Lost in a Dark World: John Milton’s “When I Consider How my Light is Spent” Essay

Being blind would be an incredibly hard thing to endure, and an even harder situation to describe to other people. In John Milton’s 1652 poem When I Consider How my Light is Spent the author uses imagery, symbols, and extended metaphors to express his feelings of going blind and how it relates to the serving of his god. In exploring the use of his imagery you must first know that John Milton was blind when he wrote this poem. All of the imagery used in his poem is functioning to help the reader get a better sense of what it might be like to be blind themselves. The â€Å"dark world† he describes in line two is an example of imagery. He uses these words to describe how his new life or world is; completely absent of light. He’s almost trying to say that he’s not blind, but that the world is just dark. You can see this in line one where he states â€Å"my light is spent.† As you can see Milton uses complicated word play throughout the poem, this brings me to his metaphors. Most of his metaphors are used to describe how being blind has affected his life as well as his ability to serve his god. He uses the word â€Å"light† many times in the poem but this word can be substituted out for the word vision. His vision is what he is referring to but he chooses to use the word light to express to the reader that he isn’t going blind, but that the light is running out which I pointed out earlier. The word â€Å"talent† used in line three has a double meaning. The Biblical parable about hiding the talent and not turning the master’s currency into a profit (described in the foot note) is used as an extended metaphor in which God is compared to the lord, while the speaker is the third servant who has buried the money. He feels that because he is blind he can no longer serve his god properly and is wondering if he should just end his life now. Finally Milton uses symbols throughout his poem to allude to the fact that he will not end his life, but that he will wait for his time and live out the rest of his life blind. One symbol can be seen in line eight where he capitalizes the word â€Å"Patience.† The word is capitalized to symbolize that patience is some sort of being that he has encountered, and that it is what has convinced him not to end his life. In line twelve he states â€Å"Thousands at his bidding speed†¦They also serve who only stand and wait.† The thousands mentioned symbolize angels who serve God in every length, and that they also serve ones who are patient. This is Milton’s justification for living out the rest of his life even though he doesn’t feel he can serve his god anymore. He will be patient. This poem has lots of word play mainly dealing with imagery, metaphors, and symbols, but when you analyze and break it all down it turns into a great poem that makes you reflect on how John Milton felt about his blindness. I believe this was his intent in writing this poem.

Fast Food in HK

McDonald's VS KFC Fast Food culture In the worldwide Fast food, as you can understand Is the term referring to food that Is prepared and can be delivered In a fast time. It Is traditionally American style meal that always included French fries, burgers and soft drinks. Restaurants store precooked ingredients, once the customer gives an order, take-away can be ready In a while. To be called as â€Å"Fast food†, these foods must meet a few standards: good time management, quality stability and fixed price. It is a very popular meal style in some well-developed cities, since the people have a totally busy life.The first recorded fast food restaurant A;W is founded in 1919 at the united States of America, and the second one is the famous company White Castle in 1921. In this century, fast food restaurants develop and most of them become chains suppliers. US people spent billions on buying fast food every year. The fast food globalization had now become a huge social issue. Nowaday s there are over 500,000 fast food restaurants and thousands brands in the whole world. And today we are going to focus on the two head quarters in Hong Kong- McDonald's and KFC. Introduction of McDonald's McDonald's Is definitely the biggest fast food chain In the world.It founded In 1940 by Richard and Maurice McDonald. Nowadays, over 33,000 McDonald's restaurants were established in the worldwide. The products of McDonald's are In various types, mainly hamburgers, French fries, chickens and soft drinks. Sometimes, they will provide seasonal meal to attract customers such as ‘Shake Shake French fries'. Following differences of choices, McDonald's would also offer vegetarian food too. In order to fit the culture, they may change the meal a little bit for example not providing beef in India. You can always find one on the street, because there are in total 200 stores in Hong Kong.McDonald's became popular all the time due to busy life schedule of Hong Kong people. Introduction of KFC On the other hand, the Kentucky Fried Chicken (KFC) is the largest fried chicken shop in the world, and the second largest fast food chain after the McDonald's. Harland Sanders founded KFC in 1930 at Kentucky in the United States of America. KFC practically sells fried chicken pieces, coleslaw and drinks. The popularity of KFC's chicken comes trom its original secret recipe which mixed with 11 herbs and spices. Not Ilke the McDonald's, KFC has a smaller scale with only 63 stores In Hong Kong.However, the numbers didn't affect the KFC's second largest place of fast food chain In Hong Kong. Advantages and disadvantages of Fast Food always in busy life schedule. Facing the hard workload, they may only have half an hour to have a meal and rush beck to their work. Thus, these quick service restaurants help to solve to lack of time problem. Meals can be prepared within ten minutes. No matter how delicious other food are, Hong Kong people have not enough time to buy ingredients, co ok or enjoy. Second is the stability of food within one chain of fast food restaurant.Tastes are ainly the same in any store. You will never taste bad with the same meal. And the prices are predictable and affordable too. One fast food meal is always cheaper than you cook alone at home. However, fast food as called as Junk food, affecting people's health. Restaurant usually uses a lot of additives such as salt, flavorings and preservatives. The large amount of calories and additives are harmful to human body. Since the fast food is all pre-cooked, the nutrients of the ingredients are lost. Therefore, some people may say that fast food is only for surviving.Eating fast food in a long term may cause arious diseases such as diabetes and heart attack. Comparison of McDonald's and KFC In Hong Kong, McDonald's is obviously in a larger scale than KFC. Except the differences on the food kinds, the way they run the company are a bit different too. Apart from fast food restaurant, McDonald's have McCaf ©s to provide desserts and coffee like Starbucks. Besides, McDonald's have works in different area of society such as charity, children health affair. But the KFC is Just only a restaurant in Hong Kong. Therefore, people would called McDonald's as a better company than KFC in Hong Kong.

Affirmative Action Is Not the Solution Essays -- Affirmative Action Es

One of the arguments against affirmative action is that it injures white men and violates their rights. If were to take a closer look at the affirmative action laws, we can see why this would be true. For example, let’s take a hypothetical situation of two males, one white and another individual who happens to be a minority, both sending in college applications to Harvard to compete for admission. Unfortunately, the university only has one available spot and must decide between the white individual and the minority. The white male has slightly better grades and quite a few more volunteer hours, while both of them excelled in sports and completed two foreign languages. Under the current affirmative action policies, the minority would probably get the final position because of the perceived need for ethnic diversity in the college atmosphere, despite the fact that he did not have the stronger academic credentials. Would this be considered just? In this case not only would affirm ative action be serving an injustice to the white individual, but it would also help create a loophole by indirectly establishing a legal form of discrimination.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The counterpoint to this argument is that although affirmative action creates a larger obstacle for white men to achieve, such measures are necessary in order to break the cycle of de facto employment and school discrimination. However, this does not seem to be a valid counterpoint. If we take a look at another hypothetical situation we can see why it is not † However, this argument is not compelling, as the best way to increase productivity and improve the economy is to hire on merit. Hiring based on something other than objective merit may result in economic inefficiency and a less qualified staff. If minorities have a qualified resume and are available, they will meet the criteria of the employer. Once again, it is more effective to treat the disease itself, rather than to stoop down to the same level and discriminate to treat the symptoms. In athletics, for example, in spite of past discrimination blacks have excelled, not because standards were lowered but because barriers were eliminated. Now more than ever blacks comprise the largest ethnic group in professional sports and have come to dominate some of the most lucrative sports such as football and basketball, and are now using their earned social capital to give back to their communities to help others along the way. This is a prime example of how minorities can be helped without lowering the standard by which others are also measured by. To improve our standards as a whole, we must remove the ball and chain on minorities, rather than adding a heavier ball and chain on whites.

PwC Pays for Priority; New Recruiting Tool for College Students Gives Essay

PwC Pays for Priority; New Recruiting Tool for College Students Gives Accounting Firm Top Billing - Essay Example In this paper, we are going to look at its stretch in expanding its reach as far as accounting is concerned. Its key competitors are KPMG, Ernst & Young, and Deloitte LLP. These firms are all using the same technique to expand their activities; recruiting thousand of undergraduates and graduates as well as promoting these activities through advertisements in media such as Facebook and Twitter (PwC Pays for Priority (article), 2010). PWC has chosen 60 top colleges where it will be channeling funds by sponsoring the education. The top accounting students will get recruitments in the firm as interns for undergraduates and full-time employment for graduates. The competitors have also designed their tactics, they are all competing for new graduates regardless of the current economic crisis all over the world (PwC Pays for Priority (article), 2010). The firm plans to recruit over 5,500 graduates and undergraduates from different colleges and universities in USA. This is the combination of both new employees and interns. Records how that it is an improvement compared to the previous years where it recruited 4,600 last year and 4,800 the year before the previous recruitment. Financial accounting records shows that the firm has been improving as far as its returns are concerned and this has been proven by its $26.57 billion revenue. This was a 1.5% growth from the previous years regardless of the global crisis; Western Europe is the largest company’s source of revenue followed by Caribbean and North America (PwC Pays for Priority (article), 2010). The firm has challenged its competitors in using techniques such as media in the recruiting process and Twitter. In the career pages of the firm, it has equipped it with online chats where recruiters discuss different issues with recruits. This was designed early last year, if any student is interested, he/she will just interact with the recruitment crew and if he/she

Employment - To examine how race continues to play a role in the Essay

Employment - To examine how race continues to play a role in the hiring and employment of black males - Essay Example Employment of less educated black males today range only up to 52 percent compared to 62 percent two decades ago, contrary to the employment rate of comparable white and Hispanic males that has been steady over the past 20 years, and employment among young black women has increased significantly. Part of the market population and the anxiety about crime crowded the perspective of some possible employers; furthermore, increased enforcement of child support orders may play a vital role in the declining manufacturing employment of these young men. Industrial metro areas and major metros like New York, Los Angeles and San Francisco offered lower rates of employment directly in contrast to those in rural areas. However, southern metro areas offer this group better employment prospects. Racism is very evident through black American men’s income. Hard labor begets years of discrimination and prejudice through education and employment. Â  Economists can further prove this fact; apparently, wages for white soar high while black workers compensate a little serving the similar function in the society as employees with about the same educational backgrounds. There should be no disparity in emolument only for a reason of complexion; however, there exist a vast difference. A Labor Department study concludes that African American men who do not possess a high school diploma received less than 20 percent of their total wage compare to whites of the same position and in similar job categories. Â   Black high school graduates’ wages was 24 percent short than the wages paid to white graduates; those blacks who attained a bachelor’s degree are paid 21 percent less of the salaries paid to white college graduates doing the same job. Â  The same ‘rule’ applies in professions, black attorneys earn $790 for every $1000 paid to white lawyers and African Americans with master’s degrees get only 77 cents for every dollar paid to whites, that is 23 percent less – their reason

Family socilogy (The influence of the family structure) Essay

Family socilogy (The influence of the family structure) - Essay Example Family has always played a vital role in ordering society and in determining life chances of various individuals. The word family holds different meaning for different people and used to symbolize many different views. Giddens defines the family as a â€Å"group of persons directly linked by kin connections, the adult members of which assume responsibility for caring for children†. By children he meant who are dependent on their parents for their livelihood; are aged under 16 or 17 and are in full time education. Till today families are responsible for the upbringing and nurture of children. They are the ones who provide not only love and care but also financial support to children. The main functions performed by the family is to teach a child discipline, judge between what is right and wrong and an acceptable behavior pattern. In this essay, we shall discuss to what extent is family central to the lives of children in Britain. Gordon Brown had expressed that family is the foundation on which our communities, our society and our country are built. However, it has been found in recent years that the traditional beliefs and values of families have undergone lots of social and economic changes. Earlier the foundation stone of families used to be love and care but today it has been replaced by looser and material needs of money and selfishness. These factors have led to the emergence of new types of families like lone parent families, step families, symmetrical families and cohabit families. (cited in Duncan & Phillips, 2008:1). The demographic transition in Europe started from the 1950’s and is still continuing today. Ansley Coale’s has described demographic transition â€Å"as a change from the traditional society in which high mortality and natality rates existed to an industrialized society in which natality and mobility are stabilized at low levels.† This transition has been the result of various social and economic changes such as urbanization, education levels, productive structure and secularization etc. The changes in the trends of life of people have brought about a major change in the way children perceive family in Britain (Pairo, 1997). According to Squire, a family structure changes with experience and life events as a child grows from childhood to adulthood. Every family functions in a unique way due to variations in household types, family structures and the division of domestic labor. Also the composition of the family is influenced by the social, cultural and economic characteristics of different ethnic groups. These factors affect the extent to which a family may or may not be central to the lives of children. Although all family structures are unique but they have one thing in common – they all provide emotional and mutual structural support to all children. A family helps to locate a child socially and thus act as one of the key socializing agents (Squire, 2003:60). A child’s happiness and healthy development depends on a large scale on the kind of relationship that exists between parents, grandparents and other caring adults in the family and most crucially among children and adults. According to research in 2008, 64 % of children live in married families with couples, 23% of children live in lone parent family and 13% live with cohabiting couples (Mapalthorpe et al., 2008:4).The research also reveals that marriage is not necessary for the successful running of the family but good relations matter. Also, 78% of individuals have agreed that it is not divorce that harms children but parental conflicts. According to the individualistic theory, families should become more liberal, with children having a say in important family decisions. Also, biological parents should provide parenting to their children lifelong which will help in their growth towards adulthood. However, research says otherwise –step fathe rs can equally take care and bestow love on them as compared to biological fathers. Traditionally family had been seen as

A Comparison between two UK companies Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words - 1

A Comparison between two UK companies - Essay Example The success of Sofitel hotel shows the level of success of its marketing strategy while the dwindling profitability of the Britannia Hotels shows the failures of the marketing strategies the hotel employs as the analysis below portrays. Sofitel hotel is a five star hotel that offers a number of high quality services including spa, luxury rooms and conference facilities among many others. The hotel has a number of services that continue to grow its services after realizing that diversification is the key to achieving profitability. The chain management of the hotel has succeeded in developing high-end hotels in a number of leading destinations across both Europe and the United States. The Sofitel Hotels in the United Kingdom enjoy immense success and profitability evident in the growth of the hotel’s services and facilities. The success of Sofitel Hotel arises from a number of factors key among which is the provision of high quality services. The level of cleanliness of the rooms, diversity of cuisines and level of hospitability of the wait staff at the hotel enhances the quality of services at thereby succeeding building a desirable name for the hotel. The quality of services of the hotel is effective in creating a desirable reputation for the hotel. Travelers come to the hotel owing to referrals from their friends while numerous others are returning customers who confessed their love and admiration of the level of professionalism of the employees of the hotel coupled with the level of hospitality and serenity of the hotel (Venison, 2005). The hotel employs a number of effective marketing strategies all of which continue to enhance its profitability. The hotel has an efficient chain management that has succeeded in developing appropriate customer loyalty reward programs (OFallon & Rutherford, 2011). The chain has a number of facilities throughout

Research paper Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words - 14

Research paper - Essay Example This implies that racist organizations, as well as other antisocial organizations, exploit Internet to achieve their objectives. Social media networks are widely being used propagate vilification and hostility against other groups. In most cases, cyber-racism and hate speech in social media networks are characterized by cultural and ethnic divides. Although the Internet has revolutionized many areas of the human society, it also has far-reaching negative consequences when abused, misused or used without proper guidance. Dixit and Green (188) assert that the Internet is one of the platforms through which people propagate racial violence. It is observable that people can freely interact and express their views on the Internet without jurisdiction or geographical restriction. However, this freedom has not been accompanied by the responsibilities that it deserves. For this reason, cyber racists have seriously abused that freedom. Such groups often use the Internet as the avenue in which to unleash hostile sentiments against whom they consider detestable or unwelcome. In many cases, the groups or individuals that have been attacked do not take such prejudice kindly. They are likely to respond to such negativity in a similar negative manner or with a higher degree of counter-retaliatory abuse. Ultimately, it is easy to observe that the Internet is a potential battlefield for racist groups. It is also an avenue for extending extreme ideologies that result in social divide. Sexism is another largely contested consequence of the Internet usage. Sexism refers to the discrimination against women. It could be true that men and women have equal access to the Internet globally (Szoka and Marcus 69). However, the same cannot be said about online experiences of both sexes. It this case, women face a wider spectrum of discrimination. The discrimination is in many cases, multifaceted and to a greater extent

Questions Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Questions - Essay Example QUESTION TWO In his poem, ‘Puerto Rican obituary,’ Pedro Pietri urges the New York Puerto Rican community to switch to their own imaginations instead of turning to the televisions that are only filled with American influence. As reflected from the tone in the twenty third stanzas, the author makes several suggestions to the New York Puerto Ricans. He argues that the Puerto Ricans should solely rely on Latina souls as the sole religious background for their race, and not on the bibles. The New York Puerto Ricans ought to have learnt from the manner in which their fellow citizens were buried shamefully; â€Å"without underwear’s† as he claims. Pedro concludes his poem by stating that, living the Puerto Rican mode of life; where beautiful people work, sing and dance together is way much better. The weather conditions are favorable and they do a need a dictionary to communicate to each other. QUESTION THREE Most Puerto Ricans in the poem went to America with dr eams of living a luxurious life, and earning hefty pay, only to end up as well trained janitors who were laughed at. Those from the island spent their last days working as porters, maids, factory workers, stock and shipping clerks, messenger boys, and mailroom assistants. They only ended up in their island cemetery after all the hard work. The situation is no different from the case in ‘Chango fire’ by Quinonez. ... The seller gave her instructions on how to perform a ritual as she was supplied with the required items. Despite her attack by some boys in the park she was able to get home and perform her ritual. The ritual revealed that she should go back to Santeria with her mother. Lourdes also some magical encounters; as she was an auxiliary policeman she would encounters her father’s spirit on a regular basis. Felicia suffers physical abuse from her husband Hugo Villaverde. Hugo constantly vanishes from her life; he later on infects her with syphilis. Felicia attempts to kill him in his sleep by dropping a torched rag on his face; Hugo decides to disappear completely. At an early age Felicia befriended the high priest daughter; Herminia Delgado. She helps guide Felicia into their religion. Felicia constantly descends into madness: During her second pregnancy, after the death of Ernestro, of which she had to leave Santeria. She did not know her identity and she suffered memory lose for m onths. After the death of her third husband, Felicia returned to Santeria and embraces priesthood. QUESTION FIVE In relation to revolutionary affiliations; Celia portrays an unwavering support for El Lider and the revolution. She uses her role as the Santeria judge in the peoples court, to suppress creative work. She only gathers support from her son Javier. Her perception distances her from Lourdes, Felicia and Pillar of whom she was close to. Lourdes is also distant from her own daughter Pillar due to her anxiety for the pro U.S. patriotism. However Lourdes defends her daughter when she painted a punk statue of liberty for those that were not veiling. The impact of this political division was so significant that

How are schools agencies of empowerment and disempowerment Essay

How are schools agencies of empowerment and disempowerment - Essay Example A disempowered state arises when there is subjugation, discrimination and domination based on race, sex, social class, poverty etc. As vehicles of empowerment, schools play a vital role in the "development of a properly trained and socialized citizenry" (Dornbusch, Kristan & Lin, 1996). Schools have two most important purposes in the society. Firstly they teach "cognitive skills" which is an integral part of technical education. Secondly, they help in sorting individuals in different job categories depending on their skills (Dornbusch et al., 1996). Various reforms have been made by the American government for improving the quality of education and increasing the student's achievement level. "In March 1994 the U. S. Congress passed the eight National Education Goals for the year 2000", under which some important rules were passed: Schools should be attended by all children, all the children should be literate and "every school would promote partnerships that would increase parental involvement and participation in promoting the social, emotional, and academic growth of children" (Hanushek & Jorgenson, 1996, p. 3). The legislation, No Child Left Behind (NCLB), passed in 2001 re-authorized the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA) of 1965 (Hess & Finn, 2004, p. 3). NCLB's major tenets were to think over the problems faced by schools, to research on the current means of improving schools, "suggest new ways of thinking ", and "help prioritize the challenges and make recommendations when possible (Juvonen, Le, Kaganoff, Augu stine, & Constant, 2004, p. xv). Research shows that parents become less involved with children's school homework and other activities as they become older (p. xix) "Several studies show that, when parents do not monitor and stay involved, their young teens are at elevated risk for compromised school achievement and conduct problems "(p. 86).The school reforms objectives was to "offer interventions for the lowest -performing children" (p. xix). These reforms are important for empowerment which in turn helps the students to acquire knowledge "outside their immediate experience in order to broaden their understanding of themselves, the world, and the possibilities for transforming the taken-for-granted assumptions about the way we live" (Irwin, 1996, p. 5). It helps them to get critical thinking skills that make them question the prevalent social setup and not accept it on face value (p. 5). Empowered teachers would be the ones who "understand systems of domination and work to transform oppressive practices in society" while respecting the "dignity of others" (Irwin, 1996, p. 13). Schools as disempowering agencies perpetuate social discrimination .They sustain a "system of structured inequality" (Dornbusch, et al., 1996). Student's class, race, ethnicity can generate a different set of treatment by schools. "The students with the greatest needs are often given the worst education" (Irwin, 1996, p. 64). Even though there is much hype about "all persons being equal in our democratic documents, we have not yet internalized this concept as a society" (p. 65). Even though, meritorious students get advantages in "status attainment" and students with lower social order can ride over their shortcomings through education, research shows that students with higher "social origins" get the benefit of status attainment (Dornbusch, et al

Relation between jew of malta and merchant of venice Essay Example for Free

Relation between jew of malta and merchant of venice Essay The two novels, Christopher Marlowe’s ‘The Jew of Malta’ and William Shakespeare’s ‘The Merchant of Venice’, the main characters are Jews, a characteristic that makes the comparison of the books easier. However, the way the characters are presented has made the two stories have deep and active anti-Semitic notions and messages. Right from the beginning of the play, we can see some clear negative stereotypes towards Jews. Barabbas is undoubtedly portrayed as a man who loves money to an extent that he seems addicted to them. In the opening, we see a merchant, counting his money with passion, and later on complaining about not having made enough by his recent business activities. Marlowe straightly defines his whole character and attitude by this portrayal, showing us that Barabbas is nothing more than a greedy Jew. As the story progresses and the plot unfolds, the character of Barabbas also unfolds, showing us how he doesn’t even hesitate doing unethical and heartless things just so that he can protect himself from losing money. When his wealth is taken away, after he refuses to give half of it like the other Jews did, he unleashes his ruthless effort to regain his wealth. He doesn’t hesitate using his daughter to retrieve the gold and jewels he has hidden in his house, and it is meaningful to see how he reacts after Abigail throws him the bags of gold out of the window and he embraces them while ignoring his own daughter. Although this is not the only example of how he puts money over more important things, the fact that he seems to place money above Abigail, his own daughter, shows his general attitude. But of course it doesn’t stop there, as apart from his avaricious self, he has to quench his thirst for revenge and execute his plan for retaliation. His plan consists mainly of taking revenge from the man who took away the most precious thing he has, his wealth. That man of course is Ferneze, the governor of Malta. So, Barabbas decides to kill Ferneze’s son, Lodowick, that way taking the revenge he so passionately seeks. Once again he uses his own daughter as decoy, to execute his plan, showing that she has mainly a functional purpose for him. After he completes his plan and kills not only Lodowick but also Mathias, the man that his daughter loves, he feels betrayed by his daughter, as she converts to Christianity. I believe that this is where the insanity and sickness of Barabbas reaches a peak. He is determined to kill his own daughter, because he feels that she disrespects her family’s name. The epilogue to this madness comes when finally Barabbas gets killed by his own evil plots. In the end of the story we can easily identify the negative characteristics that Barabbas has, which are also strongly connected to the fact that he is Jewish. His elitist nature, his illogical actions that are all driven by his avarice, and his lack of sentiments towards other people, make him fit ideally the stereotypes of Jews that existed at the time. So, every single part of his hateful and insane being, is justified by the fact that he is Jewish, and thus it is natural that he is unstable and inferior to Christians. The next example of anti-Semitic portrayals comes from ‘The Merchant of Venice’. The main character, Shylock is portrayed as a greedy Jewish moneylender that is just like Barabbas, when it comes to hate towards Christians and other people in general. He is also a heartless man, not feeling pity for anyone, showing a rather sadistic nature. The hate he feels for Antonio is so immense that makes us question to what extent he is actually rational at all. Throughout the development of the plot he seems to hold so many negative values that it is impossible not to make a connection between his character and the fact that he is a Jew. Just like Marlowe, Shakespeare makes the fact that he is Jewish the root of all evil, as from that very fact all the other negative traits arise. As Bloom mentions in his essay, Shylock is a walking nightmare, and that should be the only way that anyone portrays him. As we can see from his speeches, he clearly has a great love for his wealth and he is not jeopardizing his financial position for any reason. It is not a coincidence that when Jessica runs away with his money, he mostly worries about his wealth and not so much about his daughter. Also, the fact that Jessica had to run away shows that Shylock is far from an ideal father. His speeches also show that he has an extremely negative attitude towards Christians that he justifies as the retaliation for all the anti-Semitism he has faced. He seems very resentful towards the people that have acted in a bad way towards him and as I mentioned earlier, especially Antonio. So, his actions are mainly driven by his rage and what he thinks as retribution. By the portrayal of Barabbas and Shylock, a logical question approaches. Are the two writers inspired and influenced by racism and the anti-Semitic ideas of their time? In ‘The Jew of Malta’ it is hard not to recognize all the negative Jewish stereotypes presented in the form of a very unappealing character, Barabbas. Barabbas is not just an unethical and evil man, he is the typical money-loving Jew, with all the disgusting characteristics that the racist society of the two writers has attributed to Jews. Such a racist society had created all these negative stereotyping for Jews, making them seem like greedy monsters. So I find it impossible that Marlowe as an author hasn’t been affected and influenced by the stereotypes of his time. That is mainly because in societies that racism towards a specific religion is so acceptable, there is very high tolerance for reproduction of such ideas and thus such a portrayal would not arise any questions or hate. Such situation reminds me of what happens with many fictional evil characters like the devil. I doubt that even a single reader would object if a writer attributed evil characteristics to the devil! Although it may seem like an oversimplified example, I believe it captures the very essence of the attitude of people at the time. That is, because the society had condemned Jews of being the cause of everything bad. Such portrayals are very similar to what Carl Marx has written hundreds of years later, describing Jews as mere worshipers of money. Although in our days the Jew of Malta can be viewed as a cynical work, I seriously doubt that Marlowe has such an intention, as he characterized it atragedy. Â  It is clear to me that no matter how anti-Semitism is viewed today after many important events like the Holocaust, the play was influenced by a lot of religious racism and prejudice, and Barabbas’ characteristics were nothing but the actual portrayal of ‘evil Jews’ as the English at the time viewed them. Consequently, Barabbas seems like the epitome of a real ‘Jew’, the epitome of evil, greed and lack of conscience. The case is similar in ‘The Merchant of Venice’, as Shylock is also portrayed like a perfect example of a Jew, as stereotyped in the Elizabethan times. I personally feel that Shakespeare was also influenced by the general anti-Semitic environment he lived in. Although a verdict of whether he was actually racist in his story is hard to be reached, I find it impossible that a play meant for Christians would not follow the trends of the time. The examples in the story are numerous and clear, straightforwardly proving the position of the Jews. From the fact that the Jews are presented the way they are, up to the point that they are forced to convert to Christianity or give up a part of their wealth, it is evident how negative the Jewish religion was as a characteristic. The fact that it was the same thing for the government to gain wealth and convert a Jew, show the deep-rooted hatred against this religious group, and the fact that Christians simply wanted to get rid of them as they viewed them like parasites. Such sort of treatment reminds us, newer generations, of the Nazis and their monstrous acts but at the time of the original play, as aforementioned, racism was perfectly fine! Nevertheless, Shakespeare does act in a racist way, if we assume that a writer is judged by what he actually writes. I would strongly doubt that Shakespeare intended to make his play anything similar to a parody or a criticism of stereotypes, and I believe that he expresses what he purely thinks. As we have seen from the two plays, the Jewish protagonists, Barabbas and Shylock have a very negative and unethical personality. Their vile and evil acts, paired with their appalling characters, seem to be the actual description of a negative stereotype towards the Jews. Although it may seem ambiguous whether these portrayals are actual and literal or simply ironic, it is clear to me that the answer is simple. The two authors have no intention at all of criticizing racism and simply portray Jews just as a normal Elizabethan would. So, the two stories, although politically incorrect and really prejudiced, are the result of truthful portrayals and honest approaches of the description of characters with a Jewish religion. No matter how wrong and inaccurate, these descriptions were made with complete seriousness by writers living in an environment were such sort of prejudice was rooted from many years ago and continued to bloom.

Self-Reflection Paper Essay Example for Free

Self-Reflection Paper Essay The verbal and non-verbal speaking anxiety signs I noticed in myself was that I kept fidgeting, and touching my hair or face. I felt the rate of my speaking was too fast and I was stuttering. I did not move around at all and my feet were crossed the whole time of my speech. During my presentation I need to multi-task by speaking about my topic as I am presenting whatever subject. Do not overthink any speech or presentation or try to impress my audience. The specific areas I intend to work on from this class is to be confident in myself and better my speaking abilities. Try my best not to overthink the presentation and get my point across as clearly as possible. Be more effective in my communication skills, deliver the message succinctly, body language, eye contact, facial expressions, and be incongruent. I would like to be more enthusiastic during my speeches. I want to learn how to speak at my audience’s level and be more connected. Take in everything I am learning and keep practicing. After this course is complete I would like to accomplish my communication skills, body language, eye contact, facial expressions, and presentation skills. I need to be clear in my own head about what message I want to communicate. I would also like my sounds to convey understanding to whatever I am about to speak about. I would like to get up in the front of class at any given time and give a perfect impromptu speech or any presentation without a flinch. I understand our bodies entail many different messages, but I want all of my body’s movements to captivate my audience’s attention and I want them to be interested because of how great of communicator I will be. My plan to improve my weak areas is to listen to my instructor and peers feedback and take that in and put it into a positive and learn from it. I would accomplish my goals by reading the chapters and following the guidelines step by step. Keep practicing because they say practice makes perfect every time.

Impact of Economic Crisis on Tourism: Literature Review

Impact of Economic Crisis on Tourism: Literature Review Literature review on how economic crises affect tourism Hospitality industry affected by crises such as the economical one theses days. Customers buying decisionPower influenced when they want to travel by crisis or financial aspects. Affect on arrivals, expenditures, number of nights stayed, volume due to a crisis (economic and financial)? Explain law of supply and demand, and give a model related to hotels or tourism if possible. The impact of crises, particularly economic crises, on the tourism and hospitality industries is illustrated sharply by Watkins (2002), who details how the depressed economy of the United States following the dot com crash led to a rapid decline in the American long haul public transportation system, with significant implications for the US tourism and hotel industries. In addition, not only did the weak economy in 2000 and 2001 create issues in the industry, but the attacks on the 11th September 2001 dramatically decreased travel across the country. However, Watkins (2002) demonstrates that this also led to customers exercising greater power when making their buying decision, with many companies choosing lower class options for business travel, and tourists using the power of the Internet to look for the lowest air travel prices. In addition, the economic and terrorist crises actually benefitted US low cost carriers, allowing Southwest Airlines to reach a critical mass of services, and hence take on the major flag airlines such as American Airlines and Delta. Indeed, the evidence indicates that during a significant economic crisis, the tourism industry shrinks, but changing consumer preferences tend to minimise the impact of this shrinking, and allow some sectors to grow. Looking at the current economic crisis, Clausing et al (2007) report that many travel executives are confident that the industry as a whole will survive the current recession, and even emerge stronger, and with higher net profits than originally forecasted. This is further supported by Taylor (2008), who reports that whilst sales of traditional holidays in the UK country fell by a quarter over the summer of 2008, with many predicting a further 12 per cent fall over the summer of 2009, this reduction in capacity will provide future benefits to the industry. In particular, the reduction is expected to result in an six or seven percent increase in prices in 2009, which will help the surviving agencies and operators to boost their profits and secure their operations. However, whilst widespread national or international crises, such as the one occurring at the moment, offer opportunities for some firms in the industry; localised crises can have a devastating impact on arrivals, expenditures, and volume in the local area. The Economist (2003) details the impact of the outbreak of severe acute respiratory syndrome, SARS, on the economy of Hong Kong where it was most concentrated. In Hong Kong at the height of the outbreak, hotel occupancy fell by almost 80 per cent and the two main passenger airlines: Cathay Pacific and Draganair, lost more than 60 per cent of their traffic. Restaurants and hotels in the city also saw almost no economic activity, and retail prices continued their falls which were initiated by the Asian financial crisis in the late 1990s (The Economist, 2003). The Asian financial crisis itself was a significant one, and had a major negative impact on tourism across the industry, particularly amongst Asian airlines which lost many of their business class passengers. However, in this case the economic crisis created a fall in demand which acted as a catalyst for a significant change to the supply side of the industry (Sadi and Henderson, 2000). In particular, the Asian airlines recognised the need for high levels of adaptability in their supply of services, including the need to be flexible around costs in case of falls in revenue. The supply side pressures led to an increasing extension and consolidation of the various strategic alliances in the industry, as well as organisational reorganisation and the adoption of new technologies. These changes allowed the most successful players in the industry to weather the crisis and gave them the potential to emerge from it in a stronger situation (Sadi and Henderson, 2000). Indeed, even major crises can provide a boom for some tourist activities in the region where the crisis occurs. This can be seen in Pearce’s (2001) analysis of the development of the New Zealand tourist industry during the 1990s, which was strongly affected by the Asian economic crisis. As a result of this crisis, only the most resilient hotels, airlines and other tourist offerings were able to thrive, hence creating an industry able to rapidly adapt to changing tourist tastes and market conditions. This led to New Zealand developing one of the most diverse and complex tourism industries in the region, giving it significant appeal to a wide range of tourists (Pearce, 2001). Finally, whilst the tourism industry can be strongly damaged by economic crises, it can also reap the benefits of events which occur as a reaction to said crises, or from attempts to resolve them. This is demonstrated by Bue-Said (2008) who claims that the victory of Barack Obama in the US presidential elec tion will tend to be of significant benefit to the tourism industry in the United States: not only will Obama’s proposed rescue package for the US economy stimulate tourism, but as the first African American President of the United States, Obama may well be a tourist attraction himself. References Bue-Said, J. L. (2008) Black clouds could be lifting. Travel Weekly; 14th November 2008, p. 26. Clausing, J. Baran, M. and Compart, A. (2007) Industry is upbeat despite credit crunch. Travel Weekly; Vol. 66, Issue 38, p. 16. Economist (2003) In intensive care. Economist; Vol. 367, Issue 8321, p. 20. Pearce, D. (2001) Tourism. Asia Pacific Viewpoint; Vol. 42, Issue 1, p. 75. Sadi, M. A. and Henderson, J. C. (2000) The Asian economic crisis and the aviation industry: impacts and response strategies. Transport Reviews; Vol. 20, Issue 3, p. 347-367. Taylor, I. (2008) Holidays out of UK down by a quarter. Travel Weekly; 14th November 2008, p. 2-3. Watkins, E. (2002) Another Threat to the Hotel Industry. Lodging Hospitality; Vol. 58, Issue 12, p. 2. Methods for Business Analysis: PESTLE and Porters Five Methods for Business Analysis: PESTLE and Porters Five According to Johnson scholes (2005, Page 9) strategy is the direction and scope of an organisation over the long period, ideally which seeks to match its resources to its changing environment and in particular its markets, customers or clients so as to meet stakeholders expectations. Strategy is viewed as a link between the firm and its environment (Grant, 2008). For a strategy to be successful it should be in harmony with the firms internal environment such as goals, values, resources, capabilities and systems, and the external environment in which it operates. Developing effective strategies cannot take place without firstly (Vignali et al, 2003) analysing the external environment in which the company operates. Vignali Vrontis, (2004) further suggested that environmental scanning of both the external and internal environment is necessary to formulate the strategy to reach their objectives. For an organisation it is important to analyse the macro environment which comprises of political, social, technological and economical issues; industry experts use PESTLE to analyse this macro environment. PESTLE is a tool used to analyse the external business macro environment in identifying how future trends might impact on organisations within an industry. Macro environment factors will impact to a greater or lesser extent on all companies in the business environment (Johnson Scholes, 2008). Pestle stands for Political, economical, social, technological, legal and environmental. Political- legal, factors include antitrust regulations, environmental protection laws, tax laws, foreign trade regulations, stability of government, European issues ;Economical factors such as GDP trends, interest rates, money supply, inflation rates, unemployment levels, exchange rates, foreign trade regulations; Sociocultural- lifestyle changes, consumer activism, career expectations, demographics; Technological changes such as New products, internet, telecom, networking. An example of PESTLE ANALYSIS for Airline Industry The political factors such as government support for national carriers, security control, restrictions on migrations will have a major impact on the industry. Economic factors such as national growth rates, fuel prices, recession, employment affects the airlines business. Social factors such as consumer spending, international holidays and International student exchange programmes, Olympics directly increase the sales of the business where as in technological factors such as fuel efficient engines, security check machines, online ticketing systems and environmental issues such as noise pollution, carbon emission regulations changes in any of the above factors will have a impact on the airlines industry. According to (Johnson Scholes, 2008) it is very important to find the key drivers for change rather than overwhelming on all the details of the environment factors, as the key drivers may vary within industries. The external forces impact the immediate environment (Johnson et al, 2005) creating competitive forces on the organisation in the industry. It is very important for managers to be aware of the companys environmental factors, competitive forces in the industry, which showcase the attractiveness of the industry and the success or failure of a particular company (Mintzberg et al, 1998). These environmental factors can be categorised either as opportunities or threat and are included in the strategic formulation. Porters five forces: Porters five forces model provides a useful basis to examine the extent of competition in an industry. Attractiveness of an industry with competitive forces can be identified with the help of five forces framework. The profit potential of an industry can be determined by collective strength of the five forces (Mintz berg et al). The five forces are: threat of new entrants, threat of substitute products or services, bargaining power of suppliers, bargaining power of buyers and rivalry among existing firms. Customers, suppliers, substitutes, and potential entrants are all competitors to firms in the industry (Porter, 2004, 2008). If all these forces are strong, the more limited is the ability of established companies to raise prices and earn greater profits (Wheelen Hunger, 2002; Hagen, 2010). A company can earn greater profits if there is a low competition force in the industry and a high competitive force can be viewed as threat since it may reduce profits. Many authors Johnson et a l, 2008; Mintzberg et al,1998 ;Wheelen Hunger, 2002 ; Thompson Martin 2005;Grant, 2008 have used the porter five forces frame work in the academic texts. Threat of new entrants: New entrants bring new capacity; desire to gain market share and substantial resources (Mintzberg et al, 1998). The threat of entry depends on the height of barriers (Porter, 2004) and the reaction from existing competitors. Some of the entry barriers are Economies of scale: Economies of scale prevent the entry by forcing the potential competitor to come in on a large scale or to accept cost disadvantage. As the existing firms gain economies of scale through mass production and standard products from the suppliers there by enjoying lower cost per unit. Product differentiation: Existing firms have a brand differentiation and customer loyalty which has achieved by creating value to the customer, Differentiation creates a barrier to entry as the potential competitors needs to spend heavily to gain the market. Capital requirements: Capital requirements create a barrier to potential competitors as they need to invest huge amount, although it creates a barrier, if the returns are attractive then the potential competitors may enter the industry. Cost disadvantages independent of size: established companies enjoy cost advantage, which is not available to the potential competitor, as the existing firms have proprietary technology, availability of best raw materials, proprietary product knowledge Access to distribution channels will deter the entry of potential competitors and even the government regulations which prevents or limit entry into certain industries by restricting access to raw materials. Rivalry among existing firms: Rivalry among existing competitors takes place to gain market share from each other in the industry. The intensity of rivalry depends on several factors such as Number of competitors: if the competitors are equal in size there would be high rivalry as all the competitors try to gain dominance in the industry. Rate of industry growth: slow growth leads to price wars to gain market share. Height of exit barriers: its the opposite side of entry, as the firms investments in specialised assets, or managements loyalty (Porter, cited in Mintzberg et al,1998) huge amount in a particular business, keeps companies in market even though if they are running in loss or earning low returns. Bargaining power of buyers: Buyers may be the end consumer. Buyers compete within the industry by reducing the price and demanding for higher quality of products and services and playing competitors against each other. A buyers group may be powerful if the following factors hold true. Switching cost locks the buyer to particular sellers; on the other hand the buyers power will be improved if the seller faces switching cost and it earns low profits, thereby creating great incentive to lower purchasing cost. Buyers can threaten to enter the industry partially and pose a credible threat of backward integration and bargain to bring the prices down. Bargaining power of suppliers: The organisations that produce inputs such as material and labour in to the industry are called suppliers, these suppliers can affect the industry as they have the capability to increase the price or reduce the quality of the goods and services. The supplier group will be more powerful if they have few substitutes in the industry and if the product is functional. A supplier group will be more powerful if they are dominated by a few companies. Firms may pursue a backward integration strategy to gain control of suppliers, but this strategy will be effective when the suppliers are not reliable and charging high prices or not meeting the deadlines. Pressure from substitutes: It is the competition stirred from products outside the industry. According to Porter (2004), substitutes are the products that can serve the same purpose and depends on the willingness of the buyer. They have a tendency to attract a considerable proportion of the market volume and decrease the probable sales volume of the existing players. Also Porter (2004), states that, the price elasticity of a product is affected by substitute products if there are more number of substitutes available, the demand is more elastic since customers have more choices. Limitations: Porters five forces model is a strategic tool that is utilised to identify if a new business, product or service has the potential to be profitable. However, it is important to understand that this model has further limitations in current market environment, since it visualizes somewhat still market structure. Porters model is formerly based on the economic situation in the 80s with tough competition and comparatively stable market structure; it is not able to consider the new business models and viability of the industries like dynamic market entrants and technological innovations which will entirely alter the business models within a small time. For example, computer and software industry is considered highly competitive. However, Five Forces Model is of limited value as it represents nothing more then the snapshots of moving pictures, since the structure of the industry is persistently transformed by innovation. Therefore, as stated by Kippenberger (1998) and Haberberg Rieple (2001), it is not prudent to develop strategy only on the basis of Porters Five Forces Model and should also be examined in addition to other strategic frameworks of SWOT and PEST analysis. Moreover, many academics and strategist have repeatedly challenged Porters framework. According to Coyne Subramaniam (1996), there are three ambiguous assumptions that underlie the five forces: That buyers, competitors suppliers are unrelated and do not interact and collude. That the source of value is structural advantage (creating barriers to entry). That uncertainty is low, allowing participants in a market to plan for and respond to competitive behaviour. In mid 1990s an important extension to the Porters Model was found with the help of the Game Theory (Brandenburger Nalebuff, 1995). The concept of Complementors also referred to as the 6th force was added, which helped in explaining the reasons behind strategic alliances. For example tourism industry and the airline industry are complementary industries. Also it is perhaps not reasonable to assess the attractiveness of an industry autonomous of the resources a company brings to that industry. Therefore to develop a more sound strategy for a firm a Resource Based View (RBV) should be used together with this theory (Wernerfelt, (1984); Rumelt, (1984)). The model should be adopted with the knowledge of its limitations and their use as a part of a bigger framework of management tools, techniques and theories. The five forces determine industry profitability as they influence cost, prices, and investments of firms in an industry and the elements of return on investment (porter, 1990), even though it is criticised but it is still one of the widely accepted model to analyse the competitive forces. After identifying the forces affecting competition and their causes in the industry, the firm will be in a position to identify its strength and weakness relative to that industry. Resource based view (RBV): Resource Based View (RBV) is an economic tool utilized to identify a firms potential key resources. It is more frequently linked with the work of Prahalad Hamel (1990); Rumelt (1991); Grant (1991) and Peteraf (1993). It has an inside-out approach since it deals with the competitive environment facing the organization. Therefore, its beginning point is an organizations internal environment. According to Draft (1983) cited in Barney (1991, p. 101), firm resources include all assets, capabilities, organizational processes, firm attributes, information, knowledge, etc; controlled by a firm that enable the firm to conceive of and implement strategies that improve its efficiency and effectiveness. According to Mahoney Pandian (1992); Hooley Greenley (2005) and Smith Rupp (2002), RBV of a firm describe its capability to delivering sustainable competitive advantage while the resources are managed in way that the end product cannot be replicated the competitors, hence creating a competitive barrier. Barney (2001), states that RBV explains that a firms sustainable competitive advantage is reached by virtue of unique resources, while these resources have the characteristics of being rare, valuable, inimitable, non-tradable, non-substitutable as well as firm specific. According to Prahalad Hamel(1990) cited in Thomspon Martin, Once the core competenecies are developed in the organisations they should be exploited and these core competencies should be flexible and responsive to the changing customer demands in market. The limitation of the resource based view is that it says very little on how resource can develop or change over time (Henry, 2008). The self-motivated role played by individuals within organisations is often assumed to be obvious and therefore rarely addressed. According to Priem Butler (2001), resource based view of strategy lacks details and hence is difficult for organisations to put into practice. Value chain analysis: The concept of value chain was developed in 1980 by Michael Porter, also known as value chain analysis. Value Chain helps in analysing specific activities so that a firm can create value and competitive advantage. Its a chain of activities for a firm operating in a particular industry. Every organisation has certain activities that link together to increase value of the business and these activities form the organisations value chain. According to Lynch (2003), these activities may include purchasing, manufacturing of products and distribution marketing of the organisations products and services. The competitive advantage in value chain is obtained from two sources: (i) differentiation advantage: customer perceives more value from the firms product, and (ii) low cost advantage: a firm provides the product or service at a lower cost than the average market cost. According to Svensson (2003), the value for the final customer is the value only in its theoretical context and not practical terms, which is a limitation of the model. The true value of the product is measured only when it reaches the final customer. Many academics and researchers have questioned the model and its applicability in context of the service industry. Generic strategies: TARGETING AND POSITIONING Positioning determines the profitability of firm in the industry. A firm that positions well in the industry may earn high rates of returns even though if the industry structure is unfavourable (porter, 2004 Pg. 11). Michael porter proposes 2 generic competitive strategies for outperforming other corporations in a particular industry: lower cost and differentiation (Wheelen Hunger, 2002) These competitive advantages combined with scope of activities, for which the firm seeks to achieve them lead to three generic strategies for by performing above there average in an industry: cost leadership, differentiation and focus (porter, 1990) Lower cost and differentiation strategies seek broad mass market while focus strategies aim at niche (narrow) market. The diagram below represents the porters generic strategies Cost leadership and differentiation strategies seek competitive advantage in a broad range of industry segments while focus strategies aim at cost advantage in the narrow segment. The focus has two variants, cost focus and differentiation focus. Cost leadership: This strategy focuses mainly on gaining competitive advantage by having the lowest cost in the industry (Porter, 2004), Mintzberg et al, 1998; Johnson et al 2008). According to (Malburg, 2000) to achieve the low cost benefit, the firm should have low cost leadership, low cost manufacturing and low work force strategies but (Hyatt, 2001) states the firms should have a large market share to gain the cost advantage, contrary to this Malburg (2001), Davidson, (2001) state that the cost leadership can be achieved by mass production, economies of scale, product design, R D, access to raw materials, proprietary technology, mass distribution. Having a low cost position yields the company above average returns even if they have strong competitive advantage. But according to porter (1985), only one firm in the industry can have the advantage of cost leader but Malburg (2000) stated that competitors fight through low cost leadership roles. Since low cost leadership firms have bigger market shar e, they will have high bargaining power with suppliers and enjoy above average on investments( Wheelen Hunger,2002) contrary to this( Cross, 1999) states cost leadership have certain disadvantages, as they create little loyalty to the customers and if the firm reduces the prices it may loose profits. Differentiation: The second generic strategy, companies using this strategy focus to be unique in the industry by offering products or services which are highly valued by buyers (Porter, 2004; cross, 1991; Hyatt, 2001). Differentiation is done by tailoring the customer needs and charging a premium for the customisation in the market. Differentiation strategy is more likely to generate revenue higher profits than low cost strategy as it creates a defensible position (Porter, 2004. pg .37) for coping with five forces. The customer loyalty and need for uniqueness creates a barrier of entry for potential competitor (Wheelen Hunger, 2002, Porter, 2004).According to (Mc Cracken, 2002) the key step in developing a differentiation strategy is to find how the company is different from the competitors. Mc Cracken Davidson suggested that the differentiation can be the market sector, quality of work, product, delivery system and the marketing approach and to be effective the message of differentiation should reach the end users. (Hyatt, 2001) says that firms must add a premium to the cost when using differentiation strategy however Hlavacka et al (2001) argued that cost and prices are not considered as the ma in focus but on the other hand Cross (1999) stated that since customers are loyal to the company and are willing to pay the higher price for its product. Focus: According to Porter; Davidson, (2001); Cross, (1991), the firms which follow this strategy target a specific segment of the market, this strategy is completely different from the others as it relies on narrow competitive scope in an industry (porter), the company can focus on a selected group of customers, geographical area, product range, focus strategies are effective when consumers have preferences and if the niche market is not recognised by rival firms. The focus strategy has two variants. Cost focus: Firms seeks cost advantage in the target market segment. Cost focus is a low cost competitive strategy and exploits cost behaviour differences in some segments. In using this strategy the company seeks a cost advantage in its target segment. Differentiation focus: Firms seek differentiation in its target market. Differentiation exploits needs of buyers. According to Wheelen Hunger (2002) there are various risks involved in implementing competitive strategies, none of the strategy guarantees to achieve success and some companies implemented porters strategy and failed to sustain the strategy. Some companies that try to attempt cost leadership and differentiation is stuck in the middle (porter). Helms et al, 1997 says that there is much debate on using two generic strategies at the same time. But according to Porter differentiation and cost leadership are mutually exclusive (Porter), on the other hand Helms et al (1997) found companies that used combination strategies have higher returns on investments. Ansoff Matrix The Ansoff product/market growth matrix Ansoff, (1988), cited in Johnson et al(2008), provides four alternative directions for strategic development, according to this model the firm can decide their strategy depending on the resources. This matrix helps the firm to determine the growth strategies of the firms. Market penetration: The strategy of increasing the sales in the current market with the existing products. They spend heavy budgets on advertising to create customer satisfaction and to attract the customers from the competitors, there by creating a high competition. Product development is the strategy of increasing sales with the development of current product or by developing new product. Developing a new product in the current market needs lot of innovation as they should match the customer taste. Market development is the strategy of increasing sales of the existing products in a new market attracting new customers, moving to new geographical area, new segments. Diversification takes the firm completely away from the existing market and the existing products. Diversification takes place when new products are developed and sold in new markets. Diversification allows the firms to spread the risks in a wide array of markets. Swot Analysis: Swot is an acronym of strengths, weakness, opportunities and threats. Scanning of external environment STEP, Porters five forces, for opportunities and threats and internal environment such as resources, capabilities, financial, marketing, value chain, technology for strengths and weakness is an important part in developing strategic planning. According to Vrontis, (1999), it is very important if the companies want to capitalise on their strengths and minimise weakness, exploit market opportunities as they arise and avoid threats. SWOT gives us the key issues that may impact on strategy development (Johnson et al, 2008). It can also be used to convert weakness into threats and threats into opportunities. RYAN AIRWAYS AND BRITISH AIRWAYS They would like to understand the underpinning logic of the strategy choices/generic strategies available to them and you have asked you to provide some detailed illustrations from the airline industry. The product/service differentiation visions and strategies of SIA, BA and UAL, as they prepare for the new millennium, provide interesting contrast and comparison insights and lessons on product/service differentiation for the industry as a whole SIA is strategically positioned in the premium service, quality and value market segment of the international airline industry. Service is the raison de tre of SIA, and at the heart of its service reputation is the Singapore Girl. Since the late 1980s, SIA has always held the view that: The airline industry is, by its very nature, a service industry. In a free market, the success or failure of an individual airline is largely dictated by the quality of the service it provides (Harvard Business School, 1989). http://www.emeraldinsight.com/Insight/ViewContentServlet?Filename=Published/EmeraldFullTextArticle/Articles/2610310604.html#2610310604001.png References Porter, M. E., (2004), The global competitiveness report 2004-2005, Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan. Brandenburger, A.M. and Nalebuff, B.J. (1995), The Right Game: Use Game Theory to Shape Strategy, Harvard Business Review, Jul-Aug, pp.57-71 Coyne, K.P. and Subramaniam, S. (1996), Bringing discipline to strategy, The McKinsey Quarterly, No.4 Haberberg, A. and Rieple, A., (2001), The Strategic Management of Organizations, Essex: Pearson Education. Kippenberger, T., (1998). Strategy according to Michael Porter, The Antidote, Vol. 3 No.6, pp. 24-25. Wernerfelt, B., (1984). The Resource-Based View of the Firm. Strategic Management Journal; Vol.5 No.2, pp. 171-180. Rumelt, D.P., (1984), Towards a Strategic Theory of the Firm, Alternative theories of the firm, International Library of Critical Writings in Economics, vol. 154. Cheltenham, U.K and Northampton. Wheelen, T.l Hungher,J.D.,(2002) Strategic management and Business policy, 8thed. New Jersey: Pearson education. Grant, R.M, (2008) Contemporary strategy analysis. 6th ed.Oxford: Blackwell publishing Porter,M.E, (2004). Competitive strategy. Edition 2004: First free press. Johnson.G, Scholes.K, Whittington.R, (2008). Exploring Corporate Strategy Text and Cases. Edition 8.Essex: Financial times prentice hall Pearson education. Johnson,G, Scholes,K, Whittington.R, (2005). Exploring Corporate Strategy Text and Cases. 7th ed.Essex:Financial times prentice hall Pearson education. Mintzberg,H. Quinn,J.B. Ghosal,Sumantra. (1998).The strategy process,revised edition. Prentice hall Europe: Pearson education. Porter,M.E. (2004).Competitive advantage.Edition 2004. First free press. Watts,G. Cope. J Hulme.M (1998). Ansoffs matrix, pain and growth strategies and adaptive learning among small food. International journal of Entrepreneurial behaviour and research, vol.4.No.2, pp 101-111. Davidson, S. (2001). Seizing the competitive advantage. Community Banker, Vol. 10 No. 8, pp.32-4. Cross, L. (1999). Strategy drives marketing success. Graphic Arts Monthly, Vol. 71 No. 2, p. 96. McCracken, L. (2002). Differentiation: win new business with less effort, Principals Report, Vol. 2 No. 4, p. 1. Cited in Allen.R.S, Helms.M,(2004) Linking strategic practices and organisational performance to porters generic strategies, Business process management journal ,vol. 12 No.4 ,pp.433-454. Malburg, C. (2000). Competing on costs. Industry Week, Vol. 249 No. 17, p.31. Cited in Allen.R.S, Helms.M,(2004) Linking strategic practices and organisational performance to porters generic strategies, Business process management journal ,vol. 12 No.4 ,pp.433-454. Hlavacka, S. Ljuba, B. Viera, R and Robert, W. (2001). Performance implications of Porters generic strategies in Slovak hospitals, Journal of Management in Medicine, Vol. 15 No. 1, pp. 44-66. Harvard business review 2008 available at: http://www.ascendcfo.com/pdfFiles/HBR-The%20Five%20Competitive%20Forces%20That%20Shape%20Strategy.pdf- Accessed on [10 March 2010] Vignali, C., Vrontis, D. (2004), Global Marketing and Export Management, Foxwell and Davies, London Cited in Vrontis,D. stavrou,A. Kogetsidis.H(2006).Strategic marketing planning for a supplier of liquid food packaging products in Cyprus, Journal of Business Industrial Marketing, Volume.21,No.4 pp: 250-261 Barney, J.B. (1991).Firm Resources and Sustained Competitive Advantage. Journal of Management, 17 (1), pp.99-120. Daft, L.R. (1983).Organizational Theory and Designs, West Pub. Co., St. Paul. Prahalad, C.K. and Hamel, G., (1990). The Core Competence of the organization. Harvard Business Review, 68 (3), pp.79-91. Rumelt, R.P., (1991), How much does industry matter? Strategic management journal, vol.12 No.3, pp.167-85. Grant, R.M., (1991), The resource-based theory of competitive advantage: implications for strategy formulation. California Management Review, 33(spring), pp.114-35. Peteraf, M., (1993), The cornerstones if competitive advantage: a resource based view. Strategic Management Journal, 14, pp.179-91. Mahoney, J.T. and Pandian, J.R., (1992), The Resource-Based View Within the Conversation of Strategic Management, Strategic Management Journal, Vol.15 No.5, pp. 363-380. Hooley, G.J. and Greenley, G.E., (2005). The Resource Underpinnings of Competitive Positions,Journal of Strategic Marketing, Vol.13, No.2.pp.93-116. Smith, A.D. Rupp, W.T. (2002). Communication and Loyalty among Knowledge Workers: a resource of the firm theory view, Journal of Knowledge Management. Vol. 6 No.3, pp.250-61. Barney, J.B., (2001). Is the Resource-Based Theory a Useful Perspective for Strategic Management Research? Yes, Academy of Management Review., Vol.26 No.1, pp.41-56. Henry, A., (2008). Understanding Strategic Management. Oxford University Press. Priem, R.L. and Butler, J.E., (2001). Is the resource based view a useful perspective for strategic management research? Academy of Management Review, Vol.26 No.1. pp. 22-40. Lynch, R., (2003). corporate strategy.3rd ed. London: FT Prentice Hall. Svensson, G., (2003). Consumer driven and bi-directional value chain diffusion models, European Business Review, Vol. 15, No. 6, p. 390-400. Allen.R.S, Helms.M,(2004) Linking strategic practices and organisational performance to porters generic strategies, Business process management journal ,vol. 12 No.4 ,pp.433-454. Executive summary This report provides the strategic tools and techniques used in formulating strategy. This report starts with the external analysis of macro environment by using PESTLE and industry analysis to identify the profit potential by using the porters five forces frame work. The external analysis is carried to identify the threats and opportunities in the operating environment. Internal analysis of the firm is carried out to identify the strengths and weakness of the firm using by using Porters value chain, Resource based view. Porters three generic strategies have been explained for positing of the firm and Ansoff growth/productmatrix is also explained. An overview of ryan airways and british airways has been provided with and to identify then internal analysis frameworks using RBV , porters value chain and porters generic strategies.

Abuse and Child Development Essay -- Domestic Violence

Abuse and Child Development This paper will investigate the abuse of children and some of the ways which young children are affected developmentally. I will try and present an overview of the major types of abuse but my big focus and most of my research has been to cover sexual abuse and its effect on development in young children and how it can affect brain development. Child abuse is defined as the mistreatment of children or minors, resulting in a variety of harmful and damaging results with regard to the well being and safety of the victim. Child abuse can range in the details and circumstances in which the offence takes place; child abuse can take place in a direct physical fashion, which includes attack and physical assault however child abuse can take place verbally and psychologically also. Abuse includes physical, sexual, psychological, emotional, verbal, and neglect (medical and other). Physical abuse is physical force or violence that results in bodily injury, pain or impairment. It includes assault, battery and inappropriate restraint. In the U.S., state and local protective services investigated 3.6 million reports of child abuse or neglect in 2006. Of these, more than 900,000 children were identified as victims of child maltreatment. (Craig & Dunn, Ex.: 2010, p. 195) Parents are most likely to be perpetrators of child maltreatment: In 2006, 83% of victims were abused by a parent, either acting alone or with another person. Mothers are somewhat more likely than father to maltreat their children, in part because they spend more time with them. (Craig & Dunn, Ex.: 2010, p. 198) Physical abuse can have a number of long term effects. It can cause physical injury, brain damage, and may lead to emotional dev... ...le River, N.J. Developmental stages. Retrieved from http://doctorjung.org Effects of maltreatment on brain development. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://www.childwelfare.gov Effects of maltreatment on the brain. Retrieved from http://www.childwelfare.gov Effects on brain development [Educational report]. Retrieved from Yale psychiatric institute: http://www.lawandpsychiatry.com/html/hippocampus.htm Erickson’s third stage of development. Retrieved from http://www.ehow.com How does physical abuse impact a child? (2008). Retrieved from www.healthyplace.com Lamont, A. (2010). Effects of child abuse and neglect for children and adolescents [Family study]. Retrieved from Australian institute of family studies: www.aifs.gov.au Perry, M.D., Ph.D., B. D. (2002). Helping traumatized children [Issue Brief]. Retrieved from The child trauma academy: www.childtrauma.org

Living in Belgium :: Personal Narrative Essays

Living in Belgium Question Answered: Recall a multicultural experience that has positively impacted your educational career. Discuss your experience and describe the ways in which you have benefited from this experience. My friend Owen and I used to play a game to take up time when we walked down the chaussee in downtown Waterloo, Belgium. We would try to identify the origins of people who walked by us. If someone bustled past us, practically knocking us down, while smoking a cigarette and wearing tight pants, they were Belgian. If they sported a windsuit and brand-new white sneakers we'd mutter "American", as they passed by toting their map. We had more trouble telling Swedish and Finnish people apart, but we were pretty good at that too. I recalled this a few days ago and it amazed me how much I have changed in the last year. In the summer before tenth grade, I moved to Belgium for eighteen months. During the time I stayed there, I adapted to the 'Belgian' way of life - speaking (rudimentary) French, sampling escargot and endives, and learning my way around the complicated maze that they call streets. However, I am such a typical 'American' now that sometimes I feel like I never even left the States. Instead of spending my Friday nights playing snooker in a smoky cafŽ in Waterloo, I might go to Applebee's and a football game with my friends. It seems so strange that my life could change so much in such a short time. I find myself missing little things that I took for granted while living overseas - fresh bread, dogs sitting with their owners in restaurants, and passing international landmarks on the way to school. It's not to say that I don't like my new way of life, but just recently I have realized how much I have changed. When I lived in Belgium, I would dread another trip with visitors of the family to the Grand Place. Now, I would love to see the Mannequin de Pis in downtown Brussels. I don't know when this transformation took place because I didn't even realize that it was happening. The funny thing was that while I lived in Belgium, my friends and I would always lament on how much we craved Reese's, Butterfingers, marshmallows and real peanut butter. We would talk about how much we missed our friends, malls, and movies without subtitles.

At the Crossroads :: Free Essays Online

At the Crossroads In November of 1974, a red headed Bostonian, who looked like she was straight out of Southie, was elected to the Massachusetts House of Representatives. With fifty-nine percent of the vote, Elaine Noble’s victory signified a remarkable emergence, for she was the first openly gay politician to win election to a statewide office (Perry 37-65). Noble’s election was the catalyst for a dramatic series of events, not only for the residents of the Fenway district in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, but for the entire country as well. Since that historic afternoon, Massachusetts has typically had ten openly gay politicians on its ballot. On a national level, there are more than one hundred and sixty openly gay politicians, with an average of one hundred additional gays seeking office. It is necessary to establish that Elaine Noble and her many followers all come from a viewpoint that recognizes the inherent discrimination and oppression of gays. From this position, a pursuance of change through reform of the status quo is a top priority. Another standpoint, called liberationist, seeks to restructure an inherently oppressing system. Both systems are political means for achieving change- politicians themselves are usually reformers, while political organizations and individuals can function under either realm. The liberationist movement is often critical of the reformers like Noble, accusing them of wanting to be just like the (straight) white male. Reformers see themselves more as multiculturalists- that a number of distinct groups exist, and their differences should be celebrated. Liberationists contradict that assumption with the reasoning that gays are an oppressed minority, and as an oppressed minority, cannot function within the structures created by the large r majority. These assumptions are part of the minority thesis, which in a sense forms the systemic differences of each group. Using the unique geographical space of Washington, DC, I plan to challenge the stereotypical assumption that gay identity is prerequisite to the election of an openly gay politician. When I say "gay identity", I am specifically referring to the sense of community, pride, and progress. The distinct minority theses will be used to convey the implications of identity in the political structure, and in turn the formation of a gay identity in the District of Columbia. Though Elaine Noble was the first successful gay candidate to win elected office, she was by no means the first openly gay politician. Frank Kameny, an activist who had previously lost his federal job because of his sexual orientation, was the first openly gay person to seek national office.

Kent state Nutrition programme

Honors equivalents shall satisfy the Kent Core. None of the courses on the Kent Core list may be taken with a pass/fail grade. Visit www. Kent. Deed/catalog/Kent-core for course list. Diversity Course Requirement Students must complete a two-course diversity requirement, consisting of one with a domestic (U. S. ) focus and one with a global focus. One course must come from the Kent Core.The second course may be taken as a second Kent Core, within a major or minor, or as a general elective; or, with dean's approval, by completing one semester of study in another country. Visit www. Kent. Deed/catalog/diversity for course list. Writing-Intensive Course Requirement Students must complete a one-course writing-intensive requirement in their major and earn minimum C (2. 00) grade. Visit www. Kent. Deed/catalog/wick for course list.Experiential Learning Requirement To provide students with direct engagement in learning experiences that promote academic relevance, meaning and an understandin g of real-world issues, students must complete this requirement at Kent State, either as a for-credit course or as a non-credit, non-course experience approved by the appropriate faculty member. Visit www. Kent. Deed/catalog/leer for course list. Upper-Division Requirement Students must complete a minimum 39 upper-division (numbered 30000 to 49999) credit hours of coursework. Programs in the College of Arts and Sciences require a minimum of 42 hours of upper-division coursework.

Beacon Hill coursework

Beacon Hill is a mysterious feature that has baffled experts for many years and still no one has found a true answer. In this piece of coursework I am going to investigate why Beacon Hill was built. Beacon Hill is a man made mound which is situated in Wollaston in Northamptonshire. There are 4 different theories for what Beacon Hill could be these are; a Bronze Age barrow, a Roman Specula, a 12th century motte and bailey castle and a signalling station of the time of the Spanish Armada. The Bronze Age barrow is a man made mound of stone, wood or earth piled over the remains of the dead. Roman Specula were fortresses used to protect themselves and their allies. A 12th century motte and bailey castle was a simple castle made out of earth and wood. The signalling station was the way that England could warn the rest of the country that the Spanish Armada was coming. In this piece of coursework I will analyse a series of sources relating to Beacon Hill and what it could be. After analysing the evidence I will reach a conclusion to what I think Beacon Hill is based on the evidence. Bronze Age barrows are man made mounds of stone, wood, or earth piled up over the remains of the dead, especially important people. Often possessions would also be buried. Bronze Age barrows were built between 2000BC and 1000BC. There are 3 sources that support the theory of Beacon Hill being a Bronze Age barrow. Source 1 supports this theory, this is a article in a local newspaper entitled â€Å"It's your village – Wollaston. Also source 2 supports this theory, this is a history book called â€Å"Wollaston† written by a local historian. The last source that supports this theory is source 5, source 5 is a vicars opinion. These sources both have reasons why they are and aren't reliable. Firstly I am going to discuss why the sources are reliable. Also source 2 shares a similar strength by the fact that it is written by a local historian, so he is likely to evaluate all the evidence and he also knows the area well. Another common factor between source 1 and 2 are that they are local articles, one a history book and the other a newspaper. They are sharing local knowledge, so that they are unlikely to lie. Source 2 is also very reliable because he cross-references with sources 3 and 7, so this shows that they have researched their information and are more likely to be right. Source 5 is very reliable because vicars are honest, he has an expertise in Bronze Age barrows, so he is likely to recognise a Bronze Age barrow and he is a local resident so he is likely to know the area well. All these sources have weaknesses and one weakness common in all of them is that they have no clear supporting evidence to the theory of Beacon Hill being a Bronze Age barrow. Source 1 and 5 both just want it to be a Bronze Age barrow to make the village more iconic. Source 1 and 2 also have a weakness in common and that is that the answer is not pointed at the Bronze Age barrow. In source 5 the vicar could be biased towards it being Bronze Age barrow because he is interested in Bronze Age barrows and might just really want one near where he lives. I think it is very unlikely that Beacon Hill is a Bronze Age barrow because there is no clear evidence supporting this theory e. g. no bones. The sources supporting this theory are very weak sources with an extreme lack of evidence. Roman Specula's were built between 43AD and 407AD. Roman Specula's were built as fortresses used to protect the Romans and their allies (friendly native tribes) against those tribes who were their enemies. There are 5 sources that support this theory; source 2 a history book called â€Å"Wollaston†, source 6 is a book called â€Å"The Natural History of Northamptonshire†, source 7 which is a extract from a book â€Å"The Annals of Wollaston† and lastly source 9 which is an inventory of the Historical Monuments in the County of Northamptonshire Volume 2 – Archaeological sites in Central Northamptonshire All the sources supporting Beacon Hill being a Roman Specula contain strengths and weaknesses, I am going to start by saying the strengths. A strength of source 6 and 7 is that they are both antiquarians, which is a person fascinated with the remains of ancient people like the Romans, this is very reliable because they are likely to recognise a Roman Specula. A different strength, but a very similar strength to the one I discussed before is that source 2 and 8 are both written by local historians, this is very reliable because they are likely to evaluate all the evidence and they know the area well. Also source 7 shows that they know a lot about Wollaston, this is also very reliable because it shows that they know that area well. Source 9 has a few lonesome strengths as it is an actual list of historical monuments, so it is fact. Also it has found evidence at an archaeological site, so the evidence is extremely reliable and hasn't been tampered with. Another of its strength is that it is detailed evidence from Roman times, which means it is primary evidence. Source 2 is also very reliable because it cross-references between 2 other sources which shows he has researched his information and is more likely to be true if it fits in with the other sources. Source 8 has a strength in the fact that they found physical evidence (probably a Roman knife and spearhead), this is very reliable because it shows that Romans probably were in Wollaston. Source 9 shares a very a similar strength to the one I have just discussed because it has actual evidence that the Romans were living near Wollaston. The reason this makes source 9 more reliable is that it shows for definite that Romans were living near Wollaston. The three sources 6, 7 and 8 all have a strength common in them, this is that they all have evidence to support the theory of Beacon Hill being a Roman Specula and they explain exactly why the evidence points towards Beacon Hill being a Roman Specula. This makes these 3 sources very reliable because they actually say why Beacon Hill is a Roman Specula. Source 8 also has some lonesome strengths, these are; it is written by a published author, this is extremely reliable because a published author writing about history is very unlikely to be just making it up. Also source 8 isn't a written by an antiquarian so he isn't biased for it being a Roman Specula. Finding out that about the Coritani tribe shows that they have done research, this is very reliable because it shows that they have researched there information so it is more likely to be true. The language used in source 8 also gives a definite answer, this makes it more reliable because it shows that they believe without a doubt that Beacon Hill was a Roman Specula. Now I have finished discussing the strengths I will now discuss the weaknesses in the sources. A weakness found in sources 2, 8 and 9 is that there is no clear evidence to support the theory of Beacon Hill being a Roman Specula. Source 7 gives evidence why Beacon Hill is a Roman Specula, the reason why this makes it less reliable is that the evidence given doesn't definitely prove that Beacon Hill was a Roman Specula. Source 8 has a different weaknesses to the one I have just discussed but very similar, the first one is the evidence of the spearhead and knife being found there, no one knows for sure if these are Roman or they could have just been moved there from somewhere else, the other one is that the Roman nettle found growing there could have spread from somewhere else. A lonesome weakness in source 2 is that the local historian is biased against it being Roman, this makes the source extremely unreliable because he has already decided against it being a Roman Specula before evaluating the evidence. Also source 9 has a couple of lonesome weaknesses, these are that it doesn't give actual reference to Beacon Hill and the other weakness is that the Roman road doesn't go through Wollaston, this shows that the Romans were near Wollaston but there is no proof that they were actually in Wollaston. Source 6 and 7 share a common weakness in that both the sources are written by a antiquarian, this makes the source slightly less reliable because they are biased towards it being a Roman Specula. Source 8 shares a very similar weakness to the one I have just discussed because the author might have read antiquarian sources, this makes the sources less reliable because the antiquarian sources could have been biased towards Beacon Hill being a Roman Specula. I think there is a good chance that Beacon Hill was a Roman Specula because there is lots of evidence to support this theory. The sources are also reliable because they are from history books and a official inventory. Motte and bailey castles were built in the 12th century. These were castles made of earth and wood which were relatively quick and easy to build. There are 4 sources that support the theory of Beacon Hill being a 12th century motte and bailey castle. The first source to support this theory is a local newspaper article entitled â€Å"It's your village – Wollaston â€Å". The second source to support this theory is a diagram of a typical motte and bailey castle from a school history text book. The third theory to support this theory is a report on excavations of Beacon Hill carried out by a local archaeologist. The last source to support the theory of Beacon Hill being a motte and bailey castle is an extract from The Anglo Saxon Chronicle recording events of King Stephen's reign 1135 – 1154. These 4 sources supporting the theory of Beacon Hill being a 12th century motte and bailey castle all have reasons why they are reliable and why they aren't reliable. To start off with I am going to say why the sources are reliable. Source 1 and 12 both have one common factor of why they are reliable and this is because they both say the right time for motte and bailey castles and also they say the right king of the time. This makes the sources very reliable because it shows they know their history. Source 1 also has a couple of lonesome strengths, the first one is that it is in a local newspaper, this makes the source very reliable because it is sharing local knowledge and is unlikely to lie. The second strength is that it is by a life long local resident, this is reliable because they are likely to know the area well. Source 10 strengths are that it is in a school history text book, this makes the source more reliable because it teachers young people so it is more likely to be true. The other strength is that it is a accurate picture of a motte and bailey castle, this makes the source very reliable because it shows that it's knowledge of what motte and bailey castles looked like is correct. Source 11 also has some individual strengths, firstly the source is by a local archaeologist, this makes the source more reliable because archaeologists are likely to examine all the evidence and come up with an unbiased answer. Also this source is reliable because the archaeologist has come up with evidence to support his theory, this being the 12th century pottery thrown down, also that there was a building on top of the hill, the hill was man-made and that the hill was the right height for a motte and bailey castle. Lastly source 12 has some lonesome strengths, firstly is that it is 1st hand experience (a primary source), this makes the source very reliable because it was written at the time of motte and bailey castle were built so they are likely to know what was happening around that time. Also it was kept by monks so it is reliable because they don't lie. Also it shows the need for castles at that time, this makes the source more reliable because it proves that castles were needed around that time. Now I have finished discussing why the sources supporting the theory of Beacon Hill being a 12th century motte and bailey castle are reliable, I will now discuss why the sources are unreliable. The sources 10 and 12 both have one common unreliable element in that both of them don't actually refer to Beacon Hill being a 12th century motte and bailey castle. Source 1 also has a very similar weakness in that it doesn't give any evidence towards why Beacon Hill is a 12th century motte and bailey castle. In source 1 the paper might wanting to make the town more iconic, this makes the source less reliable because they could just want it to be a 12th century motte and bailey castle and not actually believe it is. In source 11 the reason this source is less reliable is that just finding some 12th century pottery doesn't mean the mound was built at the same time. Also in source 11 the local archaeologist might be biased towards it being a 12th century motte and bailey castle, this makes the source less reliable because he might only see it from one point of view, this being that Beacon Hill is a 12th century motte and bailey castle. The last unreliable element in source 11 is that it says that â€Å"masses of rubble thrown down†, this makes the source a little unreliable because rubble would be less likely for a 12th century motte and bailey castle, it would more likely to be wood. The last unreliability is that in source 12 it is written by monks, this makes the source slightly less reliable because monks don't travel so they wouldn't have been able to see where the motte and bailey castles were built. I think it is likely that Beacon Hill was a 12th century motte and bailey castle because there is lots of evidence to support this theory. Three of the sources used to support this theory are reliable because they are from a history book, a local archaeologist's excavation and a recording of events kept by monks. The other source isn't as reliable because it is someone's opinion. Signalling stations were at the time of the Spanish Armada in 1588. When the Spanish Armada (ship) were close to England the signalling stations were ways of sending a warning across the country. A series of large beacons (bonfires) were built on hill tops so that when they were lit the smoke could be seen a long way off. Each beacon was lit in turn as the smoke from its nearest neighbour became visible. There are two sources that support this theory; source 1 which is article from the Wellingborough Evening Telegraph newspaper entitled â€Å"It's your village – Wollaston† and source 2 which is from a history book â€Å"Wollaston† written by a local historian. These two sources both have strengths and weaknesses of why they are reliable. To start of with I am going to talk about there strengths. Source 1 is reliable because it is by a local resident so he is likely to know the area well and also he gives reasons to support his theory of Beacon Hill being a signalling station in that it is high up. Also source 1 is reliable because it is in a local newspaper so they are sharing local knowledge and are unlikely to lie. The reasons source 2 is reliable is that; it is by a local historian so he is likely to know the area well, also he is likely to evaluate all the evidence, the other strength to the source is that it cross-references with source 3 showing that he has researched his information and if more than one source fit together the more likely they are to be true. To complete this section of the theory of Beacon Hill being a signalling station I will now discuss the reasons why the sources supporting this theory are unreliable. Both the sources share one common element of unreliability in that the both have no clear supporting evidence for it being a signalling station. Source 2 shares a very similar weakness to the one I have just discussed in that it doesn't actually give an answer of what Beacon Hill could be, it just discusses the possibilities of what it could be. In source 1 the paper could just want to make the town more iconic, this makes the source unreliable because they could be biased and publish the opinions of what the editor wants Beacon Hill to be. Lastly source 2 is unreliable because he is biased against it being Roman, this makes the sources less reliable because before he evaluates all the evidence he is already biased against one of the theories. I think the chance that Beacon Hill was a signalling station isn't that likely because there is hardly any evidence to support this theory, but this could be because all the evidence has been destroyed. The two sources supporting this theory aren't that reliable as one is just someone's opinion and the other just mentions it as a possible theory. For the final part of this piece of coursework I will write a conclusion about what I think Beacon Hill is. The theory of Beacon Hill being a Bronze Age barrow is the weakest theory as the sources I have gained have no reason behind why Beacon Hill could be a Bronze Age barrow. The sources either mention it as a possible theory or it is someone's opinion without evidence. The second theory of Beacon Hill being a signalling station is more likely but still isn't that likely. The sources supporting this theory have no substantial evidence for Beacon Hill being a signalling station, but unlike the Bronze Age barrow theory there is a reason of why Beacon Hill is a signalling station. Also there is a possible explanation of why there is no evidence for Beacon Hill being a signalling station and that is that all the evidence would have been destroyed. The third theory of Beacon Hill being a 12th century motte and bailey castle is the second most likely theory because this theory has evidence and reason why Beacon Hill was this. The last theory of Beacon Hill being a Roman Specula is the most likely out of the theories because there is lots of evidence of why Beacon Hill was a Roman Specula. Beacon Hill could have been anyone of these theories, but it also could have been used for more than one of these theories or even none of these theories and been something else. However with a lack of sources and bias of some of the sources it makes it impossible to know what Beacon Hill was and until some new evidence is discovered Beacon Hill's past will remain a mystery.