Coopers Creek Wine Management Essay

1.0 Introduction Coopers Creek, established in 1982, became one of New Zealand’s more successful medium-sized wineries by following a strategy of resource leveraging via networks of co-operative relationships with other New Zealand winemakers in the domestic and export markets. This strategy allowed Andrew Hendry, the managing director, to consciously manage the growth of the company to retain the benefits of small size. However, with increasing globalisation of the wine industry, the changing nature of export markets, the early maturity of the New Zealand industry and the constrained supply facing New Zealand wine makers, Andrew Hendry was faced with the decision of how to position a smaller company for the future. He had to decide whether the network-based strategies that served the company so well continued to be appropriate under conditions of industry concentration, increasing competition and emerging globalisation. (Robbins S, 2006) 1.1 The NZ wine industry When Andrew Hendry established Coopers Creek, the New Zealand environment was highly regulated. By 1984, the New Zealand government had initiated a programme of deregulation, which included devaluation of the New Zealand currency, exchange rate flotation and general anti-inflationary measures. (Porter M, 2001) The opening of New Zealand’s domestic market meant that businesses had to improve their efficiency substantially over a short period. The agricultural sector sought out new markets, to replace the loss of their traditional dependence on the UK market with its increasing commitment to its European trading partners, and new products, reflecting a growing awareness that much of New Zealand’s exports were of a commodity nature. This period saw growing exports to Australia, the United States, Japan and the rest of Asia and exports of predominantly sheep meat and dairy produce being accompanied by more fresh fruit, venison and wine. A further response to fiercer competi tion at home and in overseas markets was an increasingly strong focus on quality, a case in point being the New Zealand wine industry. The New Zealand wine industry accepted the consequences of the liberalisation  of the domestic economy and recognised the need to understand how on-going changes in the international economic environment affected its prosperity and how to plan accordingly. Building from a low international base in the 1980s ($4.5 million in exports in 1987), New Zealand wine exports achieved phenomenal growth and accounted for $168 million in 2007, comfortably exceeding the $100 million by 2007 target set in 1999. The UK market was the most important export market for the industry in 2007, and at $84 million it accounted for around 50.22 per cent of total exports by value and 54.28 per cent by volume. Europe accounted for 66 per cent of exports with 85 per cent of that going to the UK. Four large firms, namely Corbans, Montana, Nobilo and Villa Maria, dominated the wine industry in New Zealand in 1999. The following year, Montana purchased Corbans and Nobilo was bought by BRL/Hardy of Australia. Between them, these large firms accounted for around 80 per cent of all exports in 2007, with another 17 medium-sized companies, of which Coopers Creek was one, handling 16 per cent in combination. For the most part, industry participants exported between 30 and 35 per cent of their production, but a few producers had much higher export intensity. (Wheelen, 2006) 2.0 Key Issues The key issues are: (Study Guide, 2008) (1)Despite entering early maturity, coopers creek remained constrained by issues of supply. (2)The cost of new land for grape planting was rising and more previously marginal land became economic to grow on, the problem was still one of access to capital for these resources. (3)A possible over supply of grapes in New Zealand, which could lead to heavy discounting. (4) A contraction in ownership within distribution companies in New Zealand and in USA, which could lead to certain markets being effectively closed to coopers creek. (5)Protection of strategically important grape supplies so the can insure they still get a proportion of the very highest quality grapes. 3.0 Planning 3.1 Life Cycle From a demand perspective, the worldwide wine consumption has stagnated. According to the Wine Institute, there is only a 2.04% growth in wine consumption from 1997 to 2001. In fact, worldwide consumption dropped from 227,875 hectoliters to 226,646 between 1999 and 2000. Generally there is a drop in consumption from the traditional wine drinking countries like France and East European countries, whilst demand has growth significantly from China. (Grant R, 2005) The production of wine has shifted from the traditional vineyards in France to the rest of the world. There are New-World Wines from Australia, New Zealand and South Africa. These wines are generally thought to be of moderate to high quality and are essentially challenging the traditional wine producers on the quality front. Furthermore, there are wines coming out from China and India. Because of the lower wages in these countries, wines can now be produced at a fraction of the costs of the French vineyards. Price has now become a big challenge that the traditional wineries have to face. Some author’s even suggest that the Old-World producing countries like France has followed growth & decline and now has entered a second life phase. While the New-world countries are in an emerging or growth phase As the industry moves towards maturity phase of its life cycle, the pace of consolidation will increase. (Times of India,2007) 3.2 PESTEL Analysis The following is a review of the major environmental factors, which will impact the industry to a large extent. A closer examination of the more important factors amongst them will allow for a tighter integration between the external environmental factors and the corporate strategy chosen for Coopers. Political factors Government regulation has always played a major role in the WI. There are increasing concerns that there will be new barriers and trade impediments to trade in the WI. One such example is the trade disagreement between US and European Union in the level of farm subsidies that the US alleged that the EU farmers receive. The same allegations may also be similarly levied on the European vineyards. In the Wine Institute report on International Trade Barriers to U.S. Wine 2006, European wine producers were noted to have received certain subsidies . Tariffs also have been the most important barrier to the international wine trade. Some governments impose unusually high tariffs on wine imports. Recent announcement in the media like India opening its market and slashing duties on imported wine and spirits bring good news to the industry, as this will allow them to enter this lucrative untapped market. Though due to WTO pressure the tariff has been reducing, which has lead to major wine producing countries imposing various non-tariff trade barriers. One such non-tariff trade barriers are research fundings made available by local governments to improve the overall harvest yields and quality of the country’s grapes . Economical factors The rising number of middle class worldwide has led to an increasing appreciation of wine and demand for wine. In developing economies of China and India, this class of consumer is expected to increase significantly over the next decade. With the continued increase of economic growth rates for both countries, these consumers can now afford to consume wine is expected to grow significantly as well . The effect of currency fluctuations on the WI will continue to play an integral part in influencing the WI. The proportion of wine being exported outside the wine producing country has increased. Even in a traditionally large wine consuming market, the proportion of wine, which ends up in foreign land, has been increasing. The continuing trend of exporting to new markets such as India and China is going to increase as wine producers cope with the declining wine demand in traditional home markets As a result, the wine producers’ exposure to fluctuations in currency exchange rates wil l increase further. Socio-cultural factors The increased spending power, sophistication of the middle class in many countries with increased tendency of copying the west has helped to increase the demand for wine consumption. This growing group of earners from various countries is often well traveled & highly educated consumers with needs and wants for the better things in life. The number of middle class across Asia is expected to grow by 1 billion in the next 8 years . With the shift in demographics in the developing countries, there will be more wine drinkers in the future. Increasingly, there are also more scientific evidences that there are health benefits to be derived from moderate drinking of wine especially red wine. As a result, there is an increasing acceptance of the beverage as â€Å"health-product† leading to a healthy heart. Technological factors Innovation and technological factors continue to drive improvement in production yields and better storage of wine. The Australian WI today has transformed itself from a small cottage industry to one of the largest exporter of wines internationally, even to the extent of eclipsing some of the older Old-World countries. The great leap forward for Australia can be attributed to the Australian wine producers clustering to innovate and improve existing processes. (Read C, 2006) The growth of e-commerce infrastructure and the increasing acceptance of buying things online have led to new opportunities for wine connoisseurs and wine producers alike. With this new technology, niche wine growers are able to reach out to the individual wine consumers without being drowned out by the marketing noise generated by the large wine producers. The ability to ship small quantities directly to individual wine drinkers without passing through layers of middlemen may mean that small niche growers may be able to find their position in a market dominated by large brand names . Environmental factors Within the Food and Beverage (F&B) industry, the WI is markedly different from the other products due to the fact that F&B products are limited by market, while the WI is limited by resource (land and grapes). Reason being wine is grown in moderate climates and on certain types of soil. Sudden climatic changes may adversely affect production yields or may even destroy crops all together. The significant changes expected in the environment from global warming, rising sea levels, rising carbon emissions and increasing acidity in the waters will all add to contribute to the adverse conditions for which growers will find themselves in. These conditions together with a scarcity of good arable land may act to constrain or even reduce the industry’s supply. On the positive side, in one of the rare articles published in Newsweek on the positive effects of global warming, the author highlights that fast melting of Artic glaciers and increase in global temperatures may lead to opening o f new vineyards in many parts of the world with weather conditions similar to the France’s Champagne region. Legal factors External environmental legal factors have acted in line with other environmental factors changes. For example, the advent of the Internet e-commerce has resulted in changes in legislation for wine sales, which crosses state lines in the United States . In addition, the origin of the grapes used to make wines also became a contentious issue for many wine-producing countries. The origin of these grapes and the proportion of local grapes used became an issue for branding and labeling of wines; as governed by new local legislation controlling wine labeling. 4.0 Organising 4.1 Porter’s 5 forces analysis We have analyzed Coopers internal environmental factors using Porter’s Five Forces analysis. Being in a specialized industry, it is not easy for another player to just come in wanting a portion of the pie. The WI requires specialized skill sets, special knowledge and extensive experience to stay competitive. It also needs very high investment especially for equipments used for processing of wine. This indirectly induces high entry cost which  is work as a barrier of for new entrants. There is also the expected retaliation faced by new entrants from existing players. Coopers together with other existing players may collaborate to deter competitors from coming in. For example, Coopers may start dropping its price and the other existing players may follow suit leading to a price war. On the whole, the force of threat of entry is low here. 4.2 Threat of Substitutes This industry faces stiff competition from not only other wineries but also from other alcoholic drinks such as beer, spirit and pre-blended mixed drinks and carbonated drinks. Product-for-product substitution is also possible should customers of Coopers decide to try out other brands/types of wine. For the health conscious, bottled water, energy drinks and natural fruit juices also provide competition. Possibility of generic substitution is also there where as customers may prefer to spend on purchasing cigarettes rather than drinking wine. Thus, there is a high force of threat of substitutes in this industry. 4.3 Threat of entry Competitive rivalry among existing firms is evident in this industry. Larger companies are acquiring smaller wine producers to monopolize the market resulting in dynamic competition amongst these companies. As the WI is at its mature stage, companies start to take market share from competitors to survive. As there are too many wine producers, adding on to the high power of buyers, companies may decide to go for price wars due to high fixed costs to gain market share. This industry has high entry and exit barriers due to the extensive capital investment and knowledge & skill set needed. In addition one must have sustainable resource, as it takes several years for wine to mature. This means that industry players do not have many choices. Again this induces competition amongst them and price wars and low margins situations are likely to happen. Based on the information above, the groups came to the conclusion that the industry is â€Å"Medium Attractive†. 5.0 Directing 5.1 Porter’s Generic Competitive Strategies Using Porter generic competitive strategies, we find that Coopers has the ability to outperform its competitors by adopting a strategy of â€Å"Focus Differentiation†. Porter proposed that a firm’s competitive advantage in an industry is determined by its competitive scope – i.e., the breadth of company’s target market coupled with company’s unique resource (product range, distribution channels, target market etc.), For Coopers the scope of the target market is narrow. It is mainly targeting niche markets for premium wines in the wine drinking markets of Europe, US, Australia, Japan and a few emerging Far Eastern Asian markets. When targeting niche markets, the company either can go for â€Å"Cost Focus† or â€Å"Differentiation Focus†. Coopers should not be following the Cost focus strategy as NZWI compete in the high quality premium category wines. Reduction of overall cost is achievable only to a certain extent, as this industry is highly capital intensive with many inherent costs along the supply chain. Instead Coopers should concentrate either on particular market segment, or product line segment or geographic market with high growth potential or all three. By following a differentiation strategy Coopers would be able to better focus its resources & capabilities to the serve the special needs of a narrow strategic target more effectively than its competitors. 5.2 Bowman’s strategic clock Using â€Å"Bowman’s competitive strategy clock† too, Coopers falls under category 5, â€Å"Focused Differentiation†. This strategy is similar to the Porter’s generic model, which tries to provide high-perceived product benefits justifying a substantial price premium usually to a selected niche market segment. Coopers can use this strategy in new markets, by targeting sales into the same niches in more countries. While in established markets Coopers could even adopt Category 4 â€Å"Differentiation –with price premium † by offering better wine at the same price or by pricing it slightly higher than competitive brands in the same price bracket, to take advantage of the fact that â€Å"fine quality wine will always demand a premium† and at the same  promote it as premium category. (Meredith R, 2007) Cost Leadership may not be sustained for Coopers because of some of the following reason: – Competitors can imitate – differentiation may not be sustainable it can easily replicated by competitors like South African or South American wine producers – Bases of differentiation become less important to buyers – Competing on just quality to demand high price may not be enough. For example in price conscious markets like UK, Holland and Germany, wines from South American and South were seen as better value than NZ wine – Target segment can become structurally unattractive: – Structure erodes – This could happen for Coopers’ target market in US, restaurants and boutique retailers. They may form a group for centrally sourcing activities to drive down costs, somewhat similar to what happened with Tesco Supermarket Chain (UK). (Aylward, 2006) – Demand disappears – there may be new research findings in future that may lead to lower consumption of wine. Or even they may be new legislation banning consumption of alcohol products in public places similar to that of smoking, which may lead to total disappearance of a target segment. From the evaluation of Coopers core competencies, the followings were recognized. – Coopers is a typical entrepreneurial venture in that the founding entrepreneur, Andrew, had driven its development and growth. A critical factor of success of Coopers is Andrew’s ability to build relationships, within the context of an innovative and flexible approach, in order to leverage critical resources to pursue growth. – Coopers strategy was based on having a carefully controlled but finite quantity of wine to sell every year. With Andrew’s commitment to quality, it has earned itself a relatively good reputation in the industry. From the evaluation of the KSF of the WI, the followings were recognized. – Historically, the NZWI had focused on the production of premium wines, given its constrained supply, small scale, high cost structures and distinctive ‘clean and green’ growing conditions. Availability of consistent high quality products that has strong brand value and recognition are highly sought after and considered KSFs. 6.0 Monitoring 6.1 Wineries Both management & employees of wineries play a key role and yield great power in terms of the quantity & type of wine to be produced. Great deal of collaboration exists between the local wineries to share knowledge & costs. 6.2 Grape growers Being key players, they control the quality and quantity of grapes grown. Many of the wineries are backward integrated by owning lands or having long-term contracts with individual producers. Power of suppliers is low. 6.3 Industry Associations Wine Organizations in NZ like Wine Institute, former Wine Guild with backing of the NZ government are very powerful. All Wineries have to take up compulsory memberships and contribute towards funding & running of the organizations. These key roles of these organizations are promoting NZ wine in international markets, lobbying with foreign governments to open new markets, lowering of trade restrictions and tariffs etc. They also initiate research programmes and training for the entire industry, funded by the wineries. (Zalan T, 2005) 6.4 Consumers The final end user, this group needs to be well informed & kept satisfied by providing high quality premium products with consistent quality and availability at affordable prices. Power high. 6.5 NZ Government NZ government is a key player with considerable power who has played a  pivotal role in the development of the NZWI. The government has been implementing new legislations in consultation with NZWI to meet the current market requirements. Some examples would include changes in government policy in the 1980s making it favorable for local manufacturers to export to foreign markets . (Harvard University, 2007) 6.6 Distributors, Retailers, Buyers Buyers like Supermarkets are powerful players who dictate the price & type of wine stocked on shelves. WI is a buyer driven industry, where buyers hold a lot of power. 6.7 Domestic and Foreign investors This group needs the minimal amount of effort. They are satisfied as long as they get a good return on their investments. 7.0 Critical Analysis 7.1 Competitor Analysis The world WI is currently experiencing a situation of over-production. In the EU alone, it was reported by Food & Drink.com that there is a surplus o f 1.5bn litres of wine, enough for every European Union citizen to take roughly four free bottles each. Millions of Euros have been spent to turn these excess wines into industrial alcohol. (All Things, 2006) The WI is a highly fragmented, with over â€Å"a million wine companies† around the globe. None of the firms control more than 1% of the retail sales, with top 10 players controlling 11% of the global market share (based on volume) . These industry competitors come from different wine growing countries and continents. This is especially true for Old-World Countries in Europe (France, Italy, Spain, Portugal and Germany) accounts for 60% of the world wine production and 80% of world trade . In contrast, the New-World Producers (Australia, South Africa, Argentina, Chile, USA, New Zealand) wines are more consolidated. On average these countries appear to be more structurally attractive compared to Old-World Countries. Moreover, in the last decade the industry structure has been undergoing dramatic change. There is a growing trend of consolidation. Cash flow rich alcoholic beverage  companies are investing in the WI as their own markets of beer and spirits are maturing. 7.2 Stakeholder analysis The WI being a competitive industry has a varied, vibrant and balanced group of stakeholders, with frequent and varied channels of communication. All the forces involved try to build consensus within which the primary decisions in the industry are made. 7.3 Life-Cycle Analysis We have identified Coopers to be in the phase of â€Å"Mature† stage in the life-cycle model. In view of its competitive conditions, we also identify there may be many competitors which are likely to resort to price-cutting strategy for volume. Therefore one of Coopers directive is to differentiate its product portfolio through leveraging on its enhance brand equity to promote customer’s retention and loyalty within its existing customer-based and new customer groups whilst consistently driving cost efficiency through economies of scales and innovative & efficient ways of bringing cost down. (Pape E, 2007) 7.4 Positioning analysis Coopers currently enjoy relatively good brand equity amongst its market segment. To infuse the same branding principle across distinctive first label allows them to capitalize on its already successful branding strategy, further maximizing the returns of their marketing investment especially for the second label. 7.5 Value chain analysis Through new ways of doing things such as possible bottling in import markets to reduce shipping costs, backward integration either through ownership or long term leasing with good quality of vineyards across NZ and beyond, could potentially reduce their overall cost per unit yet enabling them to utilize cost advantage strategy to expand the perceived value for the brand. 7.6 Business profile analysis This growth strategy do not require a complete reinvention of wheels, it  capitalizes on the existing goals and values of the group, its resources and capabilities, its structure and management systems and its industry environment to further produce enhanced features and products thus major increase in expenditures is not expected, instead an increase in financial perform is forecasted due to the additional opportunities from new market penetration. (Heijbroeck, 2003) 8.0 Recommendations: 1.The expansion of the cooper’s creek network of export markets and the development of second labels. These second label wines could generally be sold at lower prices thus protecting the price status of the Coopers Creek labels but gaining extra sales volume for the company. In most cases the second labels will sell through different distributors. 2.The above strategy will also help with over reliance on a few key distributors. In the case of the rapidly growing US market, coopers creeks have not appointed one exclusive national importer. Instead they will sell to some 20 independent importer/distributors in different states either by direct shipment from the winery or out of a warehouse in California. This will ensure the company doesn’t become a victim of the rationalisation of a large importers or distributors catalogue of wines carried. (Kogut B, 2006) 3.The steady acquisition of control of the vineyards producing their best grapes. That has taken the form of either complete acquisition by purchase, long term leases or the establishment of joint ventures with the vineyards under cooper creek’s management and tied up under long term supply contracts. In the last two years they have purchased three vineyards, leased one and entered one joint venture with an existing contract grape grower. They are currently looking at two further existing vineyards with a view to purchase or lease. 4.Continue to produce consistently high-quality products. 5. Maintain and increase its brand equity and recognition as a premium wine producer. 6.Establish international supply management to facilitate its global market operations. 7.Maintain or improve its already good relationships with stakeholders. 8. Ensure there is cost efficiency in its operations so as to maximise profit with minimum cost. 9.Last but not least, continue innovating in terms of its product and marketing. †¢Current  turnover is NZ$5.5M †¢Current production is at 1100tonnes per year (approx 85,000 cases) and aiming to be 1800tonnes by 2008 †¢They should purchase more of their own vineyards in the Hawkes Bay region in the last few years which would prove beneficial to them. †¢They should increase production of Pinot Noir which is one of their best vineyards by 400% and this will become a feature varietals alongside Sauvignon Blanc and Chardonnay for the future †¢All wine is made on site at their Auckland vineyard. On site facilities include Cellar door tasting room and retail shop, Plant buildings (tanks) and bottling line, warehouse and barrel store, landscaped gardens with picnic areas and children’s playground. (Johnson, 2005) A cellar/courtyard wine bar will open for lunches and private group bookings late 2003. Plans have been drawn up for a cafà ©/function centre but as yet no time frame as to when maybe initiated, which should be implemented soon. (Nielson A, 2006) 9.0 Conclusion It can be concluded, the NZWI is still considered to be at an early maturity phase of its lifecycle, as evidenced by a small number of takeovers and increasing concentration. As the industry matures, there is a need for NZ wine producers to retain focus on quality, differentiated products, while holding their premium price position. In addition, they need to play to their strengths in white wines and introduce more red wines into their portfolio. (Ghoshal S, 2007) As a company, Coopers needs to realize the trend toward deteriorating industry profitability is a constant threat in mature industries. As rivalry encourages overinvestment in capacity, international competition increases, and as differentiation is undermined by commoditization, attaining a competitive advantage becomes essential to achieving positive economic profits. Cost is the overwhelmingly important key success factor in most mature industries and three cost drivers tend to be especially important: Economies of scale, low-cost inputs and low overheads. Cost efficiency in mature industries is rarely a basis for sustainable  competitive advantage; it is typically a requirement for survival. Deteriorating performance among mature companies typically triggers the adoption of turnaround strategies, of which the company must choose the most suitable one for its profile. Coopers have so far maneuvered its way past the many problems that plague other producers. However, more emphasis might be needed in terms of differentiating itself from the other NZ brands. It would have to build on its brand equity, and continue to leverage on Andrew’s contact network. Most importantly, the establishment of a succession-planning project would also has to be included in future strategic plans so that the company will continue to prosper should Andrew decide to depart or retire. (Robbins S, 2006) ———————————————————————————————————— 10.0 BIBLIOGRAPHY: 1. (Johnson, 2005) Johnson, Scholes & Whittington , † Exploring Corporate Strategy†, Prentice Hall, 2005 2. (Porter M, 2001) Porter Michael E., â€Å"The Competitive Advantages of Nations†, The Macmillan Press Ltd., 2001 3. (Wheelen, 2006) Wheelen, Thomas L. and Hunger, David J., â€Å"Strategic Management and Business Policy†, Prentice Hall, 2006 4. (Grant R, 2005) Grant, Robert M., â€Å"Contemporary Strategy Analysis†, Blackwell Publishing, 2005 5. (Read C, 2006) Read, Charlotte, â€Å"Stakeholder Consensus Marketing. An explanatory national competitivess model for the New Zealand Wine Industry†, September 2, 2006 6. (All Things, 2006) All Things Considered. Washington D.C., Global Warming Endangers California Wine Industry, December 5, 2006 7. (Times of India,2007) â€Å"India plans duty cuts on wine, spirits†, http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/NEWS/India_Business/India_plans_duty_cuts_on_wine_spirits/articleshow/1897262.cms, April 12 2007 8. (Pape E, 2007) Pape E., â€Å"Bordeaux Meets Beijing; China’s eager oenophiles are reviving the flagging French Wine Industry†, Newsweek, April 16, 2007 9. (Meredith R, 2007) Meredith, R. and Hoppough, S., â€Å"Why Globalization Is Good†, Forbes, New York, April 16, 2007 10. (Aylward, 2006) Aylward, D. K. and Glynn, J., â€Å"SME Innovation within the Australian Wine Industry: A Cluster Analysis†, 2006 11. (Smith J, 2006) Smith, J.M, â€Å"The e-Commerce Pendulum†, Brandweek, September 18, 2006 12. (Pape, 2007) Pape, Eric â€Å"Vineyards on the move† Newsweek, April 2007 13. (Nielson A, 2006) Nielson, A., Harvard Journal of Law and Public Policy, Vol.29, Iss 2, Spring 2006 14. (Asimov E, 2005) Asimov, E., New York Times. (Late Edition (East Coast). New York, N.Y., August 31, 2005 15. (Zalan T, 2005) Zalan, T., â€Å"Global, Local or Semi-Global? The Case of the Wine Industry†, Australian Centre for International Business, Working Paper, No. 6, August 2005 16. (Heijbroeck, 2003) Heijbroeck, Arend M.A., â€Å"Consequences of the globalization in the wine industry†, Report made by Rabobank International, Symposium International, October 8 2003 17. (Ghoshal S, 2007) Ghoshal, S, â€Å"Global strategy: An organizing framework. Strategic†, Management Journal 8, 2007 18. (Kogut B, 2006) Kogut, B., â€Å"Designing global strategies: Comparative and competitive value-added Chains†, Sloan Management Review (Summer), 2006 19. (Porter M, 2004) Porter, M. E.,†Clusters and the new economics of competition†, Harvard Business Review, November-December 2004 20. (Harvard University, 2007) â€Å"How Competitive Forces Shape Strategy†. Harvard Business Review, March-April 2007 22. (Slater S, 2002) Slater S. Malcolm, Michael Porter. â€Å"Notes on Diversification As a Strategy†. Harvard School Publishing, 2002 23. (Slater F, 2002) Slater F. Stanley, Olson. Eric, â€Å"A Fresh Look at Industry and Market Analysis†, Business Horizons. Kelly School of Publishing, January-February 2002. 24. (New Zealand Growers, 2006) New Zealand Wine Growers Research Committee, â€Å"Research & Development Strategic Plan†, December 2006 25. (Robinson J, 2008) Robinson, Jancis, † The Fast-Changing World Of Wine†, http://www.sifst.org.sg/pdf/article-thefastchanging.htm. 26. (Robbins S, 2006) Robbins S., Bergman, R., Stagg, I. & Coulter, M. @006, Management, 4th Edition, Prentice Hall, Sydney. 27. (Study Guide, 2008) Foundations od Management Study Guide 2008, Southern Cross University.

Methods of Resource Allocation and Resource Leveling

Abstraction This paper illustrates what is the resource, what are the motivations for the direction of resources in undertakings, what is the different between Resource Allocation and Resource Leveling, it explains the attacks used in resource direction which are â€Å" the resource constrained scheduling problems† ( RCSP ) and â€Å" Resource Leveling Problems† ( RLP ) , it discusses the different methods or algorithms that involvement in resource programming and direction, it besides presents some of heuristic theoretical accounts such as the Minimum Moment Method, the PACK Method, and the Minimum Absolute Deviation ( MinDev ) Method, it besides focuses on the Genetic Algorithm ( GA ) , explains what is the mechanism of work and its rule, and it shows the mathematical theoretical accounts of GA. Introduction What is resources? Any point that required to carry through a work, and to Complete an activities to accomplish coveted ends. Some illustrations of resource are people, capital, energy, stuff, machinery, clip, etc. The success of a undertaking direction is determined by its day of the month completion. Through a carefully planned sequence, the agenda arranges the group of single work activities by directing start and terminal day of the months. The clip it takes to construct a undertaking is controlled by the yearss of the planned work activities. The continuance of each activity is equal to the measure of undertaking divided by the production rate. Shortages of chief resources can impact the completion clip and work of scheduled work activities by diminishing the outlook of production rate and later increasing the planned continuance of work beyond the outlook completion day of the month of the undertaking and hence carry extra fiscal loads due to the hold. Ignoring restraints set on the agenda by the limited resources decrease the effectivity of utilizing the agenda as a direction tool. For that, the resource demands for each activity should be estimated and calculated carefully before a agenda is assign into action. Different between Resource Allocation and Resource LevelingDelegating needed resources to undertakings or activities such that available resources are non exceeded the upper bounds called Resource Allocation.Resource grading: it’s a procedure of smoothening of a resource demand. It’s an effort to delegate resources to project activities in a manner that will better productiveness and avoid extra resource needed.Ideal Condition, Theoretically histogramFigure 1 Practical & A ; Target Histogram Figure 2 Resource allotment,besides known as resource burden, is the procedure that breaks down work activities into the types and measures of labour, stuffs, and equipment needed to finish the occupation. As a consequence, one is able to find the awaited resource demands, and program consequently.Resource gradingtakes the direction of resources one measure farther by analysing the resource demands of the full undertaking and trying to cut down the jobs associated with deficient measures and/or fluctuations in resource demand on a daily footing. Work performed on building work sites requires the use of labour, stuffs and equipment resources. As antecedently stated, deficits in the handiness or measure of any of import resources can impact the efficiency and completion of day of the month and scheduled work. Therefore, the resource demands for each activity should be estimated before a agenda is put into action. By apportioning the labour, stuffs, and equipment required to execute each single work on the agenda, one is able to pre-plan the expected resource demands for each working day of the undertaking before the agenda is carried out. This entire resource demand is so compared with the measure ( supply ) on-hand. If the supply on-hand exceeds the demand, so the agenda can be worked as planned. If it is found that the demand exceeds supply, so stairss need to be taken to guarantee that the proper sum of resource will be on manus on the day of the month needed. It should be noted that the Resource Allocation procedure merely determines whether or non there is a job when comparing resource supply and demand. It will non province the class of action needed to rectify the job. The fluctuations of resource use of labour, equipment, or stuffs can do a resource waste, therefore it will be extra fiscal loads and it’s really expensive. The disbursal that consequences from fluctuations in labour supply comes in the signifier of uninterrupted preparation and lay-off of new employees, or in the mobilisation and demobilisation of building equipment. Leveling the demand for resources helps minimise the cost of the undertaking and the big daily fluctuations in the figure of resources needed. Frequently, the undertakings tend to two chief way, whether they are profitable undertakings or service undertakings, the first 1 is to alter day of the month of the completion clip of the undertaking before when it was scheduled and planned â€Å" Reducing the continuance of the undertaking, † with the available resources â€Å" the resource constrained scheduling problems† ( RCSP ) , while the 2nd tendency is the leveling the resources on the all-time of the undertaking to guarantee the terminal of the undertaking in the scheduled day of the month â€Å" Resource Leveling Problems† ( RLP ) . For that, many methods and algorithms were published that take one of these two tendencies, some of them are heuristic methods which will be mentioned some of them subsequently, and the other are modern method, such as a familial algorithm, Ant Colony Optimization, and Particle Swarm Optimization and others. The first heuristic method that is published isBurgess and killbrew methodin 1962, this method aims to level the resources along the continuance of the undertaking to guarantee the the completion day of the month of the undertaking. And what distinguishes it that the precedence regulation based heuristic process to cut down the fluctuations on resource demand and applicable to a assortment of leveling prosodies. In 1975,Woodworth and Willie methodwas published, its RLP method, and its algorithm for resource grading in multi-project, multi-resource programming. Harris has created a method calledPACK methodin 1990, to level resources by minimising minutes of resource histograms has been introduced. Then followed byMartinez and Aoannou methodin 1993, its RLP, the Modified Minimum Moment Heuristic has been used in building resource grading in this method, in 1996 Chan Chua and Kannan algorithm has published, its GA based method which aims to minimise divergences from available resource. General theoretical account to transport out resource grading ( RLP ) and limited resource allotment ( RCSP ) at the same time. This sort of algorithms sometimes called metaheuristic. One of the ways that will be discussed in this paper the minimal minute method. The Minimum Moment Method ( Martinez and Ioannou 1993 ) The minimal minute method supposes that the minute of the day-to-day resource demands about the X axis ( horizontal axis ) of a undertaking ‘s resource histogram is a powerful step of the resource use and the optimum resource allotment obtains when the entire minute is at a lower limit, when the resource histogram is an ideal status as a rectangle form. The method ‘s aim is to minimise the day-to-day fluctuations in resource demand by traveling activities in clip on the x axis and withen each activity ‘s free float so as to avoid switching successor activities. this activity shifting is typically time-constrined ( the undertaking completion clip remain unchanged without increased or decreased. Mathematically, the resource minute () for the undertaking can be expressed by ciphering the amount of single resource minutes about the X axis ( clip axis ) . The cost map given by: Subjected to: A?Tocopherol?F A? 0 iN= 1,2, †¦ , m Where I is the clip interval index, omega is the figure of clip interval,is resource demand for each interval, N is the figure of activity, m is the entire figure of activities, Ais the existent start clip of each activity n,Tocopherolis the earliest start clip of activity N, andFis the free float of activity N. The PACK Method ( Harris Method 1990 ) The PACK Method is based on the minimal minute method and depend on packing each non-critical activities one by one to do switching on allowable free float taking into account their day-to-day resource demands fill the spreads in the resource histogram. The PACK method builds a histogram sing merely critical activities in the first, the other activities ( non-critical activities ) are arranged in given sequences based on sequence measure ( in diminishing order ) , day-to-day resource demand ( in diminishing order ) and entire float ( in increasing order ) and so hierarchically activities are selected from the processing waiting line and arranged and assigned in clip between the originally scheduled early start and late start clip of each one. The activity displacement is determined so that cut down the minute of resource or day-to-day resource demand taking into history the impact on the undermentioned activities. Figure 3 One of the restraints of this method is the continuance of each activity remains without altering and that betterments in resource allotment can be achieved by activity shifting and the use of each activity’s free float. Minimum Absolute Deviation ( MinDev ) The aim of AbsDev is to minimise the divergence between the resource demands and a desirable changeless resource rate.The mathematical preparation of the nonsubjective map for the AbsDev is as follows: AbsDev = U = Where N is the undertaking continuance, andis the demand of appointed activities at the twenty-four hours m, Y is the figure of activities, U is a unvarying resource degree,is the entire demand of activity x, andis the continuance of activity x. Familial Algorithm ( GA ) In the recent old ages, Genetic Algorithm has been the topics of involvement. The dramatic characteristic of this algorithm is that it is based on thoughts from the scientific discipline of biological genetic sciences and the procedure of natural choice. It is introduced in the United States in the early 1970’s by J.Holland and it is an outstanding method to work out the complex optimisation job. It has been widely used in many Fieldss, such as map optimisation, combination optimisation, nervous web optimisation, programming optimisation and so on. The major benefits of this algorithm is that they provide a robust hunt in complex infinites and are normally less expensive, every bit far as calculation is concerned, when compared to most other optimisation solutions. Some of the features of GA compared to normal optimisation hunt processs are: ( 1 ) Smart hunt ; ( 2 ) Progressive optimisation ; ( 3 ) Global optimum solution. ( 4 ) Black-box construction ; ( 5 ) Good versatility ; ( 6 ) Parallel-type algorithm ; ( 7 ) Intrinsic acquisition ; ( 8 ) Stability. Most of the familial algorithms have three chief operators: 1 ) Choice ; 2 ) Crossing over 3 ) Mutant. The Genetic Algorithm is performed in the undermentioned stairss: Measure 1: Population low-level formatting ; Measure 2: Calculate the fittingness value of each person ; Measure 3: Choice ; Measure 4: Crossing over ; Measure 5: Mutant ; Measure 6: Analyze the halt status, if meet stop status, travel to step 7, else go to step 2 ; Measure 7: End product the person with best fittingness value. The procedure of the Genetic Algorithm can be described as Fig. 4: Figure 4: Flow chart of the Genetic Algorithm

Summary “The Environmental Issue from Hell”

We’re Hot as Hell Is global warming a moral dilemma? Is it the public policy problem from hell? In â€Å"The Environmental Issue from Hell,† Bill McKibben uses many of such phrases en route to arguing for a new approach to global warming. By discussing hell and morals, the reader’s mind is already equating it with two heavily debated issues. Therefore, we begin to question their existence and how we should  deal  with the subjects. McKibben wisely chooses these disputes to represent his main concerns: the ways in which consumerism affects the global ecosystem, and the impact of humans on the environment.McKibben presents a solution on how to handle each of these environmental issues, utilizing both the people and the government. McKibben's point of how consumerism affects the global ecosystem is certainly relatable. With all the new technology forming, global warming has only increased, despite the many efforts to make everything more energy efficient. McKibb en points out that, â€Å"most of us live lives so divorced from the natural world that we hardly notice the changes anyway. (McKibben 747) Choosing the word divorce (which everyone has heard and in some way or another experienced), and also elaborating about parking garages  and air conditioning captivates the reader. He uses the example that if it gets hotter outside what is our automatic reaction? We turn the AC up without contemplation. He explains that these new technologies are not letting us feel the consequences of global warming, causing us to be completely ignorant of it. Related article: †The Proverbs of Administration† SummaryMckibben feels it is subsequently important to make people realize now because, â€Å"By the time the magnitude of the change is truly in our faces, it will be too late to do much about it. â€Å"(747). The author recognizes the delay between the actions we take to lower carbon dioxide in the atmosphere and the actual results of it lowering. Due to the outcomes, Mckibben expresses, â€Å"†¦we need to be making the switch to solar  and wind and  hydrogen power  right now to prevent disaster decades away. â€Å" (747), summing up his thought that we need to be making the change to more energy efficient and eco-friendly power before it is too late.Mckibben inaugurates his third paragraph suggesting that we make the environmental issues, â€Å"†the great moral crisis of our time, and the equivalent of the civil rights movement of the 1960s. â€Å"(747). He uses this analogy to explain that in his opinion, we are strip-mining the present and destroying all of whom come after it. Thus, leading him to discuss exactly how humans’ materialistic ways have impacted the earth. From Bangladesh living three months in thigh high-deep water, to polar bears becoming â€Å"20% scrawnier than they were a decade ago† (748).The environmentalist writer goes on to discuss how to deal with global warming since it is indeed creeping up on us. Mckibben once again articulates his repetitive view that, â€Å"it’s a moral question, finally, if you think we owe any debt to the future. † (748). In many circumstances it is believed that if it had been done to us, we would dislike the generation that did it, just as how we will one day be disliked. The solution given in the essay on how to handle these environmental issues is to start a moral campaign.In other words, â€Å"†¦ turn it into a political issue, just as bus boycotts began to make public the issue of race, fo rcing the system to respond. â€Å" (748). As a part of the overall populist causing these issues, Mckibben understands that the hardest part about starting this moral campaign is identifying a villain to overcome. Briefly voicing that Carbon dioxide is the main villain, but you can't be mad at it, only the people responsible, which is us. We often become guilty of only looking through our own perspective lenses.In his eyes, we have fancy technology, unnecessarily big cars, and most importantly ignorance about the environmental world around us. McKibben is asking for us to take a  step  back and look from someone else’s point of view, which as an author is a brilliant idea. He is asking us as the readers to be open-minded and look through someone else’s eyes with the hope that it will be his. Works Cited Mckibben, Bill. â€Å"The Environmental Issue from Hell. † The Mcgraw-Hill Reader. Ed. Gilbert Muller. 11th ed. Boston: Learning Solutions. 2011. 746-49. P rint.

Issues in behavioral science Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Issues in behavioral science - Essay Example Many people from the non-western countries often find themselves encompassed by the western culture making them undermine their local culture. Subsequently, cultural globalization reduces the diversity between global societies and on the other hand increases the diversity of individual choice. Zimbabwe and Kenya portray two of the most distinctive cultures greatly submerged in the pool of the western culture. The controversies that arise from cultural diversity tend to lay their basis on the dynamics of contemporary cultural growth. International relationships or amalgamation of countries due to change in technology has become a major concern to cultural change (Bliss, 2007). In response to cultural change due to globalization, both the society of Zimbabwe and Kenya have with time completely changed from their local cultural lifestyles to adoption of foreign cultures. Before transformation, both cultures had a very different conception of lifestyle compared to their recent mode of life. They observed strict observance of the local customs and values. For instance, the mode of dressing which was perceived before transformation has greatly changed. Moreover, change in language and change approach of cultural customs has become diverse due to interaction with different invaders and indigenous inhabitants (Mensah, 2008). A case common in both countries which entails a custom of sitting around the fireplace and listening to stories has changed with technology thus having children using computers and televisions. This explains the influence of globalization and western culture on the local societies. As a growing society, Kenya has experienced diverse changes in its culture. It is evident that the western culture has polluted Kenyan’s culture in quite a number of several ways. Cultural diversity in Kenya being of major concern revolves under globalization. It is evident that the need to expand economically has enhanced

This is a repeat from yesterday, and I still need two solid paragraphs Essay

This is a repeat from yesterday, and I still need two solid paragraphs answering the below listed question. I have included more - Essay Example Also, the U.S. was just beginning to enter the Industrial Age, changing American society dramatically. Production was soaring because businesses boomed. People moved out of the cities if they could, because there was a wide income disparity between the working class and the urban middle class. In addition, Prohibition was legally enforced while the 18th Amendment was valid, forcing people to stop making moonshine liquor and patronize bars—however, this legal technicality did not in effect erase peoples’ drinking activity completely, but rather just suppressed it. (People still made liquor illegally, buying it and selling it.) The results of these changes were a New Urban Culture, New Moral Standards, and New Consumer Ethics. A New Urban Culture flourished. As industrial work no longer could meet the demands for low-skilled workers in the polis, industrial operations began to move to the rural areas—where there were more low-skilled workers who: most likely had le ss education; were willing to work for less money; and were not averse to doing skill that required more physical labor and less intellectual faculties. Also, as people became more middle class, the demand for physical labor decreased. Industries moved to rural areas to stay afloat. New Moral Standards emerged as well. ... The advent of the 9-to-5 office job eclipsed most physical labor that had previously been the backbone of the American work force. More jobs began to require degrees in higher education, and more people began to—as a result—seek more education from institutions at higher learning. Several excellent schools had begun to gain exeter reputations in the early 20th century, such as Harvard, Yale, and Princeton. Education became much more of a focus as several industries moved from the urban to the rural areas. Once the ‘20s were over, people started moving in an exodus out of the city once they had achieved some level of social mobility. Conflict ensued with the Scopes Trial (also famously known as the â€Å"Scopes Monkey Trial†), a lawsuit of the State of Tennessee versus John Scopes, a biology teacher who taught evolution—when it was illegal to teach evolution due to the way Tennessee state law was structured. Although Scopes was deemed guilty, he got o ff on a technicality and was never put in jail. Around this time, the eight-hour, five-day work week with two weeks paid vacation became the standard and not the exception in terms of what had traditionally been the standard—which included longer hours, no free time on the weekend, and no paid vacation. Industry—although initially urban—eventually moved to rural areas, due to the fact that industrial jobs needed low-skill laborers while the public was becoming increasingly educated and more middle class. 2.) Describe the impact of the New Deal on American government and society. In doing ?so, be sure to discuss the primary goal and basic overall characteristic of several specific New Deal programs. (450 words) The New Deal was the first comprehensive socialist program put

Rview of Financial Statements Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Rview of Financial Statements - Essay Example Accountants keep track of the financial activity of a company by recording journal entries. The eight steps of the accounting cycle are: record transactions in journal, post transactions to ledger, prepare adjusting entries, prepare summary of account balances, prepare income statement and revenue and expense accounts, close revenue and expense accounts to retained earnings, prepare post closing summary of account balances, prepare balance sheet and statement of cash flow. Once the accountants of Lowe’s and Home Depot complete the accounting cycle the financial statements are ready. The income statement is a statement that states the profitability of a company. At the top of the statement the revenues of the company are expressed. The costs of goods sold are subtracted to arrive at the gross profits. Then the operating expenses and taxes are subtracted to obtain the net income of the firm. The revenues and net income of Lowe’s in fiscal year 2009 were $47.22 billion and $1.783 billion (Annual Report: Lowes, 2009). In 2009 Home Depot’s performance was better. Home Depot in 2009 had revenues of $66.18 billion and net income of $2.66 billion (Annual Report: Home Depot, 2009). The balance sheet is a financial statement that reflects the financial position of a company at a specific point in time. The basic elements of the balance sheet are the assets, liabilities, and stockholder’s equity.

McGraw-Hill Company Speech or Presentation Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

McGraw-Hill Company - Speech or Presentation Example The company recognizes the different market segments that it can cater to and it is this reason that it has undertaken the effort to publish a wide variety of books; books for kindergarten up to books required for professional purposes targeting not only students of all age groups but also teachers. With services such as e-books, online tutoring, subscription and customized course websites, the company aims to keep its target market intact while having an edge over its competitors. The McGraw Hill Company is not only confined to its educational wing. It also provides broadcasting and financial and business services. The financial wing of McGraw Hill Company i.e. Standard & Poor specializes in providing investment research and credit ratings. The data and investment analysis aids many financial analysts around the world in decision making. The McGraw Hill Information and Media Group specialize in providing business intelligence and business solutions to facilitate business decision making. BusinessWeek which is known for providing insight into multinational companies is one product of the Information and Media Group. The J.D. Power and Associates is known for global marketing and information services. With operations in almost all major parts of the world such as Asia, Latin America, Europe, Africa, Canada and U.S., the company aims to cap... It is such alliances and ventures that allow the company to have a global presence. It is the ability of The McGraw Hill Company to adequately identify its strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats that allow the company to remain successful in this competitive environment. Since the company is able to take advantage of its presence in virtually all the major world markets, it is well equipped to fight any competition. In order to maintain its market share and remain a dominant player in the publishing market, the company aims to take a number of steps. It hopes to achieve high growth rates while maintaining the quality of its products and services. Since the company realizes that education plays a vital role in improving the wellbeing of the population, it uses its educational wing as a tool for spreading knowledge as well as making profits while providing benefit to all those who seek knowledge. The company plans to introduce new innovative and modern learning techniques that will not only make education enjoyable to the readers but also easy to use and understand. This way the company will first, be able to engage students and second beat the market by launching products that other companies are still aspiring to produce. This way not only will the company benefit in terms of profits but it will raise the benchmarks in the publishing sector encouraging other companies to come up with similar competitive products for the benefit of the customers. However this as always will help McGraw Hill Publishing Company in maintaining its position as the market leader. The future for the company will seem bright if the government is also able to extend its support to the publishing sector. Due to the pirated copies of books

Human Resources Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words - 3

Human Resources - Essay Example The satisfaction of consumers depend on the quality of the service that a hotel resort lodging provides. This quality depends on the performance of front-line employees, especially employees who interact with consumers. Because of this service nature, in order to ensure that the company delivers the level of quality that it promises to consumers, first it has to ensure that it has the policies which supports this strategy. In order for this kind of business to take care of consumers, they have to take care of its employees first whose job is to take care of consumers. And this is best done by making the Human Resource function of the company a strategic partner. In many business nowadays where product offers include both the goods and the service at the same time, the quality of the service depends on the performance of front-line employees. Therefore, in order to make sure that the level of quality that the company promises through its integrated marketing communications activities are provided, a strong support from the companys human resource function is needed. Strategic human resource management is key. By strategic human resource management, the human resource function of the company takes part in crafting functional-level strategy in order to support the companys overall goals and strategy. In the case of the hotel resorts lodging business, the role of human resources range from a macro perspective—proposing an organizational structure to support the companys strategy, helping build a strong corporate culture based on the companys corporate brand essence, to a micro perspective—setting up a compensation package in order to attract the people who will best fit the companys corporate culture and market positioning, ensuring that a high caliber people will enter the company, setting up a performance measurement and

Reaction paper on David Cole Interviews Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Reaction paper on David Cole Interviews - Essay Example I tried to remain objective while listening to the interview because ideas in my head were contradicting the facts presented by Mr. Cole. Over-all, the investigation presents a very strong argument and Cole has definitely created a big question in the minds of people like me. I asked the question to myself† What would I be telling my children about the Holocaust one day?† If pesticides were cyanide, then it could be unethical for argument sake but not entirely homicidal on the part of the Germans. I am completely perplexed about what happened during the Holocaust. Nevertheless, I would still recommend to fellow students to listen to this controversial interview. In a way, a person would learn how to think critically about the issue and make sensible judgment about the issue. One thing to remember though, make sure emotions are kept at bay. In short, I liked the interview because this is the most sensible thing I have ever watched.

Health promotion in mental health nursing Essay

Health promotion in mental health nursing - Essay Example s such as the UK, United States, Australia, New Zealand, and Canada where the neoliberal philosophy underlies government policies in the realm of political and social life (Donelan et al., 1999). Unfortunately, these policies result in the distinct trend towards privatization and weakening of health care systems. At the same time, the need for quality mental health care is steadily increasing. However, the economic trends, coupled with state budget cuts, and limited access to mental health providers in the community do not allow health care systems respond adequately. Emergency departments are swamped with people with mental health problems with nowhere to go; and the failure to treat those with serious mental health problems has resulted in incalculable cost, in terms of real dollars and human suffering, to the community and individuals (Gruskin & Dickens, 2006, p. 1904). The economic aspect is only one side of the coin: abundant criticism poured on the traditional intervention methods and models currently used in mental health care systems suggests that the time has come to search for alternative approaches. One of the available alternatives is the public health model that has already been tested in different environments, but has not yet received universal acclaim. The nature of this model as well as the outcomes of its prior use suggests that it can be effectively used in the field of mental health Over the last decades the developed states have effectively implemented a series of public health approaches to health issues such as obesity and anorexia, seat belt use, drink driving prevention, diabetes and other. However, one highly important aspect of our health has not received due consideration probably because of the fact that it does not belong to the realm of physical health. Although mental health has already been proven to be the key to overall physical health, many people still lack adequate understanding of its importance mental health and are not

Personality Tests Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Personality Tests - Essay Example note about these traits however is that they are theoretical and statistical in nature and exceptions can and often do exist within people and their personality make up and how they are actually tested. Different situational exceptions to the personality traits may also happen. Because of this it is totally inappropriate for a business to only look at a potential candidate’s personality profile, as that may not give a one hundred percent picture of who they really are. The profile could paint one picture, and then the person could in theory be different in the given work situation, and the employer would have given them no chance to test so. Also, totally ignoring the person’s past experience is completely absurd. The person’s past experience would be the most useful tool in helping to determine if they were a strong candidate or not, instead of relying on statistical numbers that might not truly represent how a person works. After looking and thinking hard about the levels of moral development I have decided that I am currently at the first step of the second level, still working on the good boy good girl attitude mind set. I find myself constantly trying to fit into different social conditions, and become very upset when people judge my roles in them harshly, and I am not feeling the fairness of how society is judging me. I also try to keep up the good boy image, and work as best I can to fit into what I believe is the different roles society has for me. I also believe that this adherence to try to keep within social norms has affected many of my decisions lately. I often find myself doing whatever is asked of me by whoever asked it, as I do not want to let them down and I feel I must do it to be found acceptable. I think this is because of the level of moral development I am at, and that I feel I must do these things to be able to be judge on good terms with that person. The relationships in my life have always become very important lately, as has

DBQ Essay Essay Example for Free

DBQ Essay Essay Throughout history, trade has influenced civilizations by expanding religions, spreading new products or ideas, and through transmission of diseases. As civilizations began trading more with other civilizations, trade networks were setup. Traders needed a safe route to get to cities in order to trade. With trade networks such as the silk roads, traders had a way to get from Europe to China to trade goods. With more and more people trading because of trade networks, there were both intentional and unintentional effects of trade. The spread of religion was heavily influenced by trade. Documents 2, and the both support this. The documents show that as people met in city markets, traders did not only trade inventions and products with another. Religious practices, cultures, and traditions were also spread. Document 2 shows that because of trade, religions such as Islam spread from Africa to as far as China in the east. Other religions such as Christianity and Buddhism were also spread. In Document 3, it shows that traders who came to the Swahili Coast to trade stayed there for a couple of months before returning home. Because of this, the traders would share their cultures, languages and religions with the native people who lived there. Over time, trade had a lasting effect on the Swahili Coast. The Swahili language today has some Arabic and Indian words in the language. Most people who are Swahili today also practice Islam as their religion. This would all never have been possible if it weren’t for the trade networks of the Swahili Coast or the Silk Roads. Aside from the spread of religion, trade also helped new ideas and products spread throughout the world. Documents 1,4,5 and 6 all show that throughout the world, many different products and ideas were spread because of trade. Document 1 shows Mediterranean trade being first controlled by Phoenicians and Greeks. The map in the document shows major products such as tin being traded between Greek and Phoenician colonies. Document 4 is a quote, it is implied that this Is coming from someone living in Europe during the Commercial Revolution. The person states that as food supplies increased in Europe, trade also began to increase. More goods were being created and traded all over Europe including, cloth, food, and leather. Towns would hold fairs every year for the trading of these goods. As trade increased, methods of getting cash and loans were developed. Banks were established by Christians and this all became the Commercial Revolution. Documents 5 and 6 further show how trade brought products from different civilizations all around the world. The Columbian Exchange in Document 6 shows how products from the Old World were brought to the New World. Some examples of these products include horses, bananas, black eye peas and beef. Document 5 shows how Marco Polo brought new ideas from China back home to Europe such as how to use coal for heat. While trade helped spread new ideas and products throughout the world, so did deadly diseases. Documents 6 and 7 both show how trade spread disease from one civilization to another. With the Columbian exchange in Document 6, deadly illnesses spread from the Old World to the New World. Disease killed off many indigenous people in the new world and would also enable conquerors from countries such as Spain to gain the upper hand in colonizing and conquering indigenous populations. Document 7 is a political cartoon. It is from the point of view of someone who is against globalization. The cartoon shows an army conquering an indigenous tribe. The members of the tribe all look very fearful and seem to have been forced out of their homes. The army who is conquering all has symbolism representing American culture and ideas. Although this document is biased towards the U.S, it does show the negative effects that trade can have on an indigenous population. These documents all show that trade had many lasting intentional and unintentional consequences on the many civilizations of the world. These include the expansion of religion, the spread of new ideas and products, as well as the transmission of deadly diseases. A document that would have been helpful in further analyzing the unintentional effects of trade would be one from the perspective of the civilization conquering the indigenous people. Overall however, these documents still show that because of trade, new  ideas, cultures and traditions have been spread throughout the world.

Promotional Program Situation Analysis

Promotional Program Situation Analysis Sony Entertainment has a large brand name and has a large target market for all of their electronic product line. Because of the high demand for new technology and consumers buying Sony quality products, it has an annual advertising budget of approximately five billion US dollars globally  [1]  . And last year in 2009, Sony spent 3.4 billion dollars in advertising alone, which is around what other competitors spend on advertising. Sony has an effective approach with spending money on advertising their new products and promoting new games for Sony game consoles. The corporation uses a variety of promotional media strategies to advertise new products that are coming out. The way Sony does this is through magazines, newspapers, video game trade shows (like E3), internet advertisement, Playstation internet forums, TV advertising, sponsorship, and word of mouth. The largest reach to consumers is through television commercials. Sony has been found in many different kinds magazines to reach their large target market. Sony airs their commercials on a large scale of channels and networks. For example, Sony PS3 game commercial appears on comedy central, Fox, cartoon network, and many more. Their current commercial is an actor as the Vice President of Sony entertainment that illustrates people asking the VP questions about the PS3 and he answers with something that promotes the PS3 game and console. The commercials have a slight humor to them to keep the viewer interested and to remember the advertisement. Sony Playstation has made appearances in TV shows such as two and half men, and movies, like the 40 year old virgin. The message strategies are to illustrate the entertainment a person gets out of a video game and the detailed computer generated images, CGI, that are used in the games. Overall, Sony Playstation is a strong competitor for the entertainment industry. The competition is moderately intense, but it is fragmented because there is not one major company that dominates the market. The technological trend is leaning towards television advertising and internet advertising. 90% of the target market have internet and 70% use the internet to shop online. Sony is already capitalizing on this trend and spends most of the advertising budget on advertisement spots. The company meets customer satisfaction with its products and customer service. The company is always seeking to make things better and expand its products. Positioning and Campaign Theme Game consoles are trying to reach the demand for the consumers wanting video games that have the latest, like-real life graphics, and an enjoyable experience. When consumers compare the three major video game consoles, Nintendo Wii, Xbox 360, and PS3, there is no comparison. The PS3 has everything all in one console. With the new Playstation Interactive, it will bring Sony to another level of gaming and setting it farther apart from the competition. The major difference with the PSI is that it makes the person in control feel like they are really inside the game. PSI is the only product that enables the character to simulate the same movement the gamer is doing by using all of their full body motion. Playstation focuses on having the best technology and implementing having the latest of technology in one console. Sonys mission statement is to experience the joy of advancing and applying technology for the benefit of the public. Sony has positioned all of their product lines around this philosophy. Playstation Interactive will define their position in the market by using product differentiation, and uses of the product. Our logo Be in controlà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦ Be interactive positions the product as of being in control of the game and being involved in more than a controller. It also sends the message of being an innovator of having the best and latest technology on the market. Playstation Interactive does more than play games. It has all the capabilities of the PS3. The PS3 slogan now is it only does everything. To keep the mission statement and message of the product to the market intact of its features, another slogan is Having everything at your movement. This slogan shows that it does more than video games, and has the best technology in one console. The message is consistent with the positioning statement. It does this by having slogans that relay the message from an advertisement as it positions the product in the market. As stated above the two slogans that would be used are Be in controlà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦Be interactive and Having everything at your movement. Communication Objectives and Strategies The advertising strategy for the PlayStation Interactive is attempting to communicate the major benefits of the product. The value of the PSI is that it will create an unbelievably real virtual gaming experience. The gamer will feel their game is a reality, which is the ultimate benefit. The goal is to differentiate PSI from any other gaming system that can be made similar, and to appeal to potential customers in a psychologically manner. The objectives of the campaign are to make the PSI a desirable gaming system. Its new technology will be perceived as the leader and pioneer of the next gaming generation. Our objectives are to: Increase knowledge and awareness of this new technology to 90% of gamers in the selected target market in a 12 months period. Close gap in Market share between PS3 and XBOX by introducing new technology. By doing this, we expect to increase our market share by 10% in a 12 months period, and reinforce the brand image of Playstation among existing customers. To achieve our goals we will reach to the early adapters of the gaming industry to have them talking and blogging about our product, creating a Buzz that will provide the company with word of mouth advertising. We will incent product trial and drive purchase among the target market by offering game demos with over 80 games to choose from. We will also set demonstration available to main retailers (BestBuy, Target and Wal-Mart) to stimulate trials for potential customers. A Web site will be launched dedicated to the PSI besides the existing Sony Playstation official Web site. Each game will contain a link to the Web site where users can find out about more games and subscribe to our email list and follow us on Twitter and Facebook.This Web site will also provide visitors with information about the new technology of the PSI. Visitors will be able to order the system and games through the website as well. We plan to offer games with custom made features only for our online customers. We will place advertising ads in the large gaming magazine such as GamePro and Game Informer. We will place commercials on stations such as G4 and Spike which target the same gaming market as PSI. We intend to improve relations with game retailers by providing them with cooperative advertising support. Other examples of advertising would be direct response advertising, co-operative advertising, and sales promotion (like when Sony dropped the price for the PS3 to $299.00). Advertising Appeals The advertising appeals which will be used for the PSI is a fun, sometime humorous and emotional appeal. The advertising will create a desire. Video game/console advertising is sort of like movie trailers, the reason being the trailers get the viewer involved in the situation or, in a gaming case, the action. One commercial, for example, advertises a new game and shows a brief glimpse of what the game is like, the detailed graphics and at the end of the commercial will show the logo for the Sony PSI. An advertisement for the product can show a person playing the Nintendo Wii on the couch and not moving their body just moving the controller. Then the screen will shift to a person playing Playstation Interactive actually moving their whole body as the person in game does exactly the same thing as the person in control. This advertisement will show product differentiation and product usage. Other advertisements can show the advanced graphics of a game with a character running around in the game then the camera will zoom out of the television showing the game footage and show a person running around doing all the things the character is doing, then it will move to a slogan, Be in controlà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦Be interactive. We think these types of appeals will work best for our campaign since one of our goals is to establish a reputation for games that poke fun at what many would consider humorous or ridiculous actions by well-known people. Additionally, to help promote games via word of mouth, each game has the option to notify a friend. So, a user can send a text message to a friend instantly to share their excitement or recommendation about the games. Rationale for Creative Recommendations The reason for choosing the advertising strategy selected, is due to the fact that the act of gaming requires more a mental state than a physical state. Therefore by advertising to customers psychological side it may create more of an intense desire to have the newest technology in gaming. Advertising Media Recommendations Strategy We first must create awareness of our virtual gaming system to the novice and serious video gamer so they can be aware that our virtual gaming system actually exists. Secondly we have to show how our gaming system is different and superior to any other gaming system in the market today. This wont be easy task but can yield major dividends if done correctly. In our media strategy we wont neglect the power and the influence of word of mouth advertising which will be a huge factor in promoting our virtual gaming system. The target market we are going to reach has to be overwhelming satisfied with our virtual gaming system otherwise they wont recommend their friends to go out and purchase the system. The target market were reaching would only recommend the system if they all can play against each other. In other words we have to completely satisfy all of their friends so they can all go out and buy a virtual gaming system for their own home. Either we satisfy all of them or none of them to buy the virtual gaming system. We believe word of mouth advertising will eventually supersede all traditional forms of media advertising once people learn more about our virtual gaming system. In the meantime we will coordinate different media strategies to maximize our virtual gaming system by bringing out brand awareness of our gaming system. Advertising and Communication Objectives First our communication to the public will be about how our virtual gaming system is unique to anything on the market. Secondly, any video game enthusiast will have an opportunity to not just a play a video game but to actually feel and be a part of the experience within the game! This is a far different experience then just playing a game and your body movements are mimicked on the screen with the other competitors in our target market. When you think of a video game slogan, such as the one in John Madden Football; Its in the game! This virtual system will entirely change your perspective because the player of the virtual gaming system is going to literally be, in the game. The last message that we want to convey to our target market is that our virtual gaming system comes complete with everything included. No need to go out and buy any accessories to use and play our virtual gaming system since it comes complete in our base package. Target market Video Game Players Teenagers to young adults 15-35 You enjoy playing video games in your spare time and you already own a Playstation 3, Xbox or a WII. This is a video gaming system that you must have immediately! It takes video games the way we know it today and intensives the experience you receive from playing video games and multiplies it 100 over. Getting the system is cool but its even cooler if you get it before all your friends get the system. Since youre the coolest kid out there you open up the virtual gaming system and it blows you away on how realistic and fun the system is. So you decide to brag to all your friends how cool the virtual gaming system is. Since we live in a stay connected era your friends are jealous that not only they dont have a virtual gaming system to play against you, they dont have a system period, to play with. This is an unfair competitive advantage that most teenagers and young adults wont put up with at all. So you know what happens next, youre not cool if you dont own a virtual gaming system. You nag your parents, begin working part-time or you sell your old gaming system to gather the money to get your own virtual gaming system. This is how the popularity of the virtual gaming system will take off and a large part will be attributed to word of mouth advertising. Word of mouth advertising is huge trend in the target market were trying to reach to promote our virtual gaming system. Major Selling Idea or Key Benefits The major selling idea would be that the system includes a 3-Dimensional Virtual gaming experience. This key benefit will be the strength of our selling promotion. Since it gives the video game player an experience they can only enjoy if the use the virtual gaming system. This will be introducing a new state of the art dimension that will be the strength to our sales promotion. The Media Plan To create curiosity among the public, we will first advertise our slogan, follow by the PSI logo and the coming soon words. To effectively market the virtual gaming system we will first have the system setup in a display kiosk at retail stores for people to test and play the virtual gaming system. This will be our Internet/Interactive Recommendation of out media plan. The retail stores we will first launch the system at will retail stores like Wal-Mart, Best Buy, Target, GameStop, Toys R Us and HH Gregg. This will start the process of creating an advertising buzz about the system. This will be done one month before the release date of the actual system to allow people to prepare for the arrival date of the virtual gaming system. In the meantime while they wait for the release date this waiting period will create an enormous amount of hype about or gaming system. Once the systems are all installed and set up and running in all the retail stores listed above we will move to step two of our media plan and thats using the Internet as our recommendation for marketing the virtual gaming system. The Internet advertising will be done on banners on Google, AOL, Bing, You Tube and MSN home pages. This will have our company logo and invite people to see and try out our virtual gaming system kiosk wherever electronics are sold. The advertisement will also list the release date of December 3rd. This will create motion by consumers to get involved and try out the system for a free trail. For an incentive they can obtain a $15 off coupon redeemable off their first game purchase. The timing of this step will be a week after step one has been complete. The timing of the system will be to bring brand awareness in early November and have a release date to be set December 3rd. The rationale behind this marketing strategy is the target market where trying to reach is Internet savvy and love interaction. They will get the best of both worlds with a free trial period and an incentive to buy the virtual gaming system just by coming into the store. This will start the buzz and word of mouth advertising which is exactly the type of response where looking for. Friends discussing their first virtual gaming experience with other friends and bouncing off ideas and opinions about the new virtual gaming system. This will cause our target market to literally salivate from the mouth and cross off each day on their calendar until our December 3rd release date. The third step in our media plan after exactly one week after the Internet/ Interactive phase will be to use mass advertising and more specifically TV advertising. The television advertising will be short commercials showing someone using the virtual gaming system and then it will flash on the screen showing you what they see inside their glasses. The commercial will end with the systems slogan and logo and will simply say, coming December 3rd. Under the release date it will have the companys website address and say visit us online for more details. The television ad will just be used to give people just little bit of information about the virtual gaming system and give them an invitation to the website. When they visit the website it will have the system specifications and FAQs. The website will also show clips of the users at the retail store and interviews from the virtual gaming system designers. It will also have a 10 minute video will a virtual system executive selling to the viewers why the virtual gaming system is so unique. The website will also have a discussion board for others to discuss with others. The rationale behind this form of advertising is to penetrate the market near Christmas time so consumers and families have time to prepare for the added expense during the holiday season. Since our product is a virtual gaming system this will create the broadest amount of brand awareness and since the commercials will be short and to the point will save millions in advertising dollars. The goal for the television advertising is to accomplish a few things. The first is to create brand awareness to the virtual gaming system. The second is giving a brief insight into what the virtual gaming system actually does. The third goal it will do is educate consumers of the release date. Fourth goal is to invite people to visit the website to get more information. Once consumers visit our website were confident they will continue to find out more information by visiting the retail store next for the free trail. The last goal will be for video gamers to purchase our virtual gaming system. Budget Summary The Total Estimated budget is at $1 billion Rationale behind this budget The virtual gaming system kiosk will be approximately $350 million dollars of our advertising budget. This portion of the budget is the Interactive recommendation of our marketing strategy. The second expense will be approximately $150 million dollars in Internet advertising dollars. The remaining $500 million dollars will be dedicated in television advertising since this is the most expensive form of adverting dollars. The expenses will be the order of the steps as listed above. This is the most effective way of reaching the target market and creating awareness of the virtual gaming system. Regardless of whether youre a novice or serious video gamer, this media plan will reach the intended recipient.

Racial Inequalities and Tension Essay -- Article Review

After centuries of fighting, protesting, and labor, the fight for equality seemed to reach a conclusion. The Civil Rights Act of 1964 brought an end to segregation and promoted full equal opportunities for not only African Americans but other ethnicities as well. America elected Barack Obama as its president, allowed certain months to represent cultural awareness, and immigration numbers augmented. However, regardless of the fact that the country becomes increasingly diverse by the day and heavy, racial social boundaries no longer exist, racism, prejudice, and stereotypes still exist. â€Å"The problem of the twentieth century is the problem of the color-line† (McQuade 391) says it the best; racial and ethnicity still remain underlying causes for conflicts and many other national issues as said in the text. Supporting its own claim, the text refers to the essay â€Å"This is how we lost to the white man† by Ta-Nehisi Coates to reemphasize the racial tensions and differe nces existing in today’s society. Combining researched articles and the text resources, strong evidence of racial inequality and tension still exists to this day. Coates’ article â€Å"This is how we lost to the white man† provides Bill Cosby’s viewpoint on the subordinate order of blacks to whites. Coates attended one of Cosby’s speeches at a small Detroit church and listened as he preached to the audience. More specifically, Cosby targeted African American males in his speech, due to the fact that a substantial amount of them abandoned their responsibilities as fathers. Cosby starts the speech by ensuring African American equality; he attempts to convince they crowd that â€Å"We are not a pitiful race of people† (447) and he spent the entirety of the speech convincing change. Cosb... ...cial motive in Tulsa killings - CNN.com." CNN.com - Breaking News, U.S., World, Weather, Entertainment & Video News. N.p., n.d. Web. 4 May 2012. . H. Ted Denney, et al. "White Privilege Awareness And Efficacy To Reduce Racial Inequality Improve White Americans' Attitudes Toward African Americans." Journal Of Social Issues 68.1 (2012): 11-27. Academic Search Premier. Web. 4 May 2012. McQuade, Donald, and Christine McQuade. Seeing & writing 4. Boston: Bedford/St. Martin's, 2010. Print. Takeuchi, Craig. "Reported hate crimes decline in Canada while studies explore roots of homophobia, racism." Straight.com: Vancouver's Online Source . N.p., n.d. Web. 4 May 2012. . Racial Inequalities and Tension Essay -- Article Review After centuries of fighting, protesting, and labor, the fight for equality seemed to reach a conclusion. The Civil Rights Act of 1964 brought an end to segregation and promoted full equal opportunities for not only African Americans but other ethnicities as well. America elected Barack Obama as its president, allowed certain months to represent cultural awareness, and immigration numbers augmented. However, regardless of the fact that the country becomes increasingly diverse by the day and heavy, racial social boundaries no longer exist, racism, prejudice, and stereotypes still exist. â€Å"The problem of the twentieth century is the problem of the color-line† (McQuade 391) says it the best; racial and ethnicity still remain underlying causes for conflicts and many other national issues as said in the text. Supporting its own claim, the text refers to the essay â€Å"This is how we lost to the white man† by Ta-Nehisi Coates to reemphasize the racial tensions and differe nces existing in today’s society. Combining researched articles and the text resources, strong evidence of racial inequality and tension still exists to this day. Coates’ article â€Å"This is how we lost to the white man† provides Bill Cosby’s viewpoint on the subordinate order of blacks to whites. Coates attended one of Cosby’s speeches at a small Detroit church and listened as he preached to the audience. More specifically, Cosby targeted African American males in his speech, due to the fact that a substantial amount of them abandoned their responsibilities as fathers. Cosby starts the speech by ensuring African American equality; he attempts to convince they crowd that â€Å"We are not a pitiful race of people† (447) and he spent the entirety of the speech convincing change. Cosb... ...cial motive in Tulsa killings - CNN.com." CNN.com - Breaking News, U.S., World, Weather, Entertainment & Video News. N.p., n.d. Web. 4 May 2012. . H. Ted Denney, et al. "White Privilege Awareness And Efficacy To Reduce Racial Inequality Improve White Americans' Attitudes Toward African Americans." Journal Of Social Issues 68.1 (2012): 11-27. Academic Search Premier. Web. 4 May 2012. McQuade, Donald, and Christine McQuade. Seeing & writing 4. Boston: Bedford/St. Martin's, 2010. Print. Takeuchi, Craig. "Reported hate crimes decline in Canada while studies explore roots of homophobia, racism." Straight.com: Vancouver's Online Source . N.p., n.d. Web. 4 May 2012. .

Shakespeare in the Sound and the Fury Essay -- Sound and the Fury Essa

Shakespeare in the Sound and the Fury    The "Tomorrow" soliloquy in Act V, scene v of the Shakespearean tragedy Macbeth provides central theme and imagery for The Sound and the Fury.   Faulkner may or may not agree with this bleak, nihilistic characterization of life, but he does examine the characterization extensively.      Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Tomorrow, and tomorrow, and tomorrow   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Creeps in this petty pace from day to day   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   To the last syllable of recorded time;   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   And all our yesterdays have lighted fools   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   The way to dusty death.   Out, out brief candle!   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Life's but a walking shadow, a poor player,   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   That struts and frets his hour upon the stage   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   And then is heard no more.   It is a tale   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Told by an idiot, full of sound and fury,   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Signifying nothing (Shakespeare 177-8).   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   The passage suggests man is mortal while time is immortal.   Time maintains its pace independently of man's actions; it creeps through man-made institutions eventually leading to man's death.   However, time maintains indifference towards man.   Life spans are infinitesimal in comparison to the smallest division of time.   In reality, the significance man ascribes to human existence is false: life has no significance.   Life is merely a brief episode of strutting and fretting, "full of sound and fury, . . . signifying nothing."    Every section of the Sound and the Fury relates to Macbeth's speech. Each narrator presents life as "full of sound and fury," represented in futile actions and dialogue.   Benjy, Quentin, Jason, and Dilsey all emit constant wor... ... Faulkner's views on life, a supposed contrast to Macbeth's.   After hundreds of pages of examining Shakespeare's passage, Faulkner concludes his work with an uplifting transcendence of nihilism.   Faulkner leaves the reader with hope, the signification of meaning yet to come.    Works Cited    Commentary. The Sound and the Fury. Olemiss Resources   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚     Ã‚  Ã‚   http://www.mcsr.olemiss.edu/~egjbp/faulkner/n-sf.html    Faulkner, William. The Sound and the Fury. New York: Vintage Books, 1984.    Harold, Brent. "The Volume and Limitations of Faulkner's Fictional Method." Contemporary Literary Criticism. Vol. 11, 1975.    Irwin, John T. "A Speculative Reading of Faulkner" Contemporary Literary Criticism, Vol. 14, 1975.    Shakespeare, William. Macbeth. New York: Washington Square Press, 1992.   

President Reagans Strategic Defense Initiative: In Relation With the Soviet :: Nuclear War

"For the first time humankind has the power to destroy itself." 1 The nuclear age has changed the world, for the good and the bad. Though the bad, is far greater than the good. We sometimes ponder to our selves, "what would happen if we were forced in to a nuclear war ware their are now winners." The way life would be after such an incident would change life as we know it drastically. In the event of a nuclear war with the Soviets we would have lost approximately one hundred and fifty million American lives. 2 The planet would be destroyed to the extent that even thoughts who survived would have no place to live. No Government, or persons, can win a nuclear war and as long as their are nuclear missiles of mass destruction there will always be the risk of someone using them. Once the first missile is unleashed their is no telling were it would stop. Our dealings with the former Soviet Union was based on the French word, detente, that the Russians had defined as a freedom to purchase subversion, aggression and expansionism any were in the world. 3 The soviets have been, up until 1990, the U.S's defacto enemies. There goal was too destroy democracy and imposing communism. 4 This is way it was though to be inevitable for a nuclear war with the soviets. "The dream of a non nuclear world is a great and notable one, how ever for the foreseeable future it is unattainable in actuality and unwise in theory." 5 Because of this harsh the United States is left with a problem; How can we beet this so called inevitability? The answer is: space based defense weapons. The program, brought forth by the Reagan administration, was called the strategic defense Initiative, and some called "Star Wars." 6 Reagan's strategic defense initiative, created in the 80's, was an acceptable for the U.S; it worked to convince the Soviets not only to reduce there nuclear arsenal but to halt any chance for a nuclear attack by the Soviets. " What is the worth of our society as we know it? Right now we hold an entire population hostage." 7 Ever since the 1960's our main defense against the soviets has been the MAD policy, Mutual Assured Destruction. Both the United States and the Soviet Union had enough nuclear weapons at their disposal so that if one fired at the other the one that was being fired at would fire it's missiles at the other too. In other words, they would share the same fate.