Marketing Planning Consultancy Report for Fairview International

During the late nineteen nineties, a thorough strategic review of the British Junior Chamber of Commerce was conducted. It is a kind of parties and charity events Junior Rotary   that has a distinctly retro feel to it, one of the reasons why it had lost 80% of its members (or customers and market share) over the previous twenty years. Its members were usually in their 30’s, so it was no longer junior at all! Radical approach was taken by the officers of the said group while others simply rearranged the chairs on the deck of the Titanic as the ship continued to go down. One of the features of this organization was international twinning where the members visit friends in a foreign chamber bi-annually and vice-versa. It was proposed that the organization become a travel company primarily to see bands like Robbie Williams, Coldplay and James Blunt play in other countries. Low cost flights were becoming popular and if you could stay at your twin organization members home (and they yours) you then had a very low cost international travel model with a purpose ‘the big gig’. This delivered to a young person’s sense of ‘having a good time’ having traveled far to rock festivals in my youth. But this was revolution for this retro organization whereas the more conservative members of the organization proposed an evolutionary model that was accepted. Perhaps predictably it continues to decline and I and others remain convinced that my prescription was an effective one! The aims of the organization have been defined in the widest possible terms in effect ‘offer a service to young people containing real features and benefits that they would instantly perceive to have value and relevance in return for a fee’. It is surely obvious that any service offer has to change with the times. Welfare state spending may reduce the need for charity or terrorism the appeal of travel, never mind that, new young adult generations will always look to find new ways to irritate older people. Digital Technology has revolutionized this landscape (Generation X, 2000). In this short piece of work, I, as the consultant, challenge Fairview to look at their product offering in the broadest possible terms too. When they use the term gaming, it should simply mean fee generating play. For instance, I think many young men (and women) in the United Kingdom would like to play for the English soccer team. It should be perfectly possible to design and offer a paid for interactive Information Technology game where you join a team, play well and are transferred while you play against other teams with team members located all over the country on your mobile phone, timing runs, tackling, and making passes and shots in real time on the screen. It is this soccer offering where the United Kingdom has the best product in the world I have focused on, as United Kingdom consumers pay to receive live soccer currently. It is both then the dominant market segment for gaming potential as well as the easiest to charge a fee for. This then should be the aim for Fairview. To understand what young people want and harness the technology to deliver a new concept that will sweep the market. This is all some distance from the traditional ‘bookie’s’.   Fairview uses the name ‘chain’ to describe this market entry. Chain is the right term, but not as in the old ‘a chain of bookie’s ‘but by building customer databases linked by profitable repeat fee based gaming interests for rapid team game building. This is as near to a mission statement as my proposal needs. Proposal While on the one side the United Kingdom seems a perfect place to offer gaming services as a wealthy secular modern society with no overt proscriptions, the reality is that this protestant country has some of the same forces at play as the puritan founders of the United States of America that influences proscriptions against gaming there. Millions of British used to admit to only gambling once a year on ‘The National’ the Grand National Steeplechase. Bookie’s were scruffy smoke filled pits of dysfunctional people all too often Catholic immigrants from Ireland. Relatively well educated, if you asked the British why they didn’t gamble they’d say ‘it’s a mugs game’ and ‘get rich quick schemes’ only work for the amoral founders of the idea. They would prefer to ‘gamble’ if that is the appropriate term on the stock market where legitimate gains could be made by using the thirds party services of good corporate management to ensure a comfortable retirement. If you look for further evidence of this, it is well known that no Casino will open in the United Kingdom, unless there are large numbers of potential ethnic Chinese gamers living nearby. They will not get rich on United Kingdom consumers, indeed may not even break even (The Independents Britain’s new cultural entrepreneurs, 1999). .But times change, and just as the stock market now offers a diverse range of derivative instruments, so does gaming. The popularity of the English Premier League has lead to the spread betting phenomenon. If the top teams usually win, the margin of victory is far less certain and this also has lead to greater volatility and margins of gains and losses or in other word exciting risky behavior. The United States legislation against on line gaming was an initial set back as the United Kingdom based organizations were generating   lot of business in for instance interactive Poker games (People before structures, 2000). B.   But clearly there now offers the same kind of opportunity for Fairview that stem cell researchers enjoy in the United Kingdom’s less judgmental society in other ways, so familiar to the Americans, but what exactly is it?. Technology has changed consumer markets especially for young people fundamentally. Living in a poor third world town in a poor third world country there are dozens of internet shops catering for young males who want to play on line. The cell phone here predominates and conversations have to be broken mid sentence to give the phone its precedence. These are new networks just waiting to be more completely, competently and commercially exploited. In the United Kingdom, most homes have internet cable bundled with telephony too and children dominate their use. For those who think that the internet is a marvelous utility for expanding the mind with information, the reality is that it is pornography that dominates commercial transactions on the web. People are quite happy to sign up to a site that suits their sexual taste and this has hastened the demise of the printed word if pornographic magazines were more likely to venerate the picture rather than the accompanying narrative. This all simply demonstrates that people will pay a fee to use IT if you give them what they really want, in this instance, sex! To refer back to my opening, I realized that the Junior Chamber had other problems too in gaining new young members. People often didn’t want to move around to get together any more, given the twin threats of urbanization traffic clog and personal security threats. At their office was the ideal tool to ‘blog’ instead. Tools like Microsoft Messenger meant that you could now have an interactive real time conversation. Add a web cam and this is the modern equivalent of the ‘whist drive’ or poker games my parent’s generation but enjoyed without the need for a meeting place. Property in the rich and crowded island that is the United Kingdom is notoriously expensive to buy or rent. How very convenient! The question then to ask is, given this new digital societies’ range of extensive interactive tools, what will the young people move onto once they tire of their mostly violent and speedy games? Gaming defined as a competition where you place a stake and back your skill has to be the obvious move once these kids are working and have more money in their pocket. The opportunity is obvious. But will Fairview be sufficiently visionary to spend marketing resources on creating this market? To do this, their initial key goals will include setting up the soft infrastructure. They will have to work with key influencers (for instance game designers) and agents (like MySpace) and the Premier Football League as well as build a formidable technical offering, but they will be pushing against an open door in terms of consumer desires. They must design a proprietary brand and a tightly drawn patent to protect themselves at least at the outset for competition, unless they are not prepared to spend enough marketing funds on this to ‘go it alone’ and would rather share the burden with competitors in the hope that there is enough business to keep everyone happy. Observe the English soccer on Star Sports in Asia. It will be noticed that they urge customer to use their cell phones to make score predictions and so of course can build up a data base of cell phone numbers that send the predictions in. Many of these Asian English soccer fans have never been to a real English game. They are a perfect target to form virtual soccer team similarly with the virtual manager games. In a sense Star Sports and its competitors are ‘ahead of the game’ but they don’t recognize what they’ve got yet nor how best they can leverage it. When the term ‘clicks and mortar’ was first coined in the nineteen nineties it seemed pretentious, but in fact it was ‘right on the money’. It seemed that consumers wouldn’t buy some things unless they’d seen them first. The feel of something is important. It transpired that Amazon were very good at selling Information Technology, books and records all not particularly visual or tactile and we would buy holidays and flights on the net for the same reasons, but when for instance it came to clothes, a regional superstore may be needed to view the goods closer at hand. Since that time memory has got cheaper and virtual reality less virtual, and this has become a little less of an obstacle. What about the social environment though?. People will be free to play these games in public arenas with adjacent fellow players. It just need not be that way. Of course, younger people have sometimes never even thought about this although malls around the world seem to still be full of them. There is evidence too that many people gravitate towards social situations such as ‘the bookie’s’ provides. Where then in the product offering should we place these components? It seems to me that an internet gaming company should product test a real life regular forum for their customers. An organization was set up by Tony Blair, the former United Kingdom Prime minister’s advisor on future policy trends called DEMOS. It was a centre left policy think tank. Most of the action was in far away London but once a year they would hold an event in the north in Liverpool. It is this kind of customer sensitivity that internet offerings have to master, designed as they all too often are by tech ‘geeks’ who are rarely ‘people persons’. An annual conference of soccer gamers could be highly viable and entertaining for them off season. In one article by Demos, they put the spotlight on Generation X the first internet generation to reach adulthood. This was in some ways a fundamentally different generation. They were found to be the first generation that had synthesized their social needs inside their heads and home, whereas previous young adults would head off down ‘the pub.’ The bedroom of the average young person in the United Kingdom is now an entertainment and communication zone, a little like the bridge of Star Trek! The recent purchases of social networks like that of MySpace by Google tells us something about their utility for attractive targeting both by advertisers and the future tech offerings that Google is rumored to be announcing soon in the cellular communication area. So far I have mostly referred to the internet, but clearly relatively few people can receive this via 3G right now and these services are expensive (but there is an opportunity there for Fairview too). It is clear that in the technical mix a formidable proactive customer services 2G offering should be launched as well, as we all know that these 2 and 3 G phones are no longer just phones but in some way an extension of the identity of the individual. Where this would all lead in terms of software development I don’t have the expertise to predict, but Fairview would surely need their own in house team of software developers. Opportunities for as ubiquitous a product as interactive soccer would clearly show themselves rapidly in both mainland Europe and South America where soccer is king, and later, globally! The beauty of technology of course is that this can be all run from just one location. Adjacent opportunities will be available too for the skill and experience built by the Information Technology department to be applied elsewhere. There are many customer services functions in the United Kingdom where good staff could be poached for a more interesting job This leads to the subject of Brand. Clearly few can tell the Americans anything about brand building. In consumer markets, brand is king and so internet and 2G advertising with product offers would be essential. I repeat that endorsements by top soccer players of the interactive paid for soccer gaming would too be essential if that were part of the offer. It should too watch how Google addresses the market in its next move as that organization seems to have a good feel for the youth/it/ commercial landscape The action and execution plan would be carried out most effectively by well trained and motivated new young people to Fairview that have bought into this concept as they will sell/merchandise it with real enthusiasm at retail software purchase points. This will be a sales force with all the traditional activity goals, daily targeting etc. A key account manager will set up the contacts with the key partners MySpace, YouTube, etc. and Star Sports and the Premier League to set up the delivery networks, but it will be the marketers that will likely make the most impact by leaflets in the appropriate magazines, advertising boards at soccer grounds, cell phone text message advertising etc. A pre offer tease roadside board adverting campaign could be useful but as this will be a tech offering a key initial task would be to build a potential fee gamers data base by garnering cell phone responses to advertising. The mining of this cell phone response consumer data base should be a key task of an in house customer services team with specific goals to be achieved. Conclusion It can be concluded from the evidence above is that there is a real opportunity to move things on commercially in the tech gaming space and thereby move away from the traditional bricks and mortar gaming concept. This is of course already well under way, but the surface is only being scratched in terms of potential as large sections of the community don’t game (gamble) at all as the offer has yet to be put in the right way. This is the right way and indeed many of the tools look already to be in place, if greater use of 3G would be a slight advantage. Much of the above proposal is already out there like United States interactive basketball and I’m sure that Fairview know this, but they could crucially deepen the level of interactivity with a virtual FA Cup played by thousands around the world with a trophy handed to the winners before the real FA Cup Semi Final and real players ‘guesting’ on line in teams. This ‘hype’ or real celebrity based excitement, a mix of reality TV and virtual reality could gain many millions of subscribers paying per game regularly ‘on line,’ or even women (or men) aspiring to dinner with David Beckham, indeed make such a sea change in the commercializing of ITC that this becomes a legendary ‘breaking of the mould’ enterprise, the ‘final straw’ that opened the door for a fee based gaming enterprise to ‘clean up’. It simply remains then to be seen whether they will have both the vision and resources to turn this into such a lucrative reality that one day soon it will be as playing a pivotal role in redesigning post modern civil society as well!. References Generation X   – Demos   UK 2000 Handbook. 2007. http://www.rjca.org.uk/docs/Handbook_A.pdf People before structures – Demos UK 2000 The Independents Britain’s new cultural entrepreneurs – Demos UK 1999                     

Basic Needs Shank’s Old Boss Failed to Meet Essay

According to Maslow’s hierarchy, which basic needs did Shank’s old boss fail to meet? Explain why the needs have not been met. What could be done to meet these missing needs? The basic needs which Shanks old boss failed to meet are as follows: The need for self-actualization â€Å"the desire to become more and more what one is and to become everything that one is capable of becoming. † People who have everything can maximize their potential. They can seek knowledge, peace, esthetic experiences, self-fulfillment, oneness with God, etc. Emily Griffin from Flight 001 stated the ollowing: So it’s not that it’s better than nothing, but they do still recognize the contribution, even if I’m not quite getting it right. This negative statement tells me that the self-actualization is a missing component within this company. She is completing a project Just to get it accepted and not maximizing her potential and her highest level of functioning. Emily s hould be able to move through the needs to the highest level provided they are given an education that promotes growth. Use the Expectancy Theory and/or the Equity Theory of motivation to explain how feeling nderpaid might affect the work of a Flight 001 associate and what a manager can do to increase the employee’s motivation. A Flight 001 associate that feels underpaid may form perceptions of what constitutes a fair ratio (a balance or trade) of inputs and outputs by comparing our own situation with other ‘referents’ (reference points or examples) in the market place as we see it. In practice this helps to explain why people are so strongly affected by the situations (and views and gossip) of colleagues, friends, partners etc. in establishing their own personal sense of fairness or equity in their work situations. People need to feel that there is a fair balance between inputs and outputs. Crucially fairness is measured by comparing one’s own balance or ratio between inputs and outputs, with the ratio enjoyed or endured by relevant (‘referent’) others. If there is not a fair balance employees feel demotivated. Generally the extent of demotivation is proportional to the perceived disparity with other people or inequity, but for some people Just the smallest indication of negative isparity between their situation and other people’s is enough to cause massive disappointment and a feeling of considerable injustice, resulting in demotivation, or worse, open hostility. Some people reduce effort and application and become inwardly disgruntled, or outwardly difficult, recalcitrant or even disruptive. Other people seek to improve the outputs by making claims or demands for more reward, or seeking an alternative Job. A Manager can increase employee motivation with financial rewards – pay, salary, expenses, perks, benefits, pension arrangements, onus and commission – plus intangibles – recognition, reputation, praise and thanks, interest, responsibility, stimulus, travel, training, development, sense of achievement and advancement, promotion, etc. Managers need to understand the Equity Theory – and especially its pivotal comparative aspect – to be able to appreciate and improve one person’s terms and conditions to resolve that individual’s demands. Equity Theory reminds us that people see themselves and crucially the way they are treated so they must be managed and treated accordingly. Based on Herzberg does Two Factor Theory, what hygiene factors can you identify that are being met within Flight 001 ‘s work environment based on comments made by employees in the video? How are they being met? Is Flight 001 ‘s work environment meeting any motivation factors? If so, which ones and how? The hygiene factor that are being met within Flight 001 ‘s work environment are as follows: Working conditions, Company Policies and Interpersonal relations. Flight 001 has great working conditions for their employees and they pay attention to detail as far as letting their employees know that they are ot Just a number but as important as the any other employee where they are at a higher level of management and this also creates interpersonal relations between all employees and making them feel as adequate as the next. Due to the new baggage policy and charges customers want to bring more carryon luggage on the plane. The employees were informed and trained on how to react to this new policy in a positive manor to satisfy the customer. References http://stewardess. inhatc. ac. kr/philoint/general-data/maslow’s-hierarchy-of- needs-I . htm http://www. businessballs. com/adamsequitytheory. htm

Relativism and Objectivism as Two Different Moral Principles Theory Essay

Relativism and Objectivism as Two Different Moral Principles Theory - Essay Example The main purpose of the research is to present that both Relativism and Objectivism have a different perspective on the principles of morality. In essence, relativism is pretty tolerant of other ideologies because it insists that different individuals hold different views. The present research has identified that what one defines as absurd might be viewed differently by another individual. There are no true boundaries of ethics in relativism since people come from vat backgrounds. Consequently, objectivism holds a different approach to these issues. Objectivism philosophy is a methodology that propagates reason and egoism. It is derived from the philosophy of Ayn Rand. The author has rightly presented that objectivism is unique in its way that it’s the antidote to the society we live in. In essence, existence and one’s self-consciousness become the vital points that influence our perception. Without existence and consciousness, no foundation of knowledge can be built. A ccording to the research findings, objectivism bases judgment on the notion of education rather than celebrating on the issue of diversity. Without knowledge, one is not able to truly identify themselves. Thus, it is safe to say existence and every action is executed should be based on knowledge. Hence, it is clear that relativism acknowledges that what seems to be real and what seems to be true will differ from culture to culture.

Dispositions Paper Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Dispositions Paper - Essay Example Dispositions essential for an early childhood educator An early childhood educator should delight in the development of children and have a curiosity about the same. This will allow them to have a strong liking for children and be able to approach and interact with them in and out of class every time and not only when direction or correction is needed (Kidd et al 316). According to Danielson et al (235), playing forms an essential part in the life of a child and their proper development. Therefore, an early childhood educator should value children’s play. This disposition will motivate them to arrange the environment, provide opportunity and materials for play, and be part of it either by watch closely or active participation. They will not find themselves interrupting play and replacing it with teacher-directed activities. The world is dynamic and some of these changes bring challenges in the way we handle and deal with situations we are used to. The early childhood education al centers are not exempted from these challenges and changes for example changes in children’s behavior due changing social-economic and technological situations in the society. An early childhood educator should therefore expect and welcome continuous challenges and change. ... gence of new circumstances and challenges in the society including children, an early childhood educator should have the will and be ready to take risks and make mistakes. This will allow them to move and perform in new upcoming areas within the early childhood education. It will also enable them to handle situations or issues in the early childhood education set up they have never handled before. Whenever mistakes arise, they take them as important learning opportunities instead of sources of self-condemnation and discouragement. Lack of this disposition leads to rigidity and less interest in professional development (Danielson et al 235). Collaboration is necessary for the attainment of results that individual people cannot achieve to the best or those that can be achieved better if approached or done as a group. This requires that an early childhood educator should seek collaboration and peer support. Peer support is very important especially in tackling challenges that relate dir ectly to the education of young children. An educator with such a disposition will use all opportunities to brainstorm and problem-solve with colleagues while requesting or offering help where needed (Thornton 25). Early childhood educators have a significant role in the life of young children to shape, care and protect them due to the much time children spend in school during the day. This requires that early childhood educators should actively advocate for children and teaching practices that are appropriate for them. This disposition will drive them to learn all rights and needs of children in order to ensure that they are provided for. These will include the educational needs required by children for them attain to their best education wise for example the best instructional methods and

Dual Leadership in UK organizations Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Dual Leadership in UK organizations - Essay Example The dynamics of the CEO-Chairman interrelationship and the effects of this on the enterprise have been studied by Kakabadse et al (2006) who adopted a qualitative methodology and provided in-depth interviews of chairmen, CEOs and non-executive directors. The chairman-CEO interactions and their effects were also studied and the findings of the paper have been based on the chairman's role and contribution, nature of the relationship between the chairman and CEO, the attributes or traits of an effective chairman and the impact of the chairman-CEO relationship on board effectiveness (Kakadabse et al, 2006). The study provides a clearer picture of the chairman-CEO dyad and the influence of the dyadic interaction on the formative context of the enterprise. Using data from 2180 Chairmanships from 460 UK firms over a period of 8 years, Florou (2005) suggested that there is a link between the Chairman and CEO in many ways as when a CEO is dismissed, the Chairman is also replaced. The data on dismissal events also suggest that replacement of a Chairman is associated with restructuring of the board and with restructuring, new skills are brought in which might facilitate future corporate decisions. However Florou (2005) claims that the Chairman's previous position does not affect the Chairman removal or the CEO dismissal process although if the Chairman has been responsible for the appointment of the failing CEO, during CEO departure, the dismissal of the Chairman is also likely because they tend to work as a team and one's failure mirrors the other's failure as well. This in turn would suggest effective governance within an enterprise. Sora et al (2004) discuss some resultant problems when the role of the chief executive officer and role of the chairman are merged and when person takes up both the roles. There are controversies to this sort of responsibility as when the responsibilities of the CEO and Chairman are given to one person, there can be a decrease of vigilance and flaws in accountability and operations of the company. As the power for the company centers around one leader, the CEO/Chairman can use this power for his personal gain at the expense of other stakeholders in the company (Sora te al, 2004). Thus a unitary leadership structure with no distribution of power can lead to an environment of greed and corruption resulting in mistrust towards the company and its people. This suggests that the regulation of leadership and distribution of power should be done considering the benefits to the company and the credibility that the company can gain with it governance and management structure. There have been several pressures on US companies to separate the roles of CEO and Chairman because a unitary leadership can lead to too much power given to one person. Shareholder activists and regulators maintain that US firms should separate the titles of CEO and Chairman of the Board as separate titles could reduce agency costs in corporation and improve performance. According to shareholders and regulators, separation of the role of CEO and Chairman has potential costs and benefits and Brickley et al (1997) suggest that costs of such separation would be larger than benefits for most firms. So how can the one man show or unitary leadership

Summary of thr research paper Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Summary of thr research paper - Essay Example The conceptual framework was specifically disclosed as accurately pinpointing that structures from a supposedly identified array of 3 nanometer diameter vertical pillars, reported on six nanometer pitch can allegedly be fabricated, but clearly classified as unmanufacturable (Kelly, 2011). As expounded: â€Å"the assertion is that the resulting array is not able to be reproduced to give electronic or optical properties that are within a narrow range of pre-specified values† (Kelly, 2011, p. 1). Two evidences were apparently provided in two stages, to wit: â€Å"(a) the intrinsic variability of the cross section of the pillars and then (b) the implications of this variability on the optical and electronic properties† (Kelly, 2011, p. 1). Kelly explained two ways of making the pillars by either â€Å"using metal particle catalyst to grow the pillars or infilling lithographically defined holes in a resist layer† (Kelly, 2011, p. 1). Technical descriptions of expoundi ng on the two processes were provided in detail. As such, the author disclosed that after justifying that the 3 nanometer (nm) diameter vertical pillars could not be manufactured, there were ten enumerated implications of this outcome, as summarized herewith: (3) There were indicated range levels specifying the appropriate interface which considers a structural specification as either manufacturable or unmanufacturable, which was disclosed to be within the 7 nm design rules; (6) â€Å"Arrays of quantum dots, single-electron tunnel junction transistors, split-gate transistors, carbon nanotubes, etc, can always be used for their aggregate or averaged properties, but not as elements in any form of pixelated array† (Kelly, 2011, p.

Compare & Contrast Jakob and Wilhelm Grimm Cinderella, Ever After and Essay

Compare & Contrast Jakob and Wilhelm Grimm Cinderella, Ever After and Disney's Cinderella - Essay Example The Brothers Grimm, Jakob and Wilhelm, were the first to put the age-old story of a poor little princess turned pauper turned princess to paper as a means of preserving the rich oral history of their German homeland in the early 1800s. Because their original intention was not to write children’s stories, but to preserve folktales, there remain traces within Cinderella that hint of a darker past. Also, because the story was written during a time of strong Christian morality, the stories contain a blatant religious overtone – including the beginning when Cinderella is told by her dying mother that her responsibility in life is to â€Å"be good and pious.† The step-sisters in this version are beautiful to look upon, but the brothers describe them as â€Å"vile and black of heart.† In portraying Cinderella, the Grimm brothers go into great detail regarding Cinderella’s grief over the loss of her mother and include a magical hazel tree in which a white b ird perches and delivers to Cinderella any of the wishes she expresses. It was with the help of the little bird in the hazel tree that Cinderella was able to be outfitted properly for the first of a three day festival and dance. In this case, she was forced to leave the dance three times, once by jumping through a pigeon house, once by climbing a tree and the third time, she finally left behind a golden, rather than a glass, slipper. The prince twice picked up the wrong sister to be his bride after they each had mutilated their own foot in order to fit into the slipper, but the bird at the grave continued to warn him. On her wedding day, the two false sisters were punished by the birds by having their eyes plucked out one at a time, suffering blindness forever afterward. This is a gruesome tale compared to that presented by Walt Disney in 1950. Here the step-sisters have become as unfortunate-looking as they are in spirit, both mean and

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Strategic Management and Strategic Competitiveness in Procter & Gamble - Essay Example The researcher states that employee base for the Procter & Gamble Company is over 127,000. The Cincinnati based consumer goods company markets of more than two hundred and sixty brands across the world. The company enjoys leadership in almost twenty-four brands in its category and is able to fetch a billion of dollars annually from each of the brands. The consumer goods organization has established twenty-eight technical centers across the world. The company has understood the importance of globalization in business and adapted itself in accordance with the requirement of situation. The company has shifted focus from serving American people to establishing the maximum number of strategic business units across the globe. They have increased plant capacity level in order to achieve economies of scale and offer product mix in a cost-effective manner. Globalization strategy has helped the company to achieve the higher return on investment and maximize annual revenue. Lafley (CEO of the c ompany) has changed standardized global product structure of the company into hybrid product system. Hybrid product structure puts an emphasis on design product category in accordance with a demand of the particular market and changing value chain in a product-specific manner. This model is often termed as Front Back Hybrid Matrix by research scholars. The company not only changed product system in accordance with local demand but changed customer relation management also. Strategic business units work under the supervision of GBU or Global Business Units of the company. Although research and development functions remained centralized, sales operation in an individual local market is classified as decentralized function. During 1999 the company has adopted the change in the fields of managing and reporting in order to achieve business excellence. The company took six years to implement global restructuring model while they have invested $2 billion during the time frame.

Toyota Case study Essay Example for Free

Toyota Case study Essay Jalopnik The crisis: Toyota recalled a total of 8.8 million vehicles for safety defects, including a problem where the cars accelerator would jam, which caused multiple deaths. How Toyota responded: Toyota initially couldnt figure out the exact problem, but it sent out PR teams to try and stop the media backlash anyway. The upper management was invisible in the early stages of the crisis, skewing public perception further against the company. Toyotas response was slow, with devastating results. But it served as a wake-up call for the company, which somehow turned it around in the months following the debacle. The company failed miserably in its initial crisis management, but thats what makes Toyotas case so intriguing. Despite its monumental mistakes early on, Toyota still bounced back. Why? It didnt take long for the public to remember Toyotas previously stellar reputation. The company offered extended warranties and pumped up marketing, leveraging its long-term track record and reassuring consumers about safety. Its ads in the following months were more thoughtful and sincere, showing the companys dedication to fixing the problem. Toyotas executives especially in the US became more visible, speaking to the media and becoming active in the investigations. The result: The Toyota brand showcased its resiliency, with its positive reputation built up over decades of good performance. The company leveraged this, focusing its marketing once again on safety and its proven track record. It had to show that this disaster including its own horrible mishandling of the situation was an aberration. And it worked, with a little bit a of luck. NASA exonerated Toyota of the blame for most of the accidents in 2011 and the companys brand equity leapt 11% this year, according to WPP.

Renaissance Essay Example for Free

Renaissance Essay We mark Italian societys rebirth from the medieval period with the changes that occurred during the Italian Renaissance. Civilization was changing and what we consider the modern world was about to begin. The renaissance activity that happened in Europe outside of Italy is called the Northern European Renaissance. Italys humanist ideas and values moved out of Italy and throughout Europe, which spurred on the Northern European Renaissance. The Renaissance period began in the early 14th Century and lasted until the late 16th Century. Renaissance† comes from the French word that means â€Å"rebirth. † This time period is named and studied because of its unique art, literature, and music. It is also known as societys modern age. The Renaissance was a period of great cultural and technological changes which swept Europe from the end of the 13th century. It was integral in developing Europe was subjected to different changes there were two primary renaissance which were most notable. They were the Italian and the Northern renaissance. Both of the renaissance had a profound impact on Europe. But they also had some typical differences among them and each was unique in its own way. Early in the 14th Century, Italian scholars started to study the ancient cultures that preceded them, like those of Greece and the Roman Empire. This scholarly interest would lead to the Italian Renaissance. Italy and Europe was ready for change after the harrowing destruction of the Black Plague in the Middle Ages. Florence, Italy, was the home of the start of the Renaissance. After the collapse of the Roman Empire, culture, politics, and the arts had only been in decline. Petrarch advocated learning about Italys Latin and Roman history. The Pope and the royalty liked this idea, so other scholars begun to study in the same vein. These scholars valued the accomplishments of the Romans, but they wanted to improve on their society instead of blindly trying to recreate the same thing. These scholars wrote books that would stimulate Italians thinking and give them a new purpose. Italy was divided into distinct city-states, which gave them a more modern, and regional, cultural outlook. The city-states thrived, banking increased, and trade became more important. As Italian society became wealthier, they could strengthen their culture and their ideologies became entrenched. Wealthy people had the means to patronize and fund artists. Scientific development spurred Humanism as well as some of historys most important artists. Architecture evolved beyond the Gothic. The Renaissance period is considered the intellectual birth of modern society. Most thinkers were concerned with humanity and how to become a good and honorable person. The European, but not Italian, renaissance period is called the Northern European Renaissance. Similar growth in society and culture happened in Northern Europe as occurred in Italy during this time. This architecture did not change munch in the beginning, and did not stray far from the Gothic style that preceded it. Humanist changes resembling those in Italy also happened in the culture of Northern Europe. The Italian Renaissance focused its questions on humanity and mans ability to grow and develop. The Northern European Renaissance, though, focused on the secular reform of society and government. As Italian society changed as a result of their Renaissance, the people of Northern Europe became uneasy with Rome and the Popes control of their church. They thought that Italian powers had slipped away from traditional, strict, Christian belief and dogma. They began to strive to reform the church. The Italian Renaissance and the Northern European Renaissance did not happen in exactly the same ways. Italy grew and prospered with their city-state governance, while an aristocracy still controlled Northern Europe. Wealthy Italians patronized the arts, while in Northern Europe the arts were funded by the rulers and the church. Renaissance period art was bright and realistic, and the art of the Northern European Renaissance also followed this Italian style. Artists in Italy tended to work on paintings, sculpture, and architecture. In Northern Europe, artists created furniture, tapestries, and manuscripts. Europes wealthy had a lot of homes; they needed a lot of furniture and decorations. Literature in both regions was concerned with humans and humanity. Italians explored the idea that man was rational and decided rationally how to be a good person. Literature in Northern Europe was more concerned with the Catholic Churchs humanity and how to reform the church. Both areas wanted to reform the church – Northern Europe was more concerned with religion. Art in the Italian Renaissance was paid for by wealthy people. This art was concerned with nature. This art used a contrast between dark and light, 3D perspective, and human images. Northern European art used similar methods as Italian artists, but they were more concerned with depicting religion. Italian art used scenes from religion, mythology, the natural world, and eroticism. Northern European artists made portraits, scenes from the Bible, and tapestries. Aristocrats and the church owned most of the artwork. Below and to the left is a tapestry woven during the Northern European Renaissance called The Wedding Dance. This tapestry was made by the artist Peter Brueghel from the Netherlands. Not many pieces focused on the lives of everyday people as this one did – most were religious in nature instead. The work below and to-the-right is emblematic of the Italian Renaissance. It was pained by Giorgio Vasari.

Reflection | Percutaneous Endoscopic Gastrostomy (PEG)

Reflection | Percutaneous Endoscopic Gastrostomy (PEG) This reflective essay describes my experience in achieving my learning outcomes pertaining to care of percutaneous endoscopic gastrostomy (PEG), giving feed through PEG and administration of medicines through PEG that I have taken as part of the Overseas Nurse Program. It flows as a reflective practise as it incorporates the concept of learning. According to Bolton (2010) reflective practise involves utilising practical values and theories which influence everyday actions, by examining contemplatively and unreceptively geared towards developmental insight. Therefore, experience only does not lead to learning but deliberate reflection on the experience is essential. Consequently, to further discourse my understanding and involvement with this concept, I have adapted on a certain framework of reflection. I have chosen David Schon’s Model of Reflective Practise to reflect on my experience. I directed this framework on my experience because it enables me to recapture the events in a manner where learning occurs during the process of experiencing handling patients with PEG, gaining insights from them with the application of the theories and concepts I know and building new perspectives and understanding of doing things in relation to PEG. Schon’s model (1983) is focused on two major concepts, reflection-in-action and reflection-on-action. In the reflection-in action activity, reflection happens while in the act of doing the task (cited by Killion and Todnem, 1991). Reflecting-in-action requires me to think on my feet, be able to work instinctively by drawing on similar experiences to solve problems or make necessary decisions. It invol ved looking to my experiences, connecting with my feelings, and attending to the theories and principles in use. It entailed building new understandings to inform my actions in the situations that were unfolding. Whereas in reflection-on-action, it requires looking back on what one has accomplished and reviewing the actions, thoughts, and product (cited by Killion and Todnem, 1991). As I am working in the medical unit, I was assigned together with my mentor in one of the patients in the unit who has percutaneous endoscopic gastrostomy (PEG) surgically clasped on her abdominal area. As we entered the room to do PEG care, specifically changing the PEG dressing on a new one I was confronted with a different practise from what I used to do back in my home country. She told me that in United Kingdom normal saline is used to cleanse the PEG site instead of antiseptic solution. And now this is where the reflection-in-action came into play. Instead of insisting what I think was the best practise for me (using antiseptic solution for disinfection), I stood up and followed what my mentor told me believing that what she knows is within the standard of practice within United Kingdom. When I tried to engage myself in performing changing the PEG dressing, I tried to think on my feet and did the principle of disinfection using normal saline. I needed to reflect to ensure that this will not happen again. In another incident where reflection-in-action occurred that became my second learning outcome happened when we have to give a feed through PEG. All the while I was expecting an asepto syringe to be used to deliver the feed to the patient but to my surprise my mentor got this special set attached on what she called a Kangaroo pump to deliver the feed at a desired rate and paced time (at that time for 12 hours). It was my first time to encounter this method of administering a PEG feed to a patient. What I did was to stand back and observe how my mentor did all the attachments from the Kangaroo pump up to the PEG tube, but rather than just standing I offered my mentor if she can supervise me on how to enter the transcript (total volume, rate and running hours) on the pump which she gladly did to me. I was really surprised with the whole process and needed a reflection to establish my competence with this new process of giving PEG feed to patients. In the last incident that happened that became my third learning outcome transpired during administering medicines via PEG. I was caught off guard with regards to the preparation of medicines to be given to the same patient who got a PEG. We are giving an Aspirin dose for this patient and all we’ve got in the medicines cupboard is an enteric-coated form of this medication. Knowing that enteric-coated tablets should not be crushed when administered, I immediately asked my mentor if we can request to the pharmacy an effervescent form of Aspirin. And that’s where reflection-in-action occurred wherein I have to think of a solution on how not to breach the standards of safe medicines administration in the United Kingdom. Instead of crushing and giving it to the patient, I asked my mentor about an alternative solution to address our needs for the medicines administration. In that way I was able to think on my feet and learned something out of the experience. According to Schon’s model what I felt when those incidents happened was part of the learning process. Schon (1983) gives further information that the practitioner allows himself to be surprised, puzzle or confused in a certain situation which is unique or uncertain to him. He reflects on the event before him, and on the prior considerations which have been imbedded in his attitude. He conducts an experiment which allows him to formulate both a new understanding of the situation and a change in the situation. After all the incidents that transpired during my clinical placement in relation to my three learning outcomes, I have done a reflection-on-action in every learning outcome that I have identified. I made researches on them and took my time to recall the series of events that transpired and based the lapses I made on evidences I have come across during my reflection process. In this way, reflection-on-action was evident. On the first learning outcome, I have observed a different practise back in my home country cleansing the PEG site. We use chlorhexidine in cleansing the PEG site instead of just plain normal saline but after finding evidences about which is safe and efficient in usage, I was fully convinced that normal saline has a better concept ground than chlorhexidine. Sibbald et al (2000) emphasises that although chlorhexidine has been identified as less harmful to tissues and have effective antibacterial activity against both gram-negative and gram-positive bacteria causes damage to new tissues and should not come close to meninges and mucous membranes for it will cause permanent damage. This concept is applicable with my patient as there is an open mucous membrane where the PEG was inserted and exposure to chlorhexidine would increase the risk of microbial invasion and growth, which may precede to sepsis. Furthermore, the work of Sibbald was strengthened by Edmonds et al (2004a) and Jacobson that physiological saline is a widely recommended in irrigating and wound dressing solution since it is found to be compatible with human tissue. Thus, the practice of using normal saline in cleansing the PEG site was evidence-based practice and I have fully get an excellent grasp of why normal saline is used for PEG care. In this way, I am ensuring patient safety and embracing better understanding of evidence-based practise. On the second learning outcome, I have also witnessed a different way of giving PEG feed to our patients in our home country. We have bolus tube feeding rather than continuous tube feeding using a Kangaroo pump. Aside from observing each time a PEG feed will be given to the patient during my clinical placement, I also did researches on the efficacy of continuous feeding via pump and differences of using a pump from bolus feeding. I have done this in order to develop my competency in using the Kangaroo pump and giving continuous PEG feed to patients. Abbott Laboratories NZ Ltd (2011) gives further information that pumps continue to use microprocessors that allow the delivery of controlled enteral feeding. Its array of flow rate selection gives incremental increases in delivery which is very essential in critical care settings where low infusion rates are vital in maintaining the integrity of the gut and where maximising the feeding volume are fairly balanced. On the contrary, Bankhead et (2009) matched that gravity feeding is considered as the first-line delivery of enteral feeding in some countries but the Dieticians Association of Australia (2011) slashed the idea of Bankhead et al and proved that the usage of enteral feed pumps is now known as the most accurate way of enteral feeding provision across all healthcare settings and patients. Also, I have found out that using Kangaroo pumps instead of asepto syringe in delivering feed to patients lessen complications associated with giving feed to patients via abdominal ostomy tube. Niv et al (2009) found out that established benefits have been shown to prevent aspiration in critically ill patients. Furthermore, the jejunum produces fluid in conjunction to hyperosmolar solutions, and rapid delivery of a hyperosmolar formula will lead in hyperperisitalsis, diarrhoea and abdominal distention. Thus, a more controlled delivery to the intestine via continuous pump infusions can lessen or prevent these symptoms. On my third learning outcome, medicines administration via PEG has many aspects but the one that got me on my feet was about my competency in giving the right drug, specifically its form and preparation. According to Nursing and Midwifery Council (2008) ‘As a Registered Nurse or Midwife you are accountable for your actions and omissions. In administering medication you should think through issues and apply your professional expertise and judgment in the best interests of patients.’ As I have recalled what I did when the incident happened wherein I immediately asked my mentor if we can request to the pharmacy an effervescent form of Aspirin since enteric-coated tablets should not be crushed when administered, I considered the best interest of the patient. As a professional nurse I have a duty of care to my patients in ensuring their safety under the sphere of my care. I need to follow what is appropriate and right for the patient. Also, my mentor was able to practise with in the scope of her practise as she was able to directly supervise me in everything that I did with the patient. The Department of Health (2005) stressed that as a Registered Nurse you have a duty of care and are professionally and legally accountable for the care you provide. In line with the administration of the appropriate form of medications to be given to the patient, the Nursing and Midwifery Council (2008) has developed protocols for medicine management on the area of tablet crushing. It stipulates in the policy that nurses should not crush any medicines or break capsules that are not specifically indicated for that purpose and by so will alter the chemical properties of the medicine. Thus, as I have reflected with what I and my mentor have done is fitting and legally right. The reflection-on-action that happened to me on the three learning outcomes gave me the opportunity to evaluate my competency and efficiency as an overseas nurse on adaptation program. Prior to my reflection, I have never realised how crucial it is to do PEG care, administering medicines through PEG and giving feed through PEG until I experienced the three incidents that changed of how I do and view things in the clinical field. According to Schon (1983) when a practitioner becomes aware of a situation he sees to be unique, he perceives it as something already found in his range. The familiar situation acts as a standard for the unfamiliar one. With regards to strengths and areas of development, I believe I was able to achieve a certain level of competency in carrying out procedures related to PEG. The learning outcomes I and my mentor identified have helped me to improve myself in terms of skills, knowledge and attitude. After the reflection process happened, I was able to build my confidence in performing procedures related to PEG. I also need to be at ease with operating the Kangaroo pump although I was able to familiarise myself with the process of hooking the PEG feed on the pump and setting the rate and dosing of the feed in the equipment. It was complicated at first but after the reflection process and supervision of my mentor, I was able to get through and learned operating the pump appropriately. Medication administration through PEG has provided me with new perspectives on how to establish a process in checking the medicines to be given and how critical thinking will help me in my decision-making and if I was able to observe the six rights of medication administration. As a future plan, I need to project competency, professionalism and efficiency in everything that I do be it with the patients or other allied healthcare workers who are part of the organization. It is essential for me to maintain the standards of my profession as it will mould me into a competent registered nurse of United Kingdom. Nursing and Midwifery Council (2010) highlighted that ‘All nurses must act first and foremost to care for and safeguard the public. They must practise autonomously and be responsible and accountable for safe, compassionate, person-centred, evidence-based nursing that respects and maintains dignity and human rights. They must show professionalism and integrity and work within recognised professional, ethical and legal frameworks.’ In a nutshell, reflective practice became the backbone of my learning outcomes in relation to PEG. It provided me with basis in which area needs to be improved and enhanced. Reflection-in-action and reflection-on-action are learning processes that guided me to evaluate my decisions before and after the incidents happened. These incidents gave birth to learning and turned to acquisition of new knowledge and concept that became an enriching experience for me.

Holens Breakdown :: essays papers

Holens Breakdown â€Å"This fall I think you’re riding for- it’s a special kind of fall, a horrible kind. The man falling isn’t permitted to feel or hear himself hit the bottom. He just keeps falling and falling. The whole arrangement’s designed for men who, at some time or other in their lives, were looking for something their own environment couldn’t supply them with. So they gave up looking. They gave it up before they ever really even got started.† Holden Caulfield’s fall to psychological breakdown begins with his brother Allie’s death. To Holden, Allie represents everything that was good in this world. When Allie is first described, Holden only says great things about him. â€Å"You’d have liked him... He was terrifically intelegent... He was the nicest (member of the family).† Therefore when Allie dies, the good things in his world disappears. After this first major event, Holden gradually realizes that he is powerless to change the evil and corrupt world that he lives in. Holden is looking for something that his own environment couldn’t supply him, the only thing that he ever liked, Allie. â€Å"Just because somebody’s dead, you don’t just stop liking them, for God’s sake- especially if they were about a thousand times nicer than the people you know that’re alive and all.† Another early event in Holden’s life is the death of James Castle. Holden sees himself as James in many ways. James would not take back what he said about a conceited boy, and jumped out of the window before he would do something that he did not believe in. Holden is the same in many ways. He refuses to accept the fact that the world is evil, and does everything in his power to change it. â€Å"The mark of an immature man is that he wants to die nobly for a cause, while the mark of a mature one is that humbly for one.† Another similarity between them both is that James was wearing Holden’s sweater when he fell out of the window. As he saw James lying on the ground, Holden sees a part of himself die with him. The part that dies is the part that believes in the goodness of people and the world. Holden’s tendency to get kicked out of schools is both a reason and effect of

a good man is hard to find :: essays research papers

â€Å"A good Man is Hard to Find† The reason a good man is hard to find is because if ones standards are to high their goal is almost impossible to reach. The grandmother’s mindset was still in the past she falls into the old southern woman stereotype. The Southern woman wanted a religious, upstanding southern gentleman and in this day and age that type of individual is hard to find. The grandmother has a strong faith in god and it affects every aspect of her life. The misfit doesn’t believe in god he believes that god through everything off balance by claming to raise the dead but no one can prove it so therefore he has no faith, this totally contradicts the grandmothers beliefs. What I drew from the statement â€Å"somebody there to shoot her every minute of her life† is that as soon as death was near, the old lady changed from a bitter old racist to an understanding and compassionate southern lady. This is a direct knock on southern life and how many older people in the south hide behind the faà §ade of religion and manners to disguise their racist and bitter ways. If someone had threatened her every minute of her life, then she could have been nice all the time, not just when it mattered. Poetry Paper The purpose of this project is to help you develop an appreciation of one author's ability to involve you in deep reading of literature. Write a 4-5 page paper on a short story or novel by a writer from the list below. (You may not choose a story we have discussed in class.) Pay careful attention to, and write in depth about,  · plot (don't simply retell the story)  · character development (what does the author do to make us care what happens to the main character)  · figurative language (how does the author's use irony, symbolism, etc. help create deeper levels of understanding of the theme the author is exploring) You are responsible for researching the writer/stories in at least two academic journal articles. You may not simply go out to the Internet for your sources, they will not be credited. You may also not simply provide a quote or two from the articles. You must demonstrate that you have read the articles in their entirety and how they have led to an understanding of the writer and/or the stories.

What Was Revolutionary About the French Revolution

What was revolutionary about the French Revolution? Since the beginning of history itself, several and numerous people, inventions, ideologies or behaviours were immediately attached to a particular and self-explanatory concept such as revolutionary. As the time goes by its outreaching characteristics and meaning remains the same. A revolutionary is an individual who either actively participates in or advocates revolution.When used as an adjective, the term revolutionary refers to something that has a major, abrupt impact on society or on some aspect of human endeavour. The tern – both as a noun and adjective – is usually applied to the field of politics and is occasionally used in the context of science, invention or art. [1] One of the themes in modern European history which can be directly linked with this concept is the French Revolution.The main interrogation remains in â€Å"What was revolutionary about the French Revolution? † In order to answer to this qu estion it is necessary to acknowledge the reasons or origins of the revolution, which initiated or motivated this event and finally, which was the impact and importance of it. The French Revolution is considered one of the greatest social and political upheavals in European History and its tremors can still occasionally be felt.In the popular imagination, the magical figure 1789 conjures up conflicting images of Liberty, Equality and Fraternity alongside the â€Å"tricoteuse† and the â€Å"guillotine†, of a revolution that offered individual choice and freedom, but that was transformed first into terror and subsequently the caesarism of napoleon. [2] These events continue to fascinate historians and the causes and consequences of the French Revolution continue to be a rich source of debate. The revolution started in 1789 and the exact date of its end it is still uncertain but studies believe it lasted almost ten years. 3]A series of political and social crises led up t o it: widespread of popular discontent because of poverty which was highly influenced by the taxation system implement by the king Louis XVI in order to maintain his own luxurious and extravagant lifestyle, the wave of unemployment, the growth of the bourgeoisie , an agricultural crisis which left the population in a state of hunger and resentment, the royal treasure’s state became desperate because of help given to The American revolt against Britain which lead to drastic solutions such as educing the privileges of the aristocracy and clergy producing revolt on their part among several other origins.The king offered no lead and the result was a government trapped by the Estates General. The political initiative was not so much lost as given away, and it was considered the perfect opportunity to ambitious or radical deputies such as Mirabeau, Lafayette, Sieyes and Le Chapelier to come to the front. [4] Under their influence the third estate, representing a minimum of 98 per c ent of the population, declared itself the National Assembly on the 17th of June. 5] Due to this action, the deputies broke the umbilical cord connecting them to the society of orders marking the birth of the sovereign nation and the death of the old regime. The revolution had begun officially. By the end of June, effective power was draining away from the monarchy and the political failing of Louis XVI (who reigned from 1774-92) was observed once more after the violence in the capital culminating in the storming of the Bastille on the July 14th.The fall of the Bastille was nevertheless highly noteworthy equally as a political Symbol and as a result of the municipal revolutions that followed. In Paris, order was restored by the newly created National Guard, headed by another ambitious aristocrat – Lafayette – , and effective power passed into the hands of the elected municipality (leaving royal officials with little more than their titles). Throughout France, the conve ntional power of governors, parliaments and intendants dissolved.Between the 14th of July and the formal promulgation of a new constitution in September 1791 France was witness to an unprecedented wave of reform. As for Louis XVI, he was largely excluded from the process of national restoration and it symbolized one of the revolution’s most striking achievements: the transfer of sovereignty from the king to the National Assembly. [6] As calm was being restored in Paris, information regarding rural revolution began to reach the city.The peasantry proved itself to be much more persistent and determined than the revolutionary politicians and by July 1793 had won a complete victory as seigneurialism and tithes disappeared from the French countryside forever. The night of 4th of August was considered essential for the upcoming path of reform in a way that it removed the particularist obstacles and corporate mentality that had so often impeded the monarchy. Nevertheless, it was the Declaration of the rights of man, adopted by the National Assembly on 26 ofAugust, which most clearly indicated the new philosophy of government. Written by Lafayette, the Declaration was a manifesto for liberal revolution. Men were assured equal in rights and such fundamental values as freedom of speech and of the press, religious toleration, equality before the law, freedom from arbitrary arrest and open competition for public office, decreed in a series of imposing articles. No less imperative was the claim that sovereignty belongs to the nation, ideology that justified everything accomplished afterwards. 7] Jointly, the night of the 4th July and the Declaration of the rights of man are a symbol of a revolution that literally destroyed the old social and institutional map of France and sought to apply rational and enlightened principles to the construction of its successor. Internal tolls and duties were abolished, free trade in grain restored and guilds and professional monopol ies damaged, old provinces were replaced by eighty-three departments of comparable size and identical administrative structure.Those departments were divided into districts, which in turns were sub-divided in communes. In August 1790, the parliaments were abolished and legal hierarchy reconstructed. Under the old regime, offices in the parliaments and several of its inferior courts had been nought on the open market. That abuse was reformed and the democratic principle was put into place as future judges were to be elected. One final example of their power was the abolition of nobility in June 1790, which came to reassure that only equal citizens remained.Despite all these significant and revolutionary reforms, it was the financial crisis that had been the immediate cause of the monarchy’s collapse and the revolutionaries were expected to provide a solution. It became even more complicated to achieve it due to the integral collapse of the existing administrative and fiscal sy stem and the disturbances in the countryside where taxes were not being paid. In order to meet its obligations, the state began to print money which benefited from the public confidence in the National Assembly.Numerous tangible grounds for confidence were provided in November 1789, when the Assembly, voted to confiscate the lands of the church. The effective nationalization of between 5 and 10 per cent of the land in the kingdom provided collateral for state credit and a source of income when the decision was taken to sell these â€Å"biens nationaux†. By continuing to print paper money against the value of the land seized from the church, their financial worries were solved – at least in the short term. The revolution gained another primordial asset by selling the â€Å"biens natiounaux†.Those who had invested had a vested interest in the consolidation and defence of the new regime. [8] Another revolutionary reform included a complete transformation of the chu rch. Aided by Jansenist priests, the Civil Constitution of the Clergy was drafted and unveiled in July 1790. Rational enlightened thinking was brought to bear upon the workings of the Catholic Church and like judges and officials in the administrative and political hierarchy, parish priests were subject to elections by district electoral assemblies.As this brief survey which clearly explained the significant changes occurring in France and the impact they possessed in society, has indicated, the National Assembly was responsible for a programme of reform which transformed the social and institutional life of France. â€Å"The patchwork quilt of particularist rights and privileges was replaced by a greater emphasis upon the rights of the individual and the concept of equality before the authority of the state. †[9] Although, revolutionaries were not satisfied as they wanted to merge the world into their sea of values, ideologies and revolution.The revolutionaries of 1792 began a war which extended through the Imperial period and forced nations to marshal their resources to a greater extent than ever before. Some areas, like Belgium and Switzerland, became client states of France with reforms similar to those of the revolution. National identities also began coalescing like never before. The many and fast developing ideologies of the revolution were also spread across Europe, helped by French being the continental elite’s dominant language. If the National Assembly had actually reinvigorated France, the constitution created to improve the country was a disaster.Within twelve months the monarchy had been defeated by the second revolutionary wave of August 1792 resulting in the execution of Louis XVI in January 1793. Another example of the extremely radical path the revolution was taking is the treatment of the church. The reality was that not satisfied, the revolutionaries proceeded to execute the nonconformists. As the revolution slid into Terror a fter 1792, the clergy was increasingly seen as the agent of counter-revolution. In the short-term, the religious policies of successive governments after 1790 created unnecessary enemies for the revolution.Revolutionaries started to then use war as a way of forcing the king, and any other â€Å"enemies†, to declare themselves whole-heartedly for the revolution. It was therefore; with mixed motives the French began their battle to export revolution to Europe. It can be considered that the use of Terror was simply a form of political strategy but in the minds of the revolutionaries it had a deeper reason. They believed they were creating a new society, a new man and to do so they needed to destroy the idea, beliefs and patterns of behaviour of the old.Terror was paving the way to a republic virtue and those who would stand in the way of the march of progress would be discarded. It was the integral part of the vision and ideology of a revolution. [10] Between 1789 and 1799, the French Revolution offered a spectacle which inspired and horrified the people of France and Europe ever since. The overthrown of the monarchy, the attack on the church, the declaration of the principles of civic equality and national sovereignty along the destruction of seigneurialism were an admonition to the other monarchies in Europe and an example to their rivals.For liberals the values and ideas of 1789 and the Declaration of the rights of the man continue to possess repercussions nowadays. Throughout the nineteenth century the radical revolution was the source of inspiration for republican and left-wing movements all over the world. On the other hand, conservatives remained fearful of a further outbreak of revolutionary passion. It influenced and leaded to other revolutions in most of the European nations, America and several other countries around the world.The French Revolution was a defining moment in the development of all shades of political opinion, changed views and val ues, implemented new laws and behaviours. It left no one indifferent and for that reason it can be considered one of the most revolutionary procedures of modern history.Bibliography †¢ Soanes, Catherine, Compact Oxford English Dictionary of Current English, Oxford University Press, 2008 †¢ Hillis, William, A metrical history of the life and times of Napoleon Bonaparte, G. P. Putnam's sons, 1896 †¢ Blanc, Louis, History of the French Revolution of 1789 – Volume 1, 1848 Pilbeam, Pamela, Themes in modern European History 1780 – 1830, Routledge, 1995 †¢ Baker, Keith, The Old Regime and the French Revolution, University of Chicago Press, 1987 †¢ Gardiner, Bertha, The French revolution 1789-1795, Longmans, Green, 1893 †¢ Lough, Muriel, An introduction to nineteenth century France, Longman, 1978 †¢ Salvemini, Gaetano, The French Revolution, 1788- 1792, Holt, 1954 ———————– [1] Soanes, Ca therine, Compact Oxford English Dictionary of Current English, Oxford University Press, 2008 [2] Hillis, William, A metrical history of the life and times of Napoleon Bonaparte, G. P. Putnam's sons, 1896, page 48 [3] Blanc, Louis, History of the French Revolution of 1789 – Volume 1, 1848, page 480 [4] Pilbeam, Pamela, Themes in modern European History 1780 – 1830, Routledge, 1995, page 19 [5] Baker, Keith, The Old Regime and the French Revolution, University of Chicago Press, 1987, page 148 [6] Gardiner, Bertha, The French revolution 1789-1795, Longmans, Green, 1893, page 46 [7] Pilbeam, Pamela, Themes in modern European history 1780-1830, Routledge, 1995, page 22 [8] Lough, Muriel, An introduction to nineteenth century France, Longman, 1978, page 55 [9] Pilbeam, Pamela, Themes in Modern European History, New York, 1995, page 24 [10] Salvemini, Gaetano, The French Revolution, 1788- 1792, Holt, 1954, page 186

Relationship between Development and Democracy

The rapid political transformation that exemplified the last decade of the past century in various countries of the world encouraged a renewed interest in the relationship between development and democracy (Doorenspleet, 2002, p. 55). The argument in the 1960s had been that democracy was positively interrelated to the level of modernization, and then viewed as the equivalence of development. The two succeeding decades were much more cautious about any such relationship. It was only the turbulent years following the fall of communism and the attempts to move away from dictatorial modes of rule that encouraged comparative politics students to revisit the development – democracy nexus (Chan, 2002, p. 89).The students of Latin American politics had already started to respond to reform efforts embarked on in their region in the early 1980s. It was in the 1990s that issues of democratization reentered the mainstream of comparative politics. The re-orientation in the field of compara tive politics has already resulted in a wide range of publications.Mapping the Major ApproachesDevelopment and democracy are both very complicated concepts as they tend to mean different things to different people. For example, conceptions of development have varied over time in the last five decades from being the equivalence of modernization to being concerned with overcoming social inequities and on to providing opportunities for individuals in the marketplace and institutional improvements in the name of good governance. The definition of democracy has been the subject of much debate as to whether it should be a minimalist concept useful for analytical functions (Doorenspleet, 2002, p. 57).I suggest that it may be helpful to follow a distinction along 2 axes. The first is methodological and epistemological where the two endpoints are agency and structure. The second is substantive in nature which differentiates between a focus on elite or mass level. The structuralist approaches typically adopt a historical standpoint in explaining the success or failure of democratization.The development and democracy also varies in terms of its focus on elites or the mass of the population. Those who are concerned with providing prescriptive advice tend to be focusing on the privileged because they are the ones directly concerned with making policy. Political scientists have amassed enough knowledge about democratization process that we can tell the political elite what traps to keep away from and what opportunities to take hold of. This remains the ultimate goal of political science as most people in the discipline are likely to adopt a more humble position, realizing that our knowledge of democratization is still very general and fragmented (Chan, 2002, p. 144).The University of Michigan administered a survey which has contributed to an understanding of how human values and preferences shift in response to changes in material circumstances. Associations also count in t his type of political studies. The long term positive outcome comes from people working together in small scale groups.Structuralist studiesStructuralist studies have evolved over the past 40 years and it has been proved that this is a fruitful area of research. Three issues have crystallized as being of special interest:(1)  Ã‚   Does location in the global economic order matter?(2)  Ã‚   Does class or social structure matter? and(3)  Ã‚   Do value changes caused by structural factors matter?I shall discuss these issues in turn before focusing on some of the methodological challenges associated with this approach.Location in the global economic orderStudies in this area have a long pedigree with many other well-known political sociologists and political economists having made contributions. The original finding was that the more prosperous a nation, the greater the chances that it will maintain democracy (Doorenspleet, 2002, p. 68). It was not the location in the global econo mic order that was important, but the ability of a country to adopt the structural and cultural features associated with modern society, i.e. an urbanized and educated population as well as an industrialized economy.Using the regression type of statistical analysis, scholars have demonstrated that level of economic development consistently appears as a statistically and substantively significant influence on democracy (Haggard, 2003). The level of economic development alone accounts for more variance in democracy than all other independent variables taken altogether. Therefore, some students of development and democracy are ready to treat it as such a strong correlation that it must not to be in question.Even if it is a vigorous relationship, it raises questions about what in that association really matters, and what kind of conclusions to draw there from. The thing which matters is at least in part determined by how the dependent and independent variables are specified. It has been found that while being well-to-do matters at the level of cross national comparison; it is not necessarily the economic but the social factors, such as education literacy that are the more powerful explanatory variables (Chan, 2002, p. 123).Few scholars have questioned whether it is the rate of economic growth or the level of economic development that is more important. The prospects to become democratic countries are rather dim, not because most Third World nations have low average per capita incomes, but because the economic development is not fast enough or the rate of growth is slow. The potential importance of location in the global economic order is also a very significant variable. Economic development has a differential impact and it matters most in the industrialized countries, only half as much in the semi peripheral countries, and even less so for countries in the periphery (Haggard, 2003).Studies have also established a positive correlation between key variables but the y do not necessarily rein in everything that matters in the development – democracy equation. One may assume that the economic development matters the most in the core or the industrialized countries because it has been present there for a longer time period. It is not only the domestic environment of the countries in the periphery that counts but also their exterior environment. One of the gaps that need to be filled in the research on development and democracy is clearly what difference globalization makes. The relationship between globalization, socio-economic development and democracy is of prime importance (Doorenspleet, 2002, p. 52).Economic crises and other performance problems in the non democratic regimes help promote a democratic transition. Using data for approximately 100 Third World nations with populations of at least one-million, it was proved that inflationary crises tended to inhibit democratization in 1950s and 1960s but seem to have facilitated the same pro cess in the late 1980s. Another proposition is that there is no relationship between per capita income level and the probability of democratic transition contrary to what was indicated earlier. One such reason may be growing international pressure to democratize (Johansson, 2002, p. 23).The Role of Class StructureThis type of study is useful for focusing on wide systematic causal processes that hold across space and time, but needs to be complemented by those that include more characteristic explanations that hold at certain times or in certain regions only (Chan, 2002, p. 24). The analysis of specific historical events or processes is often an unavoidable complement to statistical techniques, especially if the objective of the research is to concentrate on the occurrence of discrete events within their historical context.The capitalist economic development creates growing pressure for democratization by fostering the emergence of a middle-class has been very broadly accepted: †˜without a bourgeoisie, no democracy'. This sets the broader parameters for the development of democracy by liberalizing economic market forces and thereby, also individualizing both behaviors and choices. Comparing Germany and Japan, which adopted a fascist approach to rule, with the UK and USA, which chose a democratic path, the class is an extremely vital factor. The middle class or the bourgeoisie enjoys a degree of self-sufficiency by being able to shape the course of political development in any direction. It is not expected that the middle-class will choose a democratic path over a non democratic one. It all depends on how they manage the challenges that structural factors present in the economy (Doorenspleet, 2002, p. 53).With economic liberalization being pushed around the world, one can hypothesize that class may grow in significance. Deeper social inequalities are reported from all regions of the world and Livelihoods are being threatened, quality of life is going down f or a bulk of people, more specifically in the Third World countries. The most immediate issue is how to make the concept of class operational. There is no universal accord about how that should be done. It is not easy at this point to arrive at any solid conclusions about the relationship between the class and the prospect of transition to democracy. In a first attempt to do so, it was found that class structure does not have an impact on the likelihood that a nation makes a transition to democracy (Chan, 2002, p. 67).It is a path breaking study that points to the need for many more studies in this area and the surveys that try to measure people's subjective perception of class. Survey data are available for industrialized nations but are yet to be collected in developing countries. Such data would significantly improve our ability to say something about the relationship between class and the probability of transition to democracy.Value ChangesChanges in the economy do not only crea te new forms of social stratification as they also influence our cultural values. Modernization and value change is the subject of several important studies in the field of comparative politics. Subjective aspirations reflect the nature of objective conditions, a point that is associated traditionally with Marxism but is also reflected in psychological theories (Doorenspleet, 2002, p. 58). The strengthening of human striving for self expression that follows from enlarging people's cognitive and physical resources (modernization) reduces constraints on the level of formal rules by generating negative and positive freedom rights (democratization). Using data from 63 societies, it was found that:(1)  Ã‚   Democratization originates in aspiration adjustments on individual level,(2)  Ã‚   Democracy does not flow directly from economic changes but through shifts in ethical values,(3)  Ã‚   This sequence has cross cultural validity, and,(4)  Ã‚   The sequence holds against rival in fluences, the transnational infusion of changes in traditionally connected societies.More research is needed to ascertain whether these findings hold if other data sets are used, the notion that democratization in a given society is the result of both ethical and material changes is important. It is suggested that the dynamics of social change is driven more by internal than external factors. We do not specifically address this issue here, but it is one that should be considered in the light of amplified global communications (Haggard, 2003).Methodological IssuesOne of the problems with research on democracy and development is that scholars using quantitative methods tend to ignore those using qualitative methods, and vice versa. The latter tend to use thick concepts which are applied to a very small number of cases, whereas the former tend to rely on thin concepts that are applied to a large number of cases. Due to the lack of dialogue between these two researcher groups, the task of knowing more about causal relations has been stifled.The assumption being that qualitative researchers play a key role in opening up novel areas of inquiry, while the quantitatively oriented can determine the extent to which findings can be generalized. In short, the study of development and democracy requires both approaches since both of them are complementary to each other (Johansson, 2002, p. 23).There are many troubles with the existing state of knowledge in this field that stem from methodological inadequacies. The first concern is the quality of the data available. There has been a heavy reliance on the Freedom House Index (FHI) of Civil Liberties and Political Rights. With few other data sets available, it is quite understandable that many researchers have found the FHI handy.There are at least two problems with that Index. The first is that it relies on the evaluative input of a panel of experts rather than primary data collected in survey form. The scores in the Index, while not entirely invalid, nonetheless suffer from lack of representativeness of opinions in individual nations (Johansson, 2002, p. 213). The second problem is that the cumulative scores provided for each indicator and country tends to be rather rough. This lack of differentiation is also obvious in many studies that use other data.Most researchers have to settle for a sub-optimal choice, because it is extremely difficult to identify a singular manifestation. Reliability refers to the prospect that the same data collection process would produce the same data. Duplication prevails whenever other scholars are able to reproduce the process through which data were generated.Structured contingencyIf the structuralist concern with the pre-requisites of democracy constitutes the first generation of studies on democratization, a distinct second generation has emerged in the past two decades that is more process oriented and focused on contingent choice. This innovative approach incorporat es institutional factors as explanatory variables (Haggard, 2003). Democratization is understood as a historical process with analytically distinct, if empirically overlapping, stages of consolidation and transition. A variety of actors with different followings, calculations, preferences, resources and time horizons come to the fore during these successive stages.These stages vary in terms of degree of uncertainty prevailing at each point. During regime transitions, interactions, and political calculations are highly uncertain, actors find it hard to know what their interests are, who their supporters are, and which groups will be their allies or opponents. The absence of predictable rules of the game during a regime transition expands the boundaries of contingent choice (Johansson, 2002, p. 88). A government is being consolidated whenever contending groups come to accept some set of rules, formal or informal, about who gets what, when and how from politics.Power-sharing arrangemen tsDemocratization often runs into grave difficulties because societies are divided vertically rather than horizontally. Resource conflicts are not interpreted in straight-forward social class terms but take on meaning only in the context of identity politics. Whether ethnicity, race or religion constitutes the line along which cleavages are defined, they pose a special problem for democratizing countries specifically because the issue of inclusion in regime is conflated with inclusion in the community. Strategic choices are socially or culturally embedded to such an amount that it becomes difficult to produce governance agreements that satisfy all parties to the conflict (Johansson, 2002, p. 56).The problems of exclusion and inclusion do not fade away when new institutions are being adopted and put into operation. Democratization itself may aggravate such problems precisely because it brings elements of openness and competition into the political progression. Conceptions of the scop e of the political community become more prominent as people interact with each other in the public realm and have to make choices about who is an insider and who is an outsider. One of the ironies of democratization is that, as the future is being planned, the past intrudes with escalating severity. There is no such thing as a fresh start in culturally plural societies; differences in historical depth are likely to matter.For example, where the notion of first-comers is deeply rooted, claims of political priority by virtue of indigenousness are typically made to confront those deemed to be immigrants (Haggard, 2003). Europe and Asia are particularly full of such claims. Sri Lankan Tamils really belong to South India. Chinese in Indonesia and Malaysia are immigrants and Bengalis are illegally in Assam. The Balkans, the Baltic and the Caucasus regions of the former USSR are other examples of places where such claims are being made. They are particularly hard to resolve because they a re frequently embedded in religious differences that reinforce the ethnic dimension and have a long history.Electoral modalitiesIn the 1990s, larger attention was paid to how different electoral rules may help promote inclusiveness. Such rules are the most specific manipulative instrument of politics. Africans realized this point at independence and many leaders proceeded to promote inclusiveness within a democratically designed single party system. Although the principle of competitive elections within a single party system was an interesting innovation, practical experience soon showed that sustaining the democratic element in such system became very hard (Chan, 2002, p. 345).Most of the conversation on what difference electoral systems or modalities make has focused on the comparative advantages of proportional representation and majority systems. The combination of parliamentary system with a proportional system of representation as the constitutional arrangement most likely to serve racially divided societies well. It is only in industrialist societies with a more dispersed population that proportional representation (PR) has the intended effects of enhancing the distribution of power among elites. Another study of electoral systems in southern Africa maintains that a mixed member proportional system (MMP), as used in Germany and New Zealand, may prove to be particularly relevant in countries such as South Africa where forms of power sharing have been considered vital to a successful democratic transition (Haggard, 2003).Legal SystemsOne of the more dominant arguments for the link between liberal democracy and capitalism rests on the premise that with the rise of a private property regime, the estate of the landlord is fully severed from the state, thus consolidating the separation between public and private spheres of power. Capitalist economic rule is no longer legitimated politically by reference to the performance of communal functions. Private power is stabilized to the extent that democratic principles of rule are successfully insulated within a public domain (Johansson, 2002, p. 98). This emphasis on human rights has also brought a renewed importance to concepts such as rule of law and by implication to the role of legal systems in democratization.Civil SocietyCivil society is a bothersome concept. It refers to all voluntary associations that have been created to mediate relations between the state and the family household. This excludes productive enterprises since their purpose is not to associate individuals to the state. Most students of civil society take a functional view of the society counting in all associations regardless of their normative stand on the democracy issue. Many nations that are attempting to consolidate democracy suffer from what is sometimes referred to as a civic deficit. This entails that society is short of the values that really help build democracy.This deficit often stems from disenchantment wit h the political leadership. The new democratic regime proves ineffective in various ways, such as not being able to curb corruption or to deliver tangible policy results. Once the transition from dictatorial rule has been made, it is more difficult to mobilize popular support for the measures that are necessary to keep the democratic process on the track. The civil society is most effective in the initial phase of the transition. It tends to lose its implication in the political process as it moves from transition to consolidation (Chan, 2002, p. 266).Social movements clearly energize civil society. They often lead major political transitions, but they also contribute to keeping civil society healthy at other times. Without such movements, the impact of civil society on democracy would be much less significant. Without implying that social movements always work for a civic or democratic cause (Johansson, 2002, p. 143). It seems a feasible proposition to state that a democratic chang e without the backing of a social movement is less likely to achieve something than one with such backing.ConclusionTo conclude, it may be worth making a few general observations on the studies of development and democracy. The first is that the difference between qualitative and quantitative studies is often exaggerated. There are substantive differences between the two, but they lie not in the criteria used to create and rationalize a particular research design but in the manner in which the former is executed (Haggard, 2003). It is primarily in the execution of research that quantitative statistical analyzes come to differ from qualitative forms of study. When it comes to designing research, considerable qualitative reasoning goes into designing quantitative studies.When choosing the unit of analysis, indicators for measurement and set of cases, qualitative criteria are being used to justify the design. The qualitative reasoning enters into the design in at least two ways: first, by differentiating between Europe and Latin America and the second, by bringing in the concept of stability, which does not even feature in the conceptual definition of democracy (Chan, 2002, p. 67). We should be alert to the fact that the distinction between qualitative and quantitative forms of reasoning is more blurred than many scholars would have us believe.The second observation is that the relationships between variables are not always linear in a causal sense. The study of the development – democracy nexus provides ample of evidence that the relations are often interactive; development, or dimensions thereof, influences democracy but scope of democracy may also affect development. Modernists and Marxists tend to assume that political democracy is the outcome of underlying changes in the socio-economic or cultural spheres.Those who essentially believe in human agency would argue that institutions and choices can be made to shape developmental outcomes. Much of the cur rent debate in the international development community focuses on the independent effects that good governance is expected to have on various aspects of development (Haggard, 2003).The third and final observation concerns the propensity to treat findings as universal or to generalize without taking into consideration the potential influence of contextual variables. Much knowledge that is acquired on the issues relating to development and democracy are both time and context specific. Changing either temporal or spatial dimensions may have significant influence on the results.Generalizations that hold across national and regional boundaries are typically at a high level of aggregation. The challenge that we often face in our research is not only to disaggregate or deconstruct these concepts and variables but also to continue testing how far these general findings still hold at lower levels of aggregation.In sum, whichever way we turn in the research exercise, there are challenges just around the corner (Haggard, 2003). The contributors to this essay are highlighting many of these challenges, thereby providing a sense of what comparative politics have achieved so far and also what remains to be done.