Directing Macbeth act 4 scene 1 Essay

The scene I have chosen to direct is Act Four Scene One. I have selected this scene because I feel it has significance to the rest of the play. The events leading up to this are; Macbeth kills king Duncan of Scotland, Macbeth hires three murderers to kill Banquo and his son Fleance, Fleance gets away and Macbeth is haunted by Banquo’s ghost at a banquet. Three witches meet on a desolate heath and predict that Macbeth will become the Thane of Cawdor and then king, much to Macbeth’s amazement these predictions come true. (Thane of Cawdor in Act One Scene Three) â€Å"Why do you dress me in borrowed robes?† This makes one assume that the witches can predict the future. William Shakespeare wrote the play in 1601 when England and Scotland were under ruler ship of king James I of England and VI of Scotland. James I was very interested in witches and witchcraft, during his reign many women were wrongfully burnt at the stake and hung because they were believed to be witches. The people of this time were very superstitious and believed in witchcraft so the effect this play had on the audience would have been more powerful then when it was written, as opposed to now when the belief in witchcraft just isn’t as strong. So therefore the effect would not be the same on a modern day audience. The witches do not play a main character role in Macbeth (they don’t appear on stage much) but when they do appear the have dramatic effects on the other characters and the audience e.g. they don’t develop as characters but they are the key to the development of the plot (lady Macbeth has trouble sleeping) â€Å"Sleep shall neither night nor day.† The first witch says this in Act One Scene Three. Also they play a large part in Macbeth’s decline. They can be seen as responsible for this because their predictions come true â€Å"All hail Macbeth, that shalt be king hereafter,† and they show him the apparitions. The witches represent evil in the play, particularly to the 17th century audience. In the 1600’s very little scenery and props were used in Shakespeare’s plays so the audience had to rely on Shakespeare’s language in order to understand events of the play. Performances were given in daylight so the audience relied entirely on the language of the play to create atmosphere. Thunder. Enter the three witches. Stage directions were often used. For my production the stage will be bare like the original productions in Shakespeare’s time. I would set it up like this because without elaborate backdrops the audience can pay more attention to the actors and Shakespeare’s language. This is important because in those days not everybody got an education only the well off people did so most people wouldn’t understand much of the play. But Shakespeare made sure there was a bit in it that everyone could understand. So therefore his language is the most important part of the play. Shakespeare’s language in this scene is extremely descriptive and very violent. This helps the audience understand how evil this deed actually is. Enter the three witches On entrance the stage will be completely blacked out (no lights). The audience will be able to hear chanting but not see anything on the stage just yet. Then we will focus on centre stage where green lights will flash on and shine down on the cauldron to allow the witches’ faces to be seen. The witches’ costumes will be old ragged black cloaks all torn and scraggy. Their hair will be a tatty, mattered and a scraggly grey mess all flopped in their faces. They will move slowly encircling the cauldron chanting the spell whilst moving. Each of the three witches has a bloodstained bag from which they dramatically pull out each item of the spell to show the audience before dropping it into the cauldron. † Finger of birth-strangled babe.† This should shock the audience because, the visual effect combined with the scary movement and items described in the spell â€Å"In the poison’d entrails throw.† The blackout at the beginning will create anticipation and mystery with which the witches are associated. Enter Hecat leader of the three witches â€Å"Something wicked this way comes.† The three witches and Hecat are referring to Macbeth, so therefore Macbeth should look wicked to represent the evil he has made since his last meeting with the three witches on the heath. Since his last meeting with them he has killed king Duncan, killed his best friend Banquo and has been haunted by him at a banquet. So physically Macbeth will look tired and on edge. Enter Macbeth Macbeth will casually stroll onto the stage saying his lines as he enters. All lights will still be on the three witches around the cauldron until they say â€Å"A deed without a name.† Then the light will be on the full stage. Macbeth is no longer frightened of the three witches because he believes they are helping him to reach his target / goal / aim in life. Macbeth will be wearing his usual garments, nothing special or different, this is because he feels comfortable around the three witches now. This is because, like I have just said, Macbeth feels the three witches are helping him. Enter the three apparitions For my performance I would stage the three apparitions very dramatically using light to form shadows and silhouettes. This would make them more mysterious and ghostly. Macbeth will shout at the apparitions, his aggression will show the audience how desperate he is. The third apparition boosts his confidence even more because he believes that this is impossible and will never happen, but in actual fact it does happen. â€Å"Who can impress the forest, bid the tree unfix his earth-bound roots?† This apparition must be the most dramatic so the audience remember in the final act when this apparition comes true. I believe that the three witches have played a large part in helping with the destruction of Macbeth. However I also think that even if Macbeth had never met the three witches upon that desolate heath he would have still come to the same fate. He still would have been killed but not as many innocent people would have been caught in the line of fire / his path of destruction. Macbeth sees the predictions and apparitions as things he should and can stop as opposed to things he cannot stop. Macbeth believes he is invincible, but as we know he could not be more wrong. â€Å"I bear a charmed life, which must not yield to one of woman born.† As a result of this many people were killed some innocent people and some not so innocent people. Macbeth loses everything including his wife, his best friend Banquo, his mind and eventually his head.

The Da Vinci Code Chapter 38-41

CHAPTER 38 Sophie scrutinized Langdon in the back of the taxi. He's joking. â€Å"The Holy Grail?† Langdon nodded, his expression serious. â€Å"Holy Grail is the literal meaning of Sangreal. The phrase derives from the French Sangraal, which evolved to Sangreal, and was eventually split into two words, San Greal.† Holy Grail.Sophie was surprised she had not spotted the linguistic ties immediately. Even so, Langdon's claim still made no sense to her. â€Å"I thought the Holy Grail was a cup.You just told me the Sangreal is a collection of documents that reveals some dark secret.† â€Å"Yes, but the Sangreal documents are only half of the Holy Grail treasure. They are buried with the Grail itself†¦ and reveal its true meaning. The documents gave the Knights Templar so much power because the pages revealed the true nature of the Grail.† The true nature of the Grail? Sophie felt even more lost now. The Holy Grail, she had thought, was the cup that Jesus drank from at the Last Supper and with which Joseph of Arimathea later caught His blood at the crucifixion. â€Å"The Holy Grail is the Cup of Christ,† she said. â€Å"How much simpler could it be?† â€Å"Sophie,† Langdon whispered, leaning toward her now,† according to the Priory of Sion, the Holy Grail is not a cup at all. They claim the Grail legend – that of a chalice – is actually an ingeniously conceived allegory. That is, that the Grail story uses the chalice as a metaphor for something else, something far more powerful.† He paused. â€Å"Something that fits perfectly with everything your grandfather has been trying to tell us tonight, including all his symbologic references to the sacred feminine.† Still unsure, Sophie sensed in Langdon's patient smile that he empathized with her confusion, and yet his eyes remained earnest. â€Å"But if the Holy Grail is not a cup,† she asked,† what is it?† Langdon had known this question was coming, and yet he still felt uncertain exactly how to tell her. If he did not present the answer in the proper historical background, Sophie would be left with a vacant air of bewilderment – the exact expression Langdon had seen on his own editor's face a few months ago after Langdon handed him a draft of the manuscript he was working on. â€Å"This manuscript claims what?† his editor had choked, setting down his wineglass and staring across his half-eaten power lunch. â€Å"You can't be serious.† â€Å"Serious enough to have spent a year researching it.† Prominent New York editor Jonas Faukman tugged nervously at his goatee. Faukman no doubt had heard some wild book ideas in his illustrious career, but this one seemed to have left the man flabbergasted. â€Å"Robert,† Faukman finally said,† don't get me wrong. I love your work, and we've had a great run together. But if I agree to publish an idea like this, I'll have people picketing outside my office for months. Besides, it will kill your reputation. You're a Harvard historian, for God's sake, not a pop schlockmeister looking for a quick buck. Where could you possibly find enough credible evidence to support a theory like this?† With a quiet smile Langdon pulled a piece of paper from the pocket of his tweed coat and handed it to Faukman. The page listed a bibliography of over fifty titles – books by well-known historians, some contemporary, some centuries old – many of them academic bestsellers. All the book titles suggested the same premise Langdon had just proposed. As Faukman read down the list, he looked like a man who had just discovered the earth was actually flat. â€Å"I know some of these authors. They're†¦ real historians!† Langdon grinned. â€Å"As you can see, Jonas, this is not only my theory. It's been around for a long time. I'm simply building on it. No book has yet explored the legend of the Holy Grail from a symbologic angle. The iconographic evidence I'm finding to support the theory is, well, staggeringly persuasive.† Faukman was still staring at the list. â€Å"My God, one of these books was written by Sir Leigh Teabing – a British Royal Historian.† â€Å"Teabing has spent much of his life studying the Holy Grail. I've met with him. He was actually a big part of my inspiration. He's a believer, Jonas, along with all of the others on that list.† â€Å"You're telling me all of these historians actually believe†¦Ã¢â‚¬  Faukman swallowed, apparently unable to say the words. Langdon grinned again. â€Å"The Holy Grail is arguably the most sought-after treasure in human history. The Grail has spawned legends, wars, and lifelong quests. Does it make sense that it is merely a cup? If so, then certainly other relics should generate similar or greater interest – the Crown of Thorns, the True Cross of the Crucifixion, the Titulus – and yet, they do not. Throughout history, the Holy Grail has been the most special.† Langdon grinned. â€Å"Now you know why.† Faukman was still shaking his head. â€Å"But with all these books written about it, why isn't this theory more widely known?† â€Å"These books can't possibly compete with centuries of established history, especially when that history is endorsed by the ultimate bestseller of all time.† Faukman's eyes went wide. â€Å"Don't tell me Harry Potter is actually about the Holy Grail.† â€Å"I was referring to the Bible.† Faukman cringed. â€Å"I knew that.† â€Å"Laissez-le!† Sophie's shouts cut the air inside the taxi. â€Å"Put it down!† Langdon jumped as Sophie leaned forward over the seat and yelled at the taxi driver. Langdon could see the driver was clutching his radio mouthpiece and speaking into it. Sophie turned now and plunged her hand into the pocket of Langdon's tweed jacket. Before Langdon knew what had happened, she had yanked out the pistol, swung it around, and was pressing it to the back of the driver's head. The driver instantly dropped his radio, raising his one free hand overhead. â€Å"Sophie!† Langdon choked. â€Å"What the hell – â€Å" â€Å"Arretez!† Sophie commanded the driver. Trembling, the driver obeyed, stopping the car and putting it in park. It was then that Langdon heard the metallic voice of the taxi company's dispatcher coming from the dashboard. â€Å"†¦ qui s'appette Agent Sophie Neveu†¦Ã¢â‚¬  the radio crackled. â€Å"Et un Americain, Robert Langdon†¦Ã¢â‚¬  Langdon's muscles turned rigid. They found us already?†Descendez,†Sophie demanded. The trembling driver kept his arms over his head as he got out of his taxi and took several steps backward. Sophie had rolled down her window and now aimed the gun outside at the bewildered cabbie. â€Å"Robert,† she said quietly, â€Å"take the wheel. You're driving.† Langdon was not about to argue with a woman wielding a gun. He climbed out of the car and jumped back in behind the wheel. The driver was yelling curses, his arms still raised over his head. â€Å"Robert,† Sophie said from the back seat,† I trust you've seen enough of our magic forest?† He nodded. Plenty. â€Å"Good. Drive us out of here.† Langdon looked down at the car's controls and hesitated. Shit.He groped for the stick shift and clutch. â€Å"Sophie? Maybe you – â€Å" â€Å"Go!† she yelled. Outside, several hookers were walking over to see what was going on. One woman was placing a call on her cell phone. Langdon depressed the clutch and jostled the stick into what he hoped was first gear. He touched the accelerator, testing the gas. Langdon popped the clutch. The tires howled as the taxi leapt forward, fishtailing wildly and sending the gathering crowd diving for cover. The woman with the cell phone leapt into the woods, only narrowly avoiding being run down. â€Å"Doucement!† Sophie said, as the car lurched down the road. â€Å"What are you doing?† â€Å"I tried to warn you,† he shouted over the sound of gnashing gears. â€Å"I drive an automatic!† CHAPTER 39 Although the spartan room in the brownstone on Rue La Bruyere had witnessed a lot of suffering, Silas doubted anything could match the anguish now gripping his pale body. I was deceived.Everything is lost. Silas had been tricked. The brothers had lied, choosing death instead of revealing their true secret. Silas did not have the strength to call the Teacher. Not only had Silas killed the only four people who knew where the keystone was hidden, he had killed a nun inside Saint-Sulpice. She was working against God! She scorned the work of Opus Dei! A crime of impulse, the woman's death complicated matters greatly. Bishop Aringarosa had placed the phone call that got Silas into Saint-Sulpice; what would the abbe think when he discovered the nun was dead? Although Silas had placed her back in her bed, the wound on her head was obvious. Silas had attempted to replace the broken tiles in the floor, but that damage too was obvious. They would know someone had been there. Silas had planned to hide within Opus Dei when his task here was complete. Bishop Aringarosawill protect me.Silas could imagine no more blissful existence than a life of meditation and prayer deep within the walls of Opus Dei's headquarters in New York City. He would never again set foot outside. Everything he needed was within that sanctuary. Nobody will miss me.Unfortunately, Silas knew, a prominent man like Bishop Aringarosa could not disappear so easily. I have endangered the bishop.Silas gazed blankly at the floor and pondered taking his own life. After all, it had been Aringarosa who gave Silas life in the first place†¦ in that small rectory in Spain, educating him, giving him purpose. â€Å"My friend,† Aringarosa had told him,† you were born an albino. Do not let others shame you for this. Do you not understand how special this makes you? Were you not aware that Noah himself was an albino?† â€Å"Noah of the Ark?† Silas had never heard this. Aringarosa was smiling. â€Å"Indeed, Noah of the Ark. An albino. Like you, he had skin white like an angel. Consider this. Noah saved all of life on the planet. You are destined for great things, Silas. The Lord has freed you for a reason. You have your calling. The Lord needs your help to do His work.† Over time, Silas learned to see himself in a new light. I am pure.White.Beautiful.Like an angel. At the moment, though, in his room at the residence hall, it was his father's disappointed voice that whispered to him from the past. Tu es un desastre. Un spectre. Kneeling on the wooden floor, Silas prayed for forgiveness. Then, stripping off his robe, he reached again for the Discipline. CHAPTER 40 Struggling with the gear shift, Langdon managed to maneuver the hijacked taxi to the far side of the Bois de Boulogne while stalling only twice. Unfortunately, the inherent humor in the situation was overshadowed by the taxi dispatcher repeatedly hailing their cab over the radio. â€Å"Voiture cinq-six-trois. Ou etes-vous? Repondez!† When Langdon reached the exit of the park, he swallowed his machismo and jammed on the brakes. â€Å"You'd better drive.† Sophie looked relieved as she jumped behind the wheel. Within seconds she had the car humming smoothly westward along Allee de Longchamp, leaving the Garden of Earthly Delights behind. â€Å"Which way is Rue Haxo?† Langdon asked, watching Sophie edge the speedometer over a hundred kilometers an hour. Sophie's eyes remained focused on the road. â€Å"The cab driver said it's adjacent to the Roland Garros tennis stadium. I know that area.† Langdon pulled the heavy key from his pocket again, feeling the weight in his palm. He sensed it was an object of enormous consequence. Quite possibly the key to his own freedom. Earlier, while telling Sophie about the Knights Templar, Langdon had realized that this key, in addition to having the Priory seal embossed on it, possessed a more subtle tie to the Priory of Sion. The equal-armed cruciform was symbolic of balance and harmony but also of the Knights Templar. Everyone had seen the paintings of Knights Templar wearing white tunics emblazoned with red equal-armed crosses. Granted, the arms of the Templar cross were slightly flared at the ends, but they were still of equal length. A square cross. Just like the one on this key. Langdon felt his imagination starting to run wild as he fantasized about what they might find. The Holy Grail.He almost laughed out loud at the absurdity of it. The Grail was believed to be somewhere in England, buried in a hidden chamber beneath one of the many Templar churches, where it had been hidden since at least 1500. The era of Grand Master Da Vinci. The Priory, in order to keep their powerful documents safe, had been forced to move them many times in the early centuries. Historians now suspected as many as six different Grail relocations since its arrival in Europe from Jerusalem. The last Grail† sighting† had been in 1447 when numerous eyewitnesses described a fire that had broken out and almost engulfed the documents before they were carried to safety in four huge chests that each required six men to carry. After that, nobody claimed to see the Grail ever again. All that remained were occasional whisperings that it was hidden in Great Britain, the land of King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table. Wherever it was, two important facts remained: Leonardo knew where the Grail resided during his lifetime.That hiding place had probably not changed to this day. For this reason, Grail enthusiasts still pored over Da Vinci's art and diaries in hopes of unearthing a hidden clue as to the Grail's current location. Some claimed the mountainous backdrop in Madonnaof the Rocks matched the topography of a series of cave-ridden hills in Scotland. Others insisted that the suspicious placement of disciples in The Last Supper was some kind of code. Still others claimed that X rays of the Mona Lisa revealed she originally had been painted wearing a lapis lazuli pendant of Isis – a detail Da Vinci purportedly later decided to paint over. Langdon had never seen any evidence of the pendant, nor could he imagine how it could possibly reveal the Holy Grail, and yet Grail aficionados still discussed it ad nauseum on Internet bulletin boards and worldwide-web chat rooms. Everyone loves a conspiracy. And the conspiracies kept coming. Most recently, of course, had been the earthshaking discovery that Da Vinci's famed Adoration of the Magi was hiding a dark secret beneath its layers of paint. Italian art diagnostician Maurizio Seracini had unveiled the unsettling truth, which the New York Times Magazine carried prominently in a story titled† The Leonardo Cover-Up.† Seracini had revealed beyond any doubt that while the Adoration's gray-green sketched underdrawing was indeed Da Vinci's work, the painting itself was not. The truth was that some anonymous painter had filled in Da Vinci's sketch like a paint-by-numbers years after Da Vinci's death. Far more troubling, however, was what lay beneath the impostor's paint. Photographs taken with infrared reflectography and X ray suggested that this rogue painter, while filling in Da Vinci's sketched study, had made suspicious departures from the underdrawing†¦ as if to subvert Da Vinci's true intention. Whatever the true nature of the underdrawing, it had yet to be made public. Even so, embarrassed officials at Florence's Uffizi Gallery immediately banished the painting to a warehouse across the street. Visitors at the gallery's Leonardo Room now found a misleading and unapologetic plaque where the Adoration once hung. THIS WORK IS UNDERGOING DIAGNOSTIC TESTS IN PREPARATION FOR RESTORATION. In the bizarre underworld of modern Grail seekers, Leonardo Da Vinci remained the quest's great enigma. His artwork seemed bursting to tell a secret, and yet whatever it was remained hidden, perhaps beneath a layer of paint, perhaps enciphered in plain view, or perhaps nowhere at all. Maybe Da Vinci's plethora of tantalizing clues was nothing but an empty promise left behind to frustrate the curious and bring a smirk to the face of his knowing Mona Lisa. â€Å"Is it possible,† Sophie asked, drawing Langdon back,† that the key you're holding unlocks the hiding place of the Holy Grail?† Langdon's laugh sounded forced, even to him. â€Å"I really can't imagine. Besides, the Grail is believed to be hidden in the United Kingdom somewhere, not France.† He gave her the quick history. â€Å"But the Grail seems the only rational conclusion,† she insisted. â€Å"We have an extremely secure key, stamped with the Priory of Sion seal, delivered to us by a member of the Priory of Sion – a brotherhood which, you just told me, are guardians of the Holy Grail.† Langdon knew her contention was logical, and yet intuitively he could not possibly accept it. Rumors existed that the Priory had vowed someday to bring the Grail back to France to a final resting place, but certainly no historical evidence existed to suggest that this indeed had happened. Even if the Priory had managed to bring the Grail back to France, the address 24 Rue Haxo near a tennis stadium hardly sounded like a noble final resting place. â€Å"Sophie, I really don't see how this key could have anything to do with the Grail.† â€Å"Because the Grail is supposed to be in England?† â€Å"Not only that. The location of the Holy Grail is one of the best kept secrets in history. Priory members wait decades proving themselves trustworthy before being elevated to the highest echelons of the fraternity and learning where the Grail is. That secret is protected by an intricate system of compartmentalized knowledge, and although the Priory brotherhood is very large, only four members at any given time know where the Grail is hidden – the Grand Master and his three senechaux.The probability of your grandfather being one of those four top people is very slim.† My grandfather was one of them, Sophie thought, pressing down on the accelerator. She had an image stamped in her memory that confirmed her grandfather's status within the brotherhood beyond any doubt. â€Å"And even if your grandfather were in the upper echelon, he would never be allowed to reveal anything to anyone outside the brotherhood. It is inconceivable that he would bring you into the inner circle.† I've already been there, Sophie thought, picturing the ritual in the basement. She wondered if this were the moment to tell Langdon what she had witnessed that night in the Normandy chateau. For ten years now, simple shame had kept her from telling a soul. Just thinking about it, she shuddered. Sirens howled somewhere in the distance, and she felt a thickening shroud of fatigue settling over her. â€Å"There!† Langdon said, feeling excited to see the huge complex of the Roland Garros tennis stadium looming ahead. Sophie snaked her way toward the stadium. After several passes, they located the intersection of Rue Haxo and turned onto it, driving in the direction of the lower numbers. The road became more industrial, lined with businesses. We need number twenty-four, Langdon told himself, realizing he was secretly scanning the horizon for the spires of a church. Don't be ridiculous.A forgotten Templar church in this neighborhood? â€Å"There it is,† Sophie exclaimed, pointing. Langdon's eyes followed to the structure ahead. What in the world?The building was modern. A squat citadel with a giant, neon equal-armed cross emblazoned a top its facade. Beneath the cross were the words: DEPOSITORY BANK OF ZURICH Langdon was thankful not to have shared his Templar church hopes with Sophie. A career hazard of symbologists was a tendency to extract hidden meaning from situations that had none. In this case, Langdon had entirely forgotten that the peaceful, equal-armed cross had been adopted as the perfect symbol for the flag of neutral Switzerland. At least the mystery was solved. Sophie and Langdon were holding the key to a Swiss bank deposit box. CHAPTER 41 Outside Castel Gandolfo, an updraft of mountain air gushed over the top of the cliff and across the high bluff, sending a chill through Bishop Aringarosa as he stepped from the Fiat. I should haveworn more than this cassock, he thought, fighting the reflex to shiver. The last thing he needed to appear tonight was weak or fearful. The castle was dark save the windows at the very top of the building, which glowed ominously. The library, Aringarosa thought. They are awake and waiting.He ducked his head against the wind and continued on without so much as a glance toward the observatory domes. The priest who greeted him at the door looked sleepy. He was the same priest who had greeted Aringarosa five months ago, albeit tonight he did so with much less hospitality. â€Å"We were worried about you, Bishop,† the priest said, checking his watch and looking more perturbed than worried. â€Å"My apologies. Airlines are so unreliable these days.† The priest mumbled something inaudible and then said,† They are waiting upstairs. I will escort you up.† The library was a vast square room with dark wood from floor to ceiling. On all sides, towering bookcases burgeoned with volumes. The floor was amber marble with black basalt trim, a handsome reminder that this building had once been a palace. â€Å"Welcome, Bishop,† a man's voice said from across the room. Aringarosa tried to see who had spoken, but the lights were ridiculously low – much lower than they had been on his first visit, when everything was ablaze. The night of stark awakening. Tonight, these men sat in the shadows, as if they were somehow ashamed of what was about to transpire. Aringarosa entered slowly, regally even. He could see the shapes of three men at a long table on the far side of the room. The silhouette of the man in the middle was immediately recognizable – the obese Secretariat Vaticana, overlord of all legal matters within Vatican City. The other two were high-ranking Italian cardinals. Aringarosa crossed the library toward them. â€Å"My humble apologies for the hour. We're on different time zones. You must be tired.† â€Å"Not at all,† the secretariat said, his hands folded on his enormous belly. â€Å"We are grateful you have come so far. The least we can do is be awake to meet you. Can we offer you some coffee or refreshments?† â€Å"I'd prefer we don't pretend this is a social visit. I have another plane to catch. Shall we get to business?† â€Å"Of course,† the secretariat said. â€Å"You have acted more quickly than we imagined.† â€Å"Have I?† â€Å"You still have a month.† â€Å"You made your concerns known five months ago,† Aringarosa said. â€Å"Why should I wait?† â€Å"Indeed. We are very pleased with your expediency.† Aringarosa's eyes traveled the length of the long table to a large black briefcase. â€Å"Is that what I requested?† â€Å"It is.† The secretariat sounded uneasy. â€Å"Although, I must admit, we are concerned with the request. It seems quite†¦Ã¢â‚¬  â€Å"Dangerous,† one of the cardinals finished. â€Å"Are you certain we cannot wire it to you somewhere? The sum is exorbitant.† Freedom is expensive. â€Å"I have no concerns for my own safety. God is with me.† The men actually looked doubtful.† The funds are exactly as I requested?† The secretariat nodded. â€Å"Large-denomination bearer bonds drawn on the Vatican Bank. Negotiable as cash anywhere in the world.† Aringarosa walked to the end of the table and opened the briefcase. Inside were two thick stacks of bonds, each embossed with the Vatican seal and the title PORTATORE, making the bonds redeemable to whoever was holding them. The secretariat looked tense. â€Å"I must say, Bishop, all of us would feel less apprehensive if these funds were in cash.† I could not lift that much cash, Aringarosa thought, closing the case. â€Å"Bonds are negotiable as cash. You said so yourself.† The cardinals exchanged uneasy looks, and finally one said,† Yes, but these bonds are traceable directly to the Vatican Bank.† Aringarosa smiled inwardly. That was precisely the reason the Teacher suggested Aringarosa get the money in Vatican Bank bonds. It served as insurance. We are all in this together now. â€Å"This is a perfectly legal transaction,† Aringarosa defended. â€Å"Opus Dei is a personal prelature of Vatican City, and His Holiness can disperse monies however he sees fit. No law has been broken here.† â€Å"True, and yet†¦Ã¢â‚¬  The secretariat leaned forward and his chair creaked under the burden. â€Å"We have no knowledge of what you intend to do with these funds, and if it is in any way illegal†¦Ã¢â‚¬  â€Å"Considering what you are asking of me,† Aringarosa countered,† what I do with this money is not your concern.† There was a long silence. They know I'm right, Aringarosa thought. â€Å"Now, I imagine you have something for me to sign?† They all jumped, eagerly pushing the paper toward him, as if they wished he would simply leave. Aringarosa eyed the sheet before him. It bore the papal seal. â€Å"This is identical to the copy you sent me?† â€Å"Exactly.† Aringarosa was surprised how little emotion he felt as he signed the document. The three men present, however, seemed to sigh in relief.† Thank you, Bishop,† the secretariat said. â€Å"Your service to the Church will never be forgotten.† Aringarosa picked up the briefcase, sensing promise and authority in its weight. The four menlooked at one another for a moment as if there were something more to say, but apparently therewas not. Aringarosa turned and headed for the door. â€Å"Bishop?† one of the cardinals called out as Aringarosa reached the threshold. Aringarosa paused, turning. â€Å"Yes?† â€Å"Where will you go from here?† Aringarosa sensed the query was more spiritual than geographical, and yet he had no intention of discussing morality at this hour. â€Å"Paris,† he said, and walked out the door.

Lockheed Martins Acquistion of NationScape, Inc Case Study

Lockheed Martins Acquistion of NationScape, Inc - Case Study Example The US, for example, combines more of diplomacy and military engagements known as soft power. By acquiring NSI, Lockheed should be able to provide support services for government agencies such as USAID and the United Nations agencies. Military stability support, reconstruction and security transition are major engagements for the department of defense. NSI will enable Lockheed to take advantage of government contracts aimed at promoting these engagements. NSI will enable Lockheed to globalize its operations. Over 90% of Lockheed, staff is in the United States. This does not help the company to have a global outlook and therefore its revenues are constrained in the hosting country (Petrescu & Relly 73). NSI has operations in more than 50 countries across six continents and it is still looking to increase its operations in more countries in Asia and African region. Acquiring NSI will, thus, enable Lockheed have a global outlook, unlike its current position. It will be easier for Lockheed to enter other non-traditional markets when it has this global outlook. Lockheed will also take advantage of the NSI staff located in different parts of the world. This will enable the company to expand its operations without significantly increasing its labor costs. Lockheed will make more money from engagements with the Department of State and development assistance, which had a budget off over $31 billion (Petrescu & Relly 123). In addition to the increased budgetary allocations, other customers such as the Department of Defense, international organizations such as NATO and allied foreign governments are also increasing their spending programs. This means that Lockheed will be assured of a ready market since acquiring NSI puts the company at a competent position to meet the high demand. Increasing its global coverage should enable Lockheed to achieve its vital corporate strategies. This will lead to

International Business Management Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 4500 words

International Business Management - Assignment Example However, the company remains pressed for resources and cannot afford to make the wrong decision when it comes to entering a new market. It is currently not in a position to bear high political, economic or regulatory risks. To this end, great potential exists in BRIC countries as the growth potential in these nations tends to be higher compared with the U.S. The founder of Genicon must, therefore, decide whether or not to enter the BRIC markets and, if so, which of these markets to enter. This decision must be made vis-a-vis the decision to continue to expand in European regions such as Germany. It is recommended that Genicon enters Brazil owing to low political risks and smooth regulatory environment. 2. Problem statement Genicon faces the problem of whether to enter into developed markets such as Germany or focus on existing markets or enter into BRIC countries. If it chooses to enter the BRIC economies then which economy should Genicon enter for maximizing its profits and growth p otential and minimizing its risks? 3. Analysis Genicon possesses over 10 years of experience in the sale of laparoscopic instruments within and outside U.S (Kupetz, Tindall, & Haberland, 2010). Internationalization may be active or proactive (Wild & Wild, 2012). However, Genicon’s internationalization has been largely proactive to take advantage of favorable business opportunities. Furthermore, the current marketing and distribution environment required firms to sell through GPOs which favored large companies owing to financial structure (Kupetz, Tindall, & Haberland, 2010). Hence, Genicon’s sales in the U.S were declining (Kupetz, Tindall, & Haberland, 2010). Additionally, international markets were providing higher growth rates as far as the market for MIS was concerned. Theory attributes internationalization to the strategic intent of the founder (Wild & Wild, 2012). The case suggests Genicon’s founder- Haberland to have had interest in entering emerging mark ets owing to their high growth rates. However, the biggest concern encompassing Genicon is which BRIC market to enter. It is important to analyze each BRIC economy from the perspective of various factors. Global legal issues such as intellectual property which faces threat of piracy may be important considerations for international businesses (Wild & Wild, 2012). In terms of the legal environment, India offered improvement in terms of shorter product launch times and tighter IP laws. Russia offered weak enforcement laws whereas China offered uncertain, slow and weak regulatory procedures (Kupetz, Tindall, & Haberland, 2010). Brazil, on the other hand, offered â€Å"internationally accepted† regulatory standards with the prospective introduction of the four-tier system (like that in the EU) which was favorable for Genicon. Considering that the role of government intervention is critical factor for startups, the BRIC countries need to be analyzed in terms of this aspect as well . India has been heading towards privatization. Political ideologies may range from being anarchist ( whereby personal and private groups have liberty) to totalitarian (where every aspect of people’s lives is controlled) (Wild & Wild, 2012). Pluralism exists in the middle whereby both public and private groups coexist (Wild & Wild, 2012). China seems to have moved towards pluralism in the wake of globalization with the

Music and dance an aspect of Caribbean culture Essay

Music and dance an aspect of Caribbean culture - Essay Example It is acknowledged that the creolization of the Caribbean culture may well be the key to understanding the numerous and interrelated forms of music and dance expression. In Caribbean music and dance, one can find an ever-changing mixture of percussion and vocal styles traceable to West Africa; as well as melodic and harmonic forms derived from European culture. Caribbean musicians have blended and simmered these musical influences, transforming the various ingredients into something new and unique. And of course, there is continual cross–fertilization among the islands, as variations are made to keep the music fresh, making for the Caribbean’s vital input into the international music scene. One by one rumba, beguine, calypso and reggae have taken not only the United States but the entire world by storm. Part of the power and allure of the Caribbean music is its constant rediscovery of the island’s African heritage. The steel drum of Trinidad evokes the drum choirs of West Africa, salsa and even reggae are drawn from the call-and-response style of West Africa. The music and dance culture of Caribbean lands have changed with the growth of national pride and numerous American influence. In recent years, Jamaican reggae has exerted the greatest influence on the international market of any Caribbean music. The music of the Caribbean is dance music, meant to provide a few moments of freedom from the routines of daily existence. According to, â€Å"the dances of the Caribbean nations mostly are comprised of social dances..†

Cigarettes and the effects Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Cigarettes and the effects - Essay Example It is inevitable that smoking cigarettes have devastating effects on health although smokers often claims that it helps them to relax and release stress and also gives them recognition and acceptance. The causes and effects of cigarette smoking are discussed worldwide by scientists and health officials ans it has been discovered that cigarette smoking causes some life threatening diseases and also badly affects the heath quality. However there are number of factors that make people addicted to it. (NY Times) An important cause and temptation towards smoking is nicotine. Nicotine intake brings up a level of good feelings among individuals. People often argues that nicotine has stimulating effect and it relieves tension, depression or even boredom. (Neal, 95) They are actually psychological effects because smoking cannot provide stimulation and reduce tension at the same time. It’s just the release of brain chemicals which makes smokers feel like this way. People who need to smoke a certain numbers of cigarettes in a day at particular times for e.g. after a meal, have already formed a habit and so continue to smoke. They feel that something is missing. Reports show that the dependency on nicotine has increased to12 percent. (CDC) Some young people smoke because they believe that smoking is symbol of adulthood. Statistics show that nine out of ten smokers start to smoke before they are eighteen years old. The advertisers try to give the impression that maturity, social status, happiness and success are linked with smoking (CDC). Some young people start to smoke out of curiosity and then get addicted to it. Many of them start due to peer pressure. They try to intimate their parents or want to be accepted as members of a group of friends who smoke. Their friend’s persistent teasing and urging make them believe that they are not sporting enough. The harmful effect of smoking develops in a period of time. There

Problems with tracking Terrorist financing Research Paper

Problems with tracking Terrorist financing - Research Paper Example Therefore, when terrorists chose to go back to traditional methods of carrying out their financial transactions, like using cash instead of electronic cards or so, it becomes difficult for the authorities to track such activities. Moreover, terrorists have adopted new techniques of helping them carry out their activities without getting suspected. This paper will broadly look into the findings brought forward in a research done by Torrey Carpenter about the difficulties that national government authorities encounter while trying to identify the financiers of terrorists. He will also suggest a possible solution to the identified problem, present various critics that relate to the problem as well as provide a discussion on the implications that the problem pose. There exist many definitions of terrorism depending on an individual’s point of view. According to one theory, it can be considered to be the illegal use of power or aggression against people or properties with intentions of threatening or pressurizing a government or its society to extend particular political or social goals. According to various law enforcements, Torrey discovers they acknowledge that acts of terrorism can either be domestic or international. Under domestic terrorism, the action is based and carried out within a country and is executed by the country’s own citizens without any outer or foreign enforcers. On the other hand, international terrorism, which is usually linked to foreign groups or governments, involve invasion by the foreign terrorists into a target country. Terrorism has no boundaries and, therefore, any nation around the world is vulnerable to it. He acknowledges that the act, whether carried out internationally or locally, requires a lo t of funding, and up to now, the mystery about who funds the terrorists have not been solved. Since it is an act that involves a lot of damages, be it direct or collateral,

Haitian Culture Communication Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Haitian Culture Communication - Research Paper Example 2. Explore the willingness of individuals in your culture to share thoughts, feelings, and ideas. Can you identify any area of discussion that would be considered taboo?   Haitians tend to prefer oral communication to written communication. Haitians tend to express themselves directly on most matters. However, communication regarding matters that are religious, poitical, and personal tends to be less direct. Moreover, conflict especially with individuals of higher economic status is somehow considered a taboo and a Haitian would rather indicate agreement than disagree (Kemp & Rasbridge, 2004). Most Haitians tend to hide their illiteracy and may agree with heath workers by nodding even when they do not understand something (Desrosiers & St. Fleurose, 2002; Colin, 2008). 3. Explore the practice and meaning of touch in your culture. Include information regarding touch between family members, friends, members of the opposite sex, and health-care providers.   Amongst Haitians, touch i s often associated with friendliness and occurs often when families and friends are having a conversation. Touch is thus common in casual conversations. It is used to attract the other party’s attention. Moreover, touch by caregivers is appreciated. However, the type of touch used (e.g. tap, kiss, handshake, hug, kiss) depends on the level of familiarity (Kemp & Rasbridge, 2004). 4. ... The distance is considered a sign of integrity and respect for authority since men are considered heads of families. Additionally, Haitians may keep some distance while talking to strangers. Therefore, Haitians keep a distance of approximately 1-2 feet while communicating with family and friends. Adults do not share space with children. Haitians tend to keep some distance with health caregivers (Colin, 2008; Dutta, 2008). 5. Discuss your culture’s use of eye contact. Include information regarding practices between family members, friends, strangers, and persons of different age groups (cook ross, 2011). Eye contact is common while people who are friends are greeting each other or talking. It is considered a sign of respect. However, Haitians avoid direct eye contact with elders and people in authority. Additionally, prolonged eye contact is not appreciated and often viewed as rudeness. Acculturated Haitians often maintain prolonged eye contact. Moreover, children should not ma intain prolonged eye contact while communicating with elders since it is viewed as disrespect (cook ross, 2011). 6. Explore the meaning of gestures and facial expressions in your culture. Do specific gestures or facial expressions have special meanings? How are emotions displayed? Facial expressions are important in Haitian culture. While communicating with friends, Haitians tend to use direct eye contact and expressive tones. Moreover, friends are likely to use other gestures like touching each other. However, Haitians prefer hiding most of their emotions such as of anger, fear, and people who express such emotions become a source of amusement. Nodding is often used as a sign of agreement. Generally,

Vancomycin and Preventing Infections Dissertation

Vancomycin and Preventing Infections - Dissertation Example Fig. 1: Tricyclic glycopeptide structure of vancomycin (Ouelette & Joyce, 2010, p. 207) The three-dimensional structure of vancomycin forms a cleft that allows it to bind to late stage PG intermediates that have a D-alanyl-D-alanine terminus (Corey et al., 2012). Vancomycin is selectively toxic since the sequences L-aa-D-aa-D-aa of the peptide PG intermediates are only found in the cell walls of bacteria. Fig. 2: Figure showing the PG intermediates and vancomycin with its cleft where it binds to the D-Ala-D-Ala terminus (Corey et al., 2012, p. 138) Hydrogen bonding between the vancomycin glycopeptide molecule and the peptides of PG intermediates results in the formation of stable complexes (Reynolds, 1989). This in turn leads to the inhibition of transglycosylation and transpeptidation reactions by two important enzymes as they fail to bind to the terminus due to steric hindrance. Because of this, the elongation of the glycan chain is inhibited. The mechanism of action of vancomycin thus involves the binding of a â€Å"bulky inhibitor† (vancomycin) to the substrate (D-alanyl-D-alanine terminus) outside the cell membrane because of which the active site of two bacterial enzymes (transglycosylase and transpeptidase) cannot align and bind to the substrate. This unique mechanism of action of vancomycin renders drug resistance by most bacteria difficult, unlike most other antibiotics (Reynolds, 1989). Vancomycin Usage Vancomycin is used to treat severe infections such as pneumonia, endocarditis, abscesses, and empyema caused by MRSA, and also for the treatment of patients allergic to cephalosporins and penicillins (Ouelette &... Significant information exists for vancomycin use in the hospital setting, but not so much for outpatient and use in the community setting. Challenges to proper usage of vancomycin may be caused due to lack of patient education, minimal studies in relation to patient education and improper compliance with best practice guidelines. Healthcare workers can sometimes lack proper understanding on correct dosage for patients. After extensive literature review, it is clear that improper preventive application or incorrect utilization of vancomycin may lead to the increased incidence of vancomycin resistant bacteria. It is thus imperative for healthcare institutions, healthcare workers and patients to comply with best practices regarding treatment with vancomycin as it is one of the few remaining antibiotics that can be used for the treatment of infections with multiple drug resistant bacteria or in patients with allergies to other common antibacterial agents.

Ebay Case Meg Whitman Essay Example for Free

Ebay Case Meg Whitman Essay In 1995, Pierre Omidyar founded eBay, an on-line company whose purpose was to facilitate an environment where people could not only exchange goods, but also have discussions, make connections, and form relationships. He carefully crafted a culture based upon, â€Å"trust, respect, autonomy, empowerment, and equality,† and sought for the eBay community and company to be reflective of those principles. eBay was successful because Omidyar realized that a respectful, symbiotic relationship with this on-line community was critical, â€Å"because eBay wouldn’t exist if it weren’t for [the] community. In 1998, Meg Whitman was brought in as CEO to strengthen the eBay brand and to develop a stronger marketing strategy. In this, she was remarkably successful. In little over a year, eBay registrants grew from 88,000 to 3. 8 million users. The company successfully went public, revenue just about doubled every quarter, and acquisitions and partnerships were made to increase the customer base. However, the rapid growth under Whitman caused a major problem for eBay: it put a strain on the culture and the community upon which eBay was successfully founded. With growth came the need for more rules and policies. For instance, Whitman made the decision to ban the sale of firearms to keep the company free of legal liabilities. Many in the community and company were shocked and outraged by this policy because it violated the eBay values of open communication and trust. Also, the acquisition of Butterfield and Butterfield, a prestigious, high-end auction house, was taken as a slap in the face. It violated the eBay value of respect, and the community saw this purchase indicative of the company’s priorities being focused on higher profit margins, not building and maintaining relationships with its existing community. There are clear reasons why the eBay community felt its culture was being left behind in the wake of rapid growth. First, the strategic design of eBay dramatically changed under Whitman’s management. eBay was previously built upon a small, flat and flexible team of engineers who worked together without many formal chains of authority. This open work environment perfectly mirrored the community Omidyar sought to create online, and the internal company practiced its values of respect and trust on a daily basis. However, Whitman correctly recognized that as the company grew, more formal structures and positions would have to be put into place to bear the burden of greater demand. With expert consultation, she reorganized the engineers. She eventually added eleven different vice presidents in upper management. In little time, the company transformed from an informal, flat model to a formal functional structure. This enabled growth, but it also created tall hierarchies that diminished the culture of open communication. For instance, lower-level employees and the eBay community both back-lashed at the decision of banning firearms for largely the same reason: they had no idea such a policy was forthcoming. Upper management made this decision without outside consultation. Even though it was the right decision for the company, it was handled and presented in a way that violated the culture eBay was built upon. In 1999, Whitman formally created a Community Watch group to monitor the website for fraud. Initially, eBay â€Å"counted on its users to abide by its user agreement and take much of the responsibility for safeguarding the site themselves. But, the community had grown too large to be self-monitored. Again, the decision was appropriate, but so many structural changes implemented in so little time was too much for the community to absorb without reaction. Moreover, the political nature of eBay changed rapidly. Pierre Omidyar, eBay’s founder and developer, had the rare gift of leading with b oth referent and expert power. He used this power to create a strong sense of community throughout eBay. He also used his referent power to give Whitman legitimacy in both her position as CEO and in her consequential actions. His support was effective at getting the company to align behind her decisions, but the external community did not see this support and were more suspicious of the company’s new direction. Whitman’s decisions were all sound and applauded by Wall Street. But the community saw what was once a democratic forum turning into a big business. Her lack of consultation with the community lead one user to brand eBay as having a â€Å"cavalier attitude,† and a â€Å"political agenda. † Lower level employees also saw this lack of communication. Where there were once full company meetings weekly, now they were held, at most, once a quarter. Power was concentrating. Clearly, this power shift was positively causing growth but negatively affecting culture. In her defense, Whitman was not indifferent to the culture at eBay. She stressed hiring people who understood and wanted to expand the eBay culture. But at the same time she outsourced customer service to a location in Utah, far from where the gatekeepers of the eBay culture were to be found. Therefore, those directly working with the community may have been the least in tune with its values. Also, she applauded and maintained the â€Å"no penalty† culture where everyone could voice their opinions and feel free to change their minds. However, with the growth of the company, there were fewer opportunities for a voice to be heard, less direct contacts with upper management, and fewer voices involved in major decisions. This led to decisions being made that were sound individually but not corporately when placed in the eBay culture. It also proved difficult to spread this culture to the plethora of newly added users. And it is critical because it built the community, which built the company, and if it is removed, those elements that made eBay a unique success will be gone. Therefore, eBay needs to find a way to maintain its culture. One way to correct this problem would be to implement more cross-functional teams internally. These teams would recreate the initial eBay structure of being team-based, autonomous, and flat. They would allow different departments to address problems and offer valuable input into pending company policies. This lateral flow would lead to decisions that would keep more in line with the original eBay culture, thus satisfying the community at large. The downside to these teams is that it gives Whitman and others less authority to use in making decisions for the company. Another alternative would be to create a formal system of distributing information and gathering feedback from the eBay community. This would create an opportunity to communicate values as well as pending or upcoming policy changes. This system of polling through email would empower the community to have a cogent voice once again and would reestablish the feeling of one-to-one communication. The downside is that if the company decided to go in a direction different than that of the community, those polled and involved could lose faith and optimism in exercising their voice. Finally, Whitman could create a separate company under the eBay name where she could make mergers and acquisitions without alienating the base users and without directly affecting the company. This would help maintain the existing eBay culture, but it would do nothing to repair any damage done. Moreover, having a different arm will not expand their user community of eBay, which is eBay’s vision. Whitman should create a formal system of distributing information and gathering feedback from the eBay community. This mechanism would be two-fold in design. First, eBay would create a oalition of the â€Å"top sellers,† those truly engrossed in the eBay community and whose interests are aligned with both company and community. Upper management would formally integrate the opinions and responses of this group (on issues ranging from policy to community values) into its decision-making processes. Also, the use of widely sampled polls of eBay users on the same issues would help th e company get a feel for how the broader community at large feels about important issues. This would be positive for the community because it would give them a legitimate voice in the company again, just as it had at eBay’s inception. It is important to remember that eBay is unique in that the community it serves is the company itself. Soliciting, responding to, and implementing the voice of this community improve eBay; even with its now more functional structure, it will only help the company know the needs and opinions of its community, which will strengthen business. The downside to this move is that after hearing out the top sellers and looking at the data of a poll on a particular issue, Whitman and upper management may still feel that an unpopular direction needs to be taken. Some users may feel patronized and refuse to participate in future polls. Even so, many in the community will be appreciative to at least be involved in the process and to be forewarned of pending changes. Once again there will be a dialogue with the community that will attribute value, trust, and respect to its opinions, even in disagreement. In this manner, eBay can grow and still stay small.

Advantages Of Advertising On Television Marketing Essay

Advantages Of Advertising On Television Marketing Essay Floomajuice will be marketed in Scotland as Scottish people spend a lot on juices. As Floomajuice being very tasty and is also nutritious, has less calories as its not made from concentrate. Floomajuice range of drinks also helps people in controlling cholesterol and reduces the risk of cancer. Our product is aimed to reach all age group targeted audiences, primarily focusing on the health and taste conscious people of Scotland. Circulation Floomajuice will be distributed at all local stores and supermarkets throughout Scotland, this will help our company to have better sales of our product. Marketing and Strategic Alliances Floomajuice will not leave any stone unturned in the effect of reaching the targeted audience. We will promote the product using strategic combination of electronic media, print media and outdoor media. we will use television commercials over the news, health and entertainment channels. We will place ads in magazines i.e. Good house Keeping, Sky Magazine, Sky Sports, BBC Top Gear, Readers Digest and Mens Health and news papers like Sun, Metro, Guardian etc.. we will also put ads in Sunday special edition news papers which will help us to reach large number of audiences. We will use social media like Tweeter, Face book for promoting our Floomajuice product. We will use outdoor advertising like billboards, which will have the attention of the audience. We will also put promotional outlets near major supermarkets and offer free sampling of the Floomajuice products. 2A. An important step to promote marketing and sales of Floomajuice range of products is to select appropriate media.. Below are the benefits and drawbacks of using various media for advertising Floomajuice as follows: Newspapers Newspapers are the most traditional ways of promoting business and awareness among the targeted audience. The advantages of Newspapers are Newspapers allow us to reach large number of people as everyone likes to read newspaper. We will have the flexibility in deciding the size of placing the ad in the newspaper. We will have the advantage of telling the customers about our product by using large space in the newspaper. Quick turn-around helps our ad reflect the changing market conditions. We can decide to run our ad today can be in customers hands in a day or two. Exposure to our ad is not limited. Customers can go back to see our ad again and again if they want to. Disadvantages Publishing ad space can be expensive depending on the day we decide to publish. Our ad has to compete against the clutter of other competitors of advertising. Poor photo reproduction can limit the creativity of our ad in the newspaper. Newspapers are highly visible medium and our competitors can quickly react and publish a better ad in order to compete with our ad Magazines Magazines are more focused, more expensive and are alternative to newspaper advertising. This medium of advertising helps our company to reach highly targeted audiences. Advantages of using magazines as medium of advertising are It allows our company to have better targeting of audience as we have the option to choose magazine publications that cater our specific audience. High reader involvement in magazines which means that more attention is given for our advertisement. Publishing ad in magazine provides better quality of paper, better reproduction and full color ads. Which will help our company to know that there is a better product out in the market for audiences. Disadvantages We need to plan weeks in advance to publish the ad in magazines as they are more competitive and most often booked in months advance. Publishing ad in magazine has limited flexibility in terms of placement and format. Buying space in magazine to place ad is higher compared to placing ad in newspaper. Radio Advertising in radio is an universal medium enjoyed by people at one time or another during the day. It might me at work, home or even while traveling in bus or car. Advantages of using radio as medium of advertising Advertising in radio helps us to promote our product to everyone in Scotland. People tend to respond to the ad as the medium has sounds and voices. Advertising in radio is relatively cheaper. Radios have less inflation than those of other media. Disadvantages As radio listeners are spread over many stations, we have to advertise simultaneously on radio several channels to reach our targeted audiences. Listeners cannot go back and listen to the ad once they miss in that particular time when the ad is aired. Radio is a background medium and most listeners listen to radio while they are doing some or the other work, which means that our ad has to go on air more number of times in a day. Television Advertising on television gives us the opportunity to reach large number of people through out the nation in a short period of time Advantages of advertising on television Advertising on television helps to promote our Floomajuice more efficiently as it is based on image and visual medium and offers the ability to convey our message with sight, sound and motion. Television channels like Channel4, e4+1, ITV etc are watched by most of the audience. Hence advertising on these channels will promote Floomajuice. Disadvantages Advertising about our product on television is short and may require to place the ad multiple times in the desired channels. Advertising on television channels is concentrated in local broadcasts channels and station breaks which people might ignore them. Advertising in Commercial breaks are often sold out far in advance. Advertising on television is the most expensive medium in terms of airtime, creative and production of the ad Social Media Advertising Web has revolutionized the way we communicate over the last two decades and now with the proliferation of social media, it has revolutionized the way we socialize with others. Sharing videos, photos, opinions and sometimes advertising what they love. Since all this interaction takes place through the networking site and we know a lot of information about the user, there is a huge potential for us to customize and promote Floomajuice product line. Advantages Lots of people spend a lot of time on social media, and this provides for a great way to build relationships with our clients and personalize our promotional efforts. If targeted at the right audience with the right promotion, it can have cascading effect if customers share our ad/offer with others. We can generate awareness about our product indirectly through our own social media profile and encouraging users to add/like us. It is relatively cheap and highly personalizable to advertise on social media. Disadvantages Some social network users dont pay too much attention to advertising and maybe be turned off in a negative way For small businesses, it may be difficult to leverage social media to create awareness about their products as it is hard to gain the initial momentum It is important to portray a humane side of the company by creating awareness and teach the importance of juices, rather than directly trying to sell a particular product Banner Advertising Banner advertising is the oldest form of online advertisement. Some forms of banner advertisements include vertical ads and top level banners. Sometimes it can also include popups and so on. Costs for banner advertising can be click based or based on banner location on the website and also varies with number of visitors to the website. Advantages A lot of advertising agencies are offering competitive pricing for Banner advertising which resulted in a downward pressure on costs making this medium cheap and effective. Proper location and well-designed banner ads on prominent websites can result in high traffic rates to our product. Effectiveness of these ads can easily be measure and fine-tuned on a regular basis as all the information about which banner ad was clicked and which website was the ad on are easily available. We can also focus our banner ads on websites most frequented by our targeted customers resulting in better ROI. Disadvantages Ill placed or too flashy banner ads are sometimes seen as annoyance and can create negative impression on the brand. If banner ads are placed in popups or new windows, there is a likelihood that ad blockers may completely block them Due to over-saturation of ads and poor designs of banner ads, the convert rates are very low even if click through rates are high. 3A. Target Market Primary ADULTS: Between 25 to 50 years old age  ­ Professionals and parents Becoming more concern about their heath Preferred organic juices Chosen rich nutrition than better taste Concern about price and quality Secondary YOUTH: Between 14 to 25 years old age. Likes to drink cool stuff Preference depended on fashion Drink for style Purchase cheep drink Easily influence by TV, magazine and online advertisement Strategy Promotion: Start brand and product awareness program by using TV, radio commercials, news paper, magazine and web promotional ads in Scotland beginning of May 2013 to the end of November 2013 Product: Product range from 200ml,500ml, 1 liter and 3.5 liter Distribution: We will be using supermarkets and retail stores as our distribution channels. Promotional Strategy Promotion Free Floomajuice offer in major supermarkets in Glasgow, Edinburg, Sterling, Dundee, Perth, Aberdeen and selected stores on June 2013. Free Floomajuice t-shirts will be distributed if customers purchase the product in selected stores. This promotion is only happens on June 2013. Public relation Publicized the heath facts of natural fruit juice. Associate these facts with Floomajuice to create its image as heath and relate to longer life. Consumer health stories related to Floomajuice might be a good idea to arouse interest in others. EX: Consumer reduces cholesterol by drinking Natural pure Juice. New interactive web site and discussion board will be designed. Advertising Goal: To highlight the health fact of Natural Floomajuice. Persuade: Drink Floomajuice continuously to derive benefits of natural goodness. Remind: Make consumers think and get used to the Floomajuice product. Floomajuice will produce Natural juice at a more reasonable price than other artificial juice products. Lower budget customer cannot purchase natural juice because of the high price strategy. There is no company in the market at the moment that competes with Floomajuice products which are natural and free from artificial chrematistics. Our aim is to make customers switch over to Floomajuice and attract new market as well. Reasonable pricing will change the market share on Floomajuice. Floomajuice will take over major part of the market share. Floomajuice will offer combination of the best quality and the best service. Price strategy is based on customer value. Advertising: Floomajuice will be the first pure natural fruit juice going to be introduced in Scotland. Most of the consumers dont know about how it tastes and what are the health effects of this juice are. Sales Promotion In store sampling program: Sampling price strategy Public Relation Stories about Floomajuice  ­ New health benefits and research findings Development of new Floomajuice website will include discussion board and interactive futures. Direct Marketing Television, Radio, newspapers and magazines will be use to advertise Floomajuice in Scotland. Heath benefit of the drinking Floomajuice will be the main focus of the advertisement. Feedback from customers Conducting focus group to analyze the Floomajuice for future product development. 4A. Market and External environmental factors People in Scotland spend more on fruits and vegetables, this tells us that people are more health conscious. so our product can derive benefit for this in Scottish market. Social and cultural factors Scotland has a multi ­cultural society so it has different types of consumer with respect to their religion and eating habits. But these days consumers are more conscious about their health. This is because of education and awareness everywhere. Consumers demands for foods, fruits and juices which are more nutritive and provide health benefits. The people belong to different category of classes i.e. upper class, middle class and low class but everyone is sensible about his or her health. So consumer may belong to any of the above ­mentioned classes, his maximum expenditure is on fruits and vegetables. Technical Factors Technology is changing day by day. Due to advancement in technology healthy and nutritive juice can be extracted from different fruits. Attractive packing and labeling also plays a vital role in product promotion, the technology for which is easily available. Legal Factors Political forces are more concerned about the peoples health. It has passed a Food and Drugs act under which it has clearly defined it terms and conditions which are more focused on health and nutrition. But now government has been changed recently. It may make some changes in the Act, but the changes will definitely be in favor of consumers health. Needs of different target segments are as follows Health Consumers have become increasingly health conscious creating a demand for healthier products. They are aware of the fact that soft drinks do not provide essential nutrients, this causes them to choose fruit juice or water as beverage alternatives. Convenience Customers demand proper packaging for separate activities. They address this situation by creating the same products in different packaging. For example, some juices are sold in larger bottles for home and also lunch size boxes. Taste Taste is essential for all consumers as it is among one of the important reasons why they purchase the product. Age Appropriate Youth is one of the major segments for beverage consumption in Scotland. Adults would also be our major target audience as they are very health conscious and with all the benefits that Floomajuice has in it and sure would be a successful product in Scotland. SWOT Analysis Strengths Floomajuice range of products are made of fresh fruit juice and not for concentrate. Floomajuice is high on minerals and energetic. Floomajuice is priced reasonable and has attractive packaging. Our product is health conscious and anti-oxidant. Weaknesses New brand product in market. Not easy for customers to switch from their regular brand of juice. Opportunities Floomajuice brand can become major competitor in the market. Threats Competitors would introduce same kind of products in to market. MARKETING STRATEGIES HEALTY CONSCIOUS: Between 14 to 60 years old ageà Ã‚ ¾ Health professionals and people who are conscious or want to improve their health. Find solution for health problem Heart, cancer, hardening of the arteries and related diseases Influence by the fact and scientific research Want to live longer Dont care about price Concern quality minerals Brand image is important 5A. Marketing Implementation Schedule Media May 2013 June 2013 July 2013 Aug 2013 Sept 2013 Oct 2013 Paper X X X X X X TV X X X X X X Radio X X X X Web X X X X X X Free Sampling X Promotion Timing Chart Media Rate Number Total Cost May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct News Paper and Magazine ads Metro News Paper X X X X X X Sun News Paper X X X X X X Guardian News Paper X X X X X X Weightwatchers Magazine X X X Womens Health X X X BBC Good Food X X X Mens Health X X X Slimming World Magazine X X X TV commercials Heath programs X X X News X X X Radio Capital FM Scotland X X X X X X Absolute Radio X X X X X X Sooth Radio UK X X X X X X Billboards Subway X X X X X X Shopping Malls X X X Bus Stations X X X Free Sampling Sainsbury Supermarkets X Morrison Supermarkets X ASDA Supermarkets X Web MSN X X X X X X Google X X X X X X Face book X X X X X X Tweeter X X X X X X

Canturberry Tales - The Nuns Priests Tale Essay -- Nun’s Priest’s T

Canturberry Tales  Ã‚  - The Nun's Priest's Tale  Ã‚  Ã‚   This is a charming little fable cleverly disguised as a barnyard story.   In the first twenty-six lines, the setting of the story is described as a small farm, belonging to a very plain widow and her two daughters.   The widow is a simple woman of good heath, who has managed to make it despite her unfortunate circumstance of being slightly impoverished.   In lines twenty-seven through forty-four we are introduced to the story's main character, Chanticleer.   He was in fact an exceptional rooster who was blessed with an equally exceptional crow.   In lines forty-five through fifty-nine we learn that Chanticleer is the master of his domain.   However, as we read on it is found that the key to his heart belongs to the Lady Pertelote, indirectly characterized as the perfect woman.   The next two lines are a dead give away that the story is in fact, a fable, lending onomatopoetic devises to the barnyard members.   Line sixty-two finally brings us to the actual story.   One morning right before dawn, Chanticleer awoke in sheer terror.   Of course Lady Pertelote was considerably concerned, and questioned her true love as to what the problem was.   Chanticleer goes on to describe a very vivid, very disturbing dream.   In fact it was a premonition of his own untimely death.   Upon hearing the cause of Chanticleer's fright, Lady Pertelote becomes slightly upset.   Actually she downright enraged.   How, she wondered, could such an amazing animal be scarred of one little dream, especially since it was most likely caused by something he ate.   Basically, she told him he was a big cowar... ...indeed going to eat him, he'd better do it before the lynch mob caught him.   The fox readily agrees and as he is about to swallow Chanticleer, the clever little bird flies to the sanctuary of a nearby tree.   At the thought of loosing his meal, the fox tries in vain to trick Chanticleer again by suggesting he was merely excited at the prospect of hearing his wonderful voice, and accidentally grabbed him too hard.   Fortunately, our hero has learned his lesson, and is not to be deceived so easily ever again.   There is more than one lesson to be learned from Chanticleer's story.   One theory being that one should trust one's own intuition and let it be their guide.   Another lesson learned is that you should never let your pride interfere with your judgement.   So ends the first story of Chaucer's The Canterbury Tales.  Ã‚  

The Character of Hareton in Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte Essay

The Character of Hareton in Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte Wuthering Heights, written by Emile Bronte, is on of the most famous Victorian novels in English literature. This novel was the only novel written by her. The novel has the social and moral values in England in the nineteenth century as the recurring theme. The adjective ‘wuthering’ is used in some parts of rural England to describe stormy weather. Wuthering Heights is a farmhouse on top of a small hillock, which is open to all the elements of wind and weather and hence is synonymous with passion and violence. The other house nearby, Thrushcross Grange contrasts sharply with Wuthering Heights. The two groups of people residing here, the Earnshaws in the former and the Lintons in the latter, are also people with opposing tendencies. Into this world comes a man alien to both extremes, Heathcliff who is adopted by the Earnshaws. The whole story revolves around these characters. Hareton Earnshaw, son of Frances and Hindley Earnshaw has a small but important part in the novel. Belonging to the second generation of characters, he personifies the passionate nature of the Earnshaws and yet is warm and gentle. Hareton is of a warm and, considering his situation, a very genial disposition. He owns his own share of the wild passions that are so common to the Earnshaws, but is forced into a life of subjugation. He is quite intelligent, but is made to lead a life of an ignorant by Heathcliff, who after Hindley’s death denied him any further education. Hareton as a child is wild and unruly, having a mouthful of foul words. Hareton as young man is still very rough, though subdued ... ...riendship with Cathy grows into a strong and mutual love culminating in a marriage. His love for Cathy is also, like him, pure and innocent. He transforms, from a shabbily clad ignoramus to a respectably dressed gentleman. We do not see any of the common Victorian hypocrisy in his nature. His good character and genial temperament makes him one of the best characters in the novel. Hareton’s presence cannot be felt throughout the novel, but he effectually completes the story. He can be compared to a rough, unpolished diamond whose shine was not so well perceivable until another genial soul unearthed it from the mines of ignorance. He is a shining example of the fact that no matter where the circumstances of one’s life leads to, they will, sooner or later fall upon the track of life on which they are supposed to be.

The Decision That Affected My Life

Sometimes there are decisions that can affect your whole life. It means that if you take a wrong step, you will go the wrong way. There are many examples, when people did some something and then regretted it the entire life. Now I want to tell my case, when the decision I made affected my life. As many young people of my age I like music. I like going to clubs. I go there with my friends. I have many friends and they all are very different. Some of them use drugs to get high. I do not know much about this because I never tried drugs but I presume that some drugs they use are hard.That night we went together instead of meeting in the club as usual. We came to the apartment of one of my friend because his parents were out. Then this friend brought in syringes, needles, and the drugs. All my friends wanted to take drugs. Some of them would do it for the first time. They proposed me but I refused. They were trying to persuade me but I did not give in. They said I was stupid and one time would do nothing. But after I continued to refuse, they got angry with me and said I must go.And so I went. They were not my friends any more. I think I took the right decision. Moreover, I think it affected my life greatly. Just imagine what could have happened if I had not been firm enough to refuse. I would continue to use drugs and I would become a drug-addict. Perhaps I would not even enter my college. I know that some of my former â€Å"friends† ended badly. Perhaps I would end so too. Now I am happy that I was wise enough to take the right decision that affected my life in the right way.

Design Thinking and Innovation at Apple Essay

BACKGROUND: Apple has been a leader in innovation for years and has been able to achieve so by striving hard to deliver insanely great products with simplicity and sophistication. The constant need for innovation, development of unique product development strategies and their prompt execution, the presence of the visionary, Steve Jobs and their bold attitude at business experimentation formed the basis of principles at Apple. During mid-1970s, computers were mere automation devices and were not perceived to be used for personal work. Apple reasoned the impact personal computing will have on individuals once they were able to see how beneficial the personal computers could be. It was essential these machines were highly user friendly. Apple achieved this by incorporating simplicity in the product design internally: by attending to the minutest detail in the product, evaluating whether a part or feature is really required, adopting new technologies, and externally: exploring different materials and approaches, enhancing customer experience by creating highly interactive products. To be able to provide with a smooth and flowing customer experience, it was necessary to consider the smallest detail while designing the product. The philosophy was to achieve sophistication through simplicity by working out the intent for the product, its concept development, the process of making it and the user experience of working with it. The sleek design and appearance of Apple products, easy-to-adopt solutions, and inside-out simplicity in their design and usage, consistency and resemblance across products has a huge impact on the user experience. ANALYSIS The innovation and existence of the creative core of technology at Apple has continued through years despite the disorientation it faced by the lack of focus, increased competition and changing leaderships during 1985-1997. Post 1997, Apple managed to get its act together under the able leadership of Steve Jobs by focusing on fewer projects, changing distribution system, embarking direct sales via online website and adopting sophisticated  marketing for its â€Å"insanely great products†. Tim Cook, the then Chief Operating Officer at Apple was responsible for cleaning up the operations of manufacturing, distribution and supply that were taken up during 1985-1997. A core approach to development was taken up: working intimately with manufacturers to find different materials and better processes, and being completely in sync with the customers, their needs and priorities. The basis of Apple was their consistency across its products which were accomplished by adopting a one platform strategy. All the products had the OSX operating system, which was undertaken with a vision to accommodate their development and production. This benefitted Apple (as a company): to develop and design components that were highly efficient and reliable by investing time and resources, its suppliers: allowed reuse and sharing assemblies and sub-assemblies at lower costs, its employees: added to their knowledge base and experience and most importantly, its customers: enabled easier adoption to its products due to familiarity and resemblance across products and lesser maintenance requirements due to stable, reliable designs. Apple has been keen on integrating customer experience in the design and development process. They followed an iterative customer involvement process in which they carried out extensive testing to improve user experience with the software and understanding the user expectations when they were trying to accomplish a task. Products were designed so the end user is able to employ them as tools to create and achieve their needs easily and effectively. Steve Jobs has played a pivotal, influential role in the driving Apple to the heights it has reached as a company and the reputation its products have built in the market. He had an inbuilt â€Å"design sense† and had a distinct vision of the meaning of the company, its products and how that can be achieved. It was his philosophy of simplicity that was adopted by the company of achieving beautiful, elegant solutions by digging deep into the key, underlying principle of the problem. Jobs demanded products with ultimate sophistication, high quality, and superior capabilities yet, simple UIs. It was his persuasion to have Apple computers for personal computing,  when the rest of the industry was busy creating enterprise solutions. His drive for excellence, and total involvement in every stage of product development and its presentation to the customer, have been the principal elements responsible for the innovation at Apple and the way the company is shaped up. Apple manages to create hype about its products and makes grand presentation to launch them in the market. The launched product is immediately available in the retails and on-line stores for customers to review and purchase. Apple values its secrecy and guards it fiercely. This creates additional hype around the product as they have been known for delivering innovative and appealing products. The constant innovation at Apple ensured they had improved versions of previously launched products, which were then marketed to promote users to have a portfolio of a single product. Apple took a bold step by moving to retail and having commercial stores for Apple products in a hope to attract non-Apple customers and retain the Apple fan base by providing elegant store designs and easy accessibility to their products. The intent was to generate foot traffic by luring shoppers and thereby increase curiosity and popularity. A smart move was undertaken by introducing a â€Å"genius bar† for tech repair and support which was undertaken publicly, adding to the â€Å"cool† factor. Apple was able to create a buzz around its products by launching retail stores at prime location in upscale malls. RECOMMENDATIONS Because Apple claims to build products that are for everyone, they should be priced so that they are affordable to everyone. With increase in the competition that Apple products are facing, they should make efforts to lower the cost without compromising the quality. Now that Apple has established itself as a brand and made a statement about its products, the new stores could be opened at other relatively cheaper yet, decent locations instead of high end malls or at expensive real estates. They could have an online virtual genius bar (video) that could help customers, especially those who aren’t good at communicating in English, with the problems they had with devices.

Advantages and disadvantages of qualitative research Essay

This essay will initially present the advantages and disadvantages of qualitative research and briefly quantitative research. It will then go on to critique a qualitative research article yet due to the word count only several factors of this will be critiqued and the article is by Wills’ et al (2005). Later it will consider the use of the research paper within the clinical practice area; and discuss whether the results are beneficial to the nursing profession. The implications for care delivery will be addressed and finally a conclusion will be given which will include recommendations for future practice through research. There are two forms of research methods and these are qualitative and quantitative; there are many advantages and disadvantages for using them to gather information; yet depending on the answer to be found this determines the research approach used. Some advantages of using qualitative research are that it can provide an in-depth understanding of behaviour, a description of people’s opinions and it can explore feelings, all of these are through communicating and observing (Parahoo, 2006). Qualitative research is flexible and quantitative research is selected or constructed prior to the datum being gathered (Parahoo, 2006). Disadvantages of qualitative research are they are costly and time consuming. The approach used in this research was a grounded theory which is Qualitative research (QR) is the method of inquiry that seeks to understand social phenomena within the context of the participants’ perspectives and experiences. The research methods of QR are more flexible, responsive, and open to contextual interpretation than in quantitative research, which uses inventory, questionnaire, or numerical data to draw conclusion (Merriam, †¦.). In order to critique this article a number of the research factors will be addressed, the first being the credibility of the authors. The article does not state the job descriptions of the researchers however it does state  where they work within Universities that conduct research. With their job description not being mentioned it is possible that the researchers are not qualified to conduct research or if they are it is unknown how they where trained and Polit & Beck (†¦.) suggest that researchers should have adequate training in order to conduct reliable research. The title of the research study says that is about young peoples perceptions of their own bodies and that of others and it states that it is a qualitative study however through the study it talks about children from socioeconomically disadvantaged areas and this should have been mentioned in the title as it is a huge part of their findings that more overweight children live inside these areas. Sampling of where obese children live was obtained from a reputable source†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦. A small sample size was used which is considered necessary for a qualitative approach, and it also contained the same amount of boys as girls which would of give the research overall richer data†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦. The collection of data is essential as this is where †¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦ In the initial questionnaire given to the children they were asked various questions about their sociodemographic information; one of which was how do they perceive their body to be too fat, too thin or about right. Further on into the information about the data collection the research states that when the children were interviewed the interviewer did not use value-laden words which they say for example are fat and big. This contradicts what was originally stated in the data collection as the word fat was in the initial screening questionnaire. It may have introduced the children to that term although maybe not intentionally. This can be seen as a bias to how the research information was found. Height and weight measurements were also taken to establish a Body Mass Index (BMI) for the children and a small minority of girls chose not to take part as they were anxious about being weighed in school (Wills et al, 2005), it  does not however say if the anxieties expressed by the girls were addressed and intervention for it given. The interviews were conducted by the author and this can be seen as making it more reliable as there would be no confusion as to misinterpretation from another interviewer. All interviews were tape recorded which is useful for the interviewer to analyse the data, however notes where not taken and if the tape recorder was lost or broken then there would be no information gained from that interview. Questions that deal with in-depth descriptions are best conducted from a flexible design and unstructured method of data collection (Polit & Hungler). A non-directive method was used for the interviews which enabled new perspectives to emerge for example bullying and exercise and Parahoo (2006) strengthens this by saying that conducting qualitative research can allow participants to put responses into context and this will emerge with new data and it is called holistic exploration. Through new perspectives emerging it can give suggestions for future research topics based around obesity and this is an advantage to this research. Data Analysis It is not possible to know the researchers body weights and it may be considered that could their weight have affected the children’s comments. If a quantitative research method was used then it may have been able to answer the question of why are these children overweight. Pseudonym names were given as to protect the identity of the children and decontextualised data was conducted to ensure individuals could not be identified†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦. During the initial weighing of the children some girls experienced anxiety and there was no reporting of any intervention or follow up care for the girls†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦ However what was extremely useful about the research was†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦. This article could be valuable in changing practice as it has enabled a start point for further research to be conducted; this is relevant as the United Kingdom’s populations are becoming more overweight and this can have serious health implications. Consent was given from the children and also obtained from their parents which is essential when research is being conducted on children. There are two types of consent and they are informed consent and consent†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦ Conclusion and recommendations for future practice It can be said that both quantitative and qualitative research have both advantages and disadvantages however this is only determined by people criticising the work of others.

Promote from Within and Hiring Form Outside Essay

Introduction In my opinion based on the case study, it is not justified in appointing Mike Ullman, an outsider as CEO instead of Jessica Robert, who was instrumental in turning around the company between 2005 and 2010. The reason I disagree is because promoting from within brings a lot of benefits to employees and organization. I individually support promoting from within and I think that promoting from within is definitely more justified than bringing in an outsider. Research shows that insider and outsider both has different benefits and loss and it is depends on the managerial decision. Different management has different view towards insider and outsider. I have choose to support promoting from within in this assessment is because that the research make me believe that promoting from within can increase productivity and employees satisfaction. I have provides three strong reason to support my personal view. Question 1 The first reason of promoting from within is good for morale. When the top management is decided to promote from within, the others employees are often very pleased because they think that â€Å"one of their own† has been promoted to a management-level position and makes them feel nothing is impossible. (David G. Javitch., 2005) The morale of employees will improve when they realize that every one of them is possible to be promoted and this usually leads to increase motivation of employees. Since Jessica Robert was instrumental in turning around the company, the others employees will think that it is justified to promote Jessica Robert. The others employee has witness her hardworking in turning around the company and they do not have any objection in promoting Jessica Robert. If the company promotes Jessica Robert, the morale of employees will definitely boost because they think that it is possible to happen on their own too. When morale and motivation goes up, the productivity and the efficiency of the company will increase especially when the employees like or respect the newly promoted individual because they are already used to the way that work together with the newly promoted individual. (Charles R. Knoeber., 2001) Motivation is playing an important role within an organization because in increased of motivation often leads to increased of employee satisfaction. In case, Jessica Robert has joined the organization as the COO at 2005 and she was made a turnover for the company. Her succession is all seen by the others employee in the organization and she became a very respective person in the company. If the company promotes Jessica Robert as CEO, the motivation of others employee will definitely increase because most of the employees are respect her and they have been working together quite a long time thus, they are already used to the way Jessica Robert work. Second reason is an internal candidate is most likely already familiar with the functional aspects of their new job because he used to an employee in the organization. (DR. David G. Javitch., 2005) Jessica Robert He joined the company at 2005 and she is very familiar with all the process and the system in the particular organization and she don’t have to spend times to get used to the new environment, people, and the job scope. She knows the corporate culture, the procedures, policies, processes, employees, and internal and external customers associated with the job. (DR. David G. Javitch., 2005) Therefore, by promoting she can definitely increase the effectiveness of the company because she can generally hit the ground running. She can work more effectively than an outsider and increase the productivity. She can also lead the team to achieve goals easier than an outsider because she probably already familiar with every employee’s ability and behavior. (Mobb. S., 2010) A final reason to promote from within is that the current employee is already a â€Å"known quantity† to both management and non-management. Both groups know the employee’s strengths and limitations in terms of technical skills, abilities, knowledge bases, and professional personality. (DR. David G. Javitch., 2005) Internal candidate is recognized by both group and they may find easy and feel satisfy to work together with the person who they used to familiar with. Promoting Jessica Robert is actually benefits to the company because both management and non- management know her ability and strength. Her succession on turning around the company has proved her ability and she is definitely qualified to be the CEO of the company. Besides that, she is not longer requires any or as much training as employees from outside the company because she are familiar with at least the general workings of the business. (G. Raheja.C., 2010) Question 2 Advantages of promoting from within The first advantage of promoting from within is benefits on both sides. An organization that promotes from within has the opportunity to identify the characteristics, qualifications and skills it wants to be the suitable leader. (Greenwood, B., n. d) This will benefit the employees, who have a clear understanding of expectation. It is also benefits the organization because by promoting from within, it actually gives the top management a chance to evaluate staff carefully before making a recommendation for a promotion. In the process of evaluation the employees, the top management may discovered the skill and ability of each different employees and make a further promotion or changes. (Mobb. S., 2010) The other advantage is good relationships. (Greenwood, B., n. d) They have a solid network of collegial relationships within the organization because they used to an employee of the organization. The employees are willing to mentoring by him because he probably has build up a very good relationship within them. The top management is also relieved on him because his ability and skill has been recognized. Employees who are promoted from within are more likely to have a good understanding of the organization, its history and core values as well as the culture of the organization. They do not have to spend much time for extra training and they know the way to manage the organization and the way to help organization to earn profit. (Moobs.S., 2010) Disadvantages of promoting from within The first disadvantage is competition among staff. Promoting from within can lead to competitiveness among staff members vying for the same position. When one person is promoted, bad feelings can result in the people left behind. (Agadoni, L., n. d) This can lead to dissatisfaction at work, poor work performance and de-motivated the employees. Some employees may have felt entitled to a promotion even if they are not qualified, simply because they have put in more time and effort to the company. If length of service were the only criterion for promotion, people could be promoted to a job they can’t perform, which could lead to them being fired and reduce the effectiveness of company. The other disadvantage is smaller pool. The top managements have fewer options to fill a spot when they look for promotion only within the organization. (Agadoni, L., n. d) In addition, an insider of the company might not have the right skills needed to perform a job above their current level. They would need training and experience to accomplish the new tasks as expected, whereas outside talent might already possess the needed skills and different kind of experience. It will definitely reduce the organization’s efficiency when training is necessary for the new promote because re-training takes a lot of times and cost. (R. Knoeber. C., 2003) Advantages of bringing in from outside The first advantage of bringing in from outside is be able to achieving clarity on what the situation really is right now both internal to the company and externally. Most of the times, an outsider can see things in different angle and with precisely because they have different experience and they are new in the organization. (Constance Dierickx., n. d) They sometimes bring a point of view that is clear for that very reason. This different lens and frame of reference is exactly why an outsider is valuable and also what most organization is looking for. The second advantage is calibration. Most of the insider of the organization who are appropriately trying to inform the leader but who do not have an independent point of view and who may be stuck in routine ways of reporting. They are often follows the leader’s point of view and they do not have their own experience in certain sector. An outsider first in the organization, he may bring a breadth of different experience from having worked at different of companies in multiple countries on multiple continents as well as different industries. (Constance Dierickx., n. d) An outsider can ask questions that are different, share what he has observed and lead the members to achieve organizational goal. They can challenge their own assumptions as well as the veracity of the information they may hold dear because they have different of resources comes in different way. Disadvantages of bringing in from outside The disadvantage of bringing in from outside is learning curve. It takes time to follow up to speed on a new job, and learning about the corporate culture. (Lisa McQuerrey., n. d) This is especially true when the new outside manager wish to radically change the management style that previously was in place. Not only does the manager need time to be acquainted with the changes and its employees also need to come to an understanding of how the new promoted operates and what performance expectations he brings to the table. The second disadvantage functional expertise of the outsider. Unless the top management has witnessed the outsider at work in his/her field of expertise, otherwise there is no way of knowing whether the outsider’s functional expertise is meets the organization’s standards. (Mayhew.R., n. d) The technical skills or clinical experience of an outsider might not fit the organization’s requirement as well as the job scope. In addition, most of the organization does not take long time for employers during the recruitment and selection process and the employer should always ready to pay risk for incompetency recruitment. (Richards Brigg. B., n. d) Impact of promoting from within on the morale of employees The impact of promoting from within can improve the morale of employees due to great communication. An organization actually has many levels of communication such as from management to employees, between departments, between management groups and between individual employees. To maintain morale, communication lines need to remain open and important information needs to be delivered in a timely fashion. (Anderson. A., n. d) According to Anderson. A, laying off employees usually has a negative impact on morale, but allowing employees that are not scheduled to be laid off to believe that they could damage morale even further. A communication must be build within an organization, a leader who are promoted from within is actually be able to do that because they have been worked for a long time in an organization and good relationship could be build within employees as well as management group. Impact of bringing in outside on the morale of employees The impact of bringing in outside is affect the morale of employees because of the changes in management. Employees can become accustomed to the practices and methods of a particular manager, and when there is a change in management that can have an effect on morale. (Anderson. A., n. d) When an outsider bringing in, he might change the management of the organization and this will affect the morale of employees because most of them are not comfortable with the change and it may takes time for them to acquainted. (Lisa McQuerrey., n. d) Referencing Charles R. Knoeber. (2001) CEO Succession: Handicapping and the Choice between Insiders and Outsiders. [Online] Available at: http://hubcap.clemson.edu/~sauerr/seminar_papers/succession2.pdf [Accessed: 14 Jan 2013] Agrawa. A. (2004) Are outsiders handicapped in CEO successions? [Online] Available at: http://www.bama.ua.edu/~aagrawal/succession.pdf [Accessed: 14 Jan 2013] Briggs, B. (2007) Problems of recruitment in civil service: case of the Nigerian civil service. African Journal of Business Management, Vol 1 (6), p. 142-153. Available at: http://www.academicjournals.org/ajbm/pdf/Pdf2007/Sep/Briggs.pdf [Accessed: 19 Jan 2013]. Mobb. S. (2010) Internal Managerial Promotions: Incentives, CEO Influence, and Firm Valuation. [Online] Available at: https://editorialexpress.com/cgi-bin/conference/download.cgi?db_name=ALEA2010&paper_id=267 [Accessed: 15 Jan 2013] G. JAVITCH. David. (2005) Selecting the Best Manager. [Online] Available at: http://www.entrepreneur.com/article/78576 [Accessed: 15 Jan 2013] Greenwood. B (n. d) The Advantages of Promotion From Within. [Online] Available at: http://work.chron.com/advantages-promotion-within-6320.html [Accessed: 17 Jan 2013] Laura Agadoni (n. d) business and entrepreneurship. [Online] Available at: http://yourbusiness.azcentral.com/disadvantages-promoting-within-4019.html [Accessed: 17 Jan 2013] Mayhew. R. (n. d) Disadvantages of hiring an outside supervisor. [Online] Available at: http://work.chron.com/disadvantages-hiring-outside-supervisor-5593.html [Accessed: 20 Jan 2013] Dierickx. C. (n. d) Benefits of hiring an outside consultant. [Online] Available at: http://www.cdconsultinggrp.com/resources/articles/benefits-of-hiring-an-outside-consultant/ [Accessed: 20 Jan 2013] Anderson. A. (n. d) What impact morale in organization? [Online] Available at: http://smallbusiness.chron.com/impacts-morale-organization-6.html [Accessed: 20 Jan 2013]