Follow a method similar to that which we've been discussing. FLUSSER Essay

Follow a method similar to that which we've been discussing. FLUSSER - Essay Example Gestures are often recurrent by the same people and also other partakers. By starting from an inclusive viewpoint, for instance, watching a live debate on television or the succession of narration in any interaction that occurs naturally, one can easily observe that distinctive partakers are always bound to produce similar gestures and these gestures are to ensure that there is an overall collaborative consistency. These gestures are not just merely meant to produce consistency, but to develop the unity of sequences and the stories of the various actors. The analysis of gestures, in this case, will emphasize on its binding practices. The most mutual characteristic of such gestures is that they happen in activities where the partakers show an orientation in securing and developing a mutual thought. From a perspective that is narrower, it will be obvious that such gestures are part of an turn organization or turn construction and they can join various turns together. Before making an analysis of gestures, I will mention some general info regarding unity and consistency in communication. One fundamental supposition regarding unity/coherence a turns, which are adjacent to each other, will be comprehended in relation to another turn. For example, a speech is always considered to be unified even when it may not be consistent. The placement of words and a turn is important in developing an interactive coherence. The partakers in an interaction often apply precise techniques in developing consistency and cohesion. Some of the most commonly applied techniques include the applications of disjunction and pronouns. Coherence may exist in various levels. One may mention coherence at a realistic level, whereby the main idea is if the correlation of distinct interactive action is coherent and relevant. The normative coordination of the partakers to the organizational sequence is a good example whereby the partakers

Partnership and Norms Essay Example for Free

Partnership and Norms Essay Partner selection and dating is an imperative basis in an individual’s accomplishment of one of his psychosocial needs. Selecting a partner and the process of dating is crucial in determining the quality and nature of future relationships and marital decisions. According to Maslow’s hierarchy of needs, as represented by a pyramid which indicates the basic needs of man and its importance in self-actualization, the third most significant need of man is the need to belong and be loved by others (Huitt, 2004). An individual’s need to become an accepted and valuable part of society, and the need to affiliate with people of the opposite sex, is an innate characteristic of man. Therefore, selecting a partner becomes an important decision that one must make based on the most convenient choice. These choices, however, vary under various circumstances, as it is influenced by society, culture, priorities, experiences, etc. For instance, differing concepts and perceptions about love vary for individuals; therefore their decisions in selecting a partner also vary. One’s concept of love, dating, partner selection, relationship, marriage, etc. may be influenced by social factors. Society often dictates standards and norms of dating. For example, individuals who live in a society which values social status and the preservation of this particular position in society practices arranged marriages. This is usually true, especially during the age of kingdoms and monarchs. Partner selection and dating may also be influenced by culture. In ancient China, marrying individuals from different cultural backgrounds was forbidden. In this case, race and cultural compatibility becomes influential in choosing a partner. At present, however, choosing a partner and the rules of dating have changed and have evolved into a more liberal milieu. Individuals have acquired the freedom to choose partners and date, depending on their personal views and perceptions of love, relationship, and marriage as formed by their priorities and experience, such as emphasizing importance on educational attainment, occupational status, etc. These choices and priorities are backed up theories which explains once social and personal construct regarding the matter. For instance, idolizing a parent influences individuals to choose partners with characteristics similar to their parents, etc. There are a lot of significant information that pertains to partner selection and dating (Mohatta, 2006), however, the main point is that choices and decisions being made regarding an individual’s selection of a partner, setting up of dating rules and principles to live by, reasons for staying in or leaving a relationship, going into marriage, etc. vary depending on several factors, such as culture, environment, society, family, personal choices and experiences, priorities, etc. Similar to partner selection and dating, sexual norms and sexual relationships also vary depending on one’s culture and perceptions. Two different societies were mentioned and described in the lecture which greatly explains the variation between these two societies regarding sexual norms and practice. The main argument stated herein is that an individual’s concept and perception of sex is learned from the society where he belongs. This is proved by the obvious knowledge that children, as young as they are, do not understand nor have ideas and contributions pertaining to issues and discussions regarding sex. Therefore, individuals gather the idea, perception, meaning, and importance of sex from the environment. For instance, a family environment which is not open about the idea of talking about sex with their children because members of the family regard it as a wrong deed is passed on to their children. In contrast, a society open to sex education, especially in educational institutions, allows students to acquire knowledge about sexual norms and practices, leading them to become aware of all its aspects. This can be important in informing students about sexually transmitted diseases, teenage pregnancy, safe sex, etc. With these alarming issues, most especially the high rate of individuals who acquire AIDS from numerous sexual encounters, or teenagers facing the responsibility of motherhood and parenting, more societies are accepting and pushing for the administration of sexual education in educational institutions. On the other hand, religious institutions are battling this societal move by reiterating their disapproval of the use of contraceptives, as encouraged by sex education, based on religious teachings and principles (Villaviray-Giolagon, 2007). Therefore, students who absorb information learned from sexual education may start to become open-minded about sexual responsibility; while on the other hand, churchgoers strengthen their stand for abstinence and marriage before sexual interaction. These two opposing viewpoints from educational institution and the religious institutions illustrate how an individual’s idea and perception of sexual norms and sexual relationships vary depending on environment.

Tall Building And Urban Realms Cultural Studies Essay

Tall Building And Urban Realms Cultural Studies Essay There are more and more large scale high rise buildings in the city. What are they doing for us? As an important building type in city entity, they carry not only functional responsibility but also social public responsibility. Today, construction speed and height of the building seems to be a competition. But like other types of building, it cant be divorced from the specific building features and the surrounding environment. It cant ignore the need of social development. The most important point is the ground floor of tall building and the way of tall building melt into the urban realm. As designer, we should find the way to build up right relationship between tall building and people on the ground. From specific peoples lives, from the psychological characteristics and from the practical need of space, we should create better urban and architectural space. Ground floor of tall building is not only focusing on the scale, dimension, material, colour and detail. It cant help to creat e a humanized environment. This paper attempts to start with some failure and successful cases to study human behavior and psychological needs, then try to build a key points of ground floor of tall building and urban space. It will use environmental behavior, environmental psychology, visual perception, architecture and urban design principles to summaries the design element of the ground floor of tall building. Self-consciousness of tall building made the urban space fragmented, lack of comminuting and integrating with surrounding buildings. From the overall perspective of the urban environment, tall building shouldnt be self-exaggerated and totally against the context. It should coordinate as a whole. Philip Oldfield and Antony Wood talked about challenges for future tall building; they indicated that A second challenge for the tall building is to develop in design terms, and especially in the relationship between a tall building and its urban location. Many tall buildings historically seem to have been designed as either vertical extrusions of an efficient floor plan, or stand-alone pieces of high-rise urban sculpture. à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦ Future tall buildings need to relate to their specific location beyond just becoming synonymous with that location the way forward is for the design to be inspired by both the physical and environmental aspects of place. (WOOD, A. OLDFIELD, P., 2009) FAILURE CASE STUDY JIN MAO TOWER The Jin Mao Tower is a landmark supertall skyscraper in the center of Lujiazui Finance and Trade Districts in Pudong district of Shanghai. Along with the Oriental Pearl Tower, it is a centerpiece of the Pudong skyline. At the ground level, the building has 3 main entrances to the lobby, two for the office portion and one for the hotel. Each entry is designed as a moongate. Each moongate consist of two glass layers that enhanced the entry sequence and give it a timeframe, a zone of through movement, not an instant threshold of crossing, from outside to inside. However, for the 420.5 meter height super-tall skyscraper, the 2 story tall entrances seem look like out of scale. In addition, the style of the entrances is not in the same design language with the body of the Jin Mao Tower, they are rather looking like a component which attached to the building after it finished. The base of the tower is surrounded by a landscape courtyard with a reflecting pool and seating, offering visitors a peaceful retreat from Shanghais busy street activity. But actually the connection between the tower and the street is not significant. Outside of this building, there is a public square right at a traffic junction. This cannot make the transition better and in fact it is not really comfortable for people using and create a strong barrier. 30 ST MARY AXE The 30 St Mary Axe is a famous landmark tall building in the financial district of London. It designed by Norman Foster and completed in 2003. It has 180 meters tall with 40 floors, mainly occupied by a head office of global reinsurance company Swiss Re. As the node of that district, it is a remarkable building with excellent concept of design by Norman Foster. But from the bottom, the building is basically closed to the walkway around. To ensure the integrality architectural form, the only opening point is the several peeled off triangle faà §ade. The public area outside the building is restricted by tedious side walk and unpleasant lineal seats along the street edge. The bottom public space is quite empty and has no public facility and activity. So if you spend some time there, you will find there are not many people actually want to stay on the seat and relax. More than this, the strong wind created by the building makes the place uncomfortable. For an important building of Lond on, the building did not play a friendly role to the public and there is rarely nothing green around the building at all. BROADGATE TOWER Broadgate Tower which just completed in 2009 is another skyscraper in the district, designed by SOM. It is standing in the northeast corner of the city, north of Liverpool street station. The tower was designed by SOM and actually those two commercial buildings formed vibrant public space in between which also a walkway connected to the station. Frankly speaking, the bottom area works very well inside the building, the large floor height of lobby was designed to allow transparent and reveal the context of the site. Outside the building, the most conspicuous space for public is the walkway between the two towers. The huge component create a shelter along the walkway, by the issue is the scale of those structure in the way of integrated with human scale. The out of scale and cause less using frequency and create uncomfortable public circumstance. SUCCESS CASE STUDY 122 LEADENHALL STREET 122 Leadenhall Street was a new office building on Leadenhall Street in the City of London, designed by Richard Rogers. It stands next to the public plaza. The challenge has been to continue the feeling of this plaza and the openness it brings whilst at the same time sticking a skyscraper on it. Rogers has taken things a step further and built a large amount of the base on stilts and surrounded on three sides of transparent cladding. They always consider the way in which the structure meets the ground and the way in which the lower level of the building relates to during the whole design process. Inside this lobby is an indoor garden creating the illusion of an open public space that is in fact internal. The clever move of providing clear views all the way through the base of the building to Leadenhall St on the other side helps remove the feeling on ground level of the building acting as a barrier. Architects really believe and insist what they are trying to achieve in this project, We are confident that this can be successfully resolved, and we think there is the potential for something special to be created. Interesting and high quality detailing at the street level is likely to be valuable in creating a successful environment.'(CABE 2003) CHONGQING TOWER The Chongqing Tower is designed by Ken Yeang to accommodate the headquarters of the Jian She Industry Corporation Ltd in Chong Qing, China. The tower is conceived as a vertical extension of the roof garden of the exhibition hall. A spiral planter system encircles the tower bringing vegetation to the summit. The site edge is planted with hardy trees and plant species indigenous to Chongqing with the landscaping continuous from street level to the office tower. The rainwater at the podium section is collected through eco-cells. A number of Eco-Cell as vertical cellular slots are integrated into the exhibition hall podium with a spiraling vegetated ramp that starts from the basement up to the roof garden of the podium to bring biomass, vegetation, daylight, rainwater and natural ventilation into the inner depths of the floors. The eco-cells can harvest and recycle rainwater for watering the landscape areas on the green belt and to clean the cultural plaza. HEARST TOWER The Hearst Tower in Manhattan, which is designed by Norman Forster and Partners, is a 46-storey tall office building. It is not super tall, but the unique appearance of the Hearst Tower building enriches the skyline of the New York City. The Hearst Tower is erupting from a 40,000-square-foot six-story old building which is built 82 years ago. The existing cast-limestone building is become the base of the Hearst Tower. It is a light yellow limestone building, adorned with grandiose allegorical sculptures and monumental urn-crowned columns. The combination of the modern glass and steel body of the Hearst Tower with the traditional heavy stone material make a great contrast between the aesthetic and culture of time impact on architecture. The existing building was used for the Hearst Corporations magazine headquarters for more than 70 years. In the design of the Hearst Tower, Foster and partners ultimately decided to let the glass modern office building body radical way in involved gutt ing the original base building and preserve its exterior, the traditional look. But the original building is been opened up the interior by removing the existing floor plates, because the original floor-to-ceiling height of 11.5 feet cannot fully satisfy the state-of-the-art standard for the modern offices. Furthermore, this rehab would change the base structure becomes the communal spaces for the users in the tower, a lot better than the tower hit the ground and connect with the street directly. The team envisioned turning the hollowed-out volume into an interior town square, with the tower hovering above it. In the other words, the modern tower makes the original tradition building better Integration to the surrounding context, and the traditional building provide a gracious historical public ground floor space for the occupants, and also the intact old building exterior enriches the city with a historical element and maximized the building impact on the city. Those case studies reveal the present situation of some tall buildings built so far and the ground level of tall building design. Generally speaking, the ground floor of tall building is the transition space. The experience of entering a building influence the way you feel inside the building. If the transition is too abrupt there is no feeling of arrival, and the inside of the building fails to be an inner sanctum.'(Alexander, C. 1977, p. 549) It is blurry sometimes, but the fact is this role has huge impacts on spatial, virtual and cultural aspect. SPACIAL IMPACT First of all, it has to be enough space for access. It carries a lot duty but also allows public to participate. If it lack of this participation, then the bottom space will lose the social benefit. Thats simply not a good public place. If we want people to have good use of the space then essentially the space of ground floor should be simple and clear for people understanding the structure of the space. That means, not by using artificial sign and even architecture plan, the ground floor itself should be able to tell users the way of using it, where are the escalator and lift lobby, reception and relaxing place etc? Another point is the space should also be dynamic. The ground floor is the place to show the power of the entire building. As fuzziness of ground floor, people will be easy to find the dynamical mind balance. Different enclosure surfaces are sending different massages to the user of the space; people use the actions and elements to get the spatial perception. It becomes more about an information exchanging process and the ground floor becomes a comfort zone where people can communicate both physically and emotionally. Moreover, the dimension of the space can control the range of activity and the level of participation of people. The truth is people feel and behavior extremely differently in different scales. People cant get the sense of being the huge scale of modern urban surroundings. But for the ground floor space, it has to be comprehensive with enough activated volume. Ground floor space with lower floor height will constrain people both physically and emotionally. It is the most significant gathering place in any tall building, so the space has to be big for varied activities. VIRTUAL IMPACT There is a consensus of modern visual aesthetic theory and art creation. In any cases, if it cant be in control of the balance of entirety, it will never be a successful piece virtual artwork. The appreciation is primarily visual and kinesthetic. Buchanan indicated they should have character and coherence that acknowledge conventions and enter into a dialogue with adjacent buildings and have compositions that crate rhythm and repose and hold the eye. (Buchanan, P., 1988b, pp.25-7) Therefore, an inconsistent tall building introduced into the urban space could break the virtual balance. The bottom area, as the part of the space, should virtually coordinate with the surrounding. Recently, the faà §adism in Hong Kong and Canada raised questions about the value of retaining the faà §ade of an older building. It is dubitable, but from inside, maybe the bottom of new building could somehow be an extension of older one, the ground floor space could be well integrated but also showing the a esthetical impression, like Hearst Tower in New York. On the other hand, as we know, tall building can give an excellent perspective from distance; however, for people on the street, the virtual coherence is really the most important to adjacent streets. For this reason, on the street, the bottom part has to create an interface to connect with the outside. When there is appropriate virtual response from the interface to the urban space, people will easily get a livable expression and clear continuity. LACK OF CONSIDERATIONS IN DESIGN THE LACK OF PUBLIC SPACE Many tall buildings are lack of open public space for comminuting on ground level. They usually have expanded podium building, but those kinds of space are normally unpleasant for people to rest or stop by when they walking through. The sense of communicating is crucial to the ground level. The lack of public space could also cause badly in finical return, Antony Wood summarized eight design principles for more appropriate tall buildings of the future. He pointed out such spaces have been proven to improve the quality of the internal environment which has an impact on the productivity of workers, satisfaction of residents etc. This will have a direct financial returnà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦ From large scale of perspective, he also said that Social sustainability on an urban scale is a major challenge for our future cities. (WOOD, A., 2008) THE LACK OF OVERALL PLANNING OF PUBLIC FACILITIES Tall buildings next to each other need the spatial continuity. The entrances for pedestrian and vehicle, the ground lobby and the podium, the facing and height of the entrances, they should be precisely planed by the designer. Without this planning, the street becomes a barrier of buildings which cut the city into pieces. It brings user inconvenience and increases the city traffic load. From inside, this situation has led to a lack of interior planning for functional facilities. In many lobbies of tall building, the arrangement of facilities is not in the appropriate way. The position of the escalator and the lift is not comfortable and efficient for people using. Transportation is also a crucial point. It affects the type and efficiency of the space. Common issues are crowded and poorly managed crossing, narrow and boring pavements, unpleasant subways etc. Effective reasonable design of the spatial environment can help to expand outdoor space, connect street, gourd floor and first f loor so that it could became a three dimensional space with good permeability between inside and outside, creates more active street in the meantime. By all means, a more humanistic integration of sharing facilities should be pushed. THE LACK OF CONSIDERATION OF ECOLOGICAL DESIGN The greening rates are generally low in most tall buildings ground level. In many ground lobby, the space is restrained and functionally organised. As the increasing number of tall building, the level of green covering will draw more impact on greenery of the city. It will accelerate the deterioration of the urban environment. Ken Yeang wrote about ecological design in tall building, he thought tall building is not an ecological building type but to design ecologically is crucial today. Especially at ground level, it doesnt only means to import greenery at ground level or introduce natural light into the lobby. The space between entrance and lobby could be a continuity of ecological environment, inside the lobby there is an opportunity to integrate with more sustainable functions, such as garden, rainwater collection, natural air-condition etc. Or even from a larger scale, the designer should consider the surrounding circumstance like what Leadenhall did; the site has tied together b y the sequences of greenery and public space. KEY ASPECTS IN DESIGN GROUND LEVEL OF TALL BUILDING INTEGRITY Integrity refers to the combination of urban relationships, construction, transportation, open space, ecosystem and cultural heritage. The ground floor of tall building integrated with complex architectural form. It is not only an extension of indoor space, but also the external units of urban environment. The bottom of tall building is the agency to make architectural space break their close form and be involved into multi-level, multi-factor dynamic open surroundings. OPENESS There is an open trend of modern city. The bottom of the building should be open to the street, community or park. The indoor space and semi-interior space are combined with the urban space. They form sharing space with a variation in size, shape and function which not only belongs to building but also to the city. There is no obvious boundary between the bottoms of each building; street, sidewalk, pedestrian bridge and park are smoothly blended together. It reduces the congestion sense of space and expands the activities space, together makes our city a more livable place. COMPLEXITY Complexity means the overlapping of varied functional levels, the linkage and permeability of different units. It is based on the compatibility of people behaviors in the city, such as shopping, walking, resting and other social leisure activities. The ground floor of tall building should accommodate a wide range of urban activates. The ground space should integrate with road and square and provide more contents with hybrid configuration, such as retails, leisure and entertainment, like what Hybrid Link did in Beijing. It should aim to meet the public diverse requirements and to make the hierarchy of urban space composited. WALKABILITY Walkability in public space is the fundamental point of urban humanness. As traffic into the city, it breaks the traditional feature of urban pleasant. The design of ground floor should take people out of the tension of traffic, create a relief comfort zone. On the ground floor, the principle is to let pedestrian have the priority and traffic go around, by organising of traffic, so that to provide a safe, comfortable pleasant, continuous walking space. People are willing to walk to their destination in 7-10 minutes. The parking area could be underground, so people could get rid of cars on the ground. The entire ground level should allow and encourage people to walk free like the podium of Chongqing Tower. This kind of area should make people walk intimately and create a feeling of belonging and emotional identification. CULTURE The design of ground floor should respect the cultural context, so that residents could get the sense of identity. The public space of ground floor can reveal the cultural content, not only in architectural style but also maintain or respect the scale of street, the way of people moving around and the living habit. In conclusion, as the age of high rise, what citizens really get from the building? How should the tall building hit the ground? Ground floor of tall building should effectively link the outdoor space with the building, relieve urban pressure, increase the coverage of greenery, improve the urban ecological environment and provide a platform for comminuting. It is a long term process, but with the better consciousness and technology it will enhance the flexibility and compatibility. As all the study of failure cases and successful cases, the importance and advantage of good design of ground level is conspicuous but we still could see so many unfriendly building sitting in the city by the sidewalk. The tough part for designers in the future is to really integrate those crucial points or principles in every project. People are looking forward a spectacular and innovative way of connection between skyscrapers and urban realm.

michael porter Essay -- essays research papers

  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  PORTER'S FIVE COMPETITIVE FORCESMethodology 4 Because the subject matter of strategic management is so inherently complex and because each one of us brings his own personal biases to the analysis, it was suggested early on that virtually all case material in the field be analyzed from the perspective of more than one methodology. Profit theory and industrial chains were selected as the first of a number of viable approaches to the analytical process. It would have been equally correct to select the Five Competitive Forces analysis refined by Michael Porter, one of the major figures in the field of strategic management. This methodology addresses the same issues but differs only in the language that they use to describe corporate behavior. The five forces are:  ·Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The threat of new entrants into an industry or a market served by a specific company.  ·Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The bargaining power of suppliers.  ·Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The bargaining power of customers.  ·Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Threat of substitute products or services.  ·Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The intensity of the rivalry among existing firms. Each of these topics is treated separately in the discussion that follows. The threat of new entrants The ease with which firms can enter into a new market or industry is a critical variable in the strategic management process. In some industries the barriers to entry are minimal. In oth... michael porter Essay -- essays research papers   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  PORTER'S FIVE COMPETITIVE FORCESMethodology 4 Because the subject matter of strategic management is so inherently complex and because each one of us brings his own personal biases to the analysis, it was suggested early on that virtually all case material in the field be analyzed from the perspective of more than one methodology. Profit theory and industrial chains were selected as the first of a number of viable approaches to the analytical process. It would have been equally correct to select the Five Competitive Forces analysis refined by Michael Porter, one of the major figures in the field of strategic management. This methodology addresses the same issues but differs only in the language that they use to describe corporate behavior. The five forces are:  ·Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The threat of new entrants into an industry or a market served by a specific company.  ·Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The bargaining power of suppliers.  ·Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The bargaining power of customers.  ·Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Threat of substitute products or services.  ·Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The intensity of the rivalry among existing firms. Each of these topics is treated separately in the discussion that follows. The threat of new entrants The ease with which firms can enter into a new market or industry is a critical variable in the strategic management process. In some industries the barriers to entry are minimal. In oth...

Albert Camus The Stranger: Existentialism and Absurdism Essay

Existentialism is a philosophy that emphasizes the uniqueness and isolation of the individual experience in a hostile or indifferent universe, regards human existence as unexplainable, and stresses freedom of choice and responsibility for the consequences of one’s acts. This philosophy is essentially the crux of the novel The Stranger and not only serves as one of the themes but probably the main reason Albert Camus wrote the book altogether. Presented in first person narration through the eyes of Meursault, the indifferent and apathetic main character, the novel serves to evoke the creed of existentialism through the embodiment of the philosophy in a person. Meursault’s speech, thought, and actions are what Camus believed a person who innately possessed the tenets of existentialism would have. Existentialism, what it represents, the results of its embodiment in a person, and the validity of the doctrine altogether are all important aspects explored in The Stranger by Albert Camus. â€Å"Maman died today or yesterday maybe, I don’t know†. These opening lines of the novel serve not only to introduce the novel but to summarize it as well. Rather than focusing on what is important-his mother’s death-Meursault is focused on when exactly she died; whether it was yesterday or today, since the telegraph only stated the funeral would be tomorrow. Right away, within the very first sentence, the reader is introduced to existentialism incarnate. Meursault exhibits a complete and utter indifference to life manifested by a profound lack of emotion. He doesn’t care when his mother died, in fact the fact that he has to attend the funeral altogether is the most troubling part of this whole ordeal to him. When he finally gets to the funeral, he couldn’t care less about his mother-as he rejects the offer to open the casket-but is utterly consumed by the days heat. Camus does a great job in the first part of the novel of demonstrating to the reader not only the philosophy of existentialism, but a corporal representation of it as well. This corporal representation of existentialism is what makes The Stranger the unique book it is. As opposed to the multitude of books and manifestos approaching existentialism from an academic perspective, The Stranger approaches the philosophy by detailing a character with the belief innately in him and showing how someone like this might behave. Neither the external world in which Meursault lives nor the internal world of his thoughts and attitudes possesses any rational order. Meursault has no discernable reason for his actions, such as his decision to marry Marie and his decision to kill the Arab. The book, narrated by Meursault, is basically life detailed superficially by him. He talks about the weather, the food he’s eating, about the things he did that day rather than how he feels or thinks of other people, places and things. This is how a person consumed with existentialism would behave and think-indifferently and apathetically. Meursault passes no judgment on people and is ultimate executed for killing an Arab for no apparent reason. The philosophy or theory of Existentialism is somewhat controversial, but nonetheless in many respects it has some notable and legitimate points. If one were to truly take a look at the universe, it would seem purposeless. And humans do in fact possess the innate desire, or rather compulsion, to explain things and have things figured out-thus explaining their need to associate a purpose with the universe, even when it doesn’t necessarily exist. But what made this theory come about in the 19th century when it could have been realized centuries before? The reason is the tragedy and devastation the world saw at this time-several world wars in specific. If we take a look at the life of Albert Camus himself, it’s hard to deny the fact that there is a connection between the existentialism’s inception and personal tragedy. In 1914, Camus’ Father was drafted into WWI and killed in France. In 1934 he Married Simone Hie, but divorced her two years later. In 1939 he volunteered for service in WWII, but was rejected due to illness. In 1940 he wrote an essay on the state of Muslims in Algeria causing him to lose his job and move to Paris. In 1941 he joined the French resistance against the Nazis and became an editor of Combat, an underground newspaper. These, as well as many other incidents and events in Camus’ life influenced him in the sense that they formed in him a bleak, pessimistic view of life. This perspective undoubtedly set the foundation for his adoption of the theory of existentialism. â€Å"If there is a sin against life, it consists perhaps not so much in despairing of life as in hoping for another life and in eluding the implacable grandeur of this life. † The point illuminated in this quote by Camus is that although some consider viewing life with despair to be wrong, or sinful, in reality hoping for an after life, â€Å"another life†, or living a life of implacable grandeur is the real sin. Camus held strong to the belief of Absurdism, or the belief that humanity’s effort to find meaning in the universe will ultimately fail-thus it is absurd to try to find meaning or to live as though there is a meaning because no such meaning exists. While Absurdism might seem like a synonym for Existentialism, the two are slightly different. Existentialism makes the point that there is no purpose or meaning in the universe. Absurdism goes a step further to say that not only is life purposeless, but any attempt at finding meaning is utterly absurd. Albert Camus, being the polarized man that he was, held more firmly to the belief of Absurdism than existentialism. In writing The Stranger, Albert Camus championed the idea of existentialism, a philosophy he truly believed in it. But the philosophy of existentialism is not free of criticism. Herbert Marcuse criticized existentialism, especially in Sartre’s Being and Nothingness, for projecting certain features of living in a modern, oppressive society, such as anxiety and meaninglessness, onto the nature of existence itself: â€Å"In so far as Existentialism is a philosophical doctrine, it remains an idealistic doctrine: it hypothesizes specific historical conditions of human existence into ontological and metaphysical characteristics. Existentialism thus becomes part of the very ideology which it attacks, and its radicalism is illusory† What Marcuse is saying here is that existentialism makes the mistake of thinking that just because human conditions are tragic and seem to lack a purpose, that they in fact do. Whether or not there is purpose to the universe is an ontological and metaphysical subject, not one that can be realized through historical events. Existentialism and its brother philosophy Absurdism are philosophies that emphasize the uniqueness and isolation of the individual in a hostile and indifferent world, and stress the fact the universe has no discernable purpose. This philosophy is essentially the crux of the novel The Stranger as Meursault, the indifferent and apathetic main character, embodies the tenets of existentialism intrinsically. Existentialism, what it represents, the results of its embodiment in a person, and the validity of the doctrine altogether are all important aspects explored in The Stranger by Albert Camus. Bibliography1. â€Å"Existentialism. † The American Heritage ® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition. Houghton Mifflin Company, 2004. Answers. com 28 Mar. 2007. http://www. answers. com/topic/existentialism2. Marcuse, Herbert. â€Å"Sartre’s Existentialism†. Printed in Studies in Critical Philosophy. Translated by Joris De Bres. London: NLB, 1972. p. 1613. Camus, Albert. The Stranger. Middlesex: UK Penguin Classics, 1943. 4. Sartre, Jean P. Existentialism is a Humanism. World Company, 1956. 5. â€Å"Albert Camus. † 28 Mar. 2007 . 6. White, Ray. â€Å"The Meaning of Life. † 2004. 29 Mar. 2007 .

Jordan Events Company Management Skills and Entrepreneurship

Jordan Events Company Management Skills and Entrepreneurship Exectuive summary Jordan Events is an events management company that manages corporate, professional and personal events. The company will be located in Jordan and will organize, design, plan and manage events for companies, corporate organizations and weddings among others. It will offer high quality services at affordable prices and services will be structured to meet specific client needs.Advertising We will write a custom proposal sample on Jordan Events Company: Management Skills and Entrepreneurship specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More The goals of the company will be to achieve customer satisfaction and exceptional quality of services, so as to lead in the events management market (ADAMS MALLEN 2008, p.137). Staff at the company will be highly trained individuals in various fields including interior designers, artists and florists. The company will focus on recruiting highly trained individuals to enable it attain the set goals an d objectives. The services of Jordan Events will be advertised through print media, television and social network sites. In addition, the company will develop an interactive website to market itself and the services it offers. Objectives The general objectives of Jordan Events include the following: To capture the Jordan market and be the leading events management company in the Middle East region. To provide exceptional event management services to clients and exceed their expectations by offering superior services. To be the preferred events management company in Jordan. To offer different products that suits all types of meetings. Keys to success Jordan Events will design mechanisms that will enable it succeed in attaining the objectives it has. The keys to success include: High training of individuals, capable of delivering high quality services. All the permanent staff the company will employ on permanent basis will have college degrees. Efficiency in service delivery so as to ensure that the operating costs are minimized. The company will offer affordable prices and different banquets to ensure that it attracts and retains clients. Mission Jordan Events has the mission of being the preferred events management company in Jordan and Middle East region, with the best quality services that meet the local and international standards. Business Description Background and history of the business Jordan Events is an events management company that is a fresh entrant in the market and manages events for corporate clients, individuals and businesses. The company is in the final stages of registration and documentation. It plans to begin operations in early 2013 by opening three branches in Jordan. In the next three years, the company will expand operations in Middle East region by opening more branches in principle cities.Advertising Looking for proposal on business economics? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More The company has a vision of being the leading events management company in the region. It will ensure that it does this by offering high quality services in the region. There will be flexibility in the products offered by the company and will be tailor made to suit specifications of the clients (FISK, GROVE JOHN 2008, p. 129). The company is owned jointly by three brothers, all of whom have worked in the hotel, tourism and hospitality industries. The three brothers have held managerial positions in their previous jobs and thus have a wealth of experience in management. Business goals The main goal of the company is to be the preferred events management company in Jordan and Middle East region. The company will have to offer the best services in the region so that it becomes the preferred events management company. It will, therefore, create a strong brand by first operating few branches in Jordan then expand later. The other goal of Jordan Events is to acquire a large market share within a short time. The company will aim at acquiring at least 10% market share annually over the next 5 years. The company noticed that the already existing event management companies in the region have not developed strong brands, and thus will not put up much competition (ROLL 2006, p. 147). Acquiring 10% market share annually for a period of 5 years will enable the company earn high revenues and profits. The company projects that the number of clients who need events management services will increase over the 5 year period as more people recognize the service. Products The products and services that Jordan Events will offer vary. The company will offer the following services: Destination and location sourcing services Hotel and venue management Arrangement and stage management Exhibition services Guest management services Event designing and communication services The company will handle different types of functions when offering these services. It will manage c eremonies, weddings, business meetings, product launches and festivals. It will also manage occasions such as workshops, company inaugurations and graduation ceremonies.Advertising We will write a custom proposal sample on Jordan Events Company: Management Skills and Entrepreneurship specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More The clients will be engaged in the organization of the events to enable building of suitable concepts that will satisfy them. In addition to these services, the company will offer consultancy services to clients on how to organize their functions. The company will also offer training to individuals on how to successfully organize and manage events. Supplier information The company will develop contact with different companies in different industries to be suppliers of services and products it will need. The company will develop contacts with organizations that will be able to offer high quality services and products at af fordable prices. The main suppliers will be the following: Public address and communication services limited: This company will provide communication equipment that the company will use in clients’ events. The company has vast experience in the line of business it is involved in. It offers high quality service and is affordable. The equipment this company has such as speakers are of high quality and of latest models. Jebel Amman Hotel: This company will offer catering services in the events Jordan Events will manage. It is a five star hotel located in Jordan and is affordable. Jordan Tents and Stands Limited:Advertising Looking for proposal on business economics? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More This company is located in Jordan and offers tents and chairs for hiring. The quality of the tents and chairs that this company has are new and in good conditions. The price it charges per tent is affordable. Jordan Events will hire tents from this company for outdoor functions that it will manage. The company will sign contracts with these suppliers for a period of 5 years. The contracts will, however, be renewable based on the quality of service they provide and satisfaction of Jordan Events. Agreement and ownership structure Jordan Events is owned by three brothers who are the executive directors. The three brothers contributed capital equally and formed a partnership. Under the agreement, all profits and losses that Jordan Events makes will be shared in equal proportions among the three. The three will have equal rights in decision making and no major decision will be made without consultation. Legal considerations The company must be first registered and obtain certificate from the registrar of companies before it begins operations. The name ‘Jordan Events’ will undergo search in government records to ensure that no other company exists with such a name. In addition, the company will employ the services of a lawyer to scrutinize all contracts the company will sign. The legal officer will also scrutinize the partnership agreement to ensure that there are no gaps. Business opportunities Potential customers The target market for Jordan Events is wide and includes organizations, businesses and individuals. The company will target organizations, both local and international, that have meetings such as conferences. It will mainly target conferences that have 200 participants and above. It will target meetings that are either one day or are for a long period. The company has identified that the number of companies that require event management services has increased in Jordan and Middle East region. In a study the company undertook, the numbers of companies that need the services increase by 5% annually. These companies need these services when making product launches, during their annual general meetings (AGM) and when making major news and new developments. The rapid growth of the region has led to increase in the number of organizations in different sectors. The company will target all these companies to be clients. The company will offer events management services to individuals. The company found that there are many people who want well planned weddings and ceremonies that take place in scenic places. The company will target readers of business and wedding magazines in Jordan and Middle East region. It will place adverts showcasing the services it offers in these magazines. The adverts will give details that aim at enticing these readers to seek event management services from Jordan Events. Additionally, it will target individuals who use social network sites such as Twitter. Geographical area The company will be locate d in Jordan, a region experiencing tremendous growth in recent years. The population of Jordan has increased and this means the number of potential clients of the company is high (WALKER FIRESTONE 2009, p. 53). The geographical features in the region provide scenic and appropriate places the company will hire to provide outdoor event management services. The already existing event management organizations in the region are not yet well established and thus Jordan Events will be able to gain market share easily (FLOOR 2006, p. 98). Surveys by hospitality department in the Ministry of Tourism and Hospitality project that the events management subsector will grow at a rate of 15% annually. This provides Jordan Events a good opportunity to be a leading events management company in the region since it has resources and adequate capital. The numbers of companies that are likely suppliers to Jordan Events are numerous. This will enable the company to get lower prices for the services that they will offer. In case the suppliers were not locally available, Jordan Events would have been forced to seek suppliers from either China or India. However, these countries are located far from Jordan and thus the services would have been expensive for Jordan Events. The central location of Jordan in Middle East region is strategic and can enable the company to expand with ease. Bussiness competitors The company will face competition from both local and international events management companies. The main local competitors will include Events Unlimited, Shahin and Shahin, Jordan EcoTuors, Dilloona and Gala Events and Classic Flowers Jordan. Others will be Al Ramz Group Jordan, OrangeRed Jordan and True Vision Conferences Company among others. The international event management competitors of Jordan Events will include Pinkmoon Corporation, Global Vision Jordan, International Fairs and Promotions Jordan, Petra Events Management and Events Unlimited Jordan. The only a few of these e vent management companies have managed to develop strong brands in the region. The market share that each of the companies have is less than 10% and there is no market leader. The likely strong competitors in the market are Shahin and Shahin, Talal Convention Center, Global Vision Jordan and International Fairs and Promotions. These companies have vast resources and facilities and will thus challenge Jordan Events. Marketing strategy Pricing strategy The company will offer low prices for events management services that it will offer. The idea is to offer the most affordable prices while offering high quality service (KIMBALL 2011, p. 127). This means that the general strategy will be to have high number of clients and be efficient in operations. The goal of the management will thus be to operate optimally at very low costs. Overhead costs and wastage of resources will be minimized at Jordan Events so that it can be a low cost service provider. The products will also be structured in a way that allows flexibility in price. Therefore, price will be set depending on the budget clients want to maintain (ALLEN 2009, p. 41). The company will use different information technology system in managing different activities of the company. This will assist the company in reducing costs on material such as stationary and thus reduce the overall operating costs. The result is that the company will offer lower prices (SMITH 2012, p. 171). Additionally, the company will contract suppliers with low prices with the aim of saving and reducing operation costs. However, the suppliers will offer high quality services so as to satisfy Jordan Events’ expectations. The quality of service that the company will offer will always be high. This will attract many clients and will assist the company in retaining the customers. Once the number of clients increases, the company will be able to offer cheaper prices due to high numbers (MILLS 2002, p.129). Sales projections The company ha s made projections of the sales it expects in the next three years. After a period of 8 months, Jordan Events expects that the value of sales will increase. The company will engage in an intensive marketing campaign once it begins operations. In addition, executive sales persons will be employed to market the products and increase sales. The first table shows the sales projections that the company expects in the first three years. It can be seen that the value of sales projected increases from year 1 through to year 3. The company projects that sales will increase by 38.4% between year 1 and year 2. The projections indicate that sales will increase by 45.78% between year 2 and year 3. The company expects that the environment in the region to continue being stable and conducive for business. The company noted that political, economic and social events in the region can adversely affect the sales of the company. Notably, the social unrest in Syria and confrontation between Iran and I srael are among the events that can adversely affect the sales of the company. The second table shows the projected costs of sales. These include the costs of hiring venues, salaries and wages and advertisement fees. It can be seen from the table that the costs increase from year 1 to year 3 indicating increase in business. The increase in projected cost of sales from year 1 and Year 2 is 47.6%. The increase in the projected cost of sales from Year 2 to Year 3 is 24.76%. This is likely because the company will be highly efficient in operations after Year 2. Marketing plan The Middle East region and Jordan has a vibrant market that enables rapid growth of businesses. The region is centrally placed in Middle East with highly developed infrastructural facilities. The residents of the region embrace technological developments especially the rapid growth in information technology. This will make it easier for Jordan Events to market the products and services that it offers in the market. The company will hire an advertising agency to design broadcast adverts. Initially, these will aim at introducing the company in the market. The adverts will emphasize the existence of the company, â€Å"Jordan Events†, in Jordan. Once the company starts receiving clients, the adverts will shift focus to promoting the company as the leading events manager in the region. Much of the introductory adverts will be done through television since it is considered â€Å"hot media† and has high influence in shaping peoples opinions (BERGER 2007, p. 32). The company will also place adverts in different magazines, especially wedding and business magazines. These will target businesses, both local and international, and individuals who want to do weddings. A few billboards will be strategically placed in major cities in Jordan to promote the company. The general aim of the adverts will be to create brand awareness (FERRELL HARTLINE 2011, p. 682). In addition to these methods, th e company will develop an interactive website that will enable clients find information about the products (TOKORO 2010, p. 96). The website will be made colorful and with attractive features to entice clients. It will include a gallery section through which clients can see the various arrangement and decoration styles the company can manage to make. The other marketing strategy that the company will employ is the establishment of contacts with various hotels, magazines, and tours and travel agencies. These organizations can refer clients to Jordan Events to manage their functions. The owners of the company have worked in the hotel and hospitality industry and thus have already established a few contacts. It will also employ qualified and highly experienced sales persons to market the company, the product and the services. Finally, the company will use social network sites to market the products and services that it offers. Business operations Operational function The company will b egin business operations in early 2013 once it finalizes registration and satisfies all official requirements. The company will ensure that it obtains all necessary documents and satisfies government requirements before it begins actual operations. The company will have three executive directors, who are the owners of the company. One director will be the Chief Executive Officer, another one will be the Chief Financial Officer and the last one will be the Chief Operations Officer. The company will hire a consultant to assist the company define the roles of each one of them. There will be other directors employed be the company. These will include Human Resources Director, Business Sourcing Director, Sales Director and Strategy and Organizational Development Director. The company will develop an interactive system of operation and all employees will have e-mail addresses (PERRET 2007, p. 443). The aim of this is to increase the flow of information within the company and to enable fir st implementation of decisions (ZHANG 2006, p. 256). The company will also employ line managers to increase efficiency in operations, and enable connection between the management and the staff (BOHLANDER 2010, p. 39). The offices of the company will be located within the Central Business Districts (CBD) of cities to enable accessibility. Services offered The services that Jordan Events will offer are numerous and of high quality. The company will offer the following services: Destination and location sourcing services The company will develop contacts with hotels and acquire extensive knowledge about hotels in the region. It will develop a bargaining ability with the hotels so as to use hotel facilities at affordable prices (STIVING 2011, p. 5). It will negotiate on the behalf of clients and sign contracts to enable clients use hotel facilities. Hotel and venue management The company will manage the venue of meetings before and during the meetings. It will ensure all guests have acc ommodation and that all facilities such as bathrooms are functioning appropriately. Jordan Events will also ensure that the venue is secure and that catering services are available. Arrangement and stage management The company will provide high quality presentation services to all clients it offers services to. It will develop contact with companies offering public address services and will employ individuals with high experiences in setting meeting venues. The company will also be able to coordinate all speakers used in events and will ensure all guests have good site to the stage. Exhibition services Jordan Events will manage exhibitions at conferences for clients. It will be capable of managing conferences with over 150 exhibition sites. The company will manage booking of space, setting of exhibition sites and the venue. To ensure success in managing exhibitions, the company will contract stand designers to erect stands of different sizes for the clients (ABRAHAM, GALE KRELL 200 5, p. 180). Guest management services The company will manage the guests that clients have in a professional and satisfying manner. The company will include a registration portal in the website it will design to assist in registration and management of guests. The company will manage guests’ accommodation, meeting agenda and discussion sessions (FORD, STURMAN HEATON 2012, p. 127). Event designing and communication services The company will assist clients in designing their functions (WOLF, WOLF, WOLF LEVINE 2005, p.79). It will assist clients in developing theme, in designing seating arrangements and in decorating event venues. In addition, it will make arrangement for communication facilities and in advertising the event through the media. The company will handle different types of functions when offering these services. It will manage ceremonies, weddings, business meetings, product launches and festivals. It will also manage occasions such as workshops, company inaugurat ions and graduation ceremonies. The clients will be engaged in the organization of the events to enable building of suitable concepts that will satisfy them. In addition to these services, the company will offer consultancy services to clients on how to organize their functions. The company will also offer training to individuals on how to successfully organize and manage events. Personnel The company will employ highly qualified personnel to undertake the functions in various departments. The company will employ most of the staff on permanent and pensionable basis. The employees must, however, work for a period of one year on contract after which performance will be reviewed. If the employee’s performance satisfies the board, the employee’s contract is renewed on permanent terms of employment. The employees will have college degrees in various fields. The only employees who are not required to have college degrees are grounds men and seat fillers. They will also be em ployed on temporary basis depending on need (CARTER 2007, p. 37). The managerial level staff, including directors, will be expected to hold Masters Degrees in areas related to business. The staff will be handsomely rewarded for their services and will be provided with medical cover by the company. They will be taken through various trainings and team building sessions annually to increase their competence and motivation (LELAND BAILEY 2006, p. 78). Technology The company will used Information Communication Technology (ICT) Systems in operating the company (TASSIOPOULOS DAMSTER 2004, p. 425). It will adopt a Customer Relation Management System (CRM) to maintain contact with clients. The system will enable customers make inquires and give feedback to the company (SHARP, 2002, p. 7). In addition, clients will be able to make bookings for Jordan Events services online. This is because the system will be linked to the company website and will be available online. The company will also make it possible for the clients to make payments for services via the internet (GRÜNEWÄLDER 2008, p. 5). The company will also use a Warehouse Management System (WMS) to manage inventory. The staff will be able to know the location of all property of the company through this warehouse management system. The system will ensure the safety of all company property and will ease operations in the company. Additionally, it will use an internet based Human Resources Management System (HRMS) in managing the employees (BARBEITO 2004, p. 30). The system will enable the human resources manager contact staff through their e-mails. The employees can also request and manage leave days through the human resources management system. The offices will be fitted with computers, printers and other appliances that enable easy operations. The company recognizes that these are likely to reduce the operation costs in the long run. The company will also use development of internet technology in mar keting the services it offers (DAMM 2011, p. 38). It will post adverts in the internet through the company website and through social network sites such as Twitter and Face Book (BAIRD 2009, p. 10). These will ensure rapid popularity of the company and the brand â€Å"Jordan Events†. It will acquire latest electronic equipment such as cameras, speakers and microphones to supplement those that it will hire from suppliers. The company will acquire these equipments from top suppliers. It will acquire high quality equipments that will ensure customer satisfaction is achieved (BOWDIN 2006, p. 408). Managerial staff will be provided with iPods or Smart Phones so as to increase the speed of communication in the company. The iPods and Smart Phones will also enable them know changes and trends in the market. This will enable them make informed decisions and keep the company ahead of competitors (ALLEN 2002, p. 131). The company will be technology driven. The directors will be ready to adopt any technology that will lead to improvement in operations and increase in efficiency (MEEGAN 2009, p. 9). Finances Projected profit and loss The statement above gives the projected profit and loss account of Jordan Events for the first three years of operation. In the first year, it is projected that the company will make a loss of JD 21,406. The sales for the first year are projected to be JD 650,750 while the costs of sales for the same year are projected to be JD 301,662. The projected gross margin the company will attain in the first year is JD 349,098. However, the operating expenses for the company during the first year are projected to be high. This is why the company is likely to make a loss in the first year. In the second year, it is projected that the company will make a profit of JD 50,507 after tax. The likely reason for this is that the company will be operating efficiently and will have acquired a considerable market share. In the third year, the projected pr ofit after tax is JD 247,454 which represents a 79.59% increase from year 2. During the third year, the management expects that the company will be operating optimally, efficiently and will have acquired a large market share. After the third year, the company’s management is likely to begin the expansion process as indicated in their objectives. Projected cash flow Projected balance sheet Capital was obtained through equal contribution by the owners. List of References ABRAHAM, D., GALE, J KRELL, T 2005, Organizational transformation and e-business implementation, Emerald Group Pub., Bradford, UK. ADAMS, L MALLEN, C 2008, Sport, recreation and tourism event management: theoretical and practical dimensions, Butterworth-Heinemann, Oxford. ALLEN, J 2002, The business of event planning behind-the-scenes secrets of successful special events, Willey Sons, Toronto. ALLEN, J 2009, Event planning: the ultimate guide to successful meetings, corporate events, fund-raising galas, co nferences, conventions, incentives and other special events. Mississauga, Wiley Sons, Ontario, Canada. BAIRD, T 2009, The truth about facebook: how to use facebook for marketing and advertisting, and much more the facts you should know, South-Western Cengage Learning, Mason, OH. BARBEITO, C 2004, Human Resource Policies and Procedures for Nonprofit Organizations, John Wiley Sons, Hoboken, MA. BERGER, A 2007, Media and society: a critical perspective, Rowman Littlefield, Lanham. BOHLANDER, G 2010, Managing human resources [Hauptbd.], South-Western Cengage Learning, Mason, OH. BOWDIN, G 2006, Events management, Elsevier, Amsterdam. CARTER, L 2007, Event planning, Ind, AuthorHouse, Bloomington. DAMM, S 2011, Event management: how to apply best practices to small scale events, Diplomica-Verl, Hamburg. FERRELL, O HARTLINE, M 2011, Marketing strategy, South-Western Cengage Learning, Sidney. FISK, R., GROVE, S JOHN, J 2008, Interactive services marketing, Houghton Mifflin, Boston, MA . FLOOR, K 2006, Branding a store: how to build successful retail brands in a changing marketplace, Kogan Page, London, UK. FORD, R., STURMAN, M HEATON, C 2012, Managing quality service in hospitality: how organizations achieve excellence in the guest experience, Cengage Learning, Clifton Park, N.Y. GRÜNEWÄLDER, A 2008, Implementing CRM systems Approaches and potential problems, GRIN Verlag GmbH, München. KIMBALL, C 2011, Start your own event planning business, Jere L. Calmes, Irvine. LELAND, K BAILEY, K 2006, Customer service for dummies, Wiley, Hoboken, MA. MEEGAN J 2009, Sustainable Event Management, Earthscan, London, UK. MILLS, G 2002, Retail pricing strategies and market power, University Press, Melbourne. PERRET, F 2007, Essentials of logistics and management, CRC Press, Boca Raton, FL. ROLL, M 2006, Asian brand strategy: how Asia builds strong brands, Palgrave/Macmillan, Basingstoke. SHARP, D 2002, Customer relationship management systems handbook, Auerbach, Bo ca Raton, FL. SMITH, T 2012, Pricing strategy: setting price levels, managing price discounts, establishing price structures, South-Western Cengage Learning, Australia. STIVING, M 2011, Impact pricing your blueprint for driving profits, Entrepreneur Press, Irvine, CA. TASSIOPOULOS, D DAMSTER, G 2004, Event management: a professional and developmental approach, Juta Academic, Landsdowne. TOKORO, M 2010, Open systems science: from understanding principles to solving problems, IOS Press, Amsterdam. WALKER, J FIRESTONE, M 2009, Jordan, Lonely Planet Publications, Footscray. WOLF, P., WOLF, J., WOLF, P LEVINE, D 2005, Event planning made easy: 7 simple steps to making your business or private event a huge success: from the industrys top event planners, McGraw-Hill, New York, NY. ZHANG, P 2006, Human-computer interaction and management information systems: foundations, Sharpe, Armonk, NY.

Get your financial life in order before the new year

Get your financial life in order  before the new year Are you finally ready to get your financial health in better shape? If so, then you’re thinking wisely, because it’s never too soon to start taking your relationship with money more seriously and plan for your future- like it or not, it’s going to come eventually, and those who prepare for it in advance will be ready to face it responsibly and with as little anxiety as possible. For most of us, the future can be an uncertain entity- what our professional and personal lives will look like as the months, years, and decades roll forward can be difficult to predict, and unexpected twists and turns along the way can derail our plans and force us to revise our goals along the way. This uncertainly can cause a great deal of stress, so it makes sense to have as much under our control and working in our favor as possible. Having a financial safety net of sorts to help see us through is obviously beneficial.Have we convinced you that it’s a good idea to start gettin g your financial life in order? If so, then keep reading, and consider using the following strategies to get you started on the right path.Get seriousOne of the most important aspects of getting yourself in good financial shape is to get in the proper mindset for doing so. Like most endeavors in life that require a change in behavior and extended displays of discipline, being in the right mental space at the onset, during the critical first steps, is an essential ingredient for success.So, in order to get started with the right attitude and mindset, try making a list of goals for getting your life in financial order. Both short- and long-term goals are fair game here. Do you want to pay back a loan or reduce your debt? Do you want to make a significant purchase sometime in the future that you want to be in better financial shape for, like a car or home? Are you preparing for a major life change, like a move or starting a family? Having a set of tangible (and achievable!) goals on yo ur radar can help you get in the right mindset for making smart financial decisions- both now and over the long haul. The truth is, sometimes it takes having a destination in your sights to make it through a long journey.Start smallFor most of us, we can’t simply buy our way to financial freedom- it’s more of a long, hard road than a quick sprint, and it’s a journey that often never has a definitive end. So, think of your initial move to get your financial life in order as a series of small steps in the right direction. Even if they don’t completely change your life in an instant, they’ll get you moving in the right direction and will help you develop fiscally responsible behaviors, build on your positive inertia, and bolster your mindset and discipline.Think of some small ways you can get started- perhaps save a little bit of money each week from each paycheck or find a few ways you can earn some extra money (a part-time job or selling some of you r unwanted stuff are great ideas). You can also try eliminating some unnecessary expenses in your life. Don’t look back- like any great journey, getting on the road to financial order begins with a single step.Get helpOne of the really nice things about getting your financial life in order these days is that there are more tools than ever before to help you stay on track. An army of app developers have devoted their efforts to creating financial planning, organizing, and saving tools that can help you get your finances in order and hit all of your money milestones along your path to financial freedom. A little Internet research to discover the latest and greatest apps that best meet your needs is time well spent. Many available apps are free or low cost, so testing some out and discovering the ones that work well for you through trial and error won’t be a monumental investment.You can also turn to friends and family for help- the truth is, having the important people i n our lives helping to keep us motivated can mean the difference between success and failure in a challenging situation. So, let your friends and family know about your financial plans, fill them in on how they can help, and use their support to achieve your goals.Getting your life in financial order may not be easy, and you may stumble and restart at times along the way, but it’s a journey worth taking, and one that’s best to start early. Use the advice and strategies presented here to help get you moving in the right direction when it comes to your money and finances.

Free Essays on Art Nouveau

Art Nouveau (from French for â€Å"new art†), movement in Western art and design, which reached its peak during the 1890s. Hallmarks of the art nouveau style are flat, decorative patterns; intertwined organic forms such as stems or flowers; an emphasis on handcrafting as opposed to machine manufacturing; the use of new materials; and the rejection of earlier styles. In general, sinuous, curving lines also characterize art nouveau, although right-angled forms are also typical, especially as the style was practiced in Scotland and in Austria. Art nouveau embraced all forms of art and design: architecture, furniture, glassware, graphic design, jewelry, painting, pottery, metalwork, and textiles. This was a sharp contrast to the traditional separation of art into the distinct categories of fine art (painting and sculpture) and applied arts (ceramics, furniture, and other practical objects). The term art nouveau comes from an art gallery in Paris, France, called Maison de l'Art Nouveau (House of New Art), which was run by French dealer Siegfried Bing. In his gallery, Bing displayed not only paintings and sculpture but also ceramics, furniture, metalwork, and Japanese art. Sections of the gallery were devoted to model rooms that artists and architects designed in the art nouveau style. Art nouveau flourished in a number of European countries, many of which developed their own names for the style. Art nouveau was known in France as style Guimard, after French designer Hector Guimard; in Italy as the stile floreale (floral style) or stile Liberty, after British art nouveau designer Arthur Lasenby Liberty; in Spain as modernisme; in Austria as Sezessionstil (secession style); and in Germany as Jugendstil (youth style). These diverse names reflect the widespread adoption of the movement, which had centers in major cities all over Europe- Paris and Nancy in France; Darmstadt and Munich in Germany; Brussels, Belgium; Glasgow, Scotland; ... Free Essays on Art Nouveau Free Essays on Art Nouveau Art Nouveau (from French for â€Å"new art†), movement in Western art and design, which reached its peak during the 1890s. Hallmarks of the art nouveau style are flat, decorative patterns; intertwined organic forms such as stems or flowers; an emphasis on handcrafting as opposed to machine manufacturing; the use of new materials; and the rejection of earlier styles. In general, sinuous, curving lines also characterize art nouveau, although right-angled forms are also typical, especially as the style was practiced in Scotland and in Austria. Art nouveau embraced all forms of art and design: architecture, furniture, glassware, graphic design, jewelry, painting, pottery, metalwork, and textiles. This was a sharp contrast to the traditional separation of art into the distinct categories of fine art (painting and sculpture) and applied arts (ceramics, furniture, and other practical objects). The term art nouveau comes from an art gallery in Paris, France, called Maison de l'Art Nouveau (House of New Art), which was run by French dealer Siegfried Bing. In his gallery, Bing displayed not only paintings and sculpture but also ceramics, furniture, metalwork, and Japanese art. Sections of the gallery were devoted to model rooms that artists and architects designed in the art nouveau style. Art nouveau flourished in a number of European countries, many of which developed their own names for the style. Art nouveau was known in France as style Guimard, after French designer Hector Guimard; in Italy as the stile floreale (floral style) or stile Liberty, after British art nouveau designer Arthur Lasenby Liberty; in Spain as modernisme; in Austria as Sezessionstil (secession style); and in Germany as Jugendstil (youth style). These diverse names reflect the widespread adoption of the movement, which had centers in major cities all over Europe- Paris and Nancy in France; Darmstadt and Munich in Germany; Brussels, Belgium; Glasgow, Scotland; ...

Criminal Justice Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words - 5

Criminal Justice - Essay Example These are common examples of crime. However, a precise meaning of criminal offence is defined by various laws of each country. Some of these countries have a catalogue of crime, and it is referred to as the criminal code. Some countries have a comprehensive statute, which outlines the various crimes that are against the state. There are three major classification of crime, namely, misdemeanor, felony, and treason. The major difference that exists between a felony and a misdemeanor is on the penalty an individual receives for the offence (Burke, 279). A misdemeanor refers to a crime whose punishment is identified by the law. However, this punishment should not be death or imprisonment. The state or the government has the authority and power to restrict the liberty of an individual who is involved in committing a crime. To limit this liability, the state must follow a criminal procedure that culminates into an investigation, to a trial. It is only after the guilt of an individual is ascertained, that an offender may receive a punishment. This punishment can be imprisonment, community service, or even death, depending on the nature of crime. The natural law and the labeling theory effectively explain this concept of crime. According to the labeling theory, crime is an activity that causes injury to the society. The people, who apply this concept of labeling, normally assert the hegemony of a population that is dominant (Burke, 279). Furthermore, labeling a particular activity as a crime is a reflection of a general consensus that condemns the behavior. Natural law theory recognizes the power of the state to enforce laws, and prevent a crime. The state normally uses the police for purposes of enforcing law and order. The police have an important role in promoting justice (Justice and T, 160). Through the power vested upon them in the constitution, the police have the authority of arresting any suspected individual.

First Tennessee Bank (First Horizon National Corp) - Organizational Research Paper

First Tennessee Bank (First Horizon National Corp) - Organizational Behavior - Research Paper Example Organizational behavior is an integral aspect of various successful businesses. For a more precise understanding of the organizational behavior at FTB, it is important to identify certain norms and characteristics that determine the aspects of the regional bank. Some of these characteristics of organizational behavior include, firstly, attitudes and values of employees for example company culture, social responsibility and others. Secondly, motivation and performance, which encompass factors like, job security, bonuses, raises, and employee mentoring programs. Thirdly, managerial challenges for example global competition. The three factors play a significant role in shaping FTB’s organizational culture (Marquis& Huang, 2010). Employee work rate is governable by their perception or attitude towards the job they do. Such attitudes are achievable through values and ethics that dictate the manner in which organizational operations remain executed. Upholding workplace values and ethical practices ensures that there is no friction between the leadership of organizations and the junior employees. At FTB, the following are prevalent: Differentiated customer service considers the customer’s identities, in that, services are offered to customers automatically via a software system. An example is telematics, which is a component of information technology that deals with the transfer of digitized organizational information over long distances. FTB entered into a partnership with Ensenta Corporation, a software development organization. FTB is devoted to improving convenience for its customers and at the same time enhancing efficiency within the bank’s workforce. Therefore, Ensenta assists in achieving this goal by refining the remote deposit capture (RDC) service offered to customers. RDC is an information technology system that allows bank clients to scan checks from their diverse locations and send the images to FTB remotely through the

Jeffersonian Era Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Jeffersonian Era - Essay Example Jefferson argued that the Court was a creation of the Constitution and to give it the power of judicial review would make "its discretion and not the Constitution the measure of its powers." He argued that when the federal government assumed a power not granted to it by the Constitution, each state, as a party to the constitutional compact, had a right to declare the law unconstitutional (see State Sovereignty and States' Rights). He also believed that each branch of the federal government had a coordinate right to resolve questions of constitutionality," ("Thomas Jefferson", p.1). This act taken, with the assistance of fellow politician James Madison, would serve to show Jefferson's view on judicial law, as well as the rights of states. The notion of the states being able to declare a law unconstitutional, if the federal government creates it through such means as assuming power not held within the Constitution, reaches into present day governing in the sense of the 'checks and balances system,' that exists in the present structure of the political system in all facets. Keeping with the notion that all branches of government is on equal footing and as such have the opportunity to answer issues having to do with how a decision, or decisions, fall into the overall framework of the constitutional document itself. As President, "The President's greatest triumph - and his greatest defeat - came in foreign affairs. Spain's cession of Louisiana and the port of New Orleans to France in 1800 posed a serious threat to American security, especially to the aspirations of the West. Jefferson skillfully negotiated this crisis. With the Louisiana Purchase (1803), America gained an uncharted domain of some 800,000 square miles, doubling its size, for $11,250,000. Even before the treaty was signed, Jefferson planned an expedition to explore this country. The Lewis and Clark expedition, like the Louisiana Purchase, was a spectacular consummation of Jefferson's western vision," ("Thomas Jefferson", p.1). With international relations being a pillar of any President's ability to govern skillfully, the acquisition of the Louisiana territory would bode well for Jefferson in this regard. In the current landscape of political campaigning and governance, current politicians promise numerous things. One of those such promises are that of the reduction in taxes for certain portions of the individual citizenry. As a way to revamp the tax system of the time, "When Thomas Jefferson was elected President in 1802, direct taxes were abolished and for the next 10 years there were no internal revenue taxes other than excises," ("Fact Sheets: Taxes", p.1). As taxes are the means of paying for necessary governmental services, there would be other options taken in response to the extraction of internal revenue taxes. Those being, "To raise money for the War of 1812, Congress imposed additional excise taxes, raised certain customs duties, and raised money by issuing Treasury notes. In 1817 Congress repealed these taxes, and for the next 44 years the Federal

Vietnam and Philippines Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Vietnam and Philippines - Essay Example While the political elites in the country may not have wished to share their authority and command with other leaders and the populace, this situation was necessitated by the states experience of near starvation in the 80s - a situation that demanded that the political leadership open up to other interest groups for the country’s survival. Philippines on the other hand has a weak state that is characterized by weak social institutions and personalistic presidential politics. The national and central government has massive control over the public and private sectors with power entrenched in oligarchs, their families, and their cronies. Generally, the centralization of government in Philippines has led the country to be less competitive as oligarchs and clans retain control over resources. Even though electoral democracy exists in the Philippines, the country continues to witness systemic corruption and limited economic growth compared to Vietnam which has an authoritarian government. This is the case with the Philippines considering that the social institutions and government bodies that are charged with the responsibility of fighting corruption and putting the government on check are dominated by different clans and oligarchs who are keen on protecting their interests as opposed to performing their duties. The power that the oligarchs, their families, and their cronies wield together with the personalistic politics that characterize the country have seen corruption thrive in the Philippines. This is not the case in Vietnam where the government is decentralized, political leaders have responsibility to their constituents, and provinces have the power to control what is done at the state

Imaginary Small Business KraftyKidz.com Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Imaginary Small Business KraftyKidz.com - Essay Example Books: there should be a selection of books that appeal specifically to the parents and educators of the target market, so that these interested adults can go to this site and order books about their children. In addition, of course there is also a selection of books to be ordered by and for the kids to read. The Internet reinvents itself every three months, or even faster. Therefore, our strategy for future development is to remain positioned with enough flexibility to adapt new technologies, and adapt to changes quickly. The Krafykidz.com market would be expanding exponentially with the advances of technology in the teaching sectors and the acceptance of technology as a teaching aid. The critical component to our entrance into the market will be approval and support from the school communities - including teachers, the PTA, and special education programs. While we have plans to expand into international territory, our initial launch will target our most important market - the American upper class. We know that most of our clients would drive BMW's and have very good taste - they spend money on their children because they can appreciate the technology that we have created. They also generally have high bandwidth connections, and are impressed by first-class design. The Break-even Analysis is a good f... We know that most of our clients would drive BMW's and have very good taste - they spend money on their children because they can appreciate the technology that we have created. They also generally have high bandwidth connections, and are impressed by first-class design. Financial Considerations Our start-up costs would come to $33,750, which are high because of our commitment to dominate the Internet market place. The Break-even Analysis is a good financial indicator. We show break-even with a sales level of about $265K per month, even assuming a fixed cost of $169 per month, which is high. Given those assumptions, we would reach steady-state break-even in December of the first year. Some companies can raise funds under the Enterprise Investment Scheme. The scheme applies to trading companiesbut not generallyto service or investment companies. There are potential tax advantages for individuals - including sole traders and partners acting in their capacity as individuals -who invest in such companies, such as - The buyer of the shares get tax relief at the lower rate of income tax and when they sell the shares it is also possible that they can defer the capital gains tax on any gains on those shares. Interest on loans taken for the purpose of investing in qualifying companies is not tax deductible. Government Regulations KraftyKidz.com would also need to consider trademarks. Trademarks and service marks may be registered in a state for a term of ten years as per the regulations involved. KraftyKidz.com would be required by law to withhold the following from the wages paid to employees: federal income taxes, state income taxes and FICA (Social Security) Insurance. Income taxes will also be levied by the federal and

Auditor independence Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Auditor independence - Research Paper Example Without independence, Arya & Glover (2014, p. 188) believes that there is no need for external auditors attestation to the purported accuracy and the completeness of the company financial information. The adverse effects of auditors providing services to clients that pay them directly question the impairment of auditor independence. An association between fees received by the audit firms directly from the clients will possibly impair auditor independence with particular interest to the going concern reporting decision that continues to have considerable interest to the regulators and others. This paper studies Arthur Andersen clients and investigates whether the decline in Andersens problems due to a criminal indictment can adversely affect the stock market perception of its audit quality. The reputations concerns are an issue on the impairment of the auditors independence. Arya & Glover (2014, p. 190) investigates the relationship between abnormal market returns for the Andersen clients and the fee-based measures of auditor independence. The empirical results support the ideology that auditor independence and reputation can significantly affect the perceived auditor quality and credibility in the audited financial statements as well as the market prices. The paper will also provide empirical evidence on the efficacy of auditors and directors that apply aggressive financial reporting that have accruals. In that light, the paper will investigate a sample of United States firms to evaluate the auditors independence on the clients. According to (), aggressive financing reporting will only occur when multiple governance mechanism fails. The overreliance of SOX-type legislation cannot act as a substitute for strong governance mechanisms in the regulation. Paterson & Valencia (2011, p. 1510) assert that Arthur Andersens perceives audit failure of Enron and other publicized accounting

Vietnam and Philippines Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Vietnam and Philippines - Essay Example While the political elites in the country may not have wished to share their authority and command with other leaders and the populace, this situation was necessitated by the states experience of near starvation in the 80s - a situation that demanded that the political leadership open up to other interest groups for the country’s survival. Philippines on the other hand has a weak state that is characterized by weak social institutions and personalistic presidential politics. The national and central government has massive control over the public and private sectors with power entrenched in oligarchs, their families, and their cronies. Generally, the centralization of government in Philippines has led the country to be less competitive as oligarchs and clans retain control over resources. Even though electoral democracy exists in the Philippines, the country continues to witness systemic corruption and limited economic growth compared to Vietnam which has an authoritarian government. This is the case with the Philippines considering that the social institutions and government bodies that are charged with the responsibility of fighting corruption and putting the government on check are dominated by different clans and oligarchs who are keen on protecting their interests as opposed to performing their duties. The power that the oligarchs, their families, and their cronies wield together with the personalistic politics that characterize the country have seen corruption thrive in the Philippines. This is not the case in Vietnam where the government is decentralized, political leaders have responsibility to their constituents, and provinces have the power to control what is done at the state

Auditor independence Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Auditor independence - Research Paper Example Without independence, Arya & Glover (2014, p. 188) believes that there is no need for external auditors attestation to the purported accuracy and the completeness of the company financial information. The adverse effects of auditors providing services to clients that pay them directly question the impairment of auditor independence. An association between fees received by the audit firms directly from the clients will possibly impair auditor independence with particular interest to the going concern reporting decision that continues to have considerable interest to the regulators and others. This paper studies Arthur Andersen clients and investigates whether the decline in Andersens problems due to a criminal indictment can adversely affect the stock market perception of its audit quality. The reputations concerns are an issue on the impairment of the auditors independence. Arya & Glover (2014, p. 190) investigates the relationship between abnormal market returns for the Andersen clients and the fee-based measures of auditor independence. The empirical results support the ideology that auditor independence and reputation can significantly affect the perceived auditor quality and credibility in the audited financial statements as well as the market prices. The paper will also provide empirical evidence on the efficacy of auditors and directors that apply aggressive financial reporting that have accruals. In that light, the paper will investigate a sample of United States firms to evaluate the auditors independence on the clients. According to (), aggressive financing reporting will only occur when multiple governance mechanism fails. The overreliance of SOX-type legislation cannot act as a substitute for strong governance mechanisms in the regulation. Paterson & Valencia (2011, p. 1510) assert that Arthur Andersens perceives audit failure of Enron and other publicized accounting

Algebraic expressions.Elementary and Intermediate Algebra Essay Example for Free

Algebraic expressions.Elementary and Intermediate Algebra Essay Algebraic expressions Introduction   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   In the introduction to Algebra, the first assignment for the first week will involve using real numbers in place of integers to simplify expressions. Everyone needs to take his/her time to grasp the rules and the steps which are followed in algebra as this will form a concrete base for the algebraic expression understanding. One needs to understand the mathematical fundamental elements so as not to incur problems in solving any algebraic problems. For instance, one needs to be clear with the properties of integers as these are the same properties which apply to the real numbers. The first step in dealing with equations is removing the parenthesis. If an equation requires you remove the parenthesis from the equation, distribution becomes a necessity. Like terms should be grouped together when multiplying the integers that are inside the parenthesis to perform any indicated operation (Dugopolski, M.(2012  ), 2, p.67).   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   The following is how I attempted to handle the assigned equations in the simplest form. In the left side of the page, I have put the mathematic equation, and in the right side there is my explanation of the steps I followed. 2a(a-5)+4(a-5) Equation =2a ²-10a+4a-20 remove the distributive properties from the parenthesis = 2a ² -6a-20 then we get the coefficient. =a ²- 3a 10 then we simplify the expression. In the next equation, 2.  2w-3+3(w-4)-5(w-6) the equation =2w-3+3w-12-5w+30   remove the distributive properties from the parenthesis =2w+3w-5w-3-12+30 then we get the coefficients and. =15 combine them In the third equation, 3. 0.05(0.3m+35n)-0.8(-0.09n-22m) the equation =0.015m+1.75n+0.072n+17.6m remove the distributive property from the parenthesis =0.015m+17.6m+1.75n+0.072n simplify by putting the like terms together and =17.615m+1.822n combine them References Dugopolski, M. (2012  ). Elementary and Intermediate Algebra. New York, NY: McGraw-Hill. Source document

Issues faced in Working Capital Management

Issues faced in Working Capital Management Working capital management holds an important place in the theory of finance. A large number of tools and techniques have been developed in the past to ensure optimal allocation of funds. Various authors have approached the study of working capital management in different ways. A large number of models, theories and techniques (Baumol 1952, Beranek 1963, Haskel Benishay 1965, Haley and Higgins 1973, Walker 1974) have been developed in the past towards the optimal allocation of funds. Efficient use of working capital has a direct bearing on profitability of an enterprise. it increase the productivity of in fixed assets. Basic Survival of a firm may be stake if adequate working capital is not available in time. It is essential to maintain constant supply of working capital for healthy growth of an enterprise. Working capital management concerned with current asset and current liabilities. Profitability and liquidity of a company directly affects current asset and current liabilities. So working capital management is considered as most important component of corporate finance. To show the relevance of working capital there are many factors. As far as a typical manufacturing firm is concerned, it accommodates half of its total assets as current assets. More current asset enhances more return on investment. A firm with fewer holdings of current assets would face immense difficulty to carry on the day to day operations of the company (Horne and Wachowicz, 2000). Efficient working capital management involves planning and controlling current assets and current liabilities in a manner that eliminates the risk of inability to meet due short term obligations on the one hand and avoid excessive investment in these assets on the other hand (Eljelly, 2004). Many surveys have indicated that managers spend considerable time on day-to-day problems that involve working capital decisions. One reason for this is that current assets are short-lived investments that are continually being converted into other asset types (Rao 1989). With regard to current liabilities, the firm is responsible for paying these obligations on a timely basis. Liquidity for the ongoing firm is not reliant on the liquidation value of its assets, but rather on the operating cash flows generated by those assets (Soenen, 1993). Taken together, decisions on the level of different working capital components become frequent, repetitive, and time consuming. Working Capital Management is a very sensitive area in the field of financial management (Joshi, 1994). It involves the decision of the amount and composition of current assets and the financing of these assets. Current assets include all those assets that in the normal course of business return to the form of cash within a short period of time, ordinarily within a year and such temporary investment as may be readily converted into cash upon need. The Working Capital Management of a firm in part affects its profitability. The ultimate objective of any firm is to maximize the profit. But, preserving liquidity of the firm is an important objective too. The problem is that increasing profits at the cost of liquidity can bring serious problems to the firm. Therefore, there must be a tradeoff between these two objectives of the firms. One objective should not be at cost of the other because both have their importance. If we do not care about profit, we cannot survive for a longer period. On the other hand, if we do not care about liquidity, we may face the problem of insolvency or bankruptcy. For these reasons working capital management should be given proper consideration and will ultimately affect the profitability of the firm. Firms should keep an optimal level of working capital that maximizes their total value. Larger inventory preservation might reduce the risk of a stock-out. Keeping large level of inventory and a generous trade credit policy would cause to high sales. Allowing trade credit is most strategic move to stimulate sales. Trade credit would give a chance to customers to assess quality attributes of product before making payments completely or partly (Long, Maltiz and Ravid 1993, and Deloof and Jegers, 1996). Accounts payable is another most important component of working capital. Investing in account payable or delaying payments to suppliers allow a firm to assess the quality of acquired product before it making its full payments. Investing in accounts payable is treated as inexpensive and flexible source of financing working capital. Bad effect of investing accounts payable is that, it would become loss if the firm offered discount for early or on time payment. Measurement of working capital is most important function of management. A popular measure of Working Capital Management (WCM) is the working capital cycle or operating cycle. This is the time lag between the expenditure for the purchases of raw materials and collecting cash from the debtors. With the reducing of cash conversion period that will be more beneficial to the working capital and it will lead to high level of current asset. As it increases the cash conversion period it will lead to low level of working capital maintena nce. Providing a proper and sound framework for total asset management is most important aspect in financial management practices. Investment in fixed asset would require great level of research activity. Recently, working capital management has been given little attention by researchers relatively. This approach causes great problem for many business firms. Because neglecting of working capital or lazy approach on working capital management would cause utter failure and becomes problematic. Recent corporate history and literature shows that more concerns for working capital management will result in more efficiency. Recent corporate history has got rich set of history for the collapse of firms due to their neglects in working capital management. Altman provided a model called multivariate predictor model based on US companies in the year 1968. In his model he includes working capital as one of the model components. Taffler developed a four-variable model for failure prediction using data drawn from the UK companies in the year 1977. (Eljelly, 2004) explains that liquidity management involves planning and controlling of current asset and current liabilities in a manner that reduce risk maximum. Major risk in these involves incapability to meet short term obligation as and when it dues. It should also concerns with avoiding excessive investment in current assets. The measurement of relation between profitability and liquidity is most important. To measure this relationship there are many techniques are being used such as ratios and cash conversion cycle. Some companies as in Soudi Arabia was under study as sample. Researchers used correlation and regression technique to study the relationship between profitability and liquidity of certain companies. The study showed that, rather than the ratios such as current ratio and liquidity ratio cash conversion cycle has more relevance to project out the relationship. Another point revealed that size of the companies showed major affect on profitability of various industrie s. The study revealed certain implications in Soudi Arabian companies. First is that there is negative relationship between liquidity and profitability indicators like current ratio and cash conversion period. Second is that there is variation among companies in terms of measure of liquidity. In spite of all the overall study revealed stable result. (Ghosh and Maji, 2003) Under this, they take Indian cement companies in to consideration to study in details. They examined and studied the efficiency of working capital management of certain Indian cement companies during the financial period 1992 1993 to 2001- 2002. Instead of using the working capital ratios they have used performance, utilization and efficiency indices calculations. Each individual firm has got target efficiency level on the basis of industry norms. And each firms speed level of achieving efficiency target is tested under study. Overall study concluded that during particular study period, Indian cement companies did not performed as the targeted as well. (Deloof, 2003) He explains that, the way that a firm is managing its working capital has significant impact on ultimate profitability of any firms. This is because of the great amount cash investment done by most firms in current assets. He made study by using correlation and regression tools in Belgian firms. During his study he found that there is negative relationship between gross operating income and number of days allowed in account payable, account receivables and inventories of firms. Based on the study he conducted, he concluded that management can reduce the number of days in account receivables and inventory storage reasonably. It will create more value for its shareholders and owners. He also concluded that negative relationship between profitability and accounts payable is due to the reason that less profitable firms take more times to make payment on their bills. (Shin and Soenen, 1998) To create certain value to owners or shareholders it is important that to mange working capital most significantly and with utter cares. Profitability and liquidity impacted or affected by the way which the working capital management of any firm. There was found a negative relationship between profitability and firms Net Trade Cycle by studying the relationship between lengths of Net Trade Cycle. Shorter Net Trade Cycle indicates higher risk associated with stock return. (Smith and Begemann 1997) emphasized that those who promoted working capital theory shared that profitability and liquidity comprised the salient goals of working capital management. The problem arose because the maximization of the firms returns could seriously threaten its liquidity, and the pursuit of liquidity had a tendency to dilute returns. This article evaluated the association between traditional and alternative working capital measures and return on investment (ROI), specifically in industrial firms listed on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange (JSE). The problem under investigation was to establish whether the more recently developed alternative working capital concepts showed improved association with return on investment to that of traditional working capital ratios or not. Results indicated that there were no significant differences amongst the years with respect to the independent variables. The results of their stepwise regression corroborated that total current liabiliti es divided by funds flow accounted for most of the variability in Return on Investment (ROI). The statistical test results showed that a traditional working capital leverage ratio, current liabilities divided by funds flow, displayed the greatest associations with return on investment. Well-known liquidity concepts such as the current and quick ratios registered insignificant associations whilst only one of the newer working capital concepts, the comprehensive liquidity index, indicated significant associations with return on investment. Satish B. Mathur (2007), Working capital management contains the proper management and control of the gross current assets. Current asset involves cash, sundry debtors or Account Receivable and inventories. Thus the working capital management relates with the management of all among components not only individually but also collectively, too. Effective management and control of the various components of working capital is one of the most important and vital functions of financial management in any kind of the industrial and business units, based on varied parameters, like flexibility, level of investments in various components of current assets, criticality, quantum of efforts and time. With the help of a method called operating cycle let estimate the duration of one operating cycle. This means time taken by a firm for completing a full cycle of process starting from purchase of raw materials to conversion of finished goods even after sales that, sundry creditors if it is credit sale s. The completion of operating cycle has major influence over the profitability of any business concern. So its proper control and management needed to maintain proper working capital. Vijay Kumar (2001), Funds needed for any business organization for carrying day to day operations. Working capital considered as lifeblood of the business concern. Even though a firm can exist without profit, it cannot survive without working capital fund. A firm which without having working capital fund may cause bankruptcy. The working capital management is the most critical problem in financial management. Most of the time financial executives are devoted towards managing the current assets and current liabilities which are the main constituents of working capital. Importance of working capital management stems from two reasons viz., (i) A substantial portion of total investment is invested in current assets and (ii) level of current asset and current liabilities will change quickly with the variation in sales. Hence, this study makes an attempt to analyze the size, composition, circulation of working capital and whether such an investment has increased or declined over a period o f time. Mr. Knight pointed out that not only working capital components are inter dependent on each other but also on net sales and profit. Hence, this study also makes an attempt to evaluate some of the linkage between the different components of working capital and their relationships with the variables like sales, value of output, earnings, cash flow, etc. One most important area in working capital management is to understand the feature of short run behavior of the demand for working capitals ant its various elements. This study not only includes the cash but also includes the study of demand for receivables, inventories, gross working capital and net working capital. The concept of working capital, still have some controversies among various financial experts. Working capital has two concepts. They are: the total of current asset and the excess of current assets over current liability. These are called gross concept and net concept respectively. Gross concept is use full when the objective is to measure the size and extent to which current assets are using. Net concept becomes useful when the objective is to evaluate the liquidity position of the concern. As soon as a firm operate and start to grows it have to make various decisions regarding where to invest and how to invest its various funds, quantity of cash and inventory to be maintained, amount of financing to customers, how to obtain required funds and how much debts can be acquired from outside etc. all those among factors have vital influence in total cash flow and overall profitability of business unit. Working capital management is a crucial decision of how to make structure and finance the operating investment of a business. Nrendar Kumar Jain (2004), Working capital management has major place in the theory of finance. Optimal allocation of fund is most important face in working capital management. Various tools and techniques have been developed for optimal allocation of fund. Some of them are Baumol 1952, Beranek 1963, Haskel Benishy 1965, Haley and Higgins 1973, Walker 1964. Efficient use of working capital is very much deals with profitability of any business unit. It augments the total productivity of investment in fixed assets. The total survival of a firm will be stuck if working capital not available at time. So it is very essential that to maintain constant and adequate supply of working capital for smooth running and growth of organization. The term Working capital is represented by current assets. Management of working capital has added significance in the context of any pattern of business weather it is small-scale or medium sized industries in the country. Most of them would have weak financial base and less availability of finance source. If their risk bearing capacity very low there would have an effort to reduce its size releases funds and improves profitability. Working capital management deals with management of current asset such a way that it maximizes the value of firm Both shortage of fund for working capital and uncontrolled over-expansion may cause failure in many business concerns. Especially in small firms, efficiency in working capital management has significant impact in firms risk, return and share price. The financial sector has major role in any economy in mobilization of fund and allocation of savings. Financial sector acts as conduit for transferring financial resources from saver to borrower. Generally banks act as an integral part of financial sector. Working capital management can be say as a process of planning and controlling the level and proper mix of the current asset of the firm. It includes financing of these assets in the organization. Here financial manager has to decide what quantities of cash, liquid assets, bills receivable and inventories have to be hold at various times. Financing of current asset is next important decision to be taken by a finance manager. Choice for financing these assets includes mix of current as well as long term liabilities. There are two important implications for the management of working capital. First to choose management, working capital can be acquired to meet immediate needs when they arise. A hand-to-mouth policy like this has an advantage of reducing the average investment in working capital. So they can minimize interest charge, insurance expense and storage fees necessary to carry the investment. In spite of this, hand-to-mouth policy has certain disadvantages also. There will be increased ordering cost associated with greater likelihood that the firm may experience storage in working capital. The reason behind this is that, there is no buffer stock to absorb unexpected functions. Management of working capital is faced by two basic questions. First is that the level of sales and relevant cost, what quantity of cash, receivables and inventories a firm should keep in optimal. Second is that the most economical way to finance these working capital investments. To have best return on investment firm should not keep unproductive assets and it should finance in cheep source of fund. Literally, it is always better that to invest with short term asset and with short term liabilities. Eugene F. Brigham,  Joel F. Houston (2009), Working capital management involves search the optimal level of cash, bills receivable, marketable securities and inventories. It includes financing the working capital with least cost. Since most of the buyers using credit cards that neither in-store cash nor bills receivables, best buy are working capital policy focuses on its inventories as well. To keep non interrupt sales its store must be stuffed with adequate materials. Whenever the customers needed the goods they should able to supply it. This relates with deciding what product is more latest and trendy and obtaining hot product with cheep cost and supply to stores. Miraculous development in the field of technology and communication has been changed the entire scenario. The way of managing its inventories is in best way now. Now, real time data is collecting from various stores and departments. Whenever there is a need for inventories and need for outsourcing of inventories, the computer system places the order automatically. In short, incoming and outgoing of inventories are done by the computer packages. If sale of an item is slipping, prices are lowered to reduce stock of that item before the case getting worst. Eugene F. Brigham,  Michael C. Ehrhardt  (2008), Working capital is excess of current asset over current liabilities. Firms are using different kind of policies to manage its working capital as well. Some firm uses relaxed working capital policies and some sues restricted policies. A relaxed working capital policy is that firm keeping large amount of cash and inventories relatively. Here sales are stimulated by the use of credit policy that providing finance to customers very liberally. And the company doesnt take advantage of credit provided by bill payables and accruals. In restricted working capital policy cash, inventories and receivables kept in very low quantity relatively. Here accruals and payables are maximum and NOWC is turned over more frequently. Optimal and moderated working capital policy is between these two extremes. Under the certainty condition, firms keep minimum level of working capital because, sales, cost and payment periods are certain. A large amount will increase the need for external funding without a corresponding increase in profit. Under the situation of uncertainty the picture is completely different. Here the firm must have to maintain a minimum level of cash, inventory. Here the quantity of keeping of working capital would be based on expected sales, expected profit, expected time and so on. Account receivables are determined by credit terms of the business as well. Shashi K. Gupta, Neeti Gupta (2008), Working capital in general practice refers to the excess of current asset over current liabilities. Management of working capital therefore, is concerned with the problems that arise in attempting to manage the current asset, the current liabilities and their inter relationship that exist between them. In other words it refers to all aspect of administration of both current assets and current liabilities. The basic goal of working capital management is to manage current asset and current liabilities of a firm in such a way that satisfactory level of working capital is maintained. That means it is neither inadequate nor excessive. This is so because both inadequacy and excessive position are bad in any kind of organization. Inadequacy of working capital will lead to insolvency and excessive working capital will lead to idle fund which earn no profit for the business. Working capital management policy has important impact in success of a business. In the word of Shubin, working capital is the amount of funds necessary to cover the cost of operating the enterprise. According to Genestenberg, circulating capital means current assets of a company that are changed in the ordinary course of business from one form to another, as for example, from cash to inventories, inventories to receivables, receivables to cash WORKING CAPITAL 2.1 MEANING OF WORKING CAPITAL    Working capital refers to short term fund to meat operating expenses. To quote great Indian financial analyst and scholar Mr. Ramamoorthy, it refers to the funds, which a company must possess to finance its day to day operations. It is concerned with the management of the firms current asset and current liabilities. It relates to with the problems that arise in attempting to manage current assets, current liabilities and their inter relationship that exist between them. If a firm cannot maintain a satisfactory level of working capital, it is likely to become insolvent and may even be forced into bankruptcy.    Working capital refers to that part of a firms capital which is required for financing  Ã‚   short-term or current assets such as cash, marketable securities, debtors and inventories. Funds, thus, invested in current assets keep revolving fast and are being constantly converted into cash and these cash flows out again in exchange for other current assets.   Hence, it is also known as revolving or circulating capital or short-term capital.   In the words of Shubin, Working capital is the amount of funds necessary to cover the cost of operating the enterprise. Types of working capital Working capital Time base Concept base Net working capital or qualitative Net working capital or qualitative Temporary or variable working capital Gross working capital or quantitative Gross Working Capital According to this concept, the total current assets are termed as the gross working capital or circulating capital. Total current asset include; cash, marketable securities, account receivables, inventory, prepaid expenses, advanced payment of tax. This concept also called as quantitative or broad approach. To quote Weston and Brigham, Gross Working Capital refers to firms investment in short term assets such as, cash, short term securities, account receivables and inventories . The concept helps in making optimum investment in current assets and in their financing. According to Walker, use of this concept is helpful in providing for the current amount of working capital at the right time so that the firm is able to realize the greatest return on investment. Significance Gross working capital concept focuses attention on the two aspect of current asset management. They are: 1). Optimum investment in current assets: Investment in current asset must be just adequate to the needs of the firm. On the other hand excessive investment in current asset should be avoided. 2). Financing of current asset: Need for working capital arise due to the increasing level of business activity. Therefore, there is a need to provide it quickly. If there is surplus fund arise that should be invested in short term securities. Net Working Capital Concept As per this concept the excess of current asst over current liabilities represents net working capital. Similar view is expressed by Guttmann, Gerstenberg, and Goel Etc. Net Working Capital represents the amount of current asset which remain after all the current liabilities were paid. It may be either positive or negative. It will be positive if current asset exceed current liabilities and vice versa. To quote Roy Chowdry, Net Working Capital indicates the liquidity of the liquidity of business whilst gross working capital denotes the quantum of working capital with which business has to operate. Significance Net Working Capital Concept focuses on two aspects. They are: 1). Maintaining liquidity position: Excess current assets help in meeting its financial obligation within the operating cycle of the firm. Negative and excess working capitals both are bad to the firm. 2). to decide upon the extent of long term capital in financing current asset: Net working capital means the portion of current asst that should be financed by long term funds. This concept helps to decide the extent of long term fund required in finance current assets. Permanent Working Capital This is the minimum investment kept in the form of inventory of raw materials, work in process, finished goods, stores and spares and book debt to facilitate uninterrupted operation in a firm. Though this investment is stable in short run, it certainly varies in long run depending upon the expansion programs undertaken by the firm. It may increase or decrease over a period of time. Temporary Working Capital Any additional working capital apart from permanent working capital required to support the changing production and sales activities is referred to as temporary working capital. A firm required to maintain an additional amount current asset temporarily over and above permanent working capital. PRINCIPLES OF WORKING CAPITAL MANAGEMENT / POLICY The following are the general principles of a sound working capital management policy: Principle of Risk Variation Risk here refers to the inability of a firm to meet its obligation as and when they become due for payment. Larger investment in current assets with less dependence on short-term borrowing increases liquidity reduces risk and thereby decreases the opportunity for gain or loss. In other words, there is a definite inverse relationship between the degree of risk and profitability. A conservative management prefers to minimize risk by maintaining a higher level of current assets or working capital while a liberal management assumes greater risk by reducing working capital. However, the goal of the management should be to establish a suitable tradeoff between profitability and risk. Principle of Cost of Capital The various sources of raising working capital finance have different cost of capital and the degree of risk involved. Generally, higher the risk lower is the cost and lower the risk higher is the cost. A sound working capital management should always try to achieve a proper balance between these two. Principle of Equity Position The principle is concerned with planning the total investment in current assets. According to this principle, the amount of working capital invested in each component should be adequately justified by a firms equity position. Principle of Maturity of Payment This principle concerned with planning the sources of finance for working capital according to this principle, a firm should make every effort to relate maturities of payment to its flow of internally generated funds. Maturity patterns of various obligations are an important factor in risk assumptions and risk assessments. Importance of working capital management: To maintain sound working capital position is critical and important function for any management. Because the success of business is very much depends on how they manage its working capital. It should keep preserve a sound working capital position by avoiding excessive investment and keeping adequate working capital to meet daily operations. . As pointed out by Ralph Kennedy and Stewart MC Muller, the inadequacy or mismanagement of working capital is one of a few leading causes of business failure. Current assets, in fact, account for a very large portion of the total investment of the firm. Determinants of Working Capital: Working capital requirements of different firms are different. Each firm has own manner to operate with. They would require current asset and current liability as per their type of operation and way of operation. So it is main function of working capital management to determine the level of working capital required. Even though there are no specific set of determinants to decide about working capital, there are some determinants which have been using commonly by the management. They are discussed under: 1). Size of business operation: Size of the business is varying business to business. Size is another most important factor to be considered while determining working capital requirements. Here the size of the business is measured in terms of operation doing by business and not on physical evidence. The amount required as working capital is direct proportion with size. That is if the size of business is large it would require more working capital and it is small it would require less amount of working capital to invest. 2). Nature of business activity: There are some firms which requires very short amount to be invested in fixed asset and more in current asset. Likewise, some firms would require more investment in fixed asset and less in current asset. This is why the nature of business comes more significant while determining the working capital. Trading and financial type of companies would require to invest more in current assets. So while determining the level of working capital investment it should be based on nature or type of business. 3). Business Fluctuations: Demand for the products of each business is fluctuating season to season. So each business has to be made financial planning in advance to have seasonal working capita