Beyond the Burning Time :: Essays Papers

Beyond the Burning Time Mary’s Struggle Maturation is the emergence of personal and behavioral characteristics through growth process. In the novel Beyond the Burning Time, by Kathryn Lasky, Mary Chase goes through these growth processes. In the end Mary goes through many changes and becomes a very mature person. Mary will change in the concept that she will become more aggressive and motivated in making her own decisions. She also becomes more vigorous as well as courageous in a sense that she takes the initiative to save her mother when everyone loses faith. Plus she becomes bolder in addition to more demanding due to having to sneak around and do things she never would have thought of before. She is no longer the quiet little girl that she was. When her mother is taken Mary makes it her obligation to save Mrs. Chase. Mary’s aggression and motivation is what drives her to get her mother. When her mother was arrested she was alone. Mary loved her mother so much that she had to free her. When Mary couldn’t find her mother she became angry because Caleb seemed to give up hope. â€Å"Well, we must find out,† Mary said firmly. â€Å"Somehow, we must find out† (240). This motivation that she has helps her and Caleb to find their mother. Mary was also the one who came up with the plan to save Virginia Chase. If she would have PAGE 2 given so would everyone else. It was because of Mary that no one gave up or lost hope in their cause. During the course of the novel Mary becomes more vigorous and courageous. She is the one who takes the initiative to save her mother when Caleb loses hope. As the novel progresses she becomes more and more courageous. To sneak around and attack who used to be your best friends and defile the law takes a lot of courage. One of the greatest examples is that she will do anything to save her mother. This is shown when Mary and Caleb kill a lamb to scare Constable Dewart, â€Å"A hooded figure jumped out from behind the boulder, but instead of a human face, the head of a sheep stared at constable Dewart† (257).

Complex adaptive systems Essay

Introduction Organizations should always adapt to a changing environment. The business environment is characterized by a number of changes which are a result of many factors, both external and internal. Nature is continuously changing and adapting. According to the complex adaptive systems theory, organizations must keep on revising their goals to come up with something new. This can be done through testing new ways of doing things, as dictated by the changes in the society. The theory asserts that natural variations create confusion and chaos, and ensure long-term survival. In addition to this, some of these variations are useless to nature. The study of the relationship between chaos, adaptability and survival is very important for all organizations (Holland, 1992). For our case Company, Costco, the managers must understand how the natural world influences business strategy. The managers ought to take into consideration that only a few of the natural variations succeed. This has a serious implication on leadership and innovation at Costco. To be strategically placed in the retail industry, Costco ought to understand that there is a need to test survival strategies to identify the most adaptive innovation. Innovation is all about coming with something new, but it is greatly influenced by adaptive systems. A study of complex adaptive systems will help Costco understand how natural systems interact, survive and adapt over time. This way, Costco can up with a strategy that can remain relevant even when natural systems change. The company should understand that boundaries cannot be imposed from outside. For Costco these boundaries are management hierarchies, division offices, departments, and so forth. For the complex adaptive systems to function fully there ought to be continuous feedback. The feedback can be positive or negative (Lansing, 2003). Costco must understand that positive feedback will elevate their outputs while negative one will lower their profitability. For those reason, Costco should carry out forecasts to understand the future. References Lansing, J. S. (2003). Complex adaptive systems. Annual review of anthropology, 183-204. Â   Holland, J. H. (1992). Complex adaptive systems. Daedalus, 17-30.

Cisco Case Study Essay

Cisco Systems is an industry leader in network technology. Their primary business is technology that is used to enable communication with people all over the world with multiple functions. Whether it be email, voice video or general applications these service are transported over Cisco Networks. The current CEO is John Chambers who has held the position since 1995. This case study focuses on his vision and strategy over the past 17 years. Cisco is a market leader in networking technology. Financial Information: www. Bloomberg.com (1) Sales 2012 Sales/Revenue/Turnover: Total Operating Revenues. $46,681,000,000 Gross Profit $28,558,000,00 Net income $ 8,356,000,000 Key Milestones in Cisco’s History (2) 1997 All in One: Data/Voice/Video 2000 Network of Networks 2006 Network as Platform 2008-Current Collaboration/ Web 2.0 SWOT ANALYSIS Cisco’s’ internal strengths are its people. They have a built a corporation with over 70,000 employees. 1/3 of those are Engineering people who develop Cisco’s solutions. (2). These solutions come from internal design or from acquisitions. There weakness is the size of the corporation compared to when they were in there early days. They challenges adapting to customer demands at the rapid pace the technology industry changes. The opportunities have come with the use of acquisitions. When they want to add a piece of technology to their portfolio they at times bypass the development process and acquire a company with the needed expertise. The major threats to the business are the number of employees who leave and go to competitors. Many of Cisco’s competitors are run by former Cisco employees. See Juniper.com(7) ANALYSIS VIA PORTER’S FIVE FORCES MODEL Analyze the competitive environment by listing the threat of new entrants, the bargaining power of buyers, the bargaining power of suppliers, the threat of substitute products and services, and the intensity of rivalry among competitors in the industry (Chapter 2). Summarize your key points in a Figure. (25 points) Cisco’s’ threat of new entrants is limited due to Cisco’s market cap on network Switching: Modular/Fixed (2) . They currently hold a 69% market cap sue to their design and build of these devices. Their competitors have copied and duplicated these products and there are only handful that compete. The bargaining power as a buyer based on thre volume allows them to keep manufacturing costs low. There suppliers in turn have strong bargaining power with their silicon and chip manufactures. New Chipsets are developed rapidly and suppliers can gain a competitive advantage over the manufacturers. The threat of substitute products is a common theme with Cisco. An example was a Chinese company stole Cisco’s design and started producing replica hardware. Years of litigation was later settled however the cost to do so was a major impact. (3)This caused an intense rivalry with its competitor 3Com who partnered with the Chinese company (4). The other issue with its competitors is its talent pool. Many of Cisco’s engineers leave for competitor with hopes of creating the next generation of technology. STRATEGY USED Cisco’s competitive advantage in the switching market has led them into being market leaders in other sectors. Having the market share of the core network as the base layer of Infrastructure allows them to see the need of its customers. These sectors have all been supplicants that utilize the Cisco core networking products that today has brought them an industry market share in the following area. The core strategy used is there overall cost leadership to create this competitive advantage Performance Market share per sector Security 31% Digital Video: IPTV-64% Switching: Modular/Fixed- 69% Voice-37% Wireless: LAN-54% Storage: Area Networks-44% Routing: Edge/Core/Access-53% Networked Home-23% Web Conferencing-38% (2) One core strategy they used in the area of differentiation was the introduction of Voice over the network. Voice is a legacy technology created over 100 years ago and up until recently was run with the same original design concepts. Cisco changed that system buy running voice over the IP network. Today VOIP phone systems are a standard and the original POTS (plain old pots lines) are now considered legacy. They used acquisitions to buy phone providers and break down there core fundamental and produce them on IP networks., allowing today the use of voice over your PC Email Text. They were very successful in this space however not all companies can use this strategy for this particular technology. There install base is so strong the market is saturated and would not be cost effective. This strategy however is now in the maturity stage of the industry life cycle. They contain 69% of the voice market and they are continued to grow. The core installations will eventually decline however the service to maintain the phones systems will continue to remain in the maturity stage. Cisco’s strategy is based on catching market transitions—the market transitions that affect our customers. With the proliferation of video and collaborative Web 2.0 technologies, the network continues to evolve from the plumbing of the Internet—providing connectivity—to the platform that will change the way we work, live, play and learn.â€â€" John Chambers, Chairman and CEO, Cisco THE ISSUES AND CHALLENGES FACING THIS COMPANY Cisco’s’ competitive advantage in some sectors can be maintained. The overall progress should continue however weaker sectors where they have lost focus on have declined. In the example of the home Networked sector they maintain a low 23% market share. This has not been inline what the projections were when they entered these markets. Recently they have announced they are moving away from the home based market with a sale of their Linksys lien to Belkin (5) I believe the companies’ competitive advantage can be maintained if they focus on areas where they have control on market share. Shedding unprofitable business such as Linksys is a step in the right direction. This product is clearly on the decline side and Cisco should focus on growth areas such as storage area networks. The companies’ culture is changing from when they were a smaller enterprise they were able to maneuver with market needs more quickly. The fierce competition in the home market was one of the company problems. I believe that they are an enterprises corporation provider of services and do not understand the needs of home based users. COURSE OF ACTION RECOMMENDED I would advise Cisco to focus on server storage sectors. They are not a market leader in servers such as HP but have new products that are changing the way we companies utilize servers. This is a differentiation strategy that will change the industry if done correctly. They created a virtual server solution called UCS that if markets correctly could achieve future growth in the server storage sector. (6) I would use my market power and customer to base to provide these solutions at a low cost and this will expose a broad customer base to the product OPINION What do you think of this case study? Describe what you believe are the lessons learned from this case. (10 points) I think this case study showed me new concepts in strategic management. By studying Cisco’s market dominance based on 46 billion in revenues I now understand that having a competitive advantage must be maintained. Seeing Cisco now leaving markets is a new direction for them and these concepts have brought me to understand that. REFERENCES When you have completed the paper using the above sections, insert a page break and have a separate references page. The references should be listed in accordance with the APA guidelines as shown in the tutorial. (5 points) http://www.bloomberg.com/quote/CSCO:AR (1) http://newsroom.cisco.com/documents/10157/0/Corporate+Overview+-+Q2FY12.pdf (2) http://www.theregister.co.uk/2004/07/29/cisco_huawei_case_ends/ (3) http://www.theregister.co.uk/2003/07/09/3com_welcome_to_join_ciscohuawei/(4) http://www.dailytech.com/Belkin+Plans+to+Purchase+Ciscos+Linksys+Home+Networking+Business+Unit/article29747.htm(5) http://www.cisco.com/assets/global/europe/powerofu/ucs_vs_hp_deployment.pdf(6) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Juniper_Networks(7)

Race and Color Discrimination Essay

Who are the major people that had made a different in the race and color movement? What as society done to improve the way to perceive other people that do not have the same color or race as us? This are all major questions people have in mind when trying to solve Racism affects people lives in many ways depending on race, gender, & class though gender usually goes with sexism. Though there have been many efforts to reduce its power it is still in life. Today there are still efforts being made and some have been successful such the racial boundaries Barack Obama has crossed despite being biracial and how many people are taking a stand. Racism today seems to affect mainly African Americans as some people are very prejudiced against them such as the Ku Klux Klan whose power may not be as strong as it once was still exists. The other ways that African Americans are affected are stereotypes. There countless even for other races for example me. I have mistaken to be Indian a lot of times and sometimes still am even though I am Bangladeshi. Some stereotypes for other races would be the Chinese and Japanese they are sometimes expected to be smart, have squinty eyes, and be a workaholic while they may be not. I know someone who is partly Japanese she does not seem to have squinty eyes nor is she a workaholic. Racism also comes to everyone’s’ lives through the way we exposed to it. For example go to some place and then be shut out because of the color of your skin or be cast out because you’re Asian, African-American, or even middle eastern. For now that is all I can say but if you’re not satisfied please leave a message on my bio page and/or improve it yourself in anyways you can.

Famous Artworks Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Famous Artworks - Essay Example The second artwork’s subject matter is also about a woman. Comparing it to Masaccio’s The Expulsion of Adamant Eve, the focus could be the facial expressions of the women in the two artworks. From Masaccio’s title of his artwork, it is understood why Eve had such a burdened facial expression. She was actually crying and was so full of remorse that she was expelled from the Garden of Eden. The second artwork on the other hand, shows a woman who seems to have seen something she was afraid of. In conclusion, considering the two artworks, it could be said that the artists tried to portray emotion through their subjects. The third artwork and Boticelli’s Primavera also hold the same subject matter, a beautiful woman. Boticelli uses flowers to accentuate the beauty of his subject and he uses fine lines to give more detail to the features of the woman. The beautiful hair of the woman was brought to life by thin, continuous lines and her lips, nose and other parts of her face are made realistic by the thick brush strokes. The colors of the flowers add to the beauty of the painting and emphasize even more the beholding features of the woman. On the other hand, the third artwork simply depicts the beauty of the woman by concentrating on the subject. Obviously, thin lines were used to define the contours of the woman’s face while thicker brush strokes were used on her hair to bring about a beautiful curly hair.The fourth image portrays another woman who is not looking directly at the painter. but seems to be looking to a distance at an angle from the painter’s view. The veil suggests that the woman is a religious figure. Whatever the circular background is, it seems to have been deliberately used to make it look like a halo around the woman’s head, a figure often used in to portray religious meanings, making her look even more like a heroin with a mission to accomplish. In Raphael’s Galatea, the subject features a si milar facial expression. The woman in the painting is also looking, not at the artist, but towards heaven. This suggests her being a religious figure as well and she is actually a mythical figure that (Addison). Moreover, Galatea is known to be a woman with fair complexion and this feature is obvious in the two artworks. Van der Veyden’s Portrait of a Woman and Portrait of a Lady both share the same subject matter as well. The artist used many similarities as well aside from the subject matter such as the veil, the colors and the use of geometric figures. Both women used veils which suggest the cultural background of the models as well as the era of the art. The veils also are used to bring about the inclination of the artist to use geometric figures in his work (Kren & Marx). In

Opportunity for Expansion - the Case of Wal-Mart Essay

Opportunity for Expansion - the Case of Wal-Mart - Essay Example The expansion of a firm in the international market is often considered as the most effective method for increasing organizational competitiveness and ensuring a long – term growth. In practice, this strategy can be risky, especially if it is not carefully planned. The level at which opportunities for expansion need to be used by organizations for improving their market position is reviewed in this paper. Reference is made to a specific organization, Wal-Mart, a major competitor in the global retail industry. Currently the firm operates in about 27 countries (Wal-Mart 2012, corporate website). Despite its success, the firm tries to secure its market position through continuous expansion; in US market, where the firm is based, the chances for further growth seems to be limited. The expansion in the international market seems to be the firm’s only chance for achieving a long – term growth. 2. Expansion in new markets – Wal-Mart 2.1 Background Wal-Mart is a l eading firm in the international retail market. The firm’s stores are dispersed globally, making Wal-Mart one of the most powerful competitors in its industry. The firm was first established in 1962, in USA (Wal-Mart 2012, corporate website). ... In 2010, the firm planned to increase their international stores, approximately by ‘600 stores worldwide’ (Tice 2010). For the US market, the establishment of just 160 new stores was considered as sufficient for responding to customers’ needs (Tice 2010). In 2012, the firm plans to invest a high amount of money, about $750 million (CBC News 2012), for expanding its operations in Canada. The above investment involves in the ‘renovation and expansion of the firm’s existing stores creating 14,000 new jobs across Canada’ (CBC News 2012). It should be noted that in 2011, the firm had developed a major plan of expansion in the US market, adding ‘hundreds of small stores across US under the name Wal-Mart Express’ (Bustillo 2011). This is an effort for expansion in the internal market, as combined with the expansion internationally, which is considered as quite important for standardizing the firm’s performance in USA. The opportuni ties of expansion given to Wal-Mart, as described above, are analyzed below; reference is made to appropriate theory but also to the practical implications of the particular initiatives. Also, the potential effects of these strategies on the organization’s performance are discussed, as they can be estimated by using the figures presented in the firm’s financial reports for the last 5 years, a period during which the firm’s efforts for expanding internationally have become intensive. 2.2 Evaluation of the firm’s current expansion strategies 2.2.1 Organizational expansion in theory The decision of organizations to expand their activities internationally can be based on different criteria. According to the ‘monopolistic advantage theory’ (Luo 1999, p.27), organizations may decide to expand in the global

Paraphrasing Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words - 35

Paraphrasing - Essay Example suffering from any kind of condition that would deter her from making her personal decisions, hence it is inappropriate for the healthcare experts to push Ida to be treated if she is not interested, neither is it appropriate to let the family persuade her, nonetheless, it might be very useful for this matter to be talked about with family members so as to ascertain if Ida is ok with it. As healthcare experts, they are tied by several ethical as well as legal laws surrounding privacy and human rights and in this case it is essential for them to be adhered to. 3. If I were a mature person, ‘What is the issue with you?’ would appear very rude, disrespectful, as well as very negative, and the answer if there was one would be much closed. Nevertheless, if someone were to ask me, ‘What matters to you?’, this according to me is an incredibly positive question since it is extremely open and permits an individual to experience like what they value is esteemed and that there is consideration and respect for their