oil. Large deposits of shale are found in â€Å"United States, China, Argentina, Algeria, Canada, Mexico and Libya† (kuuskra 9). Extraction process starts with identifying economically viable well areas. Then, horizontal drilling and hydraulic fracturing methods are used in the extraction process.  In the hydraulic fracturing method, hydrocarbon in a shale formation is released by injecting water, chemicals and sand into a well. â€Å"Release of the hydrocarbon opens fractures in the rock allowing the natural gas to flow into the well†. (â€Å"exploration and extraction of shale† 10). Use of both methods together enables economical extraction of the shale gas. Unfortunately, mining of shale leads to pollution of the environment through emission of toxic gases in the air and also a poses a great danger to aquatic life if poisonous materials leaks in to the

Changing a Partheid, But Not So Fast Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Changing a Partheid, But Not So Fast - Essay Example Before summarizing the setting of the play, it is important to note something about the author of this play, and his purpose or message. The man who wrote this play is Athol Fugard. His parents were English and Afrikaner, and he was raised in South Africa, during apartheid, having been born there in 1932. While working as a court clerk in Johannesburg, he came to understand the evils of apartheid, and became an activist, writing plays about apartheid (Vienna Theatre Project 2). He alienated the government, in that way, and they removed his passport and years later they returned it. His award-winning plays spread apartheid awareness internationally, from marginalized theaters in South Africa, to famous theaters in London, and even to New York’s Broadway (Vienna Theatre Project 2). Fugard brings his criticism of the apartheid policies of the South African government to this play. However, through the character of Mr. M, Fugard also brings criticism of the policies of the African National Congress, which resisted the apartheid government (p. 2). That is a strong approach, especially for an activist who is well aware of the evils of apartheid, and has himself suffered under it. Good and evil are not as completely polarized in real life as they are in fairy tales. Mr. M represents the voice of a gray area, between the extremes. Isabel is white and filled with personal hope, raised to believe it is hers by right. Thami is black and cannot afford the luxury of hope without supporting street action for massive and immediate change (p. 3). Mr. M sees hope as a hungry beast that could potentially gobble up all of South Africa’s students (Chastang). He does not want to exercise the initiative to invite change abruptly. He is afraid that the inevitable backlash against activism for abrupt social change will put education further out of reach of his students. Mr. M is also an activist, because he is engaged in the visionary social action of education, but he i s older and more old-fashioned, and so he likes the relative safety of moving more slowly. He does not want to escalate risk, because education is critical to the future of the students. Mr. M is not fearful of insubstantial shadows, but of very real events and trends. The history of South Africa has not been peaceful. The Dutch killed and controlled the Xhosa. The British seized control of the area and the Afrikaner (Dutch descendants) moved their location to escape the British. Both the British and the Afrikaners defeated the Zulus. Then, war came between the British and the Afrikaners, and the British won. They later united to keep non-whites restricted (Vienna Theatre Project 4). The Afrikaner National Party came to power in 1948 and apartheid was firmly and miserably entrenched. The African National Congress was the Black answer to apartheid. It was backed by Communists (Vienna Theatre Project 4). In 1976, 15,000-20,000 Soweto students marched in protest of apartheid, intending to sing a song affirming solidarity and then go home. Unfortunately, the police over-reacted, released police dogs to attack the students and used tear gas. Students responded by throwing stones and bottles. The police started shooting students, without warning, Students reacted by setting fire to government property and the property of White businesses. The government called in massive reinforcements. Army helicopters dropped tear gas on the crowd. Entry and exit to and from

“Examine the reasons for changes in the patterns of marriage, divorce and cohabitation over the past 40 years.” Essay Example for Free

â€Å"Examine the reasons for changes in the patterns of marriage, divorce and cohabitation over the past 40 years.† Essay The patterns of marriage, divorce and cohabitation over the past 40 years has varied quite significantly. In 1972, the highest ever number of couples (480,000) since the Second World War got married. Now, obviously there is a reason for this. According to the Office for National Statistics (ONS), this was due to the baby boom generation of the 1950s reaching marriageable age and these people choosing to marry at a younger age compared with previous generations. However, after this period, the number of marriages in England and Wales then went into decline. Most recently, marriages reached an all-time low in 2005 when only 244,710 couples got married. Some people would say that it reached so low because people are rejecting marriage and are no longer bothered about it. But in fact, statistics reveal that many people are actually delaying marriage. It is said that most people will marry at some point in their lives, but people are deciding to marry later in life, most likely after a period of cohabitation. A reason for this is probably because couples want to â€Å"Test the water† before they make any commitments. Evidence to support the â€Å"marrying later in life† view is that the average age for first-time bridges in 2003 was 29 years and for all grooms 31 years, compared with 22 for women and 24 for men in 1971. In particular women may want to delay marriage so they can advance their career prospects. As well as a decline in the total number of marriages, there is also a decline in marriage rates (the number of people marrying per 1000 of the population aged 16 and over). In 1994, the marriage rate was 11.4 but this had declined to 10.3 by 2004. The male rate declined from 36.3 in 1994 to 27.8 in 2004 whilst the female rate declined from 30.6 to 24.6. Once again, even though there is a decline, British Social Attitude Surveys indicate that most people, whether single, divorced or cohabitating, still see marriage as a desirable life-goal, and therefore will most likely will get married at some point in the future, particularly if they are having children, because they believe that this is best done in the context of marriage. Another change in the patterns of marriage is that two fifths of all marriages are remarriages, in which one or both partners have been divorced. These people are obviously committed to the institution of marriage despite their previous negative experience of it. The reason for this trend could possibly because their first marriages were empty-shell marriages. This is where there is no love or intimacy between them, but the marriage persists for the sake of the children until they are old enough. They then might have wanted to start a new life, including a re-marriage. Despite the decrease in the overall number of people marrying, married couples are still the main type of partnership for men and women in the UK. In 2005, seven in ten families were headed by a married couple. In terms of Divorce – the legal ending of a marriage, this has increased rapidly since 1969 due to a piece of legislation that granted divorce on the basis of â€Å"irretrievable breakdown† – the Divorce Reform Act of 1969. In addition, since 1984, couples have been able to petition for divorce after the first anniversary of their marriage. This law made the Divorce rate shoot high because it generally made it easier and cheaper to end marriages. In addition, people were finally able to legally to end all connections, as previously when divorce was either too expensive or difficult to obtain, separation was very common, which was when a couple decided to live away from each other. To go into more detail of the trend of increased divorces, in 1993, the number of divorces peaked at 180,000. By 2000, this figure had fallen to 154,000, although the years 2001 – 2004 have seen a gradual rise to 167,100. There are now nearly half as many divorces as marriages and, if present trends continue, about 40% of current marriages will end in divorce. An acceptable reason for this increasing trend of divorce is that it is no longer associated with stigma and shame. Britain’s culture is based upon Christian religion, and Christians believe that marriage is for life (‘till death do us part’). However, over years, changes in attitudes and secularisation have emerged, and the view that divorce can lead to greater happiness for the individual is more acceptable. A third reason which could explain the increasing divorce rates is down to women wanting to improve educational and career opportunities. In 1870, the Education Act passed by Gladstone’s government meant that every child between the ages of five and fifteen had the opportunity for elementary education. Not only did this produce a large literate generation of people, but it also improved the girls reading and writing ability, which previously was much lower than boys. Now, women have their own stable careers with a good wage, and thus do not have to be unhappily married because they are financially dependent on their husband. Feminists note that women’s expectations of marriage have radically changed, compared with previous generations. In the 1990s, most divorce petitions were put forward by women. This may support Thornes and Collard’s (1979) view that women expect far more from marriage than men and, in particular, that they value friendship and emotional gratification more than then do. If husbands fail to love up to these expectations, women may feel the need to look elsewhere. This would also support the fact that, on average, the number of divorce proceedings started by women is about 70%. Finally, functionalist sociologists argue that high divorce rates are evidence that marriage is increasingly valued and that people are demanding higher standards from their partners. They believe that couples are no longer prepared to put up with unhappy, empty-shell marriages, as people want emotional and sexual compatibility and equality, as well as companionship. It is said that some are even willing to go through a number of partners to achieve these goals, and if they marry every time they meet a new partner, then obviously they are going to contribute a lot more to the rising divorce rates. The final area of the diverse family is cohabitation. The basic trend of cohabitation is that it is on the increase and has been for the last decade. The proportion of non-married people cohabiting has risen sharply in the last 20 years from 11% of men and 13% of women in 1986 to 24% and 25% respectively. In 2007, the Office for National Statistics (ONS) suggested that cohabiting couples are the fastest growing family type in the UK. In fact, around 2.2 million families are cohabiting couples with or without children. This family type has grown by 65% since 1997, and really, the numbers are likely to be higher than this because the ONS data did not include same-sex couples living together. In addition, the ONS data suggested that a third of teenagers in 2007 were destined to cohabit rather than marry, compared with one in ten of their grandparents. As we gathered that the general trend is on the increase, it’s good to know the reasons why. One of the first reasons, which I mentioned earlier on, is that people like to cohabit to â€Å"test the water.† During this period, they will assess whether they (the couple) are compatible with each other and whether they will be able to live with each other before making any sort of commitments. After all, cohabitation on average lasts for 5 years, which then 60% of cohabitees will then marry. Another reason for the said trend is that there are a significant number of people who live together whilst waiting for a divorce. For example, in 2005, 23% of cohabiting men were separated from a pervious partner whilst 36% were divorced. So although a person may be married, they may have separated and moved into another house to live with a person they have met. They will then be counted as a cohabitee. A third reason for the increased rate of cohabitation could be because people are put off the cost of marriage. According to Wedding Guide UK, the average cost of a traditional wedding in the UK is around  £11,000. In addition to the price, some people are also put off because of the religious ceremony of marriage. This is because overtime we have become a more secular society. Both of these factors to some people will refrain them from marrying, because in their eyes they see it as long as they are with each other in a happy and loving relationship, they don’t need a ring or a piece of paper with their names on it.

Islamic And Conventional Worldview

Islamic And Conventional Worldview Worldview refers to a general conception of the nature of the world , particularly as containing or implying a system of value-principles. Any total philosophical system may be so styled which derives practical consequences from its theoretical componentà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦... According to that definition, such a system of value-principles may be inspired by religious tenets or by moral philosophy independent of religion. And also, the distinctive spiritual and material aspect of the society and individual lives in often end to mold their worldview. Therefore, in making a choice, someone is imperative to look at the worldview dynamics from the different social systems rest on. Individual in a society can still have their own principles or variations, but hopefully their average behavior would tend to conform to the norms of what has socially been agreed upon. Worldview is considered as evolutionary and architectonic rather than contextual. Social phenomena are dynamic and because of the interaction between the changing realities of life and the social worldview perception, the latter invariably has a temporal dimension. Thus, worldview remains in a process of change and reconstruction over time around some unalterable elements. Therefore, because of worldview is coming from human being, it then starts to think about religious worldview, such as Islamic worldview. Since factors affecting worldview differ, different worldview exits, leading to different system for different people. Secular and materialist worldview attach minimum importance to the material aspect of human well being and tend to ignore the importance of the spiritual aspect. They often argue that maximum material well-being can be best solution if the individuals are given unhindered freedom to pursue their self interest and to maximize their want satisfaction in keeping with their own tastes and preferences. In their extreme form they do not recognize any role for divine guidance in human life and place full trust in the ability of human beings to chalk out the proper with the help of their reason. That understanding of religion actually is not necessarily accepted nor applicable to all societies and civilization. The Christian civilization has experience and history which is inclined to secularize as follows : à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â €š ¬Ã‚ ¦ this dichotomy between the religious and the remainder of human life is a western product and concernà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦. This distinction between the sacred and profane, between religion and other aspects of human endeavor is a result of the process of secularization that has been the experiences of Christian/Western civilization especially since the 17th century (Encyclopedia of Religion 12, 1987). Thus, in such worldview, there is little role for values or government intervention in the efficient and equitable allocation and distribution of resources. When we identify whether social interest is served, the answer is that, government has given to everyone to pursue his/her interest, and they argue that social interest will automatically serve. There is no doubt that under its secular and materialist worldview, the market system led to a long period of prosperity, however, this unprecedented prosperity did not lead to the elimination of poverty or the fulfillment of everyones needs in conformity with the Judeo-Christian value system even in the wealthiest countries. Even, Marx which is proponent of socialist ideology, came up with the notion, the methodological struggle for economists was to alienate political economy from ethics. It is with Marx that the methodological problem in political economy became the demarcation of economic science from the ideology. So, the question later on, is there a place for morality in economics? Leading thinkers on methodological issues have adopted definitions of economics that put the subject in a wider perspective, and ultimately raise moral and religious issues. Pareto pointed out that political economy did not have to take morality into account, but an economist who extolled a particular practical measure should consider the moral as well as the economic consequences. Real men included not only homo oeconomicus, but also homo ethicus and homo religious. However, the economists who, in commending in law, consider only the economic effect was, in Paretos view, not much of a theories. When science become advance, then not only are the different parts of a phenomenon separated, but they are subsequently put together in a synthesis. Hence, the economic, ethical, and religious consequences have all to be taken into account. Nobel-laureate Amartya Sen has, therefore, rightly argued that the distancing of economics from ethics has impoverished welfare economics and also weakened the basis of a good deal of descriptive and predictive economics and that economics can be made more productive by paying greater and more explicit attention to ethical consideration that shaped human behavior and judgment. Hausman and McPherson also conclude in their survey article Economics and Contemporary Moral Philosophy that An economy that is engaged actively and self-critically with the moral aspects of its subject matter cannot help but more interesting and more illuminating and, ultimately, more useful than one that tries not to be . In contrast with this, religious worldview give attention to both the material as well as the spiritual aspect of human well-being. Islam also support to that statement. In Islam, the dichotomy and separation from other aspects of life are considered as contradictory, incoherent, and meaningless. Since religion of Islam is not human creation of, and for infantile man but it is a representative of a way of life for all times. Islam has come up with the concept of din, which is perfectly being taught ,including the Islamic worldview. As mentioned by Watt (1979, 3-4), the term din refer more to a :à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦..whole way of lifeà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦covers both the private and public/societal lives of man, it permeates the whole fabric of society, and included theological dogma, forms of worship, political theory, and a detailed code of conduct, including even matters which the European would classify as hygiene or etiquetteà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦.. In addition, an Islamic worldview gives the meaning and purpose in our act ions. It also dealing with why and how we exist, and it means that actually what ethical or moral values we should partake in, later on what type of behavior or actions we should consider as right or wrong. This is closely related with the concept of din in Islam. Since din is meant the place which man tested and asked by God to follow the straight path of the din. Therefore, all knowledge, notably economics discipline, is basically corrigible except the knowledge revealed by God. Furthermore, under the Islamic worldview, God has created the universe for the benefit of all creatures; with man made as His vicegerent. He has made the resources of the universe available to man who has the responsibility to make the best use of these resources without spreading corruption. ISLAMIC WORLDVIEW AND MAQASID AS SYARIAH The Islamic worldview also has well spell out objectives known as maqasid al-syariah. These are meant to promote the welfare of the entire mankind, and enjoin on believers the safeguarding of their faith, their human self, their intellectual, their posterity, and their wealth. Furthermore, in dealings with this, Islam has encouraged co-operation to achieve Maslahah (benefit in every day communal life. The other parts of maqasid is establishing justice which is indeed a manifestation of gods mercy, but may also be seen as a principal objective of the shariah in its own right. Justice as a value or primary objective of the shariah which is everyone in Islam must establish an equilibrium between rights and obligations. The other purposes of maqasid is to educating the individual. In fact, in order to priority, it may even though to be placed before maslahah and adl. Essentially, community oriented values that acquire much of their meaning in the context of social relations, whereas the former seeks to make each individual a trustworthy agent just so as to strive to realize these values which benefit himself and the community. Indeed, the overall purpose of a great number of the stipulation of the shariah, especially in the spheres of Ibadah and akhlaq, is to train the individual to acquire the virtues of taqwa, and thus, to aid the fulfillment of the objective. ISLAMIC WORLDVIEW AND ISLAMIZATION OF KNOWLEDGE Islamic worldview is one of paradigm which are Muslim must be having. Islamic worldview is considered as purpose in our actions, since it gives the answers to questions dealing with why and how we exist. Therefore, Islamic worldview is able to direct on what type of behavior or actions we should consider right or wrong. As worldview also is defined as how one sees the world. Hence, value is attached to knowledge that one receives, because the information is processed by the knowledge-giver first before it passed down to the recipient. This knowledge, together with the value attached to it, is then assimilated into ones mental framework and worldview. Accordingly, due to the impact of worldviews and the values attached to knowledge that would impact ones perspective on life. Having viewed the important of knowledge, the Islamic scholars, such as Al Attas and Ismail Al-Faruqi come up with the notion, called to Islamization of Knowledge (IOK). Hence, IOK is a term which describes a vari ety of attempts and approaches to synthesize the ethics of Islam. Al- Attas adds up that the fundamental crisis of the modern-day ummah to be epistemological in nature-that is having its roots in the very conception of knowledge. This brought about the contents of their education by willing to take bold measure and introduce curriculum reform in particularly Islamic economics programme. Also, the further challenge in terms of knowledge, is that, the curriculum must has the ability to shed light the different between what is considered as knowledge and not. Al-Attas adds up to identify the confusion of knowledge must be eliminated et all since it can exhaust the moral values of Ummah and lead to a loss of adab and subsequently the rise of false leaders that would exacerbate the confusion of knowledge. Having realized of what important the IOK agenda is, we have to deal with the concept of existing modern knowledge which have been embodied in current system and how to develop IOK. In terms of the modern knowledge, Al-Attas had given his conception, is that, every Muslims have to call for the recognition of the proper authorities of knowledge. This means that since the modern knowledge or the west knowledge is at the forefront of science and technology and hence, Muslims are urge d to learn from them. However, the Muslim should possess the metaphysical (Islamic) worldview necessary to filter out theories, that are not in line with the aqidah and tasawwuf. He also noted that Muslim, in pursuit the knowledge, does not just stop at the reinterpretation of secular knowledge, but also should also possess the ability to form and establish new theories and solutions that support the Islamic worldview. And finally, the Muslim should be aware the supreme goal for knowledge is that the spiritual and immaterial in nature. Subsequently, to conduct IOK agenda need to further discussions and interpretations. The spirit of how to perform IOK agenda is that, the notion to integrate the two education stream, the heritage and modern knowledge. Later on, in this context, Al-Alwani (1989, p.89) states that the IOK agenda require the combination of two readings. Therefore, the IOK agenda requires six discourses, namely articulating the Islamic paradigm of knowledge and developing a Quranic Methodology, establishing a methodology which is dealing with the Quran and Sunnah, reexamining the Islamic intellectual heritage, dealing with the western intellectual heritage. Beside Al-Alwani, Ragab (1995, 1997, and 1999) was propounded the idea of creative engagement which ultimately was proposing a unified integral theoretical framework. He also signifies that the Islamizers should be qualified which are able to understand and mastery the substantive knowledge in the modern sciences , and has to involve in an understanding of the Islamic Worldview, and capable of propounding a critical evaluation and modification of modern social sciences from an Islamic viewpoint. Wan Mohd. Nor, 1998, also attempts to note that IOK can be done by those who have a profound grasp of the nature, spirit, and attributes of Islam as religion, culture, and civilization as well as western culture and civilization. Unless the Islamizers clearly understand the Islamic worldview, they may not know what need to be isolated and what need to be infused, what are acceptable, what are not and what the Islamic alternatives are. Since, according to Al-Attas, IOK is an epistemological and methodological concern, dealing with how Islamically creative minds can evaluate modern knowledge using Islamic benchmarks. Thus, at the end of the process, Islamizers fervently wish to come up with idea of reconstruction or reformulation of contemporary knowledge and disciplines, either those existing or the creation of new disciplines if necessary. CONCLUSION Islamic worldview is considered and defined as general conception of the nature of the world in Islamic perspective. It contains a system of values principles, which based on dien of Islam. Islamic worldview would give meanings and purpose of all actions done by human beings, particularly Muslims. Muslims will be guided and directed to the area of inline with aqidah, tasawuff, and syariah principles and values. Ethical or moral values is viewed to be a central and basic every endeavor in performing activities, which are categorized as ibadah or muamalah. Subsequently, one attempts to apply and synthesize the ethic of Islam with modern thought is by introducing Islamization of Knowledge (IOK). IOK seems to be essential to be established is shedding out and considered as positive ways to mitigate the problem of corruption of knowledge which is believed has brought up the backwardness of Muslims ummah. In its implementation, IOK agenda is trying to integrate between the heritage of Isla m with modern knowledge by undertaking a certain methodology. Certainly, integrating of two types of knowledge need a qualified Islamizer which require to understand the Islamic worldview comprehensively and perfectly. The future of Conventional Accounting The traditional Western double-entry based accounting technology is well-suited to an orthodox, positivist society of any kind. It is not surprising that it is proving inadequate, as people are returning to more integrated world views, whether Islamic or otherwise (Hayashi, 1989) Critics on Conventional Accounting Externalities is not included in financial report (Lee Parker, environmental accounting) Intangible asset cannot be measured adequately(Lev Baruch) Human resources and employee reporting interest are not included. Social Interest is overlooked Promote the exploitation of capitalist over labor and society. Promote the concentration of wealth and power o the hand of the rich. What is Islam? Peace (in this world and hereafter) obedience to Allah as his/her God, comply with the motivation of Gods creation of Man, which is to serve Allah, to be his viceregent on earth. A comprehensive worldview, a unity of God, and an integration between world and hereafter. Islamic principles: truth, justice, fair, goodwill, honesty, benevolent, accountability before the God. Islams epistemology of Devine Unity: The Islamic world view is thereby, the comprehensive and universalizing, overreaching and complementing design of reality that is premise on the epistemology of divine unity and is evolved into intellection through the process orientation model of unification of knowledge in world system as derived from the primal sources of divine unity. Islamic Rules: Allah (God) gives two guidance for mankind: al-Quran (revealed world of God ) and Hadist/Sunnah: Prophet Saying, Gods inspired acts, description of the conduct of the prophets companion of which Mohammad was uncritical. Ijtihad/ijma: shuratic and consensus process. Guidance are related to all daily life of mankind including in business, management, and finance. The phenomena of nature can be also a sign of Gods power and existence. The purpose of shariah (Islamic law) To promote the welfare of the people which lies on: Safeguarding of their faith Their life Their intellect Their posterity and Their Wealth Quranic verse on Accounting i.e. Albaqarah (2) ayah 282: Oh you who believe! When you deal with each other, in transaction involving future obligations in a fixed period of time, reduce them in writing. Let a scribe write down faithfully as between parties. There is an integration between worship ritual and socio-economy-politico and daily life of mankind. Allah rules out business and accounting. Islamic accounting: Hayashi is an integrated discipline with social, political and economic domain ruled by Allah or meta rule. Islamic accounting should regulate and establish a harmonious integration among the parties of these diverse domain. Ancient Accounting Role in Islamic State is Muhasabah, it means: Calculation of ones act Clear the account, make neutral To take care of, to try to find To anticipate a reward in the hereafter To take into account, into consideration To order Muslim to perform their duties To avoid fraudulent practices in business and society, to check illegal contract, keep free market and fair price, prevent necessities from being hoarded. (Hayashi, 1989) Islamic Accounting 1. To report accurate income determination 2. To promote efficiency and leadership 3. To comply with the shariah (Islamic principles) 4. Commitment to justice 5. To report a good things 6. To adapt to positive social change. Conventional vs Islamic Accounting: Conventional Accounting: Based upon modern commercial law-permissive rather than ethical Limited disclosure (provision of information subject to public interest) Personal accountability (focus on individuals who control resources) Economic rationalism Secular Individualistic Profit maximization Survival of fittest Process Absolute ownership (Ec. rationalism: the desire to stand apart from others, to compete, to manipulate and to amass surplus) Individuality oriented Focus on individuality aspect without consider any social aspects Accounting Law and Ethics Secular The normative accounting always influencing descriptive accounting or individuality interest In operational, they permit everything to reach the highest profit Measure as highest possible profit Historical Cost Firm doses not have separate financial obligation (I.e profit sharing scheme) Depend on contractual agreement between party One lunar year for zakat calculation Quantity based and monetary based (zakat calculation) Importance for fulfillment of duties and obligation to God, society and individual. Clear conscience with God in fulfilling all duties. Consistence to shariah rules Most favorable to society (justice) Islamic Accounting Based upon ethical law originating in the Quran (Islamic law, As-Sunnah) Full disclosure (to satisfy any reasonable demand for information in accordance with the Sharia) Public accountability (focus on the community who participate in exploiting resources) Unity of God Religious Communal Reasonable profit Equity Environment Relative ownership Focus on society aspect Basically Al Quran As Sunnah (Shariah) Religious (must responsibility to God at the Judgment Day) No differentiation between Normative and Descriptive Accounting (They always going simultaneously) In operational, they do everything in boundaries of Islam (Shariah) Measure as saleable value Market (selling) price rather than historical cost [Entity]Separation between business and owners [going concern] Business continues forever [Accounting period] Periodical measurement of performance [unit of measure] Monetary Value [Full disclosure principle] Decision making process [objectivity] Reliability of measurement [Materiality] Relative importance of information for decision making [Consistency] Consistency based on GAAP [Conservatism] Use least favorable impact on owners

Perspectives of Organisational Culture

Perspectives of Organisational Culture What is organizational culture all about? How did the concept arise? The idea on culture in organizations is a concept drawn from anthropology (Meek, 1988). Culture is viewed â€Å"asa system of shared symbols and meanings† (Rossi and OHiggins, 1980 cited in Lee an Yu, 2004 p. 340). Culture in organizations can simply be referred to as an organizations way of life or way of doing things. Organizational culture has been defined differently by several writers. However, most of the definitions in use lay emphases on key elements such as, norms, traditions, values, beliefs and assumptions. Organizational culture can be defined as â€Å"the collection of relatively uniform and enduring values, beliefs, customs, traditions and practices that are shared by an organizations members, learned by new recruits and transmitted from one generation of employees to the next† (Huczynski and Buchanan 2007, p.623). There is little doubt that organizational culture is a broad topic which no essay can discuss in entirety, however this essay will discuss the two approaches to the study of organizational culture and aim to critically evaluate the ways in which managers attempt to control organizational culture, drawing examples from the Hewlett Packard video watched in class and previous experience of visiting Tesco stores. History forms part of an organizations culture and it can be transmitted consciously and unconsciously over time from managers to employees. For example, it can be transmitted in the form of stories and myths (Meek 1998, Kaye 2007, Taylor S., Fisher D. et al). (Dandridge, T., Mitroff I. et al) suggest that â€Å"stories, myths and symbolism, aid understanding of the deep culture and structure of an organization†. These stories and myths in an organization might be about the start up of the organization or on the remarkable successes of its founders. For example, in the Hewlett Packard video, it indicated that the HP history formed part of the HP way as a vast number of the employees were aware of the fact that the â€Å"founders (Bill and Dave) started the company in a garage, in 1939. They developed the oscillator, used by Disney in the movie Fantasia. The bell ringing tradition was introduced by Bill and Daves wives as a signal for their husbands to observe lunch or coffee times† (The gilded cage: video watched 23 November, 2009). According to (Schein 1985 cited in Huczynski and Buchanan 2007, p.624 630) culture is considered to exist in three levels. Level one is regarded as ‘surface manifestations. At this stage, the culture of an organization is easily seen by outsiders in its symbols, language or architecture. In the Hewlett Packard case, the open plan office adopted, manifests, the relaxed environment the employees work in, and it also suggests the ease of access, between managers and employees. Tesco is very customer-centric and this is displayed by each employees approach to customers which, conveys a message regarding Tescos organizational culture of putting smiles on the faces of the shopping public, hence, creating a pleasant shopping experience for them. The second level of culture is ‘values. This has its firm foundation on morals, awareness and religious or societal precepts and is usually displayed on websites of organizations. The last level of culture is ‘basic assumptions. T hese are assumptions preconceived by an individual of an organization such as how it operates and functions in its environment. Several writers hold different views on organizational culture. The three perspective framework developed by (Martin, 1992), integration, differentiation and fragmentation perspectives provide understanding on organizational culture. The Integration or unitary perspective regards organizations as clear, consistent and unified, believing that these integrating features may result in improved organizational effectiveness. The differentiation perspective views organizations as consisting of subcultures with diverse interests and different objectives while the fragmentation or conflict perspective, sees organizations as being in a constant state of flux. The integration or managerial perspective appears to suggest that there is a relationship between strong culture and improved performance. (Scholz, 1987 cited in Huczynski and Buchanan, 2007, p.623) argues that culture generates competitive advantage. However, sustainable competitive advantage, â€Å"must be rare, adaptable and non-imit able† this determines the strong cultural traits the organization possesses (Barney, 1986 cited in Huczynski and Buchanan, 2007, p.641). Is organizational culture controllable? According to (Meek, 1998 p.455) previous studies suggest that culture belongs to management, hence, it is â€Å"available for management to manipulate†. The functionalist perspective holds that culture can be controlled, as it is regarded as something that the organization has and gives to new recruits and they do not take part in the formation, hence, it can be used as a control device by management (Smircich, 1983). However, the social constructionist perspective, rejects the notion, that culture may be controlled as it holds that culture exists through the continuous interaction between the organizations members. (Ackroyd and Cowley 1990, Harris and (Ogbonna 1999, Ogbonna 1993, Willmott 1993 cited in Huczynski and Buchanan, 2007). There exist three forms of corporate control, bureaucratic, humanistic and culture control. â€Å"More than other forms of control, however, culture control elicits sentiment and emotion,  and contains possibilities to ensnare workers in a hegemonic system† (Ray, 1986, p287). (Deal and Kennedy, 1982 cited in Ray, 1986 p.289) echoes that â€Å"it is the explicit challenge to management to make†¦ people . . . have a strongly ingrained sense of the companys values† Thus, aligning with the functionalist perspective which, supports that culture can be controlled, managers can thus, control culture, by ensuring that employees hold fast to the custom and practice of the organization. For example, in the HP video, meetings were held regularly to check the progress of team members and also to convey information to the employees as the need arises. Job security was tied to performance. Objectives setting was done â€Å"top-down, bottom-up† (objectives were set by management and accepted by each employee). The management by wondering around (MBWA) style was in force, as it enabled managers keep abreast with happenings in the company, and employees likewise had accessibility to managers to discuss issues.

Jim Jarmusch’s Unique Western Film, Deadman :: Movie Film Essays

Jim Jarmusch’s Unique Western Film, Deadman In Jim Jarmusch’s Dead Man, he pays homage to the classic style of western films while taking his own eccentric take that puts the film in a league of its own. With a combination of elements related to the western genre and a genre Jarmusch creates all on his own, the viewer can begin to explore and appreciate the unique film, Dead Man. Although the scenery of isolated towns, mystic rivers, and endless forests is consistent with the western genre, the philosophical tone of the movie is not. The philosophy of a true western film deals a character fighting with guns to maintain honor (and of course order and justice). He kills because he has to and that is the end of it. In Dead Man, William Blake appears to be doing the same thing. He begins to use his gun for survival, but it is different. The gun actually stands for something in the film. Blake becomes a poet by the use of his gun, which mirrors the legendary American poet whose name he shares. The guns show how disgusting it is in American society to kill and Jarmusch doesn’t glamorize it in the way that Hollywood blockbusters about violence do. Further exploring the similarities on the surface, a true western always has the same type of characters and props. Blake is shown in the same outfit throughout the film much like the one outfit that a westerner wears. Blake encounters a whore in the town who is not opposed to the usage of guns, which also goes along with a whore’s values in a true western film. The town of Machine is desolate, dirty, and ruled by guns. In western movies there is always a dirty town with the same characteristics. All of those similarities are not used in the same way, however; they are used as tools to give this surface western a deeper meaning that no true western film ever explored. The themes are pessimistic as they deal with death and afterlife, rather than hope and rebirth. The killings in the movie mock the way people are killed in westerns. Blake doesn’t kill to protect his honor; he kills to survive and in turn mocks the system. Another thing that Jarmusch is mocking by using the western genre as a medium is the treatment of Native Americans. Nobody talks about how he was rejected by whites, and then rejected by his own people by growing up in the white society.

Emilias Contemporary Stand :: essays research papers

Emilia’s Contemporary Stand In equation with the Elizabethan era, Shakespeare offers us a male dominated society in his renowned tragedy, Othello. Consequently, this definitely persuades a negative attitude and demeanor towards the women of the times. The female characters in the play: Desdemona, Emilia, and Bianca; play relevant roles in contributing to one’s understanding of this exhausted Elizabethan view. In contrast to the larger portion of the play, Emilia, spouse to the scandalous Iago, takes an opinionated stand for Desdemona in relation to her wholesome gone sour relationship with the Moor of Venice, Othello. I recognize Emilia’s â€Å"Betrayal lecture† as a justified outlook in accordance with today’s period and events surrounding Desdemona’s and Othello’s fatal misunderstanding. In Act IV, scene ii and iii, Emilia shows her contemporary views about relationships to the audience and talks to Desdemona while doing so. She believes that many men and women are commonly guilty of cheating and betrayal of their partner. At this point, Othello’s worries of Desdemona’s unfaithfulness have wholly increased, and he begins to accuse her of cheating on him. Desdemona then hopes Othello sees to her honesty and truthfulness of the matter. â€Å"I hope my noble lord esteems me honest† (Act IV, scene II line 67). Othello counters her begging by beginning his sarcasm and request for her to never have been born. He says, â€Å"O, ay. As summer flies are in the shambles,that quicken even with blowing. O Thou weed, Who art so lovely fair and smell’st so sweet That the sense aches at thee, would thou hadst ne’er been born!†(Act IV scene II lines 68-70) As Desdemona constantly denies his accusations, Othello becomes very angry. He asks for her forgiveness (jokingly) and says â€Å"I took you for that cunning whore of Venice† (Act IV, scene ii, line 93). Desdemona is left mad by Othello’s ridicule and listens to Emilia’s contrasting attitude. As Othello and Lodovico leave the scene, the Moor commands Desdemona to exit Emilia’s presence and exclaims, â€Å"get you to bed on th’ instant.(Act IV scene iii line 7). Emilia fervently disagrees with Othello and graces us with her pro- female attitudes once again by saying, â€Å" I would you had never seen him†, with Desdemona agreeing light-heartedly as well.(Act IV scene iii lines 19-20) . Emilia displays to Desdemona a helping hand and says to leave Othello if she is so hurt by his â€Å"understandings†. â€Å"†¦Having the world for your labor, ‘tis a wrong in your own world, and you might quickly make it right† She is basically explaining to Desdemona to leave Othello for his ludicrous antics.

The History of the Corset Essay -- History Women Feminism

Throughout history, a person’s economic and social rank could be shown through what clothes they wore. In ancient Egypt, a person of upper class was permitted by law to wear sandals on the harsh, desert floor. Because of these laws, female-confining ideals arose. For example, the Greeks and Romans controlled the type, color, and number of undergarments worn by women and the kind of fabric dà ©cor used on them. The torso became the sculpting block of feminine beauty. This was the beginning of the corset, a restraining, essential item in the women’s attire through the 19th century. During the Renaissance period, the corset resembled a cone, as it was small at the waist and uplifting at the bosom. It extended from the underarm to just below the waist. The typical female’s corset was made stiff with metal or wood. Again, a woman of higher economical or social standing would have one made special with whalebone. During this time and through the Romantic period, a woman was put to shame if she was found absent of a corset or her waist size was not small enough. At that period in time, a 15 to 18 inch waist was acceptable. Anything exceeding those measurements was thought to be absurd. Thusly, restricting corsets were the norm and often resulted in physical deformities. For example, rib cages were often cracked or grew warped due to constricting corsets. The corset was found rigid and compressing in the 1700s. Early 1800s brought some enlightening change: Mantua dresses were m...