Wednesday, July 31, 2019

Corruption of Society Essay

First of all, technologie corrupts society because it does our thinking and increases health problems. According to a New York Times article, the average kid ages 8-18, spends over 7 ? hours a day using technology gadgets which increases the obesity rate, poor grades, impatience, violence and a loss of family interest. Also, cell phones and texting leads to texting and driving which is almost as worse as drinking and driving. You can hurt yourself or people around you while texting and driving. Are generation can’t live without a cell phone, texting or sending emails and this leads to a lack of communication. When somebody can only express their feeling in a text message or an email they are not learning how to communicate with others. Did you also know that technology not only affects our health but it affects our environment too? For example, a normal computer chip takes 600 times its weight in fuel to produce? Bullying has a huge impact on our society! Peer pressure especially because you are forced to do things you don’t want to, you get bad habits and it leads to loss of individual. When somebody is bullied mentally or physically they have depression, anxiety, loss of interest in activities, school and family, shame, fear and low self-esteem. All these side effects of bullying lead’s to suicide. According to the website ‘DoSomething. org’, Approximately 160,000 teens skip school every day because of bullying! Media can also be a cause of corruption of society because if you look at magazines, ads or watch television, commercial or news, beauty is often the subject. People and especially teenagers are influenced by Medias. All girls look at magazines or whatsoever and wishes to look like people on TV or magazines. Thin slim bodies, perfect face, etc. What teenagers don’t realized is that those people are edited by computers from head to toe. Over 5 million American’s have eating disorders caused by false concept of beauty. Another reason why Medias corrupts our society is because of money. In magazines and ads or television it’s all about buying things to have a better life!

Tuesday, July 30, 2019

Valuating & Financial Prediction of Fortescue Metals Group Ltd

| Valuating & Financial Prediction of Fortescue Metals Group Ltd| AFX9540 BUSINESS FINANCE| | | | Executive Summary This report is written to offer a business analysis of Fortescue Metals Group Ltd (FMG) where there will be a discussion on the background of the company, its return on the pre-post announcement of raising funds, the capital structure during the global financial crisis in comparison to its peers and the estimation on the share valuation in comparison to the actual share value. Fortescue Metals Group (ASX:  FMG) is an Australian iron ore mining company.The company has holdings of more than 87,000 km? in the Pilbara region of Western Australia making it the largest tenement holder in the state. It is listed as FMG on the Australian Securities Exchange (ASX). In 2008, the group loaded its first iron ore shipment bound for China. Fortescue have at least 10 Chinese steel mill contracts lasting for around 10 years. Baosteel was the first company to receive their iron ore. F or the share valuation, the report uses the CAPM model to determine the prevailing cost of capital and also uses the dividend discount multistage model to predict the share price for the company.The components of the CAPM model (i. e. risk free rate, company beta, Market return and growth rate) are calculated and predicted on historical data. The valuation data is then compared with the actual market price of the shares for the corresponding years and a brief analysis is then performed on the economic and internal reasoning behind any variance encountered. Table of Contents Executive Summary2 1. 0Brief overview of the company4 2. 0Capital Structure4 2. 1Funds raised by the company4 2. 2Usage of the fund5 2. 3Announcement date for the issue5 2. 4Share-return pre and post announcement5 2. Market return same period6 2. 6 Market Perception6 2. 7 Effect of recent financial crisis7 3. 0 Valuation of FXJ shares7 3. 1Risk free rate calculation8 3. 2Market rate calculation8 3. 3Beta calculat ion9 3. 4CAPM Calculation10 3. 5Growth rate calculation10 3. 6Share valuation11 3. 7Comparison of valuation vs. actual data12 3. 8 Evaluation of the variation13 4. 0 Conclusion13 Appendix 1: Cash rate target14 Appendix 2: Market data for beta calculation14 Reference & Bibliography†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦ 16 . 0General background of the Firm Fortescue Metals Group Ltd is the New Force in Iron Ore and has joined the world's leading producers of iron ore. Since the Company was formed in 2003, its extraordinary growth has been unparalleled. Listed in the S;P/ASX 50 share index, Fortescue has firmly established itself as one of the world's largest producers and sea-borne traders of iron ore. From Construction to Production Construction of Fort escue's port, rail and mine project commenced in February 2006 with the turning of the first sod at the Company's port site at Anderson Point in Port Hedland.Just two years later in 2008, the open-access rail infrastructure was complete and  operations were underway  at the Fortescue Herb Elliott Port and at the Company's first minesite, Cloudbreak. Shipping started on 15 May 2008 and Project Completion was achieved within months. On 18 July 2008, Fortescue's fifth anniversary, the Company successfully mined, railed and shipped at a rate of 24mtpa (Million ton per annum) for a one month period. In the first full year of operations, Fortescue mined, railed and shipped more than 27 million tonnes of iron ore to customers in China. FinanceFortescue's project was founded on the raising of A$3. 7 billion capital, including A$1 billion equity, during two finance road shows in August 2006 and July 2007. The August 2006 raising was the largest single high-yield Asia-Pacific transaction, the largest high-yield bond project financing ever, one of the largest corporate bonds out of Australia and one of the largest global bond issues in the sector. Since then Fortescue has grown to become an S;P/ASX 50 company. Over 55,000 Australians have become shareholders in the proudly Australian founded and managed company.A substantial increase in Fortescue's Resource Inventory to 10. 03 billion tonnes in March 2011, including 1. 6 billion  tonnes of Reserves,  positioned the company as one of the world's major resource houses. This massive Resource Inventory was achieved in record time and was delineated from approximately 10 per cent of  Fortescue's 88,000 square kilometres of Pilbara tenements. 2. 0Capital Structure of the Firm 2. 1Funds raised by the company 1,326,316 number of Ordinary Shares were issued to generate A$6. 3 million. 2. 2Purpose of Fund 1,326,316 number of Ordinary Shares were issued as payment for a distribution of A$6. million due under the A$140m, R edeemable Preference Share issued with maturity on or before February 2017. 2. 3Announcement date of the issue The initial announcement date for this issue of the Ordinary Share was 15th September 2010. 2. 4Share return from two days before the announcement date to two days after the announcement. Holding Period Return=Ending Price-Beginning PriceBeginning Price ? 100 Holding Period Return=p1-p0p0 ? 100; P1 = Ending Price, P0 = Beginning Price | Date| Open| High| ow| Close| Volume| Adj Close*| 17 Sep 2010| 4. 87| 4. 92| 4. 83| 4. 84| 25,307,700| 4. 82| 16 Sep 2010| 5. 2| 5. 02| 4. 85| 4. 86| 15,360,000| 4. 84| 15 Sep 2010| 5. 03| 5. 08| 4. 99| 5. 03| 11,614,800| 5. 01| 14 S p 2010| 4. 99| 5. 07| 4. 97| 5. 02| 10,319,500| 5. 00| 13 Sep 2010| 4. 91| 5. 01| 4. 90| 4. 97| 14,643,800| 4. 95| | Closing price adjusted for dividend and splits Before the Announcement Date: Holding Period Return=p1-p0p0 ? 100 So, HPR=5. 02-4. 914. 91 ? 100 = 2. 24% After the Announcement Date: Holding Period Return=p1-p0p0 ? 100 So, HPR=4. 84-5. 025. 02 ? 100 = -3. 59% 2. 5Market Return same period | Date| Open| High| Low| Close| Volume| Adj Close*| 17 Sep 2010| 4,657. 70| 4,692. 50| 4,657. 0| 4,685. 10| 1,523,846,600| 4,685. 10| 16 Sep 2010| 4,703. 00| 4,707. 70| 4,648. 90| 4,650. 00| 1,813,657,000| 4,650. 00| 15 Sep 2010| 4,670. 10| 4,710. 50| 4,669. 90| 4,702. 70| 1,644,565,600| 4,702. 70| 14 Sep 2010| 4,661. 40| 4,688. 90| 4,661. 10| 4,669. 10| 1,422,233,600| 4,669. 10| 13 Sep 2010| 4,613. 30| 4,660. 90| 4,612. 70| 4,654. 20| 1,433,713,600| 4,654. 20| Closing price adjusted for dividend and splits Holding Period Return=Ending Price-Beginning PriceBeginning Price ? 100 Holding Period Return=p1-p0p0 ? 100; P1 = Ending Price, P0 = Beginning Price Before the Announcement Date:Holding Period Return=p1-p0p0 ? 100 So, HPR=4669. 10-4613. 304613. 30 ? 100 = 1. 21% After the Announcement Date: Holding Period Return=p1-p0p0 ? 100 So, HPR=4685. 10-47034703 ? 100 = -0. 38% 2. 6Market Perception From the above analysis it can be seen that the share performance of the company and the market was stable during the pre and post two days of the announcement. Previously before the announcement the performance of both is going the similar path (upward movement). On the other hand post announcement illustrated negative result (-3. 59% against -0. 38%) for Fortescue Metals Group Ltd.There might be two causes behind this; one, the share price have been over estimated for which the price had to be adjusted. Secondly, the investors did not take the fund raising issue positively as they might think it would not generate much fund for the company’s growth and thus unable to generate enough wealth for them. 2. 7Effect of recent financial crisis | | BlueScope| Fortescue Metals| Mount Gibson| OneSteel| Net Gearing| 2007| 0%| 0%| 0%| 46. 65%| | 2008| 0%| 0%| 25. 42%| 56. 72%| | 2009| 0%| 9%| 6. 29%| 28. 22%| | 2010| 14. 82%| 169. 90%| 3. 97%| 21. 45%| | 2011| 24. 43%| 183. 43%| -| 38. 36%|Table 1: Gearing ratio-peer analysis of Fortescue Metals Group Ltd. We can conclude that the recent financial crisis did not affect the industry’s capital structure. As of now the mining industry is going boom. In the time of recession, most of the companies will not have enough profit to repay a debt so; investors are more interested in investing in mining industry rather than some other industry. By using the gearing ratio, it can be seen that Fortescue’s degree of leverage is higher, the more higher the  company is considered risky. However Fortescue Metals Ltd is very strong with their high growth rate compared to its competitors.For them paying off the debt would not be a big issue as they are enjoying three benefits which are; one, mining industry is going boom; two, Australian dollar (AUD) getting stronger; and three, Fortescue’s operations are well placed to maintain the 55mtpa rate across the 2012 financial year while development to 155mtpa conti nues in a mixture of brownfields and greenfields projects, scheduled to take place through to June 2013. 3. 0Valuation of shares The dividend discount multistage model is a procedure for valuing the price of a stock by using predicted dividends and discounting them back to present value.The idea is that if the value obtained from the dividend discount multistage model is higher than what the shares are currently trading at, then the stock is undervalued. Formula P0 = D11+R The required return can be calculated using the CAPM (capital asset pricing model) model, which becomes the cost capital of the project. Formula CAPM: E(r)= Rf+[? i (Rm-Rf)] 3. 1Risk free rate calculation The benchmark interest rate in Australia was last reported at 4. 75 percent. In Australia, interest rates decisions are taken by the Reserve Bank of Australia's Board.The interest rate needs to be adjusted yearly using the Effective Annual Rate. EAR = (1+in)n-1 EAR| 2011| 2010| 2009| Calculation| (1+. 0475/365)36 5-1| (1+. 0396/365)365-1| (1+. 0479/365)365-1| Rf| 4. 86%| 4. 03%| 4. 90%| Table 2: Risk Free rate 3. 2Market rate calculation The calculation of market return will include statistics from 5 years to counteract any data abnormality from recession or seasonal spikes. | 2005| 2006| 2007| 2008| 2009| 2010| 2011| Calculation| 4,229. 93,546. 1-1| 5,034. 04,225. 9-1| 6,310. 65035. 4-1| 3,947. 85,345. 8-1| 3,947. 85,345. 8-1| 4,324. 83,934. 4-1| 4,659. 84,309. -1| Return| 0. 1928| 0. 1912| 0. 2532| -0. 1549| -0. 2615| 0. 0992| 0. 0811| Average Market return based on five years performance is: Rm2011 = (0. 2532-0. 1549-0. 2615+0. 0992+0. 0811)5 = 0. 0034 = 0. 34% Rm2010 = (0. 1912+. 2532-0. 1549-0. 2615+0. 0992)5 = 0. 0254 = 2. 54% Rm2009 = (0. 1928+0. 1912+0. 2532-0. 1549-0. 2615)5 = 0. 04416 = 4. 42% 3. 3Beta calculation: The beta is taken from FinAnalysis. Beta (? ) is a number describing the relation of its returns with those of the financial market as a whole. The beta coefficient is a key parameter in the capital asset pricing model (CAPM).It measures the part of the asset's statistical variance that cannot be removed by the diversification provided by the portfolio of many risky assets, because of the correlation of its returns with the returns of the other assets that are in the portfolio. Formula for Beta is: i=1n[Ri-ER]2n-1 Data from 2009 to 2011 has been used and a data of 3 years is used to calculate the beta. | 2009| 2010| 2011| ?| 0. 91| 0. 80| 0. 88| A beta of greater than 1 indicates that the security's price will be more volatile than the market. Fortescue Metals Ltd has a beta of 0. 88; therefore it is less volatile than the market. 3. CAPM Calculation: Hence, using Capital Asset Pricing Model (CAPM) as Required Return E(r)= Rf+[? i (Rm-Rf)] | 2009| 2010| 2011| Calculation| 4. 90% + [0. 88(4. 42%-4. 90%)]| 4. 03% + [0. 88(2. 54%-4. 03%)]| 4. 86% + [0. 88(0. 34%-4. 86%)]| Return| 4. 48%| 2. 72%| 0. 88%| Table 4: Cost of Capital 3. 5Growth Rate Calcula tion Growth rate calculation represents the  compounded annualized rate of growth of a company's revenues, earnings, dividends, etc. The formula for growth rate = Return on equity X Plowback ratio = ROE ? (1-DividendEPS) This growth rate will be used for the calculation of share prices for the last three years.ROE, DIV and EPS from 2009 to 2011 are shown below: | 2009| 2010| 2011| ROE| 13. 62%| 51. 57%| 75. 36%| DIV ($)| -| -| 7. 0| EPS ($)| 21. 90| 22. 12| 31. 88| Table 5: Financial data g2011 = ROE(2011) (1- Div(2011)/EPS(2011)) = 75. 36%(1-7/31. 88)= 58. 81% g2010 = ROE(2010) (1- Div(2010)/EPS(2010)) = 51. 57%(1-0/22. 12)= 51. 57% g2009 = ROE(2009) (1- Div(2009)/EPS(2009)) = 13. 62%(1-0/21. 90)= 13. 62% Below is the summary of the data discussed: Components| 2009| 2010| 2011| Er| 4. 48%| 2. 72%| 0. 88%| Rf| 4. 86%| 4. 03%| 4. 90%| Rm| 4. 42%| 2. 54%| 0. 34%| ?i| 0. 91| 0. 80| 0. 88| | 13. 62%| 51. 57%| 58. 81%| Table 6: Summarisation of component 3. 6Share Valuation To calculat e the value of the shares, we need to determine the method of valuation so; mixed stage dividend model can be used to calculate the value of the share. Bearing in mind the business nature, we can see an average of 41. 33% growth which is abnormally high. For the purpose of calculation we will presume this high growth rate will continue for another 40-45 years at least. As it is a new mining company and as we know that the return comes late so, the growth rate is high even after a long term.From 2053 onwards we assume that the business will grow at 7% rate, which we believe is a conservative approach, as because by then there will be many mining companies opening both domestically and internationally. China is progressing very fast and by next 15-20 years they will level up, not just China; India, South Africa, South America etc are also catching-up fast, so due to the high competition the market would not remain the same and it will change consecutively as forecasted. The valuation calculation will take this assumption towards establishing the model. P2009=i=20092012D0 (1+g)i(1+Ke)i + Pi(1+Ke)iP2010=i=20102012D0 (1+g)i(1+Ke)i + Pi(1+Ke)i P2011=i=20112012D0 (1+g)i(1+Ke)i + Pi(1+Ke)i | Growth Rate| Net Cash Flow| Cost of Capital| | D2009| | -13,643| 4. 48%| | D2010| | 1,877,963| 2. 72%| | D2011| 41. 33%| 4,206,365| 0. 88%| | D2012| 50%| 4,906,922| 0. 92%| | D2013| 55%| 6,767,080. 65| 0. 99%| | D2014| 60%| 10,435,594. 64| 0. 99%| | D2015| 60%| 16,587,385. 22| 0. 96%| | D2016| 60%| 26,477,415. 36| 0. 98%| | D2017| 60%| 42,346,454. 77| 1%| | D2018| 60%| 67,743,188. 44| 0. 95%| | D2019| 60%| 108,379,297. 7| 0. 96%| | D2020| 60%| 173,398,415. 1| 0. 98%| | D2021| 60%| 277,429,356. 2| 1%| |D2022| 60%| 443,881,664. 5| 0. 98%| | -| -| -| -| | D2052| 8. 19%| 13,101,273,811| 0. 98%| | D2053| 7%| 22,933,861. 67| 0. 98%| | | P2009| 3. 89| | P2010| 3. 61| | P2011| 5. 46| Table 7: Summary calculation 3. 7Comparison of valuation vs. actual data From the valuation calculated thr ough the process, now we will compare that with the actual data from the market. Year| Valuation Data| Actual Data| Variance| Comment| 2009| 3. 89| 3. 64| -6. 40%| Undervalued| 2010| 3. 61| 3. 96| 9. 64%| Overvalued| 2011| 5. 46| 5. 98| 9. 43%| Overvalued| Table 8: comparison of actual and calculated data 3. Evaluation of the variation The valuation of the shares seems to be in the right track compared with the market trend. Nevertheless, post state gives a more variable scenario. Dividend was replaced by using the net operation Cash Flow per share. The operation cash flow only represents the cash flow in the company’s operation activities; whilst the company also have investing activities and financing activities. Thus, only use of the operation cash flow in the valuation has a high percentage of uncertainty. According to the table above, the actual price is undervalued.The valuation can be endorsed to the lower than expected risk premium in the market resulting from the con trolled risk free rate determined by the government. Another issue can be AUD getting stronger compared to USD, resulting additional dent on the nominal cost of capital for the company. In the later part of the table, the actual price is overvalued. In order to illustrate this phenomenon, one possible reason is inflation. Inflation is an overall general rise in prices. As we know, global financial crisis happened few years back, the effect of the financial crisis was significant on the whole market and caused inflation.Therefore, due to inflation, the market prices are higher than the actual prices. Another possible reason is some unpredicted economic/natural events happened during this period and lead to movements of the market price. On the other hand the factors can be attributed to the assumptions and predictions using the calculation components. CAPM formula and Beta calculation has its own risk and de-merits. The growth rate is strongly manipulated by the industry’s lan dscape, economic status and political issues.The information available could also affect the actual share prices in the market which will impact on decision making for share buyers/sellers. The share price valuation will be varied from one investor to another depends on their information. As there is an existence of asymmetric information in the market, one cannot estimate the share price exactly the same with the actual share price. Besides, the investors behaviour are different between one another, hence, the pattern of the actual share price is not only based on market returns in general, but also depends on whether the level of the risk that the investors are willing to bear. . 0Conclusion In conclusion, we need to consider about inflation and unpredicted events when we investigate the market price. In addition, we need to distinguish nominal interest rate and real interest rate when we calculate. Appendix 1: Cash rate target: Effective date| New cash rate| Adjusted cash rate| | | 2011| 4. 75| 5 May 2010| 4. 75| 2010| 3. 96| 7 Apr 2010| 4. 50| | | 3 Mar 2010| 4. 25| | | 2 Dec 2009| 4. 00| | | 4 Nov 2009| 3. 75| | | 7 Oct 2009| 3. 50| | | 8 Apr 2009| 3. 00| | | 4 Feb 2009| 3. 25| 2009| 4. 79| 3 Dec 2008| 4. 25| | | 5 Nov 2008| 5. 25| | | 8 Oct 2008| 6. 00| | | 3 Sep 2008| 7. 00| | |Appendix 2: Market Data for beta calculation: Date| Open| High| Low| Close| Volume| Adj Close| 3/10/2011| 0. 81| 0. 94| 0. 79| 0. 89| 18267300| 0. 89| 1/09/2011| 0. 85| 0. 9| 0. 74| 0. 82| 16091200| 0. 82| 1/08/2011| 0. 87| 0. 92| 0. 68| 0. 85| 15948300| 0. 85| 1/07/2011| 0. 98| 1. 01| 0. 86| 0. 88| 11603100| 0. 88| 1/06/2011| 1. 09| 1. 09| 0. 94| 0. 98| 17479100| 0. 98| 2/05/2011| 1. 32| 1. 33| 1. 03| 1. 08| 21843500| 1. 08| 1/04/2011| 1. 29| 1. 37| 1. 25| 1. 32| 17067200| 1. 32| 1/03/2011| 1. 29| 1. 3| 1. 17| 1. 29| 18402900| 1. 29| 1/02/2011| 1. 34| 1. 46| 1. 28| 1. 3| 14583200| 1. 3| 4/01/2011| 1. 4| 1. 42| 1. 33| 1. 35| 10259000| 1. 5| 1/12/2010| 1. 37| 1. 46| 1. 36| 1. 4| 1 8060000| 1. 4| 1/11/2010| 1. 44| 1. 49| 1. 32| 1. 37| 15254000| 1. 37| 1/10/2010| 1. 45| 1. 55| 1. 4| 1. 45| 12209300| 1. 45| 1/09/2010| 1. 47| 1. 57| 1. 44| 1. 47| 10714700| 1. 47| 2/08/2010| 1. 48| 1. 52| 1. 33| 1. 44| 12983000| 1. 43| 1/07/2010| 1. 3| 1. 51| 1. 29| 1. 48| 10254300| 1. 46| 1/06/2010| 1. 52| 1. 52| 1. 26| 1. 32| 17287600| 1. 3| 3/05/2010| 1. 72| 1. 76| 1. 4| 1. 51| 19697600| 1. 5| 1/04/2010| 1. 79| 1. 83| 1. 72| 1. 73| 12311100| 1. 71| 1/03/2010| 1. 62| 1. 86| 1. 62| 1. 8| 16808300| 1. 78| 1/02/2010| 1. 7| 1. 88| 1. 64| 1. 65| 17412500| 1. 63| 4/01/2010| 1. 74| 1. 88| 1. 7| 1. 73| 13261300| 1. 71| 1/12/2009| 1. 63| 1. 75| 1. 56| 1. 74| 8904800| 1. 72| 2/11/2009| 1. 55| 1. 77| 1. 52| 1. 63| 11449600| 1. 62| 1/10/2009| 1. 72| 1. 8| 1. 52| 1. 61| 14759100| 1. 59| 1/09/2009| 1. 46| 1. 75| 1. 42| 1. 72| 18761900| 1. 7| 3/08/2009| 1. 49| 1. 55| 1. 4| 1. 47| 18455600| 1. 46| 1/07/2009| 1. 19| 1. 48| 1. 07| 1. 48| 15136300| 1. 46| 1/06/2009| 1. 15| 1. 35| 1. 15| 1. 22| 156 24600| 1. 21| 1/05/2009| 1. 18| 1. 18| 0. 99| 1. 14| 15047200| 1. 13| 1/04/2009| 1. 01| 1. 19| 1. 01| 1. 18| 16260500| 1. 17| 2/03/2009| 0. 95| 1. 08| 0. 8| 1. 01| 18923300| 1. 01| 2/02/2009| 1. 35| 1. 39| 0. 92| 1. 08| 9490000| 1. 07| /01/2009| 1. 64| 1. 76| 1. 25| 1. 4| 5383300| 1. 39| 1/12/2008| 1. 4| 1. 67| 1. 33| 1. 63| 7776700| 1. 62| 3/11/2008| 1. 94| 2. 09| 1. 12| 1. 35| 8740000| 1. 34| 1/10/2008| 2. 75| 2. 76| 1. 85| 1. 92| 6877000| 1. 9| 1/09/2008| 2. 82| 3. 11| 2. 59| 2. 64| 7193700| 2. 62| 1/08/2008| 2. 65| 3. 05| 2. 58| 2. 82| 10400800| 2. 79| 1/07/2008| 2. 9| 3. 2| 2. 57| 2. 75| 8612800| 2. 72| References & Bibliography * http://www. asx. com. au/asx/research/companyInfo. do? by=asxCode&asxCode=FMG * http://www. investsmart. com. au/shares/asx/Fortescue-Metals-Group-FMG. asp * http://www. fxj. com. au/shareholders/Fairfax_AnnualReport_2011. df * http://www. fmgl. com. au/IRM/Company/ShowPage. aspx/PDFs/2147-13354473/Appendix3 bAllotmentofShares * http://au. finance. ya hoo. com/q/ao? s=FMG. AX * http://datanalysis. morningstar. com. au. ezproxy. lib. monash. edu. au/af/company/issuedcapital? ASXCode=FMG&page=1&resultsperpage=25&xsl_predicate=&xsl_start_year=1999&xsl_end_year=2011&active=ISU_Sec1&xsl_start_date=1999-01-01&xsl_end_date=2011-12-31&xtm-licensee=dat#Active_ISU_Sec2 * http://www. asx. com. au/asx/statistics/announcements. do? by=asxCode&asxCode=fmg&timeframe=Y&year=2010 * http://www. specthuntley. com. au. ezproxy. lib. monash. edu. au/af/company/mainview? ASXCode=FMG * http://au. finance. yahoo. com/q/hp? s=FMG. AX&a=06&b=1&c=2008&d=05&e=30&f=2011&g=m * http://www. asx. com. au/research/market-statistics. htm ——————————————– [ 1 ]. http://www. fmgl. com. au/IRM/Company/ShowPage. aspx/PDFs/2147-13354473/Appendix3bAllotmentofShares [ 2 ]. http://au. finance. yahoo. com/q/hp? s=FMG. AX&a=08&b=13&c=2010&d=08&e=17&f=2010&g=d [ 3 ]. http: //au. finance. yahoo. com/q/hp? s=%5EAORD&a=08&b=13&c=2010&d=08&e=17&f=2010&g=d [ 4 ]. ttp://www. bluescopesteel. com/investors/annual-reports [ 5 ]. http://www. igo. com. au/IRM/content/investor/annualreports. htm [ 6 ]. http://www. mtgibsoniron. com. au/pages2/InvestRelations. aspx? PageID=IR_AR [ 7 ]. http://www. aspecthuntley. com. au. ezproxy. lib. monash. edu. au/af/company/annualratios? ASXCode=OST&xtm-licensee=finanalysis [ 8 ]. http://www. investopedia. com/terms/d/ddm. asp#axzz1aBqlpkfj Table 3: Market return [ 9 ]. http://www. tradingeconomics. com/australia/interest-rate [ 10 ]. http://www. aspecthuntley. com. au. ezproxy. lib. monash. edu. au/af/company/annualps

Monday, July 29, 2019

Billie Holiday and her influence on Jazz Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Billie Holiday and her influence on Jazz - Essay Example The way she sang was completely new to the genre of Jazz at that time and her contributions are still followed by Jazz musicians in today’s time period. There are several legends and myths regarding the personal as well as her life as a musician. Even though she was surrounded with several scandals and was in trouble for a major portion of her life, he life experiences became the real inspiration of her music. The huge amount of contributions she made to Jazz music can never be forgotten. She can easily be said to have been the one who made major transformations to the way Jazz music was being practiced during her time. If a survey of modern Jazz history is conducted, the survey would prove that the Jazz music that is experienced in current times was her innovation. When she started practicing jazz music, there were hardly any jazz musicians who were personalizing their own tunes. There were only a few singers at her time who were singing different from rest of the singers. These singers were not a part of the Jazz music industry. These singers were representative of the Blues genre of music. One of these singers was Bessie Smith wh o along with another great Jazz singer and trumpeter named Louis Armstrong influenced Billie Holiday’s Jazz music (Henderson 295). During her early life she was singing most of the songs that were quite popular. She found this form of music quite monotonous and she started experimenting with her music. During her experiments she altered both the melody as well as the rhythm of the songs. To create her own music, she started phrasing music in relation to the beat and she even included different harmonies that were played by some of her personal favorite horn players including Louis Armstrong (Henderson 295). This mixture of music and experimentation resulted in the development of music that was regarded as magical. Current Jazz musicians use their own vocals as instruments for songs.

Sunday, July 28, 2019

To what extent does the Wal-Mart motivation mode inspire employees Dissertation

To what extent does the Wal-Mart motivation mode inspire employees - Dissertation Example Aims and objectives of the project Employers find it difficult to encourage its staffs in order to get their maximum commitment at the workplace. Often, employers are seen to overlook the need for motivating employees while the focus remains more on the company’s bottom line. Recently, it has been increasingly realized that the happier is the workforce, the more satisfied is the customer and consequently the healthier is the company’s bottom line. The project seeks to bring forth the policies and strategies undertaken by Wal-Mart for motivating its employees. The aim is to find the extent to which the modes of motivation undertaken in Wal-Mart have been successful in generating a motivated workforce. The objectives of the project is To analyse the different human resource strategies and policies undertaken in Wal-Mart to encourage employees to perform their best in the organization; To identify the HR strategies actually bring about any enhancement or improvement in emp loyee satisfaction and commitment; To identify the drawbacks or loopholes in the present motivating modes based on which improvements can be made (Holbeche & Mayo, 1998, p.5). B. Company Background-Wal-Mart Wal-Mart is a multinational retailer corporation based in America running chains of large warehouse stores and discount departmental stores across the world. It accounts for the eighteenth largest public corporations in the world in terms of revenue. Also accounting for one of the largest private employers in the world, Wal-Mart continues to remain a family owned business, owned and controlled by the Walton family who owns 48% of the stake of the company. Due to the large employee base of the company recruited from different parts of the globe, Wal-Mart has a highly advanced and effective human resource management system. The company has been widening its employee base consistently right from the time of its inception. Since 1980, the company showed very fast growth and by 1987, it has successfully established as many as 1,198 stores, has a workforce of 20,000 employees and sales revenue of $15.9 billion. In order to cater to the widely diverse customer base, the company employs sophisticated and advanced human resource management techniques and strategies in order to ensure the welfare of its workforce, keep them motivated and attain their maximum participation at the workplace (Walmart, 2012). C. Structure of the project The report presents the extent to which Wal-Mart’s present human resource management strategies have been successful in motivating its employees to deliver the desired level of performance in the organization. Firstly it begins with stating the aims and objectives of the research. This is followed by a brief description of the company, its establishment and present conditions in the market. The next part of the report discussed the various motivation theories as brought forth by authors. This section also discusses the views and su ggestions of researchers and practitioners with regards to the application of motivation theories at the workplace. In this context, some of the main theories of motivation are chosen, such as the Content theory and the Process theory. After the theoretical discussion, the present human resource strategies of Wal-Mart are discussed, with reference to its reward system, promotion system and internal culture of the

Risk Isolation Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Risk Isolation - Assignment Example According to the five-factor model for personality traits, an individual may either be an extrovert or introvert. Psychologists have identified introversion as a significant cause of social isolation. The affected person may find social interaction as daunting; hence prefer spending time alone. Such a characteristic poses a risk towards the ability to interact with people; hence isolating oneself from members of the society. On the other hand, an individual’s personality may be ‘ruined’ due to inferiority complex. Such an individual may find it necessary to withdraw oneself from the public. Inferiority complex entails shame and feelings of low self-worth. The cause-and-effect relationship resulting from social isolation is that it may lead to depression and mental illnesses in the long-run. Hawthorne, (2008) attributes social isolation to feeling of superiority. Individuals who consider themselves superior and more important than others end up losing their friends. Such individuals are self-centered and have little concern for others. At first, such people get along with other people, but eventually the friendship is lost due to their perception of being superior. Such individuals end up being alone and start wondering what the problem might be. At this stage, they are already victims of social isolation. Isolation in itself is not therapy. Hawthorne, (2008) explains that victims of social isolation require therapy because prolonged cases of social isolation result in emotional isolation. It is better to seek help from experts rather than trying to tackle life stressors that may result in psychological and mental strain. Hawthorne, G., PhD. (2008). Perceived social isolation in a community sample: Its prevalence and correlates with aspects of peoples lives.  Social Psychiatry and Psychiatric Epidemiology,  43(2), 140-50.

Saturday, July 27, 2019

Amplifier Coursework Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Amplifier - Coursework Example Therefore, practical amplifiers will have finite distortion and minimal noise with which they will invariably add to the said signal (Bishop 98). An exception is given to the cases where the amplifier is a transducer, which means that the amplifier shifts the types of signals from one point to another. Types of Amplifiers The mainstay of any electronic circuit will certainly be the amplifier (Bishop 18). Classification of amplifiers is broad, but the best way in which amplifiers can be classified is in relation to the input and output of each amplifier. In order for the amplifier to have some gain, it means that the scale of the input and output signal to the amplifier will have some degree of variation. The definition of it can be summarized as the quotient of three aspects, i.e., the power, the current and also the voltage. Furthermore, the gain will also be in terms of the output or the input signals of either the voltage or the power in any amplifier (Satyam and Ramkumar 32). In cases where the gain is undefined, it implies that the input and the output signals in an amplifier are almost the same in terms of unit signals; thus, in most cases a good example will be the decibel which has the same format described. This is not the case on a usual basis as there are other cases of amplifiers that do not follow this procedure like the transconductance amplifier. For the gain to occur in an amplifier, many dynamics will have to be given special attention. These dynamics that will have to be put into consideration as an amplifier will include aspects such as the power source for the amplifier, the impedance on load in relation to the said amplifier and also the amount of the voltage going through the amplifier (Bishop 33). Some other amplifiers that cover all these aspects will have the impedance meant specifically for the transfer of power within the amplifier. Driven by the desire to have a high quality result, amplifiers will have their impedance used together as output and input signals in the amplifier. Most researches indicate that the best way to effectively use an amplifier will be having the input and output circuits placed in a linear manner. This will enable the amplifier to have a constant gain while it is being in use. York asserts that the inconsistency of the gain in an amplifier will imply that the resultant signal is always altered, thus meaning that the resultant effect will be very poor quality (56). This sometimes is not the case in other amplifiers that find the variation and the inconsistency of the signals very useful. The most common types of amplifiers are the electronic ones, and with electronic amplifiers there are different and unique types underlying the common electronic amplifiers. Case in point are the electrical amplifiers that can be found in the household appliances such as the vacuum cleaner, and also in other home appliances such as stereo and television systems. In order to get different types of amplifi ers that use the electronic circuit, below are a few examples. Power Amplifier When it comes to power amplifiers, there have been different descriptions with each of the description having relevance to the way that a power amplifier can be used, or the purpose of the usage. In one instance, the amount of energy is the most crucial aspect in the power amplifier as it will be the determining factor when it comes to the

Friday, July 26, 2019

Euthanasia should be illegal Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Euthanasia should be illegal - Research Paper Example On the other hand, voluntary euthanasia is one which includes the consent of the patient while involuntary euthanasia does not include the consent of the patients because they are not in a position to make any credible decision (Kon 459). Lastly, involuntary euthanasia occurs when a person requests not to be killed only to end up being killed. This paper will give reasons why it’s immoral for the physicians to assist in suicide. According to the constitution of United States, every citizen has the right to live. The constitution also states clearly that there is no one who has the right to take the life of the other. As a result, it’s illegal and unethical for any person to decide if the other person will live or not. With the increasing stress levels in the world, making such a move to be legal will lead to increased cases of euthanasia (Pereira 1075). Many physicians will be faced with many cases of voluntary euthanasia. It’s immoral for any physicians to help either in voluntary and involuntary euthanasia. Research indicates that when patients are in very intense pain, they are likely to take actions that are regrettable. As a result, voluntary euthanasia is an unethical way of giving a person who is not of sound mind an opportunity to make a critical decision about his existence. Allowing physician assisted suicide will increase cases of negligence in our hospitals. Currently, the number of negligence cases in the health facilities has increased tremendously. As a result, when physicians are given the ability to terminate the lives of patients suffering from painful and terminal diseases, they will not put any effort to prolong the lives of these people. Instead, they will just be administering lethal drugs to such patients in order to end their lives. Therefore, they will get an escape route, an aspect that will reduce their levels

Thursday, July 25, 2019

Role of magazines in the 21st century and how has their form changed Essay

Role of magazines in the 21st century and how has their form changed physically and has this involved a change in the content of perfect beauty - Essay Example American women responded well to the idea of readymade clothing. The ready to wear industry flourished with the help of fashion advertising. Evolution of the fashion saw the change of the concept of "perfect beauty" from the simple innocent look to the exposure of much skin. Other online fashion magazines like the Dwell and Martha Stewart were introduced whose concept of â€Å"ultimate beauty† was majored on body features, the slim and trim hipped-woman. As opposed to the audience in vogue and Haper’s bazar, who are mostly conservative in nature, theirs was a revolutionary woman who exposed most of her skin. Evolution of the fashion in America took many shapes as many designers resulted to designing different types of clothes. Givenchy dressed Audrey Hepburn; her fashion presented the feeling of taller, high, covering high top-knots, long legs, small, midriffs, pretty legs and exquisite clothes. This fashion sense revolutionized to Pierre cardin who exemplified fashion in the school girl look which depicted the perfect young girl look that was simple and portraying the feminine figure. Later, Courreges presented the futuristic ‘space-age ‘collection which had suits, dresses and trousers which were more sculpted as opposed to being sewn. This presented the sophisticated look of the mid-sixties. American designers started designed topless bathing suit which was known as the monobikini and the following year he designed lingerie and consequently seamless dresses. This fashion special influence was the exposure of much skin. The introduction of the internet and the Web 2.0 has enabled many people to share information faster and also share their photographs. This has made many photos of celebrities to be available for copying and enumeration. Such information is shared in different social media like twitter and Instagram. The fashion sense from 2003 and 2013 has changed very much with more

Wednesday, July 24, 2019

Sustainable Development in Malaysia Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Sustainable Development in Malaysia - Essay Example In 1987, the Montreal Protocol enforces countries to avoid the usage of CFC (chlorofluorocarbon) and different substances that lead to the ozone depletion. It is foreseen that CFC (chlorofluorocarbon) usage is reduced substantially then the ozone layer would probably be repaired itself by 2050. According to the Agenda 21, it is concluded that the ozone layer is essential for life. In the absence of ozone, no life would be possible on earth. In order to maintain and achieve increased sustainable development, it is essential to keep ozone layer protected. Sustainable development is referred as the way of determining and sustaining human needs. It also includes the preservation of environment for present life and future generations. Similarly, it is considered that the efficient use of available resources ensures their availability in the future. Sustainable development can be defined as the processes that ensures fulfillment of the present necessities without putting in danger the capacity of future generations to fulfill their own needs. In case of the targets being achieved, many problems will arise that can result in the reduction of capacity of generating anything new. The basic issues that the sustainable development projects are going through is that some times companies have to take actions and make decisions that seem to be non-profitable in the short term, but they ensure long-term sustainability. Similarly, the society should act in a responsible manner and make its efforts to preserve the environment by supporting plantati on that would probably help to reduce ozone destruction. Pusat Tenaga Malaysia was established on 12 May 1998, known to be Malaysia’s Green Technology Corporation (GreenTech Malaysia). It is a registered as an independent and non-profitable organization that is responsible for green energy in Malaysia that is under the Ministry of

Tuesday, July 23, 2019

Southwest Airlines Case Study Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Southwest Airlines Case Study - Essay Example This has necessitated a review of its mission and vision statements that will form the basis of this paper. Introduction This paper will look at the mission statement, vision statement and values of Southwest Airlines, a local airline operating within the USA but now branching out regionally starting with Mexico and the Caribbean. I will analyze each of the above elements from the point of view of good strategic management principles, evaluating their efficacy and worth as exemplary factors or otherwise. I will also try to determine whether they truly reflect the body and soul of the business, and if not, make recommendations and changes in the above three elements so that they are worthy of good strategic management principles. Company's Mission Statement and Analysis Southwest Airlines believes in continuing to be the USA’s leading low cost airline, with commitment to the highest quality of customer service, delivered in the company spirit of warmth, friendliness and custome r pride. Concentrating on the domestic sector, it flies to 92 destinations across 42 States of the USA. It is incorporated in Dallas Texas and operates more than 3300 flights a day. It is the USA’s largest domestic carrier. Looking at the mission statement for this airline, it is clear that they have defined their target market and reach in the USA. They are a domestic airline and want to keep it that way. What’s more, they want to lead the industry as a low cost competitor and are currently looking for ways to attract and solidify new groups of customers. A recent news release shows that they are tying up with hospitals, hotel chains and other businesses that have groups of customers or cargo that they can transport on a regular basis. This is an innovative approach that can bring them more business opportunities (Crosby, 1992). As far as the target market is concerned they have defined it as local customers. They do not want to enter the international sector, possibl y due to added costs of fuel, distance travelled and taxation and other financial costs. Moreover they are already leaders in the domestic market so it would pay to stick to their strengths rather than take unnecessary risks. As regards the products and services that this airline offers, its main emphasis is on being cost effective. In Michael Porter’s terms it is using Low Cost Leadership as its chief strategy (Porter, 1980). It operates a point to point service- with recently acquired Air Trans used as a hub and spoke service. It also has a tie up with Volaris, Mexico’s second largest airline for regional routes outside the USA. It operates a modern fleet with Boeing 737-800s and 737-MAXs being part of its inventory. It operates three kinds of flights principally- I Wanna Fly, Business Select and Anytime Fares. Only the first fare is non-refundable but all of them can be applied towards future flights. They have also started a Rapid Rewards Program and Early Bird Che ck In to further appeal to customers- and expanded operations to the Caribbean and Mexico after the acquisition of Air Tran. This airline company has also managed to achieve some degree of backward and forward integration with airline booking agencies and hotels all over the USA and in Mexico and the Caribbean. It even has linkups with resorts and rental car agencies if the passengers want to use these facilities. All of them are available on its website and there are also various gifts, rewards and discount packages that make it beneficial for the customer

Monday, July 22, 2019

Living at Home Versus Living in an Apartment Essay Example for Free

Living at Home Versus Living in an Apartment Essay People do not realize how different living at home and living in an apartment is until they compare the two. Other people don’t realize it until they are actually out on their own. There are many differences when a person is living at home compared to living in an apartment. In this essay we will look at the differences of the two. One difference between living at home and living in an apartment is how the bills get paid. When living at home parents or whoever the person lives with pays all the bills and buys all the food. Even if the person has to pay for anything while living at home, I’m sure it is just a small portion of what all the bills come out to be. When living in an apartment the person has to pay their own bills and buy your own food. This means that they have to find somewhere that is affordable for them. Some apartments have bills like electricity, water, and sewer/garbage included in the rent. If the person needs help buying food they have a program out there that they can sign up for food stamps at the local social services office. They also have places that have food pantries that gives people a food basket. Some towns also have a place for people to go and eat like the Salvation Army or a church. This is one major difference of living at home versus living in an apartment. Another difference between living at home and living in an apartment is making sure the person has everything they need. When living at home with the person’s parents or whoever they live with, they already have or have bought all the necessities that they will need for a place like furniture, pots and pans, cleaning supplies, stuff for hygiene, etc. When a person is living in an apartment they have to buy everything that they are going to need for the apartment. That means that the person has to go out and buy their own furniture and everything else that they want for their place. A person can watch for garage sales or even go check out some thrift stores. The Salvation Army gives a person a voucher to go to their store and get some stuff for their new place if they have it in stock. They even help out with furniture to. Some stuff the person will probably want brand new like their silverware and dishes. Another difference between living at home and living in an apartment is all about how clean the place is. When someone lives at home or with whomever they live with they usually want their place nice and clean. They want everyone that lives there to help with the cleaning and to maintain a clean home. When a person lives in an apartment they are the one that decides when to clean the place. Also they are the one to decide how clean they want their place and if they are going to try and maintain a clean place. Some people like their house spotless while others don’t really care if their place is clean or not. Maintaining a clean home means a lot to others when they come over to visit. The final difference between living at home and living in an apartment is being independent. When a person is living at home they have rules to follow. Some rules may be easy to follow like cleaning up after oneself, help with the cooking, and maintain a job or go to school. Other rules may be harder to follow like if the person has a certain time to be home and if certain people that they hang out with are not allowed to be at the person’s house they are staying at because they don’t like or get along with them. When a person is living in an apartment they are on their own. They are the one that picks the rules. When living in an apartment a person can come and go as they please. Also they can do whatever they want. Just be careful when living in a person’s own apartment because some people go crazy and have all kinds of parties. If the neighbors call the cops the landlord has a right to evict them. If they get evicted it makes it hard for them to get an apartment the next time they are looking for one. In conclusion, everybody now has some of the differences between living at home and living in an apartment. It’s all up to them to decide if they want to stay living at home or move into an apartment. Everybody has their own way of thinking and choosing what they want to do. If they want to move into an apartment a person could keep an eye out for stuff they will need so they will have it by the time they move.

Journal of Consumer Behavior Essay Example for Free

Journal of Consumer Behavior Essay Consumer complaints and recovery through guaranteeing self-service technology NICHOLA ROBERTSON1*, LISA MCQUILKEN1 and JAY KANDAMPULLY2 1 Deakin University, 221 Burwood Highway, Burwood, Victoria 3125, Australia 2 Ohio State University, 266 Campbell Hall, 1787 Neil Avenue, Columbus, OH 43210, USA ABSTRACT Self-service technologies are shaping the future of consumer behaviour, yet consumers often experience service failure in this context. This conceptual paper focuses on self-service technology failure and recovery. A consumer perspective is taken. Recovering from self-service technology failure is fraught with difficulty, mainly because of the absence of service personnel. The aim of this paper is to present a theoretical framework and associated research propositions in respect to the positive role that service guarantees can play in the context of self-service technology failure and recovery. It contributes to the consumer behaviour domain by unifying the theory pertaining to consumer complaint behaviour, service recovery, specifically consumers’ perceptions of justice, and service guarantees, which are set in a distinctive self-service technology context. It is advanced that service guarantees, specifically multiple attribute-specific guarantees, are associated with consumer voice complaints following self-service technology failure, which is contingent on the attribution of blame in the light of consumers’ production role. Service guarantees are argued to be associated with consumers’ perceptions of just recovery in the selfservice technology context when they promise to fix the problem, compensate only when the problem cannot be remedied, offer a choice of compensation that is contingent on failure severity, afford ease of invocation and collection, and provide a personalised response to failures. Previous classifications of SSTs are used to highlight the applicability of guarantees for different types of SSTs. Managerial implications based on the theoretical framework are presented, along with future research directions. Copyright  © 2011 John Wiley Sons, Ltd. INTRODUCTION The growing application of technology in services has  transformed the way that organisations interact with consumers (Liljander et al., 2006). Self-service technologies (SSTs) are technological interfaces that enable consumers to generate benefits for themselves, without the presence of the organisation’s personnel (Meuter et al., 2000). They enable consumers to take an active role in the production of their service experience. As SSTs are a major force shaping consumer behaviour (Beatson et al., 2006), the implications for both consumers and organisations need to be considered. The failure of SSTs is commonplace (Forbes, 2008; Robertson and Shaw, 2009). SST failure, or consumers’ perception that one or more aspects of SST delivery have not met their expectations, is attributed to poor service and failing technology (Meuter et al., 2000). Failures are inevitable with all services, especially SSTs that introduce new types of failures, such as consumer failures (Forbes, 2008; Meuter et al., 2000). However, SST recovery, e.g., fixing the problem and providing compensation, is generally reported to be poor (Forbes, 2008). While consumers demand a superior response to SST failure, complaints are largely ineffectively handled in this context (Collier and Bienstock, 2006). This is despite the fact that SST failure intensifies the need for recovery because consumers are often remote from service personnel (Collier and Bienstock, 2006). SST providers have ignored consumers, denied responsibility for failure, blamed consumers for the problem, *Correspondence to: Nichola Robertson, Deakin University, 221 Burwood Highway, Burwood, Victoria 3125, Australia. E-mail: [emailprotected]  and provided a generic complaint response (Forbes, 2008; Holloway and Beatty, 2003). Unsurprisingly, consumers might not bother voicing because they believe that it will be useless (Holloway and Beatty, 2003; Snellman and Vihtkari, 2003). If consumers are dissatisfied with an SST encounter and service recovery is perceived to be inept, they will switch and/or spread negative word of mouth and/or mouse (Collier and Bienstock, 2006 ; Dong et al., 2008; Harris et al., 2006a). In the interpersonal service context, it has been argued, albeit rarely, that service guarantees, or explicit promises made by organisations to deliver a certain level of service to satisfy consumers and to remunerate them if the service fails (Hogreve and Gremler, 2009), are an effective recovery tool (Bjà ¶rlin-Lidà ©n and Skà ¥là ©n,  2003; Kashyap, 2001; McColl et al., 2005). In a recovery encounter, service guarantees have been found to provide benefits, such as reducing consumer dissatisfaction, negative word of mouth, and switching (Wirtz, 1998). We argue that in the context of SST failure, service guarantees could act as a surrogate for service personnel who, in the interpersonal service context, encourage consumer complaints and facilitate recovery. Following our extensive review of service guarantees employed in the SST context, it was revealed that guarantees are uncommon in practice for non-Internet SSTs, such as kiosks and interactive voice response (IVR). However, in the Internet context, they appear to be more widespread. For example, guarantees are often used in the context of online banking, where online security, in particular, is guaranteed. They are also prevalent in the hotel context, typically in the form of online price matching guarantees. Therefore, the ‘real-life’ examples of SST guarantees provided throughout this paper are skewed toward Internet SSTs. However, in  N. Robertson et al. guarantees also have the ability to enhance consumers’ perceptions of fairness following failure. SST guarantees indicate justice in a context that is mostly devoid of interpersonal and other external cues, thereby encouraging consumer voice, facilitating service recovery, and, ultimately, retaining the organ isation’s reputation and its consumers. Our paper contributes to the consumer behaviour domain by adding to the underdeveloped literature on consumer complaints, consumer recovery perceptions, and service guarantees in the SST context, in addition to bringing these independent streams of literature together. As SST recovery in practice is reported to be deficient from the consumer perspective, further exploration of this topic is warranted. The remainder of this paper justifies a conceptual framework that describes how guarantees applied to different types of SSTs can encourage consumers to voice following failure and enable organisations to provide just recovery for consumers. We close with theoretical contributions, managerial implications, and an agenda for  future research. developing our propositions, we apply the SST classification schemes developed by Dabholkar (1994) and Meuter et al. (2000) in respect to technology type, purpose, and location. These schemes will be used to highlight the SST contexts that best fit the application of guarantees, which is beyond Internet SSTs. There are two key types of guarantees commonly offered in interpersonal services, unconditional and attributespecific, that also appear to be relevant in the SST setting. An unconditional guarantee covers the core service offering, and consumers are free to invoke it whenever they are dissatisfied (Wirtz et al., 2000). The attribute-specific guarantee is narrower in breadth, covering either a single or multiple service attributes (Van Looy et al., 2003). It is directed to areas within an organisation where consumers perceive that the guarantee adds value (Hart et al., 1992). The attribute-specific guarantee is the type most common in interpersonal services (Van Looy et al., 2003 ). Our review revealed that this also applies to SSTs. For example, Hertz car rental offers its consumers online check-in for rentals. It guarantees that online check-in enables consumers to pick up a rental vehicle within 10 minutes or less. If it fails to fulfil this specific promise, consumers are credited $50. In another example, match.com, an online dating service, guarantees via its ‘Make Love Happen Guarantee’, that if consumers do not find someone special in six months of using its site, it will provide them with six months free service. In the interpersonal service context, consumers have been found to prefer attribute-specific guarantees when they consider invoking the guarantee, ‘. . . probably for their clarity and manifest nature’ (McDougall et al., 1998: 289). We further argue that in the SST context, generally devoid of service personnel and, therefore, with reduced opportunities for consumer monitoring, the clarity of an attribute-specific guara ntee is less likely to attract consumer abuse (McCollough and Gremler, 2004). Therefore, we advocate and assume for the remainder of this paper an attribute-specific guarantee. This can cover multiple SST attributes, which is referred to as a multiple attribute-specific guarantee. For example, BestPrintingOnline.com, an online printing service, guarantees both the quality of its product and on-time  delivery. This type of guarantee provides consumers with the opportunity to complain about several SST problems via guarantee invocation (Bjà ¶rlin-Lidà ©n and Skà ¥là ©n, 2003). In the context of service recovery, the examination of service guarantees has been scarce, and the use of service guarantees in the SST context has not been examined before. This is confirmed by Hogreve and Gremler (2009) in their review of the past 20years of service guarantee research. To begin to address these gaps, our paper conceptualises the role of service guarantees in the SST failure and recovery context from the consumer perspective. We consider different types of SSTs in developing our propositions. We argue that SST guarantees encourage consumers to voice their complaints via guarantee invocation in the absence of service personnel. In line with the call for research examining the justice dimensions (i.e., distributive, procedural, and interactional justice) of service recovery in the SST context (Forbes et al., 2005), we propose that SST Copyright  © 2011 John Wiley Sons, Ltd. CONCEPTUAL FRAMEWORK The conceptual framework proposed (see Figure 1) is grounded in the theory pertaining to service guarantees, consumer voice, attribution theory, and justice theory. In justifying the framework, the distinctive characteristics of the SST context were considered, including the requirement of consumer co-production that is independent of service personnel, a lack of interpersonal interaction with service personnel, and consumers being obliged to interface and interact with technology (Robertson and Shaw, 2009). When studying SSTs, it is important to distinguish meaningfully between their types (Meuter et al., 2000). In terms of categorising SSTs, two key classification schemes can be drawn. The most cited classification scheme is that proposed by Dabholkar (1994). Her classification scheme considers the following variables: (i) who delivers the service (degree and level of consumer participation); (ii) where the service is delivered (location of the SST, i.e. remote, such as IVR or onsite, such as kiosks); and (iii) how the service is delivered (technology type, i.e. Internet and non-Internet, such as kiosks and IVR). More recently, Meuter et al. (2000) proposed a similar classification of SSTs. As per Dabholkar’s (1994) scheme, they included the different types of technologies that organisations use to interface with consumers (i.e.,  Internet and non-Internet) and the purpose of the technology from the viewpoint of consumers, that is, what consumers accomplish from using the technology (i.e., transactions and/or customer service).

Sunday, July 21, 2019

A Study On Television News Channels In Tamilnadu

A Study On Television News Channels In Tamilnadu The Television media which is always the most powerful means of mass communication in the world can serve as the medium of information, education and entertainment and thus television has become an essential part of our life. Television is a combination of technology and cultural forms (Williams, 1975) and as this industry also finds itself at the heart of all kinds of commercial and industry strategies. Television is a medium which is used to express the social concern and the political views creatively. In India it is one of the huge industry which have thousands of programmes in different languages and 50 percent population of every house own a television. Television in the recent days have grown tremendous because of new markets, cultural introduction, and in situations becoming a challenge to even the government as they bring out the unfamiliar images to the audience. As television is basically the broadcasting of moving picture and the sound to the audience effectively, most of the time television stays as a remarkable evidence about an issue .As an example, an incident quoted from the book, Screening culture, viewing politics by Purnima Mankekar, November 1984 : A hectic and rewarding year is drawing to close for S.S Gill ,Indias secretary for the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting. On a special mission authorized by Prime minister Indira Gandhi, he has spent the year setting up hundreds of television transmitters that will draw the remotest corners of the nation into the ambit of Indian televisions newly launched National Programme. Suddenly Mrs.Gandhi is assassinated. Ironically , the first TV images viewers nationwide see are of her body lying in state, and close-ups of her grieving son Rajiv Gandhi. Within a few months , Rajiv Gandhi is elected prime minister .The queen is dead; long live the king. (Mankekar, 1999)The magic of Televisi on has made itself felt. And thus such a power Television owns. The Indian media business is still growing with confidence even in this changing position on the world stage. The Government owned Doordarshan was the only channel in the Indian airwaves until 1990s, but now it has been filled extraordinarily by private channels. With 360 channels currently on air,160 channels waiting for governments permission. Indian television viewers has more choices than anywhere else in the world. More than a hundred million households in India now own at least one television set. Seventy million of them are connected to cable or satellite TV. At their finger tips lie choices galore: movie channels ,music channels ,television soap operas and news broadcasts; CNN and BBC, the Rupert Murdoch-owned Star TV bouquet of channels ,International sports channels and the home grown Zee television all vie for their attention. (Batabyal, 2012) Media landscape was added with glitz and glamour ,the black and white days are replaced with gloss ,gossip and money. As Hartley argues News is the sense making practice of modernity; It is an important medium through which we understand ourselves and the world around us, who we are, what we are, our collective likes and dislikes (Batabyal, 2012). Television birth and growth in India Televisions birth in India was started by The All India Radio in September 1959 which was an experimental broadcasting and they had only 2 hours programme per week. The All India radio managed these initial stages of TV broadcasting which was majorly based on educational programmes for farmers and children. The Television services further expanded to other cities of India and thus reached 7 cities of India and at that stage in 1976 Doordarshan which became the sole producer of Television in India separated from the All India Radio and formed a new department purely for Television Broadcasting. In the year 1982 Doordarshan made national coverage possible for the first time using the satellite INSAT 1A and in the same year colour television also came into market apparently at that stage Doordarshan was the only national channel and it was owned by the government which was further enhanced by the series of Mahabharata and Ramayana and this attracted people and they started buying Television sets. As there was only a single channel and the expectation of the audience was still increasing so as to meet the saturation of television programmes Doordarshan opened up new other channels in many languages like DD National, DD News, DD Sports, DD Gyandarshan, DD Bharati, Loksabha Channel and DD Urdu. In such a way Doordarshan evolved over the years. As Indias television system grew, not as a medium in its own right but as a response to events and decisions around it. Thus television industry grew, satellite private channels came into existence the 1990s can be said as the year of private channels because it was from when private channels emerged and audience who was stuck with Doordarshan was ready to shift their interest to the new private channels as always new technologies and new forms emerged attracted the audiences. As a medium television and the news genre underwent the most spectacular change and growth and thus from only one news channel in 1998, today India has close to 60 24 hours news channels all over the country. In that most of them are national but even they reach international audiences. Many channels like Star tv, Zee tv in hindi, sun tv in tamil, Asianet in Malayalam ,Eenadu in kannada all started in India.All the major languages in India has a Television in their own language. Thus televisions created India in its own images the media industry was rich, booming and it was ready to compete on the world stage . In such a way the television industry in India developed and as a other category of channel came up the news channels which was only concentrating on news 24/7 so that people was able to choose the categories of interest on their own. TELEVISION NEWS The one function TV news performs very well is that when there is no news we give it to you with the same emphasis as if there were (Brinkley, 1994). Television news is like a lightning flash. It makes a loud noise, lights up everything around it, leaves everything else in darkness and then is suddenly gone (Carter, 1994 ). After all this statements even when the credibility of the television news is still doubted, Television news media, the broadcast journalism in the past decade has come of ages. At present we have television news channels in all major regional languages that are solely dedicated to news alone so that the audience need not wait to see the half an hour news in between the daily soaps in commercial channels. As these news channels give 24/7 news updates fresh , up to date news about what all is happening around the world to us .But this renovation did not happen overnight, the credit of bringing up news channels goes to Rupert Murdoch from Star television network and Dr.Prannoy Roy from NDTV limited. It was them who collaborated and hence was the first ever independent satellite news channel came to small screen and it was known as Star news. And thus started the Television news industry in India and after the birth of news channel like other industry even in this competitions started ,day by day the number of news channels are increasing in all languages and even the audience are looking forward for a better one everyday. The development in the news media created a different scenario and it is when the News anchors became the new celebrities in India. With Citizen journalism, live outdoor broadcast vans fitted with the latest technology, talk shows and discussions , analyses and reports, there seems to be no end to the goodies for a nation of viewers who until very recently were served only state propaganda as news . (Batabyal, 2012) And after all this development to reach the first position in the news channel category ,the news channels are following all sorts of tactics like sensationalizing all issues, making any news a breaking news, not worth sting operations etc which is not giving the people the true sense of news. News is manufactured by the journalists (Berkowitz, 1997). Making of news is being followed most of the time which the audience actually dont expect from the Television news channels. Our job is to present fact and truth with clarity, dispassion and neutrality, however inconvenient or dismaying much of that information may be (Keeble, 2001) The production of news which strives for neutral, factual information is possibly the most important arena in which television carries out its responsibility to inform as well as to entertain its various audiences. They are required to deliver their news with accuracy and impartiality. They must be reliable and also balancing in covering political issues. With over 40 news channels, almost 100 million television homes and over 200 million viewers weekly, 24 hour news channel are on the upswing. A TAM media research says that television viewership doubling in the past three years , news has emerged as the most sought of genre. While the share of the Hindi news channels has increased by 78%, the English news channels have grown at least four times even as the share of regional news has quadrupled. Tamil News Channels The state of Tamil Nadu has the most unbalanced media in the whole of our country India. To achieve a balance in news an individual should watch minimum 2 news channels say to know about DMK party ,how bad it is and its members one should watch Jaya plus and to know how bad is AIADMAK one should watch the Sun news. As few years back a channel didnt depend on any political patronage or entertainment because for few years politics, entertainment and news all these comfortably was sharing the same bed in the state. Only in the years 40s and 50s During the War of independence period the DMK built its group and they started reading and interpreting the news for the public but later when the cinema became popular the art was mixed with the political propaganda and so Anna and Karunanidhi through their screenplays for cinemas and MGR and Jayalalitha through the screen presence in the cinemas started promoting their propagandas using the cinema as a medium and thus this tradition was followed by them even in the era of television . Sun tv functioned as tool and campus for the DMK party to promote and influence people about their ideologies and now that place is being occupied by Kalaignar Tv and same way Jaya Tv is functioning as a tool to influence the public about the AIADMK party and their ideologies. As this monotony was going on in Tamilnadu ,new channels like Puthiya thalaimurai came to existence and they started breaking the political affiliation of a channel with the political party and concentrated on real issues. And according to the TAM report Puthiya thalaimurai is in first position and the reason for that ironically, has to do with politics. When Jayalalithaa took over the government a year ago, one of the first things she did was to revive a government-owned cable distribution company called Arasu to break the monopoly of Sumangali Cable Vision owned by the Marans. The move had an impact on Sun TVs revenues. A Citi report earlier this year attributed the decline of cable revenues (it was down 45% year on year) to the revival of Arasu. But it also made the entry for a competitor like Puthiya Thalaimurai channel easier. (N.S.Ramnath, 2012) Gnani a popular writer in Tamil says However, its a bit early to say if Puthiya Thalaimurai is having an impact on the way other channels cover news. A single channel cannot change that. You need more competition for that to happen, and that will take time, Various comments and controversies still exist about all the Tamil news channel in Tamilnadu. The details about the existing news channels in Tamilnadu which are popular ssare as follows. Sun news Sun group is one of the largest conglomerate in India and started in the year 1992. It is owned by Kalanidhi Maran who is the Chairman and the Managing Director of the Sun network group which is the most profitable television network in the world. It has 32 power packed television channels in different regional languages of India. And Sun network has a reach of about 95 million households in India. The Sun network channels can be viewed by people all over the world including USA, Canada, Europe, Middle east, Singapore, Malaysia , Sri lanka ,South Africa, Australia and New Zealand. Sun tv also owns a Sun direct DTH ( Direct to home satellite TV service ) which is a largest service provider in India of more than 7.5 million subscribers. Thus Sun network holding 32 top rated channels in India, including the Sun news channel which is solely dedicated only for news telecast, Sun network has got a tremendous reach, frequency and patronage that other groups failed and cant even compete. Sun Group believes in giving you wholesome fare. Be it news or entertainment, we are there first. . With Thirty Two Television Channels in four Indian languages and Forty Five FM Radio Stations, we are able to connect to the Southern Diaspora erasing geographical distances. Millions of people all over the world watch Sun Group channels. (Copyright 2011 Sun Group). Thus Sun tv news channel is also under the Sun network it is also able to connect with people so much as the other channels of Sun network and Sun news channel reaches the audience worldwide and takes the current news and what is happening around to large amount of people. Kalaignar Seithigal Kalaignar tv was started on September 15,2007. Kalaignar tv since when it was started it gave a tough competition to other competitors. In setting benchmarks, Kalaignar tv is in a league of its own. As a trend-setter, Kalaignar tv has started giving the top channels a run for their money. Its tie-up with the creamy layer of the entertainment industry has opened new vistas to the channel not wary of experimenting to strike gold. (Kalaignar Tv website). Kalaignar Tv is owned by Kalaignar Karunanidhi the DMK party leader as he launched the channel after the dispute between Kalanithi Maran and M.K.Azhagiri . They having entertainment , news and currents affairs as their USP, telecasted a bouquet of multi coloured programmes and it was focussing on every individual and their entertainment needs. Kalaignar Seithigal which is a 24/7 news channel in tamil also belong to the Kalaignar tv network .All over the country it has a tie up with top content providers and the news gathering facilitators so that they focus on not doing different things but doing things differently. They have all top news content providers like Reuters, P.T.I and Asian News International and thus resourceful and giving news to the public in a effective. Jaya Plus Jaya tv was founded by J .Jayalalitha the ADMK party leader. Jaya tv is one of the major Tamil language satellite television channels in Chennai. It was started in the month of August 1999.Jaya plus is a 24/7 Tamil news channel solely dedicated to news alone is also a part of Jaya Tv network. Jaya Tv broadcasting is in India , Middle east , Asia, Australia and New Zealand through Dish network channel. Jaya tv. Jaya TV is one of the early Tamil channels to entertain the Tamil audiences spread across Globe. In todays world information is the catch word and the Jaya Television Network has capitalised on the increasing demand for news that is unbiased, timely and accurate. (Copyright 2012 Jaya Network).Thus Jaya Plus is a news channel in Tamilnadu which is also one of the major source of news in Tamilnadu. Puthiya Thalaimurai Puthiya thalaimurai news channel is a recently launched Tamil news channel in Tamilnadu. It is a regional Indian cable Television started in August 2011.It is new Tv channel in Tamilnadu eroding the influence of Sun News, Kalaignar News and Jaya Plus by being unbiased and focussing on real issues .It is a channel which claims to be independent from political party, and with the punch line Unmai Udanuk udan which means truth as it happens. Puthiya thalaimurai has marked history of becoming number one news channel in Tamilnadu within a short period of 60 days from the day it has launched because of its Back to Back to live news telecast. The TAM ratings released by AC Neilson also mentioned that Pyuthiya Thalaimurai is in its number one position and has scored a Gross Rating Point or GRP of 35.94 on Week 44 across Tamil Nadu. Gnani Sankaran, a political commentator, says PT has kept its promise so far. Viewers see it as a credible channel, and they have been turning to it. One of its shows Ayudham Seivom (lets make tools) a phrase from a popular song by Bharathiar is about rural innovations and has turned out to be a huge success. Similarly, Kazham Irangivargal (those who stepped into the battlefield), a programme on entrepreneurs, found a lot of resonance with the audience. Another show, Konjam Soru, Konjam Varalaru (a little bit of food, a little bit of history) is a food programme that also delves deep into history . It has become a hit. (N.S.Ramnath, 2012) Puthiya thalaimurai 24/7 news channel has positioned itself now as Independent channel and also it is the first channel with High Definition in India as such and also it has attracted the audience because of its bright and clear graphics ,crystal clear appearance , and it has also imported latest broadcast equipments from various sources worldwide as all these factors has enhanced Puthiya Thalaimurai news channel and made it reach the 1st position in News channels in Tamilnadu. The channel has also concentrated in the news gathering by sending 3 reporters to cover the cyclone Thane which hit the coastal areas of Tamilnadu and they also hired helicopters and reported about the affected area where they also took some farmers with them on helicopters and even in National issues like Anna Hazares protest was covered by the channel in a effective way. Thus Puthiya thalaimurai channel has created a difference and it is having an impact on the way other channels cover news. Sathiyam Television Sathiyam tv is a part of Sathiyam Media Vision Private Limited. It is also a 24/7 news channel in Tamilnadu. They give full independence and responsibility to their employees to report the facts with truth and transparency. We as a company have passion to reach out to the Tamil speaking population world over with the honest and responsible presentation of news and current affairs that reflects the true spirit of journalism and reported with authenticity, clarity and definitive conviction(Copyright2010 Sathiyam Television). The Moto of Sathyam Tv is Yes as Yes and No as No. Sathiyam Tv aims in giving news in true, integral, understandable and devoid of sensationalism or slander of any kind. They believe in preparing our nation to face the reality of truth and motivate citizens to function based on their individual decisions.

Saturday, July 20, 2019

Edna Pontellier’s Broken Wings in Kate Chopins The Awakening :: Chopin Awakening Essays

Broken Wings in The Awakening  Ã‚  Ã‚   Between the caged parrot with a huge cage â€Å"outside the door† that repeated â€Å"Get away! Get away! Damnation!† and Mr. Pontellier ‘s rebuke to his wife that she was â€Å"burnt beyond recognition,† and the description of him looking at his wife as â€Å"a valuable piece of personal property which has suffered some damage.† the antenna went up. There is not a welcoming beckon in the very beginning and we are alerted to the dysfunction of a marriage all with a page or two. It is a sad beginning. The introduction of Robert Lebrun along with Edna sets up the triangle. We are told that â€Å"Robert talked a good deal about himself. He was very young, and did not know any better. Mrs. Pontellier talked a little more about herself for the same reason. Each was interested in what the other said.† Robert from the onset has â€Å"plans† although he and Edna talk she has none. When Mr. Pontellier returns from Klein's hotel and awakens Edna, with criticism about her care of the children , after a night out with the boys. We begin to see him as thoughtless and as eligible as Edna for the same criticism. She goes into the adjoining bedroom and cries. This indifference on the part of her husband triggers, â€Å"An indescribable oppression, which seemed to generate in some unfamiliar part of her consciousness, filled her whole being with a vague anguish.† At this point the antenna were up and the story began to accelerate. We are told that Mrs. Pontellier was not a â€Å"mother woman†. The mother women in the story are easy to know â€Å"they (were) fluttering about with extended, protecting wings when any harm, real or imaginary, threatened their precious brood.† They grew wings as â€Å"ministering angels†. I noticed along with the caged birds in the opening of the story the number of bird images throughout. It is Mademoiselle Reisz that tells Edna, â€Å"The bird that would soar above the level plain of tradition and prejudice must have strong wings. It is a sad spectacle to see the weaklings bruised, exhausted, fluttering back to earth.’†Edna refers to her new home as â€Å"the pigeon-house†. It pleased her. â€Å"It at once assumed the intimate character of a home, while she herself invested it with charm which it reflected like a warm glow.

Battered Womens Syndrome :: essays research papers

Battered Women's Syndrome: A Survey of Contemporary Theories Domestic Violence   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  In 1991, Governor William Weld modified parole regulations and permitted women to seek commutation if they could present evidence indicating they suffered from battered women's syndrome. A short while later, the Governor, citing spousal abuse as his impetus, released seven women convicted of killing their husbands, and the Great and General Court of Massachusetts enacted Mass. Gen. L. ch. 233, 23E (1993), which permits the introduction of evidence of abuse in criminal trials. These decisive acts brought the issue of domestic abuse to the public's attention and left many Massachusetts residents, lawyers and judges struggling to define battered women's syndrome. In order to help these individuals define battered women's syndrome, the origins and development of the three primary theories of the syndrome and recommended treatments are outlined below. I. The Classical Theory of Battered Women's Syndrome and its Origins   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-IV), known in the mental health field as the clinician's bible, does not recognize battered women's syndrome as a distinct mental disorder. In fact, Dr. Lenore Walker, the architect of the classical battered women's syndrome theory, notes the syndrome is not an illness, but a theory that draws upon the principles of learned helplessness to explain why some women are unable to leave their abusers. Therefore, the classical battered women's syndrome theory is best regarded as an offshoot of the theory of learned helplessness and not a mental illness that afflicts abused women.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The theory of learned helplessness sought to account for the passive behavior subjects exhibited when placed in an uncontrollable environment. In the late 60's and early 70's, Martin Seligman, a famous researcher in the field of psychology, conducted a series of experiments in which dogs were placed in one of two types of cages. In the former cage, henceforth referred to as the shock cage, a bell would sound and the experimenters would electrify the entire floor seconds later, shocking the dog regardless of location. The latter cage, however, although similar in every other respect to the shock cage, contained a small area where the experimenters could administer no shock. Seligman observed that while the dogs in the latter cage learned to run to the nonelectrified area after a series of shocks, the dogs in the shock cage gave up trying to escape, even when placed in the latter cage and shown that escape was possible.

Friday, July 19, 2019

Exporting Purell Hand Sanitize Essay -- essays research papers fc

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY This report analyzes the possibility of taking Purell Instant Hand Sanitizer, a product of GOJO Industries, into the Indian market. Purell Must Gain Greater Market Share Purell Instant Hand Sanitizer is a portable hand washing solution that cleanses hands without the need for soap and water. In 1997, GOJO Industries entered Purell Instant Hand Sanitizer into retail sale, and the American public embraced the product. However, as large US Competitors have entered the hand sanitizer industry, which is now worth over $400 million every year, Purell’s market share is diminishing. Although still the market leader in the industry, GOJO must fight for revenue opportunities. One way to do that is to take Purell into international markets. India Provides an Opportunity Possible Barriers GOJO must consider possible barriers to Purell’s entrance into Indian markets. These barriers include: Recommendation Extensive research provides evidence that marketing Purell Instant Hand Sanitizer in India would be mutually beneficial to GOJO Industries and the people of India. Report Overview Statement of Purpose The purpose of this report is to recommend marketing GOJO Industries’ product, Purell Instant Hand Sanitizer, in India. Penetrating the Indian market would be mutually beneficial for both GOJO and India. Product Purell Instant Hand Sanitizer is a portable supplement to routine hand washing. Although 80 percent of disease is spread by contact with the hands, Purell kills 99.9 percent of most common germs. Therefore, Purell is and effective tool that promotes proper health and prevents the spread of disease. In 1997, GOJO Industries, a privately owned company, introduced its hand sanitizer for retail sale. Since then, the hand sanitizer industry has exploded in the US to and industry worth $400 million per year. Many public competitors such as Dial and Colgate have entered the market. These larger competitors maintain extensive advertising budgets, which are being used to increase their respective market shares in the hand sanitizer industry. Although GOJO’s Purell brand remains the market leader, its share of the market has fallen to 39.4 percent from its initial market domination of 100 percent. (FT1) Therefore, to increase its sales revenues, GOJO needs to introduce Purell internationally. India ... ...rs. Political pressure for protectionism remains, and moves to cut more sensitive tariffs have been halted. Some exports are subject to licensing, while some items consumed domestically, such as tea, are subject to quota restrictions. Only a few items, such as tropical wood and beef, are banned for export. Bibliography “Company Background.'; Online. GOJO Industries, Inc. Available: http://www.gojo.com/history.html. March 20, 1999. “FAQ.'; Online. GOJO Industries, Inc. Available: http://www.purell.com/faq. March 20, 1999. Hardin, Angela Y. 1998. “GOJO: Getting a Handle on its Purell Market.'; Crain’s Cleveland Business, June 22, 6. “Lexis ®-Nexis ®.'; Online. UNC-CH Electronic Indexes and Databases. Available: http://library.unc.edu/htbin/build_ER_frame?http://web.lexis-nexis.com/universe. April 12, 1999. Nones, Rachelle. 1998. “It’s Germ Warfare for Hand Sanitizers.'; Supermarket News. May 4, 170. Nones, Rachelle. 1998. “Retailers Experiment with hand Sanitizers.'; Supermarket News. May 4, 170. “Purell.'; Online. GOJO Industries, Inc. Available: http://www.purell.com/. March 20, 1999.

Thursday, July 18, 2019

Vbnm

AMERICAN CULTURE Visual and performing arts 3. Arts and letters The arts, more than other features of culture, provide avenues for the expression of imagination and personal vision. They offer a range of emotional and intellectual pleasures to consumers of art and are an important way in which a culture represents itself. There has long been a Western tradition distinguishing those arts that appeal to the multitude, such as popular music, from those—such as classical orchestral music—normally available to the elite of learning and taste.Popular art forms are usually seen as more representative American products. In the United States in the recent past, there has been a blending of popular and elite art forms, as all the arts experienced a period of remarkable cross-fertilization. Because popular art forms are so widely distributed, arts of all kinds have prospered. The arts in the United States express the many faces and the enormous creative range of the American peopl e. Especially since World War II, American innovations and the immense energy displayed in literature, dance, and music have made American cultural works world famous.Arts in the United States have become internationally prominent in ways that are unparalleled in history. American art forms during the second half of the 20th century often defined the styles and qualities that the rest of the world emulated. At the end of the 20th century, American art was considered equal in quality and vitality to art produced in the rest of the world. Throughout the 20th century, American arts have grown to incorporate new visions and voices. Much of this new artistic energy came in the wake of America’s emergence as a superpower after World War II.But it was also due to the growth of New York City as an important center for publishing and the arts, and the immigration of artists and intellectuals fleeing fascism in Europe before and during the war. An outpouring of talent also followed the civil rights and protest movements of the 1960s, as cultural discrimination against blacks, women, and other groups diminished. American arts flourish in many places and receive support from private foundations, large corporations, local governments, federal agencies, museums, galleries, and individuals.What is considered worthy of support often depends on definitions of quality and of what constitutes art. This is a tricky subject when the popular arts are increasingly incorporated into the domain of the fine arts and new forms such as performance art and conceptual art appear. As a result, defining what is art affects what students are taught about past traditions (for example, Native American tent paintings, oral traditions, and slave narratives) and what is produced in the future.While some practitioners, such as studio artists, are more vulnerable to these definitions because they depend on financial support to exercise their talents, others, such as poets and photographers, a re less immediately constrained. Artists operate in a world where those who theorize and critique their work have taken on an increasingly important role. Audiences are influenced by a variety of intermediaries—critics, the schools, foundations that offer grants, the National Endowment for the Arts, gallery owners, publishers, and theater producers.In some areas, such as the performing arts, popular audiences may ultimately define success. In other arts, such as painting and sculpture, success is far more dependent on critics and a few, often wealthy, art collectors. Writers depend on publishers and on the public for their success. Unlike their predecessors, who relied on formal criteria and appealed to aesthetic judgments, critics at the end of the 20th century leaned more toward popular tastes, taking into account groups previously ignored and valuing the merger of popular and elite forms.These critics often relied less on aesthetic judgments than on social measures and wer e eager to place artistic productions in the context of the time and social conditions in which they were created. Whereas earlier critics attempted to create an American tradition of high art, later critics used art as a means to give power and approval to nonelite groups who were previously not considered worthy of including in the nation’s artistic heritage. Not so long ago, culture and the arts were assumed to be an unalterable inheritance—the accumulated wisdom and highest forms of achievement that were established in the past.In the 20th century generally, and certainly since World War II, artists have been boldly destroying older traditions in sculpture, painting, dance, music, and literature. The arts have changed rapidly, with one movement replacing another in quick succession. a) Visual arts. The visual arts have traditionally included forms of expression that appeal to the eyes through painted surfaces, and to the sense of space through carved or molded mate rials. In the 19th century, photographs were added to the paintings, drawings, and sculpture that make up the visual arts.The visual arts were further augmented in the 20th century by the addition of other materials, such as found objects. These changes were accompanied by a profound alteration in tastes, as earlier emphasis on realistic representation of people, objects, and landscapes made way for a greater range of imaginative forms. During the late 19th and early 20th centuries, American art was considered inferior to European art. Despite noted American painters such as Thomas Eakins, Winslow Homer, Mary Cassatt, and John Marin, American visual arts barely had an international presence.American art began to flourish during the Great Depression of the 1930s as New Deal government programs provided support to artists along with other sectors of the population. Artists connected with each other and developed a sense of common purpose through programs of the Public Works Administra tion, such as the Federal Art Project, as well as programs sponsored by the Treasury Department. Most of the art of the period, including painting, photography, and mural work, focused on the plight of the American people during the depression, and most artists painted real people in difficult circumstances.Artists such as Thomas Hart Benton and Ben Shahn expressed the suffering of ordinary people through their representations of struggling farmers and workers. While artists such as Benton and Grant Wood focused on rural life, many painters of the 1930s and 1940s depicted the multicultural life of the American city. Jacob Lawrence, for example, re-created the history and lives of African Americans. Other artists, such as Andrew Wyeth and Edward Hopper, tried to use human figures to describe emotional states such as loneliness and despair. Abstract Expressionism.Shortly after World War II, American art began to garner worldwide attention and admiration. This change was due to the inn ovative fervor of abstract expressionism in the 1950s and to subsequent modern art movements and artists. The abstract expressionists of the mid-20th century broke from the realist and figurative tradition set in the 1930s. They emphasized their connection to international artistic visions rather than the particularities of people and place, and most abstract expressionists did not paint human figures (although artist Willem de Kooning did portrayals of women).Color, shape, and movement dominated the canvases of abstract expressionists. Some artists broke with the Western art tradition by adopting innovative painting styles—during the 1950s Jackson Pollock â€Å"painted† by dripping paint on canvases without the use of brushes, while the paintings of Mark Rothko often consisted of large patches of color that seem to vibrate. Abstract expressionists felt alienated from their surrounding culture and used art to challenge society’s conventions. The work of each art ist was quite individual and distinctive, but all the artists identified with the radicalism of artistic creativity.The artists were eager to challenge conventions and limits on expression in order to redefine the nature of art. Their radicalism came from liberating themselves from the confining artistic traditions of the past. The most notable activity took place in New York City, which became one of the world’s most important art centers during the second half of the 20th century. The radical fervor and inventiveness of the abstract expressionists, their frequent association with each other in New York City’s Greenwich Village, and the support of a group of gallery owners and dealers turned them into an artistic movement.Also known as the New York School, the participants included Barnett Newman, Robert Motherwell, Franz Kline, and Arshile Gorky, in addition to Rothko and Pollock. The members of the New York School came from diverse backgrounds such as the American M idwest and Northwest, Armenia, and Russia, bringing an international flavor to the group and its artistic visions. They hoped to appeal to art audiences everywhere, regardless of culture, and they felt connected to the radical innovations introduced earlier in the 20th century by European artists such as Pablo Picasso and Marcel Duchamp.Some of the artists—Hans Hofmann, Gorky, Rothko, and de Kooning—were not born in the United States, but all the artists saw themselves as part of an international creative movement and an aesthetic rebellion. As artists felt released from the boundaries and conventions of the past and free to emphasize expressiveness and innovation, the abstract expressionists gave way to other innovative styles in American art. Beginning in the 1930s Joseph Cornell created hundreds of boxed assemblages, usually from found objects, with each based on a single theme to create a mood of contemplation and sometimes of reverence.Cornell's boxes exemplify th e modern fascination with individual vision, art that breaks down boundaries between forms such as painting and sculpture, and the use of everyday objects toward a new end. Other artists, such as Robert Rauschenberg, combined disparate objects to create large, collage-like sculptures known as combines in the 1950s. Jasper Johns, a painter, sculptor, and printmaker, recreated countless familiar objects, most memorably the American flag. The most prominent American artistic style to follow abstract expressionism was the pop art movement that began in the 1950s.Pop art attempted to connect traditional art and popular culture by using images from mass culture. To shake viewers out of their preconceived notions about art, sculptor Claes Oldenburg used everyday objects such as pillows and beds to create witty, soft sculptures. Roy Lichtenstein took this a step further by elevating the techniques of commercial art, notably cartooning, into fine art worthy of galleries and museums. Lichtens tein's large, blown-up cartoons fill the surface of his canvases with grainy black dots and question the existence of a distinct realm of high art.These artists tried to make their audiences see ordinary objects in a refreshing new way, thereby breaking down the conventions that formerly defined what was worthy of artistic representation. Probably the best-known pop artist, and a leader in the movement, was Andy Warhol, whose images of a Campbell’s soup can and of the actress Marilyn Monroe explicitly eroded the boundaries between the art world and mass culture. Warhol also cultivated his status as a celebrity. He worked in film as a director and producer to break down the boundaries between traditional and popular art.Unlike the abstract expressionists, whose conceptual works were often difficult to understand, Andy Warhol's pictures, and his own face, were instantly recognizable. Conceptual art, as it came to be known in the 1960s, like its predecessors, sought to break fre e of traditional artistic associations. In conceptual art, as practiced by Sol LeWitt and Joseph Kosuth, concept takes precedent over actual object, by stimulating thought rather than following an art tradition based on conventional standards of beauty and artisanship.Modern artists changed the meaning of traditional visual arts and brought a new imaginative dimension to ordinary experience. Art was no longer viewed as separate and distinct, housed in museums as part of a historical inheritance, but as a continuous creative process. This emphasis on constant change, as well as on the ordinary and mundane, reflected a distinctly American democratizing perspective. Viewing art in this way removed the emphasis from technique and polished performance, and many modern artworks and experiences became more about expressing ideas than about perfecting finished products. Photography.Photography is probably the most democratic modern art form because it can be, and is, practiced by most Ameri cans. Since 1888, when George Eastman developed the Kodak camera that allowed anyone to take pictures, photography has struggled to be recognized as a fine art form. In the early part of the 20th century, photographer, editor, and artistic impresario Alfred Stieglitz established 291, a gallery in New York City, with fellow photographer Edward Steichen, to showcase the works of photographers and painters. They also published a magazine called Camera Work to increase awareness about photographic art.In the United States, photographic art had to compete with the widely available commercial photography in news and fashion magazines. By the 1950s the tradition of photojournalism, which presented news stories primarily with photographs, had produced many outstanding works. In 1955 Steichen, who was director of photography at the Museum of Modern Art in New York, called attention to this work in an exhibition called The Family of Man. Throughout the 20th century, most professional photogra phers earned their living as portraitists or photojournalists, not as artists.One of the most important exceptions was Ansel Adams, who took majestic photographs of the Western American landscape. Adams used his art to stimulate social awareness and to support the conservation cause of the Sierra Club. He helped found the photography department at the Museum of Modern Art in 1940, and six years later helped establish the photography department at the California School of Fine Arts in San Francisco (now the San Francisco Art Institute). He also held annual photography workshops at Yosemite National Park from 1955 to 1981 and wrote a series of influential books on photographic technique.Adams's elegant landscape photography was only one small stream in a growing current of interest in photography as an art form. Early in the 20th century, teacher-turned-photographer Lewis Hine established a documentary tradition in photography by capturing actual people, places, and events. Hine photo graphed urban conditions and workers, including child laborers. Along with their artistic value, the photographs often implicitly called for social reform. In the 1930s and 1940s, photographers joined with other depression-era artists supported by the federal government to create a hotographic record of rural America. Walker Evans, Dorothea Lange, and Arthur Rothstein, among others, produced memorable and widely reproduced portraits of rural poverty and American distress during the Great Depression and during the dust storms of the period. In 1959, after touring the United States for two years, Swiss-born photographer Robert Frank published The Americans, one of the landmarks of documentary photography. His photographs of everyday life in America introduced viewers to a depressing, and often depressed, America that existed in the midst of prosperity and world power.Photographers continued to search for new photographic viewpoints. This search was perhaps most disturbingly embodied i n the work of Diane Arbus. Her photos of mental patients and her surreal depictions of Americans altered the viewer’s relationship to the photograph. Arbus emphasized artistic alienation and forced viewers to stare at images that often made them uncomfortable, thus changing the meaning of the ordinary reality that photographs are meant to capture. American photography continues to flourish.The many variants of art photography and socially conscious documentary photography are widely available in galleries, books, and magazines. A host of other visual arts thrive, although they are far less connected to traditional fine arts than photography. Decorative arts include, but are not limited to, art glass, furniture, jewelry, pottery, metalwork, and quilts. Often exhibited in craft galleries and studios, these decorative arts rely on ideals of beauty in shape and color as well as an appreciation of well-executed crafts. Some of these forms are also developed commercially.The decora tive arts provide a wide range of opportunity for creative expression and have become a means for Americans to actively participate in art and to purchase art for their homes that is more affordable than works produced by many contemporary fine artists. 4. Performing arts As in other cultural spheres, the performing arts in the United States in the 20th century increasingly blended traditional and popular art forms. The classical performing arts—music, opera, dance, and theater—were not a widespread feature of American culture in the first half of the 20th century.These arts were generally imported from or strongly influenced by Europe and were mainly appreciated by the wealthy and well educated. Traditional art usually referred to classical forms in ballet and opera, orchestral or chamber music, and serious drama. The distinctions between traditional music and popular music were firmly drawn in most areas. During the 20th century, the American performing arts began to incorporate wider groups of people. The African American community produced great musicians who became widely known around the country.Jazz and blues singers such as Bessie Smith, Louis Armstrong, Duke Ellington, and Billie Holiday spread their sounds to black and white audiences. In the 1930s and 1940s, the swing music of Benny Goodman, Tommy Dorsey, and Glenn Miller adapted jazz to make a unique American music that was popular around the country. The American performing arts also blended Latin American influences beginning in the 20th century. Between 1900 and 1940, Latin American dances, such as the tango from Argentina and the rumba from Cuba, were introduced into the United States.In the 1940s a fusion of Latin and jazz elements was stimulated first by the Afro-Cuban mambo and later on by the Brazilian bossa nova. Throughout the 20th century, dynamic classical institutions in the United States attracted international talent. Noted Russian-born choreographer George Balanchine e stablished the short-lived American Ballet Company in the 1930s; later he founded the company that in the 1940s would become the New York City Ballet. The American Ballet Theatre, also established during the 1940s, brought in non-American dancers as well.By the 1970s this company had attracted Soviet defector Mikhail Baryshnikov, an internationally acclaimed dancer who served as the company’s artistic director during the 1980s. In classical music, influential Russian composer Igor Stravinsky, who composed symphonies using innovative musical styles, moved to the United States in 1939. German-born pianist, composer, and conductor Andre Previn, who started out as a jazz pianist in the 1940s, went on to conduct a number of distinguished American symphony orchestras.Another Soviet, cellist Mstislav Rostropovich, became conductor of the National Symphony Orchestra in Washington, D. C. , in 1977. Some of the most innovative artists in the first half of the 20th century successfully incorporated new forms into classical traditions. Composers George Gershwin and Aaron Copland, and dancer Isadora Duncan were notable examples. Gershwin combined jazz and spiritual music with classical in popular works such as Rhapsody in Blue (1924) and the opera Porgy and Bess (1935).Copland developed a unique style that was influenced by jazz and American folk music. Early in the century, Duncan redefined dance along more expressive and free-form lines. Some artists in music and dance, such as composer John Cage and dancer and choreographer Merce Cunningham, were even more experimental. During the 1930s Cage worked with electronically produced sounds and sounds made with everyday objects such as pots and pans. He even invented a new kind of piano.During the late 1930s, avant-garde choreographer Cunningham began to collaborate with Cage on a number of projects. Perhaps the greatest, and certainly the most popular, American innovation was the Broadway musical, which also became a m ovie staple. Beginning in the 1920s, the Broadway musical combined music, dance, and dramatic performance in ways that surpassed the older vaudeville shows and musical revues but without being as complex as European grand opera.By the 1960s, this American musical tradition was well established and had produced extraordinary works by important musicians and lyricists such as George and Ira Gershwin, Irving Berlin, Cole Porter, Richard Rodgers, Lorenz Hart, Jerome Kern, and Oscar Hammerstein II. These productions required an immense effort to coordinate music, drama, and dance. Because of this, the musical became the incubator of an American modern dance tradition that produced some of America's greatest choreographers, among them Jerome Robbins, Gene Kelly, and Bob Fosse.In the 1940s and 1950s the American musical tradition was so dynamic that it attracted outstanding classically trained musicians such as Leonard Bernstein. Bernstein composed the music for West Side Story, an updated version of Romeo and Juliet set in New York that became an instant classic in 1957. The following year, Bernstein became the first American-born conductor to lead a major American orchestra, the New York Philharmonic. He was an international sensation who traveled the world as an ambassador of the American style of conducting.He brought the art of classical music to the public, especially through his â€Å"Young People's Concerts,† television shows that were seen around the world. Bernstein used the many facets of the musical tradition as a force for change in the music world and as a way of bringing attention to American innovation. In many ways, Bernstein embodied a transformation of American music that began in the 1960s. The changes that took place during the 1960s and 1970s resulted from a significant increase in funding for the arts and their increased availability to larger audiences.New York City, the American center for art performances, experienced an artistic expl osion in the 1960s and 1970s. Experimental off-Broadway theaters opened, new ballet companies were established that often emphasized modern forms or blended modern with classical (Martha Graham was an especially important influence), and an experimental music scene developed that included composers such as Philip Glass and performance groups such as the Guarneri String Quartet. Dramatic innovation also continued to expand with the works of playwrights such as Edward Albee, Tony Kushner, and David Mamet.As the variety of performances expanded, so did the serious crossover between traditional and popular music forms. Throughout the 1960s and 1970s, an expanded repertoire of traditional arts was being conveyed to new audiences. Popular music and jazz could be heard in formal settings such as Carnegie Hall, which had once been restricted to classical music, while the Brooklyn Academy of Music became a venue for experimental music, exotic and ethnic dance presentations, and traditional p roductions of grand opera. Innovative producer Joseph Papp had been staging Shakespeare in Central Park since the 1950s.Boston conductor Arthur Fiedler was playing a mixed repertoire of classical and popular favorites to large audiences, often outdoors, with the Boston Pops Orchestra. By the mid-1970s the United States had several world-class symphony orchestras, including those in Chicago; New York; Cleveland, Ohio; and Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Even grand opera was affected. Once a specialized taste that often required extensive knowledge, opera in the United States increased in popularity as the roster of respected institutions grew to include companies in Seattle, Washington; Houston, Texas; and Santa Fe, New Mexico.American composers such as John Adams and Philip Glass began composing modern operas in a new minimalist style during the 1970s and 1980s. The crossover in tastes also influenced the Broadway musical, probably America's most durable music form. Starting in the 1960 s, rock music became an ingredient in musical productions such as Hair (1967). By the 1990s, it had become an even stronger presence in musicals such as Bring in Da Noise, Bring in Da Funk (1996), which used African American music and dance traditions, and Rent (1996) a modern, rock version of the classic opera La Boheme.This updating of the musical opened the theater to new ethnic audiences who had not previously attended Broadway shows, as well as to young audiences who had been raised on rock music. Performances of all kinds have become more available across the country. This is due to both the sheer increase in the number of performance groups as well as to advances in transportation. In the last quarter of the 20th century, the number of major American symphonies doubled, the number of resident theaters increased fourfold, and the number of dance companies increased tenfold.At the same time, planes made it easier for artists to travel. Artists and companies regularly tour, and they expand the audiences for individual artists such as performance artist Laurie Anderson and opera singer Jessye Norman, for musical groups such as the Juilliard Quartet, and for dance troupes such as the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater. Full-scale theater productions and musicals first presented on Broadway now reach cities across the country. The United States, once a provincial outpost with a limited European tradition in performance, has become a flourishing center for the performing arts. . Arts and letters The arts, more than other features of culture, provide avenues for the expression of imagination and personal vision. They offer a range of emotional and intellectual pleasures to consumers of art and are an important way in which a culture represents itself. There has long been a Western tradition distinguishing those arts that appeal to the multitude, such as popular music, from those—such as classical orchestral music—normally available to the elite of learning and taste. Popular art forms are usually seen as more representative American products.In the United States in the recent past, there has been a blending of popular and elite art forms, as all the arts experienced a period of remarkable cross-fertilization. Because popular art forms are so widely distributed, arts of all kinds have prospered. The arts in the United States express the many faces and the enormous creative range of the American people. Especially since World War II, American innovations and the immense energy displayed in literature, dance, and music have made American cultural works world famous.Arts in the United States have become internationally prominent in ways that are unparalleled in history. American art forms during the second half of the 20th century often defined the styles and qualities that the rest of the world emulated. At the end of the 20th century, American art was considered equal in quality and vitality to art produced in the rest of the world. Throughout the 20th century, American arts have grown to incorporate new visions and voices. Much of this new artistic energy came in the wake of America’s emergence as a superpower after World War II.But it was also due to the growth of New York City as an important center for publishing and the arts, and the immigration of artists and intellectuals fleeing fascism in Europe before and during the war. An outpouring of talent also followed the civil rights and protest movements of the 1960s, as cultural discrimination against blacks, women, and other groups diminished. American arts flourish in many places and receive support from private foundations, large corporations, local governments, federal agencies, museums, galleries, and individuals.What is considered worthy of support often depends on definitions of quality and of what constitutes art. This is a tricky subject when the popular arts are increasingly incorporated into the domain of the fine arts and new forms such as performance art and conceptual art appear. As a result, defining what is art affects what students are taught about past traditions (for example, Native American tent paintings, oral traditions, and slave narratives) and what is produced in the future.While some practitioners, such as studio artists, are more vulnerable to these definitions because they depend on financial support to exercise their talents, others, such as poets and photographers, are less immediately constrained. Artists operate in a world where those who theorize and critique their work have taken on an increasingly important role. Audiences are influenced by a variety of intermediaries—critics, the schools, foundations that offer grants, the National Endowment for the Arts, gallery owners, publishers, and theater producers.In some areas, such as the performing arts, popular audiences may ultimately define success. In other arts, such as painting and sculpture, success is far more dependent on criti cs and a few, often wealthy, art collectors. Writers depend on publishers and on the public for their success. Unlike their predecessors, who relied on formal criteria and appealed to aesthetic judgments, critics at the end of the 20th century leaned more toward popular tastes, taking into account groups previously ignored and valuing the merger of popular and elite forms. These critics ften relied less on aesthetic judgments than on social measures and were eager to place artistic productions in the context of the time and social conditions in which they were created. Whereas earlier critics attempted to create an American tradition of high art, later critics used art as a means to give power and approval to nonelite groups who were previously not considered worthy of including in the nation’s artistic heritage. Not so long ago, culture and the arts were assumed to be an unalterable inheritance—the accumulated wisdom and highest forms of achievement that were establis hed in the past.In the 20th century generally, and certainly since World War II, artists have been boldly destroying older traditions in sculpture, painting, dance, music, and literature. The arts have changed rapidly, with one movement replacing another in quick succession. a) Visual arts. The visual arts have traditionally included forms of expression that appeal to the eyes through painted surfaces, and to the sense of space through carved or molded materials. In the 19th century, photographs were added to the paintings, drawings, and sculpture that make up the visual arts.The visual arts were further augmented in the 20th century by the addition of other materials, such as found objects. These changes were accompanied by a profound alteration in tastes, as earlier emphasis on realistic representation of people, objects, and landscapes made way for a greater range of imaginative forms. During the late 19th and early 20th centuries, American art was considered inferior to European art. Despite noted American painters such as Thomas Eakins, Winslow Homer, Mary Cassatt, and John Marin, American visual arts barely had an international presence.American art began to flourish during the Great Depression of the 1930s as New Deal government programs provided support to artists along with other sectors of the population. Artists connected with each other and developed a sense of common purpose through programs of the Public Works Administration, such as the Federal Art Project, as well as programs sponsored by the Treasury Department. Most of the art of the period, including painting, photography, and mural work, focused on the plight of the American people during the depression, and most artists painted real people in difficult circumstances.Artists such as Thomas Hart Benton and Ben Shahn expressed the suffering of ordinary people through their representations of struggling farmers and workers. While artists such as Benton and Grant Wood focused on rural life, man y painters of the 1930s and 1940s depicted the multicultural life of the American city. Jacob Lawrence, for example, re-created the history and lives of African Americans. Other artists, such as Andrew Wyeth and Edward Hopper, tried to use human figures to describe emotional states such as loneliness and despair. Abstract Expressionism.Shortly after World War II, American art began to garner worldwide attention and admiration. This change was due to the innovative fervor of abstract expressionism in the 1950s and to subsequent modern art movements and artists. The abstract expressionists of the mid-20th century broke from the realist and figurative tradition set in the 1930s. They emphasized their connection to international artistic visions rather than the particularities of people and place, and most abstract expressionists did not paint human figures (although artist Willem de Kooning did portrayals of women).Color, shape, and movement dominated the canvases of abstract expressio nists. Some artists broke with the Western art tradition by adopting innovative painting styles—during the 1950s Jackson Pollock â€Å"painted† by dripping paint on canvases without the use of brushes, while the paintings of Mark Rothko often consisted of large patches of color that seem to vibrate. Abstract expressionists felt alienated from their surrounding culture and used art to challenge society’s conventions. The work of each artist was quite individual and distinctive, but all the artists identified with the radicalism of artistic creativity.The artists were eager to challenge conventions and limits on expression in order to redefine the nature of art. Their radicalism came from liberating themselves from the confining artistic traditions of the past. The most notable activity took place in New York City, which became one of the world’s most important art centers during the second half of the 20th century. The radical fervor and inventiveness of t he abstract expressionists, their frequent association with each other in New York City’s Greenwich Village, and the support of a group of gallery owners and dealers turned them into an artistic movement.Also known as the New York School, the participants included Barnett Newman, Robert Motherwell, Franz Kline, and Arshile Gorky, in addition to Rothko and Pollock. The members of the New York School came from diverse backgrounds such as the American Midwest and Northwest, Armenia, and Russia, bringing an international flavor to the group and its artistic visions. They hoped to appeal to art audiences everywhere, regardless of culture, and they felt connected to the radical innovations introduced earlier in the 20th century by European artists such as Pablo Picasso and Marcel Duchamp.Some of the artists—Hans Hofmann, Gorky, Rothko, and de Kooning—were not born in the United States, but all the artists saw themselves as part of an international creative movement an d an aesthetic rebellion. As artists felt released from the boundaries and conventions of the past and free to emphasize expressiveness and innovation, the abstract expressionists gave way to other innovative styles in American art. Beginning in the 1930s Joseph Cornell created hundreds of boxed assemblages, usually from found objects, with each based on a single theme to create a mood of contemplation and sometimes of reverence.Cornell's boxes exemplify the modern fascination with individual vision, art that breaks down boundaries between forms such as painting and sculpture, and the use of everyday objects toward a new end. Other artists, such as Robert Rauschenberg, combined disparate objects to create large, collage-like sculptures known as combines in the 1950s. Jasper Johns, a painter, sculptor, and printmaker, recreated countless familiar objects, most memorably the American flag. The most prominent American artistic style to follow abstract expressionism was the pop art move ment that began in the 1950s.Pop art attempted to connect traditional art and popular culture by using images from mass culture. To shake viewers out of their preconceived notions about art, sculptor Claes Oldenburg used everyday objects such as pillows and beds to create witty, soft sculptures. Roy Lichtenstein took this a step further by elevating the techniques of commercial art, notably cartooning, into fine art worthy of galleries and museums. Lichtenstein's large, blown-up cartoons fill the surface of his canvases with grainy black dots and question the existence of a distinct realm of high art.These artists tried to make their audiences see ordinary objects in a refreshing new way, thereby breaking down the conventions that formerly defined what was worthy of artistic representation. Probably the best-known pop artist, and a leader in the movement, was Andy Warhol, whose images of a Campbell’s soup can and of the actress Marilyn Monroe explicitly eroded the boundaries between the art world and mass culture. Warhol also cultivated his status as a celebrity. He worked in film as a director and producer to break down the boundaries between traditional and opular art. Unlike the abstract expressionists, whose conceptual works were often difficult to understand, Andy Warhol's pictures, and his own face, were instantly recognizable. Conceptual art, as it came to be known in the 1960s, like its predecessors, sought to break free of traditional artistic associations. In conceptual art, as practiced by Sol LeWitt and Joseph Kosuth, concept takes precedent over actual object, by stimulating thought rather than following an art tradition based on conventional standards of beauty and artisanship.Modern artists changed the meaning of traditional visual arts and brought a new imaginative dimension to ordinary experience. Art was no longer viewed as separate and distinct, housed in museums as part of a historical inheritance, but as a continuous creative proces s. This emphasis on constant change, as well as on the ordinary and mundane, reflected a distinctly American democratizing perspective. Viewing art in this way removed the emphasis from technique and polished performance, and many modern artworks and experiences became more about expressing ideas than about perfecting finished products.Photography. Photography is probably the most democratic modern art form because it can be, and is, practiced by most Americans. Since 1888, when George Eastman developed the Kodak camera that allowed anyone to take pictures, photography has struggled to be recognized as a fine art form. In the early part of the 20th century, photographer, editor, and artistic impresario Alfred Stieglitz established 291, a gallery in New York City, with fellow photographer Edward Steichen, to showcase the works of photographers and painters.They also published a magazine called Camera Work to increase awareness about photographic art. In the United States, photographi c art had to compete with the widely available commercial photography in news and fashion magazines. By the 1950s the tradition of photojournalism, which presented news stories primarily with photographs, had produced many outstanding works. In 1955 Steichen, who was director of photography at the Museum of Modern Art in New York, called attention to this work in an exhibition called The Family of Man.Throughout the 20th century, most professional photographers earned their living as portraitists or photojournalists, not as artists. One of the most important exceptions was Ansel Adams, who took majestic photographs of the Western American landscape. Adams used his art to stimulate social awareness and to support the conservation cause of the Sierra Club. He helped found the photography department at the Museum of Modern Art in 1940, and six years later helped establish the photography department at the California School of Fine Arts in San Francisco (now the San Francisco Art Instit ute).He also held annual photography workshops at Yosemite National Park from 1955 to 1981 and wrote a series of influential books on photographic technique. Adams's elegant landscape photography was only one small stream in a growing current of interest in photography as an art form. Early in the 20th century, teacher-turned-photographer Lewis Hine established a documentary tradition in photography by capturing actual people, places, and events. Hine photographed urban conditions and workers, including child laborers.Along with their artistic value, the photographs often implicitly called for social reform. In the 1930s and 1940s, photographers joined with other depression-era artists supported by the federal government to create a photographic record of rural America. Walker Evans, Dorothea Lange, and Arthur Rothstein, among others, produced memorable and widely reproduced portraits of rural poverty and American distress during the Great Depression and during the dust storms of th e period.In 1959, after touring the United States for two years, Swiss-born photographer Robert Frank published The Americans, one of the landmarks of documentary photography. His photographs of everyday life in America introduced viewers to a depressing, and often depressed, America that existed in the midst of prosperity and world power. Photographers continued to search for new photographic viewpoints. This search was perhaps most disturbingly embodied in the work of Diane Arbus. Her photos of mental patients and her surreal depictions of Americans altered the viewer’s relationship to the photograph.Arbus emphasized artistic alienation and forced viewers to stare at images that often made them uncomfortable, thus changing the meaning of the ordinary reality that photographs are meant to capture. American photography continues to flourish. The many variants of art photography and socially conscious documentary photography are widely available in galleries, books, and magazi nes. A host of other visual arts thrive, although they are far less connected to traditional fine arts than photography.Decorative arts include, but are not limited to, art glass, furniture, jewelry, pottery, metalwork, and quilts. Often exhibited in craft galleries and studios, these decorative arts rely on ideals of beauty in shape and color as well as an appreciation of well-executed crafts. Some of these forms are also developed commercially. The decorative arts provide a wide range of opportunity for creative expression and have become a means for Americans to actively participate in art and to purchase art for their homes that is more affordable than works produced by many contemporary fine artists. . Performing arts As in other cultural spheres, the performing arts in the United States in the 20th century increasingly blended traditional and popular art forms. The classical performing arts—music, opera, dance, and theater—were not a widespread feature of America n culture in the first half of the 20th century. These arts were generally imported from or strongly influenced by Europe and were mainly appreciated by the wealthy and well educated. Traditional art usually referred to classical forms in ballet and opera, orchestral or chamber music, and serious drama.The distinctions between traditional music and popular music were firmly drawn in most areas. During the 20th century, the American performing arts began to incorporate wider groups of people. The African American community produced great musicians who became widely known around the country. Jazz and blues singers such as Bessie Smith, Louis Armstrong, Duke Ellington, and Billie Holiday spread their sounds to black and white audiences. In the 1930s and 1940s, the swing music of Benny Goodman, Tommy Dorsey, and Glenn Miller adapted jazz to make a unique American music that was popular around the country.The American performing arts also blended Latin American influences beginning in th e 20th century. Between 1900 and 1940, Latin American dances, such as the tango from Argentina and the rumba from Cuba, were introduced into the United States. In the 1940s a fusion of Latin and jazz elements was stimulated first by the Afro-Cuban mambo and later on by the Brazilian bossa nova. Throughout the 20th century, dynamic classical institutions in the United States attracted international talent.Noted Russian-born choreographer George Balanchine established the short-lived American Ballet Company in the 1930s; later he founded the company that in the 1940s would become the New York City Ballet. The American Ballet Theatre, also established during the 1940s, brought in non-American dancers as well. By the 1970s this company had attracted Soviet defector Mikhail Baryshnikov, an internationally acclaimed dancer who served as the company’s artistic director during the 1980s. In classical music, influential Russian composer Igor Stravinsky, who composed symphonies using i nnovative musical styles, moved to the United States in 1939.German-born pianist, composer, and conductor Andre Previn, who started out as a jazz pianist in the 1940s, went on to conduct a number of distinguished American symphony orchestras. Another Soviet, cellist Mstislav Rostropovich, became conductor of the National Symphony Orchestra in Washington, D. C. , in 1977. Some of the most innovative artists in the first half of the 20th century successfully incorporated new forms into classical traditions. Composers George Gershwin and Aaron Copland, and dancer Isadora Duncan were notable examples.Gershwin combined jazz and spiritual music with classical in popular works such as Rhapsody in Blue (1924) and the opera Porgy and Bess (1935). Copland developed a unique style that was influenced by jazz and American folk music. Early in the century, Duncan redefined dance along more expressive and free-form lines. Some artists in music and dance, such as composer John Cage and dancer and choreographer Merce Cunningham, were even more experimental. During the 1930s Cage worked with electronically produced sounds and sounds made with everyday objects such as pots and pans.He even invented a new kind of piano. During the late 1930s, avant-garde choreographer Cunningham began to collaborate with Cage on a number of projects. Perhaps the greatest, and certainly the most popular, American innovation was the Broadway musical, which also became a movie staple. Beginning in the 1920s, the Broadway musical combined music, dance, and dramatic performance in ways that surpassed the older vaudeville shows and musical revues but without being as complex as European grand opera.By the 1960s, this American musical tradition was well established and had produced extraordinary works by important musicians and lyricists such as George and Ira Gershwin, Irving Berlin, Cole Porter, Richard Rodgers, Lorenz Hart, Jerome Kern, and Oscar Hammerstein II. These productions required an immense effort to coordinate music, drama, and dance. Because of this, the musical became the incubator of an American modern dance tradition that produced some of America's greatest choreographers, among them Jerome Robbins, Gene Kelly, and Bob Fosse.In the 1940s and 1950s the American musical tradition was so dynamic that it attracted outstanding classically trained musicians such as Leonard Bernstein. Bernstein composed the music for West Side Story, an updated version of Romeo and Juliet set in New York that became an instant classic in 1957. The following year, Bernstein became the first American-born conductor to lead a major American orchestra, the New York Philharmonic. He was an international sensation who traveled the world as an ambassador of the American style of conducting.He brought the art of classical music to the public, especially through his â€Å"Young People's Concerts,† television shows that were seen around the world. Bernstein used the many facets of the musi cal tradition as a force for change in the music world and as a way of bringing attention to American innovation. In many ways, Bernstein embodied a transformation of American music that began in the 1960s. The changes that took place during the 1960s and 1970s resulted from a significant increase in funding for the arts and their increased availability to larger audiences.New York City, the American center for art performances, experienced an artistic explosion in the 1960s and 1970s. Experimental off-Broadway theaters opened, new ballet companies were established that often emphasized modern forms or blended modern with classical (Martha Graham was an especially important influence), and an experimental music scene developed that included composers such as Philip Glass and performance groups such as the Guarneri String Quartet. Dramatic innovation also continued to expand with the works of playwrights such as Edward Albee, Tony Kushner, and David Mamet.As the variety of performanc es expanded, so did the serious crossover between traditional and popular music forms. Throughout the 1960s and 1970s, an expanded repertoire of traditional arts was being conveyed to new audiences. Popular music and jazz could be heard in formal settings such as Carnegie Hall, which had once been restricted to classical music, while the Brooklyn Academy of Music became a venue for experimental music, exotic and ethnic dance presentations, and traditional productions of grand opera. Innovative producer Joseph Papp had been staging Shakespeare in Central Park since the 1950s.Boston conductor Arthur Fiedler was playing a mixed repertoire of classical and popular favorites to large audiences, often outdoors, with the Boston Pops Orchestra. By the mid-1970s the United States had several world-class symphony orchestras, including those in Chicago; New York; Cleveland, Ohio; and Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Even grand opera was affected. Once a specialized taste that often required extensi ve knowledge, opera in the United States increased in popularity as the roster of respected institutions grew to include companies in Seattle, Washington; Houston, Texas; and Santa Fe, New Mexico.American composers such as John Adams and Philip Glass began composing modern operas in a new minimalist style during the 1970s and 1980s. The crossover in tastes also influenced the Broadway musical, probably America's most durable music form. Starting in the 1960s, rock music became an ingredient in musical productions such as Hair (1967). By the 1990s, it had become an even stronger presence in musicals such as Bring in Da Noise, Bring in Da Funk (1996), which used African American music and dance traditions, and Rent (1996) a modern, rock version of the classic opera La Boheme.This updating of the musical opened the theater to new ethnic audiences who had not previously attended Broadway shows, as well as to young audiences who had been raised on rock music. Performances of all kinds ha ve become more available across the country. This is due to both the sheer increase in the number of performance groups as well as to advances in transportation. In the last quarter of the 20th century, the number of major American symphonies doubled, the number of resident theaters increased fourfold, and the number of dance companies increased tenfold.At the same time, planes made it easier for artists to travel. Artists and companies regularly tour, and they expand the audiences for individual artists such as performance artist Laurie Anderson and opera singer Jessye Norman, for musical groups such as the Juilliard Quartet, and for dance troupes such as the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater. Full-scale theater productions and musicals first presented on Broadway now reach cities across the country. The United States, once a provincial outpost with a limited European tradition in performance, has become a flourishing center for the performing arts.