The economic performance of the UK compared to Japan since 1990 has Essay - 1

The economic performance of the UK compared to Japan since 1990 has clearly demonstrated the superiority of the Anglo Saxon model over State Led Capitalism. Discuss - Essay Example Where as in state led capitalism, the productive forces are directed and controlled by the government in a capitalist manner. It is a social system combining capitalism with state ownership. Anglo Saxon economic model encourages innovation, competitiveness, and promote overall prosperity, and produces less inequality and poverty at the lowest margins of a society. It creates more jobs and delivers better working conditions as seen in UK where working condition is better than Japan. When people invest their own money, they have a chance to make profit by best efforts. Here production utilises at optimum level as the individual interest is involved. Competition pushes the producer to take up productive steps such as new technology, cost cutting, and use of best supply chain for making good profit (Schmidt, Vivien A., 2002). Other than these advantages, this economy also proves some disadvantages. This model of economy is responsible for a life of low wages and long hours for its employees. It creates inequality in society as the more talented and innovative people build strong financial position compared to less skilled individuals. Adding, poverty rates which were substantially higher in recent years in UK, where the economy is basically followed by Anglo Saxon economy model (Schmidt, Vivien A, 2002). State led capitalism economy advocates for the principle of individual rights. Consistent and rapid economic growth is the proven outcome of this economy. Human welfare is common in this economy. Its decentralised system of coordination is the greatest strength of its economy. But it has also some negative factors in its model. Because of more government intervention, social evils like nepotism, corruption, poor management may hurt the growth rate. In United Kingdom, Anglo Saxon model has allowed higher incomes for low paid workers, and at the same time it enhanced

Tv Boon or Bane Essay Example for Free

Tv Boon or Bane Essay One hardly comes across a house today that does not have a TV set. Even those who belong to the lower income group invest in a TV set as soon as they can afford it. Most Indians spend their evenings glued to the television as this is the most easily available entertainment for them. Now there are cable connections in most of the houses and with the advent of international channels on our television, the popularity of TV has grown many folds. How TV does affect our lives today? We have to consider its advantages and disadvantages. In some ways TV is a boon. It is a vital source of information and helps to shape our lives in many ways. It keeps us posted with the latest political, social and cultural developments in the world. Hence, it educates us. It brings the people of the world closer by removing the distances that exist between us. Sitting in our rooms, we get a view of the entire world. TV also takes us nearer to the cultures of the world. While entertaining us with soap operas, dances, plays, music, etc. , it educates us about the lifestyles of the foreigners in those lands where these programmes are produced. We can compare our own culture with theirs and can learn something from them. With a television set in the house, a person can never get lonely. It can be mans best friend. However, the television turns into a curse when it interferes with the normal routine of our day. When children neglect their school books and homework, the television becomes a curse. It is a source of great temptation for children to watch a cartoon show or a movie on TV rather than study. Adults often become less social because of the television. They tie themselves down to the house according to the timings of their favourite television programme thus making themselves unavailable for various social gatherings. They might skip meeting a friend or calling on their relatives because they would rather watch a movie on television. This keeps them confined to the house and they often miss out on activities which are equally, if not more important, outside the four walls of the house. If one balances the TV viewing time and time for work, then TV is a boon all the way, else it may become a curse.

Kate Chopin Essay -- Essays Papers

Kate Chopin Kate Chopin is an American writer of the late nineteenth century. She is known for her depictions of southern culture and of women's struggles for freedom. At this time in American history, women did not have a voice of their own and according to custom, they were to obey their father and husband. Generally, many women agreed to accept this customary way of life. Kate Chopin thought quite differently. The boldness Kate Chopin takes in portraying women in the late nineteenth century can be seen throughout The Awakening and other short stories. The following is an overview of her dramatic writing style. Elaine Showalter states, "Chopin went boldly beyond the work of her precursors in writing about women's longing for sexual and personal emancipation." (170). Chopin said that she was not a feminist of a suffragist. She was not an activist and she never joined the women's suffrage movement or belonged to a female literary community. Chopin saw freedom as a matter of your won spirit or soul without constraints. She did not try to encourage the women's movement in her writing; rather, she wrote what she felt. In writing what she felt, Chopin came to believe that " a true artist defied tradition and rejected respectable morality and the conventions and formulas to literary success." (Showalter 171). It could be said Chopin had a "literary awakening." In the early stages of Chopin's career, she tried to follow the literary advice and examples of others of her time. These efforts proved to be worthless. Chopin translated "Solitude", a story by Guy de Maupassant, in which Maupassant "escaped from tradition and authority†¦had entered into himself and looked out upon life though his own being and with his own eyes." (Seyested 701). Chopin did not want to imitate Maupassant; she just wanted to express herself in her writing the way he had done so in his. In The Awakening Chopin seems to tell her story through the main character Edna Pontellier. Her breaking away from the conventions of literary domesticity is shown through Edna breaking away from the conventional feminine roles of wife and mother (Showalter 170). Kate Chopin shows boldness by taking the main characters and having them completely change their views on life. Edna is a young woman who discovers that her pampered married life is not what she wants. ... ...ory in such a way that Edna has come to know herself, her true self, and does not need to continue living and searching. Kate Chopin's success as a writer plummeted after the release of The Awakening. It has been noted that contemporary critics were shocked at the way Chopin portrayed Edna Pontellier. Edna's character violated the codes of the behavior of nineteenth-century American women. The criticism became so bad the The Awakening was banned and dropped out of sight for many generations. It was not until the 1960's that Kate Chopin was recognized as a writer with her own views. Elaine Showalter states "Kate Chopin's literary evolution took her progressively through the three phases of the nineteenth-century American women's culture and women's writing." (176). Works Cited Chopin, Kate. The Awakening. New York: Dover, 1993. Night in Acadie. The American Short Story Series. Vol. 8. New York: Garrett, 1968. Seysrsted, Per, ed. Kate Chopin: A Critical Biography. New York: Octagon, 1980. Showalter, Elaine. "Tradition and the Female Talent: The Awakening and a Solitary Book." The Awakening. Ed. Nancy A. Walker. Boston: Bedford, 1993. 169-89.

Pro Capital Punishment :: essays research papers

Indian Penal Code 302:.............'to be hanged till death'! And the judge in his high seat signs with a grim face and breaks his pen. That blot of ink on that damned paper slowly transforms into drops of blood. Justice has been done and people may rest in peace. Wish it were so! The civilized world debates whether this is indeed...justice. The men who seat in high backed chairs and decree, the high priests of justice are demi gods. They kill....period! The Bible says that even God forgives. Who the hell is man to decide whether a person be allowed to live or not? What power, what authority entitles him to deal death at the scratch of a pen?The whole world awaits a judgement day. The mortal judges can hardly wait. Crimes are punishable and indeed , their intensities should vary with their heniousness. But to take away the right to live is against humanity. Imagine, dear reader, how it must feel to feel the rope press on your neck, the air suddenly rare, the crushing sensation on the spine. At a kerchief's drop, the lever moves and the man hangs in mid air, legs throwing frantically for some support, the pain unbearable till one hears the 'snap', the crack of the human neck! Where has the humanity vanished? Judgement was never meant to be so brutish. One of the most portent arguements against capital punishment is that we have no right to take something we cannot replenish.Life, the supreme and enigmatic benediction of God. We cannot provide one with it. What gives us the right to take it away? History says, there was a time in middle earth, when an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth , used to be the form of justice imparted. History also nomenclates that period as the 'dark ages', man was still on the threshold of civilisation. This is vengeance, not justice.It is barbaric in essence and is no better than 'street justice'. If this form of juvenile jurisdiction must prevail, legalise the underworld. After all they deal with equal fairness. Justice is not infalliable. It is administered by humans and errare humanum est. But this is like walking on quicksand. Here one mistake is irreversible. A man hangs and with that everything ends. What if it is later proved that someone goofed up, something went terribly wrong? No amount of repentance will make right that terrible wrong.

Southwest’s Competititve Advantage

STRATEGY IMPLEMENTATION AND MEASUREMENT METRICS ASSIGNMENT-1 SOUTHWEST AIRLINES CASE STUDY QUESTIONS 1. How does Southwest Airlines get its competitive advantage? 2. How does Southwest Airlines execute its strategy? 1. How does Southwest Airlines get its competitive advantage? Southwest Airlines uses a Cost Leadership Strategy, however most pricing strategists would agree that having a low price does not, in itself, constitute a competitive advantage. In fact, thinking that low prices are always a good strategy for competition is deeply misguided.However, at times, targeting low prices can lead to a strategic focus which delivers tremendous results. Modern competitive strategy will often examine firms from a resource-based view. According to this lens, competitive advantage derives from leveraging an inimitable resource to deliver value at a lower cost than the competitors. Price is a completely imitable resource. Any company can match the prices of its competitor if it so chooses. H ence, arguing that a low price is a strategic resource, or that it leads to a competitive advantage in and of itself, is illogical.Southwest Airlines has used the target pricing and utilized a marketing orientation since its infancy in 1971, even though these concepts were not fully defined back then. First, starting with the customers and the value they sought, Southwest Airlines initial target was customers traveling between cities in Texas, specifically between Dallas and Houston, Dallas and San Antonio, San Antonio and Houston. While Texas is larger than many countries, it isn’t so large that people can’t drive from city to city.Hence initially, the most comparable alternative to Southwest, and therefore its prime competition, wasn’t other airlines. Instead, it was the car. In uncovering the car as the competing alternative, Southwest was able to also identify the target price of its offering. Second, to compete with the car, Southwest Airlines had to price their service relatively similar to the cost of car travel. With this target in mind, they chose $20. While $20 is lower than the government allowable tax deduction for travel, it is also significantly higher than the price of gas alone to drive between these cities.Thus, at this $20 price, Southwest Airlines could be confident that it would capture many of the travelers that would have driven and convert them into short-hop air travelers. Third, the product was redefined to serve customers at this low price profitably. Consider what was removed from air travel and what was included instead. The table below enumerates the key points Points 1 Removed Reduced reservations flexibility: Reservations primarily made directly Southwest Airlines as they eschewed working with travel agents.No connections between airlines: Southwest Airlines would not transfer baggage between flights. Included or Added Simplicity in Pricing: Flat rate of $20 per leg of the journey. Also reduced the cost of pr ice management, as no yield management system was needed initially. Higher convenience in terms of on-time arrivals: With a simplified fight route between lesser used airports, Southwest was able to operate more reliably. Higher convenience in flight frequency: With point to point flights, Southwest could offer service between Houston and Dallas with the same plane roughly every 2. hours. 2 3 No long-haul flights: Southwest Airlines customers could only take Southwest between a city-pair, not across the country or even across state lines initially. This greatly reduced cost of compliance with CAB rulings, as Southwest’s operations were not subject to interstate commerce rulings. 4 No in-flight meals: Southwest Airlines only offered peanuts and beverages. Fun: Friendly flight attendants provided jokes, costumes, and made flying comfortable with warm and caring service. Faster boarding times leading to faster flight turnarounds.More seats: With one class of service, Southwest A irlines could put 137 seats in a 737 versus 128 in a United Airlines 737. 5 6 No seat assignments: First come, first seated. No first class: One-class service. 7 Does not fly into major airports: or uses Use of underutilized airports that are less major airports concentrates on point close to metropolitan cities: reduced to point connections costs, punctuality Use of multiple aircraft types Frequent flyer program does not use miles earned Uses fuel efficient 737s: reduces maintenance and training costs Based on number of trips flown: reduced operating costs 9 From this list, we see a number of items which an airline would usually use to define superior value removed from Southwest Airlines offer. A Southwest customer couldn’t be treated to first class, couldn’t get food, couldn’t book them as part of a larger trip, couldn’t book with them through an agent, and couldn’t even preselect their seat. All of these features were exactly what defined a com petitive airline at the time. And, all of these features added cost.Instead, Southwest Airlines selected a specific target customer — a Texan traveling between cities in Texas — and then determined what it would take to satisfy that customer. ? ? ? That customer was far more interested in travel efficiency than travel class. That customer would be glad to forgo a meal, especially in exchange for a friendly flight attendant and a Dr. Pepper. That customer was trading off driving for flying, and needed flexibility in booking rather than navigating through the decisions and planning related to yield management.This service described does not meet the wants of every customer that could have flown Southwest Airlines, but it does describe those of the target customer. And, given the choice of mediocrely satisfying everyone at a high cost or highly satisfying a select few at a low but profitable price, Southwest Airlines rightly chose the latter. As a result of tightly defini ng the value sought by customers (efficient and flexible travel), and the price ($20), Southwest was able to meet the needs and surpass the expectations of their target customer.Moreover, it was able to do this at a significantly lower cost than a standard airline. So can low prices deliver a competitive advantage? NO, not alone. But target pricing, where the price and benefits demanded by customer leads to a strategic focus that drives a redefinition of the product and service, can deliver a winning competitive advantage. One where a customer need is met at a cost below the price the target market is willing to pay. BALANCED SCORECARD FOR SWA 2. How does Southwest Airlines execute its strategy?Southwest Airlines is probably one of the most striking examples of a company that (a) Defined a very clear and simple key business purpose, (b) Chose the right business model to support the business purpose, and (c) Consistently demonstrates the core values and behaviors derived from that ke y business purpose. The brand promise of Southwest Airlines is: ‘Dedication to the highest quality of Customer Service delivered with a sense of warmth, friendliness, individual pride, and Company Spirit'.Every single employee of the company is aligned with this brand promise and in spite of the current economic turmoil in the airline industrySouthwest's performance isamong the best in the industry. Staff morale is exceptionally high. In 1971, Rollin King and Herb Kelleher started an airline service with one simple notion: â€Å"If you get your passengers to their destinations when they want to get there, on time, at the lowest possible fares, and make darn sure they have a good time doing it, people will fly your airline†.Southwest currently has the lowest operating-cost structure in the US domestic airline industry and consistently offers the lowest and most of all simplest fares. Southwest holds the best cumulative customer satisfaction record for the past 18 years. In December 2008, the airline had 35,499 employees and generated total operating revenues of $11 billion (2007 = $ 9. 8 billion, 2001 = $ 5. 3 billion) from a passenger load factor of 71. 2% with a fleet of 537 Boeing 737’s.Its stock exchange symbol is ‘LUV’, representing Southwest’s home at Dallas Love Field, as well as the theme of its employee and customer relationships. The major success to their continued success seems due to their low-cost model and competitors being aware that they cannot match Southwest Airlines’ low prices. Southwest Airlines has the reputation of being able to force a competitor into bankruptcy. It is believed, however, that it was not just the choice of its business model that made Southwest Airlines such a successful company; it is the way they execute their business model through perfect strategic alignment.Southwest Airlines succeeded in defining a very simple yet clear key business purpose; the fact that they aim for being â€Å"the only short haul, low fare, high frequency, point-to-point carrier in America† leaves very little room for interpretation. What makes Southwest Airlines’ key business purpose such a powerful one however, is not just the very clear definition of their ‘raison d’ etre’, but certainly also what the company and its leaders do with it.Their simple but effective key business purpose is the main guiding principle for Southwest Airlines’ strategic goals, business strategy, organizational infrastructure, and last – but certainly not least – their company culture. The organization of Southwest Airlines is best described as an upside-down pyramid – an organization very much in line with the way they want to do business. The upper management is at the bottom and supports the front line employees, who are the experts.Front line employees play a major role in the yearly business planning and operational budget which for a great part is done bottom-up rather than top-down. This is the fruit of co-founder Herb Kelleher's unorthodox leadership style, in which management decisions are made by everyone in the organization, not just the head executives. The company does not put much emphasis on structure; instead, employees are encouraged to think freely without constraints such as titles or official mandates. The reason for Southwest Airline's success is due to their clear key business purpose and core values, and due to the way in hich they consistently execute their business model (a combination of ‘disruptive innovation’ and ‘customer intimacy’) in line with their key business purpose and core values. ? ? ? The Southwest Airlines fleet consists solely of Boeing 737s It offers only economy seats (there is no business or first class). Southwest Airlines also do not offer in-flight meals, only peanuts and other snacks. Southwest is simple and direct at the goal of their service ; â€Å"A primarily short-haul airline that flies directly from city to city, with just one type of plane – the Boeing 737 – and the lowest costs†.With a simple goal, Southwest has excised many of the ‘luxuries’ that competitors offer, such as luxury seats; this is made evident by their decision to enforce a rule for passengers who cannot fit into the seats to purchase an additional seat. This rather unpopular move – whereas other airlines would have suggested a more luxury class seat – is simple in its purpose – get passengers from point A to point B with a minimum of frills, but with a friendly smile and great personal service.While Southwest Airlines offer no frills, they do meet and exceed customer expectations when it comes to personal service. They base their model on the motto â€Å"If employees are happy, satisfied, dedicated, and energetic, they'll take real good care of the customers. When the customers are happy, the y come back. And that makes the shareholders happy†. Southwest invests in very good relations with all their employees. Employees are either of independent labor unions or have flexible contracts which allow employees to work longer hours (adapting the business model to the key business purpose)

The system of alliances essays

The system of alliances essays The system of Alliances and Ententes was most responsible for Britain entering the First World War in 1914. It is the view of some Historians that Britain entered the first world war in 1914 due to the alliances and ententes, however others believe it a combination of other factor s that made Britain decide to join the war. During the time the war started Britain had strong links with France due to the entente Cordiale, Japan due to the alliance of 1902 and Russia in 1907.The Entente cordiale restored relations between the two nations and also the countries had military conversations making Britain feel obliged to enter a war because of these commitments There were also some people in the Foreign office who wished to make the Entente into a full alliance, this shows that there was support for the French within the cabinet of the time. The alliance with Japan was to maintain the status quo of the far east and was defensive only. There were also another alliance in Europe at the time besides the triple entente; The Triple Alliance involved Germany, Italy and Austro Hungary, if there was a war between the two and Britain was not involved, Britain may have become the dominant power in Europe however they may have suffered from reduction in trade from the European powers. However if Germany had won Britain may have been in danger of losing a period of Anglo German antagonism or even Germany would attack Britain. If Russia became the most dominant country in Europe, there would be problems in the Far East and Asia as well. It seems that Britain may have entered the war to try to gain the best outcome. However, Britain had made no formal military agreements with any members of the triple entente and was not obliged to join a war if France did. Britain had also agreed to maintain the neutrality of Belgium in the treaty of London in 1839, and Germany demanded to be allowed to go through Belgium causing them to ask for...

The Vist

The Vist The night sky of Neton was a clear one. The deep blue,almost a black but well illuminated by the bright fullmoon, glistened with a pattern of twinkling stars. Thebackground light from Brisbane was almost nonexistent,a pleasant change of atmosphere that was rarely appreciatedby most.Except Jane. She loved the clear sky, the faint presence ofthe Milky Way as it wrapped itself across the near-endlessplane that was the sky She stood out on the balcony, staringinto the azure. Was there life out there? she wondered. Theuniverse is so huge, why not? Besides, with all the strangethings that happen in the world you'd think that there mightas well be aliens to make the group whole.A streak of light suddenly pierced the night's sky and left adazzling trail of cosmic dust behind it. Jane gasped in awe.A falling star.360Â ° panorama of Racetrack Playa in Death Valley ...The brightest she had seen! She quickly closedher eyes and made a wish, knowing that a wish from a falling starhad excellent ch ances of coming to pass. But the wish had to bestrongly formed in one's mind, or else it would dissipate with allthe other bits of wishful thinking that took place in the night.She tried to form an image, . She almost had it. She slowlyopened her eyes and visualized... Max. Standing at thedoor and was looking at her with an air of mild curiosity.'HEY Jane' he yelled! ' What the hell are you doing ?'Jane nearly fell backwards. He was no vision!That idiot was once again eavesdropping on her!'I WAS making a wish, you jerk!' she blurted out, 'You'vejust ruined it, though!''Making wishes ? Don't bother. No amount of wishingwill make you a better...