The Little-Known Secrets to How to Right an Essay about Yourself

The Little-Known Secrets to How to Right an Essay about Yourself In order to comprehend how a personal essay appears like, you should go through few successful samples. You're able to find samples of private essay online. There are sources that can provide you sample essays to use directly from their websites while some give room for downloads so that you may use the example at your own moment. Among the points to take into account when trying to find a sample essay about yourself is the caliber of the paper. How to Right an Essay about Yourself Ideas For example, you can begin your essay with an anecdote. Again, you don't have to include whatever you write here, in your primary essay. A superb essay is interesting irrespective of the chosen topic. Therefore, if you take advantage of an essay example strictly for its structure and to be certain you stay focused, then you'll be OK. After reading this kind of essay, readers should feel your essay differs from a personal essay that's written and published on a blog. By reading personal essays of different writers, you will know what's common in different writers. Make certain you read your essay aloud and you have a minumum of one friend do the exact same. Do not depart from your readers guessing your essay is all about to end. Today, there are numerous sources a student can depend on for an illustration of a personal essay. There's no ideal solution on the best way to compose an effective essay. As you are writing an essay about yourself, there are lots of things you can tell your readers. The entire essay writing procedure is made even more difficult once the subject of the essay is personal and about yourself! There isn't ever a smooth sailing in college are on the job. It can be disastrous to skip a lifetime opportunity due to a poorly done personal essay. The essays function as a glimpse into how your mind works, how you see the world and gives perspective. Your essay will provide the admission officers a glimpse into the way that your mind operates and the manner in which you perceive the world. The One Thing to Do for How to Right an Essay about Yourself You may also think about an ending that mirrors the start of your essay. Always make sure that you revise your essay so as to do away wit h the demand for use of pronouns in sentences thus developing a formal fashion of writing that is more appropriate. If your essay is describing a process, like how to make a huge chocolate cake, make sure your paragraphs fall in the proper order. Naturally, writing an essay requires not just significant command over the language but in addition dollops of creativity. If you've got a lot of things to include in the essay, begin by telling your readers the most fascinating and vital things about you. Instead, pick a topic which you find unique, interesting and captivating to offer a description of your nature and life to your readers. Theoretically, you may select any topic but what determines the success of your private essay is the way you demonstrate your thinking, logic and the capacity to hold the interest of your readers. Nobody would like to read a boring piece whenever there are dozens and dozens of essays to experience. A superb anecdote can be pivotal in engaging the officers from the start of your essay. Your essay will just have so much time to stick out among the crowd. Write a proper ending for your private essay To some individuals, ending a personal essay has become the most challenging bit. Be certain to inspect the course out so that you may write the greatest personal essay possible. The program Explain why you wish to join a specific course. Colleges care about the quantities of acceptances deeply, so it can help to understand you're a sure thing. The major question of all students who must compose a reflective or private essay is whether it's possible to produce such sort of academic paper without sounding too egotistical. An introduction is the surface of the applicant. The details that you include in your own personal essay should be decided by the instructions or guidelines supplied by the instructor or the college that you're applying for. A well written example needs to be concentrated on the subject, clear in points and simple to read.

The Problem Of Homelessness And Homelessness - 1562 Words

Homelessness We have already past Stone Age and marched towards the modern where we can see fascinating technology and different invention where cancer can be a cured with different medication but homeless still exists and is on the verge of increasing day by day. We can’t imagine ourselves being lost or not knowing where to go or what to do. Spending every day and night either depending on someone else or finding a shelter where you can have a nap. Waking up with the noises of the cars and other sounds, and getting something to eat whenever you feel hungry but that does not come easy as you need to have money or find food by the garbage and the least option would be begging for other humans that look alike. Not finding where to clean yourself and take a shower would make you dirty and filthy with rag and torn clothes. Now, the same person who appears to be same, treats you no less than an animal. No matter who you were and who you are or what you do society think dirty and ho meless. It has already reached some millions all-round the world. Home is a place where you have proper shelter, security and a sense of belonging, emotional wellbeing and some kind of identification. Homeless is a state of being without a fixed place for shelter, food, and other services. There are various reason that make people homeless. The first one is economic problem, second is medical and social factors and to some extent political factors. The primary and basic needs are only fulfilled byShow MoreRelatedHomelessness : The Problem Of Homelessness1350 Words   |  6 PagesHomelessness There are many parts to the subject of homelessness, of course people talk about the solutions to it like The Ten Year Plan, then there is the history of it starting from the 1640’s. Also there is discussions about Homeless Shelters and more recently Anti-homeless Legislation. Then there are always the staggering statistics. The homeless is a very one minded topic for most. Most people think that the homeless should be helped, cared for, and educated for success. This is true (at leastRead MoreHomelessness : The Problem Of Homelessness1479 Words   |  6 Pages Homelessness Do you think the government is really doing enough to fix the issue of homelessness?According to Lee, Dozens of homeless were left with nothing after a local Seattle organization (SHARE) closed its shelters (Lee, â€Å"Dozens of homeless camp out at county building after SHARE closes its shelters†). How could the government just let these people live without shelter? It even got to the point where the homeless were camping outside a county building because they had no other options.Read MoreHomelessness : The Problem Of Homelessness1379 Words   |  6 PagesAlthough the numbers of homelessness in the States have decreased in the past 10 years, more than 3.5 million people each year experience homelessness, with 578,424 individuals experience homelessness each night (endhomelessness.org). Many poverty-stricken people are consistently at the risk of homelessness; there is a lack of affordable housing, many jobs provide low income, and destitute people cannot afford medical care for support. However, homelessness does not only extend to the penniless -Read MoreThe Problem Of Homelessness And Homelessness Essay1286 Words   |  6 Pagesled to homelessness. These barriers may be a numerous amount of things such as substance abuse, personal trauma, unhealthy relationships, health problems, or unemployment. No matter the barrier, goals need to be set and must be realistic. If the goals seem impossible to reach they will be. Finally, there must be a commitment to following through with the set goals and a realization that this is an ongoing process that will not change overnight. There is a misinformed stigma of homelessness, whichRead MoreHomelessness : The Problem Of Homelessness Essay1182 Words   |  5 PagesThe Problem: Homelessness in Auckland Homelessness is a major issue in Auckland that is increasing rapidly over time. Generally defined by Statistics New Zealand â€Å"as living situations where people with no other options to acquire safe and secure housing: are without shelter, in temporary accommodation, sharing accommodation with a household or living in uninhabitable housing†, research has also found that there are four categories of homelessness including; without shelter e.g. living on the streets;Read MoreHomelessness Is A Problem Of Homelessness1658 Words   |  7 PagesHomelessness in Society Imagine you are homeless and have no shelter, or nowhere to go. You walk through storms in the same clothes you had on a week ago. You look around for help, but there is none. What would you do? Or imagine you are one of the forgotten ones, whom people call dirty, and disgusting. Suddenly you hear footsteps, with hope filled inside you, and then a sudden sadness strikes you as the 1378th careless person walks by you and doesn t notice you. All you want is somewhere to sleepRead MoreThe Problem Of Homelessness And Homelessness802 Words   |  4 PagesConclusion Homelessness has been an ongoing problem in the United States and it cannot be decreased until each state comes up with a plan that is affective. However, in order for this to work the economy needs to recover to the point where no one is without a job and is paid a wage that is manageable. The negative stereotypes of judging the homeless needs to be stopped and people need to be educated that homelessness can affect anyone. Although there are many services available to assist the homelessRead MoreHomelessness : The Problem Of Homelessness1584 Words   |  7 PagesHomelessness Awareness At some point in their life, a person has seen or heard of an individual who lives on the streets. The individual who lives on the streets and holds a sign that says they need money for food is consider homeless. Sadly, these individuals are everywhere and the amount of people under this title is slowly increasing. However, in this nation we have the ability to begin decreasing that number. By providing the necessary amount of assistance required to place these individualsRead MoreHomelessness Is A Problem Of Homelessness1610 Words   |  7 PagesHomelessness is a monster. Each day, there are people on the streets suffering from homelessness. These unsheltered people litter the streets, and plead for help. There are different types of homelessness, but the most monstrous is chronic. The chronically homeless are left to endure the hardships of homelessness without hope of an effective solution. Americans disregard all homeless populations, but the most heart wrenching group that is d isregarded is the veterans. The veteran homelessness problemRead MoreHomelessness : The Problem Of Homelessness2773 Words   |  12 PagesJosh Elliott November 5, 2014 Professor Clark English 1102 Final Draft Homelessness in families has become a much more prominent problem in communities and many struggle from it as they are people who are lacking in funds causing them to be without a home. Today, homelessness among families is becoming more common and is unfortunately spreading all over the world. Most home owning people are unaware of the actuality of the conditions that the homeless people reside in and many cannot comprehend

Hcokey Night In Canada Essay Example For Students

Hcokey Night In Canada Essay By: Luke Rossy E-mail: emailprotected September 27, 1999 Luke Rossy Hockey Night in Canada Over the past few decades, the Canadian sport of hockey slowly moved on to the United States and Europe. Only six teams remain in Canada and most of them are either just making enough money to survive or they are in dept. Only two or three Canadian teams are doing ok, fiscally that is. The NHL should try to bring hockey back to its former glory days. Currently there are 27 teams in the NHL, which is way too many. Either 5 or 6 teams get all the talent or the talented players are spread so thin that its almost impossible for players to get records like Wayne Gretzky did, or even close. Its going to be a while before you see another team with people as talented as the former Edmonton Oilers did back in the eightys. Why should there be teams in places like Nashville? Or even Anaheim? Also some players are too greedy, or too popular, and their price tags are too high. Sport teams in Canada like Calgary, or even Vancouver cant afford the hefty price of top-class players. While places in the United States get government funding and tax cuts. The Canadian government should help out Canadian teams, before we lose everything to the United States. Also a salary cap should be imposed, I think the maximum a team should pay for a hockey player is 4 million a year (currently the highest is 8 million a year). One last thing, cut down on the number of teams! Hockey will get more and more boring if you keep on adding teams to places that get less than 13000 people a game, that should lower the number of teams to about 15, which would be enjoyable and keep hockey at a very challenging level. Word Count: 307

The First Thing That Struck Me About The Merry Wives Of Windsor Was Th

The first thing that struck me about The Merry Wives of Windsor was the appearance of some characters from Henry VI: Falstaff, Bardolph, Nym, and Pistol. The second thing that struck me was the complexity of the plot. Shakespeare is tough enough for me to understand on its own, without the introduction of a plots that twist and turn, and entwine each other like snakes. I wish I could see the play performed, because it seems like a delightful comedy, and I feel that seeing actual players going through the motions presented to me in the text would do wonders for my comprehension. This is my first play read outside of class, with no real discussion to help me through the parts that don't make a lot of sense the first time around. Fortunately, I found some resources on the web that provided synopses of Shakespeare's plays, and really aided my understanding of the play. The aforementioned plots reminded me of the plots common to Seinfeld, quite possibly the most glorious of television shows. Seinfeld always had at least two plots going per episode, and the outcome of one always seemed to have some effect on the outcome of the other. It seems that the original recipe for sitcoms is this: get two plots going side by side, near the end of the piece, smash them into each other, and then tie up all of the loose ends. This recipe is followed in The Taming of the Shrew (the two plots being the marriage of Petruchio and Katherine, and the wooing of Bianca), and again appears in the Merry Wives of Windsor (Falstaff's attempted wooing of the wives being one, and the impending marriage of Anne being the other.) It would be interesting to see if all of Shakespeare's comedies follow this same pattern, and if so, to see if previous playwrights used the same formula. The appearance of the characters from Henry VI, especially Falstaff, was also quite interesting. For some reason, seeing the other characters shared by the plays didn't do quite as much for me as seeing Falstaff. Perhaps I identify with Falstaff more than the others (a rather damning proposition, considering what I'm about to write), but I think it's more likely due to the fact that Falstaff is more prominent that the others. Knowing that Falstaff was a gay lover in Henry VI, and seeing him involved in obviously heterosexual pursuits, I was reminded of our conversation in class concerning the views of sex in Elizabethan times, compared to our current views on the subject. I feel that seeing Falstaff in this play gives me a lot more insight into the character Shakespeare was trying to create for his audiences than Falstaff's appearances that we have seen in class. Falstaff really gave me the impression of being a scoundrel in this play, plotting to commit adultery, and then add insult to injury by stealing money from the husbands of the adulterous wives. He's accused at the beginning of the play for getting Slender drunk to pick his purse, and he hires off his "friend" Bardolph as a bartender. Finally, as a result of all of this, Falstaff ends up the butt of a practical joke. Everyone ends up forgiving everyone else, and they all go home to live happily ever after, and laugh about the events they have just gone through. If that last sentence seems lacking, it's with reason. I was relatively disappointed with the way the play ended. It seemed to me like Shakespeare decided he was finished writing, and looked for the quickest way to end his play. It was one step better than the Greek's method of having one of the Gods come down from Olympus, and decide who married who, who died honorably, and who was damned to Hades. I felt that The Taming of the Shrew ended much more cohesively.

Women and Wicca Essays

Women and Wicca Essays Women and Wicca Essay Women and Wicca Essay In recent centuries, the concept of religion has evolved along with other human   advancements in every aspect.   Though some contemporary religious sects are mere revivals of early and forgotten systems of beliefs, there are still notable changes in the revived creed.   The archetypal changes and modifications in religious belief systems often coincide with the advocacies and philosophies of its founder and adherents, such as the neo-paganist feminist religion Wicca.Wicca is a religious belief which focuses on earthly spiritual upbringing deriving its principles from the celtic society together with masonic and magick practices.[1]   Wiccas code of morality and spirituality is unique for it does not conform to the traditions and practices of abrahamic religions such as Christianity, Judaism, and Islam.   It also tends to stray away from culture based systems of morality found in Buddhism and Hinduism.The general premise of Wicca encompasses on the i dea that beliefs are subjective and unique in every person.   In this sense, Wicca is to be viewed as a new form of religion, a modified version of practices done by ancient civilizations.[2]   And though diverse opinion over tenets of coverage are exercised, the major doctrines of Wicca centers on deities, environmental concerns, gender equality, and human sexuality.[3]Primarily, Wicca differs from Christianity wherein God is a single divine entity in three personas. The latter promulgates that the existence of God is dependent on a persons belief.   In this sense, some Wiccans believe that there is only one supernatural being called â€Å"The All† or â€Å"The One† and this single Deity covers both the male and the female aspect.[4]   Likewise, Wiccans can also deem God in a duotheistic manner wherein a God and a Goddess are worshipped while a number of Wiccans also conform to the traditional pagan practice of worshiping numerous Gods and Goddesses.   There are also Wiccans who view God as a symbol rather than a living entity, this again is dependent of the Atheist perscpective a Wiccan accords with.[5]In a political context, Wicca appears to be a feminist conclave advocating for gender equality and incorporating it with religion through the celebration of the sexual polarity of nature.[6]   Fact of the matter is, self-professed Wiccans present high enthusiasm in the rise of earth based spirituality, Miriam Simos (Starhawk) for example sees the increasing number of Wiccan adherents as a crucial transformation of the conventional culture from male dominance of main religions to the love of life, environment, and feminine principle.[7]A notable premise of Wicca is the concept of liberty, particularly for women, since Wicca is a religious practice that does not limit women to be second rate members or conformists.   The concept of liberty is not simply through the religions focus but on the entirety of Wicca as well. In a strict sens e, Wicca is similar to most religious practices such as Christianity and Islam wherein clergy members are restricted to the male half of the sect and the womens roles are limited to being passive, submissive, and weak.   Wiccan beliefs are not bound by dogma and doctrines that tend to stifle and strangle a woman.[8]   In connection, feminists who prefer to stay with Christianity may just deem the Wiccan belief as a radical feminist movement because the Christian faith advocates for the fulfillment of Gods will and it does call for equality among humans regardless of race, ethnicity, social status, and gender.The rituals of Wicca meanwhile are discussed in a general context, meaning it manifests in different forms.   In any case, the actions involved on the rituals may appear similar to that of satanism, if the perspective is peripheral.   However, the ritual proper suggests harmony of several elements and becoming one with the Goddess.   In this regard the rituals can be c omparable to the meditations practiced by Hinduism and Buddhism wherein individuals concentrate their entire life to achieve Nirvana and become one with God.   In Wiccas case, the rituals are performed to become one with the Goddess. A form of preparation for the event when a Wiccan unites herself with the Goddess is considered to be solemn.The energy being spoken of concerns a positive energy that gives harmony to an individual, harmony that is chi in Chinese tradition.   A Wiccan harmonizes her spirit with the Goddess and the earth. As Zsuszanna Budapest states, a cleansing of the self from the filth and negativity of the patriarchal world.[9]   Through this ritual, the Wiccan rids herself of the ways which have become polluted and corrupted by male authority.

10 Exercises to Become a Better Writer

10 Exercises to Become a Better Writer 10 Exercises to Become a Better Writer It’s true that practice makes perfect, so if you want to polish your writing abilities and become a better writer, the best thing to do is - you guessed it - practice! From creating your setting to beating writer’s block, we share ten exercises that can help you sharpen your skill set. Some of these come from different Reedsy Learning courses, so be sure to sign up to get even more advice, all by trade professionals, in your inbox each morning.Exercise 1: Change the Scenery - With Writing PromptsThere are very few things as frustrating as a bad case of writer’s block. But don’t despair! Instead of getting frustrated with it, try a change of scenery. Not literally (although that might also help) - do it with your writing.Activity: If your own story isn’t getting the creative juices flowing, using writing prompts  can help you break through the slump. This can help you change your mindset and any expectations your might have from what you are cu rrently writing. Have some fun with it! Here are a couple of examples to get you started:An accident during an experiment freezes you in time in public, completely invulnerable. Millennia later, you come out of stasis to find entire cultures centered upon your statuesque presence throughout their history. via /r/writingpromptsOn your path you meet two guards, one who always answers in sarcasm and one who answers a question with a question. via /r/writingpromptsGoal: Use writing prompts and short story ideas to get your creative juices flowing with a change of scenery that can help you clear out the block. "Use writing prompts for a change of scenery" and 9 other exercises that can help you become a better writer Exercise 2: Create character profilesCreating multifaceted and complex characters is something that takes time and effort, and it only gets trickier the more characters your story has. For readers to connect with your characters, you, the author, need to understand who they are and what motivates them. Easier said than done, but this exercise might help.Activity: Create character profiles for as many characters as you need. This can help you see the differences between them and give you a unique perspective on each of them. Going beyond their basic information and physical appearance can give you a greater understanding of what drives them and can help you capture their voice and point of view in an authentic way.Goal: Give characters their own unique voice, goals, wants, and needs. Exercise: Use character profiles to give your characters their own unique voice Exercise 3: Read out loudOne of the occupational hazards of being a writer is writer’s block. We can all agree that it’s difficult to get any ideas on paper when nothing seems to want to come out. But don’t fear: there are many ways to overcome it. Bec Evans and Chris Smith from Prolifiko show a tried-and-tested method to push through that wall in their writing routine course.Activity: As the name suggest, this exercise consists of letting yourself write freely - there are no rules! Put aside 15 minutes of your day and let the ideas flow. Write whatever is in your head. Don’t edit. Don’t consider your words. Don’t wait for that one beautiful sentence to appear. And, above all, don’t let your inner critic show its ugly face. Just write!Goal: What you write may not be pretty and it may not make much sense, but it will exercise your creative muscle and get your ideas out of your head and onto the page. "Freewriting - a tried-and-tested method against writer's block" and 9 other exercises Need more exercises to get your writing going? Check out this directory with over 100 exercises that cover topics from character development to writer’s block.As English author PD James once said: â€Å"Don’t just plan to write – write. It is only by writing, not dreaming about it that we develop our own style.† Developing your writing skills doesn’t happen overnight, but exercising your writing muscle is the one tried and true way to become a better writer and reach your writing goals.What are some of your favorite exercises to become a better writer? Add yours in the comments below!

TARGET MARKET & COMPETITIVE ANALYSIS Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

TARGET MARKET & COMPETITIVE ANALYSIS - Essay Example A diverse set of customers visit the Geary St. Part of the reason is that there are many upscale shops like Louis Vuitton, Dior, Chanel, Michael Kor and Apple Store as well as many outlets like Forever 21, H&M, Zara, Gap, and Guess that keep medium ranged apparel and stocks. As a result of this people with high incomes, middle income groups as well as a lot of students visit this area. Since these people belong to different economic and psychographic groups, they want different food items and at different price points. The Cheesecake Factory has a numerous menu options including burgers, sandwiches, pastas, salads, side dishes, cheesecakes, specialty desserts, ice creams and creamy milkshakes. The restaurant also offers hot drinks, iced and frozen drinks and specialty drinks. Blended cocktails, bottled bears, champagne and sparkling wine are also served at the restaurant. This vast array of menu options has the potency to satiate the taste buds of a diverse guest base. With close to 200 items on its menu ranging from $11 to $30, the restaurant chain can cater to all shoppers across all income groups. The second value that shoppers seek is convenience. People who have been on a shopping spree are likely to seek convenient seating arrangement. Couples and families will like to spend quality time together. On the other hand, there would be some shoppers who are running against time. They want to have a quick snack and move on. The quick service and take-out facility available at The Cheesecake Factory will appeal to such customers. The choice of food may also vary depending on what time shoppers visit The Cheesecake Factory. The restaurant is open from 11: 00 am to 11: 00 pm from Monday through Thursday. It is also open from 10: 00 am to 11: 00 pm on Sunday. Thus shoppers can visit the restaurant anytime during these hours. They have the option of eating lunch or

Bullying and the longterm effects Thesis Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Bullying and the longterm effects - Thesis Example Bullying Statistics (2009) asserts that Internet has invented quite a few new forms of bullying techniques through chat programs, email, or on social media sites. Cell phones are the newest form for bullying someone. All these forms are equally applicable to the present generation children studying in schools. Colorado Trust (2012) argues that the effects of bullying can prevail lifetime. Victims of bullying may have more health issues, low self-esteem, weaker social interactions and high chance of academic failures. At the same time, those who are involved in bullying develop a criminal record before age 24. The perceptions, attitudes and behaviors of teachers, parents, and other adults contribute a lot in reinforcing bullying. Many adults deal with the issue of bullying as a normal way of growing up and even instill bullying behavior themselves. It is such a serious issue that 30 states have enacted anti bullying laws so as to control and eradicate bullying from their states. State laws either define bullying or ask state boards of education to do so. Colorados law, for example, defines bullying as "any physical act, or verbal or written provocation, that may cause distress to anyone in the school or at any school related places including school grounds, school vehicles or at designated bus stop. In a state like Georgia, any district that fails to make anti bullying policy does not get state funding. Several states have integrated bullying prevention programs into the curriculum. In Virginia, every school needs to address the inappropriateness of bullying in their schools character program. Bully Police USA is an organization that scrutinizes state policy laws on bullying and grants rating to them. Oklahoma state education department spearheads research-based programs for the prevention of intimidation, harassment and bully ing of students at every public school in the state (State Policy Trends

Ethnography Essay Example for Free

Ethnography Essay The late night diner is one of the many staples of urban areas – they act as beacons to all those with no place better to be. Whether the bar has long since closed, or staying home just isn’t an option any more, 24 hour eateries are the place to be when all else fails. I recently made an educational trip to a 24 hour IHOP for some middle of the night hash-browns and ethnographic field notes. I was escorted to one of the largest tables in the room by a tired looking but albeit enthusiastic young man, and was surprised by how many people were actually there. It was three in the morning, so I’d half expected to not see a soul, but there were always at least four tables being served. Among the clientele was a couple; a group of hoodlums whom I could only guess had been band geeks in another life; and, my personal favorite, a group of middle aged drunken sushi connoisseurs. Being seated closest to the sushi lovers, I got to eavesdrop on their conversations – and creepily bond with them, unbeknownst to them. Unsurprisingly, almost everyone in the room was varying shades of inebriated. The conversation was fairly educational in the sense that they were all very proud of their sexual endeavors and had decided to meticulously compare notes. They were surprisingly comfortable with themselves, as well as those within ear shot. It was sort of a contagious comfortable-ness – there was almost a community in the grungy little IHOP. Every one there had probably been kicked out of somewhere else because of closing time, or discontentment – all of us came together not only for diner eggs and pancakes, but for a place to be. Closing time had become the great equalizer, bringing people from all walks of life – from star crossed lovers to raucous sushi lovers – into their local IHOP, more for a place to be than anything else. Many forces were at work in that IHOP. The waiters were trying to make as much as they could off of tips, iHop stayed open late to facilitate all those who just weren’t ready to go home yet during the witching hour, and the establishment’s patrons were filling many societal expectations. All of these worked together to create a very different aesthetic than one would see in the daylight. People were more uninhibited because of the late hour and whatever they’d been a part of earlier, yet certain societal standards and ideals were being held up – while others, such as quietness, were generally thrown to the wind. Meanwhile, my incredibly exhausted waiter worked to be as professional as possible while exerting the least amount of work possible – granted, that isn’t necessarily that different from the daytime. This reflected the corporate values of IHOP that were at play. It caters to a very specific demographic – the less wealthy, and very hungry. IHOP is also one of the only places in its suburban zip code that offers 24-hour service. Which, I admittedly found surprising I would have assumed there would be more places to go in the middle of the night, but realized very early into my pre-dawn adventure that there wasn’t much for one to do past midnight. This proves not only that nothing good happens after 2am, but also that nothing interesting will happen either. IHOP was the only place with its doors open after last call, after the kitchens had closed, and after the kids still couldn’t head home but had to something anyways. It’s interesting how so few places were there for the people who weren’t ready to head home for the night – and how many people stubbornly refused to go home. All the factors played together to set the scene for a bad Romantic Comedy (which undoubtedly could have been playing itself out in the corner booth, where the very young and very passionate couple were paying more attention to themselves than to their pancakes. All of the behaviors in the restaurant came together to form a cultural idea of the late night scene that one might get from the movies. People were far more uninhibited whether from lack of sleep, or intoxication, but they all still played their roles in the scene. There was a delicate balance between outlandish behavior and the rules of interaction between wait-staff and customers at play. Multiple expectations came together to form a very unique dynamic. It is worth saying that people were in the IHOP at that ungodly hour to be seen. They at least subconsciously knew that they were performers in very large scale production, and decided to stay out because of their role in social norms. They chose not to hide away in their homes until dawn, because someone needed to uphold the night owl character. Mumford argues in What is a City? That the city requires and creates drama, unlike the suburbs – which is interesting in regards to the very slim options one has in the suburbs past midnight beyond just going home. The percent of the population who want drama and tension (which in this sense are played out through late night excursions) is far lower in the suburbs, not because of the difference between structures in the city and the suburbs but because of the difference in mindset between these two areas (which also yielded the different structures). The characters in the story at hand are therefore outliers, in a sense. They seek out an experience that one generally only sees –though is not exclusively- in the city, and have a more unique experience because of it. There was a surprising amount of diversity in the demographics that night (really, no matter what tax bracket you’re in, you’re not going to find a place open in Aurora at 3am beyond Wal-Mart and the very occasional late night eatery), which created even more forces at play in the room. With every now demographic came a new set of ideas that were being prescribed to and upheld. Many sponsors played into the behavior of the performers. Societies’ concept of morality is a very large factor here. Many of the patrons had ducked in to iHop as a way to pass the time while sobering up and moving on with their life – which was caused by society’s laws and idea of moral behavior. While having a night out, they also were influenced not only by their preconceived notion of behavior that one is to have in the night, but also by the behavior that is not acceptable in society generally. Being overly drunk in public is generally frowned upon, as well as driving under the influence, which explains why many people ducked in to the restaurant – it was the best place to go so their night out wouldn’t have to end, but so they could also start to sober up. A variety of laws are in place that work to discourage public intoxication and bad behavior that might happen during intoxication, but there are at the same time a plethora of ideas at play constructed by the media about youth and the role of alcohol and late nights into the youth culture. It all plays into an equilibrium between two different sets of expectations and guidelines for behavior. The economy is also a sponsor of the performance. It is in the economy’s best interest that every performer takes on the role of the consumer, and consumerism is marketed from every angle possible so that every person will feel the need to participate. The need to stay out and continue the adventure is an idea partly concocted by the economy and media to influence people to connect the idea of leading an interesting life with products and experiences that can be profited off of. By staying open all night, IHOP offers an experience to a select group of customers, who for whatever reason need to stay up late and have eggs and coffee. Performers, for a variety of reasons, all take part in consumerism as a means to the experience of staying out late, or getting away from something. The late night patronage of IHOP is indicative of much larger forces and ideas that influence society as a whole. Customers from all walks of life participate in a late night performance that reveals influences from the economy and society as a whole. Each performer has a different reason for being there but plays into the greater whole of societal norms and expectations. A suburban 24 hour restaurant seems at first like an unlikely place for big ideas to be at play – especially when the place is sort of dead, and the customers look worn-out and inebriated, but every component of the large whole has meaning in its own way – and is essential for the bigger picture to exist.

The Post-Modern Reality of Hollywood Essay -- Essays Papers

The Post-Modern Reality of Hollywood The shower of bullets leave white grooved funnels in the air, as the hero in slow motion leans back to avoid the deadly aims of the gunmen—all the while his black trench-coat billows underneath him. The saddened husband in heaven spans the chasm of hell to be reincarnated with his soul-mate wife. The young business executive places the pistol in his mouth, his blood-shot eyes rolling upwards as beads of sweat trickle down his grimy face. Moments later, after the bullet has been released into his head he turns to see that his nemesis, his alter-ego, is now dead on the concrete. Sound unbelievable? Perhaps, but when realized as scenes from famous movies such as The Matrix, When Dreams May Come, and Fight Club, they seem not quite so unreachable as before. In recent years, Hollywood has been inundating the American public with movies that question the very essence of reality. While set in highly entertaining, thrilling, and spectacular films, the very foundations of reality have been challenged, and some unsettling questions have been left unanswered in the minds of the American public. When did Hollywood become such a philosophizer? But more importantly, why has Hollywood taken to creating powerful films that manipulate the emotions and beliefs of their viewers as specifically concerns reality and their understanding of it? Surely the foundations of reality have not always been so heavily emphasized in Hollywood in years past. Looking to motion pictures such as Casablanca, The Sound of Music, Clint Eastwood Western’s, Indiana Jones, and James Bond 007 (a handful of famous films), we do find questions posed and important scenarios of life brought to the screen. However, such movies were... ...wood with a nice paycheck. Granted, not all films produced by Hollywood are illusionistic mind-benders such as The Matrix, and there are still films which present a very â€Å"real† reality. However, the increasing number of films such as Pulp Fiction, Fight Club, and The Matrix, and the subsequent encouragement by the American viewing public is most definitely a phenomenon worth exploring in greater depth. Hollywood has indeed become one of the largest mediums and beneficiaries of the post-modern, and this can be seen clearly in the post-modern reality which it so brilliantly presents. According to Michael Albert in his article â€Å"Post-Modernism†. http://zena.secureforum.com/znet/ZMag/articles/albertold10.htm Godwa, Hollywood Worldviews, pg. 17 Veith, Postmodern Times, pg. 35-36 Godwa, Hollywood Worldviews, pg. 19 Downing, When Heaven Becomes Desolate, pg. 6

Rizal Life and Works

INTRODUCTIONRizal left Europe for Hong Kong, where he lived from November 1891 to June 1892. His reasons for leaving Europe were:life was unbearable in Europe because of his political differences with M.H. del Pilar and other Filipinos in Spain. to be near his idolized Philippines and family.FAREWELL TO EUROPERizal left Ghent for Paris on October 3, 1891He proceeded by train to Marseilles and on October 18, he boarded the steamer Melbourne bound for Hong Kong. He brought with him a letter of recommendation by Juan Luna for Manuel Camus, a compatriot living in Singapore, and 600 copies of the Fili Manuel Camus-During that time, he was a student and was made as a mason on October 12, 1898 at Zetland in the East Lodge No 508 in Singapore under the jurisdiction of the M. W. Grand Lodge of England. He then became a Senator of the Philippines on his later years. There were over 80 first class passengers – mostly Europeans, including 2 Spaniards He befriended many missionaries and on e of them is Fr. Fuchs, a Tyrolese, which he enjoyed playing chess with. He even wrote to Blumentritt saying: â€Å"..He is a fine fellow, a Father Damaso without pride and malice..†RIZAL AND THE GERMAN LADIESâ€Å"One evening at a dinner time the passengers were having their meal in the dining room. Rizal; being the only Asian, was eating alone at one table. Near him was a bigger table occupied by some German ladies who were gaily eating and gossiping about the lone Asian male who was quietly taking his meal. Rizal, who was fluent in German, understood what the talkative German ladies were saying about him, but he simply kept silent, letting the ladies enjoy their gossip.Suddenly the fast running steamer encountered a heavy  squall and the door of the dining room was blown open. Nobody among the passengers who were busy eating stood up to close the door. A lady said to her companions in German : â€Å"If this man in front of us were a gentleman he would close the doorâ⠂¬ . Upon hearing her remark, Rizal, without saying a word, rose and closed the door, after which he resumed his seat. He then conversed with German ladies in perfect German. Of course, the German ladies were very much embarrassed, and, thereafter they treated Rizal with admiration and respect, despite his brown skin, for he was a cultured gentleman.†ARRIVED IN HONG KONGNovember 20, 1891 – Rizal arrived in Hong KongHe was welcomed by the Filipino residents, especially his old friend, Jose Ma. Basa. He then established his residence at No. 5 D’ Aguilar Street, No. 2 Rednaxola Terrace, where he also opened his medical clinic. December 1, 1891 – he wrote his parents asking their permission to return home. On the same date, his brother-in-law, Manuel T. Hidalgo, sent him a letter, relating the sad news of the â€Å"deportation of twenty-five persons from Calamba, including father, Neneng, Sisa, Lucia, Paciano, and the rest of us.† Also stated in his le tter that he was preparing a letter to the Queen Regent of Spain explaining the Calamba situation in order to secure justice. Even saying such as : â€Å"If the Queen will not listen, we will write to Queen Victoria of England appealing for protection in the name of humanity†¦Ã¢â‚¬ FAMILY REUNION IN HONG KONGBefore Christmas of 1891, he was gladdened by the arrival of his father, brother and Silvestre Ubaldo (his brother-in-law) in Hong Kong. Not long afterwards his mother and sisters Lucia, Josefa , and Trinidad also arrived. January 31, 1892 – he wrote to Blumentritt recounting their pleasant life in Hong Kong, as follows: â€Å"Here we are all living together, my parents, sisters, and brother in peace and far from persecutions they suffered in the Philippines. They are very much pleased with the English government.†OPHTHALMIC SURGEON IN HONG KONGDr. Lorenzo P. Marques – a friend and admirer who helped him to build up a wide clientele. He successfully o perated on his mother’s left eye so that she was able to read and write again. January 31, 1892 – writing to Blumentritt, he said :â€Å"Here I practise as a doctor and I have . . . Here many sick of influenza because there is an epidemic. Through the newspaper I am informed that this sickness is also causing ravages in Europe. I hope you and your esteemed family will be spared. In our house, my mother, my brother-in-law, and one of my sister are sick. Thank God, they are out of danger.† Rizal was given moral support and substantial aid in his medical practice in Hong Kong from some of his friends in Europe. Mr. Boustead (the father of Nelly Bousted)– wrote to him on March 21, 1892, praising him for his medical profession Dr. Ariston Bautista Lin – sent him a congratulatory letter and a book on Diagnostic Pathology by Dr. H. Virchow and another medical book entitled Traite Diagnostique by Mesnichock. Don Antonio Vergel de Dios – offered him his services for the purchase of medical books and instruments which he might need in his profession. Rizal possessed the qualities of a great ophthalmic surgeon. In the words of Dr. Geminiano de Ocampo, a distinguished Filipino ophthalmologist: â€Å"He had all the qualities that would make an ideal ophthalmic surgeon – a keen and analytical intellect, lightness of touch and artistry of a painter, courage and imperturbability, a broad and deep knowledge of medicine and ophthalmology, and last but not the least, he had been properly and adequately trained by master ophthalmic surgeons.†BORNEO COLONIZATION PROJECTRizal conceived the establishment of a Filipino colony in North Borneo (Sabah) He planned to move those Filipino families to that British-owned island and carve out of its virgin wilderness a â€Å"New Calamba† March 7, 1892 – he went to Sandakan on board the ship Menon to negotiate with the British authorities for the establishment of a Filipino colony. His mission was successful.The British Authorities of Borneo were willing to give the Filipino colonists, 100,000 acres of land, a beautiful harbor and a good government for 999 years, free of all charges. By April 20, he was back in Hong Kong.Rizal friends in Europe enthusiastically endorsed his Borneo colonization project. Lopez Jaena express his desire to join the project and wrote to Rizal saying:â€Å"I have a great desire of joining you. Reserve for me there a piece of land where I can plant sugarcane. I shall go there. . . to dedicate myself to the cultivation of sugarcane and the making of sugar. Send me further details.† Hidalgo, on the other hand, objected to the colonization project saying:â€Å"This idea about Borneo, is no good. Why should we leave the Philippines, this beautiful country of ours? And besides what will people say? Why have we made all these sacrifices? Why should we go to a foreign land without first exhausting all means for the welfare o f the country which nurtured us from our cradles? Tell me that!† The infamous Weyler, whom the Cubans called â€Å"The Butcher† was relieved of his gubernatorial office. A new governor general Eulogio Despujol, the Count of Caspe, announced to the Filipino people a fine program of government Rizal sent him a letter of felicitation (dated December 23, 1891) and offering his cooperation, but instead the governor did not even acknowledge receipt of his letter.Rizal wrote a second letter (dated March 21, 1892), in this second letter, he requested the governor general to permit the landless Filipinos to establish themselves in Borneo. Despujol, did not give Rizal the â€Å"courtesy of a reply†. Instead, he notified the Spanish consul general in Hong Kong to tell Rizal that he could not approve the Filipino immigration to Borneo, alleging that, â€Å"the Philippines lacked laborers† and â€Å"it was not very patriotic to go off and cultivate foreign soil† WRITINGS IN HONG KONGHe wrote â€Å"Ang Mga Karapatan Nang Tao† (a tagalog translation of â€Å"The Rights of Man† proclaimed by the French Revolution in 1789) About the same time (1891), he wrote â€Å"A la Nacion Espaà ±ola† (To the Spanish Nation), which is an  appeal to Spain to right the wrongs done to the Calamba tenants. Another proclamation, entitled â€Å"Sa Mga Kababayan† (To my Countrymen) was written in December 1891 explaining the Calamba agrarian situation. Rizal contributed articles to the British daily newspaper, The Hong Kong Telegraph, whose editor, Mr. Frazier Smith, was his friend.March 2, 1892 – Rizal wrote â€Å"Una Visita a la Victoria Gaol† (A Visit to Victoria Gaol), an account of his visit to the colonial prison of Hong Kong. In this article he contrasted the cruel Spanish prison system with the modern and more humane prison system. He wrote an article entitled â€Å"Colonisation du British North Borneo, par de Familles de Iles Philippines† (Colonization of British north Borneo by families from the Philippine Islands) to elucidate his Borneo colonization project He elaborated on the same idea in another article in Spanish, â€Å"Proyecto de Colonizacion del British North Borneo por los Filipinos† (Project of the Colonization of British North Borneo by the Filipinos) June 1892 – he wrote â€Å"La Mano Roja† (The Red Hand) which denounces the frequent outbreaks of intentional fires in Manila. â€Å"Constitution of the Liga Filipina†Ã¢â‚¬â€œ printed in 1892, was the most important writing made by Rizal during his Hong Kong sojourn To deceived the Spanish authorities, the printed copies carries the false information that the printing was done by the LONDON PRINTING PRESS, No. 25, Khulug Street, London. The idea of establishing the Liga Filipina was originally conceived by Jose Ma. Basa, but it was Rizal who wrote its constitution and realized its establishment .DECISION TO RETURN TO MANILAMay 1892 –Rizal made up his mind to return to Manila The decision was spurred by the following: 1.) To confer with Governor Despujol regarding his Borneo colonization project. 2.) To establish the Liga Filipina in Manila 3.) To prove that Eduardo de Lete was wrong in attacking him in Madrid that he being comfortable and safe in Hong Kong, had abandoned the country’s cause. Lete’s attack which was printed in La Solidaridad on April 15, 1892, portrayed Rizal as cowardly, egoistic, opportunistic – a patriot in words  only. Rizal protested to Del Pilar saying:â€Å"I am more convinced that yourself to be carried away. Friend or enemy, if the article has harmed me, it would harm more the interests of the Philippines. Who knows, however, if after all it was for the best; it has shaken me awake, and long after a long silence I enter the field anew. .. I am going to activate the Propaganda again and fortify the Liga.† To Ponc e, Rizal confided on May 23, 1892:â€Å"I am very sorry that Del Pilar allowed the article to be published because it will lead many to believe that there is really a schism among us. I believe that we can well have little misunderstanding and personal differences among ourselves, without exhibiting them in public. . As for myself. . . I always welcome criticisms because they improve those who wish to be improved†LAST HONG KONG LETTERSOn June 19, 1892 he spent his 31st birthday in Hong Kong.Evidently, he had premonition of his death, for the following day, June 20 he wrote two letters which he sealed, inscribed in each envelop â€Å"to be opened after my death,† and gave them to his friend, Dr. Marques for safekeeping. The first letter was addressed TO MY PARENTS, BRETHREN, AND FRIENDS, is as follows:â€Å"The affection that I have ever professed for you suggests this step, and time alone can tell whether or not it is sensible. The outcome judges things according to t he consequences; but whether the result be favorable or unfavorable, it may always be said that duty urged me, so if I die in doing it, it will not matter.I realize how much suffering I have caused you yet I do not regret what I have done. Rather, if I had to begin over again I should do just the same, for what I have done has been only in pursuit of my duty. Gladly do I go to expose myself to peril, not as an expiation of misdeeds for in this matter I believe myself guiltless of any, but to complete my work and so that I, myself, may offer the examples of which I have always preached.A man ought to die for duty and his principles. I hold fast to every idea which I have advanced as to the condition and future of our country, and shall willingly die for it, and even more willingly sacrifice all to secure justice and peace for you. With pleasure, then, I risk life to save so many innocent persons – so many nieces and nephews, so many children of friends, and children too of oth ers who are not even friend – who are suffering on my account. What am I? A bachelor, practically without a family and sufficiently undeceived as to life. I have had many disappointments and the future before me is gloomy, and will be gloomy if light does not illuminate it with dawn of a better day for my native land.On the other hand, there are many persons, filled with hope and ambition, who perhaps might be happier if I were dead, and then I hope my enemies would be satisfied and stop persecuting so many entirely innocent people. To a certain extent their hatred is justifiable as to myself, and my parents and relatives. Should fate go against me, you will all understand that I shall die happy in the thought that my death will end all your troubles. Return to our country and may you be happy in it. Till the last moment of my life I shall be thinking of you and wishing you all good fortune and happiness.†The second letter was addressed TO THE FILIPINOS, and is as follo ws:â€Å"The step which I am taking, or rather am about to take, is undoubtedly risky, and it is unnecessary to say that I have considered it for some time. I understand that almost every one is opposed to it; but I know also that hardly anybody else understands what is in my heart. I cannot live on seeing so many suffer unjust persecution on my account; I cannot bear the sight of my sisters and their numerous families treated like criminals. I prefer death and cheerfully shall relinquish life to free so many innocent persons from such unjust persecution.I appreciate the fact that at present the future of our country gravitates in some degree around me, that at my death many will feel triumphant, and thus,  many are now wishing for my fall. But what of it? I hold duties of conscience above all else. I have obligations to the families who suffer, to my aged parents whose sight strikes me to the heart; I know that I alone, only my death can make them happy, returning them to their native land to a peaceful life at home. I am all my parents have, but our country has many more sons who can take my place and even do my work better.Besides I wish to show those who deny us the boon of patriotism that we know how to die for duty and principles. What matters death, if one dies for what one loves, for native land and beings held dear?If I thought that I were the only resource for the consummation of a policy of progress in the Philippines and were I convinced that my countrymen were going to make use of my services, perhaps, I should hesitate about taking this step; but there are others who can take my place, who can do my services that are not utilize, and I am reduced to inactivity.Always have I loved our unhappy land, and I am sure that I shall continue loving it till my last moment, in case men prove unjust to me. My career, my life, my happiness – and all I have sacrificed for love of it. Whatever my fate I shall die blessing it and longing for the dawn o f its redemption.June 21, 1892 – Rizal penned another letter in HK for Governor Despujol. In this letter, he informed the governor general of his coming to Manila and placed himself under the protection of the Spanish government. June 21, 1892 – (On the same date) Rizal and his sister Lucia left HK for Manila. They carried a special passport or â€Å"safe-conduct† issued by the Spanish consul-general in Hong Kong.RIZAL FALLS INTO SPANISH TRAPThe Spanish consul-general sent a cablegram to Governor Despujol that the victim â€Å"is in the trap†. On the same day a secret case was filed in Manila against Rizal and his followers â€Å"for anti-religious and anti-patriotic agitation† Despujol ordered his secretary, Luis de la Torre, to find out if  Rizal was naturalized as a German citizen, as was rumored, so that he might take proper action against on â€Å"who had the protection of a strong nation† Meanwhile, Rizal and his sister were peaceful ly crossing the China Sea. They were fully unaware of the Spanish duplicity.

Explore Anita Desais intensely evocative, descriptive style in Studies in the Park Essay

Anita Desai is a world renowned, Indian novelist and short-story writer. ‘Studies in the Park’ is merely one of her vast collection of short-stories, however, it is one of the most expressive stories, and it also conveys Anita Desai’s immensely communicative style of writing. ‘Studies in the Park’ is set in the late 1970’s, in contemporary India. It talks about a young boy, Suno, who is determined to do well in his exams that are a few months away. He is frequently pressurised by his parents, to study hard, and do well. However he is constantly disturbed by the repeated noise, and cannot study. He decides to go to a nearby park, which turns out to be an ideal location for him to study. The pressure that is mounted on him slowly starts to rise as the exams approach, this in turn, results in him becoming a workaholic: eventually his whole life revolves around his studies. He then sees a life changing vision that completely transforms his perspect ive of life. ‘Studies in the Park’ contains various descriptions, and images that enables the true message of the story to be brought out. The story begins with the line â€Å"-Turn it off, turn it off†¦What next, my god† this line evidently depicts the irritability that Suno is experiencing. This example is a perfect case in which Desai uses a very evocative stream of consciousness to illustrate emotion. This story is written in first person, and because of this Anita Desai is able to express true emotion and sentiment, as shown in the example above. In the line â€Å"So I raced out of my room†, Anita Desai indicates that Suno, the protagonist, is annoyed and cannot bear his surroundings anymore. This example is a typical instance where Anita Desai utilises first person, to portray an emotion. Diction is an essential component of Anita Desai’s style of writing, she uses a diverse collection of words to indicate the precise feeling that the protagonist is experiencing. For example, in the line â€Å"†¦rest of them standing and peering in†¦Ã¢â‚¬  the word â€Å"peering† is accurate as it portrays the â€Å"curiosity† and the â€Å"nosiness† of the brothers and sisters. Another example is in the line â€Å"†¦ snarled at him†¦Ã¢â‚¬  The word â€Å"snarled†, in this context, implies that Suno is very irritable and ill-tempered at this moment. The word is precise, and specific, and thus, it makes the line more communicative and expressive. Anita Desai uses imagery as well, at many occasions, in an attempt to invoke vividness and clarity in the story. For example, in the line â€Å"Bag-like women in grey and fawn saris †¦ with their sackcloth backs to the rails† This description of the park is very clear and vivid, it is a description of one instant in the park: it talks about the children falling, the women screaming and the madmen prancing. The description allows the reader to infer many details about the park such as: it is very active, there many people present there, etc. These sorts of descriptions are present all over the story, hence it makes the story more understandable and suggestive. Desai also uses imagery to elaborate on one point, for example, the description â€Å"The afternoons would be quiet†¦bazaars and slums† This paragraph talks about the serenity and tranquillity present in the park in the afternoons, and early evenings. Anita Desai stresses on this point with help of various images. The use of imagery and diction has been used extensively in the story. However it is most effective, when the protagonist experiences the vision, in which he realises the importance of the aspects of life. The line â€Å"Just then she lifted her veil†¦Divine, I felt, or insane† indicates a new revelation that takes place in Suno’s mind, and with the use of imagery Anita Desai is able to depict this more vividly. During this phase, Desai uses many similes to describe the lady in the epiphany, and hence depict the new revelation. For example, in the line â€Å"†¦her borkha, like a flower†¦Ã¢â‚¬  This line compares the lady’s face to a â€Å"wax-white†, lifeless flower that shows importance of health in life. ‘Studies in the Park’ is very communicative and expressive; there are various descriptions and accurate diction that are essential components in the story. These have made the story more understandable and comprehensible, thus the central theme and message of the story has been portrayed competently. Anita Desai’s descriptive writing style is extremely graphic and illustrative: it focuses mainly on descriptions, images and precise diction to portray a particular point. Thus she has been able to depict the importance of everything in life: health, religion, family and love.

Privatization of Social Security essays

Privatization of Social Security essays Social Security affects almost every American family. Currently, it pays benefits to more than 46 million people, including retired and disabled workers and their families, as well as the survivors of deceased workers. Although, it is believed that number of people receiving benefits is expected to drastically increase up to 68 million by the year 2020. In the State of the Union Address, President George W. Bush has stated that one of Americas most important institutions (social security) is need of reform.# I believe that solving social securitys long term financing problem is more important and complex than simply adding the numbers and structuring designs of future trust funds which President Bush and his administration are proposing. And personally, I do not believe that privatization of social security would be a viable option for solving a problem such as this one. In this short opinionated statement I hope to convince my reader that the reform that Bush administration is proposing is not only risky, but will result in high costs and will not guarantee benefits to future retirees. Over the long term, as the baby boom generation retires, social securitys financing loss presents a major program solvency and sustainability challenge. It is evident that the sooner we take action to solve this problem, it will allow the changes to be introduced so that individuals who are most likely to be affected, mostly younger, students like myself, and future workers, such as every American, will have time to adjust the retirement planning. Either one of the option that we as the Americans in the future choose to take, will result in penalizing those who are currently and in future will be depending on the program. Private accounts, which Bush and his administration believe to give the younger workers a chance to build a nest egg, would not only undermine the meaning of social security as we have kno...

Written English - Definition and Examples

Written English s Written English is the way in which the English language is transmitted through a conventional system of graphic signs (or letters). Compare to spoken English. The earliest forms of written English were primarily the translations of Latin works into English in the ninth century. Not until the late fourteenth century (that is, the late Middle English period) did a standard form of written English begin to emerge. According to Marilyn Corrie in The Oxford History of English (2006), written English has been characterized by relative stability during the Modern English period. See also: WritingAlphabetColloquializationFormal Style and Informal StyleKey Events in the History of the English LanguageLiteracyPresent-Day English (PDE)SpellingStandard EnglishWhat Is Standard English?What Is Writing? Early Written English [T]he vast majority of books and manuscripts produced in England before the invention of printing were written in Latin or (in later times) French. Administrative documents were not written in English in any number until the fourteenth century. The story of early written English is one of a local vernacular language struggling to achieve a distinct visual identity and written usage.(David Graddol et al., English: History, Diversity, and Change. Routledge, 1996)[A] new standard form of written English, this time based on the usage of London, began to emerge from the fifteenth century onwards. This was generally adopted by the early printers, who in turn provided a norm for private usage from the sixteenth century onwards.(Jeremy J. Smith, Essentials of Early English. Routledge, 1999) Recording Functions of Written English The history of writing in the English-speaking world reveals a balancing act between competing recording functions of the written word. While written English has always had a role in creating durable records that were never intended to be read aloud, the oral side of writing has been far more important than we tend to realize. Through most of the languages history, an essential function of writing has been to aid in subsequent representation of spoken words. Overwhelmingly, those spoken words have been formal in characterdrama, poetry, sermons, public speeches. ( . . . [B]eginning in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, writing developed a new set of quintessentially written functions with the emergence of newspapers and novels.)In the latter part of the twentieth century, a new twist was added, as writing increasingly came to represent informal speech. This time, there was no intention of later rendering such texts aloud. Gradually, we learned to write as we spoke (rather than preparing to speak as we wrote). As a result weve generally blurred older assumptions that speech and writing are two distinct forms of communication. Nowhere has this muddying of boundaries been more apparent than in the case of email.(Naomi S. Baron, Alphabet to Email: How Written English Evolved and Where Its Heading. Routledge, 2000) Writing and Speech When writing developed, it was derived from and represented speech, albeit imperfectly . . ..To affirm the primacy of speech over writing is not, however, to disparage the latter. If speaking makes us human, writing makes us civilized. Writing has some advantages over speech. For example, it is more permanent, thus making possible the records that any civilization must have. Writing is also capable of easily making some distinctions that speech can make only with difficulty. We can, for example, indicate certain types of pauses more clearly by the spaces that we leave between words when we write than we ordinarily are able to do when we speak. Grade A may well be heard as gray day, but there is no mistaking the one phrase for the other in writing.(John Algeo and Thomas Pyles, The Origins and Development of the English Language, 5th ed. Thomson Wadsworth, 2005) Standard Written English Standard or standardized written English (SWE). Its alive and well in our culture, but what does it mean? Many varieties of English get into print in various contexts, but standard doesnt refer to all of themnot even to everything published in mainstream books and magazines. It refers only to one slice of mainstream writingbut an incredibly important and powerful slice: the slice that people happen to call correct edited written English. When people champion Standard Written English, they sometimes call it proper or correct or literate writing. . . . [I]ts a language that is found only on paperand only in the texts of certain established writers, and its rules are in grammar books. So again: standardized written English (or prescriptive written English) is no ones mother tongue.(Peter Elbow, Vernacular Eloquence: What Speech Can Bring to Writing. Oxford Univ. Press, 2012)Unlike most other kinds of English, standard written English is strongly codified. That is, there is almost total agreement as to which forms and usages form part of it and which do not. . . .Mastery of standard written English is a requirement for many professions, and it is highly desirable in many others. But nobody comes naturally equipped with this mastery. Standard written English has to be acquired, usually by formal education. Sadly, however, in recent years schools in most English-speaking countries have pulled back from teaching this material. As a result, even university graduates with good degrees often find themselves with a command of standard English that is at best inadequate and at worst distressing. This is not a trivial problem, since a poor command of the conventions of standard English will often make a very bad impression on those who must read your writing.(Robert Lawrence Trask, Say What You Mean!: A Troubleshooters Guide to English Style and Usage. David R. Godine, 2005)

Natural Gas Plants Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Natural Gas Plants - Research Paper Example Natural gas is also known to be a necessity of this world. Gas in its pure form is of no particular use to the human beings but after being furnished in a Natural Gas Plant it can be used for several purposes. In some parts of the world it is used as a purpose of fuel and in some parts of the world it is used to light fire. Natural Gas Plants use different processes through which they can produce the sort of gas required by the individuals. It is seen that raw form of gas needs to pass through different stages to produce the productive gas. The processes respectively are known as Removal of Oil and Condensed particles, removal of water, separation of the gas liquids and lastly the removal of carbon dioxide and sulfur from the gas. Gas Plants use Low Temperature Separator, Liquid and Solid desiccant dehydrators, and Fractionators. This report would further revolve around Gas Processing Plants and would provide with further details about it. Natural Gas Plants use different devices to filter out the natural gas into productive forms. This report would revolve around the two main components of natural gas production which are Fractionators and Liquid and Solid Desiccant dehydrators. Both these components are used by almost all the gas plants to effectively produce the right form of gases. Fractionators use the different boiling points of hydrocarbons to their advantage whereas the dehydrators use different solutions which have the power to absorb and adsorb. The different processes in purifying gas would also be described in this report with emphasis on the two main components. This report would present with findings about the natural gas plants as a whole and not specifically about certain plants (Scott et al 1999) Gas in its pure form consists of many impurities which need to be filtered by the gas plants so that the gas can be used by the consumers.

Peronal Law Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3000 words

Peronal Law - Essay Example I would agree with St. Augustine that "an unjust law is no law at all1." Against that backdrop, this question questions state banning on gay marriage. Applying Dr. Kings analysis, a just law was one that was in keeping with our moral teachings or the moral teachings of God. Likewise, if our moral teachings, teach us that something is immoral, then Dr. King would have advised against following that particular law and instead engaging in non-violent civil disobedience. If Dr. King felt that homosexual relations were something that were immoral then he would have agreed that state laws banning gay marriage are just and should be followed. Someone advocating in favor of gay marriage might argue that King would have advocated for gay marriage because he believed that all men are created equal and as a marginalized black man he can certainly identify with the feelings that gays have in being denied the ability to have their union legalized. I think however, that given Dr. King's religious background, the moral and vast religious climate of his time, Dr. King would have said that his interpretation of the Bible is that there was to me a union between man and woman only. I think that any law that allows the separation of people is one that begs civil disobedience. Any law that allows one group of people to have superiority over another group is one that is immoral and therefore must not be respected. For example if a group of gay students are not allowed to attend graduation or are made to feel so afraid to go to graduation that they refrain, refusing to attend graduation even though you must do so to get a diploma is an instance of when civil disobedience is justified. There is a way to get a message across without it becoming violent and without bringing additional malevolence to the marginalized party. The perfect form of civil disobedience was that of Rosa Parks. While we are all familiar with her refusal to give up her seat on a bus, she also brought a line of African American children to a "white" library and had them each attempt to check out a library book. The children were courteous, and sincere when they explained that they needed to get the books from the "white" library and despite being turned away, they did not protest violently. An unacceptable form of civil disobedience is when there are laws or codes enacted for the safety of a population and they are violated. Rioting or any other form of violence which puts the lives of others in jeopardy is not proper. Further, there is a fine line as to what is pushing the break of the law too far. Remember, Dr. King readily admits that in order the get the law changed, it must first be broken or others will not take notice. Thus the better question, is what is the difference between breaking the law and civil disobedience 5 points 3. What is the rule of law Under the rule of law how are government officials supposed to use their power and how are they not supposed to use their power There does not appear to be one universal definition of the rule of law. However there are basic tenets to the definitions that I did find. For purposes of answering this question I will submit the simplest definition and work my answer

Current Crisis Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words

Current Crisis - Essay Example Congress, which continues to support a mortgage tax deduction that gives consumers a tax incentive to buy more expensive houses. Real estate agents, most of whom work for the sellers rather than the buyers and who earned higher commissions from selling more expensive homes etc’ (Bianco) The crisis is so deep that only the economic reform policies alone may not bring the desired results. Many economists believe that the current recession may continue longer than anticipated. President Obama has taken lot of measures (Obama program) to counter the current crisis which has been brought mixed reaction from the economic experts. This paper evaluates the criticism raised by CATO Institute, Paul Krugman and Joseph Stiglitz and the support extended by Lawrence Summers to the Obama program. The American people’s changing life styles are one of the biggest factors for the current crisis. The greedy customers accepted the offers (loans) from the financial institutions with both hands. They have approached the banks for everything and the banks were ready to help them without even assessing their backgrounds or financial capabilities. The financial institutions miscalculated that the global economy will never exhaust and whatever the goods and services sold in the market will bring profit. Such irresponsible allocation of resources in the market was the main cause of the current problem. The banks have given more focus to the goods or services sold rather than the goods or services bought. In other words, they were more interested in selling of their services. They never thought too much about the returns against the services they provided. Once the balance between the services and goods sold and bought were destroyed, financial crisis came into exist. The banksâ⠂¬â„¢ decisions and behaviors with respect to lending were not based on the economic theory of supply and demand. The supply must not be

Ticket Booking Indian Railways

Ticket Booking Indian Railways South Central Railway was formed on 2nd October, 1966 as the 9th zone of the Indian Railways. In its forty two years of committed service and path breaking progress, South Central Railway has grown to a modern system of mass transportation fulfilling the aspirations of the passengers/customers and carved a niche for itself in Indian Railways system. Strategically positioned in the southern peninsula, this dynamic organization with its headquarters at Secunderabad serves the economically vibrant state of Andhra Pradesh, Parts of Maharashtra, Madya Pradesh and Tamilnadu. From the days of steam hauled locomotives and wooden plank seats, South Central Railway has come a long way modernizing its system with the state of the art high powered Diesel and Electric Locomotives, high speed telescopic Passenger Coaches, and higher axle load wagons, higher capacity track in all important routes, multiple aspect color light signaling with solid state inter locking, and micro wave digital communication system etc. Over the years, South Central Railway has attained sufficient transportation output with adequate infrastructure development and technological upgrading to serve the regions in its jurisdiction. Safe operation of trains, expansion of net work, modern Passenger amenities, Punctuality of trains, courteous service and cleanliness in stations and trains remain always the thrust areas of this Railway. Being a service oriented organization, South Central Railway provided Computerized Passenger Reservation System at 85 Stations/locations covering 96% of the berths available. In the a rena of information dissemination to the rail customers, it has provided Inter-active Voice Response System (IVRS) for Reservation and train enquiry, National Train Enquiry System (NTES) for real time information on movement of trains, Passenger Operated Enquiry Terminals (POET) with information on availability of accommodation and confirmation and Close Circuit Television (CCTV) for real time reservation avail ability status at all important stations in its system. For mass movement of freight, S.C.Railway has introduced high horse powered Diesel and Electric Locomotives and high speed, higher Axle load Box-N-Wagons. Today, South Central Railway plays a pivotal role as a catalyst for agricultural and industrial development in the Southern peninsula apart from fostering the growth of trade and commerce including import/export through ports by connecting sea ports with their hinder land and inland containerdepots. Its reliable and comfortable Passenger Services for long and short distance travel by way introducing many super fast and intercity trains helps transform the society by catering their personal, business, educational and tourism purposes. Milestones South Central Railway was formed on 2nd October, 1966 by grouping Vijayawada and Hubli Divisions of Southern Railway and Secuderabad and Solapur Division of Central Railway. Jurisdictional adjustments were made in October, 1977 by merging Guntakal Division of the Southern Railway with South Central Railway and transferring Solapur Division back to Central Railway. Secunderabad Division was bifurcated in February, 1978 into two Divisions Secunderabad and Hyderabad to facilitate effective operational and administrative control. On 1st April, 2003, the newly formed Guntur and Nanded Divisions of South Central Railway became operational and Hubli Division was transferred to the newly formed South Western Railway. Presently, South Central Railway has six Divisions Viz., Secunderabad, Hyderabad, Vijayawada, Guntur, Guntakal and Nanded with 5752 Route KMs of which 1604 RKms are electrified. After its inception, SC.Railway laid 342.805 RKMs of new lines, converted 2676.19 RKMs from MG to BG and carried out doubling of track on 1272.453 RKms, constructed many major river bridges including the engineering marvels Viz., II Godavari Bridge and III Godavari Bridges at Rajahmundry. Towards customer Satisfaction, it had established the Computerized Passenger Reservation Systems at 85 Stations/locations and offer reservation by any train from any station in the Country. For gaining efficiency in freight operations, SCR established Freight Operations Information System (FOIS) in its jurisdiction and has already introduced Rack Management Systems at 23 Stations and Terminal Management System at 31 Stations. Its Passenger and Freight performance has met with stupendous leaps forward. The freight loading which was only 9.00 million tons in the year of its inception, i.e., 1966 has seen a quantum jump and touched 44.79 Million tons in the financial year 2003-2004. Passenger transport too has met with tremendous growth touching 195.65 millions in the year 2003-2004 as against 50 millions in the year of inception and the gross earnings from Rs. 58.00 Cr. to 3683.00 Cr in the year 2003-2004. Purposes: Alvesson (1996) claims that a situational approach enables leadership to be viewed and studied as a practical accomplishment (p. 476) rather than starting with a conceptualization of leadership as whatever the appointed leader does. This approach seems particularly well suited to networking professionals in which technical knowledge needs to be shared. In this project, I will explore how the booking system is made via wireless network without facing the hassles unlike standing in queue and tickets can be booked from any places or stations. In particular, I will focus on how online booking from the technical perspective members influence the direction of the team as well as the relationships and identities of individual members and the identity of the team as a unit, and how their interaction is enabled and constrained by social and cultural influences (e.g., organizational culture, national/ethnic culture, and gender). Such a study should give insights into the working standards of the Indian Railways, an organizational form that is rapidly gaining in popularity and acceptance. Also, the study will test the usefulness of a perspective (the situational approach) that is underdeveloped in the leadership literature. Background: I will conduct my study in a team that is restricted within a particular Division within the City Council. IRCTC has several online reservation counters, each of which is responsible for online ticket booking within one geographical section of the city. This particular team includes four men and a woman. Three of the men are in their thirties and one in his early 50s; the woman is in her thirties. They are assigned to an area around City. They start each day with a brief (15-45 minute meeting) on an agreed upon site, often just gathering around the back of a truck for their meeting. I will attend these three mornings a week for four weeks, and will stay on to observe their work for approximately 20 hours during the four week period. My primary focus will be on their interaction in meetings, although I will also observe (and perhaps enquires about) interactions during their other work. Scope: I will engage in participant-observation over a six-week period, for approximately four hours per week. I will typically observe the morning meetings and stay for an hour or so to observe their other work. On some days I may come at other times of the day for comparison. I will not schedule structured interviews, but will interview member staff at the reservation counters informally, as needed to clarify and provide insight into specific conversations. Theoretical framework: I will be guided most generally by the interpretive perspective, and more specifically by Indian Railways staff based situational approach. The interpretive perspective places the focus on interpreting the meanings and perspectives of cultural members, and how these meanings are negotiated (Trujillo, 1992). I am exploring the meanings the sales staff and customers have for themselves as individuals and for their relationships, as well as the meanings sales staff have for the organization, group, and profession of which they are working 247. The situational approach directs me to choose one or a few specific interactions to explore in depth. Thus, an appropriate means of investigating the topic from this perspective is observation of conversation, plus interviewing the interact ants to understand the meanings they have for their symbolic interactions. Method: 1. Conduct a literature review on leadership and communication in SMTs. 2. Observe the group four hours per week for six weeks, focusing mostly on conversations at team meetings, especially those conversations in which the group addresses changes to their work processes and issues of team relationships and identity (ies). 3. Interview team members to clarify and provide insight into conversations. I will attempt to conduct these interviews shortly after conversations of interest. While the interviews will not be formal or structured, the kinds of questions I will ask include the following. The general strategy for the interviews is to start off with broad questions and follow up on the interviewees responses, to capture her or his meanings and to avoid imposing my meanings on the interviewee. a. Tell me about the conversation you just had with X. b. What were you thinking during the conversation? c. What do you think she/he was thinking? d. What do you think she/he was trying to do (or accomplish) in the conversation? e. What did you mean when you said, ? f. What were you thinking when you said that? g. What do you think she meant when she said ? h. When you think about what you did and said in that conversation, how would you describe yourself? 4. Undertake a situational analysis of the field notes and interview notes, guided. 5. Write a research report that combines my understanding of the relevant theory and previous research with the results of my empirical research. Timetable: Prepare proposal by 15 October Complete literature review by 30 October Complete fieldwork by 10 November Complete analysis by 20 November Give presentation on 4 January Complete final report by 12 January Limitations: Time constraints of the semester require less time than may be ideal for an ethnographic study. By being in the organization for only four hours a week for five weeks, there are bound to be aspects of leadership practice, organizational culture and team communication that will not be revealed during my observations. Being an outsider may also limit what is revealed to me. The team members may be guarded in their conversations around me, especially in my initial observations. Delimitations: I am choosing not to observe multiple teams, even though such comparisons might be valuable, in order to allow more depth of understanding regarding the group on which I will focus. Additionally, I will not use structured interviews in order to minimize my obtrusiveness and my influence on the team members. Literature Review: Indias Railway network being one of the second largest all over the globe and anybody can travel at anywhere places through the train services. However in terms of tourists who want to visit places do not have any special mode or medium whereby tickets could be booked easily. In most of the trains special seats are reserved for the tourists. Which simplifies that if all the seats are completely booked things are assured that this tourists get to seat till others havent booked up the seats (Bruyn, Venkatraman and Bain, 2006). This is one of the main information that needs consideration as any agent would not be able to book seats on anybodys behalf or can booked from the everyday booking window. The main challenge that lies in the reservation system is supporting a huge range of database for holding information. Indian Railways over years has been the most considered user of IT in India. When it was first introduced into the market computerized passenger traffic and accounting of rail ways, operating statistics, and payroll and inventory management was started through using computers paled at all regional zones (Kamel, 2006). The Computer based Passenger Reservation System (PRS) was introduced by Central for Railway Information System (CRIS) whereby passengers had the privilege of booking tickets through PRS which were found in all major terminals who have their own local database. In this kind of circumstances reservations only covered trains that departed from local terminals. But in the later phase when CRIS introduced Country Wide Enhanced Reservation and Ticketing System (CONCERT) that was developed with the intention to connect five passenger reservation centers from any station or terminal of the Indian Railways so that reserved tickets could be provided from any reservation counter (Kamel, 2006). Later all the PRS were attached together where by the system would have the capability of handling a higher volume of reservation every day. It was one of the mo st aspiring initiatives by the Indian Railways that reduced the passengers time in terms of being held up at the queue for a long period of time. But situations have shown that till now passengers need to move to the station to book their railway tickets. In India since train is considered as one of the most convenient mode of communication so information regarding bookings, train availability, journey fares, accommodation availability and reservation of tickets is the crucial factor for the general mass. Earlier methods like enquiry at the help desk counter, information gathering through TV or through radio were the methods used earlier. In due later phase when internet booking and ticketing services through the e-commerce channel it gathered sufficient interest to the general public. In this regard IRTC in collaboration to CRIS launched its wholly owned website (www.irctc.co.in). This venture changed the whole image of Indian Railways ticket booking system. This helped passengers to get hold of their tickets from the departure station to the destination station without facing the hassles standing in long queue at the railway booking counters. Any passenger at this point of time can visit the website at get their desired information regarding train timings and ticket availability. Later on getting the train details and the suitability in terms of travelling tickets they just needed to fill in the online application form which contained about the details of the journey. During the payment stage the user was transferred to a suitable payment gateway where they need to furnish the details of their debit/credit card at it was certified by the VeriSign. When the transaction was completed the passenger would receive an e-mail that contained the Passenger Name Record (PNR). In this new technological world Indian Railways are considerably looking to get started with the new technological phase of wireless technology. In the discussion as embarked that mobile services has been picking up on a massive scale for the last couple of years. In todays date around 7 million text messages are sent by Indian counterparts everyday life and nearly 80% of Indians use the facility of SMS in major counterparts (Dutta and Shridhar, 2004). Most of the service providers in India have upgraded their mobile technology from 2G to 3G service which has processing speed of high data connection mechanism. Nowadays mobile handsets have the facility of GPRS and WAP that are flooded in Indian markets. With respect to matching and catching up with this technological advancement IRCTC introduced the option of ticket booking via mobile handsets. In present scenario tickets can be booked via mobile phone through voice recognition system. This proved flexibility in terms of passengers w ho could get hold of the tickets of any places sitting in any corner of the world. The project implementation of online ticket booking through internet and telephone prompted other service providers like telecom industries and broadband service providers to enable the payment process through their own systems. Through this project it has shown that if consumers are provided the much needed comfort and flexibility depending on the indented products or service that would sell, consumers are always likely to adapt the technology in other horizons. The Electronic Ticket system (ETS) is specifically designed software through which passengers would have the flexibility through which railway tickets could be purchased through usage of smartcard. In this the payment is made via wireless network with the connecting computer system at the Railway Company which is itself connected through clearing house and a trust centre (Wieringa, 2003).

Paul Thomas Anderson :: Essays Papers

Paul Thomas Anderson Paul Thomas Anderson is one of today’s most acclaimed and essential young filmmakers. He has swept the motion picture industry with a powerhouse trio of films that have breathed life and exuberance into an industry that is all too often ladened with films exhibiting massive deficiencies of originality and thought. PTA’s genuine love of filmmaking sets him apart from so many others. PTA tends to keep himself out of the spotlight. Rarely will he pose for magazine covers or photo shoots. Details involving future projects and his personal life are often kept shrouded in secrecy. Informational pieces regarding his personal life and family history are few and far between. I’ve researched his background and unearthed a few brief factoids that are consistent amongst many sources. Included is information obtained from Cigarettes and Coffee, PTA’s unofficial website, which he often praises and contributes to. Paul Thomas Anderson was born in Studio City, CA on January 1, 1970 to Bonnie and Ernie Anderson. His father was a well-known voice actor who can be recognized for his work on America’s Funniest Home Videos and The Love Boat. He also created a character, Ghoulardi, who was a popular B Movie/ horror film host in the sixties. Unfortunately, Paul suffered a devastating blow when his father passed away in 1997 at the age of 73. Incidentally, he has since named his production company after his late father’s famous character Ghoulardi. PTA also has two brothers and four sisters. He is reputed to be estranged from his mother. Academics never appealed to Paul. Being expelled from his elementary school for fighting and bad grades and his quick departure from Emerson College after two semesters demonstrated this. He also attended New York University Film School for two days before dropping out. PTA moved on to begin his career by working as a production assistant on various television movies and game shows. After performing similar work for numerous low budget and independent films, PTA went on to write and shoot a short film titled, Cigarettes and Coffee. This 24-minute excursion into the world of film shorts made it’s premier at the 1993 Sundance Film Festival. As a result of the buzz that Cigarettes and Coffee generated, he was afforded the opportunity to develop his first full-length motion picture, Hard Eight.

Management Processes of Nintendo Co. Ltd.

Contemporary Trends and Developing and Organizing Management Assignment MANAGEMENT PROCESSES OF NINTENDO CO. LTD. [pic] TABLE OF CONTENTS 1. History of management and achivements3 1. 1Introduction3 1. 2History of management and achivements3 2. Corporate culture and social responsobility programs8 2. 1Corporate culture8 2. 2Social responsobility programs8 3. External and internal environment of organization9 3. 1External environment9 3. 2Internal environment9 4. Strategic planning and competetive advantages10 4. 1Strategic planning10 4. 2Competetive advantages12 5. Organizational structure and design 12 6. Motivation and HR principles12 6. 1Motivation12 6. 2HR principles12 7. Control process and quality management 13 8. Communications and decision making 13 9. Conclusion 13 10. References 16 History of management and achievements 1. Introduction The history of Nintendo is a way of little firm seeking its niche on service and entertainments market who became a giant corporation, affected and affects on life of few generations and determinant of modern fashion on virtual scene. The history of Nintendo it’s a well learned lessons of market and talented employees. The history of Nintendo it’s a history of Mario, Pokemons, Donkey Kong, Zelda, Metroid, Star Fox, Kid Icarus and many other personages who transforms into popular trade marks. 1. 2 History of management and achievements It is funny, but Nintendo Koppai primordial works in entertainment field. The corporation was founded in 1889 by manufacturer Fusajiro Yamauchi and foundation of business for long years was production of playing cards. Singular popularity was had the Hanafuda card game, which is a distance relative of Chinese mahjong game. The deck consists from hieroglyphs, images and symbols and the principles of the game were to find the second pair of cards. From competitors production the products of Nintendo was different by its quality – all gaming cards was hand made painted and covered with varnish. In recognition of card-playing roots, the name â€Å"Nintendo† (Nin ten do means â€Å"leave luck to heaven†). In 1902 Nintendo became very lucky – Fusajiro Yamauchi was the first in Japan who receive a license to produce playing cards in western style. It brings very successful business for that time. The company swiftly grows, builds new manufacturers, creates its own distribution net using tobacco shops and salt benches and strictly watched over quality. Until 1949 the name of company changed twice: in 1933 – to Yamauchi Nintendo & Company and in 1949 – to Nintendo Playing Card Company. In 1953, Nintendo became the first company in Japan who produce playing cards from plastic. This was a huge hit and allowed Nintendo to dominate the card market. Starting point of formation the main philosophy of now days â€Å"big N† was 1956. Exactly then 3rd president of Nintendo and grandson of Nintendo founder Hiroshi Yamauchi arrived to USA to establish business relations with Southern America’s first-rate playing cards firm – United States Playing Card Company. Japanese was amazed not by business acumen, not by swing of enterprise and not by perspective for his own business, but by little office which has lower than a dozen employees. This was a turning point for Yamauchi, who then realized the limitations of the playing card business. In 1959, Nintendo struck a deal with Disney to have them allow Nintendo to use Disney's characters on Nintendo's playing cards. By tying playing cards to Disney and selling books explaining the different games one could play with the cards, Nintendo could sell the product to Japanese households. The tie-in was a success and the company sold at least 600,000 card packs in a single year. Due to this success, in 1962, Yamauchi took Nintendo public, listing the company in Osaka Stock Exchange Second division. A little state of managers and an army of heroes, representing the market, was the main strategy of Nintendo over the years. Following the aforementioned success, in 1963 Nintendo Playing Card Company Limited was renamed to Nintendo Company, Limited by Hiroshi. Nintendo now began to experiment in other areas of business using the newly injected capital. During the period of time between 1963 and 1968, Nintendo set up a taxi company, a â€Å"love hotel† chain, a food company (trying to sell instant rice, similar to instant noodles), and several other things. All these ventures failed, except toy making, where they had some earlier experience from selling playing cards. Then the bottom dropped out. In 1964, while Japan was experiencing an economic boom due to the Tokyo Olympics, the playing card business reached its saturation point. Japanese households stopped buying playing cards, and the price of Nintendo stock fell down. All undertaking awaits shameful bankruptcy and company predicted the final devastation. The rescue came from little experimental division – Nintendo Games. Modest engineer Gunpei Yokoi offers to sale some of his inventions as baby toys. Along with experimental models were the future bestsellers – mechanic hand The Ultra Hand (one of Nintendo's earliest toy blockbusters, selling over a million units), electronic toy for sweethearts The Love Tester and a slot-machine for baseball balls Ultra Machine. Yokoi was soon moved from maintenance duty to product development. Toys rescued the company from bankruptcy but don’t make bygone profits. Per se every season customers wait from Nintendo something new, no ordinary. Jointly with Sharp, Nintendo Games develops successful enough light shooting-range – Beam Gun and undertake development of high growth sector of entertainment – electronic games. This was the beginning of a major new era for Nintendo. In 1977, Nintendo saw the hiring of Shigeru Miyamoto, the man who (along with Yokoi) become a living legend in the world of gaming, the father of hundreds ersonages, genius of virtual worlds and the secret to Nintendo's longevity; his creative vision was instrumental in determining the path Nintendo's future (and indeed, the industry's as a whole) would follow. Yokoi began to mentor Miyamoto during this period of time in R&D, teaching him all that he knew. The company cope the new market in Japan. Approach on customers g uides by three directions: arcade automatic machines, home and pocket game systems. In 1977 Nintendo released its first â€Å"Color TV Game 6†³ and â€Å"Color TV Game 15† (6 and 15 indicates the number of games) which offers a few games: tennis, rally and arcanoid. One year later in western markets announced Computer Othello (analogue of reversi game). First releases doesn’t has a big success, unless the console sold by million copies. In 1980 Gunpei Yokoi releases the real bomb of free time annihilation – pocket game platform Game & Watch. Each console came with one game with two different level difficulties. Simple game mechanic changes lightly: the gamer must press the right button on the right time. Environment and decoration of games were different: that were Mickey Mouse who catches the eggs, was firemen who catches the survivors from houses and so on. Copies of those games were released even in Soviet â€Å"Electronica† pocket games were not Mickey Mouse, but the Wolf and the Hare became main heroes. 59 games of Nintendo sold all over the world more than 10 million copies. In 1981 along with Shigeru Miyamoto Nintendo launched Radar Scope – modest and plain scroll shooter, which dedicated to be a star within arcade automated machines but it fails. Thanks to Shigeru Miyamoto, who completely change the game and automated machines hardware to work with new game, the Radar Scope launched with different name and game – under the name of Donkey Kong. The game has fantastic success and it became one of the most popular games of all time. In 1981 along with giant monkey, in Donkey Kong game, first time debut two small pieces of red and pink pixels, which soon find their names – Mario and princess Pitch. Total sales of games with little sanitary technician Mario on cover, step the barrier over 250 million copies in 2008. After great success of Donkey Kong, Shigeru Miyamoto begins his tight collaboration with Gunpei Yokoi. This friendship helps to born almost all future hits of Nintendo: from Super Mario to Metroid. The success of arcade slot machines with games from Shigeru Miyamoto allows engineer Masayuki Uemura to finish his development of second gaming system from Nintendo: in 1983 in Japan launched Famicom (Family Computer), which has selling over 500,000 units within two months. The console was also a technical insulation and inexpensive when compared to its competitors, priced at about 100 dollars. By 1985, the Famicom had proven to be a huge continued success in Japan. However, Nintendo also encountered a problem with the sudden popularity of the Famicom — they did not have the resources to manufacture games at the same pace they were selling them. To combat this, Yamauchi decided to divide his employees into three groups, the groups being Research & Development 1 (R&D 1), Research & Development 2 (R&D 2) and Research & Development 3 (R&D 3). R&D 1 was headed by Gunpei Yokoi, R&D 2 was headed by Masayuki Uemura, and R&D 3 was headed by Genyo Takeda. Using these groups, Yamauchi hoped Nintendo would produce a small number of high quality games rather than a large number of average quality games. During this period of time, Nintendo rekindled their desire to release the Famicom in the USA. But the launch slows down. The reason was not in production and not in localization – but the company seeks reliable partner in USA. Since the company had very little experience with the United States market, they had previously attempted to contract with Atari for the system's distribution in 1983. However, a fiasco involving Coleco and Donkey Kong soured the relationship between the two during the negotiations, and Atari refused to back Nintendo's console. The video game crash of 1983 soon took out not only Atari, but the vast majority of the American market itself. Nintendo was on its own. Nintendo was determined not to make the same mistakes in the US that Atari had. Because of massive influxes of games that were regarded as some of the worst ever created, gaming had almost completely died out in America. Nintendo decided that to avoid facing the same problems, they would only allow games that received their â€Å"Seal of Quality† to be sold for the Famicom, using a chip called 10NES to â€Å"lockout† or prevent unlicensed games from working. In 1985, Nintendo announced that they were releasing the Famicom worldwide — except under a different name — the Nintendo Entertainment System (NES) — and with a different design. It is one of the most popular consoles of all time. In Japan the NES console sold by 100 dollars without additional accessories. From US market the price was expensive almost twice – for 199 dollars the gamers receive the console and the new megahit – Super Mario Bros. Total sales from Japan and US was approximately the same – in Japan – a little more than 32 million, and in US – almost 30 million. There are a few reasons of popularity. First, both for Japanese and US gamers, games from new producer was a draught of fresh air, which forever changes conceptions about genres and games. Second, the lucky concatenation of circumstances – the only competitor was distressed Atari and that fact allows Nintendo to control over 90% of console market. Third, the cheaper prime cost of console – for self-repayment and profit earning it is enough to sell the console for silly 75 dollars. Not the last role keeps the cartridge – holder of information, which works up a market with its simplicity and reliability. Interval of three years, during which the company seeks for reliable partner in USA to launch NES, allows developing percussive army of hits. On console scrapes first melodies of Mario (1983, 1985, 1988, 1990, Link twice goes to his mystic adventures (The Legend of Zelda – 1986 and Zelda II: The Adventure of Link – 1988) and Samus Aran goes for her first mission given by Galactic Federation (1986). Final Fantasy (1987) and Metal Gear (1988) achieves phenomenal success. The family of Belmonts three times goes to quilt Dracula by family whip in Castelvania (Castelvania – 1986, Castelvania II: Simon’s Quest – 1987, Castelvania III: Dracula’s Curse – 1989). The ninja Ru also three times goes versus demons and monsters (Ninja Gaiden – 1989; Ninja Gaiden II: The Dark Sword of Chaos – 1990; Ninja Gaiden III: The Ancient Ship of Doom – 1991). Almost all games sold with fantastic numbers of copies. Absolute record has Mario (recognized as one of the best games in all times) – trilogy Super Mario Bros sold over 68 million copies (total Mario series sales from 1983 up to 2008 are over 250 million copies). Next came The Legend of Zelda (the 5th series, The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time, released in 1998, recognized as the best game ever created in gaming industry) – 20 million copies (total sales of The Legend of Zelda (12 series) from 1986 up to 2008 are over 220 million copies). Rest of Nintendo games against a background of such achievement achieves only â€Å"modest† few million copies. The last major blockbuster game for the NES, Super Mario Bros. 3, was released in early 1990. The game went on to sell over 18 million units. In 1988, Nintendo of America unveiled Nintendo Power, a monthly news and strategy magazine from Nintendo that served to advertise new games. The first issue published was the July/August edition, which spotlighted the NES game Super Mario Bros. 2. Nintendo Power is still published today with its two hundredth issue released in February 2006. Phenomenal success of its ancestors repeats the new pocket console. In 1989 Nintendo launched Game Boy (created by Gunpei Yokoi), which easily sends to nowhere the last argument from Atari – the Lynx console with color screen. Twice, in 1998 and 2001, Nintendo launched new modifications of Game Boy and confidently defends its niche from any invaders. Sales of 200 million Game Boy consoles – and superiority of big N in 21st century is inaccessible to competitors. It eventually became the best selling portable game system of all time. Later, Super Mario Land was also released for the Game Boy, which sold 14 million copies worldwide. The games don’t remain behind as well. Very successfully was vested interests on Tetris – the Russian casual game of all times and nations easy sold over 33 million copies. However, soon the tastes of auditorium changed – the tamagochies and pokemons gather fantastic popularity, but Nintendo was on time to buy license from owners. Games with silly small animals-gladiators easy beats Tetris sales – over 35 million copies sold on the first two models of Game Boy and another 32 millions – on Game Boy Advance (GBA). Since then Mario and The Legend of Zelda was created, the Pokemon trademark was 3rd amazing success of Nintendo Corporation. Total sales of game exceeded the barrier of 180 million copies (up to 2008). Even the legendary The Legend of Zelda 2 was unable to beat Pokemons with its â€Å"only† 17 million copies. The Super Famicom was released in Japan on November 21, 1990. The system's launch was widely successful, and the Super Famicom was sold out across Japan within three days. In August 1991, the Super Famicom was launched in the US under the name â€Å"Super Nintendo Entertainment System† (SNES). The SNES was released in Europe in 1992. In Japan, the Super Famicom easily took control of the gaming market. In the US, due to a late start and an aggressive marketing campaign by Sega. Nintendo has serious competitor as Sega Mega Drive and Sega Genesis which pass ahead Nintendo by 3 years, when Nintendo seeks for a partner in US, and have time to take lead position in 16 bit systems market. Nintendo saw its market share take a precipitous plunge from 90-95% with the NES to a low of approximately 35% against the Sega Genesis. Over the course of several years, the SNES in North America eventually overtook the Sega Genesis, thanks to franchise titles such as Super Mario World, The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past, Street Fighter II, and the Final Fantasy series. Total worldwide sales of the SNES were higher than the Genesis. With essential loses the combat wins the big N – over 60 million sales against 29 from Sega. In 1992 Gunpei Yokoi and the rest of R 1 began planning on a new virtual reality console to be called the Virtual Boy. Hiroshi Yamauchi also bought majority shares of the Seattle Mariners in 1992. Alas, but Virtual Boy with helmet instead of screen had a fiasco in 1995. Also in 1995, Nintendo again found themselves in a competitive situation. Competitor Sega introduced their 32-bit Saturn, while newcomer Sony introduced the 32-bit PlayStation. Sony's fierce marketing campaigns ensued, and it started to cut into Nintendo and Sega's market share. On June 23 1996, the Nintendo 64 (N64) was released in Japan and became a huge hit, selling over 500,000 units on the first day of its release. On September 29 1996, Nintendo released the Nintendo 64 in North America, and it too was a success. Many feel that the advertising onslaught by Sony at this time did not truly begin to take effect until many of the consumers who held out for the N64 became frustrated at the lack of software following the first few months after the system's release. What also greatly contributed to the extremely competitive climate that Nintendo was entrenched in was the fact that many third-party companies immediately began developing and releasing many of their leading games for Nintendo's competing consoles. Many of those third party companies cited cheaper development and manufacturing costs for the CD format, versus the cartridge format. In 1996, Pocket Monsters (known internationally as â€Å"Pokemon†) was released in Japan to a huge following. The Pokemon franchise, created by Satoshi Tajiri, was proving so popular in America, Europe, and Japan, that for a brief time, Nintendo took back their place as the supreme power in the games industry. In 1997, Gunpei Yokoi died in a car accident at the age of 57. On October 13 1998, the Game Boy Color was released in Japan, with releases in North America and Europe a month later. Nintendo released the Game Boy Advance in Japan on March 21 2001. This was followed by the North American launch on June 11 and the European launch on June 22. Nintendo released the GameCube home video game console on September 14 2001 in Japan. It was released in North America on November 18 2001, Europe on May 3 2002 and Australia on May 17 2002. In 2002, Hiroshi Yamauchi stepped down as the president of Nintendo and named Satoru Iwata his successor. Nintendo and Chinese-American scientist Dr Wei Yen co-founded iQue to manufacture and distribute official Nintendo consoles and games for the mainland Chinese market under the iQue brand. During the same year, Nintendo's aggressive business tactics in Europe would catch up to them. The European Commission determined that Nintendo had engaged in anticompetitive price-fixing business practices dating at least as far back as the early 90s. This resulted in a heavy fine being laid against the company- â‚ ¬149 million, one of the largest antitrust fines applied in the history of the commission. In May 2004, Nintendo announced plans to release a new brand of handheld, unrelated to the Game Boy, featuring two screens, one of which was touch-sensitive. The Nintendo DS, released on November 21 2004, received over three million pre-orders. In addition to the touch screen, the DS can also create three-dimensional graphics, similar to those of the Nintendo 64, although its lack of hardware support for texture filtering results in more pixilated graphics than on the Nintendo 64. At E3 in May 2005, Nintendo displayed the first prototype for their â€Å"next-generation† system, codenamed the Nintendo Revolution (now known as the Wii), its controller revealed at the Tokyo Game Show later that year. On January 26 2006, Nintendo announced a new version of their Nintendo DS handheld, the Nintendo DS Lite, designed to be smaller and lighter, with a brighter screen. It was launched in Japan on March 2 2006. On June 11 2006, Nintendo released their update to the Nintendo DS, the Nintendo DS Lite, in North America, also on this day Nintendo opened its official US press site to the public which continued until June 17 2006. On June 23 2006, Nintendo released the Nintendo DS Lite in Europe. On July 7 2006, Nintendo officially established a South Korean subsidiary, Nintendo Korea, in the country's capital, Seoul, which replaced Daewon Media as the official distributor of Nintendo products in South Korea. In early August 2006, it was revealed that the Nintendo corporation (along with Microsoft) was the target of a patent-infringement lawsuit. Leveled by the Anascape Corporation, the suit claims that Nintendo's use of analog technology in their remote game controllers constitutes a violation of their patents. Microsoft is also named in the lawsuit, for the same reasons. The lawsuit seeks to bring damages to both corporations and possibly force them to stop selling controllers with the violating technology. Corporate culture and social responsobility programs 2. 1 Corporate culture Men/ Women There is a majority of women in the many headquarters. An estimated 70% of the employees are women. However, the top positions in the company, for example management positions, are still mainly occupied by men. This might have something to do with the fact that the Japanese headquarters are in charge and that they much rather work with men than women. Nationalities There are about 25 different nationalities working in each Nintendo branch. They come from all different branches all over the world. This causes little difficulties. Of course there are always some minor issues but nothing really worth mentioning. The biggest problems occur when doing business with the Japanese because their culture is so very different. Due to all these different nationalities the company language is English. Innovation What is a huge and important part of Nintendo culture is innovation. They have always done this and they always will. They realize that innovation piques the human intellect and allows them to develop a constant stream of new entertainment ideas. Heroes and beliefs There are heroes and beliefs in Nintendo Corporation. One of the heroes is Gunpei Yokoi, which has incredible creativity, talent and modesty. He is a bright example to imitate and follow. Another one is Shigeru Miyamoto. With his name concerned a belief that brilliant creations can be easy as technician Mario and that the excellent things is a simple things. Events They took on an American habit called â€Å"Casual Friday†. This means that on Friday no one wears ties or suits, everyone comes to work in a casual, comfortable outfit. As there are a lot of young people in the company this initiative is very appreciated among the employees. Team building events are organized every now and then to strengthen the bond between the employees. There are several parties during the year, they have a Christmas party and a summer party. They are very important for the staff and whenever the management tries to move one of these to a later date the employees are not very happy. Events like these are very important to maintain a positive atmosphere within the company. 2. 2 Social responsibility programs One of the Nintendo Wii’s social responsibilities: We see a responsibility to have our players up and moving around, because sitting in place can cause health problems – every body needs to move to be healthy. That’s how Wii Sports was born, and the next idea in pushing that forward is Wii Fit. It even more than a game – creating an experience that gives back to the player in ways that are physically beneficial and emotionally beneficial. It’s something that Nintendo is passionate about as a company. External and internal environment of organization 3. 1 External environment Competitors Nintendo has some competitors, these are: ? Playstation, Playstation2, Playstation3 â€Å"Sony computer entertainment Inc. â€Å" ? XBox â€Å"Microsoft Corporation† Market share Nintendo is a Japan’s third most valuable listed company with a market value of more than 85 billion US dollars. Company earnings in 2007 year is 966,5 billion yen ($8,19 billion), net profit — 174,3 billion yen ($1,48 billion). According to NPD data, Nintendo was responsible for 69% of US game industry growth in the first five months of 2007. In Wii households 66% of those aged 25 – 49 play the console regularly. And about 50% of men 50 or older have tried the Wii. 70% of US spending on video games in 2002 were for console hardware and games, 30% for portables. In 2006, it was a 50/50 split. Traditionally a bastion for young gamers, sales for Nintendo products in North and South America in 2005 was 28% by those 25 or older. In 2007, it increased to 32%. For those 18 – 24, the share increased from 15 to 21 % over the same period. The DS passed 40 mln sold worldwide in the first half of 2007. In the US currently, there are 60 Wii games and 300 DS games available. By the end of 2007, there will be 100 Wii titles and 140 more DS titles. 3. 2 Internal environment Number of headquarters employees: 3,768 Board of directors Satoru Iwata: President & CEO Reggie Fils-Aime: President & COO of NOA Conrad Abbott: President of NOC Rose Lappin: President of Nintendo Australia Hiroshi Yamauchi: Former President & Chairman Minoru Arakawa & Howard Lincoln: Former heads of NOA Satoru Shibata: President of NOE Masaharu Matsumoto:Managing Director and Director Eiichi Suzuki:Managing Director and Director– Yoshihiro Mori: Senior Managing Director, General Manager – Corporate Analysis & Administration Division and Representative Director Shinji Hatano: Senior Managing Director – Licensing Division, General Manager – Licensing Division and Representative Director Shigeru Miyamoto: Senior Managing Director – Entertainment Analysis & Development Division, General Manager – Entertainment Analysis & Development Division and Representative Director Nobuo Nagai: Senior Managing Director and Representative Director Genyo Takeda: Senior Managing Director of Integrated Research & Development Division, General Manager – Integrated Research & Development Division and Representative Director Strategic planning and competetive advanteges Much of Nintendo’s success can likely be attributed to their focus on younger and casual gamers that have not recently been the focus of Microsoft and Sony. Nintendo’s main strategy is to peoduce less games qith superiour quality than to produce more games but without superiour quality. 4. Strategic planning Corporate mission and philosophy At Nintendo we are proud to be working for the leading company in our industry. We are strongly committed to producing and marketing the best products and support services available. We believe it is essential not only to provide products of the highest quality, but to treat every customer with attention, consideration an d respect. By listening closely to our customers, we constantly improve our products and services. We feel an equal commitment toward our employees. We want to maintain an atmosphere in which talented individuals can work together as a team. Commitment and enthusiasm are crucial to the high quality of our products and support services. We believe in treating our employees with the same consideration and respect that we, as a company, show our customers. SWOT analysis Strengths: Nintendo has four main strengths: a strong brand name, high returns, high employee efficiency, and debt free status. Nintendo’s strong brand name comes from about twenty-five years experience in the video gaming business. Not only do they have a strong presence in the console market but they are the leader in the handheld console market. They pioneered this market in 1989 with the original Game Boy. Since then, they have upgraded to create Game Boy Advanced and Nintendo DS, which sold 79. 5 million units and 40. 3 million units, respectively, in fiscal 2007. The Nintendo Wii, which is their most updated console, sold 5. 84 million units in the first five months in its launch alone. This system consists of motion sensors attached to the end of the controllers as well as the console, which makes the games more interactive. A high percentage of the people that play video games in today’s day are college students. Being part of that percentage, I know that I think highly of Nintendo based mainly on the fact that they created regular Nintendo. If I could choose today between playing the most technologically advanced gaming console and the original Legend of Zelda, I would play Legend of Zelda for hours. Nintendo has also been very successful in investing their resources in profitable companies and ideas. This would include their ownership in the Seattle Mariners and the Atlanta Hawks. It also refers to their high return on assets and equity when compared with other companies in the same industry. Nintendo also has high employee efficiency. According to Datamonitor, â€Å"revenue per employee was about $206,960 in fiscal year 2007, significantly higher compared to the industry average of about $3,684 during the same period. † Nintendo’s biggest strength in my opinion is their ability to stay debt free. Their most recent debt to equity ratio was zero compared to the industry’s average of 11. 9%. This not only shows that they are able to efficiently finance its’ operations but also enjoys a lot of financial flexibility. Weaknesses: Nintendo’s two biggest weaknesses are having a dependence on contract manufacturers as well as having low earnings per share. In regards to the dependence on contract manufacturers, Nintendo reaches out to companies to produce the key components of their consoles as well as assembling the finished products. The problem is, the new Nintendo Wii console is under such high demand that the manufacturers are not able to supply the key components or assemble the products fast enough creating a lack of finished products to be sold. It is assumed that this shortage will have a sizeable affect on the company’s overall revenue. Low earnings per share is calculated by dividing profit by the weighted average common shares. Nintendo recorded a 12. 6% decline in its earnings per share for five year period, from 2003 to 2007, significantly lower compared to the corresponding industry average of 43. 9%. † This is important to note because it may affect the investors in the company negatively by lowering their confidence. A third weakness is the lack of games produced for Nintendo consoles. In my personal opini on, I have steered away from recent Nintendo products such as Gamecube and Wii because of the lack of games so far. Regular Nintendo, Super Nintendo, Gameboy, and Nintendo 64 all had a wide variety of games. Gamecube and Wii, however, have been overshadowed by other systems with many more games such as Playstation 2, Xbox, and Xbox360. It seems as if Nintendo is always so anxious to get their gaming systems out that they never wait to have enough games to satisfy their customers. Opportunities: Nintendo has a few different opportunities. For starters, the United States game software market is soaring right now. Video games and consoles are some of the most sold items, especially during the holiday season. Because of their reasonable prices, games can be given as gifts by pretty much anyone. The video game market is also soaring as is evident by the $8 billion dollars in revenues in 2006 in addition to the consoles market generating $6. 6 billion dollars in revenues during the same year. These figures are expected to increase as well over the next couple years to reach up to $10. 3 billion dollars at the end of 2011. Another grand opportunity that Nintendo is planning on attacking is the Indian console market. Although the revenues are not nearly as much as the American market, the Indian market for consoles is expected to skyrocket to $120 million by 2010 from just $13. 3 million in 2006. Because of Nintendo’s great brand image, as discussed under strengths, Nintendo will succeed in these new markets. The greatest opportunity, however, is in the online gaming market. The world is continuing to become more computer oriented in such that computers are now about as normal household item as a television set. Because of this, and the generation of children growing up in this kind of environment, the market of online gaming is become increasingly large. In 2006, only 46 million people were using broadband connections to play video games online. That number is expected to jump up to 413 million users by the year 2010. Nintendo has taken steps to attract this audience by setting up their Wii system to be internet accessible and have the ability to update content, including up to date weather services and news feeds. Threats: There are a handful of threats that go along with all of these opportunities and strengths, however. For one, Nintendo products are often very pricey. This allows other products with similar or slightly lesser quality to steal customers by pricing their respective consoles and games to make them more affordable. Another knock on the Nintendo products is their short lifecycle. In the video game industry, products â€Å"lose their flavor† after approximately nine months, at which point a different product will come out that seems to be more updated and technologically advanced. Because of this, Nintendo will have to make sure to release all products on time and be able to meet the demand of their products with their supply. Leaving stores sold out of products will result in loss of sales in the long run due to the short lifecycle that each product will enjoy. The last threat to Nintendo products is their poor durability. The Nintendo Wii controllers have had the most significant problems when it comes to this. In many circumstances, the Wii controllers have not been properly designed resulting in the controller flying from the user’s hands and into televisions sets. Having problems such as these results in recalls, which is a very lengthy and expensive process. To prevent this, Nintendo must confirm that all products are being properly designed and manufactured prior to release. 4. 2 Competitive advantages The advantages to Nintendo are firstly that it makes their console cheaper to manufacture. This means that they can sell the base console at a profit whilst their competitors have to subsidise the retail price. It also gives Nintendo far more room to manoevre when it comes to using the price mechanism to take on that competition. The second advantage is that games are a lot easier, quicker and cheaper to develop. In fact they are more comparable with PS2 games in this area. This, obviously, has a massive effect on what appears on the game shop shelf and when it appears. Quite simply, it should be far easier for a publisher to make a profit on Wii, which explains why so much development resource has been directed at it. Organizational structure and design Branches Nintendo has branches all over the world: America, Asia, Europe and Africa. Their headquarters are located in Japan and the European headquarters â€Å"Nintendo of Europe GmbHâ€Å"is located in Germany, Gro? ostheim. Hierarchy The headquarters in Japan are at the top of the hierarchy, they give direct orders to Nintendono of Europe GmbH, which is under the supervision of a president. The company in Germany consists of many different parts: Legal services, administration and marketing and sales. In charge of those are senior managers who report directly to the president. Those senior managers are in charge of a team of directors, to whom the employees must report to. Motivation and HR principles 6. 1 Motivation High salaries and great bonuses. – Health and other insurances. – Creative multinational environment. – Career grows opportunities. 6. 2 HR principles Trainings and seminars Nintendo organize English classes for their employees, as well as seminars in order to educate their employees on different subjects so that they can functi on better within the company. Recruitment Nintendo is constantly recruiting people. There are different possibilities to recruit employees, depending on the position. For important positions such as management, they tend to use headhunters. There is also an online application form, where people can apply for a job. Quite often they put advertisements in newspapers and magazines. Another common way of filling in vacancies is recruiting within the company or you can find the person you need through connections such as friends or former colleagues etc. Requirements The requirements are very different, depending on the job. When it comes to finding warehouse workers training is of course the most important. In higher positions however, a good combination of training and social skills is inevitable. Naturally, the importance of the latter is higher in positions where there is a lot of interaction with other people, for example customer services and sales. When it comes to appearances we could say that there is no real formal dress code, mainly because there are a lot of young people in the company. Controll porcess and quality management Nintendo has it own quality standards: Nintendo Seal of Quality. Originally, for NTSC countries, the seal was a large, black and gold circular starburst. The seal read as follows: â€Å"This seal is your assurance that NINTENDO has approved and guaranteed the quality of this product. † This seal was later altered in 1988; â€Å"approved and guaranteed† was changed to â€Å"evaluated and approved†. In 1989, the seal became gold and white, like it currently appears, with a shortened phrase, â€Å"Official NINTENDO Seal of Quality†. The symbol remained unchanged until 2003 when â€Å"of Quality† was removed. 1. Communications and decision making Nintendo of Europe GmbH does not experience many problems within Europe or with the USA, but due to enormous cultural differences there are quite a few problems when it comes to dealing with Japan. The Japanese headquarters want to be in control at all times. They are not trusting towards the Europeans and want them to do everything like it is done in Japan. Their way of doing business is very dominating. For instance in Japan the Human Resource department is situated above the company entrance, so they can check the exact times when the employees arrive and leave again. They try to make the Europeans do the same and of course this is not possible because in most companies we fill in our timesheets manually and in general, bosses and employees are happy with that way of working, which is very hard to understand for the Japanese. When it comes to dealing with problem situations, and there are meetings with Europeans and Japanese, everyone can sense that the Japanese are not really taking the European opinions into account. At the end of the day, they feel it is their decision and they solve the problems their way. Conclusion In conclusion, Nintendo has done a great job at creating a good brand image within the video game industry. With the disappointing failure of the Playstation 3, a console expected to rival the Nintendo Wii, Nintendo has been able to enjoy much success with their Wii. Interesting enough, the high prices did not steer consumers away from the console. Instead, during the holiday season, many retail stores were sold out. For the time being it seems as if the Wii will continue to enjoy success by introducing new games to the system. Having a unique system with controls that actually have sensors in which you have to move around to control game has captured everyone’s interest. For the future, I would like to say that Nintendo should begin the planning and preparing process for the release of systems and games sooner so that there is not a higher demand than the supply. However, for some reason or another, Nintendo has done this with most of their products, and with the word-of-mouth marketing, and high product quality, Nintendo has been able to keep their â€Å"flavor of the month† status for longer than most other companies. It can be comparable to the Tickle-Me-Elmo dolls. When they were hard to get, everyone wanted one and would pay thousands of dollars on Ebay just to get one. As soon as they filled the stores though, nobody had any interest anymore. The main managerial issue of the company is that Japanese wants to control all the processes whole time and they never taking into consideration opinion and ideas of them colleagues, which reduced brand loyalty and trust and makes efficiency and effectiveness go down. And if there no trust, there is no wiliness to work effectively and the motivation can decrease dramatically. Japanese must understand, that controlling over the quality doesn’t mean to control over all processes and it doesn’t mean, that they must not taking into consideration their colleagues ideas and opinion. They even don’t want to understand that there are many factors, such as local culture, which they can force to follow by their culture. Moreover it makes limitation to other headquarters managers and top managers’ ideas and decisions, which can be very creative and useful and can solve many problems and make new ideas. And the fact that Japanese don’t take into consideration of their foreign colleague’s opinion is decreasing overall management process of whole company. Japanese needs to change their point of views, otherwise they company will lose their position in the market. This managerial issue is a part of internal environment as well, so it is important to change managerial style and give some creative and decision making freedom to the rest of colleagues. The situation in external environment of organization is much better, than internal. There are not many comments to say, because company’s business is great in the market. For statistic it will be useful to bring the following information: As December 2008 came to a close, one thing was very clear. Nintendo was blowing away the competition in console sales. The company sold 485,000 DS units and 335,000 Wii consoles for the month. During the same period Microsoft's Xbox360 sold 228,000 units and Sony's PlayStation 3 lagged behind with 127,000 units sold. By using some simple math, we can see that Nintendo's latest console, the Wii, almost outsold it main competitors' combined sales for the month. Why are the Nintendo consoles selling so well? We can give a simple answer: â€Å"Keeping it simple, stupid, is winning†¦ Both Wii and the DS don't require big instruction books and that's expanded the audience†¦ Sony and Microsoft took a different path, producing consoles of stunning power and complexity †¦ and price. † â€Å"They've gotten complicated and both companies are following a core gamer audience †¦ whereas Wii and DS are working for both young and old (newcomers to gaming)†¦ the DS has games that go down to pre-school level and the Wii has games where you don't even need to crack the instruction manual at all to play. As future strategic plan, I strongly recommend Nintendo to think about realising gaming mobile phone that will be able to play high quality games as well. Today mobile communications market is one of the biggest in the world and now it is more than communication – it is global thing, combining with internet technologies, photo and video cameras, games, complex prog rams and much more – it’s a new communication of 21st century. And Nintendo can easily and profitable combine one product to do all that thinks perfect. Practice shows that Game Boy was the best pocket gaming console in the world. And if they combine Game Boy with mobile device, it will be amazing and it will be a new super hit of the market. And if they combine their new technologies in a mobile device, like movement sensor in Wii, it will beat the market for sure and will be even successful than the iPhone. But they must be hurry until their main competitors – Microsoft or Sony hit upon it. In that case, they will have competitors in mobile market as well. Along with that, Nintendo must think about on-line internet gaming. Not enhancing a Wii, but making new servers, in which players for example, can directly play with each other by Wii or by PC. In case of PC they can produce additional hardware that will works fine with internet gaming by Nintendo. Using that strategy, Nintendo can create the new virtual gaming world in internet and it will work excellent. Now days fashion in game world is a virtual on-line gaming. And if Nintendo implements new ideas and creates new on-line games using both new and old characters, it will be great advantage in this sphere and will attract more and more gamers to buy Nintendo products. The next steep of strategy is strong advertising. Many peoples, especially the old generation, doesn’t even know that Nintendo exist now days and that it’s as before is a leader of gaming industry. Strong advertising will remind those people, that Nintendo exist and will be attract more and more customers. People, especially children like advertising. They like to watch advertising and say to each other â€Å"See, I already have this device that is on TV – it is great!! † Strong advertising will bring more potential customers. The next major steep will be promotions nd enhancements of social responsibility. It means to actively collaborate in sponsorship programs, like education, social aid, be a sponsor of some huge TV projects, make promotions and seminars for students, who can be potential employee tomorrow. The next would be producing more games. There are not many games on Nintendo, but competitors have a lot of games. Of course, it is not necessary t o make 10000 games to get against Nintendo’s main strategy, but they just can make 50 more quality games and it will works. And it’s time for thinking about new megahit personages. There is already many games and ideas, but they are not mega popular – they need to think about popular ones. Of course, it is interesting to play Castelvania or The Legend of Zelda, but the fans, who played Castelvania 25 years ago are now a little old for that and the new generation doesn’t appreciate so much old personages, because they not grow in that period and they are not fans and they will never buy Wii only for Castelvania like fans. I think Nintendo can easily generate new ideas and new personages, whose can be the next generation’s new mega hits and the new words in fashion. I believe Nintendo will succeed in the new digital media environment because they seem to be a company that can adjust to the market. Thus, for example, analytics consider that Nintendo can control a piece of 85 billion dollars on the entertainment market! Really, it’s not bad for the company who started with two little shops, is it not? References 1. David Sheff â€Å"Game Over: How Nintendo Conquered The Worldâ€Å", 1993 2. www. nintendo. com 3. http://en. wikipedia. org/wiki/Nintendo 4. http://boomson. blogspot. com/2008/02/nintendo-swot-analysis. html