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Orwell’s Elephant On Shooting an Elephant Officer Blair received a report of a run away elephant within his jurisdiction. Leaving in response to the emergency, he is followed. The crowd following him swells to the thousands, all intent on witnessing the killing of the elephant and profiting from the carcass. As they grew nearer to the beast, the crowd grew more agitated. They were expecting him to shoot the elephant. Oddly, the nearer Blair/ Orwell came to the elephant the less he wanted to shoot the beast. The elephant had not intentionally caused harm; he was just being an elephant. The villagers had, by now whipped themselves into some kind of vigilante frenzy, hell-bent for the elephant’s execution. Orwell felt as though he had no choice but to kill the giant. If not, all respect for the territorial police and authority would be lost. The sahib, as he expresses it must maintain the allusion of authority and respect. He had to shoot the elephant now. To fail at this would seal his fate as any type of authority figure. Orwell eventually shoots the elephant and watches as the elephant reacts. Not mortally wounded, Orwell shoots repeatedly. Each time he fires at the elephant there is a different and violent reaction by the elephant; a reluctance to die. Orwell empathizes with the elephant’s suffering. There is no reason for this animal to suffer like this except ego and crowd rule. Orwell could just as easily not killed the elephant. His position, one of authority, shielded him to a degree; He could have just made a proclamation in favor of sparing the animal, showing an imperial largess, and mercy in sparing the elephant. These animals were after all; extremely valuable as work animals being able to move huge loads and pull whole trees out of the ground. Orwell continues to justify his action. He sought validation through the members of the village. Polling the older men then the younger ones there is a difference of opinion. The older men approve of the killing, the younger ones see the value of the beast and the possibility of some other solution. Eventually Orwell succeeded in justifying his action to himself. His conscience is clear, although he expresses no remorse for the coolie that was killed by the elephant. Orwell had alternatives available. He was the authority in this Gary Hammontree :: Free Essay Writer Orwell’s Elephant On Shooting an Elephant Officer Blair received a report of a run away elephant within his jurisdiction. Leaving in response to the emergency, he is followed. The crowd following him swells to the thousands, all intent on witnessing the killing of the elephant and profiting from the carcass. As they grew nearer to the beast, the crowd grew more agitated. They were expecting him to shoot the elephant. Oddly, the nearer Blair/ Orwell came to the elephant the less he wanted to shoot the beast. The elephant had not intentionally caused harm; he was just being an elephant. The villagers had, by now whipped themselves into some kind of vigilante frenzy, hell-bent for the elephant’s execution. Orwell felt as though he had no choice but to kill the giant. If not, all respect for the territorial police and authority would be lost. The sahib, as he expresses it must maintain the allusion of authority and respect. He had to shoot the elephant now. To fail at this would seal his fate as any type of authority figure. Orwell eventually shoots the elephant and watches as the elephant reacts. Not mortally wounded, Orwell shoots repeatedly. Each time he fires at the elephant there is a different and violent reaction by the elephant; a reluctance to die. Orwell empathizes with the elephant’s suffering. There is no reason for this animal to suffer like this except ego and crowd rule. Orwell could just as easily not killed the elephant. His position, one of authority, shielded him to a degree; He could have just made a proclamation in favor of sparing the animal, showing an imperial largess, and mercy in sparing the elephant. These animals were after all; extremely valuable as work animals being able to move huge loads and pull whole trees out of the ground. Orwell continues to justify his action. He sought validation through the members of the village. Polling the older men then the younger ones there is a difference of opinion. The older men approve of the killing, the younger ones see the value of the beast and the possibility of some other solution. Eventually Orwell succeeded in justifying his action to himself. His conscience is clear, although he expresses no remorse for the coolie that was killed by the elephant. Orwell had alternatives available. He was the authority in this

Balanced Scorecard Development

Abstract The balanced scorecard was introduced in 1992 as a performance measurement tool and has developed now to form a strategic management system. This paper uses eight articles, identified in Figure 1 along with extra materials to track and analyse developments in the design and implementation. The paper shows examples of the scorecard in practice and concludes that developments have been beneficial overall. It also highlights problems encountered along the way and further areas for improvement.For years managers have used financial measures to monitor performance however a study carried out in 1990 led to the development of the first generation balanced scorecard (BSC); a strategic planning and management system. By including financial and operational measures,it solved the issue that managers were beginning to reject financial measures during the 1980s and 1990s (Letza, 1996). The BSC originated analysing four perspectives; customer, internal, learning and financial,with focus driven by four questions shown in Figure 2.The BSC encouraged managers to focus on few critical measures to prevent complexity and information overload, however ensured several areas were looked at simultaneously as organisations became more complex (Kaplan & Norton, 1992). Choice around the measures allows adaptability and flexibility when using the model. This is vital in order to keep up with global competition and the ever changing environment. Companies must acknowledge this flexibility and as their strategy changes, so must the measures to stay in line with overall aims. The introduction of the BSC coincided with the recession in the 1980’s and 1990’s.Therefore companies will have been more enthusiastic about performance measurement and seen this as a good way to track progress towards strategy, growth and profit. Today, 20 years on, the core perspectives have stayed with the individual measures being adapted and perspectives added depending on the companyâ€℠¢s strategic goals. The BSC has evolved from a performance measurement tool enforced by few, to a strategic management tool used worldwide; with the main developments being ‘driven primarily by observed weaknesses in the design process rather than in the architecture of the original idea’ (Cobbold&Lawrie, 2002).Financial measures were satisfactory for the industrial era however adapting to change in skills and competencies allowed the scorecard to produce ‘richer and more relevant information about activities they are managing than is provided by financial measures alone’ (Cobbold&Lawrie, 2002). No individual measure produces adequate information to plan. When planning a journey, the objective is to get from one point to another with lots of dials producing information on the likelihood of succeeding. The fuel gage alone doesn't set the scene however collectively the measures allow a judgements and decisions to be made.For example, to increase the likelihoo d of success you may add more oil or fuel. In business with the objective to boost sales you may increase quality and therefore sales. Introducing operational measures to performance measurement, allows these factors be monitored as the drivers of future financial performance. As the number of measures is limited, companies must identify the factors that are key performance drivers in order to achieve successful implementation. With the first generation scorecard, very little was known about the implementation of the BSC.This meant companies were not gaining the full effects of improved performance. ‘What you measure is what you get’ (Kaplan ;Norton, 1992). Therefore if you measure things that have no influence, directly or indirectly to profitability and growth then it will be impossible to improve. Hence the measures must be in line with a company’s strategic objectives. Kaplan and Nortonintroduced the four processes for managing strategy shown in Figure 3 to e mphasise the need for the BSC to be linked to strategy, but there was no clarity to the importance and effect of this.Many would have good measures in place such as customer satisfaction but would not analyse this further to improve profitability, therefore a wasted opportunity as there was no real vision of making it happen. The design however, was taken on successfully by many companies as it brought everything together in one clear report. Words were kept minimal and visual aids were used to represent and explain measures. This proved effective as few words paint huge pictures, and people are designed to accept pictures and often remember these better.The BSC also looks at the whole organisation as opposed to separate departments therefore bringing all silos together. Many organisations have individual cultures within each silo and therefore departments are often driven towards targets at departmental level as opposed to overall corporate objectives. Therefore it is crucial that all measures are monitored to ensure that the targets are met through the right objectives, and not at the expense of another. For example the production department may increase productivity leading to more sales and potentially higher profits however the quality may slack causing customer satisfaction to fall.This could cause reputational damage leading customers to go to competitors who offer higher quality. The second generation scorecard expanded on this highlighting filtering and clustering as areas of concern. This took the BSC from the measurement system to an integrated management system while still focussing on strategy and performance drivers. Often this involved relating measures to key performance indicators. The second generation scorecard introduced strategic objectives and developed causality further.This development addressed the issue of an ‘inability to link a company’s long-term strategy with its short term actions’ (Kaplan ; Norton, 1996). Add ing phrases to the four perspectivesallowed companies to select measures around their strategic vision. This selection method provided more thoroughness and made implementation clearer and more defined. Causality was included in the first generation scorecard with the four statements shown in Figure 4 but the second generation developed this by indicating relationships between the measures across the perspectives shown in Figure 5; as opposed to just vague links between the perspectives.This increased the urge to ‘prove’ links (Kaplan ; Norton, 1996). This could have been bad for companies as employees may have tried to link movements in the performance measures that weren’t related trying to show one as the causation of one another; simply to reach targets. This would be more common when financial rewards were linked to performance. Even with this is mind, the linkage model became an important part of the BSC design. Introduction of software reporting systems im proved managers’ ability to react with fast diagnosis and quick interventions when problems occurred.The early software provided by AT;T, and later by companies including IBM; used email and diary programs to fasten this process. Software caused confusion as many believed it would enable design and implementation of the BSC. However, it is performance management software to use after implementation to ensure performance information gets ‘to the right people at the right time’ (Balanced Scorecard Institute, 2013). As it allowed data to be stored, objectives could be allocated to owners and measures to objectives; allowing managers to make historical comparisons to measure performance accurately over time.It also helped communicate the information effectively and enforced more control and organisation. Some packages allow performance to be measured and tracked at departmental level, project level or the organisation as a whole. This only works if there is strategic alignment throughout the hierarchy. Organisations can then narrow down the specific areas that are underperforming in order to increase focus to improve or divest that part. Although the software has many benefits some find it ‘difficult to adapt to the needs of a growing and dynamic company’ (IBM, 2013).Hence, many prefer to use self-developed software however it sometimes lacks required functions and solutions to the cause and effect; as the specialist skills are not there to develop the program. Difficulties still arose in selecting relevant measures and target setting due to conflicting thoughts amongst management. There was also difficulty communicating the linkage model to lower level staff if they did not already have knowledge of the model. This could cause problems when trying to motivate teams as there will be different interpretations of aims and targets; therefore employees working towards different goals.The late 1990’s saw the third generation and the development of the destination statement (Figure 6) in order to achieve clarification through checking the measures, objectives and targets selected. The destination statement is a form of ‘what if’ analysis that brought the tool closer to company strategy, it's management and implementation. By estimating quantified amounts of consequences and achievementsfor a set future period; companies could easily compare actual achievements to targets and benchmark against others externally, in the case it was to stick with objectives from the linkage model.For example the destination statement would predict a rate of customer satisfaction for 3 years that you could check back against annually. This will identify under achievements, perhaps where you can enhance quality to boost satisfaction; and over achievements where you can identify what successful policies to keep. Management teams could easily relate to the statement to communicate down the hierarchy in order to gain a single interpretation, as it did not include looking at complex strategic objectives. Therefore a reversal of design as it was seen as an early stage in the process, as opposed to the final,making selection of measures and ausality easier. Companies have proven success without financial measures. Svenska Handelsbanken, while not disclosing use of the BSC; have gone over thirty years with ‘no budgets, no absolute targets, and no fixed plans' but with specific performance measures in place (Daum, 2001). More recently, in 2003 a new CEO adopted the BSC for Lloyds TSB in order to ‘show employees how their actions impact their colleagues and customers and how this, in turn, translates into our overall performance’ (Lloyds TSB, 2013). This linked objectives of 80,000 employees, emphasizing the advantage of aligning the whole organisation.By involving employees at every level in some aspect of the process generates ‘acceptance of and commitment to the concept' (War d, 2005). Implementation proved successful to drive the company towards growth and away from being sales and cost driven, which had caused them to lose their strong market position. ‘The cause and effect chain of events’ was critical for them to see that would drive the revenue up as opposed to just a target of increased sales (Ward, 2005). As Lloyds are large and have overseas staff they could have faced technical and strategic challenges including cultural conflict and difficulties selecting measures.Companies with a diverse workforce should ensure they measure things that can be influenced and changed by employees. Lloyds also highlighted the point that implementation takes time and resources to ensure thoroughness. A tight deadline imposed ‘danger of completing the task while missing the goal’ (Ward, 2005). They recognized the importance employees understanding the concept before implementation so brought in a BSC specialist, who had worked closely with Kaplan and Norton to run seminars and lectures; in order to reduce this danger.Not only do employees need to understand the concept and accept the process; they should include feedback including how many employees see it as motivational and effective. If employees do not enjoy what they are doing they will be inclined to only meet targets and not excel further. The strong focus of the scorecard encourages companies to focus on what they really need to measure as opposed to what is easy to measure; resulting in all decisions being made around the strategy. The BSC changed the way people looked at performance measurement. Previously it was seen as a method to ontrol employees but the tool encourages targets in order for employees to work towards. The idea was that employees would adapt their behaviour accordingly to reach goals; hence giving them more freedom, motivation and involvement in the process. However, some may argue that the focus has shifted too far towards operational mat ters that there is not financial involvement. Adaptability should allow those companies to change to their needs. The BSC will vary for each company depending on how dynamic the industry is and what the individual aims and strategy include.Lloyds TSB added a fifth perspective as they felt it was a key driver to the company's strategic direction. Although there are BSC failures, the advances in the design have allowed more successful implementations over the years. There is now more knowledge and literature available because more companies have adopted this management tool; but more importantly there are significant successes documented for teams to learn from. With corporate social responsibility being so highly regarded nowadays due to greater awareness and regulation, modern scorecards have seen a fifth sub-perspective introduced; environment/external.This shows the broader impact on society than is indicated through the customer perspective; hence giving more in-depth analysis. A s long as the process is carefully planned, communicated and regularly monitored it should prove successful however there is always room for improvement with the uncertainty in the ever changing environment. The scorecard, instead of providing single destination outcomes could include risk and probabilities related to various possible outcomes.In conclusion, the economic environment is only going to become more dynamic but the last twenty years has proven that continuous developments should ensure the BSC is kept up to date in order to stay a useful management tool. Figure 1 – Main Articles Used Author| Title| Daum. J| Beyond Budgeting: A Model for Performance Management and Controlling in the 21st Century? | Cobbold. I ; Lawrie. G| The Development of the Balanced Scorecard as a Strategic Management tool| Kaplan. R ; Norton. D| The balanced scorecard – measures that drive performance| Kaplan. R ; Norton.D| Transforming the Balanced Scorecard from Performance Measuremen t to Strategic Management: Part 1| Kaplan. R ; Norton. D| Using the balanced scorecard as a strategic management system| Letza. S| The design and implementation of the balanced business scorecard| Schneiderman. A| Why Balanced Scorecards Fail| Ward. A| Implementing the Balanced Scorecard at Lloyds TSB| * Full references for the articles are shown in the reference list at the end of this paper* Figure 2 – Four Perspectives for Balanced Scorecard Perspective| Why? | Customer| â€Å"To achieve our vision, how should we appear to our customers? | Internal Business Process| â€Å"To satisfy our shareholders and customers, what business processes must we excel at? â€Å"| Learning and Growth| â€Å"To achieve our vision, how will we sustain our ability to change and improve? â€Å"| Financial| â€Å"To succeed financially, how should we appear to our shareholders? â€Å"| Figure 3 – The Balanced Scorecard Process Adapted from – Kaplan, R. S. and Norton, D. P. , Using the balanced scorecard as a strategic management system, Harvard Business Review, January-February 1996, 75-85. Available from: http://scholar. google. co. uk [Accessed 23 February 2013]Figure 4 – First Generation Balanced Scorecard Source – Antunes. G et al. , Process improvement measures in social area organisations: A study in institutions for elderly: survey results, The TQM Journal. Available from: http://www. emeraldinsight. com [Accessed 15 February 2013] Figure 5 – Second Generation Balanced Scorecard/Linkage Model Source – Cobbold, I. C. and Lawrie, G. J. G. , 2002. The Development of the Balanced Scorecard as a Strategic Management tool, 2GC Website. Available from: http://www. 2gc. co. uk [Accessed 19 February 2013] Figure 6 – Third Generation Balance Scorecard/Destination StatementAndersen. H. , Effective quality management through third-generation balanced scorecard, International Journal of Productivity and Performance Manageme nt, Available from: http://www. emeraldinsight. com [Accessed 21 February 2013] References Andersen. H. , Effective quality management through third-generation balanced scorecard, International Journal of Productivity and Performance Management, Available from: http://www. emeraldinsight. com [Accessed 21 February 2013] Antunes. G et al. , Process improvement measures in social area organisations: A study in institutions for elderly: survey results, The TQM Journal.Available from: http://www. emeraldinsight. com [Accessed 15 February 2013] Balanced Scorecard Institue, 2013. The Balanced Scorecard & Technology: Strategic Performance Management Automation. U. S. Balanced Scorecard Institute. Available from: http://www. bala ncedscorecard. org/software/balancedscorecardsoftware/tabid/61/default. aspx Balanced Scorecard Institue, 2013. What is the Balanced Scorecard. U. S. Balanced Scorecard Institute. Available from: http://www. balancedscorecard. org/bscresources/aboutthebalancedscore card/ tabid/55/default. aspx Cobbold, I. C. and Lawrie, G. J. G. , 2002.The Development of the Balanced Scorecard as a Strategic Management tool, 2GC Website. Available from: http://www. 2gc. co. uk [Accessed 19 February 2013] Daum, J. H. , Beyond Budgeting: A Model for Performance Management and Controlling in the 21st Century? , Controlling & finance, July 2002. Available from: http://scholar. google. co. uk [Accessed 4 March 2013] Drury, C. , 2008. Management and Cost Accounting. 7th Edition. London: Cengage Learning. IBM, 2013. Balanced Scorecard Software. U. S. IBM. Available From: http://www-01. ibm. com/ software/analytics/cognos/balanced-scorecard-software. tml IBM, 2013. Innovation Center. U. S. IBM. Available From: http://www-01. ibm. com/software/ data/cognos/innovation-center/advisors. html Kaplan, R. S. and Norton, D. P. , The balanced scorecard – measures that drive performance, Harvard Business Review, January-February 1992, 71-79. Available from: http://schola r. google. co. uk [Accessed 21 February 2013] Kaplan, R. S. and Norton, D. P. , Transforming the Balanced Scorecard from Performance Measurement to Strategic Management: Part 1, American Accounting Association Accounting Horizons, 15 (1), 75-85. Available from: http://scholar. google. co. k [Accessed 23 February 2013] Kaplan, R. S. and Norton, D. P. , Using the balanced scorecard as a strategic management system, Harvard Business Review, January-February 1996, 75-85. Available from: http://scholar. google. co. uk [Accessed 23 February 2013] Letza, S. , 1996. The design and implementation of the balanced business scorecard. Business Process Re-engineering & Mangement Journal, 2(3), 54-76. Available from: http://www. emeraldinsight. com [Accessed 15 February 2013] Lloyds Banking Group plc, 2009. Annual Report 2008. United Kingdom: Lloyds Banking Group plc. Available from: http://www. lloydsbankinggroup. om/investors/financial_performance/ company_results. asp#2007 Lloyds Banking Group plc, 2013. Performance Management. United Kingdom. Lloyds Banking Group plc. Available from: http://www. lloydstsb-annualreport. com/businessreview/our_people/ performance_management/ Schneiderman, A. M. , Why Balanced Scorecards Fail, Journal of Strategic Performance, January 1999, 6-11. Available from: http://scholar. google. co. uk [Accessed 6 March 2013] Ward, A. , Implementing the Balanced Scorecard at Lloyds TSB, Strategic HR Review, 4 (3), 16-19. Available from : http://www. emeraldinsight. com [Accessed 28 February 2013]

I Am A Writer By Writing - 1476 Words

â€Å"I’m a Writer† Writing has never really been a passion I possess. I wouldn’t go as far to say I hate it, but, I wouldn’t want to say I love it either. For some, writing is a way to escape their own messed up worlds and creates a new, it’s exciting, adventures, and daring, but, to me, writing is such a tedious task that I as a person do not have the patients to withstand. I haven’t always disliked writing; I actually use to enjoy getting all my thoughts down on paper and coming out with my own little masterpiece my parents could hang on the fridge and boast about to their friends. The worst/best paper I ever had to write was in 5th grade, I had to describe my top three very best friends in five paragraphs or more, then let my elbow partner grade it on a scale from 1-6 ( six being the best). I put my all into that paper; it was going to be my best paper yet. Getting organized to write a paper is the worst thing ever; the idea charts, the c onstant erasing, getting up repeatedly to sharpen my pencil. I remember writing this particular paper; I had just gotten to school and put my bag in my cubby. The first thing out of Mr. Leisch’s mouth (my teacher at the time) was, â€Å"today we are going to write for the entire day, we are falling behind in this subject compared to the other three classes and we need to practice.† As the rest of my peers groaned and bellyached I was thrilled, â€Å"today will be the day I write a six!† I told myself. As my teacher gave us ourShow MoreRelatedI Am Not The Strongest Writer And I Don t Find Writing1195 Words   |  5 PagesPersonally, I strongly dislike writing. I am not the strongest writer and I don’t find writing essays pleasing. I have only found very few essays to be enjoyable to write because they were probably topics I was passionate in and felt comfortable to argue about. I took this class to become a better writer along with intro to journalism whi ch is a class on writing news stories which could be argumentative pieces. I have written essays in all other core English classes such as American Literature inRead MoreAcademic Writing : What Is It And How Successful A Writer Am I?1229 Words   |  5 PagesAcademic Writing: What is it and How Successful a Writer Am I? When it comes to writing, many would say that there are two distinct â€Å"camps†: those who like to write, and those who do not. It is not unusual to find many members of the former group exploring this enjoyment through the domain of creative writing. Further, creative writing allows for a great deal of free reign. This field of writing allows the writer an all-access pass to self-expression. 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US Neutrality Acts of the 1930s and the Lend-Lease Act

The Neutrality Acts were a series of laws enacted by the United States government between 1935 and 1939 that were intended to prevent the United States from becoming involved in foreign wars. They more-or-less succeeded until the imminent threat of World War II spurred passage of the 1941 Lend-Lease Act (H.R. 1776), which repealed several key provisions of the Neutrality Acts. Key Takeaways: Neutrality Acts and Lend-Lease The Neutrality Acts, enacted between 1935 and 1939, were intended to prevent the United States from becoming involved in foreign wars.In 1941, the threat of World War II drove passage of the Lend-Lease Act repealing key provisions of the Neutrality Acts.Championed by President Franklin D. Roosevelt, the Lend-Lease Act authorized the transfer of U.S. arms or other war materials to Britain, France, China, the Soviet Union, and other nations threatened by the Axis powers without the requirement of monetary repayment. Isolationism Spurred the Neutrality Acts Although many Americans had supported President Woodrow Wilson’s 1917 demand that Congress help create a world â€Å"made safe for democracy† by declaring war on Germany in World War I, the Great Depression of the 1930s spurred a period of American isolationism that would persist until the nation entered World War II in 1942. Many people continued to believe that World War I had involved mainly foreign issues and that America’s entry into the bloodiest conflict in human history had mainly benefited U.S. bankers and arms dealers. These beliefs, combined with the people’s ongoing struggle to recover from the Great Depression, fueled an isolationist movement that opposed the nation’s involvement future foreign wars and financial involvement with the countries fighting in them. The Neutrality Act of 1935 By the mid-1930s, with war in Europe and Asia imminent, the U.S. Congress took action to ensure U.S. neutrality in foreign conflicts. On August 31, 1935, Congress passed the first Neutrality Act. The primary provisions of the law banned the export of â€Å"arms, ammunition, and implements of war† from the United States to any foreign nations at war and required U.S. arms makers to apply for export licenses. â€Å"Whoever, in violation of any of the provisions of this section, shall export, or attempt to export, or cause to be exported, arms, ammunition, or implements of war from the United States, or any of its possessions, shall be fined not more than $10,000 or imprisoned not more than five years, or both †¦,† stated the law. The law also specified that all arms and war materials found being transported from the U.S. to any foreign nations at war, along with the â€Å"vessel, or vehicle† carrying them would be confiscated. In addition, the law placed American citizens on notice that if they attempted to travel to any foreign nation in a war zone, they did so at their own risk and should not expect any protection or intervention on their behalf from the U.S. government. On February 29, 1936, Congress amended the Neutrality Act of 1935 to prohibit individual Americans or financial institutions from loaning money to foreign nations involved in wars. While President Franklin D. Roosevelt initially opposed and considered vetoing the Neutrality Act of 1935, he signed it in the face of strong public opinion and congressional support for it.   The Neutrality Act of 1937 In 1936, the Spanish Civil War and the growing threat of fascism in Germany and Italy boosted support for further expanding the scope of the Neutrality Act. On May 1, 1937, Congress passed a joint resolution known as the Neutrality Act of 1937, which amended and made the Neutrality Act of 1935 permanent. Under the 1937 Act, U.S. Citizens were barred from traveling on any ship registered to or owned by any foreign nation involved in ​a  war. In addition, American merchant ships were forbidden from carrying arms to such â€Å"belligerent† nations, even if those arms were made outside of the United States.  The president was given the authority to ban all ships of any sort belonging to nations at war from sailing in U.S. waters. The Act also extended its prohibitions to apply to nations involved in civil wars, like the Spanish Civil War. In one concession to President Roosevelt, who had opposed the first Neutrality Act, the 1937 Neutrality Act gave the president the authority to allow nations at war to acquire materials not considered â€Å"implements of war,† such as oil and food, from the United States, provided the material was immediately paid for – in cash – and that the material was carried only on foreign ships. The so-called â€Å"cash-and-carry† provision had been promoted by Roosevelt as a way to Help Great Britain and France in their looming war against the Axis Powers. Roosevelt reasoned that only Britain and France had enough cash and cargo ships to take advantage of the â€Å"cash-and-carry† plan. Unlike other provisions of the Act, which were permanent, Congress specified that that â€Å"cash-and-carry† provision would expire in two years. The Neutrality Act of 1939 After Germany occupied Czechoslovakia in March of 1939, President Roosevelt asked Congress to renew the â€Å"cash-and-carry† provision and expand it to include arms and other materials of war. In a stinging rebuke, Congress refused to do either. As the war in Europe expanded and the Axis nations’ sphere of control spread, Roosevelt persisted, citing the Axis threat to the freedom of America’s European allies. At last, and only after lengthy debate, Congress relented and in November of 1939, enacted a final Neutrality Act, which repealed the embargo against the sale of arms and placed all trade with nations at war under the terms of â€Å"cash-and-carry.† However, the prohibition of U.S. monetary loans to belligerent nations remained in effect and U.S. ships were still prohibited from delivering goods of any kind to countries at war. The Lend-Lease Act of 1941 By late 1940, it had become unavoidably apparent to Congress that the growth of the Axis powers in Europe could eventually threaten the lives and freedom of Americans. In an effort to help the nations fighting the Axis, Congress enacted the Lend-Lease Act (H.R. 1776) in March 1941. The Lend-Lease Act authorized the President of the United States to transfer arms or other defense-related materials – subject to ​the  approval of funding by Congress – to the â€Å"government of any country whose defense the President deems vital to the defense of the United States† at no cost to those countries. Permitting the president to send arms and war materials to Britain, France, China, the Soviet Union, and other threatened nations without payment, the Lend-Lease plan allowed the United States to support the war effort against the Axis without becoming engaged in battle. Viewing the plan as drawing America closer to war, Lend-Lease was opposed by influential isolationists, including Republican Senator Robert Taft. In debate before the Senate, Taft stated that the Act would â€Å"give the president power to carry on a kind of undeclared war all over the world, in which America would do everything except actually put soldiers in the front-line trenches where the fighting is.† Among the public, opposition to Lend-Lease was led by the America First Committee. With a membership of over 800,000, including national hero Charles A. Lindbergh, America First challenged Roosevelt’s every move. Roosevelt took complete control of the program, quietly sending Sec. of Commerce Harry Hopkins, Sec. of State Edward Stettinius Jr., and diplomat W. Averell Harriman on frequent special missions to London and Moscow to coordinate Lend-Lease overseas. Still acutely aware of public sentiment for neutrality, Roosevelt saw to it that details of Lend-Lease expenditures were hidden away in the overall military budget and not allowed to become public until after the war. It is now known that a total of $50.1 billion—about $681 billion today—or about 11% of the total U.S. war expenditures went to Lend-Lease. On a country-by-country basis, U.S. expenditures broke down as follows: British Empire: $31.4 billion (about $427 billion today)Soviet Union: $11.3 billion (about $154 billion today)France: $3.2 billion (about $43.5 billion today)China: $1.6 billion (about to $21.7 billion today) By October 1941, the overall success of the Lend-Lease plan in assisting the allied nations prompted President Roosevelt to seek the repeal of other sections of the Neutrality Act of 1939. On October 17, 1941, the House of Representatives overwhelmingly voted to repeal the section of the Act prohibiting the arming of U.S. merchant ships. A month later, following a series of deadly German submarine attacks on U.S. Navy and merchant ships in international waters, Congress repealed the provision that had barred U.S. ships from delivering arms to belligerent seaports or â€Å"combat zones.† In retrospect, the Neutrality Acts of the 1930s allowed the U.S. Government to accommodate the isolationist sentiment held by a majority of the American people while still protecting America’s security and interests in a foreign war. The Lend-Lease agreements provided that the countries involved would repay the United States not with money or returned goods, but with â€Å"joint action directed towards the creation of a liberalized international economic order in the postwar world.† Meaning the U.S. would be repaid when the recipient country helped the U.S. fight common enemies and agreed to join new world trade and diplomatic agencies, such as the United Nations. Of course, the isolationists’ hopes of America maintaining any pretense of neutrality in World War II ended on the morning of December 7, 1942, when the Japanese Navy attacked the U.S. naval base at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii.

Commentary on Old Majors Speech Essay - 879 Words

Commentary on Old Majors Speech Old Majors speech was directed to the animals. It was about over throwing the man and the animals should take over. It was all a rebellion. In this short essay I will describe the persuasive techniques used by Old Major to persuade his fellow animals to follow his dreams. I will include quotes and other important features used by Orwell. The main part of his speech is on his dream. Old Major the Middle White Boar chooses the place and the time to make his speech very carefully. From this we can infer that he has taken his time to analyse successful techniques employed by other famous speakers from the past. In addition Old Major has a title and that is he†¦show more content†¦Comrades are Old Majors main word in the speech to attract the audience to him. Before he starts the speech on his dream he does an intro on his and says he will die soon. He convinces the audience that they understand his concerns and that the animals and him share interests in common and one of the interests Orwell states is that our lives are miserable, laborious and short. The point of this line is that Old Major is trying to tell the animals everyone dies and that it is nature. In addition he establishes his expertise or personal experience to convince his fellow creatures that the farm will be able to support a dozen horses, twenty cows, hundreds of sheep. This is also an example of using the list of 3 on a rhetorical device. Another well thought of persuasive technique is that Orwell makes Old Major use repetition when he says the seven commandments No animal must ever live in a house, No animal must ever sleep in a bed, No animal must ever wear clothes, No animal must ever drink alcohol, No animal must ever smoke tobacco. Old majors employs a lot of rhetorical questions that he answers afterward one of them was about a fellow animal called Clover here is the rhetorical question where areShow MoreRelatedEssay on Popular Mechanics Analysis: The Need for Good Communication778 Words   |  4 Pagesthe traitor animals in front of the farm and when they had finished their confession the dogs promptly tore their throats out (84). Old Majors speech strongly advised, Remove man from the scene and the root of hunger and overwork is abolished for ever (7). He also informed them that, All men are enemies. All animals are comrades (10). Old Majors speech was taken very seriously; so seriously that the animals ev entually did what he had told them to do. The rebellion didnt give them exactly

Proctor Gamble Free Essays

1. In our opinion, we think the answer about product life cycle is not absolutely correct. It is depend on product’s characteristic. We will write a custom essay sample on Proctor Gamble or any similar topic only for you Order Now 3C product such as eeepc (asus’s product, netbook) have quite short product life cycle; Rolex watch have been established more than 200 years. So if marketers want to extend product life cycle, they have to do more afford on survey to realize consumer behavior and satisfy their really needs and wants. When the product’s sales shows that it is on the decline stage, marketers should find the new desire on consumers and reposition, modify their product or marketing strategy, It is gain brand loyalty and equity to extend brands or products life cycle. Consequently, the â€Å"brand† makes its product life cycle prolong and maintain the product in the market. 2. Before we start to reposition, we must know the environment situation, such as industry, competitive, and consumer analysis. We use five forces analysis to analyze industry, and conclude that the competition is fierce. After that, we analyze competitive situation, through perceptual map we find that Kimberly-Clark is PG biggest competitor. The price of Huggies is between Pampers and Luvs, and with the same function of Luvs. Consumers were willing to pay more than Pampers to buy Huggies. Form consumer analysis, we find that consumers are sensitive to quality. Because there were many double-income families, consumers are afford to pay high price for diapers. To regain the status of market share, PG repositioned Pampers as high price brand, and changed some marketing strategies. Pampers has repositioned its products from â€Å"providing the most comfortable diapers† to â€Å"assisting mothers in bringing up children†. Therefore, it has come up with some concepts and ways to meet the purpose of the repositioning, such as the concept of Baby Stage of Development, the use of step-by-step toys, the consultation of experts, and establishment of Pampers parenting network. The concept of Baby Stage of Development is based on the babies various needs at various stages. As a result, PG provides suitable diapers products for babies, including new babies, babies, toddlers and preschoolers. With the concepts of BSOD, Pampers has further introduced the step-by-step toy system. In the course of playing, the toys function as children friends. Besides changing the products, Pampers also establishes Pampers Parenting Network. On the websites, some experts have written professional articles on how to breed babies, how to help babies grow healthy, and so on. And all these articles are posted on the website as references for parents. Besides, the experts also provide professional responses to the problems parents have in the process of bringing up children. (2) We think that PG can use the same way to reposition Crest’s brand image to differ from its competitors, and let it have room for progress. For instance, PG can reposition Crest as a product for healthy and beautiful smile, not just for the purpose of cleaning. In this way, consumers can have better looks and fulfill their mental needs by using the repositioned products. 3. To realize consumers’ needs, PG has a consumer relationship management system. In the system, there are three key points of customer relationship management. One is to understand consumers’ need deeply, second is to build consumer service center, third is to value consumers’ suggestions. To understand consumer’s need deeply, PG through depth interviews, focus group, questionnaire survey, visit shop, trace system, e-mail, and telephone to attain this goal. Finally, value consumer’s suggestion is according to consumer’s feedback to improve product continuously. For example, there are colorful designs on the Pampers, because the babies’ clothes are light colors in summer, the picture color can be seen easily. Thus, PG adopt the mothers’ advice to redesign the color. The above is how PG to manage their customer relationship. Through the customer relationship management system, we can realize what consumers’ needs are. How to cite Proctor Gamble, Papers

Interview With The Vampire Essay Example For Students

Interview With The Vampire Essay When Lestat seduces then kills the two whores in the hotel room, he delights in sexual cruelty. This is displayed in Louis narrative describing Lestat as both: masterfully clever and utterly vicious, he drank his fill without the other woman even knowing (Rice p.89) and he played with his victims, made friends with them, seduced them into trusting and liking him, even loving him (Rice p141). Lestat clearly plays with his victims when he invokes sexual competition from the second woman as she says: I can warm that cold skin of yours better than she can (Rice p.87) Lestat shows he is the master of mockery combined with sadism. My argument here is focused on sadism defined as male with a low sense of self-worth since childhood, trying to prove importance and superiority by punishing others. As far as we know, Lestat has had no life-choices, either in his education or in becoming immortal, as both decisions were taken without consent. Therefore, Lestats indulgence in sadistic sexual pleasure can be credited to an indiscriminate motive of revenge. But Lestat has no conception of his sadistic nature and so does not appear to manifest any sense of rationality since he says to Louis: I like to do itI enjoy it (Rice p.93) without explaining. As Michel Foucault says of sadism: In Sade, sex is without any norm or intrinsic rule that might be formulated from its own nature: but it is subject to the unrestricted law of power which itself knows no other law but its own (Foucault p.149). However, Louis does offer some reasoning for Lestats senseless carnage of the young or attractive in: You see they represented the greatest loss to Lestat, because they stood on the threshold of the maximum possibility of life (Rice p.47) Lestats rationale in killing the two beautiful whores, the young, rich Freniere and dooming a five year old girl to an eternity of childhood is symptomatic of Lestats sadistic nature, but in some way related to his past. Consequently, Lestat unconsciously transgresses from conflicts within vampire relationships to avenge his past, and he achieves this through sadistic redress. The performance at the Theatre des Vampires is where both vampires and humans gather to mutually experience: A highly erotic, somewhat disturbing scene (Gelder p.112). The vampires masquerade as vampires. The audience indulge in simulation of sexuality and death. The audience believe the performance is a theatrical illusion and are there to be: mesmerised by the performancetitillated (Gelder p.112). So I want to argue here that the relationship between sexuality and cruelty works on a number of levels as both the vampires and audience are involved in a type of sexual perversity. For the vampires, the scene represents reality, as killing and drinking human blood is pertinent to vampire nature. In contrast, the audience are an antithesis to human nature in comparison to other mortals in the text, such as Babette, who have shown disdain for vampiric sexual evil. But further perversity exists, since vampires openly kill a mortal in front of other humans thereby increasing vampire pleasure in killing. Louis attests to vampiric pleasure when he recalls an instinctive sexual longing at the performance: I wanted her. Wanted her. My mouth full of the taste of her, my veins in torment (Rice pp242-243). Conversely, it could also be argued that the vampires perform at the Theatre de Vampires to acquire legitimacy for their communal home. So, I also suggest that the theatre provides both a faà ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½ade and sanctuary to enable the vampires from arousing suspicion from mortals. Therefore, these vile heterogeneous gatherings between vampires and mortals have irony but fundamental to the existence of the Parisian vampires. .u4878e9c21fb0a357ab336aaee8fb622b , .u4878e9c21fb0a357ab336aaee8fb622b .postImageUrl , .u4878e9c21fb0a357ab336aaee8fb622b .centered-text-area { min-height: 80px; position: relative; } .u4878e9c21fb0a357ab336aaee8fb622b , .u4878e9c21fb0a357ab336aaee8fb622b:hover , .u4878e9c21fb0a357ab336aaee8fb622b:visited , .u4878e9c21fb0a357ab336aaee8fb622b:active { border:0!important; } .u4878e9c21fb0a357ab336aaee8fb622b .clearfix:after { content: ""; display: table; clear: both; } .u4878e9c21fb0a357ab336aaee8fb622b { display: block; transition: background-color 250ms; webkit-transition: background-color 250ms; width: 100%; opacity: 1; transition: opacity 250ms; webkit-transition: opacity 250ms; background-color: #95A5A6; } .u4878e9c21fb0a357ab336aaee8fb622b:active , .u4878e9c21fb0a357ab336aaee8fb622b:hover { opacity: 1; transition: opacity 250ms; webkit-transition: opacity 250ms; background-color: #2C3E50; } .u4878e9c21fb0a357ab336aaee8fb622b .centered-text-area { width: 100%; position: relative ; } .u4878e9c21fb0a357ab336aaee8fb622b .ctaText { border-bottom: 0 solid #fff; color: #2980B9; font-size: 16px; font-weight: bold; margin: 0; padding: 0; text-decoration: underline; } .u4878e9c21fb0a357ab336aaee8fb622b .postTitle { color: #FFFFFF; font-size: 16px; font-weight: 600; margin: 0; padding: 0; width: 100%; } .u4878e9c21fb0a357ab336aaee8fb622b .ctaButton { background-color: #7F8C8D!important; color: #2980B9; border: none; border-radius: 3px; box-shadow: none; font-size: 14px; font-weight: bold; line-height: 26px; moz-border-radius: 3px; text-align: center; text-decoration: none; text-shadow: none; width: 80px; min-height: 80px; background: url(https://artscolumbia.org/wp-content/plugins/intelly-related-posts/assets/images/simple-arrow.png)no-repeat; position: absolute; right: 0; top: 0; } .u4878e9c21fb0a357ab336aaee8fb622b:hover .ctaButton { background-color: #34495E!important; } .u4878e9c21fb0a357ab336aaee8fb622b .centered-text { display: table; height: 80px; padding-left : 18px; top: 0; } .u4878e9c21fb0a357ab336aaee8fb622b .u4878e9c21fb0a357ab336aaee8fb622b-content { display: table-cell; margin: 0; padding: 0; padding-right: 108px; position: relative; vertical-align: middle; width: 100%; } .u4878e9c21fb0a357ab336aaee8fb622b:after { content: ""; display: block; clear: both; } READ: Choose a scene in Blood Brothers EssayEarlier in this essay, I argued that conflict is generally located externally or internally within vampire cultures. Yet in the two texts, overtly sexual female vampires are destroyed by threatened males. Examples of internal conflict and female sexuality appear in the text of Interview With The Vampire when Claudia and Madeleine are destroyed. Both Claudia and Madeleine are sexually aggressive, and this is apparent when the female vampires are created. Firstly, Claudia is insatiable in her desire to drink the blood of Lestat: He was trying to push her off, and she wouldnt let goshe held the wrist to her mouth, a growl coming out of he r (Rice p.102). The untamed lust of Claudia is prophetic, signaling superior female sexual power in comparison to Lestat and Louis. Accordingly then, it is natural that the greater sexual potency of Claudia, usurps Lestat in the affections of Louis. As Louis clearly views Claudia as flagrantly sexual: I loved her, must have her, must keep her (Rice p. 127) and later I knew I loved her only too well, that the passion for her was as great as the passion for Armand (Rice p.277). Then Louis view of Claudia shows she is a significant sexual rival to both Lestat and Armand. Madeleine is created by demand, the demand of Claudia. Furthermore, Louis acquiesces to Claudia, to avoid yet another doomed menage-a-trois. Female brutality and sexual craving are visible when Louis makes Madeleine into a vampire, and is comparable to the making of Claudia. As Louis recalls Madeleines insatiable lust was painful: it was cutting me, scoring me, so I all but cried out as it went on and on (Rice p.292). Therefore, a close alliance between the two female vampires must present an enormous risk to the domination of sexuality by male vampires. As a consequence, both Claudia and Madeleine die whilst Louis survives. Furthermore, this is not convincing justice for the death of Lestat, as Madeleine is innocent. Clearly, the vampires are motivated by fear of the potent liaison between Claudia and Madeleine. Furthermore, Louis is rescued from death, because of the homoerotic desire of Armand. A relationship that is now possible, as the two overtly lasciviousness female vampires and their, powerful natures are extinguished. Therefore, in Interview With The Vampire, sexuality and cruelty function principally to sustain male sexual domination and homoerotic relationships. One of the main points I have argued in this essay, is that power and sexual cruelty prevail through conflict. My assertion in Dracula is that conflict is external to vampire existence, whereas in contrast, internal conflicts exist in Interview With The Vampire. Therefore in conclusion, it is essential to say that although both narratives are told in the first person, the viewpoints in the text are endorsed by use of opposing narrative strategies. In Dracula the text is narrated by mortals, therefore the reader is greatly influenced by the mortal perspective. Whilst in contrast, the narrative of Interview With The Vampire is recounted from a vampires perspective. Accordingly, then, Dracula and Interview With The Vampire, present the reader with a textual biased perspective. The narrators present their own ideologies relating to power and sexual cruelty projecting their own identities and environment. As Michel Foucault argues: We must conceptualize the deployment of sexuality on the basis of the techniques of power that are contemporary with it (Foucault p.150). Therefore, sexuality and cruelty, operate by reflecting the personal, political and social opinions of their narrators. Consequently, Dracula reflects mortal ethics, in contrast to Interview With The Vampire, which through a single narrative is unmistakably opinionated but applies vampiric reasoning.