Rise And Fall Of An Inner Prodigy Essays - Two Kinds,

Rise And Fall Of An Inner Prodigy Rise and Fall of an Inner Prodigy An ?angry and powerful? girl glares back at Jing-Mei in the bathroom mirror (Tan 1066). The girl is her newly discovered prodigy: a force that comes from within that could potentially empower her to unlimited heights of personal growth and success. Unfortunately, Jing-Mei, the daughter in Amy Tan's ?Two Kinds?, only allows her will to manifest into a weapon of ?won'ts? to lash out at her mother with (Tan 1066). She does not think to create goals of her own because her only drive is to prove her mother wrong, act out in hurtful ways, and sell herself short in the process. Jing-Mei is determined to prove to her mother, self, and family that her mother has no right to have pride and faith in her. After bragging to her sister about how her daughter plays the piano day and night, Jing-Mei's mother and piano teacher, Mr. Chong, arrange to have her perform at a talent show. Paving the way for her mother's shame and her own embarrassment, Jing-Mei does not apply herself to practicing and memorizing the piece she is to perform. The night of her performance, she is so taken with how pretty she looks that she forgets she can't possibly do well. She is even ?surprised when . . . [she] hit the first wrong note? (Tan 1070). Even though Jing-Mei is embarrassed and ashamed, her lasting impression is her mother's devastated expression and damaged pride. Jing-Mei, sacrificing of her own pride, succeeds in proving her mother wrong to all. Jing-Mei utilizes her will and perseverance as a weapon to hurt her mother with. After the recital, Jing-Mei ?[feels] disappointed? (Tan 1071). She wants her mother to react and ?start shouting, so that so that [she] . . . could blame her [mother] for her misery? (Tan 1071). Her mother silently retreats to her bedroom, leaving Jing-Mei holding her own shame. For two days, nothing is mentioned about piano practice or the recital. Jing-Mei assumes that she will never have to play the piano again. She is shocked when her mother demands that she stops watching television and to go practice the piano. Jing-Mei summons up her ?inner-prodigy? to loudly and adamantly refuse. Her Mother abruptly shuts off the television and drags her to the piano bench and sits her down. Crying and staring up at her mother, she ?could sense her [mother's] anger rising to its breaking point . . . [she] remembered the babies . . . [her mother] had lost in China . . . ?then I wish I were dead, like them!'? (Tan 1071). Jing-Mei knows this hostile reference will hurt her mother more than anything else will. Her mother painfully gives up and Jing-Mei never has to play the piano again. Putting so much effort into not fulfilling her mother's dreams, Jing-Mei does not have the time to realize that any thought should be put into creating her own dreams. So short sighted is her vision, that she does not realize how her actions are detrimental to her own approach to life. Jing-Mei quickly discovers many ways to not invest much effort into what she perceives as her mother's dreams. Mr. Chong, who is deaf, watches her fingers play the notes. Jing-Mei is clever and sees a window of opportunity in the discovery that Mr. Chong's eyes are not much better than his ears. She plays in tempo while hitting wrong notes because she knows she can get away with it. This is the beginning of a lifetime of bad habits and selling herself short. Jing-Mei does not realize that a window of opportunity to not succeed in her mother's dreams is only a hindrance of her own goals by creating a negative habit and mindset. Thirty-something Jing-Mei finally sees and regrets the mindset she stubbornly clings to. The choice has always been hers to decide who she will become and what goals she will dream and pursue. Her only goal is to disappoint her mother. Jing-Mei limits herself by acting on what she won't do instead of what she will do. Her actions lay the foundation for a negative mindset that is

Parallel Structure for ACT English Grammar Rule

Parallel Structure for ACT English Grammar Rule SAT / ACT Prep Online Guides and Tips Parallel structure is a grammar rule that is often referenced yet often misunderstood. After reading this article, you’ll comprehend parallel structure and be able to correctly answer ACT English questions that test your knowledge of parallel structure. Because you will most likely see parallel structure questions on the ACT, let’s learn this rule and raise your ACT English score. In this post, I'll do the following: Explain parallel structure. Detail the types of parallel structure questions on the ACT English section. Offer strategies to correctly answer parallel structure questions. Provide additional practice questions to test you on what you've learned. What Is Parallel Structure? Parallel structure means using the same pattern of words for two or more words or ideas in a sentence. Using parallel structure shows that the words or ideas have the same level of importance and makes the sentence easier to understand. The basic parallel structure rule is that the things in a list should be in the same grammatical form. If you're listing three things, the construction of that list should benoun, noun, noun,orverb, verb, verb,orgerund, gerund, gerund,etc. Any inconsistency within the list is an error in parallel structure. Here's an example of a sentence with an error in parallel structure: LeBron James often dunks, steals, and blocking the basketball. The sentence is listing three things that LeBron James does with the basketball. The first two things are verbs. The last thing, "blocking," is in the gerund form. A gerund is a verb that acts like a noun and ends in "ing." All three things should be in the same grammatical form. To correct the error in parallel structure, the last item in the list should be in the verb form, too. Here's what the sentence looks life after it's corrected: LeBron James often dunks, steals, and blocks the basketball. Now all the items on the list match. Excellent! So how does the ACT English section test your knowledge of parallel structure? Parallel Structure on the ACT There are two primary types of parallel structure questions that appear in ACT English. Parallelism Type #1: Lists The example from above was a parallel structure list sentence. Generally, in list questions, three things are listed and you have to verify that all the items in the list are in the same grammatical form. This is another "list" sentence that contains a parallel structure error: Martin Luther King is admired for his courage, his dedication, and being intelligent. Can you recognize the parallel structure error? The first two items are nouns, traits that people admire in MLK. In the last item, "being intelligent," the word "being" is a gerund and "intelligent" is an adjective that describes MLK. We want all three items in the list to have the same construction. After fixing the parallel structure error, this is our sentence: Martin Luther King is admired for his courage, his dedication, and his intelligence. All of the list items are in the same form. The sentence reads better and the structure is parallel. Let's go over some tips for how to figure out parallel structure list questions on the ACT. ACT English Strategy To correctly answer parallel structure list questions, first identify that there is a list of items. Usually the list will look like this: x, y, and z. Make sure that the commas are separating items in a list and are not just separating clauses. Once you have identified the list, determine whether the items in the list are as consistent with the other items in the list as possible. How do we do that? Break down each item in the list by identifying the parts of speech of the words and make sure that all the items match. We want each item to be in the same grammatical form. After breaking down the list items, there should be no inconsistencies. Once we fixed our previous example sentence, the items in the list included "courage" (noun), "dedication" (noun), and "intelligence" (noun). While the list questions are relatively basic, there's a second type of parallel structure question that can be a bit more challenging. ParallelismType #2: Phrases Parallel structure phrase questions are slightly more complicated than list questions, but they follow the same principle. The parallel structure rule regarding phrases is that the construction of a phrase on one side of a conjunction must match the construction of the phrase on the other side of the conjunction as closely as possible. Definition of a Conjunction Conjunctions are words that connect phrases or clauses. Examples of common conjunctions includeand, or, but,andso.Some of you may be familiar with the acronym FANBOYS. It stands for For, And, Nor, But, Or, Yet, So. Those are all conjunctions. Additionally, there are correlative conjunctions, also known as word pairs. Literally, these words come in pairs. The items correlative conjunctions compare follow each half of the word pair. Examples of word pairs include either...or, not only...but also, as...as, and both...and. Conjunctions!! Example Sentences Now that we know the rule and the definition of a conjunction, we can learn how this rule should be applied. This is a sentence with a parallel structure error: The ACT English section challenges students and frustration is found in them. There are two items in the sentence: the two things that the ACT English section does. The two items are connected by the conjunction "and." Let's break down each item by the parts of speech of the words in each item. The first item, "challenges students," is VERB+ NOUN. The second item that follows the conjunction is "frustration is found in them." That phrase's construction is NOUN + VERB + ADJECTIVE + PREPOSITION + PRONOUN. Even if you struggle identifying the parts of speech of certain words, you should be able to immediately recognize that the phrases are not consistent and the sentence has a parallel structure error. So how do we correct the sentence? We change the wording in the phrase following "and" to match the VERB + NOUN construction of the first phrase. This is the corrected version of the sentence: The ACT English section challenges students and frustrates them. The corrected sentence should appear more consistent and read better to you. Now the phrases have the same construction and there's no longer a parallel structure error. Also, it's perfectly acceptable to use a pronoun in the place of a noun as long as the pronoun has a clear antecedent. In case there's any lingering confusion, let's go over another example: Kanye West displays both reprehensible behavior at awards showsandon late night talk shows behaving bizarrely. The two items in the sentence are two things that Kanye West displays. Those things are connected by the word pair "both..and." Again, let's break down the parts of speech of the words in those things. Phrase #1 is "reprehensible behavior at awards shows," and "reprehensible"=ADJECTIVE, "behavior"=NOUN, and "at awards shows"=PREPOSITIONAL PHRASE. The basic construction of phrase #1 is ADJECTIVE + NOUN + PREPOSITIONAL PHRASE. Phrase #2 is "on late night talk shows behaving bizarrely." What is the construction of phrase #2? Well, "on late night talk shows"=PREPOSITIONAL PHRASE, "behaving"=GERUND, and "bizarrely"=ADVERB. The construction of phrase #2 is PREPOSITIONAL PHRASE + GERUND + ADVERB. We want the constructions of the phrases to match as closely as possible. Think about how you could change the sentence to fix the parallel structure error. Here's the corrected version of the sentence: Kanye West displays both reprehensible behavior at awards shows and bizarre behavior on late night talk shows. I changed phrase #2 to match the construction of phrase #1. Both phrases are now in the form of ADJECTIVE + NOUN + PREPOSITIONAL PHRASE. Check it out: "bizarre"=ADJECTIVE, "behavior"=NOUN, and "on late night talk shows"=PREPOSITIONAL PHRASE.Success! The constructions of the phrases match and the sentence is easier to understand. ACT EnglishStrategy If you see a conjunction connecting or comparing two items, identify the items. Then, break down the words in each item by their parts of speech and determine each phrase's construction. Make sure that the phrases are parallel. The construction of the phrases should match as closely as possible. Also, a preposition used on one side of a conjunction or word pair must appear on the other side. Look at this example with a parallel structure error: The mixed martial artist was complimented not only for his tenacity but also in his technique. In the above sentences, the prepositions "for" and "in" correspond with "complimented." The sentence is saying that the mixed martial artist was "complimented for" this and "complimented in" that. Hopefully, your knowledge of idioms would tell you that it's incorrect to use the expression "complimented in." Even if you weren't aware of the idiom error, to keep the sentence consistent and follow parallel structure rules, use the same preposition before and after "but also." This is how the sentence should look: The mixed martial artist was complimented not only for his tenacity but also for his technique. Let's apply these strategies and our knowledge of parallel structure to actual examples from the ACT English section. Actual ACT Examples Look at the following question from a real ACT and determine if there is an error in parallel structure. As a young woman, she wrote of pining for a valentine and of visiting the Chinese museum in Boston. F. NO CHANGE G. visiting to H. of her visiting to J. of her visiting at Explanation: There is nothing grammatically incorrect within the phrase "of visiting." Let's look at the phrase's function within the sentence. It follows the conjunction "and," and it's one of two things that she wrote about. For the sentence to be parallel in structure, the phrases before and after the conjunction should have as close to the same construction as possible. Phrase #1 is "of pining." After breaking down the words in the phrase, we can determine that the construction of that phrase is "OF" + GERUND. Phrase #2, "of visiting," also has the construction "OF" + GERUND. The phrases are parallel. The answer is F. If you're wondering why I didn't include "for a valentine" and "the Chinese museum in Boston," those phrases just provide descriptive information about what she pined for and where she visited; they do not alter the basic construction of the sentence. Here's another parallel structure phrase question from an ACT. Others, salt-encrusted, "sleep" in ancient caverns, waking after centuries to feed and to be bred. A. NO CHANGE B. for breeding C. to breed D. breeding Explanation: There's nothing wrong within the phrase "to be bred," but what's the phrase's function within the sentence? It's one of two listed reasons why the others wake after centuries. The reasons are connected by the conjunction "and." Reason #1 is "to feed." The construction of that phrase is simply an INFINITIVE ("to" + verb). Reason #2's construction is INFINITIVE + PAST PARTICIPLE. Even if you were unsure of the part of speech of "bred," you should notice that the construction of reason #2 is inconsistent with that of reason #1. To make the phrases parallel, reason #2 should be in the infinitive form. The answer is C. Here are some general tips to help you correctly answer parallel structure questions on the ACT. General Strategies for Parallel Structure SAT Writing Questions #1: Any Word or Phrase Underlined Within a List Indicates a Possible Error in Parallel Structure When you see a list of items, make sure that all those items are in the same grammatical form. #2: Make Sure Phrases that Appear Before and After Conjunctions are Parallel The "phrase" parallel structure questions tend to be more difficult. Common conjunctions and correlative conjunctions (word pairs) include and, but, not only...but also, so...that, at once...and, both...and, either...or, as...as #3: Break Down the Construction of Items Within a List or Phrase Identify the parts of speech of words within a list or phrases that precede and succeed a conjunction. Make sure the construction of the items matches as closely as possible. I've created some realistic practice problems to test you on your knowledge of parallel structure. Additional Practice Apply what you've learned in this article to help answer the following realistic ACT parallel structure questions. 1. More than twice as many people inhabit Nigeria as Ethiopia. A. NO CHANGE B. as in Ethiopia C. than Ethiopia D. as inhabit Ethiopia 2. Unsurprisingly, the diligent student completed his homework punctually, studied the material thoroughly, and his presentations were delivered well. A. NO CHANGE B. his presentations were well delivered C. delivered his presentations well. D. his delivery was good on his presentations. 3. Greg reached his dream not only of having a family but also of becoming a successful entrepreneur. A. NO CHANGE B. to become C. becoming D. became 4. Before leaving your house on the morning of the ACT, make sure you have pencils, a snack, and remembering a calculator. A. NO CHANGE B. a calculator C. to remember a calculator D. have had remembered a calculator 5. Because Matt does not get enough sleep, he has difficulty focusing and to stay alert. A. NO CHANGE B. stays C. staying D. OMIT the underlined portion Answers: 1. D, 2. C, 3. A, 4. B, 5. C What's Next? I commend you for putting in the effort to improve your ACT scores. Your investment should pay off. As you continue to study for the ACT English section, make sure you check out this post on 5 critical concepts to ace ACT English. Also, I highly recommend that you read this article about commas on the ACT. For those of you wondering whether the SAT or ACT is better for you, review this thorough breakdown of SAT Writing vs. ACT English. Want to improve your ACT score by 4 points? Check out our best-in-class online ACT prep program. We guarantee your money back if you don't improve your ACT score by 4 points or more. Our program is entirely online, and it customizes what you study to your strengths and weaknesses. If you liked this English lesson, you'll love our program.Along with more detailed lessons, you'll get thousands ofpractice problems organized by individual skills so you learn most effectively. We'll also give you a step-by-step program to follow so you'll never be confused about what to study next. Check out our 5-day free trial:

4 Ways That Business Writing Courses Can Improve Your Grammar

4 Ways That Business Writing Courses Can Improve Your Grammar Even the best writers the ones who make six figures writing for the most prestigious magazines and websites slip up with their grammar; though, fortunately for them, they have full-time editors who catch those rare mistakes. But for the hard-working business employee who is juggling six different projects at once, sitting down for long hours of proofreading the kind of intense refining process that a professional writer undergoes is simply not practical. But the hard truth is that in the business world impeccable writing skills is a must, whether you're writing marketing pitches, internal reports, or a proposal. That's where business writing courses come in. Writing courses can improve your awareness of grammar, for example, to such a degree that your work does not require much proofreading. Before you know it, you become a grammar master who instantly knows the answers to common grammar conundrums like these four: 1. Affect vs. Effect Possibly one of the most common errors in business writing (or any writing, for that matter) is the confusion over using "affect" or "effect." Fortunately, the usage follows a simple rule. If you memorize it, this grammar pitfall will never trouble you again. "Affect" is a verb. "Effect" is a noun. Example: The presentation affected my understanding of sales. However, if you try to phrase the sentence this way, "The presentation had an effect on my sales," you are no longer using the verb "affect." You've switched to the verb "had." The word "effect" is a noun because it is the thing that the presentation "had." 2. Sink, Sank, and Then I Sunk - Help! This is another example of confusing verb tenses. In an email your colleague writes, "Our profits sunk last quarter, but that company's earnings also sunk." With the verb "to sink," the present tense is "sink." The past tense is "sank," and the past participle is "sunk," which is always paired with the auxiliary verb "had." Your colleague is using the past participle instead of using the past tense. The correct version: "Our profits sank last quarter, but that company's earnings also sank." 3. Should I Use "Shall" or "Will?" This is a situational problem. If you are using "shall" in the third person i.e. he shall complete that report then it obliges the subject of the sentence to perform the verb. In other words, it is a command. It's like when your mother says, "You shall clean your room," in a very authoritative tone. However, if you're using "shall" in the first person, there is no sense of obligation. It means simply that you intend to do that action sometime in the future: "I shall go to the cafeteria today." When you use the word "will" in the first person I will complete this spreadsheet it expresses a sense of determination. It is meant to convey your strong desire to do whatever is necessary to complete the task. But when you use "will" in the third person i.e. he will leave work early today it simply indicates that the person will do something in the future. 4. I "Sit," But She "Set" An easy way to remember when to use "sit" or "set" is to ask this question, "Is someone placing an object somewhere?" If the answer is yes, you use "set." For example, someone wants to bring some indoor plants into the office. They ask you where to put them. You would use the transitive verb "set" which always requires a direct object: "Set them on the window sill." If there is no direct object involved if no one is placing anything anywhere and you're just talking about people being in a location you would use "sit": "He sits at the conference table." This also applies to nouns that are not being moved by anyone i.e. The computer sits on the table. But if Bob comes over and moves the computer to the table, you would say, "Bob set the computer on the table." All of our business writing courses include instructor review of your individual grammar issues, resources, and correction strategies. Improve your grammar so that you spend less time proofreading and more time working. Not sure which course is right for you?

Importance of employee performance management in retail Industry Essay

Importance of employee performance management in retail Industry - Essay Example Moreover, by evaluating and analyzing the performances of the organizations as well as the performance of the individuals working in the organizations, the management is able to formulate strategies that could further help in improving the productivity of the organization. Therefore it can be said that the performance management tools and performance management of employees help in improving productivity as well as in helping firms to gain competitive advantage. According to Armstrong (2006), employee performance management is the process in which employees are provided with significant opportunities to develop and nurture their skills and knowledge for the achievement of organizational goals and objectives. Having mutual understanding between the manager and the employees is quite essential in the employee performance management as the employees tend to maximize their efforts for the accomplishment of organizational goals (Leopold et al, 2005). Therefore, establishing employee perfo rmance management is quite essential for the organization to increase its overall productivity along with the level of performance in the market. Performance management is a process that ensures improvement in both quantity and quality of work and activities taken into consideration by the organization. In addition, the process helps the organization in aligning all the activities with the organizational goals and objectives (Leopold et al, 2005). By identifying the areas of improvements and areas where the organization has its strengths, the organization is in a better position to make important strategic decisions and help in achieving competitive advantage particularly when the organization is operating in a highly competitive industry such as retail industry. The level of competition in the retail environment has significantly risen and the organization has to deal with variety of employees, due to which the implementation of performance management has become a necessity to achi eve the organizational goals while sustaining the business for long-run in the market (Jones et al, 2005). The purpose of this study is to evaluate the process of employee performance management. In order to do so, the importance and benefits associated with the employee performance management have been taken into consideration. Moreover, the retail industry within UK’s competitive environment has also been taken into consideration. For the effective evaluation of employee performance management, a case study of the UK retail industry has been presented in the study. Lastly, recommendations have been provided with an aim to help the organizations operating in retail industry to enhance the level of performance along with the overall productivity within the competitive retail landscape. EMPLOYEE PERFORMANCE MANAGEMENT Employee performance management, in simpler words is the process that allows the establishment of shared workforce understanding by motivating the managers and e mployees to have mutual understanding regarding the attainment of organizational goals and objectives. Employee performance management ensures that the employees would work towards the attainment of desired organizational goals rather than just the personal goals. With the help of this process, the objectives of the

Joyce Carol Oates' in the region of ice Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Joyce Carol Oates' in the region of ice - Essay Example The story also can be viewed as the footprints of the great changes that were taking place in the US society. Indeed Joyce Carol Oates depicts the details of the convent life of the era. This is the depiction of the era that entrepreneurs a trend to oppose any form of repression existing in any form of the society. The fact that Sister Irene, the nun of the story runs off to solve her student Alan’s problem refers to the socializing trend in the activities of the Church. This is the modern trend in the profession of religious personnel as Sister Irene in her modern outfit wearing an abbreviated veil represents the young nuns of the late 60s or 70s. Also the story puts a serious question for it readers whether the rules and regulations that apparently ignore the human instincts are validated enough. The arousal of the carnal instincts of the nun by a psychotic boy clearly indicates the failure of religion as to the repression of the human instincts. If approached from a psychoanalytic point of view the story yields an interpretation of the inner core of human mind. It seems to me that the nun is carried away with her student’s problem because of the reason that he represents her male â€Å"other† in many ways. In the story Allan appears to be impulsive, unreasonable, and rebellious. Sister Irene’s passion for the student can be viewed as her charm for her â€Å"self† that is revealed in Allan’s character. She sees herself that is proud, egoistic, rebellious, impulsive, etc, in him. On this point Allan can be viewed as the forbidden aspect of herself. I think, though the story, â€Å"In the Region of Ice† is a well thought story laden with psychoanalytical implications of human mind, it seems that the skeleton of the story is yet to be fleshed out with the details of its characters. The characters seem to be more of sketches than of full fledged

Business Environments And Companies

Business Environments And Companies The relationship between business environment and companies is very significant. The companies could be affected by external and internal environment. When the current economy is in bloom, how a company grabs the chance and stands on leadership. Contrarily, what if the economy is fading, how companies can survive from it, even make higher profits than before. Although the good economy situation can inspire companies to be successful easier, but it is not the only factor to operate business, it is more rather to take integrated strategies and analysis. For examples, five forces model and balanced scorecard are useful for companies to deal with the unexpected change of business environment to improve the business performance. In this Study, researcher will discuss the critical points of how companies deal with the economy both bloom and crisis. In addition, selected companies will be the major to discuss. External and Internal Environment External environment has effect on companies performance. Companies must develop the skills required on to identify opportunities and threats existing in external environment. It is challenging and complex. There are three major parts in external environment: The general environment has six segments: demographic, economic, political/legal, sociocultural, technological, and global. In terms of economic segment, according to Hoskisson, the economic environment refers to the nature and direction of the economy in which a firm competes or may compete ( Hoskisson, 2005) There are five aspects could be affected by Economic factor, which are income, inflation, recession, interest rate, exchange rate, moreover, there are also four major elements that affect business environment. The elements are economic growth, the business cycle, employment and unemployment. However, economic factors are the main elements that affect financial matters of a business like interest rates, tax and stock markets. While the economy is growing, it could be a critical effect for companys success, but it not the only reason for company to succeed. The marketing department of a company is doing market research, market analysis, market strategy, and sales. It should focus on the economic situation whether the demand, prices and sales are going to be affected or not in current and future. Analyzing economic plays a very important role in determining actions a firm should take. So growth economy is good for companies success. In the time of economic growth when demand and sales increase, unemployment falls, and production goes up. Companies would consider how to accommodate these changes and adjust production and sales strategy as well as prices accordingly. For example, if peoples income increase, customer are willing to buy products. The total demand from customers rises. Then the companies will increase its production .This will lead an increase number of the sales of companies. Companies earn mor e profit. But on the other side, during the economic growing time, because of the increase of peoples income, the unemployment decrease and firms are in need of more workers. Trying to find employees become more difficult. Companies should provide develop and foster programs aimed at increasing employee satisfaction retain its workers. Then companies have to make additional efforts in recruitment in order to get labor. The taxation can affect the business because companies have to pay tax to the government on the energy they are using or have to pay some profit that they make to the government as tax. Interest rates are charged on every loan that a business takes from the bank. This can affect a business because if they keep on borrowing the loan they would have to pay extra money back to the bank this can affect a business in making profit. So the growth economic has double influence for success of business. When economic growth is becoming slow or inflation, the demand and sales are falling. Company will try to cut production and selling costs. When unemployment rate is rising, companies must deal with issues associated with lying off firms employees. The human resource department of companies should take necessary actions to make this process less painful and less problematic as possible for both the company and its employees. In difficult times, for examples, GFC, wars, terrorism and government instability are the main elements in influencing on business. Business may have more threats if there is a war. It is a warming sign if companies receive threat realized. It could make companies to be unable to pay full salaries, which means employees would default on mortgage and debit payments, triggering a meltdown in the lending and retail sectors and ripples out into wider economic disruption. Terrorism affects can be far reaching into commerce and trade, reaching businesses like communica tion systems, the Internet, medical systems like hospitals, as well as trade and transportation.It does not seem entirely farfetched to imagine that in some instances, barriers meant to safeguard populations from terrorism would actually amplify the risk: poor countries that might have to slow exports because of the cost of security measures are at risk, because of the effects of poverty, of political destabilization and rad.The party in government has a large say in what happens in the economy. If they put up taxes, then the disposable incomes of people tends to go down. With a reduction in income, people tend to be more cautious about how they spend their money. Industries are populated with different strategic groups and industry environment has direct effect on the firms strategic actions. Its competitive actions and competitive responses: the threat of new entrants, the power of suppliers, the power of buyers, the threat of product substitutes and the intensity of rivalry among competitors. This is Porters five forces of competition model. In total the interactions among these five forces determine an industry where an industrys profit potential. The greater a firms capacity to favorably influence its industry environment, the greater is the likelihood that the firm will earn above-average returns. The last part of the external environment is competitor environment. Competitor analysis focuses on each company against which a firm directly competes. Crucial to an effective competitor analysis is gathering data and information that can help the firm understand its competitors intentions and the strategic implications resulting from them. It informs the firm about the future objectives, current strategies , assumptions, and capabilities of the companies with whom it compete directly. Internal environment The final step of the Environmental Analysis is internal environment. It consists of identifying resources and capabilities (in the form of the value chain), finding competencies, and determining what competitive advantages (hopefully sustainable) the organization has. The internal environmental assessment, along with the external evaluation (macro and micro environment) already completed will provide all the information needed for the final SWOT Analysis.Resources, capabilities, and competencies should be evaluated with respect to goals, strategy, and the vision statement of the organization. RESOURCES Resources can simply divide into two parts, tangible and intangible. For example: tangible resources: financial, organizational, physical, and technological resources; intangible resources: human, innovation, and reputational resources. CAPABILITIES Capabilities are the firms capacity to deploy resources that have been purposely integrated to achieve a desired end state. There is a method to evaluate the firms capabilities. (figure is below)INBOUND LOGISTICS Inbound logistics covers everything that has to do with the obtaining, purchasing, storing, distributing (internally), and managing raw inputs, components, materials, and services. OPERATIONS Operations consist of all the processes, assets, and costs of turning raw materials into a final product or service. Facilities (and maintenance), workers, designers, quality assurance, environmental protection, equipment, and assembly processes would be included in the evaluation of Operations OUTBOUND LOGISTICS Outbound logistics encompasses all of the resources, capabilities, and processes required to distribute the final product or service. Examples of outbound logistic items are warehousing, packaging, shipping, delivery vehicles (and maintenance), order picking, finished goods inventory control, distributor and customer supply chain management (CRM customer relationship management). SALES AND MARKETING Sales and Marketing is considered everything associated with marketing the product or service. The sales force, personal selling, advertising, promotion, market research, web site, and dealer or distributor support are a few examples of Sales and Marketing. SERVICE Service is associated with providing assistance to the customer. Some Service examples are installation, warranty work, maintenance, complaints, questions, repair, and technical assistance. COMPETENCIES Competencies are accomplished by evaluating the organizations resources and capabilities and benchmarking. Benchmarking may be done on several levels: industry, primary competition, and prior performance. Although the book focuses primarily on cost, benchmarking may also be accessed through efficiency and effectiveness. Some examples of efficiency benchmarking might be number of defective widgets produced; hours of downtime for machine X; or number of days from sale to delivery. Efficiency types of measures should be used in conjunction with standard financial measures of benchmarking such as days in inventory or asset turnover ratios. Finally, compare the organizations RCCs (especially the competencies) to the competition or industry. Make a note of those competencies in which the organization has an advantage over the industry or competition these are most likely the core competencies and competitive advantage. Cases analysis ( DELL, Apple and Intel ) DELL- The Five Forces Models The five forces model is developed by Michael Porter whom is a Harvard professor and called the godfather of contemporary strategic management. The five forces model is a strategic analysis tool, and the five forces which are following: bargaining power of suppliers, bargaining power of buyers, threat of new entrants, threat of substitutes and rivalry among competitors. The way to apply the five forces model on a retail business is easy, simply considering each one of these five forces individually as they exist in the external environment. In terms of Dell, Dell Computer Corporation, established in October 1987, and it is defined as a computer systems company and a provider of computing products and services. Dells primary product provides enterprise systems, desktop computers and laptop computer systems. Dell also markets and sells Dell/EMC storage products under a long-term strategic relationship with EMC Corporation The Company provides targeted services for consulting, deployment and support, as well as an extensive selection of peripheral hardware, including hand-held products, and computing software. The Company conducts operations worldwide through wholly owned subsidiaries. Sales outside the United States accounted for approximately 35% of the Companys revenues during the fiscal year ended February 1, 2002 (fiscal 2002). Bargaining power of suppliers Large number of suppliers for components like hardware, keyboards, etc. But two major inputs are monopolized Microsoft standard for all PCs Intel standard for most PCs .High switching costs. Dell known for low cost and best quality computer, laptop and server manufacturer in the industry. The key behind dell success is maintaining better relationship and collaboration with the supplier of computer hardware and software Bargaining power of buyers Highly price sensitive. Reliability and customer service become important factors. Dells products are very reliable and customer service is outstanding. These two factors help Dell to create certain brand royalty. But thats given the fact that the Company set the prices very low. If the prices are raised too high, customers will not hesitate to switch. Threat of new entrants The level of threat of new entrants of Dell is moderate. And the reasons for Dell are low capital investment for independent stores, and low product differentiation, brand name may be a barrier to entry, low economies of scale, no legal or governmental barriers, and decreasing profitability indicates that there is a threat of new entrants Threat of substitutes In U.S.A, computer is a main device in daily life, it is almost one computer for every three people there. And the only substitute for PC is Apple Computer. However, the higher price and lack of software support prevent people from switching to Apple system. Competitive rivalry within an industry the main points of the competitive environment within this industry are high concentration price war, low margin, decreasing profitability, and Low differentiation. For example, Dell.com offers computers and laptops of high quality at low prices as compared to the competitors. EBay.com is a place where people like to go to purchase products online at low price However, in the midst of sever competition, Dell can still grow his market share in this campaign. That is a proof of Dells business strategies has been successful. Apple- The Five Forces Models Apple Inc. (previously Apple Computer, Inc.) is an American corporation that designs and markets personal computers, computer software, computer system, and personal eletronic device. The most popular products of Apple Inc. include Mac personal computers, iPod, iPhone and iPad. Apple software includes the Mac OS X operating system. August 2010, the company operates 301 retail stores within ten countries, and an online store where hardware and software products are sold. As of May 2010, Apple is one of the largest companies in the world and the most valuable technology company in the world, even having surpassed Microsoft. In terms of five forces model, there are 2 main points need to be discuss Threats of substitutes Apples entertainment products have face the threats of substitutes. For examples, satellite radio for music (XM, Sirius), entertainment media, media and music (XBOX, PS2), alternative means to acquire music (Music CDs, DVDs), alternative sources for videos (Cable, Broadcast, Theatres) Competitive rivalry within an industry Apples main products are in an extremely competitive war. For example, Windows OS and media player for playing music and video ( Microsoft), the Linux also treat Mac OS X as his main Competitor, alternate sources of computer hardware (Dell, HP, Lenovo), small stylish MP3 players (Creative, Samsung, Sony), and online music stores similar to itunes stores (Napster) However, the products Apple sells and the services Apple offers are not the best in this industry, but they are always standing on the first place. The main reason for Apple could be Marketing, Apple always knows how to get customers, even their products and services in technological aspect are not the best, but they know what customers want and need, and focus on it. Intel -Balanced Scorecard analysis The balanced scorecard is a strategic planning and management system that is utilized in organization, government, and nonprofit organizations worldwide to align business activities to the vision and strategy of the organization, in order to improve internal and external communications, and monitor business performance against strategic goals. It was developed by Drs. Robert Kaplan (Harvard Business School) and David Norton.The balanced scorecard has evolved from its early utilise as a simple performance measurement framework to a full strategic planning and In terms of Intel, Intel Corporation is an US global technology company and the worlds largest semiconductor chip maker, based on revenue. Intel was founded on July 18, 1968, as Integrated Electronics Corporation.It is the inventor of the x86 series of microprocessors, the processors found in most personal computers. The company is located in Santa Clara,California, USA. Intel also makes flash memory, network motherboard chipsets and graphic chips, and other devices related to communications and computing. Financial perspective A technology company that excels in many operational disciplines can still struggle if its product development decisions are flawed. Product management decisions within technology companies need to be based in part on the estimated and measured return on product development expense. A clear, consistent practice for analyzing RoI and applying it in decision making must be driven vertically and horizontally throughout the organization. Such a practice is an inherent requirement to realizing consistent decision making and communicating product investment decisions Customer perspective Technology customers will typically have strong belief systems underpinning what supplier they do business with and what products/services they purchase. They require the ability to interact with the suppliers organization, and will grade the supplier on how successful those interactions are. Its of strategic importance that customer facing personnel, and those in support roles, place a priority on that customer interaction consistently being a positive one Internal business process Assessing, re-assessing and re-re-assessing market demand is imperative. The trend for increasing rate of change in technology markets has no end in sight. A technology company cannot rely on one market assessment at one point in time to guide project priorities. Market assessment needs to be continuous. Learning and growth As stated earlier, the path to marketplace disruption begins with the introduction of enabling technologies. There are many paths to obtaining such enabling technologies, which do not require the risk and expense of basic research and development. Yet, for the technology company to be a leader, its of strategic importance to continually lead in the identification and application of technologies that enable use models and workflows in the marketplace. Conclusion To sum up, the economy is unexpected changeable, while the economy is in good time plus company continuously takes the right strategies, it could be easier for company to succeed in their own business adventure. What if the economy is falling? Companies still need to have the correct strategies operating in their business to avoid the failure, even take the critical time to gain more market share in order to make more profits. According to the examples and cases which are all above in previous chapters, Researcher would like to say that take better strategies can always make companies running on the right track, even shrink the loss in bad economy time.

Ethnicity and Police Essay

Understanding the usual representation of law enforcement among individuals in a neighborhood provides a meaningful indicator of support for the establishment between his government. Require knowledge of how people as a whole describe the application of law is a critical first step in increasing the connections between police and communities. This is why studies are distinguished ward movement of factors of policing. Furthermore, the rules of public representation of the application of the law can be compared. The production of this representation, establishments can learn if your printing is increasing or decreasing overtime, or if he or she is held in high esteem or lower estimates on people living in a neighborhood compared to other law enforcement in other neighborhoods. General versus specific measures argue that inconsistencies in the enforcement picture revealed in public opinion polls as a result of questioning format. The number of people living in a community that reported a positive law enforcement image presented general questions ranged from 75 % to 80 %. However, the decisive answer about one – sixth one half when individuals were given studies. They have evaluated different universes of meaning and are not just artifacts of meaningless comparisons of these measures. Factors that influence the overall image of the police and some of the causes that determine the overall image of law enforcement. Although it is unfinished several factors believed to influence the overall image are factors other than law enforcement people looked not over yet.One of the most compelling discussions on the general image of law enforcement is the way it is determined by the final result. Law enforcement makes, for example, control of crime, and enforcement methods used to create those results with equity and other views of the methods of enforcement. The processes are discussed further in the remainder of this paper, but the focus is on three types of power in the general image of the police: distinctive personal traits of people living in a neighborhood when asked to make a assessment , the nature of the contract that citizens have recently had with the police, and the media portrays of law enforcement and serious offenders. One of the most current findings of opinion polls about law enforcement is white individuals are happier with the police than other breeds. This information has been used for the past 40 years, leaving dozens of surveys in the United States and in other areas. An example of people living in a neighborhood are satisfied with law enforcement in 12 different areas. In fact , this information was retrieved by the Bureau of Justice Statistics , in 1998 , 90 % of whites were satisfied with law enforcement compared with 76% of African Americans and other races. In addition, Wisconsin 97 % of whites were happy with the police, while 91 % of African Americans were satisfied with the implementation of the law. Much of the data shows a positive relationship between age and attitude toward law enforcement. People under 18 who show less satisfaction with the police than adults. In a survey has not been reported for adolescents, insinuates that age can make a difference when older individuals compared to adolescents. However, this is only based on a survey conducted in a city, and another study reported that older people had a less favorable attitude towards the law enforcement adolescents. In other words, a teen does not mind the age of the adults, but decreases satisfaction and increases with age adolescents. The ratio of male or female satisfaction with the implementation of the law is not clear. Two surveys found that males have a more positive attitude concerning women just law enforcement. However, another study found that, as the male or female gender made no difference. Therefore, these two conflicting studies on gender does not make a big difference when it comes to law enforcement, but men are known to have a much better attitude toward law enforcement than women. Other influences such as color, what age is a man or woman are more familiar distinctive hesitate to police. However, many researchers found that people living in the middle class areas have a better attitude with the police. In fact, people who use scientific methods do not check that differences are different. There are two different aspects of influences. One is that people have different and distinctive relationships with law enforcement characteristics. Teenagers are more likely to be impartial because of  constant arrested, searched, given an input, placed under arrest, and given a warning over elderly. Two people coming from different backgrounds have different views on law enforcement and different ways to view events. Blacks and whites descriptions are similar, but African Americans have more selfish motives to the police for the reason African Americans are known to live in the slums and poor areas where violent crimes occur. Was to found people living in an area qualifies the process more generally, and seem to be more satisfied with the police, but . However, they found different demeanors are stronger when it comes to judges, lawyers, the courts and the legal system. Behavior towards the police are also related to the degree of participation in the political system. From the information mentioned herein are black people or white both have similar but different views of law enforcement based on the individual near also puts a live different perspective of how each race application views of the law, because African Americans are known to live in the slums and poor areas compared with white individuals living in areas of high middle class. Age also has some aspects in this because adolescents are compared to older adults. None of them should make a difference all people should be treated equally, regardless of race, gender, age and the district he or she resides and application of the law must be respected. In conclusion, there are several factors that are mentioned in this document illustrating African Americans and whites and how these two races are law enforcement. Age, gender, race, social statutes, economic, neighborhood effects and other influences play an important role in how individuals look to law enforcement. However, in some cases, African Americans are stopped, searched, cited, arrested, and given warning over elderly. Therefore, one can say that, under the law there is a difference in how it treats individuals. References Brown, K. & Coulter, P.B. (1983, January – February) ‘’Subjective and Objective Measures of Police Delivery† Public Administration Review, Bureau of Justice Statistics and the Office of Community Oriented Policing Services. (1999). Criminal Victimization and Perceptions of Policing, 22 Hindeland, R.J. (1994) â€Å"Citizens Preference and Perceptions Concerning Police Pursuit Policies† Journal of Criminal Justice 22 ()