Emergence of Confucianism Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Emergence of Confucianism - Assignment Example He is well celebrated for coming up with the textual traditions of china. The texts became the foundation and the state ideology of the Chinese dynasties. The texts were mastered by few in the society but penetrated deep in the society and are held sacred by the members of the Chinese community (Xinzhong, 2005). Confucius is locally known as the king qui the founder of the school of thought that is well studied and celebrated. Every country and nation experiences a financial depression at a certain period. It is up to the government to make sure that the situation is well handled and make sure that the financial position is restored as quickly as possible. In Britain, the financial hurricane hit in the year 2008.The financial advisor suggested that they should shrink the government. However, this did not work and led to high taxes and strangled and weakened the economy of Britain. The repercussions were loss of jobs and income to the people, high taxes, high interest and many more effects which that are detrimental to any state. As explained in the documentary, mandate of heaven is a myth and ideology the Asian empires of ancient times grant that they have the right to govern and lead the nation. Heaven is said to bestow the mandate to an individual to be a leader and the ruler of the people in question. Mandate of heaven does not require a leader with the royal blood but rather id concerned with the unique qualities of the person. If a ruler was overthrown, he is considered as have lost the mandate of heaven. This ideology is common in china and was used to support the kings and the rulers of the Shang and Zhou dynasties. The past of the Chinese society is vet strong and influences them greatly. They development is hindered by their retention of tradition practices and philosophies. Culture mix refers to the mixing together of different groups of people with differences in art and

Environment assignment Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Environment assignment - Essay Example Question 1d) According to Harvard University economist Jeffrey Sachs, Africa needs US $10-20 billion a year to help it adequately combat HIV/AIDS and other infectious diseases (Beresford, 2001). This is an amount that African states cannot raise on their own especially when one considers their weak economies that are being crippled further by several disease pandemics. The developed countries would therefore be of help if they can support Africa by granting it money to combat HIV/AIDS. And when we say grant, we do not mean concessionary loans, we mean outright grants. Question 2) The precautionary principle has the following four central components: taking preventive action in the face of uncertainty; shifting the burden of proof to the proponents of an activity; exploring a wide range of alternatives to possibly harmful actions; and increasing public participation in decision making (Kriebel et al., 2001). We are of the opinion that anyone who wishes to introduce a new product o r process, be tasked with proving that their new proposition will not harm the environment before proceeding. The first component of the precautionary principle if simply put states that it is better to be safe than sorry. With the world still unable to combat several â€Å"big† problems such as ecosystem degradation, resource depletion and climate change, and with environmental and health problems continuing to grow more rapidly than our ability to find solutions, Kriebel and Tickner (2001) state that it would be foolhardy to go ahead with new propositions that may create more problems in the future. The second and third components of the precautionary principle, shifting the burden of proof to the proponents of an activity and exploring a wide range of alternatives to possibly harmful actions, have the effect of making investors stop and reflect deeply before proceeding with their new propositions. This means that it is up to the investor to research, bear the risk and co me up with convincing data before launching a product or process. This would go a long way in arresting the quick money syndrome that is often the root cause of launching of untested products or processes. Also, increased stakeholder participation as proposed by the precautionary principle makes it even more difficult for investors who may have fudged data to support their new offerings from launching their products or processes without a prior independent audit from the public. Question 3) The proposition that warmer weather translates into longer and better life, less energy consumption, and reduced outlays for clothing is too simplistic. For starters we need to define what is or is not warm. Of course the arguments put forth by â€Å"What Are the Benefits of Global Warming?† (n.d.) such as increase in land for farming and living due to the acreage of ice on earth reducing, less money spent on heating and so on have their merits. However, these merits are only true to the extent that global warming leads to a rise in temperature to a level that can be defined as â€Å"warm†. Any deviation to this would lead to heat waves such as those experienced in Europe in 2003. A comprehensive study done by the World Health Organization (WHO) examined the correlation between climate change and the global burden of disease especially in the underdeveloped nations. The

Publishing Controversial Photographs

Publishing Controversial Photographs Ephron argued that since death is part of life, readers should not be sheltered from it. She asked why photos from fatal car accidents show the wrecked vehicles and not the victims. Mangled steel is worthless; a human life is priceless. Why not capture on film the loss of that which is truly precious? (Ephron, www.haverford.edu/) The so-named Boston Photographs were taken in 1975 by photojournalist Stanley Forman.. I made all kinds of pictures because I thought it would be a good rescue shot over the ladder, (Ephron, 433) Forman said in explaining why he took the pictures. In the first frame, there is a fireman with his arm around a woman he is attempting to rescue from a burning apartment building. The woman clings to her child. The fireman is reaching for the rescue ladder an arm s length away. It appears that everything will be all right, that the woman and her child will be saved. This picture, by itself, does not foreshadow the tragedy to come. It is a dramatic photograph, to be certain, but one that would assure the viewer that confidence in the bravery and skills of firefighters is not misplaced. The second photograph shows the fire escape pulling away from the building. Whereas the first photo makes the reader want to cheer, the second one reminds us that something can go wrong. The rescue is not successful until everyone is on the ground and safely away from the burning building. The photo shows, too, that the firefighter did everything he was supposed to do. His training prepared him for a moment such as this. More than anything else, this photo shows that courage and skill are not always enough. No one could have anticipated that the fire escape would pull away from the building. It is a picture that at once captures the good fortune of the woman in being rescued and the horrific moment when her luck turned. The third photograph is the most dramatic because it shows the woman and her child falling through the air. The child, naturally, looks frightened. Her arms and legs are splayed and we see the speed of her descent with her shirt, which the air has pushed up to expose her round, babyish tummy. Her eyes are open and her mouth is distorted by a grimace. The mother s fall is even more dramatic because she propels through the air headfirst. The viewer cannot see her face but can only imagine the horror reflected in her expression. It is impossible to know what the woman was thinking. Did she know that she was moments from death? Did she think about her child? Did she ask for God s help, or curse His failure to protect them? The woman is barefoot and she is wearing shorts. On a summer s day, it would be expected that someone be so attired at home. Yet the woman seems particularly vulnerable when dressed this way. She seems so exposed although, of course, long pants and shoes would not have made any difference to her survival. Who was this woman? We cannot really know anything about her from the picture. We can see that she is young, with the long, gangling limbs of a teenager. She looks like a child and yet she also has a child of her own. The picture causes us to reflect on death made more tragic by the fact that, for this mother and child, they come too soon. The falling flowerpots add to the poignancy of the photos. The apartment building, obviously older, represents urban life as experienced by someone who is young and poor. The flowers represent an attempt to add a little beauty to the surroundings. What sort of person is it who puts a flowerpot on a window ledge high above the city streets? The flowerpots give us a tiny glimpse into the character of the young woman. We feel we know a little more about her and that makes her death more tragic. To plant a flower is to feel hopeful about the future, and when we see the photograph, we know that the woman s hope in the future, unbeknownst to her, was misplaced. We feel a greater sense of loss. But do we know her? Of course not. The shocking photo arouses emotion within us and, whether we realize it or not, causes us to ascribe thoughts and characteristics to the victim that we can never verify, even when reading the accompanying news story. Perhaps the young woman did not care at all about the plants. It is even possible that they were left there by a previous tenant of the apartment and went unnoticed by the young mother. Perhaps she did not notice beauty and felt no hope at all for the future she and her child would share. There is no way the viewer of the photograph can ever know any of this for certain. The newsworthiness of the tragic fire is the photos themselves. Unfortunately, people die in fires in the United States all the time. The accounts of the fires are tragic, but as news stories they are usually only relevant to families and friends of the victims and the people who live in the community where the tragedy took place. Photographer Forman, who won a Pulitzer Prize for the photos, expected to record an event with a far different outcome. He was taking advantage of a relatively new technology, a motor-driven camera that allowed a photographer to take a series of pictures in rapid succession. He expected to capture, in still photographs, the sequence of events leading up to a dramatic rescue. Instead, he captured the moments before death. The third photograph as the last that he took of the rescue attempt. I realized what was going on, he said afterwards. I completely turned around because I didn t want to see her hit. (Ephron, www.haverford.edu/) The pictures are much more powerful than words in telling this story. It is not that words cannot sufficiently describe a scene or convey emotions. Author Stephen King is famous and wealthy because of his ability to construct tales that frighten us. John Grisham has used the power of words to make us feel outrage on the behalf of the underdogs whose stories he tells. Nicholas Sparks writes romances that bring some of his readers to tears. Forman s pictures tell a story for which each individual viewer provides his own words. More than that, however, the pictures evoke an emotional response that is instantaneous, even quicker than words can form. The pictures certainly drew attention to the event in a way that words alone would not. Newspaper editors know this and it can be argued that it was for the purpose of selling newspapers, not the imperative to show readers that death is part of life, which motivated them to print the pictures. Charges of sensationalism, voyeurism, and exploitation constituted many of the angry responses from readers. The reality is, though, that graphic images do capture people s attention. A news story, without photographs, would have dehumanized the tragedy. When we read that a woman fell to her death, our reaction is not nearly as strong as seeing the picture. We may soon forget that a woman died, particularly in reading the story and learning that the child survived. The picture, on the other hand, makes us confront the notion of death head-on. We may experience, even for a fraction of a second, that shiver of fear of falling. We think about what it must have felt like to fall, and what it must have felt like to watch the horror unfold. The fact that the woman and child were African-American also plays a part in judging the impact of the photo versus a story in words. A written story might not mention race; in a photo, it is there to see. To some viewers, race might matter. People assumed, because the young woman was black, that the burning apartment building was in a ghetto, when in fact it was not. African-Americans might identify more strongly with the photo than they would with just a story; white readers might identify less. For some readers, and it is hoped that it means more of them, not less, race is a non-issue and what they see is not the color of the victims skin but the horror expressed in their faces and body language. It is this horror that writer Ephron believes readers should see, but not because horror itself has value even though it does, in a way, in its ability to sell newspapers. As Ephron pointed out, though, these were great photographs. They captured something real and evoke strong emotion in people who look at them. That they disturb readers, she wrote, is exactly as it should be: that s why photojournalism is often more powerful than written journalism. (Ephron, 438) The Boston Photographs are by no means the only pictures to evoke strong emotions and cause controversy among newspaper editors and their readership. This essay will discuss two other pictures that were considered controversial at the time they were published. Seven years before Stanley Forman won the Pulitzer for his photo, war photographer Eddie Adams earned the prize for his now-iconic photo showing the execution of a man by a military officer on the streets of Saigon. As was the case with Forman, Adams never expected that the situation would take such a dramatic and horrific turn. As Adams told the story in a video entitled An Unlikely Weapon: The Eddie Adams Story, he was in the Chinese section of Saigon on the second day of the Tet Offensive. He saw a man in a plaid shirt being led out of a building and into the street. He followed to see what would happen. He was not surprised or shocked when a man in uniform, a military officer, held a gun to the head of the man in the plaid. Adams interpreted the action as a means of intimidation, a threat used as part of an act of interrogation. ? Retrieved from PulitzerPrize.org [http://pulitzerprize.org/photography/vietnam/] In retrospect, it seems like an incredibly bold and even foolhardy move, to stand with a camera so close to someone with a loaded gun. Adams was an experienced war photographer, however, and danger was part of the job. He did not anticipate what happened next. Adams snapped a photograph; he moved his finger on the camera s shutter in the same instant that the officer pulled the trigger of his gun. The shocking photograph that resulted captured the moment in time when the bullet entered the man s head. The photograph is shocking for several reasons. The most obvious is the expression on the face of the man in the plaid shirt. It reflects both pain and terror. The lines around the right side of the mouth suggest the rapid and violent movement of the head as an involuntary response to the impact of the bullet. The man doing the shooting has a matter-of-fact expression. He does not take any pleasure in killing the man, but he does what he feels he must without flinching. He is very certain about what he is doing. Over the left shoulder of the shooter, we see a helmeted soldier wincing at the horrible spectacle before him. There is a military vehicle at the end of the street. There are other people in the street, but there response to the shooting cannot be discerned from the photo. The photograph is shocking because the shooting appeared to take place in broad daylight, in the middle of a city street. The shooter does not appear to be concerned about concealing his identity or his action. The photo is shocking in its close-up look at violence, and it is violence that is made very personal because we see it from a unique perspective. As with Forman s photo, we do not see death in its aftermath but in the moments before it occurs. Both photos are shocking and frightening. Both photos appear to show people who were in the wrong place at the wrong time and suffer fatal consequences as a result. Unlike Forman s photo, though, a news story accompanying Adams photo has the power to change one s perception of the brutal act caught on film. Looking at the picture, one might assume that it showed a military man killing a civilian execution-style. There was more to the story. The man in plaid was a Viet Cong Army officer; he was the prime suspect in the murder of an entire family that day. The family belonged to the aide of Brig. General Nguyen Ngoc Loan, South Vietnamese National Police Chief and the shooter in the photograph. Did it make a difference that the man being shot was on the side of the United States enemy? Perhaps it did to some who looked at the picture and read about it. It may be easier to explain the violence if one can justify it as necessary to bring about justice. The woman in Forman s picture was a random victim of a very unfortunate accident; the man in Adams photo was a suspected criminal, thought to be responsible for the killing of innocent civilians. Some people, reading about the circumstances under which he was shot, may believe that he deserved to die. Some might believe he deserved to die by virtue of the fact that he was a Viet Cong officer. Killing is part of war. We are not at all surprised that there is death on the streets of Saigon, but we are shocked when an image of it is captured so vividly. There was no justice to be served to the woman who plunged to her death in Forman s photo. We are shocked by her death and surprised by it. Forman s final photo is prefaced by one in which it looks as though the woman and her child will be rescued. There is no doubt, in looking at Adams photo, the man in plaid will die. It is the more shocking photo of the two because it makes us look right into the face of death. We can hold out hope for a miracle when we look at Forman s photo, and it is only upon reading the accompanying story that one learns the woman died and her child survived. At least there is some good news in that story. There is no miracle in Adams photo and no good news waiting for the reader of the story behind it. Adams photo, much to his dismay, became an iconic antiwar image. That was never his intent. Forty years later, the image endures. The story behind the photograph matters little. The photo has come to symbolize the horror and brutality of a war to which many Americans were, and still remained, opposed. Even more evocative in its antiwar sentiment is the 1972 photograph by Nick Ut, showing a young Vietnamese girl, naked, screaming, and horribly burned by napalm. ? Retrieved from BBC News [http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/4517597.stm] The photo needs no accompanying words to explain it or make it any more powerful. It is a heart-breaking photograph of a child in abject terror. There are other children in the picture but it is the nakedness and total vulnerability of the little girl that shocks and saddens us. There is nothing one can write about the horrors of war that exemplify it more than the perils of this child. As with Forman s photo of the mother and child, we can look at the little girl and hope that somehow she will survive this terrible event. Forman s photo showed the terrible circumstances of two people. Ut s photo, on the other hand, showed the terrible circumstances in which millions of people found themselves as a result of the war. The photo is a painful reminder that there are many victims of war, not just the soldiers who fight. It is difficult to look at the photo and not feel outrage, at the same time wishing there were a way to gather up the children and transport them to safety. We know now t hat the little girl survived; even knowing that, however, does not make the photograph any less shocking. The final photo to be discussed in this essay was taken September 11, 2001, by photographer Richard Drew. Often referred to as The Falling Man, it depicts one of the many people who leaped from the inferno of the Twin Towers, making the horrible choice to die by suicide than in the smoke and flames. ? Retrieved from Esquire Magazine online [http://www.esquire.com/features/ESQ0903-SEP_FALLINGMAN] The photo is shocking because, as one first looks at it, it seems to be some sort of optical trick. The vertical lines of the tower do not look like a building. The man does not look as though he is falling. In Forman s photograph, the woman and child fall from the building with arms and legs distended, desperate to seek purchase on anything that would break their fall. By contrast, the falling man appears to be holding a pose and is elegant in the way he does so. He is falling straight downward, his arms at his sides, one leg bent at the knee in a manner that resembles a casual stance. It is difficult to look at the picture and not be immediately transported back to the horrible events of the day. Much has been written about 9/11 and there were many pictures taken. The falling man was only one of many people who jumped that day, yet it is his picture which touches us the most. Words could not adequately describe the falling man s descent and the emotions the picture evokes. After an initial look at the picture, one realizes exactly what it depicts: a man hurtling towards his death. Junod (2009) wrote that the body fell at an estimated speed of one hundred fifty miles per hour. The fall would have taken approximately ten seconds. One cannot even imagine the crushing agony the jumpers experienced in the final moments of their lives. What must it feel like to know you have only seconds left to live? Looking at Forman s photo, one can hope that there was a good outcome. Looking at Adams photo, we see death. The bullet has entered the man s head but, because the camera can capture a fraction of a second, the man has not yet dropped. Looking at Drew s photo, we wee impending death and a man literally falling toward it with grace. It is incredibly sad, both the circumstances of his death and the calm dignity with which he goes to meet it. Newspapers and television news programs showed photographs of jumpers until there were too many complaints from the public about their indecency. Drew was able to identify, almost with certainty, the Falling Man, yet the family would not provide confirmation, becoming angry when asked to do so. They felt, as did many of the people viewing pictures of jumpers, that showing anyone in the last moments of life robbed those people of their dignity. Photojournalism can be much more powerful than written journalism. In describing the four photos discussed in this essay, writers would bring their biases to the work. The use of the word bias is not pejorative; it simply means that a writer s knowledge and experience contribute to the interpretation of the photograph. The four pictures shown are shocking and evoke strong emotion. The depth and range of emotion, however, depends on the person who is looking at the pictures. Each of us notices different elements; each of us is touched in a different way. When reading a newspaper account of a tragedy, we think about the story as we make our way through the printed words. Reaction to a picture is instantaneous and much more powerful. A picture puts us at the scene in a way that words do not. Ephron illustrated this by including the Boston Photographs in her essay. She discussed the impact of the photos and the controversy they caused. Without seeing the photos, it might be too easy to ask what all the fuss was about. By seeing the photos, one can understand why the inspired strong feelings. Ephron does not argue that newspapers should print photographs of death. She argues that they should print great pictures that tell a story and evoke strong emotional response from readers. Work Cited: BBC News. (2005). Picture power: Vietnam napalm attack. http://news.bbc.co .uk/2/hi/4517597.stm. Ephron, N. (2005). The Boston Photographs, reprinted in Chris Anderson and Lex Runciman, eds., Open Questions; Readings for Critical Thinking and Writing (Boston: Bedford/St. Martin s, 2005). Print via Retrieved from http://www.haverford.edu/writingprogram /development/Ephron.pdf Junod, T. The falling man. Esquire 9/8/09. Retrieved from http://www.esquire.com/features /ESQ0903-SEP_FALLINGMAN PulitzerPrize.org. (2010). Photography: Pulitzer Eddie Adams Vietnam. http://pulitzerprize.org /photography/vietnam/

Character Analysis Of Prospero Essay -- essays research papers

Prospero, of course, is the play. He is the exiled duke of Milan and the father of Miranda, as well as a powerful magician ruler of a remote island. The play revolves around him. He has more lines than any other character. His presence is felt continuously, even in those scenes in which he does not appear personally. He is the manipulator of the action in the play. The sometimes-godlike character is well rounded and full of contradictions, making him a difficult character to evaluate.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  In his judging, punishing, forgiving, and in many other ways, he is godlike compare to the rest of the characters in the play. Thanks to Ariel, he is also knows everything as well. Like a god, he punishes the guilty, but with grace he shows mercy and gives second chances. After Caliban attempts to rape Miranda, Prospero does not get rid of him. If I were Prospero, I would have a severe monthly payment punishment-plan installed for Caliban. Near the end of the play, after Properso reveals the conspiracies of all those against him, there is no harsh punishment as one would imagine. He basically just demands repentance. Forgiveness is one of the themes in this play, and here Prospero demonstrates it. Even though Caliban conspires with Stephano and Trinculo to kill him, he refrains from punishing Caliban (“Go, sirrah, to my cell;/Take with you your companions. As you look/To have my pardon, trim it handsomely.'; 5.ii.291-293).   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   ...

Jackie Robinson

Jackie is historically recognized for his most significant impact on American society of breaking the color barrier in Major League Baseball in 1947. After his initial introduction to the Major Leagues with the Brooklyn Dodgers, Jackie became the target of white race criticism all around the league including players and coaches. His challenge with the racism around the league was to not fight back, but stay a quiet, polite, ordinary baseball player.After his astounding first season and World Series appearance with the Dodgers, he became a true aspiration to African Americans and portrayed that anyone from any racial background is capable of achieving their goals if they set their mind to it. Although he was the first African to play in the MOL, he earned the respect of members of the MOL organization and ended up being known as one of the most talented baseball players of all time.His amazing stats over his career such as leading the league in stolen bases, double plays as a second b aseman, his Impressive eating average, and his MAP award, led to his induction to the Hall of Fame In 1962. His most famous statistic in his baseball career is his 19 stolen bases home. In 1997, the MOL decided to retire the number 42 for all teams In Jackass's honor, which prevents a player from ever wearing the number 42 again in MOL history. After his career in baseball, Jackie continued to fight to Improve the quality of life not only for Africans but also for society as a whole.He also became Vice President of Chock Full Nut's in 1957 and became the first African to do so In a major reparation. Robinson became an activist and leader of the African community with the NAACP in 1957 to raise money and ultimately end segregation. In his attempt to end the discrimination, he gave speeches, encouraged new Ideas, marched and stood at protests fighting for a better life among society. Jackie came Into the league hoping to Impact the racial struggle, which he did, but ended up significa ntly Impacting U. S. Imperialism's political status on the world stage.In present day, the blacks that play Major League Baseball and other Major League sports around America would not be able to do what they do without Jackass's courageous fight to end discrimination against African Americans. Cackle made American society have a different perspective on the world of sports today. By J_acquiring Jackie Robinson was born in Georgia in 1919 to a family of sharecroppers. Jackie is leading the league in stolen bases, double plays as a second baseman, his impressive batting average, and his MAP award, led to his induction to the Hall of Fame in 1962. He MOL decided to retire the number 42 for all teams in Jackass's honor, which After his career in baseball, Jackie continued to fight to improve the quality of life Chock Full Nut's in 1957 and became the first African to do so in a major end the discrimination, he gave speeches, encouraged new ideas, marched and stood at protests fighting for a better life among society. Jackie came into the league hoping to impact the racial struggle, which he did, but ended up significantly impacting U. S. jackie robinson

Polo Ralph Lauren Performance Measurement

Notes on the slides. Agenda – Our agenda follows exactly the guideline that was given to us in order to carry out this assignment. The Company – Short overview of the firm. The Fashion Industry – It is based mainly on intangible assets, rather than capital or knowledge-intensive assets.Moreover, nowadays fashion companies are less affected by the problem of seasonality: indeed they experience sales that are pretty much stable over the year; in spite of this, PRL experiences different levels of sales in the different quarters, due mainly to wholesales shipments and in coincidence with holiday periods. Industry Analysis – We used the Five Forces Model to assess the characteristics of the industry in which PRL competes in.The fashion industry is a very competitive one, rivalry among firms is high: some competitors are bigger than PRL, so they also have more resources, but still PRL is a pretty strong name and the company has a large customer base. The threat of new entrants is low because there are strong incumbents, brand loyalty in the high-price segment is high and access to suppliers and distributors is limited.Even though PRL has a high brand recognition which makes end customers less price sensitive, the bargaining power of the buyers is high as the direct customers of the firm are mainly large department stores (and the gist of the company’s revenues comes from the wholesale sector). The threat of substitutes is moderate as loyal customers tend to buy only from them but in general people may vary their purchases and also buy from the competitors.For what concerns the suppliers, it’s important to specify that PRL does not manufacture its products itself, but instead relies on licensees and other manufacturers to do so. Its suppliers are therefore manufacturers which supply the company with the finished goods. The bargaining power of suppliers is moderate: as the company doesn’t actually manufacture anything th at it sells under his brand, it has to rely pretty much on manufacturers and licensees; high quality suppliers are few and there’s high competition among high-quality firms to find such reliable manufacturers.On the other hand though, PRL produces in many different countries, mainly outside the US, thus working with many different suppliers, and this lowers the suppliers’ strength in bargaining. In total they have 350 manufacturers, with none of them providing more than 8% of total production. Internal and External Factors – In order to get a better understanding of the competitive environment from the firm’s perspective as well as of firm-specific resources and capabilities, we conducted a SWOT analysis.The company has successfully grown and expanded its range of product lines and brands, as well as his presence in the international market. One of its main strengths is the brand: it inspires a precise lifestyle and virtually everybody knows it: this high brand awareness and recognition, as stated above, make the end consumer less sensitive to the price. They decided to leverage on their strong brand in order to increase the profitability of the business and expand it by further diversifying the range of product offerings and apparel brands, which are divided into Polo brands and Collection brands (the most expensive).The firm manages to have high margins on its various brands, especially in the Collection brands. They also have no problem in accessing the end consumers as their presence is considerably high, thanks to what they call â€Å"multiple channel distribution†: this means that they have both their own stores and sell to third parties such as department stores, specialty stores and factory stores.Their major weakness is the high dependence on department stores: as stated above, their revenues depend highly on this form of retail store, especially in the US and Canada (their biggest market, we will see that from a pie chart later): they have little influence on what the department stores buy and offer to their customers, no influence on the way the merchandise is displayed and in general no creative control over the marketing.Department stores may exercise pressure on the firm to obtain merchandise at lower prices (in order to increase their own margin). Moreover, fashion firms compete for the floor space in the department stores, and the company stated in its Annual Report of 2009 that there may be competitors with greater resources which could therefore represent a threat to them under this point of view.Other weaknesses are that PRL depends on manufacturers for what concerns the quality of its products (they have to implement strict quality checks) and they have no direct control over the licensing partners: they don’t get the full revenues from sales, they can’t manage the retail stores directly and a consequence of this is that they cannot get direct feedback from customers an d cannot respond to market trends since they’re not the ones who actually sell the finished goods.They face many opportunities: the Asian market is growing, especially China’s; they may expand their presence in prestigious sport tournaments in order to further promote their brand; moreover, we think it’s of fundamental importance that they expand their e-commerce by selling online also in Europe and Asia, and not only in the United States as it is now: their web-site has the great potential to increase their sales. They could also expand their range of product offerings and develop private labels in collaboration with department stores, as the latter are creating private labels themselves and this threatens PRL’s shelf space.Thus this could be a good solution in order to decrease the likelihood of seeing their space reduced. As this document is supposed to be just an explanation of some points that might not be clearly explained in the slides, we won†™t go through all of the weaknesses, but we cite the worrying fact that the major department stores in US are undergoing a wave of M&A, and the consequence of this will be a higher â€Å"customer† power (because the number of customers will be lower). We will add more to this subject when we will talk about one of the main organizational tensions: Reliance on department stores.The 4 Ps of Strategy – Strategy as a Plan: unfortunately the company doesn’t provide any quantitative indicator of success or specific time frames for their main objectives. They only talk more specifically about their plan to transform their wholesale and retail businesses in Southeast Asia from a licensed to a wholly owned operation in January 1, 2010. Balancing Tensions – This slide describes the five major tensions every company needs to balance in order to implement a performance measurement and control system effectively.Revenue Sources – Assessing their revenue distr ibution among segments and geographical regions, we see that two tensions already emerge: their dependence on the wholesale segment (as mentioned before) and the fact that revenues are not evenly distributed among countries. Specifically, we see that Japan only makes up 8% of total revenues. Financial Data – This slide shows a comparison between PRL’s and PVH’s most important financial indicators of performance.We chose PVH because some of PVH’s fashion companies compete directly with PRL (like Calvin Klein) and also because it’s one of the few peers of PRL that has public financial statements. Besides the fact that revenues are distributed unevenly among segments and regions, the financial data does not show any other indicators of tensions. Main Organizational Tensions – We have identified four tensions, which should be taken into consideration when implementing a performance measurement system.The first tension is Revenue goals for the As ia- Pacific region: when comparing PRL’s market share in Asia to the market share of its main competitors, we see that it has just 3% of the market share compared, for example, to the 60% market share of LVMH, a group that owns fashion brands such as Luis Vuitton and Marc Jacobs. The second chart shows that PRL generates small amount of its total revenue from Asia, while for example Hermes, which is a lot smaller than PRL comparing total revenues, manages to generate over 40% of their revenues in Asia.The high reliance on department store (second tension) is also negative because, as the chart shows, such retail stores are doing pretty badly, with their net income decreasing at a fast rate. If they have financial problems they would probably reduce their purchases and the likelihood of bad debt for PRL increases. The other two tensions are exhaustively addressed in the slides. How PRL Should Address These Problems – PRL should create its own Balanced Scorecard, and her e we explain why we think it’s the right performance measurement tool to use.The Balanced Scorecard – The Balanced Scorecard’s objectives address the main tensions that we identified in the company as well as provide guidance for future success. This strategic management tool anyways should be in line with the other performance measurement and control systems that the company implements. Control System – It is worth mentioning that we didn’t find any precise information about the performance measurement and control systems currently employed at PRL. Reading the Annual Report of 2009 we only found out that the company focuses on quality processes as well as licensee supervision.In addition, we believe that they should implement a control system for the wholesale segment (monitoring trends in consolidation and reacting to them, supervision of the department store’s financial situation etc. ) and for the Asia – Pacific market (benchmarki ng: how do competitors perform, adoption of best practice processes and strategies). Conclusion – With our Balanced Scorecard and the new control systems in place, we believe that PRL will be able to achieve its main goals and operate successfully in the next years.

Brian lopes

Brian lopes Brian Lopes: The best Downhill Dual Slalom Racer Ever Downhill dual slalom mountain biking is a combination of BMX racing, Downhill Mountain biking, and freestyle dirt jumping. The course is like that of a slalom course for skiing, but instead of one racer racing against the best time, there are two racers who race head to head on the same course. Dual slalom is one of the fastest growing, and most watched mountain bike events today. Brain Lopes has been dominating this event for the past three years, by winning the world championships three years in a row. Brain Lopes is the best dual slalom in the short history of the sport, because of his extensive BMX and dirt jumping background.Before racing Downhill Mountain biking, Brain Lopes was a celebrated BMX (bike Motocross) racer. He got bored with racing BMX bikes and decided to try something new, in the early 90's he exploded onto the Mountain bike scene.English: Dan Atherton during the first round match...