Comparative Essay: Hamlet vs. King Lear Essay

King Lear and Hamlet are two of Shakespeare’s greatest tragedies where he has developed complex characters that create more problems for themselves as a result of their natures. Both Hamlet and King Lear are protagonists who believe that things around them should be inherently good at all times and that people’s motives and actions should always be truthful and fair. Nevertheless, within both novels we see different characteristics of these main characters as well that evidently separate them. Hamlet is a strong developed person who has difficulty coming to terms with any corrupt events that occur around him. He can be seen and noted as a very pessimistic and bitter minded individual; however, this attitude is mainly seen when he is attempting to suppress his hatred and fury towards the extreme events that have occurred in his life, this majorly referring to the death of his father. The greatest fatal flaw that he portrays within the entirety of the play would be over analyzing and over thinking every event that takes place in his place, regardless of the importance. For instance, in all of the soliloquies where Hamlet is speaking, he discusses and plots ideas involving avenging his father’s death; however, he has much delay when it comes to the murdering of his uncle. As a result of his faith in God, at one point he worried that if he had taken the life of his uncle whilst he was praying then his soul would be sent straight off to Heaven. This delayed him with acting upon his decision, and this is mainly as a result of the morals and beliefs that he has. The fatal flaw of over thinking in this situation obstructed his laid out path to the vengeance of his father’s life. Overanalyzing is also a key fatal flaw that is explored throughout the character of King Lear as well; however, in this circumstance, we see that after over thinking a situation, it is mainly his great pride that results in his downfall. King Lear ultimately wants to divide his kingdom up between his three daughters; however, in order to receive the greatest amount of land, King Lear decided that it would be just for each of his daughters to proclaim their love for their father. King Lear, being blinded by his own arrogance, did not see that his two oldest daughters directly lied to his face when proclaiming their devotion towards him. It was only his youngest daughter, Cordelia, who spoke to her father with complete honesty, even though it led to her banishment from the kingdom. The fundamental part of Lear’s error in judgment was that he only wanted to hear positive attributes about himself being exclaimed, and once he heard something remotely negative, he exploded with fury. He ends up giving away his land to his two eldest daughters, and later realizes that their intentions with it were completely selfish. We can see that King Lear, similar to Hamlet, did not see that people’s true intention could be so negative and demeaning. Especially from his own daughters he expected nothing but the purest of actions. His great pride overtook his whole mind and body, and as a result, Lear ended up within his own realm of madness, alone and fearful. Both of Shakespeare’s characters, King Lear and Hamlet, act in certain ways as a result of the world in which they find themselves placed in. This is mainly seen through King Lear, who starts off within the play as a character who requires constant attention and love, and later realizes that his blindness to the true intentions of his daughters is what led him to complete insanity and the loss of all feelings of pride. As a result of this, we notice that the age difference, and difference in generations in which King Lear and his daughters were raised in is what ultimately led to his blindness and the loss of all his possessions, for his daughters, Goneril and Regan, are directly opposed to any ideas of loyalty, authority, respect or order. With Hamlet, however, we see that the death of his father is one of the contributory factors that lead to the tragedies that followed along. Hamlet’s inherent tendency to overanalyze all situations that he is presented with is the biggest cause of his isolation and his removal from all reality by the end of the play. As a result of this, we see that Hamlet’s fatal flaw begins as something internal and carries out all throughout the play remaining untouched. Both characters, Hamlet and King Lear, possess characteristics and personality traits that lead them to their isolation and fear. Shakespeare brilliantly showed us that even a single fatal flaw within a character has the potential to ultimately lead them to extreme failure, and we see this characteristic especially within these two protagonists. Both of them started off inherently good, however, as a result of their failure to notice people’s ungrateful and selfish characteristics, they ended up with nothing.

Global History †Famines in India and China Essay

The 1876-1879 and 1896-1902 famines in India and China were some of the worst famines the world had ever seen up until that point in time (Rouse Lecture). In China and India from 1876-1882, the estimated mortality was between 31 and 61 million (Davis 2001: 7). If the British and the Chinese governments had made simple changes in their policies regarding India and China, the results of the famine would not have been so catastrophic. In this paper I will analyze, Davis’ argument that â€Å"Millions died, not outside the ‘modern world system,’ but in the very process of being forcibly incorporated into its economic and political structures. They died in the golden age of Liberal Capitalism†¦Ã¢â‚¬  (Davis 2001: 9). Almost contrary to that he argues that â€Å"many were murdered†, emphasizing that â€Å"‘millions die’ was ultimately a political choice† and that â€Å"imperial policies towards starving ‘subjects’ were often the exact moral equivalents of bombs dropped from 18,000 feet. † (Davis 2001: 22). I will aim to analyze these relating to British dealings with India, Western dealings with China, the broader development of imperialism and industrial capitalism from the late eighteenth century to the early years of the twentieth century, and also Marks’ claim that there is never such a thing as a purely â€Å"natural† disaster? In 1876, a disastrous famine hit India, starting with an El Nino-induced drought that halted crop production. However, the situation rapidly got worse: due to the inadequacy, there was a major surge in food prices. The vast amounts of Indian grain exports to Great Britain prompted grain speculation, which further raised the price of grain. As prices crept up, the poor could not afford to buy grain, a dietary staple. Furthermore, in 1865, wheat exports to Britain numbered 308,000 quarters. Climate also played an important role in the 1876 famine: El Nino pacific currents brought heavy rains and flooding to some parts of India, but severe drought to others (Rouse Lecture). In fall 1877, the arrival of heavy rains, instead of alleviating the drought, brought malaria-carrying mosquitoes that killed thousands (Davis 2001: 49). There were many responses to the growing famine. The British followed Malthusianism: land does not have a natural carrying capacity. Furthermore, in the few instances when the British distributed aid, they refused it to those unable to work (Davis 2001: 36). In 1896, another famine began due to a failed monsoon and the lack of a substantial 1896 crop (Davis 2001: 142). Grain prices rose again; there was no stored grain to rely on: the excess shipped to England to make up for shipping deficits. People hated the poorhouses: the food they provided was dry flour, salt, and dirt; moreover, as soon as rains fell, the British pushed the poor out of the relief camps (Davis 2001: 147, 158). The British downplayed the famine; overseas, they created stories and paintings that depicted the British as saviors (Davis 2001: 155-56). Finally, by the late 1890s, the British focused their attention on South Africa and India was left to deal with her own problems (Davis 2001: 165). While the famine was happening there were certain British policies that intensified famine in India. The newly constructed railroads, portrayed as agents that could bring relief to the famine were used by the British to build up the inventories for export goods. (Davis 2001: 26). In legislation methods, by the Vernacular press Act, there was see a denial and hiding of deaths saying they’re other diseases, than the famine and also the approval of Anti Charitable Contributions Act of 1877 prevented the upper class Indians from helping. (Davis 2001: 34 & 39). Also relief efforts turned away people who could not perform hard labor(Davis 2001: 25 – 36). Seeing that millions had died the British did try to â€Å"prevent† famine again by setting up famine relief and insurance fund had been established in 1878 (Davis 2001: 141). They integrated Burma’s rice surpluses into imperial system. Laid more railroad (financed by Famine Relief Fund) (Davis 2001: 142). But there were many things they chose to overlook, particularly that they didn’t do anything about poor relief or the inflation in the prices of standard goods. They also didn’t spend any money on slum sanitation, which resulted in the Bubonic Plague (Davis 2001: 148). The 1876 famine in China was preceded by the worst Chinese drought in 200 years (Rouse Lecture). In previous famines, the Chinese state would provide generous aid; however, civil war threatened the Qing dynasty. As a result, they put all extra money into the military, as opposed to social welfare. Moreover, the First Opium War severally disabled the power of the Chinese state (Rouse Lecture). The British were known to grow opium in India and then shipping it to China in exchange for other goods the English were in need of. The Chinese administration had been trying to end this now flourishing trade for decades but were unsuccessful I their attempts. This system of trade caused considerable economic damage by the drainage of cash silver from the country to pay for the illegal imports apart from increasing corruption and voluntary unemployment. (Davis 2001: 12) Finally fed up and frustrated with the way the economy was plunging, the emperor too some drastic measures leading to the execution of important individuals involved in the trade (Rouse Lecture). Also the attacking the evil foreign ships in the harbor by the new Commissioner in the area sparked off a bitter battle between the two which ended in the defeat of the Chinese. The 1842 Treaty of Nanjing forced China to pay indemnities to Great Britain and to open up ports for British use: consequently, the Chinese could not give money to relief. (Davis 2001: 12) Furthermore, the Chinese moral economy had turned into a more capitalistic one by the time of the famine. The British, through the illegal trade of opium, instilled an individualistic profit-maximizing outlook on the economy. As a result, the poor received very little aid. Additionally, landowners began to use land to produce commercially crops, leaving even less land for peasants to work on: (empire financially and left bitterness over the relationship between the government and Rouse Lecture). Then came the Second Opium War in the years 1856-1860. This had nothing to do with opium but rather the fundamental problem of imperialism, competition. Other countries are starting to make trade-treaties with China (in other words, Britain isn’t the only imperial power), which leads to Britain wanting to renegotiate Treaty of Nanking and again making it more favorable to them. (Davis 2001: 12) They want to ensure their most favored nation status. They demand to open all Chinese ports, legalize opium trade, exempt imports from duties and again war breaks out and results in Treaty of Tientsin (1858) which again leads to the loss of China and meeting the demands of the British. The Taiping Rebellion, in which millions died, was a massive revolt against the monarchy of the reigning Qing Empire in China. Basically people are devastated and frustrated about China’s defeat in First Opium War and the reaction of the Qing leaders as ineffective and corrupt. Also the1850s flooding causes peasants to lose homes, and they join rebels. The movement was headed by Hong Xiuquan, an unorthodox Christian convert who declared himself the new Messiah (Davis 2001: 12 – 13). The government starts to take note and tries to stop them but Hong and their followers established the Kingdom of Taiping – â€Å"Kingdom of Heavenly Peace† on the basis of a classless society with wealth distribution. But holding their territory against imperial and foreign forces had become virtually impossible which led to their downfall. Almost inspired by this came the Boxer Uprising where a few radicals gathered around Beijing and tried to besiege the embassies of imperialists, as they were tired of the foreign dominance (Davis 2001: 13). The Chinese empire was extremely successful at preventing famine causalities in the past. Landowners and merchants refused aid from missionaries, convinced they would convert the Chinese in payment (Rouse Lecture). The Chinese government should also have cut the taxes: by attempting to gain money, the government stopped the poor from buying food. Finally, if China had limited their military budget they would have been able to keep up famine prevention measures. Both famines in India could have been easily averted by the British had they made certain changes. Lytton did not allow local governments to stockpile grain (Davis 2001: 29). Furthermore, the northwest provinces, historically a subsistence-based system, turned into a commercial system under the British: in order to restore British grain prices, grain was exported to Britain (Davis 2001: 51). If more grain had remained within the country, prices would not have risen so high in the first place. Yet at the same time, many of India’s maharajas gathered grain to sell at high prices, just like the British (Davis 2001: 50-51). Furthermore, the British insisted on collecting taxes from the impoverished rural farmers, who could barely make ends meet (Davis 2001: 50). There were certain social ideas, models and dilemmas that the British were the forerunners for. One of them was the idea of Liberal capitalism; which basically means that the society is based on the principles of capital in its various forms and that almost everything in the society had a price and could be obtained through capital. This idea of gaining capital led to the idea of obtaining it quickly, which came to the idea of imperialism, which was to use up the natural resources of foreigners towards ones own needs. Apart from that great thinkers like Adam Smith said, â€Å"famine has never arisen from any other cause but the violence of government attempting, by improper means, to remedy the inconvenience of dearth. † (Davis 2001: 31) which gave base to the idealistic imperialist plans, which were never really implemented. Around the time the idea of Social Darwinism came about which gave imperialists reasons to conquer new territories without worrying about the ethical issues as now they thought that it was just meant to be, as described in Rudyard Kipling’s â€Å"White Man’s Burden† (1899); which came up again at the time. If the British and Chinese governments had implemented these slightly different changes in India and China, the famines’ effects would not have been nearly as catastrophic. China’s numerous rebellions such as the Taiping and Boxer Rebellions wouldn’t have happened: there would be an extremely limited foreign presence in China and its people would not have been unable to provide for themselves. Without foreign influence, famine prevention measures would have been greater than those of the West would have been.

Self Discipline Diary

Most people went and had their showers in the morning before the activity but couldn't get up early enough and so instead I ad my shower during one of the activities which I got in trouble for and so to improve on this the next morning managed to get myself up earlier and have my shower before any activities started so it didn't interfere. After we had the introduction to this unit about discipline, I realized that sometimes I do not show very good self-control when in stressful situations.I remembered about this when was at work on Saturday when a customer got angry with me because she wanted to return a product. I remembered what my tutor had said about self-control being part of good discipline, and so anteed the situation differently. I felt really good afterwards. Am normally not good at arriving at places on time, and this week I have been getting up later and this has caused me to be late for college. Am annoyed with myself for allowing this to happen, and so I plan to go to b ed a bit earlier next week, so that can show good time keeping and punctuality. 3/09/2014 This week our course went on boot camp in the new forest during this We had to have good self-discipline, for example when we got there we had to set up camp and in pairs set up our tents independently after being shown how o do so by Phil. We also got put into groups and given a timetable of different activities that we had to take part in and so we had to be organized at time keeping and manage to get to each activity at the correct time. And finally we had to get up and out of our tents by 6:30 which was hard to do for some (Particularly Kerosene).During this week I forgot my ID badge on a couple occasions and have been told by the receptionists that I need to bring it in everyday. I also got told Off for swearing after getting frustrated with my tent, an area which will try my hardest to improve on. At boot camp was the first time I took part in drill, it was quite tricky and at first I cou ldn't get the hang of it and looked like I was going the goose step most of the time. However after working on it and practicing as a group managed to learn the basics and improve my marching and posture.It was particularly hard to wake up early at boot camp and so I was late to the first session. Also, buses during the week are 90% of the time late, which is fairly annoying as it impacts on my attendance. 30/09/2014 This week I have managed to remain focused in my lessons and have not allowed myself to become distracted by others. During the week a classmate tried to get my attention by throwing rolled up bits of paper at me. However, I managed to ignore it. I am happy that I have remained focused as wrote some good notes which I Can refer back to when I'm working on my assignment at a later date. M happy with the course and am finding it very interesting, which helps me ignore others who aren't showing the same interest in the sessions. I occasionally don't listen to what my tutor has said due to having earphones in at the time, an area at which I will improve on. Last year at sixth form was easily distracted by others and so wouldn't take down notes on the work we were doing this meant didn't have anything to help me on course work and revision material for exams and so I fell behind. Again the buses have been late this week, a very frustrating issue.I will attempt to wake up earlier in order to get an earlier bus into college, so am no longer late to the first session. 07/10/2014 This was our second lesson of drill and feel that I am getting more use to it and am learning more commands, the correct posture that I can apply during the session. I could improve my attention to Dale however I am getting distracted by others around me, rather than listening to the next instruction. I could also improve my timing and become more in time with the rest of the group. Have come a long way from the first session, and I now know a lot of moves and my timing is slowly improving.Our drill instructor is quite a quiet character and so it is quite hard to hear him at times during drill. 14/1 0/2014 Today we had a drill session and then had our first assignment with Phil, I paid my full attention to what was being said as it set the bar for future assignments and it was important that know what I was/will be doing. I could improve this week by managing my time and hobbies better alongside my college work. Perhaps cut certain aspects of my social life off in order to make sure I am applying the required amount of work.I made a progression this week by making sure I paid my full attention to Phil for our first assignment. Hadn't quite got use to Office 365 and therefore hadn't saved any of my work online; this meant that couldn't do any independent work at home. 21 / 10/ 2014 Enjoyed Marks session this week and found it very interesting. A couple classmates were fooling round near the back of my class and I managed to ignore it and carry on with the set work, which I am pleased with myself for. Could improve by being on time as I was late to a couple sessions in the morning due to the bus being late once again. Eve progressed this week by becoming more independent in my assignments and getting office 365 to work for me, and therefore I was able to do some work at home for a couple hours, which I'm happy about. One set back would be that during drill we were learning a new command (I think it was salutes) which just couldn't get he hang of, which was particularly frustrating for me. 28/1 0/2014 This week I enjoyed Phial's session as we were making paper airplanes and we had a budget on how many and which type we could make. My team lost miserably.However I became the leader of the team and despite my brilliant plane design (which was the most statically pleasing) other teams with their stupid dart planes managed to (in my opinion) cheat their way to victory. Work experience is quickly approaching and I have yet to do any preparatio ns for it. I should begin to start thinking about what I'll do and organize myself some more. This week have progressed by being a bit more organized with equipment and my timings for sessions have been much better. Office 365 was playing up again and I was not able to do any work at home for a couple days this week. 4/1 1/2014 This week we learned some new commands in drill which I managed to get the hang of. I paid a great deal of attention to what was being said and didn't get distracted nearly as much as usually would. Another week has gone by and I have still not done anything about work experience. Although I now have a few ideas on where to go. I have begun to come accustomed to the ark load and what is expected of us in college as it is very different to sixth form. I am finding the workload the right amount for me to take on and am not falling behind on work at all compared to last year.I struggled to find out what room I was in (due to construction work) and therefore I wa s around 5 minutes late to one of my sessions with Phil. 1 1/11/2014 This week we took a trip to RAFF Bribe Norton which was very interesting and paid my full attention to what was being said by the various military men and women who spoke to us. I didn't let anyone distract me and I thoroughly enjoyed the day. This week was late to a session due to bad time keeping and ignorance. I felt bad and I shall not do it again. I learnt a lot at RAFF Bribe Norton and now have a few more areas I would like to kick into within the military as a possible career path. Didn't quite understand part of an assignment this week and didn't say anything at the time so I now have to wait until next week in order to ask about my queries 1 8/1 1 /2014 This week we had Miles the PASO come in and talk to us about the chain of command and stop and search rules/techniques. I paid my full attention and made sure that I asked plenty of questions. I also volunteered for a demonstration I had to act out in front of the entire class. During the talk by miles I didn't take any notes, which Phil had a word to me about as it meant I then didn't have any notes to look back on for help during assignment work.I have progressed this week by becoming a more outspoken person and asking many questions, which has benefited the class and l. Was ill on Friday this week and so I missed an entire day of work, on which I will now have to catch up on. 25/11/2014 This week I decided to knuckle down at home and get some assignment work out of the way. I was very pleased with my independent work and it made me feel in front of my work load, rather than behind it. I decided not to go to enrichment this Wednesday and decided to do some assignment work which against college rules and is very irresponsible of me.It shouldn't happen again. Have made some great progress on assignments and am now in front of my work load which feels great and allows for some time to do some social things this week which I am looking forward to. I was late into college one day this week due to bus issues and so was a little late to one of my first sessions. 02/12/2014 Our second to last drill session was today and we have all begun to take the session a lot more seriously. I am no longer letting people distract me as much and am trying my hardest (despite the buses) to turn up to drill on time.

The influence of Offensive Air Support in modern warfare Essay

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Middle East Fashion - Turkey Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Middle East Fashion - Turkey - Research Paper Example The essay "Middle East Fashion - Turkey" analyzes the fashion of Turkey. Turkey is a country where people from different ethnic origins live. People of the cities that border Arab world are like that bordering countries. People of the cities that border European cities are like that European counterparts. Pants, shirts, ties are the main accessories of the Turkish clothing for males, females and children of all ages. On the other hand, the people who like to wear traditional dresses also use accessories like loose pants, long shirts, caps, and scarf. People still use traditional shoes. People also use different types of ornaments. Ornaments are especially used by women. Women in Turkey like to wear gold, platinum and diamond ornaments. Some people also like to wear silver ornaments. Most of the modern people of Turkey do not give important to ornaments. And scarcely use ornaments and additional accessories of clothing. Official dress in offices is pant and shirt. Turkey is located at a geographically most important region of the world. Many countries share borders with Turkey. Greece, Syria, Iraq, Iran and Georgia are some of neighboring countries. Turkey is the only country that has some part land (Istanbul) in Europe and major part (other than Istanbul) of land in Asia. Turkey has always been an important country in the world. During the era of Ottoman Empire, Turkey was one the major powers of the world. Turkey is still a major economy of Asia and the world. Turkey is also part of elite G20.

Innovation in turbulent times Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3500 words

Innovation in turbulent times - Essay Example Same way it is difficult for a mobile phone manufacturer to sell mobile phones with the phoning option alone because of the entry of advanced mobile phones with advanced features like, audio, video recording, internet surfing options etc. â€Å"Radical innovation is crucial to the growth of firms and economies. Firms at the leading edge of innovation tend to dominate world markets and promote the international competitiveness of their home economies† (Tellis et al). For example, Microsoft has innovated new operating system windows for personal computers around two decades before. They were succeeded in monopolizing the world software market thereafter. Even though the introduction of Windows operating system brought market leadership to Microsoft, they never stayed inactive. Periodically they modified the Windows operating system based on the technological growth and the changing requirements of the customers. The recent global recession has revealed the fact that only innovat ive organizations may have better future in the highly competitive world. Innovation is the bread and butter of organizations. Moreover, the future of many organizations depends on their ability to innovate because of the tough competition in the market. In short, innovation is the much needed entity for the organizations to exist in the current globalized and highly competitive business world. ... The leadership needs to play an active role in the innovation process. Leadership styles and functioning are undergoing drastic changes at present in order to encourage the employees to come out with innovative ideas. It is difficult to anticipate that every worker will contribute innovative ideas; however, the chances of at least few workers providing some innovative ideas are bright for all the organizations. In order to encourage the workers to come out with new ideas, most of the current organizations are giving ample freedom to the workers. Autocratic styles of management have given way for democratic styles of management in order to increase the worker involvement more in the innovation process. However, still some prominent companies are not considering the worker involvement necessary for the innovation process. Apple Company is one best example for that. Apple always develops new products secretly and they are not giving any ideas about the new product they are going to deve lop to their employees. Only the concerned people will know about such things. â€Å"A leader who believes in Trend Spotting and believes in capitalizing on emerging trends and technologies can set the example for staff to create an openness that new ideas and trends are brought forward† (Innovation Perspectives - Leader's Role in Trend Spotting). Trend based innovation is another major thing developed in the business world in the recent past. For example, Apple has recently introduced its touch screen phone (iphone) in the market and it became a huge success. After watching the customer trend towards this type of touch screen phones, Nokia, Sony and Samsung like big companies also immediately introduced their

Is Teacher Certification Worthwhile or Not Essay

Is Teacher Certification Worthwhile or Not - Essay Example Every industry faces high levels of competition, and as such, having a competitive advantage over other firms is of priority for different firms. Subsequently, they hire the best and highest qualified individuals in the market to work in their firms. Governments on the other hand, in an effort to raise their GDP, have seen the importance of investing in quality education for its population. It is with this reason that there is an increase in the demand for teacher certification as countries and firms battle out at the global market arena. This essay addresses the reasons why it is important for every teacher to seek certification before joining the teaching profession. There is an increase in the number of colleges training teachers especially in California. Without any mechanism in place to test the competency of these teachers, there is a high likelihood of there being non-trained as well as poorly trained teachers. A non-trained or poorly trained teacher cannot teach in a competit ive way. Although these colleges are accredited colleges, there is no mechanism in place to prove that a teacher in deed has gone through training and can thus comfortably handle students. Initially, when there were few universities and colleges offering teachers’ training, it was possible to tell the quality of the tutoring. This is however not the case anymore. With the increase in the number of colleges, the only way of determining the quality of training that teachers receive in these colleges is only through the certification process. Additionally, teacher certification is the only way in which a person can prove their skills and expertise. The uniqueness of the teaching profession makes it necessary for the certification of teachers globally, not just in California. A teacher needs to have basic teaching skills in addition to their ability to handle students comfortably. Understanding that teaching entails much more than just classroom teaching is the bottom line for se eking certification. Taking a specifically exam is one of the main ways in which an individual could become a certified teacher. However, there are different kinds of skills that teachers need to have, which different tests seek to test in a teacher. The California Basic Education Skills Test (CBEST) in California is one of these tests that seek to test the basic teaching skills of a teacher in the state of California. Notably, most of the exams test reading skills, writing skills and the computation skills of a teacher. For one to pass the test, the middle graduate student knowledge is mandatory. Therefore, without having acquired this level of knowledge, it is hard for one to pass the test comfortably. The importance of having this certification is evident by the fact that unified school district holds only the certificate of basic education test. This is the first step of becoming a teacher, as one has to take the certification test to qualify as part of the unified school distri ct department. Moreover, the CSEST tests the understanding of the teacher’s basic knowledge, history, and application of skills in the major subject. This makes it possible for the unified district department to screen out teachers by the understanding of the subject and decide that who can be employ. Currently, the CSEST does not require any experience for one to qualify as a

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Strategy planning - Essay Example McDonald’s deals with a wide range of products like hamburgers as well as French Fries, chicken sandwiches along with soft drinks, desserts and other various sorts of breakfast items (Gilbert, 2008). In order to determine the significance of various external factors that impact on the way McDonald’s conducts its business, it can be viewed that proper analysis of the external factors made the company to raise its business reputation and also to accomplish superior competitive position by a greater level. In order to analyse the external environment of McDonald’s, certain appropriate tools have been taken into concern like SWOT and STEEP which are described below. STEEP Analysis Socio-cultural Factors: McDonald’s establishes and follows an effective system in order to assess the requirements of the business markets where it operates. It stresses mainly on the strategy of individuality of the customers in relation to product behaviour and decisions on purchas es (Ivanova, 2011). Technological Factors: McDonald’s deals with broad assortment of fast food related products which generates a greater demand of these products by adopting along with executing pioneering technological procedures concerning its inventory system and supply chain among others (Ivanova, 2011). Environmental Factors: Relating to environmental factor, McDonald’s largely focuses upon effectively performing different sorts of corporate social accountabilities in terms of utilising bio-degradable substances in its broad array of products (Ivanova, 2011). Economic Factors: McDonald’s has a propensity to practice a great deal of difficulty in certain cases where there exists the significant concern of inflation and fluctuation in exchange rates. Specially mentioning, the variations in the exchange rates play a decisive part in the overall operations of the company (Ivanova, 2011). Political Factors: McDonald’s follows a unique set of instructions and policies for performing different operational functions effectively. It mainly concentrates on several sets of anxieties such as areas of health, environment and protection of the workers as well. These elements can be noticed in the state control of licensing of the restaurants in different regions where the company operates (Ivanova, 2011). SWOT Analysis Strengths: McDonald’s has a very strong and reputed brand name across the globe. It bears a strong partnership with other different companies which eventually results in increase of its goodwill in the market. The company is said to be the first fast-food restaurant which offered its customers with nutritional facts and as a consequence the loyal employees, customers and management form to be its biggest strengths (Scribd Inc., 2013). Weakness: McDonald’s has a pessimistic reputation concerning turnover rate of its employees. Relating to weakness, it generally faces quality issues at times and it also receives c riticisms particularly from health conscious people (Scribd Inc., 2013). Opportunities: McDonald’s should provide online services for its clients so that they can order sitting at home which in

The influence of the holy mosque of Mecca within popular culture Essay

The influence of the holy mosque of Mecca within popular culture - Essay Example The city of Mecca and the holy mosque has changed over the years. The pilgrimage in Mecca draws around two million to three million people from all over the world to go worship at the Mosque. The city has now become a modern spectacle and people talk about going to Mecca simply because it is popular and not for the significance of it and the pilgrimage (Bosworth, 2007). People send a lot of photos and messages from the site and share them on social media. The popular culture has a lot of influence on people all over the world. People have the pressure of sharing the information and experience of the pilgrimage with the world. The pilgrimage at Mecca has been described as being in twenty super bowls with two million people play the game. The holiest part of the pilgrimage is put to the side, and people decide to focus on all the hype and fun of millions of people visiting Mecca (Stefano, 2000). Saudi Arabia gets a lot of revenue from the event, and it has improved the countrys economy immensely. Mecca has a powerful influence on the other Muslim nations and the Muslims look for opportunities and a chance to be able to visit Mecca in their lifetime (Bosworth, 2007). Most of the people interviewed concerning their reasons for wanting to visit Mecca have answers connected to popular culture instead of it being a holy land. Most of the people want to visit the city and the mosque because it is popular, and people who visit them are considered important in the world. Visiting the city during the annual Hajj is quite expensive, and there are several festivities that accompany the pilgrimage. It is a luxury to visit the city, and people want to go visit the place to have a respectable name in the society. Western culture has a significant influence on the events that take place in Mecca. The people who can afford to go to the holy mosque are urged to make sure they go. The current culture in the world has made Hajj be an event of

U07d1 Statistics and Information Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

U07d1 Statistics and Information - Essay Example Regression differs from correlation - which establishes whether there is any association between two variables (Chatterjee and Hadi, p. 24). In the case of health care industry, this analysis has a major role and is used in several different aspects like the study of diabetic indicators. This method has been used in order to examine the relationships between different medical issues like blood pressure and diabetes and other possible issues. Correlation analysis: Correlation refers to the degree of association between two variables. When two variables are said to be correlated, it indicates that there is a relationship or a pattern in the movement of the two variables. However, correlation does not indicate causation, i.e., the cause of movement of the variable. In other words, when two variables of correlated, it does not necessarily mean that the change in one variable is responsible or is the cause of change in the other variable (Downing and Clark, 178). In the case of health care industry, correlation analysis can be used to learn the differences between the percentage change of the visceral AT and also the changes in terms of the changes in the AT (Cowel, 2007). T-tests: This is a test that helps in addressing the issues of credibility. Here the process is very simple where the mean values for the groups are divided by the dispersion of the differences and the results are the T – Test ratio. Considering the health care industry, it is important to note that this method has a major role in the health care and is one of the best ways to bring out the incorrect and wrong claims (Downing & Clark, 2010). For instance the claims that a certain food or medicine brings down the blood sugar of a person. This can be tested by the t tests and helps attain a truthful response of the effectiveness of the food or drug. (Horton, 2009) Analysis of variance: This is one of the statistical methods to

The Australian Financial Review Essay Example for Free

The Australian Financial Review Essay According to the Australian Financial Review (2013), Tesco has agreed to form a 20/80 joint venture with China Resource Enterprises. This initiative occurs in the light of the declining retail environment in Europe and aims to combine Tesco’s 134 Chinese branches with 2,986 outlets from the China Resources Vanguard business. This deal will provide a strong platform for Tesco to enter the Chinese market and establish market leadership by improving its offering for customers within the region. Application Tesco’s planned expansion in China is the direct result of the declining economic environment in Europe, which has lead to a dramatic shift in sociocultural spending patterns. This has impacted Tesco negatively as a 0. 2% reduction in European private consumption from 2007 to 2011 (Roxburgh 2012) saw a ? 1 billion decrease in Tesco’s European sector revenue from 2009 to 2011 (Tesco 2009; Tesco 2011). As a response, Tesco has initiated a strategic alliance with China Resource Enterprises in a bid to solidify its market position in China. This alliance greatly assists Tesco in overcoming cultural differences as Inkpen and Tsang (2005) explains that firms operating in culturally distant nations can leverage knowledge from local partners to better understand host markets. This is important as the UK and China are dissimilar in a multitude of cultural dimensions (Hofstede 1984). Through this alliance, Tesco can overcome its liability of foreignness by utilizing the existing brand reputation of its partner since 45% of Chinese consumers display a high level of brand loyalty (Magni and Atsmon 2012), prevalent in a long term orientation focused culture. This alliance furthermore allows Tesco to transform into a multi-format retailer (Australian Financial Review 2013), which is consistent with changing consumption preferences signified by the increasingly popularity of hypermarkets. This multi-purpose shopping location has subsequently become a staple for consumers with average growth rates of 20% per annum since 2003 (Herring et al. 2012). This changing sociocultural trend provides Tesco with a myriad of opportunities in China. Analysis Tesco’s expansion strategy in China will provide numerous opportunities for growth. This stems from a mixture of Chinese economic and regulatory factors which contribute to an increasingly consumption-driven demographic. According to Woetzel, Li and Cheng (2012), regulatory initiatives on raising minimum wage levels have already increased disposable income per capita by 19. 7% in 2012. This combined with financial reforms aimed at increasing market competition will help expand private sector activity, in turn boosting employment and accelerating household income growths by 9% per annum. As a result of improving economic conditions, Woetzel, Li and Cheng predict national consumption to rise by 8% per annum and increase threefold from 30,000RMB in 2012 to 92,000RMB in 2030. These consumption patterns provide a myriad of sale opportunities for Tesco. However these benefits are overshadowed by an aging population and a reduction in the available workforce. According to Atsmon et al. (2012), China is experiencing rising life expectancies and falling birth rates, and estimates the proportion of population over 65 will increase from 10% to 15% in the near future. This is problematic as Bongaarts (2004) states public pension benefits impose serious economic burdens on the working population and may lead to a rise in taxation. This factor is worsened by a reduction in the available working age population which according to Evans-Pritchard (2013) has already increased salaries by 16% annually in the past decade. This may increase Tesco’s operating costs, which will reduce profitability. Although faced with an ageing population, Woetzel, Li and Cheng (2012) reveal that increasing government subsidies towards social security could strengthen China’s safety net. This combined with increasing urbanization and a rising middle class will spur consumption, counteracting the effects of an ageing population. Golley and Meng (2011) also provide evidence against labour shortages in China and state there is still an abundance of under-employed workers in rural regions. They argue unique Chinese institutions and policies have restricted migration into cities and regulatory reforms can see migrant workers double from 150 to 300 million, thereby negating significant salary increases. Corporate Social Responsibility and Sustainability Tesco has recently introduced a variety of sustainability and ethical sourcing initiatives, reflecting an increased commitment towards CSR. However these programs were only initiated after negative publicity generated by Friends of Earth (2005), which accused Tesco of using their market power to reduce supplier prices and operating energy intensive facilities. According to Becker-Olsen et al. (2006), this is a reactive rather than proactive strategy and confirms Piacentini et al. ’s (2000) study, which exposed that being recognized as a socially responsible company was the main reason food retailers adopt CSR rather than philanthropic reasons. Consequently, Tesco’s CSR initiatives can only be classified as a CSR grasp on Freeman and Hasnaoui’s (2010) continuum as they are merely strategies that ensure competitiveness. Although superficial, these CSR initiatives do however set standards for competitors and can encourage future CSR advancements as firms compete to be recognized as the most socially responsible retailer. Reference list Atsmon, Y. , Magni, M. , Li, L. , and Liao, W. 2012, Meet the 2020 Chinese Consumer, McKinsey Company, China, viewed 4 October 2013, Becker-Olsen, K. L. , Cudmore, B. A. , Hill, R. P. 2006, ‘The impact of perceived corporate social responsibility on consumer behavior’, Journal of Business Research, Vol. 59, no. 1, pp. 46-53. Bongaarts, J. 2004, ‘Population aging and the rising cost of public pensions’, Population and Development Review, Vol. 30, no. 1, pp. 1-23. Evans- Pritchard, A. 2013, ‘Shortage of workers to halt Chinas growth’, Sydney Morning Herald, 6 February, p. 6. Freeman, I. and Hasnaoui, A. 2010, ‘A four-nation study of the meaning of corporate social Responsibility’, Proceedings from the 7th Congres de l’Aderse, March 2010. La Rochelle, France. Friends of Earth 2005, The Tesco Takeover, Friends of Earth, London, viewed 5 October 2013, Golley, J. , Meng, X. 2011, ‘Has China run out of surplus labour? ’, China Economic Review, Vol. 22 no. 4, pp. 555-572. Herring, L. , Hui, D. , Morgan, P. , Tufft, C. 2012, Inside China’s hypermarkets: Past and prospects, McKinsey Company, China, viewed 4 October 2013, Hofstede, G. 1984, ‘Cultural dimensions in management and planning’, Asia Pacific journal of management, Vol. 1 no. 2, pp. 81-99. Inkpen, A. C. , Tsang, E. W. 2005, ‘Social capital, networks, and knowledge transfer’, Academy of management review, Vol. 30, no. 1, pp. 146-165. Magni, M. Atsmon, Y. 2012, ‘Wooing the Fickle Chinese Consumer’, Harvard Business Review, February, viewed 5 October 2013, Piacentini, M. , MacFadyen, L. , Eadie, D. 2000, ‘Corporate social responsibility in food retailing’, International Journal of Retail Distribution Management, Vol. 28, no. 11, pp. 459-469. Roxburgh, C. , Labaye, E. , Thompson, F. , Tacke, T. , Kauffman, D. 2012, Investing in growth: Europes next challenge, McKinsey Company, viewed 4 October 2013, Tesco 2009, Annual Report and Financial Statements 2009, Tesco, Cheshunt, viewed 5 October 2013, Tesco 2011, Annual Report and Financial Statements 2011, Tesco, Cheshunt, viewed 5 October 2013, The Australian Financial Review. 2013, ‘Tesco to form venture with Chinese retail giant’, The Australian Financial Review, 2 October, viewed 4 October 2013, Woetzel, J. , Li, X. L. , Cheng, W. 2013, What’s next for China? , McKinsey Company, China, viewed 4 October 2013,

Cigarettes cause cancer Essay Example for Free

Cigarettes cause cancer Essay According to a study made by Centers for Disease Control in 2011 more deaths are caused each year by tobacco use than by all deaths from HIV, illegal drug use, alcohol use, motor vehicle injuries, suicides, and murders combined.Last year Centers for Disease Control also reported that 1213 people in the United States die every day from smoking. According to National Cancer Institute in 2011 smoking causes an estimated 90% of all lung cancer deaths in men and around 80% of all lung cancer deaths in women. The purpose of this speech is to give the awareness of the effect of smoking.In this informative speech about smoking, Ill discuss what toxic substances cigarettes contain, Ill describe common symptoms related to smoking, and at last Ill inform you about diseases that are caused by smoking. Cigarettes contain toxic substances like nicotine, formaldehyde and arsenic. The nicotine in the cigarettes is the substance that causes an addiction over time.Cigarettes also contain formaldehyde, which turns into a gas whenever the cigarette lights and this gas are today used to preserve dead animals. Arsenic is a substance that probably some of you in here have heard about before, and it is used to kill rats. Only a dose of 0.15g of arsenic will kill a full grown person (CDC, 2011).Now you know about some of the toxic ingredients cigarettes contains I am now going to talk about some symptoms that result from cigarettes smoking. A common symptom caused by smoking is shortness of breath. It is caused by death of alveolus in the lungs, which are the structures of the lungs where the gas exchange of CO2 and O2 takes place.Another normal symptom is smoking cough, which occurs because cells of cilia in trachea either die or decrease their movement which causes particles to stay in the throat and causes irritation. After looking into common symptoms of smoking I am going to inform you about diseases that are caused by smoking.Did you know by being a non-smoker you decrease the risk as a men of developing lung cancer by 23 times and as a women by 13 times according to a study made my Centres of control disease last year. Cancer is an abnormal growth of cells which tend to proliferate in an uncontrolled way and, in some cases, to spread (Medicinenet, 2011)According to Center of disease control the most deadly cancer is Lung and Bronchus in both men and women in the United States 2007. PICTUREThe deaths caused by lung and bronchus in Alabama are higher than the average state s value (CDC, 2007). In conclusion after you have been informed about  some of the toxic substances, common symptoms and diseases of smoking, you hopefully got a better understanding of the effects of being a smoker.Never forget that more than one thousand Americans stop smoking every day, by dying.

An Open Innovation Business Model Commerce Essay

An Open Innovation Business Model Commerce Essay It is very important to know what innovation is before we can further proceed in answering the question. An innovation is a product or service with a bundle of features that is new in the market, or that is commercialized in some new way that opens up new uses and consumer groups for it. Innovation is invention implemented and taken to market (Chesbrough 2003). Invention however is the creation of something that was previously unknown (Chesbrough, Vanhaverbeke et al. 2006). In summary, INNOVATION= INVENTION+COMMERCIALIZATION. Today companies who, want to deliver consistent organic growth to their shareholders, customers, and their employees can do that only through innovation (Chesbrough 2006). So what is Open Innovation? Illustration 1: Concept of open innovation Open innovation is the use of purposive inflows and outflows of knowledge to accelerate internal innovation, and expand the markets for external use of innovation, respectively. [This paradigm] assumes that firms can and should use external ideas as well as internal ideas, and internal and external paths to market, as they look to advance their technology. (Henry Chesbrough, Open Innovation: Researching a New Paradigm). As mentioned by Chesbrough, there are a total of 5 paths to Open Innovation. Firstly, the old fashion model. It work like a fortress, the firm will take ideas internally to market. This path works the same as a closed innovation concept. The second path would be opening up the abilities for others. This can be achieved by bringing in ideas internally; ideas that does not fit into the firm business but might be useful for others. The third path would be acquiring ideas externally. Ideas are everywhere; firms can acquire ideas from university, individuals, start-up companies and etc. They can then come out with new opportunities and solutions using these acquired knowledge by taking them to a new market; a market that the firm might not have gotten into. The forth path would be to bring in external technologies and ideas to fill the gap that the firm might be facing problem with. Without open innovation, companies might need to use more resources to fill the gap. Lastly, an internal project that does not look promising until a certain level of development can be taken out and allow the team to continue working on it outside. This process can help to raise new money, acquire new customer and hire new employees (Specialist) to further develop the project. At certain point, if it seems feasible and viable, firms have the option to bring the project back if it turns out to be strategically interesting. The 5 paths are very important in helping use to understand why firms are moving towards the open innovation business model. The opposite of Open Innovation-The Closed Innovation In order to understand Open Innovation better, we will need to know the opposite of it- the Closed Innovation. In short, Close Innovation is a paradigm that successful innovation requires control and ownership of the Intellectual property (IP). A company should have full control of everything that relates to ideas. Some companies therefore decided to run their own research and development (RD) units. The entire new product development cycle was then incorporated within the company where innovation was done in a closed and self-supporting way (Wikipedia). It has always been the case whereby internal Research and Development (RD) was regarded as a strategic asset and it creates barrier to competitive entry in many industries. Only bigger firms with substantial resources and long-term research programs are capable to compete within their respective industries. This eventually led to higher profit margin as well. Competitors had to start their own laboratories using their own resources in order to compete. Therefore firms invested heavily in internal RD, which eventually led them to breakthrough innovation that enabled them to create new products and services to generate more revenue and profit margins (Chesbrough 2003). Therefore the protection of intellectual property in a closed innovation paradigm is very tight. It is so tight that firms will store their technologies until they are ready to use it. In the meantime, firms will also minimize or rather ensure zero leakages incident of information that relate to the technology. (Chesbrough 2003) Differences between closed and open innovation Table 1: Open Innovation Principles, Source: H. Chesbrough (2003) One major difference between closed and open innovation are how firms filter their ideas. In any RD process, researchers must separate the bad proposal from the good ones and eventually only the good proposal will be commercialised and the bad ones will be discarded. Both open and closed model can remove false positives (that is bad ideas that initially look promising), but open innovation can revived these false positive and false negatives (ideas that initially seem to lack promise but turn out to be surprisingly valuable) to recoup losses incurred during the RD process. A classic example will be Xerox and Palo Alto Research Centre (PARC). Researcher there developed many breakthrough technologies such as Ethernet and Graphical User Interface (GUI). However Xerox main focus is on high speed printer and copier, hence these technologies were not viewed as promising by the firm. This is what we call false negative. GUI was eventually used by APPLE in Macintosh operating system and Micr osoft in Windows operating system respectively. Why open innovation? Today, in many industries, the traditional logic of supporting an internally oriented, centralized approach to RD has become obsolete. Ideas must be used with alacrity as useful information and knowledge can be obtained easily. A firms ability to exploit external knowledge is a critical component of innovative capabilities (Cohen and Levinthal 1990) instead of exploiting only internal knowledge. In short, firms that can integrate external ideas to advance their own businesses while leveraging their internal ideas outside their current operations will likely thrive in this new era of open innovation. As time passed by, Closed innovation model begin to obsolete fundamentally and ultimately eroded. This eventually led to closed innovation giving place to open innovation paradigm (Chesbrough 2003). Increase in availability and mobility of skilled workers encourage firms to go into an open innovation business model. This is because the labour market is linked to the market of know-how (Teece 2000), these labors are likely to be lured by better compensation package which will then led to information leakages. This makes the labour market highly mobile which encourage companies to shift from a closed innovation model to an open innovation model. Also, ideas can no longer be stored on the shelf anymore. Failure to utilize own technologies might result in firms seeing their own technologies ended up being exploited by other firms. This is due to a widespread of knowledge pool among companies, customer, suppliers and other parties. Hence the closed innovation business model is once again proven to be less useful to many firms. Rising development costs and shorter product life-cycles has resulted in firms finding it increasingly difficult to justify investments in innovation (Chesbrough 2007). This actually made the open innovation model important. It is very important for firms to process knowledge at a faster pace to prevent worker and venture capitalist to steal their ideas. It is not surprising at all that external suppliers offer better quality work of what a company can achieve internally (Chesbrough 2003). Hence, in today context, most of the bigger firms actually engage the services of external suppliers so that they can apply their investment to cover more areas in less time. However it is important to note that this allows other firms to move faster and cover new markets as well. An example of this would be Samsung and Apple. Apples A5 chip is built by Samsung à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã… ½, the processor that powers Apples iPhone 4S and iPad 2 is being manufactured in Texas by rival Samsung. As mentioned earlier in this essay that a company such as XEROX that is too focus internally (closed innovation approach) will eventually miss out numerous opportunities because many will fall outside the firms current businesses or will need to be integrated with external technologies to unleash their full potential. As RD functions are organised as separate function within organisations, there bound to have some technologies that are under- or unutilised. These ideas are kept on the shelf of the knowledge bank until downstream business is ready and willing to use them (Chesbrough 2003). Firms will do well if they are able to make full use of extensive technologies (Chesbrough, Vanhaverbeke et. al. 2006). Its also possible to innovate with discoveries of others (Chesbrough 2003). Firms can leverage on external knowledge instead of ignoring it and pursuing only internal RD (Chesbrough 2003). Valuable ideas come from inside or outside the company and can go to market from inside or outside the company as well (Chesbrough 2003). Both external and internal ideas are equally important. Firms can focus on a particular area without having to do everything (Chesbrough 2003). Therefore Open Innovation offers lower costs for innovation, faster times to market, and risk sharing with others. (Chesbrough 2006). Open innovation does not mean that internal RD must be removed from a firms RD process. A firm can achieve additional benefits when implementing internal RD in Open Innovation context as the internal RD can fill the gaps (leveraging on external) in what others are doing. Firms that adopt Open Innovation business model do not need to invent the most novel or best technologies and knowledge in order to thrive and lead in their respective industry. Firms just need to be sure that they are making the best use of internal and external knowledge in a timely manner and innovate to create new products or services. Smaller firms such as SMEs have more reasons to move towards the Open Innovation business model. This is because they have less internal RD capability, less market power which mean weaker ability to capture value and IP enforcement are often costly to them (Henry Chesbrough 2008). Markets that is too small for larger firms might be attractive for SMEs. Smaller firms are able to execute plans at a faster rate because there are less internal politics (Henry Chesbrough 2008). Eventually larger firms will value this collaboration with smaller firms and they will create platforms that seek supporting investment from SMEs and SMEs can expand globally at a lower cost. As for larger firms, the Open innovation business model plays an important role. Radical innovations were viewed as an approach to generate growth for large established company as they depend on breakthrough innovation to move to the next platform for growth. However larger firms are lacking of supportive infrastructure to enable breakthroughs to be commercialized. Open innovation model can aid firms in building this supportive infrastructure. Larger firms can then focus on building deeper core competencies. Example 1: Intel Firms can benefit from innovation even if they do not own the technologies they use. An example would be computer processor maker, Intel. Intel has been successful for years without conducting much basic research on its own. All development took place within existing production laboratories as Intel does not have any development facilities. However Intel decided to take a change at a later stage, three research laboratories with different focus in their respective areas were established later. In addition to that, Intel actively promotes linkages between its research laboratories and external research community. They held conferences, research forums and seminars in attempt to bring both internal and external researches together. (Chesbrough 2003) Strong connections between them and newly incorporated firms allow Intel to extend its business strategy by leveraging on the advantages that these start-ups possessed. Intel benefitted tremendously from this far-sighted approach with corporate venture capitalist. To sum up, Intel actually adopted the third and fourth path to Open Innovation as mentioned earlier in this essay. Their primary focus is on accessing and leveraging on external knowledge (Chesbrough 2003). Example 2: The rise of Adobe and fall of Metaphor Computer We all know that Adobe systems owe its success to their first product, the PostScript. Postscript created a new industry segment within personal computer industry, known as desktop publishing. This technology was initially developed within Xeroxs Palo Alto Research Center (PARC). Within PARC, what was then called Interpress was a means of allowing Xeroxs laser printers to print what was displayed on a Xerox Star workstation. This capability became known as WYSIWYG, or what you see is what you get. John Warnock and Charles Geschke, who both worked on this technology while at PARC, wanted to create a standard around Interpress. However, their management within Xerox resisted this, because they did not want to give away one of the primary differentiating features of the Star system. Extracted from Intel ® Technology Journal. From the extract above, we can see that both John and Charles innovation does not look promising to PARC at that point of time. Eventually Hewlett Packard and Canon agreed to bundle in the Technology which was later labeled as PostScript as a standard item in their laser printers, while Apple agreed to support PostScript in its software. If back then PARC adopted an Open Innovation business model, they would have benefited. This is mentioned earlier on as the fifth path to Open Innovation business model. However HP, Canon and Apple benefited from the model as they have all taken the third and fourth approach to Open Innovation business model. And lastly Adobe uses the first and second approach, which eventually led them to success. Unlike Adobe, Metaphor chooses to adopt a closed innovation approach. Nothing was carved out and shared with other firms. Lack of third-party support eventually led them to their downfall. Conclusion As ideas and technologies become obsolete at a very fast pace (Chesbrough 2006) and many useful knowledge has been widely spread, open innovation is vital for firms as they can use external as well as internal ideas and paths to market as they look to advance their technology (Chesbrough 2003) while pursuing lower costs for innovation, faster times to market, and the chance to share risks with others (Chesbrough 2006). In order to thrive in this new era, firms must adopt an open innovation business model. However it is important to note that, closed innovation is still applicable to certain industry such as the Pharmaceutical industry. Open Innovation business model is merely an evolution of closed innovation as it consist partial traits of the latter. ******** The End ********

Common Law Concepts Essay -- Urban Development

CONCEPT 1 – COMPENSATION AS A WAY TO REDUCE NUISANCE (Hogan & Edwards, 2003) states the idea of compensation in Common Law is to protect the environment as it amplifies the need for organisations and individuals within a society to prevent nuisance. Furthermore, compensation concept has raised conflict between environmental concerns and restricts the property holder’s rights to fully utilize their resources. Nevertheless, the idea of compensation can also be seen as an ethical guideline for the society, of which if any laws were to be broken, for example harming the environment, appropriate punishments will be conducted. Therefore, the act of compensation may lead to a greater cause in the long run for society to reduce nuisance. To further the statement, an example of compensation having positive justification is when a British oil company British Petroleum (BP) created a large oil spill off the Gulf of Mexico. According to (BBC, 2012) BP faces charges by the United States Government and has to compensate over USD7.5 billion to the victims. Furthermore, BP was responsible to ensure the cleaning of their spillage. Prior to the event, BP reconstructed their health and safety policy by ensuring zero tolerance to callous mistakes for future shipments. This example indicates the establishment of compensation and the involvements in monetary value is of significance and therefore, discourages organisations and individuals from harming the environment in the long run. This is supported by (Reardon, 2012) â€Å"lawsuits have helped push industry to make changes in how they do business.† In other words, compensation acts as an effective way to regulate and teach property holders to refrain from damaging the en vironment. This is justified, a... ...you-cant-sue-your-wireless-carrier-in-a-class-action/ State Environment of Tasmania. (2006, December 14). State Environment of Tasmania. Retrieved from Planning Scheme Provision: http://soer.justice.tas.gov.au/2003/her/6/issue/105/index.php The State of Queensland Department of Environment and Resource Management. (2012). Queensland Government. Retrieved from Land Management: http://www.derm.qld.gov.au/land/state/rural_leasehold/duty_of_care.html Tutor2u Limited. (2012). Retrieved from tutor2u: http://tutor2u.net/business/strategy/corporate-social-responsibility-introduction.html Velasquez, M., Andre, C., Shanks, T., S, J., & Meyer, M. J. (1992). The Common Good. Retrieved from Santa Clara University: http://www.scu.edu/ethics/practicing/decision/commongood.html World Commision on Environment and Development. (1987). Our Common Future . Oxford University Press.

The Effects Of Stress, Alcohol Outcome Expectancies, Gender, Coping St :: essays research papers

The Effects of Stress, Alcohol Outcome Expectancies, Gender, Coping Styles, and Family Alcoholism on Alcohol Consumption Abstract One large component of American popular culture today is alcohol. A common stereotype for the effects of alcohol is that as a drug it acts as a stress antagonist. This theory was introduced by Conger (1956) as the Tension Reduction Hypothesis (TRW). It states that alcohol's sedative action on the central nervous system serves to reduce tension, and because tension reduction is reinforcing, people drink to escape it (Marlatt & Rehsenow, 1980). Why do we drink, when do we drink, and how much do we drink? This research will determine the correlation between total weekly consumption of alcohol and perceived stress, alcohol outcome expectancies, gender, coping styles, and family history of alcoholism among undergraduate students. Do people drink more or less when stressed? Do alcohol outcome expectancies lead to higher or lower consumption? Is a history of family alcoholism positively or negatively correlated to personal consumption? Do the tested variables play mediating or moderating roles in stress-related drinking? This research will determine the answers to these questions, and determine the strength of the correlations, if any. Introduction The main question that this statistical model will answer is as follows: Is there any correlation between drinking and gender, alcohol expectancies, family alcoholism, stress, and coping styles? Gender It has been demonstrated that significant differences exist between the drinking patterns of men and women (Hilton, 1988). In a survey of US drinking habits conducted in 1988 by the US National Center for Health Statistics, Dawson and Archer (1992) showed that there are three areas illustrating gender differences. The first is the actual number of male and female drinkers. The study showed that 64% of men versus 41% of women were current drinkers. Second, men were more likely to consume alcohol on a daily basis (17.5 grams of ethanol per day versus 8.9 grams for women). Third, men were more likely to be classified as heavy drinkers. In fact, when the classification measure of a "heavy drinker" was changed from five drinks or more per day to nine drinks or more per day the ration of male to female heavy drinkers increased by a factor of 3. Stress Are the theories mentioned above about stress-induced drinking accurate? There have been studies which disprove the Tension Reduction Hypothesis. For instance, in a study by Conway, Vickers, Ward, and Rahe in 1981 it was found that "the consumption of alcohol among Navy officers during periods of high job demands was actually lower than the consumption during low-demand periods." Additionally, some drinkers have been known to consider alcohol as a tension

A Tale of Two Cities :: essays research papers

A Tale of Two Cities In the fictitious novel Tale of Two Cities, the author, Charles Dickens, lays out a brilliant plot. Charles Dickens was born in England on February 7, 1812 near the south coast. His family moved to London when he was ten years old and quickly went into debt. To help support himself, Charles went to work at a blacking warehouse when he was twelve. His father was soon imprisoned for debt and shortly thereafter the rest of the family split apart. Charles continued to work at the blacking warehouse even after his father inherited some money and got out of prison. When he was thirteen, Dickens went back to school for two years. He later learned shorthand and became a freelance court reporter. He started out as a journalist at the age of twenty and later wrote his first novel, The Pickwick Papers. He went on to write many other novels, including Tale of Two Cities in 1859. Tale of Two Cities takes place in France and England during the troubled times of the French Revolution. There are travels by the characters between the countries, but most of the action takes place in Paris, France. The wineshop in Paris is the hot spot for the French revolutionists, mostly because the wineshop owner, Ernest Defarge, and his wife, Madame Defarge, are key leaders and officials of the revolution. Action in the book is scattered out in many places; such as the Bastille, Tellson's Bank, the home of the Manettes, and largely, the streets of Paris. These places help to introduce many characters into the plot. One of the main characters, Madame Therese Defarge, is a major antagonist who seeks revenge, being a key revolutionist. She is very stubborn and unforgiving in her cunning scheme of revenge on the Evermonde family. Throughout the story, she knits shrouds for the intended victims of the revolution. Charles Darnay, one of whom Mrs. Defarge is seeking revenge, is constantly being put on the stand and wants no part of his own lineage. He is a languid protagonist and has a tendency to get arrested and must be bailed out several times during the story. Dr. Alexander Manette, a veteran prisoner of the Bastille and moderate protagonist, cannot escape the memory of being held and sometimes relapses to cobbling shoes. Dr. Manette is somewhat redundant as a character in the novel, but plays a very significant

Bicyclists and Motorcyclists Should Be Required By Law To Wear Helmets Essay

Due to the rising cost of gasoline all over the world more and more people are looking into alternative forms of transportation. Using your car these days is heavy on the budget because the amount of a full tank of gasoline will effectively feed a family for at least a week. This is why the cost efficient forms of transportation, bicycles and motorcycles have been emerging as more popular and cost-effective ways of transportation. There is one drawback though, these are also the 2 most dangerous forms of transportation for an individual.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Riding a bicycle or a motorcycle exposes the rider to various kinds of dangers on the way to his destination. One has to admit that it is very easy to turn turtle and hurl off a bicycle while getting pinned under a motorcycle is a reality that all riders have to face. Since nothing can be done about the injuries below the neck, and considering that an EMT on the way to the hospital can usually give emergency treatment to these injuries, the injuries to the head will instantly kill the rider. This is why both motorcyclists should be required by law to wear a helmet.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   I believe that this is a non-negotiable issue because it pertains to saving the life of a rider. I will agree that helmets can be uncomfortable when worn. It is hot, heavy, and tends to get smelly after a while. But it is that hot, heavy, and stinky piece of protective gear that always saves lives. Just like a seatbelt does in cars. Discomfort is a small price to pay if it means preserving your life in dire accident situations.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   The father of my best friend died in a motorcycle accident because he was not wearing his helmet. He had crashed his motorcycle into a car on the opposite side of the road when he lost control of the motorcycle. If only he were wearing the helmet, he would not have cracked his skull on the pavement when he hit the ground. He had no other injuries so he should have survived. The helmet spelled the difference.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Personally, I had an accident on my mountain bike a few months back. It flew right from under me during a rocky downhill ride in the mountains. I tumbled farther than my bike did but survived the fall with only a few bruises and deep cuts. The helmet I was wearing took most of the blow. It is all cracked now and I had to replace it. I still keep it displayed on my shelf as a conversation piece. To remind people I know of that share the same or similar activities about why it is important to wear a helmet.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   If lawmakers would only take the time to talk to the survivors of such accidents, they will come to realize why laws such as these are important and have to be implemented. The rising cost of gasoline should not mean the rising body count on our streets either.

Language Change Essay

The history of English language has seen many changes due to social and cultural influences with an array of reactions from its users. English has changed due to the ever emerging technologies and the need use them as efficiently as possible. The views and values of its users have a huge impact on the direction language takes in the way it changes and develops. Although there are many people who accept and embrace the changes in language, there are just as many people whom believe otherwise. People’s views of one another and social cultural values change over time and this affects the connotations attached to words and ideas. The users of a language are the sole cause to why words change or lose meaning to become obsolete because their current perceptions will be reflected in the language. A number of words have come to carry sexual connotations due to the idea becoming a taboo topic of conversation, and therefore people used other words along with body language to imply these ideas. Words such as â€Å"hussy† and â€Å"slut†, which originally meant ‘housewife’ and ‘untidy’, have come to mean ‘promiscuous women’ and ‘loose women’. This reflects the change in perception of women’s sexuality and social roles, and how women are being degraded to be seen as sex objects. As words can gain meaning, they can also lose meaning. An example of this is the word â€Å"fuck†, which originally had the connotations relating to ‘sex’ and ‘sexual activity’, it is now used freely as a means to express many different emotions and no longer thought of as a sexual word although the connotations still exist. Words change to suit the needs of its users of the current time, sometimes the original meaning is carried until today while others change drastically. It is argued that texting has â€Å"destroyed† the language with all its shorthand and the language is going â€Å"down-hill† because young people are not using language correctly, however many linguist believe otherwise. The use of â€Å"abbreviated† language has been used â€Å"ever since [the language] began to be written down† and it is not just used by the young people but people of all ages. History shows that Anglo-saxon scribes used abbreviations such as â€Å"&† for ‘and’ and â€Å"3† for ‘three’, which have now even become standard, this proves that texting is not what initiated written language to be used this way. The growth of â€Å"abbreviated† language paired with the need for faster written communication has caused the language to be used with less grammar and therefore the language is not used correctly. However, Charlie Higsons (author) says that â€Å"the only function [language] needs to perform is to be understood† and therefore correct use of grammar is not necessary in spontaneous contexts. These people, often referred to as â€Å"grammar Nazis†, are bothering â€Å"with [language] in quite the wrong way† as expressed by Stephen Fry. The English language has always changed and will continue to change as long as its users’ social cultural views and values change, and as the contexts in which the language can be used expand. People will have an opinion on the changes in language, irrespective of time. Whether they like it or not language change is inevitable, therefore its users should see this in a positive light and help change the language so it can become more expressive and diverse.

Violent Video Games and Kids

Keep the Violent Vids away from Kids Violent video games and their effects on children is a growing debate in today’s society. The controversial problem is: are violent video games a negative effect on children or not? It is my personal opinion that violent video games are a bad influence on children. These young children learn from what they see. It is not a good thing when what they see is violence. It is also not a good thing when they are in control of the character that is doing the violence.Some children may be too young to know right from wrong yet and should not be exposed to these games. They may see something and get the wrong idea. Stricter laws should be made and enforced on violent video games. Children should not be allowed to have these games unless they are at least 15 years of age for the following reasons: Most research illustrates violent video games as a negative effect on children, video games content teaches children the wrong lessons, and violent video g ame use has been linked to delinquent crime.The debate originally began with violence on television and in movies. With the new advancements in technology, it eventually escalated into the debate of violent video games. Craig A. Anderson, a well renowned psychologist and professor at Iowa State, explains it like this: After 40+ years of research, one might think that debate about media violence effects would be over. An historical examination of the research reveals that debate concerning whether such exposure is a significant risk factor for aggressive and violent behavior should have been over years ago (Bushman & Anderson, 2001).Four types of media violence studies provide converging evidence of such effects: laboratory experiments, field experiments, cross-sectional correlation studies, and longitudinal studies (Anderson & Bushman, 2002a; Bushman & Huesmann, 2000). But the development of a new genre-electronic video games-reinvigorated the debate. Two sides of this issue exist. Many parents, researchers, and public policy makers believe violent video games are a bad influence on children.On the other hand, many public policy makers and video game developers believe violent video games can be educational to children and not a bad influence. In order to gain new knowledge and answer some of the questions of this growing debate, scientists all over the world have been doing research on this issue. Most of this research illustrates that violent video games have a negative effect on children. Many studies have found that violent video games cause an increased level of aggression in children.One such study was explained in an MSNBC popular news article written by Kristin Kalning called: â€Å"Does game violence make teens aggressive? † The article was written about an experiment done at the Indiana University Medical School. The experiment consisted of children having brain scans done while playing a violent video game and while playing a non-violent vide o game. The following results were gathered: â€Å"the brain scans of kids who played a violent video game showed an increase in emotional arousal – and a corresponding decrease in brain areas involved in self-control, inhibition and attention.The kids who played the non-violent games did not have the same effect. † Another study done by three scientists named Hanneke Polman, Bram Orobio de Castro, and Marcel A. G. van Aken called â€Å"Experimental Study of the Different Effects of Playing Versus Watching Violent Video Games on Children’s Aggressive Behavior† yielded similar results. It was a study that was done by examining fifty-seven children ages 10-13 who either played violent video games or watched violent video games. The scientists examined their behaviors in free play session at school.The results were as follows: â€Å"After the active participation of actually playing the violent video game, boys behaved more aggressively than did the boys in the passive game condition. For girls, game condition was not related to aggression. These ? ndings indicate that, speci? cally for boys, playing a violent video game should lead to more aggression than watching television violence. † Although it may not be known how much violent video games effect children, these studies illustrate that they do indeed affect children in a negative way.They illustrate that psychologically something is going on in the brain that is not normal while playing. Providing evidence that children of a young age should not have access to these violent video games. Not only does research done on violent video games demonstrate that better age restrictions should be enforced on violent video games, but also the fact that the content of violent video games teaches children the wrong lessons. The graphics in video games these days are so real that they make players feel as if they are in the game. Violent video games often present unethical ideas and less ons to children.Craig A. Anderson explains these lessons very well: â€Å"Recent video games reward players for killing innocent bystanders, police, and prostitutes, using a wide range of weapons including guns, knives, flame throwers, swords, baseball bats, cars, hands, and feet. Some include cut scenes (i. e. , brief movie clips supposedly designed to move the story forward) of strippers. In some, the player assumes the role of hero, whereas in others the player is a criminal. † These ideas and lessons should not first be presented to children in video games.They instead should be discussed before hand with children’s parents. Children should not be able to play these games. Only teens that know their right from wrong and understand that the ideas perceived in these games are completely unethical should be allowed to play them. Another reason violent video games should be kept away from children is violent video game use has been linked to bad behavior among children and even delinquent crime. Children who play violent video games are more likely to bully or start a fight at school. Patrick McCormick, a writer for the U.S. Catholic, in an article titled â€Å"Moral Kombat† references Craig A. Anderson and says this: â€Å"Surveying a gigabyte of studies done over the past 50 years, Anderson found â€Å"unequivocal evidence that media violence increases the likelihood of aggressive behavior in both immediate and long-term contexts. † Children who played video games were more likely to bully and fight with others and less likely to exhibit self-control or empathy. † Violent video games should not be available to children if these are the effects that they invoke in children.What’s worse is there is worse behavior that is linked to violent video games. Violent video games have been linked to delinquent crime, most specifically school shootings. â€Å"In the last decade numerous headlines have made the connection betwee n gaming and violent crimes. Stories have identified the perpetrators in school shootings and other multiple homicides as adolescents who spent a good deal of time playing violent video games, and FBI reports have suggested that fascination with this sort of media violence could be a arning sign identifying possible shooters†(McCormick). The Columbine shooting in Colorado is historical evidence providing proof that violent video games are bad influences on children. The shooters played a violent video game and make a reference to it in a video. Guy Porter and Vladan Starcevic wrote an article called â€Å"Are violent video games harmful? † and say this: â€Å"The 1993 game ‘Doom’†¦was played by Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold before they went on a shooting Rampage at Columbine High School in 1999, killing 12 fellow students and one teacher, before committing suicide.The two killers had mentioned the game in a video they made before the massacre, stating it would be â€Å"just like Doom†. † This type of behavior should not be accepted in today’s society. Violent video games should not be responsible for fueling children like this to do heinous crimes. Stricter laws should be enforced and parents should be more educated about the violent video games that are available to their teens. Many critics say violent video games are not a bad influence on children and instead are educational and helpful to children.Peter McCormick writes: â€Å"complex and challenging video games engage our children, helping them to learn useful information and master necessary skills. † Kristin Kalning illustrates the same idea in her article on MSNBC when she speaks of the ESA website. She says: the ESA has done â€Å"several studies pointing to games’ potential benefits for developing decision-making skills or bettering reaction time. † Any video game can be made to be complex and challenging without being violent. Violent video games may teach you better reaction time and how to make decisions quickly, however; they also usually teach children the wrong lesson. Video games in general take away extra time children can be spending outside doing physical activities and studying. Violent Video games should not be sold to children who are under the age of sixteen. Children who are too young do not have a mind developed enough to understand the violence.

Electronics Art’s (EA) competitive advantage Essay

Electronics Art’s (EA) competitive advantage from the perspective of the industrial organization view (I/O) is their choice of industry is very attractive. According to The 2013 Global Games Market Report, game revenues will grow at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 6.7% to $86.1 billion by 2016. The number of gamers worldwide will rise from 1.21 billion this year to 1.55 billion. Next, we’ll have a perspective of resource-based view (RBV). Before the ages of digital game , EA’s resource based view in the past was great. They are just concentrated in making More than 100 titles games such as Battlefield, Madden NFL, FIFA Soccer, Rock Band, Need for Speed, and The Simpsons. SNS contents like monthly fee, partial monetization, facebook and on line services like web games, various portal sites or distributed contents have captured more than 40% of the market. It is widespread across the console game market through out total game market. And it will be take huge market share. Zynga that saw this opportunities and jumped in on the burgeoning social gaming revolution is nipping at the industry’s heels. On the contrary, EA that saw this opportunities and jumped in on the burgeoning social gaming revolution is come to a halt. And they seemed to have all the resources needed when they had their competitive advantage but Electronics Arts did not prepare themselves for the changes in the behavior of consumers and retailers or trends which is now causing them to loose their competitive advantage. And the existing game of EA Is easy to emulate.  From these, we can have one conclusion. eventually, ea exemplifies the challenges of this industry, where customers are fickle and demanding and competition is intense. But after that, EA introduces digital platform and comes in second.

Explain the Differences between Mass Tourism and Alternative Tourism Essay

Explain the Differences between Mass Tourism and Alternative Tourism and Discuss the Extent to which each Can Benefit Local Comm - Essay Example Mass tourism refers to an uncontrolled type of tourism, where tourists use up non-renewable natural resources. The adverse consequences are caused by â€Å"overpopulated, inundated resorts, and social problems with tourists confined to their golden ghettos and locals to their impoverished conditions† (Encyclopedia of Tourism 2000: 20). The excesses of mass tourism culminated in the development of alternative tourism based on ethical, ideological and political principles, with dynamic and innovative solutions for situations having dangerous implications for the future. Thesis Statement: The purpose of this paper is to investigate the differences between mass and alternative tourism, and whether each can benefit local communities. National resources including culture and heritage are the main assets of tourism; hence social and environmental well-being are considered to be more important than economic well-being. Mass tourism is mainstream, and the authorities have been consider ing whether alternative forms of tourism would be more sustainable than mass tourism. â€Å"Ecotourism, particularly community-based ecotourism, is becoming the mainstay of alternative tourism development in less developed countries (LDCs)† (Hashimoto 2002: 83). ... It also sustains indigenous lifestyles, and provides incentives for wildlife conservation besides other natural resources. On the other hand, mass tourism creates environmental havoc, â€Å"adulterates and debases indigenous cultures, and brings unsightly development, pollution, and environmental degradation† (Knox and Marston 2003: 321). In the Caribbean, sewage has polluted coastal waters, and poisoned mangrove trees, while boats and divers have damaged coral reefs. In the European Alps, tourists ten times greater in number than the local population have ripped up forests, obliterated pastures, and covered scenic valleys with hotels and other facilities. Cooper, Fletcher, Fyall et al (2008) reiterate that environmental impacts of mass tourism include high-rise hotels on beach frontages, and other constructions. Additionally, tourism activities can overdraw scarce natural resources such as water for swimming pools and other facilities. Environmental impacts of weeding chemica ls used in golf courses, besides fertilizers, pesticides and other treatments, are high. Further, transportation networks and leisure activities such as using snowmobiles add to the noise and air pollution. Air transport and local level tour buses and other vehicles add to the environmental pollution. Hence, â€Å"greater commitment is required from the tourism industry† (Jenner & Smith 1992: 5) to reduce environmental degradation which reduces tourism profits to host communities, besides causing depletion of natural resources. . A study conducted by Gursoy, Chi and Dyer (2010) examined local residents’ attitudes toward development of mass tourism and alternative tourism, in Sunshine Coast, Australia. Community support for either type of tourism

The Culture of Samurai Warriors Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

The Culture of Samurai Warriors - Research Paper Example In addition, how did the institution of Samurai warriors affect the political system of the Japanese society? The military nobles of ancient Japan are referred to as Samurai. The term was associated with the top and the middle ranks of the Japanese society, a warrior class.1 This class of skilled warriors developed after the Taika reforms which introduced heavy taxes and the redistribution of land. This, in turn, resulted in many small farmers selling their lands and engaging in tenant farmers, since the reforms favored the owners of large tracts of land1. This system served to create a social system where there were a few wealthy farmers wielding immense power and a large population of those who had low income, namely, peasants and tenant farmers who barely had enough for themselves. Consequently, wealthy and powerful landowners and farmers required to protect their interests against the large groups of Japan citizenry who had fewer resources. This saw the birth of the Samurai warri ors tasked to protect the interest of the mighty, wealthy and powerful landowners1. While some of these Samurai warriors were hired individuals, others were the relatives of the wealthy farmers. There was a fundamental principle that guided the institution of Samurai warrior, loyalty to the master. ...The wealthy landowners have organized themselves in clans that amassed wealth by influencing the laws of the land to impose higher taxes on the peasants and the tenant farmers, to make them lose more lands to them. These organized clans eventually established protective agreements that, in turn, allowed them to wield more powers than the traditional ruling aristocracy2. These clans, some of which were made by a formation of alliances of landowners to guard themselves against the collection of taxes by the authorities, established armies to fight for them against the authorities. Such alliances and eventual establishments of armies and weaponry by the farmers’ clans finally creat ed a tradition of Japanese armor that was the basis of the foundation of the Samurai warrior institution. The Samurai grew stronger and started to collect certain taxes but eventually emerged as the political ruling power in Japan1. By 1100, the Samurai had already moved in to fill the vacant position that was left by the loss of control of the traditional Japanese aristocracy. Consequently, they wielded both political and military power over Japan6. The further factor that promoted the rise of the Samurai to power was the death of emperor Toba in 1156 without appointing an heir. His two sons struggled to rise to emperorship and ended up in a civil war in which both lost. The civil war led to the fight between two Samurai clans, the Minamoto and Taira Samurai clans, for power in which the Taira clan won. Consequently, Taira clan established the first Samurai government, and the Minamoto clan was expelled from Kyoto3.