The Love of a Woman in Paulo Coelho’s Novel The...

In Paulo Coelho’s novel The Alchemist the story of the shepherd boy Santiago and his journey to fulfill his Personal Legend unfolds from beginning to end. On his journey Santiago meets several significant male characters that play very important roles in the development of his character, his journey, and his story. There are only a few female characters in The Alchemist, as men dominate the story; however, one of these female characters also plays a very significant role in Santiago’s story. Santiago falls in love with Fatima and this forever changes both of their lives. On the surface, the development of Fatima’s character seems to come from and speak for a male chauvinistic point of view and perspective. Not much is revealed about Fatima†¦show more content†¦This novel is about the journey of life and all the amazing gifts, lessons, and people that can be found on this journey; love being one of the most important and valuable treasures that can be fou nd. Fatima’s willingness and eagerness to let Santiago go is not a sign of weakness, but a powerful expression of love and sacrifice. Fatima’s character is not focused upon long in The Alchemist, but with the use of her short appearance the narrative is able to make a statement about the complex nature of women; a nature that is powerful yet subtle, strong yet soft, and fierce yet comforting. Santiago and Fatima experience love at first sight. Their first meeting is full of powerful and intense motions as: At that moment, it seemed to him [Santiago] that time stood still, and the Soul of the World surged within him. When he looked into her dark eyes†¦he learned the most important part of language that all the world spoke-the language that everyone on earth was capable of understanding in their hearts. It was love†¦She smiled, and that was certainly an omen-the omen he had been awaiting, without even knowing he was, for all his life†¦What the boy felt at that moment was that he was in the presence of the only woman in his life†¦He was more certain of it than of anything in the world†¦Without such love, one’s dreams would have no meaning. (92-93) Up until thisShow MoreRelatedA Brief Note On The City Of California1630 Words   |  7 Pagesroom to warn her as well. We woke her, told her what was happening, and without hesitation she called 911. While she was on the phone we heard a window break which came from my parents’ room, and as soon as we knew what happened †¦ (Tier) Paulo Coelho’s The Alchemist intelligently takes the reader on the journey of Santiago who would do anything in his power to get where he wanted to be. He started off as a simple shepherd boy who one day met a king that told him about a treasure in the Egyptian PyramidsRead MoreThe Alchemist2498 Words   |  10 PagesThe Alchemist A Fable About Following Your Dreams. By Paulo Coelho The Alchemist I. Life of the Author Paulo Coelho was born on 1947, Brazilian writer, best known for mystical fables told in simple yet symbolic language. He has received wide popular acclaim both in Brazil and internationally for his work about spiritual quests of self-discovery. Written in Portuguese, Coelho’s books have been translated into many languages. Coelho was born in Rio de Janeiro, BrazilRead MoreThe Alchemist by Paulo Coelho1168 Words   |  5 Pagesâ€Å"The Alchemist† was originally written in Portuguese by a famous Brazilian author Paulo Coelho. The book’s original title is â€Å"O Alqumistia†. The book was first published in 1988 which is since then been translated into 56 different languages and is one of the bestselling books of the history. This translation of the book was written by Alan R. Clarke and was first published by Harper Collins Publishers in 1993. The genres of the book are fiction, fantasy, psychology, drama. The writer followingRead MoreThemes Of The Alchemist2117 Words   |  9 PagesThe Alchemist The Alchemist is, without a doubt, one of the most important and well-known works of the fantastic Brazilian writer Paulo Coelho. Among the main themes of the novel we highlight the development and personal growth. The novel tells the story of a young pastor called Santiago, who decides to pursue his dreams. At the beginning of the novel the young man has a sheep business, with which he traveled everywhere, and thanks to which he obtained money with which he could live, but little byRead MoreLove As A Goal And An Obstacle2347 Words   |  10 PagesLove is an obstacle that people face and must overcome rather than a goal people strive towards. Compare and contrast the presentation of love as a goal and an obstacle in the texts ‘Candide’ and ‘The Alchemist’. Both texts depict specific theories about the stance love takes in our lives - in Candide, the 18th century novel written by the French historian and philosopher of the Age of Enlightenment, Voltaire, love is presented as the ultimate goal, however also the reason for the occurrence ofRead MoreThe Alchemist Symbolism1838 Words   |  8 PagesAn Analysis of Mirage Symbolism In The Alchemist Paulo Coelho’s The Alchemist tells the story of Santiago, a young shepherd living in an abandoned church in a small Andalusian town, who is stripped of his comfortable and safe lifestyle after an encounter with Melchizedek, an Islamic king who tells him of his â€Å"Personal Legend† (21). Melchizedek points Santiago in the direction of his treasure only after taking one-tenth of his money, giving him two stones, and a lesson on reading omens. ThroughoutRead MoreThe Books Say Nothing !1723 Words   |  7 Pageshe/she will lose his/her self from the world. However this is not true, when considering Paulo Coelho’s best seller The Alchemist. The novel is based on an adventure of a shepherd boy as he travels from his homeland in Spain to distant Egypt in search of a treasure that appears in his dreams. On the way he comes across numerous difficulties and temptations but moves on undeterred to fulfill his dreams. The novel teaches an individual the hardships of endu ring a personal legend/goal and the consequencesRead MorePaulo Coelhos The Pilgrimage: A Unique Search for the Meaningful3334 Words   |  14 PagesThere is no denying the fact that Paulo Coelho with more than a dozen novels to his credit has emerged as a contemporary literary figure of international repute. The Pilgrimage marks his entry into the world of fiction with a bang followed by a big bang in the form of his most popular novel The Alchemist. No doubt, The Alchemist has earned him immense popularity far and wide and established him as a novelist of consummate skill. His other novels which include The Valkyries, Like the Flowing River

Similarities Between Shirley Jackson And Battle Royal

The Lottery (1948) written by Shirley Jackson and Battle Royal (1952) by Ralph Ellison are short stories that stress the issues of conformity and breaking tradition. Both stories were written during a time when individuality was not looked upon in a pleasant manor. Battle Royal and The Lottery both deal with the internal struggle of trying to accept societal norms when they do not match up with one’s beliefs. Difficult lessons were learned in these stories, for example in The Lottery a cruel tradition occurs once a year where an individual in the community gets stoned to death. No one speaks out about how inhumane this tradition is until they are the ones who are being targeting. In Battle Royal the narrator’s grandfather gives his family†¦show more content†¦She began gossiping with her friends as the event was beginning without a care in the world. Once her husband had picked the special card, Mrs. Hutchinson became very frantic, screaming that â€Å"it was n’t fair† and that they did not give her husband enough time to pick a card. Then, each member in her family had to pick a card. Each family member had a white card besides Mrs. Hutchinson whose card had a dot on it. Mrs. Hutchinson became even more frantic as fear over took her body. As she began to plea for her life, it was simply too late. Mrs. Hutchinson only spoke up because her and her family’s lives were being threatened. If Mrs. Hutchinson expressed her desire not to participate in this event earlier because the lottery is pointless murder, maybe others would have agreed and change could have happened. When the villagers circled around Mrs. Hutchinson all holding stones of various sizes, it finally became clear to her that her window of opportunity to speak up was over. Mrs. Hutchinson learned a very important lesson the last few seconds of her life; that it is easy to be a bystander and not speak up when it is not one being affected. Shirley Jackson herself is a prime example of the difficulties that come when being submissive at inappropriate times. Jackson’s mother was never very pleased with her and would often tell her that, â€Å"she would have preferred a prettier, more pliable one† (Heller, The Haunted Mind of Shirley Jackson). Jackson oftenShow MoreRelatedLogical Reasoning189930 Words   |  760 PagesRichard Gould, Kenneth King, Marjorie Lee, Elizabeth Perry, Heidi Wackerli, Perry Weddle, Tiffany Whetstone, and the following reviewers: David Adams, California State Polytechnic University; Stanley Baronett, Jr., University of Nevada-Las Vegas; Shirley J. Bell, University of Arkansas at Monticello; Phyllis Berger, Diablo Valley College; Kevin Galvin, East Los Angeles College; Jacquelyn Ann Kegley, California State University-Bakersfield; Darryl Mehring, University of Colorado at Denver; Dean

Financial Development and Monetary Policy free essay sample

These papers present research in progress of the staff members of RBI and are disseminated to elicit comments and further debate. The views expressed in these papers are those of authors and not that of RBI. Comments and observations may please be forwarded to authors. Citation and use of such papers should take into account its provisional character. Copyright: Reserve Bank of India 2013 Financial Development and Monetary Policy Transmission Across Financial Markets: What Do Daily Data tell for India? 1 Partha Ray 2 and Edwin Prabu 3 This paper seeks to address two questions In Indian context. First, what is the nature of integration among different segments of Indian financial markets? Second, what has been the influence of monetary policy on different segments of financial markets? As far as domestic financial integration is concerned, the study finds that the money market segment is fairly integrated. At the next level, among the constituents of the domestic financial markets, G-sec and corporate bond market are somewhat integrated. There is, however, limited evidence of integration between the money market and stock market. Using daily data over January 2005 – November 2012, the paper constructs a structural Vector autoregression (SVAR) model and studies the financial markets microstructure and monetary policy transmission in India related to four key segments, viz. , money, bonds (GSec and corporate debt), forex and stock market. While the transmission of monetary policy to money market is found to be fast and efficient and the effects on bond and forex market are on expected lines, the impact of monetary policy to stock market is limited. The nature of monetary policy transmission, however, tends to vary, depending on the extent of liquidity (i. e. , whether there is surplus or deficit liquidity). JEL Classification: C32, E52, F41 Keywords: Monetary Policy, Structural Vector autoregression, impulse responses 1 The authors are indebted to Shri Deepak Mohanty, Shri K U B Rao, Dr. Himanshu Joshi and Shri Anand Shankar for their comments on an earlier draft of the paper. The authors are also indebted for the comments of the participants of an internal seminar at the Department of Economic and Policy Research on November 30, 2012 where they have had the privilege to present an earlier version of the paper. Usual disclaimer applies. The paper reflects personal views of the authors and not necessarily of the institution(s) to which they belong. 2 Director, Department of Economic and Policy Research, currently on sabbatical to Indian Institute of Management, Calcutta as Professor of Economics; email. 3   Assistant Adviser, Department of Economic and Policy Research; email:    1 Introduction The process of financial development in any emerging economy would invlove the intimately interlinked developments of both financial institutions as well as financial markets. It is well-known that transmission of monetary policy, to begin with, takes place via financial markets. Financial market developments and extent of market integration across various segments of domestic financial markets play a key role in this context. The more integrated financial markets are, in all likelihood the more would be the strength of monetary transmission across financial markets. Empirically, however, the locomotion from microstructure to macro behaviour is essentially couched in terms of some aggregation. Two issues are important her e. First, the level of aggregation could dictate the nature of market. Illustratively, when the market for fruits is formed by aggregating apples and oranges, there is indeed some loss of information but the investigator still goes for it to discern broader trends. Thus, tension of inferring about the woods without missing the trees is inherent in any investigation on market integration. Second, there is yet another issue that is important in this regard, viz. presence of regulation. Illustratively, even if the quality of rice could be reasonably homogenous across all India, in presence of government regulation restricting movement of rice across states, market for rice will be segmented across India. Thus, in terms of first principles, level of aggregation and extent of regulation may determine the degree of market integration. 4 While both these issues are important for financial markets, one would expect the flow of information (as well as the products) would be much smooth in financial markets than their real counterparts. After all, most of the financial products are virtual and geographical distance and transport cost will have little relevance for financial markets. Thus, the law of one price (in the form of equality of risk adjusted returns) has a higher probability of getting validated for financial markets. Nevertheless, financial transactions are highly leveraged hence the possibility of regulation leading to market segmentation will be accordingly high in financial markets. At this stage one may segregate between two levels of integration – (a) among different segments of domestic financial markets, and (b) among a specific segment of domestic financial market and its global / foreign counterpart. Both these Ayuso and Blanco (1999) rightly noted, â€Å"†¦perfect cross-market integration is generally understood as a situation in which there is no barrier of any kind to cross-border financial transactions, such as tariffs, taxes, restrictions on the trading of foreign assets, information costs or any other cost that makes it more difficult to trade across countries than within them. With perfect cross-market integration there are no cross-market arbitrage opportunities and the law of one price – i. e. , portfolios with the same payoffs should have the same price in different markets– holds†. 4 2 types of integration are on the rise with the increasing trends in globalization. It has been rightly observed: â€Å"The progressive globalisation of financial institutions and services over the last two decades has led to a complex web of interconnected markets, institutions, services and products. Institutions transcended borders; markets became accessible in real time and financial services were available from everywhere. In short, financial markets and institutions declared ‘death of distance’ and ‘conquest of location’ † (Subbarao, 2009). How integrated are the segments of Indian financial markets? What is the relationship of financial markets with monetary policy actions? What has been the inter-temporal behaviour of financial market integration? The present paper seeks to answer some of these questions in Indian specifics in recent period. In particular, it concentrates on the first type of financial integration, viz. , among different segments of domestic financial markets. Specifically, it seeks to address two questions: ? ? What is the nature of integration among different segments of Indian financial markets? and What has been the influence of monetary policy on different segments of financial markets? There are three discerning features of the study. First, it uses daily data over a fairly recent period, viz. , January 2005 – November 2012 to decipher the extent of financial market integration. Second, it seeks to probe into the mechanism of monetary policy transmission across various segments of financial markets viz. , money, G-Sec, corporate debt, forex, and equity. Third, given the short run nature of the data (notwithstanding the number of observations), it uses structural vector autoregression models to discern econometrically robust conclusions. A scan of the existing literature on financial market integration in India reveals that most of them concluded in favour of increasing but partial integration among the different segments of the financial markets. At the same time, because of low frequency of data most of these studies covered a period in which there was regime change with respect to monetary policy operating procedure. It is here that our study makes a departure and concentrates on a focused and recent period (i. e. , January 2005 November 2012), which is free from such issues. In some sense, it is less likely to be subjected to, what in generic term may be called as, the â€Å"Lucas Critique†. 5 We choose to ignore the credit market for two reasons. First, there is a large literature on credit channel of monetary policy looking into transmission of monetary policy to credit market in India (e. g. , Pandit et al, 2006). Second, credit market has a number of regulatory restrictions that may allow only partial integration with other financial markets. At the same time, we are aware of two specific limitations of the study. First, high frequency data are often more noisy and hence signal extraction could be difficult. But monetary policy also functions in such a noisy data environment, and hence, a priori, a high frequency model is expected to be more useful. Second, ours is a story of integration among different segments of financial markets and impact of monetary policy on them. We are, thus, quite contracted in our focus – we do not consider variables such as output, prices, or even fiscal policy, all of which could impact financial markets and monetary policy decisions. Put differently, we are confined to a partial equilibrium model where the market players in a particular segment of the financial market are concerned only with what is happening in other segments and monetary policy. But such a caricatured world might perhaps capture the very short-run and may be representative of the behaviour of the typical financial market player on a day-to-day basis. In the financial markets, where it is often joked that, â€Å"a long term investment is a short term investment that failed†, we thought our emphasis on the day-to-day activities may not be entirely misplaced. Rest of the paper is organized as follows. Section 2 gives a bird’s eye review of the relevant literature. While issues related to financial market microstructure in India are discussed in section 3, some stylized facts on inter-temporal behaviour of rates in different segments of the financial markets are taken up in section 4. Section 5 is devoted to the extent of market integration and its relationship with monetary policy. The econometric results are discussed in section 6. Section 7 concludes the paper. 2. Received Literature: A Synoptic Review There have been two distinct trands of literature on financial markets integration, viz. , domestic and international. Typically the studies on international financial market integration look into the movement of a similar type of market across different countries; for example, the relationship between Sensex and Nasdaq would be classified as a study on international stock market integration. Such studies typically would use the covered / uncovered interest parity condition to formalize the law of one price across geographical or political boundaries. In this paper we refrain from studying this issue. Instead our primary interest is confined to the extent of 6 See for example, Kaminsky and Schmukler (2002), Moosa and Bhatti (1997) or Fratzscher (2001) on financial market integration across different global territories. Kaminsky and Schmukler (2002) suggested that equity prices tend to be more internationally connected than interest rates. Moosa and Bhatti (1997) found high level of integration between goods and financial markets of Japan and six Asian countries by testing uncovered interest parity (U IP) and ex ante purchasing power parity (PPP). In this line Hansda and Ray (2002) found that prices of dually listed stocks at different stock exchanges like BSE or Nasdaq are highly related. Also see Raj and Dhal (2008) on this issue of stock market integration in India and abroad. 4 integration across different segments of domestic financial markets – that is to say we confine our attention to issues like how does a change in call money rate influence the yield on a ten year G-Sec. We will have a quick rundown of the studies done in the Indian context. In terms of methodology, most of these studies probe into the issue of existence of a co-integrating relationship between a subset of interest rate / yield variables in the different segments of the financial market. Dhal and Bhoi (1998) in one the early studies on the subject studied the extent of domestic financial market in the initial years of reforms (viz. , over April 1993 – March 1998). Using monthly data, they found that although fully competitive environment was yet to emerge, several segments of the financial market have achieved operational efficiency. In particular, Indias financial markets were getting increasingly integrated at the short-end of the market, such as, money market, credit market, Government securities market. However, capital market is least integrated with the rest of the financial sector; there were also early indications about integration of money market and forex market. However, integration of domestic and overseas financial markets has not been found to be robust. Similar results are obtained by others as well (e. g. , Pattnaik and Vasudevan, 1999). Nag and Mitra (1999) got similar results using the technique of Artificial Neural Network. Using monthly data from January 1993 to December 2002, Jain and Bhanumurthy (2005) examined the issue of financial market integration. In particular, they tested for existence of a cointegrating relationship between 91-day Treasury bill rates, call money rates and Indian Rupee/US dollar exchange rate (ER) as a measure of returns in the domestic financial markets and the LIBOR (used as the measure for the foreign interest rate). The study found that there was a strong integration of the domestic call money market with the LIBOR. Though, the study found that there is a long-term co-movement between domestic foreign exchange market and LIBOR, it is statistically insignificant. As the Government securities market in India was still in the development stage within the sample period, it was not found to be integrated with the global markets. RBI (2007) delved into the issue of financial market integration in detail. From the correlation structure of the rates in different segments of the financial market, the evidence of growing integration of financial markets beginning 2000 comes out. Interestingly, while in the money market segment, there is evidence of stronger correlation among interest rates in the more recent period 2000-06 than the earlier period 1993-2000, the sharp improvement in correlation between the reverse repo rate and money market rates in the recent period implies enhanced effectiveness of monetary policy transmission. The equity market, however, appeared to be segmented with relatively low and negative correlation with money market segments. Thus, it concluded, â€Å"Domestic financial market integration in India has been largely 5 facilitated by wide-ranging financial sector reforms introduced since the early 1990s. Financial markets in India have acquired greater depth and liquidity; in the process, various market segments have also become better integrated over the years† (p. 312). Bhattacharyya and Sensarma (2007) examined the efficacy and robustness of alternative monetary policy instruments in transmitting the policy signals and its impact on different segments of the financial market in India. Employing a Structural VAR model with monthly data over a 10-year period (April 1996 – March 2006), they segregated the whole period into pre-liquidity adjustment facility (LAF) and post-LAF and tried to ascertain the relative importance of alternative instruments like Bank rate, CRR or the repo rate. They found â€Å"increasing evidence of market integration between the money, the foreign exchange and the government securities market, particularly at the short-end; although the term structure turned out to be somewhat segmented, transmission across the yield curve was in evidence†. Using monthly data, Singh (2011) in a recent study examined the passthrough as well as asymmetric response of policy interest rates to financial markets for the period March 2001 through October 2011. Using the framework of distributed lag model, the study found that short end of the financial market display a significantly high instantaneous pass-through in response to changes in the monetary policy rates. The study also finds that the prevailing liquidity conditions in financial markets also play an important role in conditioning the pass-through of policy rate changes to short end of the financial market. However, the bank deposit and lending rates exhibit relatively longer lags in transmission. The study also found significant asymmetry of transmission of policy rate changes during the surplus and deficit liquidity conditions, particularly at short end of financial markets using the VAR model. 7 To analyze the dynamic effects of monetary policy shocks on financial markets, RBI (2011) constructed an SVAR model with the following variables, viz. , policy rates (Repo, Reverse Repo, corridor width); overnight money market rate (call money, weighted average of call money, CBLO and market repo rates), CD/CP rates; and bond market (91-day t-bill rate). The model has been estimated using weekly data separately in liquidity deficit (Net LAF is negative between December 2006 and November 2008) and liquidity surplus (Net LAF is positive between April 2001 and December 2006, and December 2008 and May 2010) conditions. The 7 In the context of monetary transmission channel for India, using quarterly structural vector auto regression (SVAR) model, Mohanty (2012) finds that policy rate increase have negative effect on output growth with a lag of two quarters and a moderating impact on inflation with a lag of three quarters; he overall impact persists through 8-10 quarters. 6 identification conditions are as follows. First, Central bank does not respond contemporaneously to shocks to financial market rates. Second, policy rates are determined independent of corridor width. Third, overnight money markets respond immediately to changes in policy rates and other rates with a lag. Fourth, CP/CD rates are sensitive to policy rates and overnight m oney market movements. Fifth, bond yields are sensitive to policy rates and money market movements. In such a framework, the empirical exercise indicate that, â€Å"though the impact of the interest rate channel of monetary transmission varies across the segments of the financial market, it is the strongest in the money market (RBI, 2011; p. 48-49)†. The monetary transmission turned out to be substantially more effective in a deficit liquidity situation than in a surplus liquidity situation. To sum up, most of these studies using cointegration related technique tried to discern the market integration patterns over a fairly long period time in which the monetary policy operating procedure might have undergone changes. In spirit our study is very to the model developed in RBI (2011) and we develop a structural VAR (SVAR) model using high frequency data. But as a prelude to construction and discussion of such a SVAR model, we delve into the generic issues related to financial market microstructure. 3. Financial Market Development in India As a prelude to answer the two questions raised in the introduction, this section gives some details on financial markets microstructure in India. Our attention is confined to four key segments, viz. money, bonds (G-Sec and corporate debt), forex and stock markets. In the last two decades of economic reforms, the financial markets in India has come a long way from being a underdeveloped market to a reasonably well developed, transparent and an efficient market. The Government of India, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) and Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) all have taken a proactive role in the development of financial markets within their respective domains. Money Market Walter Bagehot started his book Lombard Street (1873) with, â€Å"A notion revails that the Money Market is something so impalpable that it can only be spoken of in very abstract words and that therefore books on it must always be exceedingly difficult. But I maintain that the Money Market is as concrete and real as anything else† (Para 1. 1). He was perhaps emphasising the opaqueness of the money market. Money market, being the overnight market, is crucial for the RBI, as its monetary policy is first transmitted to it. Money market is the key link in the transmission mechanism of monetary policy to financial markets and finally to the 7 market economy. The call money market, however, continued to show high volatility on account of the predominant lending by non-banks and chronic borrowing by banks. The high volatility in the call money market also inhibited the proper risk management and pricing of instruments. With the introduction of collateralised money market segments, the share of call money market has reduced in the recent year. Currently, the share of call money market in aggregate money market transactions is around 29. 0 per cent only. 8 Collateralised Borrowing and Lending Obligations (CBLO) The CBLO in some sense is unique to the Indian money market. This product was developed by the central counterparty, the Clearing Corporation of India Limited ( CCIL) and was introduced on January 20, 2003. The facility was introduced with a view to provide avenues for non-banks and banks to manage their day-to-day liquidity. CBLO is a discounted instrument available in electronic book entry form for the maturity period ranging from one day to 90 days. Transactions are backed by collaterals in the form of Central government securities and treasury bills with a residual maturity of six months. CCIL acts as the Central Counter party and members borrow and lend funds through the anonymous trading system. Since the CBLO is collateralized, the rates in the CBLO market are, in general, below the call money market rate. With the development of CBLO market, there has been substantial migration from uncollateralised market to it. Currently, the CBLO market accounts for around 51. 6 per cent of the market share in the money market. Market Repo Market repo is another facility for banks and non-banks to manage their shortterm liquidity mismatches. Market repo operates outside the RBI’s liquidity Adjustment Facility (LAF) and transactions are backed by collaterals. The collaterals accepted in the market repo facility are central government dated Securities, treasury bills and state government securities. Earlier, market repos were permitted only among banks and PDs. In order to broaden the repo market, the RBI allowed all non-bank entities maintaining subsidiary general ledger (SGL) account to participate in the market. Further, the RBI also allowed NBFCs, MFs, Housing Finance Companies (HFCs) and insurance companies not holding SGL accounts to undertake repo transactions from March 2003, through their ‘gilt account’ maintained with the custodians. The measures taken by the RBI have widened and deepened the money market in terms of instruments and participants, enhanced transparency and improved the signalling mechanism of monetary policy while ensuring financial stability† (RBI 2007, Table 2). The overnight interest rates in the money market have more or less remained within the informal corridor of LAF. 8 The stability in c all money rates also helped to improve integration of various money market segments and thereby effective transmission of policy signals (Mohanty 2010). 8 During bulk of the period under study, the Indian monetary policy was operated through a repo (injection of liquidity) and a reverse repo (absorption of liquidity) by the RBI, where the unwritten objective of the RBI was to keep the call money rate within this informal corridor of repo and reverse repo rates. The details are explained in section 5 of the paper. 9 Table 2 : Key Features of Money Market for November 2012 Features Players Call Market ? SCBs excluding ? RRBs, Co-operative Banks and ? ? PDs. No 8. 04 19. 7 CBLO SCBs, FIs, Insurance ? Companies, MFs, PDs, NBFCs, Non government provident funds and Corporates Yes 7. 96 51. 4 Market Repo SCBs, Insurance companies, MFs, PDs, NBFCs and HFCs Yes 7. 97 28. 9 Presence of Collateral Interest Rate (%) Share in Money Market Average Daily Volume (%) Source: Compiled from various RBI publications. Bond Market From the standpoint of the issuer, there are two distinct constituents of the bond market, viz. , Government securities market and corporate debt market. In deference to their distinctness and differing degree of development in India, we will discuss them separately. Government Securities Market Prior to 1990s, the government securities market was underdeveloped and constrained on account of unlimited automatic monetization of the central government budget deficits, interest rate on government securities were administered and were kept low to ensure low cost of government borrowing (RBI, 2007). Further, the market for government securities was a captive one where the players were mainly financial intermediaries such as banks and LICs, who had to invest in government securities to fulfil high statutory reserve requirements. The first major reform was the introduction of auction based system for issuance of government securities in 1992, which signalled the transaction to a market related interest rate system. The abolition of automatic monetization through ad-hoc treasury bills and the introduction of ways and means advances (WMA) system from April 1997 also provided operational autonomy and greater market orientation for government securities (RBI, 2007). The statutory liquidity ratio (SLR), which signifies the captive market for government securities, was decreased from the peak rate of 38. per cent of net demand and time liabilities (NDTL) in February 1992 to 25 per cent in October 1997. Right now, the SLR has been further reduced to 23 per cent of NDTL for banks. 10 The RBI has introduced the primary dealers (PDs) as market makers in the GSec market. PDs ensures the success of the G-Sec auction in the primary market through underwriting but also act as market makers in the secondary market by provid ing continuous two-way quotes. The PD system also facilitates open market operations of the RBI, besides taking over the responsibility of market making from the RBI (RBI, 2007). The various reforms initiated by the RBI have ensured successful completion of market borrowing programmes of both the central government and the state governments. The daily volatility of the yields has been declining indicating, inter alia, maturity of the government securities market (Gopinath, 2008). With the issuance of long-term securities, the yield curve has emerged for across 30 year maturity (Chart 1). â€Å"Thus the government securities market in India has witnessed a transition to an increasingly broad-based market, characterized by an efficient auction process and an active secondary market† (Mohan, 2007). Notwithstanding these improvements, the government securities market continued to be illiquid at the long end. Further, the major investors in the government securities are institutional investors, who hold securities to maturity, on account of statutory prescriptions, which makes the market illiquid. With the permission to FIIs to invest in dated government securities and Tbills with certain specified limits, the secondary market is expected to be more liquid. Chart 1: Government Securities – Yield Curves 1. 1: Period: March 2005 to March 2009 1. : Period: March 2010 to November 2012 Source: FIMMDA. 11 Corporate Bond Market A well–developed bond market is important to ensure a well-integrated financial system. Before the 1990s, the corporate bond market was dormant on account of control on the interest rates for corporate bonds as well as limited issuances in the market were also dominated by public sector companies (issuers) and banks (buyers) (Rajaram, et al 2011). T he first reform in the corporate bond market was the abolition of ceiling interest rate for corporate bonds on May 1992. Thought, the primary issuances have been significant, most of these were accounted for by public sector financial institutions and were issued on a private placement basis to institutional investors. The secondary market, therefore, has not developed commensurately and market liquidity has been an issue (Reddy, 2007). Major reforms have started in the corporate bond market following the recommendation of the High Level Committee on Corporate Bonds and Securitisation (Government of India, 2005) on corporate debt market in India. The corporate bond market in India continues to be nascent despite measures taken from time to time over the past fifteen years based on the recommendations of several official committees. However, in recent years, the corporate bond market has shown significant growth in terms of outstanding stock and volumes traded in the secondary market (Table 3). Much of the increase in volumes has come in the OTC segment of the corporate bonds as reported in the reporting platform developed by the Fixed Income, Money and Derivatives Market Association (FIMMDA). Table 3: Secondary Market Transactions in Domestic Bonds (Rs. billion) Outright Transactions in Transactions Total Share of Government securities in corporate Transactions corporate Bonds in bonds bonds in Central State Total total bonds Govt. Govt. Securities Securities 2004-05 8852. 2 264. 7 9116. 9 2005-06 6735. 0 200. 7 6935. 7 2006-07 7566. 6 125. 5 7692. 0 2007-08 14785. 4 157. 5 14942. 8 958. 9 15,902 6. 0 2008-09 19645. 9 352. 5 19998. 4 1,481. 60 21,480 6. 9 2009-10 25218. 9 764. 3 25983. 2 4,012. 00 29,995 13. 4 2010-11 25926. 7 483. 3 26410. 6,052. 74 32,463 18. 6 Source: RBI and SEBI. Forex Market The Indian forex exchange market was virtually nonexistent from the 1950s to 1970s as India was using trade controls to foster import substitution. The origin of forex market can be traced to the year 1978, when banks in India were allowed to 12 undertake intra-day trade in foreign exchange (RBI 2007). But the market was very limited as India followed a fixed exchange rate syste m. In the 1990s, as in other segments of financial markets, various reforms were taken in the foreign exchange market. The introduction of market-based exchange rate regime in 1993, adoption of current account convertibility in 1994, and substantial liberalization of capital account over the years were the most important reforms in the forex market. The RBI and the Government implemented various committees’ recommendations towards relaxation of restrictions to vitalize the foreign exchange market. The reforms in the forex market were focused on dismantling controls, developing the institutional framework and increasing the instruments for effective functioning, enhancing transparency and liberalizing the conduct of foreign exchange business (RBI 2007).

Ode To A Nightingale Essay Example

Ode To A Nightingale Essay Both poems convey similar messages about life but in perspective Ode To A Grecian Urn seems to differ in some ways depending on the way you see the poem. In this poem we realise that Keats also tries to tell us that being human and having ups and downs of life is in some ways better than being still and never changing. On the urn things stay the same, the people on the urn never get to fulfil their desires as much as they would wish to as they are still. In life we can even though there are consequences to every action humans take whether it is bad or good. Keats describes the urn as a Cold Pastoral. This is maybe because the urn is lifeless, and in some ways humans prefer things that change and things that are warm in comparison to a cold lifeless never changing urn. In the lifetime of this urn it will remain the same, unlike life which is always changing which can be seem as more preferable than being an urn. Keats was attracted to the imaginary world of the urn as the places in the urn stayed the same forever. He wanted to be immortal like the Nightingale and the people on the Urn because he believed that as a human that as you get older life gets worse as a consequence of growing less attractive and dying and being frailer. In Ode To A Nightingale he says Where beauty cannot keep her lustrous eyes, but this contrasts with the statement in Ode To A Grecian Urn, which says For ever wilt thou love and she be fair. As one poem is about something that is natural and one poem is about something that is a piece of art it is harder to say what each one says about art. An urn is a vase like container made of pottery or stone with rounded bodies and narrow necks. They were widely used in ancient Greece and Rome to preserve the Ashes of the dead. As his brother was dying and many people he knew had already died it would not have been unusual for Keats to write about something like this. Ode To A Grecian Urn is an indoor poem; and deals with art and not nature. In this poem he also mentions the Elgin Marbles and other examples of Greek art. I think that Keats in some ways tries to convey the message that art is superior to human life. This is maybe because of the fact that things like the Urn do not change and the people in the Urn are always happy, much unlike human life although they are static. And because they cannot move it is in some ways not as superior to life as he might think. We will write a custom essay sample on Ode To A Nightingale specifically for you for only $16.38 $13.9/page Order now We will write a custom essay sample on Ode To A Nightingale specifically for you FOR ONLY $16.38 $13.9/page Hire Writer We will write a custom essay sample on Ode To A Nightingale specifically for you FOR ONLY $16.38 $13.9/page Hire Writer Is emptied of this folk, this pious morn? And, little town, thy streets for evermore will silent be. In some ways this is an advantage but in other ways it is also a relatively bad thing. In human life we get to fulfill our desires even though it leads us to undesirable consequences. The fact that things cannot be experiences fully in the immortal world described in Ode To A Nightingale s also shown in Ode To A Grecian Urn. For example, when Keats describes a couple shown on the urn, they are frozen at a good time in their relationship but they will never get to go any further and reach maximum happiness as they are frozen. Keats again decides that he would prefer to have extreme feelings of good or bad rather than always feeling okay Bold lover, never, never canst thou kiss, though winning near the goal.

5 Things That Will Make You Successful - EssaySupply.com

5 Things That Will Make You Successful 5 Things That Will Make You Successful 1. A Willingness to Take Ownership Things go wrong for everybody. However, if you approach negative situations with a willingness to take the lead and fix things, you are going to find that being successful comes much easier to you. It is people who take ownership of situations who are sought out for leadership positions, and who are respected by their peers for their willingness to take on difficult tasks. For example, if you  need  essay help you can find a solution in ordering it from a writing service.  The difference between taking ownership and taking responsibility is that taking responsibility is acknowledging and fixing your own mistakes. Taking ownership means that you are taking on the responsibility of creating a good situation out of a bad situation even if you aren't the cause. 2. The Refusal to Engage in Negative Self Talk Negative self talk can happen in many different ways. After a major mistake, you might tell yourself that you are stupid. Other forms of negative self talk can be a bit more subtle, however the results are just as devastating. For example, you may apply self-defeating labels to yourself such as, I'm just not a lucky person, or life is unfair for me. In many cases, negative self talk stops you from trying new things, or it serves as a way to excuse you from trying. I could never be brave enough to go skydiving, and I'm just not a math person are two examples of this. 3. The Ability to Bounce Back Everybody fails, and everybody has bad things happen to them. Successful people find a way to bounce back because the possess resiliency. Some people may confuse resiliency for toughness, but this isn't accurate. Toughness can indicate that something bad happens and you don't care or aren't all that impacted by it. It also indicates that you recover quickly and without much effort. On the other hand, resiliency is a trait that simply gives you the willingness to do what it takes to come back from a tragedy or setback. This is something that might take hours, or it might take years. The point of resiliency is that you actively work towards getting back to normal without wallowing. 4. An Insatiable Curiosity Successful people are constant learners. They read, they take classes, and they seek knowledge from others. They don't need even need to be working towards a particular goal, although they often are. In many cases, it is simply intellectual curiosity that spurs them along. Successful people don't only possess intellectual curiosity, however, they are also curious about other people. This gives most successful people the personable nature that is required to relate and work well with other people. 5. The Willingness to Ask For Help Successful people surround themselves with other people who are smart, talented, and goal-oriented. Then, they ask those people for help and advice when they need it. Being students they sometimes ask for help from  college essay writing services.  This is because most successful people realize that nobody obtains success without getting help from others. When they are able, they pay that help forward to others who need it.

Customers essays

Customers essays What type of customer are you? Have you ever thought about how a customer service employee views you as a customer? I have worked, on and off, in the food and beverage industry for fifteen years and I have seen many different customers along with their many different problems. Although the customers and problems may differ, the types of customers in a restaurant setting can be categorized into four main groups. The first group is the demanding customers. They want everything right now and are not shy about asking. They do not take in consideration that they are not the only people in the restaurant. They usually have their server running around like a chicken with its head cut off because they cannot organize their demands to ask for everything they want so that the server only has to make one or two trips. I had one customer demand that the lights be turned up while they were obviously being adjusted to achieve the correct The second group is the complaining customers. This type of customer thinks that everything that happens in the restaurant is the servers fault, including being sat in the dark corner and also the dry, cold meat between the harden bun of their sandwich. This is the type of customer that cannot read as well. They order the food from the menu and when it is brought to them they proclaim that french fries did not come with this sandwich. If they had read the menu, they would have seen that french fries are, in fact, included. Sometimes no matter what is done it is never enough to make them happy. The third group is the quiet customers or the passive diners. They are extremely polite people. They keep eye contact with the server and carry on pleasant conversations. When asked how their food is, they will generally say that it is fine, though looking at the ...

The Judicial System in the Bahamas Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

The Judicial System in the Bahamas - Essay Example (March 14, 2010) Among the causal factors of this situation that is pointed out is the country’s problem with its bail system. Many law enforcers and prosecutors have admitted that unless rules in bail are amended, even the suspects of heinous crimes can easily avoid being jailed or even prosecution. Attorney General John Delaney had â€Å"acknowledged that a growing number of people on bail are allegedly committing other crimes.† (Rolle) He said this while he was batting for the amendment of the Bail Act. Among the proposed amendments are the restrictions of the right to bail of those suspects of heinous crimes as well as those that have been repeat offenders. Certain sectors in Bahamian society and some lawmakers, however, have expressed opposition to the move to amend the Bail Act in favor of more restrictive options. Prime Minister Hubert Ingraham, for his part, believed that the proposed amendment is valid and urgent. In an article in the Bahamas Post, he said that some believe â€Å"that bail is a right and that there is nothing we can do to prevent persons from being placed on bail.† (May 26, 2010) The Prime Minister, however, vehemently considers this idea as very wrong. Nevertheless, the motion for amending the Bail Act has ignited a new debate within Bahamian society. This author, however, believes that the Bail Act must indeed be adapted to the current situation. In particular, its provisions on repeat offenders should be changed in order to ensure that they will no longer be able to easily apply for bail. One of the three main points related to this argument is that the soft nature of the Bail Act is no longer suitable to the worsening crime situation in the country. The Bail Act’s leniency was appropriate only during that time when Bahamian society was not yet beset with crime. It is logical that it be amended because laws are supposed to be changed or repealed when these are no longer applicable to current

Business Strategy Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2250 words

Business Strategy - Assignment Example The business performance of 2007 has shown positive development to the satisfaction of the company. Yet they have to be very vigilant to sustain the up trend in the coming years also. The company needs innovative planning and strategies to sustain the gain of last year to enable them to keep floating always ahead. Coco Cola is an old and established brand worldwide backed by a strong team of manpower. Internally they are very stable and strong to provide strong pillars to the edifice of marketing. They enjoy 94% brand recognition and more than 60% market share in the world. They need to be vigilant all the times to keep on appraising the performance and finding the underperformance if any at any level. With the type of expertise and skill they have it is sure to overcome the weakness that might creep in by active communication and crackdown. Coco Cola is spread to a large domain all over the world market, which is full of complexities. Different people with different tastes, culture, psychology, different lifestyles live in different countries. This is always a challenge to the marketers to satisfy everyone. In India the company faced challenge from the very start and also when Coca Cola entered into this country second time. After Coco Cola had established its foothold in India the change in government gave a fatal blow to the company when the changed government ordered it to wind up and leave India on the ground that the country could not permit an ordinary product which is not high tech and which the country could produce itself. Second time when Coco Cola entered India again with a new government the local brand ‘Thumbs Up’ was thriving in the market that was favourite brand for the local countrymen (Basu, 2006). Coca Cola had to take over that brand and nourish it to claim the large market share it had enjoyed. Even today the brand holds command and contributes sizeable market share to the parent company. The

College Is Not for Everyone Essay Example for Free

College Is Not for Everyone Essay College is not for everyone, but for these three high school students that is all they believe in. Most students’ think about boys, girls, prom, sports, etc. the list could go on in a teenagers head, nothing about their future or college. So when talking to an uplifting student such as Philippian about her education, it gives hope to educators, and inspires others to take their education seriously. Philippian Chatman a 17 year old senior, who attends Aldine Senior High School, is very passionate about school. â€Å"If you want to pursue your career and goals, college should be one of your main priorities, my parents have instilled in me to go to school and college, they worked hard to provide a life for me so that I can have an opportunity to go to college. † Said Chatman Education is such a big deal to many people but for Chatman it is her main priority. â€Å"I want to major in debate, teaching, and photography. I really like photography because people always see action in movies but photography you can say a lot without words. † Said Chatman. When asking what college’s Chatman was looking into, she had set high standards for her to achieve. â€Å"I would love to go to Duke, University of Texas, or PV. â€Å" Wondering why not Texas Southern University, she said â€Å" It’s a nice campus but just not for me, I would rather go away from home and venture out on my own. † Statistics shows total number of high school drop outs annually is 3,030,000. The numbers increase every year, especially for male students. Education is the future for today’s students, yet little take so seriously. For Edwin Rebollar, a 16 year old senior at Aldine high school, works very hard to make his education his first priority as well. He talks highly about going to college and goes out his way to make good grades. He also speaks highly about his parents pushing to go further with his education. â€Å"I feel like college can open so many opportunities for me, and I want to be something in life. † Rebollar said â€Å"my parents are really strict on my education, if I didn’t go to college they would be very disappointed to let my education go to waste. † Said Rebollar â€Å"I am really interested in films and that is what I want to go to college for. † Rebollar said. Also another great student who attends Eisenhower, is 15 year old McKenzi Pope, who talks nothing but about college, was very excited about what Texas Southern had to offer for their annual high school day. â€Å"I feel like everyone should go to college because it help expresses them, and also it’s a new beginning of getting to know who you are. † McKenzi said. â€Å"My family is so proud of what. I’m trying to do. † My mom always said my speech is going to take me far and I’m trying to let it take me all the way to Harvard University. I want to major in communications, I’m going to become something that my family will be proud of. â€Å" One thing that all students had in common was their passion for their education and the support of their parents to back them up. There is also the educators who always want to teach their students and making sure their retaining all the knowledge that they are giving out. Most teachers feel as though if there is no family support nor the want to learn then the student will be just another statistic and drop out. Omar Peters who is a Media teacher at Jack Yates High school, feels highly strong about his students learning and making sure they are able to go out and use it in the real world. â€Å" I make sure they understand the fundamentals. † I wanted my students to understand this is a very competitive field, and if you do not understand the technical side of this business you will not make. † I have gotten most of my students internships, jobs, e.

Argumentative Essay: Handgun Ownership Should Not be Banned :: Gun Control Essays

Should handgun ownership be banned? I don't believe so. You would think America would learn from examples from other countries. When you take away handguns the crime rate rises. American citizens need to know their rights, responsibilities and safety of owning a handgun. The second amendment says, "A well regulated militia being necessary to security of a free state, the right of the people to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed." The second amendment was made for two things. It is there for first, to guarantee the individuals right to have arms for self-defense and self-preservation. The second reason is related to the militia. The right to carry a handgun for self-protection is a privilege of citizenship. The confusion is the right of the state or the individual. The regulation of handguns could be looked at as unconstitutional. The amendment is for the people and not the state. People who do not research the owning of handguns and form their opinion off of what they see on the news are left in the dark. One of the most misunderstood concepts is that more guns cause more violence. This is false more guns do not mean more homicides. In 1973, the handgun stock was 36.9 million and the homicide rate was 9.4 per 100,000. In 1992, the handgun stock was 77.6 million but the homicide rate dropped 8.5 percent. In 1994, the U.S. bureau of justice static's made a survey that stated 100,000 lives are saved by handguns. According to criminologist Gary Kleck, guns are fired in only about 24 percent of cases in which they are used for self-defense. Another argument is that police kill 330 innocent people every year. These are skilled and trained individuals with handguns. So you can imagine the assumptions made for citizens who have no adequate training. It is your responsibility to get this training. Here are some courses that are offered to help you have adequate training. You can take a hunters safety course. The NRA offers safety and training courses. Some junior colleges offer handgun training. You can also learn about it in the military. Most states will not allow licensing of a handgun without one of the courses. There also is the issue of keeping handguns out of the hands of children.

Gore Case Study

Since its humble beginning in 1958, W. L. Gore and Associates (Gore) fostered a strong working environment by encouraging its staff to become creative thinkers while implementing an employee empowerment approach to management. Gore’s self developing teams have proven to be leaders in creativity, design, and productivity. The company’s â€Å"Superteam† has been the key to their successful growth in electronics, medical, fabrics, and industrial products. Their highly efficient flat corporate structure creates an atmosphere of leadership within a lattice organization that has proven to be one of the most effective approaches to business success.Effective market performance driven by four operating principles of fairness, freedom, commitment, and waterline, dictate the company’s promise that is â€Å"Committed to the fitness-for-use of our products where culture drives innovation to create a broad range of high performance products that make a difference in p eoples’ lives. † The corporate philosophy of having a flat and lattice organization translates into leaders, associates and sponsors. Each Gore employee is considered to be an associate. By having associates and no titles, the company eliminates the need for managers and cultivates leaders.To further stimulate leadership, each associate becomes a sponsor to new employees. Gore believes that each of us needs a guide to act as a mentor, an advocate of corporate philosophy, and a voice of experience. Sponsors encourage new employees to be creative thinkers and communicators while providing feedback and discussion of contributions and areas for growth. Although sponsors work closely with associates, they never give assignments or act as gatekeepers to new assignments and approvers of projects. With this philosophy in place, Gore’s team orientations proliferate.The team building and collaboration on projects allow no room for competition but instead encourage workplac e productivity. Gore’s workplace productivity improvement process is centered around its corporate culture of having a non-traditional working environment based on direct communication. Their culture energizes associates, builds effective teams and produces superior business results. Gore encourages creative and entrepreneurial thinking by communicating directly rather than having a chain of command.This position of trust with little oversight provides associates the opportunity to use their judgment in pursuing new ideas. Through the creativity of each employee, a commitment to projects and a unified pursuit of success is inherent. There are numerous programs at Gore that support workplace productivity improvement which associates growth and development with a distinctive culture that is maintained and strengthened. Promoting diversity is an important part of workplace values at Gore as they raise awareness of potential micro-inequities in daily routines through training and workshops.A healthy work environment is found in each Gore plant by having a smoke-free environment, healthy plant-like settings, and recreational opportunities. Face-to-face communication is also the preference of corporate leaders as they directly speak to employees on specific issues and facilitate direct group discussion. Compensation within the organization is given in proportion to the contribution the associate makes to the financial success of Gore. Each associate is compensated based on peer rankings and job effectiveness. Gore is considered to be one of the best workplaces in the U.S. as corporate researchers such as Great Place to Work Institute, Inc. , placed the company very favorable amongst other Fortune 100 companies. The corporate structure of the U. S. Navy shares some of Gore’s workplace improvement values. Sailors share and own activities that make up a specific process. Each individual is known as a â€Å"process owner† and it is ultimately their responsibility for accountability and the proper working conditions of projects. The Sailor is driven to be a leader and has control over the entire process from beginning to end.A teamwork approach is intrinsic to life in the Navy. By utilizing total quality tools and methods, the Navy organization continuously reinforces teamwork. Through the utilization of team members’ collective knowledge, experiences, and efforts, the Navy continues to improve its processes. These benefits describe the â€Å"Total Navy Experience† which through teamwork and process ownership, the whole becomes greater than the sum of its parts. Gore’s organization consists of self-managing groups that share responsibility and are aligned in a flat hierarchy of functions.In this organization, there are no subordinates; there are only peers negotiating with peers. Gore’s workplace is free of the barriers that are typical of more traditional companies. The company has done away with ti tles and special entitlements, and encourages direct, one-on-one communication. Multi-disciplined teams of associates in clustered plants organize around technologies and market opportunities. This unique corporate culture contributes directly to its product successes and workplace productivity. Gore Case Study Since its humble beginning in 1958, W. L. Gore and Associates (Gore) fostered a strong working environment by encouraging its staff to become creative thinkers while implementing an employee empowerment approach to management. Gore’s self developing teams have proven to be leaders in creativity, design, and productivity. The company’s â€Å"Superteam† has been the key to their successful growth in electronics, medical, fabrics, and industrial products. Their highly efficient flat corporate structure creates an atmosphere of leadership within a lattice organization that has proven to be one of the most effective approaches to business success.Effective market performance driven by four operating principles of fairness, freedom, commitment, and waterline, dictate the company’s promise that is â€Å"Committed to the fitness-for-use of our products where culture drives innovation to create a broad range of high performance products that make a difference in p eoples’ lives. † The corporate philosophy of having a flat and lattice organization translates into leaders, associates and sponsors. Each Gore employee is considered to be an associate. By having associates and no titles, the company eliminates the need for managers and cultivates leaders.To further stimulate leadership, each associate becomes a sponsor to new employees. Gore believes that each of us needs a guide to act as a mentor, an advocate of corporate philosophy, and a voice of experience. Sponsors encourage new employees to be creative thinkers and communicators while providing feedback and discussion of contributions and areas for growth. Although sponsors work closely with associates, they never give assignments or act as gatekeepers to new assignments and approvers of projects. With this philosophy in place, Gore’s team orientations proliferate.The team building and collaboration on projects allow no room for competition but instead encourage workplac e productivity. Gore’s workplace productivity improvement process is centered around its corporate culture of having a non-traditional working environment based on direct communication. Their culture energizes associates, builds effective teams and produces superior business results. Gore encourages creative and entrepreneurial thinking by communicating directly rather than having a chain of command.This position of trust with little oversight provides associates the opportunity to use their judgment in pursuing new ideas. Through the creativity of each employee, a commitment to projects and a unified pursuit of success is inherent. There are numerous programs at Gore that support workplace productivity improvement which associates growth and development with a distinctive culture that is maintained and strengthened. Promoting diversity is an important part of workplace values at Gore as they raise awareness of potential micro-inequities in daily routines through training and workshops.A healthy work environment is found in each Gore plant by having a smoke-free environment, healthy plant-like settings, and recreational opportunities. Face-to-face communication is also the preference of corporate leaders as they directly speak to employees on specific issues and facilitate direct group discussion. Compensation within the organization is given in proportion to the contribution the associate makes to the financial success of Gore. Each associate is compensated based on peer rankings and job effectiveness. Gore is considered to be one of the best workplaces in the U.S. as corporate researchers such as Great Place to Work Institute, Inc. , placed the company very favorable amongst other Fortune 100 companies. The corporate structure of the U. S. Navy shares some of Gore’s workplace improvement values. Sailors share and own activities that make up a specific process. Each individual is known as a â€Å"process owner† and it is ultimately their responsibility for accountability and the proper working conditions of projects. The Sailor is driven to be a leader and has control over the entire process from beginning to end.A teamwork approach is intrinsic to life in the Navy. By utilizing total quality tools and methods, the Navy organization continuously reinforces teamwork. Through the utilization of team members’ collective knowledge, experiences, and efforts, the Navy continues to improve its processes. These benefits describe the â€Å"Total Navy Experience† which through teamwork and process ownership, the whole becomes greater than the sum of its parts. Gore’s organization consists of self-managing groups that share responsibility and are aligned in a flat hierarchy of functions.In this organization, there are no subordinates; there are only peers negotiating with peers. Gore’s workplace is free of the barriers that are typical of more traditional companies. The company has done away with ti tles and special entitlements, and encourages direct, one-on-one communication. Multi-disciplined teams of associates in clustered plants organize around technologies and market opportunities. This unique corporate culture contributes directly to its product successes and workplace productivity.

Film Noir Elements in the movie Memento Essay

There is yet to be a definition to be created to accurately capture the genre of â€Å"Noir† in film. The concept was first coined by French film critics who â€Å"noticed the trend of how ‘dark’, downbeat and black the looks and themes were of many American crime and detective films released in France to theatres following the war†(â€Å"Film Noir†). The term ‘noir’ is a French word which literally means â€Å"black† or â€Å"dark†. The connotation attached to the term later on came to be those films which depicted crime, strangeness, cruelty, brutality, violence and similar other attributes. The period for Noir films flourished in the 1940s up to the 1950s, which were aptly called the â€Å"classic noir† period in movies. Later on, from the 1960s up to the current times, other types of â€Å"noir† films were conceptualized like the â€Å"neo-noir† and the â€Å"science fiction noir†, all concepts of which were derived from or echoed the original â€Å"classic noir† genus. â€Å"Memento† is one movie which typifies the â€Å"film noir† genre in that it has numerous elements which categorically makes it as one. Primarily, the existence of a lonely, confused and troubled protagonist (Schoenherr) is there. Add to this the other elements like the black-and-white scenes, the struggle, the seemingly bleak situations, the crimes perpetrated, the underground investigations, the voice-overs of the lead character, evil, paranoia and deception among other things. An interesting feature of this film though is the story unfolding from its end going up to the supposed initial scenes which took place. It is not narrated exactly in a circular motion but rather they are presented in chunks of about 10 minutes each. Aside from this, there is the alternate presentation of the colored and black-and-white formats to add narration and further expound on the sequence of events. Film noir operates on specific social, cultural and historical contexts. In this particular film, the social context used is that of the protagonist becoming a different man after the rape and murder of his wife. Leonard or Lenny loses his memory after he shoots his wife’s rapist and he is shoved and clubbed by the rapist’s companion. His head hits the bathroom mirror, and from then on, he becomes afflicted with Anterograde Amnesia or not being able to retain his short-term memory. Lenny’s memories before the accident are intact and his last memories are of his wife being murdered, hence, his ever- enduring quest to avenge her death. Most people now think of Lenny as a freak for not being able to remember thoughts, names, faces and events which are a regular part of the memory of â€Å"normal† people since he forgets his thoughts and the things he does after 15 minutes or so. However, Lenny struggles to keep his sanity by taking Polaroid pictures and immediately labeling them, writing down his ideas, and tattooing the more important thoughts on his body. Having no family to call his own, he lives in a motel room and is suspicious of everyone. His life’s direction is motivated by vengeance and a major part of the film is spent on this desire to kill. The cultural context of the film is the type of culture that was used in the movie. The setting is sometime during the 2000s in Nevada. It is not shown if the protagonist had a lot of friends before the incident which led to his ‘condition’, but it is presumed that it was probably a case of not wanting to be identified with someone with a stigma of mental illness. The only friend who was identified as someone who knew Lenny immediately after the accident was Teddy, who was the one who helped Lenny to find and kill the original murderer of his wife, and then again Jimmy G. who was also killed by Lenny. As such, it meant that the culture held a discriminating attitude towards this mental illness. Pertaining to historical context, the practice of tattooing as a body art was prevalent from the late 1990s up to the 2000s. This was a period when tattooing was no longer considered as objects of diversion done in prison cells but rather as an art form to express oneself. In the movie, the lead character made use of tattoos on his body to remind himself of essential facts/details which he always wanted to be reminded of. Although not used as an art form, the existence of tattoo parlors in the locality denoted an acceptance of the practice of self-expression, which worked quite well for Lenny. It was also a time when Polaroids were popularly used and Leonard fully exhausted the Polaroids’ capability to assist him in remembering people and places with his depressing mental condition. According to Filmsite. org, â€Å"the primary moods of classic film noir were melancholy, alienation, bleakness, disillusionment, disenchantment, pessimism, ambiguity, moral corruption, evil, guilt, desperation and paranoia† (â€Å"Film Noir†). These themes are evident in the seclusion, isolation and omnipresent monologues of the lead character who wanted to establish the links to find meaning in his life. A wide array of emotions ranging from suspicion, confusion, naivete, loneliness, alienation, hatred, and bewilderment among others were efficiently delivered by the lead actor to the viewers who empathized with him in his daily struggle to survive. Noir movies characteristically have a protagonist who is usually reclusive, generally disturbed and commonly pessimistic. The lead character in â€Å"Memento† is not the typical protagonist since he lives his life everyday like a clean new slate. Just like the first part of this movie where a Polaroid picture was being undeveloped, Lenny lived his life always careworn to find out what he had been doing and what he should be doing next. His ultimate aim was to find his wife’s killer, a task which Teddy assists him with. Although he is somewhat of the withdrawn type, Lenny is still enthusiastic about life and is confident that his Polaroids, notes and tattoos are taking him somewhere. Different noir styles were also apparent throughout the film. One is that â€Å"storylines were often elliptical, non-linear and twisting† (â€Å"Film Noir†) which connotes the unique presentation customarily associated with noir. Regular films are often presented in a manner where the story unfolds conventionally from beginning to end. The story told backwards and in bits and pieces was a unique way of entrancing the audience into being an active participant in the life of Leonard, trying to come up with his/her own conclusions or links to previous scenes and events. â€Å"Amnesia suffered by the protagonist was a common plot device† (â€Å"Film Noir†) which was obviously the illness which the lead character was afflicted with. This sort of justified the way with which Lenny killed the possible murderers without remorse or guilt since his brain was devoid of any emotions relating to pity and mercy. Furthermore, it is said that â€Å"the protagonists in film noir were normally driven by their past or by human weakness to repeat former mistakes†(â€Å"Film Noir†) which is what happens to Lenny as the film unfolds. It is only later in the movie that it is revealed that Lenny had already killed his wife’s murderer, and Teddy had even taken a Polaroid shot of him after the said killing. It was due to his mental condition that Lenny was not able to remember the incident which Teddy later used to his advantage in getting rid of Jimmy G. who was a drug dealer. The original story of Memento was an idea brought forward by the brother of the movie’s director, Jonathan Nolan in the late 1990s. The storyline was finished after several months and director Christopher Nolan came up with the idea that he wanted to tell the movie backwards, hence the screenplay was manipulated in a way where shot sequences were cut up into small bits. In between the colored takes were the non-colored shots to denote two timelines of what was the past and the present respectively. At some point towards the end of the movie, the black-and-white scene becomes colored specifically when Lenny takes the Polaroid picture of the dead Jimmy G, who was the second murder suspect endorsed by Teddy. This signified the beginning of a new chapter in the life of Leonard, and the true commencement of the story which somehow tragically ends with the death of its instigator, Teddy. The artistry presented in the film being of a different genre is – as previously mentioned — largely seen in the story’s presentation to the viewer. The lead actor was also shown in black-and-white scenes and colored ones which showed contrasting characters – one, the rugged, unshaven, unkempt, menacing and confused character who shoots the gun at Jimmy G. in black-and-white, and the other, the suit-clad formally dressed and more confident Lenny who drives a Jaguar in colored film. This implies that the main character had good and bad traits, although the bad traits were more emphasized but later exposed to be manipulations done by some of the other characters in the plot. One of these characters is Natalie who represents the ‘femme fatale’ element in the movie, and who adds further intricacies to the plot and manipulates Lenny into a mental tug-of-war with Teddy’s statements. The cinematography of the film was excellent as emphasis was done where it was necessary, and accurate illumination was also appropriately achieved. Editing was also good especially in the cuts of the film that had to be fed in several lumps, and in two different formats of color and B&W. Continuity in the film was smooth and flowed effortlessly. The film scoring was suitable and elicited empathy from the viewer in the scenes where dialogues were not really necessary. The closest thing to special effects in the film was the way that the first sequence was presented to the viewer where the Polaroid shot was being undeveloped instead of the other way around. It goes back up to the time Lenny shoots Teddy and the latter was screaming for his life. Acting in the film was superb. Guy Pearce as Leonard was able to deliver all the emotions expected from him and thus elicited the required compassion from the viewer. Teddy, Natalie, Sammy Jankins and all the other actors also did a good job in making the plot more focused on the plight of the main character, thereby allowing Lenny to stand out. The movie â€Å"Memento† has some allusions to significant theories and concepts. One of these is the concept of Cultural Materialism. The most active proponent of Cultural Materialism is Marvin Harris and the premise of this theory is that the social life of a human being is a direct response to problems arising from his earthly existence. Leonard’s actions can be rationalized as a practice of cultural materialism because he is merely responding to his problems instead of taking a proactive role in it. This is due in large part to his illness which he cannot control and which allows him to be manipulated by some shady characters in the film. Existentialism is another concept which is apparent in this movie. The plot evolves around the lead character, Leonard, who tries to find meaning in his existence as he grapples with his affliction rendering him confused and stressed at most times. He tries hard to think and look back but cannot, and this is what leads him to try to devise ways in which he could remember things, events, places and people who have somehow played an important role in his life, after the accident which claimed his short-term memory. Lastly, there is the hint of self-determination as seen in the main character as he tries his best to make decisions without the influence of others. Unfortunately, he was not aware of the subtle approach which was used by the movie’s disreputable characters who were always one step ahead of him in his plans. Still, it was revealed near the movie’s end that Lenny was also utilizing his selective memory to manipulate the situation in such a way as to be able to create and continually re-create his motives for vengeance. Since finding the possible suspects to his wife’s murder was the only impetus which kept him alive, it was a need he had to satiate, and hence, an inspiration which kept him continually in pursuit of. References Schoenherr. Revised 4/11/03. Characteristics of Film Noir. Retrieved from http://history. sandiego. edu/gen/filmnotes/filmnoir. html Film Noir. 2010. Retrieved from http://www. filmsite. org/filmnoir. html Film Reference: Ryder, A. , Tyrer, W. & Ball, C. (Producer) & Nolan, C. (Director). 2001. Memento. United States: New Market Films.

USS Mississippi (BB-41) in World War II

USS Mississippi (BB-41) in World War II Entering service in 1917, USS Mississippi (BB-41) was the second ship of the New Mexico-class. After seeing brief service in World War I, the battleship later spent the majority of its career in the Pacific. During World War II, Mississippi took part in the US Navys island-hopping campaign across the Pacific and repeatedly clashed with Japanese forces.   Retained for several years after the war, the battleship found a second life as a test platform the the US Navys early missile systems. A New Approach After designing and building  five classes of dreadnought battleships (South Carolina-, Delaware-, Florida-, Wyoming-, and New York-classes), the US Navy decided that future designs should make use of a set of standardized tactical and operational characteristics. This would permit these ships to operate together in combat and would simplify logistics. Dubbed the Standard-type, the next five classes were powered by  oil-fired boilers instead of coal, eliminated amidships turrets, and possessed an â€Å"all or nothing† armor scheme. Among these changes, the shift to oil was made with the goal of increasing the vessel’s range as the US Navy felt that this would be critical in any future naval conflict with Japan. As a result, Standard-type ships were capable of cruising 8,000 nautical miles at an economical speed. The new all or nothing armor scheme called for key  areas of the vessel, such as magazines and engineering, to be heavily armored while less important spaces were left unprotected. Also, Standard-type battleships were to be capable of a  minimum top speed of 21 knots and have a tactical turn radius of 700 yards.   Design The characteristics of the Standard-type were first used in the  Nevada-  and  Pennsylvania-classes. As a follow-on to the latter, the  New Mexico-class at first was envisioned as the US Navys first class to mount 16 guns. A new weapon, the 16/45 caliber gun had been successfully tested in 1914. Heavier than the 14 guns used on previous classes, employment of the 16 gun would require a vessel with a larger displacement. This would significantly increase construction costs. Due to extended debates  over designs and anticipated rising costs, Secretary of the Navy  Josephus Daniels decided to forgo using the new guns and instructed that the new type replicate the  Pennsylvania-class with only minor changes. As a result, the three vessels  of the  New Mexico-class, USS  New Mexico  (BB-40), USS  Mississippi  (BB-41), and USS  Idaho  (BB-42), each carried a main armament of twelve 14 guns placed in four triple turrets. These were supported by a secondary battery of fourteen 5 guns which were mounted in enclosed casemates in the vessels superstructure. Additional armament came in the form of four 3 guns and two Mark 8 21 torpedo tubes. While  New Mexico  received an experimental turbo-electric transmission as part of its power plant,  the other two vessels used more traditional geared turbines.      Ã‚   Construction      Assigned to Newport News Shipbuilding, construction of Mississippi commenced  on April 5,  1915. Work moved forward over the next twenty-one months  and on January 25, 1917, the new battleship entered  the water with Camelle McBeath, daughter of the Chairman of the Mississippi State Highway Commission, serving as sponsor.   As work continued, the United States became embroiled in World War I. Finished late that year, Mississippi  entered commission on December 18, 1917, with Captain Joseph L. Jayne  in command. USS Mississippi  (BB-41) Overview Nation:  United StatesType:  BattleshipShipyard:  Newport News ShipbuildingLaid Down:  April 5, 1915Launched:  January 25, 1917Commissioned:  December 18, 1917Fate:  Sold for scrap Specifications (as built) Displacement:  32,000 tonsLength:  624  ft.Beam:  97.4 ft.Draft:  30 ft.Propulsion:  Geared  turbines turning 4 propellersSpeed:  21  knotsComplement:  1,081  men Armament 12  Ãƒâ€" 14 in. gun (4  Ãƒâ€" 3)14 Ãâ€" 5 in. guns2 Ãâ€" 21 in. torpedo tubes World War I Early Service Finishing its shakedown cruise,  Mississippi  conducted exercises along the Virginia coast in early 1918. It then shifted south to Cuban waters for further training. Steaming back to Hampton Roads in April, the battleship was retained on the East Coast during the final months of World War I. With the end of the conflict, it moved through winter exercises in the Caribbean before receiving orders to join the Pacific Fleet at San Pedro, CA. Departing in July 1919,  Mississippi  spent the next four years operating along the West Coast.   In 1923, it took part in a demonstration during which it sank USS Iowa  (BB-4).   The following year, tragedy struck  Mississippi  when on June 12 an explosion occurred in Turret Number 2 which killed 48 of the battleships crew.  Ã‚  Ã‚   Interwar Years Repaired,  Mississippi  sailed with several American battleships in April for war games off Hawaii followed by a goodwill cruise to New Zealand and Australia. Ordered east in 1931, the battleship entered the Norfolk Navy Yard on March 30 for an extensive modernization. This saw alterations to the battleships superstructure and  changes to the secondary armament. Completed in mid-1933,  Mississippi resumed active duty and began training exercises. In October 1934, it returned to San Pedro and rejoined the Pacific Fleet. Mississippi  continued to serve in the Pacific until mid-1941.    Directed to sail for Norfolk,  Mississippi  arrived there on June 16 and prepared for service with the Neutrality Patrol. Operating in the North Atlantic, the battleship also escorted American convoys to Iceland.   Safely reaching Iceland in late September,  Mississippi  stayed in the vicinity for most of the fall. There when the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor on December 7 and the United States entered World War II, it promptly departed for the West Coast and reached San Francisco on January 22, 1942. Tasked with training and protecting convoys, the battleship also had its anti-aircraft defenses enhanced. To the Pacific Employed in this duty for the early part of 1942,  Mississippi  then escorted convoys to Fiji in December and operated in the southwest Pacific.   Returning to  Pearl Harbor  in March 1943, the battleship commenced training for operations in the Aleutian Islands. Steaming north in May,  Mississippi  participated in the bombardment of Kiska on July 22 and aided in compelling the Japanese to evacuate. With the successful conclusion of the campaign, it underwent a brief overhaul at San Francisco before joining forces bound for the Gilbert Islands. Supporting American troops during the Battle of Makin on November 20, Mississippi  sustained a turret explosion which killed 43. Island Hopping Undergoing repairs,  Mississippi  returned to action in January 1944 when it provided fire support for the invasion of Kwajalein. A month later, it bombarded Taroa and Wotje before striking Kavieng, New Ireland on March 15. Ordered to Puget Sound that summer,  Mississippi  had its 5 battery expanded. Sailing for the Palaus, it aided in the Battle of Peleliu  in September. After replenishing at Manus, Mississippi  moved to the Philippines where it bombarded Leyte on October 19. Five nights later, it took part in the victory over the Japanese at the Battle of Surigao Strait. In the fighting, it joined five Pearl Harbor veterans in sinking two enemy battleships as well as a heavy cruiser. During the action,  Mississippi  fired the final salvos by a battleship against other heavy warships. Philippines Okinawa Continuing to support operations in the Philippines through late fall,  Mississippi  then moved to take part in the landings at Lingayen Gulf, Luzon. Steaming into the gulf on January 6, 1945, it pounded Japanese shore positions prior to the Allied landings. Remaining offshore, it sustained a kamikaze hit near the waterline but continued to strike targets until February 10. Ordered back to Pearl Harbor for repairs, Mississippi remained out of action until May. Arriving off Okinawa on May 6, it commenced firing on Japanese positions including Shuri Castle. Continuing to support Allied forces ashore, Mississippi took another kamikaze hit on June 5. This struck the ships starboard side, but did not force it to retire. The battleship stayed off Okinawa bombarding targets until June 16. With the end of the war in August, Mississippi steamed north to Japan and was present in Tokyo Bay on September 2 when the Japanese surrendered aboard USS Missouri (BB-63).    Later Career                           Departing for the United States on September 6, Mississippi ultimately arrived at Norfolk on November 27. Once there, it underwent conversion into an auxiliary ship with the designation AG-128.   Operating from Norfolk, the old battleship conducted gunnery tests and served as a test platform for new missile systems. It remained active in this role until 1956. On September 17, Mississippi was decommissioned at Norfolk. When plans to convert the battleship into a museum fell through, the US Navy elected to sell it for scrap to Bethlehem Steel on November 28.

How to Use Job Keywords to Score a Job Interview

How to Use Job Keywords to Score a Job Interview You’ve heard all about job keywords and how important they are in the job search process, particularly for getting your resume read and landing an interview. But are you feeling at a loss about what exactly job keywords are and how to wield them? Here are four steps to keyword domination.1. Use the language of your industryYou want to include the jargon of your industry in your resume. How do you find out what that is? Easy. A bit of internet research can help you turn your resume and LinkedIn profile into a shining beacon for recruiters.Make sure not to use too many terms, or very obscure terms, or you might alienate potential recruiters from other fields. Run your keywords by a person from another field to make sure they make sense to anyone who’ll read your resume, but still include enough specifics for you to be taken seriously within your industry.2. Think about your most valuable skillsWhat skills do you use on a daily basis in your current job? Start keeping a ru nning list. When in doubt, pull out your old job description for a few vital ones. Look to current job descriptions for positions similar to yours within your field. If there are skills common to all current postings for the kind of job you want, then those are pretty good examples of keywords to include in your resume.3. Read the job description closelyTake out your highlighter and dissect the job description. Treat it like a grade school reading assignment, and ask yourself what this company is looking for? Highlight everything you think this employer requires, and then create a case for how you tick all the boxes.Similarly, if a job description lists preferred or required skills, then those are the ones to focus on in your keyword use. Just be sure you don’t claim to have a skill or experience that you do not. Keep it honest.4. Extract from word cloudsGet familiar with wordle.net or wordclouds.com to see how you can feed documents through these services and extract a word picture with the most commonly used words identified. This can save you a step with longer documents when looking for keywords.When in doubt, remember to always back up every keyword you use with actual examples in your work history of how you wielded that particular skill or put out that particular fire. Use keywords intelligently and you’ll not only get past the computer screenings, you’ll get past the human reading the resumes and handing out the interviews.

Microfinance Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Microfinance - Essay Example regular banks, in most cases because they are unable to offer sufficient collateral.† (Gert van Maanen, 2) There are two schools of thought regarding the entire industry of Microfinance: the first advocates non-profit lending, while the other takes the opposite view- that for-profit. In this regard, this essay is written to present arguments that profit microfinance institutions (MFIs) are better off by pursuing profits making them more sustainable than non-profit MFIs. This paper will argue that by microfinance institutions (MFIs) pursuing their own interest (profits) this is the only way to be sustainable & will lead to more outreach & more the greater good for all impoverished people despite the fact MFIs are for-profit. Years of research indicate that for-profit MFIs are more sustainable than non-profit microfinance institutions because they have higher growth rates, access to a larger pool of funding and are much more profitable. According to Global Microfinance Forum (1), â€Å"profit-maximizing MFIs run just as normal businesses do, making enough profit to fund themselves and benefit owners and investors.† For-profit MFI’s pursue profits because they are market driven. They could rely on donor funds in their initial stages, but unlike non-profit MFI’s, they specifically stipulate that their goal is to be financially self-sufficient—the ability to rely on themselves financially from within the institution. Hence, by gaining profits they want to grow, expand the number of institutions; lower all possible costs and ultimately reach the most amounts of people possible. By relying on themselves, for-profit MFIs are sustainable. The opportunities for profit MFIs are greater in terms of availability and accessibility for investor capital. In addition, with their own sources of funds, potentials for expanding their target market are vast. Supporters for nonprofit MFIs stipulate that these institutions solicit funds from donors, grants, government

Information Handling Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words - 1

Information Handling - Essay Example The source where accuracy posed the greatest problem was the marketing database.So I think usefulness informations need have accuracy and reliability, accuracy and reliability determine the quality of information."Information that is timely is available when it is needed for managerial action, not after the decision has been made" (Gareth, 2000,P614) In today's speedily changing world and technology 's developing, lead to information changing frequently. Real-time Information is reflecting current conditions. (Gareth, 2000,P614) For example, productions' price changing frequently in marketing because manager wants to make profit in competition's marketing. So manager should be pay attention to information's changing. Catch Real-time information is very importance. Look at timeliness in accounting"Timeliness: accounting information should be made available to external decision-makers before it loses its capacity to influence decisions." (Dyckman, 1992, P44) Like the news of the world, old financial information never carries the same impact fresh information carries. Otherwise lack of timeliness reduces relevance."Information that is complete gives managers all the information they need to exercise control, achieve coordination, or make an effective decision." (Gareth, 2000,P615) information's completive will provided good help to manager to decision. When you set up a new business, look at complete information is importance. Such as, how is this productions sold, how long can make profit.

Right, Wrong and the Truth Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Right, Wrong and the Truth - Essay Example It is easy to find a person who might even kill someone else just to be able to get his hands on some wealth. Bertrand Russell writes, â€Å"Philosophy, if it cannot answer so many questions as we could wish, has at least the power of asking questions which increase the interest of the world, and show the strangeness and wonder lying just below the surface even in the commonest things of daily life.† Ethics play a very important role in the life of any kind of a citizen; may he be a layman or a business man. In every part of life, every man has the choice of being where he is, choosing the decisions that he must take in order to make his own life better, and having the choice of stepping on other people’s dreams to do the same or not. In business for example, ethics play an important role when people decide to cheat or not to cheat by selling bad quality products to consumers. Again, the question of what is right and what is wrong arises over here because morally speaki ng, it is wrong to cheat people and have them pay a higher price for something that is not worthy of the same. According to historical norms, various customs that have been taking place since times immemorial still find their way within our modern lives. However, some of these customs are banned according to the legal system within countries because they are simply very immoral in nature. For example, in earlier times, discrimination and slavery played a very important role in the lives of the upper class; however today, it is against the law to be discriminating against any person on any basis including gender, caste, creed, race etc. Thus, this is a question of both ethics and morality because it helps to understand what may be closer to being right and what may be morally accepted by society at large without harming the maximum number of people involved in the process. In many cases, the truth is far from what may be right or wrong and not many people can do something to change t hat. For example, it might be wrong to practice female infanticide in parts of the world, however, the truth is that many tribes and families have been practising it for a long time in remote areas and will not stop because it has almost become custom like. In villages in India, it is tough for people to stop practising this heinous act because they are not aware of its implications and carry it out because it is a tradition for them to be able to give birth to a boy. Coming back to socio cultural dimensions around the world, again, the idea of understanding what may be right or wrong is almost funny. It is like explaining the theory of brightness and darkness to a blind person. For the blind man, the darkness in his world holds a different kind of colour altogether that a normal person will never be able to understand. At the same time, someone who is colour-blind sees the world in a different manner than a person who is able to differentiate between colours easily. Thus, it all bo ils down to a matter of perspective; today what may seem right to one group of people may be extremely wrong in the eyes of the other. The world is made up of different kinds of people who hold different thoughts and notion within their minds. It is very difficult to be able to change people’s minds and get them to believe in what a single person might be thinking.