Class or Mass - 618 Words

Should Neptune launch a mass-market brand? Excerpted from HBR Case Studies: Class — or Mass?, by Idalene F. Kesner amp; Rockney Walters. Reprinted with permission from Harvard Business Press. All Rights Reserved. Should Neptune launch a mass market brand? Heres the case of an organization reassessing its strategic priorities when faced with working capital pressures due to capacity being higher than demand, and this has led to a reassessment of its growth strategy . Neptune is under serious threat of facing a stall point because of a situation of price premium captivity . We therefore believe Neptune should launch a mass market brand, for unlocking new growth opportunities beyond its current franchise, and not just for†¦show more content†¦Growing consumer sales will enhance brand equity because these consumers will choose Neptune as a brand (as opposed to choosing a restaurant to eat in) and will credit the quality of the seafood to the brand (unlike the restaurant goers who will credit the quality of the seafood to the restaurant). A mass market brand can help increase the consumer franchise and with the least cannibalization if done in conjunction with the category growth strategy. In order for Neptunes mass market strateg y to be sustainable and profitable, 2 key issues will need to be addressed: Brand Endorsement : While it is essential to give the new brand the equity support of Neptune, there should be some distance maintained between the two to mitigate cannibalization and equity dilution risk. Hence, an endorsee brand approach (Healthy Eats from Neptune) could work better than a straight varianting approach like Neptune Silver. Cost Structure : Reducing cost structure while maintaining acceptable quality would be key to sustainability of brand investments and profitability , especially in light of the margin pressures which exist even in the premiumShow MoreRelatedClass or Mass1297 Words   |  6 PagesClass- or Mass Written Analysis and Communication II Submitted by: X Submitted to: Y Memo Neptune Gourmet Seafood USA To: Mr. Stanley Renser, Chairman and CEO, Neptune Gourmet Seafood From: Rita Sanchez, Sales Director, Neptune Gourmet Seafood Date: November 5, 2012 Subject: Decision Report on Management of Excess Inventory Please find attached a detailed decision report on how Neptune Gourmet Seafood can manage the current situation of increased supply. TheRead MoreThe Mass And Class Culture900 Words   |  4 Pagestheir own personal being. The most logical reasoning for this perspective switch is due to mass culture emerging and developing during the 20th century. Cultural studies connect mass culture to the western capitalist society, conveying ideas of a system centered on primarily TV, radio, and cinema. These cultural values and ideas are collected from the exposure of activities, communication media, music and art. Mass culture holds the relationship between an artist and audience and generated by impresariosRead MoreClass or Mass Essay1900 Words   |  8 Pagesï » ¿Jason Hwang MGMT 430 A Class – or Mass? Executive Summary Neptune Gourmet Seafood is an $840 million corporation that provides premium seafood in North America. They are the 3rd largest seafood producer in the market, and have been around for 40 years, continuously providing the highest quality of product. Despite their success, they are having issues with what appears to be a temporary problem of excess inventory. Due to new coastal laws, investments in new freezer trawlers and fishing technologyRead MoreEssay on Class- or Mass3965 Words   |  16 PagesClass – or Mass? A. Executive Summary: Neptune Gourmet Seafood is currently struggling with what appears to be a temporary problem of excess inventory. A combination of new coastline regulations and an investment in new fishing vessel technology and freezer trawlers has increased their average catch size while demand in the current segment has not grown as quickly. The Neptune management team is faced with a decision of how to clear out its excess inventory that is not moving fast enough underRead MoreClass or Mass Essay3213 Words   |  13 PagesCLASS OR MASS CASE ANALYSIS A. Executive Summary: Neptune Gourmet Seafood is having issues with what appears to be a temporary problem of excess inventory. Due to new coastal laws, investments in new freezer trawlers and fishing technology, Neptune has increased their average catch size. The demand in high-end market hasn’t been able to catch up with the increasing supply, and Neptune has been struggling with making a decision on how to deplete excess inventory (60 days) of their â€Å"Gold Label† brandingRead MoreClass Or Mass : Case Analysis1669 Words   |  7 PagesClass or Mass – Case Analysis By John Scott A. Executive Summary Neptune Gourmet Seafood is facing two major issues – an excess inventory problem and shrinking contribution margins. Due to increased efficiency and investments in technologically advanced ships the company’s finished goods inventory has shot up to a 60 days supply – twice the normal level. In addition, the company’s margins have shrunk by 10% in the past year due to rising costs and growing competition. The company is looking to increaseRead MoreCase Class or Mass Analysis 1330 Words   |  6 PagesShuman Zheng 10/21/2014 MGMT 430 Case Analysis: Class or Mass A. Executive Summary: The North Americas third - largest seafood producer Neptune Gourmet Seafood is known for the brand reputation, premium product and quality they served in the high-end seafood industry. Recently they are facing the challenge of inventory pileup in a short period of time due to the investment in state-of-the-art freezer trawlers, along with new fishing regulations. Whether cutting the current price by around 50% toRead Moreclass or mass case study2834 Words   |  12 Pagesdrivers as well as elasticities most relevant in the case, look at industry structure and concentration, and look at expectations of equilibriums and game theory as the future plays out. From this we can draw a conclusion and recommendation. Class or Mass Case Study The fish market is a 20 billion dollar industry (Kesner Walters, 2005, para. 5) and one company has played a major role. Neptune Gourmet Seafood is an 820 million dollar corporation (Kesner Walters, 2005, para. 5, 9) that has justRead MoreResearch On Mass Communication Class1787 Words   |  8 Pages MASS COMMUNICATION CLASS Name of institution Name of professor Course name Student’s name Date of submission â€Æ' Introduction Irrefutably, the recent developments toward improved efficiency, reliability and sky rocketing low-power sensors, medical monitors of all kinds, recording devices, and usage of cameras pooled with the capability of collecting, storing, accessing, classifying and sorting enormous data offers a host of benefits while at the same time, but also menacingly threatening our socialRead MoreLOrà ©al: Bringing â€Å"Class to Mass† with Plenitude1249 Words   |  5 PagesL Orà ©al: BRINGING â€Å"CLASS TO MASS† WITH PLENITUDE REPORT Analysis and Recommendations on the Plà ©nitude Strategy Analysis of the Problem Plenitude by L’Oreal was introduced to the US market in 1988. Eight years since its introduction, it has quickly become the #2 brand in the market only to lose it later to Pond’s. Plenitude also hit a four-year sales plateau and was still not making any money in the US market. L’Oreal’s problems and root causes should first be identified and addressed. The

Nefertiti Sun God Book Review Free Essays

Kennedy Kelly-Hooks Period: 5 October 20th, 2012 Tyldesley, Joyce A. Nefertiti: Egypt’s Sun Queen. London: Viking, 1998. We will write a custom essay sample on Nefertiti Sun God Book Review or any similar topic only for you Order Now Print. In the times of Ancient Egypt women did not have a prominent role in society. Women rarely had power and most systems were patriarchal. Queens in Ancient Egypt were mainly observers and supporters of their husband. In Joyce A. Tyldesley’s Nefertiti: Egypt’s Sun Queen the wife of Amenhotep IV and Queen of Egypt, Nefertiti, played a more dominant role in her marriage as well as in society. Nefertiti was seen as an equal to her husband as the women who came before her had not been seen before. The book Nefertiti: Egypt’s Sun Queen covered a time span of 1386 BCE to about 1330 BCE. The book begins by explaining the royal family history of Egypt before Nefertiti and Amenhotep IV. It gives background on the parents of Amenhotep III the father of Amenhotep IV, which helps to explain ideas discussed later on in the book. Amenhotep’s III mother supposedly at that time had an affair with the god Amen-Re a sun god who requested the son be named after his grandfather. After explaining the family dynamics and how Queen Tiy also was a woman of power who gave Amenhotep IV the view that women were equal, it begins to peace together the life of Nefertiti. There are no records of her childhood but that was typical in that time period for there to be no knowledge of a consorts childhood. Her parents remained unknown although they do have likely theories on who her parents were and who Nefertiti’s sister was. But since the term sister was so loosely used back then nobody can be sure. The book describes the changes that Amenhotep IV who was later called Akhenaten and Nefertiti made in Egypt and how other people may have viewed them to the mysterious death of Nefertiti. Nefertiti and Amenhotep IV created a new religion which is one of the first monotheistic religions and created a new capital Armana. But after their deaths their monuments and drawings were destroyed. The author of this story created the first biography of Nefertiti through archeological and textual evidence. Joyce Tyldesley who is originally from England has written many iographies on women from Ancient Egypt. In the story she provides many views on the life of Nefertiti. Nefertiti in the story is described as the first woman to be seen equally to an Egyptian king. Nefertiti was seen as a power figure just as much as her husband was. She was even apart of Akhenaten’s religion with the main god being Aten. Also Akhenaten and Nefertiti were seen as two halves of one whole. The two completed ea ch other as seen in statues. Nefertiti was also the same size as her husband in pictures and statues which had never been done before. Queen’s were usually women who just supported their husband and gave him children, as well as observing what he does. But Nefertiti played an active role in making decisions and could perform sacrifices just like a man. In some pictures she is even seen in a clothing that a king would wear. Akhenaten’s mother had also played a major role and had a larger handle on Egypt than Amenhotep III who had easily let his wife take over his role. But even Queen Tiy was not seen as a complete equal as Nefertiti was. The author of this biography provides many different views that some scholars might have had about Nefertiti’s life. There are theories surrounding the death of Nefertiti that have changed over time. Some people believe that she never died around the time that she was replaced as Queen and just moved on to a different location. But some have said there was a golden coffin that was moved from the kings home and was never seen again. There is writing that appears to be hers that was written to a Hittite king after her death supposedly happened. Some say she was banished possibly from her husband after he realized she could give him no sons to inherit his throne. But that theory is highly improbable. Also the fate of Nefertiti’s sister after leaving the court is she either died or that she was sent somewhere else to be married. Nefertiti’s parents were believed by some to be a Royal family because in their tomb there is a drawing of Nefertiti and Akhenaten giving the couple gold. However others believe her mother was one of the kings wives or that Nefertiti was a orphan. But she was definitely not the daughter of a king. Scholars may have a problem accepting this book because although most of the story is supported by likely facts there is no way to be completely sure of all the book because so much about Nefertiti’s life was either destroyed or unknown. We know she was the powerful wife of Akhenaten and gave him six daughters. But we do not know of her death or origin. Archeologists have yet to find her body. The descriptions of her are strictly based of drawings and texts written in other people’s tombs. Scholars would say this book is not very reliable and you cannot trust every word from it. There is evidence that some of the information in the book is true but the rest is just like pieces being put together on what we believed to have happened. Nefertiti: Egypt’s Sun God was an interesting read and gave a lot of detail along with evidence on Nefertiti’s life. However the book was very dry and hard to get into. It would describe the elements of Egyptian housing and some temples prior to their time which was not relevant to the story which made it that much harder to read. Some information was thrown into the book without a thought on how it would completely fit in. But the book had an interesting way of telling the story of Nefertiti which helped me form my own individual opinion about her. The book explained the events that lead to the ideas that pushed Akhenaten and Nefertiti to create a monotheistic religion and move the capital to Armana. It gave good background that helped me piece together Nefertiti’s life and what a big deal her achievements of being worshipped and respected by many in that time was. The book was overall a good read for those who really want to learn about Nefertiti in a way that was not completely based off of theories. How to cite Nefertiti Sun God Book Review, Papers

Presents from my Aunts in Pakistan Essay Example For Students

Presents from my Aunts in Pakistan Essay I have decided to compare in detail Presents from my Aunts in Pakistan by Moniza Alvi, and Search for my Tongue by Sujata Bhatt, because these are the two poems that I find most interesting.  I shall begin by discussing them individually in some (hopefully not too much) detail.  Presents from my Aunts in Pakistan is a very cultural poem, focusing on the differences between Pakistani and English cultures. Generally, Pakistani culture is seen as more lavish than that of England, and this poem expresses that in the type or clothing worn by each culture. Pakistani clothing is described as lovely, clearly shown in line 18-19 I could never be as lovely as these clothes. Alvi, describing the elaborate clothing worn by Pakistani women, goes on to say I couldnt rise out of its fire, half English (Line 24-25). The poet also says, I longed for denim and corduroy. She is saying that she feels more comfortable in the simple clothes worn by English women, and doesnt think she could live up to the Pakistani clothing. The clothing in this poem is used as a metaphor for the cultures of our two nations, and so she is in fact saying that she feels more comfortable in England that in Pakistan, but Pakistani culture is more elegant and beautiful than that of England. The story in the poem is that a girl is taken from Pakistan to England when she is very young, and only remembers a few images of her home. The poet structured the poem in stanzas of irregular lengths, with each describing a different aspect of the cultures, or the story that the poet is telling. This seems to show a seriousness to the words in the poem, since other things have been deliberately left out.  The poem uses imagery well describing cultures/clothing, using phrases like glistening like an orange split open (line 4). This allows of the poem to be assimilated in more depth by the reader, and also makes it more effective at getting the message across. Search for my Tongue is a poem about a woman who speaks 2 languages English and Indian. She is from India, but has been forced to speak English, but she sometimes forgets what language she is speaking. This is shown in the poem in line 17-29, which are written in her mother tongue. The entire poem describes her lingual conflict, and the way that whenever she thinks the mother tongue has gone from her mouth, it appears again. This poem is structured in 3 sections. The first section is line 1-16, the second is line 16-30, and the final section is line 31-38. The first and last sections are in English, the second is written in her natural language. The third section describes the mother tongue, comparing it to a plant.  This poem is a very good example of imagery, with lines like it grows back, a stump of a shoot. The third section of the poem all adds to the same image that of a plant. This image begins at line 31, and continues to the end of the poem using phrases like the bud opens and it blossoms out of my mouth to add to the metaphor of a plant. This metaphor gives a very strong image, and this image is very easy to see because plants are something that we all see every day, so have no trouble imagining, and it is a very appropriate metaphor because the idea of growth is commonly associated with plants. Final Comparison  Although imagery is used in both poems, Bhatt uses it best in her description of a tongue as a plant. I think that the most significant similarity between the poems is that they both describe a cultural clash within a person. Search for my tongue has a lingual clash, and the clash in Presents from my Aunts in Pakistan is that of lifestlyes. Both poems use English as one of the cultures, and an Asian culture as the second. I am not aware of the significance of this, however I would guess that since Asian races are stereotyped in negative ways, and racism is directed at them in many parts of England, the writers (who are of Asian origin) are attempting to show the English people that we are not different, hoping to stop racism toward them.

Lottery By Shirley Jackson Essays - Dystopian Literature, Films

Lottery By Shirley Jackson Shirley Jackson's, The Lottery, has raised questions in the back of every reader's mind towards the destructive yet blind rituals of mankind. A reflection of ourselves is what we see when looking through the pond of Jackson's mind. The Lottery clearly expressed Jackson's feelings concerning traditional rituals through her story, opened the eyes of its readers to properly classify and question some of today's traditions as cruel, and allowed room to foretell the outcome of these unusual traditions. Jackson's feelings towards the misuse of tradition as an excuse to cause harm have triggered her creativity for the creation of The Lottery. Jackson obviously saw examples of this misuse of tradition and ingeniously placed it into an exaggerated situation to let us see how barbaric our actions are. The townspeople, in the story, all come together for the annual lottery; however, in an interesting twist, those participating stone the winner to death. Everyone in the story seems horribly uncivilized yet they can easily be compared to today's society. Perhaps Jackson was suggesting the coldness and lack of compassion the human race can exhibit in situations regarding tradition and values. The People who were stoned to death represented values and good being as the townspeople, who represented society, cold-heartedly destroyed them ( Jackson 79 ). Immediately after reading The Lottery, one can compare the ritual, in the story, to some of today's barbaric traditions in a new point of view. Hazing is a tradition that has been around forever. Some people do not see anything wrong with giving a new person a hard time; however, this ritual has caused numerous deaths and countless injuries all over the world. Hazing is a ritual performed in high schools, gangs, colleges, and even your own best friend can be in on it. Perhaps just as barbaric as the stoning, no good at all results from hazing. The running of the bulls, in Italy, may also be compared to The Lottery. Many deaths have been cause by the bulls running ramped through the streets, yet this tradition is not about to be abolished due to the endless support of participators along with media and tourists. What does it take to end these cruel and misunderstood traditions and evolve into a more civilized society where we can see what kind of harm they cause? In the story, the townspeople were against abolishing the tradition of stoning and if our society feels the same, there will never be a chance for our civilization to grow together. What ever happened to the townspeople in this story? Could they have finally given in and abolished the lottery for the next year? Perhaps they never did abolish the lottery and eventually destroyed each other on a wide-scale basis. Any way you chose to compare the situations, our future depends heavily upon the allowance of evolution through our present standpoints and how we select to alter it. Human nature will prevail no matter what our society wants to alter; however, who is to say that human nature is a violent one without compassion for fellow spirit? Shirley Jackson's story outlined more than just a cruel tradition; it outlined the essence of evolution upon a civilization and the human race.

Swisher Motor Case Analysis Essay Example

Swisher Motor Case Analysis Essay Example Swisher Motor Case Analysis Paper Swisher Motor Case Analysis Paper Essay Topic: Push Precious Wayne Swisher, President and Chief Executive Office of Swisher Mower and Machine Company (SMC), was weighing the proposal of a private branding arrangement for SMC’s line of riding mowers. He thought the inquiry presented an opportunity but details should be studied more closely. Situation Analysis: Company Background: Established in 1945 by Max Swisher, SMC grew steadily with unit volume for SMC riding mowers peaking at 10,000 units with sales of $2 million in 1966. In the 1990s, the unit volume remained constant with around 4,250 riding mowers per year. Compared with 1,263,000 unit sales in riding mowers and tractors industry, SMC only occupied around 0. 3% market share. Max Swisher, the current CEO, thought maintaining a small company image had also been an important aspect of his business philosophy, which led to the good personal relationships with dealers and customers alike. SMC produced limited but differentiated products. SMC’s flagship product, the Ride King, was credited with the first zero-turning-radius riding mower. SMC also produced a trail-mower called T-44 with a cutting width of 44 inches. Kits, the self-propelled push mower, accounted for 8. 2% of SMC’s total sales, though it did not provide a material contribution to the company’s gross profits. The replacement parts for mowers posed a good business for SMC, accounting for 20% of the total sales. The following table showed the detailed comparison of the percentage in total sales and total gross profits across different modes of mower together with replacement parts. 1995 dataRide KingT-44KitsReplacement Modes of MowerRiding MowerTrail-mowerPush mower/ % of total Sales63. 60%8. 20%8. 0%20% % of Gross Profits57. 80%13. 20%029% SMC planned to broaden SMC product line in 1996 by introducing a high-wheel string trimmer product, Trim-Max, a high-wheel, walk-behind product. With manufacturing plant in Warrensburg, Missouri, SMC owned an annual capacity of 10,000 riding mower units on a single 40-hour-per-week shift with distribution mainly in non-metropolitan areas. About 75% of sales of SMC were made in non-m etropolitan areas. SMC sold 30% through wholesalers, 25% through direct-to-dealer, 40% as private-label, and the rest 5% as exports. It sold the Ride King through wholesalers, who located throughout the country, focusing on farm dealers situated in the south central and southeastern US. SMC remained a profitable company since its founding with a net profit return on sales of 10 percent or more annually. The sound financial position minimized the need for any major short-term or long-term financing. Industry Backgrounds: Riding lawn mowers are classified as lawn and garden equipment with two basic configurations, the front-engine lawn tractors and rear engine riding mowers. However there are some mid-engine riding mowers on the market, such as those produced by SMC. Front-engine lawn tractors are the most popular design followed by rear-engine and mid-engine models. Rear engined lawn tractors are perceived as stronger and more durable. Competition in riding lawn mower market was fierce with ten manufacturers comprising major competitors in 1995, while SMC only occupied around 0. 3%, based on sales units. All these companies made Riding mowers under a nationally branded name and at the same time were engaged in private-label production. It was estimated that private-label mowers account for 65 to 75 percent of total industry sales. Each riding mower manufacturer priced its products at price points. The representative retail prices for national and private-label riding mowers typically ranged from $800 to $5,000. The manufacturer’s price of Ride King of SMC, $ 650, was quite comparative, compared with industry average. Sales trends of riding mowers were cyclical and highly seasonal. With slice decline of sales in 1991, projections for 1995 and 1996 point toward further increases in unit volume. Industry statistics show that over half of manufacturer shipments of these products occur in the four-month period from January to April. A SWOT Analysis on current situation of SMC: InternalStrengthsWeaknesses Producto Distinct products o High quality, simple design, ease-to-use and maintain, no significant claim o Interchangeable parts o Competitive priceo Limited range of products o Perception on rear and mid engine not as strong and durable as front-engine Managemento Customer-oriented Personal relationship with dealer, distributors and end-customers o CEO expertise in marketing, VP of Sales for 6 yearso One man makes all the decision o Small business mentality Marketingo Co-op advertising with its dealers o Good relationship with dealers and end-customerso Previously neglected consumer advertising o Insufficient attention for promotion and advertising campaign o No national distribution network RDo One new product on the way (Trim Max)o Not so aggressive Financeo Consistent net profit of approx. 10 percent o Adequate cash flow to finance operation o Minimize the need for short-term or long-term financingo Poor cost management o Possible liabilities – self-insurance of products External OpportunitiesThreats Market expansiono Limited market coverage (south central, southeastern). Potential expansion to the west o New target market include consumer housing, in addition to farms o Private labels business may be growingo Many big competitors like Honda, John Deere, American Yard Production etc with stronger financial resources and economic size of capacity Industry Outlooko Growing industrieso Cyclical industry o After next year, industry may be down Technologyo Possibility for automation by technology development in long term (production streamline, cost reduction)o Imitation is allowed as patent expired Problem Statement How to grow the business since sales plateau existed for almost 20 years despite continuous profits? This is what Wayne Swisher had been concerned for several years. In early 1996, Wayne Swisher received a certified letter from a major national retail merchandise chain, inquiring about a private branding arrangement for SMC’s line of riding mowers. Wayne had to decide whether or not to accept the proposal as well as the next step to grow SMC. The Private-label Proposal Contract: A 2-year contract which could be automatically extended on a year-to-year basis, with price and other terms negotiable then. Also can be terminated by any party with a 6-month notice. ? Product: Minor changes based on Ride King ? Order: An annual order of approximately 8,200 units, a sample order of 700 standard riding mower units to be delivered in Jan1997. ? Price: FOB; 5% discount on SMC’s manufacturer’s list price for its standard model; Reorders will be at the same price Marketing: SMC did not need to make any promotion effort to either the chain or the consumers. In addition, the private label relationship with the chain should be held confidential. ? Negotiable Inventory holding payment term: The chain would carry inventories in its regional warehouse. However, only until the mowers were shipped to a company store, or only when they had been in a regional warehouse for 2 months, would title be transferred and would the 45 da ys’ payment term start to take effect. Warranty: SMC’s standard warranty would be required for all mower parts. SMC was expected to bear any labor costs resulting from warranty work at $22 per hour. Replacement parts would be sold to the chain at present price point and shipped FOB factory. Proposal evaluation To facilitate our analysis with limited information, the following reasonable assumptions are taken: a) Unit sales without cannibalization, selling prices and costs (except the additional costs mentioned in the case) of Ride King would remain the level of 1995. b) Ignore the impact of decreasing unit fixed cost with expanded production volume. ) Recognize sales in late 1996, though the sample order of 700 was to be shipped and sales were to be recognized in 1997 d) Assume consistent cannibalization rate among two-year contract period (=300 cannibalized annually/8,200 annually) e) Average the one-time costs of $10000~12000, i. e. $11,000, and the costs are expense d when accepting the proposal. f) Assume SMC could well arrange production and avoid excess OT work for PL/Ride King over the minimum of 2100 units/year. g) Assume the new mowers under proposal (â€Å"PL†) occupied the same capacity as Ride King did. ) Assume after negotiation, title can be transferred upon shipment from SMC. Sales Analysis (Table A) Total Ride King Sales, both the original and those from Private Label proposal (â€Å"PL†), would be 4,874, 12,100 and 12,100 units for year 1996~1998 respectively, with net increase of 674, 7,900 and 7,900 after cannibalization. Financial Analysis ? Additional income per unit (Table B) * As stated in Assumption b), united fixed cost is overstated. Hence, gross profit of the proposal would be slightly higher. Hence, the proposal would bring an additional per unit income of $42. 5 (gross profit of 6. 5%) if within the 10,000 capacity with a single 40-hour-per-week shift and an additional income of $16. 25 (i. e. GP of 2. 5% ) if over capacity with overtime work. ? Capacity Analysis (Table C) Assume SMC could manage to arrange a smooth production without significant fluctuation to counter the seasonal delivery. Hence, production volume could be consistent with sales volume as shown in Table A. Hence, in 1996, as total production volume still under capacity, no overtime work for PL needed. While for both 1997 and 1998, 2,100 units of PL would be produced with overtime work. Incremental Income (Table D) Based on the assumption and calculation above, total incremental income can be derived as follows. The proposal would generate an extra net profit before tax for SMC of $11,098, $88,850 and $88,850 in year 1996, 1997 and 1998 respectively. On the base of year 1995, the sharp increase in sales by 178% would bring in a 21% increase in net profit before tax. Table D Ride King199619971998 Cannibalization loss Gross Profit per unit97. 5097. 5097. 50 Cannibalized volume-26-300-300 Cannibalization lost-2,535-29,2 50-29,250 Additional Income from PL Within capacity Volume7006,1006,100 Gross Profit per unit (see Table B)42. 2542. 2542. 25 Additional Income29,575257,725257,725 Over capacity Volume02,1002,100 Gross Profit per unit (see Table B)16. 2516. 2516. 25 Additional Income034,12534,125 Total Additional Income29,575291,850291,850 Incremental Income27,040262,600262,600 Additional Cost One-time cost-$11,000$0$0 **Additional Financial expenses For additional AR (ignore that of sample)$0-$57,929-$57,929 For additional Inventory (Average inventory of 2100units. )$0-$116,091-$116,091 Additional net profit before tax$16,040$88,580$88,580 1995199619971998 Additional net profit before tax $11,098$88,580$88,580 Net Profit$430,200$446,240$518,780$518,780 % increase in net profit 3. 73%20. 59%20. 59% Sales -Ride King $2,713,354$2,535,000$2,535,000 -PL $432,250$5,063,500$5,063,500 Sales$2,730,000$3,145,350$7,598,500$7,598,500 % increase in sales 15. 21%178. 33%178. 33% For detailed information on Additional Financial Expenses, please see the Table F as follows: (To simply analysis of AR financing cost, we ignore cannibalization of the sample order, and use the same selling price and payment term of PLs for the small quantity of cannibalized Ride King. Also, we ignore the inventory financing cost for 1996. ) ** Additional Financial Expenses 199619971998 Cost to finance additional AR Cannibalized Ride King-26-300-300 PL7008,2008,200 Net Additional Unit Sales 6747,9007,900 Net increase in Sales (@617. 5)$416,195$4,878,250$4,878,250 Impact on AR (45 days /360)$52,024$609,781$609,781 Cost to finance additional AR (@ 9. 5%)$4,942$57,929$57,929 Cost to finance additional Inventory Additional average inventory (assume nil for sample order)02,1002,100 Average unit cost [=((6100*(650-42. 25)+2100*(650-33. 5))/8200]$0$582$582 Average inventory cost$0$1,222,008$1,222,008 Cost to finance additional Inventory (@ 9. 5%)$0$116,091$116,091 ? Sensitivity Analysis: In order to gauge the risks associated with the terms and conditions of the proposal, SMC tried to analyze the sensitivity of the sales and profits to the changes of terms and conditions in payment terms, inventory costs, interest rates and cannibalization volume. To illustrate the point clearer, the breakeven point of each terms and condition is calculated with other situation held constant. SensitivityNo Additional Profit Payment terms -65% 114 days Extra holding inventory-131%3,700units Interest rate-196% 14. 3% Cannibalization volume -22%1,690units Because all these conditions above are unlikely to happen, SMC can be rather confident that the proposal is quite favorable in making profits. Evaluation of the proposal Just like a coin has two sides, the proposal also has pros and cons. SMC can benefit from the private label proposal from six aspects. SMC can enjoy the increase in sales and profits after accepting the proposal. The details can be seen in the following table: 19951996 Increase*1997Increase*1998Increase* Sales2,730,0003,145,60415. 22%7,598,500178. 33%7,598,500178. 33% Net Profits430,200446,2403. 73%518,78020. 59%518,78020. 59% * % increase versus those in 1995 If SMC accepted the proposal, its sales could rocket up almost 178% in 1997, compared to sales in 1995. It profits could be increased by 21% in 1997, compared to those in 1995. The proposal posed a good opportunity to SMC to increase sales and profits. SMC could also benefit from stable demands for its products in the next two years. The private proposal would offer stable orders to SMC. SMC could fully utilize its currently idle production capacity. Without acceptance of this private label proposal, the idle manufacturing capacity is 5,800 units per annum, more than 50% of total capacity. The high opportunity cost incurred could not be neglected. Furthermore, SMC could utilize this opportunity to make entry into the most important retail distribution channel: national retail merchandise chains, which currently accounts for 24% of the national market. Moreover, this proposal could provide an extra benefit of free test market! In fact, SMC remains a regional manufacturer of riding mowers for almost half a century. Its sales had plateaued for a decade while industry as a whole embraced record increase in recent years. SMC could take this precious chance to survey customer reaction across US to its unique mid-engine products with the help of the mass merchandise distributor’s strength of marketing without even using any of SMC’s scarce valuable marketing resources. Additionally, this new challenge would be a best learning opportunity for SMC when it operates on a scale twice the size of current operation. SMC could learn how to cope with the production within or even exceeding full capacity. For example, stretched manufacturing would lead to unprecedented pressure for purchasing department, warehouse management, logistics, etc. On the other hand, SMC should look at the other side of coin and analyze the cons of the private label proposal as well. Upon adopting the proposal, SMC would contribute more than 50% of its capacity for Ride King to one single private label mower production. Furthermore the improvement of SMC’s own brand could be limited by the remaining 42% production capacity. Limited capacity could hamper the introduction of new product, say missing the good timing, or could lead SMC to miss the good chance to grow current brand, say if demand for current brand increased. Other than capacity, the proposal also put pressure on SMC’s other resources, such as financial budget, labor, general management, etc. Private label production would consume a certain part of the limited and valuable corporate resources. Moreover, accepting proposal to manufacture private brand and distribute the private brand through other channels might lead to potential conflict with its traditional distributors. Although the chain’s outlets were located in metropolitan areas, there would be some overlap in trade areas with SMC’s current dealers. SMC, a small concern, relies heavily on its regional dealers to promote its products to consumers. Such a bold move might lead to certain percentage of independent dealers to drop the SMC line. The less profitable Private Label could cannibalize 300 units of the sales of more profitable Ride King annually in 1997 and 1998. What is more, the cannibalization rate could be higher than estimated 300 units a year. Additionally, SMC had to bear the risks ssociated with the private label plan. Accepting the proposal is confronted with two uncertainties. One is that the mower producer had committed two third of its current capacity to one single distributor. Once there was no renewal of the contract, it would be difficult to develop another comparable buyer. The other is that the contract would be terminated midway, i. e. one party is entitled to break the deal with a six-month notice beforehand at any time. Furthermore, although the total sales and output would expand almost twice, the increase in profits will not keep the same pace with the increase of the sales. Finally, SMC should consider other potential costs. For example, sudden expanded production might lead to quality insurance challenges. The product liability claims might eat up the minute increase in profit from the contract. Plus, the warranty costs would $22 per labor hour. Alternatives: ? Alternative 1: Accept the proposal and, in the long run, develop own brand based on the experiences of private label production: SMC should incorporate the consideration of the following elements when accepting the offer. Firstly, during negotiation with the mass distributor, SMC should try its best to make the contract terms more favorable. Albeit its bargaining power is somewhat limited, as a reliable provider of a highly differentiated mower product, SMC had some say o n the some part of the contract. To negotiate to transfer title upon shipment by SMC would be very reasonable and fair. Holding inventory of an average of 2,100 units in the chain’s regional warehouse under SMC’s title would be very unfavorable to SMC, given PL’s high average monthly inventory financing cost of ~$4. 61 per unit per month and even higher AR financing cost of ~$4. 9 per unit. Although SMC would not hold a big chance for this as in title transfer, still Wayne could try as 15-day could save SMC an AR financing cost of ~$19,310 a year. Secondly, in order to enhance its own brand and strengthen its own brand product, SMC should make this deal only as a short run option. Production of private label can only be regarded as a temporary way to improve SMC’s sales and profits, and is not a reliable one in the long run. To develop its core competency, SMC has to emphasize on improving its own brand image and establishing its own national distributio n channel. Further actions should be taken if SMC decides to accept the proposal: Aimprove its current product mix. In its four core products, Kits makes up to 8. 2% of its annual sales yet offer zero profits. With the coordination among its relevant functional area within the firm, SMC could gradually drop the whole product line of Kits if it could not improve its profitability. BHire more temporary labor to avoid excessive overtime work Since the firm scaled up its production, it should hire temporary labor with adequate training to ensure the on-time delivery and quality control. Excessive overworking for a long period might causes the decrease in both workers’ productivity and production quality. Of course, SMC should reach a good trade-off between the costs to hire extra hands and the improvement in productivity and quality. C Establish nationwide distribution network Unsatisfied being a regional riding mower provider, SMC should take the chance of free market test provided by the private label proposal to help establish its own national distribution network. Western part of United Sates poses great new chance for SMC. DDiversification of product lines It is important for SMC to build more consumers-oriented mower in addition to its current farm mower offering. For example, mowers used in cutting the grass in garden offer great potential for SMC since SMC are already quite specialized in movers used by farmers. The change in product orientation would help it to capture different market niche and widen its target customer base. ? Alternative 2: Reject the proposal and concentrate on the development of own brands: On the other hand, SMC should consider further actions to develop alternative strategies if it rejects the proposal to produce the private label. ALaunching of new product: Trim Max. If rejecting the offer, the company could put more of its limited resources to the launch of Trim Max as a strategic move, widening its product line of trail-movers under the Swisher name. But the firm will possibly be confronted with some uncertainties, such as poor sales of Trim Max. BImproving profitability of Kits or discontinue it Among SMC’s four core products, Kits makes up to 8. 2% of SMC’s annual sales yet offers zero profits. With better coordination among its relevant functional areas within the firm, SMC could examine closely the root causes of the unprofitability of Kits and try to eliminate the non-value added portion of the value chain. If SMC cannot improve Kits’ profitability at last, it should consider dropping the production of Kits at all. CEstablishing nationwide distribution network Upon rejection of the offer, in the long run, SMC should put its efforts on establishing national distribution network for its product mix, especially Trim Max, the new introduction to the market. As we mentioned earlier, the western part of United Sates is untouched yet. SMC could try to push the distribution channel toward the western part. DDiversifying product lines The advent of the new product, Trim Max, would no doubt improve the product diversification. Furthermore, SMC should expand the newly introduced products and reduce the reliance on its old flagship product, the Ride King, which was designed in the 1950s. EMore advertising Obviously, the introduction of the new product should be fully assisted by full-scale advertisements and vigorous promotions. SMC can promote its products in the current geographic scope of distribution channel to expand the sales. Furthermore, SMC could consider vigorously promoting its product to the untouched part, the western part of US, and help to set up the national distribution channels. Final decision: After delving into all the pros and cons of the two alternatives, Wayne believes that SMC should adopt this private label proposal with eyes on the long-term development of own brand. Major reasons: For SMC, the benefits are comprised of both direct and indirect contributions. Direct cost saving and profit generation, Aexcess capacity utilization The most important reason to accept this offering is that SMC can make a full use of its capacity and make more profit. As we have explored previously, SMC has around 60% of idle capacity which comprised a potential opportunity costs. In addition, analyzing from economics’ angle, we find that total fixed costs of SMC’ s products remain unchange d with the utilization of idle capacity. The additional revenue arising from the sales of private label may possibly increase profits in SMC. BProfitability In 1996, sales can increase by 15. 2% and net profits would boost by 3. 74% after accepting the proposal. In the next two years, the sales and net profits will be rocketed to 178. 3% and 20. 59%, respectively, comparing with those in 1995. Indirect benefits on regarding the production of private label as a stepping stone to promoting SMC’s own brand AAccumulation of profits to finance future development The increased profit aroused from the contract could be accumulated as retained earning to finance the company’s future expansion. This is especially true, when SMC is of such a small scale (market share is less than one percent). It would be quite difficult to fully expand after sales and profits had plateaued for more than a decade. At this stage, private label production could provide SMC with necessary profits, which could finance future development. BAccumulation of operational experience The firm can get much precious experience on operating business on a larger scale and in full capacity. The experience includes management, marketing, operation and technology experience. All of these experiences should be considered as a preparation for great leap in the future. One afternoon in early 1996, Wayne Swisher, satisfied with his analysis about the current and future development of SMC, was confident that SMC could both benefit from the private label proposal, the birds at hand, and stay in track with the long-term development of SMC’s own brand. The funds, raised by utilization of excess capacity and the production of private label, and the experiences learned from production in full capacity, could assist SWC to step further to fully develop its own brands in the long run.

The 22 Best Colleges in the Midwest

The 22 Best Colleges in the Midwest SAT / ACT Prep Online Guides and Tips Are you from the Midwest and want to stay close to home for college? Do you want to experience life in the heartland or in one of America's underrated flyover states? If you’re considering going to college in the Midwest, you should have an idea of which schools are the best in the region. In this article, I’ll provide my rankings of the best colleges in the Midwest and explain how you should use my ranking list of the top Midwestern schools. Which States Are in the Midwest? For my rankings, here are the states that I considered to be in the Midwest: North Dakota, South Dakota, Illinois, Indiana, Wisconsin, Minnesota, Kansas, Nebraska, Iowa, Michigan, Ohio, Oklahoma, and Missouri.There is some argument about which states are in the Midwest. My apologies if you disagree with my assessment. How I Ranked the Best Colleges in the Midwest While rankings can be subjective, you can get a general idea of which colleges are better based on their reputations and objective statistics.I placed the22 topcolleges in the Midwest into four tiers, with tier one including the highest ranked schools.I determined my rankings by looking at the rankings from US News, Forbes, and Niche.Each ranking list uses different variables to determine its rankings, but here are some of the most important factors that are considered when determining college rankings: Academic Reputation- The academic reputation of a school is what education experts think about the academics at a particular college. US News gives a peer assessment survey to university presidents, provosts, and deans of admissions to help rate academic quality. Additionally, it surveys high school counselors across the country. Freshman Retention Rate- The freshman retention rate is the percentage of freshmen that return for their sophomore years. Typically, better colleges have higher retention rates. A high retention rate shows that students at the school are satisfied with the school and receiving the necessary support to succeed. Graduation Rate- The graduation rate is the percentage of students that graduate within 6 years. Better schools have higher graduation rates. If a higher percentage of students is graduating, then the students are seen as being more capable, and the college is providing the necessary support and resources to enable students to successfully finish college. Student Selectivity- Student selectivity refers to the qualifications of the students and the competitiveness of the admissions process. Better schools have students with higher high school GPAs and standardized test scores. Also, better schools tend to have lower acceptance rates. More selectivity generally equates to a higher caliber of student. Financial Resources- Ranking lists consider schools’ per student spending. More spending per student is indicative of having more resources and positively influences a school’s ranking. I weighted the US News rankings a little more heavily because US News has the most prestigious ranking list; therefore it has the greatest impact on a school’s reputation.All of the schools were among the top 25 Midwestern colleges in at least two of the three ranking lists I looked at.Honorable mention schools made the top 25 in at least one list. I included the average standardized test scores, acceptance rates, and US News ranking for each school. Because US News ranks national universities and liberal arts colleges separately, after the ranking, I put NU for national university or LA for liberal arts college.I also put public colleges in bold. Ruby.W./Flickr The 22 Best Colleges in the Midwset, Ranked Here are my rankings of the best colleges in the Midwest. Enjoy. Tier One The first tier of the best universitiesin the Midwest is composed of extremely selective private schools.Their acceptance rates range from 9% (University of Chicago) to 22% (University of Notre Dame). Also, their graduation rates are between 93% and 96%.They’re all top 15 schools in the country in their respective categories in the US News rankings, and all of the first tier schools meet 100% of demonstrated financial need.The only liberal arts college in the group is Carleton College. School Location Average SAT Average ACT Acceptance Rate US News Ranking Carleton College Northfield, MN 2135 31 21% #8 LA Northwestern University Evanston, IL 2170 33 15% #12 NU University of Chicago Chicago, IL 2228 33 9% #4 NU University of Notre Dame South Bend, IN 2130 33 22% #18 NU Washington University in St. Louis St. Louis, MO 2220 33 16% #15 NU University of Chicago (supafly/Flickr) Tier Two The second tier is composed of very well-regarded, selective colleges.All of the second tier schools are small liberal arts colleges, except the University of Michigan, which is considered to be one of the top public universities in the nation.Their acceptance rates range from 30% (Oberlin College) to 38% (Kenyon College), and their US News rankings are all in the top 30 in the country in their respective categories.Their graduation rates range from 86% (Grinnell) to 91% (University of Michigan).They all meet 100% of demonstrated financial need, except Kenyon (95%) and Michigan (85%). School Location Average SAT Average ACT Acceptance Rate US News Ranking Grinnell College Grinnell, IA 1375 (on Math and Critical Reading only) 30 35% #19 LA Kenyon College Gambier, OH 1988 30 38% #25 LA Macalester College St. Paul, MN 2015 31 34% #23 LA Oberlin College Oberlin, OH 2059 30 30% #23 LA University of Michigan, Ann Arbor Ann Arbor, MI 2041 30 33% #29 NU Tier Three The third tier is composed of a mix of private and public colleges from five different states.Their acceptance rates range from 42% (Case Western) to 62% (University of Illinois), and their US News rankings are between37 and51 in their respective categories.Their graduation rates range from 80% (DePauw) to 89% (St. Olaf).They meet from 69% (Illinois) to 99% (St. Olaf) of demonstrated financial need. School Location Average SAT Score Average ACT Score Acceptance Rate US News Ranking Case Western Reserve University Cleveland, OH 2032 31 42% #37 NU DePauw University Greencastle, IN 1780 27 61% #51 LA St. Olaf College Northfield, MN 1919 29 59% #51 LA University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign Champaign, IL 1970 28 62% #41 NU University of Wisconsin Madison, WI 1916 28 51% #41 NU Case Western (OzinOH/flickr) Tier Four The fourth tier is composed of sevencolleges, four liberal arts colleges and three large public universities.Their acceptance rates range from 44% (University of Minnesota) to 73% (Lawrence University), and their US News rankings are from 55 to 66 in their respective categories.Their graduation rates range from 74% (Purdue) to 89% (Wheaton).They meet from 71% (Ohio State) to 97% (Denison) of demonstrated financial need. School Location Average SAT Score Average ACT Score Acceptance Rate US News Ranking Denison University Granville, OH 1264 (on Reading and Math only) 29 46% #55 LA Kalamazoo College Kalamazoo, MI 1854 28 67% #66 LA Lawrence University Appleton, WI 1900 29 73% #57 LA Ohio State University Columbus, OH 1864 28 56% #52 NU Purdue University West Lafayette, IN 1773 27 60% #61 NU University of Minnesota Minneapolis, MN 1920 28 44% #69 NU Wheaton College (IL) Wheaton, IL Not Available Not Available Not Available #57 LA Honorable Mention Beloit College College of Wooster Drake University Earlham College Indiana University Michigan State University Wabash College The menacing Michigan State mascot (John Martinez Pavliga/Flickr) How Should You Use This List? If you want to go to one of the best colleges in the Midwest, research the schools on the list that interest you to determine if you want to apply to them.Think of the factors that are important to you in a college including cost, size, selectivity, location, and the majors offered.Look at the school’s website and use guidebooks, college finders, and search websites to help you in the college selection process. If possible, consult with teachers, counselors, parents, current students, and alumni. Also, just because a school didn’t make the list doesn’t mean it’s a bad school. In your college search, you should identify the school that’s the best fit for you. Some schools may not rank well because they’re not as selective or have fewer financial resources. However, they may have academic programs, professors, and a campus environment that will enable you to have a high quality of life while you’re in school and reach your academic and professional goals. What's Next? Do you want to go to one of the best colleges in the Midwest, but you're worried that your standardized test scores are too low? Check out the Ultimate SAT Prep Study Guideor15 ACT tips and tricks to help raise your score. Are you worried about the cost of attending a great college? Find out how much college really costs, learn how to save for school, and read this post abouthow to pay for college. Want to improve your SAT score by 160 points or your ACT score by 4 points?We've written a guide for each test about the top 5 strategies you must be using to have a shot at improving your score. Download it for free now:

M5A1-Conflict Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

M5A1-Conflict - Essay Example There conflict scenario entails several positives (for resolution) and negatives (for resolution) in favor of management group and in favor of the employee group. Some positives for resolution that are in favor of management include the high experience and training that is provided to the employees to build performance review systems and information systems. Accordingly, the low turnover, the visionary leadership of the three business partners and fair and comparable salaries will also help Metro services in resolving the conflict. In addition, 92 percent of employees assert that the owners have positive attitudes towards specialists and while 78 percent assert agree that Metro services offers opportunities to work in various companies. Some negatives for resolution that face the management include the inability to allow the specialists an opportunity in negotiating fees with the contracting companies, and lack of promotion opportunities in the company. In addition, the failure to ho ld employee/owner meeting for the past three years is a challenge for the management group in resolving the conflict. ... Accordingly, employees are allowed to demonstrated individual performance and 64 percent claim that the company offers job security. In addition, 80 percent of employees perceive the salary as fair and comparable and 74 percent assert that specialist positions allow them to utilize their knowledge and skills. Some negatives that may hinder employees in cooperating during the conflict resolution include lack of adequate opportunities for promotion, the confrontation with Mr. Baker that happened in 1999 and inability of the management to belief that there is a union movement by employees since it will be detrimental to all concerned. Some of the points of contention that relate to the positives and negatives include the possibility of implementing a bonus sharing system for the excess profits earned by the management. Some positive points of contention that may create conflictual conditions include the job security since some employees perceive six months full time position as temporal position that does not guarantee any job security. Another contention is the intention of employee to create a union since the management group does not believe whether such movements are necessary when the salaries and additional benefits like 401K securities are fair. The last contentious issue is the monitoring of contracting companies and requirement for a higher performance level than agree with contracting companies. The refusal of temporary specialists to participate in negating fees with contracting companies will also be contentious. Time phased strategy of addressing the conflict The management must analyze the employee survey and identify the source of conflict in the organization. The management must identify any barriers in

Hammerhead Sharks Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Hammerhead Sharks - Research Paper Example The characteristic hammer shaped head of these ocean predators is called cephalofoil and is the reason why they are called hammerhead sharks. The nostrils and eyes are located at the tip of the extensions. All hammerhead sharks belong to the genus Sphyrna. There are nine identified species of Hammerhead shark and all have the characteristic projections on both sides of the head. The largest Hammerhead species, the Great Hammerhead shark, can grow up to 20 feet in length and weigh up to 1,000 pounds, although smaller sizes are more common (National Geography). The smallest of this species is the Bonnethead, which can reach an average length of 3-4 feet and can weigh up to 24 pounds (University of Florida). Cephalofoil: Structural Variations There are two main theories regarding the development of the cephalofoil. Some scientists believe that the shape evolved gradually over numerous generations, while others suggest that it was a sudden mutation that rapidly proved to be an advantage (Aquatic Community). The shape of the cephalofoil has been found to vary considerably among the various species of Hammerhead sharks. The great hammerhead has a cephalofoil that is broad and nearly flat across the front, with a single shallow notch in the center. The scalloped hammerhead is arched more and has a pronounced center notch with two matching notches on either side, giving it a scalloped appearance. The smooth hammerhead is smooth with no notches but a slight broad arch. The cephalofoil of a bonnethead is rounded at the front and resembles a shovel more than a hammer. Function of Cephalofoil Researchers are not sure about the function of cephalofoil in hammerhead sharks, but they have a few theories, some of which hold up well under research. The prominent theories which have been tested are listed below: 1. Enhanced binocular field In this study, scientist hypothesized that one of the main features of the cephalofoil is to enhance frontal binocularity (McComb et al. 4010 ). As part of this study, they compared the visual fields of three hammerhead species: the bonnethead shark (Sphyrna tiburo), the scalloped hammerhead shark (Sphyrna lewini) and the winghead shark (Eusphyra blochii) with the visual field of two carcharhinid species: the lemon shark (Negaprion brevirostris) and the blacknose shark (Carcharhinus acronotus). Scientists also quantified the eye rotation and head yaw of these sharks in order to determine if species compensate for large blind areas anterior to the head. The study revealed that the winghead shark possessed the largest anterior binocular overlap which was nearly four times larger than that of the lemon and blacknose sharks (McComb 4013). The binocular overlap in the scalloped hammerhead sharks was greater than the bonnethead sharks and carcharhinid species (McComb et al. 4013). However, the bonnethead shark did not differ from the carcharhinids (McComb et al. 4013). The hammerhead species did not demonstrate greater eye rota tion in the anterior or posterior direction. However, both the scalloped hammerhead and bonnethead sharks exhibited greater head yaw during swimming than the lemon and blacknose sharks, indicating a behavioral compensation for the anterior blind area (McComb et al. 4013). The results indicate that hammerhead species have larger binocular overlap compared to the carcharhinid sharks which is consistent with the ‘enhanced binocular field’ hypothesis. 2. Head Morphology Scientists have conducted a comparative morphology test to determine if the sphyrnid cephalofoil offers better stereo-olfaction, increases olfactory acuity and samples a greater volume of the medium compared to the carcharhiniform sharks (Kajiura et al., Morphology 253). The broadly spaced nares provides significantly greater separation between the

New Age Constructions Essay Example for Free

New Age Constructions Essay New Age is a building construction organisation based in Bangalore. The organisation, which was established in the year 2005, is relatively new in this sector. The activities of the organisation are limited to Bangalore. There are a number of well-established builders in Bangalore. Therefore, initially New Age found it difficult to obtain large projects and undertook only small building projects. However, recently, New Age has got a lucrative contract for building a large shopping mall. The organisation finds the contract to be a stepping stone of its future success. Therefore, it is striving to deliver the project on time and within the planned budget. The organisation has hired Mr. Sinha as the project manager. To carry out the assigned project, Mr. Sinha has emphasised on three principles of project management including the principle of project strategy, the principle of team building, and the principle of satisfaction. During the project, Mr. Sinha communicated the relevant project information to all the team members. However, he did not prioritise maintaining a thorough documentation of the entire project. Seven months into the project, Mr. Sinha faced some major issues. He was asked by the management of the organisation to provide a complete project report on a day-to-day basis. Moreover, it was also noticed that he used some extra human resource, which affected the project’s cost management as well. Mr. Sinha did not even consider the triple constraints of the project Questions: a. As a project manager of New Age, which knowledge areas and principles would you like to follow the most? b. Do you think considering the triple constraints would have helped Mr. Sinha? Justify your answer. a. Summarise the various knowledge areas and principles in brief you would follow as a project manager of New Age b. Give your opinion if triple constraints would have helped Mr. Sinha Provide justification for the opinion 2. Describe the five phases of a generic project lifecycle. (unit 1) [Describe each phase of a project lifecycle] 3. Write short notes on: Work breakdown structure Product line analysis Capital rationing Challenges in Social Cost Benefit Analysis (SCBA) [Work breakdown structure Product line analysis Capital rationing Challenges in Social Cost Benefit Analysis (SCBA)] 4. How would you classify the sources of financing infrastructure projects?[State the meaning of source of finance, Explain the external and  Domestic sources of finance available in the infrastructure financing List financing sources available for infrastructure projects in India in tabular format] 5. Discuss the different types of project termination. 6. How is a monitoring system designed? [Explain what is done in each step of the process of designing a monitoring system] PM0011 – PROJECT PLANNING AND SCHEDULING 1. Write short note on: Controlling PMO (Project Management Office ) Bottom-up approach for estimating project planning Consequences of project delays Partnering [Controlling PMO (Project Management Office ) Bottom-up approach for estimating project planning Consequences of project delays Partnering] 2. Explain various stages of project scope management. [Briefly describe each stage of scope management] 3. Write short notes on : Scope change Porter model used by organisations to identify investment opportunities Tools for Project Scheduling Operating Feasibility [Scope change Porter model used by organisations to identify investment opportunities Tools for Project Scheduling Operating Feasibility] 4. Explain the various tools of project planning. [Briefly mention the role of project planning tools in an organisation Explain various tools that are used in project Planning] 5. Explain the meaning of CPM. Mention various steps involved in CPM. [Write the meaning of CPM Explain various steps associated with CPM] 6. What do you understand by cost of quality? Elaborate on various types of quality costs associated with a project. PM 0012 – PROJECT FINANCE AND BUDGETING 1. Write short notes on: Lump sum contract Project Cost Profile Trade credit Types of project resources [Lump sum contract Project Cost Profile Trade credit Types of project resources 2. Discuss the financing of telecommunication projects. [Explain the financing of telecommunication projects and Discuss the factors needs to be considered while financing a telecommunication project.] 3. Do lenders, sponsors, EPC contractors, and the government require project insurance? Explain [Give your opinion is project insurance required by lenders, sponsors, EPC contractors, and the government Provide justification to your answer from perspective of lenders, sponsors, EPC contractors, and the government] 4. Write short notes on: Expected Monetary Value (EMV) Earned Value Analysis (EVA) Optimal capital structure Net Present Value(NPV method of capital budgeting [Expected Monetary Value (EMV) Earned Value Analysis (EVA) Optimal capital structure Net Present Value(NPV method of capital budgeting] 5. Explain the role played by engineering advisors in project finance. [Explanation of the nature of the role played by engineering advisors in project finance Summarization of the role played by engineering advisors according four phases of activities] 6. Define PPP (Public Private Partnership) and list the advantages and disadvantages of PPP . [Define PPP List advantages of PPP List disadvantages of PPP] PM 0013 – MANAGING HUMAN RESOURCES IN PROJECTS 1. Write short notes on: Human Resource Cycle Role of a project manager Productivity measurement method of manpower estimation Managing Conflicts in a project [Human Resource Cycle Role of a project manager Productivity measurement method of manpower estimation Managing Conflicts in a project] 2. What is the need for building a team during any project? [Define team building and its significance Discuss the various reasons for building a project team 3 Write short notes on Qualities of a project leader Dealing with Poor Performers in a Project Team Minority groups Health issues of project team members [Qualities of a project leader Dealing with Poor Performers in a Project Team Minority groups Health issues of project team members] 4. What are the major roles that motivation plays in handling project environment? [Explain how motivation plays a considerable role in the success and failure of a project Discuss the major roles of motivation in a project environment] 5. Explain various types of collective bargaining. [Explanation of four types of collective bargaining] 6. What is a Human Resource Information System(HRIS). [Define HRIS Very briefly Functions of HRIS List any two advantages of HRIS List any two disadvantages of HRIS]

The Internet :: social issues

The Internet MEMORANDUM Mrs. -----, I understand that some students that have already graduated from College are having a bit of trouble getting their new businesses started. I know of a tool that will be extremely helpful and is already available to them; the Internet. Up until a few years ago, when a student graduated they were basically thrown out into the real world with just their education and their wits. Most of the time this wasn't good enough because after three or four years of college, the perspective entrepreneur either forgot too much of what they were supposed to learn, or they just didn't have the finances. Then by the time they save sufficient money, they again had forgotten too much. I believe I have found the answer. On the Internet your students will be able to find literally thousands of links to help them with their future enterprises. In almost every city all across North America, no matter where these students move to, they are able to link up and find everything they need. They can find links like "Creative Ideas", a place they can go and retrieve ideas, innovations, inventions, patents and licensing. Once they come up with their own products, they can find free expert advice on how to market their products. There are easily accessible links to experts, analysts, consultants and business leaders to guide their way to starting up their own business, careers and lives. These experts can help push the beginners in the right direction in every field of business, including every way to generate start up revenue from better management of personal finances to diving into the stock mar ket. When the beginner has sufficient funds to actually open their own company, they can't just expect the customers to come to them, they have to go out and attract them. This is where the Internet becomes most useful, in advertising. On the Internet, in every major consumer area in the world, there are dozens of ways to advertise. The easiest and cheapest way, is to join groups such as "Entrepreneur Weekly". These groups offer weekly newsletters sent all over the world to major and minor businesses informing them about new companies on the market. It includes everything about your business from what you make/sell and where to find you, to what your worth. These groups also advertise to the general public.

Disadvantages and Advantages of Computer

With computer and internet connection, you can have easy access to information. Computers can be use for multiple purposes, word processing, gaming, movies, internet browsing, programming, reading articles, email, faxing, video chat, online chat and more. Organize large and store large amount of data and information such as images, sound, videos and other files. It helps people to communicate with other computer owners, family and friends across the world through the internet. There are free calls from different countries and making the world smaller. Computers run 24 hours 7 days a week. Reduce the use of paper. Computer has more computing and calculating power than human. Computers are more accurate and consistence. Accountant work has become much easier because of the help of computers. Enable you to shop online anywhere and purchase items without commuting. Helps create automatic tasks that human do not want to do. Computer Disadvantage Less human interactions, computer may ruin your social life if you cannot maintain the balance. People who work from home on their computers are likely to feel cut off from the rest of the world. Have to constantly keep up to date with new technology and have to spend time to learn different functions in applications. May caused eyestrains because of the bright screen and radiation. Computer may decrease your physical activities, making someone unhealthy, may caused chronic injury syndrome with pain in the fingers of the hand/radiating pain in the forearm and arm. Shoulder pain – fibromyalgia in shoulder muscles, elbow pain – tennis elbow, golfers elbow, wrist pain – deQuervains disease, ulnar styloiditis. Finger joint pains – usually linked to tenosynovitis, trigger fingers. May cause bad posture and skeletal problems. Children have easy access to pornographic material with internet connection. Children are also easy target for sexual offenders who pretend to chat and pretend to be their friends. Email spam, lead to fraud, hacking, stolen identities, and viruses. People have lost jobs because computers are more efficient than human. Risk of addiction to online gaming and online gambling.

Ethical Code Of Data Collection Essay

Ethical code is vital to any survey. Researchers today are obliged to follow the different ethical codes designed and guided by different institutions like government agencies, research agencies and marketing associations pertinent to the different countries, societies and communities. This is the first thing researchers should take into consideration while developing or designing research materials. There are ethical code enforcement bodies in almost all layers of our community from local institutions to the federal level, which has the power to control all the research related activities and their impact in the community. Research is highly affected and influenced by ethical codes. One of the major aims of the MRA (Marketing Research Association) ethical code is that while conducting research; researchers should not act in such a way that it violates the general public laws which will discredit people’s confidence against the entire research profession. The research code of ethics is there to establish guidelines and principles to maneuver researchers to achieve the goals and objectives in a socially acceptable manner. Therefore, Marketing Research Association code of ethics guides researchers in almost all layers of their work from their research design phase of the research to the communication of findings of the research to the concerned parties. Some of the principle elements of the MRA ethical codes include: 1. People or the community should be involved as major participants in the all facets of the research. 2. Researchers should get written permission from the people in the community which will be involved in the research project. 3. All the resources (information collected from the community) are direct  assets of that community and therefore researchers should communicate the findings of research to the community and those data should be returned to the community. 4. While publishing the research findings, the community or the people associated with the research should be involved in decision making process. 5. And finally, researchers should make sure that the partners of the research (community) have agreed to make information available to the publication. Above mentioned principles are the major pillars of the MRA ethical code of research. It provides the power to the community and provides the decision making ability to those who are the members or a part of the community. MRA ethical code of research has become a key guiding principle of any research activity. How researchers design their research depends upon MRA’s ethical codes of research, review, and regulation. Respect of the individual person’s or participant’s privacy is the key focus of the research code. It is the degree of control which research participants have over the researchers about their own information and how researchers deal with that information about participants. This code of ethics provides exclusive rights to the research participants about whether to participate in the research or not. In the next level, research code of ethics prioritized the maximization of the benefits of the research to the concerned partner, community or society. A survey result or the research does not always provide advantages or the benefits the community. Therefore, another ethical code of the researchers is to maximize the possible benefits of the research and minimize the harm of research or research findings to its participants or community. Researchers should always have a sense of justice towards its research. Researchers can never include all the members or elements of its target population, therefore while selecting the sample they should be non-discriminatory. By doing so, researchers not only do justice to the participants or the community but also maximize the chances of integrity of the research findings. Another important issue of the research ethical code is the confidentiality of the information provided by the research participants. Researchers are  liable to provide highest level confidentiality of the data towards the participants. MRA research code of ethics makes sure that researchers provides complete confidentiality to its research participants unless the respondent or the participants of the research themselves waives their confidentiality. Besides these basic ethical codes of data collection, researchers should not falsify or omit collected data for any reason during the data collection process. And before collecting the data researchers should specify the methods of data collection, time and date of data collection, sampling frame and method and sampling size and these predetermined methodologies are not subject to change without the permission of the research participants. Data collectors should not reveal the information about the client or sponsor to the participants during the data collection phase without proper authorization. If the respondent wants to know about the sponsor or the clients then the data collectors can only reveal the information only to respondent with the authorization to do so by the clients or sponsor. The data collectors are liable to protect the confidentiality regarding the business of the client without the express written consent of the client and without the necessary ground to do so. If the data collectors are conducting the secondary data collection then revealing the source of the data to their client is their prime responsibility and they should not present secondary data as primary data to their clients or sponsor. If a respondent wants to withdraw or refused to participate in the middle of the data collection process then the data collectors or the researchers have no right to coerce them or make the cooperation obligatory by threatening them with anything. Researchers or the data collectors should always respect and protect the right to participate and right not to participate in the research by the respondent at any time from beginning to the end of data collection. The result of the study or the collected data is the property of the clients or the sponsor therefore, researchers or the data collectors should not at any cost share the findings of the collected data to the third party without the pre-consent of the clients or sponsor. Researchers are liable to follow the standard ethical code of data collections coordinated and enforced by the agencies like Marketing Research Association and federal agencies. References Marketing Research Association (2012). Retrieved on October 5, 2014 from www.mra-net.org Malhotra, N. K. (2010). Marketing Research an Applied Orientation (Sixth ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall.

The Lord of The Flies

The Lord of The Flies Free Online Research Papers The novel, The Lord of the Flies, written by William Golding was published by Penguin Putnam Inc. in New York, New York. The copyright date is 1954. Take a group of privileged school boys from a sophisticated background and send them through a horrific ordeal. Then leave them to live without adult supervision in an environment hostile and alien to their normal life. The Lord of the Flies is Golding’s examination of human behavior during a life or death situation. The setting of this book was an unfriendly island. This island was the story. It was a complete change of environment for the young boys who were used to their city life. They had to now learn to survive on their own. So, first challenge a group of boys to survive a terrible plane crash. Then left alone without supervision they band together for security until opinions from leaders force two groups to emerge. The environment is one of the main characters. It makes the boys do things that they aren’t accustomed to doing. The groups begin their own primitive societies based on what they know from experience and home, and what it takes to live in their new environment. They have to deal with all the major aspects of life. Where to get food, how to make shelter, how to stay warm when it’s cold. Then they are faced with establishing order within their groups. Should there or shouldn’t there be rules? Who should lead? The boys have to do for themselves what has already been done for them. Are they able to survive on a hostile environment without the structure of an established society? The two main leaders Ralph and Jack have strong differences of opinion on how they should lead the group and survive. This becomes the conflict in where the two boys split apart and jack forms a new group and is open to anyone that would like to join. This affected the characters by changing how they acted and lived. Jack didn’t like that Ralph wanted to carry on in the way they did in England with rules and a structured law system. Jack wanted to rid of rules and rule the island as he wanted. He acted out as a savage, painted their faces, speared p igs, ran around like cavemen. I felt that considering the environment the boys were thrown into I m not surprised at the way they acted. Boys are boys and the fact that there were no other people on the island with no laws or a structured society they acted out. People wouldn’t act the way they do if there were no rules or organization. It is only the pressure of those things that men act the way we do. My critique is that I enjoyed the book. The story is written very well and I was interested the whole time. I don’t think I could identify myself with any of the characters but some characters reminded me of people I know. Jack reminded me of some people that I know in my life. Jack was overconfident and acted tough. I know people that will act like that and also if you prove them wrong they will always come back with something else o they don’t look stupid. The author, William Golding, did an excellent job on this novel. The description of the setting, and the characters personalities and appearance was great. There was so much imagery in the story and that was great because it helps people like me to visualize the description in my head. There was a lot of dialogue. It was good to have it but sometimes there was too much. With all the conflicts in the story Golding definitely created a sense of suspense. I could practically hear the suspenseful music coming from the book as the savage boys were running after Ralph toward the end of the book. I would definitely recommend this book to others. I know that although this is a required book for most high schools it should still be read by people who haven’t read it. I think the age group for this book should be for young adults who will have a better understanding for the story than younger readers. The Lord of the Flies, I thought was an excellent book. Research Papers on The Lord of The FliesHarry Potter and the Deathly Hallows EssayEffects of Television Violence on Children19 Century Society: A Deeply Divided EraUnreasonable Searches and SeizuresThe Masque of the Red Death Room meaningsWhere Wild and West MeetStandardized TestingRelationship between Media Coverage and Social andGenetic EngineeringThe Spring and Autumn

8 Benefits of Time Management in College

8 Benefits of Time Management in College Yes, there are benefits to learning how to manage your time everyone seems to know that. But what exactly do the benefits of time management look like to college students in particular? Is good time management really worth all of the time and effort? 8 Benefits of Good Time Management in College You wont miss important life deadlines. Life deadlines and projects are those things that keep your life on track. It may include turning in your FAFSA on time, getting your form in early so you have guaranteed on-campus housing next year, remembering to get your moms birthday present in the mail so it arrives on time. When your time management is bad, life can get ugly in an instant.You wont miss important academic deadlines. Paper coming up? Lab report due? Group assignment on the horizon? Missing academic deadlines means you may miss out on being able to stay in school. Having good time management, on the other hand, means you get your assignments in on time and get a little sleep the night before theyre due.You have more time to sleep well, eat right, and exercise regularly. Good time management means you have more time in general. And the better you treat your body, the better it treats you. Putting a little energy into time management now means youll have more energy to get th rough your days (and workload) later. Youll have less stress. Good time management means that horrible paper you have to write gets done in a reasonable amount of time with relatively little stress. Its a much better approach than facing a panic attack the night before a deadline.Youll have more time to just relax and enjoy your time in school. Lets be honest: Even if you do decide to throw caution to the wind and just hang out with some friends in the quad, that research paper youre avoiding is still fluttering around in the back of your brain. When youre good at managing your time, you can really let yourself relax, knowing that the time youll need to rock that paper has already been allocated in your schedule.Youll have more flexibility and spontaneity. When youre always behind and late on projects, you dont have the time or mental ability to just relax and enjoy, say, the spontaneous gathering in your residence hall or your roommates surprise birthday party.Things will be easier for your friends and family. You kno w what its like to have a friend who is always late: things can become trying after a while. Finally getting on top of your time management and turning into an independent adult who can run his or her own life will make things incredibly easier on your friends and family (not to mention yourself). Good time management skills will help you in your post-college life. Think your always-late, always-behind pattern is going to change once you graduate? Think again. Taking the time to learn and make permanent strong time management skills will serve you well in your life after college. After all, how can you go out and change the world if youre always running behind and late?

Spell check poem Topic 3 Wk 6 Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Spell check poem Topic 3 Wk 6 - Essay Example he following words, though existing in the English dictionary, were not used in the proper context, such as revue, sea, threw, no, weigh, tolled and sew. These words, when used in the poem, should have been spelled as follows: review, see, through, know, way, told and so. This poem is therefore an appropriate example of how the spell check application fails to address the grammatical context of words used within the discourse. It effectively checks spelling of words in terms of their existence in the dictionary, but nothing else. Students, particularly, who are expected to adhere to grammatical rules (not only confining the review to spelling) would assume that the work has been evaluated entirely but would fail to capture the essence and accuracy of the context within which words and phrases were used. A spell check option does not catch mistakes in grammar use or selecting the most effective word to achieve the intended message. In some word programs, spelling and grammar checks could capture additional mistakes; but still, the writer should use cognitive skills in analyzing accuracy in contents, contexts, and logical structure. The poem is therefore given to a college student within a course to give the student enhanced understanding that overreliance to software program applications should not be resorted to. Students should be warned that these applications are not ‘know all and do all’ alternatives that would ensure written works to be perfect. These are to be utilized as a means to assist students in making swift and generalized assessments but a closer review and one that needs detailed analysis in structure, content and comprehensiveness of addressing learning objectives still depend on human skills, talents, and abilities. Overall, one’s spell checker in word document programs are useful tools to facilitate assessment and measuring spelling errors. These should not be relied solely to determine if a written literary work is perfect in adhering to

Comparing two of the six IPCC scenarios Assignment

Comparing two of the six IPCC scenarios - Assignment Example With this regards it evident that the number one energy type, oil is declining at a faster rate. For example, The United States oil reserves have been declining since the year 1971. The demand for oil in most of the countries is increasing and most of the oil producing countries has already depleted their oil fields. Gas which is also produced in similar circumstance as oil is also limited. By the year 2100, most of the natural gas should have been depleted (Chefruka, 2009). Nuclear energy seems to one of the energy types that will not be fully depleted by 2100. The more nuclear power plant will be formed the more power people will be able to obtain. Since most of the energy forms would have been depleted by 2100, renewable energy will become the most used for of energy. By 2100, most of the population will be forced to use the renewable forms of energy like solar panels and wind power (Nakicenovic, 2001). The decline of human population by 2100 can be closely associated with the reduction of energy. It is correct to assume that the decline in the world energy supply will have profound effect on the population. If we carefully analyze this, we will find out that human being requires a significant amount on energy to sustain their quality of life. So, if this energy supply decline per capita, the quality of life will be affected. Based on the theory of demand and supply, when the energy sources become scarce, there price of oil will go high. The price of this commodity will force the populace to redirect money for other expenses to obtain this precious commodity. Their consumption will hit rock bottom and this will be disastrous. Statistics shows that over 5 billion out of 7 billion occupants live in countries where the energy per capita is under 1.5 toe per year (Nakicenovic, 2001). As the energy reserves continue to decline, these counties stand a high

(B&M) Managing Sustainability Reflective Log Essay

(B&M) Managing Sustainability Reflective Log - Essay Example Sustainability affects each level of human life starting from the local neighborhood to entire planet. Issues Affecting the Human Beings in Relation to the Planet â€Å"In the late 1960s, a second imperative emerged alongside human rights: sustainability† (Vischer, 2006, p.51). It is beyond to mention that the natural resources have certain limited availability and the human beings would have to respect the limits. There are certain issues which are facing the human beings. According to a news piece, the issues have emerged in various areas. Climate Change Global warming has put its increasing impact on the global environment and in turn has led to the emergence of various threatening issues for the human race. The greenhouses gases like Carbon-di-oxide have been responsible for the same and thus increasing the temperature of the planet (Oracle ThinkQuest, n.d.). According to UK prime minister, one of the most significant environmental issues, which have emerged as significant threats for the human race, is climate change leading to growing number of storms, drought, flood and loss of significant species. The depletion of ozone has resulted from the emission of the fluorocarbons, chlorofluorocarbons and some more hazardous gas releasing from industries like manufacturing and chemical factories. This has ultimately caused UV rays to enter in the atmosphere of the earth. Penetration of these rays may lead to severe carcinogenic reaction in human bodies (The Views Paper, 2009). Natural Resources With the enhancement in the life styles, energy consumption has increased with decline in the natural resources. The world is now facing with an increasing crisis for this earth to retain the sustainable supply of the resources. Resource sustainability is a significant requirement in today’s world. The petroleum products, coal and mineral resources have also been intensively exploited to certain greater extent. If the situation persists like this, after a sho rt span of time, all these resources are expected to be non-existent in the near future. Biodiversity Loss Despite of an increase in the conservation efforts the biodiversity state experiences a decline in turn most of the indicators. The significant pressure on the biodiversity has continued to grow considerably. Even, there is no or less indication displaying a considerable reduction in the declining rate in the biodiversity across the globe. The following are the indicators which have raised enough concerns among the researchers and scientists. Even a number of scientists think that the Earth is approaching to enter into the ‘sixth great extinction phase’ (Kirby, 2004). Figure 1: Indicators Displaying Biodiversity Loss (Source: Shah, 2010) Figure 2: Factors Affecting the Environmental Sustainability (Source: Kirby, 2004) The above figures show the increasing amount of population growth with growing usage of cars, consumption of water, paper and fertilizers. With the enhancement in the social lifestyles, there has been huge loss of rainforest, growing amount of carbon-di-oxide concentration. At the same time, the fisheries have been exploited heavily. The

Language and Music

Language and Music â€Å"Understanding music requires no recuperation[SKS1] of a fictional world, and no response to imaginary objects†¦.the meaning of music lies within it; it can be recovered only through an act of musical understanding, and not by an â€Å"assignment of values† of the kind provided by a semantic theory[SKS2]† (Roger Scruton) Music is an important aspect of everyday life: We can take it with us wherever we go and use it to set the scene or create a â€Å"soundtrack† to our lives. It has the power to influence our moods and emotions and can stir up feelings and old memories within the first few notes. Music is intertwined in all cultures and has been for as long as humans have had the ability to make it. It has been said that musical instruments and the production of music (in any form) predates the earliest evidence of writing. Music is everywhere. In order to understand music it is important to define what it is that makes something music. According to the Oxford English Dictionary, the definition of music is; â€Å"The art or science of combining vocal or instrumental sounds to produce beauty of form, harmony, melody, rhythm, expressive content, etc.; musical composition, performance, analysis, etc., as a subject of study; the occupation or profession of musicians.† (Oxford University Press 2014) According to this definition, the basis of music is sound. Sound is defined as a sensation caused by a vibration of air particles. It cannot be seen by the naked eye and, at some frequencies, cannot be heard by the human ear. Music does not exist without sound as it is a product of various combinations of â€Å"vocal or instrumental sounds†. Everything that is considered â€Å"musical† is made from sound but not every sound is musical. Sounds exist whether we are listening to them or not. Many sounds are unintentional in that they are a necessary result of an action. They are not being created purposefully and are often just in the background of everyday life. Although we hear them, we do not have to listen or focus on them if we choose not to. Music, on the other hand, is an intentional object. It is purposefully created to be heard, we must focus on music and actively listen to it. Music is acousmatic. When we hear it we tend to detach the sound from its production an d focus on the sounds. This differs to the non-musical sounds we encounter everywhere. Music is a temporal occurrence but can only be discussed in spatial terms. Although there are specific terminologies related to music, there is no need to be an expert in order to enjoy a piece or discuss it with others. In order to properly consider the meaning of music and define it, we apply semantic terminology and compare music to language. It is easy for us to break both language and music down into their smallest forms and compare the similarities between both although we may have an issue with the starting point of music as we would have to determine the smallest form, which could be a sound, a note or even a beat, depending on how a person views the creation of music and their knowledge of how music is formed. If we were to break language down to its smallest form and work our way up, so to speak, we could say that the smallest part of language is a phoneme. From there we can conclude that a phoneme then becomes a morpheme, a morpheme then becomes a phrase, which then becomes a clause, which then becomes a sentence, and so on and so forth. As a native speaker, we are able to create numerous combinations of words that can be understood by others who share our language. In order for things to be understood, it is said that there needs to be some form of common knowledge or common ground. It is also important that there is some context to what is being expressed so we can deduce meaning from what we are hearing/reading. If we break down music into its simplest form, we begin with sounds that are combined to make different pitches. These become phrases and sequences that are combined to create whole pieces of music. If we compare language and music on this level, we can see that the two share similarities in structure. When discussing the meaning of music itself, there are a few things to consider. Firstly, we must distinguish what we mean by music and the form it is in. If we are talking about written music, one must have at least a basic knowledge of musical notation in order to understand what they are reading. Music is the universal language.† Aphoristic as this phrase may be, it does relate something many people think about music: music is expressive. But if music is expressive, what, exactly, does music express? For that matter, how does music express? Is the content or manner of expression of music the same as the content or manner of expression of language? In answering questions such as these, we promote previously empty cultural aphorisms about music like the one presented earlier to the status of meaningful claims. David Lewis highlights two important features of language – language as an object and language as a practice. I will present a view of the nature of music held by Peter Kivy, comparing it to Lewis’ conception of language. I will then argue that by Kivy’s view of music, music is not a language, though it has more language-like properties than Kivy admits. To briefly take stock, we might highlight four general properties of language we should look for in the determination of whether or not something is a language: Syntax – Lewis’ grammar operations. Determine legitimate strings. Semantics – Lewis’ meaning. The meaning of a well-formed string is the situation it describes in a set of possible worlds. Truth Values – Derived from comparing the meaning of a sentence with our world. Conventional Activity – a population arbitrarily determines a language used by conventionally using the language to express truth. Peter Kivy endorses a formalist view of music. The formalist doctrine is that music is a type of sound structure. Generally, we think of a structure as something we can appreciate visually; the word usually evokes mental images of certain spatial relations of objects to other objects. But according to the formalist, sound structures are â€Å"temporal patterns of sound† (emphasis added). To put this in a vocabulary familiar to musicians, sound structures are just combination of types of sounds (such as pitches, percussion, etc.) that occur in some timeframe. Music has formal properties and sensuous properties: a piece of music’s formal properties differentiate it from other pieces of music; i.e. certain notes are played in a certain order, the piece is a certain speed, and there are certain rhythms. And music’s ‘sensuous properties’ boil down to the fact that – shocker – music is a heard medium: we hear and notice different aspects of s ound events when we experience music. Kivy’s view of music directly supports the inclusion of one of the important features of language in music’s nature. He says that music has a â€Å"special kind of order: the order of syntactical structure.† He says that this order is governed by rules (of a sort); these rules concern how different sounds should be combined in the production of a musical work. For example, it is a staple of the syntax of certain schools in western music that there should be a return to the tonic at the end of a musical phrase. This syntax differs for different genres of music, much like it does for different languages. Certain chords can be used in certain genres, and not in others – for example, you will see flat V chords used in chord progressions in jazz, but not most pre-modern forms of classical music. But I think we have reason to believe that the nature of musical syntax is very similar to the nature of linguistic syntax. First of all, I question the assertion that the rules of linguistic syntax are stricter than the rules of musical syntax. For example, take the English grammar rule that the first letter of the first word in a written sentence is capitalized. I think this easily qualifies as a syntactic rule of written English; however, prominent writers have violated it throughout history (E. E. Cummings is one obvious example), and people today often violate it when talking to one another through electronic media such as texting on the phone and messaging online. I think we still want to say that these people are using English – they are just temporarily disregarding a grammar rule of English, which is more of a regularity than a law. However, though some rules of linguistic syntax are not absolutely strict, I do think that there are rules which are inviolable. Lewisâ⠂¬â„¢ rule that there is a finite set of elementary constituents paired with meanings that we can use in the construction of sentences is of paramount importance when using a language. I can’t type out a random assortment of characters and expect that configuration to be an English sentence. Similarly, certain combinatorial grammar rules are absolute. And it seems to me that musical syntax has very similar characteristics to this conception of the characteristics of linguistic syntax. There are certain rules which can be bent; a piece of music can preserve its status as a piece of music in a certain genre regardless of whether it follows a specific syntactic ‘regularity’ of this kind. This is similar to syntactic rules like capitalization mentioned in the previous paragraph. Then there are certain rules which must be followed for a piece to be classified as a member of a certain genre – relate this to how a string must follow a certain instantiation of the grammar rules Lewis established to be characterized as a member of one language rather than another. Then there are certain rules any genre of music must follow to be music rather than mere noise. This is similar to syntactic rules any language must have; a language must follow the general rules Lewis gives us, in one form or another. We can also see that the activity of music is analogous to the activity of ‘language’ that Lewis describes. Music is not just an entity, but also a social activity concerning musicians and listeners, wherein musicians make certain noises and they expect their listeners to respond a certain way. And I see no reason why we wouldn’t say that this activity is in some way arbitrary, however limited that arbitrariness is by the hard-wiring of our brains to enjoy certain sounds. The parallels between music as ‘language’ do not stop there. Music shares the ability to infer something about the state of mind of a composer or musician with language (substituting ‘speaker’ for ‘composer or musician’). Playing a guitar solo in a minor pentatonic scale allows us to infer one (admittedly broad) set of things about the mind of the guitarist, while playing in the blues scale allows us to infer something else. And we often make the same inferences as many other listeners. These inferences might also be wrong – as they might be in the case of ‘language’. And Kivy’s view that these inferences are not ‘in the music’ doesn’t stop us from saying that we make these inferences; we can say that we respond ‘by convention’ to a certain sound structure in a certain way without saying that there is anything about the sound structure that makes us respond this way. So far, so good, for the view that music is a language. Nothing that I have said thus far about Kivy’s view of music has conflicted with the definition of language Lewis gave us. And although I haven’t gone into the nuts and bolts of correlating Lewis’ grammar rules with musical syntax, it’s not hard to see how a story could be told relating them – in every way but one: what could we say corresponds with the meanings described in rule one and two? Kivy qualifies his formalist definition of music: â€Å"absolute music is a sound structure without semantic or representational content†. This is a big problem for a proponent of the view that music is a language. One of the essential characteristics of language is its status as something which can communicate meaning; some might call this property the most important property of language. And on initial reflection, Kivy’s claim seems to hold a lot of weight. How could music talk about situations in the external world? A song might represent ‘victory’ or ‘striving’ or what-have-you in some obscure, abstract sort of way; but it certainly does not have the power to describe in the incredibly detailed, content-rich way a language can. Music could never have the power to express the meaning of such sentences as â€Å"My flight to Los Angeles was delayed because of poor conditions on the runway.† This is a crippling observation in particular for anyone who thinks that my method of deciding whether music is a language is valid – without sematic content, two of the four properties of language Lewis defined go down the tubes. The absence of semantic content in music obviously bars us from saying that music has semantics; and, because music is free of semantic content, truth values are gone as well, as truth values are products of comparing the meanings of sentences with the world. The avid supporter of the music-as-language project has two avenues open to them at this point. They might object to Kivy’s view the music is free of semantic content; or, they might object to the view of language – specifically, the view of semantics – that Lewis gives us. I’ll start with the objection to Kivy. An obvious route someone objecting to Kivy’s determination that music is free of semantic content might take is saying that it does have semantic content – and this content is emotion. Music represents emotions the same way language represents the situations its sentences describe. Maybe the ability of music to describe things in the world is much more limited than language, but its ability to describe emotions is even better than natural languages’ ability. Thus music should be described as ‘a language of the emotions’. Kivy has a response to this claim, but I find it to be unsatisfying. He says this assertion gets you â€Å"from enhanced formalism in letter and spirit to a musical semantics in letter, not spirit, and enhanced formalism, still, in spirit.† He thinks that music can say nothing interesting or significant about emotion, and somehow this yields the result that music does not have emotional semantics. But the ability to say something interesting about what it denotes is not what defines the semantics of language – it is the ability to say what it says that defines language. In other words, it is the ability of sentences to denote at all which makes them linguistic. If music can do this, then it has semantic content. The problem is, we are wrong to say that music denotes emotion in the first place. I think Kivy is right when he says that emotion is a â€Å"heard property of the music† . Music does not ‘represent’ sadness; it just is sad, the same way that an apple just is red. And the reason we perceive these emotions in music is due to the fact that music can formally resemble how humans look and act when they feel certain emotions. Unfortunately, I can offer no positive reasons to accept this conception of emotion in music other than emotions are certainly a part of music in some capacity, and this formulation of their relation to music is the least problematic one I know of. And perhaps I can pose some problems with representative views of music that serve my intuitions well: for one, many people think that to be a real language, every sentence in that language that denotes a state in the world can be translated to a sentence in another language. How might one go about translating something music ‘says’ to English? Attempts usually produce a clumsy, single-word emotional descriptor, which varies from person to person. Another thing people think stems from a representative medium is the presence of truth values. We can say of a linguistic proposition that it represents our world, or it represents a situation not in our world; propositions of the first type are true, and propositions of the second type are false. But what would we say about music corresponds with a state in the world? It seems a very odd practice to listen to a phrase in Beethoven’s Fifth and say of it that it is ‘true’ or ‘false’. On the other hand, the supporter of a music-as-language view might challenge the definition that Lewis provides of semantics. He might use music to help define language, as Andrew Bowie does in his book Music, Philosophy, and Modernity. He says â€Å"if people understand a piece of articulation – which is apparent in terms of its effects in social contexts on behavior, reactions, feelings, and so on – it must mean something.† Bowie equates language with Lewis’ ‘language’, the social activity, and discards the properties of ‘a language’. Because music is a social activity by which people effect specific changes on others’ behavior or feelings, music has meaning, and therefore is a language. But Bowie betrays his own cause when he tells us what follows from this new definition of language in a quote by Bjà ¸rn Ramberg: â€Å"’We can, if we like, interpret all types of things as speaking’†. This definition of language allows us to call all types of things language that push against our intuitions on the subject. Arriving late to a meeting is now language, because others’ thoughts are influenced to think worse of me for being tardy. Playing a sport with other people is now language, because their behavior is altered when they respond to my sporting actions. Maybe you want to call these things language, but I suspect the majority of people do not. It is important that a practice we choose to call language should have aspects of ‘a language’ and is used by the practice of ‘language’. This successfully delineates language from non-language. The presence of truly semantic content is one of the principle factors in deciding whether something is a language. Even though music seems to have every property of the practice Lewis identifies as ‘language’, it cannot be a language. Edit: took out a sentence that doesnt make sense without the rest of the paper. 1 [SKS1]the recovery or regaining of something. the recuperation of the avant-garde for art [SKS2]a theory which assigns semantic contents to expressions of a language. Approaches to semantics may be divided according to whether they assign propositions as the meanings of sentences and, if they do, what view they take of the nature of these propositions.