Marketing Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words - 2

Marketing - Essay Example 3). E-commerce sites such as Amazon and Play.com are also sources of competitive threat as they provide the facilities for online purchasing. In online purchasing, the consumers have many of the same advantages when it comes to music downloading. Online purchasing offers greater ease of searching and convenience and the consumers can sample the products and read reviews. Online retailers also have the ability to offer a wider selection of titles than it is possible for a high street store like HMV. HMV has a solid platform from which to launch its new drive. As mentioned before, it has a high brand equity in the market. Therefore any initiatives are likely to be welcomed by the market as the consumers have trust in the brand (Kotter & Schlesinger, 2008, p. 138). The management of the company needs to formulate strategies which address the competitive threats from three sources: downloading, online purchasing and supermarkets. The supermarkets which are competing for the same market s hare are Asda, Tesco and Sainsbury. The management of HMV needs to consider the strengths of the competitors and formulate alternative strategies accordingly (Pearlson & Saunders, 2005, p. 19, Wang & Rode, 2010, p. 9). Therefore an industry analysis should be conducted (Pascale & Sternin, 2005, p. 73). The threat of new entrants is minimal because of the high competition. The threat of substitute products comes from online. These two threats combine to create a high threat of competitive rivalry. Buyers do have high bargaining power given the wide choice from online. For the same reasons the artists who provide the content have high bargaining power. Alternative strategic options According to Michael Porter’s theoretical model for strategy formulation, an organization has three competitive strategies available: cost minimization, differentiation and quick focus (Gosling & Mintzberg, 2004, p. 55). In the present context, differentiation is a viable option for HMV. The music an d entertainment retailing company can arrange to maintain a diverse product selection, thus reducing the competitive threat from online companies which are eroding the attractiveness of HMV’s business model by offering a wide selection of titles. Diverse product categories will also help to attract a greater number of market segments, thus enhancing the company’s market exposure (Winfield & Hay, 1997, p. 55). For example, HMV could increase the range of portable digital products. As the popularity of online purchasing grows, so will the demand for portable digital technology. The range of games hardware and software can also be expanded. Nintendo technology has taken the market by storm. Therefore products in this category should be emphasized upon in implementing the differentiation strategy. The pricing structure could be changed to increase demand. HMV is facing competitive pressure from music downloading because downloading facilitates lower prices. However in modi fying the prices, HMV should not forget about maintaining its brand image. If the prices were too low, then it would begin to affect its brand image as the consumers would start to suspect the quality of the products which are priced at such a low level. In pricing its products, HMV has five strategies: skimming pricing, competition pricing, psychological pricing, premium pricing and cost-based pricing (Teece, Pisano & Shuen, 1997, p. 510, Ross & Perry, 2002, p. 121). If HMV were to implement the pricing option, then it would

Compare Gothic Architecture and Troubadour Poetry Essay Example for Free

Compare Gothic Architecture and Troubadour Poetry Essay Europe had alot of cultural diversity. Gothic Architecture and Troubadour poetry can be compared geographically by their first settings; compared artistically by man expressing himself; and culturally contrasted because of associated religion. Both Gothic architecture and Troubador poetry can be compared because of their settings. It can be shown that Gothic Architecture can be compared because gothic cathedrals popped up in France during the Middle Ages. Its further told that Troubadour Poetry can be compared because the Troubadours emerged in southern France, and the poets were in the Middle Ages too. Both Gothic Architecture and Troubadour Poetry can be compared because of man expressing himself. It can be explained that Gothic Architecture can be compared because it was a way to show the power and clarity that the Catholic Church had over its subject with its insane height. This is further argued that troubadour poetry can be compared because it idealized their perception of romantic, courtly love through words. Gothic Architecture was a catholic characteristic. On the other hand, Troubador Poetry was not with the catholic beliefs. The contrast with the Gothic Architecture can be defended because the distinct features of it was on cathedrals . The contrast with Troubadour Poetry is justified because it was from a gnostic christian group, called the Cathars, who rivaled against against and were suppressed by the Catholic Church. The Gothic Architecture and Troubadour Poetry both have the same setting and the need for expression through a medium, but differ in religious association.

Political Parties in the United States Essay -- Papers USA Government

Political Parties in the United States When the founders of the American republic wrote the U.S. Constitution in 1787, they did not envision a role for political parties in the governmental order. Indeed, they sought through various constitutional arrangements such as separation of powers, checks and balances, and indirect election of the president by an electoral college to insulate the new republic from political parties and factions. In spite of the founders' intentions, the United States was the first nation to develop parties organized on a national basis and to transfer executive power from one faction to another via an election in 1800. THE EMERGENCE AND PERVASIVENESS OF POLITICAL PARTIES The development of political parties was closely linked to the extension of the suffrage as qualifications requiring property ownership to vote were lifted during the early 1800s. With a vastly expanded electorate, a means was required to mobilize masses of voters. Political parties became institutionalized to accomplish this essential task. Thus parties in America emerged as a part of this democratic revolution, and by the 1830s were a firmly established part of the political firmament. Today, the Republican and Democratic parties totally pervade the political process. Approximately two-thirds of Americans consider themselves either Republicans or Democrats, and even those who say that they are independents normally have partisan leanings and exhibit high levels of partisan loyalty. For example, on average 75 percent of independents who "leaned" either toward the Republicans or the Democrats voted for their preferred party's presidential candidate in the five presidential elections held between 1980 and 1996. The p... ...n of "protest" voting for third-party candidates. Gallup polls revealed that in 1992, 5 percent of Perot's voters said they would not vote for him if they thought he could win. Third parties and independent candidates also face a potentially daunting postelection problem in the event they are successful in winning the presidency. This, of course, is the problem of governing — staffing an administration and then working with a Congress dominated by Republicans and Democrats who would have only limited incentives to cooperate with a non-major-party president. John F. Bibby is a professor of political science at the University of Wisconsin, Milwaukee, and is the former chairman of the American Political Science Association's political parties subfield. An authority on U.S. politics and government, Bibby has authored Politics, Parties, and Elections in America. Political Parties in the United States Essay -- Papers USA Government Political Parties in the United States When the founders of the American republic wrote the U.S. Constitution in 1787, they did not envision a role for political parties in the governmental order. Indeed, they sought through various constitutional arrangements such as separation of powers, checks and balances, and indirect election of the president by an electoral college to insulate the new republic from political parties and factions. In spite of the founders' intentions, the United States was the first nation to develop parties organized on a national basis and to transfer executive power from one faction to another via an election in 1800. THE EMERGENCE AND PERVASIVENESS OF POLITICAL PARTIES The development of political parties was closely linked to the extension of the suffrage as qualifications requiring property ownership to vote were lifted during the early 1800s. With a vastly expanded electorate, a means was required to mobilize masses of voters. Political parties became institutionalized to accomplish this essential task. Thus parties in America emerged as a part of this democratic revolution, and by the 1830s were a firmly established part of the political firmament. Today, the Republican and Democratic parties totally pervade the political process. Approximately two-thirds of Americans consider themselves either Republicans or Democrats, and even those who say that they are independents normally have partisan leanings and exhibit high levels of partisan loyalty. For example, on average 75 percent of independents who "leaned" either toward the Republicans or the Democrats voted for their preferred party's presidential candidate in the five presidential elections held between 1980 and 1996. The p... ...n of "protest" voting for third-party candidates. Gallup polls revealed that in 1992, 5 percent of Perot's voters said they would not vote for him if they thought he could win. Third parties and independent candidates also face a potentially daunting postelection problem in the event they are successful in winning the presidency. This, of course, is the problem of governing — staffing an administration and then working with a Congress dominated by Republicans and Democrats who would have only limited incentives to cooperate with a non-major-party president. John F. Bibby is a professor of political science at the University of Wisconsin, Milwaukee, and is the former chairman of the American Political Science Association's political parties subfield. An authority on U.S. politics and government, Bibby has authored Politics, Parties, and Elections in America.

Eastern and Western Philosophy Comparison Essay

Philosophy has divided into two separate categories, the Eastern philosophy, and Western Philosophy. The Eastern philosophies are mainly consists of the Asian philosophies such as: the Hinduism and Buddhism in India (McGraw & Hill, 2008). Taoism, Confucianism, and Ch’an Buddhism in China, and Zen Buddhism and Samurai tradition in Japan (McGraw & Hill 2008). The Eastern philosopher, I believed that Mohandas K. Gandhi, Mohandas was better known as Gandhi. Gandhi made good compelling arguments for his ideas (McGraw & Hill, 2008). Gandhi, known for his nonviolence to help the political freedom for India and for striving to instill a sense of self-respect in all human being (McGraw & Hill, 2008). Hinduism life was for humans to live every day, ordinary consciousness to the contemplation of the divine Being (McGraw & Hill, 2008). Gandhi tried to make these traditional values of Hinduism available to all (McGraw & Hill, 2008). Gandhi main idea for the use of non-violent help civil disobedience. This idea not only help India get their political freedom, but it help inspire movement for freedom and civil rights movement around the world like the American Civil Rights Movement led by the non-violent activists Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. The Western philosopher that I felt Rene Descartes made the most compelling argument. Descartes believed that he could prove to himself that objects exists outside the mind (McGraw & Hill, 2008). He also set to prove that God exists also. Descartes came up with three reasons to prove Gods existence. The Second proof that he came up with he stated,† I exists as a thing that has an idea† (McGraw & Hill, 2008). He also concluded with the second proof that means that God has to exists. Mohandas K. Gandhi, the eastern philosopher, and the western philosopher, Rene Descartes are similar because they believe in Gods existence. The difference is that Gandi was to teach that Hinduism life was for every day humans to live according to the Divine Being (God). Descartes had to prove that god exists by having three reasons, and by all of the three of the proof, â€Å" he concluded that if he exists as a thing that has an idea of God, therefore  God exists† (McGraw & Hill, 200 8). I have to agree with Descartes, because he set out to prove God existence, and not to say without any prove that he does not exists. The argument that he made was logical, because he gave some evidence to back up his argument. I think the same way as he did, because how do things exists for a reason and it has to exists because of someone and not an idea.

Pop Culture Essay

Throughout, history popular culture has been a common factor in everyday life. The identity of popular culture is seen through many elements of art. It was derived from artifacts and styles of human expressions developed from the creativity of ordinary people, and circulate among people according to their interests, preferences, and tastes. For example, music, fashion, people, stereotypes, and social rituals all play a role in the development of what is known today as pop culture society. These elements have shape society to behave and think a certain way, all in which are seen to have a more negative impact to the public rather than promote positive influences. Moreover, we will examine three main elements of popular culture that affect the American culture on a day to day basis. â€Å"Stereotypes, social rituals, and arts are all elements of popular culture that have been adopted and appeals to large masses of people, normally the middle class citizens† . Thus, popular culture comes from people; it is not just given to them. This perspective tears away at distinctions typically made between producers and consumers of cultural material. According to Webster stereotypes are oversimplified opinion, prejudiced attitude, or uncritical judgment. For example, â€Å"people develop conceptions about certain groups of people because of what we see on television and use these generalizations in everyday life, such as Gender and where the media portrays ones masculinity and femininity† 2. Stereotypes can be seen with real or imaginary people or objects. For example, real icons such as expensive cars can be portrayed as a person being wealthy with luxury. Imaginary icons are things such as Bat mobiles or spaceships that are seen as a â€Å"warp speeding icon expressing in truly magical ways- faster than light travel, to demonstrate power beyond discovery† 3. Other real or imaginary stereotypes are heroes. For instances, Martin Luther King Jr. is a known for leading many Americans to freedom from slavery and racism. On the hand, Superman is an imaginary hero that saves the world from danger. These stereotypes have shaped America’s beliefs to be based on judgments of their own opinions as opposed to the truth. Social Rituals consist of â€Å"highly patterned symbolic events in which we all participate as a way of marking important passages in our individual lives or in society as a whole† 4. For example, holidays such as Christmas which is only celebrated by some who believe in decorating and exchanging gifts for the birth of Jesus Christ. However, others prefer not to engage in certain holidays or activities. Moreover, rituals integrate with heroes and icons that are built from a base structure of hierarchy. For example, voting is a common social ritual that plays a significant role in many American’s life. After voting, many constituency wear clothing to symbolize their heroic effort or support for the candidate they endorsed. Art is one the largest rooms of pop culture with a vast and diverse amount of subdivisions. Art includes; magazines, movies, television, recordings, comic books and others. Art correlates with all forms of pop culture and its affects with society. For example, books discuss heroes, icons, stereotypes, people, myth, beliefs and values. All of these elements interact with one another and result in moving to another room that leads to other possibly subcategories. Thus, arts are group together based upon shared characteristics which are known to both popular artist and the audience. Pop Culture is a trend that many learn about through film, media, music, people, fashion and others. These trends can sometime have a negative effect on the way society may behave or act to certain situations. For instances, many people use stereotypes to judge others or relate their lives to those individuals. In addition, others use heroes whether they are real or imaginary to compare and contrast their way of living. On the other hand, there are other elements of pop culture that make up these special trends. For example, social rituals is another element that allows people to express themselves based on their belief, things such as holidays, voting, and weddings. Lastly, Art is the element of diversity it relates to all subcategories of pop culture, within these categories all elements interact and form other elements.

Exoport and Import of Handicrafts Essays

Exoport and Import of Handicrafts Essays Exoport and Import of Handicrafts Essay Exoport and Import of Handicrafts Essay I would like to express my special thanks of gratitude to my Economics teacher Ms Swati who gave us the golden opportunity to do this wonderful project on the Policies and Procedures involved in the Export and Import of Handicrafts. It was a great experience to work together in a team and do Research on the actual procedures and documents required for a start.We would also like to thank her for her continuous Support throughout the Creation of this project.Mpingo wood from Tanzania/Mozambique convert it into Handicrafts in Gujarat and Export it to the European Market and The USA. Our main focus is consistent in the customer satisfaction. We have high-quality, on time delivery and competitive price track records with our clients in getting order till order is fulfilled and mainly focus on delivering the order as per the buyer requirements,: We also accept special design orders from our clients to meet any kind of their specific needs. We assure a consistent shi pping of products within a few days of order placement as we have a large labour force and centre located in Gujarat- Kandhla.We work hard to achieve the gamiest level of client satisfaction by continuous up gradation of latest design handicraft items. Our labour Force is a combination of locals from Africa (Makonde Tribe) and India (Labour from Saharanpur). Vision:To be one of the largest Handicraft exporter in India. Expansion Plans:To supple handicrafts in India and Other Asian Markets also. To get in the Manufacturing of Piano, Furniture and Flooring. To get into the market of home accessories. Page | 3 ABOUT THE WOODMpingo is renowned for its beautiful dark coloured heartwood which in the best timber is inky black, but ranges from dark brown to even an indigo-purple tint. It is considered to be the finest of all turnery timbers, cutting most exactly and finishing to a brilliantly polished lustrous surface1. The best quality timber can fetch up to $18,000 per cubic metre. The wo od is also incredibly hard and durable. So hard, in fact, that it blunts axes, and as a result the tree is seldom cut for firewood and is sometimes left standing in fields. It is difficult to saw or plane and cannot be screwed or nailed without first drilling.The Makonde, whose tribal lands straddle the Tanzania-Mozambique border, are particularly renowned for their Mpingo carving. The wood has the ability to survive fire. The carvers have settled in particular in Makonde villages around Dar es Salaam and in the Northern Provinces of Niassa (Mozambique). Carvings are made from an entire piece of the trunk and are therefore limited by the thickness of the trunk. 2 Only the heartwood is used. This is so hard that insects and other vermin cannot attack it. Compared with our own craftsmen, the Tanzanian carver is in the special position that his customers are natives of other parts of the world.He has little direct contact with his public, who make their purchases against the background of a different culture from his. The largest consumers of Mpingo are instrument makers in France, England and Germany and the members of carving co-operatives in Africa, who sell their work world-wide. 3 1 2 (African Blackwood) (Tanzanian Affairs) 3 (African Blackwood Conservation Project) Page | 4 USES OF THE WOOD For making Musical instruments. For making Furniture. For making Handicrafts and toys. PROCESS Firstly the trees are cut down Into Logs. Then the main part that is the Blackwood is drilled out of the log.With the use of drills and other traditional Instruments that the local Africans have been using the Blackwood is carved into suitable shapes as per the market requirements and the special demands of the consumer. For the visuals of the whole Process please refer to the Site: makonde-carvings. info/makonde/carvers. html (Makonde Artists of Dar Es Salaam, Tanzania) Page | 5 TANZANIA/MOZAMBIQUE – IMPORTING NATIONS The reason for choosing Tanzania/Mozambique as impor ting Nations for the processed Timber (Blackwood or Mpingo) is that they are one of the largest Exporter for the wood apart from Kenya.In Kenya, Mpingo is considered to be seriously threatened. There is growing concern among instrument manufacturers that the supplies of high quality wood are becoming limited. Although Mpingo is not likely to become biologically extinct, it is at high risk of becoming locally and commercially extinct. Good Relations between the countries *Trade between India and Tanzania amounted in 2009 – 2010, 31 billion dollars, and India is Tanzanias second largest investor. And also the matter of fact of us having contacts there are also a major reason of choosing them as a suitable Nation for Import of the wood.Page | 6 INDIA – MANUFACTURING NATION Choosing India as A manufacturing Nation has many reasons attached to it. India is one of the important suppliers of handicrafts to the world market. The Indian handicrafts industry is highly labour int ensive cottage based industry and decentralized, being spread all over the country in rural and urban areas. There are various Concessions and Schemes available for the Export of Handicrafts. The availability of labour at a much cheaper cost as compared to other Handcrafts Hub. India especially SAHARANPUR has adequate mount of Skilled labour for the Handicraft Production. Our Target Markets US and Europe have a good relation with INDIA. The rising economy and the Increasing trade relations with the European and Asian Nations, will help us expanding our business in future with other Nations and also flooding the Indian Market with our Products. During April-January 201213, the handicraft exports have grown 22 per cent to $ 2. 3 billion compared to the same period last fiscal. This fiscals $3. 3 billion target for the export of handicrafts is likely to be met on account of growing demand.Indian handicraft industry has shown a substantial growth since 1998-99. Indian handicraft exports tapped a 39. 3 percent growth in January 2013 as exports grew from US$ 178 million in January 2012 to US$ 248 million. 4 4 (Handicraft exports meet $3. 3 billion target for 2012-13, Economic Times) Page | 7 THE USA AND EUROPEAN UNION – EXPORTING NATIONS It is clear from the picture above that The USA and Europe have been the biggest importer for Indian Handicrafts. A rise in demand from the US and European markets has pushed Indias handicrafts exports up by around 22 per cent to USD 369 million in August, 2010.Indias handicraft exports for the corresponding month of August, 2009 stood at USD 303 million Commenting on the matter Export Promotion Council for Handicrafts (EPCH), Chairman Mr Raj Malhotra said, The growth is attributed to Christmas orders, mainly from US and European markets. Further it is worth noting that the US and EU market together account for nearly 70 per cent of the countrys handicraft exports. The export of handicrafts registered a growth of 21. 71 per c ent during the April-August, 2010 period at USD 960 million as compared to the corresponding period a year-ago.Owing to recovery in demand from the US market, India’s handicraft exports surged 13 percent to US$ 256. 8 million in April this year, as against April 2012’s US$ 227. 16 million, Export Promotion Council for Handicrafts (EPCH) data shows. 5 The amount of festivals celebrated in The USA and Europe are the major reason for targeting that market. Also Handicrafts are considered very Prestigious in the Countries which have led to a huge increase In the Demand. 5 (US-AID Handicrafts Market Demand Analysis) Page | 8 PROCEDURE FOR IMPORT 1. ) Getting Import license a.Applying to the controller of imports for getting necessary permission. b. Attaching the following documents with the form:i. ii. Receipt which shows that import license fee has been paid. Certificate from a Chartered Accountant showing the total value of goods to be imported. iii. Verification Certific ate for income tax. c. An import license may be general or specific. A general license allows imports from any country. But specific license allows imports from specific country only. d. Obtaining import quota certificate from the concerned authority.It mentions the maximum quantity of goods which can be imported. 2. ) Earning of foreign exchange Before placing any order, we have to apply to the Exchange Control Department (ECD) of RBI (Indias Central Bank) for the release of requisite foreign exchange. Forwarding the application through our bank. 3. ) Placing the Order Placing the order in the specific Country for the Raw Material- Mpingo wood. 4. ) Despatching letter of credit After getting the confirmation from the supplier regarding the supply of goods, we will requests the bank to issue a Letter of credit in favour of supplier. . ) Appointing C and F Agents Since we are new in the market, in the initial stages we will appoint Carry and Forward agents to take care of the shipmen t. 6. ) Receipt of shipment device Receiving the Shipment Device from the Exporter and tracking the shipment time to time. Page | 9 7. ) Receipts of documents Our bank will receive all the documents from the exporters bank. The documents include bill of exchange, a copy of bill of lading, certificate of origin, commercial invoice, consular invoice, packing list, and other relevant documents. Make Payment to the Bank. 8. Bill of entry a. This is a document required in case of import of goods. A Bill of Entry is the document testifying the fact that goods of the stated value and description in specified quantity are entering into the country from abroad. b. The customs office supplies this form which is prepared in triplicate. Three different colours are used to prepare bill of entry. One copy is retained by custom department, other is retained by port trust and the third will be kept by us. 9. ) Delivery order The clearing agents obtains the delivery order from the office of the ship ping company.The shipping company gives the delivery order only after payment of freight, if any. 10. ) Clearing of goods a. The clearing agent will pay the necessary dock or port trust dues and obtains the port Trust Receipt in two copies. 6 b. He will then approach the Customs House and presents one copy of Port Trust Receipt, and two copies of Bill of. Entry to the customs authorities. c. The customs officer will endorse the Bill of Entry Forms and one copy of Bill of Entry will be handed back. We will then be liable to pay the customs duty and clears the goods. 10. ) Payment to clearing and forwarding agent We will pay the C and F agent. 1. ) Payment to exporter We will ask the exporter to draw a bill of exchange. We will accept the Bill and make a Payment to the Exporter. 6 (Procedure to import goods in India) Page | 10 PROCEDURES FOR EXPORT 1. ) Receiving an order To get registered with various authorities like RBI, income tax authorities, etc. In addition, appoint agents or d istributors for collection of orders from foreign countries. 2. ) Obtaining License and Quota After obtaining order, we will have to secure export license from the government. For this, we will apply to the Export Trade Control Authority and obtain the valid license. . ) Letter of Credit Demanding for LOC, in case it is not attached with the order. 4. ) Fixing exchange rate Since the exchange rate fluctuates from time to time we will fix the Exchange rate with the Importer before the order is processed so that it doesn’t lead to any chaos. 5. ) Foreign exchange formalities Undergoing certain foreign exchange formalities as laid down under exchange control regulations. According to FERA (Foreign Exchange Regulation Act of India) every exporter has to furnish a declaration in the form prescribed for this purpose.The declaration states:a. Foreign exchange earned by way of exports will be disposed in the manner and within the period specified by RBI. b. Negotiations of shipping d ocuments will be through authorised dealers in foreign exchange. c. The payment for goods exported will be collected only through approved method. Page | 11 6. ) Preparation for executing the order Making the necessary arrangements for executing the order. In this respect we will perform the following activities:a. Packing and marking of the goods as per the specifications of the importer. b.Arranging the pre-shipment inspection by the Export Inspection Agency and getting the inspection certificate from it. c. Securing insurance policy from the Export Credit Guarantee Corporation (ECGC) to get protection against the credit risks. d. Obtaining a suitable marine insurance policy, consular invoice and certificate of origin, if required. e. Appointing a forwarding agent for handling the customs and forwarding activities. 7. ) Formalities done by forwarding agent The Forwarding Agent completes the following formalities:a. He obtains the Customs Permit from the Customs Department for expo rting goods. . The Forwarding Agent discloses the details of the goods such as their nature, size, quantity, weight, etc. to the shipping company. c. The Forwarding Agent prepares a Shipping Bill. d. The Forwarding Agent prepares two copies of the dock challans and pays the dock dues. e. The Captain of the ship gets the goods loaded on the ship on the basis of the Shipping Order in the presence of customer officers. f. When the goods are loaded on the ship, the Mate (Vice Captain or the Captain) issues a receipt, called Mates or Captains Receipt. 8. Bill of Landing We will approach the shipping company, presents the Mates Receipt and in exchange receives a document called Bill of Lading. It is an official receipt given by the shipping company as an acknowledgement of the receipt of goods to be transported to the port of destination. It is also a contract for the carriage of goods. It gives full description of goods loaded on the ship, name of the port of destination, etc. Page | 12 9. ) Shipment advice to importer We send Shipment Advice to the importer informing him about the dispatch of the goods.He sends a copy of packing list, commercial invoice and a non-negotiable copy of the Bill of Lading, along with the Advice Note. 10. ) Presentation of documents to the bank We will confirm that we have secured a complete set of the shipping documents namely, the Bill of Lading, Marine Insurance Policy, Certificate of Origin, the Consular Invoice and the Commercial Invoice. Then we will draws a Bill of Exchange on the basis of the commercial invoice. Such a bill may be a D/P (Documents against payment) bill or D/A (Documents against Acceptance) bill.Then we will hand over the documentary bill to our bank. 11. ) Realisation of export proceeds For realisation of export proceeds, we will undergo certain banking formalities and receive the payment in foreign currency by bill of exchange or by bank draft. 7 7 (Procedure to export goods from India) Page | 13 CONCESSIONS AN D EXEMPTIONS There are certain schemes which our company Africa Sanaa is eligible for and which therefore benefit the company as whole and the nation itself by encouraging more exports leading to the betterment of balance of payments.Moreover with such schemes, the handicrafts market specifically in India will finally be able to come out of the decline stage of it and will come back to the market with variety of products with new designs and even leading to multi-city trade which will further in long-term lead to better relations among the countries. The schemes are as follows: 1) EPCG Scheme, FTP (2009-14): has allowed zero duty import of capital goods for handicrafts. India enjoys a comparative advantage and the zero capital goods import facility should go a long way and thus benefit both, the nation and the company itself. ) All handicrafts exports would be treated as special focus products and entitled to higher incentives. In addition to above, 2% bonus benefits under Focus Pro duct Scheme for handicrafts exports and applicable duty drawback on exports of goods are eligible for registered exporters. 3) Registration with the EOU’s: As per the case in June 3rd 2009 â€Å"The handicraft exporters in Moradabad, Jaipur, Jodhpur, Udaipur, Saharanpur and Narsapur are not given fiscal and other benefits as that of EOUs, even though they do business with the outer countries.In this regard, an official from the Export Promotion Council for Handicrafts (EPCH) said that the handicraft exporters should be considered as EOUs as the handicraft units are totally export oriented, who don’t sell any of their products in the domestic market. †8 Therefore, according to Foreign Trade Policy 2009-14, Our Company would like to get registered under the EOU unit so as to prevent getting HIT by the recession as other companies did in the above listed cities. Getting registered under the EOU will therefore help us penetrate the international market without any t hreats and high costs. (Press Information Bureau, Government of India) Page | 14 This information was given by the Minister of State in the Ministry Of Textiles, Smt. Panabaaka Lakshmi in a written reply in the Lok Sabha. 9 CONTAINER DETAILS Dimensions of a 20ft container 10 Inside dimensions (L x W x H) 20ft Standard Container Door opening (W x H) Max payload Capacity 5895 x 2350 x 2392 mm 2340 x 2292 mm 28230 kgs 33 m? Dimensions of a 20ft container 11 Diameter of 1 Log is 1 FT. Length of 1 LOG is 7FT. Total No of logs that the container can hold = 3*8*8 =192 logs 9 Press Information Bureau, Government of India) (Container Specification) 11 (20 ft Container Size: High Cube and Standard Dry) 10 Page | 15 COST ANALYSIS 7ft = Tshs. 130,000 1ft = Solution 110,000 = Tshs. 15714 7 100ft = Tshs. 1,571,400 In terms of Rs. the exchange value is as follows: 1rs = Tshs. 26. 7 = Tshs. 1,571,400 The value of 100ft Mpingo wood in terms of INR is equivalent to Rs. 58,853. Since we are importin g it for Export we won’t have to pay Custom Duty as per the EPCG scheme. Per foot Raw Material cost- 588. 53 SHIPPING CHARGE for 192 Logs is 750 $ = 45000(approx. ), i. e Per log cost = 234. 75 Rs Labour cost/ft = 210 Rs. Total cost of 192 logs = 790,272 Insurance Charge = 2% of 790,272= 15,805 Rs. TOTAL COST INVOLVED PER FT= 210+234+588+12= 1044rs. Page | 16 Selling Price per FT = 1600 RS (Minimum) Profit Per Ft = 1600-1044= 556 RS. TOTAL FOB VALUE= TOTAL EX FACTORY PRICE+ TOTAL OTHER COSTS Total EX factory Price= Production Cost + Profit 790272+282240+200448 =1,272,960=21,216 $ Other Costs= Shipment Charges =750$ Total FOB value= 21966$ Page | 17 CONCLUSION We would like to conclude that we have created a tri- country trade, in which we will be importing the skilled labour and the raw materials i. e.Mpingo wood from Tanzania or Mozambique, Manufacturing it in India in the form of Handicrafts with the help of African Labour and Labour from Saharanpur near the Kandhla Port so to save the Transportation cost and then Exporting the Finished goods to The USA and Europe. We believe that this is the best Time to capture the Handicraft Market as it is booming at a very faster rate all over the globe and especially The USA and Europe and also the matter of fact that the Indian Govt. is supporting the Handicraft Industry in through various Concessions and Exemptions. Page | 18 BIBLIOGRAPHY 20 ft Container Size: High Cube and Standard Dry. n. d.

History of the Old South essays

History of the Old South essays The area of the nation now referred to as the Old South had several distinguishing features which separated it from the rest of America. These distinctions were present from the earliest points of its history, because the colonies that were to be the foundation for the South were founded not for religious reasons like their northern cousins. They were founded, rather, to further the economic interests of their supporters. The true distinctive nature of the South begins, however, in the year 1787. This is the year the American Constitution was drafted with a number of clauses which were carefully worded due to a number of compromises between northern and southern representatives. Although the distinctive nature of the South was cemented when it collectively bargained to make sure slavery remained protected in the Constitution, the cohesiveness was not cemented until the invention of Eli Whitneys cotton gin and the rise of King Cotton. It was at this point that the South became al most solely focused on the raising of cotton as its cash crop, this is also the point where it was clear that the plantation system was so firmly ingrained into Southern economics that any threat to slavery would have to be addressed with the power of all slave holding states. Prior to the American Revolution, the southern colonies functioned in a different manner than those in the north, but not in a manner which was significant enough for anyone to consider the various British colonies in North America as two separate regions At this time all the colonies were under British rule and any Northerners seeking to end slavery had no real voice in British politics and Southerners never had to worry about the issue as long as their plantations continued to produce valuable crops for the British merchants. This all changed after the war; because of differences in the two regions regarding slavery, each of them began to form groups which sought certain c...

The Best Of Both Worlds Introducing HubSpot for CoSchedule

The Best Of Both Worlds Introducing HubSpot for Remember why you purchased HubSpot? How excited you were to have an â€Å"all-in-one marketing tool†? to finally get your sh*t organized (and move projects forward)? Only to find while you can do a lot in HubSpot†¦ Planning out your marketing schedule†¦ Collaborating on projects AND keeping some semblance of sanity over what’s going on today, tomorrow, and next month†¦ isn’t exactly their forte. Only to be left managing timelines, collaboration, tasks, and outbound tactics in spreadsheets, Teamwork, Basecamp, Airtable, email, and other misc. tools. If only there was a better way. 😠 Enter the perfect solution: ’s *NEW* HubSpot Integration. With the new integration, you’ll be able to: Visualize your ENTIRE marketing strategy in one dynamic calendar. Marketing is more than just inbound. Add every active marketing project and campaign in , so you can make sure your teams priorities are focused on reaching company goals. Improve productivity + streamline your marketing process. Give your team access to everything they need to get work done. Including task lists, project timelines, files, and even direct access to HubSpot emails and landing pages. Keep conversation relevant + connected to every project. Collaborate on projects in real-time. Share feedback, status updates, and more in discussions so your team stays on the same page. Upgrade your social strategy with better publishing tools. s social scheduling allows you to promote your top landing pages and blogs in seconds and build out entire campaigns in just a few clicks. It’s the best of both worlds! Unite the Hubspot features you love with the project management tools + marketing calendar you’ve always dreamed of. 😠 The Best Of Both Worlds: Introducing @HubSpot for @Visualize your ENTIRE marketing strategy in one dynamic calendar. Marketing is more than just your inbound strategies. With , you can map out all of your marketing projects and campaigns including projects from HubSpot so you can visualize your ENTIRE marketing strategy in one calendar. The calendar gives you visibility into how your content + campaigns interact and overlap. So when you’ve got one too many email drafts on the calendar for next week, you can drag and drop it to another date before it’s scheduled to create a more strategic messaging cadence without missing a beat. 👠 This flexibility plus visibility lets your team stay super agile. Making it a breeze to adapt when new projects come in, fire drills happen, priorities change, and marketing goals evolve. Improve productivity + streamline your marketing process. Without the right processes in place, your team can basically say goodbye to productivity. via GIPHY But when HubSpot and work together your team works faster and eliminates unnecessary roadblocks. Assign tasks for every project on your team’s roadmap. You can even add required approvals to make sure projects get completed AND reviewed before they go live. Quickly visualize if projects are on track using the progress bar. This gives you an active pulse on how your team’s trending towards meeting their deadlines. Use project attachments to upload files, Google docs, and other resources your team needs to get their projects done. You can stop digging through emails, Dropbox, or file folders to find the latest drafts and templates. Now you can access it all right inside the project. And by implementing the HubSpot integration inside , your team will have direct access to your HubSpot landing pages, emails, and blogs in just one click. By streamlining your marketing process, you can get more done in less time! Cos’ when time = money $$$ that’s a win-win for everyone. Keep conversation relevant + connected to every project. 86% of employees and executives cite lack of collaboration or ineffective communication for workplace failures. Yet your team still shares project updates and feedback via emails, IMs, Google Docs, and quick on-the-fly conversations. Leaving collaboration and conversation siloed in different places (and not accessible to everyone who may need to know the latest info). The solution? Discussions in . Discussions help your team share feedback, status updates, and notes on projects in real-time. PLUS anyone can jump into a project and see exactly where they left off. Which means if someone is on vacation, out sick, or projects need to get reassigned, another team member can easily pick it up and get it done. Upgrade your social strategy with better publishing tools. Sure, HubSpot has social publishing†¦ But switching to for social can give your strategy a major upgrade. Manually entering social messages†¦.one at a time to promote your upcoming blog post†¦ It’s mind-numbing. Especially when they follow the same cadence every time. With , you can build out robust, predefined social promotion plans for your landing pages and blogs. Then apply them to any new post in just a few clicks using social templates. Best of all, you can draft the content for your messages that fast, too! Use social helpers to autofill your posts in your campaign with default or custom content. Filling your social queue has never been easier! It’s obvious ’s HubSpot integration can transform how your team works. You’ll improve efficiency + productivity†¦ gain full visibility over your entire strategy†¦ get projects done faster with fewer roadblocks†¦ And eliminate unnecessary project management + collaboration tools from your marketing stack. What are you waiting for?

Film Review Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words - 3

Film Review - Essay Example The crux of the story revolves around the well known adventure and archaeologist Dr. Henry – â€Å"Indiana† Jones when he is summoned back into action and gets entangled in a plot by the Soviets to unearth the secret behind the sinister yet mysterious artifacts of the Crystal Skulls. At the time of the Cold War, Professor Henry James is tracked down by Soviet agents when they find him accepting a coded message that was sent to him from an old and demented colleague, played by Henry Oxley. The brilliant and adventurous Irina Spalko leads the Soviets and trails Jones and Mutt the young man to Peru. Making use of Oxley’s code, they chance upon a legendary skull carved from a single piece of Quartz. The main knot of the story lay in the fact that if Jones found the skull and transferred it to its rightful place, then everything would be calm and peaceful, but in case Irina found it and took it to it’s place of origin, she would be endowed with exceptional powers that would endanger the West. The professor and the young man join hands with a lady from Jone’s past to face the dangers of the tumultuous jungle. Spielberg’s brilliance can be seen in almost every frame and the movie captivates or engulfs its audience. This 122 min. film keeps the audience pinned to their seats as the intriguing drama unfolds. Such a mega movie needs the backing of a big company and that was shouldered by Paramount Pictures, USA. With the sound mix in Dolby Digital, the soundtracks were old but very famous numbers by popular artists. The first was â€Å"Hound Dog† lyrics penned by Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller and originally performed by the enigmatic Elvis Presley, the second track was the â€Å"Howdy Doody Theme†, the third was the famous â€Å"Wake up little Susie† originally performed by the Everly Brothers and the other tracks were â€Å"Little Bitty Pretty

Visual Learning and Students' Response Research Paper

Visual Learning and Students' Response - Research Paper Example Visual learning techniques can be achieved by use of computer graphics, cartoons, diagrams, posters, maps, charts, graphic organizers, graphs and many others that these learners can respond well to. Research has shown that students respond to learning in different ways and therefore, it is important for instructors to determine the kind of learners they have and employ appropriate learning techniques. Visual learners display a variety of characteristics including being good at spellings, quiet study times, like of colors and fashion, good performance in sign language, taking time to think before understanding lectures, understanding charts but forgetting names. Visual learning technique helps students connect to objects in a unique way in that they reflect, internalize and finally synthesize their information. Russel Ackoff suggested that the most important contribution of a first rate 21st century education is not content, but that we acquire the capability to learn and are motivate d to do so throughout our lives (Bartoletti, 128). It is therefore important to determine if and how visual learning improves the performance of a student. Various software packages and tools like Microsoft power point are used to enhance learning, thus making the exercise very interactive. Customization of effects that include color, gives the audience a better understanding of what is under discussion, providing visual learning with an edge over other traditional methods. Through this, it’s very easy for students to recall what they have been taught with the help of images, similar effects are employed in early childhood. Problem Statement Student performance has been declining mostly in developed countries; this is because colleges, high schools and other education systems are still using teaching styles that were used a long time ago in a modern society. The society is evolving rapidly and so it has been of great concern to change the older methods used for teaching in th e education sector and replace them with new effective methods so as to cope up with changes in the contemporary world. Research has shown that use of visual learning style is very effective and can be emphasized at the expense traditional auditory style. This research seeks to find out how visual learning improves students’ performance. Rationale for the Research It has been proven that most students respond best to visual images during learning and are likely to remember objects by visualizing whatever is taught. This research is carried out to establish how the use of these images or visuals, help students improve their performance and find the tools that can be employed to efficiently carry out this technique. In order to work effectively with the visual learning tools and achieve desired results, we have to determine and understand how student react to these images together with their function in enhancing understanding and performance of students. It has been determined that learning standards are going down gradually and sooner or later, education will lack meaning due to poor quality and low performances achieved by learners. Therefore, the use of new approach to learning like visual learning can help reverse this situation and make improvements. This research will determine

Points To Consider Article Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words - 1

Points To Consider - Article Example oup of shareholders is forced to choose between a negative outcome and another negative; hence the explanation of being stuck between a rock and a hard place. 1: Seeking not to rush to judgment on important decisions. Rather, taking time to collect all information with regards to the positive and negative externalities intimated by all sides is the far better approach. 3: Learning to implement the valuable good of the compromise as a means of maximizing the good for yourself and other parties involved. If one finds himself/herself in a situation in which two negative externalities result, the compromise may be a good way of taking the best from both negative situations and lessening the bad effects of the conflict or choice at hand. The main issues that were described in the given case with respect to the conflict between the firefighters and the policemen can be understood as an emotional response from the firemen with regards to the decision by Mayor Rudolph Giuliani to suspend search and rescue efforts on Ground Zero and transition the process into a cleanup and deconstruction process. As a function of the fraternal bonds that existed among the firefighters, they were highly reticent to leave their fallen brothers behind in the rubble to be cleaned up like trash by the excavation crews. The other groups that were involved included the DDC, the mayor’s office, the police and obviously the fire department as well as several community groups that sought to side with one side or the other. However, it is worth noting that public sympathy was most firmly with the firefighters as a result of their loss and the sacrifices they had made within the Twin Towers during and after their collapse. The reason that the sense of organization was so long in developing was centrally an issue of remediation and jurisdiction. Due to the fact that no attack similar to the attacks of September 11th had before been perpetrated on US soil, let alone NYC, the shareholders

The Guilford Four Term Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

The Guilford Four - Term Paper Example The intensity of the ensuing aggression culminated into the deployment of the British Army in Ireland. The IRA (Irish Republican Army) was one of the most violent military parties that fought for Ireland’s independence. In the early 1970s, the group started challenging British troops in Ireland. With time, the group’s violence developed into massive bombing campaigns aimed at public utility, civilian, as well as military targets. When the British, in the effort to control the increasing aggression, introduced incarceration without trial in the year 1971 August, corroboration for the IRA increased. There arose many cases of injustices in the British legal system when dealing with Irish-related cases – wrong imprisonment of innocent Irish victims by the British government increased significantly (Fitzduff and O’Hagan, 2000). This paper delves into the Guilford episode, an incident that had to do with drug-induced and coerced confessions, fabricated and suppr essed evidence, and a society under siege dashing into judgment. The Guilford episode saw the arrest and false conviction of four innocent people following the bombing of the Guildford and Woolwich English pubs, which English soldiers liked frequenting while off duty. The suspects were henceforth referred to as the Guilford Four. The bombing led to the death of seven people and forty-two others were sustained injuries (Howard, 1992). The paper also explores the political and cultural climate that was present in both England and Ireland at the time of the bombing, and talks about English attitudes towards the Irish. Introduction The case of the Guilford Four presents a good example of an injustice in an Irish-related case that took place on 22 October 1975, when Paddy Armstrong, Paul Hill, Carole Richardson, and Gerry Conlon, four young people from Northern Ireland were convicted for the 5 October 1974 bombings of Guilford and Woolwich on behalf of the Irish Republican Army. The bomb s went off in pubs in Guilford and Woolwich that British soldiers liked to visit while off duty, killing seven people and injuring forty-two others. This was the reason as to why they were selected as targets by the IRA. In other words, this terrorist attack was part of a bombing campaign and a wave of violent attacks that the Irish Republican Army committed against Great Britain in the 1970s (Bihler, 2009). The political and cultural climate that was present in both England and Ireland at the time of the bombing The Guilford and Woolwich bombings occurred at a time when IRA had taken a horrible toll on Britain – in the first ten months of the year 1974; Britain had experienced ninety-nine bombings with injuries amounting to approximately one hundred and forty five people and fatalities/deaths amounting to nineteen people. Spaced out as the bombings were, the deaths and injuries might have been at a tolerable level, but on 21 November 1974, all this changed with the Guilford and Woolwich bombings. In retaliation to the two bombings, Britain convulsed with anger – angry mobs assailed innocent Irish residents in Birmingham streets and in London, they firebombed Irish businesses. Innocent Irish people became scapegoats for the atrocities of the IRA and the attempts of public officials to appeal for calm and stop the bombings in the streets were futile (Howard, 1992). A sampling of headlines as well as sub-headlines from October through

Miscarriage of Justice Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Miscarriage of Justice - Essay Example This implies that the issue is broad-spectrum as it incorporates both criminal and white collar crimes (McBannet, 1981, p.45). Certain indications in wrongful convictions portray synonymous characteristics to miscarriage of justice. A closer look at the events surrounding this issue reveals that the most injurious cases happen when a person faces wrongful conviction. The Criminal Justice system can also be faulted as wrong convictions hold for many years (Wilhouter et al, 2009, 2). It is unfortunate that innocent convicts can spend numerous years behind bars. Upon release, ex-convicts still suffer stigmatization in the society. The Guildford four and the Birmingham six serve as the best example of such cases. The most conspicuous aspect of controversy in such cases is generally embodied in the legality of the death penalty. Due to the alarming trend of wrongful convictions in the recent past, the legitimacy of the death penalty has constantly been reviewed. Critics and opponents of t he drug penalty argue that innocent suspects are likely to suffer death for crimes they have not committed (Sanders & Young, 2007, p.10). The issue remains controversial because death is irreversible and nothing can be done to repair the damage of a wrong conviction. A common practice that has led to much emphasis on miscarriages of justice is the emergence of crucial DNA evidence that has helped clear many people from false accusations (Douglas, 2011, p.1). Forensic evidence has helped to exonerate innocent suspects and even wrongfully convicted prisoners. The pile up of unjust conviction cases led to the formation of the Criminal Cases Review Commission in 1997 (Rock, 2004, p.23). CCRC is deemed as the probable avenue towards success where the police, human rights institutions, and the courts have seemingly failed. A major cause for concern in this case, emanates from the fact that the above named institutions focus on errors that are somewhat premeditated (Lauden, 2006, p.98). Th is is mainly attributed to corruption. It means that given certain circumstances, a breach of ethics, laws, and common sense is usually evident. This is despite the fact that rejection of liberty stands out as a grave state sanction in the United Kingdom (Cater-Ruck, 1992, p.172). Most countries demand that whenever an individual is wrongfully convicted, and in the event suffers damage to himself or his family, he should be adequately compensated. However, compensation involves certain points of consideration that need to be verified before any progress on the same (Williams, 1999, 63). Common knowledge suggests that very few people will disagree with this assumption. On that note, it is important to look at issues surrounding a miscarriage of justice and how it possibly happens. Cases of biasness are common in the event of wrongful conviction and they include actions like unfair editing of evidence, fabrication of evidence by the police or the prosecution, issues of identification, contaminated evidence, and many other factors. Many people have been victims of the above implications and this has landed them several consequences which are regrettable since they happen to be innocent. Most people base their arguments on the harsh realities of death by execution in such cases but is should also be remembered that time spent in jail brings irreversible consequences to the person. Issues associated with miscarriage of ju

IPod Research Progress Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

IPod Research Progress - Essay Example libraries and online journals in a bid to achieve this purpose and a lot of potential books and magazines have been earmarked for further use during the course of the study. To keep track of the required excerpts and information from these various books, an excel sheet has been prepared and is being constantly used to keep track of the specific pages and sections within these literary sources so that it may be possible to revert to a specific page within a particular book or magazine with minimal effort, thereby providing more time to invest qualitatively in performing the requisite analysis. In a similar fashion, efforts are also underway to study and understand various market research theories and methodologies with the intention of selecting the appropriate ones that can be used for the research. Information pertaining to market research is available from a plethora of related books that contain vast discussions on areas such as product design, marketing, competitor analysis and branding. Although the study is being performed in a highly structured manner, it is true that certain difficulties were observed. Although local libraries contain a plethora of information on Apple’s products, it was soon evident that a large part of this information was in fact a few years old and the best books available offered information up to a few years since the launch of the iPod. To counter this deficiency, it was soon decided to rely extensively on online digital libraries such as Questia and the ACM portal. These online sites provided access to the latest books and journals, thus helping provide up to date information and helping make the research outcome more productive and qualitative. To obtain data on market perceptions and latest trends, it had been mentioned earlier that the study would utilize the inputs from various companies and professionals dealing in market research within the consumer electronics market with a specific focus on digital music players. To

Miscarriage of Justice Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Miscarriage of Justice - Essay Example This implies that the issue is broad-spectrum as it incorporates both criminal and white collar crimes (McBannet, 1981, p.45). Certain indications in wrongful convictions portray synonymous characteristics to miscarriage of justice. A closer look at the events surrounding this issue reveals that the most injurious cases happen when a person faces wrongful conviction. The Criminal Justice system can also be faulted as wrong convictions hold for many years (Wilhouter et al, 2009, 2). It is unfortunate that innocent convicts can spend numerous years behind bars. Upon release, ex-convicts still suffer stigmatization in the society. The Guildford four and the Birmingham six serve as the best example of such cases. The most conspicuous aspect of controversy in such cases is generally embodied in the legality of the death penalty. Due to the alarming trend of wrongful convictions in the recent past, the legitimacy of the death penalty has constantly been reviewed. Critics and opponents of t he drug penalty argue that innocent suspects are likely to suffer death for crimes they have not committed (Sanders & Young, 2007, p.10). The issue remains controversial because death is irreversible and nothing can be done to repair the damage of a wrong conviction. A common practice that has led to much emphasis on miscarriages of justice is the emergence of crucial DNA evidence that has helped clear many people from false accusations (Douglas, 2011, p.1). Forensic evidence has helped to exonerate innocent suspects and even wrongfully convicted prisoners. The pile up of unjust conviction cases led to the formation of the Criminal Cases Review Commission in 1997 (Rock, 2004, p.23). CCRC is deemed as the probable avenue towards success where the police, human rights institutions, and the courts have seemingly failed. A major cause for concern in this case, emanates from the fact that the above named institutions focus on errors that are somewhat premeditated (Lauden, 2006, p.98). Th is is mainly attributed to corruption. It means that given certain circumstances, a breach of ethics, laws, and common sense is usually evident. This is despite the fact that rejection of liberty stands out as a grave state sanction in the United Kingdom (Cater-Ruck, 1992, p.172). Most countries demand that whenever an individual is wrongfully convicted, and in the event suffers damage to himself or his family, he should be adequately compensated. However, compensation involves certain points of consideration that need to be verified before any progress on the same (Williams, 1999, 63). Common knowledge suggests that very few people will disagree with this assumption. On that note, it is important to look at issues surrounding a miscarriage of justice and how it possibly happens. Cases of biasness are common in the event of wrongful conviction and they include actions like unfair editing of evidence, fabrication of evidence by the police or the prosecution, issues of identification, contaminated evidence, and many other factors. Many people have been victims of the above implications and this has landed them several consequences which are regrettable since they happen to be innocent. Most people base their arguments on the harsh realities of death by execution in such cases but is should also be remembered that time spent in jail brings irreversible consequences to the person. Issues associated with miscarriage of ju

Why Abortion is Immoral Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Why Abortion is Immoral - Essay Example Marquis’s objective in his essay â€Å"An Argument that Abortion Is Wrong† is to show that the ending of a pregnancy before birth is a crucial breach of ethics. The author supports the prohibition of abortion since it counters certain aspects of life ethically. He trusts that a fetus is an existing being and has the right to live. In the thesis, the writer says that the right to life overrides that of self-body control; thus abortion is wrong. The article also shows that human beings try to exclude fetuses as living beings, but Don Marquis criticizes that point by describing a fetus as being living within another organism. The author also attacks pro-choice’s belief that only people have the privilege to live by pointing out that there is no means to confirm that a fetus is not a person. However, he agrees that in particular circumstances abortion is valid. According to Don Marquis, abortion is morally legal in cases such as when the pregnancy endangers the life of the mother, it is fourteen days and below after conception or rape. Generally, the author’s persuasive argument lies in the fact that the act of abortion is wrong since it involves killing a human being just like any other. Based on traditional, ethical and religious laws in conjunction with the law of nature, every living being has a right to life. For that reason, I believe that an abortion is a wrong thing to do, especially to an innocent person. I agree with Don Marquis’s notion that abortion is an immoral act unless the circumstances revolving around the pregnancy counter other moral aspects. Ethical theories dictate that people have a social responsibility to look after incapacitated human beings. An incapacitated person refers to an individual who lacks the ability to live normally or do ordinary things since they lack certain cognitive aspects.

Walmart analysis Essay Example for Free

Walmart analysis Essay Sam Walton founded Wal-Mart in 1962. He was a businessman who started working in retail in 1940 at a J. C. Penney store in Des Moines, Iowa. In 1945, he ran a retail store in Newport, Arkansas, part of a chain of variety stores named Ben Franklin. Instead of renewing his lease, however, he decided to open a new Ben Franklin franchise in Bentonville, Arkansas and called it â€Å"Walton’s Five and Dime. † He succeeded by selling at a discount. Wal-Mart’s purpose best exemplifies what the company still stands for today: â€Å"Saving People Money So They Can Live Better† (Walmartstores. com) Within five years, the company had grown to 24 stores throughout Arkansas, reaching sales of $12. 6 million. The company officially incorporated on October 31, 1969 as Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. In 1970, it opened its first distribution center and home office in Bentonville, Arkansas. By this time, it had 1,500 associates working out of 38 stores. Its sales were $44. 2 million. In this same year, it began to trade its stock as a publicly held company and was soon listed on the New York Stock Exchange. By 1971, it had stores in five states: Arkansas, Kansas, Louisiana, Missouri, and Oklahoma. It expanded into Texas in 1973, and Kentucky and Mississippi by 1974, and Texas in 1975. By this time, it had 125 stores and 7,500 associates, with sales of $340. 3 million. By its 25th anniversary in 1987, it had 200,000 associates working out of 1,198 stores. Sales were $15. 9 billion. It also completed a satellite network that linked all operating units with its Bentonville home office via two-way voice and data transmission and one-way video communication. It helped its home office to track inventory and sales and communicate instantly with its stores. In 1988, Sam Walton turned over the CEO role to David Glass. However, he remained the Chairman of the Board. In this same year, the company opened its first Wal-Mart Supercenter in Washington, Missouri. In 1995 it entered South America, beginning with Argentina and Brazil. In 1998, the company introduced the â€Å"Neighborhood Market† with three stores in Arkansas. In 2000, H. Lee Scott became Wal-Mart’s President and CEO. Sales increased to $165 billion. By 2002 it had been listed at America’s largest corporation on Fortune 500 list, with profits of $6. 7 billion. By 2005, it had sales of $312. 4 billion, 6,200 facilities worldwide and 1. 6 million associates. Back Ground and Purpose of the Study Wal-Mart is known as a store where you can go shop and save a buck. They are friendly to the average consumer of moderate income, and in this market they have thrived. The purpose of the study is to analyze why Wal-Mart stores Inc. has their own internal issue. This report will provide a back ground of the study and focus on the methodology, provide findings, recommendations and implementation plans for the root causes of internal issue. . Findings and recommendations Decision Making- RESOURCES A. Planning Findings They are a highly competitive company in an industry and economic time where lower prices are exactly what consumers are looking for. Wal-Mart has found that the reason they are so competitive is through their cheaper prices as compared to most of their competitors. This can create an effect so that many suppliers fight over their business. This in return gives Wal-Mart great bargaining power over whom they buy products from, and they can basically manipulate the original system/relationship of suppliers and retailers. They can almost in a sense control what price suppliers offer. Wal-Mart has great deals, and those deals can bring almost anyone into their store. Wal-Mart has a vast array of customers, most of which at some point or another probably were loyal customers of another company who opposed the idea of Wal-Mart entering in their community. At some point or another most of these same people have gone into Wal-Mart to see what all the hype is about and they found it in the low prices. Within this section is discussed Wal-Mart’s internal analysis of the value brought to and perceived by the consumers through the value and rarity of their products, limitability of their practices, and organization. By evaluating these four categories within their company it is easier to appraise which areas are strong and which are weak and, subsequently, need revision. To begin the main resources and capabilities of Wal-Mart Stores Inc. must be identified. As with many companies a major resource of Wal-Mart’s is their human capital; another is their image – concerning their layout of their stores, product quality, and satisfaction of their employees; Wal-Mart’s products and brands are a valuable resource; and Wal-Mart’s geographic locations are an important resource. B. Direction As we have reviewed and studied the strategy, culture, finances and the challenges and successes at Wal-Mart, there are many strategies we see that the company must undertake to hold its dominate position and drive further growth. Herein, we define our top four. These core strategies include: rebuild and recreate its reputation in the face of recent challenges; continue to show price leadership; improve the customer experience; and drive international growth. The financial performance of Wal-Mart continues to be strong. It delivered another record year in 2008 as total net sales increased 8. 6 percent to $375 billion. Yet, earnings growth rates and same store sales have slowed. And, the company faces a number of challenges to its operating procedures, reputation and growth prospects. Given the company’s stated objectives of â€Å"growing operating income faster than sales† and increasing shareholder value, the strategies we recommend will directly affect the company’s ability to overcome present challenges and meet these primary financial objectives. Reputation and Brand A key strategic objective, perhaps the most critical for the company going forward, is to rebuild and recreate its reputation. While brand and reputation are closely interlinked, author and business consultant, John Foley, differentiates the two attributes in this manner: â€Å"Brand is inside out. Reputation is outside in† (Foley 3). Wal-Mart’s reputation has waned in the past several years and, according to Foley, â€Å"the company’s reputation problems are dragging down its brand and business performance† (Foley). This conclusion seems to be shared by a number of analysts. Further validation can be found in a recent report (written in May 2007) by the company’s former advertising agency, GSDM. This report plainly states â€Å"Wal-Mart’s #1 overall business challenge is reputation. † Among the conclusions, the report states â€Å"(a) Wal-Mart’s consumer ratings as a â€Å"company I trust and respect† have steadily declined over the last two years, and (b) Shopping at Wal-Mart used to mean saving money and being patriotic, being a member of the community, being a part of the â€Å"American Dream. † Today, it just means saving money. All value no values† (Kofinis). So, with this challenge facing the company, there are several areas where the company can apply focus and action to help recreate and strengthen its reputation. Our recommendations for this strategic objective are: Ensure that â€Å"associates† are compensated fairly and receive proper benefits. Put programs in place to improve healthcare coverage for the workers in the stores and throughout the distribution network. Sam Walton’s insistence at the formation of the company on treating employees as partners, or associates, was heralded for years. This approach to managing must be reinforced through new benefits and compensation programs. Demonstrate leadership in societal issues including the environment, energy and healthcare. Wal-Mart’s power and influence are awesome and these forces can each be used to positively impact a broad number of initiatives around improving the environment, reducing carbon footprints and making healthcare more accessible and affordable to consumers. The company has started programs such as â€Å"Sustainability 360† in which it focuses on selling environmentally conscious goods. In 2007, US Stores â€Å"sold 145 million energy efficient light bulbs – enough to eliminate the need for three new coal-fired power plants in the United States. † In healthcare, Wal-Mart initiated a $4 prescription program to help consumers save money on critical prescription drugs. We recommend that programs like these be expanded in scale and that marketing and public relations dollars be increased to improve visibility to this work. Companies possessing a strong brand can easily topple without the support of a strong reputation. Given this and our strong belief that brand and reputation are primary building blocks to company growth and customer loyalty, we absolutely believe that this is the #1 priority the company must address. Price Leadership The greatest area of emphasis in Wal-Mart’s brand and company history has always been â€Å"Low Prices – Always. † And, while this emphasis continues today, we believe the company must continue to demonstrate leadership in this area. Value shoppers still represent the largest consumer base at Wal-Mart stores. Fulfilling this strategy will involve continued â€Å"early adoption† of innovative technologies, such as RFID and a new work scheduling system to support increasing efficiencies that lead to lower consumer prices. Customer Experience The next strategic area for the company is the enhancement of the customer experience. Also playing a factor in strengthening reputation, the company must find new ways to make the customer experience more enjoyable and impactful. This suggests new ways to reach expanded customer segments beyond â€Å"low price shoppers. † Besides the obvious merchandising strategies of optimizing product mix and bringing in new products that attract these customers, Wal-Mart must consider changes to store layouts, expanding aisles, installing better lighting and improving checkout procedures. During last year’s shareholder meeting, CEO Lee Scott addressed this area of their business saying, â€Å"†¦we have to improve in our merchandising areas†¦And we have to get better at consistently executing store standards and customer service, especially around the checkout. † (Forbes) International Growth In fiscal year 2008, Wal-Mart opened its 3000th International unit and grew sales by 17. 5%, representing $90. 6 billion of its total revenues. (Annual Report) An existing priority for the company, Wal-Mart’s ambition for higher growth rates will most likely be found overseas. Thus, we recommend continued investment in and focus on international markets be the fourth of our key strategies. International growth should be pursued through organic means and acquisition, both of which Wal-Mart has executed successfully since first expanding overseas in the early 1990’s. Regardless of the means of entry into markets, the company must understand and adapt to local consumer preferences, customs, attitudes and expectations. A great example of this comes from Wal-Mart’s foray into China. Among many adaptations, â€Å"the company had to accept that most Chinese tend to buy in small quantities, and that language differences required tailoring marketing approaches for product labeling and brand names† (Govindarajin). The sheer size of populations in markets throughout Asia and other untapped markets make this a â€Å"must pursue† strategy for the world’s largest retailer. Organizing Organizing is defined as the assembly and coordination of the human, financial, physical, informational, and other resources needed to achieve goals. (Bateman Snell, 2009, pg. 20) This function is also referred to as the function used to build a dynamic organization. (Bateman Snell, 2009, pg. 20) When looking at the organization process Sam Walton the founder of Wal-Mart made sure from the very beginning to keep up with his competitors. In 1972 Kmart expanded and at that time there were 15 Wal-Mart stores and Sam Walton could not afford to expand by building so he offered Wal-Mart stock on the New York Stock Exchange. Due to the large profit that occurred because of the sales of stock Wal-Mart could expand and by the 1980s they had 276 stores. Organizing is comprised of several organizational resources: physical assets, knowledge, money, and human resources. Resources are organized effectively by the use of tools such as charts and or graphs. These tools will present the various functions of management for instance human resources activities and responsibilities, employee duties and responsibilities, recording relationships amongst upper and lower management. (Bateman Snell, 2009, pg. 290) Within each department there are specific method being used which helps them in managing the resources provided to them. For example accounting and finance departments commonly use Microsoft Excel Spreadsheets and software such as QuickBooks. The management and maintaining of the human resources department is vital when evaluating the effectiveness of the organizing function. â€Å"People are assets not commodities†. (Bateman Snell, 2009, pg. 337) Managers as well as their companies must work together to hire the right individuals for the job. Human resource management is responsible for staffing, training, performance appraisals, rewards, labor relations, wages, and benefits. (Bateman Snell, 2009, pg. 354) Worldwide Wal-Mart employs about 2. 1 million associates, and depending on the size of the store there can be about 225 to 350 more associates in each store. According to Fortune Magazine 2010 reported that Wal-Mart ranked first on their list of most admired companies. This favorable rating is due to their sustainability leadership, corporate compassion, and employment opportunity. Wal-Mart’s staff practices the three basic beliefs and values established by Sam Walton in 1962. They are respect for individuals, services to our customers, and striving for excellence. Micromanaging is kept to a minimum and teamwork is highly encouraged by a style of leadership implemented back in the days of Mr. Walton called â€Å"servant leadership† where leaders work together with their employees. Wal-Mart also has an open door policy any issues which are questionable whether they ethical or immoral are brought to the attention of the store manager, market manager, and or the human resources department. In the past years Wal-Mart has faced several lawsuits in which their ethics has been questioned. Their policies of hiring, promoting, and equality have all been questioned in cases like the sexual discrimination of women in June 2001. Wal-Mart business practices article of 2010 reported that a survey conducted by Wal-Mart indicated a rapid turnover of 70 % of employees that leave the company within the first year of employment and stated that it is attributed to the lack of recognition and inadequate pay of the employees. (Business Practices, para. 5) Despite these various issues that Wal-Mart has been faced with and the speculation that the human resources department does a poor job is just that. Wal-Mart in fact aims to take very good care of their employees. They claim that their organization is one of the best to workplaces, which offers various health and wellness benefits. Wal-Mart offers 80 % coverage on to its eligible employees. Health care benefits such as doctor’s visits and annual checkups, pharmacy benefits, dental, business travel accident insurance, life insurance, accidental death and dismemberment coverage (Walmartstores. com, 2010) Wal-Mart like many other organizations is affected by many factors such as competitive pressures, insurance costs, market trends, economic conditions, cost of goods and services, and unemployment. (Walmartstores. com, 2010) Yet another issue they are constantly faced with is their wages. Average Wal-Mart employees make anywhere from $ 12,000 to $ 17,000 which causes them to have to turn to the state for public assistance. Further reports show that employees on average take home less than $250 a week. (Business Practices, 2010) Full time employees make between $6 and $7. 50 an hour and work from 28-40 hour weeks. According to Business Practices 2010 this pay scale indicates that employees of Wal-Mart with dependents are below the poverty line. As mentioned previously the foreign exchange rate is a factor that Wal-Mart as a large retailer must beware of when maintaining their monetary and financial resources. Wal-Mart reported that fiscal year 2009 foreign exchange rates had a negative effect on international net sales by 2. 3 billion. (Walmartstores. com, 2010) When compared to overall company net sales there was still a slight increase indicated despite the negative effect. Wal-Mart also offer its employees various financial benefits to compensate stock option plans, employee’s discounts, profit sharing (401k plan), retirement accounts, and holiday and when determining the success of an organization. Being mindful and utilizing the organizing function will help not only determine and maintain current success but will aid in future and in preventing failure.

Charles Dickens :: GCSE English Literature Coursework

Charles Dickens   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Charles John Huffman Dickens was born in Portsmouth on Feb. 7,1812. He moved with his family to London when he was about 2 years old. Many events and people in his books were based on events and people in his life. He was the son of a clerk who was imprisoned for debt. Even when his father was free, there was not enough money to support the family adequately. So Charles was taken out of school at the age of 12 to go to work in a factory pasting labels on bottles. He only had the job for a few months, but the shock affected him deeply. The images of prison life and of mistreated or lost children appeared in many of his novels.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Charles attended school off and on until the age of 15 when he left for good. He loved reading and was influenced by some of the early English writers like William Shakespeare. But most of his knowledge that he used as an author came from what he observed around him. He was a keen observer of life and had a great understanding of human nature, particularly of young people.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Dickens became a newspaper reporter in the late 1820’s. He covered debates in Parliament and wrote feature articles of the ever changing London scene. Dickens’ first publication was done under the pseudonym Boz in 1836. It consisted of articles he wrote for the “Monthly Magazine'; and the “Evening Chronicle.'; These articles surveyed manners and conditions of the time.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Dickens’ personal unhappiness marred his public success. In 1836, he married Catherine Hogarth. Her sister, Mary, died in 1837 and Dickens suffered great grief. This led many to believe that he loved Mary more than his wife. Although Catherine was not real intelligent, she was a good woman. She and Charles had 10 children, but they separated in 1858, after 22 years of marriage.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Dickens had a lot of mental and physical energy. He recorded his activities in thousand of letters. They were very enjoyable reading. He crowded his social life with friends from the world of art and literature. He enjoyed drama and went to the theater as much as he could. After he became rich and famous, he made a hobby of producing and acting in amateur theatrical productions. He also was successful in giving public readings of his works. He also busied himself with various charities for schools for poor children and a loan society to enable the poor to move to Australia.

Peter Kropotkin :: essays research papers fc

Peter Kropotkin Peter Kropotkin was a major anarchist thinker of the 19th century. His ideals have spread worldwide and have greatly influenced many of today’s political structures. His passionate vision has been a major influence many controversial wars and political debates around the globe. He was a fearless revolutionary with an intense desire for change. Kropotkin’s strong example is one we should all make an effort to follow as we are now approaching new changes within the 21st century. Kropotkin’s Life   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  While researching further on Kropotkin’s life, I discovered that he was not exactly raised as I would expect from such a radical anarchist thinker. In fact, I gained more respect for him when I learned that he was born into a noble family and had the willingness to give up his riches in search for his own truth. I found some interesting facts about his life in Kropotkin – the Master, by Herbert Read.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Peter Kropotkin was born in Moscow where he was the medieval Grand Prince of Kiev. He owned nearly twelve hundred male serfs in three different providences, housed about fifty servants in Moscow, and twenty-five more out in the country. He was a good master to his people and had the tendency even as a young boy to persistently fight for the less fortunate. When he was fifteen he entered the Corps of ages at St. Petersburg, a military academy consisting of only select noble children. After graduating from St. Petersburg, he became an officer in Siberia and was the elected secretary for both the reform of the prisons, and for preparing a scheme of municipal self-government. In Siberia and was brought into contact with many different social characters. He became quite rebellious through his interactions and resigned from the army in 1872 to become a geographer and anarchist carrying his extreme philosophies through Russia. He was eventually imprisoned in Russia and s oon escaped to Western Europe where he began a publication called, Le Revolte, until he was imprisoned again in France around 1882. They released him in 1885 after many protests from writers, scientists, and philosophers. He then spent about thirty years writing many books including, The Conquest of Bread, Mutual Aid, Memoirs of a Revolutionist, and Fields, Factories and workshops, during which he lived in the Hull House in Chicago and eventually moved back to Western Europe. Kropotkin's Utopian Ideals   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Kropotkin had an articulate understanding of the role of law and authority within civilization.

Climate Change and Society Essay

Topic : In considering solutions to the problem of global warming, state whether you agree with the statement by Tickell ((1996), in Houghton, Chapter 8 p.253) â€Å"Mostly we know what to do but we lack the will to do it†. Give reasoned arguments in support of your opinion. Global warming is the topic that increasingly occuipies the attention of world. Is it really happening? If so, how much of it is due to human activities? After realising the situation, has the public aware of it and contribute enough effort in combating the problem? This essay argues that in cosidering solutions to the problem of global warming, whether it contradicts with the statement â€Å" Mostly we know what to do but we lack the will to do it.† I believe that this comment can accurately describe the situation and i would like to give reasons to support my stance in four regarding areas: knowledge , attitude, values and actions. First, public have supreme knowledge in recognizing the threat of climate change since the late 1990s and has finally led to acceptance of the global warming hypothesis, however prompt actions were not taken within the public nor the society with the full awareness of the situation. As Mark Maslin( 2008 ) stated: It was not until the early 1980s, when the global annual mean temperature curve started to increase, that the global cooling scenario was questioned. By the late 1980s, the global annual mean temperature curve rose so steeply that all the dormant evidence from the late 1950s and 1960s was given prominence and the global warming theory was in full swing. However, the upturn in the global annual mean temperature data was not the sole reason for the appearance of the global warming issue. In the late 1970s and 1980s, there were significant advances in global climate modelling and a marked improvement in our understanding of past climates. Development in  general circulation models (GCMs) during this period included taking into account the role of particles and clouds in affecting the global climate. Despite the cooling effect thought to be associated with particle pollution, the new ocean- atmosphere coupled GCM tools emerged with revised and higher estimates of the warming that would be associated with a doubling of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. After that, GCMs continued to improve and the numbers of scientific teams working on such models increased over the 1980s and 1990s. In terms of the study of palaeoclimate, during the 1980s there was also an intense drive to understand how and why past climate changed. All in all, the public and society had already gained enough recognition to the problem long ago. Furthermore, intense media interest throughout the late 1980s and 1990s contribute to the reason why global warming hypothesis was widely accepted and spread in the society. Second, people’s attitudes are also selfsh. Many recognise this lack of will to act as a spiritual problem that we are too obsessed with the material and fail to act according to generally accepted values if it cost to ourselves or if it is concerned with the future rather than the present. We are only too aware of the strong temptations we experience at both the personal and national levels to use world’s resources to satisfy our needs and greediness. The society holds different attitudes towards different issues. One of the main attitudes is equlity. In our world community, human beings are not all equal. Reality is full of inequities of many kinds. In the context of global warming, because it is long term and global, two equity issues are particularly important. In one hand, it is our responsibility to protect the environment for our future generations. However, this attitude is not universally shared. Once the problem would not become so serious in one’s lifetime, the longer we delay in taking actions. In the other hand, international equilty where climate change creates an huge challenge to the international community. The world’s developed countries have grown the wealth over the years from the cheap energer resources such as coal, oil and fossil fuels without realising the harm they did on the environment and the less developed countries. Third, environmental values in considering the solution regarding global  warming. What do we value in the environment and how do we decide what to preserve or not?As John Hougton ( 2009 ) stated: Moving away from science, we have already referred to values related to the environment that come from our basic experiences as human beings. These are also called â€Å"shared values† because they are common to different members of a human community. Forth, the effect of the action taken regarding the problem may not be the most effective. For example, developing alternative sources of energy. Many countries started to use nuclear power. 66% of electricity production in France and Belgium comes from nuclear power. They reduce the output of carbon dioxide effectively. However, there is also the problem for nuclear waste disposal. Other renewable energy eg. Solar, wind and H.E.P. have also been developed but the UK government blocks five wind farms since they will interfere with military rader. Large dams for H.E.P. may also cause environmental problems. For energey efficenciency, countries have try to improve fuel efficiency of cars, for example, sales of Japanese fuel-efficient cars in the U.S. markets have increased. And they have try to develop energy-saving transport, eg. Magnetically levitated trains, hydrogen cars or fuel cell vehicles. However, the construction cost of maglev is huge and the competition among maglev, â€Å"bullet trains† and airplanes is high in Japan. On the other hand, some countries have improved fuel efficiency of buildings through better design. In Canada, though the cost of an energy-efficient â€Å" R-2000† home is very high which is not very applicable for public. And the government has also controlled deforestation.Though countries give advices on forest project management, it is difficult to persuade the Brazilians to control the destruction of Amazon. In conclusion, human mankind has over exploiting the Earth resources over the past centuries since the beginning of industrial revolution. Great benefits are attained which makes people neglecting harm they have done over the environment.

American Indian Hist

The question of what motivates people more when they act – cultural priorities, such as religion or tradition, or the so-called â€Å"rational† motivations, such as economics and politics – has been one long debated on. This debate has been quite fierce, members of both sides providing valid and powerful arguments to support their claims. One of the focal points for this discussion are the people known under the blanket term â€Å"Native Americans†. Where did their motivations stem from? Was it merely pragmatism, a wish to get the most out of any outsiders? Or was culture and tradition vital to decision making?It is doubtless that both of these factors were present, however, the question is, which was the initial factor of influence, dominating thought and action. Scholars have attempted to prove points both ways. I support the side which claims that culture was the primary factor. I shall first provide counter-arguments to the opposing side, then provide supporting arguments for my own claim. First, however, it must be noted that Native Americans is a very catchall term, which is used for lack of a better one. As the website of the Native American research center states, â€Å"It must be emphasized that no one person speaks for Indian People.There are nearly three hundred distinct American Indian Nations in the present United States. Each has its own language and history, its own sacred places and rituals. Each is rooted in and part of the land out of which it grew. â€Å" There are dozens of tribes, including some that are officially considered extinct now, that had quite different customs. If we say that there were Native Americans and they had one kind of culture and, as a consequence, had the same customs, we may just as well say that there are Europeans and they have one culture, completely losing the obvious distinctions between different nations.The cultures of different tribes of Native Americans are very different  œ to deny this would be to unjustly diminish their cultural value – and yet there are cultural tendencies, and there are exceptions. I will attempt to prove that the tendency is to use tradition as a guideline, and the occasions where â€Å"pragmatical† reasons have been primary are the exceptions verifying the rule. First I shall examine the political argument. It seems very difficult to think that â€Å"politics† in the sense that we understand them now had an influence on the Native Americans.When we think of â€Å"politics† we think of diplomatic traditions, of treaties that are made to be broken, of backstabbing. This, however, was not the dominant case with Native Americans. As Dee Brown wrote in his book â€Å"Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee†, â€Å"So tractable, so peaceable, are these people,’ Columbus wrote to the King and Queen of Spain [referring to the Tainos on the island of San Salvador, so was named by Columbus], ‘that I swear to your Majesties there is not in the world a better nation.They love their neighbors as themselves, and their discourse is ever sweet and gentle, and accompanied with a smile; and though it is true that they are naked, yet their manners are decorous and praiseworthy. † This was verified a number of times by other observations, Columbus’s report being merely the most famous occasion. Time after time, the settlers used the same tactic. While officially recognizing the natives as owners of the land, they used any tactic possible to get them to sell the land, up to getting the chief of the tribe drunk.Then, once the treaty – which usually went along the lines of â€Å"There are white men on your lands now anyway, but give us a part of your land, and we will not go on your land without your permission. † – was signed, in a few years the expansion continued in the same manner, and new treaties were signed. Despite these circumstances, there have b een virtually no instances of the treaties between the Indians and the Europeans being broken by the Indians – however, Europeans were breaking these treaties constantly, in 99% of the cases!One would think that if politics were the defining factor in the Native American’s way of dealing they would have changed their tactic after the first few times these treaties were broken – they were not fools, and hundreds of years of such tactics would have destroyed even the most saintly naivete. So the conclusion must be that there was something more than mere hope that the white men would see reason standing behind these promises that forced the Native Americans to keep them. The next common choice for primary motivation is economics.However, despite the fact that the Indians had private property and were no strangers to trade, this could hardly be the dominating motivation. First of all, the Indians were completely self-supporting. Even if they did require something es sential they could not produce themselves – which was fairly rare – other Native American tribes generally proved much better business partners, generally being more honest than the Europeans. Consequentially, all the Europeans could offer them were luxuries. This, naturally, should not be underestimated as a lure in any way.However, a trade which truly entails only luxuries is always small by necessity. In any case, trade relationships were not nearly so large-scale as in the Old World. They could not have been the driving motivation Also, we have numerous documents that detail the interaction between Native Americans and European settlers. The initial reply to the abovementioned land-selling treaties was nearly always quite similar. For instance, an excerpt from the 1752 Abenaki Conference between Captain Phineas Stevens and the St.Francis Indians shows the Indian’s attitude to these treaties: â€Å"4 – But we will not cede one single inch of the lands we inhabit beyond what has been decided formerly by our fathers. 5 – You have the sea for your share from the place where you reside; you can trade there; but we expressly forbid you to kill a single Beaver, or to take a single stick of timber on the lands we inhabit; if you want timber we'll sell you some, but you shall not take it without our permission. † And there exists a number of other documents revealing a similar attitude.Could this, in truth, only be showing that the Indians merely wanted a better deal? One could naturally gain a leeway in trade by keeping the land and selling its resources. However, it is a basic law of economics that one wishing to trade must meet the demand. Had this trade in itself been a factor of dire importance to the Indians, they would have put forth an effort to convince the Europeans that trading would prove profitable. However, the attitude that prevails in documents is one of indifference. It seems like the Indians did not care f or the presence of Europeans.If the white men wished a trade, then they would get a trade. If they did not, the Indians seemed perfectly content to let them live without making any more contact than absolutely necessary. Trade was not of importance – it influenced the relationship between the natives and settlers when it was present, but it was by no means the most important factor. On the other hand, tradition and culture was of extreme importance, influencing entire tribe’s behaviors – especially such a part of culture as religion. For Native Americans religion was of utmost importance.Even the Canadian Jesuit missionaries remarked that the Native Americans were highly religious – and not in the â€Å"Sunday Christian† sense, either, but with deep roots and a great influence of every aspect of their lives. This is a characteristic feature of most tribal societies, where little distinction is made between the sacral and the mundane. However, for I ndians religion had special relevance, as it was one of the things that allowed them to cling on to their cultural identity, saving them from assimilation. Yet even before this was a relevant factor, religion permeated nearly every aspect of Native American life.Their religion was (and remains) one of pure personal experience, not leaving any room for dogma. The Native American worldview is mythological. For all practical purposes, this means that religious factors such as hunting rituals and their theoretical results are the perceived as being absolutely as physically real as an arrow fired into an animal, having the same kind of cause-and-effect that a physical event might. A deal with a spirit, for instance, is treated as seriously as a treaty with a human. A spirit’s warning was heeded as much as a human’s would, with absolutely the same kind of discretion.And magical means of solving problems were taken as absolutely valid. One of the most well known incidents was in 1876, before the battle at Little-Big-Horn when the famed Sitting Bull performed a three-day shamanic ritual to decide what to do with the white men, staring at the sun and wounding himself until he fell unconscious. After he came to, he announced that the white men were there for the Indians to take, because he saw white men fall into the Indian’s camp headfirst, losing their hats, meaning they would be the killed by the Indians.Also he announced that â€Å"They had no ears†, i. e. they were deaf to reason, giving the Indians a moral right to attack. This is not the only incidence of religion influencing political activity. The Ghost Dance religion can be cited as another famous example, showing how Native American religion changed with the times, how it adapted to the flow of time and adopted alien cultural notions and yet survived without losing all of its cultural value, keeping the spirit, though changing the form.One might say that this lack of dissemination between regular life and religious life simply brings more factors into the political games. Religious leaders are used as figure heads for power play, and spirits are dealt with in the same manner humans are dealt with – if, indeed, the shamans who contact the spirits even believe in them and not use them as a means of their own power and control! This is, however, hardly the case, as there are numerous arguments against this position in the study of tribal societies as a whole.Firstly, their religion was always very personal. Every single Indian had their own religious experience and, as with any religion that requires its neophytes to work out their own niche – clergy being needed only in extreme cases – it is always very strong. The strength of this experience makes it difficult to give anything that is lower than it is a higher priority. The Native Americans did not believe in their gods watching over them – they knew the gods were there as much as t hey knew that their teepee was still standing.And while white men were considered a temporary nuisance, guests or invaders at best, and were treated that way, the gods were almost like family, and treated with necessary respect and given due priority. Second, as the phenomenon of the Ghost Dance shows, the acts done out of religion were not necessarily the wisest politically – such as the sending out of search parties to look for the Messiah said to be an incarnation of Jesus, and this at the time when men were crucial to survival – so faking divine inspiration for political power is ruled out.So, if the leaders genuinely believed in what they saw, the fate of hundreds and thousands rested within religion – more than enough to define it as one of the crucial influencing factors. It can be seen that politics and trade simply not as much of an influence on life, while religious and cultural activity was always extremely important, guiding the life of every Indian to a certain extent. This was the source of much misunderstanding, since for Europeans politics often took the leading role when religion failed to provide the necessary support and guidance.This made both sides misinterpret the others’ actions, resulting in a long and bloody war that spanned generations. The Native Americans also had also led wars between each other in the past; they were no strangers to military tactics. However, their wars had rules – ones that the settlers naturally broke, thus spelling defeat for the natives. This also shows just how big a role does tradition play in Native American society – had they adapted to the way of war which the Europeans brought to them, they would have survived losing less than they did.In conclusion, it can be said that, as we have seen, purely empirical evidence proves that the Native Americans did not use either politics or economics as the prime guideline for building the relationships either among themselves or between them and Europeans. These factors were not considered firsthand in any crisis situation, and even 370 years of war against the Europeans did not put them very high on the list of priorities. However, ethics and religion made quite an impact on the decisions made by the Native American people, and remain influential factors in their thinking to this day.This was the true motivation of most Native Americans, and remains so up to modern times. Works cited. 1. American Indian Culture Research Center: http://www. bluecloud. org/dakota. html 2. Dee Brown, â€Å"Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee: An Indian History of the American West†, Henry Holt & Company; Reprint edition (February 1, 1991) 3. Terry L. Anderson, â€Å"Dances with myths – truths about American Indians' environmental ethics†, Reason, February 1997. 4. Ghost Dance Religion: http://www. bgsu. edu/departments/acs/1890s/woundedknee/WKghost. html 5.Cultures of North America: http://www. mnsu. edu/emu seum/cultural/northamerica/index. shtml 6. Cultures of North America: http://www. mnsu. edu/emuseum/cultural/northamerica/index. shtml 7. David Stannard, â€Å"The American Holocaust†, Oxford University Press, 1992. 8. The Massacre at Wounded Knee: http://www. hanksville. org/daniel/lakota/Wounded_Knee. html 9. The Wampum Chronicles: Mohawk Territory on the Internet: http://www. wampumchronicles. com/index. html 10. George E. Tinker, â€Å"Religion†: http://college. hmco. com/history/readerscomp/naind/html/na_032600_religion.htm 11. NativeWeb: http://www. nativeweb. org/ 12. Indian Affairs: Laws and Treaties. Compiled and edited by Charles J. Kappler: http://digital. library. okstate. edu/kappler/Vol1/HTML_files/toc. html 13. Abenaki Conference with Phineas Stevens. Documents Related to the Colonial History of the State of New York Vol. X. pg. 252-254. Donated by Jeffery Miller – Administrator of Fort #4. http://www. avcnet. org/ne-do-ba/doc_1752. html 14. The M anataka Oath, Creed and Code of Conduct: http://www. manataka. org/page182. html