From Modernism to Postmodernism in Art Essay

In order to understand modernism and postmodernism, it is essential to know where the ideas, values and events during these paradigmatic shifts. Essentially, the context of modernism and postmodernism, its ideals and moral imperatives, must be seen in the context that precedes it. This paper seeks to describe the shift from modernity to post-modernity in art and literature by understanding the ideals and imperatives that existed during these periods. A premise for understanding these paradigms in art and literature is to understand the paradigm that it overthrew, and present how historical context provides the logic behind the changes that occurred. The paper is divided into 3 major sections, first of which is a description of the romantic, pre-modernist era and why artists collectively shifted to modernity. Secondly, the utopian ideals and moral imperatives of modernist schools of art and thought are rediscovered. Lastly, the shift to the postmodernist paradigm is explored through the works during the transitions between modernism and postmodernism. Romanticism to Modernism Modernism is arguably a response to the paradigms that precede it, namely Romanticism. Romanticism in art and literature started at the early 19th century as a response to the wars and belief systems during the time. The moral imperatives during the time are concerned with religious iconography in relation to the clamor of states for independence. The imageries in art and literature inculcate these ideals. Art is concerned with propagating virtues that are marriages of the ideas of state and religion. Nationalism, truth and faith are only few of the features of art and literature. Fundamentally, art and literature is laden with symbolisms of greatness and goodness such that nature, radical notions of freedom and equality, reality and reason. Morality is seen as an artist’s virtue. The individual’s subjective experience is at the pedestal of art and literature. The trend is exemplified in Delacroix’s (1830) Liberty Leading the People. It is a lucid presentation of war where the symbolism of liberty is a woman carrying a flag. It is realist in its depiction and shows contrasting imageries of death, destruction and oblivion, on one hand, and of liberty, greatness and collective action of a people for a common good, on the other hand. What became the impetus for change in the prevailing romantic trend in art and literature? The stability of industrial revolution’s growth is not perpetual. Moral imperatives concerned with virtues of truth and spirituality, and the utopian ideals of freedom and equality were challenged by an undercurrent. There is a growing collective restlessness brought by ideas that challenged the status quo. The well-known of these ideas is in the theory of evolution by Charles Darwin that negated the dominant religious thought. Marx also came as a tour de force when he criticized the industrial revolution as fundamentally flawed. State and religion as social forces that are reflected in art and literature were overthrown with the anti-spiritual evolutionism and the anti-industrial/capitalist socialism. Modernism and its Ideals Modernism rose as a challenge to the status quo of romantic art and literature. It is despondent of the prevailing ideals and morals. In reality, modernism is a collective term for rises and falls of different genres of art and literature. Industrial revolution continued but its reflections in art and literature are marred and asymmetrical as opposed to the romantic acceptance of reality during the era that came before it. Industrial revolution is characterized by different emerging philosophies, innovations and scientific discoveries. Art during this time showed that new art styles and movements emerged and sank into oblivion at a moment’s pace. Deliberately, art and literature sought to render the moral imperatives of the status quo as sacrilegious. Artelino (n. d. ) wrote: â€Å"The history of modern art started with Impressionism. It all began in Paris as a reaction to a very formal and rigid style of painting – done inside studios and set by traditional institutions. † At first, the meanings and symbolisms of artworks were critiques to the status quo. However, the evolution of techniques and art genres became a sporadic phenomenon across Europe. Soon enough, the formal rigid styles were overthrown by non-formal and unconventional styles in art and literature. Modern art is quintessentially a movement coming from different vantage points that are experiencing similar historical contexts. In France, the creative process in the studio is scrapped for the environment. This is seen in the impressionist movement started by Claude Monet. Fauvism, using wild colors and taking impressionism to its limits, was championed by Henri Matisse (1905) in his Woman with a Hat. The industrial revolution is also characterized by mass production and consumption. The French developed an art genre that became a critique to mass production itself. Art Nouveau, French for ‘new art’, featured elegance and highly decorative styles and a dedication to natural forms. Artelino (n. d. ) describes that â€Å"(It) was an International art movement. The Germans called it Jugendstil, the Italians Liberty, the Austrians Sezessionsstil and the Spanish Arte joven. Art Nouveau was not restricted to painting or printmaking. It covered all forms of art – architecture, furniture, jewelry, glass and illustration. † Because of Art Nouveau’s high-priced artifacts it is difficult to be mass produced, making it a critique to mass production itself. One example is Horta’s (1898) museum which features Art Nouveau architecture. Victorian influences are overtures of the architecture, which is evidence that modernism is a two-fold response to its historical milieu. On one hand, a critique of the moral imperatives of a modern industrial economic-political system, and also an attempt to look back to more traditional art forms of the previous era. Modernism’s ideals posit a challenge to conventionality and rigidity, form and function of art during the genres that precede it and interestingly, genres within modernism clash and overthrow each other as the dominant art style. One example is art nouveau and art deco’s moral imperatives. While mass production is criticized in art nouveau by going back to fundamentals and looking forward to extravagance, art deco deemed that art must be mass produced. Art deco is simplified and easily mass produced form of art nouveau. Cubism as a modernist genre also criticizes the predominant trend in social institutions and modes of production by drawing influences from African art. This movement is spearheaded by Pablo Picasso (1921) as seen in Three Musicians. While drawing influences on African art, the painting also portrays hints of impressionism, and this is the reason why cubism is also considered as a post-impressionist art genre. This art form also paved the way for minimalism because of its principle of reducing complexities into simpler geometrical representations. Developments in psychology also paved way for surrealism, which is focused on interpreting the subconscious. Surrealist artwork is characterized by a dream-like ambience. Another critique towards modern art is its elite nature. Modern art is characterized by high art, art that is appealing to the elites in the society. Within modernism in art are evaluations to itself. Abstract art is a high art that does not appeal to a majority of people but is critically acclaimed by the high society. During this time, a new movement in modernism took art and mainstreamed it to the masses. This emerging response to abstract art and other forms of high art during modernism is popular art. Pop art challenges the principles of conventional art since it is something that the masses can relate to. Using common icons and symbols are prominent in the works of Andy Warhol (1962) such as Campbell’s Soup series. Pop art embraced advertising and marketing art as fine art, which makes it generally acceptable to everyone. The ethical consideration of pop art is that it is something that must not be monopolized by the high society. It is for everyone and it is seeing art in things that are common. From criticizing industrialization and the issues concerning the modern man, modernist art is also an anti-thesis unto itself. When different genres collide within modernism, new art forms and techniques emerge. Such is the makings of modern art that it spawned groundbreaking genres. Sensibilities of people also reflect the changes that occurred in societies at the time of modern art. Response to Modernism: The Rise of Postmodernism? Postmodernist art is considered a response to modernism. While modernism is about negating tradition and â€Å"discovering radically new ways to make art† (Wikipedia 2007), â€Å"postmodernism describes movements which both arise from, and react against or reject, trends in modernism† (Krauss, 1986). Postmodernism is making use of â€Å"pastiche and discontinuity† instead of taking reference of spontaneity and direct expression (Harrison and Wood, 1992). Postmodernist art divorces itself from moral imperatives and ideals per se. It is intrinsically questioning both variables in art itself. Postmodernism destroys boundaries of high art and low art while at the same time challenging the notion of what art is. Wikipedia (2007) describes postmodernist art as: â€Å"one that rejects modernism’s grand narratives of artistic direction, eradicating the boundaries between high and low forms of art, and disrupting genre’s conventions with collision, collage, and fragmentation. Postmodern art holds that all stances are unstable and insincere, and therefore irony, parody, and humor are the only positions that cannot be overturned by critique or revision. † Surprisingly, the boundary between late modernism and postmodernism is a grey area where post modern art are sometimes considered late modern, and vice versa. Post modern art believes that there is nothing new or avant garde, and it debunks artistic genius and beauty itself. It confuses, because the objective is subjective and subjectivity is confusing itself. It promotes ideologies while debunking it altogether. Conclusion The shift from modernity to postmodernism is reflective of the changes that occurred in post-conflict, post-industrial, post-ideological world we live in. It represents globalization in its redefinition of identities and its ideals are far from utopian. Moral imperatives are thrown altogether in so far as art and its traditions are concerned. Moreover, it does not conform to black and white, good and evil or beautiful and ugly distinctions that were features of art itself. But post modern art is not devoid of moral imperatives and ideals. The ideals and morality within postmodernism is a realization of the non-existence of such notions of utopia and grandeur. References: Artelino (n. d. ) Modern Art Movements. Retrieved March 14, 2008 from < http://www. artelino. com/articles/modern_art_periods. asp> Delacroix, E (1830) Liberty Leading the People. 102. 4 ? 128. 0 in Louvre, Paris. Oil painting. Harrison and Wood (1992). Art in Theory. 1900-2000: An Anthology of Changing Ideas. Blackwell Publishing. Krauss, R. E. (1986) The originality of the avant garde and other modernist myths. MIT Press. Reprinted July 1986, Part 1 , Modernist Myths. Matisse, Henri. (1905) Woman with a Hat. San Francisco Museum of Modern Art. Painting. Picasso, P. (1921)Three Musicians. New York: Museum of Modern Art. Oil Painting on Canvas. Warhol, A. (1962) Campbell’s Soup Cans. 20 ? 16 inches. Museum of Modern Art. (32 synthetic polymer paint on canvas series displayed by year of introduction) Wikipedia (2007). Postmodern art. Wikipedia. Org. retrieved March 14, 2008 from < http://en. wikipedia. org/wiki/Postmodern_art#_ref-Harrison1014_0>

Revisiting the Juvenile Offenders in Adult Criminal Justice System

The statistics are striking. In 2002 alone, one in twelve murders in the U. S. involved a juvenile offender (Snyder and Sickmund p. 65). Half of high school seniors (51%) surveyed in 2003 said they had tried illicit drugs at least once (Snyder and Sickmund p. 75). About 9% of murders in the U. S. were committed by youth under 18 in 2000 and an estimated 1561 youth under the age of 18 were arrested for homicide in 2000 (Fox). Youth under 18 accounted for about 15% of violent crime arrests in 2001 (FBI).One national survey found that for every teen arrested, at least 10 were engaged in violence that could have seriously injured or killed another person. (US Dept. of Health and Human Services). The alarming numbers continue but leave a question mark on the propensity and effectiveness of existing US juvenile laws, pushing for an inclination towards adopting adult justice systems in youth offender cases. Yet, alongside these figures are far more alarming statistics. While juvenile crimes are persistent, it is also true that one of every four violent crime victims known to law enforcement is a juvenile (Snyder and Sickmund p.31). Suicide is the third leading cause of death among teenagers. In fact, 1921 young people ages 10 to 19 died by suicide in the United States in 2000 (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention). In fact, about 1 in 11 high-school students say they have made a suicide attempt in 1999(Centers for Disease Control and Prevention p. 6). And, officials have reported that of the more than 2,800 sexual violence allegations in juvenile facilities in 2004, 3 in 10 were substantiated (Snyder and Sickmund p. 230).A juvenile offender is one who is considered too young to be tried as an adult. Typically, the age at which a person can be tried as an adult varies among states, but ordinarily, it is the age of seventeen or eighteen, although this age can go down for certain serious offenses, such as homicide or sexual assault (Larson). When charged with a cri minal offense, a juvenile is sent to a juvenile court where he may either waive his right and be tried under adult criminal systems. Ideally and ordinarily, the focus is on what will rehabilitate the juvenile, rather than on punishment.For juvenile offenses, the juvenile are often said to have committed a â€Å"delinquent act,† as opposed to a â€Å"criminal offense. † (Larson). Although the juvenile court has broad discretion to tailor a sentence to the needs of a young offender this juveniles are still sentenced to prison. In fact, many states have large juvenile prisons and treatment facilities. The principle is that that the present criminal justice system believes that some juvenile offenders are very dangerous, despite their age, that incarceration seemed to be appropriate.While most of the policymakers and the press claim that an increase in the youth population shall also result in the rate of juvenile offenses, a lot of considerations need to be addressed. Jus tifications, as will be discussed later, however, boil down to one conclusion- when a juvenile commits an adult crime, he should not be required to face the consequences as an adult. In an effort to derive justifications why youth offenders should not be tried under adult criminal justice systems, several propositions are laid out below based on recent studies: 1.Youth are developmentally different from adults; 2. Incarcerating youth offenders in adult jails is dangerous to the juvenile offenders; 3. Youth incarceration in adult jails does not reduce crime rate; 4. Trying juvenile offenders and imposing death penalty to youth offenders is unconstitutional. These are discussed in detail in the following sections. Youth are developmentally different from adults The basic principle of equality of rights is commonly understood to mean that persons who are similarly situated shall be treated the same under the law.A close analysis of adult and youth offender profiles however suggests tha t adult and youth criminal offenders are not similarly situated so much so that existing adult justice systems should be liberally applied if not totally abolished as against juvenile offenders. Psychologists and lawyers have raised significant and recent studies in the juvenile brain in reconsidering the existing juvenile laws. An issue in point is whether a teenager who commits capital offenses can be executed or whether this would be cruel and unusual punishment, banned by the Constitution's eighth amendment.The point is, adolescents are not morally culpable as adults because their brains are not as capable of impulse control, decision-making, and reasoning as adult brains are. Psychologists say that this is because the brain's frontal lobe, which exercises restraint over impulsive behavior, â€Å"doesn't begin to mature until 17 years of age,† says neuroscientist Ruben Gur of the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia. â€Å"The very part of the brain that is judged by the legal system process comes on board late.† Other than this, adults behave differently not just because they have different brain structures, but because they use the structures in a different way ( Beckman ). Because of these social and biological reasons, an article in Times Magazine read, â€Å"teens have increased difficulty making mature decisions and understanding the consequences of their actions. † With much of these studies leaning towards the immediate fact that juveniles are not as mentally developed as the adult offenders, it is but proper that minors should never be tried as adults and should be spared the death penalty.Incarcerating youth offenders in adult jails is dangerous to the juvenile offenders It is a fact that despite a federal law preventing juveniles from adult jails existing for over three decades, 7,500 youth are in adult jails, according to a report released by the Campaign for Youth Justice. It must be reconsidered that rather than reh abilitating the youth offenders, incarcerating youth offenders in adult jails poses more danger to the juvenile. In fact, they are exposed to these dangers even before they’ve had their day in court (Campaign for Youth Justice).Incarceration exposes the youthful offender to sexual assault. Officials reported that of more than 2,800 sexual violence allegations in juvenile facilities in 2004, 3 in 10 were substantiated with girls more likely than boys to be sexually victimized (Snyder and Sickmund p. 229). In 2005, 21% of all substantiated victims of inmate-on-inmate sexual violence were under eighteen years old, even though youth make up less than 1% of the total jail population (Campaign for Youth Justice).Likewise, incarceration in adult are at greater risk of suicide than similar youth in theU. S. population (Snyder and Sickmund p. 229). In fact, youth have the highest suicide rates of all inmates in jails. â€Å"They are 36 times more likely to commit suicide in an adult jail than in a juvenile detention facility, and 19 times more likely to commit suicide in an adult jail than youth in the general population† (Campaign for Youth Justice). Finally, jailing juveniles in adult facilities are counterproductive and even increases their likelihood of reoffending.Based on studies, children who are prosecuted in adult court are more likely to be rearrested more often and more quickly for serious offenses(Campaign for Youth Justice). Youth incarceration in adult jails does not reduce crime rate While it is true that juvenile population in the US is increasing similarly to other segments of the population such that population projections indicate that the juvenile proportion of the U. S. population will hold constant through 2050 (Snyder and Sickmund p. 2), it is not true that this increase would also result in the increase in juvenile crime rate.In an analysis conducted based on official crime statistics of youth offenders in California from 1970 to 1 998, Macallair and Males said that â€Å"the popular claim that the rising teenage population means more crime and violence is a myth† (2000). According to them, the current crime trends among youths are indication of declining crime rates into the next century and suggest a reevaluation of current trends in youth crime policies and reexamination of popular assumptions based on these statistics. Death penalty to juvenile crimes is unconstitutionalThe truth of the matter is that all states in the US now allow certain juveniles to be tried in criminal court or otherwise face adult sanctions (Snyder and Sickmund p. 110). More over, the federal consititutionality of the American juvenile death penalty was a reasonably settled issue for the past 15 years. This is a serious matter that poses more danger to juvenile offenders in facing adult consequences. It is a good thing however, that the United States Supreme Court has now expressed a renewed interest in reconsidering this issue with state courts getting more involved as well. In Thompson v.Oklahoma, 487 U. S. 815 (1988), the United States Supreme Court held that â€Å"executions of offenders age 15 and younger at the time of their crimes are prohibited by the Eighth Amendment to the United States Constitution† (Death Penalty Information Center). In Simmons v. Roper, 112 S. W. 3d 397 (Mo. 2003), the Supreme Court of Missouri interpreted current national data to hold that the death penalty for juvenile offenders now violates the United States Constitution's prohibition against Cruel and Unusual Punishment. They however did not reach the issue under the Missouri State Constitution.Although a ruling on federal constitutionality, Simmons applies only in Missouri at this juncture. In the meantime, the two prevailing issues before the Supreme Court is whether the lower court can subsequently reinterpret and reject the standards under evolving standards of decency once the United States Supreme Court sets the Eighth Amendment Cruel and Unusual standard and whether death penalty for a 17-year-old offender is now Cruel and Unusual under the Eighth Amendment's evolving standard of decency (Death Penalty Information Center).In 2005, the U. S. Supreme Court (5-4) upheld the Missouri Supreme Court and banned the death penalty for juvenile offenders, Roper v. Simmons (2005). With this as precedence, it is but due time for states to also reconsider the adverse consequences of juvenile commitment in adult prisons. Conclusion With all the issues raised above, it is but appalling why juvenile offenders should be tried under adult criminal justice systems. It is but due time that existing state policies be revisited and amended to adjust to the need of youthful offenders.In the meantime, since the present state policies on juvenile offenders are already in place, it is only but fitting to reconsider some adjustments in existing policies if at least to address and prevent these dangers until such time that the federal and state systems are ready for the new, more effective and revitalized policies. In referring to the special circumstance of juvenile offenders, the following recommendations were given in an ABA Task Force Report in 2001:†¢ Since youth are developmentally different from adults, these developmental differences need to be taken into account at all stages and in all aspects of the adult criminal justice system. †¢ Pretrial release or detention decisions regarding youth awaiting trial in adult criminal court should reflect their special characteristics. †¢ If detained or incarcerated, youth in the adult criminal justice system should be housed in institutions or facilities separate from adult facilities until at least their eighteenth birthday.†¢ Youth detained or incarcerated in the adult criminal justice system should be provided programs which address their educational, treatment, health, mental health, and vocational needs. †¢ The ri ght to counsel in the adult criminal justice system should not be waived by a youth without consultation with a lawyer and without a full inquiry into the youth's comprehension of the right and capacity to make the choice intelligently, voluntarily and understandingly. If the right to counsel is voluntarily waived, stand-by counsel should always be appointed.†¢ Judges in the adult criminal justice system should consider the individual characteristics of the youth during sentencing. †¢ The collateral consequences normally attendant to the adult criminal justice process should not necessarily apply to all youth arrested for crimes committed before the age of eighteen. (ABA p. 2) In sum, trying youth offenders under the adult criminal justice system â€Å"is not safe, is not fair and does not work† (Youth for Justice p. 4) and should therefore be guarded against. Rather than considering the youth as vices of the community, they should be looked upon as needing of socie ty’s support.Works Cited Beckman, Mary. â€Å"Crime, Culpability and the Adolescent Brain. † Death Penalty Information Center. 30 July 2004. Science Magazine. 10 March 2008. . Fox, James Alan. , Zawitz, Marianne W. â€Å"Homicide Trends in the United States. † US Department of Justice. 2002. Northeastern University and Bureau of Justice Statistics. 11 March 2008. < http://www.ojp. usdoj. gov/bjs/homicide/homtrnd. htm>. Larson, Aaron. â€Å"Juvenile Offenders. † LawExperts. March 2000. 10 March 2008. . Snyder, Howard N. , and Sickmund, Melissa. â€Å"Juvenile Offenders and Victims: 2006 National Report. † Death Penalty Information Center. 2006. Washington, DC: U. S. Department of Justice, Office of Justice Programs, Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention. 11 March 2008 . Wallis, Claudia and Dell, Kristina.â€Å"What Makes Teens Tick; A flood of hormones, sure. But also a host of structural changes in the brain. Can those explain the behaviors that make adolescence so exciting–and so exasperating? † Death Penalty Information Center. 10 May 2004. Time Magazine. 10 March 2008. . â€Å"Youth in the Criminal Justice System: An ABA Task Force Report. † American Bar Association. February 2002. Criminal Justice Section. 9 March 2008. â€Å"Youth risk behavior surveillance – United States, 2001.† Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. 2002. In: CDC Surveillance Summaries. June 28, 2002. MMWR, 51(SS-4), p. 6. 10 March 2008. . â€Å"Youth Violence: A Report of the Surgeon General. Executive Summary. † U. S. Department of Health and Human Services. 2001. p. vii. Comparison of data from the Monitoring the Future Study from the University of Michigan's Institute for Social Research and data from the FBI's Uniform Crime Reporting program. 11 March 2008. < http://www. surgeongeneral. gov/library/youthviolence/summary. htm>.

Mcdonald’s History

McDonald’s Bar-B-Que, was a â€Å"Drive-in Restaurant† in 1940 which was conceptualized by Richard (Dick) and Maurice (Mac) McDonald’s. Drive-in concept was a new and unique idea to adapt which caught everyone’s attention (Our Company, 2011). The initial mascot of the famous fast food restaurant was â€Å"Speedee. † â€Å"Speedee† was a hamburger-headed man wearing a chef’s hat (McDonald’s, 2011). However, running a restaurant is not a piece of cake, thus, by 1948 they made alterations in their menu by reducing the available food items and calls itself a â€Å"self-service drive-in restaurant. The new nine items presented in 1948 were: hamburger, cheeseburger, soft drinks, milk, coffee, potato chips and a slice of pie (Our Company, 2011). In the following year potato chips were replaced by French fries along with additional ‘triple thick milkshakes. ’ In 1954, enters a new significant character for McDonald’s, Ray Kroc. He was fascinated by the profitable new concept by the brothers whom produced best quality product, on the contrary to providing a small menu in a small restaurant. At the same time the Dick and Mac McDonald’s were in search of an agent to help them begin nationwide franchising (Our Company, 2011). Their vision turned into reality by the help of Ray Kroc. In 1955, Kroc opens a McDonald’s in Desplaines, Illinois which brought in a lot of cash for the corporation (History, 2011). And by the end of 1950s they managed to open 100 McDonald’s restaurant. Following decade started, the 60s, McDonald being itself, so successful, opened a Hamburger University in Illinois. During this year they created McDonald into a proper restaurant with indoor seating (Our Company, 2011). They received their first TV commercial hit via their new mascot Ronald in 1966. In the following year, 1967, McDonald’s goes international and today, 2011, it has restaurants in 118 countries all around the world. It is now known to be the world’s largest hamburger fast food restaurant serving more than 52 million customers daily (History, 2011). And Thailand ranked as number 28 by nation master manages to have approximately 88 McDonalds’ restaurants (Food Statistics, 2011). In 1985, the first McDonald’s restaurant opened in Amarin Plaza, Bangkok, Thailand. McDonald provides protein-full menus including: chicken, pork, beef and seafood. Throughout time McDonald’s in Thailand has embraced the early-morning working culture and started Big Breakfast. Moreover, they also present customer favorites such as McNuggets, burgers, fried chicken and ice cream (History, 2011). Although, McDonald’s in Thailand follow strict 5 operating principles or philosophy you may call it which includes QSC & V. These letters represent: Quality, Service, Cleanliness and Value. McDonald’s main focus is to produce 100% total customer satisfaction. However, focusing on the 5 figure formula to operate McDonald’s successfully; firstly, quality, is regarding the food presented to the customers. For example, McDonald’s consistently provides their customers with healthy, best standard and tasty products. Secondly, service embraces the efficient and friendly service available at McDonald’s. Their focus on service makes sure that McDonald’s can maximize customer satisfaction offering full help via provided techniques and training. Thirdly, cleanliness was first magnified by Ray Kroc back in 1955. From that day till today, McDonald’s makes sure they present themselves cleanly. Cleanliness in a fast food restaurant has to deal with a clean kitchen, dining area, rest rooms and the exterior. Lastly, value is all about the experience you pay for and prices of the products at McDonald’s. The experience they allow you to have is the environment, fine service and enjoyable food (QSC&V, 2011). Reference http://www.aboutmcdonalds.com/mcd/our_company/mcd_history.html?

Science Fiction - Blade Runner Term Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Science Fiction - Blade Runner - Term Paper Example Rather than judging the movie, according to a pre-existing definition of post modernism, it is important to look at how the movie has used the images of the postmodern to reinforce certain themes. In order to effectively study how postmodernism has been embraced in this film, we can categorize the postmodern characteristic as concern for language as a means of communication, a concern with the relationship of love verses duty and an analysis of an individual’s relationship to the society that he or she belongs to. The film does not take place in a space station or a space ship, but in a city which is Los Angeles, in 2019, a step away from the development of a society that is contemporary. The line between late capitalism and postmodernism is highlighted in the film representation of a postindustrial decay (Peary 1984). The future as expressed in the film, does not realize an idealized aseptic technological order, however, it resembles the present state of the city and of the order of capitalism (Brooker 2002). Postmodernism in the film has also been reflected as to how individual’s in the film related to each other in the society that they belong to. For an instant, there is much disagreement among both filmmakers and fans as to exactly why Roy saves Deckard life at the end of the movie. According to Ridley Scott, â€Å"it was an endorsement in a way that this character is more human than human in that he was able to demonstrate human quality at a time when the roles in the film were reversed and Deckard could have been happy to kill him. But instead Roy takes the human direction. Also, in a way, because Roy requires a kind of a death watch, in which he vividly knows that his time of dying is closing up. So in a sense he is passing the information that what their creators are doing is wrong and the thing that they have to do is to either stop making them or to deal with them as humans † (Will 2005). Another idea that Scott has implemented

Global Marketing and Consumer Culture Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2250 words

Global Marketing and Consumer Culture - Essay Example The emerging global consumer culture is pushing people to live under a single system. There exist variations between exposure to global flows and the extent to which people identify themselves with the mainstream global trends. Bicultural identities have been formed through globalization (Ritzer 2002). One aspect of the emerging culture is a robust connection with the traditional culture while the other is linked to the emerging global consumer culture. The global consumer culture has caused an enormous impact in cosmopolitan regions. Globalization has led to the need for marketers to standardize, localize or use hybrid strategies while promoting products and services. The differences between local and international markets are becoming minimal and the global culture continues to harmonize consumer expectations.Consumption is increasingly being perceived as a social behavior and a cultural complex (Merz et al 2008). Consumption is a complex social function that goes beyond mere purch ases. Therefore, consumption is affected by stimulus. The subculture of the consumers’ social ecosystem plays a central role in the process (Breckenridge 2002). The world appears to be turning into one enormous McDonalds dominated by multinationals, brands and nationalism. New local cultures are being created while traditional cultures are getting discarded. The unprecedented global and cultural transformations have started a new phase of expansion in which cosmopolitan culture is driven from a unified front. (Breckenridge 2002). Cross-cultural connections are affordable and national limitations in terms of consumer preferences appear to be increasingly becoming minimal (Agrawal 2008). This has led to a level of global integration in terms of perceptions, preferences and consumer tastes. The flow of commodities has been on the rise and countries and nations have been forced to depend on each other for food and essential commodities (Cashmore 1997). This has led to a dramatic increase in the manufactured good (Breckenridge 2002). Consumption of good designed in foreign markets is becoming acceptable even in the most conservative societies. The threat to the existence of traditions has been realized through an increase in consumption of European and American goods (Merz et al 2008). Local cultures and economic autonomy is increasingly becoming lost (Cashmore 1997). The most populous nations are going through cultural and consumer revolutions. A compelling example is China. There seems to be a predisposition towards social emulation. Market place choices are motivated by matching, imitation, and influence (Agrawal 2008). There is a social engineering of marketers and advertisers targeting the social marketplace. Consumers need continue to be increasingly harmonized and even among different global markets (Ritzer 2002). There is rapid circulation n products and intensive exchange among social groups. The power and autonomy of consumers has been growing (Breckenridge 2002). This has caused many consumers to source for the finest goods and services in the foreign markets. Globalization and international marketing by

Importance of Recruitment and Selection in the Public Sector Essay

Importance of Recruitment and Selection in the Public Sector - Essay Example Alternatively, the organization may outsource the recruiting services from a recruitment centre, which specializes in ensuring that the right workforce with the right skills receives employment at the right time from the organization. However, other HR practitioners has less involvement with recruitment and selection because these activities are delegated to line managers or outsourced, leaving the in-house practitioners limited to a few activities or overseeing the process (Tinzer, 2002:154). Recruitment and selection are the core roles of HR practitioners, although there are other activities that affect the policy of an organization and the external environment. These include business contraction or expansion, employment legislations, skills shortage and the general economic climate. Regardless of the economic climate, the process of workforce planning is not necessarily simple. Organizations must predict workforce requirements in line with future corporate objectives. Over the yea rs, the employment situation has shifted from a seller’s market to a buyer’s market and back again, especially in the public sector, thus the approach and time spent by HR practitioners need to anticipate and reflect this (Adams, 2007:97). This paper seeks to evaluate and analyze the context within which public sector recruitment occurs, as well as the factors affecting recruitment, the impact, and place of employment legislation. Additionally, the paper seeks to provide an overview on the recruitment and selection process in the public sector, considering both skills and activities (Saunders, and Thornhill, 2009:65). Demographics The impact of two factors is evident on the nature of the UK workforce, both with relation to recruitment and selection processes: demographic changes, and the adoption of traditional working patterns, which include significant growth in outsourcing. The workforce is set to diversify in terms of ethnic balance, age, and gender, drawing upon c hanges already occurred (Hyde et al., 2001:137). Concerning gender, there is a continuous trend of more women entering the labour market, raising important issue such as provision of childcare and equal pay. Concerning age, the greater longevity and falling birth rates mean that the about 46% of the UK population will be past 50, compared with only 33% in 2002. The changes in pension will also have significant impacts in this area, forcing many people to work longer. Concerning ethnicity, the government estimates that the net migration will by 2020 account for over 40% of the growth in the labour market (Caplin, and Dwyer, 2000:94). All the above issues are complex and important, thus public sector organizations need to take serious considerations during recruitment and other employment activities. Employers need to attract and retain a diverse workforce (Walliman, 2009:81). The complexity of these issues is evident from analyzing and evaluating one of the elements above: age. To ma ximize the participation of employees from different age groups as well as encourage generational diversity, the needs and expectations of each group will need consideration in designing the jobs, in induction and in recruitment activities into the organization. Although their expectations are not homogeneous, there are

E-Bussines Technologies Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

E-Bussines Technologies - Essay Example At the present, more and more companies are making use of the internet to carry out business tasks. Thus, seeing the importance of electronic commerce in today’s business environment Servue Corporation has decided to implement a new online business arrangement. In fact, web based business has transformed the map of the world. Now people can access any product or information by sitting at home using web links. The same simple and automated business technology is now required at the Servue business. In this scenario, this report will discuss some of the important aspects regarding implementation of this new technology. BUSINESS OVERVIEW Servue Corporation is specialized in offering a range of decorated crockery. They have before sold their goods with word of mouth to local customers as well as tourists, by means of their shop window, as well as with mail order from their catalogue or website. From the current business technology point of view the corporation has been making use of early 1990s computerised information system as well as makes use of their website mostly for marketing purposes. However, the current business website is not much dynamic to handle and manage the tasks of the business working through the web. Thus, the online management of business operations turns out to be a problematic job for the business. In this scenario there is need for efficient business and corporate management arrangement. BUSINESS ISSUES Currently, Servue Corporation is running its business using physical stores, email and telephonic order system. Though, the business as well uses products ordering system through phone calls from distant customer. The business is using 90s web based arrangement for capturing orders. However, such business arrangement is not much effective for ecommerce marketplace. Additionally, the business is facing a lot of problems in attracting the customers and targeting the products. The business main concern is to attract whole UK’s com munity towards the business and provide a better opportunity of attracting a wide variety of customer classes. The main issues here are lack of customer loyalty. The current business arrangement is based on a traditional legacy system for managing the orders. So it does not attract a great deal of customers. On the other hand, Servue Corporation has a lot of market contenders those are offering much superior customer support and online shopping capabilities to business customers. ONLINE BUSINESS WEBSITE FOR SERVUE BUSINESS In this section I will present the possible solution for Servue Corporation in order to improve their business productivity and corporate working through the web based channel. Here the main recommendation is about the establishment of web based business platform for possible business development and enhancement. This will be an online automated ordering and retailing system. In addition, business and market studies showed that the expansion rate of the Internet p urchases has been extremely high all through the previous years, as well as in spite of the circumstances of the real world financial disaster that affected the online orders registration, things still look extremely brilliant for the Internet. From this viewpoint, people who encourage a service or product as an element of an Internet trade have plenty

Website evaluation example Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Website evaluation example - Essay Example What is the site's purpose? Is it to provide educational resources, foster communication among scientists, raise money, increase political clout, or generate support for a special interest group If the site is sponsored by a special interest groupThe site is designed to raise awareness amongst individuals of the society about volunteerism. It gives them a guide how they can help the individuals who are in need and have suffered because of the calamities. The help generated through this can be in terms of money or manpower. It may ask the individuals living in this society to come forward and lend a hand in reviving from a disaster. Individuals of all sorts are asked for help through this site and it tells even how the disabled can come and volunteer.This site can play a huge role in reviving volunteerism amongst the individuals of the society and can make them aware of the situation of the people suffering. It aims at telling the people of how they can support by donating money or ma npower to the ones who have suffered. Volunteerism is a very important step in reviving a particular area from a disastrous state and this site is aimed at reviving the area from the disastrous state. Volunteerism is increased through many ways by this site.The site is likely to be used by common civilians living in the society. Through this site are aimed people who can matter in the society. Each and every individual of the society is targeted through the site as it tells all the individuals as to how they can volunteer for a particular cause. Even the disabled civilians of the society are targeted through this site and as to how they can matter in volunteering. WHEN was the site copyrighted and when was it last updated At the bottom of most web sites, you can find the copyright date and often a note of when it was last updated. This will give a sense of how well the site is maintained, how current the information is and how reliable the links will be. The site is copyrighted in the year 2008 and was last updated on 22nd October 2008. Evaluation of the Resource: Here you should be prepared to state your opinion of the site. This is a site maintained by the government legislature and it has the capability of attracting individuals towards volunteerism. It not only can attract them but also can help get the needy grants through its maintenance. Information is given on the site regarding different grants being given to the people. Thus it can be concluded that the site is very useful in serving the society. Step 2 Where: It is an official website of the specialized organization maintained by the UN. What: The site is aimed to aware people of different health issues affecting the whole world. The organizations site tells about different programs having been launched in different countries all over the world. It gives out different graphs and statistics which tells as to which disease has been eradicated or which disease has been on the rising. Where: This is an official website of the Department of Homeland Security and the Federal Emergency Management Agency. What: This comprehensive website provides links to useful information and training programs aimed at the general public, firefighters and Emergency Management Personnel. How: The website is supported by the United Nations and can be a great useful tool in avoiding diseases prevailing in this world. It is funded by the UN and supports different programs

Women Issues and Prostitution Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 4000 words

Women Issues and Prostitution - Essay Example The misconceptions, which follow, are many towards the rights of women. Women indulge in prostitution are sometimes considered to be "exclusive" of this society irrespective of the fact that they are the mirrors of those dilemmas which we ignore or which we feel shame to admit to ourselves. Society should consider and face this dilemma in the form of "prostitution". We will discuss some of the most common problems faced by the women of Canada today. Because of the pervasive and deeply rooted attitudes toward the legitimacy of sexual coercion in our society, our conceptions of normal male and female derive from taking coerced sexuality as the natural standard. And given that this is true, it is scarcely surprising that it should be considered to be normal for men not to like women at least to some extent, since they must perceive women as being misers and hoarders of a commodity they are led to believe they desperately desire and need. Nor is it surprising that they should identify themselves as 'true men' in accordance with the degree to which they are aggressive and dominant. Aggressive and dominant men get what they want; it is merely the forms of aggressiveness and dominance which vary, and is only when the forms resorted to involve the use or threat of violence that we are prepared to call it 'rape' and to punish those who commit it. (Schlesinger, 1977) Let us consider some of the cases of women in this aspect. One woman in this study who complained of rape, a young woman classified as 'idle,' and who was 'known as' a frequenter of the old Yorkville area of Toronto, disagreed about the standard. She felt that the man 'had gone too far,' whereas his reply was 'that he had used no more force than is usual for males during the preliminaries.' In another case, again involving a young woman, the woman rather sagely remarked that 'usually guys stop when you tell them to. This one didn't.' It is significant too that in both of these cases the men were middle-class, one a businessman and the other a semi-professional, and the women involved failed to conform to the stereotyped image of the 'real victim.' If the cases had come to trial, they are not the sort of men likely to have been judged to have resorted to unacceptable tactics, or who would be sent to jail for what they did because the women involved were not 'real victims.' These men, in common with most accused rapists, did not see anything wrong in what they had done. What the victim experienced as rape, they believed to be seduction. However, it is unbelievable that virtually none of these offenders believed that they were doing anything wrong; they did not see themselves as acting any differently from other men in society, and did not see, and resisted seeing, themselves as men who had broken the law. Almost all of them either saw, or went to quite incredible lengths to see, their behavior as 'normal' and acceptable. The extreme case simply believes everything he does in relation to women is acceptable, and after that there are subtler shadings in

Why White Collar Crimes are Committed Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Why White Collar Crimes are Committed - Essay Example By implementing the theory of Individualism in criminology, certain factors that lead to the causation of this form of white collar crime become evident. According to Sutherland (1994), personality and individual characteristics are not sufficient to offer a full comprehensive example of white collar crime. However, these two characteristics should not be dismissed entirely nor should the theory of the individualistic level (Friedrich 2004). The reason this is stated is due to the implied idea that top corporate professionals, within these aforementioned companies are interpreted to the general public as being greedy and self preserving. This is obvious by the fact that if ethic's and concern for other investors had been deciding factors, these criminal actions of fraud and embezzlement (among others) would have never taken place. Many times the individualistic theory in white collar crime points to greed as the main causation for the crime or crimes. What it amounts to is the fact that these executives would rather take the wrong highway to achieve higher positions of importance and financial flare/success than worry about what repercussions for their actions might be later down the road (Friedrich 2004).

Comparing both Immanuel Kant and John Stuart Mill's philosophical Essay

Comparing both Immanuel Kant and John Stuart Mill's philosophical positions - Essay Example He believed that happiness is derived from the good will in performing an action regardless of the consequences. Consequently, the results of an action, whether good or bad, should be deemed irrelevant so long as the basis of good action was based on good will. Furthermore, he believed that people actions were morally good when based on an obligation to duty. According to Kant, if a maxim was in compliance to universal law then it was morally good and could be subjected to rational human beings (Maj, 2002). Kant further specified the practical imperative which dictated on human dignity. The basic logic of human dignity is based on treating human beings always as an end in themselves as opposed to a means to an end. However, one major assumption of Kant’s theory is ignorance of the consequences of actions based on good will. Actions based on good will are viewed as morally right irrespective of the consequences whether good or bad. John Stuart Mill proposed a different code of ethics, drawn from teleological theory, known as utilitarianism or the principle of utility (Maj, 2002). His theory justified actions as morally good if it led to happiness. However, if the result of the action was unhappiness, then it should be deemed as immoral. Moreover, decisions and actions are judged on morality based on the consequences and not the performing of the act itself. Furthermore, he theorized that if an action results to greater happiness to a greater number of people then it was morally right. Thus in pursuit of happiness through hedonism (ethical and psychological hedonism), people should perform actions that result to pleasure and prevent pain. John Stuart Mill’s utilitarianism also justifies sacrifice if it contributes to the pleasure of people or minimizes pain. For example, sacrifice in form of discretion, that result in happiness to the greatest number of people. Moreover, Mill’s theory supports alt ruism as opposed to egoism.

Mental illness Essay Example for Free

Mental illness Essay Proof written by David Auburn goes through the life of an esteemed mathematician plagued by mental illness. In the beginning of the play Proof we are introduced to a professor at a local Chicago College named Robert. We first are introduced to Robert through a delusion of Catherine’s, another main protagonist of David auburns play. Auburn shows Robert’s genius and madness at various stages throughout the play. Auburn goes on throughout his play to exemplify the impact mental illness has on everyday family life. David Auburn introduces his two protagonist, Catherine and Robert through a delusion of Catherine’s late one night. We learn that Robert is a prestiged mathematician who was plagued with a rare mental illness. David Auburn hints at the idea that Catherine, Roberts’s daughter, was also gifted with the same mathematical skills as her father. In act 1, Robert and Catherine get into an argument over what are good days or bad days. Catherine seems to believe that the good days are those days when you just stay in bed all day and don’t leave, but Robert believes that those are days lost. Robert shows his concern for Catherine when he states â€Å" You sleep till noon, you eat junk food, you don’t work, the dishes pile up in the sink†¦ Some days you don’t get up, you don’t get out of bed†(Auburn 9). Robert worries that Catherine is suffering from depression from witnessing her fathers prolonged illness. Robert thought everyday not doing mathematics was a day lost and couldn’t imagine â€Å" the work you lost, the ideas you didn’t have, discoveries you never made because you were moping in your bed at four in the afternoon. ( Auburn 9). Catherine and Robert seem to have different aspirations in life, Robert wants to discover new mathematical equations when Catherine wants to just relax. While we are lead to believe that Catherine is lazy we get glimpses of her talent for numbers. We see that Catherine is brilliant through the eyes of her father when he says â€Å" Even your depression is mathematical. Stop moping and get to work. The kind of potential you have†( Auburn 10). Robert understands that Catherine has great potential to discover long elegant equations, but refuses to do so for some unspecific reason. Auburn then changes the spotlight from Catherine to Robert when Catherine asks her father if his worked changed after he got sick. This is the first time David Auburn mentioned anything about an illness. Auburn leads us to believe that Catherine who recently turned 25 is worried that she might to develop this same debilitating mental illness as her father. Auburn shows this when Catherine asks Robert how old he was when it all started. Robert goes on to say â€Å"mid-twenties. Twenty- three, four. Is that what you are worried about? † ( Auburn 11). We see that Catherine is terrified that if she tries to do the same work her father did she to will go mad. Robert goes on to comfort Catherine by stating â€Å" Crazy people don’t sit around wondering if they’re nuts†. ( Auburn 12). Catherine then goes to argue with Robert that his reasoning is incorrect because he was crazy and he admitted it, but Robert we then learn that Robert is also dead. This is the first time in David Auburn’s play that the reader’s feel that both Catherine and Robert are and did suffer from a unidentified mental illness. David Auburn leads us to believe that his main protagonist, Robert, has a sever illness called schizophrenia, but we aren’t sure. We notice that Robert has isolated himself and is very much set-aside from the real world. We notice Roberts’s life change from his brilliant mathematician/ college professor to an insane â€Å"graphomaniac†(Auburn 15). Catherine goes on and explains to Hal that Robert’s work has no connections to mathematical greatness, but to the same level as a â€Å"monkey at a typewriter. †( Auburn 15). When Hal says he is â€Å" prepared to look at every page. † (Auburn 15), Catherine says â€Å" no. I’m not crazy†(Auburn 15). This is significant because we as readers question if Catherine is really saying that to Hal or trying to convince herself that she isn’t crazy. We get an idea that Catherine is crazy to. As Robert’s struggle with schizophrenia continues he starts to exemplify some bizarre habits. We aren’t introduced to Robert’s true madness until Catherine comes home from college to visit him. We get the image of a man sitting outside on a cold Chicago winter night without a jacket complaining that the excruciating heat inside the house. We aren’t told specifically that Robert has schizophrenia but we are lead to believe that he is suffering from it. â€Å"Schizophrenia is a chronic, severe, and disabling brain disorder that has affected people throughout history†(Schizophrenia). Schizophrenia impacts about 1% of the United Stated Population. Even though schizophrenia isn’t common it still impacts millions of peoples lives each year. Robert exemplifies a lot of the same characteristics a patient who is diagnosed with schizophrenia is having. Many people diagnosed with schizophrenia feel that someone or something wants to harm them. They have a very hard time telling what is real and what is not. Many people with the disorder are terrified of the imaginary people that they withdraw themselves from day to day activity. In Proof Robert â€Å"believed that aliens were sending him messages through the Dewey decimal numbers on the library books. He was trying to work out the code. †(Pg 19) Robert is showing how mentally unstable he is. He is having a hard time telling the difference from what is real and what is not. Robert also struggled with his normal everyday to day routine, leaving a burden on Catherine. Catherine was forced to leave her brilliance based down from Robert and take care of him. When patients are diagnosed with schizophrenia they have a hard time retaining normal day-to-day activities so they rely on other family and friends for help, for Robert, his help came from Catherine. This leaving a terrible burden on Catherine. Robert clearly was mentally unstable and should have been placed in a mental institution with professionals that could have properly treated him. If Catherine had put him in an institution she would have been able to continue on with her schooling and at her fathers brilliance to good work. Her father also may have been able to be cured because of the significant evolve of research on schizophrenia and other mental health issues. As a reader I question Catherine’s decision because I believe that she feared that if she placed her father in an institution Claire, her sister, would try and place Catherine in an institution also. Again that is the whole reason Claire wants Catherine to move back to New York City with her. Auburn leads his readers to question if Catherine â€Å" Dropped out of school† (Auburn 19) to stay and take care of her father, or because she was afraid that she was starting to develop similar symptoms her father had Even though we aren’t told specifically what Roberts’s mental disorder is, we are lead to believe that it is schizophrenia. Robert has exemplified most to all of the symptoms of schizophrenia in many ways. Robert should have been placed in proper care with proper guidance and treatment. With the proper help Catherine could have been able to continue with her studies and move on with her life.

Why do I really need knowledge?

Why do I really need knowledge? Knowledge is defined as â€Å"justified true belief†[1]. This means that knowledge is any justified belief that can be proven to be true. The question ‘The whole point of knowledge is to produce both meaning purpose in our personal lives.’ will be the basis for my essay. This statement claims that as we gain knowledge, we gain meaning and purpose that affect our personal lives, which is to say, we find the answers we were looking for and also a thirst to know more. However, I do not believe that, when we gain knowledge, it affects everyone around us. My mother is a banker, the knowledge she has gained, not only helps her, but mainly impacts on others around her, because with that knowledge she has started her own bank. Whenever we gain knowledge, we also gain answers and more questions. In the Oscar Pistorius case, police investigators wanted to establish why he killed his girlfriend (meaning) and whether it was even him that killed his girlfriend (purpose).[2] I n this case, meaning is linked to intent, because there needs to be a reason for it and purpose is linked to opportunity, because there needs to be a way. When we gain new knowledge we feel better aware and more curious about our surroundings. That is to say, we learn to give ourselves meaning and purpose and in turn affect others, there are many cases where this is proven. Isaac Newton can be an example, when he first wondered about gravity he was sitting under a tree when an apple fell on his head. It was then that he wondered what force made things fall. He sought to find meaning to why the objects always fell back to earth, so he began experimenting on different objects, using reason, he used the resulting knowledge he got from his observation to determine that anything that goes up must fall down to the ground[3]. These discover he made were later called the laws of gravity and since they have many uses. It has become common sense since people now know to be cautious when deali ng with high places. When I was little, I picked up my baby sister from her crib while she was sleeping, when my mother found me with my sister dangling by a foot, she screamed. This is because she knows the fundamentals about gravity and that if my sister fell, she would’ve been hurt. Isaac Newton also developed the laws of motion, which states that an object in motion will continue to stay in motion until and external force is acted on it[4]. The laws of motion are used in different fields like car manufacturing, car testing, aeronautics, These laws also have provided a basis for many creations, for example, parachutes, trampolines, diving boards, etc. When a person is driving and suddenly sees someone or something on the road in front of them, they immediately hit the brakes, as they know that if they kept going, they would collide with the person/thing in front of them, causing damage to the person/thing, or to themselves/their car. Also, when they hit the brakes, an opposing force is acted on the cars forward motion, which in turn stops the car from moving. Two summers ago, I was riding a bike in my cousin’s house really fast. I wanted to slow down so I could get off the bike, but I mistakenly pressed the brakes, the bike stop abruptly and I was thrown out of the seat, I flipped over the handlebars and landed on my head. This is how the laws of motion would apply, because I hit the brakes, the bike stopped, but I didn’t stop, so that was why I flew off. When Isaac Newton discovered these laws, it was not for any higher reason than just to learn the answers for the why’s and the what’s of knowledge, in this, he had gained the meaning, but he still had no intention of gaining a purpose for his life from this, it was later, that other people found the meaning and purpose in the knowledge that he had discovered. Medical professionals (doctors, dentists, veterinaries, etc.) who have learnt medicine, anatomy, biology, etc. they used the knowledge they learnt to achieve a meaning of understanding how animal and plant bodied work, and the purpose of using that knowledge to help examine, treat or cure any injuries or illnesses within the body. My sister told me that she wants to become a pediatrician; she can only gain this knowledge for the purpose of helping children. Whenever there is a terrorist attack, whether Boko Haram, ISIS, Al Qaeda, investigators always researches everything, not only the terrorists attacking, but the victims being attacked, this is so that they can stop more attacks from happening. This is because if they can understand why a place was attacked (meaning), then it would be easier to stop other attacks in other locations (purpose). In economics, perfect competition is described as a situation where firms in an industry are relatively small in stature, have perfect knowledge of each other and are price takers[5]. This is mainly theoretically though as it cannot be practically implemented due to a wide range of unknown and inconstant variables. Although it is proven that this situation cannot exist, economists use the theory of perfect competition to determine the effect on the economy if it were to be practiced. This example is different because there is no real life scenario to go with it, but it still boosters the main point as the economists that theorized this scenario used whatever experimentation they had to come to the conclusion that it cannot exist, that is to say that the economists gained meaning from this experiment and the purpose of proving or disproving other economic scenarios. A monopoly is a situation where by a single firm has control over an entire industry, so they enjoy economies of scale and have price setting abilities[6]. In Nigeria, there are four main telecommunications companies; MTN, Airtel, Glo Etisalat, these four are individually owned by private firm. In Ethiopia, there is only one telecommunications company that is government owned. The Nigerian companies not only offer variety, but they also have an unrestricted service plan, meaning there are no limitations or restrictions to the use of the service, this is because their main aim of these firms is to make profit. The consumer can simply switch from one service provider to another if that customer is unsatisfied with their current service plan provider. The Ethiopian company is the only provider, so there is no need for any variety of services, they do not need to offer special plans or promotions or discounts because there is no competition for the company, there will also be heavily mo nitored and restricted use of the services because the main aim of the company is not to make profit, but to promote citizen optimization as they see fit, meaning that they will not allow any misuse of the service plan. There is also the fact that even if the customers are not satisfied with the service, there is nothing that they can do because they cannot change their service plan there is only one telecommunication company in the country. Here I have given two economic scenarios, the one in Nigeria is monopolistic competition, and the other in Ethiopia is a monopoly. In the first scenario, we can tell that there will be excess consumer satisfaction by the choice of four different service plans and the unrestricted access. However, in the second scenario, there would be excess dissatisfaction by the inability of choice, and the heavily restricted access. From my perception of these two scenarios, I can reason that the Nigerian telecommunication system is better because if offers t he right of choice and other benefits as opposed to the Ethiopian telecommunication system which would only offer on choice with no special benefits and at whatever price the government sets. Here is an example of how we can gain meaning but not purpose, because if someone can gain the knowledge of the monopoly of the Ethiopian telecommunications company, they can now understand why people would want to move from Ethiopia to Nigeria, but they will have nothing to do with this knowledge. The only reason for acquiring any form of knowledge would be to gain both meaning and purpose in our lives because once we have the knowledge, we understand how it involves up, meaning, and what we set out to accomplish with it. References: google. theory+of+knowledge. n.d. website. 22 November 2014. ib-theory-of-knowledge-website. n.d. Webpage. 22 January 2015. theoryofknowledgestudents.com. n.d. webpage. 2 December 2014. Blink, Jocelyn and Ian Dorton. Economics Course Companion. New York: Oxford University Press, 2011. 1 [1] The philosopher Plato’s definition of knowledge [2] Oscar Pistorius murder investigation [3] Newton’s first law of gravity [4] Isaac Newton’s first law of motion [5] Theory of perfect competition [6] Theory of monopoly

Walmart Business Analysis

Walmart Business Analysis Contents (Jump to) Walmart’s Current Strategy Organizational structure, culture, and control systems SWOT Analysis for Walmart Porter’s Five Analysis of Walmart Key Strategic Issues at Walmart Personal SWOT Analysis Financial Analysis of Walmart Recommendations Walmart store Inc. is not only the retail giant, but also is the largest grocery chain in the world. Walmart store Inc. was founded in 1962. Samuel Walton and his brother J.L. Walton open their first Walmart Discount City in Rogers, Arkansas (Walmart History, 2010). For Walmart store Inc., their common mission is: Save people money so they can live better (Walmart corporate, 2010). Compared with their main competitors such as Target and K mart, Walmarts 2009 sales were almost 50% more. Because of its giant size and buying power, Walmart can buy its products at very low prices, exchanging high purchase volumes for low cost then passing the savings onto its customers (Wikinvest Walmart, 2010). Walmart has 8,900 stores around the world in three different business segments of retail stores that including: Walmart stores, Sams Club and Walmart international. All of them offer different kinds of merchandises including electronic appliances, groceries, furniture, apparel and health beauty stuffs etc. For their business segment, they have over 54% of the companys stores are located in the United States, and the others international stores are mainly located in central and south America and China. The company mainly focuses on offering the lowest prices to attract its consumers. Walmart totally earned $408 billion revenue in 2010, increase 1% compare to 2009 (Wikinvest Walmart, 2010). In 2009, Walmart earned $255.7 billion in the domestic segment of the companys revenue. For Walmart stores segment are further categories into three different formats including: Supercenters, Discount stores and Neighborhood Stores. For the Sams club, it is the second largest membership-only retailer club ( Costco is the first largest membership-only retailer) in United States belong to Walmart Inc., their main customers mostly are offices, convenience stores, motels, restaurants and schools etc. (Wikinvest Walmart, 2010). For now, Walmart has total 3,121 international stores all over the world including in Mexico, Japan, Canada, China and countries in central and South America. However, recently Walmart begins to slow down their growth rate in the United State and turn their main focus onto its international stores to develop growth. For international stores locations altogether earned total $98.6 billion revenue in 2009, compared to the sales of 2008, is increased 9.1% (Wikinvest Walmart, 2010). Strategic History of the Industry The whole retail industry in the United States has over $4 trillion annual revenue. The main retail companies are including Walmart, Home Depot, Kroger, Costco, and Target. Some of the large companies dominate some retail sectors such as mass merchandisers and grocery stores, other sectors like auto dealers and convenience stores are fragmented. However, retail industry still has many small and specialty retailers are single-store operations (Hoover, 2011). The economy deeply affects the retail demand. In other words, retail demand depends on the economy. Many different kinds of economic factors such as job growth, recession, personal income, consumer confidence and interest rates can strongly affect consumer spending behavior. When during recessionary periods, the bad economy can affect the retail sales growth rate slow drastically or even sales revenue decline. While the retail spending grows rapidly when in the period of strong economy growth, for example consumers will spend more on grocery when they have more income. However, the rising interest rates will affect consumer purchase behavior and consumer ability to finance large amount of purchase such as purchasing cars (Hoover, 2011). Strategic History of Walmart Store Inc. In the early stage of strategic history for Walmart, they always unchanged their vision always low price for their customers. Until 1990s, Walmart announced that they planned to go global. They wanted to look for international markets for the reasons as following: First of all, Walmart has facing very strong competition in United States such as Target and K mart. These two firms had aggressive expanding their business and had started sharing Walmarts market share. Secondly, the market in the United States is already saturated; it was becoming difficult for the company to continue its growth rate. Thirdly, the US population is accounted for only 4% of the worlds population and if they want to expand their global market, China had the potential massive growth due to their huge population of over 1.3 billion people. The last reason is, globalization opened up new markets in China and created opportunities for discount stores such as Walmart (Walmarts Cost Leadership Strategy, 2004). On the other hand, Walmart is using the strategy that cooperates with local suppliers to purchase their products, even though the organizational culture is standardized with the home country. This strategy is not only use to the products purchasing, but also adapted to the local cultures and stores decoration and designed are also changed to meet local taste all around the world (Walmarts Cost Leadership Strategy, 2004). Organizational mission statement As we know, the mission statement for Walmart is every day low price. In order to insist their mission, Walmart implemented three approaches in the market. First, it increased the local purchasing in order to reduce the purchasing costs and also suit consumers needs in different places. Secondly, it maintained a good relationship with their suppliers, satisfied them by paying within 3-7 days during its initial years. Thirdly, it established distribution centers (DC) and computerized its management system to improve efficiency and reduce costs (ICFAI, 2005). Business Level Strategy For these several years, Walmart has been trying hard on expand its stores outside the United States. It through two different to expand their international business market: new store construction and acquisition. Acquisition strategy of supermarket chains had been a part of Walmarts entry and  store expansion strategy in Canada, Mexico, Brazil, Japan, China and Great Britain (The Walmart Puzzle, 2008). Over all, the Walmart strategies were including: multiple store segments, lower daily prices, lots of name-brand merchandise, reduce operating costs, emphasized customers satisfied service, wide selection products, disciplined expansion into new geographic markets, and using acquisition to enter foreign market (Walmart Store Inc., 2010). However, no matter Walmart are in which foreign country, their company vision always low prices is never changed. The companys low distribution costs and cost-efficient supply chain management are the big reasons why Walmart is so success and at the same time reduce the products prices. Walmart has get into distribution efficiency compare with their competitors because of its rural store locations. Current strategy for the major operations/functions of the company Current strategies for Walmart are including low costs, high volume, increase customer satisfaction and expansion strategy. Walmart creates name recognition and customer satisfaction, and combined the retailer with the reputation of offering the best prices. They also expand their new business segments to different sectors such as pharmacies, automotive repair, and grocery sales to increase their sales revenue. Expansion strategy: The company realized that building a new store will allow for increase market share value. After their success in the rural areas, Walmart moved to urban areas and then moved to surrounding areas. The expansion strategy made Walmart the number one retail store in the United States. As Walmart continue its expansion domestically, the firm decided to go international. Furthermore, Walmart realized that acquiring an existing retail firm is necessary for expand domestic and international markets. Therefore, Walmart by acquire retail store which enable to expand locally and internationally. Always low prices make customers live better strategy is believed the strongest strategy used by Walmart. The firm developed the idea of dealing directly with the manufacturer and with the power control by Walmart will enable it to get the best deal from the manufacturers and suppliers. Organizational structure, culture, and control systems Saving people money to help them live better was the mission for Walmart. Hence, Walmart negotiates different suppliers and understanding their cost structure in order to reduce the price. Walmart has to be certain that the manufacturers were doing their best to cut down costs. Also, Walmart believed in establishing a long-term relationship with their suppliers. Walmart had 129 distribution centers located at different locations all over the US. Over 80,000 items were stocked in these centers. Walmarts own warehouses directly supplied 85 percent of the inventory, as compared to 50-65 % for competitors. Shipping costs for Walmart is about 3 % which is lower than its competitors, 5%. The distribution centers ensured a steady and consistent flow of products to support the supply function (Walmarts Cost Leadership Strategy, 2004). Walmarts logistics infrastructure was its fast and successful transportation system. The distribution centers were serviced by more than 3,500 company owned trucks. To make its distribution process more efficient, Walmart also uses a logistics technique called cross-docking. In this system, the finished goods were directly picked up from the manufacturing plant from suppliers, and then directly supplied to the customers. The system reduced the handling and storage of finished goods, eliminating the role of the distribution centers and stores (Walmarts Cost Leadership Strategy, 2004). SWOT Analysis for Walmart Store Inc. (S)trengths Reputation Brand Name: Walmart is a powerful brand and pioneer in the retail industry with the wide spread network of stores. It has a reputation for low price, convenience and a wide range of products all in one store for customers. Walmart has captured about 10% of the retail market in the U.S. and continues to expand. Walmart stores continue to open all over the country making Walmart a household name. Walmart has also been widely acknowledged for its social responsibility actions. The company has donated to a variety of charitable organizations and has been accredited for bringing jobs and wealth to less developed communities. Offer Low Prices: Walmart uses its enormous size and buying power to pressure its suppliers into extremely low prices, offering orders of high volumes of merchandise in exchange for low prices. The good thing about Walmart is that its shifts the low cost advantage to customers and available the products at lower prices. It has loyal customer base because it meets the expectation of customer by always delivering the goods at lower prices at compare to its competitors. Expand Global Market: Walmart has aggressively expands its international market over the past few years and has experienced global expansion. For example its purchase of the United Kingdom based retailer ASDA. Technology: Technology is strength to Walmart with its inventory control system that was recognized as the most sophisticated in retailing. The technology linked all the stores to the headquarters and the companys distribution centers. It also enables the warehouse of which the goods are ordered, and direct the flow of goods to the store and proper shelves. Supply chain and logistics management: Supply chain and logistics management are one of the strengths of Walmart. This allows Walmart to utilize the Just- in-time inventory concept and avoid the pilling up inventory to save the extra cost for maintaining inventories in the warehouses. Human Resource: Walmart always keen to provide training to their employees to improve the customer service level. The firm hire locally, provides training programs for its employees. Walmart also gets its employees involve and encourage them to make use of words like: we, us, and ours. It also provides stock ownership and profit sharing with great contribution from the H. R of the firm. Walmart was named one of the best 100 firms to work for. Cross-docking inventory system: Using the cross-dock technique, Walmart was able to effectively leverage their logistical volume into a core strategic competency. Walmart operates an extensive satellite network of distribution centers serviced by company owned trucks. Its satellite network sends point of sale (POS) data directly to 4,000 vendors. Each register is directly connected to a satellite system sending sales information to Walmarts headquarters and distribution centers. (W)eaknesses Employee turnover: Walmart has high employee turnover which costs more money and time for company to train the new employee. Bad publicity: Walmart is currently facing a gender discrimination lawsuit. Their female employees accuses that they were discriminated against in matters regarding pay and promotions. And also, Their female managers were accounted for the minority group in the company. Lock of flexibility: Walmart sell very wide range kinds of products for example like clothes, food, pharmacy or stationary which lack of flexibility compare with other more focused competitors. Other competitors may have the ability to make changes and improve on a certain product lines when the needs of their customers change. Walmart, however, may have too much merchandise and not be able to focus in on sectors that need to be improved. Some products have poor quality: Although Walmart provides low price of products, however, customers sometimes complain about the poor quality of few products. Facing difficulty in International market: It is hard for Walmart to expand their business out of US to totally different countries all around the world. Moreover, Walmart has to facing different culture and customer behavior in different countries, for example Walmart facing difficulty to expand the market in China. (O)pportunities Customers: Because Walmart provides low price to their customers, so they are able to attract more customers. Furthermore, customers basically are able to purchasing everything in one store that satisfied their needs. Walmart 24 hours stores also satisfied their customers. Diversified store types: Walmarts different store types and new locations provide more opportunities to exploit new market. Stores diversified from local, small-based sites to large super centers. International Expansion: No doubt that continued expand the international market is a huge opportunity for Walmart. Walmarts oversea stores have experienced significant growth. There are actually tremendous opportunities for future growth in developing countries and Asian markets than in the United States such as China and India. Creating strategic alliances and licensing agreements with other global retailers are ways to move into different countries. (T)hreats Competition: Walmart faces different strong competitions locally and internationally. Walmart main competitors are including Kmart, Target, Carrefour and Costco wholesale. In 2010, the Net Profit Margin for Walmart is 3.59%, Target 4.22%, Costco wholesale 1.69%, Carrefour 0.38%, respectively (Hoovers, 2010). Target is Walmarts direct competitor in the US, offering a range of general merchandise in a similar store format (Wikinvest, 2010). Economy Recession: The revenue for Walmart is affected by economy recession. Good economy is an opportunity for great business, because customers will have more money to spend. If the economy is great, there will be more jobs and people will shop more. However, if the economy is bad, there will be fewer jobs and people will shop less. Also, with the high price of gasoline and its effect on the economy, Walmart will certainly be affected the most. Strategy imitation: Walmart strengthens its competitive advantage on low-cost products. Other competitors may imitate their low-cost strategy to take over their market shares. Low Brand Loyalty: In the retail industry, customers would like to choose the product with the lowest price. In other words, customers do not care about the brand or which retail stores, if Costco has the exactly same chips that sell cheaper than in the Walmart, then customers will choose to buy the chips in the Costco not Walmart. TOWS MATRIX STRENGTHS WEAKNESSES Reputation Brand Name Bad publicity Offer Low Prices Lock of flexibility Expand Global Market Some products have poor quality Technology Facing difficulty in International market Supply chain and logistics management Employee turnover Human Resource Cross-docking inventory system OPPORTUNITIES OPPORTUNITIES-STRENGTHS OPPORTUNITIES-WEAKNESSES Customers Build on its already efficient distribution system to further expand in the U.S and globally. Walmart should be awareness and strict to control of the quality of the product in order to keep their customers basis. Diversified Store Types Expand diversified store types to International market in order to increase profit in International market. Set higher employment standards through enhanced training to keep their employees have best performance. International Expansion Duplicated the successful delivery logistic management and the distribution centers into International market. Continue to build on cost efficient pricing and production due to expansion. Go into new markets and buy out their local retailers to gain market share. THREATS THREATS-STRENGTHS THREATS-WEAKNESSES Competition Buy raw materials or products from local suppliers to hold a better political status within the local community further to compete with their competitors. Human resource department should set a benefits long-term promotion program or standard and training program for their employees in order to decrease the employee turnover. Economy Recession Create their own brand of products and increase the quality of products in order to establish customers loyalty. Establish joint venture partnerships or long-term relationship with local retail companies to get the advantages in the International segment. Strategy imitation Develop strong RD and technology to enhance the competitive advantage and avoid imitation from other competitors. Low Brand Loyalty Five Forces Analysis for Walmart Store Inc. Threat of entrances Low The threat of new entrance in the grocery and discount retailer industry is very low. New entrants have to face with the strong low-price competition among exist giant retail companies like Walmart, Costco and Target. New entrants need to invest large amount of capitals to establish their brand recognition, service, and variety of product offerings that Walmart, Target, and others competitors continue to improve on each day. In addition, existing companies can drop prices lower in order to force a new competitor out of the market. Therefore, the threat of entrances is low. Power of buyer-High Customers have many choosing opportunities and consider about products very details. They want the product now and they want it with the best service, best quality and reasonable price. Customers also enjoy increasing choice of products and choose one product that has the best quality and better price. For example, if customers find out Target sells an exactly product that has better quality and price than Walmart, and then they will choose to buy it in Target instead of Walmart. Power of Suppliers   Low The bargaining power of suppliers is very low. Walmart is very famous on giving pressure to their suppliers to cut their price lower and lower in order to offer the lowest price to their customers. On the other hand, become the supplier of Walmart is a very fierce competition. In 2004, about 10,000 new suppliers applied to become Walmart vendors. However, only about 200, or 2%, were ultimately accepted by Walmart (Gwendolyn Bounds, The Wall Street Journal). Therefore, the bargaining power of suppliers is low. Rivalry High The competition in the US grocery and discount retailer industry is very high. The main competitors for Walmart in the local market are Kmart and Target. These companies also have to face competition from wholesalers such as BJs, Costco and even the international market such as Carrefour. Walmart has adopted a cost leadership generic strategy. In the past, most companies have not been able to match Walmarts strategy everyday low prices. However, Walmarts barrier to entry (economies of scale) and strength (supply-chain management) can be easily imitated with sufficient resources. Therefore, retailers are in a fierce competition that see who can offer their customers the lowest price. Threat of substitute Low The threat of substitutes in this industry is low because only few companies have ability to offer such a variety of products available instantly and also low prices. One possible substitute is online shopping; however, customers usually do the online shopping for clothes or other stuffs but not for food or grocery shopping. Therefore, the threat of substitute is low. Key Strategic Issues Issue #1: Open too many new stores close to existing stores lead to new stores taking over the market shares from existing stores. Status Quo Wal- Mart depends on opens many new stores and expands into new market to increase the long-term sales and income growth. However, because of Walmarts large size of expansion, new stores are effects the sales on existing stores. For example, Walmart builds a store relatively close to an already existing store, the new store might take away customers from the old store thus decrease the sales in existing stores (Walmart, 2010). Evolutionary Change (Incremental Improvement) In order to solve this problem, Walmart expands their business segment into international market instead of domestic market. For example, Walmart opened 5 times number of stores in the international market in 2010 compared to domestic stores; most of stores are in Mexico, China, and Central America (Walmart, 2010). Revolutionary Change (Huge/Drastic Change) Walmart is also aggressively to open business segments in India if the country opens up the sector to foreign direct investment. India has retail market more than 1 billion; no doubt India is a huge opportunity for Walmart. However, retailers that carry multiple brands (like Walmart) are restricted to wholesale outlets in India. After Indias policy change, Walmart is allowed to expand superstores and generate revenue in India (Walmart, 2010). Specific tactics to implement the strategy Walmart needs to establish long-term relationship or joint venture with local retail company to get into the market in India. Although in 2006, Walmart announced that it had tied up with Bharti Enterprises Ltd. (Bharti) to get into the Indian retail sector. Bharti was a diversified company, and one of the biggest mobile telephone service providers in India (Walmart and the Indian Retail Sector, 2007). However, because of the government policy, the small retailers groups and the Left parties against allowing the company into India are all the barriers that Walmart has to face it. Issue #2: International competitors Status Quo In order to expand and improve the sales revenue for the economy recession especially in the domestic market, Walmart has been aggressively expand its business segment into international market. However, the local big retailers or small retailers groups are against Walmart to get into their market to take over the market shares because of its low price strategy (Walmart, 2010). Evolutionary Change (Incremental Improvement) Improve its supply chain, logistic and technology segment to lower its delivery and operation costs in order to compete with local big retailers such as Britains Tesco, Frances Carrefour, and Germanys Metro (Walmart, 2010). On the other hand, retail business segment is hard to create products differentiation, because commodity products are all the same for customers. The only way that gains the market shares for retail stores is not only low price but also quality of products. Therefore, Walmart should awareness of its quality of products to attract more customers even in the international market. Revolutionary Change (Huge/Drastic Change) Walmart should acquire and purchase the local retail companies in order to get into the international market. On the other hand, establish long-term relationship with local suppliers to have the win-win situation for their cooperation. Specific tactics to implement the strategy In the beginning of year 1, 2 and 3, Walmart should first focus on improving its supply chain, logistic and technology improvement in order to compete with local big retailers on its lower operation, delivery costs and high quality of products. For the long-term tactics, Walmart should deeply penetrate into the local market, understand different cultures and customers behaviors and then cooperate with local suppliers to establish long-term partnership. Personal assessment SWOT Analysis of myself in relation to the organization (What can I offer to the organization?). (S)trengths: International expansion (China): Walmart is extremely aggressively penetrated into the market in China. Also, no doubt that China has 1.3 billion populations which accounted for the most majority population in the world, creates a huge business opportunity for Walmart. Therefore, Walmart needs a manager who can speak fluently Mandarin and English, and really understand about Chinese culture and Chinese customers behavior. Hence, I can offer Walmart my knowledge to develop more opportunity in Chinas market in order to maximize the profits. (W)eaknesses: Lack of working experience: Even though I can speak fluently Mandarin and understand the Chinese culture and customers behavior; however, I still lack of working experiences. I do have some part time working experience such as working in starbucks, but do not have full time working experiences. (O)pportunities: Because of my professional knowledge (bachelor and master degree are both business management) are expertise on this field which can offer Walmart a professional employees or manager. Moreover, my family also has business in China, Hangchow, which makes me has understanding and interested about China. I can provide Walmart establish partnership with local suppliers and establish long-term relationship with them to compete with local retails competitors. (T)hreats: Many applicants around the world: There is still having many talented applicants around the world apply to get into this company. Some of the applicants have high education degree and business knowledge and also have ability to speak many different kinds of languages. Therefore, I am in extremely fierce competition. Not every business segment in Walmart is my expertise: I have weakened and lower advantages compared to local American because of the speaking and cultural differences. Furthermore, the company does business in many different retail formats, including supercenters, food and drugs, general merchandise stores, cash and carry stores, membership warehouse clubs, apparel stores, soft discount stores and restaurants. However, not every business segment in Walmart is in my field of expertise. Financial Analysis 2010 Annual Sales (Figure2-1) (Source: Hoovers, 2011, http://0subscriber.hoovers.com.leopac.ulv.edu/H/company360/competitiveLandscape.html?companyId=11600000000000) As you can see in Figure 2-1, this is 2010 annual sales for 4 main retail stores in the United States. They are including Walmart, Target, Costco Wholesale and Carrefour. Walmart has almost $400 billion sales in 2010. Compared to other competitors, annual sales for Walmart was much higher than other companies. Carrefour annual sale in 2010 was around $100 billion. Annual sales for Target and Costco were just around $50 billion in 2010. 2010 Net Profit Margin (Figure2-2) (Source: Hoovers, 2011, http://0subscriber.hoovers.com.leopac.ulv.edu/H/company360/competitiveLandscape.html?companyId=11600000000000) In Figure 2-2, net profit margin in 2010 for Walmart was 2.98%. Target was higher than Walmart which had 3.69% net profit margin in 2010. Other two competitors, Costco and Carrefour were both under 1.84% in net profit margin in 2010. Figure 2-3 (Source: Hoovers, 2011, http://0subscriber.hoovers.com.leopac.ulv.edu/H/company360/competitiveLandscape.html?companyId=11600000000000) The Return on Asset ratio is useful in measuring how efficiently a company uses its assets to generate profit. By definition, ROA is calculated by dividing the Net Income by the total asset of a company. Refer to Figure 2-3, ROA for Walmart from 2006 to 2010 are much higher than its competitors. Walmarts ROA were around 9% to 10% each year, compared to its competitors which were all much lower than Walmart. This basically means that Walmart utilizes its assets well enough to generate profit in comparison with their competitors. However, ROA in 2007 for Target is higher than Walmart, Target 9.29%, Walmart 9.05%. Targets major competitive advantage over Walmart lies in its customer base: the average household income for Target customers is about $50,000 a year, whereas the average yearly income for a Walmart customer is only $35,000 Figure 2-4 (Source: Hoovers, 2011, http://0subscriber.hoovers.com.leopac.ulv.edu/H/company360/competitiveLandscape.html?companyId=11600000000000) The return on Stockholders Equity (ROE) ratio measures the percentage of profit earned on stockholders investment in the company. In other words, return on equity  measures a corporations profitability  by revealing how much  profit a company generates  with the money shareholders have invested.  Ãƒâ€šÃ‚   In Figure 2-4, ROE for Walmart were around 20% from year 2006 to 2010, compared to other competitors which are higher than others. Figure 2-5 (Source: Hoovers, 2011, http://0subscriber.hoovers.com.leopac.ulv.edu/H/company360/competitiveLandscape.html?companyId=11600000000000) Net profit Margin is an indication of how effective a company at cost control