The Lady or the Tiger free essay sample

The Lady or the Tiger The Lady or the Tiger proposes one question: Which? Author Frank Stockton writes about a barbaric game Invented by the King. If any man In the kingdom rubs the King the wrong way, he gets put Into a stadium In front of two doors. Behind one Is a tiger, the other a lady. If the man picks a door and a lady comes out, he gets to marry her. But if a tiger comes out of the door, he dies a violent death.Hundreds of people look on with pleasure as he picks death or life. In this certain story, a peasant and the Princess fall in love and the King is not pleased. Right away the peasant is thrown into the stadium and with one last desperate hope for life, he looks to the Princess. Seated next to the King, she makes a slight movement with her right hand. We will write a custom essay sample on The Lady or the Tiger or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page Now comes the question. Which came out of the door?You can tell that the Princess is a very Jealous person. She knew the young maiden behind the door, and had often seen her staring at the peasant with looks of admiration. It also says, in the story own words, that the Princess, With all the Intensity of the savage blood transmitted o her through long lines of wholly barbaric ancestors, hated the woman who blushed and trembled behind that silent door. And we know that she dreamed about what it would be like if the peasant opened the door and out came the maiden. How in her grievous reveries had she gnashed her teeth, and torn her hair, when she saw his start of rapturous delight as he opened the door of the lady! How her soul had burned in agony when she had seen him rush to meet that woman. If her hatred for this woman and for the idea of them together was this great, why would she not lead the peasant to the tiger?

Free Essays on Could Parkinsons Have A Cure

Could there be a Cure for Parkinson’s The article by Nicholas Wade, â€Å"Promising Results Are Seen in Small Parkinson’s Trial†, has a very good explanation on a new experiment tried on five patients to attempt to alleviate the symptoms of Parkinson’s disease. Parkinson’s disease is a disease that kills neurons that produce dopamine, a nerve-to-nerve messenger. This disease results in bad control of muscles and movements, tremors, spells of rigidity, and even loss of smell and/or taste. For many years doctors have been trying to develop a substance that would counter act the depletion of dopamine in the brain. One of the supplements they came up with was L-dopa, which works very well but with time its effectiveness decreases. Physicians have tried implanting dopamine-making cells taken from fetuses, but this experiment produced negative results. Then doctors found that it was a hormone that would promote the making of these cells. In past trials thus hormone was injected into the fluid filled in the center of the brain, but this trial resulted in no positive results because the hormone was too large to migrate to where it needed to go in the brain. From this experience Dr. Gill and Dr. Svendsen decided that GDNF should be placed in the part of the patients brain with the largest deficiency in dopamine. This experiment involves the implantation of small battery operated pumps in the patient’s abdomen. The pump would deliver a â€Å"steady trickle of GDNF† that would run through an extremely thin through the body into the putamen. This experiment gave very positive results, with a general improvement in the health of the five patients that were treated in this trial. This was a very well written article; everything was very well explained, simple and easy to read. This article is very important because there are many people that are affected by this disease. One person that is well known with Parkinson’s is... Free Essays on Could Parkinsons Have A Cure Free Essays on Could Parkinsons Have A Cure Could there be a Cure for Parkinson’s The article by Nicholas Wade, â€Å"Promising Results Are Seen in Small Parkinson’s Trial†, has a very good explanation on a new experiment tried on five patients to attempt to alleviate the symptoms of Parkinson’s disease. Parkinson’s disease is a disease that kills neurons that produce dopamine, a nerve-to-nerve messenger. This disease results in bad control of muscles and movements, tremors, spells of rigidity, and even loss of smell and/or taste. For many years doctors have been trying to develop a substance that would counter act the depletion of dopamine in the brain. One of the supplements they came up with was L-dopa, which works very well but with time its effectiveness decreases. Physicians have tried implanting dopamine-making cells taken from fetuses, but this experiment produced negative results. Then doctors found that it was a hormone that would promote the making of these cells. In past trials thus hormone was injected into the fluid filled in the center of the brain, but this trial resulted in no positive results because the hormone was too large to migrate to where it needed to go in the brain. From this experience Dr. Gill and Dr. Svendsen decided that GDNF should be placed in the part of the patients brain with the largest deficiency in dopamine. This experiment involves the implantation of small battery operated pumps in the patient’s abdomen. The pump would deliver a â€Å"steady trickle of GDNF† that would run through an extremely thin through the body into the putamen. This experiment gave very positive results, with a general improvement in the health of the five patients that were treated in this trial. This was a very well written article; everything was very well explained, simple and easy to read. This article is very important because there are many people that are affected by this disease. One person that is well known with Parkinson’s is...

English Words Borrowed From the Chinese Language

English Words Borrowed From the Chinese Language Words taken completely or in part from another language are known as loanwords. In the English language, there are many loanwords that have been borrowed from Chinese languages and dialects. A loanword is not the same as calque, which is an expression from one language that has been introduced into another language as a direct translation. Many English-language calques also have origins in Chinese. Loanwords and calques are useful to linguists in examining when and how one culture processed its interaction with another. 10 English Words That Are Borrowed From Chinese 1. Coolie: While some claim that this term has its origins in Hindi, it’s been argued that it could also have origins in the Chinese term for hard work or è‹ ¦Ã¥Å â€º (kÇ” là ¬) which is literally translated as â€Å"bitter labor.† 2. Gung Ho: The term has its origins in the Chinese word Ã¥ · ¥Ã¥ Ë† (gÃ… ng hà ©) that can either mean to work together  or as an adjective to describe someone that is overly excited or too enthusiastic. The term gong he is a shortened word for industrial cooperatives which were created in China in the 1930s. During that time U.S. Marines adopted the term to mean someone with a can-do attitude. 3. Kowtow: From the Chinese Ã¥  ©Ã¥ ¤ ´ (kà ²u tà ³u) describing the ancient practice performed when anyone greeted a superior – such as an elder, leader, or emperor. The person had to kneel and bow down to the superior, making sure that their foreheads hit the ground. â€Å"Kou tou† is literally translated as â€Å"knock your head.† 4. Tycoon: The origins of this word comes from the Japanese term taikun, which was what foreigners called the shogun of Japan. A shogun was known to be someone who took over the throne and is not related to the emperor. Thus the meaning is typically used for someone who obtained power through might or hard work, rather than inheriting it. In Chinese, the Japanese term â€Å"​taikun† is Ã¥ ¤ §Ã§Å½â€¹ (d wng) which means â€Å"big prince.† There are other words in Chinese that also describe a tycoon including è ´ ¢Ã©Ëœâ‚¬ (ci f) and Ã¥ · ¨Ã¥ ¤ ´ (jà ¹ tà ³u). 5. Yen: This term comes from the Chinese word æ„ ¿ (yun) which means a hope, desire, or wish. Someone who has a strong urge for oily fast food can be said to have a yen for pizza. 6. Ketchup: The origins of this word are debated. But many believe that its origins are from either the Fujianese dialect for the fish sauce é ® ­Ã¦ ±  (guÄ « zhÄ « ) or the Chinese word for eggplant sauce èÅ'„æ ±  (qià © zhÄ «). 7. Chop Chop: This term is said to originate from the Cantonese dialect for the word Ã¥ ¿ «Ã¥ ¿ « (kui kui) which is said to urge someone to hurry up. Kuai means hurry in Chinese. â€Å"Chop Chop† appeared in English-language newspapers printed in China by foreign settlers as early as the 1800s. 8. Typhoon: This is probably the most direct loanword. In Chinese, a hurricane or typhoon is called Ã¥  °Ã© £Å½ (ti fÄ“ng). 9. Chow:  While chow is a breed of dog, it should be clarified that the term did not come to mean food because the Chinese hold the stereotype of being dog-eaters. More likely, chow as a term for food comes from the word è Å" (ci) which can mean food, a dish (to eat), or vegetables. 10. Koan: Originating in Zen Buddhism, a koan is a riddle without a solution, which is supposed to highlight the inadequacy of logic reasoning. A common one is â€Å"What is the sound of one hand clapping.† (If you were Bart Simpson, you would just fold one hand until you made a clapping noise.) Koan comes from the Japanese which comes from the Chinese for å… ¬Ã¦ ¡Ë† (gÃ… ng n). Literally translated it means common case.

The concept of Strategic Planing Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 4250 words

The concept of Strategic Planing - Essay Example As explained by Creswell & Clark (2007), research is conducted to gain the missing information and knowledge that is needed to solve a problem. There are various techniques available to conduct researches. This report aims at understanding in detail one of the methods – Qualitative research. Before moving into the meaning of qualitative research, it is important to cite the available methods. These methods include qualitative, quantitative or mixed methods (Jobber, 2004). David Jobber (2004) highlights in his book the need for market research. Jobber has highlighted the importance of market research and has also emphasizes on how the research provides for accurate and correct results. Jobber (2004) also discusses that the results will help gain the view point of both the company as well as the customers. The information gained from these researches allows the companies to incorporate the suggestions and feedback into the daily processes and thereby improve the overall business making them more successful. A research design strategy is one which includes collection, measuring and analysis of data. â€Å"Quantitative versus qualitative research methods—two approaches to organization studies† (Lee, 1992). The quantitative research method is a conventional method to study organizations and is considered objective. Qualitative research has been noted to be subjective and descriptive, â€Å"its legitimacy often needs to be proven in organization studies† (p. 87). It is apparent that qualitative research methods differ from quantitative research methods. Cooper and Schindler (2008) defined qualitative research as an collection of interpretive practices that describe, decode and translate the meaning of naturally occurring phenomena in the social world. This means that qualitative research is subjective and deals with words. In contrast, quantitative research has a cause and effect association and deals

Does flexibility in location and time affect behavior towards work Research Paper

Does flexibility in location and time affect behavior towards work - Research Paper Example The researcher clearly identifies the research problem before working on the research. He clearly states the problem and links the problem to the current way of doing things. In the title, â€Å"New ways of working: does flexibility in time and location of work change work behavior and affect business outcomes?† the researcher has here clearly indicated, using this title, that he intends to identify, if any, how flexibility in time and location of work changes the work behavior and affect business outcomes. Further, in the abstract, the researcher explains what he means by business outcomes, where he identifies business outcomes to be the productivity of a business. It is important to note that his identification of what business outcomes means breaks would be ambiguity in the statement and makes it easier for the reader to follow on the purpose of the research. Therefore, the question that lingers is whether it is easy to determine what the researcher intends research? Yes it is. The researcher intends to find out how the â€Å"New Ways of Working† which bring about the flexibility in the time and location of work affects the productivity of a business and the impacts it has on the work behavior. (Strauss, Kochan, & Ichnowiski, 2000) Literature Review The author has not literature review section, which in my view weakens the credibility of the research. Having literature review works to give legitimacy to what one is studying and connects it to previously done works. Such a connection would enable readers of the research document to figure out what previous researchers have suggested in their findings regarding a similar topic or a related one. With nothing to compare the research with or to derive scientific knowledge from this puts dents on the findings of this research because of the lack of a benchmark. That having been said, the researcher tried to use others findings in his references and in text citations e.g. â€Å"The Telework Trendlines 2009 [7] reported that the number of U.S. employees who worked remotely at least one day per month increased 39% in two years from approximately 12.4 million in 2006 to 17.2 million in 2008.† Though this is worth mentioning, it cannot be used to replace the literature review sectio n (Merle, Schelvis, Groenesteijn, & Vink, 2012). Objective and hypothesis When it comes to the identification of the objectives and the hypotheses of the research, the researcher did a good job since it is very clear from the beginning what the research intends to achieve. The research question is â€Å"does flexibility in time and location of work change work behavior and affect business outcomes?† which is clear in the tile of the research and severally repeated throughout the research document. The hypothesis of the research has not been clearly stated though was indirectly alluded. â€Å"Expectations of these measures are often high, such as a reduction in operating costs and an increase of productivity.† Here the researcher is trying to give the general expectations of the research though he is not clearly stating what the hypothesis is. Ordinarily, the researcher would be expected to identify the research hypothesis

Why Should You Work Hard Essay Example for Free

Why Should You Work Hard Essay Have you ever been jealous of someone who is more successful than you? Have you ever think about why could this happen? It is common that employees complain about their work situation, their picky boss, and their outstanding colleagues. In every area, there are several outstanding geniuses. They stay there, and it seems like they can never be surpassed. They are like myths. Have you ever considered why there has always been someone who seems like relax but better than you and stands there forever. However, grumble does not help. Working harder than expectation is necessary for winning respect from others, making individuals valuable, and making an effort to build a stronger country. Losers never know the difference between them and individuals who are successful. Many of these persons hold the opinion that it is unnecessary to work very hard because when lucky arrives, they will success. Some of them keep purchasing for lottery, and they have the mentality of not doing anything but becoming millionaires (Brhel, n. d). However, do they really happy? Landau (2011), a journalist of CNN, said that the lucky do become happier after they winning a numerous prize, but level off soon. Others think that they born with unlucky. One of my classmates complained about the condition of him a week ago. He said that quizzes were too much, he did not have a good foundation of English, and other students were so smart. However, he ignores the point that he does not pay enough attention in class, and it reflected on that he asks me about the assignments after class everyday. Obviously, he did not focus on what instructor said. This attitude might cause failure in his study, even might bring negative influence to his career. Some of citizens criticize a number of celebrities who born with honor intensely. Anyone who comes from a famous family or a famous person gets a head start without making any effort. For instance, the children who were adopted by the movie star Angelina Jolie receive more attention from the public than normal citizens do. Later on we may learn there is nothing unusual about the children, but they are watched from the entire world because of their connections. That is true, and this situation can never be ignored. However, the majority are still ordinary citizens who have to work hard. Thus, one who holds those inappropriate ideas should be denied. Some might suggest that we are required to work hard; as a result, we can be successful employees in different areas in the future. That is true, it is necessary that we work hard and obtain a good payment. However, it is not sufficient just work hard. If you just work hard, you might meet the requirement of teachers or bosses and your classmates or your colleagues might admire you because you are a good person, but you are still for from successful. The reason is that you are in a limited environment where your colleagues are so normal. If you only compare with them, the result will be good, which you meet the requirements and surpass other colleagues. However, no one is going to remember you in the history because you did not bring any change for this company, and you did not do several contributions to this company. At last, you are same as everyone other ordinary employees, or you are one of them. Thus, one who wants to become an outstanding person might want work harder to fight for a better reputation. Therefore, you might think about what to motivate you to become a successful person. It is so significant to win other’s respect in one’s life. One cannot leave without esteem. Further more, work harder is necessary for you to promote yourself. By work harder, you can dig your potential talent and improve your ability of working and dealing with problems. By working hard, you can make contribution to the country. In Obama’s impressive speech, he mentioned that many devices and inventories are created and a great number of literature masterpieces were written in the past. What can we do to devote to the country? That is, work harder than others, make a high goal, and reach it. In conclusion, I would like to suggest that everyone not easily to satisfy with the situation, instead, work harder to meet your goal in your mind and gain respect from others and make an effort for the development of the country. Complaining, being arrogant, being shortsighted are enemies of becoming an outstanding person. Working hard might seems like hard to achieve, but if you keep pushing yourself, miracle might arrive.

Is Knowledge Worth Seeking :: essays research papers

Socrates argued that actively seeking out knowledge leads to the ability of man to moderate his behavior accordingly. If one examines a situation thoughtfully, and from several angles, the most logical course of action will present itself. By exercising this method of reasoning a person becomes wise. Socrates would call this the ability to govern the qualities of your soul properly and it is undoubtedly what he sought. The process brings out the virtuous qualities in man and allows him to make decisions based on truth, which leads ultimately to good. Discipline of the mind can only benefit its owner; and thus knowledge is worth seeking. Socrates defines knowledge as absolute truth. He believes that everything in the universe is innately connected; if one thing is known then potentially everything can be derived from that one truth. The fundamental ideas that Socrates seeks to uncover are called forms. This concept is illustrated when Socrates questions Meno on what virtue is. Meno answer with several examples of what is virtuous. This of course is not what Socrates is asking; he is asking Meno what all virtuous acts share in common. For Socrates this relationship between all virtuous acts is what virtue fundamentally is. A person can see virtuous acts but cannot see virtue. Because of this, the idea of virtue must exist somewhere independent of the perceivable world. This is true with all forms or ideas of perfection: they are something that cannot be known by human sense but reasoned out by individual human thought. One cannot, however, mistake knowledge for right opinion. Socrates makes distinctions between right opinion and knowledge. Opinions are not something that one can seek because they are beliefs held on shaky ground. â€Å"True opinions are a fine thing and do all sorts of good so long as they stay in their place, but they will not stay long. They run away from a man’s mind†¦Ã¢â‚¬  (97-98, Meno) Knowledge is unmistakable truth that cannot be changed in an argument: it holds true in all situations in all time. In matters pertaining to everlasting truths, one can argue that such truths are relative only to man in his finite reflective state. If these absolute ideas are true for all of time, did they exist before man did? If so, who was it that thought of them? Since one must contemplate these absolute truths (and the origin of anything contemplated is in the human mind), they are thus absolute only to humans. Is Knowledge Worth Seeking :: essays research papers Socrates argued that actively seeking out knowledge leads to the ability of man to moderate his behavior accordingly. If one examines a situation thoughtfully, and from several angles, the most logical course of action will present itself. By exercising this method of reasoning a person becomes wise. Socrates would call this the ability to govern the qualities of your soul properly and it is undoubtedly what he sought. The process brings out the virtuous qualities in man and allows him to make decisions based on truth, which leads ultimately to good. Discipline of the mind can only benefit its owner; and thus knowledge is worth seeking. Socrates defines knowledge as absolute truth. He believes that everything in the universe is innately connected; if one thing is known then potentially everything can be derived from that one truth. The fundamental ideas that Socrates seeks to uncover are called forms. This concept is illustrated when Socrates questions Meno on what virtue is. Meno answer with several examples of what is virtuous. This of course is not what Socrates is asking; he is asking Meno what all virtuous acts share in common. For Socrates this relationship between all virtuous acts is what virtue fundamentally is. A person can see virtuous acts but cannot see virtue. Because of this, the idea of virtue must exist somewhere independent of the perceivable world. This is true with all forms or ideas of perfection: they are something that cannot be known by human sense but reasoned out by individual human thought. One cannot, however, mistake knowledge for right opinion. Socrates makes distinctions between right opinion and knowledge. Opinions are not something that one can seek because they are beliefs held on shaky ground. â€Å"True opinions are a fine thing and do all sorts of good so long as they stay in their place, but they will not stay long. They run away from a man’s mind†¦Ã¢â‚¬  (97-98, Meno) Knowledge is unmistakable truth that cannot be changed in an argument: it holds true in all situations in all time. In matters pertaining to everlasting truths, one can argue that such truths are relative only to man in his finite reflective state. If these absolute ideas are true for all of time, did they exist before man did? If so, who was it that thought of them? Since one must contemplate these absolute truths (and the origin of anything contemplated is in the human mind), they are thus absolute only to humans.

Mao is a Rotten Egg

I enjoyed reading Chairman Mao is a Rotten Egg because it shows the relationship between parents and children and parents and the government under Mao Tse-tung. The mother in the story was very concerned with what she thought her child said because it had potential to jeopardize her relationship or right standing with the government. If her child, Ching-Ching, was a counterrevolutionary, there was a possibility that he would have been killed or at the least had his statement on record for the rest of his life.You can also see how other parents reacted to what they thought their children said. For example, Tung-Tung was in trouble later on in the story because his father thought that he had said something against Chairman Mao. The story also lets us know what Tung-Tung rarely cried, so for his father to become very angry about his statement more than if he had lied or done something else he knew he wasn’t supposed to do, their regard for Chairman Mao must be incredibly high.Che n Jo-hsi, according to the Time article, wrote about situations that could have happened in China during that time period. I think it is important because while there was no literature produced out of China under Tse-tung, those who read these stories and who live in China can relate to these situations. However, I think it would be difficult for me to live in a place where I have to be a little more loyal to my government than to my own family.

Marks & Spencer SWOT and PEST Essay

Marks and Spencer is the British multinational retail company that specializes on producing clothing and high-quality food. Being the dominant force on the UK market Marks and Spencer owns 600 stores in the home country and over 225 stores worldwide. Bird (1986) claims Marks and Spencer to be the most powerful image of Great Britain; the company currently being the most profitable UK organization also is one of the most innovative in the world. Two main features of the Marks and Spencer are centralization and simplicity. The firm tends to use centralized organizational structure and tries to keep everything simple avoiding the complexity in any aspect of systematic applications (Howells, 1981). Strengths: Marks and Spencer has been known for its highest standards of fair-trading, which include acquiring strong contacts with current suppliers, producing and proposing high-quality food, being friendly to the staff and having a flexible exchange policy for existing customers (Grayson, 2011). Having a stable and positive reputation is inevitable for the big worldwide brands. The company being initially only focused on producing garments lately diversified its market to the other sectors, such as food, electronics and furniture (Hamil, Crosbie, 1990). Diversification guaranteed bigger amount of customers for the company and expanded its growth. The company tends to locate its stores in the high streets which leads to obtaining large amount of customers every day and therefore larger profit. (Bird, Witherwick, 1986). Furthermore, Marks and Spencer does not rent the premises, it owns stores eliminating the possible rental costs. Marks and Spencer is an international retailer which owns more than thousand shops approximately in forty countries, covering market of such a big size is beneficial for the company’s income (Salmon, Tordjman, 1989). According to Doyle (1982), Marks and Spencer is the Britain’s strongest and most successful brand that makes company well known around the world and differentiates it from competitors making it unique. Weaknesses: Marks and Spencer due to diversification and operating in more than one market (garments, food, furniture) is not concentrated on any particular segment, unlike its main competitors such as Tesco and Sainsbury’s which  retail only food (Lewis, Thomas, 1990). The lack of the focus and concentration may lead to the reduced innovations and scarcity of the expertise in one particular market area. When Marks and Spencer tried to expand their market adding the clothing line for younger people, it experienced loss and failure, as it wasn’t able to follow latest fashion trends to satisfy younger audience and kept a reputation of the retailing brand mainly for elder women (Fletcher, 2007). According to Alon (2000), Marks and Spencer experienced lack of inventory control which led to the underperforming other major British companies by 25% in 1998. The average price comparison made by Telegraph in 2008 has shown that the prices on the Marks and Spencer’s food exceed thos e in Asda by 3.6%. The company is considered high-priced and looses large amount of customers from middle and lower class, who prefer daily shopping in other big retail chains like Asda, Sainsbury’s and Tesco, where prices are much cheaper and more reasonable (Avery, 2011). Political factors: Each company which desires to maximize its profit should develop within the governmental policies. Marks and Spencer is not an exception, as the company believes that engagement with the government is beneficial for the organization’s income. According to Marks and Spencer’s official website, company tends to communicate with the political audiences either directly or through the trade memberships. After the â€Å"green† governmental policy in 2008, Marks and Spencer introduced the 5p charge for the plastic bags across its stores (Vaughan, 2011). Marks and Spencer is located in the UK, which has stable political background and tax policies (McGrattan, 2005). However, in 2005 the company experienced losses in the EU area and appealed to the court for the opportunity to deduct international losses from its UK tax bill (European Commission Legal Services, 2005). After European Court of Justice announced that Marks and Spencer and other UK companies have the right to counterpoise British tax bill, Marks and Spencer has won this case receiving 30 million tax relief (BBC, 2005). Economic factors: The majority of international companies are considering the USA a perfect area of franchising due to the big population and large size of the market. Marks and Spencer was among the first British retailers who considered  expanding its business to the North America (Alexander, 1995). However, the September 11 attacks have caused economic crisis and change in the purchasing behavior of American citizens which led to the extreme losses experienced by Marks and Spencer throughout the following year imposing the company to close the non-core branch in North America (BBC, 2002). Due to the financial crisis taking place in 2007-2008 (Barrel, 2008) and later severe crisis in Eurozone, the sales of Marks and Spencer has significantly decreased, as the salaries of the middle-class didn’t math the high-priced food and garments offered by the retailer (Rayner, 2008). Social factors: According to Marks and Spencer’s official website, company is focused on applying ethical trading, producing nontoxic food and employing responsible use of an energy, as the company believes that adapting CSR is vital for the development of business. Company is especially focused on the animal welfare, being the first UK retailer to sell only free-range eggs in its stores (Jones, 2005) and along with several other British retailers promotes food without additives (Jones, 2007). However, several years ago Marks and Spencer was accused in using the child labour in Morocco which might have damaged the company’s reputation (Frankental, 2001). According to Moore (1995) and Campbell (2010) Marks and Spencer over the past years has increased the amount of advertisement using different types of commercials. Nevertheless, the company was not been able to satisfy customers’ needs, while producing their clothing line for young people which led to the losses of profit (Jobbe r, 1999). Technological factors: According to Butler (2013), Marks and Spencer is the only big British food retailer that does not have an online shopping service, while other companies like Sainsbury’s and Morrison are making millions of pounds through the web. The company for the long time is using RFID (Radio Frequency Identification) technology that helped to achieve more efficient supply chain system. After the success with Marks and Spencer other British supermarkets implemented this technology in order to reduce costs and improve customer service (Jones, 2005). In 2012 Marks and Spencer announced  the new marketing plan that included the wi-fi connection throughout its stores, planning that the customers would be able to see the full stock of products on their devises which would simplify searching for the preferable item (Raddick, 2012). Conclusion: Marks and Spencer is the powerful international retailer that can maximize its future profit taking into consideration further opportunities and threats of substitutes. Marks and Spencer should consider adding online shopping for its food products, as the other British food retailers like Tesco and Sainsbury’s already have this feature that gives a big percentage of companies’ income. Another way for developing company may be expanding to the Asian market which can guarantee huge profit due to the big size of population. One of the main threats caused by economic crisis both in USA and European Union is the loss of bargaining power of customers. People find it hard to afford the high prices offered by Marks and Spencer and therefore try to search for a cheaper alternative. Retailer in future should adapt to the social changes when producing their clothing line for younger people in order to satisfy this audience.

The alchemist and the odyssey essays

The alchemist and the odyssey essays In the Odyssey and The Alchemist there are many dangers and challenges that the two heroes must brave. The Odyssey is about a man named Odysseus who fought in the Trojan war for ten years. After the war was over Odysseus years tries to find his way home to Ithaca but it takes him ten years to do so, because the gods dont exactly like him. In the Alchemist there is a young man named Santiago who has a dream about treasure. He eventually pursues his dream and in the end finds out that there really is no treasure. The books are about someone finding their place in the world or finding their way home. A reason is that in both books they are trying to find their way home. Another is that at the end of their journeys they both have someone their waiting for them. Also both the characters in both the stories both have and end destinations. At the end of the Alchemist, Santiago finds out that the treasure was the journey itself. In the Odyssey the whole book is about Odysseus trying to find his way home to his family and to his island. Though there are many obstacles that they both must overcome. One obstacle that Santiago over came was that soon after Santiago landed in Africa he met a thief who stole all his money but Santiago managed to get by, by working for a crystal merchant. Also in the Odyssey Odysseus was faced with many challenges by the gods that in the end he managed to overcome. Once Odysseus was going to sail by the island of the sirens, so he stuffed his soldiers ears with bees wax and had them tie him to a sail on his ship. At the end of both of their journeys there is someone waiting for them. In the Alchemist at the end of Santiagos journey there is a man there who makes him realize that the journey was the treasure. He makes Santiago realize this by telling him that he had a dream about a treasure being buried under a tree in a church where shepherds sleep. In the Odyssey waiting for Odysseus ...

A Study Of Russias Political Ideologies And Vladimir Putins Administration

A Study Of Russia's Political Ideologies And Vladimir Putin's Administration The symbiotic relationship between politics and the economy benefits society as a whole, and this carefully constructed, mutually beneficial connection can easily turn sour should one side negatively impact the other. To further expand upon this claim, it is hardly a revolutionary idea to say that economic theories have changed depending on who has political control, and individual politicians can usurp power depending on the state of the economy. A further fragmented political state evolves when regional government carries most of a national economic burden. This give and take association is exemplified in Russia following Putin’s return to power combined with the Russian financial collapse during the latter portion of 2014. The political ideologies of Russia under Putin aggravated pre-existing financial instabilities within regional economies, and the sharp decline of the price of oil as well as international economic sanctions imposed on Russia that led to the collapse of t he Russian ruble. As the name Vladimir Putin echoes in every corner of the world, the leader of the world’s largest nation is known for being quite a controversial figure. Putin maintains a pseudo democracy that could be labeled as potentially more dangerous than the pure autocracy Russians suffered for decades. Even for centuries, Russia has experienced a tumultuous political climate; specifically, â€Å"Nearly two decades after the fall of communism, Russia is not a democracy. But neither is it an absolute autocracy in the mold of, say, Cuba or North Korea. That is to say, Russia pretends to be democratic† (Shevtsova). Pretending to be democratic, however, comes from years of chaos and uncertainty. With help from Western governments, the World Bank, and the International Monetary Fund, Russia underwent the largest and fastest privatization in history in order to establish a fully nationalized Soviet economy. But, seven years after the fall of the Soviet Union, Russia suffered the 1998 financial crisis, and at the time, it’s regional governments shouldered most of Russia’s economic burden. During the course of those seven years, Russia entered a deep depression, thus the 1998 financial crisis worsened an already dire situation. Boris Yeltsin weathered Russia through their economic troubles to the best of his ability, and the economy only really recovered once demand for oil rose. However, hours before the first day of the year 2000, Yeltsin announced his resignation, leaving the government in the hands of Vladimir Putin, a former KGB official and the head of the FSB. Putin’s action during both his previous and current terms in office reflect the scarily obvious link between the political climate within a country and its economic state. For Putin in his first term, he rebuilt an impoverished Russia with the help of the Russian oligarchs, or the wealthy businessmen who were former Soviet Union officials. Putin’s association with former So viet Union officials came with little to no surprise for anyone when he described the collapse of the Soviet Union as, â€Å" the greatest geopolitical catastrophe of the Twentieth Century,† (BBC). His hopeful Soviet Union ideals continue to drive Russia into a divided political state, and further antagonizes existing economic troubles. Given its vast size, Russia reaps an abundant amount of natural resources, which they use for economic purposes. Similar to the 1998 financial crisis, the root of the 2014 economic struggles revolve around oil prices, the principal resource of their economy. Or in other words, â€Å"Russia gets around half of its budget revenue from taxes on oil and natural gas, and as long as the price of oil is plummeting, its economy is likely to continue sinking.† (McLaughlin). The collapse of the ruble in 2014 was not directly linked to just oil though. Russia’s economy was also deeply affected by an unbalanced pension system, inflation, and severe US and European sanctions. Other than oil, the most noteworthy cause for this period of economic instability would be the international sanctions made against Russia during the Ukrainian crisis. Addressing the Crimean crisis and the shortly followed annexation of Crimea by the Russian Federation, several governments and international org anizations, led by the United States and European Union, imposed sanctions on Russian individuals and businesses. On October 3, 2014, Joe Biden even commented, â€Å"We don’t want Russia to collapse. We want Russia to succeed. But Putin has to make a choice. These asymmetrical advances on another country cannot be tolerated. The international system will collapse if they are.† (Biden). Russia continues to push the boundaries of the political spectrum, despite already suffering from issues such as inflation. Inflation has a direct connection to issues such as unemployment, which in turn affects political policies. Russia’s annual inflation for 2014 was 11.4%, the highest level of inflation since 2008, and combining that very high percentage with the falling ruble, consumer prices, especially food, began to skyrocket. The various factors causing economic instabilities beginning in 2014, which can still be seen today, have had definite political effects. In 2012, Putin reclaimed presidential power, but the international community called into question the logistics of his election. Specifically, the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe observed blatant fraud, â€Å"including the brazen stuffing of ballot boxes.† (Schwirtz). The legality of this election spurred protests throughout the streets of Russia with people asking for Russia without Putin, but Putin quickly squashed any opposition against him through means of violence, intimidation, and coercion. His reassertion into power laid a shaky political foundation that was aggravated by the collapse of the Russian ruble in 2014. For Russia, their primary political concern in 2014 occurred when Russia seized Crimea, exponentially affecting tensions between the East and the West, and in the latter portion of 2014, the ruble began to devalue. In 2015, Russia launches military support for their ally President Bashar al-Assad in Syria, and â€Å"oil and gas accounted for 43 percent of the government’s revenue. The World Bank predicted the poverty [in Russia] rate will reach 14.2 percent in 2016,† (Lee). Now, currently in 2017, the United States has launched an investigation into Russia’s role with the Trump administration. The correlation between the economic state of Russia and political climate within this vast state is that both sides need each other to be successful. However, a declining economic state led to a more tense political atmosphere, because the ruble was suffering due to rising U.S. interest rates as well as economic sanctions. But, the ruble drastically dropped because of a series of controversial political decisions by the Putin and other Russian leaders. Since the national government is slowly unraveling, the regional governments throughout Russia are capitalizing on their lack of assertiveness. With its immense size, the regions of Russia vastly differ. For most people, they do not see that: â€Å"the difference across Russian regions, although they may not be enormous by EU standards, are nonetheless striking: from highly urbanized to predominantly agrarian, from Mediterranean climatic conditions to extremely cold, from rich to natural resources to poor in natural resources, from gateway or commercial hub regions to regions facing high transport costs,† (Dimitros). Under the Russian constitution, the regional and local government received numerous powers such as imposing regional taxes, and they fully exercised their enumerated powers to alleviate their economic burdens. Russia currently has nine established districts which include Central, Far East, Northwest, Siberia, Southern, Urals, Volga, and Northern Caucasus. The ninth district was established in 2014 following Russia’s annexation of Crimea. In comparison to the federal government, these nine districts lack adequate tax revenue to pay their teachers, police officers, or other public officials, and they are overburdened by pensions. Although these regions face similar economic burdens: â€Å"The resource-rich areas, the financial capitals and the maritime regions would benefit from the liberalization of the economy and from free trade. These regions, relying on the export of mineral resources, on geographic location, or on financial capital, are more inclined to back the more liberal foreign trade oriented policy,† (Dimitros). As the resource-rich regions of Russia lean towards more liberal policies, the traditional industrial areas suffer from an inability to make structural adjustments. Whereas, the less industrialized regions are more likely to endorse domestic trade rather than international. The simple difference of regional economies can not be emphasized enough in Russia, because it exposes fragmented political ideologies. During their long term structural economic decline, Moscow has slowly started to crumble and in turn Putin is losing control of his country. In other words, the domestic problems that the Kremlin is facing threatens the centralized authority that Putin has worked so hard to build. Last year, â€Å"even the Russian Ministry of Economic Development admitted that [acceptable] living standards are unlikely until 2035,† (Jarmas). Thus given that the overall conditions of Russia’s federal government are declining rapidly, many regional governments are trying to maintain their minimal portions of the federal budget. The regional economies within Russia are preemptively preparing to ford their people through yet another tragic financial collapse, although they thought they would receive assistance from Putin. In 2012, for this third term Putin ran on the platform that he would increase wages in the public sector, but now in 2017, Putin is yet to make good on his promises. The f ederal budget has provided little funding for regional governments, who ultimately would be responsible for the higher wages. Putin has entrapped regional governments within a vicious cycle, where they are mandated to provide costly welfare programs by the central government which provides little to none federal funding. However, the Kremlin requires that regional governments carry most of their economic burden so they can focus on larger political conflicts. The relationship between politics and the economy highlights the effect of political ideologies on both regional and national economies. Political ideologies can alter depending on the economic state of a country, and that economic state can be drastically affected by a country’s political regime. The ramifications of Russia’s financial collapse that began in 2014 are seen today, and protest over unpaid wages continue to rise across Russia. With the 2018 World Cup around the corner for Russia, protesters have begun to link Kremlin’s megaprojects, such as a new soccer stadium, to worsening economic conditions in various regions throughout Russia. Russia has also been in numerous headlines, for their ties to the Trump administration, and their continual involvement in American politics mounts growing international concerns. Russia’s eagerness to venture into foreign affairs reflects a nation desperate for a new form of economic stability, a concept that may elude them for years to come and will continue to do so until many of the nation’s systemic issues are resolved.

Taxation System in the New York Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Taxation System in the New York - Assignment Example Since his daughter furnished the apartment using his property, he would have to pay all the property taxes for the furniture. In 2009, the taxpayer also visited his regular doctor and traveled by taxi to and from JFK airport. The hotel expenses would also add to the amount of money he would have had to pay as taxation. In 2010, the taxpayer was in New York for an additional 47 days but returned home in September that year. For the time up to September, his salary would be subject to taxation in New York as a person working abroad. When he came back home, he would go back to being taxed as a local resident since he was no longer working abroad. He would also continue being on his daughter’s apartment lease as the guarantor and therefore pay all the subsequent taxes related to the lease. The taxpayer’s taxable income would be $150,000 from the sale of stock of a California corporation which only held New York real property + $4,000 in NY State lottery winnings + $50,000 distribution from his pension plan + $1000 interest income from his savings account from ING + $100,000 in gains from the sale of a painting located in Connecticut but sold while temporarily at a museum located in New York. The cost of the painting was $20,000. To make a total of $305,000 The amount of the taxpayer’s income that would be subject to New York taxation would be around 100/365 x 100,000. The time he spent working in the company’s out-of-state field offices would not be liable to taxation in New York. The allocation formula would be simply dividing the number of days spent in New York with a total number of days in a year and multiply with his total wages from the company for a year. There are around 155 days that the taxpayer cannot account for in terms of where he was working. Since there is no way of determining this, there would be no taxes calculated for these days.