The Scarlet Ibis by James Hurst Essay - 1691 Words

Have your parents ever told you that you needed to improve at something? It could be a sport, activities, or even how well you do in school. This is a vile thing for parents to do to their children. Sometimes parents just need to back up a few steps and let you be yourself. The same can happen with an older sibling! That is the case in The Scarlet Ibis by James Hurst. The narrator of this story has a younger brother called Doodle, who has some health issues. Big brother pushes little brother to be better than he is. In The Scarlet Ibis, Doodle strives for the goals that his brother sets for him for many reasons, which reflects the conflict in the story. To begin, in The Scarlet Ibis, Doodle strives for these goals because he wants†¦show more content†¦The brother’s criteria for being normal is very precise, as Doodle is expected to be indomitable. This creates conflict between Doodle and society, which is external conflict. Finally, in The Scarlet Ibis, Doodle strives for these objectives because he is dependent on his brother. Perhaps he is even scared that if he doesn’t do what his brother asks, then he will no longer have help from him. This is supported when they are in the loft and the narrator says, â€Å"And before I’ll help you down from the loft, you’re going to have to touch it.† (Page 387). He is threatening to leave Doodle up in the loft, all alone, until he touches the mahogany box which was to be his coffin. Doodle becomes very frightened by this intimidation, which is probably the cause of his fear later in the story. This causes conflict between Doodle and his older sibling because Doodle basically cannot do anything without his brother, and if he is left, he becomes panicked. Obviously, in The Scarlet Ibis, Doodle has many reasons to strive for the targets set by his brother, even though he does not have a competitive nature. One reason is that he wants to make his brother proud, which causes internal conflict for the narrator. Also, he wants to be an ordinary boy and fit in, which creates a fray between Doodle and humanity. Lastly, he is dependent on his brother and fears that he might beShow MoreRelatedThe Scarlet Ibis By James Hurst967 Words   |  4 PagesThe story of a miracle unfolding and a brother motivating is one named,† The scarlet Ibis.† This story is written by James Hurst. In â€Å"The Scarlet Ibis†, one will find, two brothers; one with the desire to run and play, named Doodle, and the other with the desire to have someone to run and play with, the narrator. Doodle had a desire to be a normal child but was born handicapped. He was a child who no one thought would live more than 2 days. However, he lived longer than that and it was soon discoveredRead More The Scarlet Ibis by James Hurst Essay711 Words   |  3 PagesThe Scarlet Ibis by James Hurst Foreshadowing, symbolism, and image are all elements which compose style.   All are very important; foreshadowing adds suspense, and symbolism contributes to interpretation.   Image contributes visual aids which, also, aid interpretation.   In this classic short story, The Scarlet Ibis, by James Hurst, foreshadowing, symbolism, and image combine to create a true literary masterpiece. Foreshadowing is one of the elements of style which make The ScarletRead MoreCharacters And Themes In Scarlet Ibis By James Hurst955 Words   |  4 Pagesbeing an older brother and isn’t quite liking him since he has a disability and tried to make him normal just so he can make himself feel better but the story ended with doodle the little boy dying and his brother feeling guilt. In the story Scarlet Ibis, james Hurst expresses that we shouldn’t try to change others through indirect characterization, symbolism, and the dark and sad tone. The characterization of the main character analyzes how cruel and rude he is the to his brother. When doodleRead MoreThe Theme Of Love In The Scarlet Ibis By James Hurst1123 Words   |  5 Pages Each and every individual is given the ability to love, however not all have the strength and courage to embrace it. Love is the most important aspect of life, but not all can accept an individuals differences. James Hurst expresses this hardship in his story â€Å"The Scarlet Ibis†. Hurst displays the importance of acceptance between two brothers, Brother and Doodle. Doodle is born with a disability that sets him apart from other children his age. Brother cannot accept the fact that his little brotherRead MoreThe Themes Of A Brother In The Scarlet Ibis By James Hurst958 Words   |  4 PagesThe short story I am basing of is the â€Å"Scarlet Ibis†. The book was written by James Hurst and is tragedy. The brother I am choosing is going to be the unnamed brother from â⠂¬Å"Scarlet Ibis†. The story is about a boy who wants a brother to play with but when he gets a brother, he is challenged physically and in the beginning they thought he was mentally challenged to. The brother in the story cares about his brother but his tolerance of his disabilities throughout the story dwindles. I think that theRead MoreStriving to Achieve Goals in The Scarlet Ibis by James Hurst Essays620 Words   |  3 Pagesus because they make us want to get something done. In the short story, â€Å"The Scarlet Ibis† by James Hurst, Doodle strives for the goals that the narrator sets because his brother pushes him to and because he wants to do something no one thinks he can do, also the goals reflect the conflict that the narrator feels about Doodle because Doodle is crippled. First, in the short story, â€Å"The Scarlet Ibis† by James Hurst, Doodle strives for the goals that the narrator sets because his brother pushesRead MoreEssay on Love Kills in The Scarlet Ibis by James Hurst584 Words   |  3 Pagescharacters until they feel as if they know them personally. Readers of the story find very specific details about the story and make many very clever connections between the strangest of things in the story but they make perfect sense. In the story, The Scarlet Ibis, many extremely surprising facts about the story were linked in a very macabre way and they were rather interesting. Many of these connections have been dissected and discussed very thoroughly, but many more challenges and connections can stillRead MoreThe Scarlet Ibis Analysis1415 Words   |  6 Pagesdreaded because there is an unpredictable world of adulthood waiting with no guarantees. James Hurst demonstrates the journey of growing up through life experiences everyone goes th rough in the short story, â€Å"The Scarlet Ibis†. Throughout his use of mood, setting, and symbolism, Hurst shows that maturing requires reflecting on past experiences and losing innocence, which then can transform one’s outlook on life. Hurst uses the mood of the story to convey the characters’ feelings and tells the audienceRead MoreThe Scarlet Ibis Analysis1001 Words   |  5 PagesJames Hurst is the author of the heart breaking short story entitled â€Å"The Scarlet Ibis†. â€Å"The Scarlet Ibis† is a short story about two brothers; one brother is healthy, while the other is physically handicapped. The short story is centered on the idea that the older, healthier brother’s selfishness and pride ultimately led to the death of his younger brother, Doodle. Numerous quotes throughout the story demonstrate Hurst’s use of symbolism and foreshadowing to portray and predict Doodle’s untimelyRead MoreThemes Of Symbolism In The Scarlet Ibis844 Words   |  4 Pagesoften used in literature to bring a deeper meaning to a story or work. These meanings can emphasize or intensify feelings of anything from love and hope, to danger and sadness. James Hurst uses symbolism in his work, â €Å"The Scarlet Ibis†, to convey and emphasize some of these feelings and ideas in his story. â€Å"The Scarlet Ibis† centers around the lives of Brother, a very driven and determined child, and his younger brother, Doodle, an innocent and naive individual with a heart condition that causes doctors

Sarbanes-Oxley Whistleblower Free Essays

Catherine Zulfer, a former employee of playboy filed a suit against them alleging that Playboy Enterprises violated provisions of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002. The former employee reports that playboy retaliated against her for refusing to participate in fraudulent activity against Playboy’s shareholders (Katz, Marshall Banks, LLP, 2013). Without receiving permission from the board of directors, Christopher Pachler, Chief Financial Officer, instructed Zulfer to gather one million dollars in bonuses for various corporate officers of the company. We will write a custom essay sample on Sarbanes-Oxley Whistleblower or any similar topic only for you Order Now At that time Zulfer felt that Pachler was attempting to embezzle the money from the company, therefore she denied the request until it was approved by the board. Zulfer then informed Playboys General Counsel and the Securities and Exchange Commission of the request that was made by Pachler. Soon after Zulfer made the report, she claims that retaliation against her began. She was excluded from company meetings and discussions, crucial information to her position was withheld from her, and her accounting staff was diminishing (Katz, Marshall Banks, LLP, 2013). On December 31, 2011 Zulfer was terminated, although Playboy describes it as a layoff. Issue: Did Playboy violate the whistleblower-protection provisions of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 (â€Å"SOX†)? Rule: The Playboy Company retaliated against Zulter for refusing to participate in fraud regarding the playboy shareholders. Under the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002, (SOX) one rule prohibits any employer from retaliation against and employee. Another rule is that under this law employees are protected when they speak of a wrongdoing within the workplace. â€Å"Under SOX, employers are strictly prohibited from retaliating against employees who report illegal or unethical conduct. Employees are also protected when making disclosures about shareholder fraud or violations of SEC rules and regulations. † (Halunen, p. 1, Para. 1) Analysis: Append reflection Zulter dismissal was retaliation against her by the playboy company, because she reported and activity of fraud with the playboy shareholders. In this case, Zulter was continually excluded from meetings and discussions, withholding crucial information she needed to carry out her corporate accounting responsibilities, and eliminating corporate accounting staff. Conclusion: In the end, the courts dismissed playboy’s argument reaffirming that under the bylaws of (SOX) employees are protected from employees from retaliation for reporting violations of â€Å"any rule of regulation of the SEC. Zulfer was protected under the SOX Act, whistle-blower‘s of publicly traded companies are protected. Employers are not supposed to retaliate or discriminate against employees in the terms and conditions of their employment. The plaintiff provided information regarding violations the company was participating in; the violations that can be of a federal fraud statute, a rule or regulation of the SEC, or a provision of Federal law relating to fraud against shareholders. The team agrees that Zulfer was protected under the Act and that the Act is there to bring forth more white collar crimes that would not otherwise be disclosed if the was not there to protect and compensate. SOX promotes honesty without fear, the whistle-blower provisions of the SOX Act provides a general framework for ensuring that employees (including attorneys and auditors) disclose information which may harm investors. How to cite Sarbanes-Oxley Whistleblower, Papers Sarbanes-Oxley Whistleblower Free Essays Catherine Zulfer, a former employee of playboy filed a suit against them alleging that Playboy Enterprises violated provisions of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002. The former employee reports that playboy retaliated against her for refusing to participate in fraudulent activity against Playboy’s shareholders (Katz, Marshall Banks, LLP, 2013). Without receiving permission from the board of directors, Christopher Pachler, Chief Financial Officer, instructed Zulfer to gather one million dollars in bonuses for various corporate officers of the company. We will write a custom essay sample on Sarbanes-Oxley Whistleblower or any similar topic only for you Order Now At that time Zulfer felt that Pachler was attempting to embezzle the money from the company, therefore she denied the request until it was approved by the board. Zulfer then informed Playboys General Counsel and the Securities and Exchange Commission of the request that was made by Pachler. Soon after Zulfer made the report, she claims that retaliation against her began. She was excluded from company meetings and discussions, crucial information to her position was withheld from her, and her accounting staff was diminishing (Katz, Marshall Banks, LLP, 2013). On December 31, 2011 Zulfer was terminated, although Playboy describes it as a layoff. Issue: Did Playboy violate the whistleblower-protection provisions of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 (â€Å"SOX†)? Rule: The Playboy Company retaliated against Zulter for refusing to participate in fraud regarding the playboy shareholders. Under the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002, (SOX) one rule prohibits any employer from retaliation against and employee. Another rule is that under this law employees are protected when they speak of a wrongdoing within the workplace. â€Å"Under SOX, employers are strictly prohibited from retaliating against employees who report illegal or unethical conduct. Employees are also protected when making disclosures about shareholder fraud or violations of SEC rules and regulations. † (Halunen, p. 1, Para. 1) Analysis: Append reflection Zulter dismissal was retaliation against her by the playboy company, because she reported and activity of fraud with the playboy shareholders. In this case, Zulter was continually excluded from meetings and discussions, withholding crucial information she needed to carry out her corporate accounting responsibilities, and eliminating corporate accounting staff. Conclusion: In the end, the courts dismissed playboy’s argument reaffirming that under the bylaws of (SOX) employees are protected from employees from retaliation for reporting violations of â€Å"any rule of regulation of the SEC. Zulfer was protected under the SOX Act, whistle-blower‘s of publicly traded companies are protected. Employers are not supposed to retaliate or discriminate against employees in the terms and conditions of their employment. The plaintiff provided information regarding violations the company was participating in; the violations that can be of a federal fraud statute, a rule or regulation of the SEC, or a provision of Federal law relating to fraud against shareholders. The team agrees that Zulfer was protected under the Act and that the Act is there to bring forth more white collar crimes that would not otherwise be disclosed if the was not there to protect and compensate. SOX promotes honesty without fear, the whistle-blower provisions of the SOX Act provides a general framework for ensuring that employees (including attorneys and auditors) disclose information which may harm investors. How to cite Sarbanes-Oxley Whistleblower, Papers

Henry Lee Lucas free essay sample

Henry Lee Lucas On July 11th 1983, a drifter named Henry Lee Lucas was arrested for illegal possession of a fire arm by a felon. Lucas was not at all happy about being locked up, because they were supposedly depriving him of cigarettes and coffee. After being locked up for 4 days, he admitted to one of the jailers that he had â€Å"done some bad things†. He told that he had killed for the last 10 years. He was already a suspect in 2 murders, and the offices were sure that they would soon have enough information to close these 2 cases. Lucas admitted that he had killed Kate Rich and Becky Powell. While in court for these murders, he admitted that he’d had sex with the body, cut it into pieces and burned it in a wood stove. He also said that he had killed at least a hundred more. Police started questioning Lucas about other unsolved murders all over the country. We will write a custom essay sample on Henry Lee Lucas or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page He would admit to them and tell them some details about the crime that would link him to it. Over a period of time, he started offering more information about murders that he had not even been questioned about. He said that he usually picked up hitchhikers then he would quickly kill them and have sex with the body because he preferred sexual contact with a corpse. He generally used a knife or strangulation, but said that he liked to try different methods so that he didn’t leave a pattern for the police to follow. Lucas also later confessed to killing his mother. He said that she was an alcoholic and was mean to him. Some claims say that she supported the family by bootlegging and prostitution. Lucas claimed that his mother made him watch her entertain her clients. He claims that after walking out of the room one time because he was disgusted with her actions, she found him and hit him in the head with a wooden board. He said that after that, he had dizzy spells and headaches. On January 11, 1960, Lucas and his mother got into an argument and Lucas grabbed a knife and plunged it into her neck. He was convicted of second degree murder and sentenced to 20 years. He served 10. Another claim that he made was that of one of his mother’s clients. He said that this man turned him on to bestiality by showing him how to have sex with the corpse of a dog or sheep. He said that he first killed someone just before he turned 15. He said that the reason was so that he could see what it felt like to have sex with a human. Lucas had a traveling companion/lover named Odis Toole. Toole supposedly assisted Lucas in these heinous crimes. Toole’s niece, Becky Powell, began to travel with them. Lucas began to fall in love with her. He decided to take Becky for himself, so he and Becky left Toole and went to TX. Toole was not happy about them leaving. He had lost his longtime lover and his niece. He supposedly killed several people over a 6 month period of time. He also confessed to kidnapping and killing a small boy named, Adam Walsh. Adam’s father was inspired after the killing of his son, to start the popular show, America’s Most Wanted. After living in TX for a while, Becky wanted to come home. Lucas resisted, but later told her to gather her things. They began to hitchhike. He continued trying to get her to change her mind. She did not. At one point, they got into an argument and she slapped him. He took his knife and stabbed her in the heart. He drug her off over and embankment and had sex with her corpse. He cut her up into 9 pieces and spread them over a field. He later returned and gathered the pieces and buried them under a tree. He then returned to where they were living in TX, and to a lady named Kate Rich. He wanted to kill again. He asked Kate if she wanted to help him look for Becky (knowing that she was dead). She agreed and went with him. He drove to the end of a dirt road and stabbed Kate in the side, puncturing her heart. He was immediately aroused. He dragged her from the car and had sex with her body. He cut her up, also, and took her back to where they were living in TX and put her in a stove to burn her remains. After much investigation, and examination of the times and places that some of the murders took place that Lucas had admitted to , police began to question whether or not he was telling the truth. They later figured out that he was lying about several of the instances, because some of them were even committed when he was locked up for other crimes that he had committed. It was also found that he was known to be in a different place when he claimed to have killed in another state many miles away. Lucas claimed to have committed over 360 murders. It was eventually claimed that the police were so interested in closing some of their open murder cases that they would show Lucas the case files to â€Å"refresh his memory†. He in turn used it to his benefit by tying himself to the murders by telling evidence that was never released to the public. The police actually cleared around 213 cases through Lucas’ confessions. He was convicted of only 11 homicides; although some criminologist say that he was responsible for between 40-50 murders. In 1998, Gov. George W. Bush of TX commuted the death penalty that Lucas was handed, to a sentence of life.

Toyotas Culture and Leadership Strategy

Theoretical Background Efficient leadership is seen as one of the crucial factors affecting the company’s performance. Researchers, as well as practitioners, stress that leadership strategy should be consistent with the organisational strategy as well as the culture of the company (Witcher Chau 2010).Advertising We will write a custom essay sample on Toyota’s Culture and Leadership Strategy specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More Bersin (2012) claims that a high-profile top manager can be unable to run a company if he/she chooses the wrong leadership strategy or worse has no leadership strategy at all. Toyota has been one of the examples of an organisation with the strong leadership consistent with the company’s organisational strategy. It is possible to evaluate the leadership strategy employed to get an idea of the way effective leadership strategy is linked to the organisational strategy. The evaluation of the co mpany’s leadership strategy should be considered in terms of the theoretical framework. The transformational theory has been regarded as the most efficient leadership approach for decades (Witcher Chau 2010). In terms of this paradigm, the leader inspires team members and implements the change. At that, the change should be ongoing as the business world is constantly transforming. Notably, such frameworks as lean leadership and servant leadership have been developed within the transformational theory. These leadership styles are based on the concept of collaboration, effective communication, guidance and mentoring. The styles will be discussed in more detail based on the particular example of Toyota. Toyota’s Background First, it is necessary to provide some background information about the company in question. Toyota was founded in 1937 when it produced its first automobiles. Importantly, one family runs the company throughout its entire history. This contributes to the creation of a particular culture and vision in the organisation. In 1958, the company penetrated the US market (Company history 2015). This was the start of the company’s global growth. Now, it is a high-performing company with a significant market share. It has also developed rapidly, and it had 9.7% of the global market share in 1998 while it achieved 13% market share in 2008 (Cole 2011). Schwagerman and Ulmer (2013) emphasise that the company has grown steadily for 40 years though other carmakers’ sales decreased. The financial crisis of 2008 had a significant adverse impact on the development of the company and led to some reduction in production. However, the company managed to overcome the difficulties and was even more successful than its primary competitors who faced more substantial losses.Advertising Looking for essay on business economics? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More At that, the quake-tsunami that took place in 2011 was a significant impact the company is still trying to recover from. The natural disaster disrupted the supply chain that was highly efficient but unprepared for such a large-scale crisis (Agence France-Presse 2013). It is noteworthy that Toyota has been an illustration or even a symbol of performance excellence and high quality. Piotrowski and Guyette (2010, p. 90) note that the organisation has been â€Å"touted as the pinnacle of automotive excellence† by such rating agencies as Consumer Reports. Nonetheless, there have been a number of constraints associated with poor quality, and the company had to recall millions of cars in the 2000s. For instance, the scandal associated with car mats took place in 2009 (Cole 2011). Another serious quality crisis took place in 2010 when the company lost more than $2 billion as repair costs (Piotrowski Guyette 2010). Such crises had a significant adverse effect on the company’s performance and image. It is clear that some changes should be implemented. Thus, Mark Hogan who is American and has not moved through the ranks of the company was appointed (Agence France-Presse 2013). Some other international professionals are also promoted to top management positions to link the company’s leadership to the global market trends and peculiarities. Toyota’s Leadership Toyota’s Leadership and Culture Irrespective of numerous difficulties, the company is still one of the leaders of the industry. It is necessary to evaluate the strengths of the leadership strategy used in the company to come up with methods to improve it. Liker and Convis (2011) provide a detailed analysis of the company’s approach to leadership and note that lean leadership employed has proved to be effective and consistent with the organisational strategy and culture. Toyota is regarded as the creator of the lean leadership strategy, which is based on the principles introduced by Henry Ford (Shang 2014). Importantly, the lean approach has proved to be inefficient when it is not linked to the corporate culture of the organisation (Al-Najem, Dhakal Bennett 2012). To understand the essence of the lean leadership, it is crucial to consider some peculiarities of the company’s culture. Toyota’s culture is characterised by the so-called 4P model that consists of such major elements as philosophy, process, people/partners and problem solving (Liker Hoseus 2008).Advertising We will write a custom essay sample on Toyota’s Culture and Leadership Strategy specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More Characteristic features of this culture are the emphasis on open communication, development and training as well as building trust. Liker and Hoseus (2008) highlight two primary parts within Toyota’s culture. The external part starts with the organisation’s customers while the internal part concentrates on employee s and their involvement in the culture. Importantly, the basic principle of the company (and the core of its culture) is ‘go and see’ (Daft Samson 2014). The case when Kiichiro Toyoda found one of his workers standing in front of his machine trying to understand why it was not working. The founder of the company literally rolled up his sleeves and looked into the machine’s pan. He found a lot of sludge there, which was the reason for the malfunction. This case has become one of the major concepts for the organisation’s employees (executives, managers, workers and so on) who have been trained that to understand the core of the problem it is essential to dig into it. The Role of the Leader The role of the leader is clearly defined and incorporated into the organisational culture. Hence, the leader is an observer who spends a lot of time with employees and is an empathetic listener (Wilson 2013). The leader is a lifelong learner who is ready to acquire knowl edge or to be trained. The leader is an initiator who develops, communicates and implements the plan. This is the person who is able to take risks as well. The leader is a lifelong teacher who is eager to find and realise new teaching opportunities. The leader is a role model who inspires employees. Finally, the leader is a supporter who encourages, guides employees and who has the necessary skills of the so-called servant leadership. Servant leadership presupposes prioritising employees at the top while placing the leader at the bottom of the pyramid (Shang 2014). Such leaders have three primary responsibilities. First, they support the operations, which implies guidance and mentoring. Secondly, they promote the system, which presupposes effective articulation of the vision and mission as well as development of the healthy atmosphere in the company. Finally, they lead the change through mentoring, encouragement and employment of various tools. Importantly, the servant leadership al so involves the concept of value-adding work, which is the process of doing tasks in the environment where all members add value.Advertising Looking for essay on business economics? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More Lean Leadership Since Toyota’s culture is described, it is possible to define lean leadership and evaluate its effectiveness. The concept of the lean leadership has developed from the lean manufacture. The primary concern of the latter is eliminating wastes. The concept transcended other areas, and now lean leaders focus on eliminating any wastes in production, quality, provision of services, communication, and so on. The central goal of the lean approach is to change the culture of the organisation from â€Å"passive and defensive to open and pro-active† (Al-Najem, Dhakal Bennett 2012, p. 125). The company with lean leadership ensures that customers are the major priority, and the customers should also feel that. This type of leadership presupposes elimination of barriers between senior management and employees. Another characteristic feature of the lean approach is standardisation (Chandra 2013). Mann (2009) stresses that lean leadership can be effective when senior management adopts it and sets an example, which leads to the development of the corresponding mind-set. As has been mentioned above, the leadership strategy has to be closely linked to the company’s culture, and this is the case with Toyota. The company’s corporate culture is based on the principle of empowerment of employees who are trained and committed to the culture. Leaders have to go and see what is really happening on the site. Prior to obtaining the right to make decisions, they have to be at â€Å"gemba†, which is the place where â€Å"the value-creating work happens† (Ahmed 2013, p. 32). There are no barriers between senior management and employees. Cooperation and open communication are the basis of the decision-making process. Finally, both Toyota’s culture and leadership strategy are based on the principle of empowerment. All employees are adding value, which is especially crucial when it comes to quality. Improvements to Be Made None theless, it is clear that the company, which has always been a symbol of high quality, has been involved in a number of quality scandals. This shows inefficiency of the leadership practices. Senior managers seem to forget about the ‘go and see’ principle or worse they chose to conceal some issues, which later led to significant impairment of the quality of products and services provided (Rajasekera 2013). Hence, it is essential to make sure that senior managers are committed to the culture as the lean leadership starts with top management. At that, these leaders should also be aware of major trends existing in the global market to be ready to address various issues that can occur (Agence France-Presse 2013). It seems that the principle of reporting about problems and malfunctions rather than concealing them was abandoned in the late 2000s (Piotrowski Guyette 2010). The organisation is lacking for transparency when it comes to operations, as well as communication among employees. These impairments in the leadership practice can be removed through the implementation of the change. Employees should be trained and mentored to become more committed to the corporate culture of the organisation. Apart from that, it is clear that the leadership failed in the period of crisis. The quake-tsunami in Japan and the flood in Thailand in the 2010s impaired the supply chain of the company, and it was unprepared to act in the time of crisis. Heineman (2014) stresses that crisis management should be incorporated into the leadership strategy utilised. The focus on quality should remain but executives should pay more attention to possible threats and crisis situations. The practice based on the ‘go and see’ principle should be facilitated by practices based on the principle ‘evaluate and foresee’. Employees should constantly question decisions made and make sure that the slightest issues are tackled properly. Finally, the organisation has t o be more transparent when it comes to internal as well as external communication. Rajasekera (2013) argues that Toyota’s inability to employ social networking has led to a significant damage of the company’s reputation. At that, modern customers are heavy users of such kind of technologies. More so, public opinion is often constructed through social networks. Therefore, it is crucial to utilise this platform as a way to increase the organisation’s openness. The focus should be made on the quality. Conclusion On balance, it is necessary to note that Toyota has long been a symbol of quality in business operations and leadership. The company has developed and successfully utilised the lean leadership. This paradigm consists in the elimination of all possible ‘waste’ in operations, manufacture, communication, leadership and so on. It presupposes elimination of barriers between senior managers and the rest of the employees. It is also based on the princ iple ‘go and see’ where all employees are active contributors adding the value. The leadership strategy is closely connected with the organisational culture, which makes it so efficient. However, the company has had certain difficulties associated with impaired quality lately. At that, the situation can be improved if Toyota returns to the core values and practices. The major focus should be made on such aspects as decision-making, transparency, and crisis management. Reference List Agence France-Presse 2013, ‘Toyota leadership changes signal new direction, analysts say‘, Industry Week. Web. Ahmed, M. H. 2013, ‘Lean transformation guidance: why organisations fail to achieve and sustain excellence through lean empowerment’, International Journal of Lean Thinking, vol. 4, no. 1, pp. 31-40. Al-Najem, M., Dhakal, H. N. Bennett, N. 2012, ‘The role of culture and leadership in lean transformation: a review and assessment model’, Internat ional Journal of Lean Thinking, vol. 3, no. 1, pp. 119-138. Bersin, J. 2012, ‘It’s not the CEO, it’s the leadership strategy that matters‘, Forbes. Web. Chandra, P. V. 2013, ‘Approach to lean leadership through creating a lean culture’, International Journal of Engineering Science and Innovative Technology, vol. 2, no. 4, pp. 35-40. Cole, R. E. 2011, ‘What really happened to Toyota?’, MITSloan Management Review, vol. 52, no. 4, pp. 28-35. Company history, 2015. Web. Daft, R. L. Samson, D. 2014, Fundamentals of management: Asia Pacific edition, Cengage Learning Australia, South Melbourne. Heineman, B. W. 2014, ‘The crisis management lesson from Toyota and GM: â€Å"It’s our problem the moment we hear about it†Ã¢â‚¬Ëœ, Harvard Business Review. Web. Liker, J. Convis, G. L. 2011, The Toyota way to lean leadership: achieving and sustaining excellence through leadership development, McGraw-Hill Professional, New Yor k. Liker, J. Hoseus, M. 2008, Toyota culture: the heart and soul of the Toyota way, McGraw-Hill Professional, New York. Mann, D. 2009, ‘The missing link: lean leadership’, Frontiers of Health Services Management, vol. 26, no. 1, pp. 15-26. Piotrowski, C. Guyette, R. W. 2010, ‘Toyota recall crisis: public attitudes on leadership and ethics’, Organization Development Journal, vol. 28, no. 2, pp. 89-97. Rajasekera, J. 2013, ‘Challenges to Toyota caused by recall problems, social networks and digitisation’, Asian Academy of Management Journal, vol. 18, no. 1, pp. 1-17. Schwagerman, W. C. Ulmer, J. M. 2013, ‘The A3 lean management and leadership thought process’, The Journal of Technology, Management, and Applied Engineering, vol. 29, no. 4, pp. 2-10. Shang, G. 2014, ‘Toyota way lean leadership: some preliminary findings from the Chinese construction industry’, in Proceedings of IGLC22, Oslo, pp. 1145-1156. Wilson, L. 20 13, ‘Six qualities of lean leadership’, Industry Week. Web. Witcher, B. J. Chau, V. S. 2010, Strategic management: principles and practice, Cengage Learning EMEA, Hampshire. This essay on Toyota’s Culture and Leadership Strategy was written and submitted by user Otto Skinner to help you with your own studies. You are free to use it for research and reference purposes in order to write your own paper; however, you must cite it accordingly. You can donate your paper here.

The Inevitable Collapse of The Roman Republic essays

The Inevitable Collapse of The Roman Republic essays The Roman Empire began in 509 B.C. and lasted till the 6 B.C. The Romans who were highly inspired by the Greeks adapted their governing system. But instead of just limiting their government to city-states, they brought new ideas into their government. They established a ruling senate which was the basis's of their ruling power. The Senate was composed of large landowning aristocrats that composed laws that they could benefit from. The plebeians "poor people" demanded equal representation in the Senate. This battle was won and they were awarded the Plebian Assembly. But as history passed, the senate would no longer need the assembly's approval and this would start the deterioration of the Roman Republic and many other variables. Rome was the epicenter of the Hellenistic period, they gradually grew to occupy all of the Mediterranean. With these conquered lands they enslaved all of the people except for their close neighbors. These slaves were sold to all people of Rome. They took over the workforce. Aristocrats would buy hundreds of slaves and use them for their benefit in their huge plantations "Latifundias." Since the small farmers were the backbone of Rome, they were forced to sell their lands because of shady politics and overtaxing. Thus they would move to the city to find jobs. But since all the jobs were occupied by slaves there was no work for the poor people "the proletariat." This struggle for jobs gradually ruined the economy of Rome and forced the poor people to become even poorer and the rich people even richer. With the slave industrialization, Rome also did a lot of importing instead of exporting which hurt their economy as well. Rome because of its brutal warfare tactics hurt their image as a peaceful empire. Their war with the Carthage, the Punic Wars, brought another side to Rome's growing personality. During these wars, Rome was on the brink of capture when Hannibal almost walked into the walls of Rome. But the R...

10 Ways to Maximize Research at the Courthouse or Archives

10 Ways to Maximize Research at the Courthouse or Archives The process of researching your family tree will eventually lead you to a courthouse, library, archives or other repository of original documents and published sources. The day-to-day joys and hardships of your ancestors’ lives can often be found documented among the numerous original records of the local court, while the library may contain a wealth of information on their community, neighbors and friends. Marriage certificates, family histories, land grants, military rosters and a wealth of other genealogical clues are tucked away in folders, boxes, and books just waiting to be discovered. Before heading for the courthouse or library, however, it helps to prepare. Try these 10 tips for planning your visit and maximizing your results. 1. Scout the Location The first, and most important, step in onsite genealogy research is learning which government most likely had jurisdiction over the area in which your ancestors lived during the time they lived there. In many places, especially in the United States, this is the county or county equivalent (e.g. parish, shire). In other areas, the records may be found housed in town halls, probate districts or other jurisdictional authorities. Youll also have to bone up on changing political and geographical boundaries to know who actually had jurisdiction over the area where your ancestor lived for the time period youre researching, and who has current possession of those records. If your ancestors lived near the county line, you may find them documented among the records of the adjoining county. While a bit uncommon, I actually have an ancestor whose land straddled the county lines of three counties, making it necessary for me to routinely check the records of all three counties (and their parent co unties!) when researching that particular family. 2. Who Has the Records? Many of the records youll need, from vital records to land transactions, are likely to be found at the local courthouse. In some cases, however, the older records may have been transferred to a state archives, local historical society, or other repository. Check with members of the local genealogical society, at the local library, or online through resources such as the Family History Research Wiki or GenWeb  to learn where the records for your location and time period of interest might be found. Even within the courthouse, different offices usually hold different types of records, and may maintain different hours and even be located in different buildings. Some records may also be available in multiple locations, as well, in microfilm or printed form. For U.S. research, The Handybook for Genealogists or Red Book: American State, County and Town Sources, both include state-by-state and county-by-county lists of which offices hold which records. You may also want to explore WPA Hist orical Records Survey inventories, if available for your locality, to identify other potential records. 3. Are the Records Available? You dont want to plan a trip halfway across the country only to find that the records you seek were destroyed in a courthouse fire in 1865. Or that the office stores the marriage records in an offsite location, and they need to be requested in advance of your visit. Or that some of the county record books are being repaired, microfilmed, or are otherwise temporarily unavailable. Once youve determined the repository and records you plan to research, it is definitely worth the time to call to make sure the records are available for research. If the original record you seek is no longer extant, check the Family History Library Catalog to see if the record is available on microfilm. When I was told by a North Carolina county deed office that Deed Book A had been missing for some time, I was still able to access a microfilmed copy of the book through my local Family History Center. 4. Create a Research Plan As you enter the doors of a courthouse or library, its tempting to want to jump into everything at once. There usually arent enough hours in the day, however, to research all records for all of your ancestors in one short trip. Plan your research before you go, and youll be less tempted by distractions and less likely to miss important details. Create a checklist with names, dates and details for each record you plan to research in advance of your visit, and then check them off as you go. By focusing your search on just a few ancestors or a few record types, youll be more likely to achieve your research goals. 5. Time Your Trip Before you visit, you should always contact the courthouse, library or archives to see if there are any access restrictions or closures which may affect your visit. Even if their website includes operating hours and holiday closures, it is still best to confirm this in person. Ask if there are any limits on the number of researchers, if you have to sign up in advance for microfilm readers, or if any courthouse offices or special library collections maintain separate hours. It also helps to ask if there are certain times which are less busy than others. Next 5 More Tips for Your Courthouse Visit Research Tips 1-5 6. Learn the Lay of the Land Each genealogical repository you visit is going to be slightly different - whether its a different layout or setup, different policies and procedures, different equipment, or a different organizational system. Check the facilitys website, or with other genealogists who utilize the facility, and familiarize yourself with the research process and procedures before you go. Check the card catalog online, if it is available, and compile a list of the records you want to research, along with their call numbers. Ask if there is a reference librarian who specializes in your specific area of interest, and learn what hours he/she will be working. If records youll be researching use a certain type of index system, such as the Russell Index, then it helps to familiarize yourself with it before you go. 7. Prepare for Your Visit Courthouse offices are often small and cramped, so it is best to keep your belongings to a minimum. Pack a single bag with a notepad, pencils, coins for the photocopier and parking, your research plan and checklist, a brief summary of what you already know about the family, and a camera (if allowed). If you plan to take a laptop computer, make sure that you have a charged battery, because many repositories do not provide electrical access (some do not allow laptops). Wear comfortable, flat shoes, as many courthouses don’t offer tables and chairs, and you may spend a lot of time on your feet. 8. Be Courteous Respectful Staff members at archives, courthouses and libraries are generally very helpful, friendly people, but they are also very busy trying to do their job. Respect their time and avoid pestering them with questions not specifically related to research in the facility or hold them hostage with tales about your ancestors. If you have a genealogy how-to question or trouble reading a particular word that just cant wait, it is usually better to ask another researcher (just dont pester them with multiple questions either). Archivists also greatly appreciate researchers who refrain from requesting records or copies just before closing time! 9. Take Good Notes Make Plenty of Copies While you may take the time to reach a few on-site conclusions about the records you find, it is usually best to take everything home with you where you have more time to examine it thoroughly for every last detail. Make photocopies of everything, if possible. If copies arent an option, then take the time to make a transcription or abstract, including misspellings. On each photocopy, make note of the complete source for the document. If you have time, and money for copies, it can also be helpful to make copies of the complete index for your surname(s) of interest for certain records, such as marriages or deeds. One of them may later make an appearance in your research 10. Concentrate on the Unique Unless the facility is one you can easily access on a regular basis, it is often beneficial to begin your research with the parts of its collection that arent easily available elsewhere. Concentrate on original records that havent been microfilmed, family papers, photograph collections, and other unique resources. At the Family History Library in Salt Lake City, for example, many researchers begin with the books as they are generally not available on loan, while the microfilms can be borrowed through your local Family History Center, or sometimes viewed online. Sources Eichholz, Alice (Editor). Red Book: American State, County Town Sources. 3rd Revised edition, Ancestry Publishing, June 1, 2004. Hansen, Holly (Editor). The Handybook for Genealogists: United States of America. 11th Edition, Revised edition, Everton Pub, February 28, 2006.

The Leader as Communicator Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

The Leader as Communicator - Assignment Example Intellectuals have pinpointed some core competencies that are essential for the leaders (Leading Concepts, 2012). An effective leader should have an ability to express information or convey his/her message explicitly and appropriately. He/she should understand the significances of good oral communication with colleagues, managers and other executive class office members. A leaders communication style should be efficient enough to grab listeners’ attention and encourage them to fulfill the assigned task effectively (Leading Concepts, 2012). However, it has noticed that mass communication is more effective than the individual communication because in mass communication messages are designed more strategically that directly hit cognition of large audience and uniform passive perception that help all members to work with unity (Harris, 2009). For developing good communication skills it is very important for leaders to develop good listening habit at first place. Then develop an ability to make eye contact during communication process (Barker, 2010). Moreover, it is important to always design messages in mind before triggering them to the audience and most importantly never send mixed messages. It is because mixed messages can reduce the effectiveness of the communication process and might contribute to weaken the accomplishment of desired aims (Barker,

Exploring the international Business environment Essay

Exploring the international Business environment - Essay Example Scenario planning was first implemented in military intelligence and military strategy studies. Scenario planning involves identifying trends and analyzing their predicted ramifications. Scenario planning helps organizations in implementing strategic investment, regulating hiring strategies and conducting capital planning. Organizations are able to execute scenario-based approaches to planning thereby developing credible solutions to potential challenges (Friedman, 2014). Scenario planning also helps firms to assess potential outcomes before implementation. Scenario planning is also beneficial in categorizing plans according to their short-term or long term feasibility. The paper will examine the demographic and religious forecast of Tajikistan until the year 2030 and the implications on Asian Development Bank’s strategic plan for Central and West Asian developing member countries. The Republic of Tajikistan is an autonomous country located in Central Asia. The country’s administrative, legislative and financial capital is Dushanbe. The country is bordered by Uzbekistan, Pakistan, Kyrgyzstan, Afghanistan, and China. Up until September 1991 when the country gained independence, Tajikistan was part of the Union of Socialist Soviet Republics. At 143,100 square kilometres, the country is the smallest nation in Central Asia (CIA, 2015). Tajikistan is landlocked and very mountainous. The country is divided into four provinces: one capital province, one autonomous province and two other provinces. The head of state is the president while the government is led by a prime minister. The Tajikistani legislature comprises of a national assembly and an assembly of representatives. The judiciary implements a civil law system (CIA, 2015). Tajikistan is classified as the poorest country in Central Asia and among former Soviet states. The country’s slow economic growth is attributed to the high levels of corruption, poor governance, political unrest, economic

Evading Intrusion Detection Systems Essay Example for Free

Evading Intrusion Detection Systems Essay As information technology advances its demand and reliance has increase has increased resulting in numerous growths in development and usage of web site. This technology has resulted to be very beneficial to organizational and institutional prosperity for example world of business has benefited a lot from the so called e-commerce. These benefits have on the other hand attracted exploitation of the web site supporting them. Growth in occurrence of exploitation of data sites which handle crucial organizational information have resulted to a major concern over their security and management of risks associated. This concern has resulted to usage of prevention system such as â€Å"Web Application Firewall, intrusion prevention systems and intrusion detection systems† (Vittie, 2007 pp. 1). Intrusions detection systems are protective systems which detect identify and isolate exploitation of computer systems. According to Newsham 1998, intrusion detection is a vital element of computer systems security system which complements other protection machineries. â€Å"By providing information to site administration, ID allows not only for the detection of attacks explicitly addressed by other security components (such as firewalls and services wrappers) but also attempts to provide notification of new attacks unforeseen by other components† (Newsham, 1998 para. 3). They are also very important as they provide organization with forensic information enabling detection of origination of attacks. This can help in following of attackers and make the answerable for their malicious actions. Working of Intrusion Detective Systems (IDS) is geared toward monitoring network of any attackers. In this operation it is hindered by network skilled attackers who are working day and night to be able to counter these systems and continue with their malicious damages. Exploitation in this case can continue in case where IDS may be short of complete scrutiny for the all of behavior perpetuated by a certain protocol. A good example to this is a case where attacker of IDS that is unable to reassemble Internet Protocol (IP) fragment through deliberate â€Å"†¦transmission of attack traffic in fragments rather than complete IP datagrams† (Kreibich, 2001). Internet Protocol end systems are assumed to conduct fragment reassembly and incase of this scenario, the attacker may accomplish intended mission without being noticed by IDS since it may be unable to reconstruct entire datagrams. Evading Intrusion Detection Systems using fragmentation and small packet technique can be said to be an evasion technique designed to confuse detection by IDS. Operations of fragment and small packet are based on ensuring attack payload splits into numerous small packets making IDS to gather the packet steam so as to identify the attack. This is possible through fragmenting the small packets but making of packets with minute payload can as well function. Although the small packet may a not evade any IDS which looks like packet steams, they can be designed to confuse reassembly as well as detection. Following deployment of IDS in 90s evasion, discovery of evasion followed. Evasion this time was â€Å"segmenting a signature into multiple packets, sometimes delaying second part of signature to trigger a network IDS time-out† (Gorton Champion, n. d. pp 2). Since 1997, several way of evading IDS which largely depended on using UNIX command shell potentialities. Later, hackers were able to use shell evasion design for example â€Å"mimicking ROT-13 ‘encryption’ using the TR command† (Gorton Champion, n. d. pp 2). Overlapping fragments has also been in use in that numerous packets with Internet Protocol or Transmission Control Protocol modified to overlap. Protocol violation uses similar technique as overlapping fragment in attempt to evade IDS through deliberate violation of Internet Protocol. Other evading Intrusion Detection Systems are Denial of Service and Inserting Traffic at the Intrusion Detection Systems. The inserted traffics are modified packet which are identified by IDS by computer may not detects becoming the main target. While Denial Service is a system modified to evade detection through overpowering Intrusion Detection System. This is possible through exploiting attacking element by use of large codification. â€Å"In 1999, Ptacek and Newsham demonstrated that commercial Intrusion detection systems had fundamentals flaws at handling the IP and TCP protocols which allowed attacker to trick them into incorrectly reconstructing sessions containing an attack† (Gorton Champion, n. d. pp 4). These two researchers in this field identified that several ways which IDS could not be able to detect invasion through being tricked and lack to attack invasion capable to detect. This was followed by development of programs by Dug Song guided by techniques explained by Ptacek and Newsham. This program is called fragrouter and later developed to fragroute. Attack of server through Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP), â€Å"†¦there are fewer possibility for application evasion than in shell version. If the signature is flawed, an attacker can alter non-essential parts of the attack and avoid the signature,† (Gorton Champion, n. d. pp 4). To counter this inefficiency other forms of IDS were developed these are Mendax and Whisker written by Kang’s and Puppy respectively. In conclusion, evading Intrusion Detective System is still an active field. As ways to counter their malicious behaviors are developed hackers are busy advancing their attacks. This means future and survival of IDS in protecting web site is dependent to continued research in this field. Reference: Vittie, Lori Mac (2007): XSS Evasion—Trying to hide in the all-concealing torchlight; Retrieved on 12th December 2008 from; http://www. f5. com/pdf/white-papers/xss-evasion-wp. pdf Newsham Timothy N. (1998): Insertion, Evasion, and Denial of Service: Eluding Network Intrusion Detection. Retrieved on 12th December 2008 from; http://insecure. org/stf/secnet_ids/secnet_ids. html. Kreibich, Christian (2001): Network Intrusion Detection: Evasion, Traffic Normalization, and End-to-End Protocol Semantics. Retrieved on 12th December 2008 from; http://www. icir. org/vern/papers/norm-usenix-sec-01. pdf Gorton A. Samuel Champion Terrence G. (n. d): Combining Evasion Techniques to Avoid Network Intrusion Detection Systems. Retrieved on 12th December 2008 from; http://www. skaion. com/research/tgc-rsd-raid. pdf

The Impeachment of Richard Nixon and Bill Clinton :: Politics Political

Impeachment is the ultiomate punishment for a president. It is a long and complicated rout to removing a public official from office. The Constitutional process Article II, section 4 specifies the procedures to be used to remove a public official from office(CNN/All Politics). The constitution states that and president found guilty for bribery, treason, or other high crimes and misdemeanors. There has been a long debate on what should be considered a high crime. Different people in the House share different views. Ultimately it is up to the Hose to decide to drop the charges or further the investigation. If the public official is found guilty a two thirds majority vote from the Senate is necessary. The most recent president to face an impeachment hearing was Bill Clinton. A previous case involving Richard Nixon, Watergate, was held in 1974. Rather than facing an embarrassment with impeachment Nixon chose to resign in disgrace. Both cases were very much similar yet different. In the Watergate scandal many of Nixon's dirty tactics were learned, including assorted lists of enemies,a number of which became targets of IRS tax audits, wiretapping, political sabotage, burglary, blackballing, and smear campaigns(Geriouese). Similarly, as Clinton’s case unfolded, the scandal appeared to involve more than just a sexual assault. It was clear that the Republicans were out to get former President Clinton, when the Whitewater case emerged. Republicans were desperate to find Clinton guilty of covering up financial impropriety in his Arkansa invenvestments prior to becoming president. When speacial prosecutor Robert Fiske Jr. turned up no evidence, Republicans demanded his removal. Kenneth Starr was appointed the position. He began an open-ended inquiry into every corner of Clinton’s life. Clinton was ultimetly found not guilty. The first major set back of President Bill Clinton arose from a series of events following the filing of a lawsuit on May 6, 1994, by Paula Jones in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Arkansas(Starr). Ms. Jones alleged violations of her federal civil rights in 1991 by President Clinton when he was governor of Arkansas and she was an Arkansas state employee. According to the her allegations, Governor Clinton invited Ms. Jones to his hotel room where he made a sexual advance that she rejected. Clinton’s attorney’s tried to get the caes to rest until his term as president was over. The Supreme Court decide against the recommendation and the court proceeded.

Identify and describe at least three (3) contributing to the accuracy or inaccuracy of sensory data Essay

Provide at least three (3) reasons for believing in the accuracy or inaccuracy of sensory information. Our senses are the connection between the world and our mind. A lot of philosophers defined our senses as the window of the soul. Every sense in our brain work hand to hand and build a combined picture of where we are, who we are, and what is going on in our environment, our thinking and sensing are hardly connected and we rely on accurate observations. The reasons for believing in the accuracy or inaccuracy of sensory information, when you touch something hot, your sense of feeling will send messages to your brain and you can remove your hand or other part of your body before you get burned. Your sense of smell can signal when there is danger. There are reasons to believe sensory information. Though our sensory may be working fine, environmental influences may distort our interpretation of the data the organ is sending to us. Identify and describe at least three (3) contributing to the accuracy or inaccuracy of sensory data. There are many things that can cause an effect to the accuracy of sensory data. The first and the most important one is food. Our brain like other body part needs energy in order to Discuss the roles of â€Å"nature† and â€Å"nurture† with regard to the interpretation and evaluation of sensory data. Use at least two (2) quality resources in this assignment. Your textbook may count as one (1) source. At least one (1) of your sources must be obtained from the collection of databases accessible from the Learning Resources Center Web page.

Minimising risk in fashion

Explain how Buyers and Merchants minimise hazard when planning ranges for their manner company. Gabrielle ( Coco ) Chanel stated ‘Fashion does non merely exist in frocks, manner is in the air, it is brought in by the air current, one feels it coming, breathes it in the sky and on the paving, it depends on thoughts clients and happenings’ ( Charles-Roux, 2005 p.11 ) . The undertaking of construing how the changing universe is likely to impact the consumer’s desire for manner merchandises is hard, and this is why manner purchasers and merchants turn to command tools.There are many control tools which a manner company will utilize throughout its concern construction in order to accomplish maximal net income borders and to assist understate hazard and to give themselves a strong competitory advantage over rivals. Control tools are a critical portion of a manner company in order for it to turn successfully and to stay competitory. Despite supplying a figure of advantages to a manner company, control tools besides present a figure of disadvantages and restrictions whereby they are merely utile to a certain point, and this is when other control tools need to be put into the equation. A cardinal control tool used in the purchasing procedure is Range Planning. Range Planning involves roll uping a commercially acceptable aggregation of garments within fiscal and design parametric quantities, prior to production and bringing ( Goworek 2007 ) .The development of a scope of merchandises for a new season raises of import strategic issues for manner retail merchants about new merchandises and markets. In any season there is ever a balance struck between updated rudimentss that will be repeated in some signifier, and wholly new manner merchandises. A utile tool to assist entree the scope of merchandises for a season and to assist understate hazard is the Ansoff product-market matrix. This planning tool helps separate the basic options for increasing gross revenues by pull stringsing merchandise and market chances. It works good for the manner industry where merchandises are of all time altering and new markets continually developing, hence this will assist to understate h azard when planning ranges. Buyers and merchants should recognize the strategic options indicated by the Ansoff Matrrix, and the differing deduction of each to developing merchandise ranges in a season ( Watts, 1998 ) . Basically these options represent different methods of increasing gross revenues which will basically assist to maximize net incomes. The trouble manner retail merchants face is where to strike the balance between the breadth of the scope they offer and the deepness of pick available in their scope of merchandises. ‘Range width’ refers to how broad a pick of merchandises is to be offered to clients. Some manner retail merchants e.g. Miss Selfridge, began selling vesture and accoutrements but have widened their merchandise ranges to include jewelry, make-up and a whole host of other merchandises reflecting the lifestyle demands of the consumer. The deepness of a scope refers to the picks of manners, colorss, sizes and monetary values available to clients in important Numberss of units within production classs. When purchasers and merchants are be aftering the scope, they need to look at their mark consumer to place what merchandise categorization should be included and how many of each categorization, this is to assist understate hazard. Product Mix is an of import component of Range planning. If assess ed right, harmonizing to consumer demands and wants, the right merchandise mix will assist to maximize net incomes. The advantage of holding a merchandise mix is that it can potentially increase the volume of gross revenues, widening the scope on offer helps to distribute the fiscal hazards which are potentially involved. In add-on adding new scopes to the trade name will assist to diversify the manner company and convey approximately new concern chances and aid to increase possible gross revenues and net incomes. Having a wide merchandise mix will besides assist to aim new clients every bit good as making and prolonging the involvement of current consumers. Furthermore Product Mix is a cardinal driver in the scope planning procedure. The disadvantage of Product Mix as a control tool is an increased hazard of stock markdowns if Product Mix on offer is excessively broad ( Shaw, 2005 ) . When be aftering a scope program construction many retail merchants and purchasers struggle to make up one's mind whether to go on with merchandises which have sold good in the yesteryear but which are going ‘old fashioned’ such as the Laura Ashley jumper daisy print frock ( Shaw, 2005 ) . A clear and up to day of the month statement of the retailers’ market place and mark client, based on uninterrupted research, will give the purchaser assurance to be ruthlessly matter-of-fact over what to include and what non to maintain in a scope. This will assist to understate hazard within the manner company. When be aftering a merchandise scope, the Product Mix and categorization program are of critical importance ; each merchandise will hold its ain single merchandise life rhythm ( Doha, 2013 ) . The merchandise lifecycle of a merchandise has four really clearly defined phases, each with its ain features, that average different things for concerns that are seeking to pull off the life rhythms of their peculiar merchandises. These four distinct phases consist of: Introduction, Growth, Maturity and Decline. These four phases will change well harmonizing to the type of merchandise which is being sold, and whether it’s a authoritative, craze or manner merchandise. Product lifecycle direction is an of import control tool within calculating gross revenues and seasons. It makes it possible to command the whole lifetime of a merchandise and the information connected with it. Efficient merchandise lifecycle direction enables companies to vie successfully in international planetary markets ( Stark, 2006 ) . Product life rhythm direction is the activity of pull offing a company’s merchandises all the manner across its lifecycles in the most effectual manner. In so making, it enables the company to take control of its merchandises. If a company loses control of its merchandises this can hold black effects. Therefore merchandise life rhythm direction is a cardinal control tool, for merchants and purchasers. During the development of a merchandise, it doesn’t physically exist, so during that stage of its life it’s hard to command. PML helps to convey better merchandises to market faster, and enable better support of customersâ€℠¢ usage of merchandises. It is of import to convey a merchandise to market rapidly, otherwise the client will take a competitor’s merchandise before yours get to market. An advantage for purchasers and merchants of utilizing the merchandise lifecycle as a control tool is that it helps cut down the cost of a merchandise. The merchandise life rhythm can be used by purchasers and merchants to assist understate hazard for their manner companies by reexamining old products’ lifecycles, where they peaked and where they started to worsen. This can be used to an advantage to assist be after the merchandise life rhythms of similar futuristic merchandises which will assist to command and gauge the life rhythm of a merchandise. It’s of import to cut down merchandise costs ; otherwise consumers may halt utilizing your merchandise and utilize a competitor’s alternatively. PLM enables the value of a merchandise to be maximised over its lifecycle. With accurate consolid ated information about mature merchandises available, low-priced ways can be found to widen their revenue-generating life-times. PLM gives transparence about what is go oning over the merchandise lifecycle ; it offers directors visibleness about what is truly go oning with products.. However the disadvantage of utilizing the PLC is that the merchandise lifecycle is merely a theoretical theoretical account and the merchandise lifecycle is non needfully reflective of all manner merchandises. Forecasting gross revenues and seasons is a critical control tool which purchasers and merchants have to implement in order to understate hazard with planning scopes for their manner company. Manner prediction looks at the fiscal parts and the comparing of the seasons’ gross revenues last twelvemonth. Additionally manner companies have to equilibrate the customer’s pick with the demand to accomplish the best return of stock investing. The get downing point for many manner retail merchants is gross revenues history, as it identifies what clients expect to purchase from the concern based on their current and past demands. Gross saless history may mention to last week’s gross revenues, and as such besides reflects customers’ current seasonal demands ( Douglas 1997 ) . There is much valuable information available to the purchaser from the gross revenues history of old seasons. Forms have likely been established of the type of manner ware which the retailers’ clients have purchased in the yesteryear. Best sellers from old seasons need to be replaced with new yet every bit profitable ware, The purchaser needs to through ally analyse which fact ors contributed towards an points bestselling position ( Goworek 2007 ) . Manner season is an of import component of the control tool ‘Forecasting gross revenues and seasons’ . Historically there have been two clearly defined and traditional manner seasons, which are Autumn/Winter and SS. Easy ( 1995 ) explains that retail merchants have organised themselves around consumer demand that has traditionally been influenced by conditions forms. In the yesteryear there have been two clearly defined and traditional seasons and these are still steadfastly ingrained in our civilization, even though they have progressively less relevancy to consumers and manner concerns. With a greater accent on fulfilling the manner demands of customers’ altering life manners, manner retail merchants have to purchase more rapidly and maintain scopes focused on what clients want at peculiar times of the old ages, as opposed to fulfilling two big period of demand, i.e. summer and winter. Another factor which has influenced client demand is greater travel, as clien ts require vesture for a assortment of climes and occasions out of season, e.g. swimsuit in winter. In order to understate hazard manner retail merchants have to purchase more rapidly and maintain scopes focused on what clients want at a peculiar clip of the twelvemonth, as opposed to purchasing to fulfill two big periods of demand. In order for purchasers and merchants to understate hazard is it critical that they besides ‘buy’ in order to fulfill discreet ‘user occasions’ . Increasing consumer demand is coercing retail merchants to retink merchandise ranges about changed client behavior. Product categorization is a cardinal component of Range Planning. It is critical for the merchant and purchaser to calculate the merchandise lifecycle of merchandises with different categorizations such as Fashion, Fad and Classic. The merchant plays a cardinal function in working with the purchaser to accomplish the right balance of merchandises within the seasons range. This is done by utilizing a combination of gross revenues history combined with forward gross revenues and tendency anticipations. The sum of manner and fad merchandise in the Product Mix will find the sum of flexibleness needed. It is noted that the manner manner tendency reviews begin many months in progress of a season. Normally at the terminal of the old season the purchasing and selling squad will hold undertaken what is known as a ‘seasons station mortem’ . The advantages of set abouting a seasons station mortem is that it is a utile papers for be aftering the future manner way of a manner concern and is helpful during the planning of a new season. It is of import to command the degree of stock and type of stock that is in the concern at any given clip ; this is carried out through manner prediction, and the scrutiny of merchandise classs to utilize in a season, such as Authoritative trench coats manner or crazes. The ware program is an of import control tool in order to understate the hazard of holding excessively much ‘cost’ that hazards being unsold ( Shaw 2005 ) . This relates to be aftering and profitableness. It is critical to observe that one of the most of import ends in successful selling is to help the procedure of accomplishing the planned degree of purchasing profitableness. ‘Buying profit’ can be defined as the difference between the cost monetary value paid for the garment and the retail merchandising monetary value in the store. The grade up or net income made between the two monetary values can be explained by the undermentioned merchandising monetary value equation. Retail merchandisin g monetary value ( RSP ) -Cost Price ( CP ) =Gross Margin ( or gross net income ) . WSSI is an of import control tool which is used every twenty-four hours in the life of a purchaser and merchant. Throughout the twelvemonth, it is critical for the merchant and purchaser to construct stock degrees in expectancy of trading extremum periods such as Christmas and high summer. The WISSI is really good at assisting the purchaser and merchant program frontward stock consumption into the DC. Every Monday gross revenues figures are awaited in order that purchasers and merchants can place fast selling lines that need reiterate bargains to guarantee that they are kept in stock. On the other manus it is besides the Monday figures which reveal the worst Sellerss that finally will necessitate holding their monetary values marked down. Thus the WISSI helps to pull off and command hazard. The WISSI is one of the most valuable studies used by the purchaser. It includes gross revenues and stock list degrees by manner for the old hebdomad. The WISSI acts as an overall control mechanis m to guarantee that the flow of stock and money in the concern is go oning expeditiously. WSSI is an of import control tool for purchasers and merchants because it significantly works alongside the bringing agenda. It lists the hebdomad and the twenty-four hours when the providers have been requested to present the garments to the DC. Being cognizant of precisely what is traveling to be delivered is besides of cardinal involvement to shop and promotional direction maps of the administrations ; this can assist pull off hazard and supply a competitory advantage for the manner company. One of the cardinal selling activities controlled by utilizing the WISSI is the facet of line degree monetary value change that regularly occurs within all manner concerns. Ideally at the start of the season, the purchaser and merchant purpose to make a monetary value construction that relates to the type of clients to whom they are selling. Monetary values must besides be competitory to guarantee they a re in line with major competition. Overall WISSI acts as the cardinal selling direction papers within manner retailing ; it is lone portion of a wider scope of be aftering paperss. It is shamelessly an internal fiscal control papers which is a sum-up of all the trading activity within the section and finally the full concern. There are disadvantages of WISSI as a control tool. Taken out of context, it can be a nonmeaningful page of figures. It requires careful reading, utilizing experience to pull strings both it and the purchasing, if the section is to win. It is of import to retrieve that manner is non formulaic ; merchants try to utilize it in a formulaic manner, bring forthing it without understanding. Therefore it is of import that merchants and purchasers do non respond excessively rapidly to sudden good and bad gross revenues forms ; reaction to the WSSI must be both considered and careful. Overall the of import of understanding the workings of WSSI should non be underestimated. Using this control document the merchant has considerable advantages and is able to maintain hebdomadal updates of yesteryear, nowadays and likely future public presentations of the section and direction to on a regular basis look into their public presentations against the original program. More significantly it acts as a decision-making tool to assist the concern make up one's mind what action to take on an on-going regular footing. This will more significantly assist to understate hazard and aid to maximize net incomes. To reason there are a figure of control tools which purchasers and merchants can utilize in order to understate hazard and maximize net incomes when planning ranges for their manner companies. There are considerable advantages of utilizing a figure of control tools in order to derive competitory advantages over similar manner companies and rivals and to assist increase net income borders. Manner companies will strategically utilize a combination of control tools in order program in front to give themselves the greatest opportunity of success. For a manner company to win it has to â€Å"reflect the demands and the desires of a coevals at a peculiar point in clip. It has to be of the minute, but with ageless values that will ever be recognised† ( Menkes 2001 ) Mentions: Ahmed Doha, Ajay Das, Mark Pagell, ( 2013 ) â€Å" The influence of merchandise life rhythm on the efficaciousness of buying patterns † , International Journal of Operations & A ; Production Management, Vol. 33 Iodine: 4, pp.470 – 498 Charles-Roux, E. ( 2004_ .The universe of Coco Chanel. Friends Fashion Fame. London: Thames and Hudson, p.11 Douglas C. West, ( 1997 ) â€Å" Pull offing Gross saless Forecasting † , Management Research News, Vol. 20 Iodine: 4, pp.1 – 10 Easy, M. ( 1995 )Manner Selling.Oxford: Blackwell Science. Goworek, H ( 2007 ) .Manner Buying. London: Blackwell. p44-45. Hines.T, et Al. ( 2007 )Manner Selling: modern-day issues.Routledge ; 2 edition ( 2006 ) Jackson.T, et Al. ( 2000 )Manner Buying and trading direction #Gerald Watts, Jason Cope, Michael Hulme, ( 1998 ) â€Å" Ansoff’s Matrix, hurting and addition: Growth schemes and adaptative acquisition among little nutrient manufacturers † , International Journal of Entrepreneurial Behaviour & A ; Research, Vol. 4 Iodine: 2, pp.101 – 111 Stark, J ( 2006 ) .Product Lifecycle Mangament 21stCenturyParadigm for Product Realisation. London: Dordrecht: Springer 2006. P 4-5

A Primer on Arc Elasticity

A Primer on Arc Elasticity One of the problems with the standard formulas for elasticity that are in many freshman texts is the elasticity figure you come up with is different depending on what you use as the start point and what you use as the endpoint. An example will help illustrate this. When we looked at Price Elasticity of Demand, we calculated the price elasticity of demand when the price went from $9 to $10 and demand went from 150 to 110 was 2.4005. But what if we calculated what the price elasticity of demand when we started at $10 and went to $9? So wed have: Price(OLD)10Price(NEW)9QDemand(OLD)110QDemand(NEW)150 First wed calculate the percentage change in quantity demanded: [QDemand(NEW) - QDemand(OLD)] / QDemand(OLD) By filling in the values we wrote down, we get: [150 - 110] / 110 (40/110) 0.3636 (Again we leave this in decimal form) Then wed calculate the percentage change in price: [Price(NEW) - Price(OLD)] / Price(OLD) By filling in the values we wrote down, we get: [9 - 10] / 10 (-1/10) -0.1 We then use these figures to calculate the price-elasticity of demand: PEoD (% Change in Quantity Demanded)/(% Change in Price) We can now fill in the two percentages in this equation using the figures we calculated earlier. PEoD (0.3636)/(-0.1) -3.636 When calculating a price elasticity, we drop the negative sign, so our final value is 3.636. Obviously, 3.6 is a lot different from 2.4, so we see that this way of measuring price elasticity is quite sensitive to which of your two points you choose as your new point, and which you choose as your old point. Arc elasticities are a way of removing this problem. When calculating Arc Elasticities, the basic relationships stay the same. So when were calculating Price Elasticity of Demand we still use the basic formula: PEoD (% Change in Quantity Demanded)/(% Change in Price) However, how we calculate the percentage changes differ. Before when we calculated Price Elasticity of Demand, Price Elasticity of Supply,  Income Elasticity of Demand, or Cross-Price Elasticity of Demand wed calculate the percentage change in Quantity Demand the following way: [QDemand(NEW) - QDemand(OLD)] / QDemand(OLD) To calculate an arc-elasticity, we use the following formula: [[QDemand(NEW) - QDemand(OLD)] / [QDemand(OLD) QDemand(NEW)]]*2 This formula takes an average of the old quantity demanded and the new quantity demanded on the denominator. By doing so, we will get the same answer (in absolute terms) by choosing $9 as old and $10 as new, as we would choosing $10 as old and $9 as new. When we use arc elasticities we do not need to worry about which point is the starting point and which point is the ending point. This benefit comes at the cost of a more difficult calculation. If we take the example with: Price(OLD)9Price(NEW)10QDemand(OLD)150QDemand(NEW)110 We will get a percentage change of: [[QDemand(NEW) - QDemand(OLD)] / [QDemand(OLD) QDemand(NEW)]]*2 [[110 - 150] / [150 110]]*2 [[-40]/[260]]*2 -0.1538 * 2 -0.3707 So we get a percentage change of -0.3707 (or -37% in percentage terms). If we swap the old and new values for old and new, the denominator will be the same, but we will get 40 in the numerator instead, giving us an answer of the 0.3707. When we calculate the percentage change in price, we will get the same values except one will be positive and the other negative. When we calculate our final answer, we will see that the elasticities will be the same and have the same sign. To conclude this piece, Ill include the formulas so you can calculate the arc versions of price elasticity of demand, price elasticity of supply, income elasticity, and cross-price demand elasticity. We recommend calculating each of the measures using the step-by-step fashion we detail in the previous articles. New Formulas: Arc Price Elasticity of Demand PEoD (% Change in Quantity Demanded)/(% Change in Price) (% Change in Quantity Demanded) [[QDemand(NEW) - QDemand(OLD)] / [QDemand(OLD) QDemand(NEW)]] *2] (% Change in Price) [[Price(NEW) - Price(OLD)] / [Price(OLD) Price(NEW)]] *2] New Formulas: Arc Price Elasticity of Supply PEoS (% Change in Quantity Supplied)/(% Change in Price) (% Change in Quantity Supplied) [[QSupply(NEW) - QSupply(OLD)] / [QSupply(OLD) QSupply(NEW)]] *2] (% Change in Price) [[Price(NEW) - Price(OLD)] / [Price(OLD) Price(NEW)]] *2] New Formulas: Arc Income Elasticity of Demand PEoD (% Change in Quantity Demanded)/(% Change in Income) (% Change in Quantity Demanded) [[QDemand(NEW) - QDemand(OLD)] / [QDemand(OLD) QDemand(NEW)]] *2] (% Change in Income) [[Income(NEW) - Income(OLD)] / [Income(OLD) Income(NEW)]] *2] New Formulas: Arc Cross-Price Elasticity of Demand of Good X PEoD (% Change in Quantity Demanded of X)/(% Change in Price of Y) (% Change in Quantity Demanded) [[QDemand(NEW) - QDemand(OLD)] / [QDemand(OLD) QDemand(NEW)]] *2] (% Change in Price) [[Price(NEW) - Price(OLD)] / [Price(OLD) Price(NEW)]] *2] Notes and Conclusion So now you can calculate elasticity using a simple formula as well as using the arc formula. In a future article, we will look at using calculus to compute elasticities. If youd like to ask a question about the elasticities, microeconomics, macroeconomics or any other topic or comment on this story, please use the feedback form.

Act and Action

Act and Action Act and Action Act and Action By Maeve Maddox Act functions as both a verb and a noun: The government must act quickly to avoid worse consequences. (verb) Polluting the stream with transmission fluid was a criminal act. (noun) As a noun, act has several specialized meanings: deed Paying for the child’s piano lessons was an act of kindness. division of a play Judy’s big speaking part came in the third act. a piece of entertainment My friend’s grandson performed a juggling act on the Jay Leno Show. pretense The boss was deceived, but the rest of us knew he was putting on an act. an account of the life and deeds of a person or persons (usually plural) Our preacher’s favorite book of the Bible is the Acts of the Apostles. a degree or statute passed by a legislative body The Volstead Act prohibited intoxicating beverages and regulated the manufacture, production, use and sale of high-proof spirits for purposes other than drinking. Action is an abstract noun formed from the verb to act. It also has more than one meaning: lawsuit She has retained counsel, David Shiller, to bring an action against The Toronto Star. military engagement Captain Martin, although badly wounded,  survived the action. gestures In teaching the Itsy-Bitsy-Spider song to a child, first teach the words, then the actions. event or series of events in a story The action in the film Gigi takes place in turn-of-the-twentieth century Paris. Using action and act interchangeably is appropriate only when the sense is â€Å"deed† or â€Å"thing done.† Action has meanings that do not apply to act, as in the following statements: There can be no excuse for his actions on the day of the disaster. behavior conduct undertakings exploits maneuvers endeavors efforts exertions activities He lived a life of action. energy vitality vigor forcefulness drive initiative spirit liveliness vim pep activity At the time, the action of asbestos on the lungs was not widely known. effect influence power Want to improve your English in five minutes a day? Get a subscription and start receiving our writing tips and exercises daily! Keep learning! Browse the Vocabulary category, check our popular posts, or choose a related post below:36 Adjectives Describing Light15 Types of DocumentsWords Often Misspelled Because of Double Letters

Personeal Development Planning (PDP) Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 5500 words

Personeal Development Planning (PDP) - Essay Example Moreover I have also observed how they analyse a candidate during the interpersonal process and at the same time make them feel comfortable. Although the feedback that I received from my peers was largely positive, my supervisors have clearly pointed out certain inherent drawbacks that I have. However, through extensive reading I have learnt a lot about effective interviewing and I have also applied the knowledge so gathered during mock-interviews that I had arranged with the cooperation of my colleagues. During the process I have realised that my technical acumen has to be honed and currently I am working on this area. On a whole the feedback from my peers has been good and they have encouraged my efforts. I have come to a decision that I will continue to read more in order to analyse the behavioral aspects of the interviewing process so that I can get rid of the personal biases that my supervisors have pointed out in me. I am hopeful that the successful manifestation of my short-te rm as well as long-term objectives will help me perform even better as an interviewer. 3. Mail from the peers – (2.3) – They appreciated my ability of active participation, multitasking & managing mails from co-workers – (2.4) – Congratulated me after the team won the lawn tennis match. One needs to have good time management skill in order to be successful in life. Hence I decided to improve my time management skill as far as possible. I feel all my efforts assisted me to overcome the habit of mealtime management. Now I can plan my schedule as per the priority order which I feel has helped me to implement my plan effectively. My on-job trainings taught me how to finish ones work in a more organised manner. With time I realised that time management is a combination of both art and science. One need to be logical while segregating the time into different activities. From my early college days my study pressure made me forego cultural programs of any kind;

Modern Architecture in Australia Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Modern Architecture in Australia - Essay Example However, Australia’s distinctive and unique climate necessitated adaptations in the architectural designs. Notable Australian adaptations include the Queenslander and Federation styles of residential architecture. Over the years, Australia has developed some iconic designs which include: the UNESCO, Sydney Opera House, and the Royal Exhibition Building in Melbourne. Early buildings in Australia had European fashions such as the Georgian style. This is a style that is exhibited in early government buildings and homes of the affluent. Francis Greenway, the architect who appears on the Australian ten dollar note designed early buildings in Georgian style with examples such as, the Hyde Park Barracks and St. James’ church. Further, another European style that gained fame and favour in the early 19th century in Australia was the Gothic Revival architecture which was particularly used in churches. It had its distinctive features which included pointed arches, turrets, and bat tlements and gothic ornaments. One of the best examples that exhibits this style can be seen at the lower end of Collins Street in Melbourne.1 The Australian gold rush of the mid-19th century saw major buildings especially in Sydney and Melbourne and to a minor extent in regional capitals being built in the style of Victorian architecture. Italian architecture also found favour from the period of about 1850-1893 as it allowed greater displays of prosperity through its rich and complex features such as slate roofs and cast iron work.2 A significant leap in architectural movements in Australia was the development of the Federation architecture style of the 20th century where Australia began to develop a sense of personal identity that was not related to the previous European designs. Technically, they began developing a style of their own. One of the most important local introductions to Australian architecture was the veranda which was introduced by pastoralists who took up land and built single storey houses with the addition of the veranda which provided shade and looked attractive. Like almost everywhere around the world, the movement in Australian architecture have been influenced by socio-political factors. For example, during the early 20th century, cities across Australia had placed height limits to buildings at typically 150 feet (45 metres) hence hindering the development of very tall buildings (skyscrapers) in the American style until the limits were lifted in the late 1950s3. Similarly, the Australian families sought to own their own free standing houses with space in the backyard which hence meant that high density houses were rare in Australia until the end of the 20th century. However, significant concerns were raised during the 1960s with the skyscraper boom which had led to the destruction of earlier historic buildings. A green ban was thus set in place to protect historic 18th – century buildings in The Rocks from being demolished to pav e way for office towers and also prevented the Royal Botanic gardens from being transformed into a car park for the Sydney Opera House.4 In the city of Melbourne the battle to preserve history was the one fought to preserve the Carlton from slum reclamation for setting up public housing. In the 21st century Australian architects have taken a more innovative approach to designs. Many buildings have emerged that truly reflect the unique Australian culture and values. As a result,

Media Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Media - Assignment Example Steve Forbes is a well-respected president and CEO of Forbes magazine, a business journal that is highly regarded in the business sector. He was also a Republican candidate in 1996 and 2000, putting forth such conservative ideas as the flat tax, a rehaul of Social Security, school choice and a strong national defense. (Forbes.com). While I respect Mr. Forbes, in that he is very accomplished and obviously very learned, I do not agree with his fundamental values, as I consider myself to be more of a Democrat than a Republican. That said, there is no denying that Mr. Forbes is a well-respected man within his field. However, because I do not agree with him on his fundamental values, it is difficult to not have a jaundiced eye on his editorials. Then, after reading just a few paragraphs, my eye was jaundiced to him even more – he derisively quotes Robert Reich in his article â€Å"Isnt Capitalism Brutal?†, stating that Reich, expressing the view that Wal-Mart crushes retailers, â€Å"complained that the retailing giant has turned main streets into ghost towns by sucking business away from small retailers." (Forbes, 2009). Then, I actually found the article to which he was speaking, and it turns out that Robert Reich did state the above quote, but that he was stating that this is what Wal-Mart detractors say about Wal-Mart. The article actually defends Wal-Marts practices overall. (Reich, 2005). In other words, Forbes took Reichs words completely out of context. If you read Forbes article, you would assume that Reich actually believes that Wal-Mart is bad and turns towns into ghost towns, but when you read the actual article, you realize that Reich is stating just the opposite. I am not sure why Forbes did thi s – Reich was labor secretary from 1993 to 1997 - in other words, he was President Clintons labor secretary - and he did

Strategies for Small Molecule Activation

Strategies for Small Molecule Activation Introduction Developing novel strategies for small molecule activation is the core aim of catalysis reasearch. One approach that recently gained prominence in catalytic activation of organic molecules is photoredox catalysis. Visible light photoredox catalysis has risen to the interface of current organic chemistry as a remarkable way to facilitate single electron transfer (SET) processes with organic substrates upon photoexcitation1. This technique relies on the property of metal complexes and organic dyes to undergo SET with visible light2. The commonly employed transition metal based photocatalyst used to harness the packets of energy carried by visible light are polypyridyl complexes of ruthenium and iridium, named as tris(2,2-bipyridine)ruthenium (II) or Ru(bpy)32+ (Figure 1). Figure 1. Structures of common transition metal photocatalysts. These complexes give stable, long-lived excited states (for Ru (bpy)32+*, à Ã¢â‚¬Å¾ = 110 ns)3 when irradiated with visible light of electromagnectic spectrum4. This relatively long lived excited state may allow bimolecular electron-transfer reactions through outer sphere transfer, both by the quenching of excited state photocatalyst and deactivation pathways5. The quenching can be accomplished in both oxidative and reductive ways (Figure 2), which offers this mode of catalysis flexibility. Figure 2. Oxidative and reductive quenching cycles within photocatalysis. Moreover, varying the metal (Ru, Ir, Cu, Cr,etc.) or ligands steer to foreseeable changes in redox potentials, enabling customization of the catalyst to ones needs. In contrast to classical approaches these photochemical methods offer surprisingly mild conditions to radical reactions, as they typically operate at ambient temperature, utilize bench-stable reagents and display high degree of functional group tolerance.6 The extensive application of visible light photocatalysts have been recognized in the field of inorganic and materials chemistry. In particular, these catalysts have been found to be actively decomposing water into hydrogen and oxygen7 and reducing carbon dioxide to methane.8 Also, they have been employed in (i) as components in dye sensitized solar cells9 and organic light-emitting diodes,10 (ii) in polymerization reactions,11 and (iii) in photodynamic therapy.12 Until recently the reports of using these complexes as photocatalysts in organic synthesis were scarce. Their limited investigation was very surprising, as single electron, radical processes offer   a unique pathway and reactivity to form C-C bond which are complementary to the closed shell, two electron processes.13 In the last decade detailed studies form the Yoons , MacMillan sand Stephensons groups have shown the application of Ru(bpy)32+ as photoredox catalyst to perform crucial C-C bond forming reactions such   as [2+2] cycloaddition,14 ÃŽÂ ±-alkylation of aldehydes15 and reductive dehalogenation of activated aryl halides.16 These quality work of above groups have   rejuvenated the interests of many researchers in this field, triggering the diverse ideas into the utility of photoredox catalysis as conceptually novel approach to synthetic organic reaction development. The application of visible light photoredox catalysis in organic synthesis revolves around its ability to engineer unusual bond constructions which are not easily formed by established protocols.   For instance, overall neutral redox reactions can be performed by photoredox catalysis, as both the oxidant and reductants can be generated within the same reaction vessel. Visible light photoredox catalysis has been proved to be convenient in designing reactions, which needs gain and removal of electrons at disparate centres in a reaction mechanism. In contrast to these methods, others require stoichiometric quantity of both oxidant and reductants, which many times are incompatible with each other. Radical intermediates generated from single electron transfer (SET) events have been shown to have different reactivity patterns fundamentally different from those accessed through the ground state of catalyst.17 Harnessing   these intermediates by means other than photoredox cata lysis are often challenging or requires conditions which are incompatible with substrates. It is noteworthy to mention, Ru (II) and Ir (III) based photocatalysts are widely used to generate radicals for use in a diverse range of radical reactions, and most of these reactions occur under mild conditions such as room temperature without the need of reactive radical generators (e.g., azobisisobutyronitrile (AIBN), BEt3), and toxic reagents (e.g., Bu3SnH), and in many cases, high temperature. The source of irradiation typically used are commercially available household light bulbs, which has significant advantage over specialized equipment employing high-energy ultraviolet (UV) light. Moreover, organic molecules generally do not show absorbance in visible region, so there is little probability of unwanted side reactions that might occur from the photoexcitation of the substrate itself. Even, the low photocatalyst loading of 1 mole % or less is sufficient enough to achieve high conversions. These all collectively have proven that visible light mediated photoredox catalysis to b e a uniquely well-suited in designing safer and more sustainable strategies for synthesising more efficient materials and reducing waste streams. Further incentivizing the design and application of novel visible light-mediated methodologies toward both natural and non-natural scaffolds of interest to pharmaceutical and agrochemical domains.18 This review highlights the earlier work done on the use of Ru (II) and Ir (III) transition metal complexes as photoredox catalysts to promote C-C bond forming reactions in organic synthesis. Specifically, there is great emphasis on the applications of visible light photoredox catalysis which have enabled the total synthesis of natural products and related molecules, focusing on a range of powerful transformations that include: reductive coupling, indole functionalization, radical cascades, ATRA reactions, trifluoromethylation and selective C-O bond cleavage. Reductive Dehalogenation Reductive deahalogenation refers to process in which a C-X bond is reduced to a C-H bond where X denotes halogens. These classes of reactions have attracted attention of organic chemists all over the world due to its prime importance in rational organic synthesis. For instance a significant number of examples of these reactions can be found in nature, where enzymatic dehalogenation is performed by microorganism present in soil to check the concentration of lipophilic halogenated species.19 There has been a whole library of reducing systems developed to carry out reductive dehalogenation successfully, which practically guarantees the existence of specific reagents for specific substrate. Organo-tin hydride has been the most used reagent in the past to perform reductive dehalogenation in laboratory as well as in field of synthesis, as it has been proven capable for both radical generation and kinetic radical trapping.20 By far, the system of tin hydride is tributyltin hydride (TBTH) (AIBN) is the most utilized for radical-promoted dehalogenations of organic halides.21 However, there are three main problems in use of TBTH. First, toxicity of tin rule out its use in pharmaceutical synthesis. Second, there are lots of problem associated with the purification of reaction mixture from tributyltin residues. Third, TBTH is not a stable compound, even after careful storage it is likely to steadily decompose.22 It is the toxicity, that has almost precluded its use in a wide range of useful radical reactions in organic synthesis. In recent years, the search for superior alternatives to TBTH has been the central goal of radical chemists. A replacement reagent needs to overcome all three problems mentioned above while at the same time an exhibiting similar reactivity and an ease of use. Earlier work of Fukuzumi and Tanaka focused on use of Ru(bpy)32+ as a photo redox catalyst to promote the reductive dehalogenation of phenacyl bromides23 and reductive dimerization of benzyl bromide24 respectively (Scheme 1), has shown that the application of visible light photoredox catalysis to access radicals can offer a promising solution to this problem. Scheme 1. Reductive dehalogenation of phenacyl bromide (A) and reductive dimerization of benzyl bromide (B). But, it was the efforts of Narayanam and co-workers, focussed on developing the novel means for accessing radical chemistry while avoiding the toxicity and problems associated with tin hydride, has laid a milestone in development of a tin-free reductive dehalogenation systems (Scheme 2.).25 Scheme 2. Photoredox catalytic reduction and potential C-C bond formation. In their primary investigation, Narayanam et al. used a system consisting Ru(bpy)32+ as a photocatalyst, iPr2NEt as major hydrogen atom source and visible light to successfully perform the reductive debromination. In the net transformation, the 3-bromopyrroloindoline (7) was reduced to pyrroloindoline (8) as single product, with the addition of Hantzsch ester or formic acid to the catalytic system produced debrominated product in >90% yield (Scheme 3). Scheme 3. Initial attempt for reductive dehalogenation. In further development of general tin-free visible light mediated dehalogenation protocol, a range of different activated alkyl bromides and chlorides were tested which afforded the corresponding dehalogenated product in good to excellent yield. Although, the un-activated aryl and alkenyl iodides were completely unreactive, as it was expected due to their exceptional negative reduction potentials  Ãƒâ€šÃ‚   (-2.24 V Vs SCE for iodobenzene).26 The solution to this problem lied in the use of Ir(III) based   photo-catalysts instead of   Ru(II), which offered more reducing power than Ru(bpy)32+,and the dehalogenation of less activated alky, vinyl and aryl iodides with good functional group tolerance was achieved using oxidative quencing cycle of fac-Ir(bpy)3 (Scheme 4).27   Scheme 4. Reductive dehalogenation of activated and unactivated halides. Furst et al. used this practical strategy for reductive dehalogenation for a further development of more challenging intermolecular C-C bond forming protocols, which demonstrated an efficient way to promote intermolecular additions using visible light mediated photoredox catalysis. Furst et al. reported a facile coupling of indole with malonate radicals, as malonate-like motifs are common C2-subsitutents in bioactive indole based alkaloids such as actinophyllic acid (9) and undulifoline (10). Using this procedure, an extensive range of indole and pyrrole derivatives were synthesized in good yields by employing (1) as the photocatalyst and N,N-diphenyl-4-methoxyaniline as the reductive quencher (Scheme 5).28 Further, this protocol was extended by Stephenson et al. to synthesize quaternary carbon centres adjacent to C2 of indole based alkaloids by employing more challenging tertiary malonate radicals.29 This transformation was accomplished by directly reducing bromomalonate (11) via oxidative quenching of more reducing fac-Ir(bpy)3 photocatalyst, providing targeted quaternary carbon centres in good to high yields (Scheme 6). Scheme 5. Intermolecular radical addition of secondary radicals to electron-rich heterocycles Scheme 6. Intermolecular radical addition of tertiary radicals to electron-rich heterocycles. Atom Transfer Radical Addition (ATRA) These transformations was first observed by Kharasch30 in 1940s, over the time atom transfer radical addition sparked the interest of organic chemists, as it offers the potential for uniquely efficient and economical approach for dual functionalization of olefins. This functionalization leaved a tremendous impact in organic chemistry, and have also found wide applications in industry and academic research. Similar to the intermolecular malonate-indole coupling mentioned above, these transformations are redox neutral, theoretically eliminating the need for additives, which in terms, reduces the likelihood of deleterious off-target reactivity. The most important application of atom-transfer radical addition reactions is inclusion of fluorinated functional groups into molecules, as the addition of these groups has a strong impact on biological properties and bioavailability of bioactive compounds.31 In 2011 Stephenson, et al. for the first time reported visible light mediated ATRA reactions, proving this methodology as an efficient way to improve the overall performance of this kind of reaction compared to classic radical initiation conditions. This synthetic approach was effective for the preparation of a wide range of perflourohalogenated substrates from unactivated alkenes by using Ru(bpy)32+ as the photocatalyst combined with sodium ascorbate as an electron donor (Scheme 7).32 Scheme 7. Atom transfer radical addition mediated by photoredox catalyst. A similar kind of transformation also providing halotrifluoromethylated product was reported by Han et al. (Scheme. 8)33 using triflouromethanesulfonyl chloride as the triflouromethyl source and visible light in presence of Ru (II) photocatalyst (1). Using this protocol, the variety of substrates including mono, di-, and tri-substituted unactivated alkenes went under trifluoromethylation in excellent yields. Scheme 8. Trifluoromethyl chlorination of disubstituted and internal alkenes. Radical Cascades Radical cascades are one of the most powerful tools for accessing complex structures in single step if substrate is stable under the for radical initiation conditions.34 One of the earliest examples of radical cascade was reported by Stokes et al.35 is intermolecular addition of Sn-radical to alkynes, he also studied the regioselectivity of vinyl radical cyclizations onto C=C double bond (Scheme 9). Cyclization cascades initiated by intermolecular addition of Sn radical to alkyne can be distinguished between reactions where tin-moiety retained in the final product with those where Sn radical essentially acted as a catalyst, which was later removed by the homolytic cleavage of labile C-Sn bond. Scheme 9. Radical cyclization sequence, triggered by regioselective addition of tin radical. Nowadays, because of the recognized toxicity associated with organotin compounds, the focus has been shifted toward the development of alternative tin-free and less environmentally problematic methods for radical cyclizations. Visible light photocatalysis has offered a powerful and sustainable tool for the development of new catalytic radical cascade reactions due their unique ability to facilitate formation of various reactive radicals and radical ions in mild and environmental friendly conditions. Various structurally diverse carbocycles and heterocycles from basic and readily available materials have been synthesis by using this protocol. The augmentation of radical cascade cyclization and visible light photoredox catalysis approach has inspired   radical chemists   around the world to develop novel and efficient methods for synthesis of important heterocyclic motif that are prevalent in nature products exhibiting a wide range of bioactivites. One highly   effective method for radical cascade, generating tetracyclic fused ring was reported by Furst et al. where they used visible light mediated protocol to synthesize tetracycle   from bromomalonate and tricyclic compound from alkyne in good yields as a single diastereomers36 (Scheme 10.). Scheme 10. Intramolecular radical cascades. Xiao et al. further extended the application of visible light mediated radical cascade reactions in synthesis chromam-2ones and dihydroquinoline-2-ones based scaffolds, as these are omnipresent components in biologically active natural products and pharmaceutical drugs37. They reported a new type of radical cascade reaction between photogenerated ÃŽÂ ±-amino radicals and acyloyl ester- and acrylamide-tethered aroylhyrazones.38 (Scheme 11). Scheme 11. Photoredox catalyzed radical cascade reaction of ÃŽÂ ±-amino radicals. In addition, they developed an oxidant free N-radical cascade reaction of ÃŽÂ ², ÃŽÂ ³-unsaturated hydrazones by incorporating visible light photoredox and cobalt catalysis to obtain dihydropyrazole-fused benzosultams (Scheme 12),39 that has never been reported previuosly. Scheme 12. Visible light photocatalytic N-radical cascade reaction of benzosultam synthesis. Recently, Xu et al. devised a valuable cascade annulation by generating acyl radicals from abundant acyl chlorides under visible light mediated photoredox catalysis which then started a cascade cyclization of 1,7 enynes (Scheme 13).40 Scheme 13. Visible light induced cascade cyclization of 1,7-eynes with acyl chlorides. Applications in Total Synthesis In the history of organic synthesis, indole based alkaloids grabbed much more attention because of their abundance in natural products and biologically active compounds, and they have always been interesting and challenging synthetic targets. The unique ability of visible light mediated photoredox catalysis in forming key C-C bond granted access to numerous applied intermediates that facilitated synthesis of these diverse natural products. In 2011, Stephenson and co-workers reported the asymmetric synthesis of (+)-gliocladin C (21), a natural product with interesting cytotoxic activity (Scheme 14.)41 starting from L-tryptophan, the important intermediate C3 bromopyrroloindoline (17) was synthetically prepared by standard transformations using Boc-D-tyrptophan methyl ester (16). The vital step in the synthesis was the formation of C-C coupled intermediate (18), which was accomplished by reductive dehalogenation-arylation process triggered by blue light irradiation on substrate in the presence of aldehyde (22), photocatalyst (1) and NBu3 as a quencher. This intermediate was converted into natural product in 7 high-yielding steps, which was more efficient than the previous reported 21-step structural synthesis of (21) starting isatin with and overall yield of ~ 4%.42 Scheme 14. Total synthesis of (+)-gliocladin C. Another more recent example is the synthesis of biologically active alkaloids drimentines A, F and G (Scheme 15.).43 by Li and co-workers utilising reductive C-C bond forming strategy. In this example, the heterocycle (25) was coupled with acceptor (24) by intermolecular radical 1,4-addition to generate the important intermediate (26), which facilitated the product (27) -(29) in good yields. Scheme 15. Total synthesis of drimentines A, F, G Targeting Pharmaceutically Relevant Scaffolds The unique capabilities of photoredox catalysis is an access to variety of fluoroalkyl radical species at late stage modification of therapeutic leads. Fluorinated functional groups (trifluoromethyl group in particular) have become increasingly popular over the decades44, because these motifs have dramatic on the molecules physiochemical properties, making them more selective, increasing their efficacy, or making them easier to adminster. Photoredox catalysis can provide an approach tailored on industrial scales by using abundantly available CF3 sources and eliminating the need of pre-functionalized substrates. This chemistry was readily translated to multigram scales for a number of substrates, one most important example of this strategy is the synthesis of trifluoromethylated 2-chloropyridine (32) (Scheme. 16) a vital synthon in production of anti-infective agents at Boehringer Ingelheim Pharmaceuticals Inc.45 Scheme 16. Preparation of Boehringer-Ingelheim intermediate. A novel redox system comprising pyridine N-oxide and trifluoroacetic acid was designed by Beatty at el. where C-C activation was achieved by pyridine N-oxide, a redox trigger, which could in situ generate modified trifluoroacetate shifting the redox potential of trifluoroacetate lower, within the reach of Ru(bpy)32+ photoredox catalyst.46 ORL-1 Antagonist Intermediate Opioid receptor-like 1 (ORL-1) antagonist which is currently under the development for the cure of depression and obesity,47 has a gem-difluorobenzyl functional group around the spirocyclic piperidine (34), the earlier synthetic route consisted a total of   8 steps starting from (33) with an overall yield of 28%.48 Futhermore, this sequence included AIBN initiated radical bromination, and most challenging step was the benzylic fluorination by using 2.6 equiv. of Deoxo-Fluor 9 (specialised fluorinated reagent) as a fluoride source, which remained problematic as it required the use of pre-functionalized substrates through classical nucleophilic or electrophilic fluorination. Radical rearrangements reactions have demonstrated the strategic benefits in its synthesis when compared to this method.49 Visible light mediated radical Smiles rearrangement was developed to address the challenging synthesis of gem difluoro group ORL-1 antagonist from fluorinated thiophene (35), which could be produced from difluoro-ethanol from readily available corresponding ethyl ester (Scheme 17) reported by Douglas et al.50 This strategy has solved the problem of high number of steps and overcome the overall low yield and use of specialized fluorinated reagents. This new 5-step synthetic route eliminated the undesirable feature of previous synthetic route, the challenging benzylic defluorination could be accomplished by switching a key transformation to a C-C bond instead of a C-F bond formation. Scheme 17. Previously reported route towards ORL-1 antagonists and new photochemical radical smiles rearrangement route. Biofeedstock Processing Biomass set itself aside from other renewable resources, since the energy it contains is stored in the form of chemical bonds, which allow biomass to be used for several purposes other than generating electricity and heat, such as liquid fuel and value-added chemicals. In particular, depolymerisation of lignin50, one of the most abundant feedstock for aromatic commodity compounds, which has attracted a lot of attention in recent years. Lignin is a stable, branched biopolymer which is a part of the plant cell wall and is primarily responsible for providing rigidity and protection against environmental conditions. Primarily, it is composed of three different types of cinnamyl alcohols coupled together to produce a various array of motifs inside of the polymer chain (Scheme 18). The multiple connectivity and stability has hindered attempts to efficiently isolate value compounds through the degradative processing.51 The most sensible point of start in lignin degradation is ÃŽÂ ²-O-4 linkage, as this is the most abundant (45-65%). Photoredox catalysis provides mild means of cleaving these critical bonds by a two-step procedure, which includes the selective oxidation of the alpha carbon followed by photochemical reductive cleavage.52 Scheme 18. Two steps protocol for degradation of lignin model system. This strategy could be used for efficient degradation of a range of lignin model systems, isolation of the fragmentation products in excellent yields by employing photocatalyst 3 under the reductive quenching conditions. Conclusions. Photoredox catalysis with Ru (II) and Ir (I) metal complexes has recently received widespread attention as a tool for synthetic chemists, and it has been applied to the development of wide range of new C-C bond forming reactions. The utility of photoredox catalysis arises not form its ability to promote C-C bond formation, but rather from its ability to generate a diverse array of reactive via single-electron transfer. As shown, these species include electrophilic ÃŽÂ ±-carbonyl radicals, tert-malonate radicals, ÃŽÂ ±-amino radicals, acyl radicals and trifluoromethyl radicals. These intermediates have been used to develop reactions as varied as reductive dehalogenation, indole functionalization, atom transfer radical additions, radical cascades and Smiles rearrangement. Also, photoredox catalysis has been proved as valuable tool for the synthesis of various biologically active compounds and their derivatives, as demonstrated by its application in the total synthesis of gliocladin C, drimenties A, F, G, and pharma relevant scaffolds. In each of these syntheses, simple and typically inert functionalities in the starting materials are transformed into reactive intermediates upon single electron transfer. These powerful transformations are not only redefining the synthetic strategies, but it has also changed the face of radical chemistry; a fundamental area in organic chemistry which mostly accessible using hazardous radical reagents. These robust class of reactions have inspired many researchers in designing and developing novel approaches to synthetic targets. The growth of visible light phototredox catalysis is not only significant on its own right, also bodes well for the future of organic synthesis. References: Nicholls, T. P.; Leonori, D.; Bissember, A. C., Applications of visible light photoredox catalysis to the synthesis of natural products and related compounds. Natural Product Reports 2016, 33 (11), 1248-1254. James J. Douglas, J. D. N.; Kevin P. C., Enabling Novel Photoredox Reactivity via Photocatalyst Selection. Aldrichimica 2014, 47, 15-25. Kalyanasundaram, K., Photophysics, photochemistry and solar energy conversion with tris(bipyridyl)ruthenium(II) and its analogues. 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