Steve Jobs The Success Story Essay - 875 Words

â€Å"Every once in a while, a revolutionary product came along, that changes everything, and Apple has been †¦ very fortunate; it’s been able to introduce a few of these into the world. â€Å" (â€Å"Steve Jobs introducing the iPhone†) What continued was a loud cheering and clapping by the attendant of the Apple 2007 keynote, one of the most important events held by Apple, the world’s current most valuable company (â€Å"The Worlds Most Valuable Brands†) where Apple introduced the first iPhone. The voice of the man was Steve Job, the former CEO Apple. Born on February 24, 1955 in San Francisco, California, he was often credited for the success behind Apple’s products. However, not many people know the truth behind Steve Jobs and the real work†¦show more content†¦In April 1,1976, Jobs and Wozniak officially started Apple computer. Their first computer was a great success. One of their products, Apple II, was a huge success and made Apple Founders millionaires. Their success came from the computers they invented that were easy to use. But it was the introduction of Lisa that mark the revolution that Apple has brought to the industry. In 1979, Jobs was very impressed with the technology called the Graphical User Interphase (GUI) and created Lisa with that technology. However, because of his temper, he was kicked out of the Lisa project and as a revenge, he started a new project called the Macintosh. However, in 1985, sales dropped and Steve tried to convince the director to kick the current CEO out, but no one sided with Steve an kicked him out. He was really sad and tried to start a new company with some ex-Apple employees. In 1988, NeXT was created and was not successful and therefore, Steve bought computer graphic division from Lucas Film and started Pixar. Pixar made a short cartoon movie Tin Toy in 1989 and won an Academy Award. In 1995, Pixar released another movie called Toy Story which was a box office success. Steve later became a billionaire. In the meantime, Apple wasnt performing well because Microsoft had just released Windows 95 so the sale of the Macintosh computer crashed. Knowing this, Steve Jobs convinced Apple to buy NeXT forShow MoreRelatedThe Success Story Of Steve Jobs With Apple Phones1935 Words   |  8 Pagesbest place to start was through the smartphone market. Their products have often been criticized as copies of Apple phones. Inspired by the success story of Steve Jobs with Apple, Lei Jun saw similar opportunities in China as the technology and internet related markets were becoming popular with the general public. He is often described as China’s Steve Jobs and while there are many similarities between the two, there are also key differences. Most of the similarities are superficial, such has theRead MoreSteve Jobs : The Man Who Thought1616 Words   |  7 PagesKnown as the man who thought â€Å"different,† Steve Jobs was a very passionate entrepreneur, innovator, and leader who did not give up on his dreams. He was very dedicated to his work, and a self-made billionaire, but his story doesn’t start there. In 1994, a young college woman by the name of Joanne Schieble became pregnant. The father of her child was Syrian, so Joanne’s father did not agree with them being married. During this time it was also frowned upon to be a single mother, so Joanne proceededRead MorePersonal Statement : Steve Jobs1119 Words   |  5 PagesCOMM 2113-005 Prof. Jonathan Gutierrez Steve Jobs, born February 24 1955 in the city of San Francisco, was a man well known for his contributions to our technical world. As mentioned during his introduction at the Stanford Commencement Speech in 2005, as an infant Jobs was given up for adoption by his biological parents and was later adopted by a couple known as Clara and Paul Jobs. As a boy, Jobs acquired an interest in electronics as Paul Jobs showed his son how to take apart and reconstructRead MoreSteve Jobs : A Engineer Of The Highest Calibre1602 Words   |  7 Pagesproducts that many people use. Who was this person? That person was Steve Jobs, the famous inventor and co-founder of Apple. He was born in San Francisco, California on February 24, 1955 and died on October 5, 2011. Most people know Steve Jobs for his work at Apple and his â€Å"Stevenotes,† which were his keynote speeches where he introduced new products and technologies. Throughout his life, he accomplished many admirable things. Steve Jobs is admirable because of his help in starting Apple Computer, hisRead MoreRhetorical Analysis Of Steve Jobs Commencement Speech929 Words   |  4 PagesHarmon 1 A Rhetorical Analysis of Steve Jobs Commencement Speech for Stanford Universitys Graduating Class of 2005: Jobs titled his speech Youve got to find what you love. Steve Jobs is best known as an American entrepreneur, inventor and industrial designer. He was the cofounder, chairman and CEO of Apple Inc. and founder, CEO and chairman of Pixar Animation Studios. Jobs and cofounder of Apple Inc. Steve Wozniak are wildly recognized as pioneers of the microcomputer revolution of the 1970sRead MoreSteve Jobs Speech Draft : Steve Job944 Words   |  4 PagesSteve Jobs Speech Draft Steve Job’s was one of the most successful men in the world. He accomplished many things in his life before he lost his bout with cancer. Jobs, ironically himself a college dropout, presented the 2005 commencement speech at Stanford University that was both inspiring and gave people a look into how he became the man that he was. I believe Steve Jobs speech is somewhat awkward due to his audience, utilizes the art of storytelling to engage his audience, and utilizes hisRead MoreReaction Paper for Pirates of the Silicon Valley1057 Words   |  5 Pagescomputer evolution, I was like oh no! for sure this will serve as my sleeping pill for today. But as the story goes, it is very interesting, very inspiring that makes me want to know more about Bill Gates and Steve Jobs. The movie Pirates of Silicon Valley is a film based on the book Fire in the Valley: The Making of the Personal Computer by Paul Freiberger. The movie took off w/ Steve Jobs talking to a director, which happened in the middle of a commercial for Apple Computer. The commercialRead MoreApples Success And Success1409 Words   |  6 PagesAPPLE SUCCESS METHODS 1 APPLE SUCCESS METHODS Success is a goal of every business. There are few companies that enjoy success the way Apple, Inc does. Fortune Magazine does an Annual ranking of the best companies by revenue known as the Fortune 500. Making it into these top 500 companies is somethin g that is truly to be coveted as being listed among this shows that you are part of the most successful business. In 2015, Apple made it into the Fortune 5 (Fortune 500 List) . MeaningRead MoreSteve Jobs : An Innovator And Visionary1068 Words   |  5 Pagestechnology, Steve Jobs’ accomplishments can be held on a pedestal with the likes of Bill Gates, Larry Paige, Sergey Brin and Mark Zuckerberg to name a few. All highly regarded in technology for shaping consumerism and how the individuals access to information has transformed. Predominantly known as CEO of Apple before his tragic death, Steve Jobs has had a profound effect on the world outside of consumer products. From the inception of the iPod to smartphones and tablets, Steve Jobs has been widelyRead MoreSteve Jobs: A Most Influential and Inspirational Man Essay619 Words   |  3 PagesSteve Jobs, the co-founder of Apple, is considered by many as one of the most influential minds in the technology industry. Through a plethora of Apple Keynote presentations as well as speeches, Jobs was able to share his passion with others. I have watched many of Jobs speeches on YouTube. One of his most w ell-known speech and one of my favorites that I saw on YouTube is his 2005 Stanford Commencement Address. Here, he shared his passion through retelling his remarkable past. His message was to

Patrick Dwyer Free Essays

Where The Wild Things Are As humans we instinctively feel the need and desire to belong. When we truly belong to something we achieve a sense of acceptance, love and togetherness. ‘Where The Wild Things Are’ by Maurice Sendak is a children’s book that explores the concepts of belonging and in contrast, not belonging. We will write a custom essay sample on Patrick Dwyer or any similar topic only for you Order Now It is a very simple story accompanied by large, rich pictures. The text and pictures complement each other, each enriching the sense of alienation for the responder. Max is a mischievous young boy who displays aspects of childhood irritation and loneliness. He lives in a world with limited freedom as he is a child. It becomes clear to the responder through the positioning of the character on the page, the vector of the boy’s angry gaze as well as the neutral, bland colours used that Max feels like he doesn’t belong in the world he calls home. The pictures at the beginning of the story are quite unengaging compared to the bright, richly textured pages that follow. This sense of not belonging leads to Max fantasising and creating a whole new world within his imagination. In this world Max is king, there is no one to tell him what to do and how he must act. In this place Max is completely accepted and the most important part of the wild things world. Max wears a wolf suit during the story, it shows the responder that Max is disguising who he really is and that the suit enables him to escape from reality. Whilst Max is wearing this suit he becomes a wild thing and he thinks that his behaviour is acceptable. Max is pushing his family away, but he is also wishing to obtain a sense of belonging, love and acceptance. He finds this sense of belonging with his new wild friends. Throughout the text, the composer portrays a range of emotions felt by Max. He finally gets what he wants, a place of unlimited freedom and acceptance, but still is not happy. He needs to be â€Å"where someone loves him best of all†. So he returns to the comfort and familiarity of his bedroom, where his mum had left his supper, still warm. Framing is an important visual element of ‘Where The Wild Things Are’ as Max’s imagination grows, the illustrations get larger until they fill the whole page. Early in the book, before Max’s imagination takes him to the land of the wild things, we see a hand drawn picture of a wild thing hanging on his wall. He has thought about the wild things before and has been forming a plan in his mind. Max has often felt like he doesn’t belong and has imagined belonging somewhere else, in an imaginary world where he makes all the rules and is king. The text regularly refers to Max as ‘king’, but he doesn’t appear to be enjoying his job much. He looks sad, bored and lonely and begins to long for his home, which is a place where he does belong. ‘Where The Wild Things Are’ links quite closely to the set text ‘Romulus, My Father’. Both texts contain an informative tone and both contain the central theme of belonging. Both texts use imagery to represent the sense of not belonging, which then leads to belonging. In ‘Where The Wild Things Are’ the lack of belonging is shown through Max’s escape from reality, but then the sense of belonging is shown through Max’s desire to return home, to which he realises is where he belongs. This links to the set text ‘Romulus, My Father’ where the lack of belonging is shown through Romulus’s inability to reduce the cultural barrier between him and the rest of the community, but then the sense of belonging is shown when the community look at how hard Romulus works and therefore appreciate him, in which he belongs. By Pat Dwyer How to cite Patrick Dwyer, Papers

Justice as Fairness Entitlement Justice for Theory

Question: John Rawlss argument for Justice as fairness and Robert Nozicks argument for Entitlement justice for theory.' Answer: Introduction In terms of administrative fairness, the justice theory seems to vary according to different cultures. The justice seems to be influenced by the individual agreement on the various aspects. There are various theorists like John Rawls, Robert Nozick both who developed several theories on justice such as theories of distributive justice. In this essay, John Rawls Justice as fairness and Robert Nozicks Entitlement justice for theory are illustrated so that the superior theory among these two can be rightfully identified with the help of ample number of justified reasons. Discussion Insofar the background of the justice of fairness is concerned; it seems to be the favorable environment where the basic demands of every citizen can be fulfilled. According to Najafpour, Sara, and Hossein Harsin, the Justice as fairness by John Rawls Indicates that in order to develop a liberal society in both the social and political institutions, it is important to do an arrangement of a proper structure in the legal, political, social, economic systems. With the help of this basic structure, these systems can distribute their benefits and positive impacts among its citizens like their fundamental rights, social recognition, financial benefits etc. The basic structure of the society effectively influences the goals, objectives, characters, attitudes and the prospects of lives of the citizens. As the citizens cannot leave a society, after being unable to cope with the structure, they are forced to live in that particular structure only. The basic concept of the theory of John Rawls suggests that the idea of social cooperation seems to be the combination of both positive and negative aspects. Rawls indicates that to lead a decent life, the individuals need to have proper assistance from their societies. Even there should be a particular technique with which the facilities and benefits will be distributed among them (Rawls, John, page no. 233). The negative idea of this theory mainly includes the fact that no individual is determined to be poor or rich, male or female, born in the favorable racial group etc. Therefore, no individual can get extra facility or disadvantages from the social institutions. On the other hand, the positive idea includes the fact that it is basically an equal reciprocal system where the benefits and facilities are supposed to be distributed among all citizens in appropriate manner. It mainly focuses on the concept that all the citizens are equal fundamentally which ensures the equal distribut ion of all the facilities. The proper justice lies on this idea that the goods, produced in the collective manner need to be distributed among all citizens. Moreover, even if the inequalities happen, that should benefit the demands of the citizens who strongly require them. Based on his discussion of the original position and the value and ignorance, Rawls believes that people will choose two principles to distribute justice. The first principle indicates that every person has the right to claim the appropriate amount of equal rights like other citizens to have an adequate lifestyle. The demand needs to be compatible with the sense of liberty. On the other hand, as per the viewpoint of Rawls, John, the second principle indicates to the two specific conditions such as the economic and social conditions need to be applicable to different official positions so that every employee can get the equal opportunity for further improvement and they need to provide maximum equal benefits to the non-advance society members. Therefore, it can be said that the first principle is typically related to the advantages of the political institution while the second principle is highly connected with the economic system. The first principle includes the priority which seems to decide the distribution of similar facilities among employees and the appropriate value of the liberties related to the political institution. The second principle also has two different parts. The fair distribution of opportunity and equality among all the citizens that gives them opportunities to acquire their desired educational qualification and economic opportunities regardless of their class and status. The second part is the principle of differences with which the distribution of wealth and income are distributed. It regulates the inequalities which work for the benefits of worst offs. By assuring this in the society, Rawls reimburses for the naturally happening inequalities like the born talents. Robert Nozicks Entitlement justice for theory indicates the distribution of private property and justice among ordinary people. There are three constituting principles of this theory. The first principle indicates to the primary acquisition perspectives of the ordinary people. The second principle is about the procedure with which one individual acquires holding from other individual by an exchange of power. The third principle suggests the acquainting power with which one individual tries to adjust in a situation where the holding of power is distributed unjustly. The first principle indicates self-ownership of each person, that every human being is the owner of their own talents, bodies and abilities. Therefore, they also have the right to the produced product or services by their talent. It also indicates at the labor holding seems to be illegitimate because no individual can be owned by other individual. The second principle indicates that it is the responsibility of every individual to protect the basic life, property and liberty without seeking the help of any military force or police. This process can consume huge time and cost. From the viewpoint of Letseka, Moeketsi, in order to reduce the chances for further violation of the rights by the involvement of other individuals, as per this theory, every individual needs to protect their own rights. Robert Nozick argues that the employment of other agencies reduce the effectiveness of this acquiring process. However, Fraser, Colin R opined that the distributive justice method of this theory includes some external forces who seem to be responsible for the distribution of rights among individuals. Their efforts give them the right to claim the shares of the individuals among whom the shares are distributed. According to Robert Nozick, every theory includes a starting points and transformational processes with which the theories embrace whatever result comes out. However, he criticizes that principle generating principle of Rawlss theory does not have the ability to process principles. It only aims to identify end result principle. Robert Nozick criticises that this fact of Rawlss theory seems to be very ironic because it seems great but cannot give a proper justification behind selecting the outcome of its results (Wndisch, Joachim). Robert Nozick also argues against the principle of difference of Rawlss theory in which it is mentioned that no individual is that worse so that it can be controlled by other individual. Robert Nozick rejects this concept but cannot provide any other baseline for it and also does not provide the criteria for the people to be controlled by other. Moreover, for this principle, he also argues that it the social cooperation for the benefit of all members of the society cannot determine the advantages of the less-advanced society members in comparison to their other successful mates. However, based on my argument, these flaws cannot be regarded as the actual backdrops of the theory of Rawls. Insofar as the first principle of this theory is concerned, Robert Nozick also agrees with the fact of liberty which every individual need to get. Robert Nozick also admits the openion of Rawlss theory regarding the redistribution process of wealth by government among individuals. He admits that his theory does not fulfill the criteria of wealth distribution among people. Rather, the difference principle of Rawlss theory helps to increase the possibility of the less advantage receiver people and the previous injustice victims by rectifying the wealth distribution process. However, the previous criticism of Robert Nozick regarding the difference principle is very weak because he rejects this theory but cannot be able to provide another proper view which can prove its insufficiency. For this reason, I think, Rawlss theory already has owned some advantages over the theory of Rob ert Nozick. In addition to that, Rawlss theory tends to increase the success rate of society by increasing the benefits and opportunities of individuals and also tries to maximize the outcomes. Though it has little care about the practical implementation of the human nature, it mainly covers the basic needs and demands of the people and also recommends measure for maximizing the opportunities of the victims of injustice. For this reason, I prefer the justifications of Rawlss theory which clearly elaborates the structure and their effectiveness by illustrating the principles and their sub-parts. Conclusion In this way, both the theories of John Rawlss Justice as fairness and Robert Nozicks Entitlement justice for theory are analyzed critically in order to identify the most effective theory in comparison to the other. The analysis has been done from the perspective of John Rawls which strengthen the fact of equal distribution of power among each and every citizen. This theory mainly promotes the protection of self-ownership of every citizen along with the equal distribution of all available facilities among them. However, the modern scientists needs to work more on strongly establishing the fact of Rawls in which he claims that benefit of all citizen can increase the potentiality of the improvement of non-advanced citizens. Rawls does not prove this fact with proper justification for which the researchers need to provide ample umber of practical examples. Reference List Fraser, Colin R. "John Rawls, Robert Nozick, and the Difference Principle: Finding Common Ground."Inquiries Journal3.04 (2011) Lawrence, Michael Anthony. "'Justice-as-Fairness' as Judicial Guiding Principle: Remembering John Rawls and the Warren Court." (2015) Letseka, Moeketsi. "Ubuntu and justice as fairness."Mediterranean journal of social sciences5.9 (2014): 544 Najafpour, Sara, and Hossein Harsij. "The Impact of Rawls and MacIntyre Theory of Justice on National Cohesion in Multicultural Societies."International Journal of Academic Research in Business and Social Sciences3.7 (2013): 202 Rawls, John. "Justice as fairness: political not metaphysical."Philosophy Public Affairs(1985): 223-251 Wndisch, Joachim. "Nozicks proviso: Misunderstood and misappropriated."Rationality, Markets and Morals4.79 (2013)

Principles of Marketing Essays - Marketing, Business Economics

Principles of Marketing Dr. Pavone Andrew Lett October 20th, 2017 Chapter 11: Product mix breadth is the products being sold by a brand or company, that can include multiple items in various product lines. Smaller retailers have smaller breadth than the larger retailers. Product mix breadth would be the variety of products in a product line which is various different types of products. Chapter 12: The knowledge gap is the difference between the consumer's expectations and the company's view of the expectations. Businesses can understand consumer expectations and determine service quality. The standards gap is the difference between the company's view of consumer's expectations and the service standards it sets. Companies can set service standards and measure service performance. The delivery gap is the difference between the company's service standards and the service it provides to it's consumers. This gap can be closed by employees meeting or exceeding service standards in result of being given incentives. The communication gap is the difference between the service provided to consumers and the service that the company's promotion program promises. If companies are more realistic about the services they can provide, they usually can close this gap. Chapter 13: C ost , because you cannot begin to price an item until you figure the cost. C ustomers , because are the judge of how good the pricing is. C hannels of distribution, because if you use a "middle man" to sell your product you have to make the margin large enough. C ompetition , because you have to be careful with competing on price. C ompatibility, because the price must work with every other factor involved.

What Clothes to Bring to College

What Clothes to Bring to College Figuring out what to bring to college is challenging enough before you even start thinking about clothes. (And, lets be honest, its especially challenging if youre a girl.) How can you decide what clothes to bring to college and what to leave at home? While your own fashion sense and clothing needs might differ a bit, there are some guidelines to consider when it comes to bringing clothes to college: Ditch Your High School Garb Dont bring anything that refers to high school or has a high school logo on it. Youll feel like a dork as soon as you realize no one wears anything that has to do  with  high school once they hit college. Bring All the Basics Definitely bring the basics to cover the following: class (jeans, t-shirts, etc.)date/dinner out with friends (guys: nice top/pants, girls: dresses/cute skirts/etc.)something niceguys: not necessarily a suit but a button-down, tie, and nice pantsgirls: little black dress for sure, but leave the prom dress at home Youll need other basics like jackets, sweaters, gym clothes, pajamas, robe (not everyone likes to walk from the bathroom to their room in a little towel), and a swimsuit. Stock Up on Underwear Bring a lot of underwear. This may sound strange, but many students only do laundry when their underwear runs out. Do you want to be doing it every week or every 2 to 3 weeks? Think Seasonally, Not Annually Think about the weather and when youll be seeing your family next. You can always bring summer/fall stuff and then do a clothes swap for winter when you come home a few weeks after classes start, over Thanksgiving  or for the holidays. If you really want to bring everything you wear but dont want to worry about bringing everything you own, focus on what youll wear over the next 6-8 weeks. At that point, you will be better able to gauge what youll want/need/have space for and possibly do a swap as the weather cools down. Pack a Just in Case Box You can always bring what youll need for the next 6 to 8 weeks but leave a just in case box back home, i.e., a box of stuff you may want but arent sure until you know how much space youll have. Then, if you end up wanting it, you can just ask your folks to ship it. You can also use that box for warmer-weather stuff that you can ship as the weather cools down. Pack Light and Save Room for New Stuff Keep in mind, too, that you should err on the side of not bringing too much instead of overdoing it. Once you get to campus, chances are youll sport for a new sweatshirt when theyre on sale in the bookstore, go shopping around town with some friends one weekend, end up with tons of t-shirts from events or clubs on campus, and even swap clothes with other people in your residence hall. Clothes have a tendency of multiplying suddenly on college campuses, so as long as you have some basics with you when you arrive you should be set.

Does SAT State Testing Drive SAT Popularity

Does SAT State Testing Drive SAT Popularity SAT / ACT Prep Online Guides and Tips Curious about which states require the SAT? Could requiring the SAT make it more popular than the ACT? In this post, we'll discuss how state SAT testing could increase nationwide SAT rates, and what to do if you live in an SAT-required or SAT-optional state. What Are the "SAT Required" States? The SAT is a required test in the District of Columbia, Delaware, Illinois, Colorado, Michigan, New Hampshire, and Connecticut. Connecticut already had a very high SAT participation rate (88%), so jumping to full participation wasn’t an entirely unexpected development. In Idaho, the SAT is administered for free in schools across the state, but students have the option of taking the SAT, the ACT, or the Compass exam to fulfill their testing requirement. According to a New York Times article about the new testing, "Because so many Connecticut public school students take the SAT anyway, replacing the existing high school test, given in th grade, with the SAT would leave young people with one exam fewer on their roster." Notably, Maine used to require the SAT but switched away from it to the Smarter Balanced test (which assesses Common Core standards). However, while Maine no longer requires the SAT, they still fund students who want to take it, so they still have a very high (96%) SAT participation rate. Do State SAT Partnerships Boost National SAT Rates? Although the SAT is taken by all students in four states and the District of Columbia, that pales in comparison to the 18 states that have ACT partnerships. So while state SAT testing boosts SAT participation in a few states, the SAT has actually fallen behind the ACT nationwide. Even in states where the SAT is more popular than the SAT, there have been noted declines in SAT test takers since 2006. Meanwhile, the ACT surpassed the SAT in 2012 as the most popular college admissions exam. The ACT has remained at number one, since1,924,436 students took the ACT in 2015, whilejust 1.7 million took the SAT. Since the ACT has managed to bill itself as a more straightforward test of what is taught in high school, it has scored more state partnerships and is more popular in the west and mid-west. This has allowed it to pull ahead in terms of overall numbers. So even though the SAT has some state partnerships, the ACT is growing faster since it has scored more partnerships and has successfully marketed itself as a more straightforward college entrance exam. Pros and Cons of Requiring the SAT States that require the SAT use the SAT as a gauge of how well their students are getting prepared for college and career in high school. The SAT is often used as a replacement for other th grade or high school tests, with the goal of lessening the exam burden of high school students. So is a state SAT initiative a good or bad idea? Well, there are pros and cons, which we will explore below. Upsides to Requiring the SAT Requiring the SAT and funding it gives all students an opportunity to take the SAT, opening up the door to college applications and saving money for families. This can help simplify the college admissions process, especially for families who have never been through it before. Also, for students planning on taking the SAT anyway, requiring the SAT in school gives students another chance to practice the SAT. This can introduce them to the test in lower-pressure conditions – which could help them when studying for a more serious retake. (However, a caveat to this is â€Å"all scores† schools, which we will discuss below.) If students can maximize their SAT score, they can also maximize their college scholarship opportunities. In short, by simplifying access to the SAT, states can give all students a better shot at getting into and affording college. Downsides to Requiring the SAT Requiring the SAT lowers the state SAT average, since requiring it means non-college-bound students are taking the SAT. This isn’t â€Å"bad† so much as it makes it more complicated to compare SAT averages from state to state. Comparing the state SAT averages in SAT-required and SAT-optional states is like comparing apples and oranges, since the populations of students taking the test are so different. Requiring the SAT alone might not also guarantee an increase in college acceptances and/or scholarships. The SAT is notoriously tricky, and without including test prep in schools, students might not do as well on the SAT as they're capable of. Also, by taking away the ACT versus SAT choice, requiring the SAT could create some testing fatigue for students who want to take the ACT instead. Finally, the SAT might not be the best measure of high school achievement. The SAT isn’t a test of what students have learned in high school, which is why Maine switched over to a Common Core test rather than the SAT. Since the SAT was designed specifically to test "aptitude,"not academic subjects, it's not necessarily a reliable indicator of how well students are doing in high school. What to Do If Your State is SAT-Mandatory So what should you do if you’re in one of the states that require the SAT? If you’re applying to any schools that require all SAT scores ever earned to be sent, make sure to study hard for the school administration of the SAT – since your score will matter! If you’re not applying to any all scores schools, you don’t necessarily have to stress over the SAT being taken at school, but you should still take advantage of it by studying hard, since it’s free. If you get a good score, you won’t have to pay to take the test again! However, if you think you’ll do better on the ACT, you can focus on studying for the ACT and just use the SAT you take in school as practice. Remember, for the vast majority of colleges, you only have to submit the ACT or the SAT – not both. (Some of the "all scores" schools require your complete testing history, meaning any SAT and ACT scores you have, though this is a fairly rare policy.) Remember, you can choose whether you want to focus on the ACT or the SAT. And remember, even if you’re in an SAT-required state, colleges don’t care whether you take the SAT or ACT, so focus on studying for the one test you will do the best on. What to Do if Your State is SAT-Optional First, check to see if the ACT is required. If you’re taking the ACT anyway, and you think you’ll do better on it, don’t worry about signing up for the SAT. If you think you might do better on the SAT, sign up for it. Recognize that if you’re in an ACT state, the state SAT percentiles will be skewed since mainly higher-performing students will be taking it, but don’t let that dissuade you from taking the SAT. If you’re in a state where neither the SAT or ACT is required, just sign up for the test you think you’ll do best on. You can decide which of the two tests to take by trying a practice version of each. What’s Next? If you live in an SAT-required state, you should learn more about the SAT: how long it is, how it's scored, and what you can learn from the directions. If you live in an SAT required state, you may want to take the SAT more than once if you don’t do well when you take the test in school. Decide here if you should retake the test! Did you know the SAT was recently revised?Get a complete guide to the changes on the SAT here! Want to improve your SAT score by 240 points?We've written a guide about the top 5 strategies you must be using to have a shot at improving your score. Download it for free now: Have friends who also need help with test prep? Share this article! Tweet Halle Edwards About the Author Halle Edwards graduated from Stanford University with honors. In high school, she earned 99th percentile ACT scores as well as 99th percentile scores on SAT subject tests. She also took nine AP classes, earning a perfect score of 5 on seven AP tests. As a graduate of a large public high school who tackled the college admission process largely on her own, she is passionate about helping high school students from different backgrounds get the knowledge they need to be successful in the college admissions process. Get Free Guides to Boost Your SAT/ACT Get FREE EXCLUSIVE insider tips on how to ACE THE SAT/ACT. 100% Privacy. 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To what extent did women enjoy political religious and social power in Essay

To what extent did women enjoy political religious and social power in archaic Rome - Essay Example Because layer upon layer of building has occurred in the area in and around Rome, it is impossible to form a complete record from the archaeology, but nonetheless there is sufficient evidence to draw some conclusions about the way that people lived in Rome in this very early period. This paper focuses on the extent to which women in particular enjoyed power in archaic Rome, looking at political, religious and social dimensions of power in turn. In each case a distinction is drawn between high status women, and low status women, because the experiences of each group is likely to have been very different. The origins of Rome are to be found in the migrations of the Latini tribe to Northern Italy from a region to the north and East around the river Danube. They settled in the area we now know as Latium. Other tribes in the area include the Etruscans, the Sabines, and various Greek-influenced groups to the south. This legend seems to have been passed down orally and it was recorded much later by the Roman historian Livy in his history of the city, a major work entitled Ab Urbe Condita Libri.1 The way that the early history is depicted, with a female wolf nursing twin baby boys sets up a number of interesting speculations about the role of women in that early society. Livy is very aware of the problematic and clearly mythical content of the founding story when he writes â€Å"The traditions of what happened prior to the foundation of the City or whilst it was being built, are more fitted to adorn the creations of the poet than the authentic records of the historian, and I have no intention of establishing either their truth or their falsehood.† 2 Writing from a time when Roman society appeared to be heading for decline, in the first decade of the new millennium, Livy sees the past as a time of comparative glory, and it is no coincidence that he mentions the early Roman worship of the warlike God Mars as its most iconic feature: â€Å"Now if any nation ought to be allowed to claim a sacred origin and point back to a divine paternity that nation is Rome. For such is her renown in war that when she chooses to represent Mars as her own and her founder’s father, the nations of the world accept the statement with the same equanimity with which they accept her dominion.†3 Livy is an important source in terms of the way that later Romans wanted their past to be remembered, but his account must be read with care, since many of his ideas are shaped by a much later age, and a particular agenda to show the Romans and their past in a positive light. Women appear from time to time in the narrative, but they are usually incidental to the main story, and Livy’s bias against women is only too obvious. An important source of political power, in the origins of Rome, as in all early civilizations, is the network of family allegiances that comes about through marriage. Livy reports that the prehistoric origins of the Roman people came a bout because of an alliance between the Trojan super hero Aeneas, and the king of the Laurentian territory Latinus. This alliance may have come about due to a Latinus being defeated in battle, or due to the deference of Latinus before the supremacy of the Trojan warriors who had arrived in the local area intent on plunder. The key point that Livy stresses is the â€Å"

Genetic mapping Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Genetic mapping - Research Paper Example The dawn of modern genetics began with the unveiling of Mendel’s rules and Mendel’s paper in 1900. The term gene was first used in 1909; the first experiment on genetic mapping was published in 1910; and the first genetic map was materialized in 1913 (Kevles & Hood, 1992, p. 38). Thomas Hunt Morgan was the first person to elucidate the techniques of genetic mapping with his discovery of the X chromosome--the decisive sex gene, in 1910 (Kevles & Hood, 1992, pp. 43-44). In 1911, Morgan’s student, Alfred Sturtevant, mapped the location of the gene mutations that were studied by his esteemed professor (â€Å"Overview of the Human,† 2010). The initial blueprint of the human genome was broadcasted on February 2001 in the journal Nature; which showed the progression of the genome’s 3 billion base pairs. The completed gene arrangement was published in April 2003 (â€Å"Overview of the Human,† 2010). Future employment of the project in the field of mo lecular medicine includes: refined disease diagnosis; early identification of predisposition and disease process; objective drug design; gene therapy; and custom drugs (â€Å"Potential Benefits,† 2009). ... genes to develop alternative energy source, to create pollutant-detectors present in the environment, to prevent carbon emission that worsens global warming; for risk assessment; for information on the origin of species; for fast absolution of crime; and for agricultural purposes (â€Å"Potential Benefits,† 2009). On the down side, gene mapping can create an air of animosity, injustice, and abuse on the part of the gene-owner (Narcisse, 1998); it can induce a feeling of apprehension and disappointment; and it will implicate not only the tested individual, but the family as well. Apart from the aforementioned disadvantages, gene mapping is also contravened by many issues; among which are issues on information confidentiality, psychological effects, reproductive and clinical issues, conceptual and philosophical implications, health and environmental issues, commercialization of products, and other uncertainties, such as the causative agent for complex conditions (e.g. heart dise ase) (â€Å"Ethical, Legal, and Social Issues,† 2008). Information acquired through gene mapping, is presumptive and not prognostic (Rajeski, n.d., para. 3). It aids in the identification of gene mutation, insertion, and deletion that may or may not result in a disease. According to Claes et al. (2004), awareness of innate gene mutations can empower, as well as impose adverse emotional effects and feelings of distress. Knowledge of what could be can greatly alter the way an individual perceives the future and live one’s life. Some of the principles foreseen to be offended by the human genome project are autonomy, nonmaleficence, beneficence, justice, veracity, and fidelity (Daniels, 2004, p. 168). Easy access to the human genome database can violate a person’s right to autonomy. Confidentiality

The Awakening Essay Example for Free

The Awakening Essay Kate Chopin wrote for a reason and with a sense of passion and desire. She lived the way she wanted to and wrote what she felt, thought, and wanted to say. Kate wrote for many years and her popularity was extreme until critical disapproval of her novel, The Awakening, a story that portrayed women’s desires of independence and control of their own sexuality. Most men condemned this story, while women applauded her for it. Kate wrote with a sense of realism and naturalism and she created a voice that is unique and unmatched. The voice gave a view of the female role in society and contributed to the beginning of the later feminist movements. In 1915, Fred Lewis Pattee wrote, some of Chopins work is equal to the best that has been produced in France or even in America. She displayed what may be described as a native aptitude for narration amounting almost to genius (qtd. in Amazon. com â€Å"About the Author†). Kate Chopin was a 19th century American author who cared about women and their rights. She was a bold writer who had a huge impact on how the world should treat women. On February 8, 1851, Katherine O’Flaherty was born in St. Louis, Missouri. Kate was born to the parents of Thomas O’Flaherty and Eliza Faris. Her father was a wealthy Irish immigrant and a successful businessman. Sadly, Kate’s father died in a railway accident when she was only four years old. Kate’s childhood was influenced mostly by her mother and great-grandmother. Kate spent much time with her family’s Creole and mulatto slaves, becoming familiar with their dialects. She attended Sacred Heart convent where she was a very poor student, but an avid reader. At the age of eleven Kate’s great-grandmother as well as her half-brother died. These two deaths caused Kate to seclude herself in the family attic to study more books (Authors and Artists par. 5). Kate’s schooling was irregular and she herself attributed her education more to her reading, than to the education she received at the Sacred Heart convent. At the age of seventeen she graduated with a passion for literature and storytelling. She spent two years as a belle in St. Louis society becoming aware of feminist social issues (World Biography par. 2). â€Å"She began to smoke cigarettes and wrote a feminist fable, ‘Emancipation. She read and admired the works of Jane Austen, the Bronte sisters, George Eliot, and George Sand† (qtd, in Bloom 10). Kate preferred to spend time alone reading instead of attending socials all night. Although Kate spent a lot of time reading by herself, it did not stop her from writing what she saw in the world around her. In June 1870, Kate married a cotton trader and Creole named Oscar Chopin. Together they moved to New Orleans. While Oscar worked as a cotton factor and began handling sales, finances, and supplies for other plantation owners, Kate lived her care-free life (Authors and Artists par.7). Kate began to write about what she saw. She adopted two strange habits for women; smoking cigarettes and walking unaccompanied through the city. Kate took on the demanding social and domestic schedule of a Southern aristocrat. These memories would later serve as material for her short stories (World Biography par. 2). In 1880 Kate and her family were forced to moves to her father-in-law’s home in Cloutierville, Louisiana’s Red River bayou region. Here they became active members of the Creole community. Sadly in 1883 Oscar died of swamp fever, forcing Kate to take over. Kate came in contact with every part of the community, including the French-Acadian, Creole, and mulatto croppers who worked the plantation. These impressions later influenced her fiction (World Biography par. 2). After Oscar’s death Kate found herself stuck having to handle five children while $12,000 dollars in debt. Kate managed to run the family business until 1884 when she moved back to St. Louis. When she returned home she began writing about her life in Louisiana and this is when her career began. Kate settled in with her mother and began to write. Within a year Kate’s mother died and Kate was left in a state of depression. Following the deaths of Oscar and Kate’s mother, Kate was consulted by a doctor. He encouraged Kate to write (World Biography par. 3). Many of Kate’s friends also found her letters entertaining and encouraged her to write short stories. She began to write about the Louisiana past. After being rejected many times Kate got her short stories published in the most popular American periodicals, including America, Vogue, and the Atlantic (World Biography par. 3). Kate’s reputation grew because of her early success with Bayou Folk and A Night in Acadie. Her first novel, At Fault, was published in 1890 in her home city. Nine years later Kate’s first poem, â€Å"If it Might Be,† was published. Kate wrote over one hundred short stories during the 1890s (Bloom 10). Kate was very successful, but she became known only as a local color writer and her qualities were overlooked. This did not stop Kate from writing. Kate wrote only one or two days each week and even then she only wrote in her living room while her children played. Kate also had a salon in St. Louis where she hosted St. Louis celebrities (Authors and Artists par. 15). This is where Kate wrote many articles, short stories and periodicals, including Atlantic Monthly, Criterion, Harper’s Young People, St. Louis Dispatch, and Vogue (Feminist Writers par. 1). Kate’s first collection reflects her skills as a local colorist and center on the loves of the Creoles and Acadians in her Parish. Many of Kate’s stories addressed many themes, including women’s emancipation and marital discord (Authors and Artists par 10). â€Å"Considered one of the foremost Southern regionalist writers, Kate Chopin’s fiction details the culture in which she lived during her childhood and marriage† (qtd. in Feminist Writers par. 2). Kate published her final novel, The Awakening, in 1899. The Awakening is known as her masterpiece and is a seminal work in American feminist fiction. Fiction was Kate’s greatest strength (Authors and Artists par 18). In her stories of Bayou Folk, A Night in Acadie, and The Awakening Kate writes about the sexual, racial, and moral background of polite southern Louisiana life (Feminist Writers par 2). The Awakening received many negative reviews because of the way Kate portrayed women and their desires. With the rejection of A Vocation and a Voice and the harsh reviews of The Awakening Kate’s career slowly began to end. Kate slowly began to abandon her career. After the publication of The Awakening Kate was rejected from certain social circles in St. Louis. She was also later rejected to getting other books published and the criticism caused her writing to slow down (Feminist Writers par. 6). In 1904 Kate became very ill; however, she was still interested in the World’s Fair in St. Louis. After a day of exhaustion Kate collapsed with a cerebral hemorrhage. Two days later, on August 22, 1904, Kate sadly passed away (Authors and Artists par. 23). Today Kate is known through her interpretations of the Creoles in her collections Bayou Folk and A Night in Acadie, and her second novel, The Awakening (American Biography par. 2). It took half a century for people to grasp what Kate Chopin had accomplished with her work. Kate was once just considered an author of local-color fiction. Today she is recognized for her examination of sexuality, individual freedom and the consequences of action (Authors and Artists par.10). Kate was familiar with the newest developments in science and literature, and her aim was to describe man’s â€Å"immutable impulses. † Kate wrote with balance and maturity, showing that women should have the same rights as men. Today Kate’s stories have become favored subjects among women critics. Kate’s work also has been recognized by critics in countries ranging from France to Japan (Authors and Artists par. 25). Because of The Awakening Kate abandoned writing because she faced critical abuse. Today this novel has grown to be respected and recognized as a masterpiece. Today, The Awakening has become required reading for any student studying the history of women’s cultural oppression (Feminist Writers par. 2). Many authors today have helped show that Kate was a significant figure in American fiction, particularly feminist literature (Authors and Artists par. 2). Kate Chopin is known as one of the most important women in 19th century American fiction. Kate grew up in a world where women were seen as very little importance. She wrote to change that. Kate wrote with passion and a sense of realism. She proved to the world around her that women were just as equal to men. Conclusively, Kate Chopin is known to be the first feminist writer and a woman ahead of her time. Even though during her time she was looked down upon for the things she wrote, she is celebrated and acclaimed by people around the world today. Kates writings provided her with the means to live how she wanted-both mentally and physically-rather than play the role society expected of her. Kate Chopin proved to women they had a right to express themselves however they wanted to. This is why Kate is known today as one of the most important women in 19th century American fiction.

Internet Taxation †A Dual Issue For Both Sides :: Tax Taxes Internet Web Research Papers

Internet Taxation – A Dual Issue For Both Sides Internet Taxation is a hot button issue that has hit all sides of the spectrum in heated debates since the late nineteen nineties. This is an issue that covers many grounds. The common misconception is that Internet taxation is simply the taxing of purchases bought on the Internet either through consumer-to-consumer e-commerce or business-to-consumer e-commerce. But, while this does remain one of the issues, the most worrisome to those behind the scenes is the second half of this complex issue - the use of the Internet in lieu of a telephone line. Both of these issues could affect consumers & businesses alike, but in different ways. Some of these ways can be temporarily damaging to local economies, but it is mostly harmless and blown up to make people believe otherwise. The first thing most think of when they hear Internet taxation is the words â€Å"like a sales tax.† But it actually is much more complicated than just a simple tax on goods sold. Many politicians have long felt that the sales tax laws are damaging to some economies, confusing to locals & travelers alike, long outdated, & generally much too hard to follow, but they weren’t sure of what an internet tax could do to help this. To alleviate the burden & answer these imposing questions the Internet Tax Freedom Act (ITFA) passed in 1998 created what has become to be known as the e-Commerce Commission, formerly known as the Advisory Commission On Electronic Commerce (CAGW). This commission was supposed to attack many issues that policy makers had asked them to address. These issues included such things as: whether the existing state and local sales and use tax system is compatible with an electronic commerce environment; if electronic commerce should be taxed at all, consideri ng the difficulty of taxing such commerce; whether or not imposing or collecting tax on electronic commerce will undermine the sales and use tax base and create inequalities between sales of equivalent goods and services depending on the form or mode of delivery; whether the multiplicity of and inconsistency among existing state and local use tax laws creates an undue burden on sellers and purchasers in an electronic commerce environment, and, if so, whether it is possible to create greater consistency in state and local sales and use tax laws to facilitate application and administration of

Kudler Fine Foods Photography Analysis Essay

In order for Kudler Fine Foods to continue being successful, our technology should be constantly updated to keep up with our competitors and stay in line with upgrades. The company must modernize the ways in which consumers identify and differentiate with the Kudler Fine Foods brand. Investing and developing a strong marketing plan using impeccable photography will help increase our retail, online, and direct marketing sales (MindFireInc, 2013). To capitalize on our marketing efforts it is imperative to analyze both the advantages and disadvantages of creating an in-house photography infrastructure versus outsourcing the photography to a professional photographer. The Pros and Cons of Creating the Infrastructure Creating an in-house photography infrastructure will give Kudler Fine Foods the ability to have full control over type of photography produced (Rimagine Designs Co., LTD, 2013). We will be able to customize, according to the specific needs of our company (Rimagine Designs Co., LTD, 2013). In-house photography also gives us the opportunity to edit on location (DT&G Inc, 2012). Not having to wait on an outsourced photographer’s turnaround time will save the company time and money. The cost of producing photographs will be reduced dramatically after the initial investment (DT&G Inc, 2012). There are also some draw backs to in-house photography production. Time constraints are a concern because Kudler Fine Foods will be heavily involved in the photography process (Rimagine Designs Co., LTD, 2013). This would increase the amount of micromanaging employees because of quality control and ensuring an effective budget (Rimagine Designs Co., LTD, 2013). An in-house photography department requires a long term and costly plan. The company will have to purchase equipment, hardware, software, and training that could run the company anywhere from $5000 up to $20000 (DT&G Inc, 2012). Pros and Cons of Outsourcing the Photography to a Professional Photographer Outsourcing photography to a professional photographer requires that Kudler Fine Foods be diligent in finding the right photographer to the needs of the company. The photographer or Photography Company should be reputable, reliable, have access to excellent facilities and equipment (Outsourced E-commerce, 2012). Outsourcing a photographer will free up some of the senior managers time and allow the company to focus on its proficiencies. Rather than consume the company with the photography process we can make good use of the knowledge and skills of an experienced photographer (Outsourced E-commerce, 2012). Some disadvantages include the possibility of the company giving up some of its control of the photography process that may give way to Kudler Fine Foods incurring extra or hidden cost by the photographer (Rimagine Designs Co., LTD, 2013). Communication may be a concern. The photographer may not be able to present the company with what we need, want, or expect (Rimagine Designs Co., LTD, 2013). This will only waste time that could be used for photography production. Kudler Fine Foods also may hire a photographer who produces a weak performance or slow response times (Outsourced E-commerce, 2012). There are also confidentiality and security issues when outsourcing a photographer as they may also work for a competitor (Rimagine Designs Co., LTD, 2013). Legal ramifications that come into play when using an in-house model can be substantial. If a photographer took a picture in a park and use it in an advertisement you could face legal problems. The best approach to taking pictures and using photos for personal gain would be to become familiar with the parks guidelines. There are other issues that may cause legal issues would be if a photographer wanted to take a picture on someone’s property it may be difficult to gain access to do take said picture. Trespassing just to photograph some picture is a bit much, making sure that you follow guidelines and protocol can only help you obtain the photo you want. Out-sourcing instead of in-house has more than just legal issues you could run into unwanted results. The legal issues that you may encounter when out-sourcing your photographic needs maybe weak performance, what you pay for may not be what you get. Costs may be misquoted also known as hidden costs and fees. There is definitely a downside of photography done in-house. Employees should have training in use of the specialize equipment needed to produce quality pictures. The budget has to support the cost of hiring a professional as well as purchasing the equipment needed to complete the assignment. Coordinating schedules with the photographer can cause scheduling conflicts and delays in initiating the project. Equipment and Cost In-house product photography will provide Kudler Fine Foods with the ability to capture, edit, and format project images using internal resources, equipment, and systems. There are several factors to consider when establishing an in-house photography department. Because our marketing initiative is an ongoing project it will require many product images thus justifying such a lengthy and costly investment (Weilmeier, 2012). We must analyze as well as identify the resources required to develop, finance, implement, and maintain an in-house photography system. Develop a financial plan to feasibly meet our budget constraints (KMAONE, 2013). In order to maintain an in-house photography system, sufficient planning and preparation is vital. Sufficient space must be developed to efficiently operate a photography studio from the Kudler Fine Foods office, which may cost $2500 (Weilmeier, 2012). An in-house photography department must have adequate staffing. A qualified product photographer must have a vast array of creativity, expertise, an extensive understanding of photography concepts, camera equipment and accessory knowledge; possess excellent time management and composition skills as well as camera positioning and angle selection skills (Weilmeier, 2012). Employing such a photographer will require that they be paid salary and wages. According to a study by the U.S. National Salary Averages, a base photographer salary starts at $50K (Salary Wizard, 2013). Image editors may need to be hired to edit, retouch, review, and format. A project manager should also be hired to oversee time management and deadlines as well as quality control to assure that image quality meets company standards (KMAONE, 2013). An employee workspace must be developed as well. Anticipated costs are about $75,000 (Weilmeier, 2012). Train managers and staff to operate the in-house photography system (Weilmeier, 2012). Estimated training cost should be around $2500 (B & H Foto & Electronics Corp, 2013). Cameras, lenses and lighting setup, work space including office furniture, supplies, and equipment run an estimated cost of $15,000 (B & H Foto & Electronics Corp, 2013). IT resources must be established for system development and maintenance, which cost $1500 (B & H Foto & Electronics Corp, 2013). Computer, monitor, and accessories will cost roughly $8000 (B & H Foto & Electronics Corp, 2013). An Adobe Photo Shop program such as Adobe Creative Suite and capture software such as Phase 1 requires a $2500 investment (Weilmeier, 2012). Below are examples of equipment, software, and a breakdown of the total estimated cost for the in-house project. Photography impact the day-to-day store operations under each model Outsourcing the photography contract will not change the daily operations. They have been doing the photography like this for some time. However, keeping the photography outsourced can lead to loss of revenue because it costs more for the pictures to be taken and edited (Flatworld Solutions, 2013). The company can acquire more customers if the pictures on the website reflect the actual products, advertisements and employees. Photography done in-house will change the daily operations some. Like mentioned above the appropriate equipment as well as the area where the photography will take place has to be considered. There will also be management and employee allocated to take on the photography project, this will take company resources. The main functions of the store such as selling gourmet food products will not be affected by the photography infrastructure. How often new photographs could be taken under each model Everyone desires to take professional, perfect, memorable, and persuasive pictures. Depending on the person or the venue pictures can serve different purposes. It does not matter how often pictures should be taken. The frequency of which pictures are taken is dependent on several key factors: the satisfaction of the client, budget, and the time allotted for the entire project. The budget is also pertinent as this is an additional expense. There are many reasons that pictures can be taken under each model. Despite which model is being used there is always a chance of equipment failure. New pictures can be taken at the discretion of the photographer as well at the desire of the client. The model that is being photographed may request the picture be retaken for personal reasons. The photographer may not be satisfied with the photos because of the background lighting maybe off or the props may not be properly setup or the client may not be satisfied with the model (Thein, 2012). The model(s), venue and any props will have to be rented again for the retakes. Retakes can hinder the schedule. Overall there is no limit for taking new pictures under each model; the decision is based solely on the satisfaction of the photographer and the client. The in house structure may allow more flexibility in retaking the photos versus outsourcing the service as this can definitely add an additional expense to the project. The budget should include the expenses involved in retaking pictures and extra time should be allotted in the schedule for any additional time that maybe needed for new pictures (Flatworld Solutions, 2013). The goal is to have the client completely satisfied and the vision is relayed through the pictures. The potential uses of the photographs and those implications under each model The use of each photograph is there to benefit Kudler Fine Foods and their marketing arena along with the website to use the photos to show different aspects of the company. Many implications come along with the marketing side of the company by using contest and photographs in the stores to give Kudler Fine Foods the edge of the competition. The possibilities are endless with photos and the upgrades the company can create. Conclusion There are copyright laws that the company will have to follow, and release forms to be signed to protect the company as well as the models. If these laws are neglected the company could face detrimental financial and reputation repercussions. In comparing the pros and cons of outsourcing the photography to a professional photographer versus creating the infrastructure to take the photographs in-house, there is great benefit to creating the infrastructure to take the photographs in-house. There is more flexibility in the schedule as well as the decisions can be decided in-house. There is definitely a downside of photography done in-house. Employees should have training in use of the specialize equipment needed to produce quality pictures (Lin, 2005). The budget has to support the cost of hiring a professional as well as purchasing the equipment needed to complete the assignment. Coordinating schedules with the photographer can cause scheduling conflicts and delays in initiating the project. The companies have to take into consideration the pros and cons. Whatever decision is made has to definitely be supportive to the staff’s schedule, the budget and the company’s overall philosophy (Flatworld Solutions, 2013). References B & H Foto & Electronics Corp. (2013). Lighting Studio. Retrieved September 1, 2013, from bhphotovideo.com: http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/browse/Lighting-Studio/ci/1161/N/4294551176 Conrad, B. (2013). Hearst Communications, Inc. Retrieved September 1, 2013, from How to Compare Small Business Computer Systems: http://smallbusiness.chron.com/compare-small-business-computer-systems-580.html DT&G Inc. (2012). DT&G Photography. Retrieved from Building an In-House Studio: www.graphic-design.com/photographicstudio Dell. (2013). Computers for Business. Retrieved September 1, 2013, from Dell: http://www.dell.com/us/business/p/featured-deals.aspx?c=us&cs=04&l=en&s=bsd&ST=business%20computer%20systems&dgc=ST&cid=79370&lid=4766096&acd=12309152537461010 Flatworld Solutions (2013). The advantages and disadvantages of outsourcing. Retrieved September 15, 2013 http://www.flatworldsolutions.com/articles/advantages-disadvantages-outsourcing.php Kmaone. (2013). In-house versus Outsourcing. Retrieved September 1, 2013, from KMAONE.com: www.kmaone.com/inhouseoutsource.htm Lin, P. (2005). Should You Outsource Your Marketing? Retrieved September 15, 2013, from http://hbswk.hbs.edu/item/4883.html Media Novak. (2013). 50 Marketing Tips for Photographers. Retrieved from MediaNovak Website Design & Development: www.medianovak.com/blog/photography/marketing-tips-for-photographers-2/ MindFireInc. (2013). Retrieved from Mind Fire Studio: www.mindfirestudio.com/blog/4-key-steps-of-an-effective-marketing-campaing/ Network World, Inc. (1994-2013). Outsourcing vs. keeping it in-house. Retrieved September 15, 2013 http://www.networkworld.com/news/2007/102607-arguments-outsourcing-inhouse.html Outsourced E-commerce. (2012). Outsourcing Your Photography. Retrieved from Outsourced E-Commerce: www.outsourcedecommerce.com/2013/services/outsourcing-your-product-photograph

A Poison Tree essay

The poem â€Å"A Poison Tree† talks about the two ways to deal with anger. The first two lines deal with how we should deal with it but the rest of it talks about the wrath that the speaker has. The main theme of this poem is not anger but how anger can be cultivated. It shows how not bringing your anger up to the surface and dealing with it directly with the person you are angry with, this anger can be germinated into something poisonous and destructive.This poem is appropriate for Songs of Experience rather than for Songs of innocence because if it would be a song of innocence the human mind and soul would want to let the anger out in order to keep their soul clean of any bad thoughts. Innocence is a state of genuine love and naive trust towards all humankind, accompanied by unquestioned belief in Christian Doctrine. Songs of Experience deals with the loss of innocence after exposure to the material world and all of its mortal sin during adult life.This poem shows how the sp eaker is cultivating his anger and is seeking to destroy his â€Å"foe†. At the end of the poem we see how the hatred got the best of him. The anger grew into this poisonous fruit that when his enemy ate it he faced death. Nowhere in this poem it shows that his â€Å"foe† had any anger thoughts towards the speaker yet he was so blind by the anger that he probably didn’t even realize it since he was too busy feeding his anger.Also this is a Songs of Experience because at the beginning of the poem we see the wisdom that it has when it tells us â€Å"I was angry with my friend; / I told my wrath, my wrath did end. † It’s giving us a wise advice for our lives showing that the speaker posses wisdom not â€Å"innocence†Ã¢â‚¬â€stupidity. The poison tree that this poem talks about can be a symbol to the tree of forbidden knowledge from the bible. The speaker has this poisonous fruit that it’s there to tempt his foe to eat it to be destroyed. The foe sneaks into the garden and steals the fruit not being able to see that the tree is poisonous leading to his death. Just like in the bible God told Adam and Eve that if they were to eat from that tree they would face death the speaker’s foe faced the same fate. He was tempted and he had fallen. At this the speaker was satisfied and with the death of his foe his anger died. Mercy, pity, peace, and love cannot be connected to anger since these have no relations with anger. If not able to deal with anger a person doesn’t have mercy towards the person that they are angry at.They are not in peace with themselves they are always thinking of a way to get back at them and definitely have no love towards them. This poem is not a Songs of Innocence since anger at the point to want to hurt the other person is malicious and it comes with negative thoughts gained from experience not naive thoughts from those like children. Anger needs to be handled in the best manner possibl e and not let it germinate into something poisonous and destructive because at the end it harms both one that’s angry and the person you’re angry at

Subordinate Clauses and Commas

Subordinate Clauses and Commas Subordinate Clauses and Commas Subordinate Clauses and Commas By Jacquelyn Landis Writers like to sprinkle their work with subordinate clauses because they add variety to sentence structure. A reading diet too heavy with simple sentences or even compound sentences becomes wearisome quickly. Subordinate clauses- also known as dependent clauses- used skillfully can add complexity and artfulness to writing. A subordinate clause can either precede or follow its main clause. What writers tend to get confused about, however, is when and where to place commas in relation to subordinate clauses. The simple rule is this: If a subordinate clause precedes the main clause, separate the two with a comma: Unless you have a lot of money, steer clear of Rodeo Drive. If the subordinate clause follows the main clause, no comma is usually needed: Steer clear of Rodeo Drive unless you have a lot of money. Many writers wouldnt be able to resist the temptation to stick a comma between Drive and unless even though its not strictly necessary. Theres a natural pause that seems to call for a comma, but try to resist its call unless a pause is needed for special emphasis. One notable exception is when the subordinating conjunction because is used and the main clause expresses a negative concept: Don’t worry about your spelling errors because the editor will fix them. Omitting a comma in this sentence suggests the meaning that there’s another reason not to worry about the spelling errors: Don’t worry about your spelling errors because the editor will fix them; worry about them because you shouldn’t have made them to begin with. So if the real reason you shouldn’t worry about the spelling errors is, in fact, because the editor will fix them, we need a comma: Don’t worry about your spelling errors, because the editor will fix them. Watch out for because in your subordinate clauses. Scrutinize your sentences to make sure youre not clouding the issue and confusing your readers. 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:Types of RhymeBroadcast vs Broadcasted as Past FormWhen to use "an"

6 Tips for Writing About Live Events

6 Tips for Writing About Live Events Writing about live events like meetings, forums and speeches can be tricky for newbie reporters. Such events are often unstructured and even a bit chaotic, so its up to the reporter to give the story structure and order. Here are tips for doing just that. 1. Find Your Lede The lede of a live event story should focus on the most newsworthy and/or interesting thing that occurs at that event. Sometimes thats obvious: If Congress votes to raise income taxes, chances are thats your lede. But if its not clear to you whats most important, interview knowledgeable people after the event to see what they think is most important. 2. Avoid Ledes That Say Nothing Ledes that say nothing go look like this: A) The Centerville city council met last night to discuss the budget. Or B) A visiting expert on dinosaurs gave a talk last night at Centerville College. Neither of these ledes tells us much beyond the fact that the town council and the dinosaur expert talked about something. This leads to my next tip. 3. Make Your Lede Specific and Informative Your lede should give readers specific information about what happened or was said at the event. So instead of the say-nothing ledes, we wrote above, get specific: A) Members of the Centerville town council argued last night over whether to slash the budget or raise taxes for the coming year. B) A giant meteorite was probably responsible for the extinction of dinosaurs 65 million years ago, an expert said last night. See the difference? 4. Don't Write About Events Chronologically This is the classic mistake made by newbie reporters. They cover an event, say a school board meeting, and write about it in chronological order. So you end up with stories that read something like this: The Centerville School Board held a meeting last night. First, board members said the pledge of allegiance. Then they took attendance. Board member Janice Hanson was absent. Then they discussed how cold the weather has been lately, and.... See the problem? No one cares about all that stuff, and if you write the story that way youll bury your lede in the 14 paragraph. Instead, put the most interesting and newsworthy stuff at the top of your story, and the less interesting stuff lower down- no matter what order it occurs in. 5. Leave Out the Really Boring Stuff Remember, youre a reporter, not a stenographer. Youre under no obligation to include in your story absolutely everything that happens at the event youre covering. So if theres something boring that youre pretty sure your readers wont care about- like the school board members discussing the weather- leave it out. 6. Include Plenty of Direct Quotes​ This is the other mistake made by new reporters. They cover meetings or speecheswhich are basically about people talkingbut then turn in stories with few if any direct quotes in them. This makes for stories that are just plain boring. Always liven up event stories with plenty of solid, direct quotes from the people who are speaking.

Anthropology Response Paper 2 Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Anthropology Response Paper 2 - Essay Example Moreover, man moved into the stage of homohabilis where he used acheulian tools dated about 1.7 million years back. Homo Habilis moved to this stage after gradual improvement over some time. At this stage, they were making more sophisticated stone tools which were sharper and had straight at the edge, and an example is the hand axe. At this stage, the brain size of man is said to have increased and improved in intelligence. However, it is wrong to infer cultural ability from brain size because at this stage, culture was not so much developed given that man had an enlarged brain size. Eventually man advanced to another stage and was given the name Homo erectus, and throughout his geographic range, research has shown that there was progressive improvement over time. The late Homo erectus was found to have complex mental tablets, which guided him in making complex cultural artifacts. When the implements became useful, the reliance on tools increased. Eventually man moved to new subsiste nce and economic patterns, which improved the means and sources of obtaining food. According to paleoneurology, some insights concerning human evolution have been revealed. This study argues that the cranium is unique because it from the growing brain tissue and not cultural ability. This is the same case with bones that aid movement. This study is influenced by neuroscience and has no substantial knowledge on the current functionality of the brain. Essay two Race has been defined by anthropologists under six different groups namely; Ausraloid, mongoloid, Caucasoid, Polynesians, Negroid, and Native Americans. Anthropologists argue that all these members share similar physical characteristics, and they originated from a common point in the world. Biological anthropologists have described the biological variations of man and came to a conclusion that there are three major explanations of variations in human beings. These are natural selection that describes variations in hereditary tr aits, Gene flow that occur because people from a certain population mate with another from a different population, and genetic draft; which is a phenomena that occur when people move one geographical region to another. Today, anthropologists have realized that the racial human map is very different from human genes and that differentiation that exists is political. People are different because of varied environments, which their ancestors inhabited. For example, misunderstanding the concepts brings about power politics and even violence (Haviland, Prins & McBride 298). People receiving direct overhead sunlight like Africans tends to be darker than those from oblique sunlight regions. This is because melanin protects the skin from ultraviolet radiation and people with more melanin live longer than those with less melanin. The advantage with those with less melanin, like Asians and Europeans, is that they absorb more vitamin D from the sun as compared to their colleagues with more mel anin because of poor penetration of sun into their skin. This distinction is significant because we need to understand that race is not a biological definition describing the DNA structure of a person and it is fixed; hence one cannot change it. Race is not considered a valid way of describing human beings. Hence anthropologists h

Reward Management Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3000 words

Reward Management - Essay Example Employees in present times are no longer satisfied with mere cash-based rewards (Dewhurst, Guthridge, and Mohr, 2010). They are increasingly seeking alternate sources of reward mostly non-financial such as recognition of their work and contribution made towards organizational success, health benefits, policies that enable them to strike a perfect work-life balance, positions of authority that enable them to exercise control and take risks to accomplish challenging objectives, etc among others. Motivating such diverse and talented pool of human resources has hence become highly challenging for the organizations. They are now compelled to reassess their reward management strategies and revise them in accordance with the changing demands of the industry, and include novel strategies that appeal to the individual tastes and preference of their employees. This includes initiating organization wide changes in the management styles, re-organizing the design systems, and incorporating the principles of transparency and fairness, by seeking active participation of employees in the reward design process. The rules of the workplace have evolved during the last couple of decades and the realities of yesterday no longer hold true in present times. The drastic change brought about by information technology, globalization, and expansion of the marketplace has entirely changed the rule of the game. Organizations today are no longer chasing customers but are also compelled to come up with innovative strategies to retain their skilled pool of human resources. Employee retention through implementation of motivational reward oriented strategies has assumed a top priority for the management. This paper on reward management discusses the various issues concerned with performance oriented pay structures, including the effectiveness of rewards on employee performance, the relationship between non-financial rewards and employee performance, the application of flexible reward policies, impact of non-financial rewards, the relevance and significance of integrated approach to total reward, and the issue of employee entitlement trap. 2. Relationship between rewards and performance: Various studies have indicated that there exists a strong relationship between rewards and employee performance (Guzzo et al., 1995; Jenkins et al., 1998; Hansen, 1997; Stajkovic & Luthans, 2001). Employees play a key role in enhancing the organizational performance. Hence it is imperative for organiz ations to ensure that the employees are appropriately rewarded for their contribution towards organizational development through an effective reward framework. The significance of effective reward management strategies for organizations can be ascertained by the fact that rewards help the management in preventing employee burnouts and provides them with adequate strength and motivation to address the various challenges encountered on the job (Schaufeli et al., 2002). It has been observed that employees are often subject to severe stress. This is particularly evident in service industries such as banking and the hospitality sector where the employees are directly in touch with the customers. Consumers today are getting more and more demanding

Investor Relations with Bear Mountain Wind Park or as stated by Review Dissertation

Investor Relations with Bear Mountain Wind Park or as stated by Review Board in my notes to be uploaded - Dissertation Example ......................................................... Anthony Boydell, PhD, Director School of Environment and Sustainability ROYAL ROADS UNIVERSITY December 2010 Â © Marie Louise Vander Heiden, 2010 Abstract This study addressed the communication efforts of Peace Energy Cooperative (PEC) leading residents of the Peace River region in North Eastern British Columbia to invest in the Bear Mountain Wind Park (BMWP), a renewable, locally-based, environmentally-responsive wind energy project. A survey and subsequent email correspondence further explored local investor interest in renewable energy stakeholder relations. Respondents were motivated and aspired to be a component of environmental change; PEC allowed residents to act through financial investment. This study demonstrates media-based communications acting as a strong diffusion method in driving social networks to invest in renewable energy; however, it does not identify the single ideal method. Understanding significant infl uential factors that draw individuals towards renewable energy investment sources will act positively towards progression to a sustainable planet. Acknowledgements I would like to give thanks to the administrative support I received from PEC and all the members of PEC who kindly participated in my surveys. Great love and appreciation goes out to my kind, helpful and always encouraging husband, Michael. Thank you to my supervisor, Dr. Richard Kool who made my MEEC thesis experience very challenging but worth the sweat and tears. Rick, you pushed me to be better than I thought possible. My highest regards to Royal Roads University and Staff who were always there for me when I needed the support and guidance, especially Dr. Milt McClaren who went far beyond my furthest expectations, you are one-of-a-kind. I acknowledge support of my editor, Dr. Marie-Terese Little, who provided excellent guidance on APA and Royal Roads University-specific formatting and styling, grammar, sentence struc ture, syntax, punctuation and verbosity. Finally, to my lovely daughter Leila, I gave birth to you during this entire thesis process and you not only made it all worth it but you inspired me to be the best Mom and Environmental Educator I can be. Table of Contents Public Interest and Stakeholder Relations 3 Alternatives to Fossil Fuel Energy Sources 4 Purpose of Study 4 Research Questions 5 Research Objectives 7 Chapter 2: Literature Review 9 Climate Change and Global Warming 9 Renewable Energy Sources and Public Interest 10 Wind Energy- Attributes 24 Supply and Demand 25 Research Design and Rationale 26 Participants and Site 29 Data Analysis 31 Early Investors 35 Late Investors 35 No Investors 55 Conclusion 62 List of Abbreviations B.C. British Columbia BMWP Bear Mountain Wind Park EAO Environmental Assessment Office km Kilometre LP Limited Partnership MW Megawatts PEC Peace Energy Cooperative RECs Renewable energy certificates REEEP Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency Partnersh ip RPS Renewable Portfolio Standards Chapter 1: Introduction The Peace Energy Cooperative is an education and investment cooperative that promotes the development of renewable energy and looks for investments to make these developments happen while making a return on investment for their member investors. Their only investment to date has been the Bear Mountain Wind Park, described below, although they are also involved with research and development with several other concerns. PEC boasts 400

The History Of Payless Shoesource Inc Marketing Essay

The History Of Payless Shoesource Inc Marketing Essay Payless ShoeSource Inc. is a self-serve fashion-focused low cost shoe retailer.   The company was founded in 1956 in Topeka, Kansas and has expanded significantly within the domestic and international markets to almost 4,500 stores.   On their website, the stated mission is to democratize fashion and design in footwear and accessories.   Payless seeks to compete effectively by bringing to market differentiated, trend-right merchandise before mass-market discounters and at the same time as department and specialty retailers but at a more compelling price.  [1]  Payless is a subsidiary of Collective Brands, which a holding company for three business units: Payless ShoeSource,  Collective Brands Performance  + Lifestyle Group,  and Collective Licensing International. These units function separately, but have significant business relationships especially in brand licensing for Payless. In 2009, Payless reported $2.576 billion in sales and capture a large percentage for the cost-leader footwear market.  [2]  Payless is represented in all 50 states.   Internationally, Payless has multiple locations in Central and South America, Canada, and the Caribbean.   In 2009, Payless opened stores in the Middle East and has signed agreements to franchise into Russia, the Philippines, Israel, Malaysia, Singapore, Mexico and Indonesia.  [3]  Ã‚   When Payless was founded, it was based on being a low cost provider of shoes for families in a self-service format.   During the 50 years since, Payless has evolved from a low cost distributor to a low cost producer to an on-trend fashion, cost conscience producer and provider while retaining the self service format.   This evolution was a result of changing customer demands and increased retail competition.   Payless retooled their strategy when other low-cost shoe providers such as Wal-Mart and Target entered the shoe market.   This increase in competition on the cost-leader strategy forced Payless to examine their core competencies and their position in the marketplace.   As a result, the emphasis on fashion and design became a priority which is reflected in both their shoe and retail store design.  [4]  Ã‚   Over the past fifteen years, Payless has been increasing the fashion level of their products and have now repositioned themselves as an on-trend fashion outlet with trendy names at reasonable prices.   Payless has formed several partnerships with designers to create capsule collections exclusively at Payless that comprise one season; however due to the success of these designer collections Payless has been expanding these designer relationships.  [5]  Ã‚   The partnerships with designers started in 2007 with Abaetà ©, as a seasonal collection.   The success of the Abaetà © collection leads Payless to develop other partnerships with designers like Lela Rose, Alice + Olivia as well as Zack Zoe.   The most recent guest designer, Christain Siriano, has been a success due to both his design and his popularity of winning season four of Project Runway.   With the immense success of the show, there was instant name recognition and the target audience of the show is in line wit h the target market of Payless.   In fact, Christian Sirianos capsule collection contract was recently extended to be a multi-year contract to its immense success in the market.  [6]   External Analysis When looking at the external analysis for Payless ShoeSource, the general environment is composed of elements that influence the shoe industry and the companies within it. These elements group into six different environmental segments: demographic, economic, political/legal, sociocultural, technological, and global. Demographics for Payless have always played an important role in their overall strategy. Targeting women 16-49 with an income lower than $75,000 USD is their key to success.  [7]  This target market is ideal because individuals within this demographic express themselves through fashion. The economic factors for their general environment are a major downfall. With a target segment on a middle-class income, economic hardships are going to be devastating for Payless. Consumers will spend less on non-necessity goods in hard times, shoes being one of those items. The economy will also influence Payless because they compete based on lower priced fashion items to gain market share. However, since Payless is an international business, economies in other countries such as Latin America or the Middle East can offset these issues in the domestic market. International expansion is where political and legal elements can comes into play for Payless. Currently Payless has 643 international stores with plans to expand heavily in the years to come. By executing joint ventures and franchising, Payless is able to mitigate some of the political and legal risk it could encounter in foreign markets. The sociocultural environment for Payless externally is again positive. Since they are well known in the United States and Canada for keeping up with the latest trends, they can leverage this strategy worldwide. Each country is researched constantly for new trends or looks in the footwear and accessory industry. This research combined with knowledgeable local partners helps Payless with product selection to meet local demand. By researching and overcoming the sociocultural factor, Payless has gained market share each year, even in rough economic times in the United States.    When looking at the technological external environment for Payless, the company is far beyond its competition. Although Payless is based in Topeka, Kansas, all of their shoe manufacturing is completed in the Unites States and 13 other countries around the world. Their main warehouse is 807,000 square feet designed with a state of the art coordination system. These systems keep all the stores replenished with new supply at least twice a week based on style, color and size of the shoes. The global environmental factor for Payless is also a significant part of their strategy. Global factors influencing business are legal, political, social, technological and economic. Each country Payless enters, these influences will change. Moving into global markets via joint ventures or franchising helps lessen the risk for Payless because the partner understands the market and environment the store is operating in. When looking at the supplier power for Payless, 85% of their footwear comes from Chinese factories, 10% from Vietnam and the other 5% from Brazil, India, Indonesia and Thailand.  [8]  Since Payless depends on third parties to manufacture and supply their products, this could cause several problems. There could be a shortage of raw materials, inadequate manufacturing and shipping capacity of the product. In addition, the third parties price fluctuations of raw material, skilled labor as well as currency exchange risk could impact the low price strategy of Payless. Payless also has risk in transportation since it relies on third parties to transport and deliver its products. These third party relationships impact the ability to deliver footwear on time and at a low cost. The buyer power for Payless is a significant threat. Given their current fashion strategy, Payless could one day overcome buyer power, but as of now, they still compete on price and focus this incentive to benefit the consumer. With this buyer power, the threat of substitution is very high for Payless. The footwear industry is all about the latest styles, colors and looks. If Payless did not have a research team focused on implementing new products, substitution would be high for Payless. Bringing in Christian Siriano, Lela Rose and Isabel Toledo as new designers has given Payless a more upscale look at a cost effective price for the consumer. Though there are substitutions for their brands in each product category, Payless is less expensive overall. Competitive rivalry in the footwear industry is never ending. Payless has to compete with the big box stores such as DSW, Famous Footwear, J.C.  Penney, Kohls, Macys, Marshalls, Ross Stores, Target, TJ Maxx, and Wal-Mart. All of these competitors have the capability to hurt Payless in a cost leadership strategy. However, Payless competes in fashion at a lower price point. This fashion focus aligns with their target market that will buy these designer shoes with Christian Siriano, Lela Rose and Isabel Toledo.  [9]   The threat of new entry for Payless is currently small. Although Payless has many competitors in their industry, it would be almost impossible to compete with their net sales and store locations around the world. The startup costs would be high and the sourcing for factories would be time consuming. Designers would need to be experienced and willing to work with foreign factories. New competition could compete on price, but not on quality fashion footwear. Payless has a very favorable position and it should be easy to defend against new entrants. Internal Analysis Payless ShoeSource is dedicated to democratizing fashion and design in footwear and accessories to the world and inspiring fun fashion possibilities for the family.   We provide our customers with the style they want at a great price, and our nearly 4,500 store locations offer an engaging, easy-to-shop experience and outstanding customer service.  [10]  The current mission of Payless ShoeSource has not been long-lived in this form.   After the company experienced it is first lost in 2003, the company worked hard to turn things around.   Beyond working to increase sales and correct the inventory problems, the company revised its mission statement, vision, and company strategy in 2005.  [11]  Ã‚  The current mission has driven the company to develop strategies, which have led the company to exhibit internal strengths and prevailing weaknesses. The most obvious overlying strategy for Payless is cost leadership.   This can be determined not only by the mission statement,  [12]  but also by the name of the store.   As the mission statement states, Payless wants to provide their customers with the style they want at a great price.   Also, the title Payless gives the impression that customers will pay less when buying their shoes at Payless Shoe Source.   This name not only exhibits the goals of the company but what customers can expect by shopping at any of Payless ShoeSources 4470 locations. With the major changes made in 2005, Payless developed new strategies to expand their customer base, which would in turn lead to more sales. These strategies developed in 2005 will be focused on in this analysis as 2005 was a monumental year for strategy development and will be compared to the 2009 annual report analysis of the success of such strategies. One of these new strategies was that Payless would go forward with an offer of on-trend, differentiated products.  [13]  Ã‚  With this, it would increase its accessories and offer a larger athletic footwear section.  [14]  In the 2009 Annual Report, Payless stated that they advanced their strategy to grow beyond footwear as broader and deeper product offerings drove dramatic improvement in the accessories business at Payless ShoeSource.  [15]   Another strategy developed in 2005 was to strengthen and reposition Payless by introducing a house of brands available to the consumer at a discounted price,13 which would fall directly in line with their overlying cost leadership strategy.   This house of brands allowed customers to have access to a variety of brands within Payless, which, according to Matt Rubel, CEO of Payless, would fulfill their focus of democratizing design and fashion in footwear and accessories and their goal to inspire fun fashion possibilities for the family.   Acquiring brands like American Eagle à ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¾Ã‚ ¢, according to Mr. Rubel, is an important step in achieving this and to our ability to connect with young consumers.   The house of brands includes American Eagleà ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¾Ã‚ ¢, Champion ®, Airwalk ®, Spalding, and Shaquille ONeal endorsed Dunkmanà ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¾Ã‚ ¢ .  [16]   The third strategy developed in 2005 was to enhance the customer experience by hiring friendly, helpful employees to improve customer service.  [17]  The 2009 annual report confirmed that one aspect of this customer service included measuring childrens feet, which helped increase the sales of the childrens shoes segment.  [18]  Ã‚  Beyond this, there is no data shown as to how successful this strategy has been. The last change in strategy added in 2005 was to improve the efficiency of the business by introducing better technology including a POS system in order to shorten checkout time and keep better track of sales.   In addition, a logistics network would be introduced to improve the companys inventory system and also to improve flexibility in the inventory.13 As far as efficiency goes, the 2009 annual report stated that an added U.S. distribution center shorted replenishment times and lowered costs, improving the gross margin by changing how sizes were assorted and defined store clusters, improving productivity and profitability in 2009.  [19]   Beyond the 2005 strategy developments, a more recent development for Payless is its newly defined international expansion strategies as outlined in the 2009 annual report. Looking at Payless specifically, Collective Brands began franchising Payless internationally 18 months ago and predicts that it will have about 700 locations abroad within the next five years, including 300 of those in Indonesia.  [20]  Ã‚  In the 2009 annual report, it was stated that Payless opened a significant amount of stores in Columbia within the year.  [21]  Ã‚  In 2010, the store introduced a new franchising business model to expand internationally in a quick, low-risk, capital-efficient manner.  [22]  Although the strategy was introduced in 2010, the first three franchised stores opened in the Middle East in 2009.  [23]   Ownership strategy differs by geographic regions.   In North America, mainly the USA and Canada, Payless stores are company-owned.   In Central and South America, stores have been opened as joint ventures with a multitude of partners.   As stated above, franchised stores have existed thus far in the Middle East with franchising as a strategy for future expansion, mainly focused on the Middle East and Asia.  [24]   The last strategy to be assessed in this analysis is a method Payless developed just this year.   Ã‚  This strategy is to develop a recognition of the company as social responsible in order to lure in the socially conscious consumers.   Payless has teamed up with Airwalk   for The Good Shoe Project to allow shoppers to Buy-One-Give-One to a child in need where customers can buy a pair of Airwalk shoes for $19.99 and Payless will give a pair of kids shoes to a child in need through their new partner, World Vision.   Payless plans to give a minimum of 100,000 pairs of shoes to children in South America this Christmas season.  [25]   The core competencies and strengths of Payless ShoeSource exist in its store presence, financial stability, and its ability to keep prices low.   Store presence encompasses the fact that it has already established itself in all 50 states plus a growing number of international locations.  [26]  Ã‚  This presence includes 4470 stores total in 19 countries as of 2009, with 18.6% of stores abroad, or 873 total in 2009.   According to many sources, Payless can be considered one of the largest footwear retailers in the Western Hemisphere selling 140 million pairs of footwear and over 40 million accessories in the US, Canada, Caribbean, Central America, and South America in 2009.  [27]   Financially, Payless has grown its gross margin regardless of the 3.9% decrease in sales due to the recession.   This includes a 5.2% increase in gross margin in 2009, increasing the gross margin to 34.5%.   However, this is primarily due to a low gross margin in 2008 attributable to pre-tax charges of $88.2 million related to the impairment of trade names, $45.1 million due to pre-tax litigation expenses, and $13.2 million of pre-tax charges related to the tangible asset impairment and other charges.   However, the higher gross margin can also be attributed to lower product costs and higher initial mark-on prices of footwear in 2009.  [28]  Ã‚  Though all of these additional charges decreased the gross margin in 2008, a better representation of gross margin improvement is to compare to the 2007 32.6% gross margin.   From 2007 to 2009, the gross margin was improved by 1.9%, or 0.95% per year. Lastly, Payless has been rather successful in their skill to encompass a wide variety of skills including supply chain management and sourcing to keep prices low while also focusing on fashion.   This has allowed Payless to capture the market of moms and middle-class people who care about both fashion and their budget, which is considered to be a success factor of 2009 in the annual report.  [29]   The supply chain management procedures of Payless assist in keeping prices down by making the company more efficient.   This includes the strong supply chain management (SCM) system satisfying the 2005 strategy to improve inventory levels.  [30]  Ã‚  In 2009 annual report, Payless manages inventory through the use of a variety of systems and models related to planning, forecasting, pricing, and allocations to help align promotions, product flow, and pricing with customer shopping patterns.   Although the annual report does not give technical details on these systems, it is clear that the organization of Payless SCM systems have proven to increase the efficiency of the company, and improve the gross margin as previously stated.    One way it has done this on a large scale is by reducing markdowns through using intelligent SCM tools which have been able to stock stores by use of customer clusters, or customer profiles based on lifestyle, demographics, shopping behavior, and appetite for fashion.   Also, the systems keep track of seasonality and climate considerations by geography which have improved the timing of inventory distribution.   The SCM systems have the ability to track historical data to use as a precedent of stores sales volumes and categories that stores tend to sell well along with specific proportions for inventory forecasting.   The high amount of data stored in this system also involves a size assortment matrix tool. This data has reduced old product markdowns by analyzing sizes that could have been avoided in initial purchasing.  [31]  Ã‚   On a smaller scale, the supply chain management systems have provided store-level data management which allows for pricing and inventories to be adjusted on a per-store basis based.   Product pricing is performed per store in order to price products appropriately on a smaller scale rather than one corporate or regional price.   Size variations are also taken into account on a per store basis in order to produce sales forecasts for ordering inventory, optimizing gross margin dollars and reducing markdowns by giving each store individualized attention.  [32]   Another resource advantage of Payless is its sourcing capabilities.   Payless sources out 72% of production to large factories which serve as their manufacturers, consisting mainly of 26 core factories which account for 75% of Collectives footwear purchases.   These factories are given specification and performance standards and then bid for jobs on a competitive basis.  [33]  Ã‚  This network of factories allows Payless to manufacture their products at low prices with companies that they know and trust.   This is a core asset in its ability to keep prices low in its overall strategy of cost leadership. Other than supply chain management and sourcing, other factors providing key assets and skills to Payless are listed in the 2009 annual report.   These factors are the companys ability to develop fashionable, high-quality merchandise in an assortment of sizes, colors, and styles appealing to their target customers; the ability to anticipate and respond to changing customer demands in a timely manner; creating an acceptable value proposition for customers; providing an inviting, customer friendly shopping environment; and, providing effective marketing support.  [34]   Resource disadvantages, or assets and skills that are lacking at Payless, mainly include its lack of knowledge in a few key markets, its marketing resources, its financial resources, and its lack of independence.   These factors keep Payless from optimizing its ability to compete in the market of footwear and accessories. Payless lacks significant knowledge in operating in South American markets.   According to the 2009 annual report, the firm closed 26 Payless stores in Peru and Chile and were categorized as discontinued operations in the report.   The closing of these stores eliminated 200 management and administrative positions, concerning the company with its failure in these markets and the reduced employee morale based on the elimination of these positions.  [35]   Next, the report states its lack of marketing and financial resources as compared to competitors such as Wal-Mart, Target, and other department stores.   Payless is concerned in their ability to continue to compete against these low-cost retailers which provide more of a one-stop-shop for consumers and who also have much larger marketing budgets.   Beyond this, Payless lacks financial ability to withstand reduced shoe sales whereas these competitors have the ability to withstand fluctuations in the market.   High fixed costs in proportion of operating expenses cause declines in operating performance to be magnified with sales shortfalls.   Major fixed costs include leasing costs of stores, debt service expenses, and labor expenses which will all remain regardless of sales.   Labor expenses in particular remain the same as the stores generally employ minimum employees regardless of sales volume.  [36]   The last resource disadvantage to be concerned with in this analysis is the lack of independence from third parties to manufacture and distribute products.   Though this is somewhat an external concern, it is also a problem internally as the company is weak in its ability to withstand factors affecting the manufacturing line.    Overall, the internal analysis of Payless is strong in many areas, mainly its ability to follow execute its mission statement and strategies following directly in line with this mission.   A competitors analysis will get more into the analysis of Payless ShoeSources ability to compete in the footwear and accessories market on both a short and long-term basis. Comparison to Competitors   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The retail footwear and accessories industry is highly competitive. It is comprised of department stores, footwear specialty stores, discount mass-merchandisers, sporting good stores and on-line competitors. In addition, many retailers that have not carried footwear have added footwear and accessories lines to their stores.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   For Payless Domestic, they compete mainly with DSW, Famous Footwear, J.C. Penney, Kohls, Macys, Marshalls, Ross Stores, Target, TJ Maxx, and Wal-Mart and they seek to compete effectively by coming into the market with differentiated, trend-right merchandise before mass-market discounters. Besides the timing of producing new merchandise, Payless also requires their trend-right merchandise to be priced below department stores and specialty retailers. In the worldwide footwear industry, Payless faces various competitive challenges from retailers and wholesalers since their financial and marketing resources are less than some competitors. Although under high pressure of increasing competitiveness, Payless still focuses on the following points as bases of enhancing their low cost on trend-fashion competitive advantage: Developing fashionable, high-quality merchandise in an assortment of sizes, colors and styles that appeal to their target consumers: For example, Dyelightsà ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¾Ã‚ ¢ is exclusively offered by Payless ShoeSource stores. It is a unique feature that sets Payless apart from the competition. The shoes are dyed to the customers specifications and are available for pick up in about 10 days at the Payless ShoeSource store or delivered to the customer for an additional shipping fee.  [37]  As previously mentioned, Payless also has strategic partnerships with designers that emphasis high fashion for under $60. With their extensive licensing Payless is also able to have a house of brands that appeals to fashion focused consumers. Ensuring product availability and optimizing supply chain effectiveness: Payless uses different systems and models to ensure timely delivered to meet customer demand, which drives sales and margin growth. The company creates targeted assortments based on localized demand and specific product lifecycles. Payless also prices their products at the store level to manage aged inventory. Payless has a global supply chain structure that integrates their design, product development and sourcing functions. Coordinated transportation is also a vital component of efficiency for Payless. They employ the just-in-time model and each distribution center only has eight days of supply for store replenishment.  [38]   High quality assurance and low price:   Payless contracts with factories that meet their specified quality and safety standards for shoe production; minimum capacity requirements; production control processes; and agree not to use forced or child labor.  [39]  Payless also provides technical design support for their direct purchasing functions. For example, Payless locates their field inspection personnel close to the factories and freight consolidation facilities that they use throughout the world. By concentrating on quality, Payless is able to reduce rework costs. Shopping environment and customer service: Payless uses a customer focused sales staff to provide attentive, product knowledgeable service. Payless also offers customers a self-selection shopping environment, which allows customers to select their shoes freely. Shoes and accessories are displayed neatly and grouped by type of shoe ensuring self-selection is easy.  [40]  Customers can seek help from trained and professional associates if they need any help. In addition, Payless executes an easy and convenient return policy even if the shoes are worn. This emphasis on cost containment through efficient supply chain management helps Payless maintain its historic low-cost position. This, when combined with its retail product selection optimization, increases profit margins. Payless is focused on the customer experience through excellent customer service and accessible on-trend fashion. Their competitors compete on cost or brand, but are unable to combine the strategies efficiently. Payless has developed a competitive advantage by leveraging their house of brands, designer partnerships, efficient supply chain, and optimized product mix. Recommendations Although Payless has made some bold and aggressive steps in recent history in order to further strengthen their position in the marketplace, we feel Payless needs to initiate changes on four unique planes. Continued and expanded efforts in pricing strategies and product differentiation, a refined domestic retail system, new strategic marketing initiatives, and a revised overseas expansion policy are all necessary for Payless to realize sustainable competitive advantages in