Thursday, October 31, 2019
Management Affairs Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words
Management Affairs - Essay Example Their wedding is a huge event, anything related to this event also becomes famous. Their wedding cake is no exception. As soon as the couple ‘accepts’ the offer, an agreement is made between two parties to the contract. The legally binding contract is made as soon as the acceptance of the offer is made. The offer will be accepted by Choc Delux as soon as Kim is done negotiating with the company about the cake. Everything that the company communicates to the other party (Kim and Kanye) will become part of their contract agreement. They will be bound by the English law to abide by the agreement as diligently and prudently possible. There is a slight exception about enforceability of the contract; promises made in social/casual agreements are generally not enforceable under the UK Contract Law. However, this case is not social or casual. This is a business and given the magnanimity of the event also binds the two parties in certain obligations. For instance, in general circ umstances cancelling an order such as wedding cake would not be much news. This case is different as it will be a breach of agreement since it will be a huge loss to the Choc Delux Company if they lose the spot of providing cake for the big wedding. In case Kim breaches her agreement with the company she will be liable to pay the damages (the claim) from Choc Delux. The contract also states that Choc Delux is the sole provider of the wedding cake which means that if Kim and Kanye buy other cakes for their wedding then they will be in breach of the contract and will have to pay the claim in damages to the company. In case the breach happens from the couple’s side the company will see fit as to what kind of amount it seeks in damages. If the couple agrees to pay the exact amount (or any other form of compensation that the company sees fit) then the matter will be resolved. If the couple challenges the claim then they will have to settle it among themselves through
Tuesday, October 29, 2019
Evaluation of the Company's Strategy Coursework - 2
Evaluation of the Company's Strategy - Coursework Example The well connected digital world has become the birth place of various trends of globalization, which has continued to emerge from various developed as well as emerging markets. Because of the process of globalization, demands for new products and services are being formed in the markets all over the world. The demands of new kinds of products and services in the global markets are resulting in the generation of multiple business opportunities. Companies around the world are increasingly moving to the new markets to tap the new business opportunities and thereby attend significant growth in their business. This particular assignment focuses on Tesco which is the major retailer in the UK market. The assignment discusses about the evaluation of the strategy of Tesco in the current times, from the angle of sustainability. Introduction The emergence and rapid development of technology has brought in a major change in the competition dynamics existing in any market around the world. The n ew technology has triggered the rise of new trends of globalization, which has automatically increased the flow of knowledge in the global markets. ... As a result of market entry by numerous international firms, the level of competitions in the global markets has gone up significantly. Also, the rise of competition in the markets all around the world has resulted in the process of increase of choice of alternatives for the consumers, thereby increasing the buyer’s power. In this case, the focus is on the UK based retailer Tesco. The UK based retailer Tesco has presence in around 12 markets and has team strength of more than 530,000 people (Tesco -1, 2013). The core purpose of Tesco is to make things better in an integrated manner. The values of the company can be linked to high dedication towards the customers, equal treatment along with the focus on achieving growth through creation of opportunities and values for the various stakeholders (Tesco-2, 2013). In this case, the company is looking forward to develop a sustainable strategy while significantly evaluating the currently existing strategy of the company. Analysis and critical evaluation of Tesco’s strategic position In focusing on the critical evaluation of the strategic position of Tesco, it can be stated that the company in the current times has presence in various continents like US, UK, Europe and Asia. The UK based retailer has presence in multiple countries around the world which includes UK, US, Lotus, Hungary, Czech Republic, Poland, Slovakia, Kipa, Ireland, Korea, Malaysia, China and India (Tesco -3, 2013). The portfolio of the company comprises of grocery, food, electronics, financial services, clothing, furniture, retailing of books, internet services, software, music downloads and DVD rental. The company’s growing market share and a strong presence in the
Sunday, October 27, 2019
Circumstances under which monopolies can benefit the consumer
Circumstances under which monopolies can benefit the consumer Competition policies are set against monopolies in general. Explain why this statement is true. Are there any circumstances under which monopolies can benefit the consumer? A monopoly is a situation in which a single company owns all or nearly all of the market for a given type of product or service. This would happen in the case that there is a barrier to entry into the industry that allows the single company to operate without competition (for example, vast economies of scale, barriers to entry, or governmental regulation). In such an industry structure, the producer will often produce a volume that is less than the amount which would maximize social welfare. The EU Competition Commission is in charge of monitoring abuse of market dominance by monopolies, and follows the Treaty establishing the European Community: Article 82 of the Treaty establishing the European Community is an anti-monopoly instrument. It outlaws any abuse by one or more undertakings of a dominant position within the common market or in a substantial part of it in so far as it may affect the trade between Member States. Dominant position here means concentration or monopoly power which enables the firm or firms to influence, by independent action as a buyer or a seller, the outcome of the market. However, the article doesnt define what size of market share constitutes a dominant position, as this can vary from product to product. The emphasis isnt on the existence of a dominant position but rather on the abuse of power, primarily in trade between member states. Dominant enterprises are stopped from committing price discrimination in their interstate purchases or sales. Microsoft is often at the forefront of monopoly investigations: In December 1998, Sun Microsystems, another US company, complained that Microsoft had refused to provide information necessary for Sun to be able to develop products that would be able to interface with Windows PCs, so be able to compete on an equal footing in the market for work group server operating systems. The Commissions investigation revealed that Sun was not the only company that had been refused this information, and that these non-disclosures by Microsoft were part of a broader strategy designed to shut competitors out of the market. In 2000, the Commission also began to investigate the effect of Microsofts tying of another product, windows media player, to its operating system. This left other media player firms unable to compete. In 2004, after a 5-year-investigation, the European Commission concluded that the Microsoft Corporation broke European Union competition law by abusing its near monopoly in the market for PC operating systems and for media players. Microsoft had to disclose information to allow other firms to interface with the windows operating system. They were also fined à ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ã‚ ¬ 497 million for abusing its market power in the EU. In February 2008 the EU fined Microsoft a further à ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ã‚ ¬899 million for abusing its dominance of the market. *(skim over dont say all)* This diagram shows the effect of a monopoly on an economy; you can see that consumers are left worse off through the loss of consumer surplus. Policies are set against monopolies in general because of the market failure that Monopolies cause: Monopolies have large barriers to entry which prevent other firms being able to enter the market; this enables them to abuse their market dominance and set prices higher than the market equilibrium. If the product is price inelastic as there are no alternatives too it (such as the motor industry), then the customer has no choice but to pay the higher prices, thus consumers are worse off. They are able to charge Predatory prices which is when the firm sets artificially low prices which competitors arent able to compete with. Monopolies have less incentive to create good products because the customers have little or no alternative to that product. Compared to a normal market structure, a monopoly market skews most of the positive externalities to the producer rather than the consumer. Certain forms or cooperation agreements between enterprises, which are considered beneficial for the consumers by improving production, distribution or technical progress, are deemed not to restrict competition and therefore they are exempted. Cross-border concentrations of community interest, regardless of whether they are brought about by agreement or by takeovers, are also exempted There are a number of potential benefits of monopolies: Its possible that monopoly firms can be efficient: An argument popular with economists of the Austrian School of Economics is that firms who gain monopoly power are invariably successful, innovative and efficient. e.g. Google have monopoly power but who can do it any better? Stimulating Innovation and Investment with Patents: The most obvious field where monopolies benefit society in a great way is that of patents. Patents give inventors the exclusive rights to market their inventions for twenty years, after which these inventions turn into public property. In other words, patents give these inventors the right to keep a monopoly for twenty years. Monopolies are so important in this context because if they did not exist, an inventor would probably not receive any financial compensation for his or her work, since the imitators would steal it and flood the market with copied stuff, making the price collapse along with them. As a result, in a world without patents, a lot less people would invest their time, effort and money required to achieve new things. In order to remedy this situation, the nations all around the world offer inventors monopolies on patents. The result is much quicker innovation; an economic growth much more accelerated and at quicker speeds in the lifestyles. In truth, it is difficult to think about a more beneficial monopoly from the social view of patents. Monopoly and Economies of Scale If long-run average total cost (LRATC) declines over an extended range of output, it is argued that it is better to have a few large firms (and in the extreme case, only one firm). This is known as the natural monopoly argument. Because monopoly producers are often supplying goods and services on a very large scale, they may be better placed to take advantage of economies of scale leading to a fall in the average total costs of production. These reductions in costs will lead to an increase in monopoly profits but some of the gains in productive efficiency might be passed onto consumers in the form of lower prices. The effect of economies of scale is shown in the diagram. Examples of Natural Monopolies include public utilities such as water services and electricity. It is very expensive to build transmission networks (water/gas pipelines, electricity and telephone lines), therefore it is unlikely that a potential competitor would be willing to make the capital investment needed to even enter the monopolists market. Conclusion: Competition policies can be seen as generally set against monopolies, as monopolies can be such obstructions to competition, so the Competition Commission is going to have a lot of focus on managing monopolies; making sure they dont abuse their position. Though, Monopolies arent necessarily all bad as natural monopolies can be the most effective market structure, benefiting both the firm and the consumer. However Competition Policies arent only set against monopolies, as they also have a big focus on aspects such as Mergers, takeovers and collusions of firms like cartels.
Friday, October 25, 2019
Death and Humor in Mark Twains The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn Essa
Death and Humor in Huckleberry Finn      Huckleberry Finn can be read as a boy's adventure novel, as a work of serious literature, as a humorous historical account, as biting social satire . . . I'm sure I could go on. This is a book that has delighted generations of readers - it's rollingly funny, rife with adventure - and hopelessly morbid. That's right. I read Huckleberry Finn and it made me think of death. The novel has a strange way of dealing with death. There's a pretty high body count, yet each individual demise becomes an opportunity for high comedy. We laugh, and the novel will laugh with us. But it won't cry. Perhaps this was a nod to time and place. As far as the poetry of the time suggests, life in America in the late nineteenth century was not exactly cheerful.  Take this poem, published less than a year before Huckleberry Finn, as just one example:  When I am gone - Say! Will the glad wind wander, wander on;                                Stooping with tenderest touches, yet                With frolic care beset, Lifting the long gray rushes, where the Stream                And I so idly dream?          I feel its soft caress; The toying of its wild-wood tenderness                On brow and lips and eyes and hair,                                As if through love aware                That days must come when no fond wind shall creep                                Down where my heart's asleep! Hast thou a sympathy, A soul, O wandering Wind, that thou dost sigh? Or is't the heart within us still That aches for good or ill, And deems that Nature whispers, when alone Our inner Self makes moan? "Longing", by Wi... ...ems, amongst others, by Walter Blair's Mark Twain and Huck Finn. (California: University of California Press, 1960). [5] Mark Twain. Following the Equator. England: Dover Publications, 1988. [6] Julia A. Moore. Mortal Refrains: The Complete Collected Poetry, Prose, and Songs of Julia A. Moore, The Sweet Singer of Michigan. Thomas J. Riedlinger, Lansing: Michigan State University Press, 1998 (5). [7] Mark Twain. The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, London: W.W. Norton and Company, 1999 (124). [8] Mark Twain.  "Post-Mortem Poetry", The Complete Humorous Sketches and Tales of Mark Twain, ed. Charles Neider. New York: Doubleday, 1961 (156). [9] Mark Twain. The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, London: W.W. Norton and Company, 1999 (295). [10] Mark Twain. The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, London: W.W. Norton and Company, 1999 (194). Â
Thursday, October 24, 2019
Copper Cycle Lab Essay
Purpose: During this experiment, we were trying to see whether copper, after a chain of chemical reactions, will revert back to its elemental form. Procedure: First, I added nitric acid with copper in a beaker, which turned into a copper nitrate, a blue-green solution. Afterwards, I added sodium hydroxide, and my solution colored to a dark blue solution called copper hydroxide. I heated the solution to evaporate the water and I got a brownish-blackish solid called copper oxide. Once the solid appeared, I poured in sulfuric acid to it and I got copper sulfate, a bluish solution. The final step I took was to add the element zinc, which turned the solution from blue to clear, with a brown solid in the bottom of the beaker, copper. Observation: During each step, something happened. For instant, for the first step, when I added the acid to the copper, the copper disappeared and the solution turned from the clear acid color to a blue-greenish hue. In the next step, there was another chemical reaction when I added the sodium hydroxide. The whole solution turned blue when I stirred the mixture. When the time came to evaporate the solution, the liquids disappeared, leaving behind a wet, brownish solid in the middle of the beaker. When the solid was hot, it bubbled and popped until it cooled down. When all the liquids evaporated, I scraped off the solid and put it in a separate beaker. Once I put the sulfuric acid in it, the brown solids (copper oxide) slowly dissolved and turned the acid into blue. After the acid was blue, I added the metal/grey colored zinc into the solution; the solution bubbled and the zinc turned the solution clear. The zinc disappeared and in its place, copper appeared. Analysis: For each step, there was a chemical reaction, except for the part where we evaporated the water/liquefied chemicals. For each step, I was turning the copper into a compound. When an acid was added to the copper, it turned the element into a compound. When a base was added later, it merely replaced the acid with the base. Conclusion: For this experiment, I can conclude that an element/matter can never be destroyed or created. The copper cycle is evidence for the Law of Conservation of Mass, which states that an element or matter can never be created or destroyed, only changed.
Wednesday, October 23, 2019
Ophelia “Frailty They Name Is Woman”
Hamlet says, â€Å"Frailty thy name is woman†. Consider this statement in the light of the presentation of Aphelia; Identify key scenes and soliloquies for analysis Discuss various productions/interpretations State your preference of interpretation The word frail meaner when a person or object has the quality of being weak, fragile, weak in health or being morally unstable, also someone who is easily manipulated and influenced by people that surround them, unable to stand on their own. In this essay I plan to look into the character of Aphelia in the play Hamlet by WilliamShakespeare, to see whether she is a frail character and what factors contribute to this. I want to look at particular scenes where Aphelia is involved and ones where she is being described and used in order to see how Aphelia reacts to the other characters in the play, to see if she shows any particular signs of being frail. In act 1 scene 2 Hamlet is referring to his mother describing his feelings on how un acceptable it is that she has moved on so hastily from the man that she seemed to love so dearly. He then says â€Å"Frailty, thy name is woman! He is at the time aiming his comment at his mother and his anger for the new King but he also labels innocent Aphelia under this as well. We have to remember that Aphelia was brought up in a society that is male dominant, the women in Elizabethan times had little control on what was to become of their lives and were closely governed by their fathers and husbands. The women in this period would be expected to obey their husband's orders and father's wishes. It is therefore not surprising that Aphelia isn't given many lines in the play itself but she is a key tool used throughout by; Hamlet,Polonium and Claudia in a bid to out do and catch one another out. I would agree with Jacques Lilac here in his introduction of Aphelia in one of his seminars that began with â€Å"That piece of bait named Aphelia†she is indeed used as bait by tho se closest to her and they don't seem to care if the bait gets snapped up in the process. This meddling and toying with her makes it impossible for her to escape and contributes to her death, this is done by the people close to her whom she looks up to and respects enough to be reliant on them and to also totally trust them with her affairs and problems but they misuse her and manipulate her naivety.From the beginning Aphelia is portrayed to us as a delicate, well spoken, respectful young lady but one who is being instructed and ordered by her brother to uphold the family name by not consenting to sex with Hamlet before marriage, even though she does voice her own opinions on the matter she does seem to obey and follow what her brother is firmly suggesting she does. Although I think here Aphelia shows her true collectedness and wit in that she knows that her brother is likely to be going against these rules himself and therefore being hypocritical.But, good my brother, Do not as som e ungracious pastors do, Show me the steep and thorny way to heaven, Whiles, like a puffed and reckless libertine, himself the primrose path of dalliance treads, and reeks not his own red. †Here she voices her point but in a very dignified way. All she wants is her brother to have a sense of fairness between them and put aside the fact that she is seen as weaker being a woman and is almost voicing a plea for equality. In comparison after this she is then instructed again, now by her forceful, religious father who simply thinks that Hamlet's love for Aphelia is not love t all but that it's Just lust.He thinks he has his daughter's best interest in mind but he doesn't give her much time to think about her feelings or to voice them to him. In act 1 scene 3 Aphelia confides in her father explaining what Hamlet has said to her and also what she believes Hamlet's feelings are towards her. â€Å"And hath given countenance to his speech, my lord, with almost all the holy vows of hea ven. †This shows not only that she trusts Hamlet's love but that she is very open with her father and that she has a great deal of trust in him and doesn't have to hold back or keep secrets from him.She is quite naive in thinking that she can have complete trust in Polonium. He uses this great trust his daughter has in him to his advantage to gain favor with Claudia. Some may say that it is here she is frail in that she does not stand up for what she believes or for her love for Hamlet. She quickly obeys her father's wishes to stop seeing him without thinking about what she truly wants. In reply to Aphelion's feelings and beliefs on Hamlet's love for her, Polonium shows in his tone and language his disregard for his daughter's feelings and level of maturity. â€Å"Think yourself a baby. †off speak like a green girl. â€Å"Ay, fashion you may call it. †Here he is likening her to a baby, maybe meaning she is weak, young and frail and has to depend on others in o rder to survive amongst them. Also he mocks her because he does not believe that Hamlet's love for her is real although she does. He is almost humoring her because he thinks she is a fool for thinking that Hamlet's love is true and is constantly putting her down calling her a green girl because she is not ripe yet and therefore not old enough to see what is really going on. This scene and discussion ends simply with Aphelia saying; l shall obey. She has been brought up not to argue with her father but I agree with David Pennington when he says, â€Å"Aphelion's willingness to let her father interpret for her is very disappointing†because in contrast to her ability to stand up to her brother she has no ability to oppose her father. In act 2 scene 2 Polonium is conversing with Claudia trying to arrange a meeting between Aphelia and Hamlet. â€Å"I'll loose my daughter to him. †Her father talks about her like a piece of bait or a pawn under his complete control, he make s her sound like an animal being let loose like a wild dog, suddenly released.This is her father yet again taking control of her life and happiness when he suggests that they set up a meeting with Hamlet so that Polonium and Claudia get to spy on the situation and hear what Hamlet has to say. It is in this scene that Hamlet now uses Aphelia as a target for his anger, frustration and feelings of hatred for the foul play of Polonium and Claudia. He is blunt and horrible when he voices his anger claiming there was never anything between him and Aphelia; â€Å"l loved you not†â€Å"Marry a fool for wise men know well enough what monsters you make of them. Hamlet is quite cold hearted and harsh in the things he chooses to say to Aphelia. He also directs comments through her such as; â€Å"l say we will have no more marriage. Those that are married already all but one, shall live. †Here Hamlet is threatening Claudia and really trying to scare and intimidate him by suggest ing that he is going to kill him. Aphelion's reaction to this scene with Hamlet and his mockery of her is little and she comes across as quite feeble with little to reply with. â€Å"O help him, you sweet heavens. â€Å"O heavenly powers, restore him. †Instead of replying directly, she is pleading to the heavens and God as if the devil or evil has changed Hamlet and she wishes they could change him back. This could be seen as naivety to think it is not down to Hamlet himself. She shows frailty here; in that she soon looses confidence and also the will to stand up for herself and the love she thought she had with Hamlet. Act 4 scene 7 Aphelion's death is announced by Gertrude in front of Alerter and Claudia.Aphelion's death is described in such a personal, peaceful and elegant way it's a very good cover up for the struggle and madness that is quickly spreading amongst the castle. â€Å"Her clothes spread wide, mermaid like they bore her up†¦ Lulled the poor wretch from her melodious lay to muddy death. †These lines said by Gertrude create a poetic image of Aphelion's supposed accidental death. The description has probably been changed in this way because committing suicide was a sin and the church would have been disgusted at the thought that someone involved with the royal family would do such a thing.Aphelia would not be authorized to have a proper funeral and burial if it was seen to be suicide. Even though parts of the description are lovely and create images and reflections of Aphelia there is still a harsh awakening with the words ‘muddy death' that soon bring o back to the reality of what has happened and now a disturbing factor has been added. You can almost misread the play and not notice she has in fact killed herself, after her suffering she doesn't even get a dramatic exit like all the other deaths in the play and seems instead to sink to her death.This may be because of Aphelion's personality and general aura that a pain ful slow death would not fit with her character and her back story. The description itself makes it seem as if the water did not have to fight to bring her down but that it was actually very easy and with no trudge, portraying that Aphelia is in fact frail in that she could not fight harder and get herself out of the deep, dark hole in her mind that she had retreated into.In the two films I have watched of Hamlet, the portrayal of Aphelia has been different. In Kenneth Branch's version, Aphelia is how I imagine her to be; quite striking, elegant and she also comes across as quite an intelligent young lady played by Kate Winglet. When she talks she doesn't shy away and seem frail, she actually seems to voice her lines quite forcefully when appropriate. However when she turns ad in this film production I think the acting and the overall look of Aphelia is somehow out of place.I think she needs to show her crazy side in a more subdued style of acting and with a slightly more psychotic side to it, this is where Franco Ziegfeld's film for me excels because I think Helena Bonham Carter's take on Aphelia is better and more like I expected it to be as depicted from the original script. Her natural ability to have that â€Å"off the rails†look about her is a major plus, she pulls off the crazy act but in an elegant and purely quite disturbing way. Her overall portrayal f Aphelia however, seems weak and she seems to Just blend further and further into the background.In conclusion I think Aphelion's character is like a child getting caught in between the cross fire and I think that her story is tragic in its own way because of her being kept close but constantly in the background. She gets forgotten about and used by the powerful men in the play. I agree with Barbara Everett when she says that â€Å"Licensor is what was once known as a â€Å"man's world†, one given up to the pursuit of power in a conventional system of rivalries. There is little place for women in such a world, and he women of this tragedy are markedly shadowy and faint†.I think that Aphelia could be seen as sheltered naive and frail. I think it's through no fault of her own however, but rather through the pressures of society, family and her peers. Bibliography http://www. opensourceshakespeare. Org http://Shakespearean. Org. UK/ critical essays on Shakespearean hamlet general editor Jack Bowen written version of one of Jacques Lagan's seminars www. Sparseness. Co. UK Henchman advanced Shakespeare set text http://faculty. Petticoats. Du/?Nichols/aphelia. HTML by Carla Williams
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