Fed And Monetary Policy Essays - Monetary Policy,

Fed And Monetary Policy Justin McVay Period 4 Macroeconomics Term Paper FEDERAL RESERVE AND MONETARY POLICY Monetary policy affects the economic and financial decisions of virtually all of us from workers to borrowers to investors (Rukeyser 105). Louis Rukeyser wrote, If we want monetary policy to play its proper role in a true national economic reconstruction, the authentic task is to get the Fed to stop bouncing like a Chinese Ping-Pong ball, switching every few months between the inflationary effect of pumping far too much money into the economy and cramping, recessionary effect of supplying far to little (Rukeyser 104). And, because the US is the largest economy in the world, its monetary policy also has significant economic and financial effects on other countries. The object of monetary policy is to influence the performance of the economy, as reflected in such factors as inflation, economic output, and employment. It does so by affecting demand. Most people are familiar with the fiscal policy tools that affect demand, such as taxes and government spending. Less familiar is monetary policy; it is conducted by the Federal Reserve System, the nation's central bank, and it influences demand mainly by raising and lowering short-term interest rates. The Federal Reserve System (the Fed) is the nation's central bank. It was established by an Act of Congress in 1913 and consists of the seven members of the Board of Governors in Washington, DC and twelve Federal Reserve District Banks. Congress structured the Fed to be independent within the government. What that means is although the Fed I accountable to Congress, it is insulated from day-to-day political pressures. This reflects the conviction held both the US and in many other countries that the people who control the country's money supply should be independent of the people who frame the government's spending decisions. Most studies of central bank independence rank the Fed among the most independent in the world (World 68). Each reserve bank President is appointed to a five-year term by that bank's Board of Directors, subject to final approval by the Board of Governors. This procedure adds to independence, because the directors of each reserve bank, who are not political appointees, provide a regional cross-section of interests, including depository institutions, nonfinancial businesses, labor, and the public. The Fed is structured to be self-sufficient in the sense that it meets its operation expenses primarily from the interest earnings on its portfolio of securities. Therefore, it is independent of Congressional decisions about funding. Even though the Fed is independent of Congressional funding and administrative control, it is ultimately accountable to Congress and comes under government audit and review. The Chairman, other governors, and Reserve Bank Presidents report regularly to the Congress on monetary policy, and a variety of other issues, and meet with senior Administration officials to discuss the Federal Reserve's and the federal government's economic programs (World 67). Within the Fed, the Federal Open Market Committee, or FOMC, has the primary responsibility for conducting monetary policy. The FOMC meets in Washington eight times a year and has twelve members: the seven members of the Board of Governors, the President of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, and four of the other Reserve Bank Presidents, who serve in rotation. The remaining Reserve Bank Presidents contribute to the committee's discussions and deliberations. In addition, the directors of each Reserve Bank contribute to monetary policy by making recommendations about the appropriate discount rate, which are subject to final approval by the Governors. The goals of US Monetary Policy according to the Federal Reserve Act states that they are to promote maximum employment, stable prices, and moderate long-term interest rates. The goals of monetary policy are inconsistent. The belief that a 4% unemployment rate and stable prices are inconsistent is shaped by the widely accepted natural rate hypothesis. It argues that monetary policy has no effect on the economy's long-run equilibrium unemployment rate, which is often called the natural rate of unemployment. The reason is that, in the long run, unemployment depends on so-called real factors such as technology and people's preferences for saving, risk, and work effort; these factors are beyond the reach of monetary policy. Most current estimates place the natural rate of unemployment in the range 5.75%

Cleave, Cleaver, and Clove

Cleave, Cleaver, and Clove Cleave, Cleaver, and Clove Cleave, Cleaver, and Clove By Maeve Maddox Sophia Bailey asks about the word cleave: Can you please explain cleave. On one hand it means to separate (cleaver butcher) and on the other it means to cling to (cleave to bosom). Huh? Old English had two verbs that have come to be spelled the same way in modern English: clifian: to adhere, to stick cleofan: to split, to separate Note: In these OE words, the letter f stands for the v sound. From clifian we get the cleave that means adhere or stick (in the glutinous sense). Therefore shall a man leave his father and his mother, and shall cleave unto his wife: and they shall be one flesh. (Genesis 2:24, King James version) She cleaved to him, and he could feel his blood changing like quicksilver (D.H. Lawrence, Women in Love (1920) Already married to a man who had ended up in prison, she cleaved to the outlaw†¦ (blog about Bonnie Parker and Clyde Barrow, with a 1995-2005 copyright notice.) †¦she cleaved to her Baptist views until her death. (a book review dated 1999) From cleofan we get the cleave that means cut in two. Order a side of beefthat’s half a cow, roughly 300 poundsand get it cut and cleaved any way you like. (ad for a meat company) A gyrocopter pilot drove towards a hunt supporter who was trying to stop him from taking off, cleaving his head from top to bottom, ..(grim story in the Telegraph, 19 October 2010) Cleofian was a strong verb in OE so we also have the past form clove: [they] conducted him into a vast room, clove a passage for him through the assembled nobility of England, [The knight] cut through all his head armour and his skin and his flesh and clove him in twain. he clove the rock, and the waters gushed out. .. the king seized hold of a huge sledge-hammer, and swinging it round his head, struck it with such force upon the anvil that he clove the massive block of iron in twain†¦, From cleofian we also get the words cleft, cloven and cleavage. Cleft can be used as a noun, as in a cleft in the rock, or as a an adjective meaning split or bifurcated. A cleft palate is a malformation involving a split or gap in the palate. The expression, to find oneself in a cleft stick, means to be in a dilemma, to be unable to go forward or return to ones initial position. The hoof of a pig or a goat can be described either as a cleft hoof or a cloven hoof. The latter has diabolical connotations because the Devil is often depicted in art as having the feet of a goat. The word cleavage is much used by geologists, biologists, and writers of celebrity gossip. cleavage: The action of cleaving or splitting crystals and certain rocks along their lines of natural fissure; the state of being so cleft. cleavage: Cell-division, segmentation. cleavage: The cleft between a womans breasts as revealed by a low-cut dà ©colletage. (colloquial) A cleaver, of course, is a butchers cutting tool. It can be of any shape, but the shape most often associated with it is that of a small hatchet. The noun clove, meaning the pointy bit that breaks off a bulb of garlic, is related to OE cleofian, to split. The noun clove meaning the spice comes from a word meaning nail, Anglo-French clowes, French clou, Latin clavus. Cloves are the dried flowerbuds of an evergreen tree. They resemble nails. Want to improve your English in five minutes a day? Get a subscription and start receiving our writing tips and exercises daily! Keep learning! Browse the Vocabulary category, check our popular posts, or choose a related post below:Apply to, Apply for, and Apply with20 Words Meaning "Being or Existing in the Past"Comma After Introductory Phrases

PR analysis of J crew Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

PR analysis of J crew - Essay Example Such strategies would also entail strategic use of the inner potentials and the lessening of internal weaknesses towards the overall goal of improving the profitability, brand image, and general performance of the company. According to Spencer and Rose (2010), J. Crew is an American multi-brand and multi-channel company that is based in New York, USA. The company remains one of the most recognized retailers in apparel and accessories, which is known for stylish products, good quality, and proper customer service. The products, which it offers, range from those for women and men to children clothing. These clothing include swimwear, outwear, belts, and loungewear. Apart from the clothing, it also offers bags and even hair accessories. It was started in 1989 by opening its first retail outlet in the south street seaport in Manhattan. Today, the company has more than 330 retail stores throughout the U.S. with about 13,100 employees. Due to its diversified products, this company falls in various industries, which include the clothing stores, retail sector, shoe stores, non-store retail, internet, and mail order retail industries. However, just like any other company, J. Crew has its own strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats. The company has for example been said to be lagging behind in social media and seems to have lost focus on their target customer. This has complicated matters for a company, which has well established competitors in its overcrowded retail environment. The company can therefore not avoid the need for a well-integrated PR program that can help it in connecting with its targeted audience in a meaningful way to win back their loyalty for the brand. Past and recent analyses establish the need for the improving the company’s potential through a strategic engagement of the various issues that attend to the issues of financial growth. Customer attraction and retention remain the major factors that shall

Case study/ final paper Study Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

/ final paper - Case Study Example Integrative approach however involves parties to a conflict in developing solution to a problem rather than seeking a decision while attitudinal structuring is a social based approach that aims at changing people’s behaviors in a set up and intraoganizational bargaining defines extensive discussion within an organizational framework. Either aspect of the theory therefore undermines summery dismissal without a defense opportunity. Another applicable theory to both parties is the contract theory that provides for legality of relationships based on terms and actions rather than intentions of parties to an agreement. It therefore has a legal basis for protecting parties interests (Miller and Jents 497; Denisi and Griffin 330). Initial jurisdiction of the case rests with the industrial court. The contract theory will prevail over the Behavioral theory of labor negotiations because of its foundations from common law that is a recognized source of law while the Behavioral theory of labor negotiations is a secondary approach to the judicial system. I would advise Fred that his action has legal consequences and recommend a favorable resolution outside court before Wilma seeks a legal address. His reference to payback and the mode of expression that communicated intense anger together with slamming of the door identifies apprehension to danger, amounting to tort of assault. A resolution outside the legal framework may therefore reduce or mitigate the possible consequences of Fred’s action if Wilma agrees to forgive him (Miller and Jentz 87). We are interested in recruiting Mr./Mrs. X (Name of applicant) for an important position in our organization, he/she has named you as a referee and we would wish gain the following information from you. The additional information on the applicant’s alcoholism does not change the proposed plan because the condition can be managed by a strong organizational culture. The search committee should be keen on

EMR feasability Article Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

EMR feasability - Article Example It is feasible to implement Electronic Medical Records (EMR) in hospitals that plan strategically to accomplish the inaugural state requirements of a meaningful use. EMR is an essential and exciting step towards the right direction. Currently in this rural area, there are no certified products of EMR in the market; however, the bodies responsible for certification are already planning to do so. This certification process and technological interoperability within the healthcare facilities have been awarded significant thought and attention by government officials and healthcare leaders. The feasibility of implementing EMR is limited with time; however, the process of implementation is very realistic and feasible. This will bring major changes in the healthcare industry; therefore the implementation process should be given top priority due to its feasibility. The paper has ascertained that creation of inter-related health systems, rather than stay alone silos of rural health care syste ms is a realistic opportunity to implement an EMR medical offices (Jones, 2008). The implementation of EMR is beneficial in the following ways; EMR improves greatly the quality of care through keeping up to date patient records and enhancing their accessibility; EMR allows easy tracking of patients by clinic staff who need follow up care; EMR allows physicians to find comprehensive patient medical records from the past; EMR improves the ability of clinicians to help the patients in managing the treatment of most complex diseases; and it also allows researchers and clinicians to analyze long term trends and patient data. On the other hand, implementation of the EMR has a lot of challenges some of which are: need for training data clerks in data entry and management which can be expensive to the implementer; setting up a system of information technology can be much expensive on the part of the implementer;

Science And Technology In Malaysia Marketing Essay

Science And Technology In Malaysia Marketing Essay The two parts of Malaysia are Malaysian peninsula and the states of sabah and sarak. There are 13 states in Malaysia and has 3 territories. It has a total land mass of 330000 sq km. the fourth fifth part of it is tropical rain forest area. it got independence in 1957. It follows the parliamentary democracy system which is been rotated at every five years .In Malaysia various cultures are followed and it has a multilingual society with 28.66mn people. In Malaysia there are 57.1% malay people, 24.6 % Chinese people , 7.3% Indians and 11% other people. There is a freedom of religion in Malaysia although major part of the people follow islam.61.3% people follow islam 19.8% follow Buddhism ,9.2% follow Christianity ,6.3 follow Hinduism and 2.6% practices other religion. The economy of malaysia was not that good previously as it was a middle income country.But it has developed its country in every sector but mostly the focus is on high technology and capital intensive industries. It is also focusing on the automobile industry in Malaysia. As it is continuously developing their economic performance has also improved which has also improved their ranking 7th place out of 59th economies. It is among the 20 trading nations.it is ranked among the top 5 competitive competitive nations. It is also 21st exporter among the worldwide nations. Malaysia is also a location which provides low cost competition for investors who wants to manufacture advanced technological product. the economy of Malaysia is also supported by the Malaysian government policy. It has also launced economic transformation program which identifies 12 natioanl key economic areas which contribute to the grouth of Malaysia . à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â‚¬ ¢Vision 2020 is to transform Malaysia into a à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â‚¬ ¢high income country and for which Malaysia requires annual growth rate GNI of 6%. Due to the weaker domestic demand GDP growth lower to 4.0 percent year -on- year and further implementation of ETP project will boost domestic demand, but unlikely to offset underperformance in net exports. Germany has good trade relations with Malaysia and germany also invest good amount of money in Malaysia .malaysia also holds the second position when it comes to usinf of german products. As we know that germany is the largest exportor of automobile parts,so Malaysia also imports large amount of automotive parts in germany. As Malaysia is the huge market for automotive industry several german manufacturers have entered into the Malaysia .they all work only for the automotive industry.we can take the example of several companies such as BMW Benz,Mercedes Benz. The distribution of the product is carried out by the brand owner or the company itself such as BMW Benz, Mercedes Benz. The Malaysian government also had developed several policy to develop the automotive industry of Malaysia and strengthen the position of the industry ao that they can reduce their dependability on agriculture. They are focusing on automotive industry mainly so that they can reach the position of a developed nation by 2020. The most important thing for Malaysia is their seaborne trade. They have seven international ports which has helped them to increase their trade with other countries. Port klana and the port of Tansung have been ranked in top 120 ports in the world. When it comes to business the most important thing is that we have to keep in mind business meeting schedule. They should not be scheduled on the prayer time. When we are doing the business with muslims as the country is dominated by muslims. When a company is doing business with Malaysian government than it should be done in their language of bhara. Other business with Malaysian companies are done in English. In their culture they give more importance to their designations and also what are think that is to be done in the job. There are some etiquettes that are to be followed with Malaysian companies. The currency of Malaysia is 1 rinngit and the GDP growth rate is 5%. The inflation rate is 3.3% 3.5% in Malaysia. They export many commodities like electronic, petroleum products, rubber products etc. The rate of unemployment is 3.0%. In the automotive industry after the formation of the policy two projects were there which dominated the market. They are proton and perodua Whereas proton brought a huge change in the industry. Previously they were doing the work of assembly line and they moved from it and started producing vehicles due to which the business reduced because people preferred to buy their own country brand. Malaysia hold the 3rd position in the car market. In 2012 budget, the government has provided some benefits for the development of domestic automobile industry. As there are many foreign competitors present in the Malaysian market the government of Malaysia is trying to protect their technology industry from the competitors and therefore just to protect their industry they have made certain policies So that they can protet teir domestic companies from their competitors and that the country can develop rather than being depeendant on any other investors. They have introduced certain policies and tariffs . Therefore just to protect their industry they are imposing certain restrictions on foreign competitors. They are taking high excise duties from their foreign competitors so that they can advantage of these companies and at the same time it does nat harm their own domestic market. They are imposing import duties .according to the MTI the foreign companies have to work cooperatively with the local partners.The duties that are imposed on the vehicles depend upon the type of the vehicles. Information technology is playing an crucial role in the professional and personal lives of any individual. The constituents of the technology are Computers, communications, digital information, and softwares. Also, those who search aggressively for opportunities to learn more about technology and those who choose not to learn anything at all about technology, there are many things to recognize the potential value of technology for their day to day lives and also those who realize that a better understanding of technology will be helpful to them. This realization have some several factors: Technology has entered in ones lives over a relatively brief period of time with little warning and essentially no formal educational preparation among the fewer people Current use of technology have a limited understanding of the tools that are been used and a belief that they are underutilizing them. Few people do not feel confident or in control when they are confronted by technology, and they would like to be more certain. Also, there have been impressive claims for the potential benefits of technology, and many would like to realize those benefits. There is an concern on the part of some individuals that changes implied by technology which leads to potential risks to social values, freedoms or economic interests, etc., obligating them to become informed. Modern information technologies are a rapidly advancing field that can facilitate new effective means for retailers to reach consumers. Methods profiled below include the use of the Internet as a provider of static information and facilitator of traceability schemes, in-store interactive screens and information kiosks, personal shopping assistants, television monitors, mobile technologies and customer club cards. Smart ads, interactive window-shopping and holographic imaging as emerging technologies are also profiled. A second application of technology includes traceability schemes, which go beyond providing static information to enable consumers to trace supply chains of individual products. Todays emerging application offers retailers an opportunity to increase consumer trusts in both the retailer and the products on. Also, when tracing products through the supply chain, consumers can feel more that they are part of the chain, which helps in increasing the likelihood of environmental and social externalities being considered in purchasing decisions. With increased knowledge of supply chain issues gained by compiling traceability of information that offers tangible benefits to retailers such as quality tracking. Technologies also offer another opportunity to provide sustainability information to consumers. Quick Response (QR) have been used in malaysia to transfer product information in-store to the consumer. Through QR code readers are mainly available through a technology called i-mode a Japanese mobile communications company. QR codes which are readable by a mobile phone camera are affixed onto a product or package and direct consumers to online product information via wireless internet i.e mobile phones. The Malaysian technology report presents the technology requirements resulting from the activities of the process design teams, that describes the of target technological environment that is required to support the activities. and also provides estimation of the costs associated with the deployment of the environment. Also provides the description of the assumptions made by the team during the project, and an illustration of the data model used during the estimating process. The technology project results in a number of significant changes to the existing application environment: à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢New applications are visioned for Service sectors. These systems are supported by the use of imaging technology. à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢The Service systems will be augmented to provide Private Agents with a user-friendly interface, and will also employ imaging technology. à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢The Service system will be provided with the consistent user interface. There is not a requirement for imaging services within this application Science and Technology in Malaysia In Malaysia science policy is regulated by ministry of science, technology and innovation, ministry of agriculture and the ministry of health. In 1998 high- tech exports made 54% Malaysian export. And in 1987 to 1997 research and development used 0.24% GNP. Malaysian national space agency in 2002 formed which deals with Malaysian space activities, space education and space experiments. RazakSAT satellite is a remote sensing satellite with the CCD camera. Angkasawan space flight program helpful for the Malaysia to transport one Malaysian to the space station. Malaysian privatized part of its military in 1970s to support national development and by this Malaysian defense industry council formed. And government also making efforts for the competitiveness and development of the sector. The Malaysian armed force uses weapons and hi-tech weapons and military imported from foreign countries. The Malaysian Antratic Research Program and national antratic research center were established to became partly to the antratic treaty. Biomass Energy Technology In the 9th Malaysian plan biomass energy has given more importance. Many incentives were provided for the promotion of biomass energy. It is used for the palm oil, rubber and brick making and also for the commercial use through this small renewable commercial program. By the process of conversion biomass is converted into liquid fuel and the part of it is used for the diesel in Malaysia. Through fermentation and gasification, biomass is converted into biogas. This status of technology used in Malaysia with environmentally clean and economically clean and viable system. Through the application of biomass technology number of issues were solved of emissions. For the techno-economic analysis many issues like labor cost and availability of raw material were solved. The technology from biomass make environment friendly produced high quality fuel from types of biomass and producing high grade fuel from low quality waste like feedstock. For the removal of hazardous air pollutants cost efficient preventive pre-treatment effective technology were used. For the demand of liberalized energy and cogeneration market this technology developed. And this require a good commercialization plan for the success of this technology in Malaysia. And for this commercial programs are also highlighted. Technology will also make a significant contribution to the automation of internal business activities. Workgroup products will be used to manage the handling of customer requests, approval processes, and product development cycles, and shared databases will be used for the efficient creation and management of stakeholder, agent, customer, or product information. The use of such tools facilitates the automatic collection of performance statistics, allowing for the management of cycle times and further improvement of  the automated processes. As a key part of this environment, integrated office automation products and usage standards will be implemented. In 2011 Malaysian Automotive Association registered a decrease of vehicles of 7.5% and this sales was affected due to disruption of the supply chain from natural disasters in Japan and Thailand. Now in2012 sales expected to raise but not much as of hybrid vehicles which expected to grow 60%. In Malaysia national car manufacturer appoint other companies to act as a distributor for them ,while foreign car makers choose different means to distribute their automobile Majorly Malaysia import the car parts and components rather export. As it get export to AESAN countries Thailand and Indonesia,but large quantities are also transferred to China, Syria and UK. Component industry In early 1980 with launching of proton the development of the ancillary and supporting industries created opportunities for growth in the manufacturing of component parts and accessories. Now therearemorethan704automotive components and parts manufactured in Malaysia and there about 45 vendors in the automotive component industry who has achieved the capabilities to design and develop, components and manufacture the whole component both for the original equipment and replacement markets . Malaysia being main producers and exporters of vehicle parts, accessories in the countries like in Japan, Germany and the UK due to their quality, compliance with international standards and competitive prices. Now, with facing many challenges with globalization the Malaysian government felt that there is a policy framework for the domestic automotive sector the government launched the National Automotive Policy (NAP)in March2006,which primarily aims at progressive market .In September2009,the NAP was revised to encourage new investments, ensure a long term sustainability of the domestic automotive industry, ensure safety and quality of products and services and protection of the environment An economic region grows together In2002,the ASEANwas founded to facilitate trading relations between the Asian countries in particular, but global economy also profiting from commit ment encourage competitiveness. Malaysia, as a member, to the policies decided upon in this multilateral forum it gradually reduced trade barriers. Over the years the government has pull to pieces its protective policies. Import duties on CKD (completely knocked-down units) and CBU(completely builtup units)from ASEAN members have been reduced to 0%and 5%.Duties from non-ASEAN countries for CKD have been reduced to 0%- 10%,while duties on CBU have now reacheda30%. As former prime minister Turn Dr Mahathir said that Malaysia cannot rely on imported auto technology forever the country needed to invent new technology in the automobile industry especially in green technology engineering and electric-powered engines which were currently the main focus of manufacturers and producers of cars in the world. He said now it time to move from preventing itself from continued dependence on foreign technology, home grown technology could also contribute to the economy of the country. Most of our work is only in assembling or putting together products made by other people . Chief executive officer MadaniSahari said that Today, items such as airbags, global positioning systems (GPS) and anti-lock braking systems (ABS) are naturally included in all cars in other countries but in Malaysia these high-tech items are not present. In 1983, Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad, then Prime Minister, established Proton to build the national car in collaboration with Mitsubishi. The car name Proton Saga rolled in 1986 as the first nation car (NC) and thereafter In 1993, Perodua was established and, in collaboration with Daihatsu, launched the PeroduaKancil as the second NC .The main objective of the automotive vision was to spin off local suppliers, create job opportunities, upgrade the know-how of our workforce and, ultimately, to create a local identity for the Malaysian automobile sector. Though much efforts are made by government for customers to buy national car but customer refer to buy non national car because advanced safety they get from other brands. The sales of car in Malaysia over the last five years have increasing from 490,768 units in 2006 to 605,156 units in 2010. This has largely been facilitated by easy availability of credit at low interest rates, and a high level of grant on petrol prices. The Malaysian Car Sales shows that Proton and Perodua are the main players, commanding about 55% of the market share. But despite huge difference in price NC and NNCNNC brands have still managed to acquire share (at 45%) of the market.   The reason behind of buying NNC brand because of their more advanced features, better reliability and lower maintenance costs as compared with Proton or Perodua. Now as the technology is going ahead in automobile industry, countries are manufacturing hybrid and alternative-fuel vehicles in which BRAZIL rank first in selling this types of cars. Here , Malaysia is out of the sync they neither manufactured or assembled locally .But to support the use of alternative-fuel cars and electric or hybrid cars they need to develop a national system to supply such fuel (e.g. natural gas). Also need to develop a system for the convenient charging of the batteries on highways, and service stations. For develop strategies the NAP has not given incentives. As the people of country has much restriction for buying NNC the Government must take bold steps to reform the automotive industry. With their global marketing strategies, Malaysia can emerge as a focal point of their new supply chains, particularly for components of advance technology car for the huge china market Other steps government can take that they have large reserves of natural gas,they should also take immediate steps to establish a national natural-gas supply system for natural-gas cars. This infrastructure is crucial for the mass utilization of this alternative fuel vehicle Further the research has been shown that how Malaysia automotive industry will be grow in coming years The government has been avidly promoting green vehicles, such as hybrids and electric vehicles (EVs). This is reflected by the exemption of import and excise duties for hybrid vehicles. The development of Electric vehicles technology and infrastructure will be spearheaded by the Malaysian Green Technology Corporation under the Ministry of Energy, Green Technology and Water; with active collaboration from the Malaysian Automotive Institute (MAI) and Proton. ASSOCIATION Federation of Malaya Motor Traders Association or FMMTA established in the year 1960and the main objective was to discuss issues relating to the Motor Industry. And that many names changes of this association and finally in 2000 it name became The Malaysian automotive association established with the aim to encourage, promote and protect the interest of the Automotive Industry in Malaysia. The main scope of this association Develop and protect interest of Members. Make common representation to Governmental Agencies on issues affecting the Motor Vehicle Industry. Communicate with the public through various media on industry issues, position and  objectives. Now Malaysia is focuses on investment in high technology and capital intense industry at target focusing on green technology and new merging technologies. There is a continuous growth and they are finding alternatives investments from foreign companies The government had also liberalized in many sector so that foreign companies participates in equity Indian investment of $1.2 billion was done in manufacturing sector. Technology in banknote: The Malaysian government have used the latest banknote technology so that the security is maintained This increases the security features and the new technology have certain thing such as shadow, image, watermark portrait with fixed and colored glossy patch. This will also be helpful to the people to the people cannot see properly as it has tactile can to identification so that it would be can to identify and differentiate the denomination. Greener technology: It is a great potential in the solar energy and is putting lots of efforts for the development of this sector As we know that Malaysian is a developing economy who wants to move towards a technology driven world and high technology manufacturing type of development and there it is copying the NIES. Malaysia is considered to be the country which has a potential to develop and invest new technologies on their own without taking the help of other countries. The development in the technological field is very much in Malaysia. This development in the technology is catching attention of other countries. As Malaysia and the NIES are situated in the same region and to a certain point they have same economy and the trade methods. Malaysia has a very firm basis so that they can make its own tactical developments by seeing the NIE strategies and by using the proper method they can achieve the growth in the business. As it is not possible for Malaysia to bring the technology models from other NIES. As all the countries in NIES have different technology and they are using different method for development in the high technology market. As there is lot of dissimilarity in the technology it becomes difficult for the country to adopt this technology very easily and used this technology efficiently in their domestic market. So there are not a single strategy that can be adopted from other countries which would satisfy that this would succeed in the technology in Malaysia. Malaysia need to adopt new technology for the development so that they can best use the strategy. The strategies that can be used to evaluate the technology of Malaysia is their capability of development. The capabilities can be evaluated based on two types: (1) Product Technology (2) Process Technology. The resources based strategies can be evaluated based on the performance of a company how they best used the resources is very uniquely. As we know that the resources of the materials are equally divided in the heterogeneous manner the difference that remains become equal. There is also a connection between the firms things and the advantage they get i.e. the competitive advantage. The tactical resources that are to be evaluated are Human Resources, Research and Development etc. The development and the success of the country depend upon the development of policies and how they execute their plans and policies at the national level. Malaysia has used several strategies and they have used different policies to a great extent so the resources that are to be allocated, the various skills needed should be developed are done very perfectly. Malaysian government have also formed various guidelines to enter the technology in their country. And so that they can match this economies with other countries economies. When we talk about the human capital Malaysian is lagging behind because the population there is very lass so when it comes to using human capital it is relatively less as compared to other countries. Singapore is developing good system and training centers so that they give education to everyone and can convert this unskilled working people into highly skilled people. Technology development also includes research and development part. When it comes to development if there is no proper Research and Development the country cannot make progress. The investment put in research and development of Malaysia was very less and if we see the patents that is given to Malaysia is very less. The main reason that is a back draw point for RD is the financial aspect and lack of skill people in the field of research and development. For the development of country and also for RD market research is also important because if we want to enter into the market then we should know what are factors that are existing in the market so that one can work accordingly. Mostly RD research funds are provided in the field of electronic industry which is contributing more to the GDP of Malaysia. It is a problem for Malaysia as the heavily depend upon the export of the electronic products and there for some where they have to develop other technologies also so that they can do well and develop technology. Foreign technology transfer plays an important role in the technology and in this JAPAN and US are two major players in FDI sources in the technology development of Malaysia.

Decision Making at the Top: The All Star Essay

Sunru Yong prepared this case solely as a basis for class discussion and not as an endorsement, a source of primary data, or an illustration of effective or ineffective management. This case, though based on real events, is fictionalized, and any resemblance to actual persons or entities is coincidental. There are occasional references to actual companies in the narration. Copyright  © 2008 President and Fellows of Harvard College. To order copies or request permission to reproduce materials, call 1-800-545-7685, write Harvard Business Publishing, Boston, MA 02163, or go to http://www.hbsp.harvard.edu. This publication may not be digitized, photocopied, or otherwise reproduced, posted, or transmitted, without the permission of Harvard Business School. M I C H A E L B E E R S U N R U Y O N G TerraCog Global Positioning Systems: Conflict and Communication on Project Aerial Emma Richardson squinted at the TerraCog GPS (Global Positioning System) prototype in her hand. She zoomed in until the display showed a clearer satellite photo of the lake 200 feet in front of her and into which her Labrador had already happily bounded. Most weekends, Richardson made the hike to the lake to clear her mind and, on occasion, to test new GPS models from her employer, TerraCog, Inc. Unfortunately, with the â€Å"Project Aerial† launch meeting scheduled for the next day, it was difficult to enjoy this particular hike. Emma wondered how to get all parties to reach an agreement on the price point for Aerial. TerraCog had started losing share to a competitor, Posthaste, and it was imperative to get the new product to market. Arriving at the lake, Richardson gave in to the urge to check her phone and grimaced as she noticed two new voicemails. The first message was from Allen  Roth, the director of design & development (see Exhibits 1 and 2 for an organizational chart and brief biographies of key managers): â€Å"Emma, it’s Allen. Listen, Tony and I have been over these cost numbers on Aerial. We cut all that we could and we ended up with only a 7% or 8% reduction to cost. Unfortunately, I don’t think this will get us to the price point that Sales is looking for. But I don’t need to remind you that we gave Sales the features and functionality they wanted in Aerial, so I’m not going back now to ask my team to do the impossible. We’ll hash it out tomorrow, but I figured it best you hear it from me.† The second message was from her boss, Richard Fiero, the company president: â€Å"Emma, I wanted to check on Aerial. I heard grumbling from Ed and the sales team on Friday. They seemed frustrated with Tony Barren’s production team. Make sure Production has its act together. Tony should know he’s on thin ice after the recent production fiasco on that sonar project-he’s got to succeed on Aerial. We need to have Aerial on shelves at the start of Q3. Some board members are worried, so Aerial will be near the top of the agenda at the board meeting next month.† 2184 A P R I L 1 1 , 2 0 0 8 For the exclusive use of B. Shi This document is authorized for use only by Bixi Shi in Organizational Behavior- Fall 2014 taught by Elaine Wong University of California – Riverside from October 2014 to December 2014. 2184 | TerraCog Global Positioning Systems: Conflict and Communication on Project Aerial 2 BRIEFCASES | HARVARD BUSINESS SCHOOL Neither message was encouraging. The Aerial meeting the next day, involving  the sales, design & development, and production departments, was now guaranteed to be contentious. It was March 2008-only two months since Richardson had been promoted to executive vice president. Fiero had tasked her with moving TerraCog toward greater operational alignment and increasing cross-departmental cooperation. Richardson had already been tested by both inventory problems and quality issues, which had led to significant tension between the U.S. headquarters in Chicago and the production team in Shenzhen, China. Now, disagreement over the proposed price point for Aerial threatened to derail the launch of the prototype in her hand. Company and Industry History TerraCog was a privately held company specializing in high-quality Global Positioning System (GPS) and fishing sonar equipment. Founded in 1977, TerraCog got its start manufacturing high-end sonar equipment for serious sport fishermen and boaters. In the late 1990s, the company had introduced its first GPS products, marketed specifically to hunters, hikers, and campers. Management believed that it was the company’s skill at translating retailer and user feedback into exceptional product design and functionality that fueled the growth of its GPS business. Through attentive channel management and, as Fiero put it, â€Å"a deep understanding of what specialty retailers needed,† TerraCog had developed strong relationships with its key accounts. Fiero also believed that TerraCog’s grasp of its consumers’ preferences and usage had given it an edge over GPS manufacturers whose core business was in automotive applications. The firm had built its GPS line for the serious outdoor enthusiasts’ market, and the products had won plaudits for durability and value-added features like the integrated compass and barometric altimeter. Moreover, industry reports indicated that the TerraCog GPS outperformed competing products on navigation. TerraCog’s proprietary firmware-a custom computer program embedded into hardware that â€Å"ran† functions-optimized the GPS chipset’s Wide Area Augmentation System  capability, which provided more precise navigation. The company was not always first to market. In fact, TerraCog had found it was free to lag in technological innovation with little risk because, when the company finally introduced new products, they surpassed those of competitors in addressing customer needs. Customer word-of-mouth recommendations had given TerraCog strong momentum with its handheld GPS. In early 2007, TerraCog prepared to enter new, underserved GPS sub-markets, including cycling and fitness applications. â€Å"Google Earthâ„ ¢ for your GPS† At the Summer 2006 Outdoor Retailer Show-the biggest trade show for vendors of outdoor goods-a competitor, Posthaste, had unveiled a GPS prototype called â€Å"BirdsI† that displayed satellite imagery. The imagery was not live, but rather static satellite photographs that had been â€Å"stitched† into a single view. This was a marked improvement on the simple, vector-based graphics used by the rest of the industry (see Exhibit 3 for a comparison). This did not impress the TerraCog team. The imagery was crisp and had a certain visual appeal, but TerraCog’s research showed that BirdsI technology did not offer substantive performance improvement over the standard maps in TerraCog’s GPS system. Furthermore, the TerraCog team was convinced that Posthaste’s receiver lagged TerraCog’s product in both accuracy and reception quality. While the TerraCog team dismissed the Posthaste concept, a number of key buyers and product reviewers found it an exciting innovation. One magazine reviewer observed, â€Å"Imagine having For the exclusive use of B. Shi This document is authorized for use only by Bixi Shi in Organizational Behavior- Fall 2014 taught by Elaine Wong University of California – Riverside from October 2014 to December 2014. TerraCog Global Positioning Systems: Conflict and Communication on Project Aerial | 2184 HARVARD BUSINESS SCHOOL | BRIEFCASES 3 Google Earthâ„ ¢ built into your GPS-it’s much more compelling to look at an actual satellite image than to have yellow for land, blue blobs for water, and grey squiggles for roads.† Based on the buzz, TerraCog’s executives debated whether to upgrade to satellite imagery. However, they realized that adding the feature to the existing GPS platform required upgrades to processor speed and memory, as well as new firmware. After some deliberation, the company dropped the idea as a non-essential fad. TerraCog’s management remained confident that the company’s core customers were discerning purchasers who would value durability and performance over dressed-up graphics. In October 2006, with much fanfare, Posthaste introduced BirdsI as â€Å"the only handheld GPS with satellite imagery.† BirdsI had an exclusive launch at two major national outdoor retailers, both of which were key accounts for TerraCog. Within two months, TerraCog’s sales representatives in the field reported impressive sell-through rates for BirdsI nationwide. While the product’s success surprised TerraCog, management attributed it to the ebullience of the holiday shopping season. The TerraCog team was confident that the popularity of BirdsI wouldn’t last. Project Aerial However, by spring 2007 TerraCog’s sales reps were noticing increasing customer demand for a GPS with satellite imagery like BirdsI. Ed Pryor, vice-president of sales, began pressing for a reversal of the decision not to develop the product. â€Å"It’s embarrassing to have no answers for our retailers when they ask for our version of this,† he said. â€Å"Look at it from our perspective. We’ve changed the compensation plan for the whole Sales team-including me-so we take a real hit if we don’t reach our sales targets. Customers now want something different, and I can’t tell my reps we have no  plans to develop the product they need to hit those targets.† In response to these repeated requests, TerraCog’s president, Richard Fiero, changed his mind on satellite imagery, if only to satisfy the â€Å"gadget† appeal of such an innovation. The initiative was dubbed Project Aerial. In order to speed development and avoid the costs of new moldings and major reconfiguration, the team decided to redesign within the existing GPS platform. Shortly after making the decision to proceed with Aerial, Fiero and Pryor met with Allen Roth, director of design & development. Roth brought his key managers to the meeting: Cory Wu, who oversaw software and firmware, and Alice Gorga, who managed hardware design. RICHARD FIERO: Allen, we’re obviously in a hurry to get to market. But we don’t want something slapped together – let’s make sure we get this product completely right the first time. Our reputation for quality is paramount. ALLEN ROTH: Understood. Are we including all the same features that we have in our current GPS line? ED PRYOR: Yes. We plan to offer Aerial at approximately a $50 retail premium to the current top- of-the-line GPS, so it’s important to maintain the same high-end functionality. ALLEN ROTH: What about speed? Satellite imagery requires a lot of processing power, so without some serious juicing, Aerial might run slower than you’d like. ED PRYOR: I think we’ll be okay there, Allen. Our consumers are tech-savvy-they know there’s an inherent trade-off to get more sophisticated graphics. As the meeting ended, Roth indicated that they would have to do some careful planning to keep costs as low as possible, but he was sure the product design could be completed by year’s end. At that point, they could hand it off to production to develop detailed cost estimates, which would allow the  sales team, in consultation with finance, to determine pricing and develop a go-to-market plan. For the exclusive use of B. Shi This document is authorized for use only by Bixi Shi in Organizational Behavior- Fall 2014 taught by Elaine Wong University of California – Riverside from October 2014 to December 2014. 2184 | TerraCog Global Positioning Systems: Conflict and Communication on Project Aerial 4 BRIEFCASES | HARVARD BUSINESS SCHOOL Given the manufacturing lead-time, TerraCog expected to get Aerial to stores by the 2008 holiday season (see Exhibit 4 for timeline of events). The product development team members did not greet the Aerial decision with enthusiasm. First, they felt that a redesign of the total platform-including firmware, external case, internal components, and TFT (thin-film transistor) display-was feasible if management could extend time to market by six more months; the resulting product would be superior and the project would be more stimulating technically to the team members. Second, they had several other ideas for new products that they believed would position TerraCog to capitalize on growth in cycling and fitness GPS applications, and Project Aerial was forcing them to put aside these more exciting projects. Finally, with company co-founder Harold Whistler preparing for retirement, Roth was eager to prove his readiness to be the next VP of design & development. The Aerial project impeded his building of a product line he could truly call his own. Aerial Pre-Launch Meeting As promised, the design team completed Aerial by the end of 2007. Late in January 2008, the production team received the design specifications it  needed to establish production methods, conduct a pilot run, and estimate costs. As the new executive vice president, Emma Richardson was tasked with overseeing the product launch. She scheduled a launch meeting in early March with sales, production, and design & development. In the past, Fiero and Whistler had been very involved in new products and tended to make quick decisions. TerraCog’s growth forced Fiero to take a step back from the launch process, while Whistler had cut back to part-time hours. There were many more employees involved in Aerial than in past product launches, and Richardson worried that the size of the group might threaten the focus and thwart decision making. She needed to finalize decisions on costs, pricing, and initial production volume. At the start of the pre-launch meeting on March 7, Richardson looked down the table, seeing Ed Pryor, Allen Roth, production director Tony Barren, Cory Wu representing software and firmware, and Alice Gorga representing hardware. Richardson opened the meeting by asking Barren to present his cost estimates. Barren looked around grimly and did not mince words: â€Å"This thing’s expensive to build. It looks the same, but Aerial’s got higher-end components and it’s more complex to manufacture.† He gave a high-level overview of product-cost breakdown and concluded by saying, â€Å"I’ll be blunt. You’re going to have to sell this product for a lot more than you thought. If anything, we have been too aggressive in our cost estimate. We can’t lower it beyond what I’ve presented.† ED PRYOR: I know you think your estimates are sound, but that isn’t going to help us. With these numbers, we would have to sell Aerial for $550 to maintain our margin. We’d be two years late to market with a price point $100 over BirdsI. CORY WU: Tony, those cost estimates are surprisingly high. We tweaked the firmware without overhauling it, so it’s basically the same components. It doesn’t seem justified that the costs should come out as you say. ALICE GORGA: I’m not sure, Cory. Those costs look realistic, given how my  team upgraded the hardware. Sales probably just needs to reconsider how to position this thing. I think – ED PRYOR: Wait, are we here to talk about positioning or pricing? Fiero and I already figured out how we’ll position the product, so let’s just get the pricing straightened out. For the exclusive use of B. Shi This document is authorized for use only by Bixi Shi in Organizational Behavior- Fall 2014 taught by Elaine Wong University of California – Riverside from October 2014 to December 2014. TerraCog Global Positioning Systems: Conflict and Communication on Project Aerial | 2184 HARVARD BUSINESS SCHOOL | BRIEFCASES 5 TONY BARREN: Well, we don’t perform miracles. The cost won’t change, and I’m not going to cut corners in production. I had my head handed to me the last time we had quality issues. ED PRYOR: Allen, your designers must be able to tweak something, right? Hate to say it, but maybe you guys need to go back to the drawing board and figure out how to solve this problem. ALLEN ROTH: Ed, we’re well into a couple of other projects now. Frankly, I don’t think this is Sales’ call to make. We already put other projects on hold for Aerial, and we’ve given you what you requested. The discussion continued, but it became clear the group was at an impasse. Richardson suggested ending the meeting: â€Å"Why don’t we wrap it up for now and meet again next week? In the meantime Tony and the Design team should look for opportunities to cut these costs.† As the meeting adjourned, Pryor announced to the room, â€Å"If we can’t lower these costs and fix the finances on Aerial, I can’t sell it. I won’t try.† Resumption of Aerial Pre-Launch Meeting One Week Later Roth and Barren had spent much of the intervening week reviewing the cost estimates. When the team re-gathered on March 14, the participants seated themselves around the conference table (see Exhibit 5 for a seating chart). Becky Timmons, the CFO, was in attendance. At the last minute, Harold Whistler also decided to join the meeting. As Emma Richardson passed out copies of the new cost estimates, she explained that Roth and Barren had agreed to make minor changes to the Aerial prototype, and that they now felt it could be produced for approximately 8% less than the prior week’s estimate. On this basis, the Aerial could be priced at $475, about $100 more than the current full-featured TerraCog GPS. A long silence followed, then Cory Wu spoke up. â€Å"Eight percent-that’s all? I don’t understand it. I’d like to know where the differences lie between our costs and PostHaste’s on BirdsI. There’s got to be room for more cuts.† Barren snorted derisively. â€Å"You can’t wish away the costs,† he said. â€Å"We’ve cut what we can. Last time we got pressured into being too aggressive on cost estimates and then we got burned when the price of plastic went through the roof. I’m not making that mistake again.† Allen Roth concurred, pointing to the drivers of the cost increase: â€Å"Incorporating the satellite imagery requires five times as much memory as our standard graphics. That increases cost-but if you cut it, you undermine Aerial’s value proposition. Then we also did some reconfiguration internally, and that increases the labor required to put one of these together.† He paused, surveying the frustrated faces around him. â€Å"I don’t like the situation any more than the rest of you do, but we’ve got to be realistic. Look at the numbers in front of you-there’s nothing we can do to further reduce costs.† As everyone scrutinized the new cost estimates, the meeting broke into several conversations. Ed Pryor and Richardson huddled together, while Allen Roth and Tony Barren carried on a conversation with Harold Whistler. After several minutes, Richardson realized she needed to get the discussion back on track. She addressed the entire group, saying, â€Å"We have the estimates, so we just have to set a price that makes sense for the company. What do you think, Ed?† ED PRYOR: We have to consider the selling price of the Aerial relative to competition. Posthaste is selling at around $250 to dealers, which means they retail for around $400. Garmin just announced For the exclusive use of B. Shi This document is authorized for use only by Bixi Shi in Organizational Behavior- Fall 2014 taught by Elaine Wong University of California – Riverside from October 2014 to December 2014. 2184 | TerraCog Global Positioning Systems: Conflict and Communication on Project Aerial 6 BRIEFCASES | HARVARD BUSINESS SCHOOL their satellite-image version, which will hit shelves at somewhere around $395 MSRP. You all are talking about $475 retail, and that’s too high. We have to be in the ball park with our list price or we’ll be shut out of the game. EMMA RICHARDSON: What should list price be? ED PRYOR: $425 tops-but we should be lower than that if we are going to be aggressive at recapturing lost share. Let’s not kid ourselves. The way we’re trending, same-store sales will be down 10% this year. And this is with the GPS handheld market growing. HAROLD WHISTLER: What if we relax our margin requirements for once? BECKY TIMMONS: Absolutely not. We’re cutting it close already. HAROLD WHISTLER: Okay, then how about a redesign? Let’s go to market with what we have, and I’ll have my team take another look at possible changes that we can incorporate later. ALLEN ROTH: I’m afraid that’s wishful thinking, Harold. Given the product requirements the sales team called for, the cost is as low as it will get. CORY WU: I don’t know about that. The changes we made to meet sales’ requirements were not enormous. Why would they contribute to such a large increase in projected labor costs? TONY BARREN: Cory, you and Harold can run the numbers for yourself. Then you’ll see that these high costs are real. BECKY TIMMONS: I’d still feel more comfortable if we could price it at $500 retail. With fuel costs still rising, the cost to get these here from Shenzhen will only increase, and we run the risk of our margins really getting squeezed. ED PRYOR: Becky, you don’t understand how competitive this market is! Even at $475, why would anyone give us shelf space? We are late to market and we’d be pricing at a substantial premium. And is the product superior enough to justify that premium? I’ve been trying out our prototypes and I’m concerned about the speed. The update speed is terrible, and switching between functions is just – ALLEN ROTH: Come on, don’t start talking speed now. We were clear from the start that we would trade some speed to get new functionality and features. ED PRYOR: Well, my sales managers are going to be fuming. Fiero told them  Aerial would be available at $400, and now you are talking about a minimum of $75 more than that. I still want to see Cory or Harold take a crack at reducing unit cost. Emma Richardson took a deep breath. The company needed a â€Å"go/no-go† decision on the existing Aerial, and whether to do so at a competitive price in the hope that costs might be cut in the future, or at a high price. She wondered fleetingly what the consequences might be if the company abandoned Aerial altogether. As things stood, the arguments and finger-pointing were bound to continue, and the group would never come to a decision on its own.

A Visual Art Observation Essay

Starry Night of Vincent Van Gogh is one interesting work of art to analyse. It is very striking due to its heavy brush strokes and luminous colours. The seemingly endless curves and swirls can entice you into exploring the piece more intently. Visually, it is a mystical amalgamation of black and blue. Hence, conveying an apparent picture of a town at night time. A brightly lit quarter moon settles at the top right corner of the canvas. The yellowness of it somewhat literally borrows the sun’s colour. Its luminescence, together with eleven stars draped at the upper half of the canvas, is rather too gleaming. The moon and stars appeared strangely luminous with bright colours encircling them. The lower right quadrant of the painting comprises the landscape of a silent town where the dark coloured roofs and trees are visible. Furthermore, on the lower left quadrant shows a huge cypress bush which seemed too vertically stiff against the horizontal waves of the night sky. Apparently, the artist used horizontal contours in the majority of the piece. The dotted lines formed the swirls and circles in the painting. The artist strokes are remarkable because the appeared to be made up of short lines of various colours filed together to create a vibrant and magnificent imagery of a quiet town. Every object in the paintings has consistent shapes and colour composition. The stars have a tiny red orange dot on the middle to prove its size despite its flaring surround. The mountains have black outlines to present its edges and blue-coloured soil. Likewise, the houses are also outlined in black but in their case, the surfaces vary in colours like brown, green, light blue, violet, orange and other dark shades. The trees are presented in curves in dark tones of green, blue and black. The dark bushes, however, is coloured too darkly with brown, green and black. Van Gogh has truly revealed a part of his personality and emotional status in Starry Night. The extreme use of curves and swirls indicated his uncommon vision of the world. It depicts his mental state of schizophrenia and his desire to end his life. The heavy strokes denote the depression that he was currently encountering. The bushes which appeared out of place in the painting pointed directly towards the heavens show his dark thoughts on ending his life. It gives the impression of death as it is formed with dark shades and rigorously designed to separate it from the world—same with the feelings of Van Gogh. It is also noticeable in his work that it is full opposites; starting from the straight lines to curved lines; the brightness of the stars to the darkness of the colours used; the peaceful town to the raging night sky. Who could have thought that such opposite elements could create a magnificent work of art? The painting is more than just a symbolic image of the artist’s thoughts. It is his reality which is conjured by his passion with art. The numerous curves and swirls portray his desperation to be free considering that he painted the Starry Night while he was inside a mental asylum. Vincent Van Gogh is indeed a â€Å"mad genius† as admirers would often label him (Boime, 2008, p. 1). The Starry Night contains symbolisms that are meticulously encrypted by an art genius like Van Gogh. No wonder it is one of the most attention-grabbing paintings today. Its vibrant elements and the unmistakable passion expressed through it by the artist seduce its audience in an exaggerated world of a man who only sold one painting in his lifetime. References Boime, A. (2008). Revelation of Modernism: Responses to Cultural Crises in Fin-de-Siecle Painting. Missouri: University of Missouri Press

Questioning the Madness of Hamlet Essays

Questioning the Madness of Hamlet Essays Questioning the Madness of Hamlet Essay Questioning the Madness of Hamlet Essay Essay Topic: Hamlet Questioning The Madness of Hamlet In the Shakespeare play, Hamlet, there is the question concerning the madness of the main character, Hamlet. There is no real answer to the question, â€Å"Is Hamlet mad†? It is merely based on ones own opinion and interpretation of the play. Although, Hamlet might display qualities of someone mad, is there enough proof to make the statement factual? First, we should look at the definition of what mad really means; According to Dictonary. com, Mad means to be mentally disturbed, deranged, insane, or demented. Considering there is evidence that it is possible Hamlet could actually be mentally disturbed, there is definitely proof that he is just pretending. Hamlet openly admits that he pretends to be deranged, but why is he pretending? There also is proof that he is still logical and reasonable with his decisions, which doesn’t fit the description of the word mad. There are many characters in the play who seem to have evidence that Hamlet is mad, that is just his master plan working. Losing your father and learning that your new father, your uncle, is a murderer would definitely make one lose their reasoning to stay sane. Hamlet had a game plan to seek revenge for his father and it started with having society fooled by making them believe he was a mad man. Starting from the beginning, Hamlet showed anger towards the events that had taken place. Hamlets first solilioquy is where he expresses his feelings and thoughts for the first time about the events. As Hamlet says, O that this too too sullied flesh would melt,/ Thaw, and resolve Itself into a dew,/Or that the Everlasting had not fixed/ His Canon ‘gainst self- slaughter (1. 2. 129-132). Clearly his thoughts here are unlike normal thoughts, but that does not mean he is mad. He talks of suicide and wanting to disappear, but looking at what is happening in the play, anyone of a sane mind wouldn’t want to be around to witness such events. When someone is angry they vent and say stuff that they don’t mean, and that is just what Hamlet is doing. If he wanted to commit suicide, that is just what he would have done. Throughout the play, a presence of a ghost keeps appearing. Does seeing this ghost make Hamlet a mad man? As Horatio says, Two nights together had these gentlemen,/ Marcellus and Barnardo, on Their watch/ In the dead waste and middle of the night/ Been thus Encountered. A figure like your father,/ Armed at point exactly, Cap-a-pie,/ Appears before them and with solemn march/ Goes slow and stately by them (1. 2. 196-202). Well considering that Horatio, Reynaldo, Barnardo, Francisco and Marcellus all saw the ghost along with Hamlet, they would all have to be mad men as well. This is not valid proof that Hamlet is a mad man. It wasn’t a figment of his imagination, the ghost had to be seen in order for all the men to witness the same thing. After seeing the ghost he fills Hamlet in with all the details of his death, Hamlet begins to lay out his plan with steps. He warns his friends of his antic disposition. Hamlet says, â€Å"As I perchance hereafter shall think meet / To put an antic disposition on† (1. 5. 174-175). â€Å"Antic† actually means clown, which means he’s going to put on a show from now on and pretend is he insane. Why would Hamlet pretend to be insane one might want to ask? Well Hamlet wants to show weakness to King Claudius so that he won’t take him as a threat. Hamlet wants to distract the people of Denmark from his real intentions and that is to seek revenge for his father. If it weren’t for Hamlet pretending his madness, King Claudius would have known that something was wrong with his nephew, and surely he would have him killed. If Hamlet didn’t act the way he was, then the King would have seen it in Hamlets eyes that he knew the truth about his father’s death. If you really think about it, today if someone claims they are crazy, the majority will get away with it. If you are believed to be mad, than you can pretty much get away with anything. It was a well thought out plan that only a genius could have thought of. His plan seems to work as he has convinced Polonius that he is a mad man. A conversation between Hamlet and Polonius starts and he ask Hamlet if he knew him. Hamlet responds with, â€Å"Excellent Well. You are a fishmonger† (2. 2. 174). Considering that Polonius is the Kings pet spy, he pretends he doesn’t know who Polonius is. At the same time, he almost makes fun of him. A â€Å"fishmonger† is slang for pimp, which is just what Polonius is to his daughter, Ophelia. Readers may assume that Hamlet is mad, because it is not obvious that Hamlet is pretending, because he does not remind us of his plan of antic disposition The scene of the play where Hamlet shows a perfect example that he still makes logical and reasonable decisions is when he sets up a play to catch the King red handed. In a conversation with Horatio, he tells him to watch the Kings expressions. There is a play tonight before the king. / One scene of it comes near the circumstance / Which I have told thee, of my father’s death. / I Prithee, when thou seest that act afoot, / Even with the very comment of thy soul / Observe my uncle. If his occulted guilt / Do not itself unkennel in one speech,/ It is a damned ghost that we have seen, / And my imaginations are as foul / As Vulcan’s stithy. Give him heedful note, / For I mine eyes will rivet to his face, /And after e will both our judgments join / In censure of his seeming. He simply made a scene in the play that is the exact way his father was killed. From doing this, he hopes to see some sort of reaction out of the King. If he does that, what the ghost had told him is true. Hamlet had great ideas to catch the King. Anyone who is mentally unstable, insane, or demented couldn’t have came up with such a logical way to catch the King red handed. There is just too much evidence in the play that Hamlet is pretending his madness. He simply states his plan of â€Å"antic disposition† and his plan works. So much so that even the readers that know the dramatic irony of his plan still believe that there is a possibility that he is mad. Such events that happened through out the story can definitely leave someone with their reasons, but not Hamlet. He holds to his plan, making sure the King truly indeed did do it and making everyone believe his â€Å"antic disposition. † Even though the killing of the King was not the type that Hamlet probably wished for, revenge was seeked. Work Cited Shakespeare, William. Hamlet. Penguin Group (USA) Inc: Penguin Group. 2001 mad. Dictionary. com Unabridged. Random House, Inc. 12 Sep. 2012. .

Insource essays

Insource essays "Taos Insource" is a program by which Taos flexibly provides the expertise and labor to ensure a superior level of System and Network support, working closely with the client's existing staff and management. The benefit to the client is lower total cost and greater reliability than the alternatives of all regular staff or regular-staff plus traditional contractors. One key to Insource's effectiveness is an intimate understanding of the client's environment, especially from the perspective of each person we have involved. A collateral benefit is that by applying our disciplines to their environment, the effectiveness of their regular staff can be maximized, and dependencies on their specific staff members are reduced. Flexible support depends on having the right combination of people at any time. The required skill and experience mix needed for optimal an support level varies depending on the workload and the specific tasks to be done. The Insource model consciously minimizes the costs and impact associated with changing assigned personnel. An Insource responsibility of Taos is to proactively recognize when it's appropriate to "switch horses" and when doing so would be counter-productive. Each person assigned to an Insource client is made "hot-swappable" through documentation and through Taos-organizational-knowledge of the person's responsibilities, of the client technical infrastructure, and of other environmental issues key to the person's work. An Insource consultant maintains always-current documentation of his or her daily work, and Taos ensures that the environmental documentation also reflects current reality. The idea is to create as little dependency on what's in the consultant's head as possible, so in the event of a proactive or reactive switch the impact on the client is minimized. Companies which rely on an all-regular-staff model make a decision about staffing level that depends n ...

The Controversial Issue of Student Testing and Assestment Term Paper

The Controversial Issue of Student Testing and Assestment - Term Paper Example Conventional rules require instructors to interpret test scores in accordance with legal and societal expectations, norms and criteria; these norms are either established independently or through statistical analysis of massive numbers of participants (Black & Harrison, (2001). However, Christian perspective on testing and assessment differs significantly from the legal and societal expectations of administering assessment tools. Biblical principles guide instructors to adopt significantly different norms, aims and forms of testing and assessment. The purpose of this paper is to consider the controversial issue of testing and assessment from the legal and societal perspective and contrast these expectations to Biblical principles. The purpose of testing and assessment differs rather significantly across many groups of people considered as education stakeholders. For instance, from the legal perspectives, policymakers’ purpose of assessment include setting standards, focusing o n goals, monitoring the quality of education, formulating policies based on results of tests and assessment, sanctioning or rewarding certain education-related practices and determining the effects of tests. On the other hand, teachers, schools and administrators use tests and assessments as tools to make grouping decisions by monitoring student progress, conducting curriculum evaluations and refinements, offering student diagnosis and motivating students through grading, promotion or mastery by defining grades (Gregory & Chapman, 2002). Societal expectations of testing and assessment include gauging students’ progress in order to assess their strengths and weaknesses, ascertain school accountability and make knowledgeable decisions regarding education and careers. However, from the legal and societal standpoint, instructors are allowed to provide standardized student tests and assessments regardless of the students’ abilities, inabilities or levels of knowledge and un derstanding. The tester, in this case, serves as a determiner of student knowledge. However, Biblical principles regarding testing and assessment are quite dissimilar from societal and legal expectations. First and foremost, Biblical principles require all educational procedures to integrate Christian teachings and messages. These Biblical expectations of teaching and instruction must be woven throughout all educational processes from instruction to assessment. Biblical principles articulate not only what students are expected to do and know, but also what is expected of students as they continue through their life journeys as productive members of society and as followers of Christ. As a consequence, Biblical principles that guide teaching, learning and assessment require that student evaluations and assessment must conform to Christian practices, which not only recognize, but also affirm Christian values (Anthony, 2011). This is accomplished by respecting the worth and dignity of all students. Effective assessment and testing according to Biblical principles also requires the provision of successful experiences to all students regardless of their skills, competences and aptitudes. On the other hand, the universal tests and assessments presented to students based on legal and societal expectations are contrary to Biblical principles. Biblical principl

Root Metaphors in Understanding Organisational Behavior Essay

Root Metaphors in Understanding Organisational Behavior - Essay Example Metaphors give a clearer understanding of the paradoxical and complex characteristics of organizational behavior. Some of the metaphors that have been used over time in reference to organizational behavior include organism, culture, machine and political systems. This paper will analyze some of the root metaphors that have been used to describe organizations. Organizations as Cultures Culture refers to a way of a people hence organizational culture denotes a pattern of basic assumptions adopted within a group. These assumptions act like the norm and any new member has to learn them (Phegan, 1996: pp. 25). These norms govern the interaction of people within an organization and the working relationship with those outside the organization. They define conduct for various situations (Parker, 2000, p.56). In analyzing organizations as cultures, the Hofstede’s cultural dimensions theory proposes that organizations adopt a culture as determined by the region they are located in (Hofs tede, 1991, p. 43). Organizational culture varies from one nation to another. An awareness of multiculturism is important for any organization. For instance, if an organization based in Britain chooses to extend its operations to the Arab nations, then it has to take into consideration the aspect of religion that is an important part of the lives of the Arabians. Hence, the organization will adjust its culture to accommodate its Arabian employees. According to Hofstede (1980, p. 67), national and regional cultural groupings affect organizational behavior. Different analysts have described organizational culture in various ways. Deal and Kennedy have four cultures (Deal and Kennedy, 1982, p.34). The ‘work-hard, play hard’ culture is one where the members of an organization put a lot of time into their work to be among the best. Such organizations are result oriented. Organizations like restaurants have adopted such a culture. The ‘tough guy macho’ culture is a high risk and reward oriented culture. In addition to this, such organizations focus on the present rather than long term goals. An example of this would be the police force. Process culture works for low risk and slow feedback oriented organizations. These organizations, observe a lot of bureaucracy. Banks and insurance companies fall into this category. Lastly, ‘bet-the-company’ culture is common with organizations that are involved in high risk business that gives slow feedback (Hartnell et al. 2011, p. 12). A lot of planning and work is put into the realization of goals. Oil companies and aircraft manufactures are some of the organizations with such a culture. An organization’s culture determines its output as pointed out by Denison et al. (2004, p. 98-109). A strong culture is one where the staff aligns themselves to the norms and lives up to the expectations. In such cultures, work progresses smoothly and the organization easily realizes its goals and ob jectives. Furthermore, a strong culture organization benefits in that the employees have high motivation (O’ Reilley et al., 2006: p. 487). Moreover, organizational culture increases team cohesiveness. Different departments and divisions within the company closely work together. This fosters harmony. This in turn promotes consistency. The staff finds their niche and can easily coordinate their activities. Once they adopt the norms, they know what is expected of them and work effortlessly in keeping up with the norms. Hence, it also shapes