Cost-Quality Relationship Essay

There are three types of costs when quality considerations are made: Appraisal Costs, Prevention Costs, and Failure Costs. These costs are affiliated with the efforts of process improvement and are also known as quality costs or cost of quality. Appraisal costs are associated with measuring, evaluating or auditing products and services to satisfy quality and performance requirements set by the company. Examples of this cost include inspection and testing of purchases material, final inspections, audits for products and services, and testing equipment. Prevention costs are associated with all activities designed to prevent and stop poor quality in the products and services provided to the customers. Examples of this cost include new product review, supplier surveys, capability evaluations, improvement projects, education and training. Failure costs result from products and services that did not meet the quality standards and requirements set by the company. They divided into two categories: Internal Failure Costs and External Failure Costs. Internal failure costs occur before delivery and shipment of product and/or before services are performed to the customer. Examples of this cost include scrap,  rework, retesting, re-inspecting, reviewing the material and downgrading. External failure costs occur after delivery and during or after providing the service to the customer. Examples of this cost include reviewing and processing customer complaints, customer returns, claims based on warranty, and recalls. The total quality costs are the sum of the appraisal, prevention, and failure costs. This will represent the difference between the actual costs of the product and/or service. The trade-offs between the appraisal, prevention, and failure costs are relevant. Some believe when the prevention costs are increased , the appraisal and failure costs will decrease substantially. This means that the total costs will be lower. Others say that if they spend too much on quality, it will reduce the money available for other projects such as upgrades to technology.

Inditex Report Essay

Introduction The aim and objectives of writing this report is to analyse the business strategies or models adopted by the Inditex Group and to review whether this strategies will support its operation in accomplishing their future obligation. Furthermore, it aims to evaluate the strategic option of the organization in either from a corporate strategy view or strategic business unit (SBU) perspective that could be adopted by the Inditex Group. This report will also highlight the vision, mission and objectives of the Inditex Group Company. In addition, the report will go further by accessing the group human resources and management in order to clearly pinpoint any management changes in the organization, if there is any, and to know who the management are and their position in the decision making process of the company. In order to achieve the principle objectives of this report, the report will be categorised into Internal and External analysis. This is done in order to fully analyse the current po sition of Inditex Group in the market from all perspectives, also to access if Inditex is a healthy company to invest in, and also accessing the current strategic adopted by the company. The company Internal analysis will be based on the following; Financial Analysis: This will focus on all the financial aspect of the company. Human resources and Management Analysis: focus on the management system of the company. Market Analysis: This will focus on the company’s current market position. Operations Analysis: This will focus on how and where the company perform it day-to-day activities. Prioritized Strength: This will analyse the strengths of the company internally. Prioritized Weakness: This will analyse the internal weakness of the company that can hinder them from achieving their goals. The company External analysis will be based on the following; Pestel Analysis: this will analyse the possible influence of the failure or success of the company strategies. Porter 5 forces: this will help in analysing the way of attractiveness of the Clothing Industry. Critical Success Factors (CSF’s): This will focus on some unique resources that make the company  successful. Prioritized Opportunity: Prioritized Threat: Company: Inditex Group. The Inditex Group Company, a textile design Industries is a Spanish Multinational clothing company. Inditex have its headquartered based in Arteixo, Galicia in Spain. The Inditex Group was founded and created by Amancio Ortega Gaona the wealthiest man in Spain and third richest man in the world in 1985 and by 2001 they went public and listed on the Bolsa de Madrid stock exchange market1. The Inditex Group which is now considered as the world’s largest clothing apparel company in terms of sales is made up of over 100 companies operating in textile designs, manufacturing, and distributions. Inditex currently have 8 strategic business units operating in four geographical market segments2 which includes Spain. These strategic business units includes; Bershka, Massimo Dutti, Oysho, Pull & Bear, Stradivarius, Uterque, Zara, and Zara Home. Inditex strategic business units collectively occupied about 6249 stores in 86 markets. Company Vision: Good Faith, Dialogue, and Transparency. Company Mission: Is to respond with agility to the demands of the market. This means that Inditex focus highly on the customers’ needs and combines these needs with high degree of vertical integration across all their business area. Internal Analysis Financial Analysis: The key profit driver for Inditex Group Company is Zara, contributing 66.11% of the total net sales and 68.5% per square metre in 2012, while Bershka comes 2nd with 9.31% of total net sales in 2012. In terms of geographical region, the Europe (excluding Spain), and Spain accounted for 45% and 21% of the total net sales respectively. While the Americas and Asia (Including rest of the world) represents a significant lower amount of 14% and 20% respectively. In 2012 saw Inditex Group stores increases massively from 4264 stores in 2008 to 6009 stores in 2012. This shows an increase of 40.92% in  stores from 2008 to 2012. Inditex Group Profitability, Liquidity and Efficiency Net sales increases year over year from 2008 to 2012. This shows an increase of 10.3% from 2007-2008, 6.2% increase from 2008-2009, 13.40% from 2009-2010, 10.2% from 2010-2011, and 15.61% from 2011-2012. This is boosted by the increase of sales, higher profits margin and numbers of new stores opened3. Overall, net sales show an increase of 53.22%. While the Net profit soared by a massive 87.26% between 2008-2012. Prior to this, Inditex growth rate has maintained an average of 16% sales growth and net income of 12% for the past 10 years. The decreasing pattern of ROCE from 2008-2009, and also in 2011 is due to a proportionate increase of operating expenses. The Gross Profit Margin (GP%) has seen a slow increase from 2008-2012. This is due to the slower increase of cost of sales (COS). EBITDA increases by 20% when compared to the previous years and EBIT also increased by 24% when compared to the previous years. Debts A very low geared company, as Inditex Group Company managed to pay back some substantial amount of debts through cash reserves. The Group has 0.08% of debt to capital ratio which means that the company pay little attention when it comes to using debts to finance projects. Investors Related Market Capitalization of 66.883 bn euro. Share price 106 euro as at 06/03/14 Earnings per share has been increasing significant from 2008-2012. Dividend per share increased by 12.5% from 2011 to 2012. Inditex Group Company has a slow increase of sales volumes over the years; while some of the key ratios reported a decline pattern during some period. Inditex mostly depends on the Europe excluding Spain and Spain market, however, with an optimistic future growth in the Asia market. The company also has a low gearing ratio which gives them more financial edge in terms of future expansion. Funding Inditex Group Company funds for its company through the issuing of ordinary  share equity, debt financing, credit facilities and self-financing. The company have been profitable over the year which makes them assumed reasonable responsibility of not securing enough debt to finance its operations. So therefore, in terms of liquidity, the company is not exposed to any significant liquidity risk as it maintains sufficient cash and cash equivalent which meet the outflows of its daily operations. More so, the group are not as concerned about credit risk as they have a policy in place that cover any sales franchises and as their majority of revenue is made from retail sales, so they make use of cash collections or credit payment. Inditex Group Company also funds its business by investing in marketable securities which includes short and long term debts with a maturity of 90 days and 12 months respectively. This helps the Group in meeting its short term obligations. The group also have cl ose to 50% stakes in each of the five Economic Interest Groupings they invest in, these groups are involves in leasing of assets. Human Resources and Management Inditex is a multi-cultural and multi-racial company with 120,314 employees and also created about 10,802 jobs in 2012. 82% of Inditex staffs works under an indefinite contract.  In terms of its multi-cultural pedigree, Inditex employees are of over 130 nationalities and 45 working languages. Inditex has a young workforce with an average age of 31 years old and 78.7% of its employees are females. Pablo Isla Alvarez de Tejera is the Chairman and Chief Executive Chairman of Inditex Group Company along with his Deputy Jose Amau Sierra has transformed the fashion industry and created the world’s largest clothing and apparel company in terms of revenue, and the also developed a strong distribution model which helped the group to minimise their design to distribution process within a week. Overall, the Inditex board consist of 9 directors which include 4 executives’ directors and 5 non-executives directors. Inditex Group Company operates a multidivisional structure which helps them in supporting their global operations. At Inditex, the board of directors are the highest decision maker; they supervise and control the body of the company apart from the matters that were reserved to the general meeting of the shareholders. Inditex board of directors are also entrusting with  direction, administration, management and representative of the company and management of the day-to-day activities of the company to the executives. They also manage the team and focusing its efforts on general supervising function which include directing Inditex policy, making relevant decisions and acting as a link with the shareholders of the company. Market Analysis Markets and segment Most attractive market segment is Asia market Market segment by age. Young and middle age group. Products Inditex have constant changes to its products lines. They have identical products in all market segments. Inditex maintain health and safety products standard4. Customers’ orientation: they analyse customers’ feedbacks in order to be able to identify customer trends. Price Inditex has a standard price in all markets segments. The pricing could be different in terms of exchange rate factors due to globalization. It also gives seasonal discount5 like December sales. Inditex price is considered to be medium with an exception of Massimo Dutti. Inditex Amongst Competition. Promotion Inditex has a strict policy and zero advertisement. Online website for each business unit which systematically updates It has an Affinity card for customers: this influences customers’ loyalty6. It communicates with its customers through social networks. Place Location: All of Inditex stores all located at the main shopping streets. A unique design which is influence by the culture of the markets. A display tailored of the product They have excellent customers service Online stores for all its 8 business units available in some major country7 The key strategy of the Inditex marketing departments are performed through customers’ orientation and satisfaction. Inditex main sale-point is where managers received feedbacks from customers, the managers then report to the design departments in order to identify and carried out what the customers’ value. Another factor that did the trick for Inditex is their glamorous stores, where customers’ access its latest products which are always updated four times in a month. The product lifecycle and BCG matrix as you can see on the charts indicates an accurate balancing position within the Inditex portfolio. However, since just one business unit is placed on as a Cash Cow, so therefore, numerous investments might be needed so as to transform the Question Marks into Stars. Inditex Product Lifecycle. Inditex BCG MATRIX. Operation Analysis: Value Chain- Primary Activities Approximately 1000 designers are responsible for recognising any changes in fashion and they are in charge of developing new models to satisfy customers’ desires. Most of the production takes place in the Group’s own factory. The group take full responsibility control of fabrics supply, marking and cutting of the fabrics till the finish goods. Over 50 percent of Inditex manufacturing is carried out by local suppliers. By the end of 2012, Inditex already had a total of 1434 suppliers and all suppliers must agree to adhere to Inditex Code of Conduct. The cost of merchandise includes the cost of raw materials and consumables8. The Inditex Group has its own logistic centre, where all production is received and carried out, and then distributed to various stores worldwide9. Inditex operates 8 logistic centres, at least one for each brands and all of which are in Spain. Stores play significant roles in Inditex business model10. Value Chain- Secondary Activities Research and Development using advanced technology11. Operates manufacturing and procurement12. Research and Development of eco-efficiency13. Human Resources and Management14. Firm Infrastructure15. Corporate Social Responsibility16. Joint ventures and Strategic Alliances17. Inditex unique management business model is based on flexibility and innovation, and its vision of fashion along with quality design and creativity, together with a rapid response to customers demand has resulted in Inditex fast international expansion and an excellent performance of its commercial formats. Inditex business model is centred to its customers, stores, design/production, teams, and logistics. However Inditex group adopted a high degree of vertical integration business model when compared to its competitors. This allows Inditex to cover all phases of its fashion process which includes design, manufacture, logistics and distribution. The group also incorporated a degree of flexibility structure with a strong focus on customers’ demands in all its business areas. Inditex views social and environmental variables as a strategic factor for growth and sustainment for customers demand. The key to Inditex model is its ability of attending to customers desires in a shortes t amount of time possible. This is a key value added activities of the Inditex group Company. Inditex Business Model Structure. Inditex Logistics Centres Prioritized Strengths Inditex is the world largest clothing and apparel company in terms of revenue. Inditex has a great organization knowledge and expertise. This stands for unique resources and core competences of the company. It also has a strong business model (core competence) It has strong brand (unique resource) Inditex has a diversifying marketing strategy (core competence) Prioritized Weakness Inditex depend on one global brand (Zara which generate 66.11% of its total revenue). It also depends on two geographical regions (Europe excluding Spain and Spain). Inditex is exposed to commodity inflation, It has a centralized logistic centre which may cause some problems in future expansion. High training cost. External Analysis P.E.S.T.E.L Analysis Political Global trade agreement18 National trade relationship19 Value added tax (VAT) and foreign taxation policies. Change in government. Pressure group20. Economical Exchange rate: related to GBP, Us dollars, Japanese Yen: As the crisis in Europe area might cause the Euro to be weaker than the Yen, so the company is likely to have exchange loss. Year on year change in GDP21. Financial market uncertainty. Unemployment Commodity price inflations: for instance, the fuel price increase in the Middle East due to the civil unrest may affect the company margins and also increase the cost of transportation. Inflation22 and Interest rate23. Socio-Cultural Social dimension, corporate social responsibility24 and reputations. Consumers’ complaints. Changes in consumers preferences. Changes in lifestyles and trends. New trends among the younger generation in Europe and America. Technology Spending on research and development Information system Eco-efficiency25 E commerce26 Environmental Kyoto protocol Waste and Recycling: more focus on the attention of areas such as sustainable development. The effect of global climate to the production of organic cotton. Toxic chemicals: this includes carbon footprint. Legal Employment law: this has something to do with Child labour and rules and regulations that relate to labour. Consumer law: this regards law and regulation which relates to fashions and clothing Patents and trademarks Supplier rights Health and safety law European companies will be assisted by the abolition of textile and clothing import quotas (ATC) in order to enter into the emerging market of Asia which undoubtedly counted for a huge significant amount of the population of the world. However, due to the uncertainties associated with political and economic situations, this could increase the risk of further expansion strategies. Although the price of cotton has increases by more than $5 over the years while unemployment has risen high especially in Greece and Spain with 28% and 26% respectively which force textile companies to potentially increase their market prices, while disposable income on clothing has decrease because the ongoing problem in the Eurozone consumer gives negatives signal to consumers which affect their confidence, but the confident level in the emerging market (Asia) is optimistic. However, the price deflation of cloths which has been dated back to the 1990s till the start of the financial crisis, the reversing t rends now after the financial crisis have an effect on the overall productivity of the apparel industry positively. Porters 5 Forces Threats of New Entrants There is economic of scales It involves large capital investment There is a brand loyalty in the industry There is a product differentiation Patent and protection tariffs Moderate force which can be overcome Threat of Substitute Price/performance ratio Inditex other brands There is zero switching cost Weak force The Bargaining Power of Buyer Decentralized and Centralized Buyer There is a low switching cost There is zero buyer competition threat Moderate force The Bargaining Power of Buyer There is fewer supplier in the industry There is a low supplier competition threat Suppliers of textile and raw materials Weak force Competitive Rivalry There is existing retailers equally sized Slow growth in the apparel industry Great differentiation Moderate force Three moderate forces and two weak forces make the clothing and apparel industry unattractive for new competitors to break into the industry. However, changes to substitute depends on the consumers’ preferences according to their perception of taste, style and budget, therefore it is high to switch to other providers. Competitive rivalry is the strongest force assisted by the slow growth of the market. Prioritized Opportunity There is still room to grow in the emerging market in this industry. The abolition of quotas Organic market development Technological Innovation New strategic Alliance Prioritized Threats There is high competitive rivalry in the industry There is slow market growth in the industry Increase in commodity inflation Changes in consumers’ taste or trends Exchange rates. CORPORATE STRATEGY Strategic Position Zara which is Inditex main source of revenue because of the amount it generated in terms of sales is ranked on the 4th option of the Bowman strategic clock, it implement a broad differentiation strategy. It offers products to customers at an affordable and reasonable price or a little higher because of its good perception of quality, enriches customers’ satisfaction and loyalty. However, the excellent deployment of its unique resources and its core competences assist Zara to considered as the first mover in the industry27. One of its key value added activities is its focus on customers’ needs and a constant change in its product lines whilst maintaining the same level of price allows Zara to achieve a competitive advantage. Inditex has expanded and grown, according to the Ansoff matrix. By product development: (EcoFootDesign) Systematic changes in products line and innovation. Market penetration: it has increase shares of its key existing markets. Market development: in 2010 saw Uterque one of Inditex business unit opens its first store in Russia which also pave way for Zara home and Zara to follow through. By related and unrelated Diversification: Zara and Massimo Dutti entered into the Indian market in 201028 and 201329 respectively and Inditex enters the furniture retail industry30 through unrelated diversification. Inditex method of pursuing its strategies. Organic development: Inditex continuous performance and innovation is acquired through their knowledge and experience according to their existing  resource and capabilities. Through Acquisition and Takeover: in 1995-1996, Inditex acquired the whole of Massimo Dutti in a 100% acquisition. Form a Strategic Alliance: A Joint Venture with the Tata Group to open the first Massimo Dutti stores in New Delhi, India. Inditex license to other companies: production of finished goods through external suppliers. The Inditex Group Company adopted a parenting role by providing a clear vision of its company objectives, it also assists employees by providing continuous training and facilitating, and enhancing through synergies. Improvement in all Inditex departments is as a result of a great focus in performance evaluation and monitoring. Inditex adopted different portfolio management for each of its business units. According to the results of the strategic analysis, financial analysis, and SWOT analysis above, it has been well documented that the Inditex Group Company has a strong portfolio which make the company likely to overcome any future uncertainties, as it was evidence in its financial performance that they keep growing even during the financial crisis of 2008-2009, they still achieve a significant increase in revenue. However, the problem which the Inditex Group could be facing regarding their adopted strategies will be the over dependence of its other seven (7) business units which includes Bershka, Massimo Dutti, Oysho, Pull and Bear, Stradivarius, Uterque, and Zara Home over Zara which is the unit that generates over half of its total sales (66.11%). The Group should also find a way to increase the percentages of sales to geographical region like America which is has the lowest sales geographically and also in Asia which is an emerging market other than Europe. FUTURE STRATEGIES Proposed strategy for the strongest SBU (Zara) Product development: the company should produce better quality of future product lines. Market development: the company should go on with further expansion in Europe market and the US market. Diversification: the company should enter into the apparel sport wear industry. Market penetration: the company should enter into the Australian market. Corporate Market penetration: further expansion in the Asia market. Backward integration: to acquire a fabric supplier Consolidation: weaken business units should be strengthen Forward integration: manufacturing and logistic process should be decentralised. Do Nothing: continue with the current operations. References Inditex SA, Bloomberg Market, [Online] Available at: http://www.bloomberg.com/quote/ITX:SM Accessed on 20th of February, 2014. H&M (2014), â€Å" H&M Opens first store in East Asia† [Online] Available at: http://about.hm.com/en/About/facts-about-hm/people-and-history/history.html Accessed on 23rd of February, 2014. Inditex, (2008) Inditex annual report 2008, annual report 2008, A Coruna: Inditex. Inditex, (2009) Inditex annual report 2008, annual report 2008, A Coruna: Inditex. Inditex, (2010) Inditex annual report 2008, annual report 2010, A Coruna: Inditex. Inditex, (2011) Inditex annual report 2008, annual report 2011, A Coruna: Inditex. Inditex, (2012) Inditex annual report 2008, annual report 2012, A Coruna: Inditex. Index Mundi, [Online] Available at: http://www.indexmundi.com/commodities/?commodity=cotton Accessed on 20th of February 2014. Unemployment Statistics, [Online] Available at: http://epp.eurostat.ec.europa.eu/statistics_explained/index.php/Unemployment_statistics Accessed on 20th February, 2014. Textile and Clothing, [Online] Available at: http://www.companiesandmarkets.com/MarketInsight/Textiles-and-Clothing/Global-Apparel-Industry/NI7468 Accessed on 22nd of February, 2014. The Economics Times, [Online] Available at: http://articles.economictimes.indiatimes.com/2013-04-29/news/38904773_1_brand-massimo-dutti-foreign-investment-promotion-board Accessed on 24th of February, 2014.

Media Representations and Popular Fears of Crime

Is there a relationship between media representations and popular fears of crime? Illustrate your answer with contemporary examples. In society today, the media affects most people’s lives in one way or another. The extent of this effect however, varies depending on the individuals themselves. Popular fears of crime, is a term which is used to describe what kind of crimes scare people in the sense of being a victim of that crime and what it is about particular crimes which make citizens feel un-safe.Some of the crimes that people are most fearful of are not the most popular of crimes though, which questions why they are feared the most and does the media have a part to play in this? There are many factors which come into account when thinking about popular fears of crime. Each person will have a different view as to what they fear, depending on their own thoughts or feelings and also their social groups. While fear of crime can be differentiated into public feelings, thoughts and behaviors about the personal risk of criminal victimization, distinctions can also be made between the tendency to see situations as fearful, the actual experience while in those situations, and broader expressions about the cultural and social significance of crime and symbols of crime in people's neighborhoods and in their daily, symbolic lives† Gabriel, U. ;amp; Greve, W. (2003). The psychology of fear of crime: Conceptual and methodological perspectives.British Journal of Criminology, 43, 600-614. Fears also tend to be similar amongst similar groups of gender/age or ethnicity. Among young women, there is a popular fear of sexual assault or rape occurring, and although this crime can happen to men it doesn’t tend to be a fear which they have. Different races may have a fear of racial abuse from a different ethnic group, mothers everywhere could fear for child abuse to happen to their own children, and elderly people tend to fear groups of young people, despite if they are committing an actual crime or not.A survey carried out in Wokingham, England showed that the most popular fear of crime was young people hanging around the streets as well as dangerous driving. Although this may be the case, this shows that statistically the likelihood of the survey being answered by the older generation to be very high, however it does outline that age can be a strong factor in differentiation of fear.A fear which happens rarely, but seems to be a popular one, is terrorism. Although we hear about this more often nowadays, it is not a crime which happens as regularly as other crimes occurring in the UK and world today. It’s a more recent â€Å"fear† which came to light mainly after the 9/11 incident in the USA. This is a crime, which is of fear to everyone regardless of any factors, because it can happen to anyone and does happen in society today.

Homeland Security Exercise Program Research Paper

Homeland Security Exercise Program - Research Paper Example They provide infrastructure security and analysis of the information. This consists of identifying and assessing both current and future threats to our homeland, 4. Homeland Security also focuses on prevention of terrorists, detection, and being prepared to respond, protect, and recover from any activity. This work is not only at a Federal level but also at the State and Local levels of government. While Homeland Security is most often thought of as a government responsibility it is also the responsibility of the private sector to work with Federal, State, and local government agencies, owner/operators of business, nonprofit organizations, academic institutions, nongovernmental organizations and other infrastructure stakeholders such as trade associations. The Federal government controls the guidelines and policies that affect the planning, development, design, implementation, exercise and evaluation of an emergency readiness program, However, its up to each state to assess its own n eeds and develop an exercise and evaluation program. ... o gives financial and direct support designed to assist the state and local governments with design and implementation of a state level program to evaluate and enhance its domestic preparedness. Exercises are used for training, practice prevention, dealing with vulnerability reduction, response time, and the recovery capabilities in a risk free setting. They are also used to evaluate and improve performance. Exercises are also a way to show community awareness in preparing for disastrous events. The State Homeland Security Strategy development process begins with the evaluation phase. This is when the states and local governments implement their own vulnerability, risk and needs evaluations. The knowledge that they gain during this evaluation period allows the development of plans and procedures. The plans and procedures are developed further into planning for equipment, training and exercise requirements. The results of this analysis are used to form the State Homeland Security Stra tegy. Strategy requires that the states conduct a vulnerability, risk and needs assessment. These assessments are formed at the state and local levels using what strategy the states adopt. There are also guidelines that they must follow in cooperation with the Federal Bureau of Investigations (FBI) and the Centers for Disease Control (CDC), in development of State Homeland Security Strategies in responding to, for example, a terrorism incident. The evaluation is prepared by the State’s planning team. The evaluation stipulates the goals for emphasizing prevention, response and recovery capabilities. It also gives specific objectives and steps for carrying out the planning, training, equipment and resources necessary to reach the goals. These guidelines also include an agricultural

Hidden Valley Resort Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Hidden Valley Resort - Research Paper Example Hidden Valley Resorts are known for the eco-friendly environment that they serve. This report aims at discussing the current marketing situation of the company and also aims at developing a few opportunities for the company. An analysis of the internal as well as the external environment of the company has been made which permits a chance to draw out the opportunities and to study the viability of the opportunities. The report will set down two to three opportunities for the company which can be used to help develop the current market condition. These will be accessed financially and the details like the changes that might occur within the operations of the company will also be discussed. The next section will provide a brief overview of the company and a high-level image of the operations will be discussed. Hidden Valley resorts are a renowned resort located about one and half hours Northwest of Townville in the Paluma range in Queensland. The location of the resorts has untouched nature at its best and there is a wide range of natural species of birds, butterflies, wallabies and also other nocturnal animals. The cabins are known for the carbon Neutral Resort and the operations are based completely on green working. The company operates completely on solar power and as explained on the website of the company, â€Å"... with the help of our friends at Climate Friendly we purchased carbon credits to offset the greenhouse gases we emit into the atmosphere and are now CLIMATE NEUTRAL†. The resort was introduced in 1982. The main focus of the resort then was to cater to the needs of the timber cutters, tin miners and the graziers. The resort has been owned and operated over the last 24 years by Ian and Bonnie McLennan and has been developed over the years to improve and become better.

Vocational Ministry Paper Research Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Vocational Ministry - Research Paper Example This good progress has suffered in recent times however, from a growing lack of funds to provide the extra accommodation and equipment that these students need. Financial crisis at Federal government level has seen budgets cut, while schools have to jump over more and more complex hurdles to achieve compliance with any number of new rules. This paper explores this issue of the lack of funding for special educational needs, showing how students’ theoretical rights are not being respected, and what the consequences of this are. It examines the reasons why funding is not forthcoming, and what responses have already been tried. Finally it suggests a creative Christian response to the problem through building closer local linkages between churches and schools. The theoretical rights of students with special needs Most people, if asked directly what they think of special needs education, would support the idea that children should be educated according to their actual needs. There i s no problem with the idea of providing this service and all public schools no doubt have every intention of delivering this to best of their ability. There is, an issue, however, which colors the debate on how best to deliver the rights that children with special needs have for an education tailored to their specific situation: â€Å"Many of the debates circulating around the concept of inclusion focus less on the children and more on ideology, legal issues or practical ramifications involved. At the heart of much of this discussion lies the issue of money: to what extent is special education defined, or even driven, by financial considerations?† (Osgood, 2008, p. 127) The tighter the financial situation is, the more people push special needs to the edge, and this is the problem that needs to be addressed. The actual deficit in the delivery of students’ rights It is very difficult to measure the extent of student special educational needs, or the level of the gap betw een what is required and what is actually delivered. One of the reasons for this is that the definition of this category has not been constantly applied over time and across the different states of America. Other reasons include the fact that some special educational needs are more difficult to identify than others, and some vocal pressure groups demand more resources for selective types of educational need (Farrell, 2012). In my experience there is a good system in place for special needs, but the biggest problem is caused by delays in moving from one stage of the process to the next. If a student is diagnosed as needing a particular intervention, or access to particular accommodation, or tuition from a particular member of staff, very often there is simply not the capacity to provide what everyone agrees is necessary. The aspirations of the system cannot be delivered because the funds are capped but the student diagnoses are not. Consequences of the lack of resources for students and for schools The consequences of the lack of resources for students can be very serious indeed. Students only have a limited amount of time in each grade, and every week that passes while they wait for whatever service they need is a precious learning opportunity that has been lost. I have witnessed many parents in tears because schools cannot provide their child with suitable

Women Rising From the Ashes of War Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Women Rising From the Ashes of War - Essay Example Women Rising From the Ashes of War When World War Two broke out, it was a signal that turbulent times were ahead. Men were recruited to fight for their countries. Women had no choice but to let go of their men. It was unknown to everyone what the future will bring, but when the war broke out, it seemed that a bleak tomorrow threatened the world. Women, in particular, assailed by a series of unending attacks to their humanity and had to claw at what appears to be a hint of hope for survival. Class distinctions broke down and the formerly rich women adjusted to life’s painful realities that they had to live like the rest of the commoners. â€Å"Mass observation surveys conducted during 1941 found that many who advocated conscription believed it would force ‘idle rich girls’ to work.† (Smith: 215) The war demanded enormous manpower, not just in the armed forces, but also in industry. Millions of men joined the forces, which left many industries without a satisfactory workforce. The government realised that this shortfall had to be filled, approximately one and a half million workers were needed in munitions alone and it was vital to keep up the production of essential wartime machinery and equipment. The government therefore, took the decision to draft women into ‘men’s’ jobs, just as they had done during the First World War, in an attempt to keep production at a steady level. The new realities faced by the women necessitated that they likewise take part in the war effort in any capacity they can. Most women had to leave their homes to work in a variety of occupations.

In what ways are new technologies opening up new spaces of identity Essay - 1

In what ways are new technologies opening up new spaces of identity for young people - Essay Example For example people can play games online and have fun. Its easy now to make a website that belongs to a certain university and has all the students as members in it. Or a website that offers the user to increase its social circle by interacting with different type of people across the globe. I was going through a local magazine today and found a section in it that had real stories about people’s experience on the Internet. I was not amazed at all to find out the story about a happily married couple that first met on the Internet in a local chat room. Events like this are becoming common in the world. This story only tells about people living in the same region but in fact there are stories about people living in different parts of the world that met on the Internet and went on to get married. In the same way people have started making friends around the globe that share common interests. Now I will discuss about some websites that are extremely popular and have millions of peo ple as their members. The recent trend in Internet entertainment is towards websites that allow people to interact with different people across the globe. As we all know Internet removes the barrier of time synchronization hence it enables the people around the world to mingle with each other. Websites like Orkut, Facebook, Netlog, Hi5, and My Space have been the major target of users looking to make new friends and have fun on the Internet. I will only discuss Orkut and Facebook that are the leaders. The strategy of the owners of these website is quite simple, that is enable interaction between people in the circle of law and order and provide entertainment. While this is going on the owners of these websites are not dumb enough to do this without earning money. Every organization that wants to promote their firm through the Internet finds it easy to market themselves through websites that are most frequently visited. These websites that claim to increase a person’s social circle

Pestle analysis Coursework Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Pestle analysis - Coursework Example Pestle analysis Political factors compose the stability of political environment and policies of political parties and movements in the in the area of business operation. Political factors can interfere with aspects that directly affect business. For example, they can influence tax policies or government’s engagement in trading agreements. A firm should examine the political factors in order to identify opportunities and risks in a particular market posed by the political factors. Forecasting and planning can always be modified with comprehensive knowledge of these factors. Economic factors include economic growth rates, employment levels, unemployment, costs of raw materials such as petrol and steel, interest rates and monetary policies, inflation rates and exchange rates. These factors directly affect business. Despite varying from one country to another, these factors are highly susceptible to change. For example, the economy undergoes a series of fluctuations that are linked to booms and slumps in economic activity. During boom, almost all firms gain while most firms lose out during slump. A comprehensive study on economic factors can enable a business to gain insight on the risks involved in particular market and decide whether to take the risks and expand to the region. For example, a proper examination would reveal whether economic conditions are right or not. If they are right, the risk involved will subsequently be low, and the firm may incorporate these favorable in its forecasting and planning.

Good Health Essay Example for Free

Good Health Essay It is common to hear people talking about the state of their health. Some say they are in good health, while others talk about their ill health or that of others. But what exactly is good heath and how do we know when we are experiencing it? This article takes a look at that aspect of our lives and explains it in simple terms. Good Health When we are enjoying good health, we feel good, we look good with a good health image and everything about our lives seems to be going well with no major upsets. It means we have plenty of energy to do the things we want to do and we feel happy and contented with our ability to do those things. There is no pain or feeling of stiffness in our body and we are able to exercise freely every day if we wish. Often, when we are in good health it is common to be more active and exercise forms part of the days activities. When we are free of pain, we are able to do a lot more and we feel motivated to do a lot more than when we are experiencing pain. So maintaining a good level of health is important to our lives because it means the absence of pain totally or at least for the majority of the time. Promoting Good Health So what can we do to promote good health? There are lots of things we can do and similarly lots of things we should avoid doing. We should make sure we eat a healthy diet, because we are what we eat and when we only put good things into our bodies, those bodies respond by simply being in better health. That includes healthy meals made up of fresh ingredients as well as any healthy snacks we may want to eat during the day. We should exercise and be active every day, getting plenty of fresh air outdoors and sunshine. Fresh air boosts our energy levels while natural daylight and sunshine boosts our mood, makes us feel happier and also boosts our bodies ability to manufacture its own vitamin D. If we live in a city, we should make a point of getting into the countryside as often as possible to get fresher air and avoid all the pollutants that city air generally tends to have. We should try and be as happy as we can be, facing life with a positive, upbeat attitude and try not to let stress into our lives. We should avoid living a sedentary lifestyle and make sure we get up off the chair as often as we can. Avoiding foods that are processed, contain ligh levels of refined sugar and refined white flour as well as those that contain artificial additives. That usually means eating only fresh produce, fresh fruit and vegetables along with lean meat and fish (if we are not vegetarian), nuts, seeds, legumes and some dairy produce, although this should be kept to a minimum. We should also avoid drinking soda and flavored drinks because of the dangerous levels of refined sugar and/or artificial sweeteners and other additives. Alcohol consumption should be moderate and smoking is a totally bad idea. If we can use our common sense and make sure we live as healthily as we can, then we should enjoy a far better level of health. If we can also keep stress levels down and stay happy, our health will reflect our mood and we will have a longer, happier and healthier life.

Business Plan For Hot Dog Mania Marketing Essay

Business Plan For Hot Dog Mania Marketing Essay Being one of the most popular food type in the world, hot-dogs are sold in enormous quantities worldwide. In the US alone, people eat around 16 billion hot-dogs every year. Because of the high demand on this type of food, companies are created every year with the purpose to satisfy the people need to eat a very simple, but fast and tasty food. Hot Dog Mania is a start-up company that will be entering the Romanian food-service industry with a worldwide known product that is not used by any of the ten big companies in this industry the hot dog. The competitive advantage of this product is that it will use different culinary recipes from famous hot dog countries and it will offer its customers the possibility to customize their own hot dogs from scratch, while being able to taste different world flavors. A French company named Gira Foodservice (Ionescu, C. (April 22, 2009), Radiografia pieÃ…Â £ei foodservice din Romà ¢nia [Radiography of the Romanian food service market], http://www.foodandbar.ro/actualitatea/1481-radiografia-pieei-foodservice-din-romania, Retrieved January 05, 2010) published a Romanian country report regarding the food-service industry, in which it stated that the market revenue for 2008 is approximately à ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ã‚ ¬3.4 billion, and it predicts that the market will increase annually with a two-digit percentage. The domestic market of the company is Romania, and in the future, after a country development to at least five major cities, it will address to other Balkan countries like Bulgaria. The primary customers of the hot dog products are people living in the urban areas, which have a high value for time and mobility, and prefer to eat fast food in order to be able to spare time for other activities. Other customers that will be targeted by HDM will be people who will visit large touristic resorts in the country. The last customer type that HDM targets is the one that is keen on social events like concerts, various exhibitions, fairs, and sport games, and would like to have a snack during a short break. The main priority of this business plan is to set up a fast-food company that will establish various outlets, starting with one on the seaside, with my personal equity. Later on, between three to six months, there will be a further development, were other business partners will be required. Company Description The company name will be Hot Dog Mania, and it will be a registered trademark together with the company logo and slogan at the Romanian State Office for Inventions and Trademark. The internet domain name will be http://www.hotdog-mania.com and it will have numerous links that will redirect customers to it, depending on the country. For example, the Romanian customers will access the website http://www.hotdog-mania.ro and they will be instantaneously redirected to the .com site, with the Romanian language interface. Hot Dog Mania will be a privately held company, registered as a Limited Liability Company, with myself as a sole shareholder. Upon further development to other countries, when the brand will become a franchise, the company will be a franchisor and will have franchisees as partners in other locations. We will focus on selling mainly hot dogs and drinks. The hot dogs will have different variations from the original Frankfurters and Wieners to the hot dogs eaten in various counties in the US like Alabama, New York State or in Seattle Washington, or even the Patsos from Turkey. Besides the predetermined hot dogs, the customers will have the opportunity to customize their own hot dogs from scratch, by choosing the sausage, the bun type, the condiments, vegetables, and spices. The drinks will vary from the well knows juices, mineral water, and some beer assortments. HDM will also have a small merchandise activity, where it will offer its customers hats, badges, T-shirts or various hot dog clothing, in order to remain in the customer attention at all time. Besides the products, the company will try to provide the best quality services in the fast food industry, using the Just in Time method in order to always serve its customers as they make an order. Our main objective is to provide the high quality tasty food to our customers faster than a regular fast food. This mission is sustained by some values like: highly trained professionals, quality food, and faster than fast. The staff will be initially trained for two weeks, and then the store managers will permanently supervise the staff in order to make them provide the best services. These managers would have a higher success rate in the supervising activity because there are a few staff members necessary to run a location. The quality food will be assured by the suppliers, which will be chosen by annual auctions, so the suppliers with the best food quality will be selected. Faster than fast the generic service name that HDM chose for representing the Just in Time food preparing strategy, used by McDonalds. This way, there will be calculations of food demand depending on some factors like location, month, date, hour, events or Holidays, and media. The Just in Time method implies that every employee will have its own activity, and it will be perfectly related to the other employees activity, in order to have no time loss between product preparing and supplying. When there will be high customer queues, one member of the staff will use a Palm PDA to collect orders from the queue, and it will automatically send it to the food processing display, so other employees will be able to make the food before the clients arrive to the cash register, in order to make the waiting time lower. The mission of the HDM company providing high quality tasty food to the customers faster than a regular fast food, will be accomplished by this three main activities. The initial management activity will be conducted by me, and after the opening of another location, two of the staff members will be promoted as store managers one for each location. This means that in the first months I will need to work a little harder in order to both manage the first location, and the company as a whole. After undertaking an ambitious expansion plan, there will be area managers, which will supervise five different management locations in order to assure the correct operations between store managers and employees. Possible management positions will be added later after development, when it will be indispensable to have a Marketing Manager, a Sales Manager, a Store Operation Manager, Human Resources Manager, and Purchasing Manager. Regarding the personnel plan, each location will have two cooks, two cashiers and one store manager that will handle every situation required. Hot Dog Mania locations will be represented by medium and large caravans, that are both mobile and space sufficient for this kind of activity. The first location will be at the seaside, targeting a large number of potential customers, closest to the beach as possible. The fact that the company is using caravans offers the high mobility, which allows us to create new locations in just a few hours. One day the store can be at the seaside, and the other day at a concert event in Bucharest. The location will use large LCD screens to display the products and menus, and it will have its own originality in displaying the tasty hot dogs. We will equip the stores with modern technology, and we will aim for maximum cleanliness in order to attract the customers to maintain it. Another facility is to equip the store with umbrellas and tall bar tables, to allow them to eat the food just in front of the store. The mobile locations will be settled with priority to major events, like soccer games, concerts, exhibitions, fairs. There will also be seasonal locations, on the touristic areas, and fixed locations in the major cities, close to downtown. The initial funds will be covered from my own capital, and it will reach and approximate investment of à ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ã‚ ¬50,000. The start-up funding necessary is shown in the table on the next page: Start-up Funding Start-up Expenses to Fund 800 Start-up Assets to Fund 43000 Total Funding Required 43800 Assets Non-Cash Assets from Start-up 0 Cash Requirements from Start-up 43800 Additional Cash Raised 5000 Cash Balance on Starting Date 48800 Total Assets 48800 Liabilities and Capital Liabilities Current Borrowing 0 Long-term Liabilities 0 Accounts Payable 0 Other Current Liabilities 0 Total Liabilities 0 Capital Planned Investment 50000 Additional Investment Requirement 0 Total Planned Investment 50000 Loss at Start-up 800 Total Capital 48800 Total Capital and Liabilities 48800 Total Funding 50000 The milestones and timelines of the company have been made on a five-year time interval, and they represent objectives of the company. They are shown on the table below: Task Timeline Milestone Make a sales volume high enough to reach the break even 1 month Reach break even Acquire the necessary licenses to set locations on events 3 months Obtain location licenses Set up the second location of hot dogs 6 months Acquire second location Set up the third location of hot dogs 12 months Acquire third location Expand the company to fixed locations in other major cities 3 years Develop in other cities Create a franchise to the company to have franchisees countrywide 3 years Create a Romanian franchise Expand the company to other countries in the Balkans area 5 years Expand abroad Industry Analysis and Trends The main characteristics of the fast-food industry are the following: Low cost in comparison to a traditional restaurant; The mobility that it offers to its customers, having them the opportunity to eat the food as they go; Specific demographic identities for customers: usually young people, sometimes families, driven by children; living in urban areas, and having medium or lower medium income, although recently young people with high income have developed a sympathy for this kind of food; Faster times in the food preparing, up to a few seconds after the order has been taken; Development in many locations, which are very important for this kind of activity; High competitiveness among companies, based on the fact that customers are not always loyal to a brand, and will consume the products based primarily on the location of the establishment; The fast-food industry in Romania has developed sensitivity to seasonality. In this respect, the industry cycle has fluctuations especially during the Holidays. For example, at the end of December, during the Christmas Holiday, the Romanians have developed a food cult, when they prepare specific Romanian dishes, which they eat for approximately two weeks. During this time, the fast-food industry suffers a dramatic sales drop. The same phenomenon occurs during the Easter Holiday, when Romanians have a highly valued religion holiday. Although these industry cycles are occurring every year, the companies in the market are aware of it, and they are not very affected by it, having time to prepare for these seasonality cycles. The industry life cycle has not yet reached the maturity stage, being in a constant growth for the last ten years. This is happening because the young people, like students, prefer to eat fast food in order to associate to a social trend. Afterwards, even if they have matured and have jobs, they still feel attracted to this food because of the high mobility that it offers. Nevertheless, the state will have a high influence on this trend in the years to come, since they have various campaigns against fast food. Future regulations will impose a vice tax to boost the fast-food prices, and the Ministry of Health is working together with the Ministry of Finance to increase the VAT for this economic sector. Since now, no law like such has been approved in the Romanian Parliament, and it will need the consent of the European Commission. The Romanian fast-food industry is having an accelerating rate of increase, according to a survey made by Euromonitor International (Stoica, A. (May 24, 2007), Fast-food-urile inghit doua miliarde de euro [The fast-foods are eating two billion euros], http://www.romanialibera.ro/bani-si-afaceri/a96203-fast-food-urile-inghit-doua-miliarde-de-euro.html, Retrieved January 05, 2010). According to them, the average growth rate is about 26% every year, and in 2005 the industry reached total revenues of $2 billion, and in 2007 it reached more than à ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ã‚ ¬2 billion. Bucharest is the Romanian city with the highest revenue in this market. The fast-food industry is consisted on many types of food, from the well-known hamburgers, to chicken, pizza, fries, hot dogs, and the Turkish kebab, called Shaorma in Romania. There are a total of more than 900 fast-food outlets in Bucharest alone, so there is a fierce competition. According to a local newspaper called Romania Libera (TOP 10 fast-food-uri in Bucuresti [Top ten fast-foods in Bucharest] (November 10, 2007), http://www.romanialibera.ro/a110940/top-10-fast-food-uri-in-bucuresti.html, Retrieved January 05, 2010), there are ten major competitors on the fast-food market in Bucharest, among them being McDonalds, KFC, Pizza Hut, Gregorys, Snack Attack, Burger King, Spring Time, and there is a rather new competitor, on a retail store specialized in furniture, Ikea, that offers food at competitive prices. We will make a detailed analysis of these competitors on the following pages. All of these major competitors can offer products that represent substitutes to the HDM hot dogs, but they have some differences. McDonalds represents the most important competitor that can offer substitute products, being the most appreciated fast-food company in Romania. Their products are not similar to hot dogs, but they have many stores all across the country. Their products have a high demand from customers because of the quality of the food and service. The only drawback of this company is that their food is standardized, and they rarely bring new products on the market. Having the nearest prices to the HDM food, and the same delivery speed, McDonalds is the most significant competitor that can offer substitution products. KFC and Pizza Hut are other competitors that can offer substitution products, although their products are completely different from the hot dogs. In fact, they are very different from another, too. One of them offers chicken recipes, and the other one offers pizza. The only main advantage of these products is that they have a very good taste, and they have various options to choose from. Besides that, the service type is different. Their companies offer customers experiences closer to restaurants, taking long times to prepare, and because of the food type, the customers need to stand at a table in order to eat them, and it takes quite some time to do so. Another drawback represents the high prices of their food, being at least three times more expensive than a traditional hot dog. The only reason that we can say that these two companies offer substitution products is the fact that they are major players in the fast food-industry. Gregorys and Snack Attack are two fast-food companies offering cold sandwiches with salami, ham, cheese and some vegetables. They have a few assortments, but their food is cold. The queue time is low, but the prices are considerably higher than a hot dog. Snack Attack has recently developed and is now supplying food to supermarkets, mini markets, and other stores that might have access to events. Ikea has a fast-food division that returns annual revenues worth of à ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ã‚ ¬5 million. Although they are specialized in another industry, they have created a fast-food in every store to develop a differentiation competitive advantage, and this strategy has proven to be very efficient. Their food is very cheap, and they are the only competitors that can offer a similar product to HDM. Their hot dogs have the most competitive price on the market, with a price of only à ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ã‚ ¬0.25 per unit. The only reason why Ikea cannot become a very strong competitor is that they only build fast-food outlets inside their stores, and at this time, there is only one store in the country. Spring Time and Burger King are two other competitors that can offer substitution products for the HDM hot dogs. While Spring Time has reached a company life cycle of saturation and decline, Burger King is not appreciated by the Romanian consumers, and thus they cannot develop, as they register constant loss every year. Other fast-food firms that are selling hot dogs are insignificant, having just a small stand in the street, with no strategies and development plans, being managed by only one self employed person in general. After this analysis of the competitors, we can observe that the fast-food industry has multiple market segments. These market segments are shown in the chart below: As shown on this empirical made graph, the hot dog segment in the Romanian fast-food industry is not yet developed, and a strong competitor on this market segment would be able to benefit from this opportunity. McDonalds has had a continuous market share growth because the customers want to eat faster every year, and they were able to provide that. But a hot dog product can be eaten even in another manner, which would not necessary involve fast eating: doing it on the street. As anyone can see in socially developed countries like USA, Germany and Austria, the hot dog products are bought in the middle of the street, and are eaten on the street. This would provide the Romanian customers an even bigger mobility. The product customization will offer them a bigger flexibility. These two advantages combined with the fact that there are no major competitors in the segment, offers to the hot dog product every prerequisite necessary to become a successful brand in the Romanian market. Even if the market trend shows continuous growth every year, the Government regulations might lower the industry growth rate in the upcoming years. But offering a relatively new product in the market, which have not been exploited by other major competitor, will increase the customer interest to it, and will allow a fast development. Country Report Expansion is a problem which every developing company its asking to itself. Because there are various methods of expanding a company, the financial risks are lowering, and thus allowing growing companies to think about such measures. The first advantage that HDM would benefit from expansion is the fact that it will create an economy of scale. By increasing the total number of customers, than it will increase the order volume that it will make from its suppliers, and then the power of negotiation will increase, and thus, the costs with raw material per unit will be lowered. Another advantage that the company will have is a wider access to the customers, through more fast-food outlets. This should be identified as an opportunity, because at this point a marketing campaign would have expected results, attracting more customers to the stores, and creating a public awareness. If the customers are content with the products and services, then they will become devoted to the brand, although in general this happens to a relatively small number of customers. Higher revenues can be efficiently transferred into management budgets, and allow the company to hire professionals to manage activities with broader instruments and more time than one single manager for all the operations. A Marketing Manager, a Sales Manager, a Store Operation Manager, a Human Resources Manager, and a Purchasing Manager will be key positions to create a professional strategy of product improvement and expansion. By accessing a large number of customers, than the revenues will grow, and the profits will be increased as well, allowing the company to have future expansion at higher rate, because of the increasing capital. One other advantage that expansion brings to the company is the access to lower cost workforce, and especially in Bulgaria, lower raw materials. Expansion to more than ten different locations can bring in an optimistic financial hypothesis the possibility to create a production factory, where the company will have complete access to the raw food processing and it will acquire a complete quality control of the food. Besides, a vertical development can considerably lower the company fixed costs. There is a high opportunity to expand a hot dog company in Romania and even in the Balkans, because the markets have not reached their maturities, and being emerging countries, the middle class will expand in the upcoming decade. This way, the product lifecycle will be extended to at least five to ten years. The major opportunity of expansion to Bulgaria is that the country has similar fast-food industry segmentation as Romania, where the major competitors are addressing different segments, while the hot dog segment is only represented by small companies with low retaliation power. Another opportunity of expansion is represented by the fiscal measures regulated in the foreign countries. Bulgaria has lower taxations than Romania, and it will allow Hot Dog Mania to increase its gross profits. Hot Dog Mania will have two different methods to enter foreign markets. The first method is the foreign direct investment which consists in using the companys own capital to expand to foreign markets. The main advantage is that the expansion will have a high profit potential, while it will have a full control of the operations. The disadvantage of using the foreign direct investment is that the company will have higher financial risks than if it had used other expansion methods. In the foreign country, the company will have exposure to political risk, macroeconomic risk, authority abuse risk, and Government regulations. Setting up new headquarters also involves a managerial investment, but with a higher complexity because of two main reasons: if the manager is Romanian, than it will have to become accustomed to the foreign country culture, habit and measures of communication; and if the manager is foreign, then it will probably have a different perspective over the home country vision, which will be adjusted in a large period of time. The other method that HDM will use to enter foreign markets is the franchise. This is a very easy and financial risk free method to enter other countries. HDM will ask for a monthly franchise tax, and will supply the franchisee with the raw materials as a subcontractor, in order to maintain the food quality and higher income. The company will assess the country potential and will obtain know how about the foreign market, which will allow the company to extend to the country with risk free foreign direct investments. Nevertheless, the franchise method also has some disadvantages. Even if it will act as a subcontractor to the franchisee with the food supply, it will still have low margins to allow the franchisee to have competitive prices on the market. These low margins will offer a lower profit than a profit potential of a FDI. Having a franchisee creates dependence with him, because the home company will always need to supervise and check if the quality is maintain at the company standards. Another risk is that the franchisee could learn the know-how of the hot dog company, and create a new company adapted to its market, and act as a competitor. In the first expansion stage, the HDM company will select the franchise method, because its less financial risky than a foreign direct investment, and it will provide every necessary information that will allow the company to create a future FDI. The primary legal issue of HDMs target country, Bulgaria, is that the judicial system is not fully independent. According to the Heritage website, in Bulgaria Weak property rights, lingering corruption, and inefficient bureaucracy hold down the countrys overall economic freedom. According to the same website, The non-salary cost of employing a worker is high, but dismissing a redundant employee is costless. Even if these regulations are negative to the legal aspect of Bulgaria, the Investment Promotion Act offers equal treatment to both foreign investors and local ones. Another regulation that represents a good opportunity to extend to Bulgaria with a foreign direct investment method is the fact that EU members can buy land in this country. This way, opening new locations will allow HDM to have wholly owned subsidiaries. Starting a business in Bulgaria takes approximately 50 days, in comparison to the EU average of 38 days. According to the Heritage website, Bulgarias economic freedom score is 64.6, which is well above the world average. This is primarily because they have high fiscal freedom, with a flat corporate tax of only 10%. The general time lines for going global represent a projected plan, being subjected to different changes in the upcoming years, due to changes that may occur in the financial status. As in the timeline for the company description, I will use some of the milestones in order to project appropriate timelines for the distant future. The first two milestones that will lead to the extension of the company will be the expanding of the company in other major cities of the home country as a wholly own subsidiaries or franchises, to allow our management to gather enough experience and know-how for future, more complex expansions. After expanding to Bulgaria, the Hot Dog Mania will search other potential locations in the Balkans, with similar people patterns, and similar Government regulations. Considering the fact that the start-up year of the company will be in 2012, the expansion to other countries will take place in 2017. This information is shown on the following table and graph, shown bel ow: Event / Name Start End Length Expand in Other Romanian Cities 2014 2015 1 Create a Franchise 2014 2015 1 Expand to Bulgaria 2016 2017 1 Search for Other foreign Countries 2016 2018 2 Expand to Serbia 2018 2019 1 Expand to Slovakia 2018 2021 3

The Connections Between the Acts of Obsession, The Visual Outcomes and

The main focus of this essay is to explore the connections between the acts of obsession, the visual outcomes and the ideas behind it. The concepts and themes have been narrowed down into four groups for discussion. In the first group I examine two texts that deal with obsession as art, both texts include groups of artists working with obsession in their practice. The second group includes two examples of people dealing with OCD (obsessive compulsive disorder). OCD is a behavior pattern that is not a choice. These examples I have found unveil two completely different people who share the same disorder and share with you the ways in which they cope and live their lives. Next I will discuss Colour and form with three texts that help inform the thinking and making of my art. Last but not least I have three texts that about collecting everyday objects. These texts can all relate to one another through common threads of collections though I felt it was necessary to group them into themes to best explain the relationships between theory and my practice. Scrutinizing I started my annotations journey by looking at a renowned group of 35 artists who share the same obsessive need to acquire items for art making. Lynne Perrelle’s book Art making, collecting and obsessions reveals an insight into the art practices of artists working with the same idea of obsession I have been interested in with my art. This book has been a good starting point for my thinking about connections between my work and other artists. Perrelle outlines each artists practice with how their obsession is made into art. For example, artist Daniel Essig is obsessed with looking for tiny objects that look out of place along side the riverbank. To Essig there is ... ...oration of the mixed-media work and collections of 35 artists. Beverly Massachusetts. Quary Books. Porter, Gwynneth. (2004) Judy Darragh so†¦ you made it? Te Papa Press. Wellington, New Zealand. Pound, Francis. (2010) The escape from the frame, Richard Killeen’s cut-outs. Retrieved from: http://www.art-newzealand.com/Issues11to20/killeen.htm Schaer Cathrin. (2009) Message behind pie charts. Retrieved from: http://www.nzherald.co.nz/entertainment/news/article.cfm?c_id=1501119&objectid=10566495 Turner G. (1999). Yayoi Kusama by Grady Turner. Retrieved from: http://bombsite.com/issues/66/articles/2192. Thornton, Nicholas. (2004) Karsten Bott, Museum of life. Retrieved from www.norfolkprepared.gov.uk/Consumption/groups/public/.../ncc081823.p. Porter, Gwynneth. (2004) Judy Darragh so†¦ you made it? Te Papa Press. Wellington, New Zealand.

Write a critical analysis of the passage from A Handful of Dust Essay

Write a critical analysis of the passage from A Handful of Dust starting is mummy coming back today? (p55) and finishing I've been carrying on anyhow this week (p 57), showing how far you think it typical of Waugh's methods and effects in the novel. The passage starts with John Andrew, the most innocent person in the novel speaking. He is questioning the absence of his mother and waiting eagerly for her return from "monkey-woman's party". His father reassures him that she is sure to be back that very day. John Andrew points out that Brenda would not have seen Thunderclap for four days, this is sweet as he misses the point that she has not seen her own son for four days either! It shows how attached little John Andrew is to his horse, as if he were in his mother's shoes he would not be desperate to get back to his mother but to his horse. We know that Brenda and Tony do not play a big part in John's life, he has a nanny and is close to the stable boy, and sees him as a role model. It is clear to see that Tony had been suffering with from loneliness and missing Brenda by his reply to the stationmaster, "I've been expecting her every day". The two have a little chat while they wait for Brenda's train to arrive. The stationmaster refers to Brenda as "Her ladyship", a title she certainly does not live up to on her jaunts to London. She herself admits it when she sees that the two have come to the station for her "I don't at all deserve it" Waugh puts a brilliant little speech together for John to tell his mother on the way home. It is very amusing as it is written as a child of his age would speak. It has little punctuation and is one very long sentence containing lots of different information about the p... ...time she is done Tony is agreeing to the flat. I found there were two main points which sprang to mind, regarding Waughs methods and effects in this piece. Clearly this story of marital betrayal relates closely to Waugh's personal experience and he seems to be remarkably generous towards Brenda. Her behaviour is clearly compulsive; "I've found a flat" and she is outspoken "I've been carrying on anyhow this week". Waugh remains very compassionate in his attitude to the faithless Brenda and allows no sign of anger in Tony, which would have been well-justified, he just says "no harm done then." Also, this passage has a great range of ironic implication and it is in parts exceptionally funny; the irony of Tony reacting to Brenda's confession of "carrying on madly with young men" by inferring that buying a Pekingese would have been far worse is pure farce.

Economics, Accounting, Finance and Management :: MBA College Admissions Essays

Having a flair for Economics and accounting I have decided that I want a degree in Accounting and Finance or Management. The many brilliant representatives of the management community around the world have strengthened that resolve. When I worked in my school as a tutor of English as a Second Language for students from a community school in Muscat, I realized the importance of a strong leader who could organize, command respect, and be able to work well with others. These ideas were further enforced by my month long internship at Novartis Pharmaceutical (Accounts and Finance Department and Human Resources Department). I attended the Harvard Model Congress in Paris and won the Award of Distinction. One skill in particular that contributed to this award was my confident public speaking.    The last 4 months have been crucial in my learning of real world business and economics. For my IB Extended Essay, titled "To What Extent Does Subway in Oman Operate as an Oligopoly", I set out to prove the oligpolistic structure of the fast food market in Oman. In this effort, I have come across many real life complexities in pricing behaviour, profit making and other aspects of the Theory of the Firm. While attempting to explain these alternate theories of firms I have developed a keen interest in analyzing and understanding how the world of business works.    After an undergraduate degree in accounting and finance or management I plan to go onto post graduate studies and work on an MBA. A strong performance in a BA will allow me to move onto an MBA and only then shall I be satisfied.      For the last four years I have been part of our schools volleyball team ICE. We have retained our ISAC (Inter Schools Activities Conference, Middle East) title for four years. Playing in the power hitters (spiker) position requires immense physical fitness and to accomplish that I regularly go to the gym for fitness training. I am also part of my school track and field team. Being the fastest sprinter in the school since 11th grade the 100m, 200m and 400m races are my specialty even though I still pursue long distance running. In my spare time I explore and master the computer as I am conversant with a Visual Basic Programming course.

Pierre de Fermat

Pierre De Fermat was born in France in August of 1601. His father was a leather merchant and his mother’s family was in the legal profession. children, and practiced law. Math was simply just a hobby for Pierre. Pierre De Fermat was a busy lawyer, and didn’t leave much time for his love of math. Since math was just his hobby, he never wanted any of his work to be published. When he did publish his work, it was always anonymously. Fermat would state theorems, but always neglected the proofs. For example, his most famous work, ‘Fermat’s Last Theorem,’ didn’t include a proof until when Andrew J. Wiles provided the first in 1993. He made many contributions in the field of mathematics. For example, he is considered as one of the ‘fathers’ of analytic geometry, along with Rene’ Descartes. He developed a method for determining maxima, minima, and tangents to various curves that was equivalent to differentiation. He obtained a technique for finding the centers of gravity for various plane and solid figures. Also, he is considered to be one of the founders of the probability theory along with Blaise Pascal. Fermat was the first person known to have evaluated the integral of general power functions. He made contributions in the field of optics and provided a law on light and travel. He wrote a few papers about calculus, before Issac Newton and Gottfried Leibniz were even born. Fermat’s most important work was done in the development of the modern number theory, which was one of his favorite areas of math. Pierre de Fermat died in the year 1665. . These annotations are unsupported by proof. During his lifetime, Pierre De Fermat received very little recognition as a mathematician, and if others didn’t save his papers and letters he may not be the legend he is today.

The Algarve is Portugal’s southern coast

The Algarve is Portugal's southern coast. It is about a hundred miles of marvellous sandy beaches. Most of the beaches round here have red lined cliffs and have unusual rock formations. The villages you find amongst the coasts are unspoilt and have spectacular views. Where ever you go you will find a great variety of bars, restaurants and cafes. The food round this part of Portugal is very cheap compared to other countries. You only have to spend a little money to eat out and enjoy your self. The nightlife here is fantastic and has a very energetic atmosphere. The rugged coastlines here are dazzling And have a very weird kind of atmosphere to them. Costa del Sol is quite famous for its towers and battles that took place in this historic place. The countryside here is studded with these towers and castles and between them tiny towns with huge fields filled with orchards of olive trees and other great delicacy's that this great city has to offer. After a tiring day you can go back to your apartment that is gigantic. (They include bathrooms and kitchens). The nightlife here can get a bit over crowded at times and this city has a tendency to get a bit over ecstatic. The people here are really friendly and help the visitors to fit in. Ibiza is the third largest of the Balearic Islands. Ibiza is renowned for its nightlife and partying that goes on on this island. The beaches here are glorious and the cliffs here are even better. The resorts here are magnificent but I suggest that you go and have a lie down on the boiling beach and after that go for a dip in the refreshing sea. The nightlife here is the best out of all the places I have been and I would like to go again. There are huge clubs that you can go to to have a good time and hang around with your friends or family. Ibiza is a place for young and old people and has a huge variety of sports and water sports that you can take part in. Tenerife is in the Canary Islands and is a great place to go to get a tan and enjoy yourself. The south of Tenerife under the cloudless sky the landscape is desert like. This is where two major holiday resorts have emerged. (Paya de Los Americas and Los Cristianos). From these magnificent places you can see the titanic sized mount Teide. This mountain is actually a volcano and at 3,700m high is Spain's highest peak. Tenerife gives off a fabulous 74-84à ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½F right through April up until August when the temperature drops a little. The views here are tremendous and have to be seen. You can go trekking on the hills and see the sites and sounds. Rhodes is in Greece. Legend has it that Rhodes was a gift from Zeus to the sun god Helios and any holidaymaker will know why, its magnificent sunshine. Rhodes is known for its speciality of seafood. Rhodes has some of the best restaurants in Greece. There are many villages in Rhodes and most of them are covered with small roads and large trees scattered in the vast open fields. The cliffs are humongous and you can often find large caves in water and above. The Hotels are so big and spacious that you don't have to worry that a rooms going to be too small. The climate here is very good and can be extremely hot in the summers.

Dietary Supplement

Dietary Supplement Report Ebony M. Dean SCI/241 January 27, 2013 Joseph Casico Dietary Supplement Report Dietary supplements are vitamins, minerals, herbs and other substances meant to improve your diet. They can come in pill form, capsules, powders and liquids. Supplements do not have to go through testing that drugs do. Some supplements can play an important role in your health. For example, pregnant women take the vitamin folic acid to prevent certain birth defects in their babies.Taking any kind of supplements can also be a type of complementary or alternative medicine. The U. S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) do not regulate dietary supplements in the same way that it regulates medicine. A dietary supplement can be sold without research on how well it works. The benefit of taking dietary supplements is that they are designed to augment your daily intake of nutrients. Normally, you should be able to get all the nutrients you need from a well balanced diet.However, taking supp lements can provide additional nutrients when your diet is lacking or when certain health conditions cause you to develop an insufficiency or deficiency. Multiple-vitamin supplements provide all the basic vitamins and minerals your body needs. These vitamins are generally safe because they only contain small amounts of each nutrient. Individual nutrients can also be sold as a dietary supplement, but in larger amounts than what’s found in a typical multiple-vitamin.These supplements may be used to treat a simple deficiency, such as an iron deficiency, but sometimes they’re used therapeutically to treat specific health conditions or risk factors. For example, large doses of niacin may be used to raise good cholesterol, and folic acid has been used to reduce the risk of a birth defect called spina bifida. The risk of taking dietary supplements is that some contain active ingredients that have strong biological effects in the body. This could make them unsafe in some situa tions and hurt or even complicate your health.Using dietary supplements could lead to harmful and even life-threatening consequences such as using supplements with medications whether prescription or over the counter and substituting them for prescriptions medicines. Taking too much of some of these supplements, such as vitamin A, vitamin D, and iron. Some supplements can also have unwanted effects before, during, and after surgery. Always inform your health care provider, including your pharmacist about any supplements your taking especially before surgery.The FDA regulates both finished dietary supplement products and dietary ingredients under a different set of regulation than those covering â€Å"conventional† foods and drug products (prescription and Over-the-counter). Under the Dietary Supplement Health and Education Act of 1994 (DSHEA), the dietary supplement or dietary ingredient manufacturer is responsible for ensuring that a dietary supplement or ingredient is safe before it is marketed. FDA is responsible for taking action against any unsafe dietary supplement product after it reaches the market.Manufacturers are required to produce dietary supplements to minimum quality standards and ensure that they do not contain any contaminants or impurities, and are accurately labeled. Generally, manufacturers do not need to register their products with FDA nor get approval before producing or selling dietary supplements. Manufacturers must make sure that product label information is truthful and not misleading. The manufacturers are required to report all serious dietary supplement related adverse events or illnesses to the FDA as of December 2007.The FDA can take dietary supplements off the market if they are found to be unsafe, adulterated, or if the claims on the products are false and misleading. Folic acid is a type of B vitamin that is normally found in foods such as dried beans, peas, lentils, oranges, whole-wheat products, liver, asparagus, bee ts, broccoli, Brussels sprouts, and spinach. Folic acid is used for preventing and treating low blood levels of folic acid as well as its complications, including â€Å"tired blood’ (anemia) and the inability of the bowel to absorb nutrients properly.Folic acid is also used for other conditions commonly associated with folic acid deficiency, including ulcerative colitis, liver disease, alcoholism, and kidney dialysis. Women who are pregnant or might become pregnant take folic acid to prevent miscarriage and birth defects such as spina bifida that occur when the fetus’s spine and back don’t close during development. Folic acid is likely safe for most people. Most adults do not experience an aide effects when consuming the recommended amount each day, which is 400 mcg.High doses of folic acid might cause abdominal cramps, diarrhea, rash, sleep disorders, irritability, confusion, nausea, stomach upset, behaviors changes, skin reactions, seizures, gas, and excitabi lity. There is some concern that taking too much folic acid for a long period of time might cause serious side effects. Some research suggests that taking folic acid in doses of 800-1200 mcg might increase the risk of heart attack in people who have heart problems. Other research suggests that taking these high doses might also increase the risk of cancer such as lung or prostate cancer.For folic acid deficiency: the typical dose is 250-1000 mcg per day. For preventing neural tube defects: at least 400 mcg of folic acid per day from supplements or fortified food should be taken by women capable of becoming pregnant and continued through the first month of pregnancy. Women with a history of previous pregnancy complicated by neural tude defects usually take 4 mg per day beginning one month before and continuing for three months after conception. References: www. nih. gov/medlineplus/dietarysupplements www. wedmd. com/dietarysupplements www. fda. gov/food/dietarysupplements

Kate Chopin and her influence on women’s rights Essay

â€Å"I would give the essential, I would give my money, I would give my life for my child; but I wouldn’t give myself† (Chopin). The rights that women enjoy today were not always as equal to that of males. The women’s rights movement transitioned America’s views of them from the way they were pre-nineteenth century to now. Novelist Kate Chopin’s literary works was a crux that aided in the strength of the movement. Women faced many hardships, and Kate Chopin, a literary genius, contributed to a lot to the movement. To begin, in the nineteenth century people married at a very young age and women did not work in that time. They were denied employment outside of seamstresses and mid-wives; therefore they couldn’t always realistically support themselves. Women had to get married so that someone could support them. Women were also not their own person; they were the property of their husbands and it was expected for them to get married and have babies. Women were not allowed the freedoms men enjoyed such as that of the law, the church or the government. Married women could not make legal contracts, divorce her husband or win the right to custody of their children. The History Education sector of the university of Maryland states: â€Å"The role of women in the nineteenth century was viewed as ‘’subordinate to males’’ and was therefore subject to the laws and regulations imposed upon them by men.’’ (Hoffberger 2) Moreover, for centuries there has always been a struggle for women to find equality and respect from men. Kate Chopin, a great writer of nineteenth century, had written novels that assisted in the upheaval of the previously stated rights of women, or lack of rights. Kate Chopin’s literary works often include male and female gender roles that are sometimes challenged by the female protagonists in the stories. Her literary works include themes about liberation and conformity in society. In Kate Chopin’s fictional short stories, â€Å"†The Story of an Hour,† and â€Å"Desiree’s Baby†Ã¢â‚¬  both show examples of the lack of freedom in the role of women in society. Kate Chopin’s viewpoints in that time period helped her influenced how other women perceived women’s rights; she was a woman far ahead of her time. At the same time, Kate Chopin was an author who was underappreciated by those in her generation. Much of this was due to the fact that she was a contemporary  author, who primarily wrote about women’s sexuality and their roles in the world. She had strong, independent women as role models in her youth so it is not surprising that these same attributes would blossom, not only in her personal life, but in her character’s lives as well in â€Å"The Story of an Hour† and â€Å"Desiree’s Baby.† While these two works do share some similarities there are also vast differences and a few parallels from Chopin’s own life. Katherine O’Flaherty, later Kate Chopin, was born in St. Louis, Missouri on February 8, 1851. She was born to stable and publicly known parents, Eliza and Thomas O’Flaherty. Eliza O’Flaherty was of French-Creole descent, while her father was a native of Ireland. Unfortunately, when Chopin was only five years old , her father was killed in a train accident. As a result, Kate Chopin lived her preteen years in a female-centered household. She lived with her mother, grandmother, and great-grandmother, all of whom were widows. Her great-grandmother encouraged artistic growth by teaching her piano and storytelling. Chopin got married when she was twenty year olds and had six children till her husband passed away. She was 39 years old when she began to write fiction, her earlier life being consumed with education, marriage and children. Without the backing of the feminist movement, which had barely begun in certain areas of the country, the sexual and scandalous events in her second and final novel â€Å"The Awakening† were cause for the majority of readers to ban it from the shelves of great literature. It was not until the mid-1900’s that the book was promoted in a new light to a more accepting audience. In addition, Peggy Skaggs, the author of Kate Chopin a critical Bibliography, states that â€Å"Chopin’s development as a writer reflect in microcosm the larger movement in American literature from romanticism and local color to realism and naturalism’’ ( Skaggs 10). Furthermore, Chopin’s works have reflected to American literature because of her focu s on love within race and ethnic aspect. In many of Chopin’s stories she has exceeded simple regionalism and portrayed women who seek spiritual and sexual freedom against the more restrictive southern society of nineteenth century. Kate Chopin has emerged as one of the greatest as well as most admired American short story novelists, poet, and essayists. Critic Cynthia Griffin Wolf exclaims: â€Å"The vision in all of Chopin’s best fiction is consummately interior, and it draws for strength upon her willingness to confront the bleak fact of life’s tenuous stabiles’’ (Griffin 6). One of the  greatest sample is ‘’ Desiree’s baby’’ which is ‘’perhaps one of the world’s best short stories’’ (Griffin 1) Assuredly, the actual settings of â€Å"The Story of an Hour† and â€Å"Desiree’s Baby† are the first instance where the two stories differ. In â€Å"The Story of an Hour†, the entire piece takes place in Mrs. Mallard’s home or the scenery outside the house. In fact, the outside scenery plays an important role to the story, paralleling the new spring with Mrs. Mallard’s new found freedom. Whereas the inside of the house does not play as major of a role, not even revealing what room Mrs. Mallard was in when she was notified of her husband’s passing. In â€Å"Desiree’s Baby†, the main factors of the setting include the Louisiana Bayou, the gates of Valmonde mansion, and L’Abri, a vastly larger group of settings than the prior. As in â€Å"The Story of an Hour†, one setting is described more clearly and most of the story takes place in L’Abri. The homestead is described as making Madame Valmonde shudder at the first site of it and it being â€Å"a sad looking place, Big solemn oaks, branches shadowed it like a pall† (Chopin, 243). The description of L’Abri foreshadowed events to come and symbolized the relationship of Armand and Desiree. Even though the two stories do not share a setting you can see the similarities that there is some obscure background with one major setting paralleling the main character in some way. This, in part, could be due to Chopin wanting to have a writing style of her own. Also the two main characters, Mrs. Mallard and Desiree, benefited from concentrating on the one main setting, largely because this setting was a reason of conflict in the character’s lives. In the same way that the settings shared likenesses and differences, the plot and theme of the two stories also do. The plots of â€Å"The Story of an Hour† and â€Å"Desiree’s Baby† obviously have to be different for the most part. In â€Å"The Story of an Hour†, the plot is a woman who finds out her husband is dead and after an initial shock she feels free to finally live her life. Thus when she has finally come to grips with all of the events and looking forward to her new life her husband comes in and she dies of shock attributed to a pre-existing heart condition (Chopin, 77-79). In â€Å"Desiree’s Baby†, the plot involves a woman named Desiree. As a child she was abandoned, and taken in by the Valmondes, but as a woman fell in love with Armand, a wealthy plantation owner. They get married and have a baby together, and after a short lived bliss come to find that the baby has  African American heritage. Armand turns against Desiree, assuming she is the one with African blood in her. As the story goes on Desiree kills herself and the baby only for Armand to find out he is the one who actually has African heritage (Chopin, 1-5). These two plots at first glance do not seem to share anythin g in common, however, there is one similarity gleaming through; the women’s relationships with their husbands. Both women do love their husbands, but the relationships are not on an equal level. In each case the women are looked upon as possessions. Mrs. Mallard’s thoughts were â€Å"There would be no powerful will bending her.† She openly felt controlled, while Desiree did not seem to care about the controlling attitude of Armand, which is shown in the line â€Å"When he frowned she trembled, but loved him† (Chopin, 2). While it is evident that the plots are for the most part different, one woman relishing the loss of a husband, and the other so fearing abandonment from hers that she kills herself, the themes are quite similar. Following this further, the themes of the two stories are also shared with many other works by Chopin, women in search of themselves (Korb, 1). Mrs. Mallard from â€Å"The Story of an Hour† can see her life finally beginning after the death of her husband, as illustrated by the line â€Å"Free! Body and soul free!† (Chopin, 79). She was looking forward to a life by herself, getting to know herself as an individual. Desiree, on the other hand, was searching for an identity, or herself, from the beginning when Monsieur Valmonde found her at the gate. While the Valmondes did take her in she did not feel like she had an actual identity until Armand gave her his name and she became his wife. After it became evident that the baby had African blood and the identity she had as Armand’s wife was taken away, she could not handle the idea of finding a new identity. Another similarity shared by Mrs. Mallard and Desiree is their death, in both instances provoked by their husbands. The similarities and differences are important because while people might be experiencing the same thing in real life, their attitudes towards it may not be the same along with the outcomes, which could have been a goal of the author’s. As stated earlier, many of Chopin’s works concentrate on women trying to find themselves and in these two cases after the ending of their relationships with their husbands. Whe n reading the biography of Chopin, there is a striking similarity with these two stories in particular. Kate O’Flaherty met and wed a man named Oscar  Chopin around 1869. She lived a happy life with him and had six children and as stated when Kate was only thirty-six year old, her husband died of swamp fever. While she loved her husband dearly, it is believed that she only first begun writing after her husband’s death (Kirszner & Mandell, 77). In a way this resembles the way that Mrs. Mallard only thought her life was beginning after her husband’s death. On the other hand, she could have been portraying her sense of abandonment by her husband in Desiree’s character in â€Å"Desiree’s Baby.† Another reason Chopin writes her characters only release from their troubles as death is because of the time period she lived in. Divorce was often unheard of or taboo. It is easy to see that one of the only main differences is the way that each of the women traveled the path to self-discovery and their outcomes. This in a large part could be from Chopin’s own marriage and life. However, all of her woman characters relate to her own life which helped shape America into a place where freedom and equality for women is possible. Although the women that she created were different, their challenges and accomplishments inspired different aspects of the feminist movement. Chopin’s literary works became highly popular in the late twentieth century and remain popular today. Thus Chopin did not quite spark the flame of the women’s rights movement, but it was tinder that fueled it into what it became. Her literary works will outlive her as a testament of the strength of women and what they can accomplish. Her contributions will survive to inspire women for generations.