Prince And Discourses Essays - Niccol Machiavelli, The Prince

Prince And Discourses Although many of the same ideas are contained in both The Prince and the Discourses, these two works differ significantly in emphasis because they discuss two different types of political systems. The Prince, is one of the first examinations of politics and science from a purely scientific and rational perspective. In The Prince, Machiavelli was concerned with a principality, a state in which one ruler or a small elite governs a mass of subjects who have no active political life. Machiavelli addresses a monarchical ruler, the Medici, and offered advice designed to keep that ruler in power. He recommended policies that would discourage mass political activism and channel the subjects energies into private pursuits. Machiavelli's aim was to persuade the monarch that he could best preserve his power by using violence carefully and economically, by respecting the persons, property, and traditions of his subjects, and by promoting material prosperity. The ruling Prince should be the sole authority determining every aspect of the state and put in effect policies which serves his best interests. These interests were gaining, maintaining, and expanding his political. However, Machiavelli did not feel that a Prince should mistreat his citizens. This suggestion is once again to serve the Prince's best interests. If a prince can not be both feared and loved, Machiavelli suggests, it would be better for him to be feared by the citizens within his own principality. He makes the generalization that men are, "...ungrateful, fickle, liars, and deceivers, they shun danger and are greedy for profit; while you treat them well they are yours". He characterizes men as being self centered and not willing to act in the best interest of the state,"[and when the prince] is in danger they turn against [him]". Machiavelli reinforces the prince's need to be feared by stating: "Men worry less about doing an injury to one who makes himself loved than to one who makes himself feared. The bond of love is one which men, wretched creatures they are, break when it is to their advantage to do so; but fear is strengthened by a dread of punishment which is always effective". In order to win honor, Machiavelli suggests that a prince must be readily willing to deceive the citizens. One way is to "...show his esteem for talent actively encouraging the able and honoring those who excel in their professions...so that they can go peaceably about their business". By encouraging citizens to excel at their professions he would also be encouraging them to "...increase the prosperity of the their state". These measures, though carried out in deception, would bring the prince honor and trust amongst the citizens, especially those who were in the best positions to oppose him. Machiavelli actively promoted a secular form of politics. He laid aside the medieval conception "of the state as a necessary creation for humankind's spiritual, material, and social well being". In such a state,"[a] ruler was justified in his exercise of political power only if it contributed to the common good of the people he served, [and] the ethical side of a prince's activity...ought to [be] based on Christian moral principles...." Machiavelli believed a secular form of government to be a more realistic type. His views were to the benefit of the prince, in helping him maintain power rather than to serve to the well being of the citizens. Machiavelli promoted his belief by stating: "The fact is that a man who wants to act virtuously in every way necessarily comes to grief among those who are not virtuous. Therefore, if a prince wants to maintain his rule he must learn not to be so virtuous, and to make use of this or not according to need". While The Prince is Machiavelli's best known work, it is The Discourses, which portray the most about him. The Prince was just a pamphlet dashed off to gain influence with the Medici, but in The Discourses he sought to include his entire system of politics. In the Discourses, Machiavelli was mainly concerned with a republic, a state collectively controlled by a politically active citizenry. Depending on their institutional arrangements, republics could be either aristocratic or democratic. Machiavelli advocated a democratic constitution modeled after ancient Rome. In the Discourses his concern was to preserve the liberty and independence of a self-governing citizenry. He emphasized the idea that a republic needed to foster a spirit of patriotism and civic virtue among its citizens if it were to survive. In addition Machiavelli rejected the traditional republican theory that social harmony and unity were essential to

Nancy safety Essays

Nancy safety Essays Nancy safety Essay Nancy safety Essay Later on in the chapter Nancy goes to see Rose and tell her about Oliver and she is the first person to show Nancy compassion, Rose is 20 years old and is someone who Nancy can trust. Rose is offering Nancy safety.  Nancy sticks up for Sikes and states that she cant leave Sikes even after what he has done:  because among the men I have told you of, there is one: the most desperate among them all: that I cant leave; no, not even to be saved from the life I am lending now.  She is in love with Sikes and can never leave him alone. She will stick by Sikes forever loyal and never desert him. She also states that Rose is the first ever person who has been nice to Nancy and Dickens builds up sympathy for Nancy by doing this: you are the first that ever blessed me with such words as these, I cannot leave him now! I would not be his death.  She says here that the person who shes loved is hers forever and she cannot be his death and that is she tells someone then he will be executed. Also she says that she will stick with him and:I believe, if I knew that I was to die by his hand at last   Nancy has a feeling that something terrible is going to happen:  but I have such a fear and dread upon me to-night that I can hardly stand. She then talks about her premonition of her own death which build up tension also suspense:  Horrible thoughts of death, and shrouds with blood upon them, and a fear that has made me burn as if I was on fire, have been upon me all day. I was reading a book to-night, to wile the time away, and the same things came into the print Ill swear I saw coffin written in every page of the book in large black letters. Nancy has read a book and someone is murdered init, Victorians like horror stories and so Dickens puts this in that Nancy also read a horror story, words coffin keeps coming up which is a premonition of her death. She refuses to go with them because of Sikes and she states that eventually she will end up dying. Rose wishes to give something to Nancy. Rose offers her purse and Nancy refuses money. She then takes the handkerchief and this is the one which Nancy uses to tell Sikes to stop murdering her in Fatal Consequences. Nancy is a victim of poverty because to survive she had to become a child prostitute, this is why the audience feels sorry for Nancy because all her money is taken by Sikes and he spends it on drinking. Sikes is the Victorian villain in this novel and he is a very violent and emotionless man. There was a huge difference between rich and poor and Dickens wanted readers to feel and also learn that there should be no difference because we are all human beings, this is what J.B. Priestley did when he wrote An Inspector calls. Fatal Consequences is a melodramatic scene. Fagin tells Sikes not to be too violent. You wont be-too-violent, Bill?Here Dickens uses dashes for emphasis and also the main word which tells the audience about Bill is Violent These is a adjective and it builds up tension. Fagin wants Bill to hurt Nancy but not to kill her because of the consequences they will face. Both Fagin and Sikes are furious and wants to hurt Nancy we find this out here:  .fire in the eyes of both,  This is imagery which has an great impact on the audience. It tells us they are consumed with rage. Fagin then says to Sikes:  not too violent for safety. Be crafty, Bill, and not too bold. He is saying to Sikes to be careful, clear and crafty. Sikes does not reply which make him sinister. Sikes dashed out into the silent streets. The word dashed shows Sikes anger and that he went quickly. This is a very emphatic word. Silent streets has a use of alliteration.   Without one pause, or moments consideration: without once turning his head to the right or left, or raising his eyes to the sky, or lowering them to the ground, but looking straight before him with savage resolution: his teeth so tightly compressed that the strained jaw seemed starting through his skin: the robber held on his headlong course, not muttered a word, nor relaxed a muscle. Until he reached his owndoor. He opened it, softly, with a key All these lines have semi-colons which add emphasis. Also repetition is used to add emphasis. Sikes doesnt look anywhere but just looks straight and is focused on one thing which is anger against Nancy. This builds up tension and also makes us want to read on more  Without one pause nor moments considerations  This shows us Sikes anger, Savage resolution. Shows us how wild he is and furious and anxious to do something to Nancy.  his teeth so tightly compressed that the strained jaw seemed starting through his skin  This shows rage anger and so angry that his bones seem to be coming out. nor relaxed a muscle  This shows us that he is very tensed.  He opened it, softly, with a key; strode lightly up the stairs,  Dickens has done this to build up tension. He then  ..double latched the door and lifting a heavy table against it  This is so she cannot come out of the room. The words softly and lightly are adverbs. Dickens also calls Nancy the girl which makes her more vulnerable and smaller, also makes her feel weaker and innocent, which makes Sikes big. she raised herself with a hurried and startled look  She gets up because of the noise and doesnt know that he is here to kill her. Get up!   Dickens uses explanation marks to make it look aloud.  said the man.  The word man emphasises the difference between the weakness and strength.  It is you, Bill!  She is surprised and she is pleased to see him.  .with an expression of pleasure..  The words Get up! are repeated again. Because there was a candlestick burning he  hurled it under the grate.. He also stopped Nancy from undrawing the curtains.  Let it beTheres light enough for what Ive got to do.  He thrusts his hand before her so he can kill her, no-one should see because he can be hanged if caught. Also Nancy will be getting scared and suspicious, and then she says:  Bill, why do you look like that at me!  She asks this because she is scared. Now the tension really starts to build rapidly.  The robber sat regarding her, for a few seconds with dilated nostrils and heaving breast; and then, grasping her by the head and throat, dragged her into the middle of the room, and looking once towards the door, placed his heavy hand upon her mouth. The first 2 lines above are flarry and are a sign of anger and also he is breathing hard. When he grabs her from the throat and drags her he is being physically violent and he doesnt want her to scream.  Bill, Bill! Gasped the girl, wrestling with the strength of mortal  She is very, very scared. When she is wrestling with the strength of mortal fear she tries her best to fight him and has a fear of dying because of his strength against her. Dickens uses dashed again to emphasise the sentence because there are pauses it sounds to the reader that she is in deep pain, she is mumbling, gasping for breath and struggling to speak.

Land Grabbing in Africa Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Land Grabbing in Africa - Essay Example Land grabbing in East Africa causes imbalance between the efforts to build sustainable systems that comprehensively try to resolve land-related tensions and interests, as well as pursuits to economic development (Palmer, 2012). Due to this, Heads of States of Africa and Governments have adopted Framework and Guidelines on Land Policy in East Africa. This is to inspire and prompt countries to develop land policies that take into account their particular needs. The presence of continental framework and guidelines and normative instruments like the 11 principles laid out on the Right to Food by the UN Special Rapporteur ensure economic development without weakening the development of any population group. The World Bank plays a greater role in the land grabbing in East Africa. It refers to the land grabbing as agro-investment and makes room for it by creating seven voluntary principles to make the practice of agro-investment responsible. All the seven principles are supposed to safeguard the East Africa’s land from being grabbed. However, this is just a mirage, for these principles are not adhered to, they are just there as beautifying statements. This, therefore, makes the transactions regarding land negative for both the buyer of the land and the seller. Wealthy States are the main causes of the increase in rural poverty that drives many people off the land that they have for generations farmed (Pearce, 2012). For example, there are major environmental and agricultural damage along River Niger caused by the International Land Coalition. This is a global network of civil society and farmers’ organization. Forestry and small scale farming that protects food, unique wildlife and heritage is slowly being converted to wastelands that only profit agribusinesses. Multinational companies in a greater number that vastly exceed the usage by the local communities are using natural resources. As a result, the land’s

INTERMED MACROECON Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words

INTERMED MACROECON - Essay Example It basically measures output and thus is a totally different concept from GDY (Gross Domestic Income) because the latter measures incomes. Also, only domestic production is counted in GDP and no foreign or abroad output. The calculation of GDP is facilitated by the use of price indices whereby current prices are measured against the price of a base year and thus, changes in the level of output are measured every year. Output and GDP changes are positively correlated. GDP is not directly impacted by a change in the level of prices and interest rates but indirectly, they bring about changes in employment levels and therefore, GDP is indirectly affected by these variables. APE (Aggregate Planned Expenditure) APE is the measure of total goods and services demanded by all the sectors in a country. Because it is the demand which creates GDP in domestic market, APE in reality also includes foreign imports which tend to increase the APE. In order to arrive at the actual APE, all imports (F) are subtracted from the sum total of household consumption (C), business investment (I), government purchases (G) and exports (X). Mathematically, it is denoted by the following formula: APE= C + I + G + X –F Variables affecting the APE are GDP and the interest rate levels. For GDP, the change is positive, strong and quick while for interest rates, it is slow, negative and weak. However, APE is not directly affected by price level changes. ASF (Aggregate Supply of Funding) To measure and define ASF, it is first essential to understand the meaning of velocity of money (V). V is the number of time a dollar is used to purchase goods or services within a year. Also, funds in a country can be categorized in currency and coins (CC) and checking account balances (CA), the sum of which gives us the money supply (M). While M increases with the increase in bank lending, V increases with the increase in non-bank lending. As such, ASF comes out to be: ASF= (M * V) / p where p= price inde x Consequently, change in ASF is directly proportional to a change in interest rates while it is inversely proportional to change in price levels. ADF (Aggregate Demand for Funding) Concept of ADF creeps in when we establish equality between APE and GDP. In case of APE almost equal to GDP, ASF supports the funding of production as well as sales. However, when APE is less than GDP, producers and businessmen need additional revenues to compensate their bills and costs. It thus follows that ADF equals APE when APE equals GDP. However, ADF equals GDP when APE < GDP. Chapter 2 Plotting GDP on a graph When plotting the macroeconomics variables of GDP, APE, ASF and ADF, the vertical axis is the interest rate level (i) and the other three are shown on the horizontal axis. Since interest rate level has no direct impact upon GDP level, the GDP line goes vertical unaffected. It just moves right or left by the amount of change in GDP. Adding APE to the graph To plot APE line on the graph, use o f the following formula is done which has already been discussed above: APE= a + b (GDY) – ci. The slope of the APE line is always to the left and upwards because rise in interest rates signifies fall in APE. Another line called IS which is not a measuring unit, depicts all the combination of interest rate levels and GDP at which GDP equals APE. The Macroeconomic Coordination Process tends the three lines to intersect at common points whether they shift to the right or left

Australian Property Law and Lease Contracts Essay

Australian Property Law and Lease Contracts - Essay Example In this regard, what Larry will be banking on is his ability to convince a court of law that Tom acted either against the law or against the agreement. In terms of the agreement between Larry and Tom, it can be proven, albeit not beyond doubt, that Tom knew all too well that he was breaching the contract. This can be evidenced by the fact that he had tried to ask Larry to allow him to change the property before altering its look. Tom acted in a way that is less than legally acceptable by setting up the meeting to discuss the matter and then choosing to go on with the repair work even before actually meeting with Larry. For this reason, Tom is in breach of the agreement between him and Larry and that shows that he had motive and intension to ignore the agreement. Apart from ignoring the agreement of the lease, Tom is also in contempt of law for the law does outlines clearly that such repairs to a leased property must not reduce the value of the property. While the law does protect the lessee from being forced to pay for any damages caused by such repairs, this must only happen within the provision of the law, which clearly stipulates that such repairs are not to be carried out, unless with an express permission by and from the owner of the property related to the case. Does Larry have the right to be compensated for the financial loss?The damages would not be limited by section 112 of the constitution unless Tom can prove himself not guilty of the breaching the contract.... This can be evidenced by the fact that he had tried to ask Larry to allow him to change the property before altering its look. Tom acted in a way that is less than legally acceptable by setting up the meeting to discuss the matter and then choosing to go on with the repair work even before actually meeting with Larry. For this reason, Tom is in breach of the agreement between him and Larry and that shows that he had motive and intension to ignore the agreement. Apart from ignoring the agreement of the lease, Tom is also in contempt of law for the law does outlines clearly that such repairs to a leased property must not reduce the value of the property. While the law does protect the lessee from being forced to pay for any damages caused by such repairs, this must only happen within the provision of the law, which clearly stipulates that such repairs are not to be carried out, unless with an express permission by and from the owner of the property. Does Larry have the right to be comp ensated for the financial loss? The damages would not be limited by section 112 of the constitution unless Tom can prove himself not guilty of the breaching the contract. Because the lessee did not act in accordance with the same section of property law by making repairs that were, against the spirit and letter of section 112, bound to not only significantly change the leased property but also to reduce its value, regardless of how much the reduction was, this means that therefore any further damages that can be directly associated by this act can be said to have been caused by Tom. This means that the lessee will not and must not be protected by section 112

Factors to be considered for market segmentation

Factors to be considered for market segmentation This section reviews the literature related to various key deliverables identified for this dissertation. The main deliverables of this projects are developing a growth strategy to expand in domestic as well as international market and identifying the potential location for a cross dock or a warehouse. This section is divided in six parts, first part gives idea about the grocery market, in second part key elements and approaches of strategic management are discussed, third part looks at factors to be considered for market segmentation and market attractiveness, in fourth section a survey conducted by Lawson Software on growth strategies adopted by distributors discussed , in fifth part export expansion strategies are reviewed and last part overviews warehouse/ depot location problem and approaches to identifying new depot. 2. 2 Grocery Market Overview Grocery market can be divided in two main categories one is grocery retailing and other is grocery wholesaling. Eden farm is a wholesale distributor supplying frozen food and ice cream to wholesalers as well as convenience store, hence understanding structure of both the market segment is important. 2.2.1 Grocery Retailing The UK grocery retail market is considered to be oligopolistic as there are so many players and competition is fierce to earn the market share and customer loyalty. The following diagram shows that the retail industry has grown consistently at 3 5% to the present value of  £ 146.3bn (IGD website, 2010). D:Business Projectfrozen food eden farmliterature reviewpaintmarket performance.JPG The retail market is dominated by superstores, supermarkets and hypermarkets operated by big retailers such as Tesco, Asda, Sainsburys and co ops, which enjoy more than 70% market share. Convenience retailing has c21% market share which is mainly dominated by symbol groups. The following diagram shows the overall structure of the retail market. D:Business Projectfrozen food eden farmliterature reviewpaintuk retail structure.JPG 2.2.2 Grocery Wholesaling Wholesalers supply goods to small retailers who cannot directly reach to the manufactures. Wholesalers also support retailers by offering other services like store design and management, delivery and distribution services. Grocery wholesaling is mainly divided in two groups, first is cash and carry service where the retailer visits the large warehouse and picks the items he needs and the second is delivered wholesale where the retailer orders the items over phone or on the internet and receives the order at his store. The total wholesale business is c £18.3bn (IGD website, 2010). The following chart shows the growth of cash carries and delivered wholesale in last ten years. D:Business Projectfrozen food eden farmliterature reviewpaintcash and carry.JPG A research conducted by Quinn and Sparks (2007) on evolution of grocery wholesaling and wholesalers since the 1930s in UK and Ireland observed that the research on grocery wholesaling is almost non-existent. 2.3 Strategy- what is it? Strategy word is used by many people day to day in different context and has become a catchall (Hambrick and Fredrickson, 2001). Carpenter and Sanders (2009) defines strategy in simple terms as Strategy is the coordinated means by which an organization pursues its goals and objectives (Carpenter and Sanders, 2009). This simple definition emphasizes on actions that are either taken or needs to be taken or planned to achieve the company objectives. Hambrick and Fredrickson (2001) supports above definition by mentioning that strategy should integrate internal and external orientation to achieve firm objectives. The following diagram clearly separates strategy from company mission and objectives. D:Business Projectfrozen food eden farmliterature reviewpaintstrategy.png Strategy should address how the firm will achieve the set objective. For Eden Farm the objective is to achieve profitable sales increase by  £20 million in next five years. 2.3.1 Strategic Analysis Michel Porter (1996) argues that strategy is not about achieving operational effectiveness (OE). Porter defines operational effectiveness as doing identical activities in a superior way than the competitor. The reason he says that OE cannot be a strategy is that rivals can easily copy the operational improvements and match the performance levels. He further mentions that operational effectiveness and strategy should go hand in hand to achieve the top performance which is the main goal of any firm. Doing benchmarking makes rivals look alike, so the heart of strategy lies in doing the activities in a way different than others. This highlights the importance of competitive advantage, which is defined by Carpenters and Saunders (2009) as A firms ability to create value in a way that its rivals cannot. Porter (1980) suggested that competitive advantage can be achieved by firms by either positioning itself in an attractive industry or devising strategies which can make the existing industr y more attractive. He suggested Five Forces framework to analyze the industry structure and identify the sources of competitive advantage among these forces and then positioning the firm to achieve an edge over rivals. Barney (1991) argues to achieve sustained competitive advantage firm should have resources and capabilities which are valuable, rare, inimitable, non substitutable and rare (VRINE), this school of thought is called resource based view (RBV). A third school of thought focuses dynamic conditions and argues that RBV has limitations in fast changing environment and competitive advantage is achieved by firms by continuously configuring its resources. Carpenter and Sanders(2009) clubs these three perspectives together as shown in the diagram below and suggests that competitive advantage is not long lasting and firm needs to continuously look back and analyze how they achieved this position and predict competitive landscape in future to influence it. D:Business Projectfrozen food eden farmliterature reviewpaintcompetitive advantage.png 2.3.1.1 External Analysis Industry Analysis using Porters Five Forces External analysis forms a very important part on strategic analysis. The external environment can be divided into two groups as macro and micro environment. To analyze macro environment PESTEL tool is used which is acronym for Political, Economical, Socio cultural, Technological, Environmental and Legal analysis. This analysis is more useful when companies plan to expand internationally and enter into new countries. For Eden Farm being a distributor of frozen food, PESTEL analysis is not more appropriate as the firm does not foresee it establishing a base in other country and is focusing direct export only. (Carpenter and Sanders, pp 133-135, 2009) Micro analysis focuses on analyzing industry structure using five forces model developed by Porter(1979). The model suggest that in any industry a strategic analysis should look at buyer and supplier power, competition among the players in the industry, analysis of threat posed by substitute products or services and understand the entry barriers for new entrants. Porter mentions that depending on the industry the power of each force varies, but it is the cumulative strength of these forces which drive the profitability of the particular industry. The following diagram shows the Porters five forces model. D:Business Projectfrozen food eden farmliterature reviewpaint5forces 1.JPG Above diagram shows in detail the factors contributing towards each market force, managers should give due attention to each point shown below to draw appropriate conclusion for developing the strategy. Porter argues if these forces are weak then companies can achieve very good performance and adds, it is the strongest force among these forces which decides the overall profit potential of the industry and managers needs to give due attention to this strong force while formulating the strategy. Carpenter and Sanders(2009) added complementors as the sixth force to the five forces model and argues that complementors are those factors which help to increase the sales of the firm and increase profits. When understanding the industry structure Porter (2008) emphasizes importance of defining the industry boundaries, defining boundaries too broadly loses the focus and managers become unable to see the real competition and defining industry boundaries narrowly misses the similarities in produ ct groups or potential markets which are crucial for competitive advantage. 2.3.1.2 Internal Analysis A Resource Based View (RBV) Jay Barney (1991) suggested that firms should focus on internal strengths to exploit the opportunities in the market and defuse the effect of external threats and mitigate the weaknesses. The diagram below splits the SWOT analysis in two parts, one is internal analysis which focuses on firms resources and the second is external analysis which classifies industry attractiveness. D:Business Projectfrozen food eden farmliterature reviewpaintbarney.png Barney (1991) argues that proponents of environmental model (Caves Porter 1977, Porter 1980, 1985) have assumed that in an industry firms possess similar resources and heterogeneity in the industry is cannot stay for longer as resources are same, however supporters of resource based model (Penrose, 1958; Rumelt 1984; Wernerfelt, 1984, 1989) believes that firms do possess heterogeneous resources of strategic importance and that this difference of resources can last longer. Barney (1991, 1995) states that to achieve the sustained competitive advantage firms need to employ value creating strategies in a way that no other firm can reproduce it and mentions that it can be possible when a firm have resources which are heterogeneous and immobile. To be the source of competitive advantage resources needs to fulfill criteria of being valuable, rare, inimitable and non substitutability. Valuable resources are those which enable companies to develop strategies which improve efficiencies and ef fectiveness to reduce the cost, resulting into exploiting opportunities and defusing threats (Barney 1991, 1995; Collins and Montgomery, 1995). Barney mentions that firms having resources which fulfill four criterias should be in a position to exploit them to achieve the sustained advantage. Wernerfelt (1984) highlights customer loyalty as a source of competitive advantage. Collins and Montgomery (1995) mention that inimitability of the firm resources can be because the firm has unique physical location, a strong brand image or casual ambiguity about the source of such advantage. 2.3.1.3 Dynamic Environment Analysis Despite its popularity resource based view (RBV) has been criticized by some authors because it does not explain how firms achieve relevant resources for dynamic markets. Mosakowski and Mckelvey (1997), Priem and Butler (2000) and Williamson (1990) argues that RBV is unclear and tautological and fails to explain the mechanism by which resources contributes towards achieving competitive advantage. Teece and Pisano (1994) coined a new terminology of dynamic capabilities; the word dynamic refers to the ability to reconfiguring competencies in this fast paced continuously changing world and the term capability focuses on strategic managements role in adapting, integrating and reconfiguring skills, resources and functional competences to fulfill requirements of a changing world (Teece and Pisano, 1994) . Eisenhardt and Martin (2000) observed that dynamic capabilities exhibit three main characteristics; firstly dynamic capabilities include certain value creating strategic processes which c an be influenced to create new strategies to win in the dynamic market. Second observation is that dynamic capabilities are the best practices in an industry supported by extensive empirical resources hence they are homogeneous in nature which is opposite of the RBVs assumptions. Third observation is that dynamic capabilities demonstrates different patterns in different market conditions, they are complicated and analytical in stable market conditions because the knowledge is established and detail analysis is required for getting new insights and in dynamic market conditions they are simple processes relying on quick execution as the knowledge is limited about specific situations and experiments needs to be done on a more frequent basis to keep the firm ahead of the competition. Eisenhardt and Martin (2000) states that dynamic capabilities are necessary to continuously reconfigure resources and the competitive advantage is achieved by newly configured resources. Dynamic capabilitie s are means to achieve the competitive advantage; they are not competitive advantage in themselves. A firms ability alliance, developing new products and strategic decision making are some of the examples of dynamic capabilities (Eisenhardt and Martin, 2000). 2.3.2 Strategy Formulation using Strategy Diamond Hambrick and Fredrickson (2001) states that there are various tools available to analyze internal and external environment but there is no guidance what the output of these analysis should be and how to formulate a strategy. Strategy should highlight how the company will achieve its goals by integrating internal and external analysis. A strategy diamond model is proposed by Hambrick and Fredrickson (2001) to help formulate a coherent strategy which contains five elements namely arena, vehicles, differentiators, staging and economic logic. The diamond is shown below. D:Business Projectfrozen food eden farmliterature reviewpaintDiamond.png Arenas is the first element of the strategy diamond which demands strategist to answer fundamental question about what are the areas the business will be focusing its attention and the amount of efforts put in these areas. Managers need to clearly define which products, channels, market segments and geographic location will be targeted. Vehicles are the means to enter the arenas chosen. Deciding appropriate vehicles is of strategic importance. A firm can decide to develop organically, may decide to form a joint venture or may acquire the business of existing player in the targeted arena. A firm can use one or combination of these different vehicles to penetrate arenas. Each vehicle has its positive and negative implications depending upon the market dynamics and manager should give due considerations to these implications. After deciding arenas and vehicles strategist should answer the question as how the company will win the customers in targeted markets. Knowing why customers chose the firm over its competitors can help strategist to identify differentiators. Differentiators can be company image, its ability to customize products, price and location advantage, quality and reliability of the service provided. Hambrick and Fredrickson (2001) state that to achieve a competitive advantage a firm does not need to have very special in one of the above mentioned dimension but having a combination of these dimensions which are mutually reinforcing can give the firm a strong position in the market. Creating differentiators is very important task top management should because without them a firm may lose its market position soon. Staging is the forth stage towards forming a good strategy and asks mangers to sequence the actions decided in the first three elements. Staging process depends on many factors such as resources required carrying out the task, sometimes business need to respond quickly to grab opportunities available, in such situations urgency in taking actio ns is critical, achieving credibility is very important for attracting resources and stakeholders and lastly wining early in the strategy implementation phase is important. All the above mentioned factors needs to be given due consideration. Finally managers should look at the economic logic before finalizing any strategy; the business should be able to achieve profit above its cost of capital. Hambrick and Fredrickson (2001) states that, the most successful strategies have a central economic logic that serves as the fulcrum for profit creation. Hambrick and Fredrickson (2001) emphasis that together with strategic analysis and addressing the five elements of the strategic diamond a firm can develop a sound strategy for achieving the competitive advantage. 2.4. Market segmentation and attractiveness Segmenting the market to identify the needs of the customer groups and accessing attractiveness is very important to develop a growth plan. Kotler (1993, p.263) defines Market segmentation is the act of dividing a market into distinct groups of buyers who might require separate products and/or marketing mix. Smith (1956) suggests that segmentation help companies to align product offering to different customer needs. Dibb (1995) suggested a matrix to help firms to identify which market segments to target, the matrix is called Segment Evaluation Matrix (SEM) which consist three step approach as defining segments, targeting and positioning. In the first stage, defining segments, many authors (Haley, 1968; McDonald and Goldman, 1979; Johnson and Flodhammer, 1980; Brow, Shivashankar and Brucker, 1989) have suggested a need for appropriate base. Segmentation of customers should be done considering homogeneous needs of the group by a suitable base. Targeting involves focusing resources on i dentified segments; this is achieved by considering market conditions, competition, availability of firms resources and customer needs. Positioning is the final stage which asks to develop marketing plans keeping 4Ps (product, price, promotion and place) in mind to attract the targeted customers. Porter (1996) proposes three types of positioning choices for a firm, first is variety- based positioning which focuses on products or services offered by the firm rather than segmenting customers, this is suitable for firms able to produce products or services using distinguishing sets of activities. Second type is need- based positioning which require grouping customers on the basis of needs. This is particularly suitable when each identified group has differing needs like different products, service level and supported needed. Third type is access based positioning which focuses on different modes to reach customers having similar needs like other customers. Geographic location or customer scales are two examples which require different set of activities to reach the customers. Wind and Cardoza (1974) observed that many companies formulate segments based on intuition, Doyle et. al (1986) supports above finding by stating that key decision makers misunderstand importance of segmentation process. Kotler (1991) offers guidelines for segmentation by stating that they should be measurable, substantial, accessible and accountable. Halvacek and Reddy (1986) have developed a three step market segmentation model consisting of identification, qualification and attractiveness which is the basis for Dibbs (1995) Segment Evaluation Matrix (SEM). Hlavacek and Reddy (1986) suggests guidelines for segment qualification which highlights segmentation based on common needs and measurable characteristics, identifying the competition, similar distribution channel for each segment and defined communication channel for each segment. Study conducted by Abratt ( 1993) identified segment attractiveness criteria as Ability to reach buyers in market Competitive position in market Size of market Compatibility of market with objectives/ resources; and Expected market growth ( Dibb, 1995) Dibb (1999) categories segment attractiveness in four major categories as market factors, economic and technical factors, competitive factors and environmental factors which are as shown below in the diagram. segment attractivness 1 Dibb (1995) suggests that for developing a marketing strategy analysis can be done on the basis of different markets, segments in the same market which can give lot of insights. Market segmentation encourage firms to do competitor and customer resulting into more focused approach in terms of offering products or services and improved responsiveness. As suggested by Dibb (1995) a matrix can be used to summarize the findings of the analysis as shown in the diagram. segment attractivness The matrix approach gives a holistic view of the portfolio of all segments and helps companies prioritize actions and develop strategy accordingly for each segment. 2.5 Growth Strategies for Wholesale Distribution Ansoff (1957) suggested a tool to help companies decide their product and market growth strategies. The matrix suggests four growth strategies as shown in the diagram below. D:Business Projectfrozen food eden farmliterature reviewpaintAnsoff.JPG For existing products Ansoff (1957) suggest market penetration and market development strategies. For new products product development and diversification strategy is suggested. Lawson software in 2007 conducted a survey of 1274 wholesale distributors operating in three regions North America, Europe and Australia and New Zealand to find out what strategies and tactics wholesale distributors in these regions will adopt to achieve targeted growth and find out similarities and differences in the strategic choices in different regions. The participants were picked from different industries such as industrial spare parts, consumer goods, building material and food service. 70% of the participant view existing customers as the main source of growth. Following diagram shows results for three regions. D:Business Projectfrozen food eden farmliterature reviewpaintlawson 1 current customers.png 2.5.1 Selling more to existing customers In Europe executives of food service distribution think that 41 % of the sales from current customer will come from selling existing products more, 46% sales would result from selling new products and offering fee based value adding services will improve 12% sales. The following diagram shows results from different industries in Europe and North America. Europe is more optimistic about charging customers for offering value adding services. D:Business Projectfrozen food eden farmliterature reviewpaintcurrent customers.png 2.5.2. Adding New Customers The survey found that majority of the distributors are focusing on current geographic locations to identify new customers, 78% foodservice distributors are focusing on new customers in the current geographic locations, only 22% sales expected from customers in new geographic locations . D:Business Projectfrozen food eden farmliterature reviewpaintNEW CUSTOMERS.png Targeting new customers in current geographic areas is challenging because they already have preferred suppliers and to win these customers distributors need to offer better service and performance. A good sales management is needed to avoid winning new customers with low gross margins than current customers. 2.5.3. Organic or Growth by Acquisition The survey tried to find growth strategies adopted by distributors. More than sixty percent respondent considers organic growth as the means to improve current operations. Sixteen percent in Europe consider acquisition as a growth strategy. The diagram below shows results of the three regions. D:Business Projectfrozen food eden farmliterature reviewpaintgrowth strategy.png All the above findings suggest that wholesale distributors are focusing market penetration and market development strategies as explained by Ansoffs growthmatrix. 2.6 Export Market Expansion Strategies When small and medium sized firms want to go in international market , exporting is the most popular route adopted to enter, penetrate and develop foreign market because it is less risky and impact on domestic operational resources are limited ( Katsikea et.al., 2005). Firms willingness and propensity and its actual capacity are the two main factors which determine a firms decision to initiate and maintain exporting determination. According to Cavusgil and Zou (1994) when a firm decides to engage in export activity the most critical decision they need to take is about market expansion strategy. The strategy includes identification, analyzing and selecting export markets and deciding number of markets to target. Lages and Montgomery (2004) conducted a survey of 400 export managers and found that export performance of a firm depends on firm commitment and the way strategy is formed. Designing an export strategy for a firm has attracted many researchers, contributing conceptually and empirically. Ayal and Zif (1979) and Lee and Yang (1990) suggested that export market expansion is considered as a firms strategic decision to expand export business by allocating firms marketing resources to identified markets. According to Katsikeas and Leonidou (1996) exporting literature has identified two main marketing strategies as market concentration and market spreading. Katsikeas and Leonidou (1996) defines market concentration as the firms strategic focus on and allocation of export operations in certain carefully selected export markets and market spreading as exporting to as many markets as possible with no particular focus on specific export markets. The main difference between these two strategies lies in the speed of expansion in export markets. Ayal and Zif (1979) argues that in long term both strategies end up serving almost same number of export markets. Studies conducted by many authors (e.g. BETRO Trust Committee, 1976; Tessler, 1977, Fenwick and Amine, 1979) between 1975 and 1985 suggest market concentration strategy should be adopted because by focusing small number of markets a firm can achieve high market share resulting in long term profitability. Studies conducted by Hammermesh et.al (1978), Hirsch and Lev (1973) and Lee and Yang (1990) support market spreading strategy as it can exploit limited market share in many markets while reducing market related risk and gain higher profits .A contingency approach has been suggested by authors like Ayal and Zif (1979), Fenwick and Amine (1979) and Piercy (1982) which says that export strategy depends on company products, targeted markets and factors specific to the firm. Following table shows clear difference in two strategies as suggested by Katsikeas et.al. (2005). D:Business Projectfrozen food eden farmliterature reviewpaintconcentration vs spreading.png Katsikeas and Leonidou (1996) identified certain characteristics of the exporting organization such as experience of exporting help management to minimize the perceived uncertainty associated with overseas market and operation. Marketing efforts and policy variables which include developing market entry and customer selection criteria (Samiee and Walters 1990; Bourandas and Halikias 1991), visiting customers frequently, conducting research of export market, play crucial role in shaping behavior of the firm. A meta-analysis carried by Leonidou et. al. (2002) to identify marketing strategy elements of export performance found that market concentration strategy has a strong positive relation with export performance. The study further observed that export market performance is positively related to market segmentation, product quality, pricing strategy and advertising. However, Katsikeas et.al. (2005) conducted a research on 1000 British small and medium size exporting manufacturers and concluded that market spreading strategy results in long term profitability and the firm achieves valuable knowledge and skills to deal with different markets and develops a very strong sales team. Leonidou (2003) suggests that export business should be considered as overseas customer relationship management which is a process of establishing, developing and sustaining relations in export markets and this process should be monitored for its effective implementation. 2.7 Determining Distribution Location One of the most important strategic decisions is to identify the location of depot for supplying the products to customer on time every time. When entering into new geographic location a company needs to design its complete distribution network. Companies need to improve efficiency of their logistic operations to optimize the flow of goods supplied to customers. When deciding location of distribution system a company need to give due attention to the cost of distribution system and offering a very good service to customers (Perl and Daskin, 1985). These decisions depend on number, size and location of the depot and deciding customers to be served from each depot. In distribution centre (DC) location problem two cost needs attention, one is warehousing cost and the other is distribution cost and the companies always want to find optimum balance between these two to keep costs low. Warehouse cost are divided into fixed and variable cost whereas trunking and delivery cost form transport ation costs. Generally in distribution delivery cost is higher and hence lot of research is carried to develop tools to reduce these costs. In supply chain the problem related to DC are more closely related to vehicle routing problem (VRP), Location routing problem (LRP) and warehouse location routing problem (WLRP). The diagram below shows three components of delivery operation namely stem distance, variable running distance and stop time. D:Business Projectfrozen food eden farmliterature reviewpaintrouting componet.png The stem distance is the total distance between depot and first customer plus the distance between last customer and the depot. The stem distance is depends on the depot location. The variable running distance depends on the number of customers being served and determines the cost of delivery. Both stem and variable running distance depends on vehicle routing. Perl and Daskin (1985) define warehouse location routing problem as the problem of solving DC location and vehicle routing problem. When solving the problem one needs to give attention to various constraints like warehouse and vehicle capacity, route lengths and durations and satisfying all customer requirements. The problem is solved by finding a optimal route to deliver the goods to customers at minimum delivery cost. Each customer is allocated to only one depot. Burns et.al. (1985) considers customer density, demand, value of items, inventory carrying cost and transportation cost per mile to solve the problem. They suggest designing optimal delivery regions to reduce the cost of delivery and then locate the depot. Bednar and Strogmeier (1979) , Nambiar et. al.(1981) and Barreto et.al.(2007) suggest to cluster customers together according to vehicle capacity and maximum distance constraint. Then locate the depot at a location from where all clusters can be served.

Adolphus Huxleys Hyperion to a Satyr :: Adolphus Huxley Hyperion Satyr Essays

Adolphus Huxley's "Hyperion to a Satyr" Throughout the ages, there have been many ways to identify a person's social standing. Possessions such as homes, cars, and others, help to establish a person's place insociety. There are other ways also. Education, and a person's speech patternsare other ways to do this. But in "Hyperion to a Satyr," Adolphus Huxleypresents his view that hygiene also played an integral part. Clearly, thisdoesn't hold as true in these times, but perhaps in an earlier era thiswas an accurate measurement of wealth. But what role did hygiene play tosegregate peoplethroughout history? This question will be analyzed byapplying the meaningof metaphors used by Huxley. This article contains Huxley's views on many controversial subjects and their relationship todirt. But the most prominent comparison was between the social classesand the level of hygiene associated with each one. Mr. Huxley goes on toillustrate this difference with a variety of metaphors. He talks abouthow this view changed throughout history, and how great people tried toinfluence social changewith implementation of their plans for widespreadequality in cleanliness. This paper willbegin analyzing the relationship between social classdistinctio n and hygiene using the metaphoric analysis method. Thiswill be done by first analyzing Huxley's piece as a whole, by analyzingboth text and metaphors. Hopefully this will reveal his true meaning ofthe piece. Next will be the identification of various metaphors that pertainto the research question. Then the metaphors will be broken down into thetenors and vehicles. After that, they will be analyzed and sorted by meaning.By doing this, hopefully the research question will be better explained,and the relationship between cleanliness and upper class will be clarified. Huxley's " Hyperion to a Satyr" is a piece that discusses the class separation system and how the concept of cleanliness and uncleanliness has helped to increase thegap between the different social classes. Huxley feels that, because therichwere able to afford the luxuries of living "clean" lives and the poorcouldnot, that this helped to further separate the classes. He uses manymetaphorsto prove this point and expound on the relationship between socialclassesand hygiene. Now, to understand Huxley’s view on the research question, we need to isolate the different metaphors used: bathing was a badgeof class distinction, the gulf between rulers and ruled, from the peakof their superior... cleanliness, they were creatures of an entirely differentspecies, it was only the blessed pigs, and a tithe of their populationto untouchability.