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

“I am not that woman” by Kishwar Naheed Essay

Kishwar Naheed, a contemporary Urdu Pakistani poet was born in 1940 in a Syed family of Uttar Pradesh, India. She moved to Pakistan during the partition of sub-continent in 1947. Settling down in the conservative environment of Pakistan, she had to struggle in order to get education. She studied at home and received a high school diploma and went on to receive a Masters degree in Economics from Punjab University. She won many prizes which are a proof of her high literary status. She achieved this high standing in the literary world because of the uncensored voicing of her fight against her society. Being a part of the partition of subcontinent, Naheed witnessed harassment against women and its effect is greatly reflected as we see women subjugation the main focus of Naheed’s poetry. Naheed’s poems â€Å"I Am Not That Woman† and â€Å"The Grass Is Really Like Me† voice the lack of dignity and respect felt by the females and how they come to terms with it. Feminism being Naheed’s forte is the main theme of the two poems. Naheed highlights how females are reduced to mere objects of use with their emotions put aside, are used for physical satiation, thus puts forward the theme of Commodification. Though robbed off the right of opinion by men she still hopes for a better life with equal rights to men introducing the theme of Optimism in her poems. Fathers, brothers and husbands being responsible for the suppressed life a female spends as they are her disloyal guardians and killers of her freedom as well, gives way to the theme of Male Chauvinism. Though making an effort of trying to rise and throwing away the shackles that confine their movement some weak women surrender themselves in the hands of the society thus allowing it to control their life, displaying the theme of Reification in one of the two poems. Naheed very skillfully has made use of poetic devices like Connotation, Symbols, Metaphors and Personification to heighten the impact of her message in the two poems. Discrimination on the part of women was the focus of her attention but apart from being the witness to the violence done to women in the partition of subcontinent, the unjustness on the part of women in the Zia regime was also a reason of her women subjugation being her main focus. General Zia ul Haq’s military dictatorship, Martial Law which lasted from 1977 to 1988 profoundly shaped Naheed’s protest against the undue subjugation that was  contrived on the bases of State-regulation of women’s bodies and sexualities under Zia’s application of the Hudud Ordinances beginning in 1979. Women were deprived of their due rights and even though the ordinance appeared to safeguard women from harassment, the passing of the Law of Evidence in 1983 reduced a woman’s testimony in a court of law to half the value of a man and the implications of such laws on women are worth exploring briefly because in matters of rape and sexual violence (zina) women were profoundly affected. Even if, as Anita Weiss (1985) notes in her study of the women’s movement in Pakistan, the punishment meted out to offenders of zina regardless of sex was constitutionally the same (p. 8), since women’s power of testimony in zina cases was inadmissible in court, the legislation of zina in fact had serious gender biases built into it. Anita Weiss in her article â€Å"Women in Pakistan: Implications of the Current Program of Islamization† tells that when women were convicted for zina offences there was little room for appeal; men, by the same token, were by and large acquitted. While the Hudud Ordinances would have severe repercussions for women’s social standing in Pakistan, this moment in Pakistani political history between the years of 1977-1988 would mark, for the first time, women’s direct participation and protest against the state’s regulation of the hadd (singular of hudud) punishments especially as it concerned women’s bodies and sexualities. Zia ul Haq came up with such laws to cause a step-by-step reduction of women’s power in matters of economic, legal, and educational representation. Confining women to their houses did not stop women like Naheed. She in her own ways through her poetry protested against the authorities and the baseless laws passed out under the Zia regime. Though back then open protest against the authorities was considered illegal, Naheed was unstoppable in voicing her point. Fearless Naheed reached out to all women and not to a particular class and her poetry jolted the complacency in her peo ple as she showed mirror to the men and shook them in their seats as their injustice towards women was captured by Naheed in poetry for public viewing. Poetry written for a cause reached out to the hearts of many. â€Å"I am not that woman† and â€Å"The grass is really like me† are such examples. â€Å"I am not that woman† is about women addressing the males of the society. She is drawing a line between herself and the  degraded women who appear in advertisements and their beauty is used as a tool of selling the products. She says I am a respectable woman who won’t allow her to get insulted by men. She says that even though the men make them stay imprisoned within the four walls of their house, while they enjoy life roaming free as breeze, even then a woman cannot be silenced and she would speak for her rights. She also says that her husband has suppressed her under the constraints of baseless traditions and used her for lovemaking and to bear children who grow up to disrespect their mothers equally but still it won’t stop her from shining and that this oppression cannot mar her hopes of a life that she deserves. Parents are also accused of marrying off their daughters just to  feel free of a burden and to fulfill their duty but she says that the actual need is not only fulfilling duties but to change to conservative mindset of the society which presently do not seem to change. The very first stanza implies the theme of ‘Feminism’ being highlighted as the opening of the poem has a very declarative tone to it and a tone which tells men to keep her separate from the insulted girls in advertisements â€Å"selling you shoes and socks†. Further it forms the picture of a woman who is confined within the four walls of her house while her husband is allowed to have all the freedom of the world as it tells that he roamed â€Å"free as the breeze†. As Kishwar Naheed is known to give voice to the voiceless women so the theme of this very first paragraph seems very familiar to any Asian reader. The reason is that it has described the very dilemma that women of the Asian societies have to face that is they are taught and expected the whole of their lives to stay within the boundaries of her house because of the culture that prevails which does not allow women any progress and freewill. The message put forward in the very start of the poem has a feminist approach as feminism talks of the downtrodden males and females in a society but mainly it advocates the idea of inferior position of females. Though the woman is suppressed still she gives out a message that nothing can keep her from getting her rights. Here the theme of ‘Optimism’ is seen as Kishwar Naheed has put forward the picture of a suppressed woman has been stated already but the oppression has not been able to beat down the hope that sooner or later she would be able to enjoy the life of free will that she deserves as  she says in the first stanza that â€Å"†¦my voice cannot be smothered by sto nes† and she says in the second stanza also that â€Å"I am the one in whose lap you picked flowers†¦planted thorns and embers†¦cannot smother my fragrance†. It tells that even though her husband stole away all the happiness in her life and all she got in return of the suffering were disrespectful children but even they won’t be able to stop her from rising. It’s the males which prevent females from rising further in the poem the theme of ‘Male Chauvinism’ also surfaces. This is a very common feature of the Asian societies that no matter how uncultured and disloyal the male head of family is it is still his orders that are carried out and all the rules and regulations according to the social conventions are to be followed by the women and none of them apply to a male as it says â€Å"I am the one you crushed with the weight if custom and tradition†. Women completely crushed are merely reduced to objects of use thus giving space to the theme of ‘Commodification’ in the poem. The theme of Commodification is also very clear in the poem. Commodification refers to the concept where an individual’s value is reduced merely to that of an object of use plus its feeling are not taken care of as it says â€Å"I am the woman whom you bought and sold in the name of my own chastity†. She considers their marriage as a deal where his husband got hold of her in the form of a loyal object pure from inside without even thinking that she suffered loss in this deal as she did not get a partner she deserved. At another point she says that â€Å"I am the commodity you traded in, my chastity, my motherhood, my loyalty.† She says that her husband had been making unjust use of her goodness and that she still kept on being a good wife and a mother disregarding the fact that his husband never made an attempt to please her. Naheed has very skillfully used certain poetic devices in her poem which enhance the impact of her message. Poetic devices in the poem the main feature is that this poem is written in free verse. Free verse is a form of poetry that does not use consistent meter patterns, rhyme, or any other musical pattern it thus tends to follow the rhythm of natural speech. It does not involve any set meter but still it involves a carefully crafted word picture. The first poetic device she has made use of is connotation. Connotation involves the emotional, psychological or social overtones of a  word; its implications and associations apart from its literal meaning. The word ‘smothered’ has been used as a connotation as smothered basically means to cover an object closely or thickly and it also means to stifle or suffocate. This word is used here in connection with smothering the voice of the girl. If taken the dictionary meaning of the word is not usually used in reference to a voice but it being used in this context reinforces the theme of suffocating women within the four walls thus sup pressing her right to have her own say in the society. The word ‘crushed’ is also used a connotation as the dictionary meaning of crushed is to squeeze and deform an object but crushed used with reference to traditions and customs helps to enhance the misery that a female suffers through the baseless customs and traditions. Another poetic device used is the use of symbols. The symbols thorns and chains in the second stanza assert the message of the discomforts that his husband had been treating her with. These symbols tell describe their severity. It’s a short poem with a very few poetic devices. She has made use of a simile in the first stanza. A simile is a direct comparison of two unlike things using â€Å"like† or â€Å"as. She says â€Å"free as the breeze†. It tells that her husband was allowed to enjoy the freedom of going out and had nobody to stop him. In the third stanza she makes use of a metaphor. A metaphor is A direct comparison between two unlike things, stating that one is the other or does the action of  the other. She says in the third stanza â€Å"walk on water†. No human possibly walk on water but the meaning that this metaphor is trying to convey is that this woman is a strong willed person. She never loses hope despite the adverse conditions of her life and it tells that one day she will overcome all obstacles that come in the way of her freedom. â€Å"The grass is really like me† is another poem by Kiswar Naheed. This poem is also about the suppression of women. The writer is comparing the grass with women and says that the only way that the straw of grass can survive is by spreading itself under people’s feet and it implies the fact that the only way a woman can survive in this world is also through spreading herself in front of all, meaning that she has no individual standing of her own. The poem also puts forward the idea that the ones who lack courage are in fact the ones who are never able to rise from the ground. The poet voices the grass and women by  saying that they would not let anyone step over them and that the idea of creating a footpath instead of stepping over them is better but the poem ends with a sad note saying â€Å"the grass is really like me†. Here we see that the poet is being a realist and accepting the stereotypical image of a woman as an underfoot. This poem has a similar tone to that of â€Å"I Am Not That Woman†. Feminism here again is an prominent theme as it talks of the low status given to the women as it gives a degrading image of the grass that has to â€Å"unfurl underfoot to fulfill; itself† . The poet is giving the idea that women have to lay themselves in obedience in front of men and the society in order to survive. This image clearly gives the idea of the unequal status given to the males and females of a society and that how insultingly the females are treated. Although the women are treated unjustly but the poet by saying â€Å"Take my advice: the idea of making a footpath was appropriate† gives out the message that the females do feel bad and they do not want men to step over them in order to walk instead they should change their brutal ways rather than crushing the females down thus bringing forward the theme of Individuality. The poem in its flow gives out a complete message termed as Reification. Reification is a silent acceptance of the treatment provided by the superstructure that is the tyrants to the ones forming the base that is the victims. The poem starts by giving out the general situation of a suppressed woman in a society but then as she moves forward she gives the idea of using a footpath instead of crushing the grass she is giving the idea of having an individuality stating that women must try to rise but then as the poem ends with a sad tone saying that â€Å"The grass is really like me† tells that though ask ing the other women to be brave the poet is being a realist and she has surrendered in the hands of the society and accepting the ill treatment given to her by the males. A similar theme is found in the novel â€Å"Surfacing† by Margaret Atwood in which the unnamed protagonist of the novel tried to create her mark in the world but tired of doing so she surrenders to the puppeteers namely the authorities of religion, politics and the patriarchs of the society thus making them control her life. This poem does not have any fixed meter as it is written in free verse and does not follow any fixed meter. Personification is used as a technique by the poet. Personification is  attributing human characteristics to an inanimate object, animal, or abstract idea. The poet has compared women to the straws of grass. It defines the low status that the women have in this male dominated society and are reduced to objects to be kept at ground level. This poem has very less poetic devices. The symbol of â€Å"lawn owner† is a prominent one. It symbolizes the males of our society and how they are obsessed with leveling women back to the ground level if th ey try to rise. Kishwar Naheed in both her poems has made women her main focus and how she fights to gain individuality and males making a constant attempt to make her fall to the ground.

010 Peer Review Professor Ramos Blog

010 Peer Review Peer Review Quick Write Have you ever had a good experience workshopping a paper? Why was it good? Why was it bad? Peer Review We are going to peer review first. I want to make sure you have enough time before the lesson for today. Before we peer review, I want you to take a look at your own draft. Add dialogue, find a spot to add in some dialogue. Add details  of a character or an artifact in your narrative. What can you describe or add details too? Are you giving enough context so the reader follows along? Add an image  to help tell the story. What image would help the reader? What image is related to your literacy? Effective Title. What should you title your essay? What would be a good title that makes your reader want to read the essay and prepares them for it.Fall Semester Examples This is the first of many peer reviews. Keep these things in mind. Peer edit the same way you revise your own work. Be specific in identifying problems or opportunities. Offer suggestions for improvement. Praise what is genuinely good in the paper. Grading Criteria Literacy Lesson Story Dialogue/Description Title/Images Responding Chapter four details the three major forms of response: agree, disagree, and agree but with a difference. You can argue anything. Remember, not everything has to be an argument.  For this class, we will focus on responding to arguments/conversations. The book includes many templates. Including to  Disagree p. 60,  Agreeing p. 62, and  Agreeing and Disagreeing Simultaneously p. 64. Show, Don’t Tell The writing you do at this level should do the work, instead of you having to tell us. No more lines like: In this essay†¦ My literacy narrative is †¦

Early Decision Deadlines for Every College With ED

Early Decision Deadlines for Every College With ED SAT / ACT Prep Online Guides and Tips If you're applying early decision, then you've already accomplished something pretty rare in the college application process- you know exactly where you want to go to college! This guide goes overyourtimeline for applying early decision and provides a comprehensive list of deadlines for all early decision schools. Read on to learn everything you will need to know about applying early decision to your dream school. What You Need to Know About Early Decision Early decision is a unique option when it comes to applying to college because it's binding. That's why you should only apply this way if you're 100% sure you want to go to the schooland will be able to enroll regardless of the financial aid offer you receive. If you apply early decision, you'll sign a statement of binding agreement to enroll. Since this is a big commitment, most colleges with early decision also require your parents and school counselor to sign this form, which can usually be found online throughtheCommon Applicationor aschool's individual application form. Early decision might or might not actually have an early deadline. The traditional deadlines are in November,usually the 1st or the 15th, and you're typically notified of the admissions decision in December. Some schools now also offer Early Decision II. Early Decision II is still binding, but the deadline is pushed forward, usually to sometime in January.This option is for applicants who are decided on a specific college but could benefit from a few more months to prepare their applications. Applicants who apply ED II will get their admissions decision earlier than usual, typically in February. Regardless of whether you apply Early Decision I or II, all early decision applicants have to accept their offers and send in their deposits quickly after notification, rather than waiting until the national response date of May 1. If you're applying Early Decision I, your challenge is to prepare the strongest application you can by the November deadline. Let's look at a possible timeline for gathering your application materials. Timeline for Applying Early Decision If you're applying early decision, it's probably safe to say that you're excited about attending your school of choice. To make this happen, though, you want to submit the strongest application you can. For the SAT/ACT, you'll want to start prepping months in advance,even a year or more. If your early decision deadline is in November, your last opportunity to take the ACT or SAT will be in September or October,respectively. At this point, you probably won't be able to view your scores before deciding whether to send them off to colleges. To put less pressure on yourself, you could test earlier and have your scores all set by the end of your junior year. You might alsoask your junior-year teachers for recommendations at the end of junior year, when your work will be fresh in their minds. At the absolute latest, you want to ask your counselor and teachers for recommendations a month before your deadline. In most cases, you should ask by October 1. You also want to give your high school at least threeweeks' to a month's notice for sending off your transcript and any other official documents that need to be sent to colleges. You might have to fill out a form and pay a small fee. Finally, you should work on your personal essayand any other supplemental application essays over the summer before senior year. Writing the personal essay is a process, and you want to give yourself time to brainstorm, draft, get feedback, and revise. You can spend September and October filling out your college applications, writing about your extracurricular activities, and proofreading what you've written for any errors or typos. As long as you start planning and preparing your application months in advance, you should be good to go for your early decision deadline. To recap, here's what your schedule might look like if you're applying Early Decision I: Step 1: Take the SAT or ACT early so you have enough available test dates to retake it, if desired. You might take the test first in the spring of sophomore year, again in the fall of junior year, and a third time in the spring of junior year. If you move this schedule forward, just remember that the fall of senior year will be your last opportunity to take the test. Step 2: Ask for teacher recommendations at the end of junior year, or ask for teacher and counselor recommendationsby October 1 at the latest. Step 3: Make your request for your high school transcript to be sent by October 1. Depending on your school, you might have to fill out a form and pay a small fee. Step 4: Work on your personal essay and any other essays over the summer and fall. Step 5: Fill out your application in September and October,making sure to edit for clarity and proofread for errors. If you're applying Early Decision II, you'll have more available test dates to take the SAT/ACT. You might also send your mid-year senior grades on your transcript. Waiting for this later deadline, if available, can be a good option if you're not totally satisfied with your academic record and test scores and feel you could present a stronger candidacy in January. Now that you have a sense of the early decision application process, let's look at the deadlines of some popular schools. Some offer Early Decision II, while others don't have that second deadline (these ones say "N/A"). Early Decision Deadlines of Popular Schools School Deadline for ED I Deadline for ED II American University November 15 January 15 Boston University November 1 January 2 Bowdoin College November 15 January 1 Brandeis University November 1 January 1 Brown University November 1 N/A Colby College November 15 January 1 Columbia University November 1 N/A Cornell University November 1 N/A Dartmouth College November 1 N/A Duke University November 1 N/A Emory University November 1 January 1 Johns Hopkins University November 1 N/A New York University November 1 January 1 Northwestern University November 1 N/A Pomona College November 1 January 1 Smith College November 15 January 1 Tufts University November 1 January 1 University of Pennsylvania November 1 N/A Vanderbilt University November 1 January 1 Wesleyan University November 15 January 1 It tends to be smaller schools that offer Early Decision II, perhaps so they can have greater control over their enrollment numbers.The next chart is acomprehensive list of all the schools with early decision and their respective deadlines. Early Decision Deadlines of All Schools The following schools are listed in alphabetical order, so you can either scroll through the chart or use ctrl + F to jump straight to your school of interest. School State Early Decision Deadline Early Decision II Deadline Early Decision Notification Albany College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences NY November 1 N/A December 15 Alfred University NY December 1 N/A December 15 Allegheny College PA November 15 February 1 Not reported American University DC November 15 January 15 December 31, February 15 Amherst College MA November 1 N/A December 15 Babson College MA November 1 January 2 December 15, February 15 Barnard College NY November 1 N/A December 15 Bates College ME November 15 January 1 December 20, February 15 Beloit College WI November 1 N/A December 1 Bennington College VT November 15 January 15 December 14, February 8 Bentley University MA November 15 N/A December 31 Boston University MA November 1 January 2 December 15, February 15 Bowdoin College ME November 15 January 1 December 15, February 15 Brandeis University MA November 1 January 1 December 15, February 1 Brown University RI November 1 N/A December 15 Bryant University RI November 1 January 15 December 1, February 15 Bryn Mawr College PA November 15 January 1 Not reported Bucknell University PA November 15 January 15 December 15, February 15 Carleton College MN November 15 January 15 December 15, February 15 Carnegie Mellon University PA November 1 N/A December 15 Case Western Reserve University OH November 1 January 15 December 17, February 1 Centre College KY November 15 N/A January 1 Champlain College VT November 15 N/A Not reported Christopher Newport University VA November 15 N/A December 15 Claremont McKenna College CA November 1 January 5 December 15, February 15 Clarkson University NY December 1 N/A January 1 Colby College ME November 15 January 1 December 15, February 15 Colgate University NY November 15 January 15 December 15, Rolling College of New Rochelle NY November 1 N/A December 15 College of the Atlantic ME December 1 January 15 December 15, January 30 College of the Holy Cross MA December 15 N/A Rolling College of William and Mary VA November 1 January 1 Early December, early February College of Wooster OH November 1 January 15 November 15, February 1 Colorado College CO November 10 January 15 December 13, February 15 Columbia University NY November 1 N/A December 15 Connecticut College CT November 15 January 1 December 15, February 15 Cooper Union for the Advancement of Science and Art NY November 1 (architecture), December 3 (engineering) N/A Not reported Cornell University NY November 1 N/A December 15 Cox College (Bachelor of Science in Nursing Program) MO June 1 N/A Not reported Dartmouth College NH November 1 N/A December 15 Davidson College NC November 15 January 2 December 15, February 1 Denison University OH November 15 January 15 December 15, February 15 DePauw University IN November 15 January 15 December 1, February 1 Dickinson College PA November 15 January 15 December 15, February 15 Drew University NJ November 15 January 15 December 15, February 15 Duke University NC November 1 N/A December 15 Duquesne University PA November 1 N/A Not reported Earlham College IN November 1 N/A December 15 Elon University NC November 1 N/A December 1 Emory University GA November 1 January 1 December 15, February 15 Fairfield University CT November 15 January 15 December 15, February 15 Five Towns College NY January 4 N/A Not reported Flagler College FL November 1 N/A December 15 Florida Southern College FL November 1 N/A December 15 Franklin Marshall College PA November 15 January 15 December 15, February 15 Furman University SC November 1 N/A November 15 George Washington University DC November 1 January 5 December 31, February 28 Gettysburg College PA November 15 January 15 December 15, February 15 Goucher College MD November 15 N/A December 15 Grinnell College IA November 15 January 1 December 15, Early February Grove City College PA November 1 December 1 December 15, January 15 Hamilton College NY November 15 January 1 December 15, February 15 Hamline University MN November 1 N/A Not reported Hampden-Sydney College VA November 15 N/A Early December Hampshire College MA November 15 January 1 December 15, February 1 Hartwick College NY November 1 N/A Not reported Harvey Mudd College CA November 15 January 5 December 15, February 15 Haverford College PA November 15 January 1 December 15, February 15 High Point University NC November 1 February 1 November 28, Rolling Hillsdale College MI November 1 N/A Early December Hobart and William Smith Colleges NY November 15 January 15 December 15, February 15 Hollins University VA November 1 N/A Not reported Ithaca College NY November 1 N/A December 15 Johns Hopkins University MD November 1 N/A December 15 Juniata College PA November 15 N/A December 15 Kalamazoo College MI November 1 February 1 December 1, March 1 Kenyon College OH November 15 January 15 December 15, February 7 Lafayette College PA November 15 January 15 December 15, February 15 Lake Forest College IL November 1 January 15 Beginning December 15 Lawrence University WI October 31 N/A December 1 Lehigh University PA November 1 January 1 December 15, February 15 Lewis Clark College OR November 1 N/A December 15 Lynchburg College VA November 15 N/A December 15 Macalester College MN November 15 January 1 December 15, February 1 Manhattan College NY November 15 N/A January 1 Marist College NY November 15 February 1 December 15, February 15 Marlboro College VT November 15 N/A December 1 Maryland Institute College of Art MD November 1 N/A December 1 Meredith College NC October 30 N/A November 15 Merrimack College MA November 15 N/A December 31 Miami University OH November 1 N/A December 1 Middlebury College VT November 1 January 1 December 15, February 15 Moody Bible Institute IL December 1 N/A January 15 Mount Holyoke College MA November 15 January 1 January 1, February 1 Muhlenberg College PA November 15 February 1 December 15, February 15-28 Nazareth College NY November 15 January 10 December 15,January 25 New York University NY November 1 January 1 December 15, February 15 Northeastern University MA November 1 N/A December 15 Northwestern University IL November 1 N/A December 15 Oberlin College OH November 15 January 2 December 15, February 1 Occidental College CA November 15 January 1 December 15,Early February Ohio Wesleyan University OH November 15 January 15 November 30, January 30 Pitzer College CA November 15 January 1 December 18, February 15 Pomona College CA November 1 January 1 December 15, February 15 Providence College RI November 15 January 15 January 1, February 15 Quinnipiac University CT November 1 N/A December 15 Ramapo College of New Jersey NJ November 1 N/A December 5 Reed College OR November 15 December 20 December 15, February 1 Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute NY November 1 December 15 December 15, January 15 Rhode Island School of Design RI November 1 N/A December8-14 Rhodes College TN November 1 January 1 Rolling (within two weeks of submission) Rice University TX November 1 N/A December 15 Roanoke College VA November 15 N/A December 15 Rochester Institute of Technology NY November 1 January 1 December 15, January 15 Rollins College FL November 1 January 5 December 14, February 1 Sacred Heart University CT December 1 N/A December 15 Saint Mary's College IN November 15 N/A December 15 Salisbury University MD November 15 N/A December 15 Santa Clara University CA November 1 January 7 December 31, February 15 Sarah Lawrence College NY November 1 January 2 December 31, Early February Scripps College CA November 15 January 4 December 15, February 15 Sewanee: University of the South TN November 15 January 15 December 15, February 15 Siena College NY December 1 N/A Not reported Skidmore College NY November 15 January 15 December 15, February 15 Smith College MA November 15 January 1 December 15, January 31 Southern Methodist University TX November 1 January 15 December 15, March 1 Spelman College GA November 1 N/A December 15 Springfield College MA December 1 January 15 Not reported St. John Fisher College NY December 1 N/A Rolling St. Lawrence University NY November 1 February 1 Rolling St. Mary's College of Maryland MD November 1 N/A December 1 St. Olaf College MN November 15 January 8 December15, February 1 State University of New York College at Geneseo NY November 15 N/A December 15 State University of New York College of Environmental Science and Forestry NY December 1 N/A Rolling State University of New York Maritime College NY November 1 N/A Not reported Sterling College VT November 15 N/A December 1 Stevens Institute of Technology NJ November 15 January 15 December 15, February 15 Stonehill College MA December 1 N/A December 31 Susquehanna University PA November 15 N/A December 1 Swarthmore College PA November 15 January 1 December 15, February 15 Syracuse University NY November 15 January 1 Beginning December 15, Beginning January 15 Texas Christian University TX November 1 N/A January 1 The College of New Jersey NJ November 1 January 1 December 1, February 1 The Jewish Theological Seminary (List College) NY November 15 January 15 December 15, February 15 Trinity College CT November 15 January 1 December 15, February 15 Trinity University TX November 1 January 1 December 1, February 1 Tufts University MA November 1 January 1 December 15, February 15 Union College NY November 15 January 15 December 15, February 15 University of Miami FL November 1 January 1 December 31, February 15-28 University of Pennsylvania PA November 1 N/A December 15 University of Puget Sound WA November 15 N/A December 15 University of Richmond VA November 1 January 15 December 15, February 15 University of Rochester NY November 1 N/A December 15 University of San Francisco CA November 1 N/A Beginning December 15 Ursinus College PA December 1 February 1 December 15, February 15 Vanderbilt University TN November 1 January 1 December 15, February 15 Vassar College NY November 15 January 1 Not reported Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University VA November 1 N/A December 15 Wabash College IN November 1 N/A December 5 Wake Forest University NC November 15 January 1 Rolling, February 15 Warren Wilson College NC November 1 N/A Not reported Washington Jefferson College PA January 4 N/A January 15 Washington and Lee University VA November 1 January 1 "Within a few weeks" Washington College MD November 15 N/A December 15 Washington University in St. Louis MO November 1 January 2 December 15, February 15 Webb Institute NY October 15 N/A December 15 Wellesley College MA November 1 January 1 December 15, February 15 Wells College NY December 15 N/A Not reported Wesleyan College GA November 15 N/A Not reported Wesleyan University CT November 15 January 1 December 15, February 15 Wheaton College IL November 20 January 15 December 3, February 1 Whitman College WA November 15 January 1 December 15, January 31 Willamette University OR November 15 N/A December 30 Williams College MA November 15 N/A December 15 Wittenberg University OH November 1 N/A December 1 Wofford College SC November 1 N/A December 1 Early decision can be a great option as it communicates to your school of choice how enthusiastic and committed you are to attending. If your school offers Early Decision II and you feel you could benefit from a few more months to work on your application, it makes sense to wait for this later deadline. Either way, you'll find out earlier than regular notification if you got into your first-choice school! What's Next? Want to apply early but aren't sure about signing a binding agreement? This guide has the comprehensive list of all the colleges that offer early action. Not sure applying early to college is right for you? Then take a look at thethe most common college application deadlines to get an idea of what your application timeline could look like. As you fill out your college applications, you want to think about how to present your high school resume in the best possible light.Read our expert guide for tips on how to write about your extracurricular activities on your college application. Want to improve your SAT score by 160 points or your ACT score by 4 points? We've written a guide for each test about the top 5 strategies you must be using to have a shot at improving your score. Download it for free now: