Genting Group Essay Example for Free

Genting Group Essay The Genting Group was founded by the late Tan Sri (Dr.) Lim Goh Tong in 1965. It is one of Malaysia’s top multinational corporations. The Genting Group involves in several different sectors such as the leisure hospitality, power generation, oil palm plantation, property development, biotechnology and oil gas sectors. Tan Sri (Dr.) Lim Goh Tong started his project with the building of a 20-kilometre private access road, across tough mountainous terrains from the foothills to the summit of Mount Ulu Kali, located at 2,000 metres above sea level and also the first highlands resort on the mountain in Malaysia which formerly named Genting Highlands Resort. For a corporation to grow, business objectives are important because objectives give direction to a business. The Genting Group had been operating for 47years till today and we can see it with our eye that it indeed grows from strength to strength. This is because The Genting Group had clearly stated out their goals and objectives and did well in achieving it. One of the goals of The Genting Group is â€Å"Care for the Community†. To achieve this goal, The Genting Group had set the objectives to help the community. The Genting Group done a great job in achieving the objective in the year 2011 by dedicated amount more than RM25 million to many charities and community. The organizations that benefit from The Genting Group are Malaysian Liver Foundation, MAA-Medicare Kidney Foundation, OrphanCare Baby Hatch Programme, Malaysian Crime Prevention Foundation, Malaysia Diabetes Association and The Federation of Chinese Associations Malaysia. As for the organizations in foreign country included The Straits Times School Pocket Money Fund, The Business Times Budding Artists Fund, Heartware Network, Milk Fund and the Jane Goodall Institute in Singapore; the GREaT Foundation, BBC’s Children In Need and Cancer UK through Race for Life events, Cancer UK, Comic Relief, Marie Curie Cancer Care, Japanese Red Cross and also the Japanese Earthquake Relief. Besides that when the Sultanah of Pahang DYMM Sultanah Hajjah Kalsom binti Abdullah officially launched the Orang Asli Che Wong Cultural Building in Lanchang, Pahang on 19 November 2011, The Genting Group donated a 2,800-square-foot cultural building which consists of a classroom, an exhibition room and a hall for performances that cost a total of RM180, 000 and the Genting employees also lend a helping hand by volunteered in the landscaping and beautification  efforts. Furthermore in Malaysia, the Group participated in the Roti 1Malaysia charity project. This project is successful with the kind sponsored of bread from Resorts World Genting together with other hotels and bakeries in the Klang Valley and distribute to over 50 orphanages and homes weekly. Therefore from here we can see that The Genting Group had made their effort in helping the community generously and sincerely. This is shown when it is not only the corporation care the community but also the employees of Genting Group involve themselves too. Although The Genting Group had did well in their objectives, however I suggest that The Genting Group could set out another objective in order to achieve the goal, â€Å"maintaining long-term sustainable growth in our core businesses†. This objective is basically to care the customers, for example, â€Å"Provide the best environment and services to customers† and this can be achieved by improving the casino. If we compare between the Resort World Sentosa Casino and Genting Highlands casinos, we can obviously see that the Genting Highlands casinos are not so good than the other one. This is because of the environment and ventilation. The ventilation of Genting Highlands casino was poor and the air is stuffy. This may be cause of the casinos is not smoke free and therefore is full of cigarette smoke. The decoration of the Genting Highlands casinos are more in the 80s, it looks old and tradition. On the other hand, the Resort World Sentosa Casino is more clean and good ventilation. This is because the casino was divided into smoking area and non-smoking area. The decoration of the casino is grand and the environment is more comfortable and relaxing compare with Genting Highlands casinos. The Resort World Sentosa Casino is more strict compare with Genting Highlands Casinos. In The Resort World Sentosa Casino, the security will not let customers without passport to enter the casino but for Genting Highlands Casinos, the securities will not check every single customer, therefore there may be underage youngster enter the casinos. The Genting Highlands Casinos should immediately take action in order to provide a better environment for their customers to ensure customers loyalty that can increase the profit of the company. As a conclusion, The Genting Group did do well in overall. It provides an array of enjoyment and fun for all people, from children to senior citizen.

Valuing Wal-Mart Essay Example for Free

Valuing Wal-Mart Essay In early February 2010, Sabrina Gupta, an investment advisor with a major brokerage firm, was examining Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. (Wal-Mart) stock and its valuation. Gupta wondered whether to recommend the stock to any of her new clients or to existing clients who did not currently have Wal-Mart in their portfolios. BACKGROUND OF WAL-MART STORES, INC. Based in Bentonville, Arkansas, and founded by the legendary Sam Walton, Wal-Mart was the world’s largest retailer, operating more than 8,400 stores worldwide, including stores in all 50 states; international stores in Argentina, Brazil, Canada, Germany, Mexico, Puerto Rico, South Korea, the United Kingdom; joint venture agreements in China and a stake in a leading Japanese retail chain. Worldwide, Wal-Mart had 2.1 million employees (known as â€Å"associates†), who served more than 200 million customers each week. During the fiscal year ended January 31, 2010, Wal-Mart’s net sales were more than US$405 billion. Exhibit 1 presents a summary of Wal-Mart’s 2009  and 2010 financial statements. Wal-Mart’s strategy was to provide a broad assortment of quality merchandise and services at â€Å"everyday low prices.† It was best known for its discount stores, which offered merchandise such as apparel, small appliances, housewares, electronics and hardware, but also ran combined discount and grocery stores (Wal-Mart Supercenters), membership-only warehouse stores (SAM’S Club) and smaller grocery stores (Neighborhood Markets). In the general merchandise area, Wal-Mart’s competitors included Sears and Target. In terms of specialty retailers, its competitors included Gap and Limited. Department store competitors included Dillard’s, Macy’s and J.C. Penney. Grocery store competitors included Kroger, Supervalu and Safeway. The major membership-only warehouse competitor was Costco Wholesale. Wal-Mart became a publicly traded firm in 1970 with an initial stock price of $16.50 per share and subsequently, in March 1974, declared its first cash dividend of $0.05 per share (after two two-for-one 1 This case has been written on the basis of published sources only. Consequently, the interpretation and perspectives presented in this case are not necessarily those of Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. or any of its employees. Analysts generally believed that Wal-Mart would continue to be successful in consistently increasing profits, resulting in the consensus annual earnings growth forecast of 10.40 per cent for the next five years. As of February 2010, according to Bloomberg L. P., Wal-Mart shares were ranked as â€Å"buys† in the coming six to 12 months by 20 analysts, â€Å"holds† by 7 analysts and  Ã¢â‚¬Å"sells† by none of the analysts. These rankings (which amounted to an average of 4.41 on a five-point scale) currently exceeded the average buy/hold/sell mix among Standard Poor (SP) 500 firms (at 3.94) and among the hypermarkets and supercenters subindustry (at 4.23). Analysts’ consensus projected Wal-Mart’s target price was $60.50 per share, relative to a recent closing price of $53.48 per share. Over the 2010 fiscal year, Wal-Mart shareholders had generated a total return (including dividends) of 9.69 per cent, and the consensus stock price forecast ranking (as measured by buys/holds/sells) was above that of the overall market. Wal-Mart’s 52-week high stock price was $55.01 per share and the 52-week low was $46.42 per share. Gupta noticed that Wal-Mart shares had a price-to-trailing earnings (P/E) ratio of 14.40 times (based on the last four quarters of earnings) and an indicated dividend yield (based on the current 2010 quarterly dividend and current stock price) of 2.0 per cent. Exhibit 2 presents a graph of Wal-Mart’s stock price for 10 years, and Exhibit 3 provides historical dividend data. In determining whether Wal-Mart was fairly valued, Gupta decided to focus on valuation concepts she had been introduced to in her university business courses and in one of her firm’s training courses: the dividend discount model, the capital asset pricing model (C APM) and price/earnings multiples. DIVIDEND DISCOUNT MODELS Dividends in Perpetuity According to the dividend discount model (DDM), the current stock price of Wal-Mart represents the present value of all expected future dividends, discounted at an investor’s required (or expected) rate of return. Under this approach, a share is valued by forecasting dividends in perpetuity, which is not an easy task. To simplify the daunting task of estimating all future dividends, a growth trend of the dividends can be used in a much simpler version of the model, which is known as the constant growth dividend discount model. According to the constant growth DDM, the current value of a firm’s stock price (P0) is equal to next year’s (expected) dividend (D1) divided by an investor’s  required rate of return (Ke) minus the expected perpetual dividend growth rate (g). P0 = D1/ (Ke – g) Alternatively, by rearranging the model, the required return can be decomposed into two parts: the expected dividend yield (i.e., the dividends anticipated over the next four quarters divided by the current stock price) plus the expected future growth in dividends. Ke = D1/P0 + g In other words, the required return can be thought of as both a dividend portion and a growth portion that are reflected in future capital gains. Authorized for use only by robert lamour in Finanical Analysis at California State University East Bay from Jun 01, 2014 to Aug 29, 2014. Use outside these parameters is a copyright violation. stock splits). It had undergone 11 two-for-one stock splits, and thus, an original lot of 100 Wal-Mart shares had grown to 204,800 shares after the most recent split in April 1999. 9B11N004 Anticipated dividend growth (g) is often estimated in a variety of ways. First, observed historical dividend growth can be assumed to continue in a perpetual fashion. Second, future dividend growth can be estimated on the basis of recent estimates of analysts. Gupta noted that the consensus annual Wal-Mart dividend for fiscal year 2011 was $1.21, and one respected analyst had estimated the expected constant dividend growth (in perpetuity) at approximately 5.0 per cent. When a firm achieves its steady state (i.e., when the annual return on equity is just equal to its cost of equity capital), the sole determinant of the growth in dividends is the annual dividend payout ratio. If all dividends are paid out, the firm’s assets do not increase and therefore the dividend stream will not grow.

The Changing Status Of Indian Women

The Changing Status Of Indian Women Historiography went throughout massive changes in 20th century especially after Second World War. Political history was replaced and challenged by socio-cultural history which broadening perspective towards theoretical innovations and brought new fields into historiography, most notably gender history which brought to historiography in the form of women history. However gender studies is an independent discipline which brought fifty percent of the population into the focus of historical studies that was previously generally gender blind or simply masculine. Women history is the study of the role that women played in history which includes the growth of women rights as recorded in history and the examination of an individual woman of historical significance and the effects of historical events on women. Women history emerged as a independent disciplines in 1960s or 1970s because, the traditional historical writing have minimized and ignored the contribution of women and also the effec ts of historical events on women as a whole, in this respect, women history is often a from of historical revisionism seeking to challenge the traditional historical consensus. History was written mainly by men and about mens activities in public spheres politics, war and diplomacy and aministration.Women was usally mentioned or portrayed in stereotyped role such as mother, wives, daughter and mistress.  [1]   In Indian history we can get references about the role of women from the beginning of the Indus valley civilization, the first known civilization of India which said to have flourished in 25th century BC. As per historical evidences peoples of this valley worshiped natural forces and divine power were mostly feminine. Nature was often called by term mother. Mother goddess was the first worshiped deity in the Indus valley. Indus community was basically matriarchal so there was no existence of the gender discrimination. Men and women both were engaged in food gathering which was the main economic activity that reveals equal participation of both in daily economic life.  [2]   The essence of the Vedic period as reflected in Vedic literature like four Vedas namely Rig, Yajur, Sama and Atharvam and their different branches like Brahmanas and Upanishads.The Early Vedic age which begins from 1500 B.C. and the post-Vedic age which extends from 1000 B.C. to 500 B.C. The word Veda primarily means knowledge, which virtually signifies sacred knowledge or scripture. During the Rig-Vedic or Early Vedic age that most of the hymns of the Rig-Veda were composed. It was in the later Vedic period that the Brahmanas, the three other Vedas and the Upanishads were composed.  [3]   During the Vedic era the patriarchal culture superseded the matriarchal culture and gender discrimination being introduced in the society, but the Rig-Veda reflect a stage where women enjoyed equal status of man and the Vedic sacrifices were jointly performed by both men and women.  [4]  But patriarchy never suppressed women rights and privileges. Girls were given education from 4th century BC. There were no references about child marriage in Rig-Vedic era.  [5]  If any girl wants to continue her education without marriage they were allowed to do so. There are two types of educated wise women were in Vedic period Brahmavadinis and Sadyodvahas. Many educated women became teacher in Vedic period they are called Upadhyayinis. Lopamudra was a famous women preacher who composed 179 hymns of Rig-Veda jointly with Agasthya. According to Dr Roy choudhury women not only composed hymns but were also well-versed in sacred texts. Women also learnt music and dancing  [6]  The Vedic pe oples were not conscious about gender power- politics and conflict at that time because Vedic society was then at a developing stage not in a complex mode. Widows remarriage was permitted in the Rig-Vedic society. Rig-Veda mentioned several hymns like the widow who lay on the pyre by the side of her dead husband was asked to come to the world of the living.  [7]  Rig-Veda also gave references about the freedom of women in Vedic society; they attended all religious festivals and fairs with their loved ones. The Aryans believed thatà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦ the wife and the husband being the equal halves of one substance were regarded equal in every respect and both took equal part in all duties, religious and social.  [8]  During Vedic age inter-caste marriage took place in the society. According to D.N Jha à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦in one case the father was a priest, the mother grinder of corn and the son a physician, all three lived happily together.  [9]   But the degradation of women status was started in the later Vedic period. We can get references about post Vedic society from the Brahmanas, Upanisads and the Ramayana and the Mahabharata. Smriti writers Manu, Yajnavalkya began to favour seclusion of women. Social customs and tradition were reinforced by the law-givers which degraded the position of women and the gender discrimination has begun. Indian society was based on caste system where Brahmins are preoccupied the top most position. Where Jain and Buddhist religion tried their best to bring equality in the society there Brahminical religion began to enforce strict moral code for their followers. Patriarchal families became powerful during this period and restrict womens activities. They were looked down upon as a temptation and hindrance in their march towards higher development.  [10]   The child widow were forcedly live a life with full of restriction which marred them physically and mentally, and from the 1st century AD the law givers prohibited widow remarriage. The writer of Arthasastra kautilya considered women as a child bearing machine and encouraged pre-pubescent marriages which damaged child bride mentally and physically because she was not physically fit to conceive a child and the adolescent pregnancy carries higher risk due to toxaemia (Organic Blood Poisoning), Cephalo-pelvic disproportion* and uterine inertia (uterine inertia that occurs when the uterus fails to contract with sufficient force to effect continuous dilation or effacement of the cervix or descent or rotation of the fetal head, and when the uterus is easily indentable at the acme of contraction). Other disorders which affect children born to young mothers are CNS malformation (Central Nervous System) and CVS malformation which involves the cardiovascular system. The effects of physical hea lth also effects women self-confidence level. Now they were only capable of producing child and managing household affairs and their other socially useful activities prevailed. According to Romila Thapar Manu was felt that the inter-caste marriage would pollute the Aryan society. So à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦to avoid pollution, you must control birthà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦ but you lose control over birth, if you lose control over women  [11]  Manu also makes some provision for punishment of a woman by her husband if she makes any faults. She should be beaten by rope or by bamboo. Manu never sanctioned widow remarriage because she should remain faithful to her husbands memory but the widower could marry again. In Rig-Vedic times women was denied the right of inheritance. But Putrika could inherit her fathers wealth. The Niyoga system was encouraged where women was forced to marry her brother-in-law to safeguard property rights. In Vedic and post Vedic ages women married and unmarried daughter had some rights of inheritance but a widow, as well as wife, had no claim over her husbands property. Marriage became compulsory for Hindus. And the patriarchal system tended to keep the status of women at a low level, and the emergence of the joint family with special property rights for the male members reinforced male dominance.  [12]  The Rig-Vedic concept of Sahadharmini was replaced by Pativrata Dharma. This began a master- slave relationship between husband and wife. The right of choice of life partner was also taken away from woman. Manu in 2th century B.C insisted that women should always controlled by his male superior, in child age she must be controlled by her father, then after by his husband in her youth and in old age she must be controlled by his sons.  [13]   The Buddhist age witnessed a serious change in the status of Indian women. Gautama Buddha made the adoption of daughters valid which squashed the general belief that the birth of son was indispensible to attain salvation. Apart from this women were accepted as nun in the Buddhist monasteries. Admission of women into the monastic order secured for them a religious status and they played a vital role in propagating Buddhism. Buddha was allowed women to marry man of her choice and also gave the wife the right to inherit the husbands property. Buddhism also permitted divorce in some special cases. Buddhism also legalizing the right of unmarried daughter to the inherit fathers property in the absence of a son which provided women economic independence. Buddha also encouraged widow remarriage and finally in 12th century A.D the widows right of inheritance was recognize. Buddhism also gave prostitutes legal status by admitted them in Sanghas life, now they could live a life of alms-women. There were separate rules obviously discriminatory for men women who wanted to join the Buddhist Sanghas. In the annual Upostha Ceremony Buddhism also reveals the prejudice against women. Another discriminatory rule is mentioned in Sulla Vogga according to which the official admonition by an alms-woman is forbidden, whereas the official admonition of an alms woman by a monk is not forbidden.  [14]  Buddhism improved the status of at least a section of women who embraced that religion. The majority of women at that time lived in abject subordination, under the restraints imposed by Brahmanical religion. But the overall development in womens life and work soon eclipsed by the reassertion of Brahmanical religion. Buddhism never tried to abolish existing social order. The two main joint forces which degrade women position are joint family and caste system remained unalterable. Thats why some scholar has argued that the Buddhism was failed to understand the situation of woman from the angle of social justice. If justice were to be really done mere laws are not sufficient. It takes a total re-orientation in judicial thinking and attitude, if gender justice is to be doneà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦Ã‚  [15]   During the early medieval period the status women were gone lower and she was regarded equal status of Sudras. The smriti writers prohibited intercaste marriages. After Muslim invasion à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦Indian religion and social customs were faced with a system which was equally formulated and definite.  [16]  Which resulted caste system was became more rigid. Occupation now began to determine by birth. Now the lower society of Hindu castes was got an opportunity to assert their dignity by convert to the religion of equality i.e. Islam. Thats way Islam was spread very fast in some parts in India. Women dependence to her husband and was a prominent features of this period. Indian women now have lost their access to Streedhana or dowry and engaged themselves in farming and weaving. Now women cant freely participate in any religious festivals and functions with her male partner. Another social evil like child marriage adversely affected the health of the girls. Besides Muslims rulers in India had large harems which encouraged polygamy, even among the Hindus there was no limit set to the number of wives a man can take. Another social evil that existed in medieval India was female infanticide which was prevalent among the Rajputs and other higher castes and even among the Muslims. Purdah system gained popularity with the advent of the Muslims, Purdah is actually a Persian word According to Patricia Jeffrey Purdah is a part and parcel of stratification in India It becomes the mental foot binding, the frogs in a well syndrome, the submissiveness of the young bride and the inability of adult women to cope with the world outside.  [17]   Female infanticide was a negative effect of dowry system but this system became an integral part of the marriage ceremony in medieval India. It became a heavy burden to the poor peoples. The condition of Hindu widow became more miserable during Muslim period. She was forced to lead a life which was full of sorrows and was far from all worldly pleasure. The feudal society of Muslim India encouraged the practice of Sati. By the burning herself with her own husband she proves her loyalty. According to Soroj Gulati because of the continuous wars, there were chances of too many widows young and old, and a big question was how to accommodate them without bringing stigma to the family or creating problems for society.  [18]  Prostitution became a recognized institution in medieval India besides the Debdasi system in south India degraded the status of women, under this worst system women were brides of Gods but they are supposed to entertain kings, priests and even number of upper classes. According to Alberuni the kings make them an attraction for their cities, a bait of pleasure for their subjects, for no other but financial reasons.  [19]   The contribution of European to rediscovery of Indias ancient past was widely accepted by several scholars and writers of the nineteenth and twentieth century but their perception was influenced by British by two separate contradictory ways. One strand was represented by the Orientalists, whose reconstruction of the glory of Indian civilization was taken over lock, stock, and barrel by 19th century Indian writers. Another strand was the Utilitarian and Evangelical attack on contemporary Indian society on the visibly low status of women. The early Indian nationalist writers successfully constructed an image of womanhood in the lost past as a counter to the real existence of woman in the humiliating present. The woman question was not a theme that was foregrounded in the earliest work of the Asiatic society. William Jones did not pay any attention to Sati. It was Henry Thomas Colebrooke who focuses attention directly upon the women question on his first research On the Duties of the Faithful Hindu Widow  [20]  where he presented the textual position of sati. In the first quarter of the 19th century Raja Rammohun Roy declared crusade against sati, and argued that the ultimate goal of all Hindu was selfless absorption in a divine essence, a union that could not flow from an action like sati. In the 19th century Indian intelligentsia group involve in a dual encounter with colonial ideology. Awareness of the past through Orientalist scholarship was encounters by a strong negative perception of the present those missionaries, administrators; travelers were engaged in writing about this issue. The women question became a crucial tool in the colonial ideology. Colonial writers focused on the barbaric practices pertaining to women of the Hindu civilization. One of finest example and best known work in this perspective is James mills History of British India where Mill suggested that the Hindus were a high cultured people now in a state of decline. He judged the civilization was the position it accorded to its women. His conclusion was that the practice of segregating women did not come with the Mohammedans; rather, it was a consequence of the whole sprit of the Hindu society by which women must be constantly guarded at all times for fear of their intimate tendency towards infidelity. He states that Hindus compared women with a heifer on the plain that longeth for fresh grasses, referring to their uncontrollable sexuality.  [21]   The degradation of women position in Hindu civilization requiring the protection and intervention of colonial state, that the Hindus were unfit to rule themselves. On this ground British rule in India could be justified by a humanitarian and moral level. Indian intellect classes react violently to this grim picture of Hindu civilization and marshaled argument against each major criticism. The condition of women in past was a key aspect of historical writing in 1840s.One such example in this account provided by M.C Deb a converted Christian member of Young Bengal group according to him men in India look upon women as household slaves and treat them with a superciliousness that even the Sultan of Turkestan does not show towards his meanest serf.  [22]  In 1842 Peary Chand Mitra provided a well versed response to the mill approach on the position of women in Hindu civilization. He shows references from Sanskrit text Mahanirban Tantra which states that daughter should be nursed and educated with care and married to learned man.  [23]  His view about Indian women crystallized a national feminine identity which was based on high culture and nationalist writers are arguing about the high status of women in ancient India which is noticeable in Clarisse Baders monograph on ancient Indian women was published in 1867 which was directly inspired by Max Muellerian view of romanticization of ancient past. According to Baders view the Sati was an expression of womans ability to go beyond the bounds of requirement.  [24]  This view was inspired by western Orientalist womanhood identity that a women should be learned, free and highly cultured. In 1888 R.C Dutta provides a comprehensive rebuttal of Mills denigration of lower status of Hindu women. Women of the past valorized in two separate ways one of them their spiritual potential and their role as sahadharminis and a heroic resister to alien rulers who choose their death rather than dishonour.  [25]  According to Jashodhara Bagchi, the inherent tension between past and present womanhood was resolved by Bankimchandra in his last novels. In Anandamath he portrayed a women character shanti who fights shoulder to shoulder with her husband in liberating the motherland from shackles. Here shanti provided a role model of womanhood closest to a national identity during late 19th and 20th centuries, till up to Indian independence.  [26]   Another social reformer Dayaananda Saraswati believed the Vedic women lived an idyllic existence and fully participates in all areas of public life, but Muslim influence had taught Hindus to imprison their women within the house.  [27]  Dayananda was a sole rationale of a womans existence. According to him a child body is made up of elements derived from the body of mother, so mother getting weaker after each confinement. For continued needs of propagating strong and healthy children, the wife and husband should be content with each other.  [28]  Throughout the 19th century the most problematic category of women were widows for consequence of early marriage and reformers were attempting to resolve the problem, Dayananda found his solution that remarriage for both men and women was equally valid if there were no children from earlier marriage. But the best practice for both man and woman is Brahmacharya (self-control), followed by adoption but who cant control their passions t he best recourse is niyoga.  [29]   The woman question had dominated throughout most of the 19th century was something of a casualty during this period, has faced a tremendous reaction against the Age of Consent Bill because of implicit fear of conservatives of the lost control over womens sexuality. In the closing decade of the 19th century we have got a unique identity of Indian womanhood from Swami Vivekananda who characterized Hindu womanhood by her devotional and spiritual character instead of western materialist setting womanhood.  [30]  In the changed political and social environment of the late 19th century the women image which was portrayed by the nationalists was more important than the reality throughout of the 20th century, the image also came to examined by the reality through the work of Altekar, as the historical reality.

Commerce, Politics and the City in A Room of Ones Own and Mrs. Dallowa

Commerce, Politics and the City in A Room of One's Own and Mrs. Dalloway      Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   "...At this moment, as so often happens in London, there was a complete lull and suspension of traffic. Nothing came down the street; nobody passed. A single leaf detached itself from the plane tree at the end of the street, and in that pause and suspension fell. Somehow it was like a signal falling, a signal pointing to a force in things which one had overlooked ... Now it was bringing from one side of the street to the other diagonally a girl in patent leather boots and then a young man in a maroon overcoat; it was also bringing a taxi-cab; and it brought all three together at a point directly beneath my window; where the taxi stopped; and the girl and the young man stopped; and they got into the taxi; and the cab glided off as if it were swept on by the current elsewhere." (A Room of One's Own 100)    "Virginia Woolf" - the version of her that narrates the "events" of A Room of One's Own - observes the above urban scene from her window. In a pattern that she had perfected in Mrs. Dalloway four years earlier, the rhythms of urban existence are closely articulated with those of the natural world - and that rhythmic coordination in turn serves as a kind of authorization of that urban existence, a guarantee of the transcendent meaning of the evidently constructed human world. Thus the quietly definitive dropping of a leaf from its branch not only seems a sort of rhythmic blueprint for the ballet-like convergence of "girl," "man" and "taxi-cab", but also in fact the mystical cause of that convergence, a "signal" "bringing" this ... ...fied royal, the skywriting of an advertiser's airplane) are analogues of the narration's own confident focalizing sweep - now airborne, now moving down city streets, now fanning out across parks, always able to join disparate characters in a cohesive narrative line. But they are uneasy analogues, for they are patently the product not of some transcendent or natural meaning but of powerful modern interests: the nation, entertainment, commerce. Clarissa's intimations of timeless spiritual connectivity, and the narration's own performance of that connectivity, move in the grooves set down by these very modern institutions.       Works cited:    Virginia Woolf. Mrs. Dalloway. London: Harcourt, Brace, Jovanovich, 1925.    ____________. A Room of One's Own. London: Harcourt, Brace, Jovanovich, 1929.

Comparing the Rich versus the Poor Essay -- Poverty

Rich vs. Poor: Distributing the World’s Wealth Equally Think about the house that you live in, the neighbors that surround you and the town where you come from. More importantly, think about the car, clothing, and material things that you possess. Living an absolutely affluent life, as most of us do, is something that we take for granted. Now put yourself in the shoes of a child at the age of 5 in Zambia. There is no roof over your head, no shoes on your feet, and no food on the table to eat. You live every day wondering how much longer you will survive in this situation. This example may represent an extreme situation in Zambia, but forces one to think about how many people are living in poverty throughout the world. Poor people often lack adequate food and shelter and education and health, which keeps them from leading the kind of life that everyone values. They are extremely vulnerable to illness, to economic displacement, and are treated negatively by institutions in society. Of the world’s 6 billion people, 2.8 billion live on less than $2 a day, and 1.2 billion live on less than $1 a day. In rich countries, fewer than 5 percent of all children under 5 are malnourished, in poor countries as many as 50 percent are (Attacking poverty 3). This impoverishment continues to exist even though human conditions have improved more in the past century than ever before. Global wealth and technically advanced capabilities may be at their highest levels yet, but the distribution of these gains is tremendously unequal. The increasing rates of poverty throughout many countries in the world and the imbalance of wealth leads me to believe that the rich have a moral obligation to help those who are less fortunate. According t... ... and improving sanitation conditions would better the life of the poor. If people would be willing to make small contributions to the poor, poverty rates could possibly begin to decline altogether. If the extremes of relative wealth and poverty are diminished I believe it would lead to a world where being absolutely poor no longer exits. Works Cited * â€Å"Attacking Poverty: Opportunity, Empowerment, and Security.† World Development Report 2001/2002: 1-12. http://www.worldbank.org/poverty/wdrpoverty * â€Å"Rich vs. Poor Stats.† Online: http://geocities.com/mrastafari/richpoor.html * Singer, Peter. â€Å"Rich and Poor.† Practical Ethics, 2nd ed.: 218-246. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1993 * Singer, Peter. â€Å"The Singer Solution to World Poverty.† The New York Times. September 5, 1999: 1-7. http://www.fordham.edu/economics/combs/savechild.pdf

The Invisible Black Cowboys :: American America History

The Invisible Black Cowboys For many Americans, the image of the cowboy evokes pleasant nostalgia of a time gone by, when cowboys roamed free. The Cowboy is, to many Americans, the ideal American, who was quick to the draw, well skilled in his profession, and yet minded his own business. Regardless of whether the mental picture that the word cowboy evokes is a correct or incorrect view of the vocation, one seldom views cowboys as being black. The first cowboy I met was from Texas and was black. After he told me that he was a cowboy, I told him that he had to be kidding. Unfortunately, I was not totally to blame for my inability to recognize that color has nothing to do with the cowboy profession; most if not all popular famous images of cowboys are white. In general, even today, blacks are excluded from the popular depiction of famous Westerners. Black cowboys were unheard of for almost a century after they made their mark on the cattle herding trade, not because they were insignificant, but because history fel l victim to prejudice, and forgot peoples of color in popular depictions of the West and Western history. Black Americans were in the West with Lewis and Clark, but this was never seen or published until the 19th century (Ravage 26). California was the section of the west that most blacks settled in before the Civil War. The largest concentration of blacks in the state was in Sacramento County, mainly because of the gold rush. Blacks would ride trade ships to the west coast and then desert, if they were slaves, or leave the ship, if they were free men, to settle there (Savage 12). Examples of early black settlers were two ex-slaves named Bob and Kanaska who came to San Diego in 1816 on the schooner Albatross. Thomas Fisher came to California around 1818 but was captured by pirates in Monterey that year. Another Fisher came to California in 1846 while serving on a whaling ship (Savage 13) Though present from the initial discovery of the West, blacks entered the West in earnest after 1850. Between 1850 and 1910, thousands of African Americans, lured by the promise of land, opportunity, and most importantly, racial justice migrated to the trans-Mississippi West (African Americans). This great migration occurred shortly after the civil war, as thousands of blacks moved West because they were unwanted in the North or South (Dick 30).

Project Metrics

â€Å"Metrics† is a term used to describe the measurement of a particular phenomenon. Project metrics therefore refers to the key indicators of what exactly has been done or achieved in a certain project. The objective of this is to be able to improve on the processes involved in the project performance. Project metrics thus is a system set in place to evaluate the project process employed in the attainment of results with an aim of improving such processes. They usually involve collecting and availing information regarding the status of the project.It is thus an important factor in project risk management as a review tool. One example of these metrics is the cost. Right before initiating a project, its financial aspect is normally catered for using budgetary control tools. Indeed, the economic viability of a project is a priority regardless of the final results expected of such a project. In this respect therefore, there are certain operations that should be conducted in the process of the project to monitor the cost element.The actual budget will thus be reviewed in light of the original budget. This yields certain variances whose magnitude can thus be reviewed to improve on the process. Quality is another key aspect in a project that would form the basis of metrics. Quality control is thus established to be able to measure the output of a particular process in light of a set standard. Defects in the system are identified and when adequately documented, these provide good grounds for review of the project process with an aim of improvement of the same.This is because in a business environment, quality compromise yields an adverse effect that translates to loss of economic gain which would otherwise be secured with the right standards of quality. In summary it can be said that in project management, the role of project metrics is extremely important and cannot be ignored. They constantly provide information, which when analyzed by the management is usef ul for decision making and the success of projects.