The Effects Of Peer Pressure On My Life - 997 Words

Friendship is a human born initiative that comes from within. In this world we are leaving in no one would want to be alone or isolated including me. Peer pressure in my life has had both negative and positive effects in my life when I was growing up from my adolescent age to teenage age until now are a grown up adult. During my adolescent years when peers were an important aspect in my life by shaping the way I would act and think in future I began to develop intimate friendship that was more elusive that was more constant than in my childhood time. In may ways this friendship was an essential component of my development that changed my reasoning and the way I see life today. This provided me with safe venues where I could explore my identity and also a safe heaven when I wanted someone to confine to in regard to my body changes and needs. I was on a notion that I belonged more to my age group than my pestering parents who were out to make my life miserable. Regardless of this my pa rents and other grown up adults became more concern when they started noticing my behavioral changes and my choice of friends. I thought that my parents were simply trying to be snoopy or trying to limit my space and at first this did not go down well with me. Although I hated been monitored like a toddler who depended on others to make decision for them as they could not make a reasonable decision on their own. My parents were very inquisitive lot who questioned my every friend and wanted toShow MoreRelatedPeer Pressure Essay693 Words   |  3 Pagesgeneration. Peer Pressure. We have all at one stage in our lives, experienced it. We all know what it feels like to be pressured by a peer. Peer pressure today impacts on kids of my generation in a huge aspect. Teenagers feel social pressure in numerous ways such as clothing, music and entertainment choices, to unsafe areas such as drugs, alcohol and smoking. During adolescence, kids emphasize their independence and explore their identity. Yet they still crave the approval of their peers and worryRead MorePeer Pressure In Adolescents: Drugs, Alcohol, And Sex.1188 Words   |  5 PagesPeer Pressure in Adolescents: Drugs, Alcohol, and Sex â€Å"A feeling that one must do the same things as other people of one s age and social group in order to be liked or respected by them†1. That is how the Merriam-Webster dictionary defines peer pressure. It seems simple right? Well it is much more than that. Peer pressure is much more complicated than just needing to be liked. It is all about finding out who you are and where you fit in in society. It can have a much bigger impact on the lives ofRead MorePositive Effects of Peer Pressure Essay561 Words   |  3 PagesPositive Effects of Peer Pressure When you think of the words â€Å"peer pressure’, what is the first thing that comes to mind? Majority of us would say that peer pressure is an influence from friends or classmates to do something risky that results in delinquent activities. Some people conform to such ways because as they say, â€Å"Everyone is doing it.† What if I told you that there is a positive side to peer pressure? Yes, you can be pressured into making the right choices. It can teach you to be matureRead MoreGender Identity : Gender And Masculinity Essay1509 Words   |  7 Pagesor deviant. Gender roles impact people at every stage of life from what type of toys children play with to how people interact in the workplace. When children and adolescents are exposed to these gender roles, they must decide on what identity that they want to have, and this can be confusing for many. Research continues to discover how gender identity develops among adolescents. A study done by Arizona State University examined the peer influence on gender identity development in adolescence. TheRead MoreAdolescence : The Social World1466 Words   |  6 Pagesindividual, in which peer pressure can happen. Peer pressure is when â€Å"people of the same age group encourage particular behavior, dress, and attitude,† peer pressure is usually seen as a negative influence upon an individual’s growth and behavior that is contrary to norms and morals, but can also be positive (Berger, 360). Social networking among adolescents is a huge deal because technology can bring friends together and also open up new bonds and relationships with other peers they stumble upon throughRead MoreThe Crucible805 Words   |  4 Pagesthis by not believing in herself and settling for being a â€Å"follower†. Mary however, has a sincere sense of loyalty to John Proctor her employer. Mary Warren goes through an inner battle of peer pressure and her loyalty to Proc tor. Mary’s yearning to fit in and loyalty to Proctor develops the theme that peer pressure easily overcomes loyalty. In the beginning of The Crucible, Mary Warren struggles with an inner sense of belonging. Mary Warren Clearly shows the reader her battle with finding where sheRead MoreCauses of Teen Pregnancy Essay1472 Words   |  6 Pages2010(Writer); however, in my community it seems to be on the rise. It’s never a surprise to hear someone discussing about a new girl being pregnant. Pregnancy use to be a precious gift, but this generation is turning it into a new trend that they perceive to be as socially acceptable. I was raised to receive an education first, marry the love of my life, and then have children. Some people may call it old fashion, but I believe that is the plan God has for everyone’s life. The bible says, â€Å"MarriageRead MoreThe Role Of Peer Pressure On College Students1235 Words   |  5 Pagesand experienced all our lives: peer pressure. Authors, Nancy P. Barnett, Miles Q. Ott, Michelle L. Rogers, Michelle Loxley, Crystal Linkletter, and Melissa A. Clar k, of the article, â€Å"Peer Associations for Substance Use and Exercise in a College Student Social Network,† test out this common theory of peer pressure being the reason for the damaging actions of college students, such as alcohol and substance use. In addition to testing out this theory of peer pressure on unhealthy behaviors, the authorsRead MoreThe Destructive Power of Peer Pressure Essay1408 Words   |  6 Pages Peer pressure and acts of mass blind obedience are all too common occurrences in our everyday society. A person, who under any other circumstances would never act in such a way, will commit unthinkable acts when backed by a single person or even worse, a large mass of individuals. It’s almost always destructive, and the person or persons involved usually always end up feeling regretful and bewildered by their actions. When thinking about group peer pressure, there are several otherRead MoreDecision-making Process of Teens786 Words   |  3 Pageshow they had come up with those choices. The effects of peers, emotions, and parents in a teen’s decision process. In The Tragedy of Romeo and Juliet, a play by William Shakespeare, teens displayed sudden decisions without the thought of cons equences. Teenagers get the opportunity to test their abilities through risks to discover themselves. Decisions do not appear automatically, stemming from a series of events taken place in the brain. Parents, peers, and emotions have influence on teens, affecting

Alexander Hamilton - 1725 Words

Introduction: â€Å" I Consider Napoleon, Fox, and Hamilton the three greatest men of our epoch, and If I were force to decide between the three, I would give without hesitation the first place to Hamilton (Kaplan 284)†. Those are the words of prominent French diplomat Charles Maurice De Talleyrand after spending a year in the United States. Those words of respect came because of the actions and influences that Alexander Hamilton had on a young United States that still have an effect today. Hamilton helped shaped and interpret the United States constitution and set up the financial system that lead to the United States rise to a global power. Bibliography Hamilton was born in 1757 on a small island in the British West Indies. At the Age of†¦show more content†¦At the Annapolis Convention, Hamilton was called upon to create an address that was to be sent to all states, calling for delegates to be sent to Philadelphia convention. The Philadelphia convention ultimately resulted in the new Constitution for the United States. Hamilton had little influence on writing the constitution and felt like it was still not 100 percent optimal to his view of a strong central government, but signed it anyway as a delegate from New York. In Hamilton’s eyes it was much better in his eyes then the Articles of Confederation. Even Though the constitution did not align with Hamilton’s views perfectly, he championed the ratification of the constitution. Hamilton along with James Madison, and John Jay then authored a series of papers that became known as the Federalist Papers. These Papers supported the ratification of the New Consti tution. After the Ratification of the Constitution, Alexander Hamilton was chosen by President Washington to be the first Secretary of the Treasury of the United States. As the First Secretary of Treasury Hamilton’s influence and decisions would help shape the direction of the new United States of America. As the Secretary of the Treasury Hamilton faced the difficult task on how to make the United States a â€Å"Major Commercial and Military Power† (Foner 295). InShow MoreRelatedAlexander Hamilton1051 Words   |  5 Pagesduel with Vice President Aaron Burr. Alexander Hamiltons earlier career as a Continental Army officer is less well known. Yet Hamiltons first experience in public service is important, not only because it was the springboard to his later career, but because it also deeply influenced his values and thinking† (Hamilton). Alexander Hamilton was born as a British subject on the island of Nevis in the West Indies on the 11th of January 1755. His father, James Hamilton -- Scottish merchant of St. ChristopherRead MoreAlexander Hamilton990 Words   |  4 PagesAlexander Hamilton When producing something as important as the document outlining an entire nation’s culture, it is helpful to have inventive and innovative thinkers; however, it is necessary to have leaders with experience and knowledge. The United States needed a strong leader who stood for his beliefs and could execute them to their full potential. When Alexander Hamilton entered Independence Hall on May 14, 1787, that was exactly what he was willing to do for his country. He helped withRead MoreThe Accomplishments Of Alexander Hamilton1188 Words   |  5 PagesAlexander Hamilton was one of the youngest founding fathers. He was the chief staff aide to George Washington. In his early life, he was born in the West Indies. Alexander had a lot of family problems between his father and mother and had a rough childhood. He wanted to make a change and start his life in a better direction, so he got his first job at the age of 11 as an accounting clerk. He very quickly impressed his employer by his knowledge of international commerce and how to handle money. AtRead MoreAlexander Hamilton Essay784 Words   |  4 PagesAlexander Hamilton Alexander Hamilton was a great man that will be remembered for being a great major general of the armed forces of the United States of America. As well as the secretary of the treasury. In 1769, at twelve years old he had a job as a clerk in a general store and Alexander dreaded spending the rest of his life there. He wanted something more for his future. He wished for a war to occur. He wanted to prove himself to be more worthy then a clerk. To his thinking, only some brilliantRead MoreAlexander Hamilton ( 1755-1804 )860 Words   |  4 PagesAlexander Hamilton (1755-1804). Born 1755 in the British West Indies In 1774, he wrote his first political article defending the Patriots cause against the interests of pro-British Loyalists.In 1775, at the beginning of the Revolutionary War Hamilton became part of the New York Provincial Artillery Company and fought in the battles of Long Island, White Plains and Trenton.In the year of 1777, Hamilton became General George Washington s offici al assistant. In 1781 George Washington s granted HamiltonRead MoreEssay on Biography of Alexander Hamilton 1054 Words   |  5 PagesBiography of Alexander Hamilton Summary Alexander Hamilton was most likely born on January 11, 1757, although the exact year of his birth is unknown. Hamilton was born onRead MoreThe Federalist Papers By Alexander Hamilton778 Words   |  4 PagesWritten by Alexander Hamilton, James Madison, and John Jay, the Federalist Papers are a collection of essays that were created in order to defend the Constitution against claims that stated it threatened the freedom and liberty of individuals, and gave too much power to the national government. The 78th essay of the Federalist Papers was written by Alexander Hamilton in efforts to address one of these concerns, that anti-federalists feared the independence of the Judiciary. In this paper, Hamilton recognizedRead MoreAlexander Hamilton, The Unknown Hero921 Words   |  4 PagesAlexander Hamilton, The Unknown Hero An ordinary teenager or adult would address Alexander Hamilton as an arbitrary founding father on the ten dollar bill, for they do not acknowledge the great achievements that Hamilton completed throughout his short life. Alexander Hamilton changed America. To start with, Hamilton was an immigrant from the Caribbean. At the age of seventeen, a hurricane destroyed his town. Hamilton wrote his way out of the madness he was facing. He wrote his first essay, a testamentRead MoreThe Forgotten Founder : Alexander Hamilton1196 Words   |  5 PagesAriel Fisher College Composition 3M Mr. Claxton December 10, 2015 The Forgotten Founder Alexander Hamilton was one of the founding fathers of the United States, but little to no people recognize the accomplishments he made. As a young man he fought in the Revolutionary War under the command of George Washington and later went on to become the first Secretary of the Treasury. With a multitude of other achievements under his belt, it’s hard to comprehend how this amazing man became a forgotten figureRead MoreThomas Jefferson And Alexander Hamilton848 Words   |  4 PagesThomas Jefferson and Alexander Hamilton set the path for the two-party system of government we have today in the United States. In the 1790s, the Federalists were led by Hamilton and leading the Republicans was Thomas Jefferson (Bethel University, 2004). Many differences distinguished the two parties. The visions each person had for governing the states was compromised by the events leading up to the systems establishments and the later roles of wars, like the War of 1812, and national organiz ation

A basic study of pricing to market Free Essays

Introduction Exchange rate is always changing, which can cause different relative price of traded goods among countries. However, when firms adopt PTM (pricing to market), price of trading goods does not change with the exchange rate, That may result in deviation from purchasing power parity theory. Many aspect of economy such as consumption, welfare distribution will change according to this behavior. We will write a custom essay sample on A basic study of pricing to market or any similar topic only for you Order Now This paper tries to illustrate the meaning and the effect of PTM with some theory and empirical evidence. Definition and theories about PTM Pricing to market(PTM) is a new definition emerged in mid-1980s.During that period ,US dollar has experienced a strong appreciation. However, it has been noticed that the price of import commodities in the US did not decrease according to the exchange rate changes. PTM represent the phenomenon of foreign firms maintaining or even increasing their export price when the currency of the importer country rises. (Krugman,1987) .PTM can also be understand as export firms set price of trading goods in local currency instead of adjust the price according to the exchange rate. The international evidence shows that the pricing to market behavior and exchange-rate pass through is often interpreted as consistent with â€Å"local currency price stability†. This kind of price discrimination behavior does not only affect the price of traded goods, but also influences various kinds of price rigidities. (Alexius and Vredin,1999) Pick and Cater(1994) explain that the reasons for PTM behaviors. Firms prefer to keep stable prices in foreign markets that have fluctuating exchange rates may exercise this preference by exerting market power. It may result from the demand elasticity: As the importing country’s currency appreciates, the import price falls and demand increases. However, when the exporter does not have the ability to adjust the raised demand for its goods, the extend of currency appreciation will not completely reflect in the price of trading commodities. In addition, there is also implication that shocks to national market conditions, such as exogenous changes in the exchange rate, can generate deviations between the prices that firms charge in each market. ( Bergin,2003) At last, PTM may simply because that exporting firm want to keep competitive: many firms in these countries are said to have followed pricing policies designed to keep export prices competitive despite changes in exchange rat es.(Marston,1990) Literatures about PTM are generally based on models. In pricing to market modelsfrom the work of Betts and Devereux(1996), they adapt a model that firms produce different products to export to different countries, besides, firms can set different exporting prices for different destinations. They learn from the result of the model that the increase in the fluctuation of exchange rate arising from PTM may be very large by doing a simple quantitative exercise based on the estimated degree of PTM in international trade. That’s to say, when firms engage in PTM, when a country face with money shocks, the effects of this shocks are quite different compare with the traditional exchange rate models in which prices are set in the currency of the exporter. What’s more, PTM plays a central role in exchange rate determination and in international macroeconomic fluctuations. It acts to limit the pass-through from exchange rate changes to prices, and reduces the traditional ‘â⠂¬Ëœexpenditure switching’’ role o exchange rate changes. (Betts and Deuereux,2000) Implications of PTM for PPP A direct implication of the PTM hypothesis is the low pass-through from the exchange rate to prices, and the resultant failure of the relative PPP to hold in the short and intermediate-runs.(Aizenman,2004) PPP(purchasing power parity) is a conception widely used in international economy. The basic idea about PPP is when consumers purchase identical products in any market worldwide, the quantity of money should be the same when measured in one currency (Hallwood and MacDonald, 2000). Applied to aggregate price data, purchasing power parity is the hypothesis that the import prices that of one country to purchase another country’s goods should move one-for-one with the producer prices for goods in those countries that are the sources of those imports when all of these prices are expressed in a common currency. (Atkeson and Burstein,2008) When firms and producers applied PTM, many aspect of the country’s economy will different from the PPP holders. From the analysis of model in Betts and Deuereux(2000),the implications of PTM to PPP can be conclude as follows: The most obvious implication of PTM is the price volatility. Actually, if there is no price rigidity, the law-of one- price would be available for all kinds of products, and PPP would hold generally, even though there is still exist some extend of international market segmentation. However, if sticky local-currency prices hold, changes in the exchange rate will result in deviations from the law-of-one-price. While when complete PTM applied, the exchange rate will play a different role in the LOOP environment, relative prices of importer and exporters will not be affected by the fluctuation of exchange rate. but it has an impact on relative incomes. If export prices are set in foreign currency, when a depreciation happened in this currency. The home currency earnings of home firms will increase, at the same time, foreign firms’ foreign currency earnings will decrease at given production levels. Thus a depreciation generates a world redistribution of income towards the home coun try, which raises home consumption relative to foreign consumption. This occurs without the influence of relative price changes. (Betts and Deuereux,2000) PTM have a positive effect on promoting the real exchange rate movements: the larger of the PTM sector is, the lower effect of a money shock will the country get. Say a country faced with a money shock which will result in a depreciation of the currency, if PTM holds in a large sector, the impact on reallocation of spending away from domestic goods consumption towards foreign goods will be reduce to a large extend. The reason for this maybe the exchange rate is response to depreciation, however, this kind of currency price change would not affect the domestic market. PTM acts to limit the pass-through from exchange rate changes to prices, and reduces the traditional ‘‘expenditure switching’’ role of exchange rate changes. Nominal price stickiness associated with PTM magnifies the response of the exchange rate to shocks to fundamentals. (Betts and Deuereux,1996) The effect of monetary policies varies from cooperative firms and non-cooperative firms: at first, this need to be confirm that there is always a gain from coopperation, and secondly, that the gain reaches a maximum at the polar cases of no and full pricing to market since in these cases the movement in the terms of trade and thus the welfare spill-over is at a maximum in the non-cooperative setting. (Michaelis,2006) Empirical evidence of PTM As a common strategy of international firms, PTM behavior are widely used all over the world. By investigating data from those firms, we can get the empirical effect of pricing to market. Gil-Pareja(2002) investigated PTM behavior in European car markets during 1993 and 1998. He found that local currency price stability is a strong and pervasive phenomenon across products independent of the invoicing currency. In fact, there are large gaps among the automobile retail prices across EU Member States since the early 1980s, which is deviated from the law-of-one-price. (Gil-Paraja,2002) After analyze and compare the data of different EU countries, it can be easily conclude that the strategy tries to avoid the effect of changes in exchange rate changes is just in order to make the profits across segmented markets be maxime. Exporting firm will get the highest expected profits under exchange rate uncertainty by setting price of the importer’s currency. Since early 1980s, Japanese yen has experienced a depreciation. Marston(1990) has investigated pricing to market by Japanese firms from 1980 to 1987. He explores how Japanese firms responded to shifts in the real exchange rate by varying the prices of their exports relative to prices of products destined for the domestic market. The estimation distinguishes between inadvertent but temporary changes in these margins due to exchange rate surprises and planned changes associated with PTM behavior; He found there is overwhelming evidence that export-domestic price margins are systematically varied to help Japanese firms protect their competitive position. (Marston,1990) According to the exporter in UK, how is export pricing affected by other firm specific or contextual environmental variables such as export experience of the firm, degree of export development, type and intensity of market competition among others. The extend of PTM is based on variable of elements such as the industry le vel, the information and the like.( Tzokas et al.,2000) Conclusion: Pricing to market make the price of international trading goods free from the fluctuation of exchange rate, as a result, PPP no longer hold in those countries which applied PTM. Theories, as well as empirical evidence suggest that PTM has a strong implication of consumption and welfare distribution. It is a effective way for international co operations to avoid the negative influence of exchange rate fluctuation. But the extend of PTM is varias among different counties and industries. Reference Aizenman.J. (2004) .â€Å"Endogenous pricing to market and 1inancing costs Original Research Article†.Journal of Monetary Economics, Volume 51, Issue 4, PP 691-712 Alexius.A, Vredin.A.(1999).â€Å"Pricing-to-Market in Swedish Exports†.The Scandinavian Journal of Economics, Vol. 101, No. 2 pp. 223-239 Atkeson.A, Burstein.A.(2008).â€Å"Pricing-to-Market, Trade Costs, and International Relative Prices†.The American Economic Review, Vol. 98, No. 5, pp. 1998-2031 Bergin. P. R, 1eenstra.R.C. (2001). â€Å"Pricing-to-market, staggered contracts, and real exchange rate persistence Original Research Article†. Journal of International Economics, Volume 54, Issue 2, PP 333-359 Bergin. P. R.(2003).â€Å"A model of relative national price levels under pricing to market Original Research Article†. European Economic Review, Volume 47, Issue 3, PP569-586 Betts.C, Devereux. M.B. (2000) .â€Å"Exchange rate dynamics in a model of pricing-to-market Original Research Article†.Journal of International Economics, Volume 50, Issue 1, PP 215-244 Betts.C, Devereux.M.B. (1996) .â€Å"The exchange rate in a model of pricing-to-market Original Research Article†. European Economic Review, Volume 40, Issues 3-5, PP 1007-1021 Gil-Pareja.S. (2003).â€Å"Pricing to market behaviour in European car markets Original Research Article†.European Economic Review, Volume 47, Issue 6, PP 945-962 Hallwood. P ,MacDonald. R. (2000) â€Å"International Money and Finance†, 3rd ed.Blackwell. Krugman, P. (1986), â€Å"Pricing to Markets when exchange rate changes†, In: Arndt, S.W., Richardson,J.D. (Eds.), Real-financial Linkages among Open Economies. MIT Press, Cambridge. Mark, N. (2001) â€Å"International Macroeconomics and Finance†, Blackwell. Marston. R. C. (1989) â€Å" Pricing to Market in Japanese Manufacturing†. Journal of International Economics, 29(3), PP 217-236. Michaelis. J.(2006). â€Å"Optimal monetary policy in the presence o1 pricing-to-market Original Research Article†.Journal of Macroeconomics, Volume 28, Issue 3, PP 564-584 Patureau.L.(2007).â€Å"Pricing-to-market, limited participation and exchange rate dynamics Original Research Article†.Journal of Economic Dynamics and Control, Volume 31, Issue 10, PP 3281-3320 Pick. D H, Carter. C A. (1994). â€Å"Pricing to Market with Transactions Denominated in a Common Currency†.American Journal of Agricultural Economics, Vol. 76, No. 1, pp. 55-60 Sarno, L. Taylor, M.P. (2002), â€Å"new open-economy of macroeconomics†. In The economics of exchange rate, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, Tzokas.N, Hart.S, Argouslidis.P ,Saren.M. (2000), â€Å"Strategic pricing in export markets: empirical evidence from the UK Original Research Article†. International Business Review, Volume 9, Issue f, PP 95-117 How to cite A basic study of pricing to market, Essay examples

Dynamic Managerial Capabilities Review and Assessment

Question: Discuss about the Dynamic Managerial Capabilities for Review and Assessment. Answer: Introduction: A corporation can be defined as a legal entity which distinct and separate from the owners. Corporations mainly enjoy the responsibilities and rights that the individual possesses. The corporation therefore has the right to enter into the contracts, borrow or loan money, hire employees, pay taxes and own assets. A product portfolio can be defined as the collection of all the services or products that are offered by the organization. The analysis of product portfolio provides the views on the growth prospects of the company, the stock type, drivers of the profit margins, operational risk, income contributions and the leadership in the market (Hill, Jones and Schilling 2014). A service portfolio can be defined as the core repository for the various services in a company. The services are listed along with their history and current status. Service portfolio consists of three parts, the service pipeline retired services and service catalogue. Wesfarmers Limited is a conglomerate that has origins in Australia and the headquarters of the organization is located in Perth in Western Australia. The company operates in New Zealand and Australia. The various industries where the organization has its operations are chemicals, retail, coal mining, fertilisers, safety and industrial products (Wheelen et al. 2017). The organization was founded in the year 1914 and it acted as a co-operative which provided service to the farmers in Western Australia. The various areas where the conglomerate operates are, mining, office supplies, home improvement, chemicals, fertilisers. The company has huge shown huge growth from the time of its inception and further it grew into a retail conglomerate (Group, D. 2018). The report will be based on the analysis of the retail supermarket business of Wesfarmers in Australia. The product and service portfolio of the retail supermarket segment of Wesfarmers will be analysed in the report. Research of business unit Strategic business units or SBUs are important for the organization which provide multiple products. These business units are also known as the profit centres of the company. These units are focussed towards the products which are responsible for strategy or decision related to the operations of the business. These units are mainly focussed towards the market segment where the company operates. SBUs have a discrete plan related to marketing analysis of the competition (Frynas and Mellahi 2015). The retail division of Wesfarmers has many operations which include, convenience stores, office supplies, hardware. The retail division of the Wesfarmers group is known as Coles. This division was developed in the year 2007 after the acquisition of Coles Group by Wesfarmers Limited. The entire retail operations of Wesfarmers are operated under the Coles brand. The Coles Group provides a variety of products which have made Wesfarmers the number one retailer in Australia (Frow et al. 2015). The Coles Group has a huge customer base of 20 million customers in just a single week. The company also has 102,000 team members and has its operations in more 2000 retail outlets in Australia. Product and service lines of Wesfarmers The products offered by Coles Group include, various fresh items, recipe magazines, fruits, liquor related items and many more. These items offered by the Coles Group contribute to the product line of the organization. The service line of Coles includes services like, online recipes, YouTube channel, financial services and the rewards provided related to shopping activities. The products of Coles supermarket are sold with the help of their physical stores which are present in all the major areas of Australia. The Coles Group also provides its services and products with the help of its online website which is known as Coles Online. The customer service related operations of the Coles Group are also performed with the help of their physical stores and online website as well (Heding, Knudtzen and Bjerre 2015). Revenue centre can be defined as the division of the organization which helps them in gaining revenue from the sales of the products and the services provided. This division of the firm generates the highest revenues with the help of the sales of goods. Coles Supermarket is the major revenue centre of Wesfarmers Limited. Coles supermarket is the consumer and retail chain which has its headquarters in Melbourne. Wesfarmers Limited acquired the Coles Group in the year 2007 and the retail divisions has been the main revenue centre for the organization. Coles Group has added to the sales momentum of the Wesfarmers after the hardware division of the organization has increased the its growth (Helfat and Martin 2015). The supermarket chain of the Wesfarmers group has been the biggest profit maker of the organization. The Coles Group has its stores in more than 700 service supermarkets, 90 hotels, more than 800 liquor outlets and more than 600 convenience stores. The major revenues are gener ated from the businesses of Coles Group named, Coles Online, Vintage Cellars, Coles Express and the Coles Financial Services. External analysis of the environment Political factors Political factors play an important role in the determination of the political impact on the long-term profitability of Wesfarmers Limited. The systematic risks related to the operations of Wesfarmers need to be diversified so that success can be achieved in the different countries. The major political factors are related to the stability of the retailing sector of Food Staples in the economy of the countries. The risk related to military invasion and the corruption levels in the countries are also a major part of the political factors (Chang 2016). Economic factors The macro economic factors of the country like, the savings rate, inflation rate, foreign exchange rate, economic cycle and interest rate affect the operations of Wesfarmers. On the other hand, the micro economic factors include the competition norms which affect the competitive advantage of Wesfarmers. The economic factors which need to be considered by Wesfarmers Limited include, inflation, growth rate, growth of the Food Staples Retailing industry and many more. The intervention of the government in free market, stability and exchange rates affect the profitability of Wesfarmers (Hubbard, Rice and Galvin 2014). The skills of the workforce, labour costs in the country and the unemployment rate are also considered by Wesfarmers. Social factors The culture of the society where Wesfarmers has its operations affects the revenues and sales of the company. The attitudes and the shared beliefs of the population of a particular country affect the operations of Wesfarmers. The social factors of the country help the organization in understanding the customers and provide them with the desired products. The skills and demographics of the population, the class and power, the culture, the leisure related interests form the social factors that affect Wesfarmers (Saeidi et al. 2015). Technological factors The fast changes and disruption in the various technologies have an impact on the revenues and ways of operations of the various organizations. The industry has seen many changes in the last few years and Wesfarmers has to make significant changes in the operations to keep pace with the various changes. The technological factors of PESTLE framework are related to the recent development in the technologies being used Wesfarmers. The impact of technology on the cost structure of the organization, the impact on value chain and the rate of the technological diffusion are all related to the revenues of Wesfarmers in the industry (Laszlo and Zhexembayeva 2017). Environmental factors The markets in the different countries have environmental standards that are different from each other. These different environmental laws affect the ways by which Wesfarmers operates in the market. The major environmental factors that need to be considered by Wesfarmers are, the climate change, weather, laws that regulate the pollution in the environment, water and air pollution. The issue related management of waste in the Food Staples sector and attitude of the organization towards ecological and green products are major factors related to the environment (West, Ford and Ibrahim 2015). Legal factors The legal structure related to the protection of the intellectual property rights of a company has an impact on the regulations that are formed in the firm. The major legal that are considered by Wesfarmers Limited in the new market areas are, discrimination related laws, copyright law, employment law, data protection related law, e-commerce law and laws related to consumer protection. The operating environment of the organization is related to the external and the internal environment where the organization operates. This environment includes the suppliers, clients, owners, competition, improvement in the technologies, government activities and laws and the economic trends. The operation environment therefore has a major effect on the revenues of the company in the industry (Gamble and Thompson 2014). Source of the competitive advantage Wesfarmers has high levels of competition in the market in the food and retail market and they need to be robust in its operations to face the competition and maintain its top position in the market. However, the major competitive advantage for Coles and Wesfarmers in the Australian market is the strategical location of the stores which protect the organization from the price wars that are going on in the market. Wesfarmers has been able to improve its competitive position in the market after the acquisition of Coles which has been set as the retail division of the organization (Bansal and DesJardine 2014). Coles has been one of the largest supermarkets in Australia and its acquisition had proved to be an important step for Wesfarmers. Wesfarmers had been able to create a different position in the industry with the help of acquisition of Coles which had a business which three times stronger than that of Wesfarmers itself. This further helped in the improvement of retail division of W esfarmers which had shown huge decline in the recent years. This has acted as a major competitive advantage for Wesfarmers and helped the organization in maintaining the topmost position in the Australian supermarket industry (Bocken et al. 2014). Sustainable competitive advantage is related to the long-term performance and success of a business organization. The competitive advantages are mainly considered to be the strengths possessed by the company which helps the organization to differentiate itself from the others in the industry. Sustaining the competitiveness is important for building a brand and to avoid seeking for short-term opportunities (Adams et al. 2016). The four factors that are related to the sustainable competitive advantage of an organization are as follows, Sustainable competitive advantage is mainly related to the assets that are maintained by the organization. The assets of the company include, trusted suppliers, loyal customers and the efficient system of operations. The loyal customers act as the major source related to the competitive advantage of the company. The efficiency of internal operations of the company also helps it to sustain in the industry (Gamble and Thompson 2014). The differentiation related factors of the company are also related to the sustainability of competitive advantage. The service, product or the strength of the operations, the investment made by the company in advertising all form a major part of the sustainability of the organization. The brand image of the organization and promotional activities also contribute to the sustainable advantage in the long-term operations. The associations created by the company form a part of the lomg-term competitive advantage. The organizations need to build advantages that can be enduring to the valuable customers. This help the company in maintaining competitive advantage in the market (Heding, Knudtzen and Bjerre 2015). Strategic direction Strategic direction of an organization can be defined as the course of action that is undertaken to achieve specific goals. The central forces which propel the business towards the intended objective and goals can also be defined as strategic direction. The strategic direction of an organization is important as it helps in the establishment of structure which deals with the internal responsibilities of the each of the workers (Adams et al. 2016). The major recommendation related to the strategic direction of Wesfarmers would be to increase their concentration on the retail division and improve the diversity of the products and services that are offered to the consumers. The retail division of the organization has been provided huge revenues to Wesfarmers, especially after the acquisition of Coles Supermarket. Wesfarmers needs to increase the various products that they offer in the online platform named Coles online. This further help Wesfarmers to hold their position in the highly competitive market. References Adams, R., Jeanrenaud, S., Bessant, J., Denyer, D. and Overy, P., 2016. Sustainability?oriented innovation: a systematic review.International Journal of Management Reviews,18(2), pp.180-205. Bansal, P. and DesJardine, M.R., 2014. Business sustainability: It is about time.Strategic Organization,12(1), pp.70-78. Bocken, N.M., Short, S.W., Rana, P. and Evans, S., 2014. A literature and practice review to develop sustainable business model archetypes.Journal of cleaner production,65, pp.42-56. Chang, J.F., 2016.Business process management systems: strategy and implementation. CRC Press. Frow, P., Nenonen, S., Payne, A. and Storbacka, K., 2015. Managing co?creation design: A strategic approach to innovation.British Journal of Management,26(3), pp.463-483. Frynas, J.G. and Mellahi, K., 2015.Global strategic management. Oxford University Press, USA. Gamble, J. and Thompson, A.A., 2014.Essentials of strategic management. Irwin Mcgraw-Hill. Group, D. (2018).Home. [online] Wesfarmers.com.au. Available at: https://www.wesfarmers.com.au/ [Accessed 29 Mar. 2018]. Heding, T., Knudtzen, C.F. and Bjerre, M., 2015.Brand management: Research, theory and practice. Routledge. Helfat, C.E. and Martin, J.A., 2015. Dynamic managerial capabilities: Review and assessment of managerial impact on strategic change.Journal of Management,41(5), pp.1281-1312. Hill, C.W., Jones, G.R. and Schilling, M.A., 2014.Strategic management: theory: an integrated approach. Cengage Learning. Hubbard, G., Rice, J. and Galvin, P., 2014.Strategic management. Pearson Australia. Laszlo, C. and Zhexembayeva, N., 2017.Embedded sustainability: The next big competitive advantage. Routledge. Saeidi, S.P., Sofian, S., Saeidi, P., Saeidi, S.P. and Saaeidi, S.A., 2015. How does corporate social responsibility contribute to firm financial performance? The mediating role of competitive advantage, reputation, and customer satisfaction.Journal of Business Research,68(2), pp.341-350. West, D.C., Ford, J. and Ibrahim, E., 2015.Strategic marketing: creating competitive advantage. Oxford University Press, USA. Wheelen, T.L., Hunger, J.D., Hoffman, A.N. and Bamford, C.E., 2017.Strategic management and business policy. pearson.

Bach Essays - German Lutherans, Johann Sebastian Bach,

Bach Throughout the history of music, many great composers, theorists, and instrumentalists have left indelible marks and influences that people today look back on to admire and aspire to. No exception to this idiom is Johann Sebastian Bach, whose impact on music was unforgettable to say the least. People today look back to his writings and works to both learn and admire. He truly can be considered a music history great. Bach, who came from a family of over 53 musicians, was nothing short of a virtuosic instrumentalist as well as a masterful composer. Born in Eisenach, Germany, on March 21, 1685, he was the son of a masterful violinist, Johann Ambrosius Bach, who taught his son the basic skills for string playing. Along with this string playing, Bach began to play the organ which is the instrument he would later on be noted for in history. His instruction on the organ came from the player at Eisenach's most important church. He instructed the young boy rather rigorously until his skills surpassed anyone's expectations for someone of such a young age. Bach suffered early trauma when his parents died in 1695. He went to go live with his older brother, Johann Christoph, who also was a professional organist at Ohrdruf. He continued his younger brother's education on that instrument, as well as introducing him to the harpsichord. The rigorous training on these instruments combined with Bach's masterful skill paid off for him at an early age. After several years of studying with his older brother, he received a scholarship to study in Luneberg, Germany, which is located on the northern tip of the country. As a result, he left his brother's tutelage and went to go and study there. The teenage years brought Bach to several parts of Germany where he mainly worked as an organist in churches, since that was the skill he had perfected the best from his young training. However, a master of several instruments while still in his teens, Johann Sebastian first found employment at the age of 18 as a violinist in a court orchestra in Weimar. Although he did not remain there terribly long, he was able to make good money playing for the king. He soon after accepted a position as a church organist in Arnstadt. It was here that Bach would soon realize his high standards and regards that he had for music. In Arnstadt as well as in many other places that Bach worked he was notorious for getting into fights over the quality of music that was being produced. A perfect example of this can be seen in Arnstadt. Previous accounts of history claim that Bach was upset with the performance of the church choir for which he played for. He claimed that "the voices could never make the music soar to the sky as it should" (loosely translated). Here Bach realized the high level of music and perfectionism that he wanted. In 1707, at the age of 22, Bach moved on from Arnstadt to another organist job, this time at the St. Blasius Church in Muhlhausen. Once again he did not remain there too long, only a little over a year, when he moved again to Weimar where he accepted the position of head concertmaster and organist in the Ducal Chapel. It was here that Bach settled himself and began to compose the first collection of his finest early works which, included organ pieces and cantatas. By this time Bach had been married for several years. He actually became married to his cousin Maria Barbara. They, for the most part, had a happy marriage. He was happy. By this stage of his life he had "composed" for himself a wonderful reputation of being a brilliant musical talent. Along with that his proficiency on the organ was unequaled in Europe by this time. In fact, he toured regularly as a solo virtuoso, and his growing mastery of compositional forms, like the fugue and the canon, were already attracting interest from the musical establishment, which, in his day, was the Lutheran church. The church began to look at Bach's writings and saw the opportunity to possibly use his music in their masses. Thus was the slow birth of the German chorale, which Bach later became renowned for. Bach's virtuosic career did suffer minor setbacks along the way. He occasionally would be passed over for deserved positions within the court that he worked. However, in 1715 when he did not receive a truly desired position of "Kapellmeister" (choral master) of

10 Types of Apostrophe Errors You Should Avoid

10 Types of Apostrophe Errors You Should Avoid 10 Types of Apostrophe Errors You Should Avoid 10 Types of Apostrophe Errors You Should Avoid By Mark Nichol Even considering how many ways the apostrophe can be employed, erroneous use of punctuation mark is endemic. Here are brief discussions of ten categories of apostrophe abuse (including one writers and editors must let stand, even though it may pain them to do so). 1. With Plurals Writing the plural form of a noun in which an apostrophe precedes the plural s, such as when taxi’s is written instead if taxis, is a common error. (This mistake is known as a greengrocer’s apostrophe due to its ubiquity in hand-written- and even printed- store signs.) 2. With Pronouns Pronouns are followed by an apostrophe and s only as contractions (for example, he’s). Possessive pronouns (such as theirs and yours) never include an apostrophe. 3. With Shared Possession When two or more people or other entities are described as separately owning something, each name should be in possessive form: â€Å"John’s and Jane’s houses are the same color.† But when they share possession, include an apostrophe and an s after the last name only: â€Å"John and Jane’s house is just down the block.† 4. With the Possessive Form of a Surname That shingle on your neighbor’s porch should not read, â€Å"The Brown’s house,† unless your neighbor’s legal name is â€Å"the Brown.† A sign identifying the residence of the Browns should read â€Å"The Browns’ house† (or simply â€Å"The Browns†). 5. With the Plural Form of an Abbreviation No apostrophe is required with plurals of abbreviations. Write, for example, â€Å"They disarmed or detonated several IEDs† (not IED’s). 6. With the Plural Form of a Numeral In the rare case of indicating more than one instance of a numeral, do not use an apostrophe: â€Å"Write three 7s on a piece of paper† (not 7’s). 7. With a Span of Years Some publications persist in using an apostrophe in a reference to a span of years, but that form is outdated: Write, for example, â€Å"The style, which flourished briefly in the 1960s, made a comeback several decades later† (not 1960’s) and â€Å"He continued to work well into his 70s† (not 70’s). Generally, an apostrophe should follow a number only if it is possessive (â€Å"It was 1985’s longest-reigning Top 40 hit†), though this style is awkward. (An exception is use of a number to stand in for a person, such as when an athlete is identified by a uniform number, as in â€Å"It was number 13’s lucky day.†) 8. With the Plural Form of a Word Used as a Word Don’t apostrophize the conjunctions in â€Å"There are no ifs, ands, or buts about it† or the counterpoints in â€Å"A helpful list of dos and don’ts follows.† (Do, however, retain the intrinsic apostrophe in the plural form of don’t.) 9. With the Plural Form of a Letter Used as a Letter Even when a letter is italicized, it still looks awkward to simply place an s next to it to indicate plurality, so do insert an apostrophe: â€Å"How many m’s do you spell hmm with?† (Follow this rule even when, in the case of an expression such as â€Å"Mind your p’s and q’s,† italicization isn’t necessary.) However, omit an apostrophe when pluralizing capital letters: â€Å"She received only As and Bs on her last report card.† 10. With Brand Names Many brand names, such as Starbucks Coffee, that technically should include apostrophes don’t, for one of two reasons (or both): A company decides that the brand name and/or logo look better without an apostrophe, or it reasons that it’s better to omit the punctuation mark so that people typing the URL for the company’s website into a Web browser or searching for it (or for other references to the company) online won’t have difficulty doing so. Yes, â€Å"Starbucks Coffee† is a â€Å"mistake,† but one the company has the right to make (and writers and editors have an obligation to honor). 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 Punctuation category, check our popular posts, or choose a related post below:Useful Stock Phrases for Your Business EmailsHow to spell "in lieu of"Ebook, eBook, ebook or e-book?

Terrorist Attack On World Trade Center Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Terrorist Attack On World Trade Center - Essay Example From mental health issues to psychic episodes, the result and impact of the terror attacks on survivors is far beyond physical and tend to have changed the lives of various victims of the blasts. In theory and practice, it is not expected that an event will affect everyone at the same scale. Following this fact, the victims who lost their lives, who were injured, those hospitalized, and those who took their lives after losing a family member or a friend. The psychic episodes and mental instability of the survivors is covered by different authors from different perspectives. While the argument of some authors reflect on the expected, diagnosed, and standard effects of traumatic events, others show that there is no explicit connection between expected traumatic patients and increased consumption of corresponding drugs. Digrande et al. (271-281) and Ghunman et al. (491) focus on the psychological effects of the terror attacks. Both publications emphasize on the aspect of trauma after the event occurred. This means that that the two publications undertake the same course in analyzing the effects of the events. Digrande et al. (271-281) explain that the number of people affected negatively by the attacks include some 3,271 civilians, whom 95.6% were diagnosed and observed to suffer from posttraumatic stress disorder. On the other hand, Ghunman et al. (491) identify that about 34.2% of the surviving victims suffer from unmet mental health issues. Considering the two publications, posttraumatic stress disorder and unmet mental health issues can be considered or addressed as psychological issues. With reference to the unmet mental health issues, it is clear that, regardless of the fact that unmet mental health issues can point to a variety of psychological issues among them posttraumatic stress disorder . The relationship between psychological issues facing any set of individuals who experience the same effects of an event and

Was President Eisenhower better prepared to make decisions about the Essay

Was President Eisenhower better prepared to make decisions about the developing intelligence community than most other presidents - Essay Example President Eisenhower was a good consumer. In relation to the intelligence data work; he could prefer to gather the information from the normal citizens rather than depending on the material gathered by daily reports, which he believed, had its errors in reporting. As a manger, he delivered outstanding views in regards to his management hence protecting national resources as well. During world cold war era, he was able to deliver and discuss the idea of producing a brief, all-source, daily current intelligence publication exclusively for the President During the world war two, Marine Corps developed and deployed Navajo Code Talker Program that was used to encode, transmit, and decode English messages that were delivered into complex languages. The machines were developed with encryption method that enabled successful transmission of communication within the corps. However, President Eisenhower used to read all his reports from separate reports originating from CIA, State, Defense, and joint chiefs rather than daily reports, which he believed that he was able to gather cognitive information at

E-Procurement Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

E-Procurement - Assignment Example Deptt. prepares a â€Å"Components List† 2) The components list is then forwarded to the Planning Deptt., which plans Product Codes (for new components, if any) and schedule reservation; 3) Thereafter the list is handed-over to the Purchase Deptt. for raising a Purchase Order (PO). In case of new requirements, three quotations are first obtained from different suppliers. Finally the PO is created, signed by two persons – i.e DGM Commercial and GM Technical and then delivered to the supplier. 4) Once goods are received, Inspection checks the quality of goods and if found ok, it hands-over to the Store, which makes a Goods Receipt (GR) upon receiving the goods 5) Planning then prepares a â€Å"Pick List† of the required components and gives it to Production for issuance of components from the Store. 6) Upon receipt of supplier’s invoice, items & amount charged are reconciled and then payments are made to the supplier. 7) The performance of Purchase Deptt. is checked through certain KPIs set by the Company while suppliers’ performance is analyzed by means of assigning different grading. Ans# 3: Three key advantages of using e-Procurement over manual processes: 1) Using e-Technology and an integrated ERP application, automates & speeds up business processes related to the production of goods and services. 2) It also serves as a tool in sourcing new suppliers and tendering bids whilst cutting down material cost 3) It ensures modernization which keeps your workplace up to date with the latest procurement/selling techniques. Ans# 4: Three critical process flows of e-Procurement system: 1) Data integrity: In case of error in a PO shall cause incorrect delivery/shipment. Therefore an extra care needs to be taken when preparing & submitting a PO to the supplier. 2) Availability: Ensuring availability of the required material is a critical part of e-Procurement, as the firm is committed to timely delivery of the finished goods to its cus tomers. 3) Inventory Management: Being a fully integrated system, a small error has a large impact. For Instance, it could result in over-stocking or under-stocking of inventory or distracting inventories’ safety level, etc. Ans# 5: How EDI works? The diagram below shows a two-way nature of EDI. For example, if a customer/business partner wishes to place an order, it shall generate an electronic purchase order which shall automatically get transmitted and arrive into the company’s order management system indicating arrival of new order(s). Once the order is processed and goods delivered to the customer, company’s inventories position will be automatically updated. In a nutshell, from order processing till payment, relevant information through out the system shall get automatically updated at both sides (Customer & Vendor). Ans# 6: Business-to-employee requisitioning system benefits an employee in several ways. Many terms used in this context. Human Resource Mana gement System (HRMS) or Shared Services Human Resource (SSHR) is the most commonly used term in business world. The system provides an online submission and approval of a requisition including viewing attendance, applying for leave, requesting a loan, seeking training, submitting Work Objectives or Appraisal, and much more. For example, if applying for a leave, an employee needs to fill-up an online leave form and click on â€Å"Submit† button. The application directly goes to the concerned supervisor under intimation to

Existentialism School Of Thought

Existentialism School Of Thought Existentialism is a school of thought that attempts to break down much of the foundations of thought itself, to allow for reasoning unbridled by preconceived notions. In a sense the idea attacks the structure of normal reasoning, in an effort to render what is thought to be known as questionable rather than inherent. However, it goes much deeper than that. It is a way of thinking that is almost impossible to sum up in a single sentence, paragraph, or even page. One could say it is a theory meant to allow human thinking and existence to define itself. While it can be explained, it somewhat of a theory that invents itself while it explains itself, while rendering every most every truth it creates about itself completely vulnerable to be reshaped by the truths it will later create. In fact many existential thinkers would reject the title of existentialist as to define their work, went against the very nature of their work. One of the earliest existentialist thinkers, Martin Heidegger, with his vast interest in experiences common to all humans, such as death and anxiety, addressed such definitive problems in existential thought as the relationship between an individuals self and the world around him. Ushered in many ideas that a more solidly defined existentialism would later draw its roots from. Heideggers interests and works involved topics, such as nihilism and the rejection of science. Another common ground most existential thinking roots itself in is phenomenology. Edmond Husserls phenomenological work was a resource for Heideggers transcendent views of the experiences of humans, stating that is found not as a property of an individual but rather it is a framework where the human mind meets the world around it. Other influential philosophers to Heidegger were Soren Kierkegaard and Friedrich Nietzsche, wherein lies the seed of the existence problem. Kierkegaard and Nietzsche, while both also focus on the meaning of the individual in a worldly setting, approach the problem from a more religious perspective. Kierkegaards view of existence states that the meaningfulness of a human emerges from the conflict of ethics and religious faith. Somewhat of a prelude to the concept of authenticity, Kierkegaard claims that subjectivity is truth, contrasting the objective view of the crowd which would make decisions or view reality based on the social norms of a given age. He feels that an individual seeking truth to their existence through objective science is an individual relieving their self of the burden of being their self. Nietzsches while viewing existence similarly, takes a more nihilistic approach, searching for meaning in the absence or collapse of theism and morality. Avoiding the existence of a norm, he would say that rather than a governing norm setting the standard or pace for the work, the norm should be internal to the work. Since the driving force in the lives of most men is the presence of an intrinsic meaning to life, nihilism could very easily be viewed as a philosophy of despair. Without a given reason to live, many would have no will to live. Nietzsche would see such an individual as weakly constituted, since he feels that the absence of such an intrinsic meaning provides an opportunity for the strong willed or creative individual to create meaning for their self. Where most would view the social norms as the responsibility of anyone in a society, Kierkegaard and Nietzsche would say that one who accepts those social norms is essentially forfeiting his worldly responsibility. With the idea of creating meaning or reason through living life, as opposed to living life for the sake of a given meaning or reason, these philosophers set the stage for the idea to be processed into something more systematic. Moving further into an era of thinking that would finally be referred to as Existentialism rather than bits and pieces of radical thinking, the work of philosopher Jean-Paul Sartre dives deep into the problem of existence. Focusing heavily on the individuals place in the world and giving meaning to the existence of every individual. It states that though the individual is not simply so powerful and meaningful that it transcends this world, the individual is however, transcendent to this world in that the individual has the power to create their own meaning of life while wrapped up in the very act of living it. Sartres mantra is existence precedes essence. This phrase is about as close as one can get to summarizing existentialism in a few words. The governing ideas in existentialism explain that what it means to be human simply cannot be explained, since that meaning is developed during the process of living life as a human. While again, this can be a depressing view since many would prefer to part of a greater whole, or existing for the purpose of a higher potential, it can be interpreted to show that we in fact are the higher potential, since we create our own meaning rather than bend to the will of a predetermined meaning. The human consciousness allows humans to constantly shape their own existence, thus shaping the world around them as they go along. Not only would it be difficult and uncomfortable for a sculptor to sit on his pottery wheel and stare at a lump of clay sitting in a chair as it whirs past his view with every rotation, it would also be very counterproductive. Entities which are not human have fixed properties which define them as well as their value in the world. For instance a stapler is an entity that staples. It was created with the purpose of stapling and its value as an entity lies in how well it can staple. So to staple is the essence of that entity. If it does not sufficiently pierce a stack of paper with a bracket shaped piece of metal, it does not have the option to instead choose to be a pair of scissors. However it does posses a weight and size, so a human using such an insufficient stapler, could choose to instead use it as a paperweight but this would be an improper use of a stapler as far as the staplers essence is concerned. While a human does posses properties such as weight and size, much like the stapler, the human is the only one of the two which can choose how to allocate those properties and in the absence of a given essence, there is no rule to govern what is proper and improper use of a human, except those rules de veloped by the human entity itself. With no predetermined value of a human, there is no governing rule to decide which humans governing rules should govern the rules of all humans. So every human is left to invent their own rules of life, and when viewed from a subjective stance, one clearly cannot simply produce a list of such rules which will work in all situations, and thus must constantly invent new rules as their life progresses. Such a method would render these rules to not be rules at all, but instead methods specific and useful to the given situation. Where a being such as a stapler instantiates its essence, which is to staple, at any moment that it is used to staple, a human being almost reverses the process, creating moments of essence through instantiating his or her consciousness in every moment of existence. If you are stapling, for the moment that you have committed yourself to the act of stapling, your essence has become to staple. Had you not previously existed with the desire to fasten two pieces of p aper to each other, then that essence could not possibly have been produced. In the same manner you chose to staple you could choose to forfeit the task in mid press, leaving a half extended staple and an indent in your stack of paper, at which point your essence would become that of a being who aborts the task of stapling. Just the same you could never have arrived at this essence without previously existing. So in an existential light, the meaning of existence comes to be at moment where properties of life and the nature of the world around the human meet the humans ability to decide what is or is not a property and how that property is to be put to effect. It is in the relationship of two key points in existential thought known as facticity and transcendence that human life arrives at existence. Facticity represents information that can be attained through third person investigation. One person viewing another could factually state their height, weight, skin color, race, class, hair color and number of other things about them. Just as one could take a third person stance on themselves and objectify their web of beliefs, character traits, likes and dislikes. The common point of view on such investigation would state that facticity manifests itself in your moods or the outcomes of a situation on your life, as a burden of sorts. One might say that since you stepped in a puddle, you are no w sad, as the feeling of sadness has been placed on your shoulders due to your careless mistake of stepping into water. A multitude of means could be used to determine why one would conclude such facticity from this event. Whether they fear germs in the puddle, ruined their expensive work shoes, or simply dislike being wet, the burden of sadness has been allocated to them and for the time being represents the facticity of their life. Transcendence refers to the factual as it always emerges in light of the possible. The possible is a result of choices and decisions, not forces. While forces govern the tendency of a disturbed puddle to splash the disturber, there are no forces outside of ones own mind set and internal choices to govern the resulting sadness. With such a transcendent ability to choose happiness over sadness, it seems unreasonable to choose to be sad. In this light existentialism can reject negative interpretations of the belief and show itself as humanism. In Sartres work entitled Existentialism is a Humanism he clearly defines ways in which existentialism can be extremely beneficial to humans, rather than a depression lack of reason or meaning for existence. With a race of beings so capable of constantly reinventing their own essence and the ability to make choices from a truly objective view point, limitless possibilities are opened up for the progress of existence. While a lion may not be smart enough to willingly and understanding allow a smarter being to make choices for it, for instance a human cannot reason with a lion why it should stay in its cage or why it should go to school and learn about a given trade so it can make a living later in life, it is also true that a lion cannot make its own choice to not become aggressive when threatened nor can it retain information about computer engineering in a manner which will al low the lion to become a successful computer engineer. The lion can only be forced and trained to work with those around it and it can never work with others for the sake of the benefit of the race as a whole. It seeks only to play out its instincts and desires, without the ability to consciously redirect either of them. In the view of the existentialist, to forfeit subjectivity and choice in order to replace it with following norms or given beliefs, is to forfeit what it is to be human, or according to many philosophers such as Sartre, the burden and responsibilities of being a human.

Code Of Hammurabi Essays -- History Babylon Essays Papers Ethics Soci

Code Of Hammurabi The people of ancient Babylon lived their lives not how they wanted to, but by "The Code of Hammurabi". The code was the major reflector and shaper in the ancient Babylonian society. If there was something they wanted to do, they had to make sure that it wasn't against the code, because if it was, the consequences were serious, and could mean their life. But without the code, their society would be much more uncivilized and inhumane. Without the code, they wouldn't have been as advanced and as knowledgeable as they were.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The code of Hammurabi reflected many things about the Babylonian society. It reflects that stealing was a very bad thing to do, in more than one way. For example, if someone stole an ox, a sheep, an ass, a pig, or a ship, they would have to pay thirty times the value of what they had stolen, and if they could not repay, they would be put to death. If someone attempted to break into another person's house, they would be killed and buried there, and if a man took a slave and made it his, his hands would be cut off. Honesty was another thing that was very important to the Babylonians. If a woman was accused by her husband of sleeping with another man, and she can't prove that she hadn't, she had to throw herself in the river. This also shows that adultery was unacceptable. For example, if a man's wife were caught with another man, the two would be tied together and thrown in the river. Incest was also forbidden in their society. I...