To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee - 830 Words

I did not expect that I would like To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee as much as I do. Written from the perspective of Scout, a young girl in the 1930’s, this book takes a look at many issues, including racism and sexism, all from the innocent eyes of a child. This book reveals many of the issues and struggles faced during the Great Depression. So far, this book is excellently written. Scout, Jem, and Dill are very complex characters. At first, I thought they were very old; Jem and Scout seem much too intelligent to both be under the age of ten. My first impressions of Scout, Jem, and Dill are basically the same as they are now. I still think Scout is sassy, passive aggressive, and impulsive. She is also a tomboy. At first, Jem seemed almost angelic, like he could do no wrong. He always played with his sister, tried to be a gentleman, etc. Jem is a good kid, but he tends to show off and is sometimes mean to Scout, like when he and Dill refused to talk to her. Dill is a small boy with a huge imagination. â€Å"Dill Harris could tell the biggest ones I ever heard.† (Ch. 5, pg. 52). I can relate to Scout the most. I also have an older brother that I used to play with all the time, but he was sometimes rude and called me names, much like Jem when he calls Scout too much of a girl. Though I may not have been as intelligent or sassy, I was definitely a tomboy. Though this book is written from a young girl’s point of view, even in the first hundred pages there are various forms ofShow MoreRelatedKill A Mockingbird By Harper Lee1049 Words   |  5 PagesTo Kill a Mockingbird: How a Story could be based on True Events in Everyday LifeDaisy GaskinsCoastal Pines Technical Collegeâ€Æ'Harper Lee was born in Monroeville, Alabama. Her father was a former newspaper editor and proprietor, who had served as a state senator and practiced as a lawyer in Monroeville. Also Finch was known as the maiden name of Lee’s mother. With that being said Harp er Lee became a writer like her father, but she became a American writer, famous for her race relations novel â€Å"ToRead MoreTo Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee1000 Words   |  4 Pagesworld-wide recognition to the many faces of prejudice is an accomplishment of its own. Author Harper Lee has had the honor to accomplish just that through her novel, To Kill a Mockingbird, a moving and inspirational story about a young girl learning the difference between the good and the bad of the world. In the small town of Monroeville, Alabama, Nelle Harper Lee was born on April 28, 1926. Growing up, Harper Lee had three siblings: two sisters and an older brother. She and her siblings grew up modestlyRead MoreKill A Mockingbird By Harper Lee1290 Words   |  6 PagesHarper Lee published To Kill a Mockingbird during a rough period in American history, also known as the Civil Rights Movement. This plot dives into the social issues faced by African-Americans in the south, like Tom Robinson. Lee felt that the unfair treatment towards blacks were persistent, not coming to an end any time in the foreseeable future. This dark movement drove her to publish this novel hopeful that it would encourage the society to realize that the harsh racism must stop. Lee effectivelyRead MoreHarper Lee and to Kill a Mockingbird931 Words   |  4 PagesHarper Lee and her Works Harper Lee knew first hand about the life in the south in the 1930s. She was born in Monroeville, Alabama in 1926 (Castleman 2). Harper Lee was described by one of her friends as Queen of the Tomboys (Castleman 3). Scout Finch, the main character of Lees Novel, To Kill a Mockinbird, was also a tomboy. Many aspects of To Kill a Mockingbird are autobiographical (Castleman 3). Harper Lees parents were Amasa Coleman Lee and Frances Finch Lee. She was the youngestRead MoreKill A Mockingbird By Harper Lee873 Words   |  4 PagesIn the book, To Kill a Mockingbird, Harper Lee illustrates that â€Å"it’s a sin to kill a mockingbird† throughout the novel by writing innocent characters that have been harmed by evil. Tom Robinson’s persecution is a symbol for the death of a mockingbird. The hunters shooting the bird would in this case be the Maycomb County folk. Lee sets the time in the story in the early 1950s, when the Great Depression was going on and there was pov erty everywhere. The mindset of people back then was that blackRead MoreKill A Mockingbird By Harper Lee963 Words   |  4 Pagesgrowing up, when older characters give advice to children or siblings.Growing up is used frequently in the novel To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee. Harper Lee uses the theme growing up in To Kill a Mockingbird to change characters opinion, develop characters through their world, and utilizes prejudice to reveal growing up. One major cause growing up is used in To Kill a Mockingbird is to represent a change of opinion. One part growing up was shown in is through the trial in part two of the novelRead MoreKill A Mockingbird By Harper Lee1052 Words   |  5 PagesTo Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee takes place in Maycomb County, Alabama in the late 30s early 40s , after the great depression when poverty and unemployment were widespread throughout the United States. Why is the preconception of racism, discrimination, and antagonism so highly related to some of the characters in this book? People often have a preconceived idea or are biased about one’s decision to live, dress, or talk. Throughout To Kill a Mockingbird, Harper Lee examines the preconceptionRead MoreKill A Mockingbird By Harper Lee1695 Words   |  7 PagesIn To Kill a Mockingbird Harper Lee presents as a ‘tired old town’ where the inhabitants have ‘nowhere to go’ it is set in the 1930s when prejudices and racism were at a peak. Lee uses Maycomb town to highlight prejudices, racism, poverty and social inequality. In chapter 2 Lee presents the town of Maycomb to be poverty stricken, emphasised through the characterisation of Walter Cunningham. When it is discovered he has no lunch on the first day of school, Scout tries to explain the situation to MissRead MoreKill A Mockingbird, By Harper Lee1197 Words   |  5 Pagessuch as crops, houses, and land, and money was awfully limited. These conflicts construct Harper Lee’s novel, To Kill a Mocking Bird. In To Kill a Mocking Bird, Lee establishes the concurrence of good and evil, meaning whether people are naturally good or naturally evil. Lee uses symbolism, characterization, and plot to portray the instinctive of good and evil. To Kill a Mocking Bird, a novel by Harper Lee takes place during the 1930s in the Southern United States. The protagonist, Scout Finch,Read MoreKill A Mockingbird By Harper Lee1656 Words   |  7 Pagesâ€Å"Mockingbirds don’t do any harm but make music for us †¦ that’s why it’s a sin to kill a mockingbird†, is a famous quote from the book To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee. Atticus, the father of the main character Scout, says this to her and her brother Jem when they receive rifles for Christmas. This book is considered a classic due to the allegory between the book title and the trial that occurs about halfway through the book. In the beginning of To Kill a Mockingbird, Scout is six. She is an innocent

The Nightmare Behind The Dream Act Essay - 2321 Words

The Nightmare Behind the Dream Act Issue Definition The Development, Relief, and Education for Alien Minors, also known as the DREAM Act, is an American legislative proposal for undocumented immigrants who came into the United States as children to obtain a legal status if they attend college or serve in the military. However, the DREAM Act does not help all immigrants wanting an education even if they come into the U.S as young children; they must meet certain criteria. To fall under the DREAM Act, a person must have entered the U.S. before the age of sixteen, must have been here for five years or more before the enactment of the Bill, must not have committed a crime, must graduate from high school, and must complete at least two years of college or military service. In order for immigrants to benefit from the DREAM Act, the criteria previously mentioned must be followed, however, not many immigrants in the U.S can benefit from the DREAM Act because they do not meet one or more of the requirements. According, to the American Immigration Council, there are approximately 65,000 undocumented students that graduate from high school but do not attend college because they cannot afford it. Since not all immigrants fall under these guidelines, they cannot procced with the DREAM Act. This leads to question if the DREAM Act is giving everyone equal opportunity for all immigrants to pursue a higher education or the Dream Act is not living up to the expectations of all.Show MoreRelatedIn the World of Dreams1300 Words   |  6 Pagesof Dreams The science behind dreams can be used to find out the different types of dreams and how different age groups dream along with how different genders dream. Different types of dreams consist of day dreams, nightmares, lucid dreams, normal dreams, etc. Men and women both dream differently in a sense to what they dream about. Adults and children tend to dream differently also. There are different types of dreams. There are nightmares and day dreams. Day dreams areRead MoreDreams: Nightmares the Myths Facts About It!1393 Words   |  6 Pageseyes and hope we have a great dream. What happens when the dream is not so pleasant? Instead you have a horrible dream called a nightmare. Nightmares can be very disturbing. When it comes to the human mind, it is hard for us to know why it acts a certain way, but we can always try to learn. Everyone has had a nightmare one time or another maybe when they were a child or even as an adult. But what happens when the nightmares are constant? The fact is that nightmares are more frequent in childrenRead More Reality is Like A Dream in Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been by Joyce Carol Oates1520 Words   |  7 PagesReality is Like A Dream in Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been by Joyce Carol Oates Joyce Carol Oates intrigues readers in her fictional piece â€Å"Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been† by examining the life of a fifteen year old girl. She is beautiful, and her name is Connie. Oates lets the reader know that â€Å"everything about her [Connie] had two sides to it, one for home, and one for anywhere but home (27). When Connie goes out, she acts and dresses more mature than she probably shouldRead MoreSister Carrie and the American Dream1618 Words   |  7 PagesThe American Dream is surely based on the concept of â€Å"Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness† but it is above all, a matter of ambition. James Truslow Adams, an American writer and historian, in 1931 states: life should be better and richer and fuller for everyone, with opportunity for each according to ability or achievement†, which not only points towards a better standard of living for Americans but also denounces a degree of greed in the US society. Ambition not only â⠂¬Å"killed the cat† butRead MoreIrrationality in Dostoevskys Crime and Punishment and Shakespeares Macbeth1378 Words   |  6 Pagesexistential beliefs in tragedies. The existentialist theory explains the idea that man can satisfy his own needs if he has the power to act on his desires, although its against the social ruling. Raskolnikov and Macbeth both have the power to act, but they both face an internally struggle of action and inaction. Both of them change their mind on if they should act because they become frightened of the consequences they could face if they are caught. Fyodor Dostoevsky’s Crime and Punishment and WilliamRead MoreInvisible Man by Ralph Ellison Essay1403 Words   |  6 Pagessimply cause violence and destruction between the two groups. Ras appears before the crowd of Brothers dressed in African clothing, wielding a spear and shouting how the narrator is a traitor to both sides. The entire scene is like that of a terrible nightmare. In a fit of anger, the narrator grabs the spear from Ras’s hand and says: â€Å"They want this to happen†¦They want the streets to flow with blood; your blood, black blood and white blood, so that they can turn your death and sorrow and defeat into propagandaRead MoreA Dream Cycle The Dreamer1475 Words   |  6 Pagessomething otherworldly lurking about? The brain bends the rules, as if eager to conceive the waking nightmare that has confounded many minds, from scientists to philosophers and even religious figures. Sometimes referred to as the â€Å"evil twin of lucid dreaming†, sleep paralysis is a phenomenon in which a person experiences a temporary inability to speak, move or react. Unlike lucid dreaming (a dream cycle the dreamer is fully aware of), episodes of sleep paralysis are usually accompanied by strongRead MoreFreudian Interpretations Of Dreams By Sigmund Freud1663 Words   |  7 PagesKafka’s â€Å"A Dream† tale. Which the famous philosopher, Freud, would interpret symbols for different reasonings behind a dream. I n the book, Interpretation of Dreams by Sigmund Freud, he provides an in depth explanation on his beliefs behind the meaning of each occurring dream that we experience. Freud has tons of concepts that he claims for the reasonings behind each dream that have. Whether if we experience a nightmare or just a normal dream. The concepts in Interpretation of Dreams that are primarilyRead MoreI Dream1534 Words   |  7 PagesAmerican Dream. Since James Truslow Adams coined the term â€Å"American Dream† in1931 (Wiki), a hope for the fulfillment of â€Å"life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.† Yet, in this era, the harsh reality of poverty threatened life, restricted liberties, and covered happiness with dust. As FDR put it so well, â€Å"For too many of us life was no longer free; liberty no longer real; men could no longer follow the pursuit of happiness.† (Teslow Lecture) So why would Adams conceive of the â€Å"American Dream† in theRead MoreLiterary A nalysis : The Forest Of The Desert By Bill Walters842 Words   |  4 PagesFeathers and Nightmares Dream Boxes is collection of contemporary pieces put together by the UNM Department of Theatre and Dance directed by Bill Walters. Dream Boxes is split up into two acts. The first, My Father’s House, covers the well-known stories of Greek Tragedies including Orestia, Aeschylus and Iphegenia by Euripedes. The second, The Forest The Desert, is a collection of personal chronicles as told by the actors’ themselves on stage. Dream Boxes can be described as a visual and sensory

The Kite Runner By John Kite Essay Example For Students

The Kite Runner By John Kite Essay The Kite Runner is an exceptionally intriguing book. It is an extremely irritating book with the majority of the realistic points of interest. You know when you re viewing a motion picture and somebody is getting tormented severely and there is blood all over the place and it is a truly realistic scene? Be that as it may, despite everything you observe despite the fact that it s gross since you need to see what is going to happen to the individual? That is the manner by which Kite Runner is for me. Despite the fact that the book is exceptionally aggravating in numerous parts I can t put it down in light of the fact that I need to continue pursuing to see what happens to the individual after the realistic and irritating scenes. Are the assault scenes irritating as well as the entire section on the Buzkashi competition. The Kite Runner does have a lot of violence in the book but even though the book is very violent, it s still a very good book and you can learn a lot of the significant value of the book.Amid the season of when this book happens in Afghanistan there were/are numerous individuals that are ignorant. Amir was knowledgeable and now and then exploited it. Since Amir was a great deal more keen that Hassan he was continually playing personality amusements with Hassan and he would succumb to them since he didn t generally know lies from reality. Assef helps me to remember Hitler in light of his state of mind and activities. Assef needed Afghanistan to be simply unadulterated afghan individuals and Hitler was the same way since he just needed immaculate Germans in Germany. However the clever part is they needed this yet in the meantime Assef was not immaculate afghan and Hitler wasn t unadulterated German. There were n. .mir is getting the opportunity to cherish Soraya more and their relationship is getting more grounded. It s verging on like Amir knows his dad will be gone soon so he is putting the adoration and continually attempting to please Baba into doing that for Soraya. Amir has a great deal of blended feelings while he is getting prepared for his wedding. Since Baba has passed on he is having a hard time to overthrow with that yet in the meantime is the happiest gentleman on the planet since he is wedding the lady he cherishes. Amir needs to sit and reflect and recall when his dad and him returned home for the service of giving the word Baba told Amir something essential. He told his that it was the greatest day of his life. This is vital now since this implied Baba endorsed of the wedding and we all realize that Baba s assessment matters a considerable measure to Amir.

The Curriculum of the Business Strategies

Introduction Students learn different courses at the universities in a bid to gain white collar employment at the end of it. This is meant to bring food to the tables and perhaps make some savings for future investments. In most occasions, people supplement their white collar jobs with a bit of self employment in order to make ends meet.Advertising We will write a custom essay sample on The Curriculum of the Business Strategies specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More This is championed by the fact that most employments do not earn employees enough cash to meet their budgets. Sometimes, employees need to secure their financial stability by starting other independent businesses apart from the employment they already have. Recent statistics indicate that self employment is probably the most common form of job creation in the United States of America (Tyler, 1949). It is important to note that this case does not only apply to the United Stat es of America but also to quite a number of nations across the globe. This is so because self employment offers an extent of convenience and satisfaction that cannot be easily achieved by other forms of employment. Additionally, people tend to have the urge to have private businesses alongside their jobs in order to increase their income. The unemployed society in a given country is also more likely to think along business lines as opposed to seeking employment elsewhere. All these play a significant role in increasing the number of private businesses (Knowles, Holton, and Swanson, 2012). The ability of a businessperson to come up with a business idea, create and manage the business may be termed as entrepreneurship. An entrepreneur may also be referred to as a businessman. One who intends to start a business must first be well acquainted with business procedures, setbacks and management policies. Even though starting a new business is usually a big risk, it pays off well if managed because the entrepreneur always has the freedom to manage his/her own business. That aside, the businessperson is able to balance his/her personal life by creating a business schedule that best suits him/her.Advertising Looking for essay on business economics? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More On the other hand, private businesses always need funds for their inception. This could be quite a challenge especially for first-timers. The incorporation of risks in private businesses is also another challenge that might hinder people from starting businesses (Tyler, 1949). An entrepreneur can only maneuver his/her way through all these variables by learning how to manage a business. The curriculum created on how to manage private businesses will play an integral part in this paper. This paper is meant to give an insight on the course. The most relevant concepts of the course There are quite a number of relevant concepts in the course . They play a vital role in ensuring that an entrepreneur comes up with just the right business idea in his/her niche and evaluate whether the business is viable or not. The concepts also assist businesspeople in making relevant hypotheses concerning their businesses. These concepts include the following. Marketing segment This involves the simple details of a proposed business plan. It incorporates things like business name, slogan, targeted customers in terms of their ages, gender and sometimes financial status, ways of reaching the customers and perhaps the competitive advantage the proposed business would have over other related businesses. This is important in ensuring that a business idea is well scrutinized without leaving any loopholes (Barrow, and Brown, 2012).Advertising We will write a custom essay sample on The Curriculum of the Business Strategies specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More Feasibility study This is always done after coming up with a business plan and establishing the location of the business and perhaps its competitive advantage. This study involves presenting a few potential clients with questionnaires that focus on the viability of the business. It is meant to give feedback and sometimes recommendations from the perspective of clients. It is important in customizing the business in relation to customer specific needs and wants. Marketing plan This is intended to give a blueprint on the advertising and promotion ideas meant to market the business to its potential customers. Entrepreneurs must be aware of the available marketing strategies. They are important in getting the business idea to the clients. Some of these promotion ideas include business cards, posters, flyers, brochures, internet marketing, sales calls and mailings amongst others (Barrow, and Brown, 2012). Legal issues of the business There has to be legal obligations in any particular business. These include licenses, certi ficates for ownership and many others. In some occasions, the ownership of a business may be sole proprietorship, corporation, partnership or a non-profitable organization. All these types of businesses are accompanied by their specific legal obligations. A businessperson should, therefore, be aware of the legal requirements for his/her business. Capital This is the most fundamental concept of a business. Before someone knows how much he/she needs to start up a business, it is important to determine all the items needed to commence (Biech, 2008). It is from these that prices will come in and perhaps transportation costs.Advertising Looking for essay on business economics? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More The manner in which the concepts impact on me professionally These concepts have significance to me. Even though I do not have employment experience, my family business has nurtured me in the field of business and taught me the basics. I have worked in an acting capacity in the family businesses of real estate, supermarkets and gas stations. I have thus gained some considerable experience in finance and marketing. The concepts in the course have enlightened me on how to come up with the most comprehensive marketing and funding segments. They have advanced my knowledge in the key areas that need strict observation while coming up with a business idea. The marketing strategies, for instance, have expanded my scope of thinking. Initially, my perception of marketing had been limited to business cards alone. Today, however, I have known the convenience and affordability of using other marketing strategies like interment marketing and mailings. I have understood that these are the most re liable means of marketing a business. The things that have made professional impacts on me for the past three months that I have been progressing through the course Apart from knowing the basics of initiating a business and measures of ensuring that only a small percentage of risk is involved, I have also had other experiences that have made professional impacts on my business career. For instance, the course has provided comprehensive strategies on how to attract, satisfy and maintain clients. When I get back to actual work, this will form an integral part of my daily operations. I have learnt the importance of trying to encourage first time clients to revisit. In business, first-time clients are not as important as revisiting customers (Friere, 2000). This has impacted a lot on my strategy to apply all measures possible to ensure that a customer is satisfied and that he/she revisits another time. The things contained in the course that are most likely to have an impact on me as I move forward with my career Quite a number of things contained in the course will have a great impact on my career as I carry on. I have a special interest in the finance department and the things I learnt concerning finances will have a considerable impact when applied in the real life. For instance, annual and quarterly financial projections contained in the course will have quite some impact when I apply them practically. The projections in terms of sales and expenses are forecasted financial goals that are supposed to be met given the different variables put in place for this purpose. I am certain that these will assist in coming up with obtainable goals in my business. They will also provide the right channels for applying all the necessary machineries to ensure that objectives are met. The costing procedures provided in the course are bound to have an impact in my career too. They are systematic and easy to understand. Unlike the previous, complex procedures I used to apply, t hese simple formulas will most definitely ease my work especially when I get back to Saudi Arabia to manage one of our family supermarkets (Biech, 2008). The things that I would do differently from now onwards considering the fact that I know what I know from the course The very first thing that I will do differently from how I used to is the marketing strategy. I was so fond of using business cards alone. They had negligible effect as far as marketing our family businesses was concerned. However, I kept using them because I had limited or absolutely no prior knowledge on the other viable strategies for marketing a business. I am glad I now know that internet marketing, especially through the social media, is able to draw enormous traffic to a business. I will most definitely apply the use of internet marketing as well as other forms of marketing like direct calls and mailing in order to grow my business (Tyler, 1949). Conclusion In conclusion, therefore, it is imperative that most if not all of the business strategies and ideas mentioned in the course are applied in order to meet organizational goals. Just like me, other colleagues have had so much to learn concerning incepting and growing a business. We all shall apply the things learnt from the course. References Barrow, C., Barrow, P., Brown, R. (2012). The business plan workbook. London: Kogan Page. Biech, E. (Ed.), (2008). ASTD handbook for workplace learning professionals. Danvers, MA: ASTD Press. Friere, P. (2000). Pedagogy of the oppressed. New York: Continuum. Knowles, M. L., Holton, E. F., Swanson, R.A. (2012). The adult learner (7th Ed.). New York: Routledge. Tyler, R. W. (1949). Basic principles of curriculum and instruction. Chicago, University of Chicago Press. This essay on The Curriculum of the Business Strategies was written and submitted by user Deon Perez 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.

At the End of the Day

At the End of the Day At the End of the Day At the End of the Day By Maeve Maddox A reader has asked me to â€Å"shed some light† on the expression â€Å"at the end of the day†: I know it means after everything has been taken into consideration and it is an integral part of our everyday vocabulary but some of my colleagues seem to find it inappropriate in its function. Could you please help me understand this better? Clichà ©d expressions are a part of our everyday vocabulary, but some clichà ©s are more annoying than others. Most of us have no problem with the occasional â€Å"hard as a rock,† â€Å"old as dirt† or â€Å"crazy as a betsy/bessie bug.† These are venerable expressions that can convey just the tone we are aiming for. They blend unobtrusively into our speech because they add a specific meaning in a way that suits a certain style of speaking. Unlike idioms that are used conversationally among friends, newly fashionable clichà ©s find their way into print, in everything from speeches on foreign policy to product reviews. A â€Å"good† clichà © is one that does its job without irritating. A â€Å"bad† clichà © calls attention to itself. â€Å"At the end of the day† is a bad clichà ©. It’s bad because it’s wordy, it’s overused, and it has a common literal meaning. The following passages indicate the ubiquity of this phrase’s figurative use: Palestinians need to know that at the end of the day, their territory is going to be free of Israeli troops, that occupation ends.  Ã¢â‚¬â€œJohn Kerry, US Secretary of State, 2014. But, at the end of the day, presidents get elected to enact change. –Mark McKinnon, American political advisor. Im not suggesting that people go into space in a pedestrian way but at the end of the day, shes fighting for what every woman would fight for, and thats her baby. –Jay Bobbin, movie reviewer. At the end of the day, the owners are all about the business side of things. –Steven Lebron, sports writer. At the end of the day, I don’t think wanting education to be better is a right-wing or left-wing thing.† –Bill Gates, education reformer. But you know when you put lipstick on a pig, at the end of the day, its still a pig. –John Edwards, political candidate in 2004. but at the end of the day, your choice [of smart phone] comes down to either a smaller device to fit in your hand or a massive device with a screen nearly as large as a tablet’s. –Product review. The literal meaning of â€Å"at the end of the day† is â€Å"at the end of the day.† (Duh.) In the context of business and the workday, the â€Å"end of the day† is five o’clock or whenever the day’s business or work is done. Here are examples of the literal use of â€Å"at the end of the day†: In emergency situations, call your local law enforcement agency at the end of the day if the Division of Child and Family Services has not responded to your report. –Directions for the reporting of suspected child abuse. At the end of the day, the defense rested their case. The trial will continue Wednesday morning. –Herald-Democrat (OK). The best time to measure your feet is  at the end of the day  when your feet are largest.  Ã¢â‚¬â€œRecommendations for buying shoes. Here are some possible alternatives to the figurative use of â€Å"at the end of the day†: eventually finally ultimately some time at length one day in time sooner or later in the long run 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 Expressions category, check our popular posts, or choose a related post below:Homograph Examples7 Tips for Writing a Film ReviewHow to Style Titles of Print and Online Publications

Thesis Topics

Thesis Topics Thesis Topics Thesis Topics The essential part of the Master's and Doctoral students is to complete a thesis. But to find a potential thesis topic is rather difficult task. The following thesis writing tips will help you during your thesis writing. A thesis topic must grow from your own energies and interests. Start thesis writing with something you are familiar with or what you are interested, you should defined your general area of interest. Think about your hobbies, some efforts you have taken part in, etc. You also may write your thesis by means of elaborations or expansions of your successful junior papers. Before writing a thesis think about your earlier junior papers you have written in your previous courses. Finding a topic within an area of interest is more difficult. Your topic should be formulated as a question. But the questions can't be too broad, because a thesis's topic must have focus. It also doesn't mean that it should be too narrow because the goal of a good thesis is to express thoughts of g eneral importance through detailed analysis of a specific case or cases. Because the purpose of this process is to formulate provoke question, the best way to uncover topics in your area of interest is to begin posing questions. Read relative issues and literature to your topic. If your topic seems too broad, this reading will give you some ideas how to narrow your topic. If your question is too narrow, a selection of articles and books can lead you to the general concerns that relate to your interest. Parts of a Thesis Some research projects involve a practical component of experimentation, research in libraries which includes designing the methodology, then analyzing and reporting on the findings in the thesis document. Your plans would need to cover undertaking your research study, analyzing results, writing a preliminary paper on the project, doing further research with further analysis and publication, writing and submitting the thesis, and so on. These are important stages but you should also be thinking further ahead. It is important to keep in mind the final thesis structure and the time line for completing individual chapters. The presentation of thesis follows a standard order. Here is a list to help you during preparation: Preliminary material Title page Acknowledgments Dedication Table of contents Abstract or summary Glossary Preface Substantive material Introduction Literature review Other chapters Conclusion Final sections Bibliography Appendices References CUSTOM THESIS You are welcome to order custom thesis writing service at and professional writer will assist you with project completion.   We guarantee high quality and timely delivery.

Human Development in Brazil Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Human Development in Brazil - Essay Example Conditions are slowly improving for all Brazilians, as the Human Development Indicators(HDI) imply, though translating the figures into real progress is more difficult. The HDI is developed by the United Nations Development Programme to aid in determination of how well â€Å"countries turn income into health and educational opportunities†(UNDP). The 2006 report indicates that Brazil falls into the fifty-eighth place among one hundred seventy seven nations. The HDI is calculated by combining three sets of data: lifespan, knowledge and standard of living. The UNDP provides other indices such as the Human Poverty Index(HP1 and HP) and the Gender Related Development Index(RDI). HDI is the most inclusive and allows for a better understanding of overall data. Brazil is by no means a poor country, with abundant natural resources and $30 billion in foreign capital invested by 2002. However, â€Å"forty million live on less than $2 per day, while twenty million live on less than $1 pe r day.†(UNDP). Inequality of income is linked to gender, race and geographical region. The Northeast, where the greatest disparities exist, is comparable economically to nations such as Kenya. The UNDP has set a goal of lowering poverty to below ten percent by the year 2015. This goal seems fully attainable as the poverty rates fall from twenty percent in 1991 to roughly fourteen 2 percent by 2000. Obstacles such as slowing economic growth are identified as barriers to attaining that goal.

The history of ancient India. Harppan Culture Research Paper

The history of ancient India. Harppan Culture - Research Paper Example But excavations at Harappa and Mohanjo-Daro changed the complete viewpoint and old beliefs. Starting with the finding of Harappa, almost thousand conclusions with comparable characters have been exposed. Scholars named it ‘Indus valley civilization’ (Around the Indus in 90 Slides par. 1). Indus valley civilization developed at two centers-Harappa and Mohanjodaro. Harappa is in Montgomery district of the Punjab (now in Pakistan). Mohanjodaro is in Larkana district of Sind (now in Pakistan). Mohanjodaro means ‘the mount of the dead’. The distance between these two centers is 650 Kms. According to the famous archeologist Sir John Marshall, Harappan civilization is about 5000 years old. The town planning and material life of the Harappan culture were really great. Archeologist like â€Å"Mortimer Wheeler and Stuart Piggot believed that the Harappan towns had a remarkable unity of conception† (Unit 6: Material Characteristics 21). Each town was divided int o two parts. In one part, the citadel indicated where the rulers lived. In the other part of the town, the ruled, and the poor lived. â€Å"The most ancient paw marks of human actions in India go back to the Paleolithic Age, around between 400,000 and 200,000 B.C.

Religious and Ethnic Groups Essay Example for Free

Religious and Ethnic Groups Essay Buddhism is a religious group as depicted from the world’s history that began in the 6th century BCE, in today’s Northern India. Buddhism was founded by a wealthy man of Indian dysentery called Siddhartha Gautama. Siddhartha Gautama’s main concern was to teach people how to realize great spiritual development. These teachings focus on areas like tradition/customs, beliefs, ethics, meditation and philosophy and making people more enlightened; Buddha means ‘to awaken’. To the religious group boast of a huge following of about 300million across the world including 0. 7 percent of U. S. A’s religious composition based on U. S’s Census Bureau Document (Seager, 2012). Buddhism is a religious group that differs broadly from other groups in America. The difference is eminent in the way they carry out various practice. Some examples are worship, beliefs, culture, doctrines, and in other routine practices. Buddhism, unlike other religious groups, believes in the existence of only one Supreme Being ‘God’. In contrast to most groups, Buddhism spirituality is of personal discipline rather than faith in ‘God’. A lot of differences may be present when attempting to draw a comparison between Buddhism and the other religious groups in America. Buddhists Experience in America Buddhism has received its fair deal of mixed reception from other religious avenue. Some people have good perception and understand their teachings seek to uphold good morals and values. Buddhism also seeks a harmonious co-existence with other people in society even if they are not practicing the same religion. Others have perceived them as having a bizarre view deeming its operation as being mysterious. Buddhism is unique in conducting their routine religious practices and beliefs. Some religious groups have upheld Buddhism, not as a religion but merely a philosophy (Seager, 2012). They have even incorporated some practices like meditation as an art of realization physical and emotional well being as yoga in pursuit of reliving off stress. They have also sorted in some Buddhism cultural element and used them to perfect their own religions. Contribution and Discrimination of Buddhism Historically in American culture Buddhism has contributed adversely in development of America’s culture. Many Buddhists doctrine and daily routine practices are borrowed and used to blend America’s culture. Example of such practice teachings of how people perceive life and attitude, changed Buddhism has mentored Great America’s scientists and philosophers (Seager, 2012). They borrow ideas from Buddhism teachings. Some of the ways in which Buddhism is practiced in America include stress reduction treatment. In addition, famous movies and songs based on Buddhism, such as Seven Years in Tibet, Little Buddha, The Matrix, and Star Wars, has helped the advertisement industry. Another instance is the Master Card commercial that shows an image of Woman Meditating. There is an increasing number of Americans who visit the Buddhist temples and also practice meditation in privacy. Buddhist Fellowship organization is a very large group that promotes peace, environmental advocacy, and conducts homeless and prison outreach. Buddhism has experienced discrimination minimally compared to other religious groups. Discrimination happens within its own religion and culture primarily against Buddhist women. All Buddhist women are ordained to follow laws and disciplines such as bhikkhunis. However, Buddhist nuns have come together to fight for their rights. The source of this prejudice was because the Buddhist nuns have increased in number and they want to eliminate them from the religion. Buddhism has helped me learn about meditation which can be used in reducing stress and as a way of relaxing. Asian Ethnic Group The Asian American comprises of a 5% of the American population (Espiritu, 2011). In the recent years, the Asian ethnic group is considered among the fastest growing group in America. The Americans refer to subgroups such as the Chinese, Filipino, Indians, Koreans, Japanese and Vietnamese. Most Asian Americans were born in America while others have been the immigrants who have settled in America. Asian differs from the other ethnic groups because from history Asians have continued to follow their religions, unlike many other groups. The Asian Americans are known for their diligence, strong family values and their respect for education, authority, and discipline unlike any other ethnic group in America. Asian American Contribution and Discrimination The Asian American has contributed greatly in the formation of American society. These contributions include constructions of railway, joining the military and protecting the Americans. Asians have also contributed in creating internet sites such as youtube and yahoo. The Asians have influenced other areas like fashion, religion, science and culture. For instance, the kung fu culture of the Chinese is greatly employed in Hollywood while creating action movies. Acts of discrimination towards Asian Americans in America are similar to other minority group. This racial discrimination bars the Asian American from participating in politics (Espiritu, 2011). The reason Asian Americans are discriminated against is Americans consider them foreigners. In conclusion, Buddhism is an Asian practice which the Asian have practiced almost all their lives, but this practice came to be known only in recent years. Discrimination of Asian Americans means that their religion, cultures, and practices are discriminated against. Buddhism is different from Asian Ethnic group because Buddhism is a practice done by the Asian communities. Discrimination should never be practiced in America because America is a multicultural society and the majority of people in America are citizens by birth. References Espiritu, Y. L. (2011). Asian American pan ethnicity: Bridging institutions and identities. Philadelphia: Temple University Press. Seager, R. H. (2012). Buddhism in America. New York: Columbia University Press.

Comparing Characterization in Alias Grace, Their Eyes Were Watching God

Characterization in Alias Grace, Their Eyes Were Watching God, and Fools Crow      Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Alias Grace by Margaret Atwood is a novel where the main character Grace is a sort of mystery character.  Ã‚   In the end she is at peace, but there are still many questions about her left unanswered.   Because Atwood's style of writing is informative, yet unclear at the same time, the audience is left to put the pieces of the puzzle that is Grace together themselves.  Ã‚   This leaves the reader guessing about her character.   Two other works that contrast the characterization of Grace Atwood uses in Alias Grace are Janie in Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston, and Fools Crow in Fools Crow by James Welch.   The characterization the authors use in these three novels determines how well the reader will get to know the main characters in terms of emotion.      Ã‚  Ã‚   Characterization is one of the main components of writing a novel.   Most of the time in a novel the attributes of the main character are well known.   By the time you've finished the novel, you feel as if you know all that there is to know about that person.   In the case of Alias Grace, Atwood leaves more to questions about Grace's character than are answered.   It seems as if the more you learn about her life, the more of a mystery she becomes.   It is the reader's job to take what is known about Grace and piece her together the best she can. In a review of the book, David Wiley states, "What unfolds is that no one will ever know Grace" (Wiley 3).   Her personality is never totally revealed, and the reader is left wondering who she is. One character, Dr. Jordan never finds out anything new about her personality than any of the other doctors who evaluated her before did.   She t... ...statement:   The characterization the authors use in these three novels determines how well the readers will get to know the main characters in terms of emotion. I.   Characterization of Grace   Ã‚  Ã‚   A.  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   What role characterization plays   Ã‚  Ã‚   B.  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   How well the reader gets to know Grace II.   Characterization of Janie   Ã‚  Ã‚   A.  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Hurston's development of Janie   Ã‚  Ã‚   B.  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   What the reader learns about Janie III.   Contrast of Janie and Grace   Ã‚  Ã‚   A.  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   What makes the two characters different   Ã‚  Ã‚   B.  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Contrasting views on love and marriage IV.   Characterization of Fools Crow   Ã‚  Ã‚   A.  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Transformation made by his character   Ã‚  Ã‚   B.  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   How his character is developed V.   Contrast of Fools Crow and Grace   Ã‚  Ã‚   A.  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Difference in the two character's emotions   Ã‚  Ã‚   B.  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Reaction (emotionally) to different situations   

Fast food restaurant Essay

The fast food industry has been growing dramatically during the last few years. For this reason, we should try to find out what are the several factors why fast food consumption keeps growing among young people. Therefore, as we have seen, the popularity of fast food is spreading rapidly among many people due to the following three main reasons: good taste, convenient time, and price. â€Å"Over the last three decades, fast food has infiltrated every nook and cranny of American society,† writes Eric Schlosser in Fast Food Nation. In the beginning, the fast food restaurant started with a cafeteria-style restaurant known as the â€Å"Automat† in New York on July 7, 1912. Then, in 1921, White Castle restaurants were started in Wichita, Kansas, selling hamburgers for five cents. By 1948, McDonalds was opened by two brothers from Nashua, New Hampshire, who developed the concept of selling hamburgers, French fries, shakes, coffee, and coca cola in disposable wrappings. So from its humble beginnings, the fast food industry has become an undeniable factor in our society. Certainly, with our ever increasing and busy society, eating at fast food restaurants has become the norm. Families that have busy schedules, such as taking their kids to various activities, attending church functions, and late meetings rely heavily on fast food as a meal choice. For example, about one-quarter of adults and a third of children eat at fast food restaurants on any given day. According to the American Journal of Public Health, consumers have spent $16. 1 billion in 1975 to $153. 1 billion in 2004 on fast food. People are generally drawn to good tasting food. With fast food, it couldn’t of ever tasted any better. No matter how unhealthy it is, we cannot deny that we have a love affair with the value meals, the fast service, home delivery and of course the drive-through. We no longer feel the need to slave away in the kitchen; we can just save so much time by satisfying ourselves with a relatively cheap McDonalds meal. It is ironic that in order to achieve the ever-increasing financial goals that we set for ourselves needed to feed our individual families, we must restrict ourselves from high quality food, the very diet that defines success, in favor of food that can be seen as more cost effective, and fast food fits the part perfectly. Moreover, the fast food industry has created many job opportunities for people who in normal circumstances would find work difficult to come by. Many young college students take on the challenge of working in a Burger King or Taco Bell kitchen in interest of supporting themselves financially. There are a countless number of students who decide to apply for jobs in the fast food industry to help them pay off their tuition. Working in the fast food industry can also be viewed as a potential transitional job for certain individuals. For in the present economy, many people have now found themselves jobless, while working in a fast food chain might not be desirable to them in comparison to their former jobs, it could be seen as a perfect temporary replacement while one searches for a new equally lucrative long term job. Some individuals go for fast food as they consider it to be a treat for themselves. There are many people who like fun and one of the best places that they can always get that is at the fast food restaurants. A part from just eating, they also find the places as socializing venues where they can make many friends. The fast food restaurants also offer a lot of entertainment zones that make their clients comfortable as they enjoy their meals; this is one factor that will make many people to prefer going there as opposed to cooking food for themselves at their homes. People also love fast food because there are so many of them next to their work place, their homes, on the side of the road or in any petrol station. That’s an important point to many people, because when they feel like having a fast food meal, they don’t waste a lot of time searching for a restaurant to eat from. They just find the restaurant near the place they are in. We cannot deny the world has undergone a â€Å"fast food revolution† over the past few years, and I believe there is good reason for the immense popularity of this â€Å"fast food culture† we are presently living in. It maybe greasy and unhealthy, but it is ultimately cheaper than home cooking and its convenience to the incredibly busy urban lifestyle is too significant to ignore. Fast food should be viewed as a positive aspect of our society as a result of the advantages it presents to us in our hectic lives, but we should not abuse it. In the words of actress Mae West: â€Å"Too much of a good thing can be wonderful†, however in this case it is quite the contrary.

Considering Your Audience Essay

The three views to wri? ng to an audience are classical, cogni? ve, and social views. They all vary in their own aspects, but all of them have great methods for wri? ng. Classical view is the same as classical wri? ng from our classical world. It is comprised of di? erent components: theory, analysis and imita? on, and prac? ce, classical view has to do with an audience that is iden able age, demographics, religion is appropriate for and audience that we do not know. It helps writers prac? ce gramma? cal, logical, and rhetorical skills, as well as  thoughts of imita? on and persuasive communica? on. A cogni? ve view has to do with the way a writer transfers his ideas together to an unknown audience. In this view, writers analyze how people process and read the informa? on presented to them, in term the writer uses his mo? va? on to consider the level of his audience. A good example would be reading a textbook, the ideas designed to teach or inform unknown audiences. There are highlighted ideas as if a textbook would have to help guide you through the book to make it a whole. Social view is more speci?  c and dependent on what one is wri? ng. Social view style comes from some type of interac? on, which is predominantly used to a%ract readers on a speci? c topic from talking about things that audience is interested in. I thinking that maybe a social view would be like wri? ng a biography. Alterna? vely, maybe social media? The view that I o’en use in wri? ng is normally cogni? ve. due to the fact that I serve in the military I like to develop my ideas and thoughts ? rst, then guide my audience through my process and possibly to my conclusion.

How To Get A High-Traffic Blog, Even If Youre Blogging Solo

How To Get A High-Traffic Blog, Even If Youre Blogging Solo Ive been solo blogging for over 12 years. I have seen the enemy. It is us. Yeah, I have come face-to-face with a few challenges in that time. And yes, you  are absolutely going to recognize these three core problems: Random and irregular publishing.  What to publish? When? Why? Whee. Publishing something worth reading. Havent published in a few weeks.  This crappy post will have to do. Letting other people know I just published something. Only my mother has commented on my post. No one is reading! You could say the same for team blogs, too, except with a team blog you have others to help publish, edit, designblame. When its just you, you have to make it all happen on your own. How Solo Bloggers Can Publish More Regularly Random and sporadic publishing results in much less traffic than you could have if you published more reliably (and more often). Have a look at this bar graph from seven days of traffic on my own blog. Which day do you think I published a blog post? Its not a huge difference, but it is a noticeable one. When you blog, more people come and read. You have to publish to get visitors.All the drafts, ideas, or SEO magic in the world wont help you if you do not publish blog posts.  Blogger Kevin Duncan recently (and humorously) shared his findings  on what happened when he blogged every day. What did he discover? No surprises here. He found that by publishing on his blog daily, he had: An 84% increase in the social shares of his blog posts. A 119% increase in comments on his content. A steady bounce rate (meaning he didnt trade low traffic for more visitors that left quickly) A 46% increase in traffic in general. Heck, publishing every day must be the solution! Maybe twice a day! Noooo. A team blog might be able to publish every day, but thats asking a lot of a solo blogger, particularly if youre really into long-form content. Maybe youre a real whiz kid, and you can pull it off, but most of us cant keep that kind of publishing schedule up on a regular basis, particularly if you have a full-time job or freelance clients to attend to. So no. This isnt an admonition to blog every day.  Please, lets not mistake the problem of  haphazard publishing with one demanding daily publishing. At the end of Duncans experiment, despite the increase in traffic and shares, he realized that kind of schedule was too demanding on him, and that it left him little time to promote or build social proof.  It is possible to publish regularlyonce a week. Or twice a week. In fact, regular publishing has no numerical definition. It just has two qualities that need to be met: 1. You publish on a regular schedule so people know what to expect. Do I know who my audience is? (distracted and want something new every few days vs. reading once a week is fine) Do I know what is expected or typical of my niche? (breaking news every hour vs. nothing changes in a decade) Have I created categories that I can regularly write on? (giving each category equal attention) 2. You publish on a regular schedule so you dont find yourself forgetting to publish. How much time do I have to create new content? (get a calendar, look at the clock, and do the math) How many words can I handle per post? (sit down, write a few posts without fussing, and see what your typical word count seems to be) Do I have a list of headlines ready to go? Have I brainstormed ideas before hand? (planning ahead is hard if you dont have anything to work with to put on your calendar) Regular publishing is for your audience and for you. The first is for building trust, and the latter is for building a habit. Planning to get things done is not the same as planning HOW  to get things done. How can help: is an editorial calendar, and editorial calendars are a fantastic way to set up this kind of regular blogging. You have to make the decision on how often youll blog and what about, but you can use an editorial calendar to help you make it happen. has features that seem geared towards teams, but I use them as a solo blogger with great effect when planning. For this stage, where Im laying out the plan to help me publish regularly, I use s tasks. They serve as reminders of things I need to do for each posts. I get email reminders and can track them in my account. Whichever tools you decide to use, an editorial calendar will help. Weve created a free comprehensive guide on how to use an editorial calendarwith printable starter sheetsand it works great for solo bloggers! How Solo Bloggers Can Publish  Something Worth Reading Pursuing great content is like pursuing the golden fleece. It is fraught with disagreement and terror. 1. Define what is worth reading. You're going to be frustrated if you don't know what you consider great content. Great content isn't what everyone else is doing, and frankly, great content isn't necessarily what gets shared the most on social media (headlines have a huge part in that). If you aren't into data or don't care for scientific research, don't go chasing after posts with headlines like "How To Choose The Best Diaper, Backed By Science." Determining this is similar to writing a mission statement for your blog. For my blog, I set up a rubric that goes something like this: Does it help or hurt people? Does it encourage or discourage people? (Sometimes helpful content, depending on how it is relayed, can be discouraging.) Will people feel something after having read it? (laugh, thoughtful, sad, etc.) Have I written the best I am able to at this moment? (I might be embarrassed a year from now, but I shouldn't be embarrassed now.) Is it original to the best of my ability? (i.e. not purposefully aping other bloggers) Is it somehow a part of my larger story? (for a personal blog, this is fairly easy) Am I being overly sensational or making linkbait? (after awhile, you'll get backlash) Come up with your own rubric. Define what you think is good writing for you and your niche. 2. Do good writing. The mechanics of your writing should be top notch. Your research (if it applies to your style of post) should be impeccable and from good sources. You should take the time to proof and edit your posts as best you can, even though you don't have a proofreader. You should be familiar with writing techniques, like storytelling or journalism, as best you can. 3. Don't forget the extras. Once the writing is in place, you have the extras, like graphics and photos. Because you don't have a team designer, you need to find a way to create images for your posts on your own. Use apps geared for non-designers and create graphics for your posts. Rethink how you use stock imagery and consider coming up with viable alternatives. How can help:  The comments section of each post works great with teams, but it's also fantastic for solo bloggers. I use it to store research, links, images, and ideas for posts. Often, post ideas come to me in a rush and while I don't have the time to write a full draft, I can at least write down the gist of the idea. I put it in the comments section, and whenever I decide to write the post, I have a strong foundation to build on. How Solo Bloggers Can Get An Audience You can publish regularly, and you can publish Pulitzer quality material, but you're not out of the woods yet. Merely publishing is only 1/3 of the solo blogging story. Search engines and the whims of fate and the kindness of your mom might bring some readers to your site, but it's not bringing in as many as you could be. The truth is that regular publishing brings more traffic, but that's often because we publicize our new blog posts on social media and that brings in traffic. This is why you don't have to blog every day, but you must promote every day.

Chinese Etiquette for Visiting a Chinese Home

Chinese Etiquette for Visiting a Chinese Home It is becoming more and more popular for foreigners to be invited into Chinese homes for dinner. Even business associates may receive an invitation to be entertained at their Chinese counterpart’s home. Learn the proper etiquette for visiting a Chinese home. 1. Be sure to either accept or decline the invitation. If you must decline, it is important to give a specific reason as to why you can’t attend. If you are vague, the host may think you are not interested in having a relationship with him or her. 2. At the entrance to many homes, you may see a rack of shoes. Depending on the home, the host may greet you at the door in slippers or even stocking or bare feet. If this is the case, take off your shoes. The host may give you a pair of slippers or sandals or you may just walk around in your socks or bare feet. In some homes, a separate, communal pair of plastic sandals is worn when using the restroom. 3. Bring a gift. The gift may or may not be opened in front of you. You can suggest the gift be opened in your presence but don’t push the issue. 4. Guests will be immediately served tea whether you want it or not. It is impolite to request a drink or request an alternate beverage. 5. The mother or wife is typically the person who will prepare the meal. Since Chinese meals are served course-by-course, the cook may not join in the feast until after all dishes have been served. Dishes tend to be served family style. Some restaurants and homes will have separate chopsticks for serving the dishes while others may not. 6. Follow the lead of the host and serve yourself, however, he or she serves himself or herself. Eat when the host eats. Be sure to eat plenty of food to show you are enjoying it but don’t eat the last bit of any dish. If you finish off any dish, it will signal that the cook has not prepared enough food. Leaving a small amount of food is good manners. 7. Do not leave immediately once the meal has concluded. Stay for 30 minutes to an hour to show you have enjoyed your meal and their company. More About Chinese Etiquette Chinese Business Meeting EtiquetteChinese Customs for Meeting New People

Have Information Systems Affected Competition Essay

Have Information Systems Affected Competition - Essay Example Helped by constant development and changes, information systems currently control the key operations in the business world from production, sales, processing and even marketing. However, it is important that any business intending to employ the use of this technology understand its implications in full, especially, its influence to output and resultant profits. When the issues are fully understood, organizations require tools to necessitate the implementation of the information systems technology. This should be in a manner that will enable them increase their strategy in competition within their market (Bogetoft & Olesen, 2000).   One way in which many organizations have viewed information systems over the years is through a pyramid that would show a certain hierarchy that is observed in the organizations. At the bottom are the systems involving transaction processing, systems used to manage information systems follows closely, above this are systems that support decision making a nd the highest ranked are the systems that are used to save executive information. This was the most rudimentary organization, yet the level of organization it brought to a company enabled it to grow and prosper than its competitors. In the recent contexts, there have been new technologies that have changed the basic framework to encompass the changes in the contemporary business environment. Some of the new improvements are enterprise systems, global information system (GIS), and enterprise planning using resource departments, data warehouses, global information systems (GIS) and the automation of offices (Neumann, 1994).   It is obvious that information systems have influenced the competition by companies over the past few years; this is seen from the fact that most managers have been forces to integrate the use of software technology in their offices, production and daily running of activities. This revolution has made the finance departments to be forced to locate funds to pur chase hardware used in managing information systems, training of these system’s personnel and encouraging capacity building through funding trainings and workshops. Some of the competitive advantages gained from the use of information systems are reduction in costs that are incurred when obtaining, transmitting and saving information within a firm and between different business groups (Armoni, 2000).   Information systems fall under the group of competitive systems. This is because it involves many services all of which have a contribution to how and when decisions will be made. In addition, information systems have the competitive advantage of enabling users to collect data from the primary resource center, and then analyze it on the spot using well defined pre-set programs. The systems of information will enable users to plan ahead of their competitors and know their intentions beforehand (Rainer & Cegielski, 2011).   In addition, fieldwork analysis will help the manage rs to know the changes that occur in the market, changes in customer requirements, how the structure of the industry has changed in such issues as social, physical, and the physical forces; this would be with the use of internet searches on the news sites. Furthermore, the continuous changes in technology within and outside the company’

Case study Coursework Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words - 2

Case study - Coursework Example Coffee profits are visualized as the only strategy to acquire an outside world to obtain financial resources in realizing the vision of buying a ranch for the monastery. A potential competitive advantage for the Monk Coffee is observable despite the challenges posed by the cloistered monastic environment. Such is founded on the market niche of serving Catholics around the world and to maximize coffee production. The MCCs business model involves the external purchase of organic coffee beans from a broker with an associated premium price for daily fluctuations. Considering the ability of the Mystic Monk Coffees strategy to increase the income earned on an hourly basis tremendously, such a strategy is a money-maker strategy but entirely used for the monastery. The profit formula is an 11% of the revenues. A rich customer value proposition is based on quality when serving the coffee clubs and the wholesalers. The free labour that is not profit oriented and without taxes coupled with roasting coffee in the monastery are reliable resources for creating customer value (Faggioli, 2014). I would recommend that Father Daniel obtains part time help in the operations of the monasterys coffee to maximize the returns. The goals and objectives must be altered to become measurable, timely and precise to define and achieve the long-term direction and vision. The approach to the strategy and the strategy have no problem since they are aligned with the overall mission of the Carmelites. Purchasing a new roaster is highly recommended to increase the

Correlation Discussion Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words - 2

Correlation Discussion - Essay Example We would probably use this method if we wanted to determine the relationship between a child’s age and their height. The last type of method used for establishing correlation is if one of the variables uses a number scale and the other one uses a simply true/false scale. The best method to use here would be the point biserial correlation coefficient. The likely opportunity that this method would be used is a correlation between gender and height. All of these methods can only tell us if two particular variables are related to each other, not whether one variable causes the other variable to change. Each method has its own positives and negatives, and each method can only really be used with its certain types of data. A researcher may want to establish a correlation when they have a hypothesis, but do not have any way to prove it. Correlation allows relationships to be seen between an independent and a dependent variable. One of the variables has to be constant so that the other one can change according to the stable one. Once these variables can be measured, researchers can find links between certain

Critical Incident Case Study Analysis Social Work Essay

Critical Incident Case Study Analysis Social Work Essay In this paper, I will examine an interesting case study that I found important to discuss. On one hand, I will scrutinize the details of this case study and the vital culture information of the participants. On the second hand, I will analyze the incident from the perspectives of the ethnicity, White American culture, and language differences. Description of the Critical Incident Sequence of events This event took place in a primary school in Indiana State a year ago. H was introduced to a school psychologist by his teacher. He was the worst-behaved white kid in school. He was aggressive, fights with other peers, and argues with his teacher all the time. The teacher wanted to improve Hs behaviors and reported it to his mother. Therefore, the teacher and the school psychologist agreed to work with H, since he was the most challenging child in the classroom. H was in the 4th grade and had maintained high grades. He continued o have good grades throughout the school year. He sometimes had difficulties in following directions and completing in-class assignments in writing activity, yet his academic standing is in the average; however, it is higher in the math area. In order to know more about H, an interview was conducted by a school psychologist with his teacher; the reported that H is from a divorced family and living with his mother who is a special education teacher in high school. During the first session, H was observed to be a Caucasian male of average height and weight with blonde hair, blue eyes, and was dressed casually in a black sweat suit and sneakers. H was sitting silently at his desk and working on his own. The following session, H was observed to be more aggressive and started to make noises, yelling, arguing with teacher and talking back in the classroom. I interviewed H about his behavior that the teacher and principal told me about his behavior that was erratic; I started the first session with him by playing a game to help him identify his feeling and behavior. Throughout the sessions, the student was talking to the school psychologist, and he was telling her that he was having some problems in the new place. He was having a hard time socialing and making friends. The student was also talking about the absence of his father, and how bad he was feeling to be raised by a single mother. He also addressed the bad relationship he had with his peers and teacher and he was telling through the sessions that no one could understand him. During this session, there were some misunderstandings between the client and the therapist in terms of language and some cultural things, such as talking about cartoons and movies characters, favorite Cereal, and kinds of dogs. As a professional, I examined how I would help Hunter to change his behavior issues in the classroom. Therefore, a meeting was conducted with Hs mother in order to know more about his behavior at home and to get her involved. Unfortunately, the conference ended negatively. Added to this, the frustration of Hunters mother over my cultural differences led the consultation process to a negative outcome on Hs concerns. During the meeting, Hs mother argued that her son will be will be attracting attention since they live in a small rural community and everybody knows each other. This was the major problem the mother was thinking about and was frustrated because she would have to face her neighbors staring and comments. The mom was also thinking of her kid in the future and how people will treat and look at him as an aggressive and misbehaved kid in the town. She stated as well that she is a single mom that raised her child by herself and she had faced enough from these people in the town. She mentioned that her kid would have some problems working with an international school psychologist who speaks better in another language than English and had a different cultural background. The student was willing to keep working with him, but his mom was refusing to complete our sessions; he seemed to change gradually and wanted to be different. He was mad, because his mother stopped everything and he told the school psychologist that his mother had not let him come to her. He stated that he did not have friends before and the school psychologist was his friend around that time. Culture of the client The client is Hs mother, 38-year-old, and Caucasian female. She has one child who is 10 years old and step-elder son (age 17) and one younger step daughter (age 5) who does not currently live with her in the same house. The client is divorced, living with her son since she got divorced six years ago. She is working as a special education teacher in high school and mentioned she is from the superior middle class background. Culture of therapist The therapist in this case was me. I am a 26 year old, Muslim international female student. I am from a middle-class background, and grew up in a home with my father, step-mother, and my sisters and half brothers. My family has been an important part in my life. I had a lot of social and emotional support. My mother had a heart attack and died when I was six. I hardly remember her face and how she was acting. Education was a stressful part of my life; living alone far away, and within a different culture was not an easy thing to deal with. Handling of situation The team contained the teacher, the school psychologist, and the principle tried to intervene and help Hunter to stop his negative behaviors and start acting like a normal kid. The team conducted a meeting to target the behavior and plan an intervention. They called Hs mother to get her involved. As the team was working through this case, the mom came to school and asked the principle to discontinue working with her child. She said they are living in a small town and it is a sin in her area to be in trouble in school, especially in terms of behavior issues, and she did not want any kind of services from an international school psychologist. There was no way to convince the mother to get her involved and persuade convinced her to finish the case. This was one of my cultural incompetencies and biases that I experienced. I felt so mad and under micro-aggression, because I am not an American school psychologist. They do not want me to work with this kid; especially then the teacher refused to continue consulting with me about the student and the principle asked me to stay away from him. I felt like an outsider and helpless. The team implemented an intervention to work with H in classroom, but everything was canceled. The problem of this case was unfortunately, was held at the end of the school year. So, I had to stop meeting the child and do what the mom was asking for. I felt so unhelpful and I realized the problems that can occur within school settings and how incompetent people would be in order to intervene. I tried to convince the teacher and the principle to re-set a meeting with the mother to discuss with her Hs academic concerns first, instead of his behavior issues. Explain to her how important it is to work with him before they become major issues in the future, get the mom more involved, and create a connection between home and school. Unfortunately, it was inappropriate to force people to attend sessions or receive help. It was difficult to present a final consultation report for my project. As a final point, the teacher and school psychologist indicated using time-out and ignoring as methods of discipline. Lots of feedback also was suggested to reduce Hs frustration, but there was no way to handle the mothers case expectation through her son. Therefore, I found it very important to address this case study to be more aware if it happened again in the future another time. The Analysis Cross-cultural issues and value differences The following are the cross-cultural issues and value differences that may have existed between therapist and client: Gender, age, socioeconomic status, education, ethnicity, religion, and language differences. Age: The client is 38 years old. The school psychologist is 26 years old. Socioeconomic status: the client is from superior middle class background and the therapist is from middle class background. Education: the client is a special education teacher at a high school. The therapist is a student in an EdS program. Religion: the client is a Christian, while the therapist is a Muslim. Ethnicity: the client is White European American and the therapist is an international Arab student. Language: The client speaks English as the first language. The therapist speaks Arabic as the first language. Out of these issues, I will specifically address ethnicity and language differences in the analysis part of this paper. Ethnicity Sue and Sue (2007, chap.1), Hence and Boyd-Franklin (2005), and Fuller (1995) discuss the significance of being aware of our own culture, and each culture has limitations. As an international school psychologist, I was very aware of the ethnic differences during our sessions which made me feel like an outsider. The client in this case was a female white American. She seemed to be categorized deeply within her ethnicity, and she appeared to enjoy being white. In working with her, I believe that it seemed to be heavily associated with how she distinguished and reacted to racial stimuli. Therefore, the race-related reality of whites symbolizes major dissimilarities in how she viewed the world (Sue Sue 2007). The client was not at ease in the beginning, and she noticed my accent and realized that I am not an American professional; she kept asking the what are you? and the where are you from? questions, which I believed now how rude and insensitive this questions were. I felt that she wa s judging me, and it was unclear what she was trying to mention with those questions. I believe that she is one of the people who think that it was fine to scrutinize and query people with dissimilar accents. This unsure idea is surely not to make the individual feel unwanted or insulted when asking about their ethnicity (Sue and Sue, chap.18), According to my own interpretations and what I congregated from the readings through this class, my client showed her own privilege (Sue Sue, chap. 11). It was clear for my client to notice that I am from another country, especially after our following sessions and appeared to see school psychologist students in general as incompetent people who wanted only to practice their skills. While I was reading the Parker and Schwartz (2002) article, I assumed how did White come to be the majority and the oppressor? certainly, I agree that, in the United States, white is the foremost community that has become more pale into the statistical unit beside the other ethnicities that are classified as minority categories. Through my little experience on the practicum at this school, I also noticed some strange things happening at this school; I did not notice that it was discrimination until now. In this school, all the school staff and students were whites and there was an ignorance of the culture strengths and the school staff blames the students and their parents for their problem; this reminded me of cultural blindness agencies. I did not notice all the time working in this school any other different ethnicities besides white Americans. In this stage, the school works with students as they are all the same, ignoring their unique needs and cultural differences (Sue Sue 2007) Goal: the goal of this difference would be to make an equal relationship, free from any racism. Racism found to be evident in all aspects of white community in our daily lives (such as in television, radio, and educational materials, etc.) (Sue Sue 2007) My client is a white American and I should be aware of her own racial background and the persistence of racism in the United States just by being white (Parker Schwartz). As was discussed in McGoldrick outlines (2005) Ethnocultural factors are often the hidden dimension in family therapy with white ethnics, and exploring them may be a key component of successful treatment. Create a therapeutic rapport will be the main goal of this scenario. Course of action: After working with this client, I would collaborate with her with respect to determine her feelings in working with a therapist who is from a different culture as hers. I would also work on her confidentiality since there is a clear feeling of mistrust which is a reaction to being discriminated against and abhor for the dominant communities in an approximately global anti-White demonstration and feeling (Sue Sue, p.200). As a professional, I should know the presence of distrust and work to get my clients trust. My client is white American; I should be aware that white privilege is invisible (McIntosh, 1988) to her I was unwelcome. It will very effective to reduce the anxiety and the upset feelings of the client and the school psychologist as well in this scenario. Rationale: My rationale for choosing this goal and course of action was to address the dissimilarities that exist between the school psychologist and the client in order to understand and reduce the relationship of dominant and minority. Collaborating with my client in the future will focus on her salient issues in order to get her more involved and trust the school psychologist. I would also teach my client some therapeutic techniques in order to help her comprehend and increase her feelings of trust and comfort. Language Strong emotions such as anger, sadness, and defensiveness were displayed when talking about experiences of race, culture, and other socio demographic variables (McIntosh, chap.1). These feelings may improve or negate a full meaning to comprehend the worldviews of culturally varied clients. As professional, working with a multicultural population, I need to know that I am different and how to deal with it in an appropriate way. In this case study, I worked with a client who is from a diverse culture and that leads to have some hard times to understand each other in the beginning, especially in terms of the language, eye contact, and sometimes body language. The client in this case is an American English speaker using high Standard English and emphasizing verbal communication (Sue Sue, chap. 6). The client was talking normally, but with attention that she was not satisfied. She sometimes talked very fast. As a school psychologist, English is my third language and as most of non English first language speaker, I have an accent. Sometimes my accent may sound familiar, but usually most people mentioned that it is understood and has a French flavor, which most of people likes. From time to time, I feel uncomfortable if my client misunderstood me. I think that was because of my accent and she did not used to talk with foreigners she is having troubles to understand me; as Sue and Sue stated (2007, Chap. 21) Communication due to language difficulties as I stated above, my client may sometimes talk fast and use some slang statements that I could not comprehend. We were having a problem to connect and link up together, but the main problem was to be unable to work with her child that made me feel very embarrassed and sometimes unfruitful. In this case, I feel very depressed and sometimes I could not handle situations. I know that I have a productive background, but language issues make me ver y upset. It made me feel utterly unwelcomed in my clients community and this country, especially with these kinds of clients who do not like me to work with their children, just because they do not trust international people. This idea of the inferiority of me in addition to the belief that my client has the power to impose her standards upon my culture was also presented (Sue Sue, chap. 4). These also made feel both astound and shocked, especially when I experienced such things directly in this case. Communication is an appealing part of communicative interaction; it is an instrument that helps the therapists to comprehend their clients and provides him or her needed services. (Sue Sue, chap.6) In our field, we need to be able to exchange communication in appropriate way for both verbal and nonverbal messages. Coding and decoding messages from others is the key to understand both the language and the message that is transmitted through the use of the language. Goal: as a goal to resolve this scenario is to be familiar with American culture and speak English perfectly, and also be familiar with their slangs and have self confidence that I am trying to do well. American speakers if they attempt to speak Arabic for an example they will have an accent as well. Through working with this client, I will discuss the language especially the accent barrier openly with her; I bet that this may be beneficial. Course of action: I think it is very vital to talk with the clients in the initial interview before starting any assessment. Informed her that I am an international school psychologist and they may not fully understand my accent. I will let her know that I am open to answer her questions and repeat if it needed. Discussing the foreign language accents and refer that is normal to have an accent within another language learned as well. I again felt the stinging confidence to improve English with the aim of being a more effective and diverse professional. Rational: My rationale for choosing this goal and course of action was to talk about the accent issues that may help me relax and work comfortably. Educating the client that her kids case is going to be confidential and no one will know about it in the town. It may lead to ignore other issues like language, I will also ask my client to ask for clarifications if the she did not understand me and the problem will be resolved. Conclusion After analyzing this case study, I recognized how significant it is to be sensitive of our cultural difference in order to be competent and sensitive to other cultures. This experience helped me to comprehend how dissimilar we are as people and how this affect the interpersonal communications. This will help me be to be aware and work on myself to be more an effective and successful professional in the future.

The Mill on the Floss by George Eliot Essay -- Mill Floss George Eliot

The Mill on the Floss by George Eliot It is said that George Eliot’s style of writing deals with much realism. Eliot, herself meant by a â€Å"realist† to be â€Å"an artist who values the truth of observation above the imaginative fancies of writers of â€Å"romance† or fashionable melodramatic fiction.† (Ashton 19) This technique is artfully utilized in her writings in a way which human character and relationships are dissected and analyzed. In the novel The Mill on the Floss, Eliot uses the relationships of the protagonist of the story, Miss Maggie Tulliver, as a medium in which to convey various aspects of human social associations. It seems that as a result of Maggie’s nature and of circumstances presented around her, that she is never able to have a connection with one person that satisfies her multifaceted needs and desires. Maggie is able, to some extent, to explore the various and occasionally conflicting aspects of her person with her relationships between other characters pr esented in the novel. â€Å"From an early age, Maggie needs approval from men...Maggie is not shown in any deep relationship with a female friend.† (Ashton 83) A reader can explore into Maggie Tulliver’s person and her short development as a woman in four primary male associations: her father—Mr. Tulliver, her brother—Tom Tulliver, her friend and mentor—Philip Wakem and her dangerous passion with Steven Guest. Maggie unconditionally loves her father although he has been the unconscious root of many of her misfortunes. â€Å"Tom’s and Maggie’s young lives are blighted by the gloom, poverty, disgrace and death of their father...Maggie is obliged by her father’s failure to leave school...It is the misfortune of a clever girl denied any activity other than domestic.† (Ashton 50) In the time period of the setting of the novel, women were regarded as male property, to take care of household matters and without skill, originality and intelligence of a man. Mr. Tulliver cared deeply for his daughter’s future but inadvertently oppressed Maggie through his views of women. This idea is represented in his dialog with Mr. Riley of Maggie’s â€Å"unnatural† intelligence: â€Å"It’s a pity but what she’d been then lad—she’d ha’been a match for the lawyers, she would. It’s the wonderful’st thing.† (Eli ot 68) Mr. Tulliver by nature was stubborn, opinionated and led his family to disgrace as a result. However, there is ... ... caused them both much pain. Maggie was also allowed to experience the type of love that can exist between siblings, despite all of their disagreements, Maggie and Tom were able to realize that their bond was deeper than could have been imagined. George Eliot artfully created such relationships in this novel in a successful method to analyze and probe into the complexities of human interaction. This comes along with the message that it may be possible to have everything that one may want in life, just not all at once or at the same time. Works Cited Ashton, Rosemary. The Mill on the Floss: A Natural History. Twayne’s Masterwork Studies. Boston, G.K. Hall & Co. 1990 Byatt, A.S. â€Å"The Placing of Steven Guest†. Appendix, The Mill on the Floss, Middlesex, Blays Ltd, St Printing; Penguin Classics. 1979 Carlisle, Janice. â€Å"The Mirror In the Mill on the Floss; Toward Reading of Autobiography Discourse†. Studies in the Literary Imagination. Vol 23:Issue 2. [EBSCO] Masterfile Premier 1990 Edinborough and London. â€Å"Brother and Sister† The Legend of Jubal and Other Poems. London, Blackwood 1874 Eliot, George. The Mill on the Floss. Middlesex, Penguin English Library, 1979.

Ethical Issues in the Professions and Business Essay

Professionals and other business personalities all share a common ground of responsibility towards that people that they particularly aim to serve. As individuals handling several procedures of servicing the society, it is undeniable that professionals follow a certain line of responsibilities that lead them towards the procedures of being able to complete the said tasks that they have towards the society that they are serving. To make the discussion concise, there are three major sets of responsibilities that each professional should give attention to. A) The Journalists Each member of the society has his or her own values in life that must be served by journalists. As for a fact, people are rightfully given the chance to know what is happening in the society around them. However, when they are involved in the issues presented by the media, whether they are from the local sectors of the society or that of the well-known personalities, they are entitled to having their own privacy and this too should be well guarded by journalists in their process of presenting the truth to the public. On the contrary, the aim of the institutions that journalists are serving such as media networks is to present as many credible facts as possible. To make the ends meet, it is important for the journalists to measure the impact of the society and their company as well towards their professional being. B) The Teachers Teachers are primarily expected to render service that is connected to sharing knowledge. It lies in their hands the wide possibilities of coming up with effective procedures of handling the needs of their students. The institutions that they are serving however aim for enrolling as many students that the institution could cater to. It is then in the discretion of the teacher on how he or she could be able to give the students the education that they need though applying a process that could cater to a huge number of students in an effective manner. C) The Lawyers It is the service of providing justice to all, that lawyers are particularly expected to render to the society.   Undeniably, the values of the society in this manner are to be highly considered. Serving the truth to those who need to know it and to those who need to be free is the key role that lawyers portray in the arena of justice provision. Once the lawyers are faced with a case that needs to be solved, whether they are in the defendants or the accused side, they must recognize the fact that they are there to render the truth to whoever is entitled to receive it.

AT&T Case Study Essay

1. Introduction In this report we will identify business risk that AT&T experienced due to their divestiture in 1982. We will conduct our analysis based on financial concepts, and finally recommend necessary actions that should have been conducted when the company formulated its financial policy in 1983. 2. AT&T Background AT&T was founded in 1876 by Alexander Graham Bell. Prior to the divestiture AT&T had been a force to be reckoned with for over a century within the telephone service industry. Before the divestiture the company served over 80% of the US telecommunications users. The sale of these services took place at their 22 local subsidiaries. AT&T was the largest enterprise in the world with total assets of $137.8 billion and revenue of $58.1 billion. Given the size of the company they had hired a total of 1,060,378 workers. With a total number of 3,055,495 shareholders, where 95.3% held less than 600 shares each. Ever since 1885 AT&T had continued to pay its dividend to the shareholders, they never lowered the payment. The divestiture that AT&T experienced was a result of an agreement of the Justice Department’s antitrust suit against the company in 1982, which required a major rearrangement of AT&T’s capital structure. The agreement lead to several changes in the structure of the company, and one major change that had a significant impact on the company was how they managed their distribution channels. Prior to the divestiture they sold their services through their 22 local telephone subsidiaries, the company would now be spun off into seven independent regional corporations; NYNEX, (N.Y. Telephone and New England Telephone), Bell Atlantic (N.J. Bell, Bell of Pennsylvania, Diamond State Telephone and four Chesapeake and Potomac Telephone Companies), Bell South (South Central Bell and Southern Bell), Ameritech (Indiana Bell, Michigan Bell, Illinois Bell, Wisconsin Bell and Ohio Bell), U.S. West (Mountain Bell, Pacific Northwest Bell and Northwestern Bell), Southwestern Bell (Southwestern Bell) and Pacific Telesis (Pacific Telephone, Nevada Bell). 3. Historical Financial Policy AT&T’s overall financial policy, including target debt ratio and interest coverage, was designed to maintain an AAA bond rating, which allowed them to reduce borrowing cost and in addition make sure that funds were available in periods of severe financial dislocation. The dividend policy was relatively conservative for a utility with a target payout ratio of 60% and an actual payout of 58-67%. Their low payout ratio was determined by AT&T’s large capital requirements and the desire to provide some protection for maintaining the stability of dividends. Stockholders reinvested approximately one third of the dividends. Due to the increased competition and the volatile regulatory climate, AT&T returned to a more conservative financial policy. Between late 1970 and 1980 the managers were reluctant to issue more equity through sales of stocks because the company’s market value was below its book value per share. However, the financial history shows that AT&T allowed in vestors to purchase new stocks using their current dividends at 95% of current market price. 4. Principal Problem AT&T’s principal problem was not the need to raise funds to finance investments, but whether the debt and equity ratios were appropriate for the â€Å"new† AT&T. This needs to correspond with the company’s financial and strategic goals, and be adapted to the market and uncertainties that the company is facing. AT&T’s strategic goal has been to please the potential stockholders categorized as widows and orphans. Widows and orphans are used to describe stocks with a relatively high degree of safety and a stable dividend income. Due to changes in the market and uncertainties that the company was facing, their strategic goals needed to be changed. The change  was however not reflected in their balance sheet. We will further discuss what led to this situation, and give a recommendation on the changes that should have been made prior to the divestiture in 1984. 5. Pre Divestiture Business Risk As a consequence of the governments intervention, the AT&T lawsuit settlement, as well as the shift in the telecommunication industry, it was clear that AT&Ts local telecommunication business was slowly moving away from a monopoly franchise environment. It was moving towards a more competitive environment characterized with more consumer choice and greater competition. Companies such as IBM saw the divestiture of AT&T as an opportunity to provide new telecommunication equipment and services, which would allow them to gain a higher market share. AT&T’s stock had up till then been regarded as a stable utility-type stock because of its steady growth and consistent dividend yield. However, AT&T should have kept in mind that they would not have as much market control in the future as they did prior the divestiture, much due to the intensifying competition and regulatory environment changes. Firstly, the antitrust lawsuit followed by a sudden divestiture could cause uncertainties to wards the company’s future and might change the shareholders perception of AT&T in an unfortunate way. Second, the seven new corporations would be highly independent, and therefore a major rearrangement of the capital structure would be vital. It is likely that every corporation would differ in terms of e.g. management style and financial performance. These changes could mean that AT&Ts reputation of being a safe and profitable investment could shift to become more volatile and riskier for its shareholders. Finally, AT&T had relied for a long time on their old and out-dated patents, which included old machinery, equipment and plants in order to create profit. As more and more competitors emerged with new technologies and services, AT&T needed to keep up with all changes in the market. As a result of the divestiture the R&D was reduced at Bell Laboratories and the development-part was eventually intergraded into the Western Electric division. After these changes many concerns arose relating to the future profitability of Western Electric (WE). Firstly, they were concerned that WE might not be able to attain marketing and product development skills that were vital in operating in the  newly competitive markets. The main reason for this is that the workforce was used to working in a captive market, where competitors were almost non-existent. Secondly, WE’s manufacturing labor force had become unionized at the same time, as their plants were old. This meant that WE would have to invest in R&D to make sure that their competitors did not exceed them. Their unionized workforce would lead to a considerable increase in salary and WE would have to follow the regulations that were set by the labor union. As a consequence these factors would most likely affect both the firm’s market share and eventually the stock price in a negative way. 6. Analysis and Recommendation 6.1 The New Capital Structure Spin-offs often provide a unique setting to assess various capital structures, because one observes the initial capital structure of a mature firm. In a spin-off, a subsidiary is fully divested from a parent and becomes a stand-alone entity. Before this happens, the subsidiary is not able to issue new equity, and is dependent on the parent to finance its capital investments. When the divestiture has occurred, the firm’s assets are divided between the subsidiaries followed by a new capital structure of the independent firms. The total outstanding debt would be assumed divided between the seven regional operating companies, hence the sharply reduced total debt that is projected in the 1984 balance sheet. There is also reason to believe that AT&T chose to reduce $725 million of their total outstanding debt in 1982, which lead to the reduction in the debt ratio the same year. When looking at the projected balance sheet one can see that the total debt would be stable at the sum of $9.3 billion from 1983 to 1988, which equals a decrease of $37.8 billon from 1982. However, due to tax deduction the cost of issuing new debt is lower than using equity. This would mean that AT&T should issue new debt in order to create a balance when financing the investment in R&D, and rather use more of the company’s equity to set up an account with emergency funds that will function as a safety net given the unpredictable times ahead. 6.2 The New Distribution Policy When establishing a distribution policy, one size does not fit all. Some  firms produce a lot of cash but have limited investment opportunities. This applies for firms in profitable and mature industries where few opportunities for growth exist. Such firms typically distribute a large percentage of their cash to shareholders, thereby attracting investment clienteles that prefer high dividends. AT&T was in such an industry, but after the removal of the monopoly, the market became more volatile. During periods of market volatility, there are investment opportunities if you know where to look. In such markets the firms generally distribute little or no cash but enjoy rising earnings and stock prices, and thereby attracting investors who prefer capital gains. AT&T should have adapted to the changes in the market, which required more financial flexibility and a stronger balance sheet. A ‘strong’ balance sheet should consist of liabilities that are considerably outweighed by assets. If a company is having problems, the balance sheet (together with the cash flow statement) will tell you whether it can stand the strain. 6.2.1 Dividend Pay-out As mentioned above, AT&T has had a steady increase in dividends payout until the announcement of the divestiture in 1982. The company decided to reevaluate the amount of dividends and keep it steady at $5.40 per share. AT&T had been a market leader in this industry for a long time, yet their equipment and patents were old, as they had not invested in R&D development. In order for AT&T to have a stronger balance sheet and become more financial flexible in the face of the divestiture, AT&T should have cut their dividend payout much earlier. The company might have been afraid to cut the dividend since this often gives a signaling effect that the firm does not expect high earnings in the future. However, given that AT&T was forced into this divestiture, changes had to be made. An alternative measure could therefore have been to make a change in the dividend policy. This could be seen as a risky move, yet if communicated in an appropriate and thoughtful way the shareholders might understa nd that this was necessary for the company’s future growth. Another supporting factor is that approximately one third of the dividends payout were reinvested by AT&Ts stockholders, which shows that the current dividend payout was not very essential to some of the shareholders. 6.2.2 Repurchase of Stock The firm should also have repurchased stock some years after the dividend cut, to bolster the share price. Repurchase have a tax advantage over dividends as a way to distribute income to stockholders. Repurchase provides cash to stockholders who want cash while allowing those who do not need current cash. Moreover, repurchase announcements are viewed as positive signals by investors because the repurchase is often motivated by management’s belief that the firms shares are undervalued. Finally, repurchases is a effective way to produce large-scale changes in capital structures. 6.3 New Investment Plan The company should at the same time start looking for new possibilities and investments in order to overcome these volatile times. An alternative could have been to invest in R&D e.g. by acquiring a small company with the knowledge and expertise that were required in order to compete and be sustainable in the industry. By doing so they would expand their workforce with people who had more knowledge about the newer technology and therefore been better equipped when facing the challenges ahead. Not only would this allow AT&T to gain more human capital, but they would also gain newer equipment. It is also said that more good investments will most likely lead to a lower dividend payout, which supports our recommendation of changing the dividend policy. 6.4 Maintaining a Top-Level Credit Rating AT&T’s overall financial policy, including target debt ratio and interest coverage, was designed to maintain an AAA bond rating, which allowed them to reduce borrowing cost and in addition make sure that funds were available in periods of severe financial dislocation. As mentioned earlier AT&T worked hard to maintain the AAA rating, both through debt ratio and interest coverage. Although it should be noted that AT&T’s debt ratio of 43% was close to fall under the AA ratings. This would have resulted in an increase in average interest cost of 0.7% equal an expenditure of $335.3 million in borrowing cost. Based on this one can conclude that this was a wise decision given the circumstances, and the company should therefore keep their focus on this in the future. A top-level credit ranking will not only give AT&T better conditions when issuing new debt, but also allow them to emerge as a more attractive investment to current and potential new shareholders. Conclusion Due to the antitrust lawsuit and the shift in the telecommunication industry, AT&T needed to adjust their financial and organizational strategy in order to adapt to the changing environment. The main purpose of this report has been to identify the risk involved with the divestiture, and find ways to face the challenges ahead. The report recommends a new capital structure policy, where AT&T should issue new debt for further investments rather than using equity. For the distribution policy, dividends should be cut and thereafter consider repurchasing stocks. Furthermore, the company should invest in a R&D through an acquisition of a small high-technology firm that will enable them to gain knowledge and be more innovative. Finally, AT&T should seek to maintain a top-level credit rating to reduce borrowing costs, to assure better conditions when issuing debt and last but not least to be a preferred firm for investors.