Comparison and Contrast of “The Most Dangerous Game” and “The Child by Tiger” Essay

Thesis: In these two stories we observe some of man’s darker nature. We observe two seemingly normal people with dark sides to each of them and will explain how each one is similar and also very different from one another. I. The protagonist, General Zaroff is the main focus of the essay, because of his darker nature and his motivations. A. At first, General Zaroff comes off as welcoming and kind in nature for taking Rainsford in. He gives Rainsford food, clothing and shelter after being lost at sea. B. The man explains to Rainsford that he has been a hunter his whole life and is good at what he does, but he has grown bored of hunting animals. C. He then comes to conclusion that he hunts man because of their strength, courage, and reason. D. Eventually he then forces Rainsford to participate in the game as Zaroff’s game. E. In the end, Rainsford finds his way back to the house and kills Zaroff, leaving him a s â€Å"food for the hounds† II. In the story, â€Å"The Child by Tiger†, Dick Prosser is the main character of the story. A. At first the story comes of praising Dick, almost making him seem perfect. He is a â€Å"deeply religious man† that was very talented in the things he did, and the Shepperton family believed there was nothing he could not do. B. He seems kind at first willing to help in any way he can with the family. Although, throughout the story they explain that there is something off about him. How he moves quietly like a cat, and even though he was deeply religious it seemed very dark and strange. The motivations are unclear from the character and almost unpredictable from the beginning of the story. C. The town wakes up in a panic one night, with word going around that Dick Prosser is on a rampage and has killed several people. D. Town starts a mob that tracks him down through the woods and past the creek. He kills a few more men and runs out of ammunition. He then throws his gun to the side and moves towards the creek. E. The mob shoots him down, over 300 times according to a man who is boasting about it later on in the story. III. General Zaroff and Dick Prosser are both similar in that they both had come off as seemingly normal people, and yet they both had a dark and twisted side to the both of them. A. Dick Prosser comes off as a gentle soul who the children of the Shepperton all trust and gives off the belief that he is a good person. B. General Zaroff at first comes off as a normal man who likes to live in solitude and enjoys the finer things, even being warm and welcoming by inviting Rainsford into his home. IV. They differ more than they compare, even though they both share the same twisted, dark nature. A. General Zaroff seems to live in almost his own mind where he has convinced himself that hunting other human beings as being completely normal. It has become an exciting game and there is nothing that you can see about him that has â€Å"snapped† or has â€Å"gone crazy† He simply wants to hunt something more exciting, whether it is morally wrong. B. Dick Prosser is a colored servant for a white family back in the set time where everything is very racially segregated. He works for a wealthy white family and seems to come off as a goodhearted man who is of good use to the family. Then one night it seems as though he has â€Å"snapped† and unleashes his inner demons on the town, killing many innocent victims. At the end, when the Sheppertons’ go into his room and find the chapter that he has left the Bible on shows that this was most likely pre-meditated. V. In conclusion, although both character came from two different backgrounds and the stories were both very different, they were alike in the fact that they both had darker sides of them that had been unleashed. A. Both stories portray how easy it is for mankind to be dark in nature and to become something monstrous. B. Whether it be planned and turned into a game or on a whim of the dark demons inside of them letting out, they both lived lives of corruption, which in turn, led to their inevitable deaths. Thesis: These two stories show the darker side of human nature, and although someone can seem perfectly normal, they may have a darker side to them that no one would ever expect. In the two stories, â€Å"The Most Dangerous Game† and â€Å"The Child by Tiger†, these two seemingly normal men come off as almost kind hearted and good natured people in the beginning of both stories. Later on, we realize that this is not so, and these two both have more in common than they are different. General Zaroff seems to be very hospitable and helps a man in need when Rainsford comes to his door after being lost at sea. He takes him into his home and feeds him, gives him clothing, and a nice comfortable place to sleep in. In the other story, Dick Prosser comes off as a kind and gentle man who the Shepperton’s claimed was their â€Å"best negro man they’d ever had.† In the beginning of the story, it seems that they have nothing negative to say about him and â€Å"there is little that Dick Prosser could not do.† Dick would teach the boys of the family how to play football or would teach them other handy things, coming off as a role model to the children. Dick Prosser was also a deeply religious man and would read his Bible every day, the children started to notice something odd about him. The way he moved was very quiet and unnoticed, and although he was religious, there was something dark and strange about it. General Zaroff explains to Rainsford that hunting big game animal has become boring to him and he wanted something more exciting of a hunt for him. As he goes on explaining his new quarry, Rainsford discovers that Zaroff is talking about hunting humans. Zaroff explains it is exciting because humans have â€Å"courage, cunning, and reason.† They can think logically and make it a harder hunt for Zaroff, thus far making it more exciting. He then tells Rainsford he want him to be his new quarry and gives him a three hour head start for the hunt. Throughout the three days of hunting down Rainsford he comes across three different types of traps that Rainsford has tried setting up to trap him. Each one fails to trap General Zaroff, but he finds this more amusing then anything and throughout the story he seems to enjoy these traps more because they make it a more exciting game for him. In the story his dark nature is revealed at the beginning with his conversation with Rainsford. The moment Rainsford figures out what Zaroff is speaking about, you see that there is something much darker about him. He is not the normal hunter with good hospitality skills that the story first initiates. He is now a twisted and dark murderer who finds amusement out of hunting down human beings. Throughout the story, Dick Prosser starts coming off as more increasingly strange and almost scary as it progresses. A man in the village hits the Sheppperton’s car and angrily punches Dick in the face. Everyone notices his eyes turn red but he does not hit him back. The gun that he warns the children not to speak about until Christmas morning sends off another warning sign that something is not right. Why would he be wanting to hide that from the family if there was an innocent reasoning behind it? When the sirens go off in the village and everyone is awoken to the warnings that Dick Prosser is on a murderous rampage, the town starts to panic. By that time in the story he is claimed to have already killed six people. The town forms angry mob that chases him down to the creek. Eventually, they catch up to him and he has run out of bullets. He then calmly walks down to the creek, takes off his shoes and sets them aside and gets down on his knees. The mob of angry men shoot him well over three hundred times even though the first shot had likely killed him immediately. Both of these men share the characteristics that they each had a darker, more evil side to them then first expected. The differences between them is that General Zaroff simply had grown bored and wanted something more exciting to hunt. Out of his own selfish needs for entertainment he had decided to start killing human beings for sport. Dick Prosser is a little harder to understand. At first he seems like an all-around good Christian man who wants nothing more than to be of great help to the family. It’s hard to say whether he did it because he had it planned all along from the beginning and he was more evil than good, or if he had simply snapped after a buildup of emotions and went on a murderous rampage. In the story, after running out of bullets, he takes his shoes off and sets them neatly aside, then stands up and accepts his fate. It seemed like this was his plan all along, to do his evil deed then go out with his religious mindset. The family later on finds the Bible left open on Psalm 23:4, â€Å"Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for thou art with me; thy rod and thy staff they comfort me. Whether he believes that God would have been forgiving of him after what he had done is a mystery. Both of these stories portray that as humans we have a good and evil side and if that balance is upset and evil takes over it can have terrible outcomes. Both of these characters chose the evil side of their good and evil balance and because they lived their lives in corruption, it resulted in their inevitable death. Resources Connell, R. (1924) â€Å"The Most Dangerous Game† Wolfe, T. (1937) â€Å"The Child by Tiger†

Unconventional Medical Approaches

Overview of Complementary, Alternative and Integrative Medicines Aside from the conventional medical practice, there are also complementary medicine together with alternative and integrative medicines that can help the suffering individual alleviate their pains and health problems.The National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine (NCCAM), National Institutes of Health has defined complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) as â€Å"a group of diverse health care and medical systems, practices and products that are not presently considered to be part of the conventional medicine† (House Select, 2006 p.10). It is very important to note, however, that Complementary medicine alone is very distinct from alternative medicine alone. According to the NCCAM: Complementary medicine is applied jointly with the conventional medicine such as the use of aromatherapy in reducing the patient's pain after undergoing a surgery while alternative medicine is applied as a substitute for conventional medicine such as the use of special diet to treat cancer instead of following the physician’s recommendation to undergo surgery or chemotherapy.Integrative medicine, on the other side, is a combined â€Å"mainstream medical therapies and CAM therapies for which there is some high-quality scientific evidence of safety and effectiveness. † (What is CAM? , 2007). II. How CAM Flourished in the United States? Due to beliefs by some millions of Americans that conventional medicine alone is not enough, CAM has gained its footing in the United States (U. S)Aside from this reason, it was found out, through the survey conducted in 2002 by Advance Data From Vital and Health Statistics, that the growth in CAM usage among Americans are attributed to one or more of the following factors: marketing forces, on-line information availability, patients’ desire to be actively involved with their medical and health decision making, and patients’ general dissa tisfaction with the conventional medical applications (Barnes, P. , E. Powell-Griner, K. McFann, and R. Nahin, 2004, p. 1) With these identified growth and popularity factors for CAM, the survey has identified major reasons for such usage.

Sales Force Compensation Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Sales Force Compensation - Assignment Example The company deals in beauty, fashion Jewelry and apparel. It has one of the largest salespeople in the world approximated at 6.5 million. The company has over 120 years in the industry with a strong financial background and resources to pull its operations. With a clear, well structured, multi-level compensation plan, the company has continued to attract and retain its salespeople making it a highly competitive firm. In order to motivate the sales force to produce the highest number of clients, describe six (6) features of an effective total rewards program. Rewards for many decades have been used primarily as a necessary evil in the attraction and retention of employees. However many studies suggest that there is no direct link between rewards and employee performance although research shows that the absence of it demotivates employees (Robillard, 2008: O'Halloran, 2012). This has thus led to the need to implement total rewards strategy that could be used to drive business success. Such a program could be used by the organization in addressing some of the challenging issues in the 21st century such as aging workforce, competition in the market place, influence of globalization on firms and the need to operate effectively in different business strategies such as in mergers and acquisitions (Armstrong, 2010). A total rewards program includes the overall value proposition that a firm provides to its employees. Such a package includes compensation which includes: basic pay, short term incentives and long term incentives; benefits which include health, retirement, work/life benefits; and careers which include such things as training and development, lateral moves, stretch assignments and career incentives (Manas & Graham, 2003). An effective total reward system has the following key features: first it has a mix of both monetary and non-monetary rewards (Asinof, 2006). The monetary rewards include compensation in the form of base pay, overtime pay, short term and lo ng term incentives, cash profit sharing, bonuses, commissions among others. The non-monetary rewards include such things as benefits which entail health and group benefits, retirement, paid off, work/ life programs, death benefits and prerequisites (Moynihan & Wells, 2011). Secondly, such a strategy must be aligned to the business strategy of the organization. Depending on the nature of the business strategy adopted by the organization, the strategy should be effective. A reward strategy has the power of minimizing on driving organizational performance and thus an effective total reward strategy must be able to support the overall business strategy to ensure performance. Third, such a strategy must match organizational resources and capabilities. It would be ineffective to design a total reward strategy which is overboard and which organizational resources cannot support. It would also be demeaning and inappropriate to have a strategy that is below what the organization can offer in terms of financial resources and capabilities. Fourth, an effective strategy is one that delivers rewards that drive specific behaviors necessary to achieve organizational objectives (Zingheim & Schuster, 2004). If for example, Avon Products, Inc. has a target of selling one million cosmetic products in one month, the reward strategy should be designed such that it motivates the salespeople to find clients. This could be through bonuses, incentives or a paid holiday trip! This communicates something to

Relationship Between Culture And Psychological Processes Essay

Relationship Between Culture And Psychological Processes - Essay Example Different cultures have different personalities, and this also differs between males and females (Mead). People of different cultures have personalities that connect them with their culture. Some communities share the same personalities between men and women while others have different personalities among the genders. According to Mead, culture is extremely powerful and determines the fate of a person. Ruth Benedict was also a successful anthropologist who was also an instructor on anthropological studies (Benedict, 3). Both Ruth and Mead studied culture and its relation to human personality, and human sexuality. She studied different cultures and how they mould the personality of individuals, and also tried to recognize the association between psychosomatic processes, and cultural processes (Meyerowitz, 1063). These two are interrelated as they influence the emotions and cognition of human beings. Culture and personality brought about a large group of people including anthropologist s and psychologists. They, however, had different views on the same topic of culture and psychological processes. While Ruth Benedict and Margaret Mead were anthropologists, Sigmund Freud was a psychoanalyst but they all joined hands in exploring culture and human personalities. Mead and Benedict shared their views that culture is responsible for individual development and emotions of cultures. Freud tried to explain that psychoanalytic theory could be used in the study of culture. It focused on child and toilet training and their influence on the development of children. Human personality is plastic according to Sigmund Freud and can be changed in any environment including culture. If somebody relocated, to another are which practice different cultural activities, he, or she will adapt be forced to that environment. Their personality will change, as well. Individual behaviors are much controlled by their minds; they are not only controlled by culture. Psychology plays a crucial rol e in the way an individual acts and thinks and, therefore, it is extremely vital in the studying of culture and human personalities. Both Mead and Benedict worked tirelessly in order to prove that the biological aspect of individuals did not determine the culture (Benedict, 16). This differed with Freud’s theory which explained that, both biological and psychological aspects played a role in cultural development. Race and ethnicity, according to their research do not determine the culture too. They, therefore, chose to study the relationships of the native groups because they argued that the native groups had not been exposed to modernity incredibly much. They further explained that civilization had been brought about by the contribution of many races and could not be attributed to only one race. It takes different personalities in order to build an economy, social system and also political systems. These different personalities are from different cultural organizations. Each element of culture has its own history and some cultural traits are shared among different communities (Meyerowitz, 1065). Cultural traits are not limited by boundaries and can spread to a large area. Sigmund Freud found out that personality and culture could be explained through the use of the psychoanalytical hypothesis. This included use of examinations and interviews (Meyerowitz, 1064). The views of Margaret mead and Ruth Benedict on culture and human sexuality are related to those of Sigmund Freud in such that they believe that personality changes according to the area of residence and situations. Personality traits are largely based on the surrounding environment and can be acquired by anyone. Every human being s unique in nature, and they perceive things in different ways. This

Escribe a person or event that has had profound effect upon your life Essay

Escribe a person or event that has had profound effect upon your life - Essay Example He contributed greatly towards the development of my character more than anyone else I have had contact with. His example of life is one which has inspired me towards greater heights and it serves as a measure for me to live my life without complaining about the situation I am in. It is understandable that many people in his position would be unable or even unwilling to work and choose to sit at home to while out their days. However, my grandfather continued his education at the Perkins School for the Blind and adapted to life as best as he could. He has quite a repute as cook as he is able to feel out the ingredients and makes outstanding food without even seeing what he has produced. His hands have become his eyes and even today he is able to wash, iron and fold his clothes better than what would come out of a professional laundry. He even developed his musical skills by playing the guitar and shared this passion of his with my by teaching me how to play it as well. My relationship with him developed because my parents were both working and they had to place me in the care of my grandparents. It was there where I learnt lessons of integrity, self reliance and honesty since he displayed these qualities in whatever he did in his life. As a loving husband and a father of seven children, he always made sure that family came first and everything else came second for him. I feel that every day for him was a choice to either give up, or to continue fighting despite the disabilities which had taken a lot from him. However, that did not stop him from giving back to society since he volunteered his time and mentored many other people who had similar disabilities. His patience and kindness are remembered by many who had a chance to interact with him. He always listened and reminded me that patience is a virtue that can go a long way towards making the measure of a man. The values and the confidence displayed by him gave

Bono and the U2 Band Case Study Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Bono and the U2 Band - Case Study Example Stereo- types of leprechauns and shamrocks overshadowed any true representation of the culture, and it seemed like the last possible location for a burgeoning rock scene. Into this uncertainty was hurled Paul David Hewson, who later became Bono Vox. Into this uncertainty was hurled Paul David Hewson, who later became Bono Vox (Ferran Adria and Svejenova, 2005). Born in Dublin on May 10, 1960, Paul David Hewson was the product of a mixed Protestant/Catholic marriage and attended Mount Temple Comprehensive School, the first ecumenical school of its kind i At Mount Temple in 1976, he joined the first of a series of groups that eventually became U2. He took the stage name "Bono Vex" from a hearing aid shop. In 1979, Bono and fellow U2 members Dave Evans (â€Å"The Edge†) and Larry Mullen, Jr. became involved with the Shalom community, a charismatic Protestant Bible study group. The association ended when Shalom's leaders demanded that the band members choose between their budding rock and roll careers and membership in the community (Svejenova et al, 2010). His Works Although he was no longer formally linked to the charismatic movement, biblical imagery and spirituality were a dominant theme of Bono’s lyrics on U2’s early albums, such as October (1931) and War (1933). Thus, as the band moved toward superstardom, many in the American Contemporary Christian Music community embraced it. However, the band's refusal to identify with the conservative moral and political ethos of American-style evangelicalism-compounded by Bono's fondness for alcohol, earthy language, increasingly antinomian spiritual style, and criticism of U.S. foreign policy in songs like â€Å"Bullet the Blue Sky† (l987) alienated many evangelicals during the mid-1980s and afterward. Nonetheless, he remained an enormously influential figure for his dedicated fans as well as aspiring evangelical musicians, even as projects like Achtung Baby (1991) and Zooropa (1993) and Bono 's stage characters, caused many evangelical pop culture observers to write him off (Ferran Adria, Svejenova et al, 2010). By the mid-1980s, Bono was a ubiquitous presence in various humanitarian efforts supported by popular entertainers. In 1984, he appeared in the Band Aid video â€Å"Do They Know it is Christmas?† on behalf of Ethiopian famine relief; this was followed by a live performance at the Live Aid concert in 1985. U2 was a prominent part of the six-city Conspiracy of Hope tour of America on behalf of Amnesty International in 1986. Bono’s vehement, profane denunciation (included in the film Rattle and Hum) of a bombing by the Irish Republican Army (IRA) in 1984 allegedly earned him a spot on an IRA death list. Advocacy Vs the Business Model Looking at Paul David Hewson’s struggle for positive change to the world, it is also clear on the other side that throughout his advocacy, he also benefitted in so many ways. According to Ferran Adria, he mentions that every successful business model should have a driving force. In this case, the publicity gained by Bono and the U2 Band was entirely influenced by the advocacy practiced by Bono. The music initiates a business venture where Bono and the band have benefited from the commercial activity involved. The business model has been fully developed by creativity and innovations established by Bono, such as the establishment of organizations to fight against AIDS in Africa, have tailored his career to prominence. The theoretical model we advance has several implications. First, awareness of the "why" of or the motivation behind the project initiation can help identify appropriate mechanisms for its realization as well as relevant ways for measuring performance. Second, the study of performance - at the heart of advocacy in the Strategic Management field — could be enriched by acknowledging new metrics that have to do with identity expression, such as authenticity and affect the latt er

Reflections Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words - 1

Reflections - Essay Example When moving from one place to another within the city, I tend to use a vehicle and rarely do I use public means. I travel by air on many occasions and I believe that this has contributed significantly to my carbon footprint. In addition, my food footprint is quite high and this may be due to my omnivorous nature. It was extremely rare for me to consume organic food and this may have contributed to the footprint. If everyone in the world were to have the same lifestyle as I do, then about 4.43 earths would be needed to sustain the population. This means that the earth’s resources would be depleted faster than they are supposed to be, perhaps even within a generation. If we were to continue using resources at that rate, then the resources would become scarce and consequently, there would be absolute chaos as people fought over the resources that are left. It would also mean the destruction of the entire earth’s ecosystem as plants and animals would become extinct. The foremost changes that I made for the week was to shift from the use of heavy carbon emitting transport to cleaner transport, hence a reduction of emissions to the atmosphere. Among the steps I took to accomplish this was to start walking, especially when moving over short distances, the use of public transport, and finally, the use of transport that does not emit carbon, such as bicycles. In addition, I added energy saving features within my home and adopted habits whose purpose would be to save energy. I took to the consumption of organic foods because this would help an immense deal in the discouragement of nonorganic foods. The first adjustment I made to the categories of carbon and food footprints was to reduce significantly my air travel unless it was necessary that I had to travel. Furthermore, I believed that it would be for the best if I stopped using a personal vehicle and instead adapt to using public means because this would ensure that there was a

Direct and Indirect Qualitative Research Procedures Essay

Direct and Indirect Qualitative Research Procedures - Essay Example Qualitative Research: This allows exploring even the traits like attitudes, perceptions or beliefs. Such research activity requires in-depth study of the subject. Albert Einstein once said, â€Å"Not everything that counts can be counted, and not everything that can be counted counts†. The qualitative research is meant to take care of such situations actually. Quantitative Research: This type of research calls for mathematical modeling and analysis of data collected during the process of research. It is more structured than qualitative and calls for quantification of data together with generalizing the results. Talking about the comprehensive approach adopted during a qualitative research activity, Myers (2002) stated, â€Å"In communicating or generating the data, the researcher must make the process of the study accessible and write descriptively so tacit knowledge may best be communicated through the use of rich, thick descriptions†. The qualitative research, in turn , is further divided into two types namely; Direct research and Indirect research. Though at times, both these types appear to lead in a similar direction, yet the procedures with which research is carried out often brings out many differences amongst these two types. While comparing these two approaches we find that; The direct approach to qualitative research is a non-disguised method while the indirect approach happens to be somewhat disguised. Qualitative research has the potential to go into different aspects of the subject in detail.  ... The difference is more apparent in the figure shown below; Qualitative research has the potential to go into different aspects of the subject in detail. Meredith et al (1989) feels that often research of this kind lends itself to the semi-structured, open ended type of interview to enable interviewees to expand on what they consider to be important and to frame those issues in their terms. In direct qualitative research in-depth interview is the norm. The focus group approach requires that we prepare a focus group well in advance to carry out the research. The group is prepared with the help of a selected few research participants. This is more like a brain storming session. The topic is discussed amongst the focus group with the help of a moderator from amongst the focus group participants only. Subsequently, the group interview is conducted and a final report is prepared by the researcher based on the outcomes of the discussion. On the other hand the depth interviews imply that one-to-one interviews are held amongst the researcher and the research participants. The researcher is supposed to solicit information from the research participant during the interview and accordingly prepare the databank. Burgess (1982) points out that such interview allows the researcher to probe deeply in order to find out 'expansive' responses, which often helps in uncovering previously unknown details so that a direction is also provided to future researchers. In the indirect method on the other hand the research participants are encouraged to come out with their own versions and understandings about the issue/s being taken up by the researcher. The respondents are supposed to 'project' their feelings or attitudes about the situation. In direct qualitative

Language and Dictrionaries Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Language and Dictrionaries - Essay Example In his proposal for the new undertaking in lexicography, Richard Chenevix Trench made a bold statement by announcing that it is not the function of a dictionary to provide standards (5). Trench described the role of a lexicographer as one of "an historian of it [language], not a critic" (5), whose task is to "collect and arrange all the words, whether good or bad," and "to make his inventory complete" (6). James A.H. Murray (not the first editor, but who is commonly associated with the beginning of the dictionary) further expounded on the ideas proposed by Trench. Murray explicated that the role of a lexicographer, as a historian, is not simply to record words: but to furnish a biography of each word, giving as nearly as possible the date of its birth or first known appearance, and, in the case of an obsolete word or sense, or its last appearance, the source from which it was actually derived, the form and sense with which it entered the language or is first found in it, and the successive changes of form and developments of sense which it has since undergone. (47) However, the original OED was not able to achieve the truly descriptive model of lexicographical creation. Indeed, as adamant as Trench was on including "all the words, whether good or bad" (6), he conceded that "A Dictionary ought to know its own limits" (56). Trench especially protested against "the drafting into the Dictionary a whole army of purely technical words" (57). Interestingly, these words he did not consider as words but as mere signs (57). Another stratum of vocabulary that was originally banned from the OED was obscene terminology. Indeed, Bryson contends that much of the obscene vocabulary did not appear in the OED until after 1972 (222). Unlike Johnson's and Webster's dictionaries, the OED was no longer a work of a single person but "the combined action of many" (Trench, qtd. in Landau 79). To reflect the fluidity of the language and the mutability of the society, the OED editors continued making adjustments and additions to the dictionary. The first supplementary volume came out in 1933 - five years after the OED was published. In the OED2 preface, the editors recount that most of the additions for the Supplement and for the second edition of the OED concentrated on including more scientific vocabulary, slang, and words from different varieties of English. 1.1 Preface and Front Matter While often overlooked by users, most dictionaries boast a Preface/Front Matter. The aforementioned is often highly informative and as far as the lexicographer is concerned, an invaluable guide to the dictionary and, possibly, previous editions. As one turns to the 8th edition of the Concise Oxford Dictionary, one finds that the above stated holds true. Taken together, both the Preface and Front Matter provide a concise and precise guide to the edition and a guide to its distinctive features. The Preface explains the variations between the 8th and previous editions of the dictionary, outlining the changes made to the structure and layout. The breadth of these changes, as listed in the below, are a testament to the extent to which the edition's editors, sub-editors and collaborators determined to reflect the times and ensure that the Concise Oxford

Financial Accounting Standards Board Essay Example for Free

Financial Accounting Standards Board Essay Runway Discount (Runway), a privately held online retailer, has implemented a new customer referral marketing campaign. The campaign involves incentivizing current customers to refer their friends to Runway’s website. When a current customer refers someone who makes a purchase on Runway’s website, the referring customer receives a $25 credit to be applied to a future purchase. Two important provisions should be highlighted regarding this â€Å"Refer-a-Friend† program: The $25 credit is contingent upon the existing customer’s referral actually making a purchase The $25 credit is applied to the referring customer’s future purchase at the time that the referred customer makes a purchase The business purpose of this Refer-a-Friend program is to increase sales and expand Runway’s customer base by providing incentives for current customers to refer their friends. The first accounting issue associated with Runway Discount’s Refer-a-Friend program is identifying how the $25 referral credit should be recorded in Runway’s income statement. Is this consideration an adjustment of the selling prices of the vendor’s products or services, and therefore characterized as a reduction of revenue, or is it a cost incurred by the vendor for assets and services received from the customer, and therefore characterized as a cost or expense? The next significant accounting issue is regarding when Runway should record the $25 referral credit as a liability: (a) at the time an existing customer receives the $25 referral credit, or (b) at the time the existing customer actually uses the $25 referral credit to make a purchase? In the following sections, we will discuss the possible accounting treatments under U.S GAAP and IFRS, which relate to these accounting issues facing Runway Discount. Relevant examples will be provided of businesses that offer similar referral incentive programs. We will conclude with our recommendation of how Runway Discount should account for the referral credits it issues relating to its Refer-a-Friend program. Applicable Authoritative Literature FASB Accounting Standards Codification (ASC) 605-50, Revenue Recognition IASC International Accounting Standards (IAS) 18, Revenue Recognition View as multi-pages

Operation Management And Strategies Starbucks And Cocacola Marketing Essay

Operation Management And Strategies Starbucks And Cocacola Marketing Essay In this present document we are going to analyze several aspects of operation management and strategies considering two companies: One from the service industry, Starbucks and one for the manufacture industry, Coca Cola. We will study their supply chain and assess its impact on both companies success and profitability. Then we will analyze their operational strategy to determine in which measure it contributes to their competitiveness and we will strive to provide ways in which challenges of the different companies could be overcome so that they can strengthen their own competitive advantage. Finally we will establish a location analysis in order to identify the best place for the companies to implement a new operation. The supply chain refers to the way that materials flow through different organizations, starting with basic raw materials and ending with finished products delivered (Gaither Frazier, 2002). This involved many activities and therefore we have to think about the best way to manage it in order for a company to be successful and profitable. We can then define the supply chain management as a set of approaches utilized to efficiently integrate suppliers, manufacturers, warehouses, and stores, so that merchandise is produced and distributed at the right quantities, to the right locations and the right time, in order to minimize system wide costs while satisfying service legal requirement. (Simchi-Levi, Kaminski, Simchi-Levi, 2003) The Starbucks supply chain is made of the following activities which are either external or internal to Starbucks organization: Coffee producing, importing, manufacturing and roasting, distribution to retail shop, marketing, delivering to the consumer. Supply Chain Starbucks Activities involved from the coffee production to the roasting are external to the company. They can involve many counterparts such as the small coffee producer, the processor, the exporter, the broker and the importer. To optimize these activities Starbucks manage them in many ways emphasizing its commitment to ethical coffee sourcing and fair-trade and global responsibility. Starbucks establishes relationship with growers and distributors and deal directly with farmers. It offers high prices to ensure that poor coffee growers have enough money to cover their production costs and their family needs. It uses fixed prices purchase commitments to limit its exposure to price fluctuations and purchase future contract to provide price protection. Moreover, to spread companys risk linked to the weather and the political and economical issues, Starbucks sources bean from multiple geographic areas. Starbucks commitment to ethical sourcing (it introduced the C.A.F.E program Coffee And Farmer Equity in 2004) allows having a better quality of product, a greater visibility in the supply chain and better relationship with farmers which contribute to reach success and profitability, that is to say to reach its objectives and generate wealth. Activities involved from the roasting to the delivery to the consumer are part of internal elements to the supply chain. They involve many activities such as the manufacturing, the planning, the inventory, the transportation and distribution. The key to reach success and profitability for Starbucks is to set an integrated supply chain operating system based on managing the flows. They manage the materials flows through DRP (Distribution Resource Planning) and TRP (Transportation Requirement Planning). They also put the emphasis on the information flows management to share the relevant information and to detect the supply chain opportunities at different level. The management of the marketing plays also an important role in developing the awareness of the fair trade initiative that helps justify Starbucks premium prices. The Coca Cola supply chain involves many activities namely, the supplies of raw materials and packaging, the manufacture and production of beverage concentrate, the sales to the bottlers and distributors, the Research and Development and the delivery to customer and ultimate consumer. Supply Chain Coca Cola The internal activities of the companies are limited to the manufacture of the concentrated syrup, the selling to the bottlers, the owning of the brands and the consumer branding initiatives. Therefore the companies can focus on its core competencies such as the production of syrup and the brand development to achieve its objectives and reach success. The fact that the bottling is outsourced allows the company to focus on its core competences and therefore ensure certain profitability. The others activities are part of the external supply chain but Coca Cola strives to integrate all the supply chain activities developing a strong partnership with its bottling partners. They are in charge of manufacturing the final product, packaging, distribution and merchandising the beverage to the customer and vending partners who then sell the product to the ultimate consumer. The supplies of raw materials are mostly linked to specific nutritive and non nutritive sweeteners which are available either within the United States or outside. There are numerous sources of raw materials and they are often subject of prices fluctuations. So Coca Cola has a wide choice of raw materials suppliers so that it can spread the prices fluctuation among them and therefore control its supply chain. The procurement suppliers and bottler partners have to meet certain standard to deal with Coca Cola Company and have to commit to guide principles and incorporate sustainability. Consequently Coca Cola can achieve its objective of quality and control. The Coca Cola supply chain organization allows to enhance customer service and to optimize cost and investment. How does each companys operational strategy improve its competitiveness? According to the Competitive Advantage Model of Porter, a competitive advantage refers to the adoption of offensive or defensive action to create defendable position in an industry in order to cope with competitors and generate a superior return on investment. The basis of above average performance within an industry is sustainable competitive advantage which can be either cost leadership or differentiation. Both of the companies we are analyzing have adopted the differentiation strategy. Furthermore the operation strategy is aimed at providing competitive advantage through its performance at the five competitive objectives namely, the quality, the speed, the dependability, the flexibility and the cost. Starbucks operational strategy improves its competitiveness through different ways. First of all Starbucks has understood that developing successful partnership would be a strength to develop competitive advantage first to ensure quality of product and secondly by adopting fair trade and ethical sourcing of coffee. Indeed Starbucks used to develop relationship with the countries it exports the coffee beans from. For example it collaborated with a small town of Pasto where they set up a special operation to grow the particular Narino Supremo bean and Starbucks committed to buy the entire yield which allow to be the exclusive Narino Supremo , one of the best coffees in the world and therefore to build a competitive advantage. The ethical commitment is a strong part of the operational strategy to develop specific partnership with small farmers and strengthen competitiveness. Starbucks has developed a shared planet program where it establishes environmental, social, economic and coffee quality principles to comply with C.A.F.E (Coffee And Farmers Equity) principles guid elines. This program enables Starbucks to differentiate from its competitors. Secondly Starbucks operational strategy tends to expand its market through a number of channels such as licensing stores but also with hospitals, bank, office buildings, supermarkets, shopping centers, hotel and airlines. The strategic operation model of Starbucks is to blanket an area completely even if one store cannibalizes another one because the Starbucks every-where approach cuts down delivery costs and increase the foot traffic in the area (Mr. Coffee, 2003). It develops partnership using local partner licensee who have experience in retail and restaurant in order to provide a good service to customer and fit the corporate culture of the company. Starbucks strives to develop good relation with the partner licensee to help it recruiting talented employee and put the emphasis on the customer service to build sustainable competitive advantage. The key to successful partnership for Starbucks is to share relevant information and communicate on supply chain opportunities to optimize processes. Added to this Starbucks operational strategy focuses on developing a strong corporate culture which enable to strengthen its competitiveness. Starbucks strategy is to empower employee culture through benefits program, employee stock ownership plan and staff and management training. The management staff is trained to understand how every activities of the supply chain fit together so it can be more effective and competitive. Finally Starbucks operational strategy aims at putting the emphasis on the marketing operations in order to differentiate the format. Indeed Starbucks marketing actions have to develop a given image of a small scale and high quality roaster in ethnic culture enclaves who sells not only quality coffee but also an atmosphere, a personality, an escape, the self esteem and therefore an interpersonal relation. This image reflects Starbucks personality and consequently enables the differentiation. Coca Colas operational strategy is aimed at building its competitiveness in many ways. First its operational strategy is customer focused striving to take into account customer needs and providing a response to it in a right way and in a right time. The company sustains its success and competitive advantage by creating new ways to deliver value through innovation responding to customer and consumer needs in a fast way. For example Coca Zero refers to a new consumer need. Secondly Coca Cola put the emphasis on the differentiation to strengthen its competitiveness by building global brand. It invests in marketing campaign to develop a strong image, improve its fame and impose its brand in a global basis. Therefore consumers have developed a loyalty to the brand and Coca Cola owns several brands that consumers are willing to pay a premium price for it. More over it has developed so much economies of scale through global networks that the emphasis on marketing and advertising fix important barriers to entry for potential competitors. Coca Cola also improves its competitiveness by adopting a collaborative approach to work with their suppliers to green their supply chain. It invests in new technologies and innovation to help their suppliers who do not have the ability to do so, for example in investing in new technologies vending machines which are better for the environment. Therefore it gains competitive benefits not only because of the energy savings but also from a corporate social responsibility point of view. Coca Cola has understood that integrate its suppliers would lead to supply chain excellence and therefore to sustain a competitive advantage. Consequently the Company has created Coca Cola Supply which invites all the bottlers partner to participate. The purpose is to provide a system wide leadership to control supply chain through integrated planning, joint initiatives and best practices processes. According to Coca Cola Supply, they are transforming the supply chain from a series of discrete, inconsistent activities to a single, harmonious and sustainable system (Coca-Cola Supply Created to Drive Supply Chain Innovation, 2009). Polar diagrams performance objective of Starbucks and Coca Cola What challenges do the operational strategies present and suggest ways in which they can be overcome. Operations strategy is the decisions which shape the long term capabilities of the companys operations and their contribution to overall strategy through the on-going reconciliation of market requirements and operations resources. Regarding Starbucks operational strategy many challenges could be addressed according different issues in order to be more profitable and to sustain a competitive advantage. The first thing is to always meet the customer needs for value and quality in identifying the best ways of quality processes. This implies that Starbucks has to find more suppliers quality and stability by developing partnership with different coffee farmers in order not to be dependant of only few suppliers. The quality implies also to control more and more of independent vendors, partners and licensees. Indeed the quality is one of the core value of Starbucks and reach it allows first the differentiation and secondly the conformance with customer expectations and avoid customer complaints. Starbucks has to keep developing ethical sourcing which benefits to the companys quality and image. Starbucks should assess the risk of its supply chain especially in raw materials procurement in the different countries and asses the political, geographical, natural, infrastructural risk of each country. Indeed if an incident happen in one of the procurement place Starbucks must not be dependant of few suppliers and should react quickly. It is therefore really important to develop the partnership with different countries in order to prevent late delivery and save costs. One of the challenge Starbucks will have to face is a potential saturation of the US market. Consequently a globe expansion in key market is an operational strategy Starbucks has to develop. The international expansion of the concept involves prospecting efficiently new markets and assessing the potential of success in each market. The key is to find local partner to grow the number of licensed store and impose Starbucks as a global brand. The partner have to share the same values as Starbucks and the company have to help them finding the best talent and train them in order to strengthen more and more the corporate culture. Developing new product is also an important challenge for Starbucks. Indeed the concept is mostly based on a few products which do not allow very much flexibility. Reaching flexibility will enable Starbucks to be more reactive in case of potential change from the market. Consequently the company has to develop innovative product and service while keeping its strong value of quality. For example it should be interesting to develop co-branding with other brand which presents the same value as Starbucks in order to launch new product like the company did in 2004 with Hewlett Packard when they create a CD service burning in a store in California. Coca Cola is one of the biggest brands in the world but even if its renown and profitability is well established there remain important challenges that the company has to cope with. First of all Coca Cola Company possess many brand but one of them generates around 50% of the total revenue. Therefore the company is in way dependent of one brand which can be a limit to its flexibility even if the customer loyalty to the brand is well established. Indeed Coca Cola needs more flexibility in case of market change and especially in case of consumer behavior changes. Besides we can notice a new trend where people become more and more health consciousness and look for nutritive drinks without calories. Therefore a threat of substitutes appears. In order to cope with the potential market change Coca Cola has to put the emphasis on innovation with new brands, products and packaging more adapted to consumers needs and demand. Secondly Coca Cola have to develop ways to be always more and more profitable and efficient. The key is to reduce the cost in order to increase the margin. The areas where the company could reduce these cost is the transportation and the production. Consequently Coca Cola has to identify the best places to buy, make and distribute the product. It has to monitor each region and each country comparing different parameters which will affect the supply chain such as the weather, the port and transportation, the fuel prices, the labor rates and the internal regulations of each country which can provide opportunities. Finally Coca Cola Company has to continue the effort put on green and environmental development. Indeed the company has often benefited from a negative image of a multinational company which tries to reach profit to the detriment of the planet well being. Therefore it has to keep investing in green technologies and support sustainable development with the suppliers in order not only to save energy costs but to benefit from a corporate social responsible company. Each of your company is considering locating a new operation in one of Japan, Thailand and Singapore. Source information on each of these three countries and based on the information found and using the relevant location analysis tools select which country to locate in and support your choice. You need to define why they wish to locate an operation there i.e. what market are they servicing. You should include demographic, infrastructure, cultural, geographic information, etc. Starbucks wants to locate a new operation in Japan, Thailand or Singapore. Indeed the company wants to expand its market on a global basis to cope with a potential saturation of the United States market. Therefore Starbucks wants to develop licensed stores operation in one of these countries. The key factors in such operations are the demographics, the branding and the potential revenue that each country could offer to the company. Therefore the main factors in the decision factors are the following: Quality of life issues in the community: indeed Starbucks targets a relatively high living standard consumer. Worker education and skills: the emphasis of the quality of the staff is really important to strengthen Starbucks Corporate Culture. Site costs: The rent is part of the profitability of the stores. Cultural abilities to modern changes: Starbucks is an American company, and its values have to fit with those of the country choose. Labor availability: It is important for Starbucks to find available talent. Coca Cola Company would like to improve its competitiveness and reduce the cost of transportation and production. Consequently the company would like to set up a new manufacture of syrup in Japan, Thailand or Singapore to reach this objective. Therefore Coca Cola has to monitor each country to assess the potential opportunities it could offer. The main factors in the choice of the location are the following: Proximity to raw materials and suppliers: As a manufacture of syrup, it is important to be closed to the suppliers to reduce costs and improve efficiency. Labor costs: The cheaper is the workforce the greater is the margin. Transportation availability: The products have to be imported to the different bottlers and it is therefore important to optimize the transportation cost. Site costs: The fixed cost linked to the rent should be the least in order to increase profitability. Government fiscal policies: all incentives or taxes impact on the cost. In order to compare each country we will set up a brief overview of each countrys characteristics. Japan has a population of 128 million of inhabitant and is one of the most densely populated countries in the world. With a nominal GDP of about $4,9 trillion in 2008, it is the second richest country in the world. Moreover, with an HDI (Human Development Indicator) of 0.96 it is the tenth highest standard living country. The government is a parliamentary democracy and put the emphasis on the environmental and sustainable development. The infrastructures are well developed and Japan is open in the world. According to the Big Mac Index Japanese people have the highest salary per hour in the world and the unemployment is low with a rate of 4%. Education is quite competitive and 75% of high school graduates attend a university. The culture has seen deep change from a very traditional to contemporary one. It influences by Europe and North America. Japanese people are quite open to modern changes. Thailand has a population of 64 million of inhabitants and a nominal GDP in 2008 of about $273 billion and a medium HDI of 0.783. Thailand has been ranked by the Global Competitiveness Report of 2008 34 out of 125. The quality of education is medium but tends to improve through the private education. The cost of labor remains quite low and unskilled. The government has seen many changes since the last few years but tend today to be stable. It supports today through the National Science and Technology Development Agency the research in science and technology and encourage foreign private investment in this field. Thailand remains a very traditional country where tradition is strongly established. Concerning Singapore, with a population of 5 million of inhabitants and a nominal GDP of 182 billion in 2008 it presents a high standard of living with a HDI of 0.944. It is the least corrupt country in Asia and is a highly market based economy (one of the four Asian Tiger). Singapore has developed free trade agreement with USA in 2003. The unemployment is low and is about 5% and we can notice a shortage of skilled workers. Manufacturing constituted 26% of Singapores GDP in 2005. Singapore has one of the busiest ports in the world and is the worlds fourth largest foreign exchange trading center. Singapore is a major international transportation in Asia. Singapores culture is still very traditional society. In order to choose in which country we will operate we are going to use the Factor rating method which is useful for service and industrial location and which is one of the most widely used location technique. (C1= Japan, C2=Thailand, C3=Singapore) STARBUCKS FACTOR RATING METHOD Factors Weight Rate C1 RateC2 RateC3 ScoreC1 ScoreC2 ScoreC3 Quality of life issues in the community 30 90 60 75 2700 1800 2250 Worker education and skills 20 80 50 65 1600 1000 1300 Site costs 15 60 70 65 900 1050 975 Cultural abilities to modern changes 25 80 50 60 2000 1250 1500 Labor availability 10 85 60 70 850 600 700 Total 8050 5700 6725 According to the Factor rating Method, Starbucks should implement its new operations in Japan in order to be successful, profitable and therefore achieve its objective of expanding in new markets. COCA COLA FACTOR RATING METHOD Factors Weight Rate C1 RateC2 RateC3 ScoreC1 ScoreC2 ScoreC3 Proximity to raw materials suppliers 25 60 55 65 1500 1375 1625 Labor costs 20 55 80 70 1100 1600 1400 Transportation availability 25 70 55 85 1750 1375 2125 Site costs 20 60 70 65 1200 1400 1300 Government fiscal policies 10 60 60 70 600 600 700 Total 6150 6350 7150 According to the Rating Factor Method Coca Cola should implement its new manufacture in Singapore in order to reduce its costs of production and transportation. Indeed that is the country which offers the most opportunities to do so in term of proximity to suppliers, transportation costs and labor costs.