British Culture and Society Essay Example

British Culture and Society Essay Example British Culture and Society Essay British Culture and Society Essay r PREPARATIONS FOR BRITISH CULTURE AND SOCIETY 1. The features of the United Kingdom’s culture The culture of the United Kingdom is rich and varied, and has been influential on culture on a worldwide scale. It is a European state, and has many cultural links with its former colonies, particularly those that use the English language. The origins of the UK as a political union of formerly independent states has resulted in the preservation of distinctive cultures in each of the home nations. Britains culture and creativity is flourishing as never before, whether in creative industries such as advertising, music and film, or in the visual and performing arts. Like the US, Britain is proud of its multicultural heritage and diversity. Multicultural Britain with different communities has helped build todays vibrant Britain and contributed to its economic, social, democratic and cultural development. 2. The sociological issues in the United Kingdom Housing The United Kingdom has one of the highest population densities in Europe. Housing tends to be smaller and more closely packed than in other countries, particularly compared to North America. In modern Britain more detached housing has started to be built, most beginning in the mid-nineties. Demographic changes are putting great pressure on the housing market, especially in London and the South East. Living arrangements In the 20th century, the general trend is a rise in single people living alone, the virtual extinction of the extended family (outside certain ethnic minority communities), and the nuclear family reducing in prominence. From the 1990s, the break up of the traditional family unit, when combined with a low interest rate environment and other demographic changes, has created great pressure on the housing market. In the 21st century young people are tending to continue to live in the parental home for much longer than their predecessors. Sport The national sport of the UK is football, having originated in England, and the UK has the oldest football clubs in the world. A great number of major sports originated in the United Kingdom, including: Football (soccer), squash, golf, tennis, boxing, rugby (rugby union and rugby league), cricket, snooker, billiards, badminton and curling. National costume There is no specifically British national costume. Even individually, England, Wales and Northern Ireland have only vestiges of a national costume; Scotland has the kilt and Tam oshanter. In England certain military uniforms such as the Beefeater or the Queens Guard are considered to be symbolic of Englishness, though they are not official national costumes. Morris dancers or the costumes for the traditional English May dance are cited by some as examples of traditional English costume. Naming convention The naming convention in most of the United Kingdom is for everyone to have a given name, usually (but not always) indicating the childs sex, followed by a parents family name. This naming convention has remained much the same since the 15th century in England although patronymic naming remained in some of the further reaches of the other home nations until much later. Since the 19th century middle names have become very common and are often taken from the family name of an ancestor. Traditionally given names were largely taken from the Bible; however, in the Gothic Revival of the Victorian era, Anglo Saxon and mythical names became commonplace. Since the middle of the 20th century however given names have been influenced by a much wider cultural base. 3. The differences in Driving between Commonwealth and American Culture The first thing to be considered is that fact that Americans drive on the RIGHT and in the Commonwealth you drive on the LEFT. Now if that isn’t confusing enough, even the road markings are opposite. In America YELLOW lines signify the center of the road and white the edge while exactly the opposite occurs in most Commonwealth countries. In the USA, highways are VERY specific in how you refer to them. For example, the 635 is pronounced the â€Å"six thirty-five† and NOT the â€Å"six three five† or the â€Å"six hundred and thirty five†. Highways in Commonwealth countries generally begin with a N for national (e. g. N3) meaning they traverse the entire country or M for motorway (e. . M25) meaning they traverse only through or around a city (the M25 is a circular highway around London). Or R for route. There is a very good reason behind the highway marking system in the USA. Highways marked â€Å"US† (i. e. the famous US 66), the lower numbers start in the northeast and get higher as they move southwest. However, for highways marked Interstate (such as I-75 going from Michig an to Florida), lower numbers start in the southwest, with road numbers getting higher as they go to the northwest. This was to help prevent confusion and overlapping numbering, as the Interstate highway system was created after many â€Å"US-##† highways had been created 4. The approaches to deal with immigrant groups and their cultures In dealing with immigrant groups and their cultures, there are essentially four approaches: Monoculturalism: In some European states, culture is very closely linked to nationalism, thus government policy is to assimilate immigrants, although recent increases in migration have led many European states to experiment with forms of multiculturalism. Leitkultur (core culture): A model developed in Germany by Bassam Tibi. The idea is that minorities can have an identity of their own, but they should at least support the core concepts of the culture on which the society is based. Melting Pot: In the United States, the traditional view has been one of a melting pot where all the immigrant cultures are mixed and amalgamated without state intervention. Multiculturalism: A policy that immigrants and others should preserve their cultures with the different cultures interacting peacefully within one nation. 5. The Features of Culture Culture: is a shared, learned, symbolic system of values, beliefs and attitudes that shapes and influences perception and behavior: standards of beauty. 7) Internalized. Habitual. Taken-for-granted. Perceived as natural. 6. Difference in Drinking between Commonwealth and American Culture. The first drinking difference to consider is the legal age to drink. In the USA it is 21, while in all Commonwealth countries it is only 18! While in Canada some provinces are 19 and some are 18. Bars in Britain traditionally closed at 11 p. m. by law while in the USA they close at 2 a. m. by law. England has recently passed a new law that allows late night drinking, so some bars are now open until the wee hours. Bars in Australia and South Africa vary considerably. In Britain, beers (ales or bitter), are served warmer than in America! Ales (as opposed to lagers) are served at cellar temperature which is below room temperature, but definitely not chilled chilled bitter is tasteless (as is a lot of lager at whatever temperature) but warm bitter is foul (but not as foul as warm lager! . The reason is simple: beer should be served at the temperature that it ferments at ales are fermented at a slightly higher temperature than lagers.. This applied to English ales and bitters, but not to foreign lager or beer, which is always chilled. In the USA beers are chilled to almost freezing point. Drinking bitters and ales is an English practice that has not been extended to the rest of the Commonwealth. Countries like Australia and South Africa serve mostly locally made lagers, well chilled. In America, beers are mostly served in the bottle (even by 5 star hotels). They will wrap a paper napkin (serviette) around the bottle to soak condensation. Up market hotels in the Commonwealth would frown at a patron requesting to drink straight from the bottle. Australia is metric, therefore a nip of alcohol is 30ml. In the US, a nip is 1 fl ounce which is quite a lot larger. One of our contributors worked in a bar at an up market hotel in Australia and had regular arguments with US clients who insisted she was short-pouring them! 7. The science and technology in the United Kingdom Science and technology in the United Kingdom has a long history, producing many important figures and developments in the field. Major theorists from the UK include Isaac Newton whose laws of motion and illumination of gravity have been seen as a keystone of modern science and Charles Darwin whose theory of evolution by natural selection was fundamental to the development of modern biology. Major scientific discoveries include hydrogen by Henry Cavendish, penicillin by Alexander Fleming, and the structure of DNA, by Francis Crick and others. Major engineering projects and applications pursued by people from the UK include the steam locomotive developed by Richard Trevithick and Andrew Vivian, the jet engine by Frank Whittle and the World Wide Web by Tim Berners-Lee. Scientists from the UK continue to play a major role in the development of science and technology and major technological sectors include the aerospace, motor and pharmaceutical industries. England and Scotland were leading centres of the Scientific Revolution from the 17th century and the United Kingdom led the Industrial Revolution from the 18th century, and has continued to produce scientists and engineers credited with important advances. Scientific research and development remains important in British universities, with many establishing science parks to facilitate production and co-operation with industry. Between 2004 and 2008 the UK produced 7% of the worlds scientific research papers and had an 8% share of scientific citations, the third- and second-highest in the world (after the United States and China and the United States respectively). 8. The Three Elements of Culture Another common way of understanding culture is to see it as consisting of three elements: values, norms, and artifacts [Dictionary of Modern Sociology, 1969, 93] Values are ideas about what in life is important. They guide the rest of the culture. Norms are expectations of how people will behave in different situations. Each culture has different methods, called sanctions, of enforcing its norms. Sanctions vary with the importance of the norm; norms that a society enforces formally are called laws. Artifacts - things, or material culture - derive from the cultures values and norms. 9. The cause to the change in Culture? Three kinds of influence cause both change and resistance to it: +forces at work within a society +contact between societies +changes in the natural environment. Cultural change can come about due to the environment, to inventions (and other internal influences), and to contact with other cultures. For example, the end of the last ice age helped lead to the invention of agriculture, which in its turn brought about many cultural innovations. 10. A snapshot of the United Kingdom: The United Kingdom, constitutional monarchy in northwestern Europe, is officially the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland. Great Britain is the largest island in the cluster of islands, or archipelago, known as the British Isles. England is the largest and most populous division of the island of Great Britain, making up the south and east. Wales is on the west and Scotland is to the north. Northern Ireland is located in the northeast corner of Ireland, the second largest island in the British Isles. The capital of the United Kingdom is the city of London, situated near the southeastern tip of England. The United Kingdom is a small nation in physical size. At 244,110 sq km (94,251 sq mi), the United Kingdom is roughly the size of Oregon or Colorado, or twice the size of New York State. It is located as far north in latitude as Labrador in North America, but, like the rest of northern Europe, it is warmed by the Gulf Stream flowing out of the North Atlantic Ocean. The climate, in general, is mild, chilly, and often wet. Rain or overcast skies can be expected for up to 300 days per year. These conditions make Britain lush and green, with rolling plains in the south and east and rough hills and mountains to the west and north. Despite its relatively small size, Britain is highly populated, with an estimated population density of 251 persons per sq km (650 per sq mi) in 2006. It is highly developed economically, preeminent in the arts and sciences, sophisticated in technology, and highly prosperous and peaceful. In general, British subjects belong to one of the more affluent states of Europe and enjoy a high standard of living compared to the rest of the world.

5 Examples of Proper Style for Proper Nouns

5 Examples of Proper Style for Proper Nouns 5 Examples of Proper Style for Proper Nouns 5 Examples of Proper Style for Proper Nouns By Mark Nichol A proper noun, also known as a proper name, is capitalized to indicate that it denotes a unique entity or phenomenon. Many entities or phenomena are widely known by their names. Sometimes, however, writers misunderstand or misrepresent the label. Here are five examples of proper nouns that illustrate the importance of verifying precise nomenclature and considering the context in which it is used. 1. Big Ben This is the official nickname, specifically, of the bell in the Elizabeth Tower, the iconic structure often used as a visual shortcut to identifying London in photographs, on television, and in films. (The tower, previously called simply the Clock Tower, was renamed in 2012 in honor of the sixtieth anniversary of Queen Elizabeth II’s reign.) However, popularly, the phrase generally refers to the clock in the tower or the tower itself. 2. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention This US government agency’s official name is the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, but it retains the initials, CDC, of its previous designation, the Centers for Disease Control; note that the first word is plural. (A similar example is the name of the National Institutes not Institute of Health.) 3. Halley’s Comet The technical name for this peanut-shaped orbiting body roughly the size of a big-league Himalayan mountain is Comet Halley. (actually, 1P/Halley is its astronomy-catalog designation.) Because of its relative familiarity, however, due to unusually frequent reappearances (roughly every seventy-five years), it is also called Halley’s Comet. The traditional pronunciation among astronomers rhymes with alley, but, perhaps as a result of contamination from the name of the seminal rock-and-roll band Bill Haley and the Comets, most laypeople pronounce it to rhyme with daily. (No one knows how discoverer Edmund Halley pronounced his name, but I’d give the odds to the stargazers’ convention.) 4. New York The largest US city is popularly called New York (the official name is â€Å"the City of New York†), but writers should determine whether, depending on the context, it should be referred to as New York City to distinguish it from New York State. (In this designation, and in â€Å"Washington State† so as not to confuse the state with Washington, DC state is capitalized even though it’s not part of the state’s official name.) 5. Sierra Nevada The name of the mountain range forming the backbone of California a name shared by several other ranges throughout the world from the Spanish phrase meaning â€Å"snowy mountains,† should not be pluralized with the letter s, and â€Å"the Sierra Nevada Mountains† is partially redundant. (The same is true of the truncation â€Å"the Sierras†; call it â€Å"the Sierra.†) Many other geographical designations are redundant: Fujiyama translates as â€Å"Mount Fuji†; the words sahara, gobi, and negev all mean â€Å"desert†; and the first word in â€Å"Rio Grande,† as well as Avon and Don the names for rivers in England and Russia, respectively means â€Å"river.† Although it’s not wrong to use the word mount, desert, or river before or after the name of a geographic feature that means â€Å"mountain,† â€Å"desert,† or â€Å"river,† the common noun can often safely be omitted (for example, â€Å"Fujiyama,† â€Å"the Sahara,† and â€Å"the Rio Grande†). Note, too, that river, when it precedes a river’s name (for example, â€Å"the river Nile†), is always descriptive and not part of the name. Want to improve your English in five minutes a day? Get a subscription and start receiving our writing tips and exercises daily! Keep learning! Browse the Style category, check our popular posts, or choose a related post below:85 Synonyms for â€Å"Help†"Gratitude" or "Gratefulness"?Glimpse and Glance: Same or Different?

African American Studies Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

African American Studies - Research Paper Example From the political standpoint, it is interesting to note how the criminal justice system across most societies is deliberately organized against African Americans. African Americans in the USA have faced racial discrimination in the courthouses and by the laws that have been passed by the state; also, since the Jim Crow Laws had been passed since the 1900s, the African Americans were segregated from the rest of the population, and denied equality in many areas of social life such as voting (Racial Discrimination in the Criminal Justice System ,page 66). Also, even though African Americans make up 13% of the population in the USA, in 2004 African Americans were accused of "47.2% of murders, 53.3% of robberies, 31.9% of rapes, and 32.7% of assaults," (Racial Discrimination in the Criminal Justice System, page 67); as we can see, this seems to be a skewed and disproportionate report, one that demonstrates racial discrimination against the African Americans. Following the "Rodney King" c ase, it was found that there does seem to be racial prejudice and bias being practiced against the African Americans, seen from the use of excessive violence, verbal harassment and invasive actions against them by police officers, (Racial Discrimination in the Criminal Justice System, page 67). Moving onto historic examples of discrimination against African Americans, it would be worthwhile to mention the incident of the Red Summer of 1919, in which African Americans and the white population of Chicago launched into racially charged riots that lasted for 5 days; many African Americans were lynched, shot, wounded. The most significant reason for these racial riots was due to the feeling of intolerance and xenophobia towards the African Americans (Norvell & Tuttle , page 210). There was also a general feeling amongst the white population to push the African Americans back to the "bottom rung of the

Business Marketing Strategies for Global Markets Assignment

Business Marketing Strategies for Global Markets - Assignment Example Some of the market entry options include direct export that entails producing products in the home country and selling them to overseas customers. Licensing, where licensor will provide an organization in the foreign market a license to manufacture the product or use the brand name and in return receive a payment. In addition, the use of joint venture that involves two organizations coming together to share the risk of market entry into a new foreign market (Root & Mark, 2006). The strategic significance of global market participation includes the following. The expansion provides the opportunity to increase sales as well as make profits; moreover, it leads to lower prices for goods and services to the customer due to the economies of scale derived from a larger global base and to bring down barriers to world trade and providing some protection in some countries and industries. There are the types of international strategies. The Multi-domestic strategy emphasizes product customization for each market. In addition, there is the Global strategy where products are the same in all countries where the business is involved. Lastly, the transnational strategy that tries to balance the efficiency while adjusting to the local preferences of various countries. Finally, the components of international strategy include the distinctive competence, the scope of operations and the resource deployment and

Jennifer Lopez Essay Example for Free

Jennifer Lopez Essay Using the video clip, the magazine article and the newspaper article, analyse how a positive image of a celebrity is presented through the different media. You should compare and contrast the different ways they are presented. I have been given an assignment to discuss a magazine article, a newspaper article and a video clip. I have chosen to discuss Jennifer Lopez. I will be discussing the magazine article first followed by the newspaper article and finally by the video clip. First of all I am going to discuss the picture in the magazine article, the picture we are given is in black white, which, is slightly a disadvantage when talking and discussing articles. The picture of Jennifer Lopez in the magazine article is covering more than half the page; the picture of Jennifer Lopez has been taken from such an angle so the viewers can only see one side of her face. Pictures such as this, which are taken from the side, are very popular. Viewers say they rather have a picture from the side of a person rather than a straight picture from the front. The picture has been enhanced and edited to show the best bit of Jennifers body. I. e. her buttocks. The picture of Jennifers body has been edited such as extra shadow has been placed on the picture of her body to give the look of a healthy and fit looking skin with a golden look, the shadow and enhancement make the curves of her slim and smooth body more attractive which she keeps talking about and attract more viewers. The picture enhances the buttocks with the frilly underwear she is wearing, she wears this to make her buttocks looks smaller as she thinks it is too large, this is one of the reasons she is not wearing a thong although many admirers and fans think her buttocks is the most desired part of Jennifer Lopezs body. The text in the magazine article of Jennifer Lopez is a main part of the magazine as it tells us what we the viewers and readers want to hear and see. The text although compared to other articles may be placed somewhere near the top of the page, this text has been brought down next to her buttocks as when readers read the text, where it quotes straight from the text, derriere(backside), you wouldnt to search for it as it has been correctly positioned so you can look straight over as you read the text. Her name Jennifer Lopez has not been placed in Capital Letters although people think of her as a sex symbol. The magazine article NEW do not seem to mind publishing J-Los age as some people prefer that as a private matter, nevertheless she has the sign of being number 1 on the side of the text which shows that she is a very high ranking lady and a title at the top saying she is (in this magazine) the sexiest woman at this time. The first line of the text in the magazine article is a quotation, which is supposedly from Jennifer Lopez herself. She says, I have a very curvaceous body and I like to accentuate that. She then goes on to say, To me its a beautiful thing. Quotation from anybody in an article is a very persuasive technique to pull new readers to get the interested; the public is pulled in to think like her, which is part of the repetition technique. The quotation, tells us she shows of her body and her beauty to he public. Showing the body can be a good technique in getting large amounts of new readers to get the interested. Repetition is brought in to the text even though it is a short piece of text, the article repeats on how her body has those beautiful curves yet they also decide to talk about her career and some of her personal life. The article brings in a short sentence when they say she married a wrong person such as P DIDDY. What was she thinking, this was quoted when they gave a remark over P DIDDY her ex-husband. This remark makes the male readers think you should have come to me instead. A rhetorical question is used, What was she thinking, this is used when the remarked her ex-husband P-DIDDY, this sometimes make the public think twice before they judge the article and Jennifer Lopez. The magazine article although very short gives a positive impression towards Jennifer Lopez especially at the talk of her body. Remember the magazine article can never have as much impact as the video, this is because the video has motion clips and sound to go with pictures as in the newspaper and the magazine article it is only one picture which may have been enhanced to give it an effect. The newspaper article shows the picture of Jennifer Lopez and her groom to be Ben Affleck. The title is shown as Jennifer Lopez: The Story. It gives an impression of Jennifer as if it were from the beginning. The first few lines of the text are lyrics from her solo song Jenny from the block, where it says, Dont be fooled by the rocks that she has got, these few words dont be fooled by the rocks that shes got, gives us an impression that she is extremely wealthy, the point of bringing these lyrics up is to pull reader to read this newspaper saying that this person is a wealthy person and that she has everything a girl would need. The nest few words are, shes still Jenny from the block, these few words important as they tell us that when she was at a younger age she was poor, may be not that poor, but with the riches she has now the words say she is still the same person she was say 20 years ago. Although she says she is it may not seem so, this is slightly a negative impact to her image as the newspaper continues to say, But with a reported entourage of 20 staff apparently tending to her every whim, it seems hard to believe. Yes this is hard to believe; as she wouldnt have 20 people tending to her every need when she was younger and this tells us fame has affected her. The newspaper tells us Jennifer will be appearing on a T. V. show to find out whether fame has affected or changed her. This newspaper does not give a very good positive attitude towards Jennifer Lopez as the paper says she a Diva which is not a compliment for any star. The next paragraph gives a different perspective as they bring in Ben Affleck her fianci e for her forthcoming marriage. They write saying that her wedding is pronounced the wedding of the year as later she does not get married at all, but this paper is not a new one. Born in New Yorks tough Bronx district in 1970, Jen knew from an early age she wanted to be a superstar and she did become a superstar. The paper is about the life of Jennifer Lopez, you would think they would talk about her childhood first but they bring this subject up in the 4th paragraph, she was supposedly was born and brought up in the Bronx district, but this is false according to information over the internet I researched. Later we find out her parents wanted her to go to college and become a lawyer were she would have made more money than she is making now, which is enough anyway, but she might not have enjoyed it as much as becoming a singer, actress and a star. The paper also tells us her becoming famous was a sudden move from coming through a Janet Jackson song, US comedy and on a big screen with George Clooney in Out of Sight which brought her up to becoming a star. We see Jennifer wanted to be famous as she has got it all looks, career, singing voice and of course Ben. Her picture in the newspaper article does not seem to have been enhanced or edited by the looks of it as it shows herself and her fianci e, the picture has not much to edit, as it is clear enough for the public to know what is going on. Again the newspaper article cannot have a lot of force compared to the video clip, as neither the magazine article or the newspaper article have either motion clips or sound to go with the video. In the video of Jennifer Lopez we see and hear of her becoming famous from the Latina actress herself. While the program runs and shows of Jennifer Lopez in films or singing, the program has a continuous song in the background of her own. Each song they show on the program, they only show clips that the audience and viewers want to see, so they bring out the best bits of the song, while watching the video I noticed she changed her clothes a lot through each screen shot, this may have something to do when they only take the best part of herself when showing in her songs. I noticed she changed her clothes from top to bottom at a total of 8 times. An advantage for us when watching the program is you can hear what she says for real and cannot be made up by some newspaper or magazine article. There is also a lot of dialogue throughout the program as most of it occurs through the interview of Jennifer Lopez. The video shows a very positive image of Jennifer as the video itself is self-promoting a well. Also each screenshot in the songs have also been edited as extra light has been added to give that extra look of the sexy body she has. Jennifer is the centre of attention in this interview as almost every screenshot shows her, the program also shows a little girl trying to dance and sing, this is representing Jennifer when she was at a younger age dreaming of what she wanted to become. Jennifer quotes, I still feel the same exact way as I started, and this is same to her lyrics in the newspaper article as although she may say she feels the same, her dress sense and appearance ahs gone up a level since she became a star. During some of the songs I noticed she dressed mostly in white with a dark background such as a dark blue to bring Jennifer in to the centre of the spotlight, this is a very clever trick indeed not just a persuasive technique towards the public but it also brings her body looks in towards the spotlight. In one of her songs, if you had my love, we see in the video she is silhouetted which gives a kind of a sexual nature of her being and as she goes on to say would you comfort me, this is giving a sexual image to her character. The list of three is brought in the program when it says actor, dancer, singer, also to make a rhythm assonance is used with the word er also with a comment on voyeuristic quality. During the interview with Jennifer Lopez a lot of lighting has been added to show Jennifers beautiful golden, healthy, fit looking skin. Her skin is reflected back in to the camera so it gives the viewers what they wanted to see. I think given reading both the newspaper article and the magazine article and watching the Jennifer Lopez video I think the video would promote better to give a very positive image of herself and her body. I chose this because the magazine article has a very short amount of text with a large picture of Jennifer Lopez, the picture we were given was in black white which was a bit of a disadvantage which I have already said and also the quotes, which are used, may not be for real. I never chose the newspaper article because the paper talks about her life not from the beginning of her life but when she became a star and worked away from there and the picture being rather small with her fianci e beside her. The video is the only source of information, which would be easy for self-promotion and cannot be mistaken for her quote she used as you can take them straight from the dialogue of her interview. The video has music of Jennifers solo played continuously, which for some viewers is attracted to, and her appearance she had at the interview.

Analyzing Love in Ovids Metamorphoses :: Ovid Metamorphoses Essays

Analyzing Love in Ovid's Metamorphoses There are many differences in the behavior of the lover and the rapist characters of the Metamorphoses. " The standard markers of a love relationship include the initial 'love at first sight' scene, often followed by a personal elegy of the loved one's heightened qualities." (Chen) When one falls in love, everything about that person is wonderful and beautiful, including their inner being as well. The admirer uses frequent and excessive metaphors and compliments to describe the favorite: " He looks at Daphne's hair as,unadorned, it hangs down her fair neck, and says: "Just think,if she should comb her locks!" He sees her lips and never tries of them; her fingers' hands' and wrists are unsurpassed; her arms-more than half-bare- cannot be matched; whatever he can't see he can imagine." (Ovid p.900) Daphnes 'unadorned' hair already enchants Apollo, and dreaming it all made up would simply be breathtaking. " Certainly, the next detail, that Daphne's eyes sparkle like stars,clues us into the fact that Apollo is in love. The difference between love and lust, however, is that to the one in love, that person is truly beautiful both physically and on the inside, but the to the one that is lustful, that person is just a mere sex object. For example, in the myth of Io and Jove, Jupiter never comments about Io's beauty, but only that she would make some lucky male happy in bed. " Another defining attribute among many of Ovid's love-struck protagonists is their loss of rational control,as believably characteristic of a person in the heights of love." (Chen) For example, while Dapne is fleeing from him, Apollo asks her to slow down before she hurts herself. He even suggest that he will slow down too, so that she doesn't need to go so fast. But when she doesn't, all he does is speed up. In trying to talked to the loved one, the shunned lover uses any rhetoric available, whether rational or irrational, because often the lover is so overtaked by love that reason fails him. "Such irrationalities in thought lead to special pleading, inconsistency in bargaining, and ultimately failure to convince the adored one. Analyzing Love in Ovid's Metamorphoses :: Ovid Metamorphoses Essays Analyzing Love in Ovid's Metamorphoses There are many differences in the behavior of the lover and the rapist characters of the Metamorphoses. " The standard markers of a love relationship include the initial 'love at first sight' scene, often followed by a personal elegy of the loved one's heightened qualities." (Chen) When one falls in love, everything about that person is wonderful and beautiful, including their inner being as well. The admirer uses frequent and excessive metaphors and compliments to describe the favorite: " He looks at Daphne's hair as,unadorned, it hangs down her fair neck, and says: "Just think,if she should comb her locks!" He sees her lips and never tries of them; her fingers' hands' and wrists are unsurpassed; her arms-more than half-bare- cannot be matched; whatever he can't see he can imagine." (Ovid p.900) Daphnes 'unadorned' hair already enchants Apollo, and dreaming it all made up would simply be breathtaking. " Certainly, the next detail, that Daphne's eyes sparkle like stars,clues us into the fact that Apollo is in love. The difference between love and lust, however, is that to the one in love, that person is truly beautiful both physically and on the inside, but the to the one that is lustful, that person is just a mere sex object. For example, in the myth of Io and Jove, Jupiter never comments about Io's beauty, but only that she would make some lucky male happy in bed. " Another defining attribute among many of Ovid's love-struck protagonists is their loss of rational control,as believably characteristic of a person in the heights of love." (Chen) For example, while Dapne is fleeing from him, Apollo asks her to slow down before she hurts herself. He even suggest that he will slow down too, so that she doesn't need to go so fast. But when she doesn't, all he does is speed up. In trying to talked to the loved one, the shunned lover uses any rhetoric available, whether rational or irrational, because often the lover is so overtaked by love that reason fails him. "Such irrationalities in thought lead to special pleading, inconsistency in bargaining, and ultimately failure to convince the adored one.

Fnce451 Midterm

Midterm Exam – October 17, 2012 SOLUTIONS Instructions: 1. Read the questions carefully. 2. Answer all questions on the following pages. 3. A financial calculator and a regular calculator are permitted. 4. A one-sided 8. 5† x 11† formula sheet is permitted with formulas only. 5. The midterm has 11 pages, including 2 blank pages. 6. For Part 2, show all your work. 7. Midterm duration: 75 minutes. 8. Mark allocation: Shown on exam. Print your name: _________________________________________ Sign your name: __________________________________________ Student Number: __________________________________________Good Luck!!! Part 1: Multiple Choice Part 2: Short Answer and Problems Question 1 Question 2 Question 3 Question 4 Total /20 /4 /5 /10 /16 /55 1 Part 1 [2 points each = 20 points]: Multiple Choice. Circle the BEST answer. 1. The Double Dip Co. is expecting its ice cream sales to decline due to the increased interest in healthy eating. Thus, the company has announced that it will be reducing its annual dividend by 5% a year for the next two years. After that, it will maintain a constant dividend of $1 a share. Two weeks ago, the company paid a dividend of $1. 0 per share. What is this stock worth if you require a 9% rate of return? A. $10. 86 B. $11. 11 C. $11. 64 D. $12. 98 E. $14. 23 2. The value of common stock today depends on: A. The expected future holding period and the discount rate. B. The expected future dividends and the capital gains. C. The expected future dividends, capital gains and the discount rate. D. The expected future holding period and capital gains. E. None of the above. 3. The tax shield on CCA is calculated by: A. The quantity (1-Tc) multiplied by CCA. B. Revenues less expenses less CCA. C.The quantity (Revenues-Expenses) multiplied by CCA. D. Revenues less expenses less taxes. E. None of the above. 4. If the project beta-IRR co-ordinates plot above the SML, the project should be: A. Accepted because it is overvalued. B. Accepted because it is undervalued. C. Rejected because it is overvalued. D. Rejected because it is undervalued. E. None of the above. 5. The opportunity set of portfolios is: A. All possible return combinations of those securities. B. All possible risk combinations of those securities. C. All possible risk-return combinations of those securities.D. The best or highest risk-return combination. E. The lowest risk-return combination. 2 6. The combination of the efficient set of portfolios with a riskless lending and borrowing rate results in: A. The capital market line which shows that all investors will only invest in the riskless asset. B. The capital market line which shows that all investors will invest in a combination of the riskless asset and the tangency portfolio. C. The security market line which shows that all investors will invest in the riskless asset only. D.The security market line which shows that all investors will invest in a combination of the riskless asset and th e tangency portfolio. E. None of the above. 7. Stock A has an expected return of 20%, and stock B has an expected return of 4%. However, the risk of stock A as measured by its variance is 3 times that of stock B. If the two stocks are combined equally in a portfolio, what would be the portfolio's expected return? A. 20. 0%. B. 4. 0%. . C. 12. 0%. D. Greater than 20%. E. Need more information to answer. 8. Two mutually exclusive investment opportunities require an initial investment of $8 million.Investment A then generates $1 million per year in perpetuity, while investment B pays $500,000 in the first year, with cash flows increasing by 5% per year thereafter. Determine the NPV for which an investor would regard both opportunities as being equivalent. A. ?$1 million B. $0 C. $1 million D. $2 million E. $8 million 9. When comparing two projects with different lives, why do you compute an annuity with an equivalent present value (PV) to the net present value (NPV)? A. So that you can see which project has the greatest net present value (NPV). B.So that the projects can be compared on their cost or value created per year. C. To reduce the danger that changes in the estimate of the discount rate will lead to choosing the project with a shorter time frame. D. To ensure that cash flows from the project with a longer life that occur after the project with the shorter life has ended are considered. E. To avoid complications arising from alternating cash inflows and outflows. 3 10. A firm is considering changing their credit terms. It is estimated that this change would result in sales increasing by $1,000,000.This in turn would cause inventory to increase by $150,000, accounts receivable to increase by $100,000, and accounts payable to increase by $75,000. What is the firm's expected change in net working capital? A. $1,175,000 B. $325,000 C. $250,000 D. $175,000 E. $150,000 4 Part 2 [35 points]: Short Answer and Problems. Please show all your work. Question 1 [4 poi nts]: When two stocks have a correlation of ? 1, is it always possible to construct a portfolio with 0 standard deviation? If so, what is the weight (denoted as ? ) that always ensures that the portfolio has 0 standard deviation? Answer: Yes. 1 point) We can show this by substituting correlation of ? 1 in the portfolio variance formula: ? p2 = ? 2? 12 + (1 ? ?)2? 22 + 2? (1 ? ?)? 1,2? 1? 2 which gives, ? p2 = ? 2? 12 + (1 ? ?)2? 22 + 2? (1 ? ?)(? 1)? 1? 2 = [ 1 ? (1 ? ?)? 2]2 (1 point for setting up the problem with the variance formula) We are interested in the standard deviation, which is the square root of the above variance. By choosing ? so that [ 1 ? (1 ? ?)? 2] = 0 we get ? = ? 2/(? 1 + ? 2) and thus we can always ensure the portfolio has 0 standard deviation. (2 points: 1 point for setting the standard deviation equal to zero to solve for ? and 1 point for final answer) 5 Question 2 [5 points]: Storico Co. just paid a dividend of $3. 50 per share. The company will increase i ts dividend by 20 percent next year and will then reduce its dividend growth rate by 5 percentage points per year until it reaches the industry average of 5 percent dividend growth, after which the company will keep a constant growth rate, forever. If the required return on Storico stock is 13 percent, what will a share of stock sell for today? Answer: Here we have a stock with differential growth, where the dividend growth changes every year for the first four years.We can find the price of the stock in Year 3 since the dividend growth rate is constant after the third dividend. The price of the stock in Year 3 will be the dividend in Year 4, divided by the required return minus the constant dividend growth rate. So, the price in Year 3 will be: P3 = $3. 50(1. 20)(1. 15)(1. 10)(1. 05) / (. 13 – . 05) = $69. 73 (2 points: 1 point for set up and 1 point for answer) The price of the stock today will be the PV of the first three dividends, plus the PV of the stock price in Year 3 , so: P0 = $3. 50(1. 20)/(1. 13) + $3. 50(1. 20)(1. 15)/1. 132 + $3. 50(1. 20)(1. 15)(1. 0)/1. 133 + $69. 73/1. 133 (2 points for set up) P0 = $59. 51 (1 point) 6 Question 3 [10 points]: The expected return of the S&P 500, which you can assume is the market portfolio, is 16% and has a standard deviation of 25% per year. The expected return of Microsoft is unknown, but it has a standard deviation of 20% per year and a covariance with the S&P 500 of 0. 10. The risk-free rate is 6 percent per year. a. [2 points] Compute Microsoft’s beta. Answer: ? Microsoft = Cov(RMicrosoft, RM) / var(RM) ? Microsoft = 0. 10 / (0. 25)2 = 1. 60 (2 points: 1 point for set up and 1 point for final answer) . [2 points] What is Microsoft’s expected return given the beta computed in part (a)? We know from the CAPM: E(R) = Rf + ? (E(RM) – Rf) Therefore, E(RMicrosoft) = 0. 06 + (1. 60)(0. 16? 0. 06) = 0. 220 or 22. 0% (2 points: 1 point for set up and 1 point for final answer) c. [2 points ] If Intel has half the expected return of Microsoft, then what is Intel’s beta? From the CAPM, we can solve for ? : E(R) = Rf + ? (E(RM) – Rf) 0. 11 = 0. 06 + ? Intel(0. 16 – 0. 06) ? Intel = 0. 50 (2 points: 1 point for set up and 1 point for final answer) 7 d. [2 points] What is the beta of the following portfolio? . 25 weight in Microsoft; 0. 10 weight in Intel; 0. 75 weight in the S&P 500; ? 0. 20 weight in GM (where ? GM = 0. 80); 0. 10 weight in the risk-free asset. Answer: The beta of the portfolio is the weighted average of the betas of the assets that comprise the portfolio: ? P = (0. 25)(1. 60) + (0. 10)(0. 50) + (0. 75)(1. 0) + (? 0. 20)(0. 80) + (0. 10)(0) = 1. 04 (2 points: 1 point for set up and 1 point for final answer) e. [2 points] What is the expected return of the portfolio in part (d)? Answer: From the CAPM, we can solve for E(RP) E(RP) = Rf + ? E(RM) – Rf) = 0. 06 + (1. 04)(0. 16 – 0. 06) = 0. 164 or 16. 4% (2 points: 1 point for set up and 1 point for final answer) 8 Question 4 [16 points]: Better Mousetraps has developed a new trap. It can go into production for an initial investment in equipment of $6 million. Ignore the CCA system and assume that the equipment will be depreciated straight-line over 5 years to a value of zero, but in fact it can be sold after 5 years for $500,000. The firm believes that working capital at each date must be maintained at a level of 10 percent of next year’s (i. e. he following year’s) forecast sales. The firm estimates production costs equal to $1. 50 per trap and believes that the traps can be sold for $4 each. Sales forecasts are given in the following table below. The project will come to an end in five years, when the trap becomes technologically obsolete. The firm’s tax bracket is 35 percent, and the required rate of return on the project is 12 percent. What is project NPV? Year Sales (millions of traps) 0 0 1 0. 5 2 0. 6 3 1. 0 4 1. 0 5 0. 6 Thereafter 0 Answer: YEAR: Sales (traps) Revenue ($4. 00 ? Sales) Expense ($1. 50 ?Sales) Working capital Change in Wk Cap CF from Operations: Revenue Expense Depreciation Pretax profit Tax After-tax profit CF from operations Cash Flow CF: capital investments CF from working capital CF from operations Total CF PV @ 12% Net present value 0 0. 00 0. 00 0. 00 0. 20 0. 20 1 0. 50 2. 00 0. 75 0. 24 0. 04 2 0. 60 2. 40 0. 90 0. 40 0. 16 3 1. 00 4. 00 1. 50 0. 40 0. 00 4 1. 00 4. 00 1. 50 0. 24 –0. 16 5 0. 60 2. 40 0. 90 0. 00 –0. 24 0. 00 0. 00 0. 00 0. 00 0. 00 0. 00 0. 00 2. 0000 0. 7500 1. 2000 0. 0500 0. 0175 0. 0325 1. 2325 2. 400 0. 900 1. 200 0. 300 0. 05 0. 195 1. 3950 4. 000 1. 500 1. 200 1. 300 0. 455 0. 845 2. 0450 4. 000 1. 500 1. 200 1. 300 0. 455 0. 845 2. 0450 2. 400 0. 900 1. 200 0. 300 0. 105 0. 195 1. 3950 (5 points) –6. 00 –0. 20 0. 00 –6. 20 –6. 20 –0. 1817 0. 0000 –0. 0400 1. 2325 1. 1925 1. 0647 0. 0000 – 0. 1600 1. 3950 1. 2350 0. 9845 0. 0000 0. 0000 2. 0450 2. 0450 1. 4556 0. 0000 0. 1600 2. 0450 2. 2050 1. 4013 0. 3250 0. 2400 1. 3950 1. 9600 1. 1122 (2 points) (6 points) (3 points) 9 This page is left blank on purpose. Use it if you need it. 10 This page is left blank on purpose. Use it if you need it. 11

Lvmh in the Recession the Substance of Style

http://www. economist. com/node/14447276 LVMH in the recession The substance of style The world’s biggest luxury-goods group is benefiting from a flight to quality, but the recession is also prompting questions about the company’s breadth and balance Sep 17th 2009 | Paris | from the print edition * * Bloomberg â€Å"THERE are four main elements to our business model—product, distribution, communication and price,† explains an executive at LVMH, the world's largest luxury-goods group. â€Å"Our job is to do such a fantastic job on the first three that people forget all about the fourth. For decades LVMH's formula has worked like a spell: seduced by beautiful status-symbols, perfect shops and clever advertising, millions of people have swooned forgetfully towards the firm's cash registers. At Louis Vuitton, LVMH's star company, the model's pricing power has yielded consistent profit margins of around 40-45%, the highest of any luxury-goods brand. These days customers are finding it far harder to forget about price. The seriously rich, of course, are still spending freely.But much of the industry's rapid growth in the past decade came from middle-class people, often buying on credit or on the back of rising house prices. According to Luca Solca of Bernstein Research, 60% of the luxury market is now based on demand from â€Å"aspirational† customers rather than from the wealthy elite. The recession has quickly reversed the trend to trade up, and people are delaying expensive purchases. Bain & Company, a consulting firm, expects the industry's sales to fall by a tenth in 2009, to â‚ ¬153 billion ($225 billion).Some executives even expect a lasting shift in customers' preferences, towards discretion and value. Bernard Arnault, chairman and chief executive of LVMH, believes that the whole industry needs to rebrand itself. â€Å"The word luxury suggests triviality and showing off, and the time for all that has gone,† he say s. Brands which sold â€Å"blingy† easy-to-sell products, milking old names, he says, will fare particularly badly in the new environment. LVMH, by contrast, has never taken such an approach, he says, instead emphasising quality, innovation and creativity.To underline these values, the group is going back to basics in its daily operations. â€Å"Before the crisis, we were putting a lot of energy into beautiful stores, but now we care a bit less about expanding our network and even more about design and price,† says an executive. A few years ago, for instance, at the height of the boom, one LVMH brand was putting diamonds all over its watches, so that it was almost difficult to tell the time. â€Å"Now we are getting back to what really matters, which is nice movements and design,† he says.For some luxury firms, the recession's effects have already been brutal. Private-equity firms and other outside investors which rushed into the industry at its peak have suffer ed most. â€Å"At the top of the market this industry was perceived as easy by outsiders,† says Mr Arnault. â€Å"You borrowed 80% of a target's asking price and hired a good designer, but the strategy has not been successful in several cases. † Lenders to Valentino, an Italian fashion house, are reportedly trying to renegotiate its debt. Permira, a private-equity group, bought the firm in 2007 in a deal valuing it at â‚ ¬5. billion. Permira has since written down its equity investment of about â‚ ¬900m by more than half. Prada Holding, through which Miuccia Prada and her husband control Prada Group, another Italian house, recently restructured its loans in order to defer payment to banks. Prada Group has denied that there are talks to bring in a minority shareholder. Two particularly weak firms, Christian Lacroix, a Paris-based ready-to-wear and haute couture label which used to be part of LVMH, and Escada, a German maker of luxury womenswear, filed for bankrupt cy earlier this year.Amid this turmoil, LVMH is performing relatively well (see chart 1). It has benefited from an established pattern in the luxury industry: when people have less, they spend what they do have on the best quality. Shoppers are going for fewer, classic items—one Burberry raincoat, rather than three designer dresses, or a single Kelly bag by Hermes, a French luxury-goods group, instead of four bags from various lesser designers. For this reason, says Yves Carcelle, chief executive of Louis Vuitton and president of fashion and leather goods for LVMH, â€Å"Vuitton always gains market share in crises. As reliable and sturdy as one of its own handbags, therefore, Vuitton is carrying LVMH fairly comfortably through the recession. In the first half of 2009 the group's revenues were about the same as a year before, though profits were 12% lower. Two divisions—wine and spirits, and watches and jewellery—were the worst affected: their revenues each fell by 17% and their profits by 41% and 73% respectively (see chart 2). Rapid de-stocking by retailers exacerbated the effect of falling demand.But the falls were offset by Vuitton, where revenue rose by a double-digit percentage, registering gains in every market. â€Å"It is incredible that in a downturn the consumer still buys so many Louis Vuitton bags, but she or he does,† says Melanie Flouquet, luxury-goods analyst at JPMorgan in Paris. Vuitton's performance, and the overall robustness of LVMH, a global conglomerate with more than 50 brands and revenues of â‚ ¬17. 2 billion in 2008, should allow it to take advantage of its competitors' weakness in the recession. In the next few years we expect several failures in the industry and good opportunities to acquire assets at attractive prices,† says Mr Arnault. Shareholders in the firm are particularly preoccupied by what he might buy and sell in the next few years. What explains Vuitton's resilience? Beneath the gloss of advertising campaigns, catwalk shows and each season's fleeting trends, Vuitton brings a machine-like discipline to the selling of fancy leather goods and fashion. It is the only leather-goods firm, for instance, which never puts its products on sale at a discount.It destroys stock instead, keeping a close eye on the proportion it ends up scrapping (which it calls the â€Å"destruction margin†). In 2005, when Maurizio Borletti, owner of several prominent department stores in Italy and France, was preparing for the opening of a refurbished La Rinascente department store in Milan, he recalls, the Vuitton people built a scale model of the building in their offices to understand customer flows and get the best positioning. â€Å"In this they're the most professional in the industry,† he says.Unlike most other luxury marques, Vuitton never gives licences to outside firms, to avoid brand degradation. Its factories use techniques from other industries, notably carmaking, t o push costs down ruthlessly and to allow teams of workers to be switched from one product to another as demand dictates. It has adopted methods of quality control, too: one quality supervisor came from Valeo, a French auto-parts supplier. The result is long-lasting utility, beyond show, which is valuable in difficult times. Owning shops gives Vuitton control over levels of stock, presentation and pricing.It was not therefore affected by the panicked price-slashing of up to 80% by American luxury department stores in the run-up to Christmas last year—a â€Å"catastrophe† for others in the industry, according to Mr Arnault. Although other LVMH divisions have been hit by outside retailers de-stocking during the crisis, Vuitton has managed its own inventory, with no competition for space from other brands. With a global network, says Mr Carcelle, the firm can move poorly selling stock to shops where it has performed better. The luxury of diversityVuitton's ability to offs et the steep falls in other divisions shows the value of the diversified conglomerate model in luxury goods. Richemont, the industry's second-largest company, has a less varied portfolio and greater exposure to watches and jewellery, demand for which has been especially weak. According to a recent trading statement, its sales fell by 16% in the five months to the end of August. A group structure also yields savings when negotiating deals for advertising space, property and credit-card fees. It helps to have a specialist beauty retailer, Sephora, and a chain of airport shops, DFS, to sell perfumes and cosmetics.When Vuitton develops watches, say, it can call on the talents of TAG Heuer. But LVMH's breadth also comes in for criticism. Although there is undoubtedly value in some diversification, some people ask whether 50-odd brands under one roof are too many. Vuitton, for instance, would doubtless like to see disposals of weaker brands as a result of the crisis, and a greater concent ration of resources on the group's key businesses. The group's executives devote the bulk of their attention to the most important of these: Louis Vuitton, Moet Hennessy in drinks, TAG Heuer in watches, Christian Dior in perfumes and cosmetics, Sephora and DFS.The group has many smaller businesses, and these get much less attention in such a big group. LVMH does not disclose financial figures for individual brands, but at its presentation of first-half results the group's finance director replied to an analyst asking about fashion and leather-goods that a â€Å"handful† had lost money â€Å"somewhere†. There is speculation that Celine, a ready-to-wear clothing and accessories label, Kenzo, a fashion brand which analysts have long suggested LVMH dispose of, or Loewe, a Spanish leather-goods brand which has so far failed o win much of a following outside Spain and Japan, are among the less profitable. Nevertheless, the group can use the might of Vuitton to support its sm aller, upcoming brands. A department store, for instance, may be asked to take Loewe or Celine in order to get Vuitton. That often frustrates people at Vuitton, however, who would prefer to use the power of the brand for its own benefit, says a person who knows the company well. â€Å"They've never heard of another of LVMH's brands saying, ‘Either give this to Vuitton or I won't come',† he says.Apart from the synergy in watch design, Vuitton does not find that it benefits much from the rest of the group. The reason why LVMH has many small brands which aren't quite making it, says another person familiar with the company, is that Mr Arnault is an optimist who believes that every property can at some point be turned around. That can pay off: some years ago Mr Arnault halted the imminent sale of a make-up line. Thanks to the distribution muscle of Sephora, it has since turned into a bestseller in America.Investors, however, are nevertheless wary of what they see as Mr Arna ult's tendency to collect brands. The crisis has also underlined the fact that Vuitton dominates the group's results. Were it not for Vuitton, estimates one analyst, LVMH's sales would have fallen by 3% in the first half of 2009 and profits would have plunged by 40%. In normal times Vuitton contributes about half of the group's profits, and most of the rest comes from Moet Hennessy. In the first half of this year, however, Vuitton contributed an estimated 70% of profit.That leads some people to question whether LVMH is overly dependent on the leather-goods firm. â€Å"You can argue that there's nothing as good as Vuitton in LVMH's portfolio,† says Pierre Mallevays of Savigny Partners, who was formerly director of acquisitions at LVMH, â€Å"but that simply states the fact that LV's business model is the gold standard of luxury brands; no other brand in the world compares to it. † The biggest risk to LVMH is Vuitton, argues Ms Flouquet, since it accounts for such a big proportion of profits; the company depends on it, she says.The risk to Vuitton, in turn, is that it could fall out of fashion or lose its exclusivity in the eyes of consumers. So far there is no sign of fatigue with the brand. LVMH's senior managers have devised ways to refresh it. In the late 1990s, for example, Mr Arnault saw that there was a risk that as a maker of leather goods alone, Vuitton could be perceived as boring. In 1997 he hired Marc Jacobs, then a relatively unknown designer, to design a fashion line. The aim was to generate seasonal buzz and press coverage.Vuitton's senior executives at the time were against the idea, fearing that adding fashion could undermine a timeless image, but Mr Arnault's move proved successful. To avoid overexposure of its signature â€Å"Monogram† print, Vuitton has taken care to develop a wide range of products and other patterns. â€Å"We increase the number of product lines and we are careful to have several different colours and shapes,† says Mr Arnault. Thus Vuitton sells reasonably priced handbags—the smallest Speedy Bag costs â‚ ¬430 in Paris—but also wildly expensive custom-made luggage, reinforcing its exclusive image.Another effective tactic is to make limited-edition handbags which are hard to get hold of. Five or so years ago Vuitton depended to a large degree on one market, Japan. Most Japanese women owned at least one Vuitton product—and hence provided a large proportion of Vuitton's profits, which worried analysts at the time. Yet the Japanese market for luxury goods was souring. Spending on such items in Japan has fallen sharply since the end of 2005, according to a recent report by McKinsey, a consulting firm. Young women are more individualistic than their mothers, and are seeking out lesser-known brands. You used to see thousands of Vuitton bags coming at you in the Ginza shopping district but far fewer now,† says Radha Chadha, author of a book, â€Å"The Cult of the Luxury Brand: Inside Asia's Love Affair with Luxury†. That reliance on one country is no longer so marked (see chart 3). Fortunately, Vuitton has since rapidly established a strong position in what it hopes will become another Japan: China. â€Å"The Chinese consumer is in a love affair with the Vuitton brand,† says Ms Flouquet. According to LVMH, in the first half of 2009 sales to Chinese people (at home and travelling) made up 18% of Vuitton's revenue.Despite widespread concerns about counterfeiting in the country, the Chinese are now Vuitton's biggest customer base after the Japanese. The key to the firm's success, says Mr Arnault, has been approaching the market exactly as if it were a developed market. â€Å"We treat the Chinese customer as being very sophisticated. † Many competitors, by contrast, have at times lowered their standards for shops in China, he says, using inferior furniture or positioning their stores poorly. Going into new markets and developing new product lines will enable Vuitton o continue producing double-digit growth for years to come, says Mr Carcelle. On every trip to mainland China—he makes five or six a year—he tries to discover a new city and meet its mayor. Mr Carcelle is also tackling other new frontiers: in October he will open a shop in Sukhbaatar Square in Ulan Bator. â€Å"Already if you go to an upmarket disco in Ulan Bator you will see a significant number of our bags,† he says. Vuitton's expansion into China, Mongolia and new product lines such as watches and shoes, suggest that the leather-goods firm will continue to be LVMH's main source of growth.However, it also means that the group may become more rather than less reliant on Vuitton. In theory, the answer could lie in strengthening some of LVMH's smaller names, such as Fendi, a fashion and leather-goods brand. But buying a big, established, global brand with potential for growth could be both a quicker and a sure r route. Or maybe that oneImagineChina A new collection? Analysts and bankers are convinced that Mr Arnault wants to buy the Hermes Group, a producer of leather goods and fashion which matches Vuitton for quality and design.Because Hermes is run so conservatively, says an investment banker who knows LVMH well, it is only a quarter of the size that it could be. â€Å"Mr Arnault would grow it while preserving its values,† he says. Earlier this year, there were rumours that LVMH would sell Moet Hennessy to Diageo, the world's biggest spirits group, which already owns 34% of the business. Such a sale could raise money to buy Hermes. Mr Arnault, however, refuses to be drawn into commenting. For the moment, such an acquisition is impossible, since the family which controls Hermes does not want to sell, and the firm is strongly defended against takeover.Nevertheless, says the banker, the family which controls it has several branches, all with different views. â€Å"It's a pressure cooker and some day it will blow up,† he says. Chanel, another closely held global luxury brand, could also make a desirable target for LVMH. Some people recommend a merger with Richemont, which, Mr Solca argues, would address LVMH's relative weakness in watches and jewellery. Any such deals, or selling Moet Hennessy, would radically change the balance of the group. â€Å"I would be surprised if LVMH sold Moet Hennessy. The business has high margins, high ashflow and it is well managed,† says Ms Flouquet. â€Å"They would probably only sell it if they had a large deal ahead. † Shareholders are nervous that LVMH will pay too high a price for a large acquisition. For this reason the group's valuation may not fully reflect its performance during the crisis. Such concerns are not likely to deter Mr Arnault, who has demonstrated his confidence in LVMH's prospects in luxury by raising his stake in the group over time: he owns 47%. If LVMH does go shopping, it will prob ably behave like one of its best customers: with price in mind, but willing to spend on enduring prestige.

cells of the human body essays

cells of the human body essays Cells are the basic living units of all plants and animals. The cell is the structural and functional unit of all living organisms. There are a wide variety of cell types, such as nerve, muscle, bone, fat, and blood cells. Each cell type has many characteristics, which are important to the normal function of the body as a whole. One of the important reasons for maintaining hemostasis is to keep the trillions of cells that form the body functioning normally. An averaged size cell is one-fifth the size of the smallest dot you can make on a sheet of paper with a sharp pencil. Although cells may have quite different structures and functions, all cells share some common characteristics. The plasma, or cell membrane, forms the outer boundary of the cell through which the cells interacts with its external environment. The nucleus is usually located centrally and functions to direct cell activities, most of which take place in the cytoplasm, located between the plasma membrane and the nucleus. The plasma membrane is the outer part of a cell. The plasma membrane is made up of 45% - 50% lipids, 45% - 50% proteins, and 4% - 8% carbohydrates. The main lipids are phospholipids and cholesterol. Phospholipids easily come together to form a lipid bilayer, a double layer of lipid molecules, because they have a polar head and a nonpolar tail. The charged water-loving heads are exposed to water inside and outside the cell, whereas the uncharged water-fearing tails face one another in the interior of the plasma membrane. The other major lipid in the plasma membrane is cholesterol, which is mixed among the phospholipids and makes up about a third of the total lipids in the plasma membrane. Cholesterol is too hydrophobic to extend to the hydrophilic surface of the membrane but lies within the hydrophobic region of the phospholipids. The amount of cholesterol in a given membrane is a major factor in determining the fluid nature of the m...

Profile of Charlton Heston, Gun Rights Movement Icon

Profile of Charlton Heston, Gun Rights Movement Icon As an actor, Charlton Heston appeared in some of the most notable films of his time. But he may best be remembered as the most visible president in the National Rifle Association’s history, guiding the gun lobbying group through a five-year period that saw gun rights take center stage in Washington, D.C. Along the way, his statements were responsible for igniting a phrase that would become a rallying cry for gun owners: â€Å"You can have my guns when you take them from my cold, dead hands.† Surprisingly, the man who hoisted a rifle above his head at the 2000 NRA Convention in defiance of the perceived anti-gun policies of Democrat presidential nominee Al Gore was once a staunch supporter of gun control legislation. Heston’s Support for Gun Control By the time President John F. Kennedy was assassinated in 1963, Charlton Heston had become a household name, starring as Moses in the 1956 film The Ten Commandments and as Judah Ben Hur in 1959’s Ben Hur. Heston campaigned for Kennedy in the 1960 presidential election and became critical of lax gun laws in the aftermath of Kennedy’s assassination. He joined fellow Hollywood stars Kirk Douglas, Gregory Peck, and James Stewart in support of the Gun Control Act of 1968, the most restrictive piece of gun legislation in more than 30 years. Appearing on ABC’s The Joey Bishop Show two weeks after U.S. Sen. Robert Kennedy was assassinated in 1968, Heston read from a prepared statement: â€Å"This bill is no mystery. Let’s be clear about it. Its purpose is simple and direct. It is not to deprive the sportsman of his hunting gun, the marksman of his target rifle, nor would it deny to any responsible citizen his constitutional right to own a firearm. It is to prevent the murder of Americans.† Later that year, actor-producer Tom Laughlin, chairman of the anti-gun group Ten Thousand Americans for Responsible Gun Control lamented in an edition of Film Television Daily that Hollywood stars had fallen from the gun control bandwagon, but listed Heston among a handful of diehard supporters who he said would stand by his side. Heston Changes Teams in the Gun Rights Debate Exactly when Heston changed his views on gun ownership is hard to pin down. In interviews after being elected president of the NRA, he was vague about his support of the 1968 Gun Control Act, saying only that he had made some â€Å"political mistakes.† Heston’s support for Republican politicians can be dated back as far as the 1980 election of Ronald Reagan. The two men shared many broad similarities: Hollywood A-Listers who supported Democrat Party policies early in their careers only to become stalwarts of the conservative movement. Reagan would later appoint Heston to co-chair a task force on arts and humanities. Over the next two decades, Heston became increasingly vocal in his support of conservative policies, in general, and on the Second Amendment, in particular. In 1997, Heston was elected to the NRA’s Board of Directors. One year later, he was elected president of the organization. Heston was vocally opposed to virtually any proposed measure of restricting gun ownership, from a mandatory five-day waiting period on handgun purchases to a limit of one gun purchase a month to mandatory trigger locks and the 1994 ban on assault weapons. â€Å"Teddy Roosevelt hunted in the last century with a semiautomatic rifle,† Heston once said in regards to proposals to ban semiautomatic firearms. â€Å"Most deer guns are semi-automatic. It’s become a demonized phrase. The media distorts that and the public ill understands it.† In 1997, he lambasted the National Press Club for the media’s role in the Assault Weapons Ban, saying reporters need to do their homework on semiautomatic weapons. In a speech to the club, he said: â€Å"For too long, you have swallowed manufactured statistics and fabricated technical support from anti-gun organizations that wouldnt know a semi-auto from a sharp stick. And it shows. You fall for it every time.† ‘From My Cold, Dead Hands’ During the height of the 2000 election season, Heston delivered a rousing speech at the NRA Convention in which he closed by invoking an old Second Amendment battle cry as he raised a vintage 1874 buffalo rifle over his head: â€Å"So, as we set out this year to defeat the divisive forces that would take freedom away, I want to say those fighting words for everyone within the sound of my voice to hear and to heed, and especially for you, (presidential candidate) Mr. (Al) Gore: From my cold, dead hands.’† The â€Å"cold, dead hands† saying did not originate with Heston. It had been around since the 1970s  when it was used as a slogan for literature and bumper stickers by gun rights activists. The slogan didn’t even originate with the NRA; it was first used by the Washington-based Citizens Committee for the Right to Keep and Bear Arms. But Heston’s usage of those five words in 2000 made them iconic. Gun owners across the nation began using the slogan as a rallying cry, saying, â€Å"You can have my guns when you take them from my cold, dead hands.† Heston is often incorrectly attributed with coining the phrase. When he resigned from the NRA presidency in 2003 due to his declining health, he again raised the rifle over his head and repeated, â€Å"From my cold, dead hands.† The Death of an Icon Heston was diagnosed with prostate cancer in 1998, an illness he defeated. But a diagnosis of Alzheimer’s in 2003 would prove too much to overcome. He stepped down from his position as president of the NRA and died five years later, at the age of 84. At his death, he had appeared in more than 100 films. He and his wife, Lydia Clark, had been married 64 years. But Heston’s lasting legacy might be his five-year stint as president of the NRA. With the peak of his Hollywood career well behind him, Heston’s work with the NRA and his fierce pro-gun rights rhetoric earned him legendary status with a whole new generation.

MGMT442 U5 DB Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

MGMT442 U5 DB - Research Paper Example Employers and employees can be able to pass information about the needs of their customers faster and get quicker response including even in the customer care department. The quickest way to outdo competitors is to gain and maintain customers. If customers are severed better because of faster communication through the programs, then they tend to be maintained outdoing competitors. With the constant upgrading of the communication programs with the current technology, the company is able to appease the stakeholders and the continue increasing investments. Challenges present in a multinational organization with the communication programs is the language barrier. Multinational means having employees speaking and communicating using different languages of their various countries (Wrench, 2013). The communication program therefore has to constantly keep on being reprogramed to accommodate the different languages and still perform its work effectively without disrupting or disorienting employees. Having the program be compatible with different languages of employees is an added competitive advantage to the organization in addition to making the organization work smoothly across the

Womens Crisis Services of Waterloo Region Organization Essay

Womens Crisis Services of Waterloo Region Organization - Essay Example This paper illustrates that Haven and Anselma were functioning independently up until 2001 when they merged to form the present Women’s Crisis Services of Waterloo Region (WCSWR). This also resulted in the integration of the board of directors and the creation of the post of the executive director who has the responsibility of managing the two facilities. The adoption of a dragonfly as its logo reflects the organizations’ literal shift from violence against women and children. The tagline â€Å"Moving beyond violence† is an enhancement of the message that achievement of equality is determined by human courage and initiative to propagate human values and leave violence against women in the past. Among its services is the residential program that serves women above the age of 16 either with or without children. These women include those who are being abused intimately or experiencing problems in a domestic relationship. The organization also has the outreach and ed ucation services that work closely with the process of transitioning women to independence, and also those seeking assistance from their current abusive situations. The education program functions to provide the community and professionals with the required information on healthy relationships. Therefore, they are guided by the fact that there should be synergistic efforts towards achieving a better world without violence against women with a mission of providing shelter, education and public sensitization to all the abused women and children. Therefore, it has grown to become the subsequent vision that any form of aggression against women and children will not be tolerated by society. The organization’s central contributions lie in the empowerment of women against this vice in the advent of calls for equality among males and females. This organization is also playing a fundamental part in refining the community regarding the costs of domestic violence and the benefits of avo iding it. It is also playing a significant role in creating conflict resolutions and ways to avoid the emergence of these conflicts. In another word, it means that the organization is working on the creation, sustainability and dissemination of peace in homes hence alleviating this problem of violence that is directed by men towards women.