Friday, November 29, 2019

How would the internet firms Napster, Kazaa, and Apples iTunes music store be reflected in a porter five forces industry analysis

Five Forces Model of Competition Porter’s uses the five forces to give appropriate strategies that help in analyzing company’s position against any competitors within the market. The forces used include; the power of suppliers, new entrants, threats posed by substitutes, customers power and rivalry.Advertising We will write a custom assessment sample on How would the internet firms Napster, Kazaa, and Apple’s iTunes music store be reflected in a porter five forces industry analysis? specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More Threats posed by new entrants The music industry is one of the industries with extremely high start-up costs, this provides low rate of new entrants. The internet firms Napster, Kazaa, and Apple’s have explicitly utilized the distribution channels and also based their sales on strong brands making it difficult for the new entrants to penetrate. This has made the competitors in this industry t o try small markets in place of large markets that have been occupied by the bigger companies. Napster, Kazaa, and Apple’s have built a strong base over the years hence creating popular space within the computer industry (McGuigan, Moyer and Harris 382). Status of the suppliers within the market The business of music and computers is maintained using constant supply from numerous suppliers in the market. The larger companies Napster, Kazaa, and Apple’s makes the position within the market to be low since they can switch suppliers any time and feel no negative effects. This has made the suppliers from the music industry to adjust on their prices and quality of products in order to attract bids from the big companies. This clearly shows that the competition is too high and leaves the suppliers with tough decisions to make (McGuigan, Moyer and Harris 333). The status of Buyers within the market Customers of internet firms Napster, Kazaa, and Apple’s have many optio ns of computer companies where they can do their purchases. The costs involved when switching to any option is low making the buyers move at will. This is brought by the differences in cost, quality and services provided. This has made the power of buyers to be strong within the music industry. Napster, Kazaa, and Apple’s should create a strong differentiation of products in order to counter this since it will raise the costs required for an individual to shift from one company to another. The companies can only find it difficult when differentiation is done within the computer operating systems (McGuigan, Moyer and Harris 64).Advertising Looking for assessment on business economics? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More Substitute Products There are numerous substitute products in the music industry that are readily available for download. These companies have to put extra effort in order to convince customers of the superi ority of their products. This calls for more differentiation of the music products that these companies deal with. The differentiation of the operating systems of these companies can command higher pricing only when channelled through other options other than individual buyers. Napster, Kazaa, and Apple’s can counteract this by locking business facilities to enable change to occur within the facility or more than one region. The connectivity of music industry within the internet has increased the possibility of switching individual units keeping other things constant (McGuigan, Moyer and Harris 230). Level of Rivalry Napster, Kazaa, and Apple’s have other competitors with the potential of commanding larger portion of the market share. Competition is high in the music industry since the switching costs are very low. The internet music industry has so many companies copying one another. This has made it tricky for Napster, Kazaa, and Apple’s to expand (McGuigan, M oyer and Harris 383). Why was the Internet a disruptive technology for Sony music? The internet brought about possibility of mass piracy and theft of intellectual property. It was a disruptive technology for Sony since it allowed consumers to easily share music songs which offered high competition to the offline distribution companies like Sony. It contributed towards elimination of business intermediaries and reduced the costs involved in transacting businesses. Internet technology also eliminated the constraint that Sony Corporation had on limiting themselves only to best selling music due to storage space (McGuigan, Moyer and Harris 383). What should eSony music’s competitive strategy in response to this crisis? Sony Corporation’s strategy is to use major and independent labels. This is done by construction of viable and licensed infrastructures used for selling music within the digital market to prevent further infiltration of disruptive technologies. In-order to c ompete fairly Sony offers catalogues rich in modern and popular songs; they also provide interfaces that are easy to use, offering relatively low prices, information on live concerts and recommendation data. Elimination of certain costs that goes with selling of products. For example, packing and shipping by distributing all songs and albums through online music stores. Sony also plans to apply the use of Internet proxies which prevent the direct connection between up loaders and down loaders.Advertising We will write a custom assessment sample on How would the internet firms Napster, Kazaa, and Apple’s iTunes music store be reflected in a porter five forces industry analysis? specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More This interruption is made possible by digital middlemen. The files pass through other set of computers before finally being downloaded. The use of software that enhances privacy and the methods used in file download s ystem. This software enables a song to be scrambled and downloaded as raw opaque data, which is not clearly understood. The actual song is not downloaded until the actual keys are granted (McGuigan, Moyer and Harris 545). Sony Corporation’s business mainly deals with manufacturing of electronics. It currently runs business programs that deal with distribution of movies and music contents, video games and financial services. The fierce competition comes from big companies such as Apple’s and Panasonic. The strength of Sony lies in its wide range of products, the ability to source internally key components and getting involved in strong alliances (McGuigan, Moyer and Harris 644). The opportunities that the company can utilize include actions such as moving into new market segments within the global environment that provide lucrative returns. They also need to increase their responses to market needs and diversify their production line. In order to do all these, there is need for the company to carry out quarterly analysis of available market opportunities in order to identify rich consumer markets (McGuigan, Moyer and Harris 333). Product differentiation strategy Sony Corporation has to utilize its resource strengths that include the strong brand name, ownership and distribution strategies. The competitive strategy for Sony is product differentiation since most of its products are more less the same as those for other companies i.e. CD player for Sony is the same as that for Panasonic. Therefore for Sony to achieve competitive advantage in the line of product differentiation, the company should focus on building new core products that appear unique, interesting and of high quality like play stations. The creation of new core products makes it difficult for other competitors to enter the market place. For example, Sony should manufacture mini disc players that have in-built default memories to facilitate downloading of music (McGuigan, Moyer and Har ris 62). This assessment on How would the internet firms Napster, Kazaa, and Apple’s iTunes music store be reflected in a porter five forces industry analysis? was written and submitted by user GoblinQueen 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.

Monday, November 25, 2019

Participation essays

Participation essays Chapter 9- Effective Participation (Wilson 253-255) I will go through each of the five categories under effective participation and tell what I observed on our group for each one. First- I think each member of our group was committed to do their best as time and resources allowed. Each contributed to the group in meetings and in presentations. Keith often was the leader behind our group presentations. I would say that he always was but I'm not sure that my memory is accurate. He came up with the ideas for the presentations that we ended up using, he coordinated them, made sure that everyone knew what they were doing and that they were going to do their part and be there on the day of the presentation. Charley did his part well and helped contribute ideas and suggestions for ways of presenting. Jessica and Salena came through and completed every assignment that they were given. When given parts to do for presentations they did them. Second- In our group members had differing goals that they wanted to accomplish. Though as it became closer to the due date of the final I think those goals became more the same but because of these differences it is difficult to determine for sure if every group member was committed to the good of the group or not. Over all I think the common goal of the group especially towards the end was to complete the final. This goal was shared both as a group and individually and the group was used to help all of the individuals complete the final. Third- Our group did not deal much with facts and opinions that would cause much tension as it might have had it been formed in an organization. But when it came to how to do the final conflict arose as different members had different ideas of how to do the final. As individuals expressed the way they saw that it was supposed to be done conflict ensued. Fourth- the best example I saw of possible competition in our group, though it didn't damage th ...

Thursday, November 21, 2019

The fundamental principles of organization and management commonly Essay

The fundamental principles of organization and management commonly involved in the paralegal practice to your trainees - Essay Example Working hours – Now mention of the working hours is only a way to ensure that the paralegal works in the most effective manner, bringing all his or her tasks to completion. Depending on the law firm, the working hours may vary. Then again, the compensatory time, overtime, holidays, absence procedures etc are only a few other ways of providing the complete guideline to the paralegal. 2. Area of work – Legal research, Drafting letters and documents, Preparation of briefing notes, Document Management, proofreading, taking notes from the clients and courtroom, attending the client meeting, court meetings, preparing the billing, pleadings, court applications, instructing the counsel and so on. 3. Employee conduct – Each and every firm has a different code of conduct. The conduct spans an area covering the grooming and the dress code, the ensuring that the procedures are secure, set evaluation procedures, confidentiality and so on. 4. Ethics for work – Confidentiality, fees and funding of the client, non-disclosure, proper court room conduct, proper representation of the client, illegal activities and so on make for the other important aspect for the paralegal. Several of the presets of the management and organization system aiming at the paralegal, such as, time management, the work ethics required on behalf of the paralegal, the area of legislation and work to be handled by the paralegal – these all only make the task at hand clearer, while also enhancing the understanding of the way a paralegal is supposed to work. Secondly, the memo also helps enhance the understanding of the paralegal trainees about the way of functioning of the law firm, providing a clearer view into the legalities, policies and modalities. A trainee paralegal can successfully follow the presets mentioned in the memo and work accordingly. Following a strict routine of filling in the forms (for time management recording the hours worked every day), document management (indexing,

Wednesday, November 20, 2019

Summary Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words - 163

Summary - Essay Example lves to handle the changes in the environment in a period or framework that is way shorter than that provided by the usual mechanisms involved in natural selection. This idea is what research on cancer is focusing on. The process of epigenetics involves chromatin remodeling, a process that involves the modification of the DNA methylation and histone (Burrggrreen, para 1). Burrggrreen adds that the process occurs alongside RNA-mediated modifications and involves self-sustenance loops and structural inheritance (Ho DH 3). There are particular reasons why the study of epigenetics is important today (Suter and Aagaard-Tillery, para 45). They add that pollution and global climate change in relation to global warming means that the human race needs to survive in the continually changing environment. This is in relation to what the two articles by Burrggrreen and Feero et al. have discussed- the body will need to alter its genetic sequence so that it can be able to handle the dangers that both our genetic makeup and environmental changes present. The process of epigenetics occurs without the modification of the gene sequence. The idea of epigenetics has not been fully embraced partly because it is not a part of physiological investigations (Feero et al., para 4). Any change in environment continually affects the subsequent generation since there is suppressing or expressing a certain character. This expressing or silencing of gene does not affect the gene sequence for at least some generations (Burrggrreen, para 1). The understanding of the role played by epigenetic changes in regulating the expression or silencing of genes has seen significant advancement over the past decade. These changes are simple chemical alterations in the DNA that do not affect the chief base-pair sequence of the DNA. In the aforementioned DNA methylation involves enzymatic methylation of the cytosine nucleotides that are found in some regions of the DNA. The transcription does not occur Summary Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words - 93 Summary - Essay Example The author discusses about the Stone Age era by shedding light on Neanderthals that coexisted with each other at that time. Furthermore, the author explored the concepts of homosapiens. Homosapiens began to formulate a certain religious behaviour. The city of Mesopotamia contained pottery and other artifacts that were made of mud and belonged to temples. Unlike the solidity of the Egyptians tombs the houses seen in Mesopotamia were made from different materials, were shaped as a rectangular mud walls and were covered with a palm trunk roofs. Another ancient place that the book discusses is the Indus valley, Harapan, Mehrgarh and Mohenjo-Daro. These areas are considered some of the most ancient civilizations within Pakistan’s territory. The book then moves onto discusses a brief history from the old civilized Rome. Their comprehensive approach to urban architecture helped the empire construct hundreds of cities throughout the Mediterranean. Finally the book discusses the influe nce Islam had on the overall architectural design of the globe (Kostof and

Monday, November 18, 2019

Seek Godly Counsel Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Seek Godly Counsel - Assignment Example Most people resort to the result of prayer after seeing that everything else has failed, which, in most cases do not work out. The bible says   â€Å"cursed is the man who relies on his own understanding.†, â€Å"blessed is the man who does not walk in the counsel of the ungodly.† Anyone who is in   need of any monetary advice shouldn't seek it from the ungodly people.Pray about something you want to do and talk to godly people about it before executing the plan. Prayers and godly people help one to avoid errors in financial matters. Before purchasing any good or even looking for financial assistance from either individual financial institution, ask a godly person and pray about it. Do not do things impulsively.When entering into a contract with anyone over finances, do not be in a haste to put your signature on any paper until you counter check it thoroughly. Easy come, easy go. Best things in the world take time so do not be hurried in doing something. God took lo ng to deliver Israelites from captivity but it was worthy it so borrow a leaf from there.The bible gives very vital financial advice: Gold and silver comes from God, so start asking God for financial guidance; the more you give, the more you receive, be generous to the less unfortunate; there is joy in sharing; states, â€Å"Where your money is, that's where your heart will be.† Learn to lean not on your own understanding and start incorporating God's counsel in your finances and you will realize that you are enjoying your finances and your financial life is perfect.

Saturday, November 16, 2019

Newater Brand And Singapores Water Reclaimation Environmental Sciences Essay

Newater Brand And Singapores Water Reclaimation Environmental Sciences Essay Water is an essential element for the survival of all living things in the world; including human beings. The current consumption of domestic water per capital in Singapore stands at 158 litres per day (Ministry of the Environment and Water Resources 2011).As Singapores population and economy is increasing, the industry and its people requires more clean water daily.However, Singapore does not have sufficent source of natural water supply for the growing consumption and have been heavily dependent on Malaysia to supply raw water since the 1961 agreement between both neighbhouring countries.However, Singapore has now decided not to extend her water agreement which terminates this year (Singapore Press Holdings Ltd 2010).Therefore, can the government still cater to the growing water demands of its population? 1.2 Singapores Water Reclaimation Study The solution to the above problems lies in the unlikely sources from dirty and used sewage water.Scientists in Singapore mastered the process of using reverse osmosis technology to produce safe and clean drinking water for its population.Every housing and toilets are well connected to an independent sewerage system and as long as the residents keep flushing, the country will never run out of sewage water! This technology was projected to solves 7% of the countrys demand during the introduction but now this figure is expected to rise rapidly to replace the initial water agreement with Malaysia when it expires this year. Imported water from Malaysia supplies 33% of the water needs.There are also local catchments throughout the country which provides 50% of the water needs and the remaining 10% through desalinated water by converting seawater (Cezar Tigno 2008).However, for research purpose of this study; the focus will be purely on Singapores recycled water which is branded as NEWater. The NEWater Brand NEWater is the result of high graided reclaimed water which is the output of treating used and dirty water.It has been certified a pass grade after being scrutinised by over 65 000 vigurous scientific tests and has even surpassed the requirements of the World Health Organization.Its most notable and recent award includes the Water Project of the Year held by Global Water Awards in 2009 (PUB 2010).Figure 1 below shows a screenshot of a NEWater Bottled drink which is 100% made from recycled water. Figure 1. Screenshot of NEWater bottled drinks (Ong Dailin 2009) These bottled drinks are the combined efforts between the PUB(Public Utility Board) and the Ministry for the Environment and Water Resources(MEWR) since initiating the Singapore Water Reclamation Study in the year 1998.Since its interception in 2003, NEWater has primarily served Water Fabrication industries and also acted as a coolant for large machineries.In due time, it was introduced to household residence (Lin Jiamei 2010). However, PUB has constantly backed off from the idea of selling the product commercially to mainstream consumers.Its main objective was to raise the awareness with its residents and it achieved that by distributing a sample of the NEWater bottled drink at a public exhibition during the National Day Parade Celebrations in 2005.Currently, there are a total of 5 NEWater plants in Singapore.They are located in Kranji, Ulu Pandan, Seletar, Bedok and in Changi.SembCorp NEWater Plant located in Changi is the latest and the biggest project to date.This project is a jo int collaboration between SembCorp and PUB (Net Resources International 2011). CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW 2.1 NEWaters Advanced Membrane Technologies Figure 2. Screenshot of 16 and 8 inches Advanced Membrane System (PennWell Corporation 2011) The entire NEWaters process is actually based on Advanced Membrane Technologies.The two major equipments involved in this techological process includes the NEWater Pilot System and the nanofiltration or Reverse Osmosis membrane skid.Firstly, the Pilot System consists of Ultrafiltration, Reverse Osmosis and Ultraviolet disinfection units.Secondly, the Nanofiltration membrane skid is highly versatile in performing feasibility studies on liquid waste treament and recovery. Figure 2 shows the screenshot of a 16 and 8 inch Advanced Membrane System used in Bedok NEWater Plant in Singapore.This assembly consists of a spiral-wound and a tubular pressure vessel where different types of Reverse Osmosis and Nano Filtration membranes could be tested based on the liquid wastes nature and requirements.This test skid allows easy optimization of membrane operations through various imperative process parameters such as flow rate and pressure (Temasek Polytechnic 2011).PUB regularly conducts more than 80,000 tests on a monthly basis to cover up to 290 water quality parameters pertaining to physical, biological and chemical conditions (AsiaOne 2011). 4.2 NEWaters Treatment Process Figure 3. Flowchart of NEWaters Factory Treatment Process (PUB 2002) Figure 3 illustrates the brief flowchart process of a typical treatment process of NEWater in Singapore.The first process refers to the collection of dirty and untreated sewage water from home and industries.These water will then be channeled to water reclamation plant to process for the treatment.After which they will known as treated Secondary Effluent and will be linked to their respective NEWater factories in Singapore.This is where NEWater is transformed through 3 key stages.The first stage is known as Microfiltration. The ultrafiltration membranes involved in this process are from Canada.In this stage the Secondary Effluents passes through membranes to filter out and a few contaminants will be retrained on the membrane surface.These include suspended solids, disease-causing bacteria, viruses, colloidal particles and protozoan cysts.The filtered water that passes through the membrane will contain only dissolved salts and organic molecules which will follow to the next stage; Rev erse Osmosis. Figure 4. Multiple Barrier Approach for the development of NEWater (PUB 2002) In the Reverse Osmois process a semi-permeable membrane is used where its small pores allows diminutive small molecules like water molecules to pass through.This process will removes smaller sizes of bacteria, nitrate, sulphate, heavy metals, chlore, aromatic hydrocarbons, disinfection through products and pesticides.At this stage, the NEWater is already of a high grade water quality and proceeds to the next stage of Ultraviolet Disinfection(UV). Figure 4 clearly shows the multiple barrier approach to eliminate the different impurities during each development of the process before proceeding to the next stage. The final stage is Ultraviolet Disinfection.These Ultraviolet Disinfection units comes from England.In each individual units, there will 6 UV lights which will emit up to 800 degress in temperature.Since the boiling temperature of water is at 100 degree celsius, the water will be encased in a quartz casing. The pH level of the water will drop to acidic level since it has went through the first and second stage and now has lack of minerals and salt.Sodium Hyroxide will be added further to bring back the pH level.The resultant outcome from this final stage is NEWater, which will then be pipped out to various homes and industries across the country (PUB 2010). CHAPTER 3: DATA ANALYSIS 3.1 SWOT Analysis of NEWater Michael Porters SWOT Analysis is used to identify the Strengths, Weakness, Opportunities and Threats for NEWater in Singapore.Table 1 below, shows the SWOT Analysis Model for this innovative product. Table 1. SWOT Analysis of NEWater Strengths Humans produce dirty and untreated water on a daily basis without fail.Its a natural process and one that is vital for the core development process for NEWater.This process was illustrated in Chapter 2.Currently in Singapore, there are a total of 5 NEWater plants.The latest and biggest among those plants was constructed in Changi.Together with the other existing 4 plants, 30% of the water demands in Singapore will be solved by these plants.In addition, NEWater process and technology is not dependent on any weather conditions as its direct source is from the dirty and untreated water; discarded by humans.These plants are also environmental and nature-friendly as they dont require any natural resource for its production.In fact, the SembCorp NEWater plant in Changi; is the only large scale recycling plant in the world ever to be constructed on top of a water reclamation plant (FaverSham House Group Ltd 2010). With the water agreement signed by Singapore and Malaysia in 1961 before independence is poised to expire this year; it will poses no adversities to Singapore due to its reliance on the local NEWater plants to match the water demands of its citizens.As often in the past 50 years, Malaysian politicans would use water as a factor during serious bilateral disagreements with Singapore.More often,Singapore often had to submit to their favours as they have an upper hand in supplying water to the country.Now, this issue will no longer be a thorn between both these countries anymore as Singapore will no longer need to depend on them for imported water.This would also enable to bridge the broken relationship between these two countries (AsiaOne 2011). Weaknesses The entire infrastructure and cost of building a NEWater plant is a costly affair.For example, the SembCorp NEWater plant was constructed at a cost of $180 million in June 2010.Such cost will increase drastically when more NEWater plants are required to meet water demands in the near future.The machines in these plants are also of high cost and maintainence (Vincent Wee 2009).Secondly, Singaporeans are traditionally accustomed to drink directly from the taps and view the NEWater as dirty and unacceptable for drinking.They believe that NEWater isnt strong enough to eliminate toxic materials and chemicals which can be washed away at homes or small businesses.Currently, this proves as a big pschyological barrier in the mindsets of these people to readily accept the NEWater technology in Singapore (Singapore Press Holdings 2002).As explained in Chapter 2, the entire process of NEWater is complex and goes through various stages before completion.Since these processes are complicated; any human or computerized errors at any stage will not allow the product to be delievered within the required standards. Opportunities Currently NEWater is only channeled to homes and industries but is yet to be sold as a commercial bottled drink in the market.NEWater could enter the mineral water industry as a bottled recycled drink to compete with other brands in the market as well.This will enable the product to gain both awareness and confidence among Singaporeans.These bottled drinks which are made and manufactured in Singapore could also be marketed as a global product to target a wider audience. Attractive pricing will lure customers to this product since it has passed International Quality and received many global awards as explained in Chapter 1.3. Threats Everyday the world discovers new, emerging and deadly epidemic viruses due to the advancement of technologies.Toxic materials also play an integral part in poisoning the NEWater and imposes a severe threat to mankind.Therefore more stringent and sensitive instruments are required to perform additional parameters in the quality of the technology to ensure that the output NEWater is virus-free and safe for drinking.Any lapse in such technology will result in a huge disaster in Singapore (Amresh Gunasingham 2009). Summary Based on the SWOT Analysis, its evident enough that NEWater has more positive factors than negative factors internally. Externally, it has a balanced opportunities and threats for the product.It has numerous strength factors which makes it a reliable and innovative product in the current technological world.Therefore, the product still has scope for marketing it internationally and locally.However, It also has to keep abreast with the toxicological and microbiological issues affecting it externally. 3.2 Financial Implications for NEWater Technology Although the infrastructure for the construction of such NEWater plants are high in cost as well as maintainence due to the technology involved in these machines; the local consumers are buoyed by the fact they were paying much lesser than what they used to pay before the interention of NEWater.For example, before the introduction of NEWater, Singaporeans had to pay $1.15 per cubic metre. Now, this price was lowered by 15 cents to $1 per cubic metre. With the demand for NEWater rising to 30% through industries and homes; a price reduction will benefit the local small businesses and consumers as an incentive. The operational efficency from these NEWater plants also played an integral role in the price reduction by the Government when it was introduced in April 2007 (May Wong 2007). CHAPTER 4: RECOMMENDATION 4.1 Future Direction for the NEWater Technology With the current NEWater Technology solving up to 30% of Singapores water demands, more NEWater plants will be commissioned.Currently, the other 33% of Singapores water demands are satisfied through imported water from Malaysia.In an event of a distaster or a severe drought in Malaysia, Singapores water supplies will also be affected in the process.Therefore, to reduce the over reliance on imported water from Malaysia, Singapore will need to develop more NEWater plants to meet the water demands of its population.It is also economical as the production of water will be within Singapore and fears of a price hike from Malaysia on its imported water will also be eliminated.This will also pave the future on the usage of untreated sewage water into a safe and drinking water culture for the entire country (Victoria School 2005). 4.2 Futher Improvements for the NEWater Technology NEWater Technology is the only realistic solution available for Singapore to solve its future water crisis, besides its existing local catchments and desalination process which are dependent on weather and sea water sorely.However, NEWater has yet to be a commercial and global product.NEWater could be packaged in attractive bottles and sold globally.International and local celebrities could be used as Models to promote the drink so that worldwide and local customers are attracted to it.The pricing of NEWater as a bottled drink should be lower than the existing mineral water drinks in the market.The pricing will definately be a pull factor for most budget minded consumers who wish to try out a new and different taste than compared to most mineral water drinks in the market.A proper marketing mix through Product, Price, Place and Promotion should be practised by PUB to market its innovative product of the 21st century.Free sample sized bottles can be distributed in public road shows as a bait for customers to purchase the product. PUB should also tie up with major fast food outlets and restaurants in the Food and Beverage Industries like Macdonalds, Pizza Hut and KFC to bundle up NEWater as a package and sell together with their signature dishes to their loyal consumers.This will enable a wider market penetration rather than common advertisements in Television or the Internet. 4.3 Conclusion NEWater is a growing brand in Singapore due its economical and simple soultion to future water crisis.However, efforts must be made by the Government to market it to the local singaporeans on the product and its safety as there are many Singaporeans still grippled with the pscyhological barrier of drinking from recycled water.PUB has yet to make its product a global brand and is keeping it as an internal project.PUB should break free by selling its product on the stores and enter as a new competitor in the Mineral Water industry.This will speed up the process of educating the locals here who are quite new to this technology. On the other hand, PUB should place constant and high importance on its Research and Design Department for the NEWater project to constantly update the machines and ensure that safety isnt compromised through complacency.New and sensitive instruments are a must to ensure proper test is conducted at its highest quality.Only when PUB, has decided to balance its NEWater brand globally together with up-to-date precise technological instruments; it can achieve unprecedented quality for a local-made recycled drink!

Wednesday, November 13, 2019

Ballad of Birmingham :: Ballad of Birmingham Essays

Ballad of Birmingham In the poem Ballad of Birmingham, by Dudley Randall, written in 1969, Mr. Randall uses of irony to describes the events of the mothers decision, and also her concern for the welfare of her darling little child. It seems odd that this child would even know what a freedom march is, but this would be considered normal back in the early 1960's, when Mr. Martin Luther King Jr. had rallies and freedom marches to free the African American people from discrimination and segregation (Hunter 6). It also seems very ironic that the young child is acting like an adult in this particular situation (Hunter 12). I think the mother would be the one who would want to got to the march to free her people, not the child. In the poem "Ballad of Birmingham", by Dudley Randall, written in 1969, Mr. Randall uses tone and irony to describe the events of the mothers decisions, and as well as her concern for her child's well being. In the first stanza irony is used in order to make reading the poem more interesting. The situation in this first stanza is also very important. The little child is in a desperate situation and wants to help better the lives of the African Americans. Randall also focuses on specific culture here. The speaker is allowing the reader to make a mental picture of one specific march in Birmingham (Hunter 17). But, you know as well as I, that with peace marches and rallies comes violence and hostility. This is exactly what the little girls mother is afraid of, this is why she will not let her go to the march. It also seems weird that her mother is so sure that going to church, instead of going to the march, will be the best thing for her. (Hunter 19-20). Typically, a church is to be a very safe and sacred place where no-one would imagine a bombing or any other type of violence to happen. What is ironic about this is that going to church turns out to be the worst place for her to be (Hunter 21). Something else that strikes me funny is that her mother dresses her in her daughter in her best clothes to go to church with her. What is ironic here is that she ended up wearing them to her funeral instead (Hunter 26). There is also a shift in dialogue here in the fifth stanza(Hunter 27). Here the narrator starts to take over. The narrator's tone shows the reader the pride and

Monday, November 11, 2019

Enron: the smartest guys in the room Essay

Enron Corporation was an energy, commodities, and service company out of Houston, Texas founded by Kenneth Lay in 1985. Lay built natural gas power energy in East Texas which helped Enron’s stock rise. Louis Borget, Andrew Fastow, and Jeffery Skilling were the top management executives from 1985 until 2001. Each helped to bring about the demise of the company in multiple ways. One of the first scandals in Enron involved President Louis Borget and two traders were discovered betting on Enron Stocks. The company books were altered to inflate profits so that the company appeared to be more profitable that it actually was. Borget was diverting company money into personal offshore accounts. Auditors tried to uncover the problem, but Borget and the traders had a separate set of books that they kept from the auditors. Kenneth Lay, who was aware of this unethical practice, and encouraged Borget to continue â€Å"making us millions†, two months later the separate set of books we re brought to the investigators and Enron fired the two traders and Borget had to serve one year in jail. After his biggest money maker was put behind bars Lay needed to find him a new money maker. So Lay hired Jeffrey Skilling to be the CEO. Jeffrey Skilling would only accept job if Enron adopted a mark-to-market accounting strategy. Mark-to-market accounting allowed the company to book potential profits on certain projects immediately after contracts were signed, regardless of the actual profits that the deal would eventually make. This gave Enron the ability to look like they were a profitable company. Skilling put together a performance review committee that graded employees and fired the bottom fifteen percent each year which made the employees very competitive and created a very tough working environment. Traders were very aggressive and they made it to where if you wanted to be in the market you didn’t have a choice to deal with Enron. Trading became the main reported profit for Enron. Skilling hired two guys that became his top lieutenants Lou Pai and Cliff Baxter. They were known as the â€Å"Guy with Spikes†. Baxter was a very smart guy and was Enron’s Chief deal maker. He was manic-depressive and best friends with Skilling. Pai was the CEO of Enron Energy Services. He was  very mysterious guy who employees say was never in the office. Pai only seemed to care about two things, money and strippers. He would bring strippers into the office and would put everything he spent in the strip clubs onto an expense reports to be reimbursed by Enron. All of Pai’s time in the strip clubs caught up to him and caused him to get a divorce. Once he got a divorce he sold all of his stock and resigned from Enron. He came out of Enron better than anyone cashing in his stock and receiving approximately two hundred and fifty million dollars. The division of Enron that Pai ran lost a total of around one billion dollars which was covered up by Enron. Enron had success in the bull market brought on by the dot-com bubble. Enron’s stock prices increased to record prices. The games was called â€Å"pump and dump† top executives would pump up the stock prices and then sell their million dollar options. Everyone at Enron was consumed with the stock price. Stock prices were even posted in the elevators for everyone to see. Enron launched a PR campaign to make itself look profitable even with all aspects of the company operating poorly. Skilling’s philosophy was to take high risks because these deals would make more money. One of these high risk deals was building a power plant in India, which nobody wanted to do because India could not afford the high prices. The company lost a billion dollars on this project but that fact was covered up by Skilling. The company paid out multi-million dollar bonus to executive on non-existent profits. Enron bought out Portland General Energy which gave them access to the deregulated market of California. All of the employees in PGE had bought their stock so when Enron took over all of the stock PGE stock became Enron. The Portland General Energy workers had always invested their 401k into stock which converted to Enron. These employees continued to purchase stock because of their trust in Enron. Enron’s main motivation for buying the company was to operate in California since they held the highest demand for energy in the United States. Enron’s traders would trick California’s electricity supply and export the energy to another state causing California to have blackouts. By California having these black outs they raised the energy rate in the state. Although Enron’s stock prices were steadily rising, the company was losing a lot of money. Skilling turned the company  into cyber space. They attempted to use broadband technology to deliver movies on demand and â€Å"trade weather† like a commodity. Both of the marketing strategies failed miserably. By using mark-to-market accounting they booked 53 million dollar in earnings on a deal that didn’t make a penny. Once they figured out they could not hide the company’s losses, the top executives started selling their stock. Enron was named the â€Å"most admired† corporation by Fortune magazine for the six years in a row. Jim Chanos, an Enron investor, and Bethany McLean, a Fortune reporter, both questioned the company’s financial statements and stock value. McLean tried to talk to Skilling about the irregularities but Skilling went on the defensive calling McLean unethical. Skilling sent three executives to meet with her and Fortune’s editor including CFO Andy Fastow. Andy Fastow was the main one keeping Enron running. He was cooking the books making it look like Enron was making a profit even though the company was more than 30 billion dollars in debt. Fastow created two limited partnerships, LJM1 and LJM2, for the purpose of buying Enron’s poorly performing stocks to improve its financial statements. Fastow had to go before the board of directors to get an exemption to run these two companies as well as Enron. This was a definite conflict of interest. He also had personal financial stake in these company’s either directly or through a partner. He made millions of dollars defrauding Enron. He pressured the investment banks such as Merrill Lynch, Citibank to invest by threatening them with loss of Enron’s bus iness if they did not. He had analysts fired who threatened to report Enron for wrong doings. A good sound ethics policy was established when Enron was formed. The problems occurred when the policy was not followed. By not following the ethics policy put in place, employees and management were encouraged to take risks thereby encouraging unethical behavior which ultimately brought down the company. Enron went bankrupt in 2001 due in large part to widespread fraud in company operating policies. The top executives were the main ones practicing unethical behavior in the company. By the top executives behaving unethically lower level employees followed their example. As long as Enron was making money no one cared how they went about doing it. In 2001, these unethical actions over the past decade and half caught up with Enron’s top executives and employees. Twenty thousand employees lost their job, medical insurance and employees also lost1.2 billion in retirement funds. Enron’s top executives were paid bonuses totaling 55 million and cashed in their stock at approximately 116 million dollars. Even though some of the executives mad e money in the deal they had to face criminal charges which placed some in prison and some still have pending cases. If Enron has survived their collapse in 2001 and I were to be a consultant for Enron, I would make sure that the code of ethics booklet that all employees read and signed before taking the job at Enron were followed. Employees and executives would have to take part in ethics training to be sure that they understand the book completely. Enron would have to have commitment from all of the executive positions to follow these rules and also enforce them even if the unethical actions were making the company more money. There would have to be a zero tolerance rule in place that everyone understood. All employees acting inappropriately would be reprimanded as established in the code of ethics booklet. Work cited Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room. Dir. Alex Gibney. By Alex Gibney, Peter Elkind, Bethany McLean, and Peter Coyote. Magnolia Pictures, 2005

Friday, November 8, 2019

A comparison between The Woman In Black and The Signalman Essays

A comparison between The Woman In Black and The Signalman Essays A comparison between The Woman In Black and The Signalman Paper A comparison between The Woman In Black and The Signalman Paper Essay Topic: Literature The Black Monk When reading both ghost stories, The Woman in Black, and The Signalman, the text which I enjoyed and prefered was the Woman in Black. Susan Hill, the author of this novel creates a menacing and baleful atmosphere that can be rather unsettling for any reader. She also creates a presence of evil throughout the story, as it is portrayed through setting, characters, plot and descriptive language. Susan Hill sets the first scene in the first chapter with the description of the pleasant festive meal, which had taken place on Christmas Eve at Monks Piece. Arthur Kipps the narrator was fearful of his memories intermingling with the festivities, as his family were rather keen for him to tell a ghost story, I was trying to suppress my mounting unease, to hold back the rising flood of memory. Unfortunately no one in his family knew what he had been through earlier in his life, when he came to terms with the Woman in Black. The beginnings of both texts are completely different. When first reading, The Signalman, it appears that the signalman is in a remote location as it is in a cutting where a train passes through. The Signalman works alone, making his post a solitary one. His post was in a solitary and dismal place as ever I saw. So little sunlight ever found its way to this spot, that it had an earthy deadly smell; and so much cold wind rushed through it, that it struck chill to me, as if I had left the natural world. This last quote tells me that this place is not natural and that the narrator has entered an entirely different world. Both these two texts are written in the 1st person but Dickens uses his narrator in the Signalman to tell the story in the perfect tense. In, The Signalman, the narrator is not actually haunted by ghost so he cannot describe his emotions and feelings whereas in the Woman in Black the narrator, Arthur Kipps, experiences the hauntings of the Woman in Black so, is clearly able to express his feelings and emotions about his hauntings. When Susan Hill develops the narrators feelings, she uses long passages of description that is rather effective. She sets the scene and anxiety and foreboding has begun. Something sinister has happened to Kipps and we know that in chapter 2, A London Particular. The story of Kipps is about to unfold. He relates being called to attend an interview with Mr. Bentley and although it was many years ago he can remember the smallest details of that day travelling up to London. Susan Hill also uses different place names and weather conditions to create an atmosphere of evil, for example, the nine lives cause-way, the mist and the fog. In, The Signalman, Charles Dickens does not use much description, He was a dark sallow man, with a dark beard and rather heavy eyebrows. But it is more than we know of the visitor who, along with the signalman, remains nameless and he seems to have no apparent reason for his visit to the signalman and shows no earlier or previous relationship him. Charles Dickens leaves many things unknown. Firstly we know little about the signalmans past but what we do know doesnt seem to add up to this present situation. We know he is well-educated man but is strange as a signalman is a rather lowly post. We know that he ran wild in his youth, but we know not of the circumstances. However, both these narrators have something in common as they both look back on incidents. The haunting in, The Signalman, conveys irony and sadness for the signalman rather than trying to frighten the reader. Charles Dickens does this particularly well and if the text is read well you can sympathise with the signalman and what the ghost is doing to him. The author does this well in my opinion. In the nursery in, The Woman in Black, the woman in black has just got off the chair and passes Arthur Kipps. Susan Hill writes this to disturb and daunt you with the adjectives that she uses. The sound and images created in your head are meant to terrify you. Susan Hill builds up the atmosphere well and really does haunt you well because it is a more detailed account. In, The Signalman, we know nothing about the ghost, we dont know if it is a past victim of a train crash or any other murder or if it is there as a guardian for the signalman or just to warn the signalman of an upcoming accident. The irony of it is, is that the spectre finally forecasts the signalmans own death. Charles Dickens varies the pace of this short ghost story and I found this to be rather difficult to apprehend. To conclude I feel that, The Signalman, meets all criteria needed for a good ghost story. Its not, hair raising stuff but there is a physiological doubt in the readers mind on whether the signalman is going mental or what is happening is true. I think that for the time that it was written it would have been very disturbing literature to read. But todays standard it doesnt have the same appeal that other novels have. Though I am sure it will go down in history as a classic. In, The Woman in Black, Susan Hill builds suspense throughout the story line. The suspense is created mainly by hints and clues given by characters, and sightings of the ghost building up to a climax. For example, when Kips sees the Woman in black in the graveyard and also when at Mrs Drablows funeral. At the end of the novel there is another climax, an unexpected one, the death of Kipps wife and child. The narrator describes a peaceful, happy Sunday afternoon in summer. He describes a festive holiday air, stalls selling ice creams, small boats being rowed and a band playing. Arthur Kipps then goes on to tell of his child and wife enjoying a ride in the pony and trap. It was a happy scene depicting good when suddenly Kipps sees the ghost of Jennet Humfrye-everything changed-good changed to evil. The story sadly finishes with Stella and the baby dying instantly. Whenever her ghost is seen, a child dies but in this instant Kipps wife also dies. The character Jennet Humpfrye comes across as a very bitter woman as she cannot forgive her sister, Alice Drablow for the death of her son Nathaniel. She sees her sister as someone who robbed her of happiness and motherhood and would never allow her to forget it. Thus, she therefore took her revenge on those living locally by haunting them. Susan Hill has used the theme of evil in the novel as if there was another character. The evil makes the book effective. It is believeable as well because Arthur Kipps was a calm, rational man who underwent a great change due to the evil he encountered. The ending of the story is very dramatic and makes the reader feel that Kipps really doesnt want to say anymore and will be glad to put the past to rest. They asked for my story. Ihave told it Enough. This was why I preferred, The Woman in Black, as it enticed you into the novel.

Wednesday, November 6, 2019

The function and role of the witches in Macbeth Essays

The function and role of the witches in Macbeth Essays The function and role of the witches in Macbeth Paper The function and role of the witches in Macbeth Paper Essay Topic: Macbeth In the play of Macbeth the witches are regarded as immoral and unnatural in their behaviour. They play a huge part in Macbeths planning of becoming king. At the beginning of the play they are planning to meet Macbeth, When shall we three meet again, In thunder lightning, or in rain. Disturbances in nature are represented by line of thunder and lightning, it is supposed to give the effect of evil this idea of evil continues throughout the play. Banquo believes that the witches are people who are not inhabitants of the world and although they are women it is hard to tell because of their manly beards. The witches prophecise that Macbeth will become the King of Scotland and know that he is the Thane of Cawdor before he does. At first Macbeth dismisses the idea of being king but then rethinks it. On behalf of both himself and Macbeth Banquo says, Or have we eaten on the insane root, That tskes the reason prisoner? . Insane root was though to cause madness and Banquos very first reaction is that they have both gone mad. Macbeth also describes them as having the power to melt from a solid state when they vanish from his sight; he is obviously amazed by this. Afterwards Macbeth receives a message from Ross and Angus telling him he is to become the Thane of Cawdor. Macbeth together with Banquo realise that two out of three prophecies the witches make are true, but Macbeth decides it is a coincidence. However, when Macbeth is aside he rethinks about the prophecies made by the witches and wanders if what they said is for good or bad because he thinks that if they have told him good prophecies then they cannot be evil: this is because it was commonly thought that truth cannot be told by the evil. However, he cannot understand why there is a bad feeling in his heart about it and so he is very confused by this. He tries to decline this idea and decides that he will soon become king, we see this when he says, If chance will have me king, why, chance may crown me, Without my stir. This shows that he decides to leave it just to chance. Macbeth builds up an argument in his head to help him decide what to do using imagery, as he has strong opinions of right and wrong. He uses the imagery of light and dark for good and evil. This means that he asks for light not to see his dark and deep desires. He wants murder, what the eye fears to happen but does not want the stars, God, to see what he is planning to do. This shows that Macbeth is willing to commit any evil in order to become king, what he wants so badly. At this point the witches have been a catalyst for the evil in Macbeth because this is partly due to the prophecies as they did not say anything about killing the king but only make Macbeth stir up the thoughts in his head. When the witches talk, they talk as if they have one mind. Often they talk in riddles, shown in the quotation, Lesser than Macbeth, and greater. Not so happy, yet much happier. It gives an indication of their uniqueness because the two parts of each of the sentences contradict one another, which is unusual. When one or all of the witches have a speech of more than three lines they speak with couplets sometimes every alternate line, Fair is foul, and foul is fair: Hover through the fog and filthy air. This quotation is located in the first scene of the play. It has no initial definite meaning as it can be interpreted in a number of ways. This witches chorus can be said to be a prophecy where ideas and especially characters are not what they appear to be and describes how things on the play will change. It also signifies the witches reversal of values and their view of good and evil. The witches give no direct indication of whether their intent is good or bad. But it is clear that their intentions are there to disrupt the balance of good and evil. There is no motive to their behaviour except in the case of revenge concerning the sailor and his wife. The only possible motive is that causing trouble is what they are meant to do because they are witches. The evil which they manage to unearth from Macbeth spreads resulting in murder, betrayal and above all the loss of humanity of two people who were once loyal to king and queen. The witches have many functional roles in the pattern of the play. They manage to convert the soul of a good but potentially flawed man and it demonstrates their power. They do this not with force but with the playing of the mind by offering it something, which is highly beneficial yet attainable, the kingship. The witches may also be moral devices who are a test for the main character of the play to see how loyal he is. Because Macbeth does not realise their intent he is not blinded by the fact that they are wicked so the decision of killing Duncan is entirely his own choice. The witches act only as catalysts to the evil already present in him which had not yet emerged and which might not have if it wasnt for their interference. Maybe Shakespeares purpose for the witches was to represent that no matter how good someone seems to be there will also be a little evil in each one of us. No matter how much influence the witches had on Macbeths notions of becoming king it was enough to cause anarchy in Scotland and the deaths of innocent people. When Banquos ghost returns to haunt Macbeth at the banquet, we are able to see the effect the prophecies have had on him. He has a fit of madness and is outraged because he wonders why Banquos ghost has appeared to haunt him. He tells himself that before, when a person had been killed, they would die and that would be the end of it but now it is no longer the case, The times had been, That when the brains were out, the man would die, And there an end; In Macbeths fit, he nearly manages to reveal the truth about Banquos death but Lady Macbeth strains to hold the situation together and stops him from saying anything even though she doesnt know about Banquo. She questions his manhood, which is a similar argument to the one, which she used to persuade him to kill Duncan, Are you a man? but this time it does not succeed. Macbeth becomes so insecure that he has a spy in Macduffs house because he believes that he is an enemy. Macbeth decides with no pressure from Lady Macbeth to visit the witches. He wants to know what is going to happen in the future, as he is uncertain. He realizes that they are the worst means to discover what the future holds in store for him yet he is determined. He is almost endeavouring to commit evil. His visit to the witches demonstrates his obsession in that he believes he has enemies everywhere and has evidently placed himself under more suspicion at the banquet. He has reached a point where he is willing to do anything to satisfy himself. The deaths of Duncan and Banquo have left him in a highly dangerous, unstable physical and mental state. Nevertheless, Macbeth in his own mind believes he has everything under control. The scene in which Macbeth goes to the witches of his own accord is an important one because it sets the mood for his approach to the rest of the play. It opens with the witches cooking animal body parts in a couldron. This type of behavior is stereotypical of witches and represents how abnormal they are, Eye of newt, and toe of frog, Wool of bat, and tongue of dog, Adders fork, and blind-worms sting, When Macbeth approaches, they indicate his approach, By the pricking of my thumbs, Something wicked this way comes. Unlike on the moor after the battle, Macbeth finds the witches instead of them coming to him. We are able to see how obsessed he his to know his future when he lists destructive events that he wants to happen and that he does not care about them if they do because he just wants to know what will happen to him, Even till destruction sicken- answer me, To what I ask you. The witches agree to answer all his questions and call upon apparitions. The first apparition is an armed head. It says, beware Macduff; Beware the Thane of Fife, and confirms what Macbeth thinks because he already fears him. The second apparition is a bloody child. The image represents the Caesarian birth of Macduff because Caesarian is not considered to be, woman born. He is told that he cannot be hurt by anyone born from a woman so he believes he is secure. With this in mind he decides to make sure Macduff does not irritate him any more by planning to kill him and his family. The third apparition is a crowned child, with a tree in his hand. The child crowned is the child of Duncan, Malcolm explains things that are yet to come but Macbeth does not realise this. The apparition tells Macbeth that he will only die if Great Birnam Wood moves to Dunsinane Hill. The tree in the babys hand symbolises this. Macbeth is clearly pleased with the prophecies as they bode well for him. Still wanting to discover more he asks about Banquo and his descendants. The witches refuse to say anymore but he persists and says, I will be satisfied: deny me this, And an eternal curse fall on you! They finally agree to show him even though it may grieve him. A show of eight kings, the last with a glass in his hand with Banquo following appear. The kings resemble Banquo in spirit and appearance. The images of the kings being Banquos descendants are confirmed when he smiles and points to them. Macbeth is amazed by the sudden turn of events and questions the witches about its reliability. They say that the apparitions tell the truth and then they begin to dance in an attempt to cheer him up. They realise the trouble which they have caused by the display of the apparitions. By resisting Macbeths wishes for the telling of the future up to a certain point, Macbeth becomes even more desperate and compulsive. When they dance at the end it can be said that it is not for Macbeths sake but for their own as they are happy with the vast mischief that they have caused. Because of their attempt to tip the balance between good and evil through the medium Macbeth, he seals his fate when he kills Macduffs wife and son. By killing his family, Macduff looks for revenge of Macbeth. This scene demonstrates how low Macbeth has sunk to by ordering the death of an innocent child and mother. The witches role in the previous scene has ultimately forced him into committing this wicked crime. Macbeths behaviour aroused suspicion especially in Macduff causing him to go to Malcolm for help in the form of troops. Malcolm initially is suspicious of Macduff as he could be a spy but learns to trust him when he sees how troubled Macduff is when he pretends that he will be a greater dictator than Macbeth as he has more vices. When Macduff discovers his family and servants had been slain he swears an oath to take full revenge and he is now motivated to killing Macbeth. In Act 1 Scene 5 Lady Macbeth calls on the powers of darkness in order to, unsex her but now she continually has light by her side as she is frightened by her guilty conscience. By killing Duncan, she is now morally sane not morally bad. Earlier, she would sacrifice anything for the kingship but now she realises whilst sleeping that the murder was not worth all the effort. The fact that it is happening in her sleep is an important theme throughout the play. This is because sleep was taken from the sailor and Macbeth had murdered sleep because he had upset the balance of nature. When Lady Macbeth says, Yet who would have thought the old man to have Had so much blood in him. Macbeth said when he killed Duncan that all the blood will not even be washed by the sea yet Lady Macbeth said that only a little water was needed but now she says that all the perfumes of Arabia will not rid the smell from her hands, All the perfumes of Arabia will not sweeten this little hand. We see that she is morally sane but is mentally insane. Macbeth does not realise what the witches have done to him. Although there is an English army of ten thousand soldiers approaching he comfor ts himself by thinking of the prophecies. He knows he can never be defeated until the forest moves and he believes that he is secure. He tells himself that he is not frightened but when his servant enters the room he shouts and curses him suggesting insecurity. He perceives the fact that he is decaying in his mind and his heart, where he says, I have livd long enough: my way of life Is falln into the sere, the yellow leaf; At this point he is in despair unlike before where he was defiant. He calls upon Seyton his servant which is a clear hint for Satan. He asks the doctor how is wife is but is actually referring to himself as he is sick himself. When Macbeth hears of his wifes death he cannot react. He feels life has no meaning and that it carries on. He says that it signifies nothing and if he lives it will be a long time until he dies. Macbeth is now feeling sorry for himself. He hears from a messenger that Birnam Wood is moving. He tells the messenger if he is lying he will be hung from a tree but if he is telling the truth then he can do the same to him. Macbeth gives a last attempt at bravery by saying that he will die fighting. Even until the end Macbeth is selfish in his ways, as he does not want to pay for his crimes. Although Macbeth knows he is nearing the end he still demonstrates that he is courageous and a fighting force by killing Young Siwar. He is testing the witches prophecy about not being killed by a man born of woman. Macduff enters entirely motivated by revenge. He will only use his sword against Macbeth. Macbeth does not want to kill Macduff as he has already killed part of his family. When he learns that Macduff was born differently through Caesarian not directly out of the womb he no longer desires to fight but due to his pride he is going to die trying. When Macduff exits with Macbeths head he says that everything is back in order. Malcolm knows that nothing will be the same since Macbeth. The witches although bad in nature help the greater good to succeed. Much of the play deals with the struggle between light and darkness. Macbeth begins as a good character but because of their involvement he begins to symbolize darkness. The light in the first two acts is King Duncan, but when he died the struggle went in favour of darkness. Macbeth seems to have control throughout most of the play until his conscience came back to haunt him. Macduff is the hero of the play but not a character who stands out as a hero. He symbolises the light, which will defeat darkness that is Macbeth.

Monday, November 4, 2019

Empolyee relations Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3000 words

Empolyee relations - Essay Example However, as the marketplace became sophisticated and costs continue to increase, which had posed some threat to the companys operations, Modern Foods Limited had to check its strategy and revise its old policies in order to adapt to change. Some of these policies include those of human resource functions. In order to compete during these harsher times, the company must turn to its employees as a source of competitive advantage in the process. According to the case, Modern Foods Limited started as a small family firm that sold sausages and other poultry products in East Anglia. As the company had evolved and was acquired by the holding company IVECTO, no major changes in terms of the companys operations had been made in terms of incorporating technology in the companys human resource management function. According to the companys history, this could be traced back to IVECTOs passive handling of the affairs of the company that it had acquired. Although Modern Foods Limited had been acquired by this holding company, IVECTO was not active in terms of management. This meant that the old practices and processes in the old company, as long as it was making IVECTO some profits in terms of targets would remain unchanged, or at least major changes were not incorporated. Without any driving force behind the change and incorporation of technology in the human resource function of Modern Foods Limited, as stated in the case, the Human Resource function among sites were not linked and integrated into one corporate network to facilitate the communications between production units. This could be largely due to the companys management history which was not affected by the acquisition process. In assessing the case, it can be seen that the company had faced relatively little market pressure in the past, as it was able to expand smoothly to major markets within the UK and some other markets in Europe. Because market pressure was low, there was little incentive for the company to

Saturday, November 2, 2019

AICPA Ethics & COSO Framework for Internal Controls Essay

AICPA Ethics & COSO Framework for Internal Controls - Essay Example The first issue is about how Harold Potter gained employment and shares with Dumbledore Enterprise, a public company. Being supported by his uncle to gain entry to the company is not a serious issue. However, once he gained membership to the AICPA, there were implications that made his continuous involvement in Dumbledore risky. Section 101.01 states that a person should be independent in performance of professional services (Independence, 2011 para 1). This therefore means that once he was connected to Dumbledore as a previous employee and a shareholder, he would lose his independence and could not provide services for the company. Upon graduation, Harold decides to describe himself as 'Accountant' on his business card. Section 57 Scope & Nature of Services states that Members â€Å"...should observe the principles of the Code of Conduct in determining the scope and nature of services to be provided.† (Scope & Nature of Services, 2011 para1). There are issues with this descri ption because although he was qualified, he did not have the required level of experience to be considered a member. This therefore means that it was unethical for him to present himself as an accountant when he was not a full member. Section 191.65 forbids people to use the title CPA when they are not qualified members in Public Practice to use the designation of 'Accountant' without making disclosure of his capacity (Ethics Ruling, 2011 para 65). Clearly, Harold was not in public practice then so again, it was inappropriate to use the title of Accountant without specifying the scope of this designation. Using the Firm Name Aaron, Potter & Zzucker (3) For the sake of getting popularity and exposure in the phonebook, Harold decided to use the above name. According to Section 501.10 False Misleading or Deceptive Act in promoting or Marketing Professional Services members should not use false or deceptive means to promote their firms (Acts Discreditable, 2011 para11). Clearly, Harold Porter was working alone. There were no Aarons and Zzuckers in the firm who were CPAs. This therefore means that the use of the name was misleading. Further instruments in the Code of Ethics go against Harold in this direction. Section 502 prohibits members from advertisment, that is false, misleading and deceptive. Section 505.1 Form of Organization & Name says that members shall not practice public accounting under a name that is misleading (Form of Organization & Name, 2011 para 2). Providing Tax Services & Audit for Dumbledore (4) Although Harold did not have any experience in tax and auditing, he took the offer of his uncle to provide tax and auditing services for Dumbledore. There are two major components of the AICPA code which makes it unethical and potentially illegal for Harold to take these options. Section 201.2 Competence requires members to undertake professional services that they are reasonably expected to complete with professional competence (Competence, 2011 para2 ). Since Harold had never done tax and auditing before, it was wrong to do the books of a public company without any supervision because there was no assurance that he had the necessary professional competence. Section 57 Scope & Nature of Services states that members should observe the principles of the Code of Professional Conduct in