Differences between Race & Gender Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words

Differences between Race & Gender - Essay Example This paper highlights that Stanton et al describe the way men have mistreated women in the society for so long. Man is said to have never allowed a woman to exercise her rights, deprived her voice before the law, and the woman has been denied right to own property. Stanton et al however condemn these cores of actions and suggests that only God has the sole responsibility of defining the roles and abilities of men and women in the society. â€Å"We insist that they have immediate admission to all the rights and privileges which belong to them as citizens of United States†. This paper declares that Dub Bois talks of seclusion by the society which makes you odd and feel discriminated, he talks of the problem of the twentieth century as the color line. It once dawned on him that he was different from others when a young lady refused to pick a card from him while seated amongst other people. This matter was the first hand experience of Dubois on brutality of discrimination. Meanwhile the women in America underwent lives of suffering struggling with a lot of burdens on their shoulders; â€Å"in all the roles was to seek fulfillment as wives and mothers†.  

Effective Research and Writing Essay Example for Free

Effective Research and Writing Essay To be successful in the new market segment, our team must efficiently accomplish the goals set by the company. A leadership approach for each team member was developed based on the theories of leadership and each members individual personality. Marie and Teresas Personality Assessment Based on the results of the personality assessment, Marie and Teresa possess extroverted, intuitive, feeling, and perceiving attributes (What’s My Jungian 16-Type Personality Self-Assessment,† n.d.). They are people-oriented, creative, and highly optimistic. They are motivated by interactions with people and enjoy a large social circle of acquaintances that require social situations to fuel their energy. Their personalities tend to focus their attention on the big picture rather than the details and prefer to have different options should circumstances change. They respond to the need for urgency to accomplish goals and they value proactivity to become a successful part of the group. Leadership Approaches I plan to lead them by using a democratic and participative style of leadership successfully. I will make sure to involve them in my decision-making process, delegate authority, and encourage their feedback. I will also use a transformational approach because of their need to be connected to their leader and their feeling of reaching their optimal potential in the workplace. Jims Personality Assessment Based on the results of the personality assessment, Jim possesses extroverted, sensing, thinking, and judging attributes (What’s My Jungian 16-Type Personality Self-Assessment, n.d.). He is realistic, logical, analytical, decisive, and has a natural head for business or mechanics. He is also motivated by interactions with people and requires social situations to fuel his energy. His personality tends to focus on the details rather than the big picture and prefers logical considerations over social ones when making decisions. He is a planner and he gains influence through predictability. He focuses on immediate outlooks rather than future possibilities. Leadership Approaches I plan to lead him by using a democratic and participative style of leadership. I will make sure to involve him in my decision making process, delegate authority, and encourage his feedback. I will also use a contingency style of leadership that focuses on task orientation because of his need to organize and run things in a business. His motivation for urgency will be emulated through his realistic expectations and attaining goals based on analytical and decisive approaches. Marys Personality Assessment Based on the results of the personality assessment, Missy possesses extroverted, intuitive, feeling, and judging attributes (What’s My Jungian 16-Type Personality Self-Assessment, n.d.). She is charismatic, compassionate, and highly persuasive. She is also motivated by interactions with people and enjoys a large social circle of acquaintances that requires social situations to fuel her energy. Her personality tends to be more conceptual than practical and she values personal considerations over criteria that are objective. Leadership Approaches I plan to lead her by using a democratic and participative style of leadership. I will make sure to involve her in my decision making process, delegate authority, and encourage her feedback. She tends to plan her activities and possesses outstanding time management skills, so her sense of urgency to complete a task is high. I will also use a charismatic-visionary style of leadership that allows me to articulate the vision and be willing to take risks to achieve it (Robbins Coulter, 2012). Ricks Personality Assessment Based on the results of the personality assessment, Steve possesses introverted, intuitive, thinking, and perceiving attributes (What’s My Jungian 16-Type Personality Self-Assessment, n.d.). He is socially cautious, enjoys problem solving, and is highly conceptual. He prefers interacting with a small group of friends because of his tendency to be quiet and reserved. He is a planner who gains influence through predictability and focuses on future possibilities rather than immediate outlooks. Leadership Approaches I plan to lead him by using a laissez-faire style of leadership because it will allow him to make his own decisions because he has little regard for titles. His tendency to withhold judgment and his delay of making important decisions can create a challenge when deadlines need to be met. His personality prefers to work alone because of his need for independence, so I will be able to manage him effectively when I make sure that his competencies match his interests. By adjusting my leadership style to conform to each member’s personality, I am confident that my team will efficiently accomplish the goals set by the company. Our new department will be effective in the new market segment and fulfill the company’s strategic plan.

Racial Beauty Standards In The Bluest Eye Essay -- Toni Morrison

In Toni Morrison's The Bluest Eye, the character Claudia struggles with a beauty standard that harms her sense of self-esteem. Claudia tries to make sense of why the beauty standard does not include black girls. The beauty standard determines that blonde-haired blue-eyed white girls are the image of beauty and therefore they are worthy of not only attention, but are considered valuable to American culture of the 1940s. Thus, learning she has no value or beauty as a black girl, Claudia destroys her white doll in an attempt to understand why white girls are beautiful and subsequently worthy, socially superior members of society. In destroying the doll, Claudia attempts to destroy the beauty standard that works to make her feel socially inferior and ugly because of her skin color. Consequently, Claudia's destruction of the doll works to show how the beauty standard was created to keep black females from feeling valuable by producing a sense of self-hate in black females. The racia l loathing created within black women keeps them as passive objects and, ultimately, leads black women, specifically Pecola, to destroy themselves because they cannot attain the blue eyes of the white beauty standard. Claudia tries to resist loving white girls that her sister, Frieda, and friend, Pecola, admires for their beautiful featuresÂâ€" blonde hair and blue eyes. Claudia does not believe that Frieda and Pecola should admire girls who do not look like them physically. Unable to convince Frieda and Pecola that white girls are not the only standard of beauty, Claudia begins to have intense feelings of resentment and anger toward the white beauty standard: "I couldn't join them in their adoration because I hated Shirley. Not because she was... ...g" that she does not really care for white features and/or white girls but she must pretend to have the same feelings and admiration for whiteness. So why must Claudia pretend to like white girls? Claudia learns it is easier to love the white beauty standard than to fight it because everyone even black women believe in white as the only source of beauty. She cannot fight the whole cultureÂâ€"the media, her sister, her friends, her community and the white community. So Claudia must "convert from pristine sadism to fabricated hatred, to fraudulent love (Morrison 23)." She must fake her love for whiteness in order to survive in the culture; she must learn to hate her self to survive and treat herself as invisible object, rather than the socially recognized white girl. Works Cited Morrison, Toni. The Bluest Eye. Afterward by Toni Morrison. New York: Penguin, 1994.

Developing Yourself as an Effective Human Resources Essay

The Human Resources Profession Map was created by the Chartered Institute of Personnel & Development (CIPD) together with Human Resources (HR) practitioners. The aim was to highlight and explain what HR personnel need to know, do and how to deliver the highest standards of knowledge, skills and behaviour required for growth and success within an organisation. The HR Map is a very important tool to help personnel identify areas that need to be developed within their career. The HR Professional Map is created for any type of organisation (small or large) and is based around areas of professional competencies to help those just starting their careers as well as seasoned professionals. The Map is structured around ten professional areas, eight behaviours and four bands of professional competence. It holds two professional core areas, which are ‘insights, strategy and solutions’ and ‘leading HR’. These areas are essential for any worker who needs to develop skills to the best possible level. Firstly, s/he needs to understand the company’s values and have a thorough knowledge of what the company does. The basics need to be covered before the employee can proceed within the other training and development parts of the profession map. After learning about insights, strategies and solutions, the HR practitioners should be aware of any arising problems that could effect their work place. The knowledge that comes from the gained behavioural skills should be good enough for HR practitioners to be able to come up with solutions and adapt it to new situations, helping an employee gain confidence and become a better leader. Another eight professional areas that professionals need to know are; service delivery and information; organisation design; organisation development;  resourcing and talent planning; learning and talent development; performance and reward; employee engagement and employee relations. The eight behaviours show what kind of attributes HR practitioners should implement, which are; being curious; a decisive thinker; skilled influencer; personally credible; collaborative; driven to deliver; having the courage to challenge and being a role model. All of those areas and behaviours are covered by four bands of competence. Band one would be for beginners who start their career and have a basic understanding of the HR role and band four would be for senior professionals who have the most experience within a company. The key area for me to focus on within my company would be employee engagement at band one of professional competency. For the last six years I have been working at the cinema where I have learnt everything about the company’s values and goals, through starting as a staff-member to becoming a duty-manager. Employee engagement is a very important level of commitment to any company; an engaged employee should always have pride in what s/he does and work hard to achieve success. In order to have motivated and positive staff who deliver outstanding results, I need to know how to communicate, listen, train/coach my team members, setting aspirational targets through meetings, appraisals and one-to-one sessions. I am sent for various training sessions which provides me with the ability to provide the best support and training for my personnel. After observing and listening to my staff I have noticed that people learn in various ways and I need to adopt different methods in training s essions to get the best out of them and to make them feel valued and motivated. ACTIVITY 2 Understanding Customer Needs. It happens very often in my professional role that certain customers come to me asking for some data, advice or requiring assistance. Not so long ago I had three customers simultaneously come to me with individual problems. They were: Staff Member Emma, who wanted to find out how many hours of holiday she earned so far and when would be the best time to book her holidays. Operational Assistant Ben, who wanted me to add the new starters which would  be starting from the beginning of next week to the system and send a ‘new starter form’ to the Head Office HR Manager. General Manager Paul, who asked me to check our monthly payroll which just got sent through and needed to be replied to by the end of the working day. It is essential that I always try to prioritise my tasks according to the customer needs and the impact it would have on the company. At the beginning I told Emma that I was unable to focus on her query at that specific moment, but would make sure that tomorro w I would have more time to talk through her holiday requests. My priority was checking the monthly payroll. The task was set by my General Manager and I had only till the end of the day to check it. I need to have enough time to thoroughly check the payroll as if there are any mistakes I need to create a report with all the faults found and send it to the HR manager to investigate. Adding new staff to the system was my second priority. The staff’s data did not go live until the week after and therefore was lacking any real pressure in terms of time, and the system we use is simple and straight-forward. Nevertheless, it took priority over Emma in case there were mistakes that would later delay this important and timely process. As stated, Emma was my last priority because her query was not as pressing as the previous two. However, I still made her feel important and valued by informing her that I would have everything ready for the meeting the next day. Effective Communication Effective communication is important in every work place. It is essential for employees to build the appropriate level of trust and understanding, to help create strong working relationships and therefore solve any arising problems with more ease. The three most common ways to communicate in my company are: Face to face. The most efficient and common within my role, it is used when I want to delegate jobs to staff members, within team meetings etc. This type of communication cannot be ignored and is particularly successful in motivating staff to do their jobs effectively. Although sometimes face-to-face can be difficult and cause problems; when dealing with a difficult situation it is sometimes hard to stay calm or always see eye-to-eye. Emotions can become visible which may cloud communication and further exasperate an event. E-mails. These are used on a regular basis. Most contact with external customers is through e-mail and so we need to make sure they are always answered swiftly. They are easy, effectively free and a very fast form of communication. For my internal customers I use an e-mail service for sending out rotas and other staff requests, therefore it is important to check it daily. Unfortunately, sometimes e-mails may be misread and people could feel offended by its content due to miscommunication. Also, some messages may be misplaced and sent to a customer’s ‘spam’ folder and therefore treated as unsent and ignored, causing negative experiences. Feedback Forms. A very popular method that is used for one-to-one meetings, probation reviews and appraisals. These forms provide to customers a clear and concise outline of their positive/negative behaviour, and acknowledge, with their line manager, what kind of changes need to be made, creating a clear plan that could help with their development. Feedback can also help staff feel appreciated and increase their self-esteem. A disadvantage of feedback forms may be the subjective nature of feedback (as anyone within the management team can choose to provide a form without first going through any procedures or checks) leaving open the possibility of personal opinions clashing with a customer’s work ethic. Effective Service Delivery To be able to meet all customer needs the company should have an effective service delivery. Good working relationships and team work should be key to creating a good service delivery for our customers. Everyday I have to deliver satisfactory service on time. Whether it is with our external customers by replying to their e-mails or phone calls on a daily basis or for my internal customers when writing rotas and meeting deadlines set by Management or Head Office. It is essential for a HR practitioner to be able to deliver a service within a timely manner because that will help build trust with customers. Delivering a service on budget is essential in my work place as I have to deal with it on a daily basis. I am mostly responsible for payroll and, within my company, payroll is the biggest controlling cost. Every week we have to schedule staff according to expected business levels. On top of this, everyday we have to control our forecast and act accordingly to set hours, which may incl ude sending staff home when it is quiet or  calling more people in when it is busy. Dealing with difficult customers and handling complaints is not easy, especially external ones. Whenever I have to deal with one I am always focused, listen to the person’s complaint, apologise for the problem and try to explain why certain situation have happened. I’m always trying to put myself in their position and empathise with them. Sometimes just explaining things may resolve the problem because a customer may not understand something, be confused or simply be agitated and in need of assistance. I asses the situation and decide how best to resolve it (whether with a mere apology or free guest passes etc). If the customer is still not happy with the outcome and would like the complaint to go further, I pass the situation onto head office to be dealt with more formally. When handling and resolving complains it is important to stay calm, communicate and be aware how serious the complaint is. Sometimes is okay to to resolve it in an informal one-to-one meeting but if it’s something serious like Gross Misconduct, then the complaint must be dealt with form ally which could result in dismissal. Looking at the Associate Membership criteria I would need to develop ‘practical and technical HR knowledge’ and ‘collating, analysing and interpreting data’. These two areas stand out the most from the associated membership criteria because I know I could develop these skills better throughout my personal development plan and become a more skilled HR practitioner. Learning more about practical and technical HR knowledge will expand my awareness and make me a more rounded, proficient professional. And learning how to properly collate, analyse and interpret data is something I have yet to really learn and so will give me a crucial grounding for further development. In order to be able to grow within developing practical and technical HR knowledge I would have to gain a lot of experience by shadowing my HR manager and fellow colleagues. In my organisation it is very important to know as much as possible about the human resources department because we do not hav e many people on site with HR skills. After learning about HR development I could focus on one or two key areas, such as disciplinary procedures or maternity leave, which would add key areas of knowledge to my  current HR capabilities. I believe that developing yourself practically and technically is essential for an individual who wants to become a good HR practitioner within his/her company as this is a core grounding to any career in HR. Collating, analysing and interpreting data is connected to developing practical and technical knowledge within my HR area. By getting support from my line managers I can be trained in creating weekly analyses of all payroll reports such as sickness submissions, lateness tracker and breaks. That skill would teach me how to work on our workforce payroll and I would get to know the rules and disciplinary procedures. With that in mind, I would be able to implement visible data and make staff responsible for their absences. Continuous Professional Development (CPD) is a â€Å"combination of approaches, ideas and techniques that will help you manage your own learning and growth†, focusing â€Å"firmly on results – the benefits that professional development can bring you in the real world† (CIPD website). It can be defined as a life-long learning project that describes the actions of an individual professional who is continuously planning, managing, reviewing and developing his/her skills within their professional or private life. The main aspect of CPD is the Personal Development Plan (PDP) which is structured to help and support individuals to be able to plan and organise their objectives or values in their personal or career development. It identifies what skills and knowledge you need to develop to progress further. I believe that CPD is important to me and my organisation because it gives me and my employer a chance to grow and progress within my career. It sets clear objectives and provides an opportunity to widen any knowledge and skills which are important to succeed within the organisation. By planning my PDP I am able to understand my strengths and weaknesses and learn how to improve them day by day. It keeps me interested therefore I feel motivated and positive. The company can also benefit from having the structure of CPD in place as it helps the company move forward by having motivated and happy personnel, as well as better working relationships due to managers spending more time with staff through one-to-one meetings and appraisals. The two options that I chose from my personal development plan are having practical and technical HR knowledge and completion of my CIPD course. Personally, advantages of having practical and technical HR knowledge would be the ability to implement my new skills on site and be able to use more of my own initiative on day to day basis. By shadowing my HR manager and having support from my head office team I would be able to learn about all procedures very quickly. In having those skills I would know how to run the HR department and by doing so I would be very well prepared for HR audits. The only disadvantage for this area would be time organisation, in making sure I can travel to London (and therefore needing cover) and that my HR manager has time to coach me, although this would only be for a set amount of time. The reason why I chose to study an online CIPD course is because I wanted to get my qualification while I was still working a full-time job. It provides great flexibility and no daily travel saves a lot of time and money. I find studying online is less stressful than face-to-face college as it allows me to work within my on surroundings and at a pace I am comfortable with. All lessons are available via a website and the tutors are always quick in responding to e-mails. A disadvantage to studying online is the lack of visible pressure from tutors to push me to work between my regular weekly shifts at work, although this at least helps improve my self-motivational skills.

Internal and External Analysis of Tesla Essay

Tesla motors is able to differentiate itself from its rivals by offering a product that has yet to be matched. No other automotive company has been able to produce a car that is all electric and can travel 250 miles on a single charge. In addition, no other company has a network of charge stations allowing Tesla owners to drive across the country if desired. Finally, Tesla motors has created a brand of elite cars, it has been said that Tesla owners may be more of a cult than that of Mac owners. The Tesla Model S is equipped with nothing but the best. From its 24 inch LCD screen, to its leather seats. The 90 kWH battery allows the Model S to travel 300 miles without being charged. This allows the Model S to be very light weight and travel 0 to 60 mph in 3.9 seconds. In addition, some intangible strengths of Tesla are its leadership, drive for innovation, and customer service. Tesla is run by Elon Musk, a man driven for success, and also has capital to support the company. Tesla is the first car of its kind, and hopes to continue to deliver quality products. Tesla hopes to be among the first to offer an auto-pilot car. Soon they will be launching their Model X, an SUV of equal quality to the Model S. In the near future Tesla is looking to launch a pick-up truck as well. Tesla offers quality customer service, if ever there is problem Tesla representatives will quickly arrive to pick up your car and leave you edition of the Model S, while yours is quickly repaired. Tesla plans to deliver the best cars in the world, and so far they are succeeding. Tesla processes are highly automated, allowing them the advantage to save on labor costs. Most of the manufacturing is done using 10 ft. tall robots. These robots are able to weld, rivet bond and install different components. Eight robots work on a single car, and are able to produce 83 cars a day. These robots can also be programmed to develop the Model X as well. One area which a Tesla receives a bit of grief for, is not allowing other dealerships to sell Tesla vehicles. While this may cause some bad press it allows Tesla to keep full proceeds, and ensure that all who are interested  in investing in a Tesla receive the full experience and learn from an expert. This also comes into play when selling used vehicles; it allows for greater salvage value and allows the Tesla Model S to retain value for a longer period of time. Lastly Tesla, spends no money on advertising, and does not plan to. Tesla has a small in-house marketing team and an internal team to help run the Tesla website. â€Å"Right now, the stores are our advertising. â€Å"We’re very confident we can sell 20,000-plus cars a year without paid advertising . . . It may be something we’ll do years down the road. But it’s certainly not something we feel is crucial for sales right now,† said spokesperson Alexis Georgeson.

Coach Inc Essays

Coach Inc Essays Coach Inc Essay Coach Inc Essay Coach Inc. : Is Its Advantage in Luxury Handbags Sustainable? Executive Summary Coach Inc. : Is Its Advantage in Luxury Handbags Sustainable? Company History ? Founded in 1941 by Miles Cahn, a leather artisan, who began producing women’s handbags; simple in style and resilient to wear and tear. ? Even after 40 years of business, coach was able to grow at a steady rate by setting prices about 50% lower than most luxurious handbags, adding new models and establishing accounts with retailers such as Bloomingdale’s and Saks Fifth Avenue. After 44 years of family management, Coach was then sold to Sara Lee, a diversified food and consumer goods producer (acquisition strategy). ? Sara Lee left Coach’s strategy and operations intact but by 1990’s the company performance began to decline as consumer shifted preference to a more stylish French and Italian handbags such as Gucci, Prada, Louis Vuitton, etc. ? In 1996, there was a change in the management having Reed Krakoff as the new creative director, an ex Tommy Hilfiger designer. He believed that new products should be based on market research rather than on designer’s instincts about what would sell. Coach then conducted excessive research and held focus groups to ask customers about styling, comfort, and functionality preferences. They found that customers look for edgier styling, softer leathers, and leather-trimmed fabric handbags. These prototypes were tested in selected coach stores for 6 months before announcing the launch. This process allowed coach to launch a new collection every month instead of â€Å"2 per year† launch prior to Krakoff’s arrival, making it adopting an offensive strategy to improve its market standing or result in a competitive edge fairly quickly. The stores were redesigned to complement the contemporary new designs, the factory stores’ appearance were improved. ? The factory stores carry test models, discontinued models and special l ines that sold at discounts ranging from 15-50%. These discounts were possible because of the company’s policy to outsource production to 40 suppliers in 15 countries. The outsourcing agreements allowed coach to maintain sizeable pricing advantage relative to other luxury brands (outsourcing production line). ? Its attractive ricing enabled Coach to appeal to consumers who would not normally consider luxury brands, while the quality and styling of its products were sufficient to satisfy traditional luxury consumers. (Blue Ocean Strategy) ? By the year 2000, coach was able to build a sizeable lead in the accessible luxury segment of the leather handbags and accessories industry and made it a solid performer in Sara Lee’s business lineup. ? In October 2000, Sara Lee decided to launch an IPO for Coach as part of a restructuring initiative designed to focus the corporation on food and beverages. Offensive strategy) Coach’s Strategy and Industry Positioning ? Coach I nc. designed and marketed women’s handbags; leather accessories such as key fobs, belts, electronic accessories, and cosmetic case; and outwear such as gloves, hats and scarves. ? Licensing agreements (collaborative partnership to achieve product line extension): o Movado Group in 1998 to make coach-branded watches available in coach retail stores. o Jimlar Corporation in 1999, manufacture and market coach’s women footwear. o Marchon Eyewear in 2003, for coach branded eyewear ? Approach to differentiation: o Based on the market research design process developed by Krakoff o Procurement process and its outsourcing agreements also contribute for differentiation and high quality o Voguish image due to monthly new product launch o It sought to make customer service experiences an additional differentiating aspect of the brand. It also has a Special Request service where customers can order merchandise for home delivery if the particular handbag or color wasn’t available during the visit to the coach store (defensive strategy). Strategy: o Increase frequency of customer visits by regular product launch and sending out catalogs to strategically selected households (defensive strategy). The company’s market research found that its best customers visited a coach store once every two months and made a purchase once every 7 months. o They adapted to the fact that women usually use bags to complement their wardrobes the same way the used to use shoes. o Coach is a brick and click company, having its products sold on its web site as well as in the full-price and factory stores (web site strategy). Coach’s web site had 40 million unique visitors and generated $54 million in net sales. The company also sends promotional e-mail to 55 million selected customers in 2006. ? Functional area strategies: o RD engineering: making prototypes and test them with the consumers by keeping them in the factory stores for 6 months before the actual launch. o Production: outsourcing the procurement and manufacturing processes to 40 different suppliers in 15 countries. o Marketing and sales: extensive market research to find out consumer preferences about new styles, comfort and functionality. The retail distribution is both direct (full price and factory stores, internet sales, catalog sales and stores in Japan) and indirect (wholesale accounts with department stores in US and in international market outside Japan). ? Coach can be regarded as a fast-follower in the luxury bags industry. It can leapfrog its competitors such as Gucci, Prada, Louis Vuitton, etc. by quickly adapting new styles to its handbags which eventually became popular among its customers. Hence, in essence, it became the first-mover in the â€Å"accessible† luxury handbags. Coach’s Strategic Options in 2007 ? Key growth involved store expansion in the US, Japan, Hong Kong and China; increasing sales to existing customers to drive comparable store growth; and creating alliances to exploit the coach brand in additional luxury categories. ? Second growth initiative: increase same-store sales through continued development of new styles, the development of new usage collection, and the exploitation of gift giving opportunities. Agreement with Lutz Patmos to launch women’s knitwear collection and Estee Lauder Company for development of fragrance that would be sold in Coach. Analysis of Coach’s Outlook in 2007 Key Success Factors ? Increasing quality and styling ? Merchandising strategy; â€Å"trade up, trade down† ? Outsourcing to push down the price ? Selecting appropriate country for global expansion ? Counterfeiting block ? Store locat ions ? Good economic outlook to encourage shoppers to buy luxury goods ? Low shipping cost Environmental friendly products Strengths Weaknesses ? Customer loyalty Image delusion ? Frequent update of demand ? Equal service and quality between environmental unfriendly products ? full-price and factory stores ? Direct and indirect sales ? Differentiating its product placement OpportunitiesThreats ? The number of millionaires were product counterfeits expected to increase by 23% Italian and French handbags continue by 2009 to be favorites, hence pose as threats Chinese market for luxury goods in unfortunate case of global financial were expected to increase by 24% crisis/recession, sales will drop not to by 2014 making it the world’s mention the plunging of company’s largest market for luxury goods stocks ? Another rapidly growing market for luxury goods was India due to increase in household earnings ? Expansion opportunities in Japan ? Extension of customer service ( gift giving). ? Shift from core store to fashion store and fashion store to flagship ? Product line extension to knitwear and fragrance

Japan essays

Japan essays The Political, Economical, Social, and Cultural Aspects of Japan Japan has a particularly homogeneous culture. In fact, both racially and culturally, Japan is the most homogeneous of the worlds major nations. This situation has allowed Japan to Westernize its economy and yet maintain a unique sense of identity. It began in 1639, when Japans rulers begin to notice the conversion of thousands of Japanese to Catholicism by Portuguese missionaries and by the potential for dissidents to form military alliances with foreign nations that suppressed Christianity and Japan sealed the island form the rest of the world. It was not until 1853 with the arrival of an American naval squadron under Commander Matthew Perry that Japan was opened to the outside world. The Japanese had developed a strong sense of national consciousness and pride in their own culture. The Japanese realized in the 1860's that they had to adopt Western technology, to modernize their society if they were to avoid Western domination. Their culture was able to absorb foreign influences without losing its uniqueness. Thus, the Japanese proved themselves extremely flexible in borrowing from other cultures while maintaining their own. Japan is mostly a middle class society. Those at the bottom of the social scale are either foreigners, Koreans, or native Japanese. Japanese think of themselves as belonging to a relatively classless society, even though they are mainly a middle class society. Many working-class Japanese rank themselves as middle class because of Japans prosperity in the 1980's, which allowed them to enjoy high level of consumption of goods and services. Thus their sense of well-being inflated their self assessment of class position. An estimated four percent of Japans population qualifies as upper class. The upper class consists of those who run the large corporations, the conservative politicians, and senior bureaucrats that collab...

Case Study on the Murder of Bridgett Frisbie

Case Study on the Murder of Bridgett Frisbie Bridgett Frisbie was 17 years old and  in her junior year at Raines High School in Katy, Texas, when she was lured into a wooded area in northwest Harris County and murdered by a close friend and schoolmate. According to authorities, near midnight on April 3, 2011, Bridgett Frisbie snuck out of her house to meet up with friends and was walking down the street when she was spotted by Alan Perez and Alex Olivieri who were out looking for her in Olivieris Chevrolet Suburban. The two men had preplanned to rough her (Frisbie) up that night and had prepared accordingly. Both the men were armed with pistols and Perez was dressed in all black and had a black face mask. When the men spotted Frisbie, Perez hid in the back seat of the car under a pile of blankets, as per their plan. A Threat to His Future Frisbie and Olivieri were good friends, so she had no reason not to accept a ride from him that night. Prosecutors believe that she did not realize the degree of anger Olivieri felt towards her because of a previous incident she had witnessed and was talking about with friends at school. Some weeks before, as a favor to Frisbie, Olivieri allegedly did a drive-by shooting at her ex-boyfriend’s house with his Yugo semiautomatic rifle. According to Perez, Olivieri told him that Frisbie was driving while he sprayed her ex-boyfriends home with bullets. He said Olivieri was worried that, if he was arrested for the shooting, it would hurt his future plans of having a career in the Army. The Murder With Frisbie in the Suburban and Perez hiding undetected in the back seat, Olivieri drove to a wooded area under the false pretense of needing to get something he had buried. Carrying a shovel, he and Frisbie walked into the woods. Perez followed the two from a distance and watched as Olivieri placed his hand on Frisbies back, then he pulled out his gun and  shot her in the back of the neck, killing her instantly. At around 3 a.m. Perez and Olivieri drove to downtown Houston to pick up Frisbies boyfriend, Zacharia Richards, from the Greyhound bus station. According to Perez, meeting Richards in Houston was going to part of the pairs alibi if questioned. On April 3, 2011, the body of Bridgette Frisbee was discovered in the wooded area by a group of children who were out riding dirt bikes. A search of the area turned up one 9 mm shell casing in the vicinity of Frisbies body. When the news of the murder was released, Olivieri text-messaged Perez and pretended to be informing him that their friend had been found dead. Confession for Immunity A few days after the discovery of Frisbies body, Perez, through an attorney, contacted police in regards to information that he had about the murder. Once he was  granted immunity  from prosecution, Perez confessed to what he knew about the murder, including fingering Olivieri as the triggerman. Perez later testified in court that the plan was to rough up Frisbie, but that he did not know of Olivieris plan to murder her and, after the shooting, the two exchanged heated words in the woods. Perez told the court, He came running at me, and I was in shock because he shot her. He described Olivieris attitude after murdering his long-time friend as unrepentant and that he showed no signs of remorse. Perez also admitted to following Olivieris instructions that night, to dress in dark clothing and a full face mask, to bring a firearm, and to hide under a stack of blankets in the back of the Chevrolet Suburban. Alexander Olivieri was found guilty of first-degree murder and was sentenced to 60 years in prison. It took the jury just under four hours to decide on Olivieris sentence. Bridgette Frisbie Bridgetts father Bob Frisbie, who adopted her when she was a toddler, described his daughter as being sometimes rebellious, but that she had  been through a lot in her short life, including the loss of her adoptive mother due to illness. He said that what he saw when he looked at his daughter was a fun-spirited 17-year-old who loved poetry and drawing and was a loving daughter. Olivieris Appeal Olivieris sentence was appealed due to three issues, outlined below from court papers filed by his defense attorneys: Issue One:  The trial court committed reversible error in denying defense counsels request to instruct the jury that Alan Perez was an accomplice witness as a matter of law. According to his attorney, by Perezs own testimony, he had entered into a conspiracy to commit a felony, which resulted in the complainants death. If Perezs testimony is taken as true, then there is no question he engaged in criminal conduct for which he could have been charged had he not been granted immunity. Perez was, therefore, an accomplice as a matter of law. Issue Two:  Insufficient evidence was presented to corroborate the testimony of Alan Perez, an accomplice witness. Olivieris attorney argued that corroboration of an accomplice witnesss testimony requires evidence that tends to link the accused with the crime committed. None of the evidence presented at trial tends to link Olivieri to the murder of the complainant for purposes of corroborating Perezs testimony. Issue Three:  The consent to search provided to law enforcement by Samuel Olivieri was not given voluntarily and was therefore invalid. According to the appeal,  police did not have a warrant  to search the Suburban driven by Olivieri, despite prior knowledge gleaned from Perez that it may contain evidence. As a way around the warrant requirement, police sought and received the consent of Olivieri s father to search the vehicle. The consent by Olivieris father was involuntary, as he was not aware that he had a right to refuse to give consent, had been subjected to a coercive show of authority by law enforcement, and was operating with less than full mental faculties after being awoken at 2 a.m. by police. The Court of Appeals for the First District of Texas overruled the three arguments and voted to uphold the trial court’s judgment. Alex Olivieri is currently housed at the Connally (CY) Correctional Institution in  Kenedy, Texas. His projected release date is November 2071. He will be 79 years old.

Spiro Agnew and Construction Kickbacks (ethic case study) Essay

Spiro Agnew and Construction Kickbacks (ethic case study) - Essay Example Matz responded by giving kickbacks to Agnew for every contract they were awarded. Matz faces no criminal prosecution for cooperating with the prosecution. Most contracting firms could no longer win contracts unless they participated in such activity in Maryland. Through their complains, ‘whistle blowing’, the Spiro Agnew and Construction kickbacks are revealed. Although this practice was common in Maryland, it is unacceptable. The fundamental canons in Engineer Ethics Code states that engineers hold paramount the welfare of the public as they perform their professional duties and be done in areas of competence. They should also build professional reputation on merit of their services and compete fairly with others. This practice is unfair since there is no fair competition for contracts. Whistle blowing is the best action. The engineer should alert relevant persons on the legal or moral corruption. This is a controversial issue that is challenging because of repercussions that the engineer might face. The legal body together with good political will help in such like situations. Competitive bidding creates a level play ground for contractors participating in a bidding competition. For this case, competitive bidding could not have solved the problem because of misuse of office by the politicians and engineers as well (Fleddermann, 2011). 4.14 What is the ethical status of a campaign contribution given to a politician to secure future business? Is this a bribe? Is it the same as a kickback? Perhaps line drawing would help answer this question. Many times, kickbacks are offered from an appreciation point of view after award of a contract. It is secretly given, mostly in terms of money for a particular assistance or work given. Unlike bribe which is given before a service is rendered. Campaign contribution given by a contractor to a politician to secure future business is a bribe since it is used to

TM04 Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

TM04 - Essay Example [31 words] (c) Why might carrying out the same analysis using species rather than families be likely to be less accurate as an assessment of changing diversity if there were a small number of fossils? Explain what working assumption is made when family diversity changes are used to infer patterns of species change. (3 or 4 sentences) Carrying out the same analysis using species rather than families might be less accurate. There are certain to be more new growths of species besides families. The assumption made when family diversity changes are made to infer patterns of species change is that family diversity changes take as long as species changes, but changes in families take longer time to complete. (e) Given the time period considered in (d) compared to (a), estimate the difference in the rate of the species generation (in percentage per million years) at the end of the Cambrian compared to the period from the end of the Permian to the present day, assuming that the rate of extinction is the same. [62 words] The difference in the rate of species generation per million years would be 10.6 percent; this is based on the fact that the Cambrian period was 570 million years ago, the Permian period was 248 million years ago, and if you divide the difference of the two by the difference between the two percentages given, you get 10.6 percent per million years. (a) Molecular clock evidence suggests that a newly discovered group of animal first emerged about 1.2 billion years ago. This is significantly earlier than the fossil evidence. Describe one possible reason for this discrepancy. (1 to 2 sentences) (c) The evolution of the Ediacarans has been linked to the Snowball Earth episodes. Outline one mechanism linked to ocean temperature that could have influenced animal evolution. (2 to 3 sentences) [27 words] â€Å"When one organism actually lives inside the other its called endosymbiosis. The endosymbiotic theory describes

Job Selection Process Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

Job Selection Process - Assignment Example So, we need to ponder on the different meanings regarding "validity". One renowned and cited one is: "An account is valid or true if it represents accurately those features of the phenomena, that it is intended to describe, explain or theories" (Hamersley in 1987) (1) It means that what we are trying to measure is accurate or not. And the other is that whether the means of assessment is actually measuring what it needs to measure. Face validity, part of validity, is seeing to it that a particular test really measuring the criteria and phenomena. For the selection of an employee, there is a process which includes Job Analysis, Recruitment and Selection. Job analysis is the analysis of the job and to see what the job needs, Ability, skills, work experience that a job needs and the nature of the job. The job analysis is there to make job description list and job specification list so that a perfect employee could be found for the organization. So the question is how to find a good employee. Well, there are different procedures and ways to test the ability of the person regarding the job. Now these tests are very important but we don't know that do these tests really give you of what you looking for So to check the test's ability to measure is done b y validity. We will discuss this more after discussing reliability so that both are clear in your mind. Now coming to the definition of the "Reliability", we talk in our ... Now coming to the definition of the "Reliability", we talk in our every day life that this is reliable and that is reliable. Isn't it We say that is this source of the news is reliable or not We say that my friend is a reliable person or that thing is reliable, meaning that some thing is dependable, reliable or trustworthy. But this meaning can not fit into the research meaning of reliability. So in research the word reliability means to be consistent and repeated like if you are giving a test than you would get same answer again and again. Let's take an example of a non reliable measuring device. The measuring of the characteristics of the people is needed in the personnel selection to determine that who will be accepted for the job openings and who will be not. For instance we might be interested in knowing the physical characteristics of the applicant. For example we want to measure the height of the applicant; we might start of with a 12 inch ruler. The first applicant turns out to be 6feet and 1 inch tall. It would not be shocking to see that another person who measures the same applicant's height gives the result of 6 feet 1 and 12/16 inches an hour later. Than the same candidate when measured the other day comes out to be 6 feet 1 and 14/16 inches tall. Now although the person's height is stable but we are getting different answers. Why This is because the measurement device is not perfectly reliable. And there are slight errors in the results. (Writer: William M.K. Trochim. Last revised on: 10/20/2006) We can now achieve a formal definition: "the variance of the measure" (William M.K. Trochim, last revised on 20th October 2006). (3) Here we can also look at different definition cited by different writes around the world. For instance Black and

Berman vs department of interior case Term Paper

Berman vs department of interior case - Term Paper Example erman undertakes to bring the culprits to book by aiding POGO in drafting the draft Freedom of Information Act (â€Å"FOIA†) which allowed them to file for two qui tam actions in the United States District Court. As a result, they were paid $440m from the litigation. This was the value of the royalties owed by the oil companies. POGO had already promised to pay a third of the money they will be paid after the litigation and thus when the money was compensated, POGO sent a check of $383,600 to Berman and enclosed therein an indication that the money was an award for his dedication and not for payment of his services. Alter on, the Department of the Interior sued Berman for violation of ethical obligation and breach of fiduciary duty. The perpetrators in this case were the Project on Government Oversight (POGO) and Berman. The societal values they violated was the compensation of the $383,600 check out of the $440 million which was meant to be for the royalties which were underpaid to the federal and Indian lands by the oil companies. They should have given the money to them instead of suing it. Organizational values which were violated in this case were the payment of lump sum money to a government employee for tasks done for the government apart from the salary. Thus, POGO should not have given Berman the check since he was already doing his job. Berman’s ethical obligation concerning oil royalty matters was to deliver the paid money to the underpaid federal and Indian lands by the oil companies. There are competing obligations in this case since the money paid to Berman was meant to be an award for his decision for his work in the past decade while the punishment in this case should be applied to paymen ts given to government especially for future work (Denhardt, 1988). The obligation of the non-public officials in this case was to ensure there was no mismanagement of public resources or abuse of power. They owed this obligation to the public since they were

Influence of Global Economics at Micro and Macro Levels Assignment

Influence of Global Economics at Micro and Macro Levels - Assignment Example The researcher states that Adam Smith’s was the idea that free trade should prevail as well as the notions that were backing nation-building policies in the support of national defense is more important than opulence. The act of navigation and the wisest of commercial regulations also made concessions to the mercantilistic policy of regulation of foreign trade. In the 1770s, Smith wrote the wealth of nations in the widespread of mercantilism and his advocacy of free trade was supported by the comparative cost theory and the cloth/wine arguments served as the foundation for what later came to be called the pure theory of trade. This theory has then made a turn to support the free trade theory and both Britain and the United States embarked upon policies allowing the extreme of one way or unilateral free trade. According to Dunkey, free trade economists often describe the goal of globalization as deep integration or the convergence of nations’ fundamental economic structu res and policy systems, extending far beyond trade or strictly economic criteria. At the start of the twenty-first century, Americans deviated from living in a national market that was depending on its own resources. The American economy was isolated from the rest of the world by border restrictions and natural barriers, such as time, distance and lack of information. Decades of trade liberalization along with innovations in telecommunication and transportation had integrated global markets – and exposed workers in high-income countries to the pressures of global competition. The superiority of an international trading system characterized by greater multilateralism and international specialization over a trading system based on protectionism, bilateralism and a division of the world into major trading blocs is by no means as clear cut today as it was a decade ago.

Absorption Costing versus Variable Costing Essay

Absorption Costing versus Variable Costing - Essay Example Adopting absorption costing and variable costing by a firm is not considered mandatory however. They are essentially tools for the management to assess profitability. Absorption costing broadly refers to the manufacturing costs which get absorbed by a unit of product that is manufactured (Garrison, Noreen and Brewer, 2003). Absorption costs include raw material costs, labour costs, fixed and variable manufacturing expenses. The absorption costing system includes taking into consideration all types of fixed and variable costs and allocating the same under different heads and accordingly estimating the overall costs of the product (Garrison, Noreen and Brewer, 2003). A product, in the course of its manufacturing may absorb a number of different types of costs. As per the regulations of GAAP (Generally Accepted Accounting Priniciples), it is essential that the firm recognizes the value of its inventory on the basis of absorption costing (Garrison, Noreen and Brewer, 2003). However these costs are not recognized till the firm sells the goods and revenues are earned. They are not recognized when an entity makes payment for the same and therefore remai ns in the inventory cost as an asset (Garrison, Noreen and Brewer, 2003). Variable costing is considered to be suitable a management tool for assessing efficiency. It is often used as an alternative for absorption costing. GAAP does not allow the usage of variable costing for estimating the cost of production. However, managers are seen to use the same for assessing internal operations affectivity. The variable costing technique includes only the variable production costs. Fixed manufacturing expenses under this method are treated as period cost and are deducted from the income earned during the period (Hilton, 1994). Absorption costing is seen to be useful when all manufactured

Influence of Global Economics at Micro and Macro Levels Assignment

Influence of Global Economics at Micro and Macro Levels - Assignment Example The researcher states that Adam Smith’s was the idea that free trade should prevail as well as the notions that were backing nation-building policies in the support of national defense is more important than opulence. The act of navigation and the wisest of commercial regulations also made concessions to the mercantilistic policy of regulation of foreign trade. In the 1770s, Smith wrote the wealth of nations in the widespread of mercantilism and his advocacy of free trade was supported by the comparative cost theory and the cloth/wine arguments served as the foundation for what later came to be called the pure theory of trade. This theory has then made a turn to support the free trade theory and both Britain and the United States embarked upon policies allowing the extreme of one way or unilateral free trade. According to Dunkey, free trade economists often describe the goal of globalization as deep integration or the convergence of nations’ fundamental economic structu res and policy systems, extending far beyond trade or strictly economic criteria. At the start of the twenty-first century, Americans deviated from living in a national market that was depending on its own resources. The American economy was isolated from the rest of the world by border restrictions and natural barriers, such as time, distance and lack of information. Decades of trade liberalization along with innovations in telecommunication and transportation had integrated global markets – and exposed workers in high-income countries to the pressures of global competition. The superiority of an international trading system characterized by greater multilateralism and international specialization over a trading system based on protectionism, bilateralism and a division of the world into major trading blocs is by no means as clear cut today as it was a decade ago.

Poetic Realism And The Rules Of The Game By Jean Renoir Movie Review

Poetic Realism And The Rules Of The Game By Jean Renoir - Movie Review Example It is widely regarded difficult to maintain and establish strict borders of poetic realism but most surely it gained a lot from the French literature of the 19th century. Most of all it is Balzac and Zola which developed a new vision on the matter of simple human life and its true complexity and tragic yet live nature. The love triangle that is the plot center of â€Å"The Rules of the Game† tells us that great feeling is always doomed due to its complexity and enormously exciting power. The ending of the movie reminds of Deus Ex Machina but really something terrible could be felt during the entire movie and such tremendous stress and complexity between human relationships is a great way of showing how elementary and common life aspects can eventually lead to the tragic end. What starts romantically and joyfully ends with the horrible "accident" that is sure can be considered a Destiny's action. However such destiny or better say pessimistic theorem of French poetic realism is one of the main components of this genre because almost every central hero in the films of this tradition ends dead or broken in somehow another way. But above that â€Å"The Rules of the Game† are different from the other pictures of poetic realism because it shows not lower social classes but high ones though their problems appear to be the same because they are pan-human. The visual aspect of the Rules of the Game, as well as other poetic realism films, has a great part which is obvious because of its movie and not a book.

Terrorists society Essay Example for Free

Terrorists society Essay Perhaps the most known terrorist in the world is Osama Bin Laden. Just as other terrorists of his ilk, there are certain psychological features that are inherent in him. Though it is impossible to study the psychological profile of a single terrorist, researches by psychologists identify a certain trend in their way of thought and actions (Kaplan, 1981). This paper outlines the psychological makeup of terrorists, traits that are observed in Osama Bin Laden. There are certain risk factors that make one highly likely to become a terrorist. These factors combine to give a profile that is general to terrorist the world over. Although a terrorist’s profile can be narrowed down to individuals, there is always a generational transmission of extremist beliefs that starts in early life. A terrorist also feels alienated or oppressed by others in the society. This perceived alienation could be from the locality or at more extended levels as global perspective. A terrorist also has a psychology of being victimized for the ills of the society. Terrorists also believe that any violations by the enemy should be retaliated by equal measure of violence (Post, 2008). The response meted out to the enemy affords the terrorist higher moral standings among his/her peers who regard him/her as a hero. In addition to the above, terrorists believe their ethic, class or social group is special and superior to others and are targeted by others for destruction. Terrorists in most cases lack the political powers to initiate and carry out their plans to success. They therefore turn to violence as the only means of attaining their goals. Terrorists would not carry out their activities if they had no criminal mentality. Moreover, terrorists do not have any fear for death and believe the high esteem from peers is more important than the legacy left behind by dying in the process of carrying out an attack (Hoffman, 1999). Terrorist will always identify with a certain group where the members share the course, suffering, and trauma. At the same time, the group may provide camaraderie and a sense of significance to its members. Historical and Socio-Cultural Antecedents to September 11. Different opinions have been voiced on the most likely antecedents of the 9/11 attacks. These range from religious animosity between Christians and Muslims to the US Occupation of Arab countries and the perceived foreign policies of the American Government. While it is apparent that Al-Qaeda was responsible, theories have been proposed to explain the causes of 9/11 attacks. Some researchers have blamed the Muslim madrasas for instilling a simplistic view of Jihad in young Muslims. Poverty has also been cited as a cause of the 9/11 attacks by a section of world scholars. There have been theories relating the attacks to the democratic principles of the American society, a position vehemently denied by Osama himself. He asked why he did not attack other free-countries such as Sweden. There is also a feeling that efficient funding from wealthy Saudis supported the terrorists in the planning and execution of the attacks. The historical aggressiveness of the U. S towards certain countries due to their oppressive governance and weak systems and institutions has made these countries terrorists’ haven. Decline and stagnation in the Middle East and the humiliation of the Islamic world also led to the attacks. These weak and falling states have been terrorists’ bases from where they plan attacks on real and perceived enemies (Simonsen et al, 2000). In addition to U. S occupation of Arab countries, the clash of civilization between the Arab and American world also led to the attacks. The differences in ideologies such as communism between the U. S. and the Arab world also played a role in causing the attacks. Radicalism resulting from Afghan Jihads against the Soviet Union contributed to the attacks. The generation that participated in the war was radicalized and developed criminal mentality as well. Mental Illness and Terrorism There has been an on-going debate on the role of mental illness in terrorism among scholars. Most studies have dwelt on expert opinions instead of involving the community directly to study the causes of terrorism (Sageman, 2004). This trend has resulted in different conclusions on the role or mental illnesses in terrorism. Most of the studies have failed to factor in on the human vulnerability of the isolated groups and focused on the belief that a terrorist must be mentally unstable to conduct such cruel acts. While some mental experts believe that one should not blame mental illness for terrorist attacks, others feel the mental stability has a role in terrorism. The root causes of terrorism are social factors and not mental illnesses. Mental experts of this line of thought think that psychiatry is not the tool to counter terrorism. Psychiatrists who have tested failed suicide bombers have diagnosed little psychiatric illnesses in violent or mild terrorists. Certain studies have only concentrated on individual instead of the larger terrorism set. Studies should focus on the collective societal needs that compel a group of people to become violent and not on individuals. People become terrorists because of the feeling of being marginalized, oppressed, or targeted by others whom they henceforth consider enemies. Any means to carry out a revenge on such enemies is thus justified. Conclusion Studies have shown a certain mind-set that is inherent in terrorists, albeit in different proportion. Terrorists always see their society to be threatened by others for extinction or victimization based on ideological differences. They react to these notions by violent means that they consider justified provided the intended goals are achieved. They are motivate by the social ills they feel target their society. References Hoffman, B. (1999). Inside Terrorism. NY: Columbia University Press. Kaplan, A. (1981). The psychodynamics of terrorism: Behavioral and quantitative perspectives on terrorism. New York: Pergamon Post, J. M. (2008). The mind of the terrorist: The psychology of terrorism from the IRA to Al-Qaeda. Palgrave Macmillan. Sageman, M. (2004). Understanding terror networks. University of Pennsylvania Press. Simonsen, C. , Spindlove, J. (2000). Terrorism today: the past, the players, the future. NJ: Prentice Hall.

Factors Influencing Brand Loyalty Among Notebook Users

Factors Influencing Brand Loyalty Among Notebook Users In this new era of globalization, the rapid development of the technology is growing so fast and more challenge to manufacturers or marketers. A huge number brand of notebook was in the market and more competitive among the manufacturer. It is easily to customers or users to switching to another brand if they feel not satisfied with current brand and choose the better notebook brand. So this study was to determine the factors that influencing brand loyalty among notebook users. The data was collected by questionnaire survey at Universiti Utara Malaysia. This study found that satisfaction is the most factors that can influence users loyal to the notebook brand. CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION 1.1 Background of Study In this era of globalization, rapid development in technology is not something strange and familiar to us. Advances in telecommunications, information system and society knowledge is in line with changes occurring in technology. Furthermore, in this 21st century, the international community has shifted from the industrial era into the era of information technology without borders. As well as the growth of new technology devices such as mobile phones, laptops, cameras, and others where many additional features offered in these devices. Once a notebook may be categorized as luxury goods, but with the times as well as improved quality of life we can have it. Notebook technology is one of the tools that community choose because of the characteristics who are always renewed by the marketers. Notebook are designed as a tool that is easy to carry anywhere, small and light to be placed on a individual lap when using it. Manufacturers often refer to laptop as notebooks, this is to avoid warm thigh complaints from customers and consequent opportunist liability suits (Wikipedia, 2007). The use of laptops is very wide so that the whole world. The rapid growth in the technology sector is also effect increasing the number of competitors in the market. This cause-marketers and also academicians or practitioners focus on customer decision making in the purchase of a portable PC industry (Nasir, et al., 2006). To satisfy the customer would be something quite challenging in the modern business world. What customers want and how they think are the questions often played in the minds of marketers or companies. Complex in users mind contribute to volatility in profits. When customers loyal to a brand or company, they indirectly help them expand market share, increase bottom line and sustain companys advantage. Brand shows a reputation of a companys through their products or services. Brand is also a sign that memorable in the minds of customers. The American Marketing Association defines a brand as a name, term, sign, symbol or design, or a combination of prototype, intended to identify the goods or services of one seller or group of sellers, and to differentiate from bear fight them of the competitors (Kotler, et al., 2009). Brand can become the heart of marketing and business strategy. Success of the brand is able to generate profits by attracting new customers and retain existing customers. With the brand, it is a sign of the signal in some level of quality which the buyer is satisfied with the easy to choose any of the products. Brand loyalty provides a forecast of demand for the company and may also explain the willingness of customers to pay for higher price. Although competitors are easy to duplicate the process and product design, they are not easy to match the description in the individual and the organization from year to year in any marketing and product development. Therefore, the brand became a very influential in the world competition. ListenRead phoneticallyAccording to Malaysia Laptop (2008), top ten notebooks for October 2008 are: Compaq Presario CQ40 Acer Extensa 4620Z Acer Aspire One Acer Aspire 2920Z HP Pavilion dv5 HP Pavilion dv2700 Acer Aspire 4530 Apple MacBook ASUS Eee PC 1000H Dell Latitude E6500 In 1986, battery powered portable computers had just 2% worldwide market share. But today, notebooks are becoming increasingly popular, both for business and personal use (Economics, 2005). In 2008, it is estimated that 145.9 million notebooks were sold and in 2009 the number grow to 177.7 million. The third quarter of 2008 was the first time when notebook PC shipments exceeded desktops, with 38.6 million units versus 38.5 million units. 1.2 Problem Statement Notebook were originally considered to be a small niche market and were thought suitable mostly for specialized field applications such as the military, accountants and sales representative. But today, notebooks are becoming more popular for student and general use. In addition, new products of notebook launches to the market, acquisitions and mergers in the sector, rapid developments in the nano technology, integrated wireless networking and decreased price make the customer are more influence to buy a notebook (Nasir et al., 2006) which at the same brand or may switch to other brand. This study intended what are the factors that influence notebooks users to be loyal of the notebook brand. 1.3 Research Questions Bases on the discussion earlier in the background of the problem, the research question developed will be: Does price influence brand loyalty among notebook users? Does brand name influence brand loyalty among notebook users? Does promotion influence brand loyalty among notebook users? Does features influence brand loyalty among notebook users? Does satisfaction influence brand loyalty among notebook users? 1.4 Research Objective The objectives of this research are: To determine whether Price influence brand loyalty among notebook users. To determine whether Brand Name influence brand loyalty among notebook users. To determine whether Promotion influence brand loyalty among notebook users. To determine whether Features influence brand loyalty among notebook users. To determine whether Satisfaction influence brand loyalty among notebook users. 1.5 Significance of Study In general, this study is to help marketers and consumers in order to develop more effective marketing strategies. This study also allows us to identify what is the real motivation that exists inside of every made of purchase and what is needed by the user. Therefore, more efficient marketing activities will be implemented. Marketers also can predict the reaction shown by the user of their marketing strategies that has been implemented. And marketers can look whether the strategies that are practiced can maintain the customer that are loyal to their products and also can attract other customers to buy their products. This study is expected to provide useful information in marketing to attract the loyalty to the brand. 1.6 Scope of the Study The study was conducted that involving notebook user. In this study, questionnaire will be formed and it will be complemented by the notebook user. In addition, the collection of secondary sources is also used in this study. This includes the findings of several studies carried out by several previous researchers, journals, books and resources derived from electronic media such as the internet. 1.7 Limitations of the Study Since this study includes some students at the Universiti Utara Malaysia (UUM), the results of this study is more relevant applied to the student in UUM. These findings did not reflect the entire population of notebook users in Malaysia as a whole, the factors influencing brand loyalty among notebook users. This study was carried out in a relatively short period, time constraints also exist. If this study can be implemented in the longer term, the material or related information can be increased in further. CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW 2.1 Introduction This chapter review literatures in the context of this study. In this section, discussion will be based on the brand loyalty and factors that influence brand loyalty such as price, brand name, promotion, features and satisfaction among notebook users. Research framework and research hypothesis are also discussed in this chapter. 2.2 Brand Loyalty Loyalty reflects the strength of the relationship between individual attitudes and repurchase. It contains a number of objectives in planning marketing strategies and describes the development of fundamental importance in maintaining a competitive advantage. For example, customers remain loyal to the brand of the same product, the suppliers or services providers in the long term and not easily changed. They also showed their loyalty to the brand by spread kindness to others. Listen Read phonetically Brand loyalty is a commitment by consumer to repurchase or continue to using the current brand. It can be look by the repeated buying in a variety of market context such as product, service, and store. Loyalty is thought to be important for market practitioners for a number of reasons such as generating greater profits, brand extension and increase market share (Thiele Mackay, 2001). Building brand loyalty requires investment in marketing programs that are target to the current and potential customer. Consumers that are loyal only repurchase the same brand even there is an alternative brand in the market. Marketers often pay attention to identify the characteristics of brand loyal consumers and the degree of brand loyalty of consumers so that they can directly and effectively focus their marketing and promotional strategies on these consumers who share similar characteristics among the large population (Lau, et al., 2006). Previous study shows that the brand loyalty is measured by behavioural and attitudinal loyalty. Typically, brand loyalty is defined with reference to either attitudinal or behavioural components (Bennett, et al., 2007)). Behavioural loyalty measures defined brand loyalty in terms of the actual purchase observed over a time period and attitudinal loyalty measures are based on stated preferences, commitment or purchase intention (Thiele Mackay, 2001). A variety of factors also have been found to impact the development of brand loyalty. Lau, et al., (2006) found that brand name, style and promotion are the key brand factors of customer loyalty. Others authors have reported that advertising, price and brand have a significant impact on brand loyalty (Othman Ping, 2006). Sales encounter satisfaction, in turn, leads to brand loyalty by enhancing brand attitude and salesperson loyalty (Brexendorf, et al., 2009). 2.3 Factors of Brand Loyalty 2.3.1 Price Price is one of the important factors that affect on brand loyalty. Consumers with high brand loyalty are willing to pay for a high price for their favourite brand, so their purchase intention is not easily affected by price. In addition, customers have a strong belief in the price and value of their favourite brands so much so that they would compare and evaluate prices with alternative brands (Sidek Yee, 2008). Dovaliene Virvilaite (2008), state that price is one of the most flexible marketing mix elements that can be quickly changed, after changing specific product and service characteristics. People with higher incomes and higher product involvement willingly pay more for features, customer service, quality, added convenience and the brand name (Kotler, et al., 2009). Price variations for consumers favourite brand may only affect their purchase quantity but not their brand choice decision. Consumer satisfaction can also be built by comparing price with perceived costs and value (Lau, et al., 2006). The results from the previous study show that price have a significant to influence on brand loyalty (Lau, et al., 2006; Sidek Yee, 2008; Othman Ping, 2006). Based on the above discussion, the first hypotheses should be as follows: H1: There is significant and positive relationship between price and brand loyalty among notebook users. 2.3.2 Brand Name The brand name is quite often used interchangeably within brand, although it is more correctly used to specifically denote written or spoken linguistic elements of any product. In this context a brand name constitutes a type of trademark, if the brand name exclusively identifies the brand owner as the commercial source of products or services. Famous brand name can disseminate the benefit of product and lead to higher recall of an advertised benefit than a non-famous brand name (Kotler, et al., 2009). They are many unfamiliar brand names and alternatives available in the market place. Consumers may prefer to trust the major famous and popular brand name (Lau, et al., 2006). These prestigious brand names and their image attract consumers to purchase the brand, affect repeat purchasing behaviour and reduce price related switching behaviours. Consumers are more sensitive to brand name and usually used it in buying decision. This lead to the second hypothesis: H2: There is significant and positive relationship between brand name and brand loyalty among notebook users. 2.3.3 Promotion Promotion is one of the four elements of marketing mix (product, price, promotion, distribution). It is the communication link between sellers and buyers for the purpose of influencing, informing, or persuading a potential buyers purchasing decision. Promotion includes the use of advertising, sales promotions, personal selling and publicity (Kotler, et al., 2009). Promotion is an important element of a firms marketing strategy. Advertising induces brand loyalty in consumers who would otherwise purchase the cheapest alternative on the market. Firms first invest in advertising, and then compete in prices for the remaining brand indifferent consumers (Chioveanu, 2008). Sales promotions are typically viewed as temporary incentives that encourage the trial of a product or service (DelVecchio, et al., 2006). Promotion was considered as one of the most important factors in determining a consumers brand loyalty (Sidek Yee, 2008). Therefore, the third hypothesis is developed as follows: H3: There is significant and positive relationship between promotion and brand loyalty among notebook users. 2.3.4 Features Features are qualities or characteristics of the product or service. According to decision making model, consumers process the environmental cues; the physical factors of the product, psychosocial cues such, such as advertising, and consumers put these cues into a set of perceptions that shape their preferences (Hong Lerch, 2002). Based on these preferences, consumers make their choices subject to situational constraints, such as price and people evaluate various objective features when buying an IT product (Hong Lerch, 2002). Nasir et al., (2006) find that features are a factor that influences consumers laptop purchase decision. Hence, the fourth hypothesis shall be as follows: H4: There is significant and positive relationship between features and brand loyalty among notebook users. 2.3.5 Satisfaction Satisfaction is a measure of how products and services supplied by a company meet or surpass customer expectation. The impact of satisfaction on loyalty has been the most popular subject of studies. (Ha, et al., 2009) state that power of satisfaction significantly lies in its ability to reinforce brand loyalty formation. Similarly, the satisfaction had a significant influence on loyalty (Kuusik Varblane, 2009). A minor change in satisfaction can lead to a substantial change in loyalty increment. Moreover, a small increase in customer satisfaction boosted customer loyalty dramatically (Bowen Chen, 2001). The customers will feel satisfied when the goods are beyond their expectation and otherwise when their expectations are beyond the goods actual condition (Sheng Liu, 2010). The discussion leads to the development of the fifth hypothesis: H5: There is significant and positive relationship between satisfaction and brand loyalty among notebook users. 2.4 Theoretical Framework The dependent variable in this study is brand loyalty. The independence variables are price, brand name, promotion, features and satisfaction. CHAPTER 3: METHODOLOGY 3.1 Introduction The research methodology involved the administration of questionnaire on a sample of accounting students. This section outlines the operational definition, instrument and measurement of variables, data collection and sampling 3.2 Research Design Aspects of the study include demographic factors like gender, race, education level, age, and notebook brands that respondent have (Part 1) while Part 2 is to assess the factors influencing brand loyalty among notebook users. The questions in part 2 are divided into six key dimensions of price, brand name, promotion, features, satisfaction and brand loyalty. Unit of analysis in a study comprised of individuals, groups, organisations and societies. Unit of analysis is a key feature that will be analyzed in an investigation. Individuals selected as the unit of analysis in this study in which students from UUM, Sintok. It is to examine the factors that influence them to be loyalty to the notebook brand. This study using a survey method whereby questionnaire form will be used because it is more beneficial than other methods of data collection such as interviews and observations. Questionnaire will be distributed to UUMs students because most of the UUM students use notebook for their learning. 3.3 Operational Definition Price the degree to which the notebook users that price  can influence them be loyalty to notebook brand. Brand Name the degree to which the notebook users that brand name  can influence them be loyalty to notebook brand. Promotion the degree to which the notebook users that promotion  can influence them be loyalty to notebook brand. Features the degree to which the notebook users that features can  influence them be loyalty to notebook brand. Satisfaction the degree to which the notebook users that satisfaction  can influence them be loyalty to notebook brand. 3.4 Instrument and Measurement of Variables The questionnaire was divided into two parts. Part 1 of the questionnaire consists of demographic information such as gender, age, and education level. Part 2 contains questions on factors which influence brand loyalty such as price, brand name, promotion, features and satisfaction. It also contains a question on brand loyalty. The entire question in Part 2 using a five point Likert scale (1= strongly agree to 5 = strongly disagree). 3.5 Data Collection Data collection is divided into primary and secondary data. Primary data is from original source. Secondary data is data collected by previous researchers. In this study, data secondary as journals, reference books and the Internet data collected to obtain an overview of the study. Secondary data also provide an initial overview for researchers and makes a deeper study. Primary data is used to help answer research questions and test hypotheses based on studies objectives. So, to test this hypothesis, a questionnaire was chosen as the primary method of data collection. Beneficial uses of these questionnaires are: Help researchers get the data easily. Information in a simple questionnaire to be encoded. Advantages to the scientific research on which measurements are valid and reliable. Easily answered by the respondents. Data can be obtained by mail, this means that research can be conducted even though the extent of geographical breadth. More efficient when compared to the interview method. Respondents answer truthfully honest answer without fear (Hair, et al., 2007). 3.6 Sampling Hair, et al. (2007) defined a few procedures in the sampling process. The procedures are: Defining the target population. Choosing the sampling frame. Selecting the sampling method. Determining the sample size. Implementing the sampling plan. The population in this study consisted of all students of UUM with the number of 31, 251 students are PhD students from about 1,186 students, a total of 44 Graduate Diploma students, Graduate After Diploma total of 780 students, a total of 4,030 Postgraduate students and the Undergraduate student is about 25,211 students. The sample in this study is the Undergraduate and Postgraduate students of UUM COB. Respondents were selected by convenience sampling in which samples are available to choose to participate in this study and may provide necessary information. Convenience sampling was chosen because of time constraints inherent in this study. The population or the unit of analysis for this research will be the College of Business (COB) students in Universiti Utara Malaysia (UUM). These COB students of UUM were chosen because COB has a large number of students under them. 3.7 Data Collection Method The questionnaire will distribute to COB students. Responses given by COB students in answering questionnaire is the most important resource in term of data collection. Findings of this study are one of the instruments that can measure the factors influencing brand loyalty among notebook users. 3.8 Method of Data Analysis Some statistical analysis was used to analyze the data in this study. All data were analyzed using the statistical package for social science (SPSS) software version 12.0. Descriptive analysis was used to see or understand the demographics of the respondents in this study. This method was also used to examine the dimensions of the study variables. To test the reliability of each factor influencing brand loyalty, the Cronbach coefficient alpha is used. The size of the correlation coefficient is used to quantitatively describe the strength of the association between two or more variables. The Pearson correlation was also used to measure the relationship between two variables. This analysis explains the positive or negative relationship between the two variables. Multiple regression analysis was used to analyze the dependent variable and several independent variables. It determine the relative importance of others independent variable in predicting the dependent variable. CHAPTER 4: RESULTS AND ANALYSIS 4.1 Introduction This chapter discusses the findings derived from data collected by the respondents who participated in this study. This chapter will also discuss the descriptive analysis for respondents demographic, the reliability of the factors and multiple regression analysis. 4.2 Respondents Demographic This study has a total of 31 respondents. Respondents demographic were asked in Part A that is gender, race, education level, age and notebook brand. The summarizing of the result from this part is show in Table 4.2.1 below. The table show that the ratio of both genders is 25.8% for male and 74.2% for female. So the percentages of female students are higher than male students. The results also show the race of the respondents where Malay consists of 17 students (54.8%), Chinese consists of 9 students (29.0%) and Indian consists of 5 students (16.1%). In education level, the number of undergraduate students that involves in this study is 22 students (71.0%) and postgraduate are 9 students (29.0%). And in age distribution, Table 4.1.1 shows that the higher percentage was 74.2% for 24 years and below, 22.6% for 25-35 years and 3.2% for 45 years and above. The result also show that most of the respondents use Compaq brand that consist of 9 students (29.0%) followed by Acer brand that consist of 8 students (25.8%). For HP brand consists of 5 students (16.1%), Dell brand consists of 3 students (9.7%), Toshiba and Lenovo brand consists of 2 students (6.5%) and last one is FTEC and Sony brand that only 1 students (3.2%). Demographic Variables Frequency Percent (%) Gender Male 8 25.8 Female 23 74.2 100.0 Race Malay 17 54.8 Chinese 9 29.0 Indian 5 16.1 100 Education Level Undergraduate (degree) 22 71.0 Postgraduate (master) 9 29.0 100.0 Age 24 years and below 23 74.2 25-35 years 7 22.6 45 years and above 1 3.2 100 Notebook Brand HP 5 16.1 Compaq 9 29.0 Dell 3 9.7 Acer 8 25.8 Sony 1 3.2 Toshiba 2 6.5 Lenovo 2 6.5 FTEC 1 3.2 100.0 4.3 Reliability Tests In this study, the reliability test is used to measure the coefficient and consistency each variables. The internal consistency reliability showed by coefficient alpha, also referred to as Cronbachs alpha. Hair et al., (2007) show the guidelines for the reliability as rules-of-thumb to interpret alpha values (Table 4.3.1). Table 4.3.1 Roles of Thumb about Cronbach-Alpha Coefficient Alpha Coefficient Range Strength of Association Poor 0.6 to Moderate 0.7 to Good 0.8 to Very good > 0.9 Excellent From the test, it was found that the Cronbach alpha for price factor is 0.567 from 4 variables item. For brand name factor, each of the 4 variables item to total correlation at moderate strength is 0.655 and for promotion factor the Cronbach alpha is at 0.635 from total correlation of 4 variables item. In features factor, each of the 4 variables item to total correlation was at moderate strength is 0.692. The Cronbach alpha for satisfaction factor is 0.909; total correlation of 5 variables item and for brand loyalty, the Cronbach alpha was 0.943 from 4 variables item. Table 4.3.2 illustrates the Cronbach alpha of the variables. Table 4.3.2 Cronbach Alpha of Variables Variable Cronbach Alpha Price 0.567 Brand Name 0.655 Promotion 0.635 Features 0.692 Satisfaction 0.909 Brand Loyalty 0.943 4.4 Hypotheses Testing To test the hypotheses in chapter 2, the Pearson correlation was use. This Pearson correlation can measures the linear association between two metric variables. It was range from -1.00 to +1.00 and zero representing no association between the two metrics variables. -1.00 and +1.00 show the perfect correlation or association between the two metrics variables. The correlation can be positive or negative depending on the direction of the relationship between the variables (Hair et al., 2007). 4.4.1 First Hypotheses H1: There is significant and positive relationship between price and brand loyalty among notebook users. The result show that correlation between price and brand loyalty is -0.641 and the significance level is 0.000. It is found that price have a negative relationship with brand loyalty which the significance level is small (p If the notebook providers increase the value of the price, it influenced the notebook users not to stay or loyal to the same brand because the price is more expensive that before and price not the factor that influencing brand loyalty among notebook users. Table 4.4.1 Correlation between Price and Brand Loyalty Price Loyalty Price Pearson Correlation 1 -.641(**) Sig. (2-tailed) . .000 Loyalty Pearson Correlation -.641(**) 1 Sig. (2-tailed) .000 . ** Correlation is significant at the 0.01 level (2-tailed). 4.4.2 Second Hypotheses H2: There is significant and positive relationship between brand name and brand loyalty among notebook users. The result show that correlation between brand name and brand loyalty is 0.538 and the significance level is 0.002. It is found that brand name have a positive relationship with brand loyalty which the significance level is small (p In other words, if the notebook providers more emphasizes on their notebooks brand name it can increase the users loyalty to the brand because they believe that the brand is reputable, prestigious and attract them more to purchase from the same brand. So brand name can influenced brand loyalty among notebook users. Table 4.4.2 Correlation between Brand Name and Brand Loyalty Brand Name Loyalty Brand Name Pearson Correlation 1 .538(**) Sig. (2-tailed) . .002 Loyalty Pearson Correlation .538(**) 1 Sig. (2-tailed) .002 . ** Correlation is significant at the 0.01 level (2-tailed). 4.4.3 Third Hypotheses H3: There is significant and positive relationship between promotion and brand loyalty among notebook users. The result show that correlation between promotion and brand loyalty is 0.422 and the significance level is 0.018. It is found that promotion have a positive relationship with brand loyalty which the significance level is small (p Promotion is need for all the marketers to introduce their product or services to the customer. So, if the notebook provider more emphasis on their promotion, the number of loyal customer to their brand more increases. It shows that promotion one of the factors that influencing brand loyalty among notebook users. Table 4.4.3 Correlation between Promotion and Brand Loyalty Promotion Loyalty Promotion Pearson Correlation 1 .422(*) Sig. (2-tailed) . .018 Loyalty Pearson Correlation .422(*) 1 Sig. (2-tailed) .018 . * Correlation is significant at the 0.05 level (2-tailed). 4.4.4 Fourth Hypotheses H4: There is significant and positive relationship between features and brand loyalty among notebook users. The result show that correlation between features and brand loyalty is 0.383 and the significance level is 0.033. It is found that features have a positive relationship with brand loyalty which the significance level is small (p < 0.05). This means it is failed to reject the hypotheses of there

Violent Crimes and Attacks on American Campuses Essay -- Criminal Just

In the last decade, concern has grown about the number of violent crimes and attacks taking place on American campuses. The increase in youth violent behavior in the United States is an insidious crisis of epidemic magnitude (Satcher, 2002). This statement demonstrates the increasing concern with youth aggression and violence. Of greater concern in recent years has been the violent and aggressive offenses seen among female students (Ness, 2004). Recently, school districts have been plagued by youth violence and aggression. For years, studies of aggressive behavior have focused on the explicit, offensive, physical aggressive behaviors displayed primarily in males (Jones, 2008). However, youth violence and aggression perpetrated by adolescent girls has been on the rise in recent years (Jones, 2008). These concerns have given rise to a new body of research focused on the aggressive nature of girls. Researchers suggest that girls who engage in aggression have many other social and academ ic problems. They also suggest that relational aggression is the equivalent to physical aggression, violence, and bullying (Chesney-Lind, Morash, Irwin, 2007). With the onset of many new rules and zero-tolerance programs, students are immediately taken out of the classroom for disruptive and inappropriate behavior (Adams, 2000). This causes students to lose valuable instructional time. In turn, aggressive behavior has been linked to subordinate academic outcomes, an increase in absenteeism, and lower graduation rates (Loveland, Lounsbury, Welsh, & Buboltz, 2007). Statement of the Problem Recent research has seen an increase in female aggressiveness (Jones, 2008). Much of the research on aggression has focused on relational aggression, a form of agg... ...in, Tobin, Sprague, Sugai, & Vincent, 2004). Suspensions: â€Å"A disciplinary sanction that requires the student to be excluded from the school building for a specified period of time† (Christle, Nelson, & Jolivette, 2004, p. 1). Expulsions: form of discipline that removes the student completely from the school system. Students have the opportunity to go through a hearing and have due process (Skiba & Sprague, 2008). Preparatory Academy: program designed to offer high school students who are overage for grade the opportunity to advance their studies in order to complete high school (Henry, 2008). E-school: program designed to allow students to meet the necessary requirements for high school by completing online courses after school (Henry, 2008). Zero-tolerance: policies that punish all offenses severely, no matter how minor the offense (Skiba & Peterson, 2000).

Fear: Debut Albums and Heavy Rock Concert

Fear Everyone has a weakness and something they fear; for many it can be the fear of heights or just a simple little spider. Some people may react by crying, shutting down, and acting tough or in rare occasions some might choose to overcome it. It doesn’t matter who you are, or what you have done in life, the truth is that there is nothing that can prepare you for that one moment in life that one fears the most. The sky was gray, there was smoke everywhere, the smell of burning tires, people running and yelling at one another.It was very difficult to comprehend what was going on, and all I could hear was the sound of bells in my ears similar to the ones you hear after leaving a heavy rock concert. I had lost my consciousness for a few seconds and had no idea what just occurred. As my head cleared out I looked around and slowly began to regain my consciousness, there were buildings, a burned vehicle and soldiers laying down to my left. I lay down with the rest of the soldiers a nd heard my lieutenant calling for help.That’s when I realized we were just ambushed, and there was nothing we could do about it. A simple patrol turned into the worse day possible. Finally, it was quiet for a few seconds and that fear of getting hurt was going through my head. It was one of the worst moments of my life, and the worst part was that there was nothing to do but to stay calm. We all decided to run into an abandoned building to look for cover. Once inside, we began to clear the rooms one by one until we found a secure location. All of us have been out patrolling for hours in the hot desert heat.We were all exhausted, supplies were low and everyone was running on their second wind and to make matters worse our only way of communication was our damaged radios. There was no way to call for backup and our only hope was that somehow our unit back in our base was able to get the message and realized that we were in need of help. Even though we had all been trained for situations like this, there was no way to compare it to the real thing; you don’t think the same and your body won’t respond like it normally does. I’m not going to lie, I was scared; the fear of me dying was there I didn’t show it but it, was there.Even in a stressful situation it’s funny but true that at times like these the non-religious is always praying for something. As the hours went by, there was nothing we can do but wait. It was quiet, and there was really not a way to describe the scene. It was just one of those priceless moments where everyone was weak. In the corner of the room was that tough guy that never went to church on his knees with his hands together silently praying; to his left was one holding a rosary, another soldier looking at his family picture as a tear slowly rolled down his cheek.It was not hard to imagine what he was going through. Others were sitting silently just staring at the wall, and then there was I sitting in the middle of the room holding my rifle close to my chest just like when a mother holds her baby, thinking of all the precious moments I had with my family, all the good times with my friends, everything that I still wanted to accomplish, and the fear of possibly not being able to do any of that anymore. Several hours had gone by, and there was no sign of anyone coming to aid us.Everyone looked at each other and our eyes could tell us the fear we had and our expressions could tell us that hope was running out. Sure we can blame our lieutenant for not listening to us in the first place. I’m sure that if he would’ve done what we told him, we wouldn’t be in this situation, but we couldn’t blame him. It was his first time in combat. He was in a worse situation than most of us, but the truth is that blaming him would only make matters worse. The only thing left to do was just cross our fingers and hope that everything would be fine, but let’s be honest I was scared shitless.Then finally, luck was on our side when one of our convoys was heading our way; we were able to flag it down and finally after a long shitty day a sign of relief was there. We all looked at each other grabbed our gear and headed out. That day was one of the worst days of my life, one that could only be described as the day I discovered and faced my worst fear, the fear of not knowing what was going to happen next or if I was even going to make it out of there alive. â€Å"All men are afraid in battle. The coward is the one who lets his fear overcome his sense of duty† – George S. Patton.