Kenaf

Kenaf composites experience a number of damage modes under dynamic compression loading. Therefore, in order to understand the overall behavior of the Kenaf composite, it is necessary to identify the different types of impact damage that occurred. Damage of composites such as cracking constituents usually occur and are not totally visible. To understand it, examination and analysis of specimens are needed. Microscope observation was used to observe the morphology of fractures of tested samples. This technique has been largely considered in various investigations of composites. The observed images of the fractured specimens under dynamic compressive test are shown in figure 9. On the top surface, it can be seen that the impact damage spreads throughout the specimen. These damage modes include degradation of the fiber/matrix bond strength and eventual debonding, matrix cracks, and fiber splitting, resulting in overall stiffness and strength degradation of the composite. This failure of the matrix material can originate from various loading conditions. In all cases, cracks initiate or propagate within the matrix or at the interface between fiber and matrix, if the respective loading condition of normal stresses or shear stresses exceeds the local strength of the matrix or interface, respectively. While bulk of the failure involves cracking of matrix, or interface debonding, fiber splitting may occur especially if fiber itself is weak in transverse direction, and the unidirectional composite is highly aligned in transverse direction. Referring to Fig. 7, longitudinal ply splitting or matrix fractures parallel to the fibre direction occurs and extends from the top and to the bottom surfaces. So, at the moment of impact, stress concentration is generated at the contact point where the matrix cracks and fiber bundles split. On the one hand, the stress wave propagates along the fiber direction, the fiber bundles act as the main load-bearing object, and fewer cracks can be seen along the longitudinal direction. Moreover, Figs. 9 shows a higher extent of fiber splitting and bending, which confirmed lower fiber-matrix adhesion, also indicates fibers were carrying higher load share than matrix (Ku et al. 2011).Based on the results of the experimental investigation, bonding at the fiber-matrix interface is identified as the dominant compressive failure mechanism in Kenaf composites which controlling the mechanical performance. Previous study have also shown that debonding of the fiber/matrix interface has caused substantial degradation in the transverse response of a composite, resulting in an early degradation in the stress-strain curve [33]. Besides, multiaxial tests conducted by Lissenden, et al. [34] on SiCTi tubular specimens revealed that fiber/matrix interfacial debonding plays an important role in the axial shear response. The mechanical properties of natural fibre reinforced composites highly depend on the interface adhesion property between the fibres and the polymer matrix as have been reported by many researchers [5–8]

Prisons Make Criminals Worse Essay

Prisons make criminals worse, and should be abolished The modern prison system was developed in the 19th century. The system had three basic aims: to isolate, punish and reform the inmates. However, in the last twenty years, there has been a sharp increase in the number of prisoners and prisons have come to be commonly criticized for being â€Å"universities of crime†. This essay attempts to evaluate the effectiveness of prisons, whether they actually make criminals worse, or whether they offer a chance at betterment. This part of the essay deals with the advantages of the prison system. There are three apparent beneï ¬ ts to putting convicts into prisons. First, they provide punishment by deprivation of their freedom. Second, the offenders are segregated from the rest of the society and so cannot re-offend. And third, they are given the possibility to take part in various training programmes, which gives them the chance to reform. However, there are a number of drawbacks as well. First of all, prisons appear to be failing in the 21st century. Secondly, the prison population is rising steadily in many countries and at the same time many prisoners return to prison. Thirdly, few prisons are actually able to offer effective reform programmes. And ï ¬ nally, prison conditions are often brutal and degrading. To sum up, even though there are all these serious disadvantages in the whole system, the pros outweigh the cons, as it would seem unimaginable living in a society in which people with criminal record mingle with those who do not have it, and are thus in direct danger of encountering the convicts. It would appear that the solution to the problem is not the question of whether prisons should be abolished or should be here to stay, but rather how to make the whole system more effective. One such way could be the attempt to come up with ideas that would directly improve the current state of things for instance thinking about where and how to obtain more money to spend on the training  systems, or run prevention projects that are targeted not at prisoners themselves, but at people who live in problematic areas and are thus at risk of becoming criminals.

Manet's "Olympia" and Monet's "Les Coursework

Manet's "Olympia" and Monet's "Les Nympheas" (The Water Lilies) - Coursework Example A nude woman portrayed in his painting does not possess idealistic features of goddesses from Renaissance portraits, for instance. There is no perfect beauty in the woman lying on a couch of her Paris apartment. Moreover, this woman was recognized as a prostitute, which added an element of vulgarity to the painting. In every detail of the painting Manet was trying to unmask a perfect illusion, which portraits of nude women used to have before. 2. A spectacular painting The Water Lilies was created by Claude Monet after the death of his wife and the death of his son in the decline of his years. This painting was not just an attempt to capture the beauty of this world found in his earlier paintings but a desire to preserve a certain sense of a beautiful moment that was to pass like any other. The surface is somewhat rough and is painted with dry brush layer by layer. A fabulous color harmony makes the painting of a small pond located in Monets backyard even more beautiful than reality. Monet places a viewer in a strange position, from which neither the ground nor the horizon could be seen. The reflection of weeping willows in the water frames the painting just like trees do in classical landscape paintings, but the lack of perspective to the horizon defies classical standards of landscape painting aesthetics. Monet managed to convey the infinity of depth of the water combined with the infinite sky and saturated clouds refle cted in the pond, which altogether give us a sense of permanence and transcendence at the same

The KT600 Chipset Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

The KT600 Chipset - Essay Example In this article, the KT600 chipset from Via Technologies will be investigated with its operations, configurations and the layout demonstrated to understand the operations and configuration of the chipset (Via Technologies, 2012). The general arrangement of the KT600 chipset in relation to other PC components (Source: DragonByte technologies, 2012) The above chipset consist of the north and south bridge as shown in the diagram above. In the KT600 chipset, the Northern bridge handles all data from graphic ports, the AGP, or PCI express, and then from memory consisting of Front Side Bus, FSB (Via Technologies, 2012). Although the two chips are essential from the chipset, mostly, the Northern chipset handles most of the essential tasks, which include connection between the main memory bank and he CPU. On the other hand, the Southern bridge is responsible for data from PCIx1 slots and may even have some integrated components such as audio or onboard graphics. As shown on the figure above, the North and South bridges have different chips names though they are often paired with the same opposite bridges, to be referred to with the collective name of a chipset. The diagram shows all the components of a PC, and how these are connected to either the north or south bridges of the KT600 chipset. The main functions of the above chipset are to manage data throughout the PC. Data is transported throughout the PC through a bus. The bus is responsible for carrying data to its right location via the chipset. However, the Backside Bus (BSB); the bus between the cache memory and the CPU does not follow this rule. Some PCs today may have the cache memory, which makes it not necessary to go through the chipset when carrying this information in the PC. The BSB is however different from the main memory bus in that it only dictates the speed between the cache memory and the CPU. The memory bus speed is usually a different bus, with the ability to change the speed independently. Apart f rom the BSB the other buses go through the chipset to get required direction where to take the data. This implies the huge amount of data that goes through the chipset requires it to be up to speed. Speed is one of the important aspects that have to be considered when considering the above chipset, as poor choice of speed may severely hamper the performance of a computer. For example, with the advanced Fast stream 64 DDR400 Memory Controller on the VIA Apollo KT600 interweaves used together with the 400MHZ FSB, this results to a perfectly balanced subsystem that greatly reduces data latency and enhances searing performance from the latest processors, such as the AMD Athlon XP Processor. Moreover, the KT600 supports the AGP8X, which offers the chipset maximum performance from one of the most powerful graphic controllers (Via Technologies, 2012). A Figure of Gates diagram for KT600 Chipset The chipset operates according to the logic diagram portrayed above. The High Voltage Gate Drive rs are strategically designed and arranged to drive both high and the low side N channel MOSFETs in a half bridge synchronized configuration (Texas Instruments, 12). The floating high speed driver can operate with a supply voltage of up to 100V. Moreover, the A version provides a full 3A of gate drive, while the B and C provide the 2A and 1A versions respectively (Texas Instrument

Maritime Logistics Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Maritime Logistics - Essay Example The second chapter deals exclusively on the group’s supply chain by analysing the process and practices with key supply chain issues that affect the top and bottom line of the company. It also discusses about the drivers that maintain the group’s competitiveness in three key dimensions such as – quality, cost and time. The subsequent chapter explains about the realm of maritime logistics delving deep into how the maritime process can be seamlessly integrated into the logistic and supply chain system of a business. At the end it discusses how the group can leverage on maritime logistics and minimise certain endemic supply-chain issues such as the bullwhip effect. The ArcelorMittal, the world’s number one steel company with over 32000 employeesi and presence in over 60 countries and is a truly global steel maker. It is a market leader in all the global steel markets such as automotive, construction, household appliances and packaging. The group holds sizable captive supplies of raw materials and operates a huge distribution network throughout the globeii. With revenue of $124.9 billion and crude steel production of 103.3 million tonnes, it represents almost 10 percent of the global steel outputiii. ArcelorMittal’s chief operations include providing ‘steel solutions and services’. The group operates in more than 500 centres and 32 countries, providing to approximately 200,000 customers a full portfolio of flat and long products, tubes and stainless steel; adding value through further processing and providing technical, engineering and consultancy supportiv. A detailed list of products is placed at the appendix to this reportv. The group through its integrated business model operates in the entire hierarchy of the business from mining and sourcing of raw materials to managing a mammoth mobilisation network that transports the raw materials to the factory location, followed by designing and manufacturing

Ethical Issues in OB Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Ethical Issues in OB - Essay Example Besides reputational loss, these frauds and/or scandals have caused significant financial impact on their businesses resulting in their closure. Hence, it is extremely important for organizations to formulate strong ethical principles and practices, which need to be followed by the organization, its leaders and its employees. In fact, ethical standards/principles promote the organization and its products/services to a large extent. Therefore, organization’s success largely depends upon its ethical standards besides other factors related to business and its management. Moreover, ethical standards form the guiding principles for various managerial decisions that get stuck in different types of dilemmas. Ethics involves moral issues and choices and deals with right and wrong behavior (Luthans, 1998; p.72). This behavior is with respect to employees, managers, organizations to the environment etc. The most significant role in maintaining ethical standards is played by members in t he leadership positions. Ethical behavior is demonstrated by the leaders in maintaining business ethics on a regular basis. For people in the leadership role, their character is extremely important to make an impact. This character is judged based on their actions and not words. Hence, ethical behavior becomes all the more important for leaders. In her article in the Forbes, Chairman of the board at Deloitte & Touche, Sharon Allen (2007) puts it, â€Å"ethical leadership counts--on the job and everywhere else that our employees and fellow citizens watch, assess and ultimately transform the examples of leaders into actions of their own.† This clearly exemplifies what kind of impact leaders can have on their followers through ethical behavior. Further Allen (2007) explains that behavior of leaders give their followers clues about their personal value systems and set an example for the behavior that is considered as right. If leaders expect their followers to exhibit and adhere to specific business behavior, then such behavior has to be demonstrated by the leaders. If they lack or fail to do so, then followers will emulate their leaders’ behavior, even if unethical. Recently, the New York Times reported internal charges levied against one of the union leaders of the Service Employees International Union for improper usage of funds official funds, which was not accounted for in the right manner. This report stated, â€Å"The charges accuse Mr. Raynor of falsely stating that he had 10 meals, costing $186 to $275, with a male union lawyer instead of the person he had actually dined with: Alex Dagg, a female executive vice president of Workers United and one of its Canadian directors. The charges call for ousting him from his Workers United and S.E.I.U. posts, and state that he had falsified union records and made improper personal expenses† (Greenhouse, 2011, March 30). This charge is a serious offence because the union leader falsified organiza tion’s money and also provided misleading information. If this behavior is ignored, then it might encourage sequence of such behaviors, which his followers too might adopt. In order to promote ethical behavior, organizations adopt ethical practices such as organizational values and ethical standards in all actions and communicating the same to its employees through various media. Ethical standards have to pertain to

Risk Management Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Risk Management - Assignment Example SFC developed a risk matrix of the possible risks likely to occur during the implementation of the project detailing the mitigation measures. SFC currently has other projects that are not completed. If it wins the contract, the schedule of the other projects will be interfered. SFC cannot afford to lose the contract for the City project because of the proceeds expected from its completion. Mitigation measure for the risk, SFC has decided to discuss with the other clients and come up with a new realistic schedule to complete the homes. It will be beneficial to SFC to winning their customers trust and loyalty. The two employees present at SFC will not be enough to complete the current projects and that for Gig city. The employees will be strained making them inefficient in delivering quality services to the client especially that for constructing tourism facilities. This will risk SFC in failing to win future contracts from the Gig Harbor Council. SFC has identified hiring of new personnel will be the suitable mitigation measure for this risk. There is also a possibility of the prices construction materials to increase this is due to the booming construction business, thus high demand for the materials. An increase the cost of materials will have an adverse impact on the company since it was not budgeted for, during the planning stage. SFC identifies this risk as severe since it will not only affect the construction of tourism facility but other projects. The mitigation for this is to liaise with finance companies, who will step in during a financial crisis. SFC has a duty to protect its reputation for the City project and therefore reducing material requirement will result to a sub-standard work. If the completion of the construction of tourism facilities does not meet deadline, then SFC management should make an effort to discuss with the Council prior the actual deadline. It will make the Council aware and also gain trust from

The Musical Talents of Alexander Scriabin Assignment

The Musical Talents of Alexander Scriabin - Assignment Example It is important to note that the combination that brought the legato notes and staccato notes created the new performance in the Prelude Op. The notes make the tonal variation and rhythmic balances different from the Old Guard. Prelude OP. 11 is one of the admired pieces that many other composers have thought of performing because of the great composition that combined various components in music. Scriabin composition borrows its attributes from Beethoven and Mozart. Mozart and Beethoven projected short slurs with the rare crossing of lines (Chang 20). It is notable that Scriabin prolonged the slurs and crossed the lines to come up with a combination that was perfect. Critics have attributed the performance to Scriabin accident that led him to use the left hand more than the right hand (Damare 77). The notes played in the concerto are quite high and are unique because no composer or pianist had played such notes especially when using the left hand. The sterling tempo in the concerto Prelude 11 performance stunned many artists because it did not only increase its tempo towards the climax, but also the arrangement of note that created the effects. Critics observed that the tempo of the music often fluctuated but surprisingly remained stable without creating any disorder (Damare 79). The turbulent sound that streams due to the high notes played in the concerto did attract many viewers during Scriabin’s performances. Scriabin’s songs emulated Russian folk tunes, which had asymmetrical rhythms. The Preludes took the 5/8 motivic structures. Critics have observed that Scriabin concerto resembled the songs of Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov, Igor Stravinsky, and Modest Mussorgsky (Chang 23). It is important to note that Scriabin did not perform his tunes the traditional way but incorporated the new ideas to sing notes that were higher than the traditional notes played on the piano. Scriabin used the piano to play his notes; although piano was not new to Scriabin or his audience, the concert music that he played had new notes which demonstrated a new style of performance. The Prelude OP. 11 comprises of new notes that his predecessors had not played. Scriabin’s childhood was very instrumental to his skills as a composer and a pianist. Born of a mother who was a pianist (though she died when he was one year old), Scriabin took piano lessons with Nikolai Zverev.  

What can literature, music, cinema, theatre or art bring to the study Essay

What can literature, music, cinema, theatre or art bring to the study of International Relations - Essay Example The field of International Relations (IR) is a body of knowledge that deals with political activities that are intertwined among various key state players. According to the research conducted by Polat (2012), through International Relations, individuals are able to comprehend the kind of relations that exist between various states. In this case, International Relations refers to the study of the interactions between the members of the field of International Relations, which are the nation states. International Relations can also be defined as the study that scrutinizes the relationships between countries and the responses displayed by these countries as a result of the interactions between the states. It would appear that no country can subsist on its own. In this case, it is imperative to appreciate the power relations between the nations in the International Relations. International Relations, according to Mandaville (2003), is a body of knowledge that highlights the factors that inspire the connection between the countries in the world. In simple terms, International Relations refers to an understanding of the interactions that are present between different countries in the International arena. This includes reviewing the flow of information from one country to another, the manner of responses by each party, and the outcomes that spring from the entire relations process. These implications vary from political, social and economic implications.

The Effect of a Global Oil Shortage on the US Economy Essay Example for Free

The Effect of a Global Oil Shortage on the US Economy Essay Oil is a very important 21st century product. It is a vital source of energy, an irreplaceable transport fuel, and an essential raw material in many manufacturing processes. Crude oil is a source of great economic power. Since its production cost in many places is far below its selling price in world markets, the ownership and control of oil reserves have been a means by which great wealth has been earned and lost (Deffeyes, 2001). Oil has become the world’s most important internationally traded item in both volume and value terms and changes in this trade have had enormous financial, political and socio-cultural repercussions on the parties involved. Wars, revolutions and mass migrations are perhaps only the most visible manifestation of oil shortages. The purpose of this study is to explore what implications a global oil shortage would have for the US economy. Toward this end we will scrutinize the economic valuables being influenced by oil supply, analyze the ability of the US to meet domestic demand as well as extent of oil–dependence of the country, and make the conclusion. There are three major players in the global oil marketplace – the consuming countries, the producer countries and the international oil industry which mediates between them (Cleaver, 2002). The three biggest consumers in 2000 were: the United States (18. 7 million barrels per day), the European Union (13. 3 million barrels per day) and Japan (5. 5 million barrels per day). As a group the OECD countries exert most pressure on world markets, since they have the highest incomes yet produce insufficient oil to satisfy their own needs. OECD countries consume 62. 4 per cent of the world’s oil, yet produce only 28. 1 per cent (Cleaver, 2002, p. 169). Could the US Produce Oil Supply Sufficient to Satisfy Own Needs? The US has always been a significant producer but its mature oilfields have been in slow, steady decline since the mid-1980s. But perhaps of greater importance is that the country holds some 2. 8 per cent of the world’s reserves volume and, in addition, its oil is not cheap to produce. For instance, in 1985 Saudi oil was estimated to cost less than US$1 a barrel to extract, compared with $7-$8 for Alaska and the North Sea (Cleaver, 2002, p. 181). Thus, the US cannot drill its way to petroleum self-sufficiency in the long run, or to lower gas prices in the short run. Even if Congress opened the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge to drilling tomorrow, the oil would not begin to flow very soon. The US Geological Service estimates 3. 2 billion barrels of economically recoverable oil lie beneath the refuge – enough to meet the nations current demand just for six months. At peak production, the refuge would meet about 2 percent of the nations projected petroleum demand (Stanke, 2002, p. 912). Tapping the Strategic Petroleum Reserve, or bringing a new arctic field on line, would not change the US fundamental energy outlook: continuing growth in demand, declining domestic production and increasing dependence on imported oil (Chapman Khanna, 2000). What Implications the Global Oil Shortage Would Have on the US Economy The implications of oil shortages spread throughout the industrialized world, causing classic microeconomic reallocation of resources. Oil supply and prices affect decisions to invest billions of dollars in different industrial projects: whether to build major highways or rail networks trains or electric cars; offshore drilling platforms or nuclear power stations. Oil shortages also affect macroeconomic variables such as the levels of national incomes, aggregate spending and the balance of payments. The enormous sums involved affect countries’ rates of economic growth, levels of international debt and the overall functioning of the world’s financial system (Hunt, Isard Laxton, 2002). As Deffeyes (2001) ascertains, the coming oil shortage cannot be avoided. He suggests that U. S. political leaders, the news media, and the public are either unaware of or uninterested in the problem, although detailed reports forecasting the peak in world oil production have appeared in many scientific journals. The US oil industry itself maintains its focus on such issues as improving technology, drilling deeper for oil, finding new reserves, and accelerating production. None of these measures can have a significant impact on the coming oil shortage, argues Deffeyes (2001). He forecasts that a permanent drop in oil production will begin within current decade. Deffeyes (2001) argues that the list of fundamental activities is short: agriculture, ranching, forestry, fisheries, mining, and petroleum (p. 159), thus, a permanent drop in oil production will pull one of the blocks out from underneath the pyramid. If Deffeyes is right, the implications are enormous. He anticipates that sharply higher oil prices will bring difficult economic, social, and political passages for those societies most dependent on oil, especially on imported oil (Deffeyes, 2001), as the US is. Exporters will charge top dollar: a gigantic windfall for the Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, and other big oil producers. He implies that the tumult will be greater than that occasioned by the oil price hikes of 1973 and 1979 (Kohl, 2005). Three things could upset Deffeyes prediction: the discovery of huge new oil deposits, development of drilling technology that could squeeze more oil from known reserves, and a steep rise in oil prices, which would make it profitable to recover even the most stubbornly buried oil (Cleaver, 2002). Previous oil shocks have all followed periods of strong economic demand, accelerating inflation from higher levels than prevail currently, a weak dollar at least in terms of the major foreign currencies, actual or threatened cuts or disruptions in oil production, and hostilities in the Middle East. Yet each episode also exhibited some unique features that aggravated the oil price increases (Little, 2001). For instance, an examination of the US postwar quarterly GNP data shows a slowdown in GNP growth after the oil crisis in 1973. Scholars consider the slowdown in growth after the 1973 oil crisis as an event external to the domestic economy (Zivot Andrews, 2002, p. 25). But, it seems reasonable to regard the formation of the OPEC as an exogenous event, there were other big events such as the 1964 tax cut, the Vietnam War, and the financial deregulation in the 1980s that could also be viewed as possible exogenous structural breakpoints (Zivot Andrews, 2002). Nevertheless, the financial world has reorganized since 1980. Effects of oil shortages and subsequent price rises, during the late 1970s, took months to years to spread from industry to industry; from price increases to wage demands. In the new economy, the shock of an oil price rise will spread in milliseconds (Deffeyes, 2001). Moreover, recent rising gas prices are a signal that the consequences of relying on imported oil will become harder to bear (Tonn, 2004). Petroleum is priced in dollars, and the value of the dollar has declined steeply against major currencies If oil were priced in euros or yen, the price per barrel would appear more stable. The American appetite for imported oil may end the dollars privileged status as the leading currency of trade (Kohl, 2005). The great oil dependence of the US economy could be shortened by means of more extensive use of nuclear energy, but unfortunately the US failed to take full advantage of this kind energy for political reasons. While nuclear-power plants are large capital investments, once those costs are sunk the marginal cost of nuclear fuel is very low-currently corresponding to about $4 per barrel of oil (Miniter, 1991, p. 37). Volatility of oil prices during the oil shortage will be aggravated by the unusually large imbalances between the US supply and demand associated partly with the recent unexpectedly rapid global growth. Over the medium term, moreover, the long lag times between decisions to drill new wells or build new refineries and increased supplies of petroleum products can amplify these instabilities (Cleaver, 2002). For instance, recent estimates by the OECD suggest that even a $10 increase in the price of oil maintained for a year is likely to add 0. to 1 percentage point to overall consumer price inflation and to cut 0. 2 to 0. 5 percentage point from output growth in the major industrial countries within two years after the oil shock (Little, 2001, p. 6). Economists have proposed a variety of mechanisms linking oil price increases with economic downturns. These include terms-of-trade shocks, negative productivity shocks, shifts in relative prices that may induce a costly reallocation of resources across sectors, and the monetary policy response to the increased price pressures. In the case of a terms-of-trade shock, an oil price increase acts like an excise tax – with a major part of the income gains going to foreign oil producers (Cleaver, 2002). The global oil shortage also would have an impact on the wages in all the US industries. Economists propose an efficiency-wage model in which an increase in the real price of oil resulting from oil shortage, as an important input price, leads to a decline in real wages as firms seek to avoid losses. They find that real oil prices and real interest rates explain the overall path of U. S. nemployment from 1979 to 1995 reasonably well (Hunt, Isard Laxton, 2002). Rotemberg and Woodford in 1996 presented related evidence that introducing a modest degree of imperfect competition in product markets considerably magnifies the impact of oil price changes on real wages and output beyond what might have been expected given oils relatively small role in the US economy (as cited in Little, 2001, p. 9). This would have an enormous negative impact especially on the small and medium–sized enterprises which contribute largely to the US GNP and are major contributors of new jobs using more labour-intensive production. They will have to shut manufacturing units and discharge workers because of the surging costs of electricity. But some factors testify that the picture is not despairing. Thus, increased energy efficiency, robust economic conditions, enhanced central bank credibility, and stable inflation expectations in the US suggest that the impact of possible global oil shortage in the nearest future will be more muted and manageable than in previous oil shocks (Tonn, 2004). Conclusion The discussed above demonstrates that the implications of the global oil shortage for the US would be very negative in many sectors of its economy due to substantial dependence of the country on the oil import, impossibility to satisfy domestic demand by own oil resources, recent weakening of the US dollar and poor progress in developing alternative sources of energy. The United States can restrain oil demand as a matter of public policy, or wait for rising prices to force consumers to cut back. Now the country has chosen the latter course by default. The efforts of the US public to swing energy policy in the direction of renewable kinds of energy are blocked by the Bush Administration and its fossils fuel industry supporters. Thus, the USA remains vulnerable to oil supply and price shocks. One implication is that current US policy, in promoting still heavier investment in fossil fuels, is misguided. If we dont shift away from oil, we may as well gift-wrap the entire budget surplus and send it to the oil producing countries – Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and other. As Deffeyes (2001) reasonably ascertains, rather than have the crisis sneak up on us, we can see it coming and initiate some of the long lead-time projects in advance. Forewarned is forearmed (p. 187).

Background Of English Neologisms

Background Of English Neologisms Languages are changing as the world is constantly changing. After the Second World War, English neologisms emerged in a remarkable way. New vocabulary came into existence due to new technologies and new discoveries such as ; computing, internet , cell phones and the like. Peoples daily activities like dancing, looking and many others, renewed their popularity giving birth to new lexicon. In deed, new words are invented rapidly and are developed quickly thanks to mass communication. They appear and fall into disuse when they have served their momentary purpose ( Bernhart 54).Only a few of them will get recorded in glossaries of neologisms of general dictionaries. The matter of neologism becomes a new hot spot of research owing to its practical and prevailing use in reality. The study of neologisms evoked a whole cluster of questions: -What are the reasons beyond the rise of new lexicon? -Why are some new words just a flash in a pan? -Why are other words successful? -What are the qualities that make a word successful? -Are Neologisms markers of changes in societies? Chapter 01:Literature Review 1. 1.Definition of a Neologism The term neologism originates from Greek: neos means ‘new‘, logos means ‘word‘, i. e. a neologism is literally a new word. â€Å"Neologism is the creation of a new lexical item as a response to changed circumstances in the external world, which achieves some currency within a speech communityâ€Å"(qtd. in Chrystal 1992: 264) at a particular time. In linguistics, a neologism is a recently-coined word, or the act of inventing a word or phrase. Additionally it can imply the use of old words in a new sense (i.e., giving new meanings to existing words or phrases). Neologisms are especially useful in identifying new inventions, new phenomena, or old ideas which have taken on a new cultural context. The word neologism was coined around 1800 and was, at that time, a neologism itself. A person who develops a neologism is sometimes called a neologist; neology is the act of introducing a new word into a language. l. 2. Background of English Neologisms The famous American new word expert John Algeo wrote in the preface of his book Fifty Years Among the New Words, â€Å"Although the dictionary of new word is warmly welcomed by readers only in recent years, actually the compiling of English dictionary began with the collection of new word ever since 1604.† The early English dictionaries like Table Alphabeticall (1604, Robert Cawdrey), English Expositor (1616, John Bullokar), and The English Dictionarie (1623, Henry Cockeram) all embodied some â€Å"hard words†, which were absolutely new words to people in those days. Thus, those dictionaries somehow held the characteristics of neologism dictionary. However, the scientific and systematic study of neologism began at 200 years later, the 20th century. In 1902, Leon Mead published a book named Word-Coinage, being an Inquiry into Recent Neologisms, also a Brief Study of Literary Style, Slang, and Provincialisms, which said to be the first book studying neologism in the 20th. Although it was not a neologism dictionary, it contained some articles about new words. Whats more, Mead put forward the idea of making research on new words for the first time in the history. He also provided lots of examples of new words created by some American writers at that time. In 1920, C.Alphonso Smith, the dean of the English department of American Navy Institute wrote a book entitled New Words Self-defined, in which 420 new words were illustrated by examples. This had proved to be a big progress in the research on the neologisms. From 1937 to 1940, the famous American scholar Dwight Bolinger first applied newspapers and magazines to introduce new word. He created a column, The Living Language, in the newspaper, Words. In 1943, the column was brought into American speech and the title was changed into Among the New Words. Then, in the next year,Professor I. Willis Russell took the place of Bolinger and became the chief-editor of the column. He wrote articles entitled Words and Meanings, New, to introduce new words and their new meanings. War is said to be the major cradle for the born of new words. Majorie Taylor, a librarian in New York, collected numerous neologisms created during the World War II. In 1944, Taylor compiled a word-list, The Language of World War II: Abbreviation, captions, Quotations, Slogans, Titles and Other Terms and Phrases, in which every new word was explained. Similarly, Clarence Barnhart published his Dictionary of U.S. Army Terms. At that time, some academic magazines also published articles to introduce new words. Many neologism dictionaries in the 1950s are very popular, especially the Dictionary of New Words in English compiled by Paul Charles Berg in 1953 and The Dictionary of New Words by Mary Reifer in 1955. During 1950s, Mr. Paul Charles Berg did a lot of job to collect new words about the war, which brought us his Dictionary of New Words in English in 1953. After the World War II, science and technology development had greatly influenced the society. Subsequently, a lot of scientific and technical words were flooding into the language field. A lot of neologism dictionaries about words in those fields were published. Two of them are mostly welcomed: An Explaining and Pronouncing Dictionary of Scientific and Technical Words by W. E. Flood Michael West and Words of Sciences and the History Blind Them by Isaac Asimov. From 1970s on, the study of English neologism drew great attention from western scholars, many of them established special column to introduce new words in English, such as William Safire who was well known for his On Language in New York Times weekly and Anne H. Soukhanow who was the chief-editor of Word Watch. In Safires column, he provided a considerably clear explanation of new words by citing typical examples, exploring their origins and performing their current usage. Besides, the American Dialect Association Dispatches introduced some new words yearly to the public. For instance, in 1994, â€Å"information superhighway† was rewarded as the newest word; â€Å"cybersex† was the most surprising word and â€Å"mosaic culture† the most unnecessary word. The digital revolution in 1990s is the radical reshaping and restructuring of social patterns. â€Å"Because of the wild spread of internet, America is speaking a whole new language†, said Shawn Holley in his The New Word Revolution. Lots of neologisms that have a historical significance by reason of the influence they exerted on the language field are brought into existence. According to the statistics, more than 20 neologism dictionaries have been compiled, among which some put emphasis on the academic field and some are distinctive by their popularity. Oxford English Dictionary, Websters Third New International Dictionary and Barhart Dictionary of New English are the ones with the highest academic value. New words are numerous. Sometimes it seems as if a new word has about as much chance of developing into a permanent addition to our vocabulary. Only few of them will remain as serious candidates for the dictionary. Books especially about new words are abundant. However, only a few scholars have ventured to propose factors that make for the success of new words. One is Goran Kjellmer, whose article Potential Words in the journal Word for August 2000 also reviews previous proposals. The other is the executive secretary of American Dialect Society, Allan Metcalf who proposed the FUDGE scale. The two reached different conclusions. Along with books and periodicals, there is the Internet. In particular, it makes my extensive searches for examples of how words are actually used today possible. Here the author has searched thousands of pages indexed by Google.com countless times to find current uses of words under discussion. A jump of several decades has showed us more researches on the neologisms. Language reflects our life, and the research on the neologisms has never been stopped. By collecting new words or phrases occurring in languages, the previous researches have provided precious materials for the further exploration in this field. Therefore, a careful look at the research background of neologisms carries an essential academic significance. In china, the study of neologism began from 1980s. Most of the specific works and papers are mere introduction of theories from abroad lacking of much original study. To keep up with the latest English vocabulary is really difficult, thus a thorough and systematic analysis about English new words is of practical significance both in learning and teaching of English as a foreign language. Chapter 02: Factors for the Rise of English Neologisms It is not language change itself that has occupied the attention of historical linguists for the past decades, but the causes and the processes of change. Early researchers, such as Saussure (1922) or Bloomfield (1933), for instance, maintained that the causes of linguistic change cannot be established despite numerous attempts at feasible explanations (Wardhaugh,1990:187). The majority of the early researchers have maintained also that the actual processes of change cannot be observed that what one can observe and perhaps analyses are the consequences of change. The findings of later research, however, envisage the process of change as an initial fluctuation between the new and the old, with the completion of the process occurring when the new replaces the old (Fromkin et al.,1996:295). In other words, if the new form, be it phonological, morpho-syntactic, lexical or semantic, spreads the change is in progress, if it eventually replaces the old form, the change has become a fait ac compli it has gone to completion(Holmes,1992:212). In regard to the causes of change, although the reasons for an aspect of a language undergoing change at a particular point in time still remain unclear, a number of theories have been proposed, depending on the orientation of individual researchers. For instance, Mcmahon M.S (1994: 179-182) discussing causes of semantic change, delineates the following: Linguistic causes Historical causes (subdivided into ideas and scientific concepts) Social causes Psychological causes (subdivided into emotive factors and taboo) Foreign influence The need for a new name Quite a lot of reasons are responsible for the creating of English neologisms. Any new thing or new concept, which takes place in our society, may provide a foundation for the creating of the new words. In the following, four of the major reasons will be emphasized: 1) the rise of new concepts and new ideas in social culture; 2) new discoveries in science and technology; 3) the manufacture of new products in economy, and 4) the events in the field of politics. Accompanied by a series of neologisms, we can have a clearer understanding of the current English neologisms. 2.1. Sociolcultural Changes: 2.1.1. New Concepts and ideas in Social Culture. The improving living condition and the enhancing cultural standard have formed a solid basis on which a large number of new things find their occurrence. It is not necessary to demonstrate that with the development of social culture, new concepts and ideas are introduced into us constantly. Since there are many more concepts than there are existing words, there will always be new words created. Changes in social outlook and manners of behavior call for new terms such as beatnik, peacenik, and hippie. Even new culinary arrangements demand new labels and in English they have some forth in the form of cheeseburger, chiliburger, mushroomburger, etc. (Anderson, 1973) Brian Foster presents us a striking example of how fast English vocabulary changes. In the year 1914, a young girl named Monica Baldwin entered a convent, remaining secluded there until 1941. When she returned to the outer world, she found herself in a totally different world: the conditions of everyday life altered by technical developments and social changes were beyond recognition. Whats more puzzling to her was the language people speaking. During a railway journey, the term â€Å"luggage in advance† meant nothing to her. Reading the daily newspapers made her feel idiotic in the extreme, because words like jazz, Gin, Hollywood, Cool, noshing and Isolationism were completely incomprehensible to her. Not to mention how bewildered she was at hearing friends say, â€Å"Its your funeral† or â€Å"believe it or not†. (Brian Foster, 1981) Lets look at another example â€Å"moonlighting†. It was anything but new to the vocabulary, and it gained a brand new meaning in 1957 as the verb to moonlight and its related noun, moonlighting. Time magazine, beamed moonlighting at its readers in its issue of July 22nd, 1957. According to Time, it was in fact not just a new name, but a new trend and a new concern. MOON-LIGHTING, proclaimed the headline: A Problem Born of Prosperity. As a noun, moonlight goes back with the moon itself to the beginning of the English language and even earlier to the Germanic and Indo-European ancestors of English. Presumably ever since humans could speak, they have talked about the light of the moon. As a verb, to moonlight is more recent, but it still goes back to the nineteenth century. From the start it has meant doing something by the light of the moon, but at first this was something that could get one arrested. In the nineteenth century, moonlight was a slang term for the activity of burglars, who benefited from moonlight at their work. In the twentieth century, it was also used for herding cattle and hunting deer by moonlight. Whether it was the illegal work that in 1957 caused the transmutation of moonlight into a standard term for legal work, or whether this new meaning was independently derived from the original moonlight, nobody knows. And it doesnt matter much. Either way, moonlight meaning the light of the moon easily took on its second meaning of to work a second job, and Americans have been moonlighting ever since. This second meaning seems likely to stay in the vocabulary, as long as people continue to hold down second jobs. 2.1.2.Disguising Language, â€Å"Misnomers† While taboo words are words that have been banned by the speech community, â€Å"misnomers† are words that individuals have decided to coin in order to deceive the hearer by disguising unpleasant concepts. Examples: E. friendly fire instead of bombardment by own troops. 2.1.3.Prestige, Fashion Lexical change may be based on the prestige of another language or another variety of the same language, certain fashionable word-formation patterns or certain fashionable semasiological centers of expansion. The kernel of this force is mostly found outside of language. It is often the prestige of a culture, the superiority of a group or politics which cause speakers to adopt linguistic elements (words, morphemes, morphs, sounds) from the prestigious groups speech. Example: English, for instance, borrowed heavily from French during the ME. period because the upper social classes were made up of French people: garment, flower, rose, face, prince, hour, question, dance, fork, royal, loyal, fine, zero are all Gallicisms. Today, English is now the most prestigious language for many parts of the world. 2.1.4.Social, or Demographic, Reasons By social, or demographic, reasons we shall refer to the contact between different social groups. This contact may easily, and rather subconsciously, trigger off lexical change— the more intensive the social contact is, the more intensive the linguistic exchange. Example: In the history of the English language, the two prominent instances of exchanges between two social groups were the one with the Vikings in the 8th to 11th centuries and the one with the French in the 11th to 15th centuries. The force of direct contact between different speech communities must not be mixed up with the prestige force, where no direct contact with the other speech community is necessary. Thus, we can say that the early French loans (from Northern French) rather go back to the everyday contact with the English population and the French soldiers, not so early French loans (from Parisian French) go back to the prestige of the French aristocracy, the French loans in the official bilingual phase of Englands history may either go back to prestige or to the social contact or to both. Examples: The inherited ey is replaced by Scandinavian egg, the inherited nimen is replaced by Scandinavian taken except for theform benumb, throwen is supplemented by Scandinavian casten; early French loans are army, carpenter, catch. 2.1.5.Culture-Induced Salience of a Concept (â€Å"Cultural Salience†) Sometimes concepts are not salient to humans because of gerenal human nature, but because of the concepts cultural values. Their salience can change with the change of culture. Example: The increased importance of arts and fashion has affected the lexical treatment of the conceptual field of colors: from a vague differentiation between dark blue and light blue to a neat distinction between cobalt blue, royal blue, indigo etc. (such neat detailed differentiations often originate in expert slang and then penetrate the language of the general speech community). Conceptual fields which have gained salience through cultural importance may very well serve as designations in other conceptual field in the form of metaphors. Example: In the US, a lot of metaphors in general language have been taken from the field of baseball, e.g. to be off base ‘to be completely wrong, to hit a home run ‘to be highly successful and from the field of entrepreneurship. 2.1.6.Word-Play The category of word play includes humor, irony and puns. Although word-play often goes hand in hand with other factors (such as taboo, prestige or anthropological salience), it can also trigger lexical change on its own. Example: ModE. perfect lady ‘prostitute, to take French leave ‘to leave secretly (without paying), to cool ‘look ( 2.2 New discoveries and Products In Science and Technology Suppose youre advancing the cause of science rather than pitching a product, and you have something new to report—a new element, a new compound, or a new species. How does it get a name? No new science is possible without neologisms, new words or new interpretations of old words to describe and explain reality in new ways. How could Aristotle have developed the logic of syllogisms or Newton thetheory of dynamics without new vocabularies and definitions? They were neologists, and everybody wanting to contribute new knowledge must be. For new knowledge there is no way around the creation of new terms and concepts. For new objects and new inventions, scientific discoveries, technical theories, etc, the new name is usually the work of one man or of a very few. To reject neologisms, often despicably, is to reject scientific development. No sign of scientific conservatism is so telling as the rejection of all but the established concepts of a school of thought. Neologisms are, however, relative to the terminological paradigm actually dominating a field of knowledge. It may be a radical renewal to introduce terms from a tradition believed to be outmoded. Nowadays the idea of the technical highway has been very familiar to people. Development in the science and technology has brought tremendous energy to the improvement of our civilization. And these achievements also find their reflections in language. Technical advancements in a society demand new designator terms, many of which can be found in linguistics such as hypercorrection, phoneme, allomorph, etc. The progress of science and technology gives occasion for the large majority of new words; for a new thing we must have a new name; hence, for instance, motor, argon, and appendicitis. It is interesting to see that the last word did not exist, or was at least too obscure to be recorded, when the Oxford Dictionary began to come out in 1888; but we cannot do without it now. Take the word software for example, that computer term was invented by John W. Tukey, a statistician at Princeton University. As long ago as 1958, he used the word in the American Mathematical Monthly. Today the software comprising the carefully planned interpretive routines, compilers, and other aspects of automotive programming are at least as important to the modern electronic calculator as its hardware of tubes, transistors, wires, tapes and the like. Tukey was already known for inventing another now- famous computer term. In 1946 he used the little word bit as the designation for a unit of information, a binary digit with value 0 or 1. That led a decade later to bytes (groups of bits, now always eight, a term invented by Werner Buchholz at IBM) and to todays kilo-, mega; and tera-bytes of computer storage and information. 2.3 The Manufacture of New Products in Economy Economic development is the mainstream of our era. The improvement of language, to a certain extent, benefits a lot from the new phenomenon that occurs in the economic field. In this competitive world, any innovation or fresh things taking place in economy will soon find their voice in the language. If theres anything a new product needs, its a brand name. To the extent that the product succeeds, the name will too. Its a sure thing, the one way to guarantee that a new term will be a success: spend mighty amounts of money on marketing persuade people to buy and keep on buying a product, and they will call it by the name you give it. When you want a product, a company would like you to think of its brand name. The Coca-Cola Company wants people to think of a Coke when they want a soft drink. But if the marketing is successful enough and the name Coke is embedded in peoples vocabulary, people will ask for a Coke and be satisfied if they get a Pepsi. In fact, in the southeastern United States, home of Coca-Cola, Coke is such a successful brand that many people there (and in the rest of the country) refer to any soft drink as a coke. Some brand names even joined the pack of the general vocabulary. Here are some of them: Aspirin: a name for acetylsalicylic acid, trademarked by the Bayer Company of Germany at the start of the twentieth century. Elevator and escalator: both originally trademarks of the Otis Elevator Company. Zipper: a name given to a separable fastener by the B.F. Goodrich Company many years after it was invented. The new name helped the zipper attain popularity in the 1930s. Loafer: for a moccasin-like shoe. Cellophane: for a transparent wrap made of cellulose. Granola: a trademark registered in 1886 by W K. Kellogg, now used for a natural kind of breakfast cereal. Ping-pong: for table tennis, a trademark registered by Parker Brothers in 1901. Xerox: for photocopier. Kleenex: for facial tissue. Band-Aid: for adhesive bandage. Tupperware: for storage container. Scotch tape: for transparent adhesive tape. Jazzercise: for exercise to jazz music. 2.4. The Events in the Field of Politics. The forming of English new words is sometimes considered as the result of the political changes. Language reflects the society, as it has always been. Politics is an essential part of the development of the world; therefore, it can easily find its relative neologisms in the language field. For instance, when Mr. Bill Clinton was elected as the president of the US., his name has been associated with many political words. His policy is Clintonian, he is carrying out the Clintionism, his economics policy is Clintonomics, and his supporters were called Clintonites, he ultimately wanted to realize his Clintonization. Another widespread usage of affixes is â€Å"-gate†, which came from the historical Watergate event. People took use of Irangate to disclose the involvement of some American government office workers in U.S. selling arms to Iran. Camillagate was used to mean the love affair of British Prince Charles and his lover Camilla Parker. Nannygate was pointed to the illegal hire of baby-sitter or the hire of illegal immigrants. Another striking example, On September 11, 2001, the peace of a sunny late-summer morning was shattered by the impact of four hijacked airplanes on the World Trade Center towers, the Pentagon, and a field in Pennsylvania. There were more direct casualties in these disasters than on any previous day in American history, and soon the entire country felt the impact of damaged or destroyed lives, businesses, and sense of security. Out of the ashes came patriotism, resolve, and unity. And out of the ashes came new words, too, to describe new situations never before imagined. The events stir memories of Pearl Harbor and Oklahoma City, and we refer to other memorable occasions by their locations — Lexington and Concord, Gettysburg, Little Big Horn, and Wounded Knee — but in this case the name of place wont work. Its not just because several places were involved, but also because the places are too famous. New York City and Washington, DC, have too many other connotations, so do the World Trade Center and the Pentagon. For lack of a suitable designation deriving from place, we have used the date as a reference point: September 11. That does have a well-known precedent. One other event in American history is referred to by its date: July 4 or the Fourth of July, the date in 1776 when the Declaration of Independence was proclaimed in Philadelphia. In addition to the spelled-out month and day, the numerals 9/11 or 9-11 have been used. Never before has such a historic event been so labeled, but because of the striking coincidence that 911 is the telephone number to call for help in an emergency, that numerical designation has been a success. Headline writers like the concision of this expression, just three numerals to take in all the events of that day. So far, the events of that day have resulted in just one new term: ground zero, for the place of impact, the center of destruction in New York City where the World Trade Towers once stood. That phrase has succeeded because it is not really new; its an old term for the location on the ground directly under a vast atomic explosion, corresponding to air zero, the location in the air above the ground where the bomb goes off. Ground zero had been gathering dust on the shelf in recent years because of a fortunate lack of atomic explosions. No one knows who first said ground zero in reference to the site where the World Trade Towers were attacked and collapsed, but the term immediately caught on because of its familiarity and emotional power. Chapter 03:Success of English Neologisms 3.1. How are Neologisms Found? The authority for a word in fact, the authority for a language rests with the users of the language. Thus, the process of adding new words to the dictio ­nary begins with a systematic examination of almost everything printed and said in English. As far as ‘Among the New Words‘ is concerned, this important task â€Å"citation with source informationâ€Å" (qtd. in Algeo 1991a: 3) is fulfilled by active members of the Words Committee, who contribute the words they regard as new in any material they read or listen to (Algeo 1991a: 3). The cited word must contain the name of the publication, the day, and the page number. Concerning oral citations, the source information must consist of the day the sentence was heard and where and when one came across it (Algeo 1991a: 3). The following list shows that usually American dictionaries are consulted (with the exceptions of two British dictionaries: the OED and Websters Third) to check the newness of each contribution (Algeo 1991a: 2): Random House Websters College Dictionary, 1991. Oxford English Dictionary, 2d ed., 1989. World Book Dictionary, 1989 Websters New World Dictionary, 3d College ed., 1988. Random House Dictionary, 2d ed. Unabridged, 1987. Websters Ninth New Collegiate Dictionary, 1983. Websters Third New International Dictionary, 1961. Only if the new word is assumed to be British, are additional British dictionaries referred to. To make sure that a neologism has not been lexicalized yet, the following dictionaries of neologisms are used: Third Barnhart Dictionary of New English. 1990. Chambers English Dictionary, 1988. Collins Concise Dictionary, 2d ed., 1988. Collins Dictionary, 2d ed., 1986. Longman Dictionary, 1984. Readers Digest Great Illustrated Dictionary, 1984. If a word entered one of these dictionaries, then it is usually not recorded in ‘Among the New Words‘ (Algeo 91a: 2). Since ‘Among the New Words‘ receives more citations than there is space to print, a selection has to be made. The criteria on what and when to enter a word is up to the lexicographer. As I said, lexicographers have different opinions (Algeo 1991b: 75) and therefore it is hard to give exact rules. However, two principles can be set up: the absolutely newness of a word and the reflection of the zeitgeist. 3.2. Reasons of Success of Neologisms 3.2.1 The frequency of occurrences The most important factor is that a word appears in as many different sources as possible. The more sources (newspapers, magazines, books etc.) a word appears in, the more obvious is the frequency and range of the term (Sheidlower 33). Besides, the more a word is cited the more popular it is; and consequently the more likely it is to be included in a dictionary. 3.2.2 Range among sources It is of interest to know the range of the new word because if a word is only common in a special field, it is not a candidate for a general dictionary but rather for a technical one. Therefore, a general dictionary excludes technical terms or terms well known in a certain field because they are not of general interest. However, there are exceptions: the term intellectual property[1]was

Germany :: essays research papers

Germany is located in Central Europe. It borders the Baltic Sea and the North Sea. It is between the Netherlands and Poland, south of Denmark. It is slightly smaller than Montana.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Germany’s economy was the world’s third most powerful in 1997. The German economy benefited from robust exports, particularly to other members of the EU and the US, as well as strengthening equipment investments. But anemic private consumption and contraction in the construction industry limited the expansion. Unemployment continued to set post-war monthly records through the end of 1997 and averaged 4.3 million for the year. In preparation for the first of January 1999, the start of the European Monetary Union, the government has made major efforts in 1996-97 to reduce the fiscal deficit. This effort has been complicated by growing unemployment, an erosion of the tax base, and the continuing transfer of roughly $100 billion a year to eastern Germany to refurbish this ex-communist area. In recent years business and political leaders have become increasingly concerned about Germany’s decline in attractiveness as an investment target. They cite increasing preference by German companies to locate new manufacturing facilities in foreign countries rather than in Germany, to be closer to the markets, and to avoid Germany’s high tax rates, high wage cost, rigid labor structures, and extensive regulations. For similar reasons foreign investment in Germany has been lagging for years.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Germany is one of the world’s leading industrial nations. Western Germany is among the world’s largest and technologically advanced producers of iron, steel, coal, cement, chemicals, machinery, vehicles, machine tools, and electronics. Eastern Germany’s industries are metal fabrication, chemicals, brown coal, shipbuilding, machine building, textiles, and petroleum refining. Industry employs around 41 percent of the German work force. Germany’s biggest industry is vehicles because of luxury cars such as the BMW, Mercedes-Benz, and Porsche, but you can’t forget the VW Beetle.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  German exports value at 521.1 billion dollars. Manufacturing, such as machines and machine tools, chemicals, motor vehicles, and iron and steel products, totals over 88 percent of all exports. Agricultural products account for 5 percent, raw materials for a little over 2 percent, and fuels as 1 percent. Other non-mentioned products total about 3 and a half percent.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  German imports value at 455.7 billion dollars. manufactured items are also the most imported at a little over 74 percent of all imports. Agricultural products equal around 10 percent, fuels are over 6 percent, and raw materials are almost 6 percent. Other non-mentioned materials are under 4 percent of the total imports.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The labor force is roughly 38.7 million people. As said earlier industry employs around 41 percent, agriculture employs 3 percent, and services employ

gatillus Unattainable Illusions in The Great Gatsby :: Great Gatsby Essays

Unattainable Illusions in The Great Gatsby      Ã‚  Ã‚   The work of Fitzgerald is the product of the "Jazz" era, a time when all gods had been declared dead, all wars fought, and all faiths in men had been shaken.   Fitzgerald's style is a combination of American idealism and nihilistic pessimism.   In The Great Gatsby, whose originally proposed title was 'Among the Ash-Heaps and Millionaires,' we also find a narrator and style that make moral judgements through the narrator Nick, a constant overseeing moral vision that is symbolized by the ever-watchful "eyes" of Doctor T.J. Eckleburg.   Despite the glittering appearances and material ostentation of West Egg, something is perceived as being not quite right with the conventional American dream and those who achieve it.   Nonetheless Nick opens the novel by remembering his father's advice:   "Reserving judgments is a matter of infinite hope.   I am still a little afraid of missing something if I forget that, as my father snobbishly suggested, and I snobbishly repea t, a sense of the fundamental decencies is parcelled out unequally at birth"   (Fitzgerald   1).    The main character Gatsby, despite the appearance that he has achieved the American dream, is actually a man alone who tries to turn back the clock and win his true love Daisy.   However, despite the glittering parties and material luxuries of Gatsby's world, Fitzgerald's style admits a serious stream of cynicism that is pervasive throughout the novel.   When Daisy tells Nick her baby might be a girl she says "And I hope she'll be a fool-that's the best thing a girl can be in this world, a beautiful little fool"   (Fitzgerald   17).   This cynicism and world of false appearances are significant to Fitzgerald's style, especially because the author discovered in his own existence that all that glitters is not necessarily gold.   As much as Gatsby loves Daisy, she is far from a paragon of virtue.   As much as Gatsby is admired for his material success only two people attend his funeral.   The cynicism and nihilism in the novel are products of an era that was discovering that even the "American dream" is an illusion.   In Fitzgerald's style this is true even for heroes like Gatsby, a man who is described at the beginning of the novel as being in control of life to the point where he even owns a piece of nature: "Something in his leisurely movements and the secure position of his feet upon the lawn suggested that it was Mr.

Video Game Console and Nintendo

Introduction Nintendo company,One of the most recognized names in the history of games. Even that was 120 years before and recent decades years, Nintendo begin company to making the playing card game,but creating video game. In the 60’s,Nintendo was going to produce video games, but after 1985 when Nintendo started to sell Nintendo Entertainment System (NES) and the famous game Super Mario Brothers. Nintendo began to as being the only dominatition in video games,and remained through many years,before Sony had take over the dominatition position by launched the Sony PlayStation . nd then Nintendo was being regarded as a recession proposition in the videogame business. As far as we can see,the turning point in 2005, Nintendo introduced the Nintendo DS with a big success. In 2006 Nintendo introduced the Wii and then launched it being the best-selling latest generation console system in the world. Nowdays, Nintendo in the position as being the â€Å"worldwide leader in the creati on of interactive entertainment† with Microsoft and Sony in world’s top3 videogame business. To date, Nintendo has sold more than one billion video games and created so many game console including Game Boy – The best selling video game systemgame systems worldwide. 1. What  is  Nintendo’s  strategy? Which of the five generic strategies discussed in Chapter 5 is Nintendo using? What are some of the recent offensive and/or defensive strategies that Nintendo has employed? Have these tactics been successful? Nintendo's strategy is based on the customer premise, when other business-to-video game market has yet to be waited and see attitude, and Nintendo in the market demand for in-depth study, the firm entered the field. Nintendo was on the market only a profound understanding of the needs of customers’ game manufacturers. Because it can from the â€Å"customer needs is the fun of the game† This perspective of looking at problems, Nintendo game software was first recognized that the decisive position. This policy eventually develop into a Nintendo game software developers and strategic alliances to achieve this status, Nintendo has played a key role. After have a â€Å"Nintendo Power† books and â€Å"counselors systems† scheme, which are a combination of the two major consumers and Nintendo's sticky and agents, but also Nintendo's main method to grasp the pulse of customers. In fact, the Nintendo Company's product development plans and marketing strategies is almost entirely dependent from the customer information. We come up the idea that :The broad differentiation strategy is the newly products of Nintendo's had generic used ,particularly for Wii ,the broad differentiation strategy that allowed Nintendo to compete with two giant Sony and Microsoft. Nintendo had focus on innovative control system,that leads to rising the fun level of games,instead of to attempting to catch up with the functional advantage concentrated by most competition in game industry . Nintendo focused on developing games and take their Key advantage – gaming fun to winning the battle of game industry. Recently, Nintendo has carried out some offensive strategies to resist with rivals and gain more market share. The company aimed to innovating products and introducing some of the industry’s most astoundingly inventive and financially lucrative gaming products. For instance, Nintendo introduced the Nintendo Dual Screen in 2004. The DS Lite was introduced in 2006 and Wii was introduced in 2008. Nintendo does a number of advertisements with creative advertisement, what make deeply impression on customers. Through the magazines, the company releases the products and attracts game players. Nintendo also has some defensive strategies. Rivals like Sony and Microsoft were calling attention to an assortment of technological capabilities and graphic features in their consoles. Nintendo’s two system including video game consoles and handheld system with light weight electronic devices and designed largely. Rivals required a part of target market. According to this situation, Nintendo attract older people and women as a new market to make sure the sales and reputation for the company. 2. Is it fair to characterize Nintendo’s introduction of the Wii as a blue ocean strategy? Why or why not? Yes,there’s a pure blue ocean strategy initiated in the Nintendo’s Wii,but the Wii’s introduction strategy can not necessarily be characterize as a blue ocean strategy that we considered. Wii’s introduction demonstrated is successful executed the Blue Ocean Strategy,that driven point is the unique interactive â€Å"motion-sensitive† controls,it based on an innovative gaming control system can sense movements and physical activity, gamers should to physically move around to guide the game character,this is an differentiate experience with instinct usability that may rising the fun of gaming,and creating an accessibility for every player of all ages and genders . This new values are created and focused by Wii which instead of the performance value defined by the industry. it allowed Wii to not only compete in the game console industry’s â€Å"red ocean† where has been dominated by Sony's PlayStation and Microsoft's Xbox, but also to went after an untapped market,For consumers who are not consider as the typical gamers,as older females, seniors,who never think about gaming,even who consider gaming as a waste of time. it purpose at the entire family. so it as the allegory of name â€Å"wii†Ã¢â‚¬â„¢s intended, we- everyone can enjoy it. Wii are also competitive to appealing the traditionally customer targeted by the games industry,we come up the opinion that the blue ocean strategy can reinforcing the competitive strategy acts as a supporting board differention competitive. Wii’s make games for a different purpose,In assessing the standard relative to Microsoft’s Xbox 360, and Sony’s PlayStation 3, and other developers , Wii‘s functional elements as graphics & physics, processing power ,and supporting function (as Movie playing) are relatively rare . owever it good-enough for moderate gamer,but their virtual controling raising gaming fun to a higher level ,that helps maintained its core gaming audience while aslo their purpose to changing the â€Å"couch-potato†gamer to into exerciser. As a matter of fact, Sony nor Microsoft try to imitated the Wii’s contoling function. to lure away Wii's new customer. All above evidence that it is almost self-explanatory the sucess for Wiiâ €™s blue ocean strategy’s. 3. What recommendations would you make to Nintendo to improve its competitiveness in the video game console industry and to maintain its favorable positioning vis-a-vis Microsoft and Sony? Our first recommendation is developing in the competition area that different from Microsoft and Sony. As we know, the main product of Microsoft and Sony is Xbox 360 and Playstation 3. Xbox 360 can mainly fight and talk by the network. PS 3 mainly in high-definition video and audio quality as the characteristics. Therefore, we think Nintendo should be developed in other areas, such as game’s own characterized. They can develop some games that more suitable for players, life and era such as the classic Super Mario, Tetris and other games. Our second recommendations is developing more perfect handheld video game console. Because as Microsoft and Sony’s main game product are Home video game consoles. Many people know Nintendo is because of their product Game Boy. And more young people today do not like to play games at home, they are more like in the car, in the bedroom, or in other free time to relax. So, handheld game consoles is still a huge market, but also because Nintendo has the foundation of Game Boy. So in this regard the development and the customer base is inevitable better than the other competitors. Our third recommendation is to improve the skill of visual quality. What is the value of a game? Obviously, the main the player seeks for is the gameplay, is the creative point of a game that itself has. For this part the Nintendo make a good sense. Nintendo's success lies in change and subversion of tradition. But, with the booming technology, the players who are familiar with Maya, 3DMAX are also pay high attention to the quality of the visual. Compare with Sony and Microsoft, Nintendo do not spend so much technology dealing with visual. However, the decoration of a game system such like visual and sound also will be a big attraction. People always enjoy a sense of realism. So if it wants to get a long-term development, it also needs to improve its visual skill even though Nintendo do not rely on visual to win the profit. Our final recommendation is expansion of market in China. As we see, China who has large number of population can be a Potential Unit for almost all industry, of cause for game. It can be a good market for Nintendo we believe. To extend the Chinese market, Nintendo can consider about increasing the Chinese language interface to get closer to Chinese people. They also need to offer a good after sale service in china. We recognize that the after sale service of Nintendo in Asia except Japan is limited. In order to fit the China's specific conditions, Nintendo can introduce more educational and recreational games and let the parents willing to buy. In a word, making more efforts in these recommendations, Nintendo may have a long term development in the future we believe.

Problems Facing Leader in Multinational Organization Essay

Abstract This research suggests that there is a lack of congruence between the Iranian Institutes of Higher Education culture and the faculties desired culture. This conclusion is based on empirical data that indicate that faculties believe that they operate on a day-to day basis in a profession whose culture is characterized by an overarching desire for stability and control, formal rules and policies, coordination and efficiency, goal and results oriented, and harddriving competitiveness. Emphasizing this lack of cultural congruence, the respondents of this study also indicated that the faculties culture should be one that emphasizes flexibility, discretion, participation, human resource development, innovation, creativity, risk-taking, and a long-term emphasis on professional growth and the acquisition of new professional knowledge and skills, which is more aligned with the universities strategic external environment. One of the principal reasons for the popular interest in the study of organizational culture is to determine the linkage between it and organizational performance (Berrio, 2003). This study has reviewed a previously assumed but unverified connection between organizational culture and leadership styles. It has uncovered a lack of congruence between the dominant type of organizational culture and leadership styles. This observed lack of congruence may be inhibiting performance and unconsciously perpetuating a cycle of caution and an over reliance on stability and control. Key words: Organizational culture- Leadership styles-Higher education 1.Introduction An examination of the literature in the fields of organizational culture and leadership finds that the two areas have been independently linked to organizational performance. For example, researchers have examined the links between leadership styles and performance (see Bycio et al., 1995), and also  between organizational culture and performance (see Kotter and Heskett, 1992). Furthermore, numerous aspects of the organizational culture literature allude to the role of leaders in ‘creating’ and ‘maintaining’ particular types of culture (for example, Schein , 1992). Equally, the literature on leadership suggests that the ability to understand and work within a culture is a prerequisite to managerial effectiveness. However, despite the implicit and explicit linking of culture and leadership in many parts of organization theory, little critical research attention has been devoted to understanding the links between the two concepts and the impact that such an association might have on managerial effectiveness. The absence of critical literature exploring the effectiveness implications of the links between organizational culture and leadership is surprising given the numerous references to the importance of the two concepts in the functioning of organizations (see, Schein, 1992). The aim of this paper is to provide empirical evidence of the links between different types of organizational culture, a range of leadership styles and managerial effectiveness. This is achieved through the presentation of the results of a cross sectional survey of leadership style, organizational culture, and managerial effectiveness across nine universities in Iran. The paper begins with a brief review of the literature on organizational culture and leadership. This is followed by a discussion of the methodology adopted for the study and the presentation of the findings and analysis of responses to questionnaire exploring the links between the two concepts and managerial effectiveness. The evidence demonstrates t hat the relationship between leadership style and effectiveness is mediated by cultural congruence. In the final part of the paper, the conclusions and implications of the study are highlighted. As more and more universities enter into new arrangements in 21st century, the need to assess organisational cultures becomes more important .The term ‘organisational culture’ has proved difficult to define, but several of its important components are agreed on by most researchers. These include the norms, perspectives, values, assumptions and beliefs shared by organisational members. Due to the abstract nature of these elements, there is a considerable challenge for external researchers who want to assess organisational culture. It is even difficult for members of an organization to describe their own culture. Cameron and Freeman (1991, p.31) use the old  proverb â€Å"Fish discover water last† to illustrate the problem of assessing culture among those immersed in it. The aim of this study is to provide insight into the construct of culture and its relationship with leadership styles in the context of higher education institutions , and to discuss competing values framework as one of approaches to measurement of culture. The paper starts with a discussion on how the concept of organisational culture is understood in the setting of higher education institutions, and is followed by a brief introduction to the tradeoffs between qualitative and quantitative approaches to assess culture. Based on the basic psychometric requirements for measuring culture, this study concludes by identifying some of the implications of selecting or designing instruments for assess cultural differences in higher education institutions. 2.Organizational Culture and Leadership Styles Before attempting to describe the content of organizational culture, one should first know the concept of organisational culture. Organizational culture has been criticized as being conceptually weak, since it has been defined in many ways (Jelinek et al., 1983) and each definition emphasizes a particular focus or level. Since Schein (1992) published the book Organisational Culture and Leadership, more researchers have recognized culture as a multidimensional and multilevel concept. Schein describes three levels of culture. The first level consists of visible organisational structures and actions, such as dress code, facilities and procedures. This level of culture can be easily observed. The second level consists of espoused values manifested in the public images of organisations, such as strategies, goals, and philosophies. While not as visible as the artefacts present in the first level, these values can be ascertained by norms, the way things are done in the organisation. The third level consists of basic assumptions, or unconscious beliefs, perceptions, thoughts, and feelings. These determine both behaviour norms (the way people should behave) and organisational values (the things that are highly valued). According to Buono and Bowditch (1989, p.137-139), the visible elements created by an organization on the first level are treated as objective organizational culture, while the elements on the second and the third levels are concerned with subjective organizational culture. Most researchers agree that subjective culture is more important as a significant determinant of beliefs, attitudes, and behaviours, and it thus provides a more distinctive basis for characterizing and interpreting similarities and differences among people in different organizations. On this understanding, university culture as a particular form of organisational culture can be defined â€Å"as the collective, mutually shaping patterns of norms, values, practices, beliefs, and assumptions that guide the behaviour of individuals and groups in an institute of higher education and provide a frame of reference within which to interpret the meaning of events and actions on and off campus† (Kuh & Whitt, 2000, p.1 62). While the term organisational culture is used as if an organisation has a monolithic culture, most organisations have more than one set of beliefs influencing the behaviour of their members (Morgan, 1986; Sathe, 1985). Cultural diversity appears to be more obvious in higher education institutions (Kuh & Whitt, 2000, p.161). The ‘small homogenous society’ analogues used in anthropological studies of culture is sorely strained when applied to many contemporary institutions of higher education. Large public, multipurpose universities are comprised of many different groups whose members may or may not share or abide by all of the institution’s norms, values, practices, beliefs, and meanings. Instead of viewing colleges and universities as monolithic entities, it is more realistic to analyze them as multicultural contexts that are host to numerous subgroups with different priorities, traditions, and values (Kuh & Whitt, 2000 p.161) . This study pays particular attention to academic staff and specifically those engaged at the departmental level. Therefore, from the perspective of this paper, the culture refers to values, beliefs, and assumptions developed within an academic department by academic staff and  those who manage academics through joint experiences over long periods of time. Nevertheless, disciplinary identity is not the sole source of the culture shared by academic staff members within an academic sub-unit. It is also subject to a variety of circumstances, such as national context, professional culture and organisational character (Austin, 1992; Clark, 1983, p.75; Và ¤limaa, 1998). 3.A Review of the CVF Model and the Study Methodology An Overview of the Competing Values Framework (CVF) Model The Competing Values Framework (CVF) evolved from the work of Quinn and Rohrbaugh (1981, 1983) as they attempted to circumscribe the elusive definition for a generally agreed upon theoretical framework of the concept of organizational effectiveness. This framework was chosen for this study because it was experimentally derived and found to have a high degree of face and empirical validity. Additionally, the CVF was identified as having a high level of reliability matching or exceeding that of other instruments commonly used in the social and organizational sciences (Cameron and Ettington, 1988; Cameron and Quinn, 2006; Berrio, 2003). The four quadrants of the framework, representing the four major cultural types: clan, adhocracy, market, hierarchy, provide a robust explanation of the differing orientations and competing values that characterize human behavior. The richness provided by the CVF is based on its ability to identify the basic assumptions, orientations, and values of each of the four cultural types. These three elements comprise the core of organizational culture. â€Å"The OCAI, therefore, is an instrument that allows you to diagnose the dominant orientation of your own organization based on these core culture types. It also assists you in diagnosing your organization’s cultural strength, cultural type, and cultural congruence† (Cameron and Quinn,2006, p. 33). In their research concerning organizational effectiveness, Quinn and Rohrbaugh (1981, 1983) statistically analyzed 39 indicators of organizational effectiveness as identified by Campbell, et al, (1974). Quinn and Rohrbaugh’s analysis resulted in the bifurcation of the 39 effectiveness criteria between two major dimensions. The first dimension, which is labeled the â€Å"Structure† dimension, differentiates the organizational effectiveness criteria between those that emphasize flexibility, discretion, and dynamism and those that  emphasize stability, order, and control. The second dimension, which is labeled the â€Å"Focus† dimension, differentiates the organizational effectiveness criteria between those that emphasize internal orientation, integration, and unity and those effectiveness criteria that emphasize an external orientation, differentiation, and rivalry (Quinn and Rohrbaugh, 1981 and 1983; Cameron and Quinn, 2006). Within each of these two dimensions there is also a third set of values, which produces an emphasis ranging from organizational processes, such as planning and goal setting at one end of the spectrum, to an emphasis on results, such as resource acquisition at the other end. Quinn and Rohrbaugh (1981) labeled this third set of values as the organizational â€Å"Means –Ends† continuum. The two primary dimensions differentiating between organizational values emphasizing â€Å"Structure† and â€Å"Focus† produce four clusters of effectiveness criteria as depicted in Figure 1. The â€Å"Structure† axis is represented 100 by the â€Å"Flexibility – Control† continuum, while the â€Å"Focus† axis is represented by the â€Å"People – Organization† continuum in Figure 1 . Within each of these four quadrants the relevant â€Å"Means – Ends† values are enumerated.

Quantitative Methods for Business Essay

In January 2008, Northern Airlines merged with Southeast Airlines to create the fourth largest U.S. carrier. The new North-South Airline inherited both an aging fleet of Boeing 727-300 aircraft and Stephen Ruth. Stephen was a tough former secretary of the navy who stepped in as new president and chairman of the board. Stephen’s first concern in creating a financially solid company was maintenance costs. It was commonly surmised in the airline industry that maintenance costs rise with the age of the aircraft. He quickly noticed that historically there had been a significant difference in the reported B727-300 maintenance costs (from ATA Form 41’s) both in the airframe and engine areas between Northern Airlines and Southeast Airlines, with Southeast having the newer fleet. On February 12, 2008, Peg Jones, vice president for operation and maintenance, was called into Stephen’s office and asked to study the issue. Specifically, Stephen wanted to know whether the average fleet age was correlated to direct airframe maintenance costs, and whether there was a relationship between average fleet age and direct engine maintenance costs. Peg was to report back by February 26 with the answer, along with quantitative and graphical descriptions of the relationship. Peg’s first step was to have her staff construct the average age of Northern and Southeast B727-300 fleets, by quarter, since the introduction of that aircraft to service by each airline in late 1993 and early 1994. The average age of each fleet was calculated by first multiplying the total number of calendar days each aircraft had been in service at the pertinent point in time by the average daily utilization of the respective fleet to total fleet hours flown. The total fleet hours flown was then divided by the number of aircraft in service at that time, giving the age of the â€Å"average† aircraft in the fleet. The average utilization was found by taking the actual total fleet hours flown on September 30, 2007 form Northern and Southeast data, and dividing by the total days in service for all aircraft at that time. The average utilization for Southeast was 8.3 hours per day, and the average utilization for Northern was 8.7 hours per day. Because the available cost data were calculated for each yearly period ending at the end of the first quarter, average fleet age was calculated at the same points in time. The fleet data are shown in the following table. Airframe cost data and engine cost data are both shown paired with fleet average age in that table.

Marketing strategy of the organisation

In order for us to understand any administration we have to either cognize about or make some research on it. So in this assignment I have chosen an administration. The administration I am making my assignment on is Polyflor South Africa. The administration will be described, including their products/services and their clients. In order to understand the administration we need to carry on a SWOT analysis, besides looking at barriers. If we have all the needed information from above we will understand the administration better and can get down with the selling program.Question 1The administration I am traveling to depict is Polyflor Gross saless Africa otherwise known as Polyflor South Africa. Polyflor S.A is an industrial flooring company. The South African subdivision was established in 2004 by Denver Coleman and Sheila Coleman. The administration really originates from the United Kingdom where the first Branch of was established in Manchester.Polyflor is all over the universe, they have subdivisions all over the universe. There are subdivisions all over Europe, Asia, North America and Australia. So they are fundamentally on every continent. Polyflor Manchester is the chief caput office. Polyflor S.A is a household concern, where they all work together. The administration believes strongly in â€Å" Team Work † . And is all about profiting the consumer.Polyflor S.A has a figure of different merchandises. All their merchandises are heavy responsibility, industrial merchandises. They do chiefly shocking but they got some other merchandises that is non flooring, it ‘s really got to make with plumbing.Their chief merchandise is heavy responsibility, industrial vinyl flooring. Another merchandise of theirs is industrial meshing gum elastic tiles. They besides do wooden block mosaics. The merchandise that is non shocking related that is comparatively new at Polyflor S.A is specialized industrial drains. As you can see all their merchandises are industrial merchandises so they meant to be used in topographic points where the merchandises will be introduced to a batch of wear and tear. You will happen their merchandises in mills, large edifices etc. The vinyl flooring can really be seen chiefly in infirmaries and in many of the luxury coach line drives. The merchandises are non truly used in a private capacity. Polyflor does n't acquire their merchandises from merely one topographic point, their merchandises come all over the universe. Their vinyl shocking comes from the United Kingdom, from Manchester. That ‘s the majority of their merchandises they do. The specialised drains are imported from Germany. They do hold a local manufactured merchandise and that is the meshing gum elastic tiles that they really get from down the route from them. They do n't truly supply a service as they sell shocking and other merchandises, but they do hold support systems where they will the aid at anytime. They ever there for their clients. They besides got a station sale service where they will help refering their merchandises. If a client is necessitating aid or general aid refering their merchandises, the employees of Polyflor S.A will ever be at that place to assist every bit much as they can.For these types of merchandises there is non a immense mark market, as these merchandises are non used in a personal and private capacity. They are used in a industrial capacity, intending mills, infirmaries and so on. Polyflor S.A does non put in the shocking they sell their merchandises to the administrations who install it.So Polyflor ‘s has non got an limitless sum of clients, but they do hold a big client base. Which the bulk of them are regular, on traveling purchasers of their merchandises. Basically, Polyflor merely sells to shockin g contractors. Polyflor is non allowed to put in their flooring. So other shocking companies who do besides sell flooring and put in it. Purchase from Polyflor. Some of the chief flooring contractors that are regular clients are Peter Bates, Turner Piercing, Kevin Bates, Albert Carpets and many others.Question 2Looking at assorted administrations we need to understand them more. We can make this by carry oning a SWOT analysis. Basically a SWOT analysis is structuring of information, which is collected from the internal and external environment. It gives us a theoretical account in order to get down the selling planning procedure. Shows us the strengths, failings, chances and menaces of the administration. Cloete ( 2010,21 ) So the SWOT analysis of Polyflor is:Strengths:They are a recognized administration, good known in the flooring trade.They are known for holding the best quality merchandises.They are an international administration, so they are recognised all over the universe.Polyflor has one of the best proficient backgrounds in the flooring trade.They are a household concern so the squad of employees work truly expeditiously and good together.Keeping up in the new manner tendencies of today with their new designs on the flooring.They are a really environmentally friendly company.Failings:Finding reps that know about shocking who will be able to sell their merchandises.Finding employees who are able to work with the merchandises and know about flooring.Not holding plenty South African manufactured merchandises.Geting bulk merchandises from abroad states, people need to acquire the merchandises and start assorted occupations utilizing Polyflor ‘s merchandises but they cant because Polyflor has non received the merchandises due to detain being imported from abroad.Opportunities:The manner tendencies are altering all the clip, so Polyflor can hold new manner tendencies in the designs of their flooring.Most people and companies are going â€Å" Green † , so they want to utilize more environmentally friendly merchandises. So Polyflor can sell environmentally friendly merchandises and present new â€Å" Green † merchandises.Besides they could sell more locally produced goods, .Polyflor could non merely merely sell to shocking contractors for industrial usage, but besides opening up a new market for people to utilize it in a private capacity.Menaces:Of class their chief menace is competition ; there are other shocking companies besides Polyflor. So they have to invariably maintain happening ways to remain on top and maintaining competitory advantage.Another menace would be that most merchandises come from other international states, which sometimes the merchandis es are n't delivered in clip. So clients could travel looking other topographic points.Besides coming from abroad, the monetary value of the merchandises could alter easy, due to currency, revenue enhancements, import and export responsibilities.All of these facets can hold deductions on the selling scheme of the administration. Therefore it is of import to make this analysis.