Saturday, August 31, 2019

Reading Father and I

Reading Father and I by Par Lagerkvist with Narrative and Culture Repetition One of the claims that J. Hillis Miller make in his essay Narrative, has to do with repetition and its relationship with enjoyment. Miller points out â€Å"We enjoy imitation. For one thing imitations are rhythmic, orderly and it is natural for us to take pleasure in rhythmic forms. † In answering the question, why we need the ‘same’ story over and over again, Miller adds â€Å"The repetition of a rhythmic pattern is intrinsically pleasurable, whatever the pattern is. The repetitions within the pattern are pleasurable themselves. From his claim, I can deduce that repetition is something that readers look for in a story. Come to think of it, it might be one of the driving forces that allow the reader to take interest. It is one primary consideration that writers need to take in making a story.In the fiction story, Father and I, by Par Lagerkvist, I find that the author not only uses repet ition not only for enjoyment but also for the development of the story. Repetition is found in the rhetorical devices that he uses to develop his sentences. For one, he utilizes parallelism in his statements. There was noise and movement everywhere; bumblebees came out of their holes, midges swarmed wherever it was marshy, and birds darted out of the bushes to catch them and back again as quickly. † Another, he uses repetitive words in order to gain more impact in a sentence. â€Å"Nothing was right, nothing was real; it was all so weird. † The genius of Lagerkvist comes out in the repetition of events and elements in the plot and making them contradictory. The story repeats events and elements and creates a contrast of imagery depending on the time.The summary of events follow: the father and child go out, enter the woods, see animals and telegraph poles, encounter a train, and arrive at their destination. At day time, the woods are full of life and movement. Animals a nd telegraph poles sing. The train is a friendly passerby that greets the father and child. Their destination brings remembrance of the childhood of the father. But at night time, the woods change. Animals stare. Poles rumble like talking deep down from the earth. A train passes unexpectedly. They proceed to their destination with the child traumatized by the experience.In doing this, the author accomplishes his goal of creating crisis in the main character (child), bringing him from a situation of certainty and control to a situation of anguish and vulnerability. The skilful repetition of events allows me to read the story and follow the movement easily. The contradiction in the presentation of the events gives a two-sides-of-a-coin effect on the symbols employed by the story. The train, for example, isn’t just a symbol of the father’s ability to control but it also a symbol of his inability to foresee future danger. Performative Function Miller extensively discusses the functions of fiction in his essay.One of these functions that he writes about is the function that speech-act theorists call ‘performative function’. He writes, â€Å"A story has a way of doing things with words. It makes something happen in the real world: for example, it can propose modes of selfhood or ways of behaving that are then imitated in the real world. † Taking his statement and applying it to the story, I sense that Father and I proposes to the real world a stage of common experience and defines this experience. It pays close attention to the coming of age of a child; when the child grows from childhood to adulthood.This story describes how this coming-of-age can be like. The child begins to realize that he feels differently from his father. â€Å"It was so strange that only I was afraid, not Father, that we didn’t think the same. † The divide develops further when the child sees that the father (a railroad worker) didn’t reco gnize the train driver, â€Å"Father didn’t recognize him, didn’t know who he was. † He realizes that his father was powerless. â€Å"†¦The unknown, all that Father knew nothing about, that he wouldn’t be able to protect me against. † The story ‘performs’ by describing the processes that the child underwent.It defines how the child underwent the process of individuation. The child realizes that he is different from his father; his father no longer understands what he is going through. The child now is on his own; he begins understands what it is to be an individual. Further, the child becomes aware that there are things his father could not protect him from. He has to proceed on his own. He has to stand face the world that has its own darkness. In a rather stark manner, the author allows us to gain insight into the coming-of-age. This experience is an experience of cutting-off; this can be rather painful and lonely.He shows that t his is an experience of independence; it will be a life for the person and not for anyone else. It is an experience of uncertainty; not everything will be in control. The world no longer revolves for the convenience of the person. â€Å"It just hurtled, blazing, into the darkness that had no end. † Culture Builders Greenblatt and Miller agree that stories are reflectors and builders of culture. Miller writes â€Å"Fiction [†¦] accurate reflectors of a culture and [†¦] are the makers of that culture and as the unostentatious, but therefore all the more effective policemen of that culture. Greenblatt adds to this by looking at culture as a movement of constraint and mobility. It has the movement of constraint: has a set of limits within which individuals must be contained. It has the movement of mobility: the regulator and guarantor of movement. We find these dynamics in the story as well. We can that the story reflects (moves as constraint) the culture of that time. We need to contextualize this first by looking at the background of the author. Par Lagerkvist lived from 1891 to 1974. He is a son of station master Anders Johan Lagerkvist and Johanna Blad, was born in the south of Sweden.Seeing this, I surmise that the story might come from a personal experience and reflects the culture of his time. In the story, we sense the qualities expected of the males in their culture. They were â€Å"sound and sensible people†. They â€Å"didn’t make much fuss about things. † They stay calm and not think of anything even in difficult situations. The story reflects the image of males as composed; even stoic and unfeeling. The story not only reflects these qualities but also challenges them. It tries to build culture brings about the movement of mobility.The child asks if the Father really does not feel fear. â€Å"I couldn’t understand how he could be so calm when it was so murky†. The story questions this breezy calm and asks for greater transparency. The story also brings to attention how the father is unconnected to feeling and how he could no longer relate to the experience of the child. The story questions that sense of security and certainty that are expected or found of in men of their culture. It challenges this culture to face the world even with one’s insecurity and vulnerability.

Friday, August 30, 2019

Background And History Of Enron Accounting Essay

Enron was founded in 1985 through the amalgamation of Houston Natural Gas and Internorth, a natural gas company based in Omaha, Nebraska, and rapidly became the major energy and petrochemical trade goods bargainer under the leading of its president, Kenneth Lay. In 1999, Enron moved its operations online, touting the largest online trading exchange as one of the cardinal market shapers in natural gas, electricity, rough oil, petrochemicals and plastics. Enron diversified into coal, transportation, steel & A ; metals, mush & A ; paper, and even into such trade goods as conditions and recognition derived functions. At its extremum, Enron was describing grosss of $ 80 billion and net incomes of $ 1 billion, and was for six back-to-back old ages lauded by Fortune as America ‘s most advanced company. The sudden surrender, nevertheless, of Enron Vice-Chairman Clifford Baxter in May of 2001 and subsequent surrender of CEO Jeffrey Skilling in August of 2001, both of whom retired for unrevealed personal grounds, should hold served as the first indicant of the problems brewing within Enron. Mr. Skilling had been elected CEO merely months before, and Mr. Baxter had become Vice-Chairman in 2000. Finally, amidst analysts ‘ and investors ‘ inquiries sing unrevealed partnerships and rumours of crying accounting mistakes, Enron announced on October 16, 2001 it was taking a $ 544 million dollar after-tax-charge against net incomes and a decrease in stockholder equity by $ 1.2 billion due to related minutess with LJM-2. As will be discussed in the undermentioned subdivision, LJM-2 was partnership managed and partly owned by Enron ‘s CFO, Andrew Fastow. The LJM partnerships provided Enron with a spouse for plus gross revenues and purchases every bit good as an instrument to fudge hazard. Less than a month subsequently Enron announced that it would be repeating its net incomes from 1997 through 2001 because of accounting mistakes associating to minutess with another Fastow partnership, LJM Cayman, and Chewco Investments, which was managed by Michael Kopper. Mr. Kopper was the pull offing manager of Enron ‘s planetary finance unit and reported straight to the CFO, Mr. Fastow. Chewco Investments was a partnership created out of the demand to deliver an outside investor ‘s involvement in another Enron partnership and will be discussed at length in the undermentioned subdivision. Such restatements sparked a formal probe by the SEC into Enron ‘s partnerships. Other questionable partnerships were coming to visible radiation, including the Raptors partnerships. These restatements were prodigious, and combined with Enron ‘s revelation that their CFO Mr. Fastow was paid in surplus of $ 30 million for the direction of LJM-1 and LJM-2, investor assurance was crushed. Enron ‘s debt evaluations later plummeted, and one month subsequently, on December 2, 2001, Enron filed for bankruptcy protection under Chapter 11.Q. 1 ) What were the steps which Enron had missed to regulate during the full dirt?At the clip of its filing for bankruptcy in December 2001 the complex industrial construction of Enron was to the full grasped by few foreigners, and more complete information as to the true degrees of its assets, liabilities and off-balance-sheet places was still blossoming. An thought of the house ‘s complexness can be obtained from such characteristic s as its 2,800 offshore units and the 54 pages required to name people and companies owed money by Enron. This was a far call from the house which in the 1980s specialized in the proviso of natural gas grapevines and related services. But from these beginnings Enron expanded unrelentingly into trading activities in 1,800 merchandises or contracts and 13 currencies. Part of the motive of Enron ‘s behavior was similar to that of many other houses in the 1990s, deducing from the links between stock monetary values and executives ‘ wage and wealth, above all through stock options. However, in Enron ‘s instance the factor of its recognition evaluation was besides of import. The house ‘s rapid enlargement required entree to big sums of funding ; and as its engagement in trading activities grew, so did the importance of its recognition evaluation since this determined its funding costs and crucially the willingness of its counterparties to merchandise with it. In order to keep the house ‘s recognition evaluation Enron sought it to be indispensable that it portrays a favorable income, while avoiding an inordinate purchase on Enron ‘s balance sheet. So as to accomplish this, the house resorted to extraordinary goings from transparence which affected the house ‘s dealingss with investors and creditors, its ain board of managers ( and therefore an of import portion of its internal control ) , and other stakeholders of the corporation. The house ‘s usage of particular purpose entities ( SPEs ) was portion and package of the patterns employed to pull strings the house ‘s net incomes figures and balance sheet, as was resort to hedge and the usage of derived functions in struggle with coverage regulations or concern logic ( or both ) . Many of the minutess associated with this use were besides associated with self-dealing by Enron executives taking to significant personal enrichment. In summing up the causes for Enron ‘s autumn are ascribed to Enron ‘s failure to detect good corporate administration. Enron ‘s showy use of grade to market accounting. Enron ‘s complex minutess with particular purpose entities. This analysis has been restricted to Enron ‘s non observation of good corporate administration. Corporate administration is concerned with the relationships between a concern ‘s direction and its board of managers, its stockholders and loaners, and it ‘s other stakeholders such as employees, clients, providers, and the community of which it is a portion. The capable therefore concerns the model through which concern aims are set and the agencies of achieving them and otherwise monitoring public presentation are determined. Good corporate administration follows rules which still vary significantly among states and which are presently the topic of assorted enterprises designed to accomplish understanding on an acceptable model of basic criterions. Execution of rules of good corporate administration presupposes satisfactory public presentation on the portion of several different parties from both the private and public sectors. The function of these parties must be complemented by effectual ordinance, which in the instance of a house with operations every bit complex a s Enron includes non merely major regulators of the fiscal sectors but besides the regulator of the energy sector. Certain facets that will be dealt, herein, are: Enron ‘s system of inducements and countenances Board of managers Accountants/auditors Banks, Financial analysts and SECsEnron ‘s system of inducements and countenancesThe influence of the house ‘s stock monetary value on the inducement system for Enron ‘s employees became progressively of import during the long fiscal roar of the 1990s. In the instance of senior staff this reflected a wage system of which a cardinal portion consisted of stock options. For other staff much of their nest eggs was invested in Enron stock with the active encouragement of Enron ‘s ain direction. An of import portion of this procedure consisted of retirement nest eggs programs under which staff ‘s ain parts were topped up by parts from Enron itself. Many of Enron employees had invested significant amounts in Enron ‘s ain stock ; this was actively encouraged by Enron ‘s direction itself. But at the same clip Enron officers and a few managers were themselves selling the house ‘s stock on a monolithic graduated table, gross revenues no uncertainty partially due to normal portfolio variegation but besides likely to hold been progressively influenced by insider cognition of the turning precariousness of Enron ‘s existent state of affairs.Board of managersIn order to accomplish good corporate administration an of import function is attribute to histrions in the board of managers and independent external hearers. Key maps of the board of managers, which were peculiarly relevant in the instance of Enron, include choice and wage of executives, being watchful to possible struggles of involvement adversely impacting the house, and guaranting the unity of the company ‘s systems of accounting and fiscal coverage . Prerequisites for satisfactory public presentation include entree to accurate and timely information bearing on the fulfillment of these duties. It should be emphasized that when looking at the managers of Enron ‘s Board it was apparent that the managers did non map independently. Fiscal ties between Enron and a bulk of its managers seem to hold weakened their objectiveness in their inadvertence of Enron. Such relationships with Enron may hold made it hard for such board members to be nonsubjective or critical of Enron direction. Many of these Enron Board members may hold felt that their compensation might be endangered by oppugning such concerns in Board meetings, therefore, bring forthing weak â€Å" nodders and flunkies † as managers and thereby, lending to the autumn of Enron. One widely recognized rule of good corporate administration is that the board be independent of direction. It is indispensable that a board be capable of looking objectively at the direction and outside professional advisers of a house, and Enron ‘s Board was non capable in this regard. It should besides be mentioned here that of the compensation paid to the board a significant proportion was in the signifier of stock options, a pattern capable of exercising on the board pressures to O.K. determinations probably to hold a favorable influence on the house ‘s stock monetary value similar to those besides exerted on direction. The Board should work to assist avoid struggles of involvement, guarantee scrutinizing independency and accurate fiscal coverage, oversee compensation patterns, every bit good as many other dislocations that occurred within Enron. Compromised by its restraints and conventionality the Board failed in its undertaking.Accountants/auditorsSing scrutinizing good corporate administration requires high-quality criterions for readying and revelation, and independency for the external hearer. Enron ‘s external hearer was Arthur Andersen, which besides provided the house with extended internal auditing and consulting services. The history of dealingss between Enron and Arthur Andersen suggests that they were often characterised by tensenesss due to the latter is scruples refering several characteristics of Enron ‘s. Materials from Audit Committee meetings indicate that its members were cognizant of such bad accounting methods being employed by Enron, but did non move on them. These concerns, nevertheless, were ne'er decently addressed and were non efficaciously communicated to the Audit and Compliance Committee by Andersen. It is of import to stress that Enron was utilizing engineerings ( or complex fiscal techniques ) that helped to befog the house ‘s true fiscal consequences. Had investors been more cognizant of and understood the significance of such extremely structured partnerships, they would non hold been as deceived by the fiscal consequences and would hold looked more skeptically at the house ‘s fiscal status. The deficiency of fiscal coverage transparence represents the failure of another bed of corporate administration protection that stockholders are usually provided. Stockholders rely on the fiscal studies and information that direction produces. When such studies are inaccurate and have been manipulated stockholders are stripped of another mechanism that helps to truly supervise the public presentation of direction, which is what happened with the instance of Enron.Banks and Financial analystsEnron ‘s Bankss were profoundly involved in the house ‘s resort to techniq ues for the use of its reported net incomes and balance sheet. The Finance Committee should hold taken a more proactive function in analyzing and supervising the minutess. It should be seen that the Finance Committee holding been cognizant of the unstable nature of the related-party minutess in Enron, failed in its duty of supervising the minutess. A forum for more extended inquiring from managers sing the minutess was the ground that such a commission existed. Their occupation was to examine and take apart the minutess that they reviewed and to supervise hazard, neither of which they did for these related-party minutess. Most fiscal analysts covering Enron stock continued to urge it to investors good into the fall of 2001, even as disclosures refering Enron ‘s accounting and direction weaknesss began to proliferate. Many of the analysts made this recommendation even though they admitted that they did non to the full understand the house ‘s operations and construction.Q. 2 Lacuna in the bing jurisprudence due to which the Enron dirt took topographic pointThe Enron LoopholeThe Commodity Exchange Act exempts certain energy derived functions contracts from ordinance by the Commodity Futures Trading Commission ( CFTC ) . These freedoms are popularly known as the â€Å" Enron loophole. † Soaring energy monetary values have raised concerns about whether the CFTC has adequate information about these unregulated markets to supervise energy trading in a comprehensive mode. The Farm Bill established a more rigorous regulative government for electronic trading installations that offer contracts that play a important function in puting energy monetary values. A figure of other measures in the hundred-and-tenth Congress would enforce new coverage or regulative demands on the bilateral energy barters market, which was non addressed by the Farm Bill. This study will be updated as legislative developments warrant. In 2000, Congress passed the Commodity Futures Modernization Act whose cardinal intent was to put out the conditions under which derivative fiscal contracts – instruments like hereafters, options, or barters, whose value is linked to the monetary value of some implicit in trade good – could be lawfully traded in the over-the counter ( OTC ) market, that is, away the hereafters exchanges that are regulated by the Commodity Futures Trading Commission ( CFTC ) . The CFMA established three classs of trade goods and made them subject to changing grades of ordinance: fiscal trade goods ( such as involvement rates, currency monetary values, or stock indexes ) were defined as excluded trade goods. Excluded trade goods can be traded in the OTC market with minimum CFTC inadvertence, provided that little public investors are non allowed to merchandise. A 2nd class is agricultural trade goods ; here, because of concerns about monetary value use, the jurisprudence specifies that all derived functions based on farm trade goods must be traded on a CFTC-regulated exchange ; unless the CFTC issues a specific freedom after happening that a proposed OTC agricultural contract would be consistent with the public involvement. Finally, there is a 3rd â€Å" all-other † class – an exempt trade good – which includes whatever is neither fiscal nor agricultural. In today ‘s markets, this means chiefly metals and energy trade goods. The statutory freedom from ordinance provided by the CFMA for exempt trade goods is normally known as the â€Å" Enron loophole. † Before its prostration in 2001, Enron Corp. was a innovator in OTC energy trading and developed an electronic market ( Enron Online ) for trading physical and derivative contracts based on a figure of energy merchandises. Defined in the jurisprudence as fiscal establishments, insurance companies, broker/dealers, authorities units, professional hereafters bargainers, and concerns and persons run intoing certain plus and income thresholds. The given is that these are sophisticated bargainers who do non necessitate the protections offered by authorities ordinance. â€Å" Trading installation † is defined in jurisprudence as a â€Å" installation or system in which multiple participants have the ability to put to death or merchandise understandings, contracts, or minutess by accepting commands and offers made by other participants that are unfastened to multiple participants in the installation or system. † These are defined as eligible contract participants who ( 1 ) trade in the physical trade good or ( 2 ) on a regular basis provide hazard direction or hedge services to those who do. Defined as a trading installation, that operates over an electronic or telecommunications web and maintains an audit trail of minutess. Basically, one of the ways to counter fiscal dirts is to better the quality of scrutinizing services. However, the current legal, regulative and corporate administration model is robust and sufficient to protect the market. This is hard because the figure of fiscal dirts affecting hearers is increasing. Furthermore, whilst corporate administration may hold improved but the hearers ‘ responsibilities and duties are shrouded in enigma and mystique as of all time. There is a blank in the current legal model as the responsibilities and duties reposed on hearers under common jurisprudence, ‘the Companies Act ‘ , BAFIA and the CMSA are unequal in countering the fiscal dirts.Other defectsEnron, an energy trading company is the first dirt which shook up the scrutinizing profession although there were many instances affecting hearers since the 18 century. Enron has caused a crisis to the assurance in hearers and the dependability of fiscal coverage. The audit quality and the independency of the hearers were questionable. This is because the hearers, who were Arthur Andersen, were non merely having fees for scrutinizing but for non-audit services excessively i.e. for consultancy services. In 2001, Arthur Andersen earned US $ 55 million for non-audit services. Furthermore, there were regular exchanges of employees within Enron from Arthur Andersen. Under the common jurisprudence responsibilities and duties, there is no responsibility reposed on the hearers to avoid struggle of involvements. Therefore, the fact that Arthur Andersen was offering non-audit services is non a breach of jurisprudence in the first topographic point. Under ‘the Companies Act ‘ , although independency of the hearers is indispensable as can be seen in S. 9 of ‘the Companies Act ‘ which disqualifies certain individuals from being eligible as hearers, the proviso does non cover with issues refering the offering of non-audit services to the company. This is because the proviso merely prohibits an employee, officer, spouse or employee or employer of an officer from being appointed as an hearer. The offering of the non-audit services by the hearers to a company is in the capacity of an independent contractor. The jurisprudence assumes that such individuals are independent. This is because independency is the basis for scrutinizing. However, there will be struggle of involvement and hence the independency of the hearer will be affected. Although Arthur Andersen was doing a study on the company ‘s histories, they did non describe fraud to the stakeholders. This is because the fraud was committed by the direction. Kenneth Lay took place US $ 152 million although the company was confronting a loss. If the hearers were to describe they likely will non be appointed in subsequent old ages or be engaged for non-audit services. They made sure that they were in the direction ‘s good books. They maintained confidentiality but for the incorrect grounds. The U.S. authorities assured the stakeholders that Enron was merely a instance of one bad apple. Nonetheless, in 2002, WorldCom which is one of the biggest telecommunications company in US collapsed. The issue sing hearers reached a high degree due to Enron. It was found that the hearers, Arthur Anderson, did non take proper stairss in observing accounting abnormalities. Although it is the responsibility of the hearers to observe accounting abnormalities, they failed to make so. Since they failed to make so truly, they should be apt. As a consequence of Enron, the audit house Arthur Andersen in Malaysia was dissolved. On the other manus, it is hard to find the scope of the hearers ‘ responsibilities and duties. This is because in at least four affairs, the American International Group Incorporated ‘s hearer i.e. PricewaterhouseCoopers are cognizant of debatable accounting but decided that they were non material. If the position is shared by the scrutinizing profession, it can be considered that the hearers have performed their responsibilities and duties consequently. However, the position must besides be agreed by the tribunals before set uping whether the hearers have performed their responsibilities and duties consequently. When Enron took topographic point, it was thought it could non go on in Malaysia. In fact the SC believed that since Malaysia patterns different set of accounting and auditing regulations. However, much before Enron, there have been instances which involved scrutinizing dirts. In fact the dirts pose a changeless menace to the regulative construction, public trust and assurance in the market economic system. Therefore, it has raised concerns sing the credibleness of the audit profession. The consequence of these alterations was that, what had antecedently been a system of healthy cheques and balances became a united forepart at the disbursal of investors. Alternatively of holding opposed involvements that served to protect investors, they now had an unhealthy common involvement. The fiducial responsibility that executives owed to stockholders took a back place to the chase of a short-run addition in stock monetary value. Accountants, who had once policed fiscal studies in order to protect the public, now had a strong inducement to assist executives to make whatever it took to hike portion monetary value in order to maintain them as confer withing clients. And investing bankers no longer served as sure advisors to their clients, reconnoitering out the best securities. They found it more advantageous to work with executives and comptrollers to finance trades that raised stock monetary values, even if it meant selling out their clients.Q.3 ) What were the Amendments tha t were brought in station Enron Issue?The Enron Scandal caused a loss of an estimated $ 74 billion to the stockholders. After the prostration of Enron, several issues were earmarked for the attending of reformists including: – The function of concern financess in political candidacy. – The extent of energy companies ‘ influence on national energy policy. – The demand to reform pension Torahs to halt over-exposure to one stock and forestall a company from puting its pension financess in its ain stock. – The demand for higher criterions of transparence and revelation in the audit profession. – Potential struggles of involvement between consultancy and scrutinizing work undertaken by fiscal houses. – The demand for tighter ordinance on fiscal derived functions trading.Sarbanes -Oxley Act ( SOX ) of 2002The sudden prostration of Enron Corporation in late 2001, amid disclosures that its public accounting statements had been manipulated and falsified to hide the company ‘s true fiscal place, was the first in a series of major accounting dirts affecting American corporations. The response of the 107th Congress was to go through the Sarbanes-Oxley Act ( P.L. 107-204 ) , sometimes described as the most sweeping amendments to the securities Torahs since the 1930s. The SOX came as a US legislative response to the recent batch of accounting dirts. It provided for conformity with comprehensive reform of accounting and required for publically held companies to advance and better the quality and transparence of fiscal coverage by internal and external hearers. Companies must â€Å" list and track public presentation of their stuff hazards and associated control processs. â₠¬  Companies can no longer do loans to company managers. SOX Act besides did non turn to other cardinal causes: misaligned inducements ( e.g. , displacement from hard currency to stock option compensation focal point on short-term net incomes instead than longer run net income public presentation. Congress ‘s purpose in go throughing Sarbanes-Oxley was to reconstruct assurance in fiscal markets by increasing corporate answerability, heightening public revelations of fiscal information, and beef uping corporate administration. More terrible condemnable punishments for securities fraud were besides enacted. The Securities and Exchange Commission ( SEC ) has adopted more than a twelve concluding regulations to implement the Act ‘s commissariats. These regulations raise criterions of answerability for corporate executives, boards of managers, independent hearers, and corporate lawyers. Some of the of import characteristics of the Act were: The Act created a national Accounting Oversight Board that, among other activities, must set up the moralss criterions used by CPA houses in fixing audits. It was required that the hearers retain audit working documents for specified periods of clip. It was required that hearer rotary motion forbiding the same individual from being the lead hearer for more than five old ages. It was required that the CEO and CFO certify that the company ‘s fiscal statements are true, just and accurate. The Act prohibited corporations from widening personal loans to executives and managers. It was required that the audited company discloses whether it has adopted the codification of moralss for its senior fiscal officers. It was required that the SEC on a regular basis review each corporation ‘s fiscal statements. The Act prevented employers from retaining against research analysts that write negative studies. It imposed condemnable punishments on hearers and clients for falsification, destructing, changing or hiding records. It imposed all right or penalty on any individual that defrauds stockholders. It increased punishments for mail and wire defraud from 5 to 20 old ages in prison. The Act establishes condemnable liability for failure of corporate officers to attest fiscal studies.A Few Possible Lessons and actionsa-?We need a structural inspection and repair of the system, including:New regulations forbiding houses that do the accounting for a company from making any confer withing for that company Through run finance reform, a committed attempt is needed to acquire large money out of political relations Reregulation and inadvertence of energy trading and distribution a-?We must penalize corporate irresponsibleness: More attempt and diligence is needed in tracking and exposing corporate irresponsibleness and authorities must beef up the current slap-on-the-wrist penalties. At a start, this includes a continued thorough probe of the Enron/Andersen by Congress, the SEC, and the Justice Department, with the public non accepting a watered down version from the authorities. a-?Workers should hold more engagement and power in direction determinations, particularly when pension financess are involved. If this had been in topographic point, Enron perchance would n't hold collapsed, and the employees surely could hold salvaged some of their nest eggs. Losing one ‘s full pension fund is good evidences for demanding employee determination doing power to forestall it in the hereafter. a-?We demand to fight against trade understandings – demand to go on to construct a strong, widespread battle against these trade understandings such as the GATS, and expose them for what they truly are: mechanisms for development of the universe ‘s people, land, resources, and public services. The authorization of these understandings is to let for the Enron ‘s of the universe unrestricted entree to privatise which will probably merely take to more Enron ‘s on a planetary graduated table. Without this battle, local and public services will go on to be lost.

Thursday, August 29, 2019

African Politics - Aid Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

African Politics - Aid - Essay Example Aid was started in Africa in order to facilitate development projects after colonialism. Colonialism had impoverished African countries and the western nations came in with the concept of aid to assist. The intentions were pure and there was initially no agenda behind the money being provided. As Michelle (2013) stipulates in the journal article, there were big development ideas that were to be funded by the aid money but what lacked is the technical expertise. Aid was to be used in various developmental areas such as education, health, infrastructural development among others. Education is the baseline of every country whether developed or developing. It is therefore in the best interest of every nation to have its entire people educated if it is to have developments in the future and use it to enhance their livelihoods. Africa has been left behind for decades on the issue of access to education and this has led to aid being given and debt accrued in the need to educate their public. The dire need to raise the education standards led to need to borrow money from the Bretton Woods institutions such as the World Bank in order to complete the project. The project ended up consuming more and having no much return benefits to the intended public and a debt accrued. Drazen, (2002) explains how debts from the aid continued to increase with no hopes of them being paid back especially with the oil crises which led to an increase in food prices as well as the deplorable conditions in these African nations that have led to an increase in poverty. The Bretton Woods institutions together with the western countries that supplied the money for the aid came up with the concept of structural adjustment programs as the condition for being granted the aid. The African leaders desperate for the money went along with this program that saw massive layoffs and retrenchments taking place in the public sector. The structural programs were

Wednesday, August 28, 2019

Corporal Pushment In Children Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Corporal Pushment In Children - Research Paper Example Some countries and states have legalized corporal punishment; however, in some states and countries, corporal punishment is banned. This paper discusses the issue of corporal punishment in detail. Corporal Punishment on Children Karem De Gouveia Mr. Roycraft ENC 1101- T November 15, 2011 De Gouveia i Outline I- Introduction Thesis: Corporal punishment as a sort of physical punishment is legalized in some states of the world while other states regard it disadvantageous for the children’s physical and mental growing up. II- Definition of Corporal Punishment A. Characteristics of physical abuse B. The goal of corporal punishment III- Kinds of Corporal Punishment A. Domestic punishment B. How is the corporal punishment in the judicial system IV- Views of Different Schools of Thoughts A. Different views on corporal punishment. B. The point of view in the state of Texas C. As per the law of New Hampshire V- Impact of Corporal Punishment on Children A. Positive Impact B. Negative Imp act De Gouveia 1 Corporal Punishment in Children Physical abuse of children at the hands of their parents and / or guardian is considered corporal punishment. It is considered as a sort of constructive punishment inflicted upon children to discipline them. In many developed countries of the world, parents / guardians cannot be prosecuted for physical assault under their laws. Even in the developing countries, there is no law which makes parents / guardians answer to the law enforcing agencies for spanking or slapping their children. Physical abuse is a part of corporal punishment. According to Gershoff (2002), â€Å"Physical abuse is characterized by the infliction of physical injury as a result of punching, beating, kicking, biting, burning, shaking or otherwise harming a child. The parent and caretaker may not have intended to hurt the child; rather the injury may have resulted from over- discipline or physical punishment.† (pp. 540). Regardless, if there was an intention t o hurt the child or not, the child was hurt, and it can be considered physical abuse. Corporal punishment by its nature comprises domestic, academic and judicial punishments. Domestic punishment means children receive punishment from parents / guardian. With regard to academic institutions, students are punished by teachers / administrators at the elementary level. In the judicial system, corporal punishment is applied upon prisoners by the De Gouveia 2 superintendent of prison and other associated officials in line with the judgment of the court. The goal of corporal punishment is to place the people on the right track. It differs from people to people in terms of age. As far as the children are concerned, the parental corporal punishment proves effective at the initial period of life of a child if he / she is below the age of eighteen. To make a child good in behavior, he or she should be intimated for corporal punishment or corporal punishment should be inflicted upon as the expe rience may be. This has been legal in many schools of United States of America. However, Canada, Kenya, Korea, South Africa, New Zealand, Europe except France are exempted from such punishment. It has virtually vanished from the western world. However, it can be seen in Africa and Asia. (Straus & Donnelly 27) Different schools of thought may have different views on corporal punishment, but they agree on one thing that is the necessity to repair the attitudes of children. However, the method of causing harm may vary from

Tuesday, August 27, 2019

La Noche Triste (the night of sorrows) Term Paper

La Noche Triste (the night of sorrows) - Term Paper Example Due to the fact that the Cortes letters to Charles V were the only written sources of information available then, the conquistador’s words were mostly credited as the truth. The description that the Spanish army was just victims of treachery committed by the Aztecs and that it fought bravely and wisely under the able leadership of Cortes were concepts that were widely considered as accurate. However, as an increasing number of historians came to explore further the details of La Noche Triste, it was soon found out that the letters sent by Cortes to the king of Spain may not be the most accurate source of information regarding the events that took place prior to it. One observation is that made by Jonathan Loesberg, who points out that that Cortes actually used a style of writing that puts him in position to influence instead of just obeying the king. In the letter Segunda Relacion, he used a style in which the king would develop support and sympathy for Cortes and his troops. This would naturally serve Cortes’s self-interests later. ... According to Inga Clendinnen in his book Aztecs: An Interpretation, â€Å"the traditional tale being too much in accord with European preferences to be easily surrendered, and the story the victors told continues to for truth.†2 To base the an analysis of an important historical event on the narratives of one man who happens to have a vested interest related to it would certainly produce inaccuracies that may be upheld as truths in the end. This is the reason why, in order to objectively appreciate such event, it is necessary to seek information from other sources as well. Cortes’s accounts are the bases of the theory that Spain intention of exploring the New World and colonizing it is to the introduce Christianity to pagan natives. Under such pretext, all actions Spaniards in the Caribbean as well as in the mainland of what is now known as Latin America were made with missionary work as the excuse. However, as mentioned earlier, Cortes has his own selfish intentions of gaining political power by getting the favor of the king as well as discovering gold for the crown and for himself. These alone are already powerful motivations that drove Cortes to lead his outnumbered but well-equipped army into the Mexican interior. Prior to this, Cortes had heard about the existence of a relatively advanced civilization among the natives. The city-state of Tenochtitlan was the seat of Aztec power in Mexico and its capture could mean the unquestionable dominance of Cortes’s army. The expedition towards Tenochtitlan proved to be productive for the small Spanish army. They met native tribes who happen to be enemies of the Aztecs, such as the Tlaxcaltecas and the people of Tliliuquitepec. Cortes treated these natives as friends although this was all according

Monday, August 26, 2019

Observing and Learning from Nature Research Paper

Observing and Learning from Nature - Research Paper Example Edward Abbey and Annie Dillard bring out a picture of the difference of nature in its natural state and the altered state. They show us various benefits provided by nature provides to people when it is healthy and natural. These benefits are that is both necessary and enjoyable for people to acquire. These facts enable the readers to see what they will probably lose if they do not take care of their environs. In the essay Seeing by Annie Dillard, she places herself as part of nature. This is a way in which she has lived together with nature from her childhood times to the current age. She remembers the abundance of the various aspects of nature such as animals and birds that are no longer available at the current time. A nature that she used to see and relate to is no longer there. It is missing, and so are the ways of life of people in relation to their environs. She views the changed way people act towards nature. When people were friendly and nondestructive towards the various aspects of nature, so was the nature towards people and vice versa. She also talks about the evolved relationship between nature and poverty, and the increasing need by people to satisfy their wants obtaining them from nature. She wonders at leaving a quarter by the roadside and being able to find it later on in the earlier years, as opposed to the current time. In her essay, she marvels at a time where people h ad enough for their use to survive and had little interest to explore nature leading to its unsustainability. She brings out the fact that there used to be state of harmonious existence between people and nature hence both flourished. We see that the extinction of this fact leads to a weakness in the relationship between man and nature (Dillard 303). The Last Oasis by Edward Abbey is a collective story of an oasis that was alive but is now dying. He places himself as an extractor of nature.

Sunday, August 25, 2019

Human Resource Manager's Use of Computer Tools Research Paper

Human Resource Manager's Use of Computer Tools - Research Paper Example This essay discusses that human resources managers utilize a number of technological tools on a daily basis to carry out their jobs. At the core of those technological tools is the personal computer, which adds in to the good organization of the human resources experts by letting them to make use of electronic recording systems. â€Å"Software used by HR managers includes word processing programs, spreadsheets such as Microsoft Excel and Lotus 1-2-3, accounting software like Intuit QuickBooks, AccountantsWorld Payroll Relief and Sage Software Peachtree, and various types of HR software. Human resource-specific software includes programs such as Sage Software Abra HRMS, WhizLabs Software and UniFocus Watson Human Resources Manager software†. Conventionally human resource management (HRM) has had a people centric approach. However, these days, when the economical requirements of the market call for a reorientation of strategic human resource beliefs and trainings, a stress is be ing put on an administration supported by knowledge applying technology as a tool. This paper sheds light on the inferences of this ‘new imperative on human resource management’. Now, HR tasks include a sufficient range of actions needing extremely diverse ‘skill sets’, from ‘compensation and benefit’ supervision - extremely quantitative - to worker associations - extremely qualitative. Therefore, there are justifiable issues regarding whether these tasks has to be together on executive arrangements with respect to latest reality as well as technologies. Discussion To be considered flourishing, HR tools should attain quite a lot of objectives, including (a) strategic coalition, which should sustain the objectives of a business by facilitating users; (b) business intelligence, which is requires to encourage fresh insights as well as knowledge, by offering users appropriate data and information, and by responding to inquiries. In addition, (c) co mpetence and success, which must modify the work done by HR workers, by radically recuperating their level of service, permitting additional time for job of better worth, and decreasing their expenditure. Computer tools for HRM can facilitate businesses in achieving their objectives and aims at present as well as in the upcoming times by: (1) assisting managers to set up their workforce more resourcefully, (2) making sure that workforce get appropriate guidance and progress. Thirdly, presenting fresh insights on the way to boost output; (4) facilitating workers as well as managers to get required data quicker; (5) decreasing HR executive expenditures; and (6) supporting with enhanced worker appraisal as well as selection (Roebuck, 2011). The end of post World War II-based suppositions of continuing connection between ‘employers and employees’, needs a fresh representation of employees growth that identifies worker mobility, economical stress, globalization, in addition to the rate of alteration within important computer tools (Bohlander & Snell, 2009). There is a basic requirement in HR to go on with expanding an evolution to ‘technology centric’ knowledge management, but with a ‘people focused’ approach. This is a significant concern these days due to the rational resources of a business. Knowledge management has a main part in guaranteeing competitiveness of the business rests on the insight that in business in today’s world, the single really exceptional resource of a company is the ‘intellectual and human capital’ (Bondarouk, 2011). Human Resource scheduling is linked with the inhibited consumption of workers to attain pre-decided aims - both interim as well as continuing. Following are its three most important traits: (1) demand work concerning assessing, evaluating, and trying to estimate the amount; (2) supply work trying to forecast what action is, and will

Saturday, August 24, 2019

You choose the topic Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

You choose the topic - Essay Example Specifically, the author employs horrific imagery of death and revenge in order to set the mood for the eventual murder of Fortunato. Poe uses dark words and images of death like â€Å"a mask of black silk† worn by Montresor and â€Å"the damp ground of the catacombs† that both men see as they descend to the vaults (Poe, â€Å"The Cask of Amontillado†). In fact, the phrase â€Å"mask of black silk† and the word â€Å"catacombs† do not only foreshadow Fortunato’s death but also somehow symbolize death itself. The â€Å"mask of black silk† in particular, which is likened to the mask of an executioner, somehow signifies beginning of the initiation rite. Another form of symbolic imagery employed by Poe includes the family coat of arms of the Montresors: â€Å"the foot crushes a serpent rampant whose fangs are imbedded in the heel† (Poe, â€Å"The Cask†). The purpose of this particular form of imagery is to show the reader tha t the theme of death is perfectly intertwined with the theme of revenge and punishment. On the other hand, in â€Å"The Tell-Tale Heart,† it was a disease that â€Å"had sharpened [the narrator’s] senses and that makes him â€Å"very, very dreadfully nervous† that has actually made him kill the old man. Moreover, the narrator seems to have admitted the murder and justifies it only on the basis of impulse. In short, unlike Montresor in â€Å"The Cask of Amontillado,† the narrator in â€Å"The Tell-Tale Heart† does not hold a grudge against his victim although he kills him: â€Å"it was not the old man who vexed me, but his Evil Eye† (Poe, â€Å"The Tell-Tale Heart†). This particular disease that somehow sharpens the narrator’s senses has somehow made him too nervous and too afraid of the old man’s Evil Eye and that is the reason why the narrator smothers the latter with a bed or a pillow until his death. He then chops of f the old man’s head and limbs and hides them under the planks. Although

Differentiate laissez-faire capitalism from state-directed capitalism Essay

Differentiate laissez-faire capitalism from state-directed capitalism - Essay Example The policy is a modification of the industrialized economy in the modern society. Laissez-faire capitalism differentiates an economy from a state. As such, crucial decision of the nation is designed to serve the economy. â€Å"A minimal role for government is called laissez-faire capitalism, from the French for â€Å"Leave us alone,† supposedly said by the French economist Vincent de Gournay (1712–1759) to a government bureaucrat† (Dahlman, Carl & William, 472). Laissez-faire capitalism entails manipulating national budgets, redistributing income and formulating national policy for an overall growth and expansion of a nation. State-directed capitalism refers to a systematic policy where the government contributes largely to the trade affairs target to improve an economy. The structure entails nationalizing resources and incorporating productive enterprise to develop the economy. The state-directed capitalism dynamics include privatization of enterprises, raising stock markets and providing investment capital for nation building. The program regulates trade affairs generating income under controlled government schematics. This system targets to develop an economy under regulated approaches originating from the government. State-directed capitalism revolves around government involvement in economic developments. The government allocates the necessary resources to generate revenues with assistance from other private markets. â€Å"Direct government participation in the economy ranges theoretically from a communist system, in which both the natural resources and the productive enterprises are nationalizedâ €”that is, owned by the government in the name of the people—to a capitalist system, in which the state defers to private enterprise and a stock market raises and allocates investment capital† (Dahlman & William, 472). . The American economy establishes a capitalist enterprise for national growth and

Friday, August 23, 2019

Relationship between the Strategic Position and Strategic Choices of Essay - 1

Relationship between the Strategic Position and Strategic Choices of Marks & Spencer Plc - Essay Example This research will begin with the statement that Marks and Spencer (M&S) had occupied a leading position in the UK retail industry and had been able to sustain success for several years. However, its performance over the last two decades has not been much influential which has resulted in the decline in customer base and market share as compared to its competitors. Historically, Michael Marks, during the late 1880s established a penny bazaar wherein he offered a majority of products costing one penny. This business of Marks accorded significant success and inspired by this success Marks rapidly expanded his business. With the growing size of the business, Marks was joined by a partner Tom Spencer, this partnership led to the establishment of M&S. The partnership business steadily grew and by the beginning of 21st century, M&S growth began to roll out unprecedentedly. Later, Simon Marks took the management of M&S. He made numerous changes in the operational strategy of M&S. He transfo rmed that penny bazaar into stores and adopted simple pricing strategy. He also introduced ‘St Michael’ logo as a quality sign. However, since 1998, M&S had confronted with numerous challenges as well as it had adopted several strategies to deal with the emerging challenges. However, the most of measures undertaken by M&S to cope up with the problems encountered by it had not been fruitful. Strategic positioning is an attempt to realize sustainable competitive advantage by identifying and preserving the distinct resources and capabilities. It involves the execution of different activities from competitors or executing similar activities in a different manner than the rivals in the marketplace. Moreover, strategic positioning is ascertained to be closely bounded by the environment in which the business operates. Thus, strategic positioning can be precisely defined as devising future position of the business based on the analysis of the industry or environmental condition s in which it operates. Besides, strategic positioning involves positioning a business based on its strengths and weaknesses that enable it to outperform its competitors in the marketplace.

Thursday, August 22, 2019

The representation of men in The Jeremy Kyle show and The Maury Show Essay Example for Free

The representation of men in The Jeremy Kyle show and The Maury Show Essay I am going to look into the presentation of men, focusing mainly on the representations that are portrayed in chat shows. My sources of research are going to be Television shows in particular, but also the Internet and Books. I have chosen two Television shows that I am going to look at closely, these are The Jeremy Kyle Show and Maury. I have decided that this is the best possible way of being able to look at the actions, thoughts and representations of men because of the wide range of information that I will be able to collect. I am expecting to find that men are presented in a negative light compared to women and that they are rude, arrogant and do not care about what is going on within the world around them this is mainly due to the stereotypical view presented within other media. The two chat shows both present men in away that suggests to the audience that men are unreliable, untrustworthy and uncaring. First impressions of men are that they are untidy wearing messy clothing, appearing not to have made an effort, they walk onto the stage as if they have done no wrong doing and hold their heads up high. The presenters of the shows soon allow the audience to know that this is not the right image and attitude to have. Jeremy Kyle and Maury both show this, Jeremy states this is all very sad and wrong directing this at the Nathan the main male in the problem, the audience are shown to already have been feeling such emotions. The host is always seen to support the women within the situation, who also always seem to come out on top. Jeremy Kyle and Maury both use different tactics when presenting their shows, while Jeremy takes a hands on approach with his contestants, speaking to them, asking questions and making resolutions, Maury does the opposite and stands back and lets the guests make the drama and introducing the topic and problems, keeping adding detail. The Maury show links very well to The Jerry Springer Show in the way the show is laid out. They have sets of guests, one person coming out first to reveal their side of the story- this is usually the stories that the audience believe and stick too. This is also usually normally the guest who is actually telling the truth and has requested to appear on the show, this guest tends to be female. Dyer (1982) said that 1 women are shown as very feminine and men in situations of authority and dominance over women within the media, this is much apparent within the Jeremy Kyle Show with one particular couple, in which the man (Nathan) goes out to work and leaves his girlfriend (Zels) at home with their child with a weekly allowance for herself, she is expected to be the perfect housewife cooking, cleaning and providing a loving relationship. Through this authority and dominance, the men presented within the shows are presented as liars and cheaters, Brendan tells different stories to different women and he also contradicts himself in the show. He explains one point to the host and later on then changes his story. In the Maury show there is not usually shown to be a family setting, however when one does appear, the women/mother/wife is left at home to look after the home, child and husband whilst the male figure goes out to work and earns the money this is shown within Brians story. Both shows link together very well with each other on the matter of men and women and their roles that they present within the home. The roles presented by the guests are very traditional where the man is shown to be the breadwinner and the women is the house wife. Relationships in the family are very important, and one that is brought up a lot within the two chat shows. Jeremy Kyle believes that the family is a very important factor of life, proper relationships which men and women should have with their children2 is what Jeremy is trying to promote. When he is faced with a guest who doesnt shares his opinions in a very round about way. Brendan lies to all of his family members, keeping secrets from his first family and his second. Brendan stays back stage the majority of the show; he doesnt wish to sit with his children and would rather stay out of the lime light. Within the Maury show a nuclear family is not recognized and Maury doesnt present the ideal family life, he doesnt particularly present his own views and feelings, this allows him to take a back seat within his show and let the guests discuss and present their own opinions, this creates more drama for the audience because they are able to present their own feelings without knowing i f they are right or wrong. This is shown with Thomass story (on the Maury show), he is the father of Mels baby but he refuses this responsibility, he cheats on his girlfriend with her best friends and leaves his girlfriend with their new born child. He doesnt wish to take care of his baby as it is not convenient within his new life style. Brendan on the Jeremy kyle show, is faced with a dilemma when it is stated his child was in hospital and he didnt even visit her. Jeremy is angry about this and also the audience doesnt take kindly to this act, he is received with booing. This sets the way that men are suppose to act and the way that we like to receive men. Other family situations are shown within this episode of The Jeremy Kyle Show such as the relationships between brothers. Brendans brother Antony is within the audience and supports his brother with whatever he says. Jeremy and the audience try and control Antony due to his choice of language made. The Jeremy Kyle Show and The Maury show both present different representations of family life. Jeremy Kyle tries to present that family life should be a mother and father taking care of their children whilst Maury doesnt directly present any ideas. However Maury does submit the idea of disproval in men who do not take care of their children. These ideas and differences are due to they way the hosts of the shows present the men on the shows. Jeremy Kyle is more involved and likes to voice his opinion of what he thinks is right and wrong, where as Maury lets the guests do the talking. Men are shown as not knowing how to behave within their family situations. They are shown to need extra help with these situations. Masculinity has long been and often been represented as the human norm and conventionally masculine qualities3. Masculinity has many representational conventions; these conventions give an audience the ability to recognize the manly character. Within the Jeremy Kyle show the masculine man is always represented as wrong and in the wrong doing the acts that are presented by the masculine characteristics, this in facts give men a tremendous negative representation, such as, as soon as Brendan comes out onto the shown he is greeted with booing, the audience this way allow the guest to know that what he is doing is wrong and that the masculine acts that they portray are not ones that are received well. Within the Maury show, men are shown as doing the wrong however in a different kind of way than the Jeremy Kyle Show the men are always proven wrong and in the end try and fix their wrong doings with right doings however sometimes it is too late. They dont take responsibility when it is truly needed and the men act young and foolish. The two shows allow the audience to link the male roles to Robert Hanks, models of masculinity, the hegemonic male is always presented usually within the guests, and this male is powerful, ruthless and often subjugates others. The conservative male can be recognized within the host, he is more sensitive and open to feelings; however he is domestic and can still be presented as powerful. The last male we see within Hanks roles is the conservative male, this character type does not make a regular appearance within the show and could be seen to be someone within the audience this person is seen as weak and is often applied to homosexuality. There is a big relation between men and sex within the chat shows, and most of the topics are created due to sexual desires and actions. Fiske said that male behavior towards females is influenced by highly sexualized images of women4, this is shown by the way men treat women when they have been sexual involved with them. Jeremy Kyle presents on his show a big front about using protection and within his autobiography wonders How im not the poster boy for Durex, Ill never know5, so when Nathan is accused of having a Secret second family, his girlfriend realizes the relationship was based on sex and now that it is more than that Nathan no longer wants to be within the relationship after having a child with his girlfriend and being pushed with responsibility Jeremy Kyle produces the question Why didnt you slip something on the end of it. With all of his guests Kyle pushes the subject of contraception and pushes forward for all to use it to stop all of the unwanted pregnancies and children. Whilst on the show Nathan also admits that he has had three affairs, one being in a brothel with a prostitute. This greeted with a highly negative representation from the audience and the host. This pushes the view onto the audience and allows the audience to know that these actions are very wrong and those men behaving wrongly in their sexual relations, having sex outside of a loving relationship and sometimes cheating. This gives the audience the view that men are always in the wrong doing compared to the actions womens present. Men and Sex on the Maury show is always and issue, the man usually believes he isnt getting enough or that it is not good enough. This is shown within Desmonds story he is married with three children in this relationship, however he also has two girlfriends with a child each, he doesnt see this as a problem as he believes he is being sexually full-filled by the three. Thinking about sexual relationships first pushes his children down the line and he doesnt look after them as well as he could be due to wanting to be with different girls on different occasions. Comparing men and women within the Jeremy Kyle Show is very easy to do. The women who appear on the show are mostly shown as right and having been presented with a wrong doing from a man. However there is some variation within the show. Kels admits to being violent towards Nathan on a regular and basis and he admits that he is the same towards her, this still shows Nathan in a very bad light but also brings a women down to his level also, from these variations it does slightly improve the representations that are painted of men. On the Maury show it is slightly harder to do so. The women sometime act with violent behavior towards the men when they do not want to hear something that they say or that is revealed to them, however the men always react and tend to portray these violent acts also. Men are however always seen in the wrong and need to apologize to the women. Altogether through out both shows men are represented within a negative light they act with masculine representations and continue to show men in a bad way. The way the hosts act on the show however boosts the representations of men, however these issues can link to the class status of the men showing that lower class men who tend to be guests are always within the wrong and middle/upper class men who are the hosts always tend to be in the right knowing what they are talking about and knowing that they have to answers to the guests. This is shown within an article by Barbara Ehrenreich, she states that Members of the white working classes are portrayed as dumb and inarticulate. Such stereotypes serve to silence the voice of the working class in the media. and she also points out that It is also possible that the privileged class and corporations who own the media outlets are pursing their own social and political agenda.6 The audience is in-between as they are shown to carry on the thoughts that are presented to them by the hosts of the shows, which allow them to take away who is right and wrong and how you should behave in the real world. Men within the two shows are not always presented in a good light, with my in depth research I found what I expected to find from my research that men are presented in a negative light compared to women and that they are rude, arrogant and do not care about what is going on within the world around them this is mainly due to the stereotypical view presented within other media. I think this is to do with many of items, such as how the audience is positioned and what the producers of the show want us to understand from the show. However there are some differences in what I thought I would find, I dont think men are always in the wrong and sometimes women are presented within the negative light that men are. This allows the audience to understand that there is some good in men and that it is more about the person you are instead of if you are male or female. ` Bibliography Kyle, Jeremy. Im only being honest Hodder Stoughton 2009. Lacey, Nick, Image and Representation (key concepts in media studies),Palgrave Macmillan 2009 Oakley, Ann., Sex, Gender Society Gower Publishing Company Limited 1985 Tincknell, Estella, Mediating the family- Gender,Culture and Representation Hodder Education 2005. Tripp, Anna, Gender, Palgrave 2000 http://womensissues.about.com/od/intheworkplace/a/MenObjects.htm Accessed on 10.10.11 www.iwmf.org www.media-awareness.ca/english/index.cfm http://www.workingclasspride.com/14.html Accessed on 3/12/11 1Lacey, Nick, Image and Representation (key concepts in media studies),Palgrave Macmillan 2009. Page 192 2Tincknell, Estella, Mediating the family- Gender,Culture and Representation Hodder Education 2005. page 55 3 Tripp, Anna, Gender, Palgrave 2000 page 11 4 http://womensissues.about.com/od/intheworkplace/a/MenObjects.htm accessed 18/10/11 5 Kyle, Jeremy. Im only being honest Hodder Stoughton 2009 page 169 6- http://www.workingclasspride.com/14.html accessed 3/12/11

Wednesday, August 21, 2019

Benefits of Gaming

Benefits of Gaming â€Å"You are wasting our time in front of those computers, throwing away our life as we are not getting anything back.† As I reach for the power button of my laptop, I always remember this statement from my parents. This belief, â€Å"Time is precious, it need not to be spent on something that is so wasteful like video games,† always seems to have place that is very special place in my parents’ eyes and the image of me turning on a laptop represents as the threat to them. Soon, I start to raise questions about the reasons behind these negative attitudes towards gaming. What I found, is rather nerve wracking. Because of their long complicated history associated with traditional class barriers and problems arising in our society, video games have become a stereotype in a way that is unconsciously accepted by people in every culture, including my parents. To this day, gamers are still placed at the bottom of the ladder being the worthless ones, receiving labels that falsely describe who they are. However, as our society moves forward, video games haven proven to be outweighed any criticisms out there. With new play styles being adopted over the years, video games have taught individual players the benefits of dealing with frustration and anxiety in adaptive ways, equipped them with sharper minds and creativity, motivated them to work for a better goal, while at the same time, led an industry that significantly impacted our economy in a positive way. Games were originally created with a purpose for a world in which any players could be free to become what he/she wants through individual effort. They were unlike any real world situations as in here, success was measured purely on mental talent. As expected, this new type of entertainment rapidly gained popularity all over the world. The poor class, the underrepresented people, succeeding at video game received admiration which was not easily obtainable outside of the gaming world (Meadows). For those who felt like they are left out from the community, stuck where they were because of social barriers, video games allowed them to unite under one domain as they strived to be more than their reality allowed. Utilizing this unique characteristic of video games, arcades were created to embrace this cracking of social status, making gaming more accessible for anyone. A local arcade could attract a diverse range of people, in age and race. As an 18-years-old gamer girl was quoted in an interview with Newsweek at a local arcade: â€Å"Look at all these people together—blacks, whites, Puerto Ricans, Chinese, this is probably the one place in Boston where there are not hassles about race.† However, this emerging diversity soon faced the suspicious eyes of the public as arcades got more and more popular in the media. (Langway) As many outsiders saw, arcades or video games in general were mediums attracting a complex mix of people, threating the traditional barriers. It was followed then by a series of years when the public tried to blame a specific group of people. Soon, these framing youth caused by these conservative thoughts would grow into a widely accepted stereotype that disc riminated against gamers. Gary M. Grobman, a vice president from the Special Projects, White Hat Communications defines â€Å"a â€Å"stereotype† as a generalization about a group of people within a larger community. We resort to stereotype when we cannot see the whole picture of problems in our society (Grobman). We then allow ourselves to blame gamers all that are wrong. What is involved in the stereotype of gamer? What gender do you think gamers would be? What place will they usually stay? And lastly, how do they look? If you instantly think of an overweight teen male who spends most of his life in one room, soullessly looking at the computer or TV screen, then you are falling into the classic video game stereotype because this imaginary â€Å"logo† doesn’t apply to all of the gamers out there. My parents always yell at me for how â€Å"stupid† I am sitting in front of the computer and blame video games for the cause of my low scores at school. They even compare me to my brother who doesn’t have the hobby of playing games like I do. On an imaginary scale of â€Å"addiction† in their eyes, I am at the extreme side of horrific addiction while my brother is on the other end, heavenly purity. The true reason for my dropping scores at school, however, was different. When we moved to the US, the fears being in a foreign land as well as my English pronunciation hindered most of my motivation of schooling. And long with the home sick I was experiencing, ending up in front of the computer screen was the only refuge available as it was my only way of exiting the reality. In fact, video games were not the tools that lowered my score; rather, they were the only buddy that followed and stayed with me through my journey half way around the Earth. Unfortunately, this is not the only case of the stereotype. At school, if you go around and tell your friends that you are interested in video games, the answer you receive for sharing a hobby is: â€Å"Oh that is cool.† However, when being compared to athletic kids who are on the soccer team, the reactions are at a whole different level, ranging from â€Å"Wow, what team are you rooting for at this upcoming competition? to â€Å"You must be very good right?† Somehow, we have placed the athletic kids and the smart kids as the good and active ones while putting â€Å"gamer† kids at the lowest of the bar of not â€Å"cool.† Recently, Michael Atkison, former South Australian Attorney-General made a statement in a public campaign favoring the bill of a R18+ classification for video games that: â€Å"my family is more at risk by more at risk from gamers than we are from the outlaw motorcycle gangs who also hate me† (Ramadge). The statement above can be dissected into two parts where the first part pointed out that gamers are threats for a politician’s family, while the second part stated that these threats posed by gamers are even more dangerous than motorcycle gangs. From a bias viewpoint, this statement was spoken by a politician who desperately tried to persuade people to go for his bill. More than that, from a another viewpoint, this 5 second segment of the speech made by that South Australian attorney was in many ways disproportional to the time that will in fact, be taken by scientists to confirm the certainty of the matter. According to PBS, scientist states no one has proven definite relationship between violence and video games. Despite all, what certain here is an answer which can confuse scientists â€Å"20-30 years† was stated within five seconds by a South Australian attorney. (Keim) In February 2010, Caroline Overington, an opinion writer of â€Å"The Australian†, an international and nation news company, wrote an article in which she proposed that â€Å"anyone over the age of 30 who spends any time deep in some sagging sofa, console in one hand, the other down the front of their pants, imagining themselves to be a combatant in some pretend city, is lame, they don’t participate in life in any meaningful way†, she also described gamers as ‘sadsacks’ and will â€Å"never get through an interview.† (Overington, 2010) This statement alone has revealed her inability to distinguish between gamers and lazy people who â€Å"don’t live life in a meaningful way.† She is an opinion writer who speaks her mind but doesn’t realize that such actions are not creditable without backed up documented sources. One of the well-known professional player in a game called â€Å"Leagues of Legend† named Voyboy recently released his biography involving a 2300 SAT score and the completion of International Baccalaureate program, an international high school degree . To this extent, the part of â€Å"never get through an interview† or â€Å"not living life in a meaningful way† would not be valid for applying to this case since Voyboy was accepted by competitive universities, but he refused in order to pursuit of his dream as a League of Legend professional player.(Voyboy) The fact is that gamers are not corrupted by video games. Not all of them are dangerous like motorcycle gangs or seem to be more violent than others. They play games because they are human beings with hobbies like everyone else. And as humans, they also share the same life experiences like many others. Bjergsen, a player from a League of Legend professional team called TSM shared his life story on Facebook which has many characteristic similar to what is happening in our society. He grew up with a past of being bullied; he struggled through schools and ended up dropping out. League of Legend was the refuge he usually hid in when coming home and surprisingly, it was also the path that took him out of bullying (Bjergsen). Sound familiar? With the recently title of Superbowl champion, Seattle must be familiar with the name Derrick Coleman. Growing up deaf at the age of three, he must have suffered many difficulties adapting to the schooling environment (Derrick Coleman). Much like Bjerg sen, both of them surpassed their limitations and groomed to be famous names in different fields of entertainment. With these examples being shown, it has been proven that the labels originally discriminated gamers are invalid since these players are not called â€Å"jobless ‘sadsacks’† anymore; instead they are earning an employee status with a consistence stipend for as long as they are living up to the audiences’ expectation. Gaming is like any other hobby; it always provides people unique ways of improving their potentials. Acknowledging this stereotype is a first step, the second one is learning to recognize these benefits of gaming. League of Legend is recently recognized as the most played online game in the world; it is hard to imagine that within five years the game has accumulated 32.5 million players (League of Legends). So what it make the game so popular? The game itself was based on team synergy in which there are five roles in a team (healer, magical damage carrier, tanker, and physical damage carrier) (League of Legends), each with their own unique skill sets, advantages and drawbacks. All aim for one goal: victory. Because the matching system was random, players could not always get the role they were strong at, forcing them to switch among the roles to fit the team’s need. This unique characteristic not only refreshes the game setting, attracting players, but it also promotes the idea of flexibility and efficiency, teaching players the benefits of dealing with frustration and anxiety in adaptive ways, as researchers at Radboud University Nijmegen said (Granic, Adam, Rutger) Along with the practice of control your anxiety and temper, video games can also possess the potential of enhancing players’ creativity. At grade 7, my close friend and I started playing a game called â€Å"Crossfire† for five hours on the weekends, whenever we had the chance to go out. Every week, we would challenge a couple of kids from our school to play against us with the prize being the fun we all received. These little challenges soon became an all-out, formal invitation only, series of matches that involved around sixteen participants per week. My friends and I were twelve years old back then, but we had already worked on the job of managing the tournaments, setting up the times, and planning out places where we could meet. Together we were able to maintain the tournament’s schedule of one match per week and track all the score in every match to ensure the fairness that we had promised in our invitation. Compared to what an ordinary 5th-7th grader would do, was I being unproductive with my time or anti-social as many would say? With the undeniable success of our tournament, this word could hardly be used to describe any of us who had put much of our passion to this tournament. And certainly, we are not wasting our time either, as people say. In fact, our tournament was the evidence that gaming is not only not wasteful, it also enhances gamers’ creativity. I read in the news a week ago that in 2008 players of a game called Foldit helped researchers to identify the crystal structure for a monkey virus related to AIDS (Cooper 2010). This problem had taken researchers over ten years, yet, with the creative minds used by these players, the solutions were found three weeks after the launch date of Foldit. In summary, not all video games promote the sense of creativity, however, the stereotype seems to generalize this field, making all games harmful to people. From this perspective, the claim: â€Å"Gamers are wasting their life† has proven to be inaccurate. Much like the competitive aspect of our little tournament, League of Legend has their own system which attracts players to work toward better divisions; however, the competitive atmosphere of this game is more intense compared to ours, as winning here means the difference in the level of admiration. According to Dweck and her colleagues, people who were raised within the environment where their traits meant more than their effort develop a belief that they are superior to others because of the characteristics passed on by their parents. On the other hand, people experiencing the environment based solely on effort establish a notion that success is something to be worked for, not given (Dweck). Believe it or not, these beliefs between both thoughts can lead to different outcomes when having to face the same problem. Given this information, League of Legend is placed in the â€Å"worked-for† environment. As described above, the game is set within the team based environment in which each team member is expected to perform well in order for everyone to get victory. This can be very stressful sometimes. In the virtual world, it doesn’t matter whether you are the president of the US or a drop-out high school student; if you can prove your abilities on the field, then you are better than the rest of the pack. However, if you cannot do so accordingly, then others in the team will citizen you for the loss. The problems are that players can’t constantly perform well in every match they participate. But, if they are exposed to the â€Å"worked- for† success environment, then players are more than likely to remain open to those criticism (Dweck). Unfortunately, there are not any proven relations between persistence in video games and real-world situations; however, the idea can spark the further examination into those effects that video games are bringing. As Charlie Brooker, an editor of The Sydney Morning Herald once said: â€Å"If you don’t play games, you’re not just missing out; you’re ignoring the most rapidly evolving creative medium in history.† (Brooker) Unlike their ancestor games like Mario and Pac Man of 10 to 20 years ago, modern video games have expanded through many regions on our planet, giving players more connections than ever before. Contrary to the stereotype which describes gamers as these isolated creatures who spend most of the time by themselves, a lot of players actually play with their friends and family members. In games like Farmville, a Facebook game, neighbors are crucial to your success at the farm as they are the key of improvement. In this game that Zynga created, the object is to expand the scale of your farm, from a paddle field to an animal based farm, however, because this game is created on a social network medium, the developer placed a big emphasis on the connections p eople have. As the result, in order to strive for better items to improve their farms, players need to make the decisions to trust good neighbors, the active ones, as well as reject the inactive ones. Given these diverse social interactions, players are able to acquire and practice these social skills in a little to no risk involved environment, making Farmville a candidate for social benefits that video games provide. Moving away from the personal benefits that players get from playing video games, what can society get from getting rid of this stereotype, encouraging the growth of video games? Nowadays, about half of the US populations spend their time playing either computer or video games, or both, according to the Entertainment Software Association. In fact in the past 10 years, US video games sales have grown tripled to $7 billion (Glazer). Many people think that this growing industry would not affect them at all in anyway, however, based on the principle of economic: One person’s spending is another person’s income (Krugman), this growing industry can translate into many other field, proving people with many job. And as their income rises, people can have a more flexible plan for their budget which leads to an increase in consumer spending. These chain reactions can soon boost the whole economy as more and more money is being circled around. As for our country’s benefit, we are getting a huge amount of tax revenue generated from this growing industry. And with this money, our government can have a more flexible space to work with when implementing new bills or policies. A sport is an activity in which people compete with each other while abiding the rules. Football requires the corporation between men in a team. Similarly, League of Legend or DotA ask for a team of five people in order to win a battle. All team has their unsung heroes, the one who guide them to victory, a coach. And the most important thing, both fields are soaked with the tear of victory along with disappointment of the defeats. With all these shared characters and the mentioned advantages, can someday video games be recognized as a sport if played professionally? In conclusion, time is indeed very precious as many people know, however, we cannot disregard that the fact that time spent by gamer is also valuable. For those who aim for cultural benefits, eventually, with all these presented benefits to the participants, we might recognize video games as a sport, just as we once did with chess. On the other hand, those who would like to look more into the individual benefits, video games have proven their potentials to develop players mind, equipping them with a sharper reaction and better creativity.

Tuesday, August 20, 2019

Compare Coca-Cola and Pepsis marketing strategies

Compare Coca-Cola and Pepsis marketing strategies INTRODUCTION: Coca-cola is a soft drink. Manufactured by coca-cola company. It was introduced in 1986. Coca-Cola is a carbonated soft drink sold in stores, restaurants, and selling equipment worldwide. The Coca-Cola Company claims that the drink is sold in more than 200 countries. It is produced by The Coca-Cola Company in Atlanta, Georgia, and is often referred to simply as Coke or as cola. The Coca-Cola Company is the worlds largest drink company, refreshing customers with more than 450 fresh and still brands. Along with Coca-Cola, known as the worlds most valuable brand, the Companys collection includes 12 other billion dollar brands, including Diet Coke, Fanta, Sprite, Coca-Cola Zero, and vitamin water, PowerAde, Minute Maid and Georgia Coffee. Worldwide, we are the No. 1 supplier of fresh beverages, juices and juice drinks and ready-to-drink teas and coffees. Throughout the worlds largest beverage delivery system, customers in more than 200 countries enjoy the Companys beverages at a rate of 1.5 billion servings a day. With a permanent promise to building sustainable communities, our Company is focused on initiatives that guard the surroundings, preserve resources and improve the financial growth of the communities where we work. In the beginning proposed as a copyright medicine when it was made-up in the late 19th century by John Pemberton, Coca-Cola was bought out by businessman As a Griggs Candler, whose marketing plans lead Coke to its authority of the world soft-drink market throughout the 20th century. The concern produces focus, which is then sold to certified Coca-Cola bottlers all the way through the world. The bottlers, who hold territorially private contracts with the company, manufacture complete product in cans and bottles from the deliberate in arrangement with filtered water and sweeteners. The bottlers then sell issue and produce Coca-Cola to put up for sale stores and trade equipment. Such bottlers include Coca-Cola Enterprises, which is the main on its own Coca-Cola bottler in North America and Western Europe. The Coca-Cola Company also sells concentrate for soda fountains to major restaurants and food service distributors. BRANDS: The Coca-Cola Company has time tointroduce other cola drinks under the Coke brand name. The most regular of these is Diet Coke, with others as well as Caffeine-Free Coca-Cola, Diet Coke Caffeine-Free, Coca-Cola Cherry, Coca-Cola Zero, Coca-Cola Vanilla, and special editions with lemon, lime or coffee. In answer to buyer insistence on a more natural product, the company is in the process of phasing out E211, or sodium benzoate, the contentious additive used in Diet Coke and linked to DNA damage in yeast cells and hyperactivity in children. The company has known that it plans to take away E211 from its other products, including Sprite and Oasis, as soon as a reasonable substitute is found. On April 23, 1985, Coca-Cola, among to a large extent advertising, attempted to change the formula of the drink with New Coke. Follow-up flavour test exposed that most customers chosen the taste of New Coke to both Coke and Pepsi, but Coca-Cola management was not ready for the publics homesickness for the old drink, primary to a reaction. The company gave in to protests and returned to a difference of the old method, with high-fructose replacing cane sugar, under the name Coca-Cola model on July 10, 1985.On February 7, 2005, the Coca-Cola Company announced that in the moment sector of 2005 they designed to begin a Diet Coke product sweet with the artificial sweetener sucralose, the same sweetener at present used in Pepsi one. On March 21, 2005, it announced one more diet product, Coca-Cola Zero, sweetened in part through a blend of aspartame and aciculae potassium. In 2007, Coca-Cola began to sell a new healthy soda. Diet Coke with vitamins B6, B12, magnesium, niacin, and zinc, marketed as Diet Coke Plus. On July 5, 2005, it was exposed that Coca-Cola would start again operations in Iraq for the first time since the Arab group boycotted the company in 1968. In April 2007, in Canada, the name Coca-Cola Classic was changed back to Coca-Cola. The word Classic was removed because New Coke was no longer in making, eliminating the need to distinguish between the two. The method remained unmovable. In January 2009, Coca-Cola stopped printing the word Classic on the labels of quantity bottles sold in parts of the south eastern United States. The change is part of a big plan to refresh the products figure. In November 2009, due to a argument above wholesale prices of Coca-Cola products, Costco stopped restocking its shelve with Coke and Diet Coke. Production: Ingredients of coca-cola are Carbonated water, Sugar, Caffeine, Phosphoric acid v. Caramel, Natural flavourings. A can of Coke has 39 grams of carbohydrates, 50mg of sodium, 0 grams fat, 0 grams potassium, and 140 calories. The correct procedure of Coca-Colas normal flavourings is a well-known operate top secret. The new copy of the procedure is said in SunTrust Banks key cellar in Atlanta. Its forerunner, the dependence concern, was the underwriter for the Coca-Cola Companys initial public offering in 1919. An admired legend states that only two executives have right of use to the method, with each management have only half the principle. The truth is that while Coca-Cola does have a rule restricting contact to only two executives, each knows the whole formula and others, in adding to the agreed set of two, have known the formulation method. Coca-cola cherry available only in Canada starting in 1996. Coca-cola with lemon available in many countries like as, Brazil, Germany, Hong Kon g, United kingdom, United states etc. Coca-cola vanilla these drink we can get in Australia, New Zeeland, Malaysia etc. The famous Coca-Cola symbol was shaped by John Pembertons bookkeeper, Frank Mason Robinson, in 1885. Robinson came up with the name and chose the logos typical cursive handwriting. The font used, identified as Spenserian script, was developed in the middle 19th century and was the main shape of proper writing in the United States throughout that time. The regularly famous Coca-Cola bottle, called the contour bottle inside the concern, but known to some as the shuffle kilt bottle, was created in 1915 by bottle designer Earl R. Dean. In 1915, the Coca-Cola Company launched an opposition between its bottle suppliers to make a new bottle for the drink that would differentiate it from other drink bottles. In 1997, Coca-Cola also introduced a contour can, like in figure to its famous bottle, on a small number of test markets, as well as Terre Haute, Indiana the new can has never been generally released. Coca-Cola is a registered brand name in most countries. The U.S. brand for Coca-Cola was first filed on May 14, 1892 with the picture nutrient or boost beverages. This filing became a registered United States trademark on January 31, 1893 and continues to be changed through the end of December 2009. In the UK, Coca-Cola was registered with the UK rights Office on July 11, 1922, under registration number 427817. In 2007, Coca-Cola introduced an aluminium can considered to look like the original glass Coca-Cola bottles. In 2007, the companys symbol on cans and bottles changed. The cans and bottles taken the red colour and common letters, but the plans were cut down, leaving only the sign and a simple white spin. In 2008, in a number of parts of the world, the plastic bottles for all Coke varieties was changed to take in a new plastic coil ceiling and a contoured bottle figure planned to suggest the old glass bottles. The Coca-Cola Corporation purchased Columbia movies in 1982, and began inserting Coke-product descriptions in a lot of its films. After a small number of early successes for the period of Coca-Colas ownership, Columbia began to under-perform, and the studio was sold to Sony in 1989. Coca-Cola has left through a number of different publicity slogans in its lengthy hist ory, as well as the break that refreshes. REWARDS: In 2006, Coca-Cola introduced My Coke Rewards, a buyer faithfulness movement where customers receive points by entering codes from specially-marked letters of Coca-Cola goods into a website. These points can be redeemed for a variety of prizes. Coca-Cola was the first industrial sponsor of the Olympic games, at the 1928 games in Amsterdam, and has been an Olympics supporter still since.The Coca-Cola Company has been an Olympic partner since 1928 almost 80 years and is the best continuous commercial follower of the Olympic Movement. The Company works with National Olympic Committees in more than 200 countries to help athletes train and fight. More than 90 percent of the Coca-Cola systems investment in the Olympic Games is focussed to athlete development and to help in production the Games. Products of The Coca-Cola Company refresh athletes, volunteers, officials and audience during the Olympic Games and supporting programs such as the Beijing 2008 Olympic Torch Relay allows Coca-Cola to help share the Olympic courage around the world. The Coca-Cola Company is the special non-alcoholic beverage partner to the Olympic Games through 2020. This company funding included the 1996 Summer Olympics hosted in Atlanta, which allowed Coca-Cola to focus its homeland. Since 1978, Coca-Cola has sponsored each FIFA World Cup, and other competition controlled by FIFA. In fact, one FIFA tournament award, the FIFA World Youth Championship from Tunisia in 1977 to Malaysia in 1997, was called FIFA Coca-Cola Cup. In adding together, Coca-Cola sponsors the annual Coca-Cola 600 and Coke Zero 400 for the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series at Charlotte Motor Speedway in Concord, North Carolina and Daytona International Speedway in Daytona, Florida. Coca-Cola has a long history of sports advertising dealings, which over the years have built-in Major League Baseball, the National Football League, National Basketball Association and the National Hockey League, as well as with many teams within those leagues. Coca-Cola is the certified soft drink of many collegiate football teams throughout the country. Coca-Cola was one of the representative sponsors of the 1996 Cricket World Cup assumed on the Indian subcontinent. Coca Cola is also one of the link sponsors of Delhi Daredevils in Indian Premier League. In England, Coca-Cola is the chief sponsor of The Football League, a name given to the three qualified divisions below the Premier League in football. It is also responsible for the renaming of these divisions until the beginning of Coca-Cola sponsorship; they were referred to as Divisions One, Two and Three. Since 2004, the divisions have been known as the challenge League One and League 2. This renaming has caused conflict amongst some fans, which see it as hopeless that the third level of English Football is now called League One. In 2005, Coca-Cola launched a competition for the 72 clubs of the football league, it was called Win a Player. These approved fans to leave 1 take part in an election per day for their favourite club, with 1 admission being chosen at chance earning  £250,000 for the club, this was continual in 2006. The Win a Player competition was very contentious, as at the end of the 2 competitions, Leeds United AFC had the most votes by more than twice, yet they did not win any money to spend on a new player for the club. In 2007, the competition changed to buy a Player. This competition allowed fans to buy a bottle of Coca-Cola Zero or Coca-Cola and accept the code on the covering on the Coca-Cola website. This code could then receive anything from 50p to  £100,000 for a club of their selection. This competition was favoured over the old Win a Player competition, as it approved all clubs to win some money. In India, there is a main argument whether there are pesticide and other dangerous che micals in bottled goods, as well as Coca-Cola. In 2003 the Centre for Science and Environment, a non-governmental organization in New Delhi, said fizzy waters shaped by soft drinks manufacturers in India, including international giants PepsiCo and Coca-Cola, controlled toxin together with Lindale, marathon and chlorpyrifos pesticides that can give to growth and a fail of the immune system. CSE found that the Indian produced Pepsis soft drink products had 36 times the level of pesticide residues allowed under European Union system; Coca-Colas soft drink was found to have 30 times the legal amount. CSE said it had tested the same products sold in the U.S. and found no such residue. After the creature repellent allegation were made in 2003, Coca-Cola sales in India declined by 15 percent. In 2004 an Indian governmental commission backed up CIEs result and a government-appointed group was tasked with early the worlds first pesticide principles for soft drinks. The Coca-Cola concern has responded that its plants filter water to remove possible contaminants and that its products are tested for pesticides and must meet minimum health values before they are spread. In the Indian state of Kerala sale and production of Coca-Cola, along with other soft drinks, was firstly banned after the allegation, until the High Square in Kerala overturned ruled that only the central government can ban food products. Coca-Cola has also been accused of too much water handling in India. The Coca-Cola system in Australia introduced Coca-Cola Zero on Australia Day, January 26. As the first market outside North America to launch Coca-Cola Zero, Australia is attractive a significantly different approach. In Australia, Coca-Cola Zero encourages people to free themselves from limits. Instead of Chill Out, the note to consumers is Unlimited Yourself. A single Australian formulation was developed, and even the covering was developed particularly for Aussie consumers. The Coca-Cola drink has a high degree of classification with the United States, being measured by some an American Brand or as a thing indicating America. The classification with the increase of American society has led to the pun Coca-Colonization. The drink is also often a metonym for the Coca-Cola concern. There are some customer boycotts of Coca-Cola in Arab countries due to Cokes early investment in Israel throughout the Arab League boycott of Israel. Mecca Cola and Pepsi have been doing well alternatives in the centre east. Coca-Cola is the most popular and biggest-selling soft drink in history, as well as the best-known product in the world. Coca-Cola has been at the front position of libelling initiatives for nearly 20 years, most important the way in adding per-package diet information on labels, in addition to the per-serving information that is compulsory by rule. Last year, the concern began as well as caffeine-content information on the labels of products with added caffeine. The new front-of-package libelling includes information that was always to be found in the food proof panel of Coca-Cola goods, but it is now easier for customers to see this important information at a glance. In the next months, Coca-Cola goods throughout the European Union will start transport expanded food information on packaging to help consumers make educated option. The Coca-Cola Company in the European Union has committed to the chosen, practical changes, which the European food and drink production group CIAA announced this week to regulate the food information available on food and drink packaging in Europe. In addition, the British Soft Drinks company announced that the drink manufacturing in Great Britain would be adopting a GDA food system regular with the CIAA plan, indicating the first convenient performance of the new labels to a whole division in a European Union country. Within the next 24 months, all Coca-Cola goods sold in the European Union Group will have a force symbol on the front of the packs stating the calories per serving in the product and the percent those calories stand for of the total optional daily drinking, or Guideline Daily Amount. The backs of the parcels will contain expanded information displaying the GDAs for sugar, fat, soaked fat, salt and calories, when applicable. That will be in adding to a Big 8 nutrient table on the pack stating the energy value, protein, carbohydrate, sugar, fat, saturated fat, fibber and sodium content. Our Company is committed to contribution customers all the information they need to make up to date choices, in order to meet thei r diet and lifestyle needs. This idea recognizes peoples desire for more regular, helpful and easy-to-understand information, and we will take action upon it with genuine achievement in the open market. SOCIAL NETWORKING: COCA-COLA has developed a highly successful social networking strategy over the past two years. The company currently owns the second most popular page on Facebook with 3,261,218 members, and has a strong presence on other social sites, as well as its own corporate blog. Michael Donnelly, the companys global interactive marketing director, said at the Social Networking World Forum in London this week that the success of the strategy was the result of breaking from traditional marketing strategies and letting customers lead the way. So we let consumers drive the strategy, which we then embrace, he explained. ADVERTISEMENT: At first the idea of using social networks for marketing purposes had made Coca-Cola a little uncomfortable, as traditional marketing had always worked well for the company. Donnelly cited the 1.5 billion servings of Coke sold every day as evidence. An additional obstacle had been the global combination necessary for a social media strategy. Donnelly explained that his role had been to scale the learning from all around the world. We had brilliant marketers all over the world but they were decentralised in each country and, while they each had a social network, they were not sharing their experiences, he said. The deployment of the social media strategy began in late 2007 with the launch of Coca-Cola conversations , the first of the companys corporate blogs, which discusses Coca-Colas role in popular culture, its brand history and collectables. Coca-Cola infiltrated the virtual world space in the same year by launching a competition for residents of Second Life called Virtual Thirst to design a vending machine that dispensed the essence of Coca-Cola rather than the drink itself. Digital Marketing: Strategy: Strategic planning is so essential to ensure the successful delivery of a project, that we take every design, website, email, banner, CMS and database through the same scoping, research and strategy definition process. At the project outset we work with our clients to build a deep understanding of their brand. Stakeholder interviews highlight the key business objectives, and user research ensures our customers customer is at the heart of any decision making. Only when we fully take hold of all of this, do we devise the most effective strategy, giving you confidence in our delivery, and maximum return on investment. We spend time defining goals and understanding your brand, asking users how theyd like your website to work, scoping the project and setting the strategy. We then present our project specification which provides an perfect representation of the project. Then we deliver the goods, in-line with your expectations, which is why were enjoying so many long-term relationships with our clients. Online marketing: For many years weve helped major clients with their online advertising, right through from concept to completion. We can take care of media buying and develop exciting and effective strategies. We can design exciting, believable creative and promote your brand via search engines. Well even undertake a full analysis of the campaign, and work out how we can go one better next time round. CONCLUSION: In a competitive market, both companies(coke and pepsi) must identify and target different market segments in order to remain at the cutting edge. Differences between the companies are evident with respect to product, pricing, place and promotion. Coca-cola relies heavily on value: quality is more than something we see or taste. Pepsi, on the other hand, relies on its success resulting from superior products and high standards of performance. An effective marketing program brings together all of the elements of the marketing mix to achieve the organisations marketing objectives by delivering to customers what they want and need. Thus, the most successful companies will be those that can meet these needs most effective.