Banned Books Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Banned Books - Essay Example Likewise, key examples will be illustrated that show some of the common trends and underlying causes for both past and current censorship that exists in the world. Furthermore, the reader will be able to understand key trends and underlying motives that encourage power structures to take such a drastic approach to seeking to stamp out a given idea/set of ideals. Perhaps one of the most famous examples of censorship is that which surrounded the Soviet Union and the communist party control that dominated nearly every aspect of public and private life. As a means of near total control over such a society, censorship was readily employed to direct and influence the way in which â€Å"foreign† ideas were injected into the society (Plamper 528). To accomplish this, the communist party employed a rigid structure whereby incoming literature and books would need to be approved by the relevant authorities prior to reaching widespread distribution. This structure of censorship is perhaps the most extreme example that our world has witnessed within the past 100 years; however, it is not the only example of a society that has employed censorship, to Ð ° great effect, in order to mould and direct, the social evolution of its populace. Similarly, censorship exists currently in a number of nations; however, the lion’s share of censorship in the current world is derived from a fear of the spread of a foreign religion within a host country and/or region. This is evidenced by strong censorship laws that exist in many Islamic countries. These laws ban everything from the distribution of religious material to â€Å"immoral† texts that can include anything from â€Å"unislamic† attitudes, styles of dress, forms of music and a host of other culturally derived points. A few of the countries that exhibit a high degree of censorship with regard to books and literature are Saudi Arabia, Eritrea and the Islamic Republic of Iran (Information Providers 100). A s imilar situation exists within what most readers might consider a highly democratic country – Germany. However, Germany’s case is somewhat different than the other nations that have thus far been listed in this brief analysis. Germany has placed a ban on many of the Nazi era publications and propaganda pieces to include Adolph Hitler’s Mein Kampf. According to pertinent government institutions and officials this has been done in order to allow the populace a reprieve from the painful and harmful vitriol that was common and circulated around GermanÃ'Æ' a few brief decades ago. Germany of course is the aberration to the rule in that this is a nation that enjoys a wide array of democratic freedoms, elections, freedom of expression/thought and a wide range of freedom of speech and freedoms of the press. However, as a function of the dangers that Nazism has presented the nation, they have chosen to implement a ban on all such material in the hope that doing so will s eek to hasten the healing of many war-era wounds that were caused as a direct effect of the policies and actions implemented by the Nazis government. Although the United States supposedly enjoys freedom of the press and freedom of thought, the United States itself has experienced a long and sordid past with relation to censorship. This censorship has primarily been concentric around education in that certain individuals, teachers, parents and/or government

Globalization & Development of economies Essay Example for Free

Globalization Development of economies Essay Globalization has been perceived as a beneficial factor in the development of economies, technological advancements as well as sociological and political development. However, not everyone gains from these benefits. Instead, other nations particularly the developing states are subjected to the dangerous effects of globalization. The truth about globalization is while the benefits may be enjoyed by a few individual states, the negative impacts of globalization are felt by all the nations in the world. Globalization and the associated changes in the social work organization has led to a creation of economic systems where various corporations are increasingly moving around the world to find the cheapest labor possible. A good example is out the trend of outsourcing, which is quite common in the modern world of business. Cheap labor in this context is reproduced through political, social, technological and economic means which allows corporations to pay extremely low wages to the workers. Globalization has led to a number of technological innovations and technology has played a pivotal role in the reshaping of the social organization of work. The introduction of computers and information technologies has greatly changed the work setting. For instance, the shift from demands for physical work to mental, intellective operations and information handling has substituted the skills of all collar workers. This has reshaped the social organization of work. The overall effect of such changes is the reduction of employment and the eventual reduction in the wage levels among the workers performing physical work. The social organization changes of capitalism have intensified the effect of globalization and affected how employment and labor relationship is regulated. This has mainly been seen through the intensification of acquisition and cross-border mergers where companies value the importance of mergers and acquisitions in order to increase the strength of business. There has also been a pronounced trend of the global corporations of transforming themselves into organizers and coordinators of activities performed by suppliers, contractors and sub-contractors. This has had a significant effect to the regulation of employment and labor relationship leading to the production of cheap labor. Through globalization, employers can easily subcontract and outsource cheap labor from different states which further allows global corporate to externalize and reduce the costs that are incurred from employing directly. Outsourcing of labor makes the employers to pay low wages since they can choose to employ from states where cheap labor is readily available. The political instability, poor living standards and poorly developed economies in developing states have all contributed to the reproduction of cheap labor and global corporations are taking advantage of this. In order to avoid further tearing of the social fabric caused by globalization, consumers and /or producers of cheap labor should devise machineries to provide salient working conditions with improved wage levels. This can be achieved by setting the international wage minimums that will prevent the overexploitation of workers from the developing countries. All workers with similar qualifications should earn on the basis of a unified wage rate. The increased acquisition and merging of companies can be beneficial as it increases the strength of business in a synergistic manner. However, agreements should first be made to integrate the social values of each company and respect the rights of employees of each of the merged companies. Through this, the benefits of globalization can be reaped by both the developing and the developed states or the producers and consumers of labor. Reference: Amin, M. (2009). The effect of globalization, labor fexibilization and national industrial relations systems on human resource management. International Business Research. 2(4), 36-45. http://www. ccsenet. org/journal/index. php/ibr/article/viewFile/3910/3434

Report into Barclays Financial Performance Analysis

Report into Barclays Financial Performance Analysis The following report is aimed at comment the findings of Barclays PLC financial performance analysis. The first section presents an internal and external analysis. The second comments a series of financial ratios. Finally, the last section concludes. Introduction Banks are an important part of the financial system. They channel financial resources from individuals who have surpluses to individuals who lack capital. Banks transfer these assets in the form of loans. Loans are evaluated and classified according to the default probability (risk). In this manner, Banks assure that lenders invest their wealth in trustable projects, that is, economically viable (Arnold, G., 2008). Banks, then, subside the research task from lenders and allow them to get a safe and constant return rates in a determined timeframe and conditions (Valdez, S., 2007). As any business, Banks are aimed at increasing the wealth of the owners. Banks employ accounting systems and economic models to measure their financial performance. Accounting and economic models evaluate: 1) whether the wealth of the owners is augmenting, and 2) at what extent (Atril, P., McLaney, E., 2008). They provide several financial indicators which help business management to control the enterprise performance; among them, the financial ratios are widely used. The purpose of this report is to comment the findings discuss how bank (Barclays PLC) overall performance should be evaluated. The first section presents a review of Barclays internal and external performance. The second section evaluates Barclays financial performance. Finally, the last section concludes. A review of Barclays internal and external performance Barclays is one of the worldwide leaders in financial services. It was founded in 1690 in the UK. Barclays has operations in 50 countries spanning over Europe, the US, and Africa. Its headquarters are located London, UK and employs 153,800 people worldwide (BARCLAYS, 2009). Barclays retail banking includes personal customers, home finance, local business, consumer lending and financial planning (DATAMONITOR, 2010). Internal performance Barclays capital strength has provided the company with resilience to cope adverse market conditions. For example, the companys liquidity pool increased to  £127 billion at 31st December 2009 from  £43 billion in 2008. Hence, cash flows allow the bank to negotiate better selling conditions in their product portfolio (BARCLAYS, 2009). Barclays has kept its lending growth volume regardless global economic situation. The bank has reduced its derivative assets; therefore, its balance sheet size has been reduced (BARCLAYS, 2009). However, Barclays operations are threatened by its weakness in cost management. Its subsidiaries in Western Europe registered detrimental costs in 2009. Thus, the bank may face difficulties in its expansion plans (BARCLAYS, 2009). On the other hand, Barclays mobile banking services have experienced a significant growth due to smart phones popularization. This new service portfolio is likely to reduce workload in banks branches; therefore a significant cost reduction may be achieved during the fiscal year 2010. Even though, internet and credit transaction fraud has also risen. Hence, information security investments may undermine cost management accomplishments (BARCLAYS, 2009). Barclays is pursuing to expand its operation in India and UAE. Even the bank has been present in both countries since 1970s; it does not have a considerable penetration. These markets have attractive conditions to increase the bank market share. Therefore, an expansion strategy for India an UAE is foreseeable (BARCLAYS, 2009). External performance Barclays impairment losses in 2009 affected banks profitability. This effect was present despite balance sheet size reduction. Disposal of these legacy assets is one of the main banks objectives for fiscal year 2010 (BARCLAYS, 2009). UK government legislation regarding Asset Protection is aimed at improving customers trust by clearing up banks balance sheets. However, there is no a complete strategy on this matter. These uncertainties add pressure on financial markets, making difficult banks capitalization. Besides, a more competitive environment will be roomed (BARCLAYS, 2008). Finally, mergers and consolidation in banking industry will make more difficult, for Barclays, to adjust pricing levels and protect their market position. However, Barclays has the resources and skills to tackle challenging business environments (BARCLAYS, 2009). Barclays financial performance ROE ROE ratio presents negative trend in the last three years. The cause of this behaviour was the increase in the operation costs, 25%, plus a drop of 25% in the interest income. The net effect was a drop of drop of 77% in the net income in 2009. In 2008, Barclays acquired Lehman Brothers, thus, the total financial figures of the bank were affected. This buy clarifies the abrupt changes in costs and interest incomes. Positive results of this acquirement may be reflected in one or two years; it can be said that this normal behaviour of acquirements (BARCLAYS, 2008). ROA ROA was also hit by the Lehman Brothers effect; the indicator fell 50% from 2007 to 2009. Total assets were duplicated during 2008 and the net income after taxes was a little bit higher than in 2007. However, in 2009, Barclays made a restructuration in its total assets and was able to reduce them a 44%, that is, total asset were almost the same than in 2007. Unfortunately, net income after taxes also dropped 44%. ROA indicator was, then, almost the same than in 2008. ROA hid the company efforts to align the bank to the pre-acquisition levels (BARCLAYS, 2009). Net Interest Margin Net interest margin improved in 2009. It surpassed 2007 value. Assets are producing more Interest profit than in 2007. This can be interpreted as a positive effect of the Lehman Brothers acquisition, since the asset combination is generation more income. However, the increment in operation costs undermined the net effect of these results (BARCLAYS, 2009). DuPont This indicator clearly shows the Lehman Brothers acquisition effects. The equity multiplier registered a growth during 2008. The net profit margin was almost 300% higher than in 2007. However, the asset utilization went down 518%. The net effect was a low ROE (BARCLAYS, 2008). In 2009, the equity multiplier, and net profit margin felt down 49.48%, and 63.45% respectively; whereas, asset utilization grew 281%. Even though, ROE ratio was the lowest one in the studied period. This erratic behaviour was caused by the total asset amount. Each indicator by itself does not provide enough information regarding how well the company is doing it. For instance, asset utilization seems to be worst than in 2007, therefore, the implication would be that acquisition was a bad deal for the bank. In the case of the Equity multiplier, the conclusion would be the same. But, the net profit margin figure seems more realistic and clearly shows that a growth of 10% in two years justify the buy (BARCLAYS, 2008). The ultimate result is indicating that the new company is expected to have a return in equity of 6.28%. However, this metric does not include dividend amounts; thus, investing in the new Barclays firm may still be attractive. DuPont exercise shows that any indicator does not have all information at glance, thus, they should be used in combination in order to provide relevant and useful information. By decomposing ROE in three different ratios, it is possible to understand the effect of total assets and the operating revenue into the companys investing profile. Besides, it is clear the effect of the increment in the cost of the sales and operations. From the graph, it can be seen that Lehman Brothers firm made a massive sales and their expenses were under control. However, it can be inferred that liquidity may be one of the relevant factors that pushed former owners to sell it. This thesis is aligned to the main causes of the 2007s global financial crisis. Therefore, the acquisition w as justified and was a good opportunity to improve the banks financial performance (BARCLAYS, 2009). Net Interest Margin This ratio shows a negative trend. The lowest value was registered in 2008. However, during this year the interest income registered the highest value during the period. In 2009 the interest income dropped 24.18% but asset were reduced almost 50%. Even though, they continued 12.34% above the 2007 value. The net effect was 25.24% below the 2007 mark. It is important to say that 2009 is a good result and shows how the bank is trying to move the new company to the levels in which the former one was operating. It can be inferred that the strategy is to stabilize the bank and then increase the profits. Acquisition was, again, the event that impacted the ratio behaviour (BARCLAYS, 2009). Earning base Earning base is indicating that bank is acquiring more assets which are directly implied with the profit generation, that is, that it is lending more money to customers. It is clear that in 2008, due to acquisition, the bank owned a series of assets which were overloading the cost structure. In 2009, the situation improved since assets were re-structured and their number was reduced. This indicator should not be higher than 50%. The rational is that banks earning assets are loans, thus, bank should ensure they payment of those loans whit its assets. Therefore a healthy ratio level may be around 50% (BARCLAYS, 2009). Operating Efficiency Ratio and Wage ratio The operating efficiency ratio shows that bank is struggling with its operating expenses. In 2007, the ratio was 187%, which means that bank was investing two resource units to produce one. In 2008, this indicator grew almost 2.5 times. However, the bank made a very good effort and reduced the figure 32%. When wage ration is included in the analysis, it presents a drop in 2008, due to redundancy. However, the operation expenses did not diminished; therefore the operation efficiency ratio did not improve. It can be implied that work force is not the biggest expense, as many author claim, but a combination of inefficient process and asset sub-utilization. Unfortunately, annual reports did not provide deep information (BARCLAYS, 2008, 2009). Interest Income / Total Assets and Interest Rate Risk Ratio The first ratio provides information regarding how much interest income is produced by the total assets that bank owns. This indicator shows a growing trend with a little drop in 2008 due to the total assets acquired from Lehman Brothers. Thus, Barclays is improving its asset utilization. Talking about interest risk ratio, this indicator should be ideally around 100% to ensure that all loans are backed up with assets. However, the bank registered values below 10%. On the other hand, this indicator also shows a growing trend, which means that this figure is going to improve in the future. This indicator also supports the 2008 acquisition (BARCLAYS, 2009). Liquidity Risk Ratio Cash is the blood of the business. This ratio is relevant because indicates the capacity of the bank to convert its asset in cash. This indicator showed a negative trend with a peak in 2008. Its value has never been below 90% which indicates that bank has no cash flow issues. However, it highly depends in the asset restructuration. According to the 2009 annual report, asset management is one of the key objectives of the current management board. Thus, liquidity risk ratio will improve during the next years (BARCLAYS, 2008). Capital Risk Ratio Capital risk ratio shows at what extent the bank is prepared to afford its long term compromises. Values on this indicator shows that bank is in a very good position since its long term compromises do not represent a high percentage of its total assets; the lower this indicator the best. However, it shows a growing trend accelerated by the 2008 acquisition. It can be inferred that management team is trying to either improve the bank resource availability, by long-term instruments, or restructuring the acquisition cost. The peak in 2008 can be explained by the heterogeneous asset combination post-acquisition (BARCLAYS, 2008, 2009). Conclusions After analysing Barclays bank ratios, it can be inferred that the acquisition of Lehman Brothers was an organic growth during crisis times. Thus, Barclays took advantage of the economic situation in 2008. Its solid cash figures allowed the bank to reject the bail-out plan from the UKs government. This action increased the customer preference for the bank. After acquisitions, the ratios tend to show bad results. However, this is somehow expected, since new components are added to the operation and a new organization is created. In the case of Barclays, these variations were not significant to the overall company performance. Finally, internal and external performance measurement is a complementary part of the ratio analysis. Ratio analysis is highly dependent on accounting information and the standards to gather that info. Thus, the results may vary if another set of accounting rules is applied. Internal and external performance measurement provides the background information to understand the number, trends and behaviours of the ratio result. Hence, both analyses are complementary rather than exclusive. Ratios provide a standard and normalized way to compare and analyze information, but they are meaningless by themselves. Ratio value is important, but it adds nothing to management process if it is not translated into coherent and relevant series of events which explain the root cause of that percentage. Thus, a good selection of indicator and measurements will guide the company to better results.

The Chinese Culture Essay -- essays research papers fc

The Chinese Culture This report is about the myths and beliefs of the Chinese culture. It's about the stories the Chinese created to explain the world around them, and generally how they perceived their surrounding environment. This report deals with ancient myths and the people who believed them, and what the current believes of these people are. The Southwest Creation Story The Southwest creation story is a myth which explains why people are different. The myth begins by saying that there were people on earth who were all alike, meaning there weren't people who were black, white, oriental, etc.. It states that the humans on earth all generally were the same. There were also gods who lived above the clouds in the heavens. And there was a huge heavenly ladder which started on a mountain and reached all the way up to heaven's door. It goes on to tell a story of a man who had two children. One was a girl and the other was a boy. They lived in a house which had a huge very thick roof. The man had built the roof so thick because it rained almost every day. He hated the rain. He knew it had its benefits but too much of it ruined his crops, destroyed his livestock and every time it rained the roof of the house was destroyed. And every time the man rebuilt it, he made it thicker and thicker. He blamed all his misfortune on the Duke of Thunder. The Duke of Thunder was one of the gods who lived in the heavens. He was the god of rain and thunder. The man dispised the Duke very much and had a pure hatred of him. Every time it rained the Duke would descend from the heavens and stand on a hilltop. There he would watch with pure delight as the rains and thunder came down harder and harder. Finally the man had had enough. One day he took his axe and waited on the hilltop for the Duke to arrive. When the rains came so did the Duke, and the man slashed him in the back.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The Duke was hurt but not killed because he was a god. The man caged him and brought him home. He put him in a corner and warned the kids not to go near him. And to especially not give him water. The next morning was a beautiful sunny one, but the Duke looked horrible almost as if he was dehydrating. The man told the children he had to go to the market and said again not to go near the Duke no matter wha... ... his son. Zoa was killed by his own brother who was ashamed of what his younger sibling had become. What the magician didn't tell Zoa was which close relative would kill him. Zoa who had become overconfident wasn't as great as he thought he was. And he was too arrogant to not know that the gods should not be challenged. This myth tells that becoming overconfident will eventually hurt you and that no one could beat their destiny. The Chinese in this story believed in the gods, they were very religious people and this myth tells that the gods should not be challenged. Both of these myths were written a long time ago and I don't think that the people today still believe in these myths as strongly as the people who wrote them did. I think it's like Halloween in our culture. We still practice the custom as the ancient people did but we don't have as much as a strong believe in ghosts and goblins as our ancestors did. Bibliography Birch, Cyril. Chinese Myths And Fantasies. Great Britain: London, 1992. Fei, Charles. Strange Creatures. New York, 1990 Ke, Yuan. Dragons And Dynasties. China: Beijing, 1993 *Chinese Myths.* Grolier Encyclopaedia, 12th ed. 1996.

Cohesion for Writing Projects Essay

Cohesion, or coherence, is the intangible glue that holds paragraphs together. Having good coherence in a writing project means that your ideas stick together and flow smoothly from one sentence to the next, so that readers of your work can easily understand where you are taking them. Without cohesion, a written work can seem choppy and may not flow well; a lack of coherence challenges the reader and can hurt comprehension, thus rendering your attempt at communication ineffective at best. We will look at cohesion within paragraphs, but the basics below, along with organizational devices like headings, help to link sentences, paragraphs and sections coherently in longer, complex writing projects. Here are four main components of cohesion: relevance order linking words repetition of key words 1. RELEVANCE A simple way to build cohesion or flow between sentences is to look at the meaning of a sentence and compare it to the point of the next sentence. They should be related yet not the same. If the two sentences are not closely related, you will lose the readers‟ attention, because they will have to guess where you are going. If the two sentences are identical, you are not adding any new information to your work, and the reader will be annoyed. Example – Too different: relevance not clear Antigone‟s motivation is family duty, even if it means death. She must rebel which will cause an uproar – the consequences don‟t matter to her. This would also explain why she rejects Ismene‟s support later in the play. They both have different motivations – Ismene has nothing left to lose and wants to go out with a glorious bang. In this paragraph, two sentences are far too separate. The first two sentences talk about Antigone‟s motivations and how far they will drive her. The focus is then redirected to Ismene, and the paragraph focus is not clear. It lacks cohesion. When a sentence relates the Ismene information back to Antigone, we have cohesion: Antigone‟s motivation is family duty, even if it means death. She wants to rebel which will cause an uproar – the consequences don‟t matter to her. In  contrast, her sister, Ismene, has completely different motivations for her actions and wants glory, which explains why Antigone rejects her support later in the play. Example – Too similar Aristophanes exaggerates Socrates‟ intelligence in a humorous way. Aristophanes portrays Socrates‟ intelligence as a tool of humor. He makes Socrates use his intelligence to make a mockery of people. Aristophanes makes Socrates appear very brash in the use of his intelligence. The author conveys only two points with these four sentences – that Aristophanes uses Socrates‟ intelligence as a joke, and that he did so by having Socrates mock people. Cutting away the unnecessary repetitions strengthens cohesion: Aristophanes exaggerates Socrates‟ intelligence in a humorous way. The playwright makes Socrates use his intelligence to make a mockery of people, being very brash in the process. 2. ORDER Writers should always ask themselves â€Å"Is this sentence relevant to the idea of this paragraph?† Every paragraph should have a main idea (typically stated in a topic sentence). To maintain cohesion, all sentences within a paragraph should relate to this main idea. For example, if you are writing a paragraph on why nuclear power plants are an efficient, clean way of generating energy, it may seem out of place to then reflect on why a duck‟s quack does not echo and the resulting societal implications. More often than  not, these sentences are important to your paper, but need to be moved elsewhere: in a separate paragraph or just relocated within the same paragraph so the sentences order is logical. Common ways to order sentences Chronological Cause and Effect Clarification (first sentence is broad, general statement, and the following sentences explain it with details) Compare/Contrast Example – Chronology is unclear Then there was another meeting with Satan, who said if Job‟s body was tested Job would sin against God. The three friends Eliphaz of Teman, Zophar of Naamah, and Bildad the Shuah came to try and console Job. The three saw then that Job was stricken with disease and his  suffering was very great. Chronological order and time signals improve cohesiveness: There was another meeting with Satan, who said if Job‟s body was tested Job would then sin against God. When Job was later stricken with disease and suffering greatly, his three friends, Eliphaz of Teman, Zophar of Naamah and Bildad the Shuah, tried to console him. Example – Cause and effect: These sentences start with an action that is the result of an earlier event. Flow is not smooth because without links or logic, the reader has to do a little bit of mental rearranging: The detective tried to gather more evidence by going to the store to ask Mr. McDougal what he knew about the murder. He did this because when he had asked the Davidson‟s maid what she saw at the scene of the crime, she mentioned McDougal. Ordering these sentences by cause and effect, i.e. chronologically, creates: The detective talked to the Davidson‟s maid and asked her what she saw at the scene of the crime. She mentioned the local store owner, Mr. McDougal, so the detective then visited McDougal to gather more evidence. 3. LINKING/TRANSITION WORDS Transition words can help a paragraph flow more smoothly. The following two sentences are far apart, in fact, opposites in content and unconnected in time. Example: As one can see, early in the history of the United States, most pollution was created without regard to the environment. Different private groups have taken steps towards preserving nature, including conservationists and environmentalists. A transition word, â€Å"however,† announces the contrasting relationship for the reader, avoiding the stop and start rollercoaster effect and creating cohesion. â€Å"Today† moves the reader from â€Å"early history.† As one can see, early in the history of the United States, most pollution was created without regard to the environment. However, different private groups today have taken steps towards preserving  nature, including conservationists and environmentalists. For cohesion within and between paragraphs – The transition words and phrases below are an abbreviated list of transition terms found at: http://www.studygs.net/wrtstr6.htm. Find more help at http://larae.net/write/transition.html Addition: also, again, besides, furthermore, in addition, likewise, moreover, as well as Result: thus, therefore, as a result, consequently, for this reason, hence, otherwise, subsequently Generalizations: typically, as usual, for the most part, generally, usually, in general Introducing Examples: for example, for instance, as an illustration, as an example, in this case Emphasis: above all, chiefly, especially, particularly, significantly, most importantly, primarily Similarity: comparatively, correspondingly, likewise, similar, together with, combined with Exception: aside from, barring, besides, except, excluding, exclusive of, other than, outside of Restatement: in essence, in other words, namely, that is, in short, to put it differently Contrast /Compare: in contrast, conversely, instead, on the other hand, on the contrary, rather, similarly, yet, but, however, still, nevertheless, in contrast, comparatively, likewise Order (time): at first, to begin with, at the same time, now, the next step, in turn, later on, meanwhile, next, then, soon, later, while, earlier, simultaneously, afterward, before, prior, last, meanwhile Summary: in brief, in conclusion, in short, in summary, in the final analysis, finally 4. REPETITION OF KEY WORDS Repeating key terms related to the main idea of the paragraph makes an invisible rope for readers to follow – a few hand holds. However, do not repeat words for the sake of repetition; the reader needs to occasionally be reminded of your focus, not beaten over the head with unnecessary repetitions. Example: The following paragraph focuses on the negative impact of the recession on restaurants. Follow the key words, variations of â€Å"economy,† â€Å"restaurant,† and â€Å"weak†; they tie sentences together as each negative effect is added to the paragraph: Many problems in the economy are impacting the restaurant industry. The factor responsible for most of these negative impacts is the economic recession. Due to weak economic conditions, the U.S. food service industry revenues will only rise 2.5% in 2008, compared to the 4.6% increase in 2007; the National Restaurant Association reports this to be among the poorest sales performances by the domestic restaurant industry in nearly four decades (Basham, 2008b). In response to the weak economic conditions, restaurants are increasing prices only enough to offset higher costs, rather than to expand profit margins (Basham, 2008b). Also, unemployment in the United States affects restaurants with rates reaching 5.3% in 2008 compared to 4.6% in 2007 (Basham, 2008b). The government has also made cost difficult for restaurants by increasing the federal minimum wage to $7.25 in 2009 (Basham, 2008b). Finally, consumers are traveling less which is lowering restaurant  sales; travelers and visitors accounted for a median of 15% of sales at quick service restaurants. At this time, the weak economic conditions have had a major impact on the food service industry. Repetition of the blue key words links the negative impacts on revenues, prices, employment, labor costs and customer traffic in the restaurant industry. Note also the transition words and phrases: â€Å"due to,‟ „in response,‟ â€Å"also,† â€Å"finally.† To avoid needless repetition: As you read each sentence, you naturally expect the next sentence to relate directly to the previous sentence. And this sentence does relate because I am still talking about your, the reader‟s, expectation. But what happens if I don‟t follow-up on the preceding one? I would break your reader attention. In a cohesive paragraph, every sentence builds on the information in the previous sentence, so that you avoid creating a bumpy wooden roller-coaster ride for your reader. If the subjects of two sentences are the same, typically a pronoun can be used to refer to the subject. Example: As you Like It was a universal play that, when set in modern times, still makes sense and can capture an audience. The play As you Like It uses modern costumes, props, and interactions with the audience to relate the story to our times. Note how the repetition of the full name of the play makes the beginning of the second sentence awkward. With a pronoun, it reads As you Like It was a universal play that, when set in modern times, still makes sense and can capture an audience. It uses modern costumes, props, and interactions with the audience to relate the story to our times. Warning: Be sure the reader will know what â€Å"it,† â€Å"he,† â€Å"that,† and other pronouns mean. See http://www.clarkson.edu/writingcenter/docs/vague_pronouns.pdf Finally†¦ 5. REREAD & REVISE! The best way to improve cohesion is to thoroughly reread your paragraphs. Many times, writers quickly put down all of their thoughts in a stream of  consciousness. While everything that they write makes sense at the time, it may seem like a garbled mess to a reader. Rereading your work (or having a friend, professor or tutor read it) allows you to add any missing links, fill gaps in logic and create cohesion. Additional Resources: http://www.ecu.edu/first_year_studio/workshops/printable_ws/Organization_and_Cohesion.doc http://leo.stcloudstate.edu/style/cohesion.html http://papyr.com/hypertextbooks/comp1/coherent.htm http://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/561/04/ http://leo.stcloudstate.edu/style/transitioncues.html

Website for Kudler Fine Foods Essays

Website for Kudler Fine Foods Essays Website for Kudler Fine Foods Essay Website for Kudler Fine Foods Essay Kudler Fine Foods (KFF) mission is to provide customers the best produce, wines, and associated needs in an unparalleled customer setting. Kudler brings its customers the finest products from around the world. Kudler Fine Foods wants to improve the functionality of their current website to be more competitive and to offer their unique products to customers everywhere. History The founder of Kudler Fine Foods is Kathy Kudler; she brings knowledge from a previous career as a vice president of marketing. As Kathy relieved her stress by gourmet cooking, she found it hard to find all ingredients in one place. Kathy recognizing a need for an upscale gourmet store in La Jolla, CA, she sought financing with a business plan in hand, and opened her first business June 18, 1998. To Kathy’s surprise, the store was profitable within the first nine months. In 2000, Del Mar became the location for the second store and a third store in Encinitas was in operation in 2003. Kudler Fine Foods is now ready to offer these great products to customers around the world with a new e-commerce website. Sales and Marketing Kudler Fine Foods is experiencing growth in the gourmet market, the time has come to grow in the service area, improve upon the effectiveness of its business and increase loyalty and profitability by increasing the purchasing power of its consumers. If the opportunity is favorable, Kudler Fine Foods will launch stores in Florida and Connecticut. Kudler Fine Foods focus has been on the development of services to the customer and adding a frequent shopper program to help increase profits. Now the business will incorporate the frequent shopping program and sales into the new web design that will take Kudler Fine Foods to the next level of business opportunities. Point of Sale The current Point of Sale (POS) module is NCR RealPOS 30; it gathers customer files and details of items purchased. The POS system permits growth with ecommerce; it can capture the same information online as well as in-store purchases. The new website will interface with the current POS system. Gathering customer information brings on the responsibility to guard personal information. Modern businesses deal with an elaborate system of laws and regulations. Business owners cannot survive without basic knowledge of these laws and regulations. KFF’s business has superior ethics that inspiring to do what is best for the customer, not just try to make a profit. Frequent Shopper Program Kudler Fine Food’s tracks the purchase behavior of the customer at the individual level. KFF provides incentives from joint ventures with companies with a program based on points accumulated from purchases. Kudler customers are not focusing on price; they want quality and variety of gourmet foods. The web is a great place to offer such merchandise to customers by using pictures and videos to offer how- to on using gourmet foods. The firm’s relational attitude often comes to life by the articulation of frontline employees whose characteristics and behaviors’ can apply considerable impact on the results of interactions with the customers according to Arbore, Guenzi, and Ordanini (2007). The same is true with service level for a website; the site must also meet all the needs of the customer. Focus Group The focus group for the development of an e-commerce website will be Kathy Kudler, the Director of store operations, sales staff, accounting clerk, computer support specialist, purchasing manager and IT staff. According to Woodward (2008), a website can expand a company’s geographical reach and its ability to provide customer service at a low cost. Current System The current system is a Norvell 4. 11 server with four POS windows PC’s at each location with a 56k modem connected to the Internet and each store has a standalone UPS modem. La Jolla and Del Mar each have a PC with PII NT server with built-in modem and cd-rom reader and a PC with PC 64 mg ram with windows and office 97 using server, a bubble jet printer and a stand along cd burner. Purpose Kudler Fine Foods is a unique type of store with a unique clientele. There are very few specialty stores in the United States so the use of a website will open a new business to web users to obtain gourmet foods delivered right to their doorstep. In staying with their specialty branding, Kindler’s executives and the sales and marketing department are enthusiastic about the se of the e-commerce website. Detail Design Kudler will need to implement an up-to-date server. We recommend that a server be purchased and the current one scrapped. The server will also need to run a more up-to-date version of the Windows operating system. I recommend Windows server either 2003 or 2008. I chose the Windows server edition because of the company’s already existing famili arity with the Windows server operating system. I also believe that learning the Linux operating system might slow down business operations and this is why in this situation a newer version of Windows would be a more reliable choice. Windows Server 2008 R2 builds on the successes and strengths of its Windows Server predecessors while delivering valuable new functionality and powerful improvements to the base operating system. New Web tools, virtualization technologies, security enhancements, and management utilities help save time, reduce costs, and provide a solid foundation for the information technology (IT) infrastructure (Microsoft. com, 2009). After the purchase of a server, and the launch of the website, we can keep the Kudler Fine Food checkout lanes open around the clock. The website will be written in hypertext mark-up language (HTML). Html is the standard programming language that information for the web is created in. The site will include JavaScript and Ajax with Meta tags to help search engines keep Kudler Fine Foods at the top of search results. We recommend that we change the current Internet access from a 56k dial up modem to modern like a high-speed xdsl or cable internet access. In addition, other options available, but I think cable or xdsl Internet access will give Kudler more than enough Internet bandwidth. This will enable the Kudler website to handle the traffic to their site in a faster manner. The modem upgrade will also enable the company server to send e-mail without worrying about the bottlenecking or choke points that occur due to the limited amount of bandwidth that is available to a dial up network. This will also be an improvement for those employees who need to access the network remotely. After signing up at the website, the customer will have agreed that his or her actions will be tracked while on the website via the user agreement or the terms of service. This will help Kudler tailor its business around the user. This will be more effective because Kudler can suggest the items that the customer is most interested in, and offer deals on those specific products. I believe that this will result in more customers who are pleased with their experience at the Kudler website and more sales for Kudler. This service will also enable customers to create online shopping list, and enable them to pay from home and pick up in store or have the items shipped. Test Process summary After all code is tested, a testing environment will be set up for users to test all web pages on different browsers. Testing for the website will be done using IT staff and in house employees. The functionality must appear seamless while the system must integrate with all aspects of the current POS system with enterprise wide software, online shopping and the Content Delivery Network (CDN). According to O’ Kennon (2010), using (CDN) as a server hosted by a third party, the content will be geographically closer to the users that request the content of the Website from Kudler Fine Foods. This will provide high-quality service quickly to keep the users attention. Software To start the testing, using the website interface and database software, the first step is the testing of the enterprise wide analytics software by integrating the current Access database; this will help expedite the testing and integrating tasks. The current Access database contains all vital records to the company. The enterprise wide software must be able to show the important fields within the database for each department. Testing of this software will be conducted offline to ensure the proper interfacing to the purchasing system works. Sales employees communicate with the customers; they would have firsthand knowledge of what the customer likes. If all looks good offline, then once the server is up and running transition to the website interface will begin. Hardware During the software coding, hardware testing will be used to validate the proper transition. A new server will be purchased and tested within the Kudler system as an addition. Once the server seems viable transferring information from the old servers to the new one will begin. As the software becomes available all testing between hardware will be with the new server. This will ensure that no additional testing will be needed on unused hardware. Testing will include data transfer and communication between location and external Internet connectivity. Support and Maintenance Summary Because Kudler Fine Foods is a smaller company, an offsite support company or outsourcing would make better business sense. The company does not have to employ a service person to maintain the website as well as any hardware for the system. This will be a cost savings for the company; in the event that hardware has problems, they can inform the support company. A super user at each location will help other employees and customers if they have issue that come up with the website. References Arbore, A. Guenzi, P. and Ordanini, A. (October 12, 2007). Loyalty building, relational trade-offs and key service employees: the case of radio DJs. Emerald Journal retrieved April 23, 2010 from the University of Phoenix Microsoft. com. (2009). Microsoft Windows Server Edition 2008R2 Product Information. Retrieved April 23, 2010 from microsoft. com/windowsserver2008/en/us/product-information. aspx O’Kennon, C. (2010). Content Delivery Networks. Retrieved May 7, 2010 from apollolibrary. com/Library/err/ElectronicReserveReadings. aspx. Woodward, K. (2008). Evaluating Web Site Goals and Needs. Retrieved May 7, 2010 from apollolibrary. com/Library/err/ElectronicReserveReadings. aspx.