Power Bases in Leadership Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2750 words

Power Bases in Leadership - Research Paper Example The paper tells that contemporary complex organizations require proper leveraging of power in order to achieve organizational goals and objectives. As Bal et al. argue, power is the ability to influence others, which leaders use to enhance the performance levels of their followers and to ensure their superiors and peers arrive at the best decisions. The traditional view of power in an organization revolves around the control that individuals at the tip of organizational hierarchy have. However, leaders of different levels within an organization have access to power, whose effective harnessing is key to organizational performance. The importance of power in the organizational setting justifies studies into it and its influences. The very first argument for the importance of power in an organization stems from the historical role of work groups in human history. People have formed groups to execute tasks and accomplish given goals, which forms the basis of an organization. However, the success of such groups is to a considerable extent dependent on the interrelationship of the individuals making the team. This relationship in an organization entails the dynamics between the leader, the followers and the environment created for the group. A wrong miscarriage of power as depicted by a toxic triangle consisting of destructive leaders with susceptible followers in abuse-conducive environments is a recipe for organizational failure. (Padila, Hogan and Kaiser 176). For instance, the leadership within an organization may develop the habit of exploiting the workforce through the power vested in them. Poor pay, overworking and overt and covert forms of vertical violence among other actions from the leadership are manifestations of such abuse of power (Van Vugt, Hogan and Kaiser 178). The motivation, commitment and thus performance of the employees may wane under such circumstances and thus inhibit productivity. In case the productivity remains high, the increased informed consumerism of today’s market may lead to the products of the firm being shunned when it is deemed that they abuse their employees (Crane et al. 287). Thus, how an organization manages its power within the hierarchy determines the direction and success of the organization. Sources of Organizational Power: The important role of power within an organization leads to the need to establish the bases of power; the different types of power and how they are obtained. There are five general bases of power within an organization; legitimate/positional, reward, coercive, expert and personal power (Kinicki and Williams 138). The discussion will focus on each source of power, critically analyzing how such power can be leveraged for the benefit of the organization, pitfalls and recommendations on how to maximize this power successfully. Legitimate/Positional Power: Positional power arises when a leader occupies a legitimate position of authority. The power is positional in that it reside s in the office held; leaders get this power through being appointed to fill the position (Bal et al. 7). The organization specifies the powers held by the individual in that position and how such an individual can direct the subordinates. The legitimacy of positional power arises from the formal nature of the position. Examples of positions that have power in the organization include managers and chief executive officers. Individuals in such positions hold different levels of power, increasing as people move up in the hierarchy (9). For instance, junior level managers may have the power to recommend a promotion or punishment, while the CEO may offer the last word on the matter. Like any other form of power, the

Becoming a Business Accountant Essay Example for Free

Becoming a Business Accountant Essay Business Accountant help to ensure that the country’s firms are run efficiently, its taxes are paid on time and its public records stay accurate. Accountants offer a wide variety of business and accounting services. Some of these services are: public, management and government accounting. Their main tasks are preparing, analyzing, and verifying financial documents in order to provide information to clients. Many accountants are required to have a lot of skill and knowledge. Most accountant work in an office, however those that are self-employed may be able to do part of their work at home. Accountants who are employed by public accounting firms and government agencies sometime have to travel often to perform audit at branches of their firm, clients’ places of business, or government facilities. Usually accountants work about a 40-hour week, but most work longer especially if they are self-employed and have many clients. Most accountant position requires at least a bachelor’s degree in accounting or a related field. Beginning accounting positions in the Federal Government requires 4 years of college including 24 semester hour in accounting or an equal amount of education and experience. Also practical knowledge of computers and their applications in accounting is a good thing to have for job seekers in accounting field. People who want a career in accounting should have a skill in mathematics and be able to analyze, compare, and interpret facts and figures quickly. They must be able to communicate the results of their work to clients.

What To Write :: essays research papers

What to Write?   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Do you recall the last 500-word essay you had to write? Or perhaps the last 500- word essay you had to read? As a teacher, Paul Roberts spent a large portion of his time reading 500-word essays. Paul Roberts found these compositions were uninspired, and done in the last possible minute. Paul Roberts wrote three books to aid you in becoming better writer. â€Å"How to Say Nothing in 500 Words† comes from Roberts’ best-known book, Understanding English. â€Å"How to Say Nothing in 500 Words† aids you by suggesting what not to say. This exert from Understanding English has 10 mistakes, and possible ways to avoid these mistakes.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The first three sections deal with making your paper interesting. These three sections include: â€Å"Nothing About Something,† â€Å"Avoid the Obvious Content,† and â€Å"Take the Less Usual Side.† In the First section, â€Å"Nothing About Something,† Roberts goes through the steps a normal student would take in writing a 500-word essay on college football. You may begin shortly after they receive your assignment. Often times you may start well. But after about one paragraph, you run out of things to say. Therefore, you put it off, which causes you to run out of time. Then you find yourself writing your paper at the last possible moment, which makes it dull. Writing your paper at the last possible moment also fills it with unnecessary information, and oversized margins. After reading through these steps many people realize that this is exactly what they do. Robert tells you this paper would, more like than not, earn you a â€Å"D.â₠¬    Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The next two sections, â€Å"Avoid the Obvious Content† and â€Å"Take the Less Usual Side,† deal with making your paper more interesting. To avoid obvious content do not use the first things that come to mind. The reason for this is because whatever comes to your mind first is what comes to everyone else’s mind, making it obvious. Once you have decided what not to use, make another list of subjects or reasons. From this list pick the most unusual aspect. Roberts says not only will this be the easiest to write about, but it will also be more interesting. Roberts also advices, â€Å"it is good manners to avoid personality.† By avoiding personality Roberts means don’t write what you think your instructor wants to hear.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The remaining seven sections deal with word choices. These categories include: â€Å"Slip out of Abstraction,† â€Å"Get Rid of Obvious Padding,† â€Å"Call a Fool a Fool,† â€Å"Beware of Pat Expression,† â€Å"Colorful Words,† â€Å"Colored Words,† and â€Å"Colorless Words.

Oedipus Research Paper Essay

Aristotle has long been recognized for his contributions to many areas of society, from math and science to literature. It is claimed that Aristotle was racist, sexist and homophobic and that these views colored the way he saw the world (Engle, 2008). From some of these views, the tragic hero emerges. There are several key components to a Oedipushaving a tragic hero. The first is that the main character (protagonist) must be of noble birth or a member of a royal family. In addition to being of noble lineage, the protagonist must suffer from a fatal or tragic flaw. This flaw is not necessary a morale flaw, but rather a flaw that occurs as a consequence of one’s choices or actions. A tragic hero will evolve the feelings of pity or fear and cause the reader and audience to identify with the main character. And, finally, the audience or reader must experience â€Å"Catharsis†. Catharsis is a feeling of relieve that the main character had his come-uppance and was brought down. It is not a feeling of depression or sadness over the fate of the nobleman. Kennedy (pages 856-858). To elaborate, the nobleman must be of high estate that gives him a place of dignity. The fall from this dignity makes the event seem more of a calamity in that it involves more than just the main character. A fall that affects an entire nation or people is often the result of a nobleman’s fall. The main character is certainly no superman; he is fallible and has a weakness of character that leads to his end. Kennedy (pages 856-858) According to Aristotle, the ideal tragic hero is defined as: â€Å"There remains then the man who occupies the mean between saintliness and depravity. He is not extra-ordinary in virtue and righteousness and yet does not fall into bad fortune because of evil and wickedness but because of some hamartia of a kind found in men of high reputation and good fortune such as Oedipus and Thyestes and famous men of similar families. † Adade-Yeboah, et al (2012). The next part of a tragic hero’s role is that of recognition or discovery. This part includes the revelation of some prior unknown fact or element to bring to light the true identity of the main character. The revelation may be due to the actions of the main character or due to those of a minor character. They may already be known by the reader or the audience, thus making some of the choices the character makes almost painfully ignorant. Often times, once the revelation has been made, it leads to a reversal. A reversal is simply an action that has the opposite effect from the one intended. This reversal may be due in part to the tragic or fatal flaw of the protagonist. Kennedy (pages 856-858) Finally, there is the fear and pity that is aroused in the audience and / or reader. Even though most may feel like the main character deserved the end results, there is still a sense of pity or sorrow that they must suffer and hurt so much. Now that we have looked at the common requirements for a tragic hero, we will look at King Oedipus as the tragic hero. King Oedipus was worshiped by the people of Thebes. They saw him as wise and came to him to seek help and counsel when their city was suffering. He has freed them from the tyranny of the Sphinx and they were forever grateful. He even recognized his own greatness by referring to himself as the one who was called great by all men and calling the people of the city children. Oedipus (Prologue, Line 8) Through birth and adoption both, Oedipus was a nobleman. He has been left out in the wilderness by his other due to a prophecy that his father would die by the son’s hand. He was then adopted by King Polybus of Corinth. Thus, he fulfilled the first requirement of the tragic hero – being of noble birth or royal bloodlines. The next aspect of a tragic hero is one with a fatal or tragic flaw. Oedipus wanted to seek the truth regarding the murder of King Laius, believing that the truth would purge the city of the horrible curse that it was under. We see the king as one of high moral integrity, but subject to the normal frailties of the human being (Adade-Yeboah, et al (2012). He is portrayed as being somewhat short tempered and often rash due to his desire to do the right thing. This perhaps is his tragic flaw – in his zeal to find the murdered, he makes rash statements about shunning the individual guilty of the murder, regardless of his standing in society (Oedipus). This brings us to the next aspect of the tragic hero – the revelation. Through seeking the advice of a prophet, it is revealed to King Oedipus that he is the murderer â€Å"You are the murdered of the king whose murderer you seek. Oedipus Initially, the king does believe that this is the case, but as he examines the evidence, it becomes clear that he is the guilty one. This revelation leads to the reversal in the king’s life. In one moment, he realizes that his wife is his mother, that his children are his brothers and sisters and that all is lost for him. Then enter pity for the king. Not only does Oedipus find out that he is adopted, he also discovered that he killed his father, and had married his mother. He was truly sorrowful for the shame and anguish that the people of his city would suffer â€Å"I grieve for you, my children. Believe me, I know all that you desire of me, all that you suffer; and while you suffer, none suffers more than I. † Oedipus We feel even more pity for him when his wife and mother hangs herself and he puts his own eyes out â€Å"He was called my king, but now whose tale is more miserable? † Oedipus As Oedipus loses his throne, his thoughts are of those around him who he has hurt – the people of Thebes and his children (who are also his brothers and sisters). He leaves them in the care of their uncle Creon. Before leaving them, he tells them how sorry he is â€Å"For the unhappiness that must be yours: And for the bitter life that you must lead. † Oedipus In conclusion, Oedipus has all of the criteria for a tragic hero. He is a nobleman, through choices and actions experienced a fall from greatness and his throne and aroused the pity of the reader and audience. Aristotle speaks of a tragic hero’s Harmatia or his tragic flaw being not one of moral roots, but rather one that is displayed through the choices and actions of the character. It is quite apparent that had Oedipus not killed his father, then the other events of marrying his mother, fathering his brothers and sisters, losing his site and his throne would not have come about. Although there is tragedy throughout this drama, one must applaud the nobleness and courage that Oedipus demonstrated by accepting responsibility for his actions and accepting the same consequences as he had previously deemed needed to purge the land of the curse. As a result of the fall of the king, the audience and reader is left with a feeling of relieve (catharsis) that the king gets what he deserves for killing his father. Although there is pity for all the heartache he has to endure, there is a sense of poetic justice that just because the â€Å"hero† was of noble birth, he was not spared punishment. References Adade-Yeboah, A. , Ahenkora, K. , & Amankwah, A. S. (2012). The tragic hero of the classical period. English Language and Literature Studies, 2(3), 10-17. Retrieved from http://search. proquest. com/docview/1045567248? accountid=12085 Engle, Eric (2008). Aristotle, Law and Justice: The Tragic Hero, Page 1. Kennedy, X. J. , & Gioia, D. (2010). Critical Casebook – Sophocles. Literature- An Introduction to Fiction, Poetry, Drama & Writing (pp. 856-858). New York: Pearson.

Valuation: Measuring and Managing the Value of Companies Essay

Carrefour Company Introduction                   The modern business world has changed and organizations have embraced new technologies for them to achieve effectiveness, efficiency and competitiveness. One of the most important technology for business prosperity is Information Technology commonly known as IT. Information is an important and integral part of any organization that determines whether a firm will make sound decisions or not. Carrefour Company is one of the well-known worldwide companies that has embraced Information technology in its business processes and this has played a majorin earning a competitive edge. Carrefour IT and Business Processes                   The company runs convenience stores, supermarkets, cash and carry supplies, hyper-cash store and hypermarkets. Carrefour also engages in non-food and food e-commerce websites and it functions as multi-location, multi-channel, and multi-location trader with its initial origin in Europe. Its products range from electronics, leisure, ornamental products, clothing items and non- food products(Koller, 2011). Carrefour contacts a large amount of its business on an online platform using its portals, ooshop.fr and Carrefour.fr. This calls for a good understanding of Information Technology for the firm to succeed and earn competitive advantage in the industry. Carrefour Company integrates Information Technology in its various business processes. Some of the ways are in communication, inventory management, data management, management information systems, security, business culture, research capacity and customer relationship management.                   Being a multi-factor company, Carrefour requires a well-structured communication channel to enable transactions and business communication to happen smoothly. The company has adapted new information technology by setting up a wide variety of communication platforms to reach the maximum number of clients and potential customers globally. Examples of the platforms used include the official company’s website, email support systems for both clients and employees, phone directories and social network accounts.                   Inventory management at Carrefour has also boosted their performance due to advanced information technology. The inventory systems gather all the information of each items stored and keep track of the quality and quantities. This enables the company to minimize on inventory costs such as carrying costs and also minimize wastages especially for the food products with low shelf life.                   Information technology has also improved data management practices at the company. Employees do not to keep large file of documents, they save everything through data systems. The systems are also able to record information which is important for business decisions and this automated systems also reduce malpractices among the employees.                   Customers are the most important stakeholders to any business organization and, therefore, the need to maintain a good relationship with them. Carrefour has achieved this aspect through customer management systems (CRM) which enhances communication with the clients. The company is able to respond immediately to customers’ concerns and the information is stored for future reference if the same client makes another call. This improves customer experience and increased customer loyalty to Carrefour products. Technologies Used at Carrefour Company                   Carrefour Company mainly employs four technologies to manage its information. These systems are Transaction Process Systems (TPS), Management Information Systems (MIS), Enterprise Information Systems, and Decision Support Systems (DSS). Transaction Process Systems monitors and records all the transactions in the organization. The system mainly is responsible for recovery of data during system failures, stabilize the data, and it also integrates and connects other systems.                   MIS on the hand, does systematic study and analysis of available data to enhance decision-making. Carrefour joint forces with a company called PeopleSoft which is in charge of their global operations by offering platforms such as Customer Relations Management(Farrel, 2013). Management Information Systems enable the company to heighten their operations by frequently updating processes, procedures, and stored data.                   DSS is a unique technology that promotes sound decision-making processes at different levels of the company’s hierarchy. Its main advantage is the ability to break down large volume of data and evaluate them for decision-making. The system retrieves the ideal information from the stored volumes of data and it can work both as an online or a batch process.                   EIS is important information tool mainly for the management of Carrefour Company. It makes summaries of the transactions and turns raw data into information which is applied internally. The management team at Carrefour use EIS to get summarized information from complex graphs and in the process speed up decision-making process(Koller, 2011). Company’s Success with IT adaption                   90% of the company’s success is attributed to its use and early adoption of Information Technology into its business activities. The technology has improved customer relations, business process, employee relations, and product development. These are the main activities of any organization and therefore making Information Technology a major player to the success Carrefour Company is enjoying today.                   Information Technology has helped Carrefour to minimize most of the cost associated with conducting business. It has enabled the organization reduce on the space required to store information through the use of computers. It has also enhance inventory management and reduced wastages and carrying costs(Koller, 2011). Due to customer relation systems, the company is able to make more tailor products and services according to the clients’ tastes and preferences. This has led more product differentiation. References Farrel, J. (2013). The Economics of Information Technology: An Introduction (Raffaele Mattioli Lectures). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Koller, T. (2011). Valuation: Measuring and Managing the Value of Companies (Carrefour Case). New York: John Wiley & Sons, Inc. Source document

The Approximate Size of My Tumor Essay Example

The Approximate Size of My Tumor Essay Example The Approximate Size of My Tumor Essay The Approximate Size of My Tumor Essay TITLE OF ESSAY: An Analysis of the author’s use of reflection in â€Å"The Approximate Size of my Tumor† In the short story â€Å"The Approximate Size of my Tumor†, the author uses reflection to give the reader a greater insight into the relationship between Jimmy Many Horses and his wife, Norma. Showing that there are two sides to humor: Jimmy’s viewpoint that humor is used as a copy mechanism and Norma’s viewpoint that there is a time and place for humor and for being serious. Jimmy Many Horses retells the history of his relationship with his wife Norma, from their initial meeting at the Powwow Tavern through their marriage including grappling with alcohol addiction and Jimmy’s diagnosis of terminal cancer. After learning of Jimmy’s diagnosis of terminal cancer Norma leaves reacting to Jimmy’s constant use of humor, even in the face of death which angers Norma. The author uses reflection to give us insight on how Norma and Jimmy met, explaining that humor is a part of Jimmy’s character. Jimmy’s recollection of their relationship includes a classic Indian pickup line, â€Å"Listen†¦if I stole 1,000 horses, I’d give you 501 of them. † Jimmy’s cavalier humor about his diagnosis enrages Norma to the point she leaves him to go on the powwow circuit, ultimately ending up in Arlee, Montana, with a â€Å"second kind of cousin† before returning to be with Jimmy in his last days, citing â€Å"making fry bread and helping people die are two things Indians are good at. While in the hospital on his death bed, Jimmy continues to use humor as a coping mechanism. â€Å"Humor was an antiseptic that cleaned the deepest of personal wounds. † Even Jimmy’s description of his tumors is described as the approximate size and shape of a baseball-with faint stitch marks on it. The story tells how one person may use differing copying mechanisms to cope with their feelings, for Jimmy Many Horses, he uses humor which enables him in the beginning to deny the reality of his terminal diagnosis, resulting in his wife becoming so angered by him not taking this seriously that she leaves as another form of coping and requiring Jimmy to face that there is a time and place where humor is appropriate and when it isn’t. Humor destroys one part of Jimmy’s life while it aids him in coping with another.

Free Essays on Slave Treatment

The Treatment of the Slaves The Europeans did not care how they treated Africans on the ships. The conditions on the ships were horrible; I do not know how the Africans survive the trip across the Atlantic. The food the Europeans fed the Africans was disgusting. Being chained together side by side the Europeans abused their own Humanity the way they treated the slaves. They believe that Africa was a savage land, that Africans had never known any reasonable social order of their own. That African slave deserved no better than they got. In centuries a total of fifteen million men, women and children of African blood were delivered into transatlantic slavery, under conditions so hideous that another nine million are estimated to have died during the crossing. In the worst ships, in which the slave-holds were not property aired. The slaves were not properly fed and exercised, in which the crews were bestial and drunken. 'Nowhere in the annals of history has a people experienced such a long and traumatic ordeal as Africans during the Atlantic slave trade. Over the nearly four centuries of the slave - which continued until the end of the Civil War - millions of African men, women, and children were savagely torn from their homeland, herded onto ships, and dispersed all over the so-called New World. Although there is no way to compute exactly how many people perished, it has been estimated that between thirty and sixty million Africans were subjected to this horrendous triangular trade system and that only one third-if that-of those people survived...' The triangular trade system was so named because the ships embarked from European ports, stopped in Africa to gather the captives, after which they set out for the New World to deliver their human cargo, and then returned to the port of origin. The Middle Passage was that leg of the slave triangle that brought the human cargo from West Africa to North America, South Ameri... Free Essays on Slave Treatment Free Essays on Slave Treatment The Treatment of the Slaves The Europeans did not care how they treated Africans on the ships. The conditions on the ships were horrible; I do not know how the Africans survive the trip across the Atlantic. The food the Europeans fed the Africans was disgusting. Being chained together side by side the Europeans abused their own Humanity the way they treated the slaves. They believe that Africa was a savage land, that Africans had never known any reasonable social order of their own. That African slave deserved no better than they got. In centuries a total of fifteen million men, women and children of African blood were delivered into transatlantic slavery, under conditions so hideous that another nine million are estimated to have died during the crossing. In the worst ships, in which the slave-holds were not property aired. The slaves were not properly fed and exercised, in which the crews were bestial and drunken. 'Nowhere in the annals of history has a people experienced such a long and traumatic ordeal as Africans during the Atlantic slave trade. Over the nearly four centuries of the slave - which continued until the end of the Civil War - millions of African men, women, and children were savagely torn from their homeland, herded onto ships, and dispersed all over the so-called New World. Although there is no way to compute exactly how many people perished, it has been estimated that between thirty and sixty million Africans were subjected to this horrendous triangular trade system and that only one third-if that-of those people survived...' The triangular trade system was so named because the ships embarked from European ports, stopped in Africa to gather the captives, after which they set out for the New World to deliver their human cargo, and then returned to the port of origin. The Middle Passage was that leg of the slave triangle that brought the human cargo from West Africa to North America, South Ameri...

Top Characteristics of Ancient Civilizations

Top Characteristics of Ancient Civilizations The phrase top characteristics of civilization refers both to the features of societies that rose to greatness in Mesopotamia, Egypt, the Indus Valley, Chinas Yellow River, Mesoamerica, the Andes Mountains in South America and others, as well as to the reasons or explanations for the rise of those cultures. Why those cultures became so complex while others faded away is one of the great puzzles that archaeologists and historians have attempted to address many times. The fact that complexity happened is undeniable. In a short 12,000 years, humans, who organized and fed themselves as loosely associated bands of hunters and gatherers eventually developed into societies with full-time jobs, political borders, and detente, currency markets and entrenched poverty and wristwatch computers, world banks, and international space stations. How did we do that? So, What is a Civilization? The concept of a civilization has a fairly grubby past. The idea of what we consider a civilization grew out of the 18th-century movement known as the Enlightenment  and the term is often related to or used interchangeably with culture. These two terms are tied up with linear developmentalism, the now-discredited notion that human societies evolved in a linear fashion. According to that, there was a straight line that societies were supposed to develop along, and ones that deviated were, well, deviant. That idea allowed movements such as kulturkreis in the 1920s to brand societies and ethnic groups as decadent or normal, depending on what stage of the societal evolution line scholars and politicians perceived them to have achieved. The idea was used as an excuse for European imperialism, and it must be said still lingers in some places. American archaeologist Elizabeth Brumfiel (2001) pointed out that the word civilization has two meanings. First, the definition arising from the grubby past is civilization as a generalized state of being, that is to say, a civilization has productive economies, class stratification, and striking intellectual and artistic achievements. That is contrasted by primitive or tribal societies with modest subsistence economies, egalitarian social relations, and less extravagant arts and sciences. Under this definition, civilization equals progress and cultural superiority, which in turn was used by European elites to legitimize their domination of the working class at home and colonial people abroad. However, civilization also refers to the enduring cultural traditions of specific regions of the world. For literally thousands of years, successive generations of people resided on the Yellow, Indus, Tigris/Euphrates, and Nile rivers outliving the expansion and collapse of individual polities or states. That sort of a civilization is sustained by something other than complexity: there probably is something inherently human about creating an identity based on whatever it is that defines us, and clinging onto that. Factors Leading to Complexity It is clear that our ancient human ancestors lived a far simpler life than we do. Somehow, in some cases, in some places, at some times, simple societies for one reason or another morphed into more and more complex societies, and some become civilizations. The reasons which have been proposed for this growth in complexity range from a simple model of population pressure- too many mouths to feed, what do we do now?- to the greed for power and wealth from a few individuals to the impacts of climate change- a prolonged drought, a flood, or tsunami, or a depletion of a particular food resource. But single-source explanations are not convincing, and most archaeologists today would agree that any complexity process was gradual, over hundreds or thousands of years, variable over that time and particular for each geographic region. Each decision made in a society to embrace complexity- whether that involved the establishment of kinship rules or food technology- occurred in its own peculiar, and likely largely unplanned, way. The evolution of societies is like human evolution, not linear but branched, messy, full of dead ends and successes not necessarily marked by the best behavior. Nevertheless, the characteristics of burgeoning complexity in a prehistoric society are pretty much agreed upon, falling roughly into three groups: Food, Technology, and Politics. Food and Economics increasing sedentism- a reduction in the amount of mobility within a society, allowing or requiring people to settle down in one place for longer periodsthe need to produce a stable and reliable source of food for your group, whether by growing crops, called agriculture; or raising animals for milking, plowing or meat, called pastoralismthe ability to quarry and process tin, copper, bronze, gold, silver, iron and other metals into usable objects, known  as metallurgythe creation of tasks that require people who can dedicate part or all of their time to complete, such as textile or pottery production, jewelry production and referred to as craft specializationenough people to act as a workforce, be craft specialists and require the stable food source, referred to as high population densitythe rise of urbanism, religious and political centers, and socially heterogeneous, permanent settlementsthe development of markets, either to meet the demands of urban elites for food and status goo ds or for common people to enhance the efficiency and/or economic security of their households Architecture and Technology the presence of large, non-domestic buildings constructed to be shared by the community, such as churches and shrines and plazas and collectively known as monumental architecturea way to communicate information long distances within and outside of the group, known as a writing systemthe presence of a group level religion, controlled by religious specialists such as shamans or priestsa way to know when the seasons will change, by means of a calendar or astronomical observationroads and transportation networks that allowed communities to be connected Politics and People Control the rise of trade or exchange networks, in which communities share goods with one another, leading tothe presence of luxury and exotic goods, such as baltic amber), jewelry made from precious metals, obsidian, spondylus shell, and a wide variety of other objectsthe creation of classes or hierarchical posts and titles with different levels of power within the society  called social stratification and rankingan armed military force, to protect the community and/or the leaders from the communitysome way to collect tribute and taxes (labor, goods or currency), as well as private estatesa centralized​ rule, to organize all those various things Not all of these characteristics necessarily have to be present for a particular cultural group to be considered a civilization, but all of them are considered evidence of relatively complex societies. Sources Al-Azmeh, A. Concept . International Encyclopedia of the Social Behavioral Sciences (Second Edition). Ed. Wright, James D. Oxford: Elsevier, 2015. 719–24. Print.and History of CivilizationBrumfiel, E. M. Archaeology of States and Civilizations. International Encyclopedia of the Social Behavioral Sciences. Ed. Baltes, Paul B. Oxford: Pergamon, 2001. 14983–88. Print.Covey, R. Alan. Rise of Political Complexity. Encyclopedia of Archaeology. Ed. Pearsall, Deborah M. New York: Academic Press, 2008. 1842–53. Print.Eisenstadt, Samuel N. Civilizations. International Encyclopedia of the Social Behavioral Sciences (Second Edition). Ed. Wright, James D. Oxford: Elsevier, 2001. 725–29. Print.Kuran, Timur. Explaining the Economic Trajectories of Civilizations: The Systemic Approach. Journal of Economic Behavior Organization 71.3 (2009): 593–605. Print.Macklin, Mark G., and John Lewin. The Rivers of Civilization. Quaternary Science Reviews 114 (2015): 228â₠¬â€œ44. Print.Nichols, Deborah L. , R. Alan  Covey, and Kamyar Abdia. Rise of Civilization and Urbanism. Encyclopedia of Archaeology. Ed. Pearsall, Deborah M. London: Elsevier Inc., 2008. 1003–15. Print.

Police Intervention Programs Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Police Intervention Programs - Research Paper Example Intervention program can be dangerous because in most cases it requires the police officer to tame the law enforcement side f his career and try to be friend with the criminal. The intervention needs the police officers to be well trained in order for them to successfully implement the intervention programs. According to Corey et al (2005), intervention programs can be regarded as a way to better deal with crime issues in the streets. The advantage with intervention programs is the fact the criminal is regarded in a different light and this allows for alternative, better way to deal with crime. This can be seen in what Corey et al (2005) report in their study. In the study, the police implemented an intervention program for street drug users. The issue with drug users is that this has two dimensions with regard to how it affects the society. Due to the fact that these drug users share the same syringe to inject the drugs, the rate of spread of HIV and other diseases such as hepatitis B is always high among these users. In the current study, the police implemented an intervention program to make sure that the rate of syringe sharing was reduced. According to Corey et al (2005), the rate of sharing was reduced, especially among the black male drug users. The study used an observation meth od to observe how the police intervention was done, a total of 89 participants were observed during the study. The results were that there was a general reduction in the sharing of street syringe users. Data indicated a higher rate of decrease of syringe sharing among the black male participants. The results of this research can be regarded in two perspectives. First, it shows that the intervention of police can lead to reduced crimes without necessarily having to arrest offenders. This solves the issue of congested prisons and police cells. On the other

Artical review on computer file mgmt Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Artical review on computer file mgmt - Essay Example In the block allocation method there are policies in place that determine sequence, locality and so on. When the block of data satisfies the requirement they are allocated the space. The difficulty in this method arises when files are deleted. The original relationships are discarded creating truncations in clusters. The relations need to be completely redone for each new block of data. The authors realize this to be an inefficient use of cpu power and time. The authors suggest that retaining the file layout instead of loosing it after a deletion is a more efficient way to retain block storage. If the file structure no longer has to be recreated each time a file is deleted then a tremendous amount of processor time will be realized. They propose a Storage Slab Allocator or SSA for an improved method of disk space management. Their novel approach appears to have merit as evidenced by the following file management policy. They propose to add a del_list, which tracks any deleted file original layout and a trunc_list, which likewise record any truncated space layout. These are attached to each block Group (BG) for their SSA. They use the binary strategy in the file layout with 1 identified as used and 0 identified as free; they have termed this the â€Å"invalid† bit. Thus the strategy becomes: The total blocks within the sub file layout whose head block number is free are all free. Otherwise, the next level ‘invalid’ need be checked until the last level. Not all the block number but only the head block of the sub file layout need set to be free when blocks are released. (Zhang, et. al., p. 296) They continue to illustrate the concept as a linear but progressive approach that retains the valuable file storage structures while being able to relinquish or delete the data more quickly. Then subsequently allowing new data to be allocated as a â€Å"slab† of information rather

Spain Economy Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Spain Economy - Essay Example The ERM is essentially a managed float exchange rate regime where the currencies of the participating countries are allowed to float at a specific band. Most of the currencies of participating countries are allowed with a fluctuation band of 2.25% against a central rate while the Portuguese escudo and the Spanish peseta were allowed a broader band of 6%. Constant intervention of the participating countries' central banks became prevalent to control exchange rate. As the German mark is the most stable currency of the group, it became the yardstick or the central rate with which all the other currencies are measured. The mark has become the unofficial reserve currency, meaning that if Spain was intervening to buy pesetas it would be selling marks in exchange for pesetas (Weerapana, 2004). The reunification of East and West Germany commenced the collapse of the ERM in 1992. It is important to note that the reunification necessitated the transfers of huge amounts from the large rich economy of the West Germany to the smaller, poorer East. These huge transfers which accounts for 50% of the West Germany's savings created a budget deficit which reached 13.2% from the original 5%. As the German government is becoming nervous on the prospects of high inflation, it started pursuing contractionary monetary policy. However, the combination of the expansionary fiscal policy (transfers to East Germany) and contractionary monetary policy yield to a surge in German interest rate (Weerapana, 2004). As inflation raged through Germany, the world interest also rose. Due to these, there was an outflow of money from European countries thereby causing the devaluation of ERM currencies like peseta.... The regime of General Franco left an essentially fascist economy to Spain which is characterized by lack of economic freedom. The economy is dominated by large public institutions controlling all sectors and monopoly was prevalent. However, the accession of the country in the European Union during 1986 necessitated Spain to â€Å"open its economy, modernize its industrial base, improve infrastructure, and revise economic legislation to conform to EU guidelines.† These huge developments in the country’s policies and structure irrefutable introduced changes in its economy. The immediate years following the country’s ascent to the EU marked Spain’s economic boom. It should be noted that from 1986-1990, Spain saw substantial mount in Gross Domestic Product, reduced the ratio of public debt to GDP, decreased unemployment from 23% to 10%, and curb inflation to under 3%. By the end of 1990, GDP reached more than 50 trillion pesetas while the annual per capita income amounted to 1.1 million pesetas. However, this economic boom was followed by a recession in the mid-1992 to 1994 which was the most severe economic depression since the international oil crisis. Spain faced huge challenges which greatly affected its financial system and international relations. Meanwhile, changes in trade policies, specifically lowering trade restrictions facilitate a freer movement of merchandise among Spain and its trading partners, while promoting efficiency in the economy. The situation in the United States in very much different by the economic state of the European Union. Europe is currently considered as the largest economy at the moment while the United States is recognized the largest and one of the most technologically advanced nations.

Israel-Palestine Conflict and the Role of Egypt Essay

Israel-Palestine Conflict and the Role of Egypt - Essay Example The Israel-Palestinian conflict is one of the most important issues in the international politics and various efforts have been initiated by United Nations and various countries to resolve the issue and bring about a compromise between the two parties of the conflict but none of the efforts has been able to achieve success (Harms and Ferry). There are many other issues related to the conflict which include the economic failure of the Palestinian authority and the deplorable condition the Arabs in the region, the terrorist activities of the Islamic extremist, violation of international laws by both parties of the conflict and the human rights violations in the region. The conflict has gained extraordinary importance because of the fact that Jerusalem is the sacred city of the three major religious communities of the world; Christians, Jews and Muslims and due to the dismal security situation of the region, a large number of pilgrims are not allowed to visit their holy places. Both par ties of the conflict are not willing to show any type of flexibility in their stances and thus a deadlock persists despite repeated international interventions and efforts. The most feasible solution presented by the United Nations and the international community is the establishment of two states in the region, a Palestinian State for the Arabs and an Israeli state for the Jews; majority of people in the region agree on this solution, however they have failed to come up with an acceptable partition plan. The acts of violence committed by the Palestinian armed groups and the Israeli army have also complicated the whole peace promotion process. Important international actors in the conflict include United Nations, United States, Russia and the Arab League particularly Egypt. The history of the Israel-Palestine conflict can be traced back to the end of the 19th century when the first Zionist Congress was held in Switzerland with the establishment of the World Zionist Organization. The Jews of the world aspired to return to Zion (Jerusalem) as part of their religion, and that is why in the latter half of the 19th century the Jews started to organize themselves and started to strive for an independent Jewish homeland in the region of Palestine. The World Zionist Organization established a Jewish National Fund for encouraging the immigration of the Jews from various regions of the world to the Palestinian regions and large sums of money were spent on the purchase of land from the Ottoman rulers and later the from the British rulers. During that time, for the first time in history, Arab Nationalism also started to become popular among the Arabs of the world, particularly in this region. The Jews managed to buy large areas of land in the Palestinian regions and started to build the Jewish settlements and at the same time Jews from all over the world were encouraged to migrate to the Palestinian regions in the newly constructed settlements. During the beginning the mi nor conflicts stirred up because of the accidental killings by the Jews and Arabs in the regions, however the Arabs soon became aware of the Zionist ambitions of the Jews, particularly the peasants and farmers of the lands where the Jews have started to build settlements. These farmers, known as fellaheen felt dispossessed of their lands and started to protest before the Ottoman leaders about the increasing Jewish settlements

Legal Concepts Worksheet Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Legal Concepts Worksheet - Essay Example Federal courts - supercede jurisdiction over state courts. In order to file a lawsuit in federal court there must be a federal question or diversity in jurisdiction. A state action will not lie in federal court. Decisions by the U.S. Supreme Court - The US supreme court trumps all courts. It is the law of the land and all courts bow to it. The decisions of the supreme court guide all courts in the nation on how to rule on a specific issue. A judge must not rule in a manner that is contra to established supreme court law. Judicial restraint - The court will restrain itself from ruling on areas not with in the ambit of the legal question before them. However sometimes, we can take a guess on their stance on a particular issue by reading the dissenting opinion, stare decisis or dicta. Subject-matter jurisdiction - the court must have the authority to decide a particular issue. For example, the small claims courts in New York cannot have jurisdiction in a matter that requests over three thousand in damages. Personal jurisdiction - the defendant must either reside, or live in the state that the action is commenced in or there is no jurisdiction. When this happens, you start to look at long arm jurisdiction possibilities. Class-action suits - an action that is brought by a class of people. This does not mean that a group of friends get together to bring a suit.

Nursing Leadership Case Study Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Nursing Leadership - Case Study Example a result of the general assumption that nursing probably has the least status in healthcare something that has been a cause for bad treatment of nurses by other employees who look down upon them (Manojlovich, 2007). On a more important note, if their leader does not exude confidence and some control over her environment, the nurses under her similarly end up lacking in confidence. Manojlovich advances that nurses can find power in three ways. Control over content of nursing practice where they establish their area of expertise and act as they know. It implies that they can gain power by being professionally autonomous where they have control over their work. Secondly she posits that they can attain power through control over context of nursing practice. This entails involvement of nurses in the running of the hospitals where they are informed and participated in the decision making process. According to research, reveals Manojlovich, control over content and context are the defining characteristics of the rated magnet hospitals. Lastly, nurses can gain power through control over competence of nursing practice. Here, nurses need to gain sufficient competence in their work and this can only be achieved via proper training. It has been argued that the low level education that nurses are offered before joining the practice has been a major contributing factor to nurses feeling powerless. Compared to other employees, nurses have been traditionally viewed as less learned thus the mistreatment. To attract staying nurses would therefore require that they are offered higher level training so that they feel confident enough while dispensing their duties. It is understandable that without proper feeling of power among the nurses, their work will be poor and turnover rates would probably remain high or even increase. Therefore, it is an utter necessity for Nancy to motivate her staff into their gaining some confidence and therefore power. First, as a manager herself, she

Legal Concepts Worksheet Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Legal Concepts Worksheet - Essay Example Federal courts - supercede jurisdiction over state courts. In order to file a lawsuit in federal court there must be a federal question or diversity in jurisdiction. A state action will not lie in federal court. Decisions by the U.S. Supreme Court - The US supreme court trumps all courts. It is the law of the land and all courts bow to it. The decisions of the supreme court guide all courts in the nation on how to rule on a specific issue. A judge must not rule in a manner that is contra to established supreme court law. Judicial restraint - The court will restrain itself from ruling on areas not with in the ambit of the legal question before them. However sometimes, we can take a guess on their stance on a particular issue by reading the dissenting opinion, stare decisis or dicta. Subject-matter jurisdiction - the court must have the authority to decide a particular issue. For example, the small claims courts in New York cannot have jurisdiction in a matter that requests over three thousand in damages. Personal jurisdiction - the defendant must either reside, or live in the state that the action is commenced in or there is no jurisdiction. When this happens, you start to look at long arm jurisdiction possibilities. Class-action suits - an action that is brought by a class of people. This does not mean that a group of friends get together to bring a suit.

Art in Context - Tracey Emin Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Art in Context - Tracey Emin - Essay Example She is an expert in various art forms including needlework, sculpture, drawing, video or installation, photography and painting as well. The uniqueness in her works that can be in any form lies in her independent nature to express with an autobiographical tone. What other artists never prefer to expose in public, Tracey does exactly the same. Tracey and Her Unique Practice as a Contemporary Artist: Tracey is the most controversial artist just because of her extreme personal and original art works. Autobiographical subject matter in her works of art is the place where she differs from other contemporary artists. She has confessed everything from her inmost life through sculptures, textiles, drawings, mono prints and several other expertise fields (Fortnum, R, 2007). Almost all her works tell about her autobiography. According to her this comes from a stream of consciousness, undoubtedly this is the basic source of art while creating it. Tracey’s practice is well known for its r aw openness, immediacy and some extend sexually provocative attitude (The European Graduate School, web, N.D.). Such factors fascinate the viewer a lot. She is very confessional in her attitude through the art forms. She always prefers to show a working class attitude in her works of art that provokes British class system. ... She deals with extremely female autobiographical subject in her art. She represents â€Å"she† in all her art works and that is a concrete part of essentialism (Gale, M.B. & Gardner, V, 2004). Tracey is such an artist in the contemporary world of art who tells about the exploitation of her existence as a woman. Her art tells about the challenges of a woman affirming her female identity in her art forms. She makes the viewer feel her string existence through her art forms. Tracey’s form of art often defined in terms of sexual aggression coming out of her personal experiences. Almost of all her paintings delineate a life of sexual desire (Doyle, J, 2006). She often confesses that what she does is exactly what she thinks. This is the freedom of contemporary art. An artist is freed from any kind of boundaries. There is no obligation in the expression through art form. The basic aesthetics of contemporary art form is that nothing can stop the spontaneous urge of expression i n terms of art. The tradition of past, restricted sectors of rules and regulation are avoided in the concept of contemporary art form and Tracey is a perfect contemporary artist representing her own thoughts and spontaneity on canvas or paper or may in some other formats. A spirit of experimentation is the basis of contemporary art and Tracey is just the revolutionary as a contemporary artist. Modern art is born out of a considerable revision of the conventional definition of art form with the concept of something unique (Meecham, P & Sheldon J, 2000). Tracey is doing nothing rather implementing her own thoughts through a revolutionary method. Her struggling life from the childhood makes her tell the pathetic story in a spontaneous approach through modern art. Several rejections in terms of

English Personal Recount Essay Example for Free

English Personal Recount Essay One of my most recent memories is the authentic experience at the mall with three of my friends, Eunice, Wing Kit and Cheng Ye. We went there to buy a gift for Cheng Yes cousin, Claire, from abroad, whom he has not met in a long time. She is aged 14 years old, her favourite foods are ice- cream and sushi, and her hobbies are sleeping, swimming, cycling, running, and listening to music. She is also more of a sporty and hardworking person. She likes playing on her phone, the colour PINK, using social media such as whatsapp, facebook to socialize. She dislikes computer games and the colour blue. Cheng Ye has not seen Claire in quite a while, and Claire has not visited Singapore in ages, we have decided to get Claire a gift to welcome her. Thus we decided to go to Tampines Mall as there is a wide variety of shops there. Our budget is $50. When we reached Tampines mall, it was very packed with shoppers, were lugging huge shopping bags. The mall was filled with the noisy sound of people chattering and laughing. It was so noisy that I had to shout and strain my voice to talk to Eunice, who was just right beside me. Salespersons were announcing the various offers they were having. The smell of curry chicken entered my nostrils as I while gazed at the patrons savouring the mouth-watering curry chicken, causing my mouth to drool as we walked past the restaurant. Finally, after browsing through many electronic stores, we decided upon an pink shiny earpiece from Courts that costs $20. We chose the product based on her preferences as she liked pink and shiny objects and also because it had a reasonable price and was within our budget. After buying the earpiece, we were left with $30. Thus we decided to get her another gift based on her hobby of sports. We wanted it to be within our  budget of $30, the colour pink and it to be useful and long-lasting. Eventually, we headed down to the Royal Sporting House and chose a pair of pink as it would be useful to her as swimming was her favourite hobby which she did pretty often. Thus, she would be able to use it often as well. In conclusion, this experience of going to Tampines Mall on 29 March 2014, was a wonderful experience.We had a lot of considerations at first, such as her personality,likes dislikes, the budget for the gift and what gift would she really wanted. However, all of us worked together, communicated effectively and overcame the challenges. So, eventually we decided on the gift. I also think that this experience was an educational and enriching one, as we learnt how to decide on things in a group without having any conflicts and how to take things into considerations before making a final decision. In conclusion to this, this experience was a fun, educational and enriching experience.

Explanation Of Choice Of Competitors

Explanation Of Choice Of Competitors The report is regarding Velour which is a Swedish fashion company in the upper medium price segment. The company has existed for 9 years and has succeeded to sustain and also expand on the Swedish market throughout the years. We as a consulting group have focused on Velours womens wear collection. Under a 6 week period we have been investigating how the fashion company Velour is operating. We have looked into the main competitors to the brand which we defined as Acne and Whyred. These are also Swedish companies which have the same target audience group as Velour; young women. The companies are also using the same kind of style in their design in womens wear and are strongly involved in the artistic sphere. The report describes Velours strategy of purchase, assortment and their different use of sales channels. The competitive brands are presented in the same way to create a coherent impression for the reader. The purpose of this report was to develop different parts within the company to be able to achieve its growth in the Swedish market. The improvements of Velours strategies are presented in the end of this thesis. A budget and time plan is also presented in the report. Table of contents 1.Introduction We have chosen Velour which is a brand based in Gothenburg. We were able to get in contact with Ann-Sophie and Hanna who are working with the brand and are also the persons who provided us with information about the company. We consider the brand to be interesting since it is a rather small clothing brand with clothes that attract us and we saw opportunities to develop brand strategies. The brand is still small but we think that Velour has capabilities to become an even stronger brand than it currently is on the Swedish market for womens clothing. We consider the design to be timeless and stylish which can be interesting for a lot of women in the Swedish market. Assignment We are acting as a consultant group with the purpose of developing new strategies for the brand Velour. This is made to be able to increase the sales volume and to increase the awareness of the brand. Method To be able to develop these strategies for Velour we have been in contact with employees of the company and also with employees of the competitors. We have also been visiting the stores and done researches on the Internet to increase our knowledge of the brands. Delimitations We are only focusing on womens wear on the Swedish market. Therefore other collection lines from the brand will not be mentioned in this report, neither will international markets. 2. Industry definition The industry contains of companies that are in the wholesale segment acting as product developing brand suppliers; that means that they are working with product development, design, marketing, purchasing and producing womens wear with a creative twist within the upper medium priced segment on the Swedish market. 3. Industry description Below description of the industry will be presented. Choice of competitors and an explanation of the five force model can also be found. 3.1 General description The fashion industry within textile is one of the most globalized sectors, this due to the great amount of employment opportunities the industry provides. The industry of fashion constantly changes and as a company in this industry one always has to pay attention and be first to deliver the latest trends. What is the latest today is not the latest tomorrow. There are constantly new competitors to the industry and to survive one really has to have a strong business idea and be clear about the message of the companys brand. http://www.ilo.org/public/english/dialogue/sector/themes/crisis/textil.pdf The Swedish fashion market contains mostly of small to medium sized companies. The Swedish fashion market is of high importance for Swedish trade and today around 300 000 people work within the Swedish fashion industry and this is approximately 5 percent of the Swedish GDP. Many of the Swedish brands have succeeded on an international level. Velour is one of them and is followed by HOPE, Filippa K, Anna Holtblad, Whyred and many other fashion brands. http://www.sweden.gov.se/sb/d/9622/a/96709 Velour is categorized to be an upper medium price brand on the Swedish market. The industry Velour belongs to, has a target group of young women to middle age women in Sweden. The woman is someone who is aware of her approach and has a rather large interest in fashion. However she is not a fashion slave since she does not follow all current trends, instead she creates her own style by combining different pieces. The woman in Sweden is a person who is down to earth and is conscious about society and environmental issues (M. Solomon and N. Rabolt, 2009). In the industry Velour belongs to, collections consist of quite plain designed clothes with a creative twist that very simply create recognition about the brand. Brands in this industry have a collection that fits in a base wardrobe with tops, dresses and chinos. Statistics kring turnover industry- mailat svensk handel 3.2 Explanation of choice of competitors Through the description of the brand and the description of the customer we can say that the competitors of Velour on the Swedish market for women swear are Acne and Whyred. We choose to select Acne and Whyred as competitors of Velour on the Swedish market for women swear through issues of price, presence in the country, style and interest in arts. To begin with Acne it is a young Swedish fashion brand which was founded in 1996. Acne represents the Swedish style for women from 18 to 45 years old and is the typical brand of style without efforts. We see Acne to have the same target group as Velour and to also have the interest in arts just like Velour but more interested in graphics and design. Acne has a Swedish style of clarity, fluidity and urban design and considering the price Velour and Acne are in the same price range. Our other competitor Whyred which was founded in 1999 also has interest in arts, especially in music. Whyred ´s clothes are classic, with a modern twist which give them this artsy touch that inspires Whyred designers. Considering the price Whyred and Velour is in the same range. Whyred as the other two companies have a Swedish styl e in their design. When looking at the three companies we can see that they all three have the same target group. 3.3 Five force model To understand the industry of Velour within the fashion industry we have been using the model of Porters five forces. The model is used to understand the structure and profitability within an industry. Porter states that the underlying economic structure is a factor that plays a great role of a companys strength to be competitive. The company analyzes Industry competitors, Potential establishers, suppliers, customers, substitutes. The five fundamentals in this model establish the strength for each force (Hollensen, S 2007). 3.3.1 Industry competitors Strong competitors on the Swedish market to Velour are Acne and Whyred. Both this companies are Swedish and have a Swedish background. When looking at Acne and Whyred one can see that they have quite the same target group within the women collection. Both Acne and Whyred have similar design of their collection as Velour and they all three is categorized within the middle price brand. You can find the collections near each other in the same town in Sweden. Other competitors on the Swedish market are brands like Filippa K, Carin Rodebjer, Carin Wester and Hope. 3.3.2 Potential establishers Both existing and potential companies in an industry can affect the profitability of the industry. As we already have mention the fashion industry constantly changes and the level of new players is also in constantly movement. The fashion industry has a high level of new entrants and the competition for Velour we see as quite tough. This due to new designers that more easily enter as an middle price brand than in comparison as an high price or luxury price brand. Some French brands like Sandro, Claudie Pierlot, Comptoir des Cotonniers and Maje are today not on the Swedish market but we see these brands to have the potential to become competitors on the Swedish market. They could compete with Velour if they were entering the Swedish Market. They are powerful French companies focusing on women, targeting the same group of people and really involved in arts. The price range is the same and they could offer a wider group of products, where customers could find anything: from shoes, via c oats, to evening dresses. 3.3.3 Suppliers Within the fashion industry the supply chain is of high importance. Merchandise trade in the fashion industry plays a very central role and the suppliers have to take action very fast. The bargaining power is high for the supplier of fashion companies and this due to the fact that they mostly have the control of the production. Some fashion companies own big parts of the suppliers themselves and this result in more control for the fashion companies. The most comment is that the fashion companies outsource some parts of the value chain to another company. Velour has manufacturers of fabrics, trimmings and garments. Velour design within the company and own their designers. The production and distribution is outsourced to other companies and today the company has dependency on single suppliers. 3.3.4 Customers We have been focusing on the companies bargaining power due to the suppliers within the industry. In the industry of fashion the buyers have a restrained power to effect to their benefits, this because there is a great amount of small buyers and retailers in this industry. Velour is selling to retailers who are selling to the end-consumers. Velour is also acting as an integrated retailer since they have their own stores. 3.3.5 Substitutes Substitutes can affect the attractiveness of the industry and also influence the profitability within the industry. A substitute in an industry depends on buyers willingness to substitutes but also of the cost performance of the substitutes. The risk of substitutes in this industry is very high and this because of the great amount of designer cloths and fashion houses. Another factor that influence is high threats between substitutes is the generic substitutes that mostly very easily enter the fashion industry. This with help from the already existing well know name that help the generic substitutes to be introduced on the market. We see luxury brands to be a substitute for Velour and this because the luxury brands offer high fashion products and also the absolutely latest trends to wear. Secondhand are also within this category and this because like Velour, secondhand products offer uniqueness and inspiration to create a style of your own. The option of tailor made fashion we also s ee as a substitute and this since customers today are more aware than ever to have perfect fitted clothes. It becomes more and more usual to travel abroad and in many countries you can get your tailor made items at a very reasonable price. We think this option is going to increase and the prices should decrease if the demand for tailor made clothes gets higher. We also place made to measure and swopping with colleagues as substitutes for Velour. Suppliers Manufacturers of fabric, trimmings and garment Substitutes Secondhand, luxury brands, tailor made, made to measure, swopping with colleagues Buyers Retailers + Velour is acting as an integrated retailer Potential establishers Maje, Comptoir des Cotonniers, Sandro, Claude Pierlot, Industry Rivalry Velour ACNE, Whyred, Filippa K, Hope, Carin Wester 4. Commissioned company description and analysis 4.1 General description The Velour brand was created by Per Andersson and Johan Lundell. The idea for the brand was created through the store Nostalgi which they operated in Gothenburg. The store was opened in 1997 and the idea was to sell never worn clothes from the 1940s and 1980s. The shop found success and became popular amongst the independent scene in Sweden and design and music people found the store interesting. Per and Johan started to design t-shirts during 2001 and the Velour label was created. A third person joined the team at this time, Andreas Remling who had knowledge in finances and could handle the brands economics. http://www.va.se/nyheter/2007/01/19/bakom-kulisserna-pa-svensk/ Mattias Lind also joined the brand but left the company and started his own brand Julian red in 2003. Today the company has got 14 employees working with the brand. At first only a few basic casual clothes were designed but this soon developed into whole collections of garment. The first real collection of the brand was launched in 2001 and could be found at the Nostalgi store. In the year of 2005 a woman named Titti Andersson was hired for the design of the womens collection. http://www.alltomstockholm.se/shoppingmode/article29059.aos The company has had several different designers working with the brand during their years in the business, one of them is Karl-Wilhelm Bjà ¶rk who previously worked with Vivienne Westwood. http://www.kingmagazine.se/Markeslistning/?designer=17771 The core values of the brand are tailoring, graphic and casual. Perfect fit and focus on beautiful details should create the opportunity for the person who wears the clothes to be able to create its own style by combining pieces from the brand. The overall design concept of Velour springs out of a classic preppy look with traditional garments redesigned in a new stylish, yet effortless, way. We call this Feelgood Preppy. [1] The clothes are for people who are interested in fashion but not follow all trends that are present, Velour is for the people who wants to create their own unique style. The colors used in the different collections are mellow with colorful accents. The brand is present in 100 stores spread through Europe countries such as Holland, Belgium, France, Germany, United Kingdom but its largest market is still in Scandinavia. Velour can also be found overseas in Canada, Australia, the United States and in Japan. The target group of the brand is people between 20-35 years. http://feed.ne.cision.com/wpyfs/00/00/00/00/00/0D/6A/CE/wkr0010.pdf The Velour creator Johan Lundell is no longer working with the brand and neither is Andreas Remling, however, Per Andersson has continued his work at Velour and is the head designer for the mens collection. He is at this point alone running the brand management for Velour. The turnover for Velour in 2009 was 19,807 million SEK. In 2008 the turnover was 13, 302 million SEK which was a small growth from the year before. http://www.foretagsfakta.se/G%C3%B6teborg/Velour_By_Nostalgi_AB/989686 Velour has used creative ideas in their marketing. For example in 2006 Velour held a fashion show in a tunnel in Stockholm. They got permission to block off this area and do this project. http://www.foretagsfakta.se/G%C3%B6teborg/Velour_By_Nostalgi_AB/989686 According to Velour people in the music business are dedicated to the brand and find it interesting. Velour is a brand which is inspired by the music branch and they mean that their design is following that lifestyle. http://feed.ne.cision.com/wpyfs/00/00/00/00/00/0D/6A/CE/wkr0010.pdf http://www.businessregion.se/download/18.8afae6210a70372e0c8000236/Business1-06_klar_pdf.pdf According to Velour they have a competitive advantage of being situated in Gothenburg. According to Andreas Remling their main competitors are located in Stockholm and this can result in that the brands from the same city become coherent in their design, they are inspired by each other and the uniqueness can fade. Another positive thing about Gothenburg is the good solutions for logistics and the existence of good suppliers. http://www.businessregion.se/download/18.8afae6210a70372e0c8000236/Business1-06_klar_pdf.pdf 4.2 Value chain 4.3 Brand promise Velours nerve springs out of their history, eclectic inspiration and their values. Velour is offering a perfect fit and beautiful details, leaving it up to the wearer to create his or her own individual style, offering key pieces or a whole wardrobe. Beautiful details Create an individual style Perfect fit To claim to be offering a perfect fit is crucial according to us. Everybody is different and do probably not fit perfectly in Velours clothes. Velour means that they are leaving it to the wearer of the clothes to create their own unique style which we think is correct. The customer is as mentioned above in the report aware of her appearance and approach and is combining different pieces to create her own individual style. They depend on the customer to be able to do this on her own which we think is the case. 4.4 Current Strategy In this part we will explain how Velour works with its purchase strategy and explain lead times within the company. The different lead times are regarding the different activities from idea to finished product and the time to perform the different activities. For Velour from the first day the inspiration starts to the day that the products is out in the stores it takes around 12 months. If Velour starts in August on a new collection the sales samples are done in December. The company uses different manufactures and the samples are sent to manufactures abroad and the manufacturers are choosing matching suppliers to Velour. Below the process will be explained more detailed. 4.4.1 Purchase strategy Velour gets a lot of inspiration from the city Gothenburg where the brand also was founded. The studio of Velour is located in the long streets in the Linnà © district in Gothenburg and this street represents a classic mixed- use variety. They all share the same precious urban oxygen and here you can find galleries, recording labs, artist studios, coffee shops and sex shop all in the same street. This gives a feeling of uniqueness to the design and the brand of Velour. The preppy classic look is the overall design concept for the company. The designers make new collection in an effortless, new stylish way with traditional garments. The Swedish west coast also influences the designers mind when it comes to creating the right style of Velour ´s collection. When the inspiration and the design are finished, Velour picks sober colors to use in the collections and this with colorful touch. The choices of the colors are often grey, black or marine blue. The prints and patterns that are u sed together with the colors are gently created where every image, square and pigment has its place. (www.velour.se ) The inspiration together with product development and the ready sales sample takes for Velour 4 month. (Interview with Velour) The company does not have any production of its own; instead the production is handled by manufacturers abroad in countries like India, China, Portugal and Tunisia. The lead time at the manufacturers is around 3 months. Velour ´s manufactures are always working with different suppliers and this to be able to find suppliers that can produce Velour ´s needs to the price the company is able to pay. The amount of different supplier varies from season to season, usually 20-25 different suppliers are used each season. (Interview with Velour) Velour is using the full price purchase which means that the product development manufacturer place a purchase order to the producers of finished products. Then it is up to the producer to (according to the description of the purchase order) to do the purchase of the different garments and trimmings. Then the producer send Velour a full price suggestion which consists of a total price to produce the products ( Interview with Velour).This way of work can also be called purchase of ready-made garment (RMG) (Hedà ©n, McAndrew, 2005) The transportation is at all times made through shipping by boat and Velour always has the FOB (Free on board) agreement. When a company has the FOB agreement, the company takes the risk of the goods when the goods have been shipped and are placed on the pier. The transportation from the factories to Sweden takes around 3 months. From April to July Velour have sell-in to their different retailers and for Velour this has a show room in Stockholm were they show all new collections to the retailer. Under this period the product also is placed in stock and Velour has their warehouse in Borà ¥s. When the time is ready for the collection to be out in stores all products are sent from the warehouse in Borà ¥s to all the retailers within the Swedish market and to the single store in Gothenburg. The company has no written code of conduct and does not follow any initiative but examines their businesses as well as they can. Velour tries to be as ethical and critical as possible regarding the process of making the clothes. In environmental aspects the clothes that are made in cotton are all made by ecological cotton. 4.4.2 Assortment strategy Velour uses different types of fabrics; the company describes them as traditional. Fabrics they use repeatedly are wool, nylon, lining, acetate, cotton, elastane, lambswool, polyester, polycrepe, acrylic, mohair and ramie. The cotton that is used in the garment making is ecological. The sizes of the womens collections are divided into 4 steps; XS, S, M and L. Two collections are launched each year and these are called spring and autumn. The product groups that Velour offers are visible below. This is based on the womens autumn collection 2010. The assortment in each product group are not the same in every collection, that is why for example no shoes are present in the womens autumn collection 2010. The product groups stay the same, but the number of products in each category varies from the different collections. 4.4.3 Sales channel strategy Velour has only got one store of its own. This store is situated in Gothenburg at Magasinsgatan 19. The brand Velour was founded in 2001 and at this point the brand was sold through the store Nostalgi which was operated by the founders of the brand. However, this store does no longer exist and has been replaced by the one on Magasinsgatan. Velour is mainly sold through retail stores and department stores where the brand is presented amongst other clothing brands. Velour is also sold through their own online store which can be found at the companies website. The reason for using this kind of sales channel strategy is because of the fact that it is requires a high financially capacity to own its own stores. Through shop-in-shops which are currently used, the brand is represented in a lot of location but at a smaller amount of costs. 4.5 Future goals In 2006 the goal was, within a ten year period, to be one of the top fashion brands within Scandinavia. http://www.businessregion.se/download/18.8afae6210a70372e0c8000236/Business1-06_klar_pdf.pdf 5. Brief competitor description and analysis for 2 competitors Below the first chosen competitor, Acne will be described. 5.1 General description of Acne Acne was founded in 1996 and the first collection of Acne clothes was launched in 1998. The company was founded by Jonny Johansson who did not have any background in design before starting the brand. The brand has been a success in Sweden and currently a well known brand among young people which are interested in fashion. Acne studios have an advertising agency, art gallery, furniture collection, magazine. (Acne Official Website) Today the Acne studio represents 5 brands (Acne Paper, Acne Advertising, Acne Art Department, Acne JR and Acne Fashion and Denim) with 200 employees and has approximately an annual turnover of 38 millions Euros. (Georgina Safe, 2010) . The company also enjoy the involvement of a Capital-Risk firm: ÃÆ'-resund, which opens Acne to a wide range of possibilities in term of development and investments. When it comes to self expression Acne sees fashion to be the best way of have that (Acne Official Website). The style is typical Scandinavian, with simple lines, without abundance of colours: The style is simplistic but in the same time Acne clothes can be identified to be cool and personal. They are creating an image, not only a clothing brand. They are building a Lifestyle brand through desirable products. They also created an identity through their jeans with the famous red stitching. This identity is the result of Jonny Johanssons will of a garment that makes you feel stronger and more self confident. The brand is known of the denim jeans but the company dont want to be a denim brand, instead they wanted to offer ready to wear where the denim is included as a product. According Jonny Johansson they did not wanted to categorize themselves (Nina Jones, 2009). When Acne opens a new shop they dont think in the way of where they need to be located, instead they use the strategy of where they want to set up new stores. They are based the store locations on friendship and people who really want to have the brand located in that particular area. Acne doesnt believe in the strategy to put stores everywhere just to cover the map. In terms of strategy they also have an attitude of branding by doing,not advertising(JC Marcus, 2010, [1]). Acne adopted a code of conduct; they joined the Fair Trade Foundation. Acne is in accordance with their value and this new value of the fashion industry: labour practices and conditions have to be taken in account to preserve social matters of the value chain. There are also two types of production, one for their own stores and the other for all the other retailers and franchises. This difference of production shortens or lengthens the lead-time. 5.2 Value chain Acne buys material and produces in factories in Italy, Portugal, Hong Kong and Turkey. All of the production is outsourced. They act in the textile value chain in the wholesale segment as product developing brand suppliers which means that they concentrate on design, purchase, marketing and distribution. Concentrating on distribution, Acne is present in the retail segment in several levels: as a retail branch company (they own 4 stores in Sweden), as integrated wholesalers through Corner in department stores for example, in the Internet through their website on which one can shop online and through outlets with two outlets in Sweden, one in Gothenburg and one in Stockholm and also the web outlet. 5.3 Brand promise; Create novel expression Current strategy We have to precise first that Acne does not have a proper strategy that leads the brand. The team does what is necessary to both realising Acnes envies and to satisfying customers. If once they have to change their own strategy, theyd do it. In fact, the brand is lead by its Brand Promise, its Values and Vision. 5.4 Purchase strategy Acne buys material from Italy, Portugal, HK and Turkey. These counties they also have al the production placed (S.Jà ¶nnson L.Lagerdahl, 2005).In the factories Acne has divided two groups: production for their own stores, and production for the other retailers. They have through this organisation different lead-times between inspiration and arrivals of the clothes on the shelves. Inspiration to garments in the stores takes approximately 10 months year since we first do a sell collection to our WH clients, then we need to wait for their sales figures before we place the production orders. If we do garments only for our stores it takes 4-6 months(Therese Munthe, Acne Chief of Production ) 5.5 Assortment Strategy The assortment strategy comes from a great group work. Jonny Johansson said that in Sweden he was used to work in groups and for him it is the only way to succeed. The brand produces two collections a year: Autumn/Winter, Spring/Summer. The collections do not have so many articles and are made on an arithmetic scale, 15 pieces for each product group (11). 5.6 Sales Channel Strategy In Sweden Acne develops itself through its 4 own stores situated in Gothenburg and Stockholm, they also own a corner in Ã…lhà ©ns and an Outlet Store in Stockholm. They also sell through department stores and via the Internet. Acne choose to work through this way to be able to control the image they have of their brand, they can choose the department stores they want to work with and with their own shops and the Internet they have a total image control of the brand. Moreover, they spotted a trend with the Outlets thanks to which they can sell what was left from the previous collections. 5.7 Future goals New collaborations. Bags/ Underwear 6. Brief competitor description and analysis for 2 competitors Below the second chosen competitor, Whyred will be described. 6.1 General description of Whyred Whyred is a Swedish fashion brand which is founded by three ex-employees of H&M; Roland Hjort, Lena Patriksson Keller and Jonas Clason, in 1999. The story began with a Mens collection in 1999 and one year later the first Womens collection was in the shelves. The brand is positioned in the middle high price segment, with a turnover of 45 million SEK in (2006/2007) and 75 million SEK in (2007/2008) the brand is really growing, touching new customers. The first own shop is opened in 2001 in Stockholm, they have in 2010, 4 stores in the main Swedish cities. In 2005 they launched the shoe production line and also they set up the online outlet stores in 2007. The interesting part is that Whyred has labeled the products with Stockholm instead of Sweden, because Stockholm shows the country of origin (Sweden) and it is known as a beautiful city (Knudsen Lind 2007). The name of the brand comes from a radio interview with Roland Hjorts grandfather who was a famous Swedish artist. In that interview he was asked, What is your favorite colour? He replied: Red and the interviewer asked immediately Why red, he quipped Well, blue then. (A.K Sari, 2010) The strong inspiration of Whyred has been from the iconic style of the 1960s to give to the consumer the possibility of a Clean Living under Difficult Circumstances, inspired from THE WHOs manager Pete Meaden(Whyred Official Website). Whyred is strongly involved into the arts (especially in Cinema and Music) since the primary steps, they have project through collaborations. For instance, for their fourth art project, the short movie La Vitesse Et La Pierre is directed by Igor Zimmermann and the music is composed by Yourhighness which unveiling will happen on November 2010 in Sweden (Whyred Official Website). Moreover, they are pursuing the pull strategy by publishing the pictures of well-known people who dressed Whyred garments in the magazines or the newspapers (Knudsen Lind 2007). The brand is following simplicity by considering postmodern aesthetics, giving aesthetic awareness and making new expressions for their customers. They have ambition to make a brand as a leading European premium fashion brand (A.K Sari, 2010). 6.2 Value chain 6.3 Brand promise 6.4 Current strategy 6.4.1 Purchase strategy 6.4.2 Assortment strategy Whyred has set up its production to tow collection per year f

Life and Death Essay -- essays research papers

What is this Book trying to teach us concerning the topic?   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  This book is trying to teach us, the readers, that there are five main stages that help us cope with a death of someone close or somebody that is going to die.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The first stage that is mentioned in the book is Denial. Ross tells of how a person just does not want to be with anyone but himself or herself because they don’t know why God is choosing them to die at that present time.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The second stage Ms. Ross talks about is Denial. This stage is where the dieing patient just won’t admit to themselves or others that it is their time to go and meet their fate.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The third stage is Anger. This is when the dieing patient just hates everyone around them and doesn’t want to be bothered about the topic of their death. They just want to be alone with no outside contact. The fourth stage is Bargaining. Ms. Ross states that the dieing patient asks God as well telling their family and friends that he or she wants to spend just a little more time on Earth.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The last and final stage that Ms. Ross talks about is Acceptance. This stage tops off the whole process of dieing because once you reach this stage, you know that you did all you can do on Earth and you have told your family and friends everything you wanted to tell them before you die.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  With these five stages, I learned that you can fully complete the process of death because they can help to live a happy, richer, and fuller life. What were the most powerful feelings you had in reading this book, and how did the book affect you personally?   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚     Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The most powerful feelings that I read in the book appealed to me in a very important way because they showed me how to cope with the death of a family member. One feeling was that I had was in the Special Forms of Communication chapter. This chapter talked about how to cope with a dieing person who was no longer able to communicate verbally. This is a very powerful message to me because my grandfather who past away just over a year ago this past September had two strokes and was not able to communicate verbally. Ms. Ross talked about how you need to use hand signals and to say things to th... ... for a person that deals with the life and death profession because it gives the professional a bigger edge on what is going on with the person who is experiencing a death or tragedy. How does Jesus’ teachings concerning death differ from the author’s views?   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Jesus’ teachings concerning death differ from those of Kubler-Ross’ because Jesus taught his people that you should accept death no matter how it comes to you because no matter what, God will love you because he is calling you to your real home, Heaven because he feels that you are ready to experience eternal life after your physical death. Jesus also taught us that God holds your fate in his hands and he is the only one that knows when your time is up and ready to meet your destiny with him.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  These teachings differ from the author’s views because the author teaches us that there are five stages of death and that everyone of us go through them before we die. Ross’ views reflect her opinions because she studied her work for a very long time before she could prove her opinions and therefore her opinions differ vastly from those of Jesus Christ, the Lord our God.

Beaten Like Dogs Essay

? â€Å"They went by, fallen, dragging their packs, dragging their lives, deserting their childhood, cringing like beaten dogs. † This quote stated in the book the Night written by Elie Wiesel. This quote simply sums up the book in a few words. For me it shows the indescribable misery endured by the Jewish people. This quote really has a deep impact on me. It makes me realize how lucky I am, to live in a country where there is a freedom to practice whatever religion you want to be a part of. It makes me feel so bad for all the torture that the Jews suffered. When I think about the gas chambers, the starvation, and the abuse, I put myself in the position of a Jewish person. If my family was told we were all going to shower, and finally be clean, and we were actually being executed. It makes me sick to my stomach. The disgust the images from this quote bring to me, I will never forget. When I juxtapose my life with an 18 year old Jewish boy’s life in 1945 I realize the suffrage that they went through. I choose to have a job, which I get paid for. While a Jewish boy at this time would be forced to do hard labor for no pay and if they refuse they would be brutally murdered. I eat everyday three meals a day but this boy however gets little to no food. Could I live like this? Suffering everyday surviving physical and mental torture. I really don’t think I could, all of the people, good innocent people being persecuted for their religion I have realized were stronger then the over compensating Nazi’s who got there high from literally breaking down these good people. This quote has changed the way I look at my life and the freedom and choices I get to make every day. Such as: school, clothing, sports, and my job. Also the quote has changed my view on abusive parents. I’ve always known this is a bad thing, but the quote makes me picture how an abused child could feel on the inside. In my opinion Wiesel named the book â€Å"Night† because the Jewish people in the death camps felt like they were trapped in the darkness, and would never see the light of day again.

Middle Ages Literature Essay

The Middle Ages had many interesting characteristics concerning the literature of that time period. The important literary works â€Å"incorporated elements and values drawn from different and conflicting traditions (Patterson 1143). For every opinion, there was another opinion to counter it. Many of the pieces of literature at this time had contradictory ideas in them or had competing interests (Patterson 1144). The literature of this time shows us that â€Å"many people took the central doctrine of Christianity so much for granted that their daily lives seem largely untroubled by the moral and spiritual demands of religion† (Patterson 1144). Another characteristic of the literature was that it alerts us to the â€Å"complexities and dilemmas that any faith poses† (Patterson 1144). The Middle Ages is also called the â€Å"age of chivalry† (Patterson 1144). The literature mainly â€Å"expresses the values of the most powerful members of society, the aristocracy† (Patterson 1144). The aristocracy achieved their power through â€Å"military might† (Patterson 1144). There was also an â€Å"explicit code of chivalry† (Patterson 1145). The values were â€Å"never entirely consistent with each other† (Patterson 1145). Characters of literature had to choose whether to be a lover or a warrior (Patterson 1145). The main concerns of the literature were â€Å"the demands of religious faith and appropriate use of physical force, and the individual human being working out his or her individual destiny† (Patterson 1145). The literature during this time contributed to a list of vivid characters to the world of literature (Patterson 1145). Writers created unforgettable, complex literary characters to deal with the themes (Patterson 1145). The Middle Ages contrasted to the Renaissance because the Renaissance’s characters had â€Å"greater autonomy and fully realized personalities† (James 1883). The Renaissance’s literature did not judge â€Å"human action by right and wrong but by beauty, memorability, and effectiveness† (James 1886). During the Renaissance, the presence of God was much less dominating (James 1887). Medieval men and women were more concerned with the afterlife, while in the Renaissance they had a preoccupation with this life (James 1886). The Canterbury Tales fits into the Middle Ages well with some characteristics and not quite as well concerning others. For example, the Pardoner in The Canterbury Tales preaches the word of God on a daily basis, yet he is morally corrupt in his everyday life (Chaucer 1759). He preaches of greed, yet is greedy himself (Chaucer 1759). The Pardoner steals from the church, as well as innocent people (Chaucer 1758). Chaucer showed us that people took the doctrine of the church for granted. Other characters in The Canterbury Tales spoke of God and were Christians, yet didn’t bother with feeling morally obligated to act right. The dilemmas of being a Christian in real-life are seen. Some of the characters are Christian but it is more complex and takes an effort to be a Christian. The Canterbury Tales didn’t seem to have contradictory themes necessarily. Chaucer makes his views of various social ranks known through a use of satire. The characters themselves are contradictory, as we see with the Pardoner once again (Chaucer 1758). Since Chaucer has every type of social rank represented, we see his view of these ranks, which does contradict some of the jobs or moral obligations of various people. The characters in the story itself did compete for various interests. They all held different values or beliefs about the world. Chaucer lived during this time period, so it is in a way a more realistic view rather than contradictory. The explicit code of chivalry isn’t necessarily a large component of The Canterbury Tales except for perhaps the Knight and his tale. Chaucer shows that some people were focused on the chivalry act during this time. The Canterbury Tales doesn’t focus on pleasing the aristocracy either. Chaucer wrote from the perspective of every social rank so his book was meant for the poor and rich. Its subject matter was meant to be appealing to all Medieval people. The final characteristic that The Canterbury Tales does follow is the well developed characters. Chaucer had a whole list of realistic, complex characters. These characters could rival the Renaissance’s characters to me. I enjoyed reading about the characters and reading even more of The Canterbury Tales online. The Canterbury Tales fits well with the characteristics of the Middle Ages for the most part. The individual characters do have an individual goal in mind. Chaucer seemed as if he cared about his characters and wanted readers to his get to know them on an individual level, which seems more ahead of his time.