Native American Iconography and depictions in Art of 18th and early Research Paper

Native American Iconography and depictions in Art of 18th and early 19th century - Research Paper Example While not all such depictions were blatantly racist or derogatory (though of course some were), almost all contributed in some way to the dissolution of the Native American culture that is seen today. One of the most well-known artists and writers of the late 1800s is George Catlin. Catlin traveled extensively in North America, South America, and Europe, and wrote numerous illustrated books about his experiences (Reich 111). One of these was the ponderously titled â€Å"Letters and notes on the manners, customs, and condition of the North American Indians†, in which Catlin describes at length many of the tribes of North American native that existed while he was traveling (Catlin and Shippard). In both his words and his sketches, Catlin seems to have the utmost respect for the people about whom he is writing, at least relative to other writers of his time. For example, in Plate 11 of â€Å"Letters and notes†, Catlin sketches a man named Stu-mick-o-sucks, who was at that time the chief of the Blackfoot Nation, and in Plate 13 sketches his wife Eeh-nis-kim. Catlin makes positive comments about their ceremonial dress that they were wearing when he drew them, and states that Eeh-nis-kim had a â€Å"pleasing countenance†. He also referred to Stu-mick-o-sucks as a â€Å"dignity†, in the same way that he might refer to a foreign king of Europe (Catlin and Shippard). In addition to his sketches of Stu-mick-o-sucks, Catlin sketched other warriors and Native American tribesmen in their full ceremonial dress. These sketches made up Plates 29-31 in â€Å"Letters and notes†. He referred to their clothing as â€Å"handsome† and in all ways indicated that he found their clothing to be interesting and even beautiful. This viewpoint differed from others of his time that found their manner of dress to be primitive and barbaric (Catlin and Shippard). Catlin expounds at length on the methods that the Native Americans used to soften the leather that

NewCorp Scenarios of Workers Protection Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

NewCorp Scenarios of Workers Protection - Essay Example The essay "NewCorp Scenarios of Workers Protection" talks about the employment laws that stipulate rights of workers and it is the duty of all employers to ensure that they safeguard the rights of their workers by offering good working conditions. In the case of NewCorp, Paul has been exposed to work in a dangerous environment, which has made him be claustrophobic. He explains that the condition arose because of working in the confined spaces and if this issue is taken to court and he proves this, the court will rule in his favor and compensation will have to be made. The working environment has had a case before of another worker who was injured while doing his job and this proves that the environment is not conducive. The occupational safety act requires that employers provide safe working environment for all employees. The specific duty standards set rules that guard employees from being exposed to the hazardous working environment and in this case the confined spaces. NewCorp has exposed its workers to the hazardous working environment, and this has resulted to one of the employees being injured and Paul becoming claustrophobic. The organization has the responsibility of ensuring that it sets down safety standards for all workers and failure to do this means that it has violated the set rules, which will require them to pay compensation in the event that an employee is injured. NewCorp has also violated the Occupational Safety Act that gives it a general duty to provide an environment.

Li Fung: An Analysis

Li Fung: An Analysis Rahul Jacob, Inside Track: Traditional Values at the Click of a Mouse, Financial Times, August 1, 2000, p. 14. Online bookseller Amazon.com transformed the book industry forcing traditional book retailers to respond. Some information in this section comes from previous Harvard Business School Case Studies: Li Fung: Beyond Filling in the Mosaic-1995-98, (HBS Publishing No. 398-092) Michael Y. Yoshino, Carin-Isabel Knoop, Anthony St. George; January 1, 1998; and Li Fung (Trading) Ltd., HBS Publishing (No. 396-075) Gary Loveman, Jamie OConnell, October 26, 1995. With a press conference the following day, William was confident of the Groups performance and lifung.coms prospects. But he knew that important issues remained unresolved: Was there any chance of channel conflict or cannibalization between the offline business and the start-up? How would the market react to the start-up once it was launched the following year? And how specifically would e-commerce ultimately transform his familys century-old company? Company Background Li Fung was founded in 1906 by Williams grandfather, Fung Pak-Liu and his partner, Li To- Ming in Guangzhou, China as an export trading company selling to overseas merchants. In the 1920s and 1930s the company diversified into warehousing and the manufacture of handicrafts. Shortly after Fung Pak-Liu passed away in 1943, his son Fung Hon-Chu assumed charge of the company. Two years later, silent partner Li To- Ming retired and sold his shares to the company. The company retained Lis surname, a homophone Im not an Internet guy, Im a business guy, quipped William Fung, managing director of Li Fung Trading Co. Clad in his chinos and black American Eagle T-shirt, Fung looked much more like a new economy entrepreneur than the selfdescribed offline, old economy relic: Im 51, Im more than a grey hair in Internet terms, Im a fossil.1 Nor did lifung.com, his elder brother Victors new online company, resemble a typical Internet start-up, particularly with a 96-year-old parent born at the end of the Qing Dynasty. In August 2000, the day before beta launch of the new business-to-business (B2B) e-commerce portal, William described the challenges facing Li Fung: About three or four years ago, Victor and I discussed the Internet and how it impacts us. Our starting point was a defensive posture: Would the Internet disintermediate us? Would we get Amazoned2 by someone who will put together all of the information about buyers and factories online? After a lot of research we realized that the Internet facilitates supply chain management and we werent going to be disintermediated. The key is to have the old economy know-how and yet be open to new economy ideas. EXHIBIT 1 Li Fung Consolidated Income Statement (December 31, 1999), in HK$* 2000 1999 1999 1998 (HK$ thousands) (HK$ thousands) (HK$ thousands) (HK$ thousands) (June 30) (December 31) (June 30) (December 31) Turnover 10,267,606 16,297,501 6,583,730 14,312,618 Cost of sales (9,262,171) (14,585,881) (5,895,432) (12,891,709) Selling expenses (191,616) (354,124) (143,136) (287,524) Administrative expenses (87,741) (867,842) (56,436) (747,725) Profits before taxation 328,943 613,861 208,936 471,098 Taxation (29,805) (36,638) (14,536) (16,425) Profit after taxation 299,338 577,223 194,400 454,673 *In August 2000, US$1 _ HK$7.78. for profit in Chinese, which, along with Fung, a homophone for abundance, had an auspicious ring when combined. Li Fung relocated permanently to Hong Kong at the end of World War II, expanding its operations to include toys, garments, plastic flowers, and electronics. In the early 1970s, both Fung brothers had just returned from the United States: William had earned his MBA from Harvard Business School and returned to the business in 1972. Victor had recently completed his PhD in economics at Harvard University and, following a two-year stint teaching at Harvard Business School, rejoined the business in 1974. Their return heralded Li Fungs transition from a family-owned business to a professionally managed firm, with a planning and budgeting system in place for the first time. William and Victor, the third generation to run the company, felt that the next logical step in growing the company was to go public. In 1973, Li Fung became the holding company for the Group and was listed on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange (HKSE). Throughout the 1980s, Li Fung expanded its regional network of offices throughout the Asia-Pacific region as more sources of supply emerged in the rapidly industrializing Asian economies. In 1988 the Group was privatized and streamlined, incorporated in Bermuda in 1991, and its trading activities were again listed on the HKSE in July 1992. With the 1995 acquisition of Inchcape Buying Services (formerly Dodwell), Li Fung expanded its customer base in Europe while simultaneously shifting its sourcing network beyond East Asia to include the Indian subcontinent, the Mediterranean, and Caribbean basins. By 2000, Li Fung was a $2 billion global export trading company with 3,600 staff worldwide, sourcing and managing the global supply chain for high-volume, time-sensitive consumer goods. (Exhibit 1 shows recent Li Fung financial data.) By 2000, 69 percent of LiFungs sales were in the United States and 27 percent in Europe. Key customers included The Limited, Gymboree, American Eagle,Warner Brothers, Abercrombie Fitch, and Bed Bath Beyond. Tesco, Avon Products, Levi-Strauss, and Reebok had become customers within the last two years; Royal Ahold, GUESS? jeans, and bebe had signed on in 2000. Li Fungs product mix included hard and soft goods. Soft goods referred to apparel, including woven and knit garments for men, women, and children. Hard goods included fashion accessories, festive or holiday products, furnishings, giftware, handicrafts, home products, fireworks, sporting goods, toys, and travel goods. Hard goods provided higher margins than soft goods because, despite a generall y lower item value per unit, they required higher value-added services for orders that were also usually much smaller than soft goods orders. Hard goods items such as watches, shoes, suitcases, kitchenware, or teddy bears required an inspector for quality control evaluation for even the smallest batch order, thereby greatly increasing what Li Fung could charge. Margins for soft goods were roughly 6 percent to 8 percent, while we get an order from a European retailer to produce 10,000 garments. We determine that, because of quotas and labor conditions, the best place to make the garments is Thailand. So we ship everything from there. And because the customer needs quick delivery, we may Product Development Raw Material Sourcing Production Planning Factory Sourcing Manufacturing Control Quality Assurance Export Documentation Shipping Consolidation Fashion Accessories Festive Products Furnishings Garments Giftware Handicrafts Home Products Sporting Goods Toys Travel Goods Li Fung Total Value-Added Package EXHIBIT 2 Li Fung Total Value- Added Services Source: Company documents. divide the order across five factories in Thailand. Effectively we are customizing the value chain to best meet the customers needs. Five weeks after we received the order, 10,000 garments arrive on the shelves in Europe, all looking like they came from one factory.5 Li Fung clients benefited in several ways: supply chain customization could shorten order fulfillment from three months to five weeks, and this faster turnaround allowed clients to reduce inventory costs. Moreover, in its role as a middleman, Li Fung reduced matching and credit risks, and also offered quality assurance to its customers. Furthermore, with a global sourcing network and economies of scale, Li Fung could offer lower cost and more flexible sourcing than its competitors. In addition, through acquisitions and global expansion, Li Fung was extending this knowledge base to sub-Saharan Africa, Eastern Europe, and the Caribbean. Finally, Li Fung provided up-to-date fashion and market trend information to clien ts. As a result of its Camberley acquisition in 1999, it started offering clients virtual manufacturing or product design services. According to Victor, Li Fung does not own any of the boxes in the supply chain, rather we manage and orchestrate it from above. The creation of value is based on a holistic conception of the value chain. In recent years, however, Li Fung had begun to improve operations by controlling or owning strategic links in the chain. In some cases, Li Fung offered raw material sourcing. In the past when clients placed an order, Li Fung would determine the manufacturer best suited to supply the goods, and that factory would source its own raw materials. But Li Fung understood its clients needs better than its manufacturing plants did, so by offering raw materials to its suppliers, the company both ensured greater quality control and bought larger and thus more cost effective amounts of raw materials, thereby producing cost savings for each manufacturer. In such cases, Li Fung also earned revenue by charging its factories a commission on each raw material purchase they made. By mid-2000, ne arly 15 percent of Group sales involved Li Fungs raw material sourcing service. Joan Magretta, Fast, Global, and Entrepreneurial: Supply Chain Management, Hong Kong Style, An interview with Victor Fung, Harvard Business Review, September-October 1998, p. 106. Corporate Culture and Compensation From the 1992 privatization on, the division of labor between the Fung brothers was clear-cut: as Group chairman, Victor was primarily concerned with the Groups strategic issues and long-term planning; as Group managing director, William attended to everyday operations of the publicly listed trading arm, or as he joked in a recent interview, Victor is the deep thinker, and I just make the money.6 In another interview, Victor joked that William calls me the visionary, meaning that I dont really know whats going on.7 But both brothers lived in the same apartment building as their mother and sisters and conversed every day to keep abreast of developments at Li Fung. The duo created a strong synergy that was described by the CEO of the Groups e-commerce venture as A combination of both thought leadership and execution, with the unique relationship between Victor and William cementing the entire organization. They create a very particular kind of culture that blends pragmatism and, at th e same time, a recognition of and openness to innovation. According to Victor, once the business was successful, it was essential to keep an open mind and rather than resting on their laurels, that the challenge was to move past success and look forward. Furthermore, Victor held that it was imperative to cultivate a corporate culture that not only tolerated but encouraged diversity, or in his words, keep the culture so that it remains humble, agile, and responsive all the time and keep the people externally focused. Biannual retreats were held in Hong Kong, senior management meetings attended by division-level managers in order to foster communication across the Group. Li Fungs 3,600 employees were spread around the globe in offices ranging in size from 6 staff in Saipan to 1,100 in the Hong Kong head office. Five of the 48 offices were hubs-Hong Kong, Taiwan, Korea, Thailand, and Turkey. Each 8 Joanna Slater, Corporate Culture, Far Eastern Economic Review, July 22, 1999, p. 12. (except the Hong Kong office) had 200 to 300 employees. Li Fung was entrepreneurial, allowing senior managers to run 90 small, worldwide management teams as separate and individual companies. These dedicated teams of product specialists focused on the needs of specific customers and were grouped under a Li Fung corporate umbrella that provided centralized IT, financial, and administrative support from Hong Kong. This decentralized corporate structure allowed for adaptability and rapid reaction to seasonal fashion shifts. As a meritocracy, performance-based promotion and compensation were cardinal principles. Each of Li Fungs top executives negotiated individual compensa tion packages. In contrast to companies that restricted executive bonuses to a fixed percentage of salary, Li Fung bonuses were based on profits with no ceiling. Its not every company that calls its executives little John Waynes. But for Li Fung, the image captures perfectly the drive, dedication, and independence of the companys far-flung managers. As Li Fung extended its geographic reach, it also expanded its mix of cultures. And to manage the mix it uses a simple formula: give managers the freedom to work as they see fit, so long as they get the job done.8 Tripartite Growth Strategy In 2000 Li Fung saw its future growth coming from a combination of organic growth, expansion through acquisition, and extension of its supply chain to new markets via the Internet. Organic Growth Since 1995, the Group had grown organically by receiving more orders from existing clients and by securing new mandates from strategic clients. Li Fung further extended its network and diversified its sourcing around the globe with new offices in places as diverse as Bangladesh, sub-Saharan Africa, and Manchester, England (see Exhibits 3 and 4). Louis Kraar, The New Net Tigers, Fortune Magazine, May 15, 2000, p. 310. Joanna Slater, Masters of the Trade, Far Eastern Economic Review, July 22, 2000, p. 10. The Mediterranean Cairo Denizli Florence Istanbul Izmir Oporto Tunis Turin South Africa Durban Madagascar Mauritius South Asia Bangalore Bombay Chittagong Colombo Dhaka Karachi Katmandu Madras New Delhi Sharjah North Asia Beijing Dallan Guangzhou Hong Kong Liuyang Nanjing Qingdao Southeast Asia Bangkok Ho Chi Minh City Jakarta Johor Bahru Manila Phnom Penh Saipan Singapore The Americas Guatemala Honduras Mexico City New York Vancouver Seoul Shanghai Shantou Shenzhen Taipei Zhanjiang EXHIBIT 3 Li Fungs Global Network Source: Company documents. Central America 3% Hong Kong/PRC 40% Southeast Asia 20% South Asia 8% Korea 12% Taiwan 9% Europe 6% Africa 2% EXHIBIT 4 Li Fung Sourcing Markets (Q1 and Q2, 2000) Source: Company documents. David Wilder, Internet Key to More Gains for Li Fung, South China Morning Post, September 4, 2000, Business Post, p. 1. In 1996 Li Fung adopted a three-year plan system, one which William described as having been adopted directly from the economic planning system of the Chinese Communist Party, that allows the company to look ahead, but not too far ahead. William elaborated: We thought that the Chinese had a neat system. They have five-year plans, fixed; we have three-year plans, fixed. We dont want moving goalposts, we want set goals. At the beginning of every three-year plan we sit down and look at the business from its fundamentals. We use backwards planning, we recognize where we want to be in three years time, identify the gaps between that and where we are now, and see what we have to do to get there. During its first three-year plan (FY1993-1995), entitled Filling in the Mosaic, Li Fung focused on filling in the gaps in its network of offices to cover new sourcing markets. The second three-year plan (FY1996-1998), Margin Expansion, was launched immediately after the Inchcape acquisition to in crease its profitability. A third three-year plan Doubling Profits (FY1999-2001), established the goals of doubling profits every three years and achieving $3 billion in annual sales. Investors liked the results: Li Fung outperformed the Hang Seng Index by over 75 percent in 2000. The reward was inclusion in the Morgan Stanley Country Index for Hong Kong in May 2000, subsequent inclusion in the HSI in August 2000 and on the FTSE World Index Hong Kong Section in September 2000. With a market capitalization of $6.6 billion, by mid-2000 Li Fung was the nineteenth largest Hong Kong stock trading with a company record price to earnings (P/E) ratio of nearly 60_. A local newspaper declared: It is difficult to find a bad word [about Li Fung]. It could be a poster-child for shareholder value, with a return-on-equity of 60.2 percent at the end of last year. The firm is well positioned to benefit from the opening of the mainland market and Beijings accession to the World Trade Organization, with 40 percent of sourcing on the mainland and Hong Kong.9 Acquisitions Li Fungs acquisition strategy was based on buying rival sourcing companies, thereby gaining new client accounts, integrating their operations, and eventually bringing the operating margins of these acquired units up to Li Fung levels. In 1995 Li Fung acquired Inchcape Buying Services, a 100-year-old company roughly the same size as Li Fung and its closest competitor. The Dodwell acquisition brought access to sourcing markets on the Indian subcontinent and European export markets. This acquisition took nearly three years to be fully absorbed into Li Fungs operations. Within three years, Dodwells operating margins increased from 0.8 percent to 3 percent, primarily through the provision of Li Fung value-added services to Dodwell customers. In December 1999, Li Fung acquired the export trading operations of the Swire Group, Swire Maclaine and Camberley, which were Li Fungs next two largest Hong Kong-based competitors, and in the process became the only listed supply chain management company in Hong Kong. Like Li Fung, Camberley did not own its factories. Instead, it provided virtual manufacturing in the form of in-house design, pattern and sample making, and raw material sourcing. Manufacturing was subcontracted to factories in China. Through Camberley, Li Fung gained access to the design process- another link in the value chain-as well as access to new clients such as the Asia buying offices of Laura Ashley and Ann Taylor. As it had with Inchcape, Li Fung expected to bolster its own bottom line by raising the operating margins of these two companies. With a robust cash flow and the solid financial performance of past acquisitions, Li Fung was in position to continue growing its business by further acquisitions. By August 2000, Li Fung was nearly five times the size of its two closest local competitors, William E. Connor and Associates and Colby International, which had twice postponed the IPO of its B2B portal in 2000. See Appendix A for more details on the intranet and extranet. E-Commerce A core element of Li Fungs three-year planning system included an introspective look at whether we are still relevant, including whether or not we are going to be disintermediated. Part of its response was an Internet initiative of its own. In 1995 Li Fung launched an intranet to link the Groups offices and manufacturing sites around the world, thereby expediting and simplifying internal communications. The progress of orders and shipments could be tracked in real time, and digital imagery allowed for online inspection and troubleshooting. For example, past quality problems with Bangladeshi production would require an on-site Li Fung inspector to send physical samples to Hong Kong by express mail, whereas the intranet now allowed a high-resolution digital photo to be sent via the intranet for real-time response and remedy. In 1997, Li Fung launched secure extranet sites. Each site linked the company directly to a key customer and was customized to that customers individual needs. By 2000, 10 such extranets were in place, each taking nearly 6-9 months to fully implement, from design to testing of the user interface. Through each site, Li Fung could carry out online product development as well as order tracking, obviating much of the cost and time necessary to send hard copies of documents back and forth. Furthermore, with Li Fung as the key link between manufacturers and retailers, the extranet provided a platform for the two to interface, thus streamlining communications as the order moved through the supply chain. Customers could track an order online just as it was possible to track a UPS delivery. This monitoring of production also promoted quick response manufacturing. Until the fabric was dyed, the customer could change the color; until the fabric was cut, the customer could change the styles o r sizes offered, whether a pocket or a cuff would be added, and a number of other product specifications. According to William, some customers went as far as connecting their entire ERP (enterprise resource planning) system to Li Fungs extranet system. Li Fungs IT division had 60 people, all based in Hong Kong, but software development of both the intranet in 1995 and its extranets in 1997 was outsourced.10 Successful implementation of these systems provided the initial building blocks of Li Fungs e-commerce solution and with them in place, the Fungs became further aware of the extent to which integration of Internet technology enhanced internal efficiency and improved communication between Li Fung divisions and customers and began to consider extending the organizations online presence. Competitive Threats The Fung brothers said that they decided to go online to avoid being disintermediated. But a closer examination of local B2B portals and online exchanges led Victor to conclude that the online threat to their offline business was far less than first imagined. People from the first wave were so far out and garbled in their thinking that we felt that there was no immediate threat, he noted. Therefore, we needed to think through e-commerce properly, to formulate a proper response. In Victors words, B2B exchanges were a molecule thick and a mile wide, based on many depthless relationships. Li Fung preferred narrow and deep relationships nurtured with fewer customers and including value-added services. As William professed, The same reason why we were not disintermediated by the offline guys is going to be the reason why were not going to be disintermediated by the online guys. However, William discovered on a 1999 visit to the United States that Li Fungs old economy retail customers felt seriously threatened by Internet pure plays. At first this hype did not make much sense: I asked my friend at Toys R Us, Why are you concerned about eToys? It does about $28-$30 million in sales whereas you do $11 billion, and it loses as much as its entire turnover? How can you worry about them? And the first lesson I learned was that its not their size that is the threat but the fact that investors are throwing money at them. William discovered that Internet companies could use the money that was pouring in to damage offline competitors, often by acquiring them or their key people. They can hire away all of the talent that you have. The biggest weapon is the money they have. At one point, they could have hired away my entire management. Other possible threats came from online companies acquiring an old economy trading company, or from offline companies like Japanese trading companies or local sourcing firms that could partner with a dot-com and become a competitor overnight. William hinted that the Swire Maclaine acquisition was a defensive move to preempt acquisitions by new economy companies. William gave his view of the Internet revolution: I started off saying that the Internet is just another technology that affects the way information is transferred and people communicate with each other. It has a very dramatic impact, more dramatic than the fax. But for me its yet another in a series of technological changes that affects our business that we have to be keenly aware of. It may be the most important change until now, but it is probably not the last. According to Victor, The Internet is a revolutionary technology, but new technology is nevertheless still technology. Li Fung always has been aggressive in adopting new technologies. When the telephone came along, my grandfather was shocked. When the fax came around, the technology changed our turnaround time into just days. With Internet technology, now we get answers within hours. When broadband and WAP comes online, there will be even less lag. Bubble In Once the Fungs determined that Li Fung needed an e-commerce strategy, the remaining question was how and in what shape it would emerge, how specifically e-commerce would eventually add value to Li Fung, and whether it would use the existing IT department of 60 or absorb a new team of entrepreneurs. Victor felt strongly that their e-commerce strategy should come from within the company, not outsourced as the intra- and extranets were, or as he phrased it, bubble in, not bubble out. According to Victor, only if the solution was an internal one could he be certain that the technology would pervade the entire Li Fung organization. Neither did Victor care to start a brand-new entity separate from the parent: Im not interested in starting a dot-com division, getting a high valuation with, a $13 million cash flow, and then spinning it off. I want Li Fung to be around for another 100 years, not just 5 or 15. To start a pure Internet division is as equally absurd as starting a fax division, a division that exclusively uses faxes. To better grasp the fundamentals of embarking on a new IT venture, Li Fung added two new technical directors to its board, one a technology company CEO, the other an academic. According to William: The one thing certain about our business is that it will be constantly changing, so we need to install a mechanism for monitoring external environmental changes that impact our business. We decided a long time ago that we were an information and knowledge-based services company, so anything to do with information technology is crucial to us. We keep up with whats happening with board members who can help us scan the horizon. Enter Castling In 1997, Michael Hsieh (HBS 84), president of LF International Inc., Li Fungs venture capital arm and 15-year Li Fung veteran, received a telephone call from John Suh (HBS 97), CEO of Castling Group, an Internet start-up company that, like the chess move allows you to defend your king and simultaneously position your rook for attack, used the Internet to both defend the offline, old economy companies against online companies threat to their markets while simultaneously extending their own online presence. The two met in San Francisco to discuss how a focused combination of technology and supply chain reform could transform retail. Hsieh, well aware that Li Fung was working on its own e-commerce strategy, noted: As a VC, I see numerous business plans that say that with Li Fung behind an online exchange, we create significant value and therefore offer you 5 percent if you join us. However most of the plans do not make sense. They offer very little value and the founders lack either industry or technology expertise. John had the right blend of technology and business sense, the right mix of right and left brain. Like the Fungs, Hsieh favored a bubble in approach. He compared outsourcing e-commerce implementation to a third-party consultant for a $10 million fee as putting the fox in the chicken coop. It created a risky dependency on outsiders, particularly if future design changes were required and also provided outsiders with proprietary information, strategy, and the entire business model. Finally, Hsieh remarked: As a venture capitalist, I always have to think about the strength of the management team and what could go wrong with the venture. Can they deliver? Do they know the industry? Is this a credible business proposition? What if there is a negative reaction? By late 1999, the time was right to act on their initial meeting. Hsieh commented that both the evolution of Castling from B2C to B2B and Li Fungs needs complemented each other nicely; John had a real appreciation for the supply chain and a record for building successful e-commerce models. In December 1999 Hsieh joined Castlings board and LF International invested in Castling. They subsequently co-invested in an initial round of financing for lifung.com, and Castling committed key managerial staff to lifung.com. Suh described Li Fung as the perfect strategic partner. They have an entrepreneurial philosophy rooted at the core of their system. Theyve got an aggressive and visionary leadership team at the for efront of supply chain management. And theyre ready to operate according to the rules of the new economy. In one fell swoop, San Francisco-based lifung.coms management team was immediately staffed with Castlings professionals, serving as vice president of Business Development, vice president of Operations, director of Marketing, and CTO (Chief Technology Officer). Suh stepped down as CEO of Castling, retaining the position of nonexecutive chairman, and signed on as CEO of lifung.com. Apart from Suh and CTO Derek Chen, 20 percent of lifung.coms initial staff came from Castling, amounting to an in-house e-commerce incubation team that represented a slight twist on Victors bubble in strategy. Suh and Chen, the latter formerly of Andersen Consultings Advanced Network Solutions Group, brought along their experience from Castling e-commerce strategy projects for jcrew.com, hifi.com, giftcertificate.com, and ferragamo.com. The rest of the team came from either within Li Fung (e.g., the se nior vice president of Merchandising) or from outside the Li Fung organization (e.g., the vice presidents of Sales and of Marketing). To facilitate the integration of the new online entity into the Li Fung fold, a senior manager was tasked to provide an interface between the two groups. By Q3 2000, lifung.com had 40 full-time professionals and 25 consultants, with 80 full-time staff expected by years end. For B2B ventures, moving first and fast was often a prerequisite for dominance. Scarcely a year had passed since the initial meeting with Castling and its first round of financing. According to Suh, there were three stages of launching an online venture: the business strategy, the design-build-test phase, and then actual execution. Moving quickly, Suh remarked, Requires a fundamental trust in an organization that best arises from the experience of a team that has built things together, with members who know each others strengths and weaknesses. We do a lot of team building, becau se without trust you cannot move at the speed required. There are certain elements critical to the success of a dot-com . . . openness and constant communication are essential because there are so many skills and inter-functional dependencies that must be navigated for a successful launch. At lifung.com, we have a great mix of people, individuals with 30 years of merchandising experience, a deep operations staff,

The Path to True Happiness: Choosing Love over Desire Essay -- Homers

Motivation is the reason why people behave the way they do. It is the driving force behind human behavior and is what compels actions toward a desired goal. There are copious amounts of varying motivating forces. In Homer’s Iliad, it is honor and glory, whereas, love drives Augustine’s actions in The Confessions. In Meditations, Marcus Aurelius holds that the transient nature of life be the incentive behind human action. Despite the differences in reasoning and motivation, all four texts demonstrate the natural tendency of humans to give into desire in pursuit of happiness. However, true happiness only exists in divine love. As follows, focusing on the ego and one’s desires results in separation from and rejection of divine love and leads, inevitably, to unhappiness and harm to oneself and others. The desire and ultimate goal of the heroes in The Iliad is the fame that endures even after death. Honor and glory guide every action and response they make because honor and glory define the hero in their society. The war served as an opportunity for many to find honor and glory, as they could be gained through great, gallant deeds in battle. Achilles and Hector are both portrayed as great fighters seeing that their presence greatly affect a battle. Paris, on the other hand, must be dragged out of the city to fight in the war he instigated. Only when Hector â€Å"raked [him] with insults, stinging taunts† and shameful things about his character did he return to battle (6.384). Good social standing is essential to the fame and power that the heroes desire. If Paris is to be deemed honorable and glorious, he must leave the safety and comfort of his home and pull his weight in battle. Ultimately, Paris’s pride and desire to be liked and respe... ...n to die. Therefore, it is important to live like it is your last day and to strive to be a better person. For this reason, humans should realize that yielding to desires in the physical world will not constitute eternal happiness. It is only with the help of the gods can humans truly be happy and when it is time to depart from life, Marcus Aurelius encourages humans to welcome death â€Å"for [the gods] would not involve you in anything bad† (2.11). Death should be seen as a precious release because with God’s love and grace, the soul is freed from the battered flesh casing. By actively choosing the corruptible elements of the physical world rather than the eternal, perfect forms, humans bring evil unto themselves. Throughout The Confessions, Augustine is divided between sexual desire and spiritual desire. Motivated by love he seeks to find a solution to his division.

From Regional Star to Global Leader Essay

Yang Jianguo was recently promoted from country manager for China to global head of product development at a French perfume maker named Deronde. He had been country manager for the China operations, having been promoted from his job running a lab that had produced two hit scents in the Asian market. The company’s CEO, Alain Deronde had chosen Jianguo over three other rising stars. Yves Saurac, one of the three rising stars, was the vice president of the company who everyone had assumed to get job instead of Jianguo. Yves was also close friend with the CEO’s family but Jianguo succeeded in the competition. Jianguo was eager to succeed in his new role in Paris. There were several issues to deal with in the first place. The company’s best prospects were in emerging markets, yet consumers in China and many other Asian markets found the Western scents unpleasantly strong. Sales were weak in Latin America as well. Given that after decades of double digit growth, Deronde’s market share was also sliding. Jianguo had no doubt that he had some winning ideas, but they seem to be falling on deaf ears. During the Jaingguo’s pitch at the board meeting, everyone at the meeting felt unease about Jiangguo’s idea pitch. Members of the executive team, for their part, find Jianguo to be largely indifferent to their input. Those other board members, including the three rising stars kept opposing to Jianguo’s ida pitch. He was getting nowhere. Jianguo’s first pitch to board members turned out to be very disappointing. Those three are competitor, but they had known each other for years and as a result, they also shared degree of trust. When, three of them had a moment to connect privately, Yves expressed his earnest concern about company’s future and how Jianguo avoid talking to him about the issue of connecting Eastern and Wes tern culture. Problems at hand indentified – what needs to be changed As the world embraces the global economy, modern corporations might need to promote diversified management staffs in order to keep pace in the emerging market economy. Thrusting onto the world stage, Jianguo Yang became a new  generation regional managers in French perfume company. Even he equipped with intimate knowledge of local market and local Chinese management skill but differences in national and corporate cultures within the same organization can pose significant hurdles in a new environment. Different attitudes and behaviors of new colleagues might make him a hard time to work and get familiar with. The persuasive argument and strong communication might help someway but the most importance is to understand the diversified peers’ culture and adapt to it. Making the transition to the global arena can be challenging so can Jianguo make the transition? And what should Jianguo do? Analysis of causes From regional star to global leader, from a Chinese local manager to a multi-national executive, a lot of things have changed for Jianguo. It seems, on the surface, it is a good thing. But this transition period is actually very tough to handle. It is very easily to change into a bad thing. Jianguo is facing a turning point. The teammates wouldn’t like to cooperate with him. His superior has some misunderstanding towards him. He was uninvolved in strategic thinking, feeling frustrated and confused. In fact, his problem is resulted from three aspects. First aspect is the cultural difference. Jianguo came from China. In Chinese companies, the main organization structure is hierarchy. What does it mean? It means that employees report to his direct head. Department employee reports to department manager. Department manager reports to general manager. Leapfrog report is definitely taboo. The logic is supposed to be like this. However, in French companies, they mainly worship flat organizational structure. It is totally a different picture. The term â€Å"Leapfrog report† never exists under this circumstance. The General Manager welcomes every single employee to report direct to him. For Jianguo, as a Chinese, he doesn’t know that. So when he found his French employees leapfrog reported to his head instead of him. The conflict turns up. He didn’t feel well. He held bias and misunderstanding towards his employees. Besides, in Chinese culture, the employees get used to move under the team  head’s order, which is identified as top-down organization style. Jianguo gets used of this mode. He never listened to his subordinates suggestions. Instead, he intended to give orders. In French, the organizational style is bottom-up. You listen and you make decisions. Secondly, it goes to role difference. Jianguo was once a Chinese local manager. Now he is a global company’s executive. The role has changed, with a lot of things following. In the past, his decision making was mainly on intuition, experience and anecdotes. Now, his decision should be based on strategic thinking and data, which means more scientific and logic. In the past, his leadership type was transactional, which means he was a task driven manager. Now he should become transformational, which means he has to inspire his team members, to listen to them and to communicate to them. Also the focus and the political wisdom are different now. I got a table to illustrate as follows. Thirdly, it has to go to the ineffective communication. Jianguo might be a smart guy based on his outstanding achievement in the former position, and obviously he has a lot of good ideas for marketing in the new position. But  he did really a bad job to promote himself and his ideas. His colleagues didn’t buy it. He never initiates a deep talk with his subordinates. He doesn’t know what kind of people he is working with. He never listens to them patiently, given that he seems too eager to prove his capabilities. He shows no respect to his teammates. What was worse, he never penetrates his ideas to his superior. He didn’t know what kind of character his superior was and what kind of marketing direction he was in favor of. During their meeting, Jianguo failed to notice the fact that the superior felt unease to his idea. Jianguo just focused on his own idea and himself. This ineffective communication may ruin his career. Evaluation of the actions in the case Jianguo was not dynamics enough to acclimate himself to new working role and multicultural environment. Working culture and environment in French company would be definitely different and beyond what he had anticipated. Being only one promoted he probably could not rely to the colleagues who feel betrayed as much as he would do in the previous role. Jianguo had many options to deliver some quick wins and demonstrate his value so the colleagues could make themselves look bad by becoming his enemies. So now the leadership and communication skill would play important role if he would like to keep pace in his career development further. To succeed, Jianguo had to make some changes in his beliefs and behavior. Approaches to solve the problem The problems encountered in this case can be viewed from two aspects: the aspect of Jianguo Yang and the aspect of the organization. Jiangguo Yang should make some changes to fit the organization; meanwhile the organization should also make some change for further development. In this case, three experts give their commentary advices, which mainly on the aspect of Jianguo Yang. However, in our approaches to solve the problem, the aspect of the organization will be the main part. There are two reasons for this. First, fairly speaking, for Jianguo Yang, the experts have already given some very good advices, which we don’t want to challenge on. Besides the truth that the advices are really practical and effective, at least we think so, these experts are very experienced and insightful. They are Katherine Tsang, the  executive vice chairman and CEO of Standard Chartered Bank in Shanghai, Mansour Javidan, the dean of research and the Garvin Distinguished Professor at Thunderbird School of Global Management in Glendale, Arizona, and James Champy, the chairman of consulting for Perot Systems and a coauthor of Reengineering the Corporation (Harper, 1993). Mansour Javidan is also the president and chairman of the board of the GLOBE research project. He has lived or worked in 22 countries. Second, we think characteristics of an organization, such as organization structure, organizational culture and organizational change, are no less important than the humane issues in a company. This is also an very important topic in Organizational Behavior. Before we moved on, we should notice that they did notice the side of the organization. Although the three experts are all focusing on the side of Jianguo, one expert, James Champy, mentioned some about the organization. He said that â€Å"Deronde International needs to adjust as well. If the company is serious about making a global move, Alain should take his whole team through some sort of cultural appreciation and immersion process. Culture begins at the top, and in this company the executives seem comfortable stereotyping anybody who doesn’t look and speak the way they do. It’s no surprise that Alain’s direct reports aren’t comfortable with Jianguo. I’m not entirely optimistic about Deronde’s chances for transformation, however. Company cultures and behaviors don’t budge easily – especially if the CEO has more of an appetite for foie gras than for change.† However, this comment is not very practical and detailed. Now, let’s talk about why the organization needs to change and how. The value of Jianguo is not fully used in the company. Reasons are already talked in the former part. However, we need to see his values and that is the reason for the company to make some change to fully use the potential of its employees. Jianguo’s value can also be proved in James Champy’s comment. ‘In my experience, in a family-run business, loyalty and comfort trump other considerations. Look at Ford Motor: Young Bill Ford was not ready to run that business. The company has continued to lose market share, but the family seems to be comfortable with a trusted person at the helm. So I was surprised that Alain had chosen Jianguo. It would have been so much easier to choose Yves, whom he knows and trusts. Yet Alain seems to have made a clever strategic choice. Presumably, he sees that in a recession, Deronde’s prospects for growth lie primarily in emerging  markets. Jianguo appears to be connected to the young Chinese consumer, and Alain evidently has the smarts to connect the dots.’ Having known all the facts above, what changes should the company make? The bureaucracy form both sides, Chinese and French, should be reduced. Although the bureaucracy has some strength, such as functional economies of scale, minimum duplication of personnel and equipment, enhanced communication and centralized decision making, in this case the inefficiency of communication is large due to the bureaucracy in the minds of people from both sides. The weaknesses of bureaucracy are subunit conflicts with organizational goals, obsessive concern with rules and regulations and lack of employee discretion to deal with problems. Here is an example for this. â€Å"Jianguo began with a quick review of the ideas he had pitched at lunch the day before and then launched into his proposal for a line of skin care products aimed at young men. He thought he had the perfect spokesman: Olympic hurdler Liu Xiang. â€Å"Will people know who he is?† Yves asked. â€Å"Outside China, I mean?† He looked around the room. â€Å"Yes, China matters, but let’s not forget that most of our customers aren’t in third world countries.† Jianguo moved on without comment. â€Å"Before we can even start talking about new products for these markets,† How can we change the organization? We want to use the Lewin’s Three-Step Change Model. The three steps are unfreezing, movement and refreezing. There are two forces, driving forces and restraining forces. Driving forces are forces that direct behavior away from the status quo. Restraining forces are forces that hinder movement from the exiting equilibrium. Unfreezing is to change efforts to overcome the pressures of both individual resistance and group conformity. Refreezing is stabilizing a change intervention by balancing driving and restraining forces. What we learned from this case From what we discussed above about this incident in the case, we learn quite a lot about how to face an issue like that, how to analyze it in terms of organizational behavior theories. On one hand, we can see that the organizational behavior issues commonly exist in the organizations and this kind of issues are not only important for healthy development of the organizations but also complicated and very sensitive. On the other hand, to avoid this kind of thing happen, to solve this kind of things, both the  organization and the person mainly concerned should make efforts. For avoiding, the organization or the superior should take more responsibilities. The whole organization should cultivate a more flexible mechanism of decision making under the situation of such a big but necessary high-level personnel change for company’s strategic movement. As a superior, it must consider carefully and completely about the problems probably confronted with before making such a decision. First, Pay attention to cultural difference. In this case, due to the existing cultural difference, he should create some chance for Jianguo, to let him own the working experience in different cultural, like working in the overseas branch or in the department with different cultural atmosphere. Second, do enough preparation for promotion. Appointing the person to assist the superior whose position he will be promoted to or make his job rotated in different departments or branches should be a good preparation for promoting him. Third, cultivating a teamwork spirit is important to become a good leader. For solving the problems, the person mainly concerned, like Jianguo in the case, should take more responsibilities. First, he should analyze the cultural difference, the role difference and make an effective and efficient interaction with his colleagues. In other words, he should change himself according to this new environment, and make achievements which can help him get higher trusted by his opposites. In mutual trusted circumstance, he can promote his idea more easily. Second, he must started to learn more about the market, and convince others with scientific research, like doing field survey, get learned more accurate figures, which can improve his ideas and make his arguments more supportive and persuasive. Last but not least, he should find a breach to reverse negative trend, and this breach is Alain, who promoted him to such a position. Alain can consider this whole issue on a higher position and in an all-round manner. The consensus between such two main persons involved definitely would help the whole issue move towards the better direction. In conclusion, this kind of issue is caused by three problems, including cultural difference, role difference, and ineffective communication. So, to deal with this issue need to minimize cultural difference, minimize role difference, and improve communication. The solutions we mentioned above along with the suggestions given by three experiences persons in the case, should make good sense, and solve the  problem the company faced in the case. In current situation, the most key person for dealing with this problem is still Jianguo. Only if he deals with this issue in the ways we suggested above, be patient, and get co-operated by Alain, it is believable that he can change the current situation and realize the original strategic intension they expected successfully.

American Jews and their religion

The word Jew is used in a number of ways, but generally refers to a follower of the Jewish faith, the offspring of a Jewish mother or someone of Jewish origin with roots to Jewish culture or ethnicity. A combination of all these attributes make one a better Jew. Jews are an ethnic group who refer themselves as a people and members of a nation descending from ancient Israelites including those who joined their religion at various times and places. This term is associated with the split of the kingdom of Israel between the northern kingdom of Israel and the southern kingdom of Judah.Of late, the term is used to refer to those Jews actively practicing Judaism and those, although not practicing Judaism as religion still refer themselves as Jews by virtue of their family’s Jewish heritage and their own cultural identification. Judaism as the Jews popular religion has many characteristics, of a religion , a nation, an ethnicity and a culture, making the definition of who is really a Jew vary slightly depending on whether a religious or national approach to identity is used.As he popular religion among the Jews, Judaism guides its adherents in both practice and beliefs, it has therefore been called a religion and also a way of life. It is due to this reason that the difference between Judaism, Jewish culture and Jewish nationality is very thin. Many times and places such as contemporary United States and Israel, cultural practices have cropped up that are characteristically without being religious at all. These practices have been brought about by factors like interactions of Jews and others around them, the Judaism it self and even from the inner social and cultural dynamics of the community,Jews have been subjected to countless mistreatments all over the world leading to their migration from their original homeland e. g. the famous holocaust led by Adolph Hitler and his Nazi regime in German. These mistreatments, which led to their regular migration, have sha ped Jewish identity and Jewish religious participation in many ways. Jews also have a number of ethnic divisions, which includes, the German based Jews, the Spanish – Portugal Jews, Gruzim, and American based Jews, Telegu of India and Buchanan Jews of central among many others.Due to the above-mentioned mistreatments, Jews migrated to many places of the world. Today the Jews in Diaspora make up a large number of the total Jews of the world with United States having 5. 5 million Jews (Jewish people policy institute). The effects of conditions of â€Å"freedom† to Jews in general The book, Social foundation of Judaism by Calvin Goldscheider and Jacob Neusner chapter 8 pages 114 to 145. The social crisis of the freedom seeks to answer the question about the ways in which condition of freedom affects Jews as a group.This book talks about the migration fro Europe origin of (German, Poland and Russia) to thaw United States of America. From the introduction part a number of t his migration. The Jewish immigrants to US firstly settled in enclaves in large cities. This is because they considered themselves as nation within other nations and with time, they would one-day return to the holy land with the coming of the Messiah (Neusner, 125). The first immigrants’ to US formed the first generation of Jews. This first generation was characterized by the speaking of the Yiddish language and limited occupation.The second-generation embraced the notion that Jews like other immigrants must become American and therefore this prompted the de-judaization of all its children. This de-judaization brought about the definition of life as a set of contrasts between ways of Jewish ways of living and everything else on the other side. The second generation did not need schools or youth groups to explain what being a Jew meant instead two educational instruments i. e. memory and experience (Neu, 118). The third generation was contesting to the second generation since they tried to remember what the second generation had wanted to forget.The Jews were affected the anti-Semitism which was taking place around the world and they were made to learn on how and why they were Jews (Neu, 119). The renaissance of articulated and self-conscious Jewish ness along with the renewed search for Judaism was reignited by first, the rise of the state of Israel. The discovery of holocaust and lastly the resurgence of ethnic identification among the grandchildren of immigrant generation. The freedom of Jews was conditional and not only to Jews living in other nations but also Jews living in the homeland of Israel.In 1967, Jews of Israel were threatened by war from the Arab neighbors (pg120). This war popularly known as, the war of â€Å"all ageist one†. Jews all over the world lived under great because experiences of Jewish persecution especially during the holocaust were still fresh in their minds. Worst still the international community seemed not to interf ere to offer any avenue for escape. The effect of all the above freedom conditions led to the assimilation of the Jewish culture and Judaism to cultures of the respective nations offering asylum.The Jewish method of worship changed drastically with new generation members choosing on whether to remain loyal to their Judaism religion or to be loyal to the Jewish culture. In classical Judaism every member of the Jewish culture was expected to live a holy life; saying prayers, learn more about the traditions and do good deeds but. due to conditional freedoms all this changed, with the only requirement of being a Jew being just joining an organization but not personally to effect its purpose (Neus, pg 121) therefore it can be said that as a result of this freedom modernity has overtaken Jews.Even the powers and responsibilities of rabbi have changed from administrators to strictly religious (pg123) rabbi who was formerly a judge, administrator and a holy man has now been left with duties of presiding over religious ceremonies like marriages and funerals. Another very conspicuous effect of conditional freedom was the reconsidering of women as rabbis. Generally, the overall effects of condition of freedom have led to the entry of western European Jews into the society of other nations among which they had lived for generations.This has resulted to the question, what is Jew? Who is Israel? What makes a person a Jew? Are the Jews a religious group? Are they a people or a nation? Thus conditions of have condemned Jews into lingering crisis of group identity (pg125). What is of more importance to America Jews, religion or ethnicity. From the book, it is very clear to me and any other reader of the same book that American Jews like their other counterparts in Diaspora are much more obsessed with ethnicity than religion. This argument can be made meaningful by first defining these two terms.Whereas religion is defined as a set of beliefs and practices, often centered about reality and human nature and often conditioned as ritual or religious law. Ethnic group on the other hand is a group of human beings who identify with each other, usually based on perceived common genealogy or ancestry. Jews whether in US or whichever place initially considered themselves as â€Å"Israel† the people to whom torah had been revealed, now living in exile from their homeland. (pg124). Judaism was their religion.When they came to US, they practiced this religion with utmost faithfulness since wanted to assert they both spiritually and religiously to their newfound society. The classical Judaism demanded that all men and women conform to the will of God. No one was exempted from from following the holy way of living (pg121). Every one was under obligation t observe the Sabbath, say their prayers individually in other words t be a Jew demanded one to perform a hundred holy actions every day. Contrastingly, in modern America to be a Jew requires only to join an orga nization and only be submitting monetary contribution.These funds are used to lure professionals who carry out the duties of the organization. This has prompted the birth of what preachers call â€Å"check book Judaism†. The formation of thse orgaiztions tends to obliterate the effective role of an individual. People join these organizations because they have been convinced that what â€Å"Judaism† expects of them. Jews in America seems to have lost touch with their fathers. His is because initially they saw themselves as anything but holy, they interpreted the things that make them Jewish negatively. They therefore seem to have forgotten why they came into being (pg126).All these differences in their religious approach have been brought abut by modernity. This modernity has been catalyzed by necessity and choice due to the Jews not looking back to inculcate long time virtues. It is true that modern Jews n America are eager to be Jewish – but not too much so. Th ey continue to confront a crisis not merely of identity but commitment, for they do not choose to resolve he dilemma of separateness within an open society (pg127). Of importance to them is that they are standing in the threshold of a long period assimilation into modern culture and facing a lingering identity crisis.The importance of ethnicity to Jews is confirmed by their joining of Zionist movements. This movement enhanced the unification of Jews as a people whose foundation lies in the unity of their concern for Zion, devotion to building the land and establishing Jewish sovereignty in it. Their destiny was shaped with their confirming emotional and social commitment to Jewish group hood or separateness and therefore the subsequent creation of a nation. The holy people of Israel who migrated to US because the â€Å"American Jewish community† who in the first place were unsure of what Jewish meant.This lingering crisis of self-definition, characteristic of modern men and w omen marks the Jews a utterly modern and secular and thus not religious (pg132). The archaic â€Å"holy people† has been rendered obsolete by events, its place stands rather different phenomena that manifests into Jews, a different, separate group, and they claim that difference is destiny. American Jews therefore are much engrossed with reasserting themselves in a society whereby they are perceived as a minority group. Ethnicity is what matters to them now and religion follows later. references: Social foundations of Judaism, by Calvin Goldscheiner and Jacob Neusner.

The Broadcast of Debates essays

The Broadcast of Debates essays Journalism 200: Introduction to Mass Media The Impact of Broadcast Presidential Debates: The televised presidential debates of our time have changed the way we look at the up-and-coming leader of the free world. It has given the American people a way of looking right into the heart of each candidate on his way to the White House. It allows us to see them in an unscripted way, answering real questions and giving real answers. We see them up close, noticing every movement, every action, and every reaction of that person behind the podium. We see the mistakes, the errors, and the failures to respond. But we also see the confidence, the leadership, and perhaps more of the truth. Televised presidential debates continue to be the best source of information about the coming election, and have been what voters count on to decide who they vote for in November. Before the broadcast era, there was little demand or interest in presidential debates. It took the invention of both television and radio to take politics to a step above its original standing with American voters. On September 26, 1960 in Chicago, the first of four nationally-televised Presidential debates took place, between Republican Vice President Richard Nixon and Democratic Senator John Kennedy. It was going to be the first time ever; 77 million Americans got both candidates, face to face, challenged with public eye watching to see the emotion in the face of the future President. The participation of Richard Nixon in the four debates in 1960, qualify as one the greatest political miscalculations in campaign history. The memorable first debate presented Nixon in a very bad light. Nixon did not wear make-up, was recovering from the flu, was suffering from a knee injury, and started to perspire on camera. Kennedy had been prepped on how to sit, look at Nixon when not speaking, and wore make-up on his already tan skin. The debate made Nixon look weak,...

Symbolism in The Joy Luck Club Essays

Symbolism in The Joy Luck Club Essays Symbolism in The Joy Luck Club Paper Symbolism in The Joy Luck Club Paper Essay Topic: Fight Club Novel Literature The Joy Luck Club Symbolism is defined by the dictionary as the practice of attributing symbolic meanings or significance to objects, events, or relationships, which means creating an importance and special meaning in objects that normally would not be important. In The Joy Luck Club by Amy Tan, a story of four Chinese immigrant women and their four American-born daughters, many symbols are presented. Throughout the many stories in the novel objects begin to hold significant importance to the women they are attributed to. Objects such as Suyuan Woos pendant, Lindo Jongs red candle, and Lena St. Clairs vase become symbolic for the relationships between these women and people and events that are important in their lives. The jade pendant given to Jing-mei June by her mother Suyuan Woo is symbolic for the relationship June has with her mother before and after Suyuans death. In the story narrated by June entitled Best Quality, she says, my mother gave me my lifes importance, a jade pendant on a gold chain (197). June describes it as, too large, too green, and too garishly ornate (197), she did not understand the pendant and in the same way she did not understand her mother. At this point it is a symbol of their differences. In the same chapter, June recalls the conversation she had with her mother when June received the pendant, For a long time, I wanted to give you this necklace. See, I wore this on my skin, so when you put this on your skin, then you know my meaning (208). The meaning she describes is her maternal instincts to guide her daughter, but June is unable to understand this and mistakenly labels it as criticism. Suyuan is trying to tell June that her criticisms are really love and concern, but she cannot express it in words. In the same conversation Suyuan describes the pendant, This is young jade. It is a very light color now but if you wear it everyday it will become more green (209). This description represents Junes naivety towards her mother, the young jade being June. After Suyuans death, June begins to wear that pendant every day (197) as a sign that she is starting to understand her mother and her gestures for what they really were and as a sign that her light color is becoming more green. Another object that holds an interesting symbolic message is the red marriage candle of Lindo Jong. The red candle of Lindo Jong holds many symbolic messages. When Lindo was first married a special candle was lit. This candle had two ends to light, one end had the name of the bride and the other end had the name of the groom. If neither end of the candle were to extinguish before the next day Chinese customs say that the wedding would be successful. The candle already has a symbolic meaning within the Chinese culture, the success of the marriage. Within the story it also represents the beliefs, customs, and superstitions behind the marriage. That night after the servant designated to watch the candle had run away, out of fear of the Japanese, Lindo ran into the room and [her] throat filled with so much hope that it finally burst and blew out [her] husbands end of the candle (60). Blowing the candle out symbolizes Lindo taking control of her life. Her newly acquired independence is her way of escaping her marriage without dishonoring her family. Although the servant relights the candle, Lindo exposes the truth to her mother-in-law that the flame died in the night, without making intervention known. In her plan to escape her marriage, Lindo takes advantage of the Chinese culture and the superstitions of the candle to convince her mother-in-law to annul the wedding. It symbolizes how ones culture and traditions are used to identify ones own worth and character. In the story of Lena St. Clair there are two important objects that hold an important meaning to her. The vase owned by Lena St. Clair is a symbolic representation of her marriage with her husband, Harold Livotny, who built the table the vase rests on. Lena explains to her mother, Ying-Ying St. Clair, Careful, its not too sturdy (163) when Ying-Ying discovers the wobbly table. Not too sturdy can be applied to Lenas marriage as well as the table; the vase, as well as Lena, is in an unstable position. Lenas marriage is in danger of falling into ruin. Lena describes the table as a poorly designed piece that Harold made in his student days (163). To make a marriage work both people have to work at it, but Harold is not as supportive as Lena is with him. The table is a symbol of his unaccommodating, unsupportive commitment Harold has with Lena. During the middle of a fight between Lena and Harold, the vase is shattered by Ying-Ying. All Ying-Ying says in her defense is Fallen down, (165). Lena responds as she picks up the broken shards, It doesnt matter, I knew it would happen (165). Concerned, her mother asks, Then why you dont stop it (165). Lena is to blame for the insecurity her marriage and the vase are in, but even with this knowledge she does not take action against the situation. Her mother realizes this and shatters the vase to teach Lena that she cannot just sit idly and watch, but that she should prevent an oncoming disaster if she can. The shattered vase then represents an action taken to change Lenas submissiveness and grow into a stronger more self-aware person. Each womans object is an intricate symbol of the lives surrounding its owner. Suyuans pendant changes its meaning from its first introduction to its closing. It was a symbol of difference and became a symbol of concerned and love, and in this change also signifies learning and understanding. Lindos red candle ultimately represents freedom through the understanding of tradition and culture. Lenas vase when intact represents a shaking marriage while when broken describes the discovery of her own personal worth. The symbolism used in the novel weaves each object with the event and relationship it is associated with perfectly to create a complex, expressive story.

UVA Acceptance Rate: What Does It Take To Get In?

The University of Virginia accepts 27% of students. What does it take to get in? One of the most prestigious public universities in the nation, the University of Virginia was founded in 1812 by Thomas Jefferson. The school prides itself on cultivating leadership and providing education at a reasonable cost. Located in beautiful and historic Charlottesville, UVA boasts distinguished faculty and alumni, numerous research opportunities (especially in medicine), and emphasizes the holistic student experience. If you are looking for one of the best educations you can get at an affordable price, UVA might be the school for you. Keep reading to learn more about the tips that have helped ’s students get into UVA. Apply using the Common Application or the Coalition Application. We recommend that students use the Common Application, because it is more established than the Coalition Application. Students must apply by November 1 for Early Action, or January 1 for Regular Decision. To apply, be sure to send in all of the following: Getting into UVA takes hard work—last year only 27% of applicants were admitted. UVA had 36,779 students apply last year, and only 10,058 were admitted. As of their Early Action deadline this year, they already had 24,950 applications, so it’s definitely a popular choice for many high-achieving students. UVA has a preference for in-state students, aiming for two-thirds of the student body to be from Virginia. Last year, 39% of Virginian applicants were admitted versus 22% non-Virginians. If you aspire to attend a school like the University of Virginia, it’s critical to surround yourself with people who have been through the process previously. offers mentorship for underclassmen and applications counseling for seniors to help you set yourself apart from the crowd. Even if you don’t choose to work one-on-one with one of ’s trained near-peer mentors, connecting with someone who has successfully gained admission to a school like UVA can make the difference between rejection and acceptance. UVA is interested in you as a person, not just your grades or your essays. Use your application to reflect your strengths in these areas. Academics. You’ll want to take challenging courses throughout high school, but you’ll also want to do well in them. Last year, 89.4% of the enrolled students ranked in the top tenth of their class. For standardized test scores, the middle 50% of admitted students earned SAT scores of 1320-1500 and ACT scores of 31-34. It’s important to note that UVA is a Top 40-50 college for in-state students in terms of profile competitiveness. UVA for out-of-state students, however, is about as competitive as a Top 20 college (more than USC/UCLA, slightly less than UC Berkeley). Students should keep this in mind when looking at overall admissions statistics like GPAs and test scores. Extracurricular activities. UVA admissions officers don’t care about what you love so much as that you pursued your passions meaningfully. This could mean founding new clubs, taking on leadership within existing school organizations, or creating opportunities within your school and community. But formal leadership isn’t the only way that you can show your passion—pursuing excellence through competitions or serving your community as a dedicated volunteer can demonstrate how you live your values. Character. UVA spends a lot of resources on their students, providing enriching research and study abroad opportunities so that students can develop as leaders and pioneers in their fields. Use your essays to showcase your strengths and values, and choose recommenders who know you well enough to write a compelling letter for you. Contributions to Community. UVA wants to bring together students with a wide array of talents and past achievements who will be a credit to their school. Whether you’re a leading medical researcher in the making or an aspiring entrepreneur, show how you will bring new ideas and energy to UVA’s community. Submit your application early if you’re out-of-state. Applying EA at UVA has some value for out-of-state students but holds little admissions value for in-state students. It offers less of an admissions boost overall, however, than other colleges with unrestricted EA. Also know that UVA tends to accept more students off the waitlist than peer colleges. So students who have lower chances should still consider applying to UVA, and waitlisted students should always follow the full follow-up process. Our Early Advising Program helps students in 9th and 10th grade discover their passions and build strong academic and extracurricular profiles to succeed in high school. Explain how your choice of school plays into your goals for college. When you apply to UVA, you’ll apply to one of 5 schools: the College of Arts and Sciences, the School of Architecture, the School of Engineering, the School of Nursing, or Kinesiology. You don’t choose a major until the end of your first or second year at UVA, so really hone in the reason behind your selected school and what your academic goals are. Tell your story. The only things that a UVA admissions officer knows about you is what is in your application, so make sure you highlight your strengths, your values, and your passion. To provide a little extra insight into who you are, consider including the arts supplement if you are talented and have earned awards at performances or showcases. Partner with recommenders. Most students choose a recommender and let the recommender do all the work. But because UVA doesn’t accept supplementary materials beyond the arts/architecture supplement, you need to make sure that every piece of your application is strong. Brainstorm ideas of what to include or emphasize in your letter with your recommender, and let them read drafts of your essays. Give them all the help they need to make their letters flow with the rest of your application. UVA receives more qualified applicants than it can admit each year, so don’t be too hard on yourself if you’re ultimately rejected. There are many other amazing schools where you can find success. Admissions appeals are not accepted due to the long list of qualified applicants on the waitlist. We do not recommend petitioning your decision. UVA does accept transfer students, but you need to have at least a 3.0 college GPA, and ideally a 3.5 GPA. The transfer acceptance rate is still selective, ranging from 35-40%. You may want to consider attending Virginia Community College to guarantee your ability to transfer. We think that the best option, however, is to commit to another equally great school. If you still want to transfer after a year or two, you can consider it then. If you’re looking

Designing a database to manage references for a protein structure data Essay

Designing a database to manage references for a protein structure data set using MySQL - Essay Example The database should be able to perform frequent searches on structure resolution, author name and initials, institution name, and structure release date. It should also be able to frequently retrieve the information about journal articles, PDB code, and name of given protein structures. It should be able provide data in specified order for example, as per the resolution, or as per the number of articles and institution, or both resolution and number of articles and institution, or even as per a specified institution, etc. The database is for storing and managing data regarding macromolecular structures that are partly derived from the Protein Data Bank (PDB). The data is provided by organizations that deposit, process, and distribute the information about protein sequences. Due to the complexity of this data care needs to be taken to ensure minimum data errors like missing data, size, alignment, propagation, ambiguity, and labeling. The application should be designed such that, on a user level it provides data management across the various database domains shared, by using a schema that allows the required data processing. The data should be retrieved, modified, and saved from tables using queries. The data is manipulated through applications that access the database in the database management system. The data model of the database defines data structure and behavior. Different aspects of the database are considered for creating models such as logical and physical model diagrams. It also gives detailed specifications of the attributes, rows and columns for tables, and files used to populate the database. 2. Logical schema of the database The logical model is used to document the data. The defined schema components represent the navigation in the schema diagram. The logical schema is constructed as a model independent of the management system and other physical considerations. The logical schema for the relational database design of the current database can be derived using normalization. Applying the normalization methods such as 1NF, 2NF, and 3NF obtains the physical schema result. 2.1 The Tables and their normalization process I. 1st Normal form (1NF): Table : Article Here, the entity Article has multiple authors as more than one people can author one articleabout various protein data structures. Therefore, to reduce redundancy by normalization 2NF is performed. II. 2nd Normal form (2NF): Table : Article Here, the entity Authors with its attributes have been created for the articles written by them. To further reduce redundancy, 3NF is performed. III. 3rd Normal form (3NF): Table : Article Here, the protein table has been created for the entity Protein to reduce the redundancy. This was because the attribute for Authors had redundancy regarding the protein structure; many authors can work on the same protein structure and therefore this was necessary. The logical structure of a database can be given graphically using an entity relationship (E-R) diagram. 2.1.1 Entity-Relationship diagram Attributes that are common to all domains belong

Corporate finance Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 4500 words - 2

Corporate finance - Essay Example e views that capital structure (debt or equity financing) and dividend policy do not matter in company valuation come from the same theory that made daring assumptions about corporate investment decisions and the efficiency of capital markets. In their classic papers on these issues, Miller and Modigliani (1958 and 1961) used as a starting point that the company has settled on its investment programme and determined how much of the investments would be financed from debt, with the remaining funds required being funded from retained earnings, and any surplus funds would be paid out as dividends. If the company decides to increase dividends without changing the investment and borrowing policy, the funds that would be needed to pay the dividends should come from somewhere. If debt is fixed, the only way it can fund extra dividends is to sell more shares. The new stockholders would invest only if you offer them shares worth as much as they cost, but how can the firm do this when its assets, earnings, investment opportunities, and therefore, market value are all unchanged? The answer is that there must be a transfer of value from the old to the new stockholders, with the new ones getting the new shares, each one worth less than before the dividend change was announced, and the old ones suffering a capital loss on their shares. The capital loss of the old shareholders would just offset the extra cash dividend they receive. Would it matter to the old stockholders to receive extra dividends plus an offsetting capital loss? It would if that were the only way they can get cash. But as long as there are efficient capital markets, they can raise the cash by selling shares. Thus, the old shareholders can â€Å"cash in† either by persuading management to pay a higher dividend or by selling some of their shares. In either case, there will be a transfer of value from old to new shareholders, and the only difference is that in the former case (higher dividends) this

The Representation of Mosquitoes Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

The Representation of Mosquitoes - Assignment Example Consequently, a select species of mosquitoes survive the effects of the pesticide. Certain mosquitoes are likely to survive the effects of pesticide due to a selective advantage. This selective advantage results in a greater resistance to the genes of certain mosquitoes. As a result, they are able to survive the effects of a pesticide spray as other mosquitoes die. The mosquitoes that are able to survive the effects of the pesticide possess a genetic resistance to the pesticide. As the mosquitoes achieve maturity, they reproduce and transfer the genetic resistance to the subsequent generation. In the process, the new generation acquires an increase in the number of alleles that develop further resistance to the pesticide within the population. A systematic and continuous application of the selective pressure against the pesticide results in a mutual resistance against the pesticide within the mosquito population. Examples of organisms that became extinct before the adaptive radiation are the prehistoric non- avian dinosaurs that were replaced by mammals during the end period of Cretacious. Adaptive radiation refers to a fast evolutionary radiation fuelled by natural selection that is synonymous with an addition of the ecological and morphological diversity of one rapidly changing lineage. It occurs right after extinction since the phenotypes of a new species adapt in conformance to the environment. Consequently, new traits that are beneficial are increasingly evident. The sun acts as a source of energy that is transferred to the producers such as plants. However, the energy is lost through heat. As a result, 10% of the energy from the producers is transferred to primary consumers such as deer, zebras, and other herbivores. As energy is transferred across the trophic levels through consumption, there is a consistent loss of approximately 10%.

Explain the principle behind the concept of ''General Average''. What Assignment - 1

Explain the principle behind the concept of ''General Average''. What are the essential elements of the 'York-Antwerp Rules' that define a 'General Average' act - Assignment Example ther hand, Average when applied to maritime commerce, means, a payment made by all the persons involved in a sea adventure, to make good an identifiable loss or expense incurred by one or more of them for the general benefit (Stevens, 1835: 4). The law of general average is an accepted form of spreading the risk of sea transport that existed before marine insurance. It rests on the principle that loss or expenditures incurred in a maritime venture for the benefit of all should be shared ratably by all who participate in the venture. Heimer (1989: 123), states that general average means â€Å"general loss.† It stipulates that if a ship was in any peril and shipment was jettisoned to rescue the ship, then the ship and residual shipment were obligated to make a payment to the owner of the lost shipment. According to Hopkins (1859: 6), general average means a contribution according to value made by the associated interests which form a marine adventure, these parties being the ship itself, the merchandise she carries and the freight she earns.Baughen (2009: 325), defines general average as a right of contribution as between the various interests in a sea voyage: the ship; the cargo owners; and the party entitled to freight. It is imposed throughout the world as part of the law of the sea. It is a form of mutual insurance that developed before the emergence of marine insurance. According to Tudor (1868: 102), general average refers to all loss which arise in consequence of extraordinary expennses incurred in the presevation of the ship and cargo. That is, all the expenses incured from the misadventure, till all the cargo had been discharged, confessedly constituted. In order to give rise to a charge as general average, it is imporatant that there should be a voluntary sacrifice to preserve more subjects than one exposed to a common jeopardy. The purpose of this contribution is the repayment of some expense incurred or the restitution of something valuable sacrificed

Final Exam Study Sheet Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Final Exam Study Sheet - Assignment Example Persuasion is thus an essential aspect of marketing. In marketing, it can be done using the AIDA formula. The formula is acronym that is vital in the advertising and highlights lists of activities that occur when the customer is engaged with an advertisement agency. Letter A means attention which requires that the attention of the customer should be realized. Interest is the next stage; D means desire while the last A means action. Those who receive given information or message directly are said to be the primary audience. On the other hand, secondary audience involves a group that receives a copy of the information directly. They also called hidden audience. Research exists in primary or secondary dimension (Vogel 34). Primary research is new and has the aim of address specific questions. Secondary research utilizes information from the initially researched areas. These are channels by which message is conveyed from the sender to receiver (Vogel 76). They include emails, letters, and memos. E-mails are quick and can be sent over long distances. They, however, demand computer literacy that most people lack (Vogel 77). Letters are efficient for a smaller organization and are relatively cheaper. On the other hand, they require literacy that is relative. Direct messages communicate open information to the audience (Vogel 66). They are used when immediate feedback is needed. Indirect messages covers and concealed information. They are often used to pass information that demands discreteness. This includes the adjusting of tones in sentences so that the directly points at the ‘you’ being referred to (Vogel 178). They are mostly used in illustrative or instructional sentences. For example, ‘you are being advised to see the manager.’ They are also called topical sentences (Vogel 55). They are made up of short and precise sentences. They appear at the beginning of the

Supply Chain Managment Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words - 2

Supply Chain Managment - Essay Example With constant changes in the operational environment, most organizations are aware that performance and competitiveness in their respective markets can only be enhanced through creation of an active supply chain. This paper looks at some of the strategic implications of supply chain distribution in an organization and their influence on productivity and competitiveness of organizations. Various scholars have come up with various definitions to illustrate on what is meant by supply chain. According to Jacoby (2009:17), supply chain is a process through which goods are channelled from the point of production to the point of distribution, aiming at reaching consumers at the right time to gain profit. Processes involved in chains of distribution are so numerous that it requires aggressive business people to implement all of them. Such activities involve managing people, trying to utilize information, which helps in service delivery and utilization of the available resources in order to m aximize output. It is also worth to discuss supply chain management, which goes hand in hand with supply chain. Supply chain management is a term used to describe the network through which goods move from their raw nature through the processes of execution, procuring, processing, and distribution to the final consumers with an aim of creating and increasing net value. The supply chain management can be best understood by considering its classification and by looking at the components that constitute the supply chain. Such components include procurement procedures, the process of acquisition of raw materials, conversion of the raw materials into finished products and lastly logistics. All these have a role to play in ensuring that final consumers get the quality products and services they require at the right time. Considerably, a business should have it in mind that the driving force behind consumer satisfaction should not overwhelm the expenses incurred in production. The cost of p roduction and other legal charges like taxes should decide the cost of goods and services. However, offering quality goods and services should be at the heart of every profit making organization. It is not appropriate for a company to talk about supply chain without generally taking into consideration that it should be their objective to increase sales and in turn maximize profit. Every profit making organization has a role to play in ensuring that the correct supply chain application creates business and customer relations hence improve not only sales but also the required rapport in a business friendly environment. In line with this, it is in order to look at some of the contributions of supply chain to competitive advantages and profitability. According to Blanchard (2010: 12), carefully selected supply chains help in the reduction of cost of production. Companies and businesses can only achieve double-digit growth through effectively cutting on the cost of operating business. Th is can be done through opting for the best and reliable factors of production such as labour. Other subsidiary factors that facilitate production such as transportation costs can be minimized by setting up a business closer to the source of raw materials. This will not only minimize time wastage from the point of manufacturing to the consumers but it will also reduce other problems associated

Final Exam Study Sheet Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Final Exam Study Sheet - Assignment Example Persuasion is thus an essential aspect of marketing. In marketing, it can be done using the AIDA formula. The formula is acronym that is vital in the advertising and highlights lists of activities that occur when the customer is engaged with an advertisement agency. Letter A means attention which requires that the attention of the customer should be realized. Interest is the next stage; D means desire while the last A means action. Those who receive given information or message directly are said to be the primary audience. On the other hand, secondary audience involves a group that receives a copy of the information directly. They also called hidden audience. Research exists in primary or secondary dimension (Vogel 34). Primary research is new and has the aim of address specific questions. Secondary research utilizes information from the initially researched areas. These are channels by which message is conveyed from the sender to receiver (Vogel 76). They include emails, letters, and memos. E-mails are quick and can be sent over long distances. They, however, demand computer literacy that most people lack (Vogel 77). Letters are efficient for a smaller organization and are relatively cheaper. On the other hand, they require literacy that is relative. Direct messages communicate open information to the audience (Vogel 66). They are used when immediate feedback is needed. Indirect messages covers and concealed information. They are often used to pass information that demands discreteness. This includes the adjusting of tones in sentences so that the directly points at the ‘you’ being referred to (Vogel 178). They are mostly used in illustrative or instructional sentences. For example, ‘you are being advised to see the manager.’ They are also called topical sentences (Vogel 55). They are made up of short and precise sentences. They appear at the beginning of the

Attitude Towards Women Essay Example for Free

Attitude Towards Women Essay Richard is portrayed in many different styles through-out the play; from charming and cheeky to manipulative and arrogant.  He obviously has a clear set judgement on women, which to the audience is perhaps more apparent than to the characters in the play. He has a down cast view on them, and thinks the same of who continue to be intrigued by them, therefore mimics them. We can see this in Richards opening speech of the play.  In Richards opening speech he is addressing the audience directly, which was good on Shakespeares behalf, as it then gives the audience the feel that they are involved from the very beginning. In his opening speech, Richard states To strut before a wanton-ambling nymph,, referring to men trying to impress women. It shows he sees women as flirtatious, loose, easy even. It shows Richard had not yet any respect for women, why we do not quite know; but it sounds as if he feels they are game playing and men who fall for the games he frowns upon. Perhaps there is a reason for Richards dis-interest. In his opening speech he also tells the audience about his deformities. It is possible that maybe Richard puts up a barrier to women to avoid rejection, getting hurt, as he feels they wont love him due to his deformities. He perhaps feels he is at a disadvantage to other men, which is why he shames them, perhaps it is even jealousy. We know of his down glance on men who fall for women, and of his self pity, as earlier in his speech he claims He capers nimbly in a ladys chamber, To the lascivious pleasing of a lute. But I that am not shaped for sportive tricks nor made to court an amorous looking glass,. In this, he mimics men who allow their attention to be swayed by women. He believes men should concentrate more on what they are fighting for (in battle), rather than paying attention to vain women. Another speech that highlights Richardss attitude to women  Is the one at the start of Act 2 Scene 1, the speech he makes before he goes to speak to Anne.  In this speech, he shows confidence. He knows he is able to manipulate Anne and feels proud of what he knows he can accomplish. This is shown when he predicts the outcome from saying For then Ill marry Warwicks youngest daughter .. What though I killed her husband and her father? He in a way makes it out to be a joke. As he can see how ridiculous the outcome he predicted may seem, for why would Anne want to marry Richard after what he has done to her family. Richard knows this and is proud to know he has this power of manipulation. He also shows his confidence in manipulation when saying The readiest way to make wench amends , meaning for himself rather than her, this shows a type of irony. Richard tells the audience how he wants to be in power; and he feels this power in knowing he can influence other peoples decisions and actions, in order to help himself. He wants to be seen as Annes father figure as well as her husband, as it is known how fathers in traditional life guide their daughters decisions, which is exactly what Richard would like to do to Anne, This is a perfect example to show how crude, snide and bitter Richard is, seeing as he killed both her husband and her father. The audience can see Richard wants to use Anne but what for exactly we are unsure. This of course is good as it leaves the audience with a sense of mystery and suspense. There are many reasons why Shakespeare has made Richard into such a character. Perhaps Richard is portrayed like this to the audience because he feels that women are to blame for his  deformities, which he had from birth and obviously have quite an effect in him. Perhaps he feels as he was born with them, from his mother (who is of course female), all women are capable of affecting men in such a way. And Richard of course believes  They have no right to, especially as then he feels he (or men in general) have no sense of power in such an event. Therefore Richard punishes them through what he may see as his gift of manipulation. I think the way in which Shakespeare has portrayed Richard to the audience in this play is very clever. As it leaves the play with a constant air of suspense. Of course I do not agree with how Richards view and attitude towards women is portrayed, I find it appalling, but I do believe it gives the play an extra feeling of suspense as it does truly entice the audience. What really stands out as good to me is how Richardss speeches are shared in confidence with the audience. It allows him to show more emotions and therefore the audience know that whatever act he may put on to others, his true colours are dark, and he is really a very snide and bitter person. This also shows what a brilliant play act Richard is portrayed as. His private speeches give the audience a feel as if they where actually involved in the play. Like theyve been let in on a secret, just not all of it, so they need to wait through the play to discover what Richardss true plans are.