Kauflauf GmbH Essay

Business model: Kauflauf GmbH was founded in 2002. First European organisation to offer _’ software as a service’_ The product portfolio included Customer Relationship Management and ERP software for – Auto Parts, Computer/ Office Supplies and Medical Devices companies Product owners worked with design team, sales force to prioritize new features and anticipate customer demands Their competitive advantage was derived from their successful field consultants who provided consulting and support to customers Kauflauf had three divisions: Development and Support services, Marketing Sales They had a strong competitive advantage due to _hands on consulting_ provided by field consultants backed up by the development group. As opposed to competitors who targeted larger firms, Kauflauf targeted middle market (revenues from â‚ ¬100 million to â‚ ¬1 billion) and top-tier smaller customers. _CLIENT EDUCATION, HAND HOLDING AND CUSTOMIZATION_ were the main areas of focus for the sales force, in order to obtain customer loyalty. The culture of the company was _YOUTH ORIENTED AND ANTI-HIERARCHICAL_ . It was characterized by small company friendliness and deep pride in superior software engineering. JESS WESTERLEY An American woman who had lived with her family in Germany as a child, Jess had developed a love for the country and was fluent in the language. She has been hired as Assistant Product Owner (CRM product) for computer and office supply wholesalers and retailers. CREDENTIALS: Jess came with a proven track record. She had earlier worked with a rapidly growing CRM software service provider in the United States, where she demonstrated great success in growing market share. Has high degree of analytical capabilities and keen grasp of market evolution. Is deeply interested in computers, management and international business. Able to speak German and form informal relationships with her colleagues. RESPONSIBILITIES: To understand the market and customers. To establish product development priorities to serve both existing and future customer needs. To increase sales volume and enable greater penetration in the global CRM subscription software market JESS WESTERLY’S PROPOSED CHANGE Even if the external environment was not changing, the competitive landscape was stable and Kauflauf was doing well in terms of business and revenues, the company still required to bring about a change. The internal environment  was changing and demanded for Kauflauf to shake itself up in regard to its strategy, processes and structure. With its single minded focus to operate in the middle size market segment, the firm was operating in silos. There was a persistent failure to spot new development and opportunities in the market. Thus, to trigger off innovation, increase sales revenue and build more agility in the company, Jess Westerly proposed a change in the sales call patterns at Kauflauf GmbH, with the field consultants redirecting atleast 30% of their time and focus towards larger, more established potential purchasers of CRM software services in the computer and office supply business. Based on Jess westerly’s own quantitative analysis and simulations, she had identified that: Only 35 % of the consultant’s time went to customers who produced 85% of the revenues, while the remaining time was spent with smaller, less profitable accounts By reducing the time spent with customers with annual sales volume less than â‚ ¬ 250,000 (Class 5 and 6 clients) by 20%, and instead focusing on bigger prospective clients , Kauflauf could increase revenues by 30% Field Consultants spending time on closing sales for companies with less than â‚ ¬100,000 in annual sales volume only yields suboptimal returns Kauflauf’s recent success in getting business from Dart, one of world’s largest suppliers of computer parts through persistent call efforts also supported her proposal Thus, the company was losing significant sales growth opportunities by strictly focusing on smaller accounts and neglecting large prospective companies. WHY IT FAILED – THE RESISTANCE TO CHANGE 1. An organization-level change requires the change agent to clearly communicate the vision ahead to those being most impacted by the change. Jess Westerley did not speak to RSDs and consultants before sending out the memo to implement the changes. 2. Change requires the agent to form a core group of people who buy into his/her idea and begin the change process. Jess did not explain why there was a need for change, even though there were no changes in the company’s external environment. Internally, it seemed that all was well too. Hence, the field consultants felt that she was intruding into their work schedule. To them, it appeared that she was interfering with their work-patterns though she had no idea of how things actually worked. 3. Jess did not understand the challenges faced by consultants at different levels of experience – She did not seek the consultants’ opinion which could have contributed to the change. The issues that came to light when Jess sent out the memo were : Consultants felt that this proposal was not for their market They did not wish to work for a firm that served larger accounts They doubted whether such a change would be good for the firms competitive advantage They doubted Jess’ understanding of different markets They had concerns about Kauflauf’s development capacity to support class 1 and 2 sales 4. She did not get approvals from the higher management and RSDs before approaching the Field consultants. An approval from them might have made  them think of the change more seriously. However, the entire change process that she suggested was completely based only on her analysis and simulations, and it did not have the backing of the higher-ups. 5. Large clients did not allow consultants to have access to top management and hence closing a sale was tougher and less probable. However, this was the one point which gave maximum motivation to the consultants. Since closing a successful sale required a lot more effort with larger clients, the consultants were left disappointed at times when all their efforts did not bear fruit. Hence they were up in arms against the idea of changing their call patterns towards larger clients.

Of mice and men †George’s character Essay

George possesses many fine, admirable qualities in the novel, however there is one action he ultimately commits which is evil. Of George’s good qualities, his self respect and respect for others are his most outstanding. He displays all of these qualities many times throughout the book, and never are these qualities contradicted, except in one evil act that George commits. George is a character who has great respect for himself. Often, we stereotype homeless, drifter types such as George as people who have no concern for personal hygiene, appearance, or even something as simple as a clean place to sleep. George, however, is a living example that disproves this stereotype. When George and Lenny first arrive on the ranch, George is assigned a bed in the bunkhouse. When George proceeds to put his belongings on a shelf next to his bed, he finds a bottle that reads, â€Å"positively kills lice, roaches, and other scourges,†(20). After George finds this, he responds, â€Å"What the hell kind of bed you giving us, anyways. We don’t want no pants rabbits,†(20). This shows that George does care if he has a clean bed to sleep in; we sometimes think a person like George wouldn’t care about this. Throughout the novel, George shows his respect for others many times. The character that George respects the most is Slim. George never challenged Slim’s opinion, and recognized that Slim’s word was law. Not only George respects Slim, though. It seems everyone on the ranch recognizes Slim as the supreme law. After Slim tells Candy that he thinks the dog should be shot, â€Å"Candy looked helplessly at him [Slim], for Slim’s opinions were law.† George also has a great respect for Crooks, the Negro stable buck. When George finds Lenny and Candy in Crooks’ room, he realizes that Crooks likes the company, however he knows that, for the good of Crooks, that Candy and Lenny must leave the room. George makes them leave the room because he respects Crooks and is trying to do what’s best for him. In the conclusion of the novel, George commits one evil, horrendous deed. This deed is killing Lennie. George doesn’t just mercifully kill Lennie, though. George executes him, shooting him in the back of the head with a pistol. Lennie must have felt pain, even if it was just for a second. George could have easily fled with Lennie and poisoned him or, better yet, not killed Lennie at all. The grounds on which George killed Lennie are not justifiable. They could have made another attempt at making a stake to buy that piece of property, however George threw this chance away. George also commits a crime on himself, because after Lennie is killed, it can be deduced that George will go on to lead an immoral, evil lifestyle, that of the average bucker on the ranch. In this novel, Steinbeck seems to view all human dreams as unachievable. He illustrates many characters with distinct dreams in this novel, such as Lennie and George, Candy, and Curley’s wife. Each one of these characters has different dreams, but each dream is incredibly important to them. All of these dreams, though, seem like they will never be achieved by the people who dream them. Lennie and George’s dream is perhaps the most important dream; the story is somewhat focused around it. This dream begins with building up a stake, which is a sum of money accumulated over a time. Once a stake of around 600 dollars is accumulated, George and Lenny plan to buy a small piece of land, about 10 acres, and move into the house on it. † ‘†¦Someday-we’re gonna get the jack together and we’re gonna have a little house and a couple of acres an’ a cow and some pigs and-† â€Å"An’ live off the fatta the lan,’ Lennie shouted,†(15). George is the one who initially came up with this dream. Initially, George just told Lennie of this dream to amuse him. George, though, never thought this would ever happen. With the inclusion of Candy in the plan, though, George begins to believe this dream. He still has a feeling that he won’t achieve it. From what the novel says, we can conclude that Lennie and George will never achieve this dream, because Lennie is dead. We can also deduce that George will never settle down and buy some land on his own. Candy has a dream similar to George and Lennie’s, however he wants a different feeling out of the dream. What Candy is looking for is a sense of security. This is important to someone like Candy, who, having a relatively unstable job, could be fired at any time. Also, Candy is disabled, so he would have a hard time finding another job, especially in a time like the Great Depression. Candy wants to live with Lennie and George so that he can have a secure future, and not have to worry about not having a place to live. When George seems to abandon the dream when he knows Lennie must die, Candy is worried that George won’t want to complete the dream without Lennie. â€Å"You an’ me can get that little place, can’t we, George? You an’ me can go there an’ live nice, can’t we, George? Can’t we?†(103). It can be deduced from this passage that Candy is having doubts about the dream now, and is worried it will never be achieved. It seems that Curley’s wife has the simplest dream of all in the novel. All that she craves is attention. She is so desperate for attention that she will take it from anyone, even Lennie or Crooks, the Negro stable buck. It can be deduced that the reason she married Curley was for the sole purpose of attention, because it is clear that she doesn’t have much attraction to him, and he has only a limited amount of attraction to her; he treats her more like a prostitute than a wife. When Curly’s wife gets lonely, she seeks out anyone for attention, even stooping to the level of getting attention from the stable buck, when he is in his room with Candy and Lennie. She also looks to Lennie for attention when she finds him alone in the barn. This was not an intelligent idea and it resulted in her death. Curly’s wife died without ever receiving ample attention from anyone, thus her dream was not achieved. George and Curly are both very similar people. They are both rather small, and both of them could defend themselves if they needed to. They both work on the ranch, and they both, in there own mind, have a lot of power. There are however, many differences between Curly and George. Among these is their personality, self respect, and respect for others. George has a very mellow, calm attitude about things, and never gets out of control. He’s a very controlled person, and would never let his temper get the better of him. Curly, on the other hand, is always looking to pick a fight. Whenever he gets the opportunity, he will challenge someone to a fight. This is partially due to the fact that he’s an avid boxer, and it’s also due to his mentality. He has the classic â€Å"little guy† mentality, always wanting to be able to beat up people, to make up for his size. George has much respect for himself. He shows this in the beginning of the novel, when he finds the lice killer next to the bed. He knows that he deserves a clean bed, because he has much respect for himself. Curly, though, has no respect for himself. He’s always trying to be better than other people, trying to show up people. He has to build himself up to make up for his lack of confidence and respect for himself. George has much respect for others. He respects Slim greatly, and takes Slim’s word as law. He also respects Crooks, by realizing that it’s best for Lennie to stay out of his room. George doesn’t look for fights because he has respect for people, and isn’t willing to stoop to the level of Curly. By punching Lennie just for supposedly laughing at him, Curly shows that he has no respect for Lennie. If he did, he would not have had any reason to fight him. Curly fought Lenny on grounds of respect; he wanted to gain respect from others if he won the fight.

Qualitative Research- Fieldwork Observation Assignment

Qualitative Research- Fieldwork Observation - Assignment Example These issues can be accessed and evaluated through observation. This is true because most of the traits that determine students’ performance are physically portrayed. Most of these characteristics are associated with the environment which students grow in. For example, literatures have found that students brought up in poor backgrounds perform poorer than those brought up in middle class backgrounds (Billie & Bette & Wolfe, 2006). Specifically, physical characteristics like students behavior and the way they conduct themselves have a lot to say about their academic performance. In the effort to determine this concept, I sought to carryout a research through observation from a public school in a poor background setting. The aim of this research was to find out how the students conduct themselves and if their behavior conducts have any relationship with their academic performance. In learning theories, main focus is on behavioral psychology. For children to be able to learn and remember new things, some things are considered to take place in the learning process. According to Billie & Bette & Wolfe, (2006), some of these things are explained by behavioral and constructivism theories which focus their attentions on acquired factors that help the learner acquire knowledge. Burkhardt, (2004) asserted that students’ achievement is influenced by environmental factors such as cultural, ethnic, and socioeconomic factors. These factors are said to shape students behavior, which have adverse, effects on their academic performance. According to Burkhardt, (2004), students who come from poor back grounds have been found to perform poorly in their academic works. In some instances, living conditions are extremely harsh that the students have to attend school with empty stomachs. Field-notes My field-work started early in the morning at 7: am. I purposely decided to start my research at this hour in order to gather information on the arrival of students from the ir homes since this was a day school. Students started arriving some minutes after 7: am. There was only one teacher who had arrived by then. I later came to realize that he was the teacher on duty that day. He mobilized students in cleaning their classrooms and the compound. Most students were seen to be sluggish in responding to the teacher’s instruction. For example, when they were told to clean their classes, most of them hid themselves behind the classes. The teacher was forced to come after them with a cane. When the bell for the assembly was rung, some students were still arriving from their homes. In the effort to capture them for punishment, the teacher had difficult times as the students ran away while others hid themselves. In fact, some of those that were caught and given some punishment to do, they retorted to the teacher. When the lessons started, I visited one of the classes where I observed various occurrences. Some minutes before the teacher entered the class room, most of the students seemed not to be settled. They were discussing the previous night’s happenings. Some were chatting and gossiping. However, a few were seen to be preparing themselves for the lesson before the teacher entered. When the lesson started, some students were lying on their desks while others were busy chatting. In fact, remarkably few students concentrated on what the teacher was teaching. This was evident when the teacher asked questions related to what he taught. The students gave irrelevant answers while other said

Windows versus mac Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Windows versus mac - Essay Example Mac OS X, a proprietary, graphical operating systems developed, marketed, and sold by Apple Inc., which is pre-loaded on all currently shipping Macintosh computers. The most recent being Mac OS X v10.4, which was first made available in April 2005. Releases of Mac OS X are named after big cats and OS X v10.4 is usually referred as "Tiger". Mac OS X is a Unix-like operating system and the successor to the original Mac OS, which had been Apples primary operating system since 1984. [W3] The comparisons of Windows Vista and Mac OS X from User-Interface, security, speech-recognition, web-browsing, multimedia authoring, Widgets/Gadgets, kernel and performance perspective is given in following paragraphs. User Interface (UI): Windows Vista is very attractive, extremely straightforward and easy to grasp compared to Mac OS X. Vista is better looking than OS X, but only in the Aero UI and only at a cosmetic level. This new interface (Windows Aero) is cleaner and more aesthetically pleasing as compared to previous versions. It has features such as new transparencies, animations and eye candy. Security: This is the tough task as Vista is only one month old (commercially). Microsoft Vista includes virus and adware scanners and advanced phishing protection. On Mac OS X, one can download anything and everything because having secure (or trust) in the knowledge that they will not get logic bombed into oblivion. Worms are rebuffed Mac OS X and Internet hacks are almost non-existent in it. While Vista will definitely have some sort of major exploit, which will emerge within the next year as it is only two months old. (Biggs 2007) Speech Recognition: – Speech recognition is fully integrated in Windows Vista is at it best. Microsoft Speech Recognition, with having supports to several languages, a better interface, a rich and flexible set of commands, and an extensive command-and-control capability to activate the computer by voice. Voice recognition in OS X is an

Outsourcing and off-shoring Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Outsourcing and off-shoring - Research Paper Example Jones (2005) has put forward the finding that outsourcing along with immigration can serve the purpose of raising the domestic wage rate of the home nation. However, there are ambiguous and contradictory implications of the impacts of outsourcing activities on the labor market of the home country. This was suggested by Eggar and Eggar (2005) (Yabuuchi, 2011, p.706). In this context outsourcing has been considered to be detrimental to domestic labor in terms of wages and jobs even though it can have beneficial impacts on the economy on the whole. Kohler (2001) has come up with an alternative perspective of the international fragmentation which is based on the specific factors model. He has shown that outsourcing can have a welfare loss on the economy. Recently research conducted by Batra and Beladi (2010), tried to explore the impactions of outsourcing on factor prices with the help of the two sector specific factor model along with intermediate outsourced inputs. Their finding was th at outsourcing can have negative implication on the domestic market; however, it benefits the capital of the country. However it can have positive impacts of the domestic labor in case there is completely no production of the outsourced work or activity in the home country. However, the studies assume that there is full employment in the economy (Yabuuchi, 2011, p.706). Problems of OutsourcingDespite the numerous advantages associated with outsourcing in developed countries, certain problems have also been noted.... Kohler (2001) has come up with an alternative perspective of the international fragmentation which is based on the specific factors model. He has shown that outsourcing can have a welfare loss on the economy. Recently research conducted by Batra and Beladi (2010), tried to explore the impactions of outsourcing on factor prices with the help of the two sector specific factor model along with intermediate outsourced inputs. Their finding was that outsourcing can have negative implication on the domestic market; however, it benefits the capital of the country. However it can have positive impacts of the domestic labor in case there is completely no production of the outsourced work or activity in the home country. However, the studies assume that there is full employment in the economy (Yabuuchi, 2011, p.706). Problems of Outsourcing Despite the numerous advantages associated with outsourcing in developed countries, certain problems have also been noted. For example, researchers have id entified problems related with outsourcing India which is considered to be one of the most preferred countries across the world for outsourcing. Companies making great investments in India have now been pulling back their investments. This is because of the dramatic escalating wage structure in the country. The attrition rates in the software firms in India averages around 50% per year. The larger American firms which had established their presence in India had been immune to this attrition for quite some time which now has changed. The smaller firms have been experiencing attrition rates of 100% in a year. Thus the focus has now been shifting towards Eastern and Central Europe

Baw.Grop Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Baw.Grop - Essay Example If the trade bloc comprises of geographically proximate countries, the trade agreement is known as ‘regional trade agreement. Most of these trade agreements are done to enhance the business situation in a region by the coordination offered by each of the member states. Back in 2006, on the first day of January, the agreement on South Asia Free Trade Agreement came into force. Out of their members India, Pakistan and Sri Lanka are known as Non Least development Contracting state (NLDCS) and Bhutan, Bangladesh, Maldives are Nepal are referred as Least Developed Contracting States (LDCS) (Commerce, n.d.). The member countries of this agreement are able to avail a number of trade opportunities which are specifically available to the member countries of this agreement. These agreements have emerged to promote multilateral trade with a commitment to offer higher rate of economic growth worldwide. However, the spread of these regional blocs has denied allowing the non member countries to take the advantage of free trading. To enjoy the benefits of free trading which include enhanced resource allocation, improved level of efficiency, exposure to new innovative ideas, technologies and products the South Asia countries must ensure trade facilitation, econom ic cooperation to other Agreements and higher investment across the countries in that region. Despite of the fact that South Asia Association for regional Cooperation (SAARC) is being into existence for the last 25 years, still in 2004, the percentage of intra regional trade was only of 4 % of the total trade amount (Kemal, 2004). In a review, World Bank has revealed that all the regional grouping does not boost the trade and enhance the growth automatically. Although, the objective of these regional trading groups is to promote inter regional trade and economic growth, a large no of groups fail to achieve the same (Kemal, 2004). SAFTA has allowed

Merger and Acquisition Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2250 words

Merger and Acquisition - Essay Example Johnson & Johnson, on the other hand, is one of the biggest names in the healthcare industry, serving customers around the globe with its baby care products, medical devices, medicines, body nutrition and other day to day consumer products (Jnj.com, 2013). The announcement by Johnson & Johnson had created waves in corporate world; firstly, this marked the biggest acquisition in this industry, and secondly it had multiple-fold effects disturbing many organizations within and outside the industry. Strategic Justification Johnson & Johnson was observed to be laying great emphasis on healthcare sector in recent years, and wanted to shift its focus from consumer products to healthcare products. Thus, in the words of CEO of Johnson & Johnson, acquisition of Synthes was all part of the big plan for Johnson & Johnson: becoming most wide-range orthopedics and neurological business, serving customers worldwide in medical industry. This has enabled Johnson & Johnson to be the absolute provider of all related services in supply chain of orthopedics with a comprehensive coverage for all kinds of products and services. Synthes makes substantial profits in developing markets and third world nations. Therefore, the acquisition decision was in line with Johnson & Johnson’s long-term strategy to promote well being of public, especially in underdeveloped and developing areas, through innovative and healthier products, putting the company in a stronger position than before. It also provided benefits of economies of scale, synergy and bulk buying to the group as they were engaged in similar businesses and therefore idle capacities and resources could now be better utilized, leading to efficient or full employment of factors of production and fall in unit costs as fixed costs were spread over larger number of units being produced (invertor.jnj.com, 2012). Regulatory implications When deciding on acquisition of Synthes, Johnson & Johnson had to consider all legal complications involved; one of them being prohibition of simultaneous holdings in Synthes and DePuy orthopedics subsidiary. Johnson & Johnson and Synthes have been direct competitors in certain sectors of medical equipment and surgical treatment goods and therefore, Federal Trade Commission intervened to protect public interests (reuters.com, 2012). Antitrust regulations governed by the European Union and U.S. regulators were required to be satisfied and complied with to make due diligence effective. Consequently, it had to divest its stakes from DePuy in order to be able to make acquisition of Synthes legally possible. It accepted offer from Biomet, a company involved in surgical products and instruments to sell the subsidiary for $280 million, receivable in cash (Nj.com, 2013). On part of Synthes, there were past accusations regarding one of its business units, Norian, of conducting trials to promote its product without permission of relevant authorities. The company ended up paying a penalty and damages to another company, amounting to $22 million. It agreed to dispose of its unit which committed offence previously at its acquisition date (Bloomberg, 2013). Apart from mentioned implications, it was very vital to account for the deferred taxation repercussions involved in due diligence activities, including consideration of accumulated tax losses and deferred tax assets that could be utilized for tax avoidance tactics.

Benetton Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Benetton - Essay Example Benetton started out on a shoestring budget. Although the first retail shop was a success, the lack of funds prevented the family from expanding. The problem was solved by appointing agents in territories to promote the Benetton products by approaching shop owners or individuals interested in opening up retail stores to buy and sell the company products. For their service, agents were paid "4 % of the value of goods shipped from the Benetton's warehouse complex in Italy." Initially, Benetton's chains of retailing clothing stores were restricted to only certain areas in Italy catering to the younger generation. As the family business grew, so did the expansion of its operations into new markets, which enabled the company to reach a wider clientele. Benetton was no longer only confined to merely "making and selling sweaters." The company began in the "manufacturing and distribution of clothing constructed from wool, cotton and other fabrics; undergarments; shoes; cosmetics; accessories ; eye wear; auto accessories; and sports equipment." The success of Benetton can be attributed to the family's strategic business plan, which they initiated from the very beginning and continued to follow for the next 3 decades. One of the strategy's used was to attract investors to partner with Benetton's "on a 50/50 ownership basis and maximum latitude given to (and minimum structured imposed) on partners. Interested parties had to have an investment of $70,000 "(to buy fixtures for a 600- to 1000- square foot shop) and the right attitude to become a Benetton shop owner." Through the years the business evolved into an entrepreneurial culture. When the Benetton family signed up new stores, they didn't have the time or patience for formal agreements, instead they started with handshake agreements. The Benetton's didn't have time to oversee every detail of the retail stores, and gave the stores the freedom to make its own choices. Even in business partnerships, the agreements were often handshake deals and structures to give the partner as much flexibility as possible.Employees continued to work with minimal supervision and were given the freedom to "do the right thing". Unlike a traditional franchise where the franchiser dictates every detail about the business, Benetton stores were refereed to a licensee, and were given many freedoms that normal franchisee are not given 2) Is Benetton a global operation Benetton became one of the dominant forces in the international apparel retailing industry through its global operations. The company's success in the international market can be attributed to the "stage-five process." The stage-five process was created with the sole purpose of testing " the market potential and the ability of partners, agents and licensees to adopt the company's model before investing large sums of management time or capital." The Benetton family relied heavily on the stage five-process, to determine how effective and successful their business would be in a new market prior to entering it. The stage-five process can be defined as: 1) Appointing a Benetton agent in a "foreign country"

Analytic Commentary Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Analytic Commentary - Essay Example This play shows his creativity as he remembers rules of road crossing as taught by his mother. But throughout the conversation, his focus on cat rescue remains his major objective. Theoretical background To a large extent, verbal communication especially pretence play and other forms of expression encompass a similar beginning (Loizou 2005). Although they constitute modes of communication, resultant meanings could be diverse but comprise of important aspects of important communication. The above case is an example of understanding language development in children undergoing the pre-operational stage. In Piaget’s cognitive development theory, early education that entails the use of the use of appropriate vocabulary to create sense constitutes a series of word plays which begin with nonsensical initiations. As evident from the play, some words Adrian uses in the play appear to be newly learnt and thus he struggles to create meaning with them. These words then form a foundation o f basic vocabulary that constitutes his ability to use appropriate words to create interpersonal communication skills. Since language is pivotal in a child’s communication, unique language behaviour from parents has varied influences on their children’s verbal skills (Brown, Donelan & Dunn 2009). Among them are variations in pronunciation. As evident from the play, Adrian struggles to get the word ‘ambu- lance’ right since his verbal communication skills are still youthful and dependent on parental influence. Accompanying such tonal variations include pitch variations. As Adrian struggles to get some words right, his pitch also changes staggeringly in attempts to get the right pronunciation. These, according to Piaget’s cognitive development theory, are normal occurrences in children at Adrian’s age. As the game progresses, Adrian’s cognitive skills can be seen as concrete. At his age, according to Piaget’s cognitive theory, chi ldren at the ages of four to five exhibit strong memories, mental clarities and use complex language to supplement their narratives (Terzi 2010). Throughout the play, Adrian does not falter to show drifting away from the play. He keeps within it and completes his mission as commenced. Although he involves many characters within it, he never loses track of his mission. This is an indication that children have adopted clear mental abilities and their cognitive abilities are able to store memories for a sustained period of time (Brown, Donelan & Dunn 2009). Parental role in supporting children is thinking. Uses of varying situations within pretence plays make the languages applied highly dynamic (Clough & Corbett 2000). Adrian’s parents use different situations which includes their demand to know where he is heading to, what is along the way and what else he can see as questioned in numbers, 4,7,10 and 12 which make language highly dynamic. Maintaining the same language for chil dren in Adrian’s age creates complexities for them. In order to create a lasting play and sustain the child’s interest in the play, the parent should involve lively language. Adrian in this case is given the same approach when his parents keep changing his language through choice of events and thus choice of words. The play becomes livelier from engagement of questions in the play all along while he keeps driving his parents and his cat to the hospital. The ability to improvement language communication in children especially as

One to one communication interaction Essay Example for Free

One to one communication interaction Essay In this activity, I will be carrying out two interactions, one with an individual and one with a group of service users. For my individual interaction I have chosen to work with a service user from my workplace. I am a social tutor working with deaf and blind adults. I will take an activity with a group of young children in a local school for my group interaction. After these interactions have taken place, I will look at and discuss the types of communication skills shown, and I will also describe the interpersonal interaction that occurred. Communication with other people involves a process that most of us take for granted. We need to pass information using a form of code from one individual to another. A code is a communication system, which contains elements, which all individuals will understand. This could be verbal, non-verbal i.e. body language, Braille, sign language, writing, pictures or even music to convey a message (CCMS, 2006). We need to express our thoughts to another person using methods of communication. The other person thinks about our communication and responds. We then check the response, whether the communication has been correctly interpreted, and if not we need to clarify our communication. Gerard Egan (1986) states that the goal of listening is understanding. (Moonie, 2005) see more:describe the impact the behaviours of carers and others may have on an individual with dementia I had chosen to work with a male service user, a resident at my workplace. I will refer to this service user as Mr A throughout this report, to protect his identity. This is important, as confidentiality is a basic human right. Law protects confidentiality through the Data Protection Act 1988, and the Freedom of Information Act 2000. Maintaining confidentiality also forms part of the Care Standards Act 2000, and staff in health and social care are expected to work within the boundaries of confidentiality. Before I undertook my individual interaction, I gave some thought to how I could get as much conversation as possible. Mr A has very limited sight and good hearing. He has a pair of glasses but does not like to wear them. He also has learning disabilities, which makes his ability to respond verbally quite difficult. As I know Mr A well, I will use informal conversation, also a formal interview would not be appropriate due to Mr As conversational skills. Informal is defined as without ceremony or formality; relaxed and friendly. (Chambers, 2007) Taking this into account I thought of a few questions, which would be easy for him to respond to. I had open questions in my head, such as what are you doing today what would you like for breakfast and how was your evening. Using open questions, I hoped to encourage conversation and interaction between us. Closed questions, which only require a yes or no answer, would not be productive to this activity, however due to Mr As disabilities I may have to use closed questions at times. As I have worked with Mr A for two years, I already have a good relationship with him. Mr A requires a lot of support with his personal needs, but likes to be as independent as possible. Talking to other staff, reading Mr As care plan and observations I have made during the time I have worked with Mr A has allowed me to build up a good relationship with him, and knowledge of how he likes to communicate. I know when to offer support, and Mr A appears to like me. Mr A makes it quite clear when he is unhappy by shouting. On Tuesday 19th December 2006 at 9am I went to my workplace. The weather was dull and cold outside. Mr A was sat in his usual chair in the living room. He had his arms relaxed by his side, and one knee across the other. There was one other service user in the room, and the radio was on low. The radio is always on for Mr A; he likes to listen to either the radio or the television at all times. Another member of staff was also in the living room writing up paper work. The temperature was warm, the room was well lit but not too bright and the atmosphere was calm. Mr A appeared relaxed. My body language was relaxed, and I smiled and said good morning to Mr A, and he said yeah in response. He shuffled around in his chair at little as he spoke to me. I sat in a chair in close proximity to Mr A so that he would be able to hear me clearly above any background noise, and know where I was location to him as he has very limited sight. Mr A needs a lot of help with his needs, and he is comfortable with carers in his personal space. I sat relaxed, with my body turned towards Mr A, my arms leaning across my knees. I made sure I looked at Mr A so when I spoke to him he would know I was making as much eye contact as possible. Mr A does not make eye contact with anybody, he tends to look down towards his knees and occasionally look up towards the centre of the room. Although Mr A was not making eye contact with me, I felt it important to maintain contact, as I may be able to guess his thoughts and feelings by looking at his eyes. Mr A settled back into his chair and his body posture was relaxed. With my voice at a calm slow pitch I said who is it Mr A, Mr A said Sarah been on days too long. This is an affectionate term for Mr A. I responded with yes I think it is time I had a holiday and Mr A laughed and said its time you did. I laughed with Mr A to show I found his remark amusing. He shuffled around a little in his chair again. I continued to talk to Mr A in a varying tone to ensure my voice sent a friendly message. I asked Mr A how he was feeling today and he said yeah. I asked him if he was feeling poorly and he said didnt say that, so I asked him if he was feeling well. Mr A responded yeah. By maintaining eye contact and looking interested, I assured Mr A that I was actively listening. Mr As receptive language is very good however his expressive language is very limited. In order to find out something from Mr A I have to clarify what it is I want to know. By asking if he felt poorly or well first I knew from experience that Mr A would respond didnt say that to the wrong one. I paraphrased what I had asked, reflecting back on the question to ensure I had understood what Mr A was telling me. I touched Mr A on the arm and told him that I was pleased he felt well. I felt touch was appropriate in this instance, however I recognise that this is not always the case. I asked Mr A if he would like some breakfast, and he responded yeah. He got up from the chair and made his way to the dining table. Mr A is very good at finding his way around the house and does not like being guided. By not intervening until Mr A asks for help, I am empowering him. This gives Mr A a feeling of confidence and higher self esteem. He sat down in his usual place. I asked him if it was ok to put an apron on him, he responded yeah and lifted his arms up so I could tie the apron. It is important to offer choice to Mr A as this empowers him further. Mr A has muscle wastage in his right arm and has very little use of it. He eats well out of a specially designed bowl and a special spoon using his left hand. Mr A is unable to put cereal or milk into the bowl himself, or to spread toast or make drinks. He requires someone to do this for him. I asked Mr A what he would like for breakfast. Mr A responded not much. This is a typical response so I asked whether he would like Weetabix or Shreddies. This again ensured Mr A had a choice. Mr A answered Weetabix. Mr A will most often copy the last thing a person says, so I encourage his responses by saying the cereal he has every morning first. After Mr A had finished his Weetabix I asked him if he would like any toast and he said yeah. I then asked Mr A if he would like marmite on his toast. Mr A responded didnt say that and shuffled around in his chair, indicating to me that he was not very happy. His body language became defensive as he turned away from me. With my voice at a calm slow pitch I asked Mr A if he would like jam on his toast (which he always has) and Mr A said yeah. I used this tone of voice to calm the situation. Mr A then relaxed and turned back towards the sound of my voice. The questions used at this point were closed because I know that Mr A has little expressive language so at times this is unavoidable. I thought I would offer Mr A a drink at this point so I asked him what he would like to drink. Mr A answered tea, so I went and made him a cup of tea. After he had finished the tea he stood up and made his way to the kitchen with his cup. He removed his apron and held it out to me. I asked Mr A what he wanted me to do with the apron and he responded rubbish so I took the apron and threw it in the bin. Mr A then made his way back to his chair in the lounge. He sat down and crossed his legs, tapping his foot to the song on the radio. I sat back down in the chair close to Mr A, again with my body posture relaxed. I asked Mr A if I could turn off the radio and talk. Mr As muscle tone became rigid and he started shouting thats stupid over and over again. I waited a moment until he calmed down and stopped shouting, and then, using a calm, quiet tone of voice, I said we can talk with the radio on low and Mr A responded yeah. I asked Mr A what he had done yesterday evening. Mr A did not respond, so I waited a few moments before I asked if he had been busy yesterday after tea. Mr A said not much. I asked him I if he had been out and he said no. I asked him if he had listened to the TV or the radio, Mr A answered TV times which means he listened to the TV. Mr A was shuffling gently in his chair as he spoke to me and he seemed very relaxed. He uncrossed his legs and crossed them the other way so he was facing towards me even more. I was still sat in the same relaxed position, with my arms resting on my knees, turned towards Mr A as much as possible. I asked Mr A what he would be doing today, again Mr A responded not much. I asked him if he was going out and he said dont know about it, I said to Mr A that he would have to think about it and see how he felt later. I told Mr A that I was going to put my feet up for the rest of the day and do no work. Mr A laughed at me and said she does that sometimes! I asked Mr A if he had enjoyed talking to me this morning and he answered yeah. I touched Mr A on the arm again and said goodbye. Mr A responded Yeah and continued to tap his foot. I felt the interaction went very well. Mr A responded very well in conversation, and I feel that was due to the factors involved. The location was quiet, warm and calm. Mr A was seated in an environment he is very comfortable with. Mr A appeared comfortable with the proximity, that is, the fact I have to be very close to him, in his personal space. This is due to his personal difficulties, and his need for support with a lot of his personal needs. As he is quite an elderly gentleman, he has relied on carers being very close to him and helping him do things his whole life and seems very comfortable with this. If the support offered to Mr A is more than he wishes for, he quickly becomes very angry. At no time did Mr A appear to be unhappy with the support I gave him. During the interaction, Mr A was not able to see my body language due to his visual disability, however I sat close to him and faced him at all times so he would be aware that I was listening fully. Mr As body language was good throughout most of the interaction, he leant towards me and his muscle tone was relaxed. My body language was relaxed throughout the interaction, both when seated and when assisting Mr A with his breakfast. Mr A does not use hand gestures when he speaks, mostly due to his muscle wastage in his right arm. At one point when I asked him if he would like marmite on his toast, he exhibited a little negative body language by turning away from me. When I suggested turning off the radio Mr As muscle tone became very rigid and he shouted at me. This was an indicator that Mr A was very unhappy with the suggestion and wanted the radio left on. The radio was turned down low and did not hamper the conversation in any way as we could clearly hear each other. My conversation with Mr A was informal. This is because I know Mr A very well so do not need to speak to him in a formal manner. I gave Mr A appropriate lengths of time to respond to my questions, and I listened carefully to his answers. By giving Mr A time to respond to my questions, I ensured that he had time to think about what I was asking, and formulate the correct response. I followed up by responding to his answers with appropriate further conversation. At one point I had to clarify a question by changing it from asking what he had done yesterday evening to if he had been busy yesterday after tea. By asking the question in a different way I was checking that Mr A had fully understand what information I required from him. This in turn encouraged Mr A to respond when maybe he did not wish to, or maybe did not understand the question. Mr A is a person who likes to be as independent as possible. He appreciates when I understand his needs and what he is trying to tell me. Throughout my interaction with Mr A I used empathy at all times. Empathy is a persons awareness of the emotional state of another person and their ability to share an experience with them (Richards, 2003, p.121). I was aware of Mr As emotional state and my ability to build an understanding. On two occasions I touched Mr As arm briefly to show friendliness and compassion. I feel Mr A was very responsive to our interaction and I was very happy with how it went. I think that given Mr As verbal disabilities I engaged him in a good conversation, listened well and used correct techniques to aid this. I also provided him with the correct amount of support during his breakfast. The other staff member present in the room was my deputy manager. I asked her to complete a witness statement for my to say I had completed an interaction with Mr A. She agreed to this. I also asked her for feedback on the techniques I had used, and how she felt the interaction went. She told me that I had engaged Mr A well. When Mr A is listening to the radio he doesnt always want to talk. He responded that he was happy to talk to me with the radio turned down low. She said Mr A appeared very relaxed and seemed to enjoy talking to me. He was also happy to go to the dining table and let me assist him in getting some breakfast. When asked, Mr A said he had enjoyed talking to me. He also appeared to be happy with the support I offered him when getting his breakfast. As he can become angry quite easily when offered too much support, I also felt this was good feedback.

Mainstream internationalisation theories

Mainstream internationalisation theories Mainstream Internationalisation Theories Instead of looking at the global strategy of the MNE from the viewpoint of management science, marketing, and decision theory, it is necessary to consider more explicitly the economics of the foreign investment decision. International business activity is not a recent phenomenon. However, the great majority of foreign investment until the late 1940s was in the form of portfolio capital, which international capital theory explained as the flow of capital among countries in the pursuit of higher returns. After World War II, the volume of foreign direct investment (FDI) grew tremendously and was increasingly directed away from primary goods and towards knowledge-based products that could be produced in developed countries. Neoclassical economic theory, with its assumption of perfect markets and internationally immobile factors of production, could not easily accommodate this post-war boom in FDI. So, beginning with the publication of the product cycle theory by Raymond Vernon (1966) and Stephen Hymers dissertation (written in 1960 and published 1976), an outpouring of literature has focused on extending the theoretical foundations of the concept of foreign direct investment. The objective of this chapter is to provide a review of the mainstream literature on internationalisation. Given my research problem, the focus is on theories that consider transnational expansion at the firm level. Among others, the investment development path (IDP) concept and Ozawas tandom growth treatment of the flying geese metaphor are popular frameworks for considering FDI. They are not included, however, since their research setting is that of the economy as a whole. Despite considerable disciplinary diversity, a mainstream internationalisation construct with three major approaches can be identified: Theories of the MNE, Internationalisation Process Models, and Network-based Approaches to Internationalisation. The first of these, Theories of the MNE, is outlined in Section 2.1. Since these MNE theories have been criticised on the grounds that they may explain the existence of the international firm but not how the firm got there, Section 2.2 reviews Internationalisation Process Models, which more explicitly focus on the dynamic process of internationalisation. Section 2.3 examines leading network-based approaches to internationalisation. The chapter concludes with a summary of the points that are most applicable to my thesis and an assessment of the limitations of the mainstream internationalisation literature. Theories of the MNE This section presents the economics-based literature on MNEs, beginning with Hymers seminal work. Following a review in Sections 2.1.2 and 2.1.3 of Internalisation Theory and Dunnings OLI framework, Section 2.1.4 focuses on theorisations specific to developing-country MNEs. Monopolistic Advantage Theory Hymers (1960) work represented a major departure from the standard orthodox theory of international trade and capital movements. The standard neoclassical trade theory of Heckscher and Ohlin, for example, carried restrictive assumptions about the immobility of factors of production and identical production functions across national boundaries. And in the neoclassical financial theory of portfolio flows, multinational enterprises had been viewed simply as arbitrageurs of capital in response to changes in interest rate differentials. Hymer argued that explanations for why firms engage in international production should be based on an analysis of the MNE from an industrial organisation perspective. According to Hymer (1976), Kindleberger (1969), and Caves (1971), MNEs emerged because of market imperfections. These imperfections were structural in nature and resulted from the control of ownership advantages, such as special access to inputs, scale economies, gathered managerial expertise, proprietary technology, and product differentiation (Kalfadellis and Gray: 2003: 3). The result of these barriers to entry was a divergence from perfect competition in the final product market. MNEs would seek to internalise these ownership advantages by establishing monopolistic-type advantages through the vertical integration of the potential licensee (Hymer 1976). Internalising operations could lead to gains such as cost reductions, product quality improvements, and innovation. For Hymer, though, the firm internalises or supers edes the market (1976: 48) primarily because, by internalising international economic activity, the MNE has an opportunity to further advance its monopolistic advantage. In short, it is the pursuit by firms of market power and monopolistic advantages in a foreign market that largely drives the international expansion of domestic firms. Internalisation Theory A criticism raised in the 1970s about Monopolistic Advantage theory was that it did not differentiate between imperfections brought about by market structure (i.e., the number and size of enterprises on both the demand and supply sides) and those associated with transaction costs. By not doing so, Buckley and Casson (1976) and others argued Hymer had failed to incorporate the insights of Coases (1937) concept of market failure. Coases theory of the firm contended that, contrary to the classical understanding in which price mechanisms optimally coordinate markets, market failure can occur as costs associated with the price mechanism develop (such as finding buyers and sellers, and the costs involved with negotiating, coordinating, monitoring, and enforcing contracts, and costs associated with government regulations and taxes). The operation of markets is therefore not costless, and the firm is an organising unit that supplants the price mechanism. Domestic firms would prefer to use internal prices in the face of excessive costs in the outside market. Firms therefore seek to avoid these costs by internalising them wherever the market is non-existent or when it is cheaper for the firm to undertake the activity internally rather than via the market mechanism. To Coase, markets and firms were alternative methods for organising economic exchanges. The choice between the two depended on whether a firm evaluated the transaction costs of an exchange to be lower if carried out within the firm than through the market. Where the costs of such transactions are lower when carried out within the firm than through the market, the activity will be internalised under the firms ownership and control. The concept of transaction costs was more fully developed by Williamson (1975) and Chandler (1977). Transaction cost theory extended Coases work by substituting a conception of contractual man for neoclassical theorys economic man. Its starts with the assumption that markets are the natural mechanism of economic organisation (Williamson 1975: 21), and that market failures lead to the replacement of certain market relations by internalising these relationships within a firm. The deficiencies of the market system are seen to be rooted in bounded rationality (i.e., the lack of perfect knowledge which means that agents cannot foresee all possible circumstances to incorporate in the contract) and opportunism (i.e., agents make decisions based on self-interest, thus making the contract difficult to enforce). Drawing upon Coases (1937) theory of the firm and Williamsons (1975) and Chandlers (1977) transaction cost theory, Buckley and Casson (1976) argued that these same insights can be applied to the global arena to explain the growth of MNEs. Accordingly, Buckley and Casson explained international expansion as occurring whenever a market imperfection exists and a firm can gain strategic benefits by internalising a market across national boundaries and exploiting the advantage this gives it in competition with others. This results in the growth of the firm. Just as a firm may increase its efficiency through internalising transactions, the vertical integration of global operations may lead to economies and efficiencies. These include long-term contracts through more efficient governance structures, the chance to exploit tax differentials and foreign exchange controls, better quality control, and RD benefits. Brown (1976) also combined insights from Coases theory with transaction cost theory and applied it to international expansion. He put particular emphasis on the point that there are higher market transaction costs and more expenses associated with internal organisation abroad than in the domestic environment. Teece (1983) added the insight that internalisation can also be advantageous when vertically-integrated firms need to secure their supply of intermediate goods. So, whereas transaction cost theory aims to explain the existence of the firm, the aim of internalisation theory is to explain its multi-plant operation over space (Casson 1982). And whereas Hymer argued that it is the pursuit of market power that drives MNE growth, Buckley and Casson (1976) argued that once transaction costs are internalised they do not necessarily lead to an increase in rent by the MNE. However, they can result in savings for the MNE, and it is this potential cost minimisation that provides the impetus for MNEs to expand their operations via the internalisation of transaction costs. Internalisation theory has been a dominant construct in the last quarter century of international business literature in relation to the growth of the MNE and FDI. However, it does have weaknesses. For instance, internalisations inherent intangibility makes it difficult to empirically test (Kalfadellis and Gray 2003: 10). Buckley, describing internalisation as a concept in search of a theory (Buckley 1983: 42), argued that a theory needs to do more than assert firms will internalise when the cost of using markets or contractual agreements is higher than that of organising it within the firm; it needs to explain why there were differences in costs between market and intra-firm organisation (Hennart 1986: 791). It has also been seen as overly-preoccupied with the costs of organising transactions in markets, leading it to under-appreciate other relevant costs, especially those associated with managing firms across borders (Demsetz 1988). An argument has been made that it does not sufficiently distinguish between a firms willingness and its capability to become more international (Dunning 1993). These types of limitations led Calvet (1981), among others, to question whether the assertion that firms expand overseas because they can internalise transactions within their hierarchies (just as they do within a domestic context) is a full enough explanation. Calvet argued instead for a theory of transnational expansion that explicitly included both the multinational-the foreign-character of the activity as well as the internalisation of transactions within a single firm. Dunnings OLI Paradigm A third landmark development in MNE theory was Dunnings OLI paradigm, sometimes referred to as the eclectic paradigm. Countering Rugmans (1982; 1985) claim that internalisation is a general all-encompassing theory which can explain FDI, Dunning (1980; 1988; 1993; 1995; 2000) acknowledged the importance of internalisation theory but argued that set[ting] out to explain the growth of international production as a market replacing activity (Dunning 1988: 24) explains only part of the FDI phenomenon. Dunning argued that a full explanation required the integration of the insights from three strands of economic theory industrial organisation, international trade theory, and internalisation theory into a general theoretical framework.[1] Each dimension on its own was insufficient to explain the multinational firms engagement in foreign production. According to Dunning, a firm must perceive certain advantageous conditions before it engages in cross-border investment. These advantages are rationally considered within the firms decision-making process. The first relates to ownership (O) advantages, which, following Hymer, refer to assets or resources capable of generating a future income stream that could compensate for the higher costs of operating abroad. Ownership advantages are endogenous to the firm and refer to intangible assets and/or property rights. These O advantages give the firm a competitive edge vis à   vis other firms. The second factor is internalisation (I) advantages, which encourage a firm to internalise operations for production via foreign direct investment rather than through exporting or licensing to a local producer. In other words, the firm must perceive the benefits of internalising of operations to be greater than the need to utilize markets. If a firm perceives it has sufficient O and I advantages, th en it will examine a third set of conditions, location (L) advantages. Choosing a foreign location is one of the key decisions made by a firm since the financial and human capital invested must generally be long-term in nature. Drawing upon the insights of location theory, Dunnings L advantages were considered to be external to the firm and determine which host country is selected for expansion. (A fourth condition later added by Dunning [1993] asserted that a firms international investment activities must harmonize with its long-term management strategy.) In the eclectic paradigm, all three of these conditions must exist for FDI to occur. If a firm only perceives it has ownership advantages, then it would be likely to license abroad. If it also perceives internalisation advantages, then it would be likely to exploit its O advantages through exporting. It is only when location advantages are also perceived that the firm may consider FDI (Dunning 1993: 196). Dunnings OLI paradigm has been welcomed for its conceptual richness-it integrates many partial approaches to the subject and therefore addresses a larger number of the factors considered in the decision to internationalise-and it has withstood some empirical testing (Dunning 1979, 1983, 1988). However, it has also frequently been criticised, particularly on definitional grounds. For example, Rugman and Dunning had a long-running public debate over whether Dunnings concepts of ownership and location advantages were already encompassed in the theory of internalisation (Parry 1985). In a similar vein, Buckley (1988) suggested that considering ownership advantages as a separate category results in double counting as the O advantage of Dunnings OLI triumvirate is already accounted for by I (internalisation advantages) since the firm seeks to carry out a strategic move by internalising the market and thus exploits this advantage in competition with other firms. Responding to definitional criticisms, Dunning (1995) argued that, in contrast to how they are conceived in internalisation theory, ownership advantages are endogenous rather than exogenous variables already belonging to the firm. Accordingly, he stressed a definitional division between ownership advantages, which are already possessed by firms, and internalisation advantages, which result from the firms exploitation of market imperfections. The electric paradigm has become a leading conceptualisation for FDI, and as such there now many variants within the approach. For example, another eclectic framework that is pertinent to my thesis concentrates on understanding how a firm chooses among various entry modes. In comparison to Dunnings OLI paradigm, the framework by Hill et al. (1990) emphasised the control of resources, resource commitment, and the dissemination risks of entry. They argued that firms rationally weigh different entry modes with the need to control their foreign operation. The amount of control a firm can exercise varies from minimal in the case of licensing to maximally high in wholly-owned subsidiaries. A firm also weighs the resource commitment that is involved with the different entry modes, and the risk that its firm-specific advantages could be disseminated or expropriated by a partner. As discussed in Chapter 5, the latter danger was frequently highlighted by my interviewees as an influence on thei r internationalisation decisions. Though eclectic models such as those by Hill et al. and Dunning have a dominant place in the MNE and FDI literature, they do have significant shortcomings. Some critics find the emphasis on the initial phase of internationalisation makes them unhelpful. Others have argued that inadequate attention was given to the insight that firms make cross-border investments not just to reap benefits from existing ownership advantages but to create new ones, such as acquiring knowledge in new markets or access to resources. Also, the broadness of the eclectic decision-making framework has made it difficult to formulate operationally testable theories of foreign direct investment processes, especially given the heterogeneity of firms. Various proxy measures have been employed as a means for measuring internalisation, but the validity of proxies in general has been contested (Kalfadellis and Gray 2003: 11). Similarly, ranking the large variety of strategic alternatives the firm can choose among is methodologically problematic. Two other criticisms of the eclectic decision-making paradigm have been particularly acute and are of specific concern given the subject of this dissertation. The first is that they principally focus on relatively large firms from developed countries. Dunnings OLI paradigm, in common with the other theories of the MNE reviewed in Section 2.2, was developed primarily in response to the experiences of post-war expansion by developed-country multinationals. Transnational firms from developing countries, it has been argued, require a different approach (Lall 1983a; Wells 1983a; Khan 1986a; Yeung 2004). For instance, as they are frequently much smaller than developed country MNEs, their transnational investment choices may be more chunky in nature, in the sense that certain costs that are incurred in international activity will loom relatively larger for small firms than big ones. Second, the eclectic framework has been criticised for its lack of dynamism. While it is not true that Dunnings OLI model has no dynamic dimension, Buckley (1985: 18), for example, argued that it does adequately consider the deployment of advantages over time.[2] Both of these shortcomings are apparent when eclectic frameworks are applied to the phenomenon of Singaporean SME transnational expansion into China. Developing-Country MNE Theories A dramatic growth in outward FDI flowing from developing countries has occurred over the last three decades. Prior to the 1980s, more than 90 per cent of global FDI originated from developed countries. Since the early 1990s, though, the share of outward FDI from developing countries has rapidly grown; it was over 14 per cent in 2006 (WorldBank 2008). Moreover, aggregate figures conceal the relative intensity of developing-country FDI flows from, and into, certain countries and regions The bulk of this outward FDI-some 67 per cent-has originated from South, East, and Southeast Asian countries (WorldBank 2008). Though the availability and quality of FDI data has been problematic-an important point which is discussed in Chapter 6-it is clear that China has received a particularly large percentage share of FDI originating from developing countries. A number of researchers have argued that MNEs originating in developing countries possess distinctive characteristics in comparison to their counterparts from developed countries (Lall 1983a; Wells 1983a; Khan 1986a; Yeung 1996). One obvious difference is that they are generally much smaller, which may make locational advantages and the internalisation of transactions costs less plausible explanations for internationalisation (Wells 1983a). Though still dwarfed by the number of theoretical and empirical studies investigating developed-country MNEs, research into these unconventional MNEs (Giddy and Young 1982) has by now developed into a large body of literature that can be divided into two categories: first-wave and second-wave literature. The so-called first-wave literature emerged in the late 1970s and was primarily concerned with the cost advantages of developing-country firms in comparison with their competitors from developed countries. Two strands of literature dominate. One is based on Wellss (1983) application of the product cycle concept (originally associated with Vernons seminal article [1966]) to the situations found in developing countries. The second dominant strand of first wave literature is associated with Lall (1983). Wells contended that an understanding of developing country transnational firms could be undertaken by applying Vernons concept of the product cycle (1966), which explained changes in production locations as a reaction to different stages in a products life cycle. Vernons argument was that a new product had to be produced in the home country since it was unstandardised and thus production needed to be monitored close to the products source of innovation and markets. As the product matured and became standardized, producers would increasingly become concerned about production costs and seek cheaper production sites elsewhere. Thus, Vernons model suggested that locations of production moved from developed countries to less developed ones as products went through their life cycle over time. This would then explain investment flows from developed- to less developed-countries, and flows among less-developed countries. The uniqueness of Wells approach lies in his application of the product cycle concept to explain the emergence of developing-country transnational firms. Wells suggested that the markets and characteristics of developing countries influence local firms to innovate in ways that are more suited to the development conditions found in their country. In particular, he pointed to the smaller size of the markets and relative abundance of cheap labour in developing countries as key influences on local firms. Wells suggested that firms developing in this kind of environment could build their initial advantages from descale manufacturing, a process of adapting technologies from developed countries to suit less developed markets by reducing scale, replacing machinery with manual labour, and relying on local inputs. The cost advantages to be derived from descale manufacturing would constitute a very important ownership advantage, and, to exploit these costs advantages, developing country firms w ould concentrate on serving the price-sensitive market instead of the specialty markets dominated by firms with the resources for massive marketing. This kind of low-cost, low-price competitive strategy would largely confine the transnational expansion of developing country firms to those markets of other developing countries at or below the host countrys economic status. Changes over time in investment flows would occur as this cost advantage was gradually undercut by the catch up of local firms or affiliates of advanced-country multinationals. Wellss model has been influential, though it does seemingly suggest a rather pessimistic future for developing-country transnational firms (Wells 1983 and Aggarwal 1984). Taking a different approach, Lall (1983) argued that the smaller size of production in developing countries was not by itself evidence of a descaling advantage (1983: 11). He did not share Wellss pessimism over the sustainability of developing-country firms, asserting instead that such firms could generate their own sustainable proprietary assets to be exploited successfully in transnational operations. Lall saw the development of these proprietary assets as entailing different innovations than those used by multinationals from developed countries; for instance, they would come from widely diffused technologies and from a special knowledge of developing-country markets. They would be sustained, Lall contended, by the localisation of technical change and the irreversibility of such change. So, developing-country firms could develop products more suitable to developing-country markets, and innovations could be localised around techniques more relevant to developing-country market condi tions (such as cheap labour). Thus, according to Lall the ownership advantages of developing-country transnational firms come about not because of their ability to descale manufacturing technologies to smaller markets, but rather are derived from their greater knowledge of operations and conditions in developing-country markets (see also Kimura 2007). Such advantages would not necessarily be eroded over time, as suggested by Wells, since firms could engage in RD and continued learning. Challenging these models by Wells and Lall is the so-called second-wave literature that emerged in the early 1990s. This new strand was a response to the apparent changes that were seen to characterize more recent developing-country transnationals. For instance, it was observed that they were investing in markets farther away from home, in some cases in highly competitive markets such as the United States and European Union, and in new sectors, some of which did not depend on labour-intensive techniques. Moreover, the ownership-specific advantages of the newer transnational firms had changed. No longer did they seem primarily dependent on small-scale, labour-intensive technology, low-price, and low-cost operations. Now, they appeared to also derive ownership advantages from their ability to accumulate technological capabilities and to improve their production efficiency (Dunning 2000). This last observation in particular encouraged second-wave theorists to apply the concept of technological accumulation to try to understand the more recent transnational expansion of developing-country firms (e.g., Dunning 2000; Ulgado et al. 1994). The result was a model that proposes that over time technological accumulation can lead to a more sophisticated structure of outward investment. This gradually comes about, it was argued, as firms accumulate technological expertise and experience in foreign markets. Although their technological capabilities are not based on frontier technology, developing-country firms are believed to innovate and accumulate technological skills that will be appropriate to the environment of developing-country markets. Thus, a firms initial outward investment, which is originally centred on resource-based and simple manufacturing activities in markets close to home, changes to focus on more sophisticated manufacturing activities, eventually even to resea rch-intensive and differentiated products. Through this path, second-wave theorists suggested, firms can enhance their technological capabilities over time, which will improve their ownership advantages, and, eventually, allow them to catch up with competitors from developed countries. A variant within the second-wave approach was proposed by van Hoesel (1997). He argued that firms from developing countries begin their technological accumulation process by gradually climbing the value-added ladder, from shop floor production operations upward to other value-added functions such as marketing or RD activities. They need to do this, according to van Hoesel, because developing countries are latecomers to the industrialisation process and therefore their firms do not have significant proprietary innovations (in some respects, van Hoesels approach is similar to the Late Industrialisation framework, reviewed in Section 2.3.3). The ownership advantages of developing-country firms are therefore seen to lay initially in the lower value-added production units, with international expansion largely a function of the incremental accumulation of technology that moves the firm up to more sophisticated operations. This incremental technological accumulation process is also held to determine the organisational form of the firm, with early investment forays typified by lower-risk and less-committed forms, such as sales representatives and joint ventures with local partners, and later investment characterised by more complex forms, such as wholly owned subsidiaries or acquisitions of local firms. Despite the valuable insights provided by both the first- and second-wave literature, it has generated criticism on methodological, empirical, and theoretical grounds. From a methodological point of view, Ulgado et al. (1994: 125) raised the important point that most of these studies of investment by developing-country firms consist mainly of macro-level considerations at the expense of micro-level studies of organisational, operational, and managerial workings. These aggregate analyses often fail to reveal the detailed dynamism of the internationalisation process and the other aspects of business organisation, such as the cultural, political, and social context. Moreover, the FDI from some countries is heavily concentrated in particular markets or industries, and this may lead to research bias. For example, van Hoesel acknowledged that, as his study was of Korean and Taiwanese MNEs in the electronics industry, his conclusions might not be applicable to other developing country MNEs (1997: 239). In fact, it should be more pointed out more generally that the availability and quality of FDI data from developing countries is limited and therefore conclusions drawn from it may not be reliable. In short, more studies at the firm level are called for to provide insights on the internationalisation behaviour of MNEs from developing countries. Section 2.1 has reviewed a number of conventional economics-based theories of FDI. They share the perspective that FDI is motivated by a firms desire to exploit its proprietary advantages abroad. These advantages are seen as transferable from country to country within a firm, but transferred only with difficulty between firms. While the proprietary advantages from developed-countries are derived from frontier technologies and sophisticated management and marketing, those for investors from developing-countries are embodied in imported technologies that have been localised through imitation and adaptation. These theorisations, however, are often criticized for their rather aggregated analyses and for their emphasis on explaining the structure of MNEs as opposed to the process by which firms internationalise. The following section reviews models that explicitly concentrate on the dynamics of transnational expansion. Internationalisation Process Models Internationalisation process theorising began with the early studies carried out in the 1970s by a group of Scandinavian scholars. Unlike the economics-based theories reviewed in Section 2.2 which accept the neoclassical economic model of rational agents exhibiting optimizing behaviour as a core assumption, the so-called Scandinavian School is rooted in the behavioural theory of the firm (Cyert and March 1963; Hosseini 2005: 528-9). The behavioural dimension is the assumption that learning takes place in response to limited cognitive capabilities in a complex and uncertain environment. Accordingly, internationalisation process models attribute the timing of market entry, its structural form, and its development over time as functions of the increasing commitment of managers to foreign markets. The process behind this increasing commitment is not (neoclassical) rational executive decision-making but an incremental learning trajectory that is human- and history-dependent. A variety of internationalisation process models can be found in the literature. These have often been divided into two groups (Andersen 1993). The first group is the so-called innovation-related lear

Chapter 5 of Mary Shelleys Frankenstein Essays -- Mary Shelley Victor

Chapter 5 of Mary Shelley's Frankenstein Within this essay I intend to discuss how Frankenstein and his creature change and how subconsciously they love each other. Chapter 5 will be used to show different themes as well as seeing how Frankenstein acts around his creation. Also the way Frankenstein has played God will be seen in this chapter. I will start this essay by looking at chapter 5. Shelley shows, in chapter 5, Frankenstein and the creature’s reaction to the ‘creation’. Shelley conveys Frankenstein’s horror at the creature he has brought to life and his reaction to it. ‘How can I describe my emotions at this catastrophe, or how delineate the wretch whom with such infinite pains and care I had endeavoured to form?’ This quote shows how Frankenstein is amazed that although he worked so hard to create a being, it has ended in tears. Frankenstein therefore has reacted with horror at his creation. Rather that creating a superior healthier human, he ended up creating a monster. In chapter 5 we learn next to nothing about the creature. It is living however it is like a newborn child and therefore doesn’t do much. In paragraph 3 in Chapter 5 we see how the creature tries to smile at Frankenstein just like an animal, the creature looks upon Frankenstein as its parent. ‘His jaws opened, and he muttered some inarticulate sounds, while a grin wrinkled his cheeks’. This quote from paragraph 3 shows that already the creature is trying to communicate to his ‘father’. Despite the fact that all we learn about the creature in chapter 5 is that he is hideous and seems harmless however, later in the book we read how the creature evolves into a character of his own. The creature later in the book comes acro... ...haic using short sentences throughout the novel to cause impact. ‘Beautiful!’ and ‘Great God!’ are both examples to show this impact. I conclude by talking about what Shelley was trying to convey by writing this novel. I feel as if the novel is very personal and direct to Shelley’s life. She used her own previous life experiences and used them to write Frankenstein. I think Shelley was critical of Victor’s creation. She wrote about the creature in such a horrible way and really made the reader feel sorry for the creature even if he was an 8foof, ugly, repulsive, scary monster. Shelley also made Victor a very complex yet overly focused character. Mary Shelley made Frankenstein a best selling book for many years to come after the first copy. This book would continue to sell until it became what it is today, one of the best Gothic Horrors ever written.

The Future of Print and Cyberculture Essay -- Writing Writers Technolo

The Future of Print and Cyberculture As our class learned from the last assignment in which we created a writing technology, the introduction of new technology can change the way that people operate on a day-to-day basis. Inventions like the automobile and the television, for example, have forever changed the culture in many countries. However, no invention has changed the world more than the computer. In fact it has been the computer that has made the most recent technological phenomenon, the Internet, possible. While the Internet has made obvious changes in the way people communicate, it has also changed how we perform other functions that are as fundamental to us as reading and writing. One of the issues the Internet and similar technologies have forced upon us is the switch from reading from textbooks to reading what is referred to as "hypertext" on the computer screen. Because the Internet has turned into such an extensive source of information, many people find themselves reading from the screen what they normally would have read from plain text in the past. Although this is a process that a lot of people are uncomfortable with, James Sosnoski, author of the essay Hyper-readers and their Reading Engines, believes that reading from computer screens will soon become commonplace. "Though I readily acknowledge that many persons do not like to read from their screens at this time, I assume that over a period of time, the practice will become so habitual that it will seem 'natural' - just as it now seems customary to use a computer rather than a typewriter," he said (404). Reading hypertext is different from the reading that we are accustomed to for a variety of reason s, one of which being that people tend to be more selec... ...de Web is a vast (hyper) text that we read with such increasing frequency that it has become increasingly difficult as the day wears on to dial up one’s account in order to access the Web because so many of its readers are already online," (401). Bringing publishing opportunities to the masses and having speed and convenience applied to written communication sure sounds like an enhancement to me. Works Cited: Landow, George. "Twenty Minutes into the Future, or How Are We Moving Beyond the Book?" Writing Material: Readings from Plato the Digital Age. New York: Longman, 2003. 214-226. Lesser, Wendy. "The Conversation." Writing Material: Readings from Plato the Digital Age. New York: Longman, 2003. 227-233. Sosnoski, James. "Hyper-readers and their Reading Engines." Writing Material: Readings from Plato the Digital Age. New York: Longman, 2003. 400-417

The Realm of Desire and Dream: Brazil and its Self-Constructing Middle Class of the 1980s, 1990s and Today :: Essays Papers

The Realm of Desire and Dream: Brazil and its Self-Constructing Middle Class of the 1980s, 1990s and Today The discourse of self-definition in Brazil is based on perceptions of economic success, material value and social prestige. Throughout the 1980s and early 1990s, there was a general scramble to reconstruct individual identity in social success and achievement. â€Å"Assertions of moral and cultural (class and racial) superiority† make up the discourses of national and regional identity, while simultaneously setting up the social building blocks of discrimination and stratification (25). Through the strange consumption of not only goods, but the commodification of experiences, the Brazilian middle class sought to redefine their lives and social status, and ultimately create a world that thrives on social division and prejudice. In Maureen O’Doughterty’s Consumption Intensified, â€Å"the dual vision† of the â€Å"immediate reality of crisis and the desired reality of the First World† is shown to have shaped middle class consciousness and desire, and further deepen the marks of division within this â€Å"heterogeneous† middle class (O’Doughterty 15, 5). â€Å"Transnational consumption, in the form of travel experiences, especially to Disney World, and consumption of imported goods† is a surprising social construction of value and rank, and expresses the influence of a foreign ideal on Brazilian social identity (23). Sustained comfortable living, and superiority over another class of people, was desperately appealing to many Brazilian families in the throes of the economic crisis, as demonstrated by the commodification of a Disney experience in the United States through bought and displayed goods, and the suggestion of expense that goes with it. The suggestion of expense and wealth throughout the crisis shaped the new concept of a Brazilian middle class â€Å"character,† a quality of living that could not be removed by an instable economy and loss of existing values. The presentation and propagation of this â€Å"character† was an extension of the old lush life prior to the crisis, and a dogged determination to hold to â€Å"traditional values.† Throughout the economic crisis, the middle class wanted to be perceived as continuing to enjoy â€Å"lush private space where elevated social status is proclaimed, cared for, and safeguarded† (O’Doughterty 9). Yet the â€Å"sense of past and hopes were contradicted by the experience of inflation crisis,† and a new social construction of reality emerged that was tangible in all its effects and efforts (O’Doughterty 9). The act of consuming goods itself is political, and â€Å"consumption is central to middle-class self-definition, not only in prosperity, as has more usually been shown but in any and all circumstances, even in recession† (O’Doughterty 11).

California Culture Essay

California culture has changed a lot over the years. There are new trends coming out all the time. Whether they succeed or not they’re always changing. Fashion is a big deal in California, it’s the way you express yourself. Fashion trends that have been around for a while are jeans, V-neck shirts, and tennis shoes. New trends are TOMS which are shoes that are extremely comfortable, highlighter colors, and body piercings. Highlighter colors are used for clothes, jewelry, nail polishes, hair, shoes, and even make up. Piercings used to be just for your ears and nose but now they’re used for practically any body part like your belly button or back dimples. There are also trends in food restaurants. McDonalds had always been a favorite no matter how unhealthy it is. Some more fast food restaurants are In-N-Out, Chipotle, and Wingstop. A new slang word almost everyone uses is â€Å"YOLO† which means You Only Live Once. There is also a sign for representing the west side where you make a W with your fingers. Some really important problems are unemployment, debt, drugs, gangs, and obesity. There are so many people with big families but don’t have jobs because there aren’t enough being offered. Reasons why people are unemployed are because corporations aren’t using their profit to hire additional workers and state and local governments are continuing to reduce their workforce. A solution to help unemployment rates would be to eliminate unemployment insurance unless it is really needed. This insurance makes people lazy, they stop trying to look for jobs. We are in debt for a lot of reasons but I want to focus on one reason that many people might not think too much about, welfare. Welfare costs a lot for us especially if it’s being wasted on someone who doesn’t really need or deserve it. There are many people who use welfare for drugs and just sit around their house on a couch doing nothing. They learn to live off welfare and then don’t try to even look for jobs. Many people with children still do this as well. A solution to this would be several drug tests at random times and people should have to keep some type of proof to show that they have been looking for jobs and submit them every 2-3 weeks. Drugs, smoking, and drinking is becoming a lifestyle for teenagers. This is a big problem that needs to stop ASAP. It’s dangerous and reckless not only for the teens using but for innocent people around them. Solutions for this would be random searches for drugs in school. Being in gangs is also something popular among teens. Representing or â€Å"repping† colors and hats are cool to teens. Gangs are way too dangerous and frightening and the only solution I can think of is more security and better protection. The last problem is the obvious one, obesity. Obesity is taking over! It’s a huge health problem. 2/3 of US adults are overweight or obese. About a quarter of 2-5 year olds and 1/3 of school-age children are obese. A solution to this would be to have less fast food restaurants and kids should be educated and encouraged to make healthier choices at a young age so it becomes a part of their lifestyle. My prediction for society in 5 years will be that both obesity and debt will get worse. This can harm me because obesity can lead to death and debt can make be broke and homeless if I’m not careful. I also think computer technology will advance rapidly. No one will carry around textbooks at all and we might not even go to class we can all sit at home yet be in a computerized classroom together. That might not happen in 5 years but I do believe it’ll happen soon. This will benefit me because it saves gas, time, and money for fees on books.

A Good Man is Hard to Find Analysis

â€Å"A Good Man is Hard to Find† is a short story written by Flannery O'Connor, a significant American writer and essayist. Her writing style reflects the ethnic relation in the South and her own Christian faith. The author writes in third person limited point of view to portray the tragic journey of a family who lived in Georgia in 1953. Bailey wants to take his family to Florida, but his mother, â€Å"the grandmother† disagrees with him because there's a dangerous criminal named The Misfit who is also on the way to Florida.Bailey ignores the grandmother's concern and headed to Florida. On the road, The kids and the grandmother persuade Bailey to drive them to the see a plantation which the grandmother visited when she was a lady. Unfortunately, the family gets into an accident on the desolate dust road to the plantation. The only thing the family can do is to wait for help, and it turns out that their help is none other than The Misfit and his buddies. The Misfit ord ers his buddies to take all the family members except the grandmother into the wood and shoot them.Hopelessly, the grandmother calls The Misfit her child and wants to touch him on the shoulder, but this angers The Misfit. As a result, he shoots the grandmother three times on the chest. The author uses characterization, foreshadowing, and irony to illustrate the theme that the tendency to manipulate people's actions and thoughts may introduce tragic outcomes to the love ones. In the short story â€Å"A Good Man is Hard to Find† , the author applies both direct characterization and indirect characterization to exhibit the selfishness of the grandmother, the innocence of the children, and the wickedness of The Misfit .In the exposition of the story, the grandmother wants to go to Tennessee to visit her connections instead going to Florida, so she tells Bailey that he † ought to take [the kids] somewhere else for a change so they would see different parts of the world and b e board. They have never been to east Tennessee† (O'Connor 403). From this quote the readers can perceive that the grandmother is good at manipulating her son by saying that going to Tennessee can be beneficial to the kids in order to achieve her own purpose.She also mentions that The Misfit is also on the way to Florida and she â€Å"couldn't answer to [her] conscience† (O'Connor 402) if she brings the kids to Florida. In this quote, the grandmother uses the word â€Å"conscience† to threat Bailey with the idea that he is going to put his children in danger, so he would give up the trip to Florida. In Katherine Keil's article â€Å"O'Connor's ‘Good Man is Hard to Find'†, Katherine analyzes â€Å"A Good Man is Hard to Find† and comments that â€Å"the grandmother shows her indifference for creation by selfishly manipulating and nagging to get her way on the family's vacation â€Å"(Keil 45).Keil's analysis is reasonable because through the i nteractions between the grandmother and other family members on the issue about the family trip, the grandmother is used to manipulate people's decisions by taking advantage of the vulnerable side of people's mind and being selfish without knowing it herself. The kids, John Wesley and June Star, are innocent compare to their selfish grandmother. After the family encounter The Misfit in the country, John Wesley notices that The Misfit is holding a gun, so he asks him: â€Å"‘What you got that gun for?†Ã¢â‚¬Ëœ(O'Connor 410).Under this kind of circumstance, probably most of the people would be quiet in order to avoid trouble, but John Wesley mentions the gun just because he is simply curious. Unfortunately, his inquiry brings The Misfit into action, and results in tragedy. Although The Misfit is not present until the final pages of the story, he influences the story from the exposition of the story when the grandmother tells Bailey that he flees from the prison, and is on the way to Florida.The author uses a clear and detailed direct characterization to portray The Misfit when he first appears in the story. The author describes him as a man whose Hair just beginning to gray and he wore silver rimmed spectacles that gave him a scholarly look. He had a long creased face and didn't have on any shirt or undershirt. He had on blue jeans that were too tight for him and was holding a black hat and a gun. (O'Connor 410) It is easy for the readers to realize that he is an antagonist from his appearance– long ceased face, unsuited clothes, holding a gun, a typical image of villains.The conversations between The Misfit and the grandmother also reveal the evil inside The Misfit. After the execution of Bailey and his son, The Misfit tells the grandmother that he † found out the crime doesn't matter. You can do one thing or you can do another, kill a man or take a tire off his car, because sooner you're going to forget what it was you done and just be punished for it†(O'Connor 414). John Desmond's, a professor of English at Whitman College made comment in his article that † the Misfit acts under the delusion that his actions are somehow good, i. e.  good for him.Since he cannot make sense of his spiritual condition, he now tries to reduce ethical mystery to a perverse pleasure-pain principle†(Desmond135). Desmond's comment reveals the characteristic of The Misfit because The Misfit's demeanor exhibits that his values is tangled, and he has developed his own philosophy, which is evil and lawless. As a result, his philosophy blinded his conscience, and make his sinful actions look naturally appropriate to himself. Besides characterization, foreshadowing is also a significant literary element throughout the story .The author uses foreshadowing to give the story its air of suspense, and to hint the outcome of the story. At the beginning of the story, the grandmother refers to the news that â€Å"The Misfit is al oose from the Federal Pen and headed toward Florida† (O'Connor 402). Initially, the grandmother just wants to use this scary news to threaten Bailey, and tries to change his mind. The reference to a dangerous criminal raises a sign of hazardousness. The grandmother's dress on the day of departure also foreshadows the misfortune of the family.â€Å"[S]he had on navy blue straw sailor hat with a bunch of white violets on the brim and a navy blue dress with a small white dot in the print. Her collars and cuffs were organdy trimmed with lace and at her neckline she had pinned a purple spray of cloth violets containing a sachet†(O'Connor 404). In the book Short Stories for Students, the author of the article ‘Overview: â€Å"A Good Man is Hard to Find†Ã¢â‚¬Ëœ analysis that † as the family prepares to embark on their vacation, the grandmother plans her outfit with an eye toward tragedy†(Short Stories for Students 103).Wilson's analysis is fair because when people die, they usually are dressed in their best outfit, just like the grandmother is dressed in her best clothes, so its clear that the grandmother holds a pessimistic view on the family trip. On their way to Florida, the family â€Å"passed a large cotton field with five or six graves fenced in the middle of it, like a small island†(O'Connor 404). It is pretty disturbing for people who are on a family trip to see thing like graveyard, and the number of the graves clearly represent the six family members, including the baby. When the family are waiting for help after the accident, they encounter TheMisfit, who drives â€Å"a big black battered hearse-like automobile† (O'Connor 409). It is very obvious that the appearance of the car is a vigorous example of foreshadowing, which foreshadows the tragedy that is about to happen. In Arthur F. Bethea's article, he states that â€Å"O'Connor's villain is relentlessly associated with death: he worked as an undertaker , drives a black â€Å"hearse-like automobile,†Ã¢â‚¬Ëœ(Bethea 239). Bthea's interpretation is vigorous because the image of a hearse-like automobile gives rise to a bodeful ambience which perfectly foreshadows the debut of The Misfit.Other than characterization and foreshadowing, irony is another essential literary element that helps to carry out the purpose and the theme of the whole story. Both verbal irony and situational irony are used by the author in this story to illustrate how the grandmother's manipulative behaviors lead the whole family into deadly situation. In the exposition of the story, the grandmother warns Bailey that she â€Å"wouldn't take [her] children in any direction with a criminal like that aloose in it â€Å"(O'Connor 402).Ironically, she is exactly the person who take the family into dangerousness when she deliberately excites the children in order to force Bailey to take them to see the plantation, where they meet The Misfit. In order to convince Bailey, the grandmother announces that taking the kids to the old plantation â€Å"would be very educational for them†(O'Connor 408). To educate the children is not the purpose of the trip to the plantation in the grandmother's mind, it is just a excuse that used to disguise her selfishness.In Stanley Renne's article he comments that the grandmother is a â€Å"blind old woman, a failed parent who has ruined her own offspring, with a false and destructive dream of the past and an equally false and destructive self-perception in the present†(Renner 127). Renne's analysis is reasonable because the grandmother always wants others to accept her idea, and force his family members to do what she thinks is right and what she thinks is good for them, but the grandmother doesn't perceive that herself is being selfish and nostalgic all the time.As a result of her selfishness and nostalgia, the grandmother ultimately brings misfortune to the family. After the car accident, the kid says: â€Å"But nobody's killed†(O'Connor 409) with great disappointment. It is very awkward that a kid could has this kind of horrible thought, and it is an example of verbal irony because at the end of the story every family member gets killed eventually. Another irony happens when the grandmother is giving her grandkids a lecture on respecting others.She announces that in the old times â€Å"children were more respectful of their native states and their parents and everything else†(O'Connor 404), but at the same time, she saw an African American child on the roadside and says: â€Å"Oh look at that cute pickninny† (O'Connor 404). It is ironic that the grandmother is teaching her grandkids the importance of respect while she calls an African American child pickninny, which is disrespectful.In Stephen Brandy's article he analysis and describe the grandmother as a old woman who † is filled with the prejudices of her class and her time† (Brandy 110). Brandy's comment is agreeable because although the grandmother's conversations make her seems like a nice and traditional Southern old lady, her mindless insult on African Americans reveals that the racism is rooted in her mind for a very long time that even herself does not notice it, or she ignore this issue deliberately.I the short story â€Å"A Good Man is Hard to Find†, the author applies characterization, foreshadowing, and irony to illustrate the theme that the tendency to manipulate people's actions and thoughts may introduce tragic outcomes to the love ones. By using both direct and indirect characterization, the author is able to portray the characters in detail, and create a vivid image of interactions between characters.Foreshadowing is also a important literary element that the author applies in this short story because foreshadowing gives the story its air of suspense thus make the story more interesting and dramatic. Through both situational irony and verbal i rony, the author shows how the grandmother's character trait brings misfortune to the family, and unlock the theme of the story. Being manipulative not only distances a person from his or her family, but also could cause trouble to the love ones. A Good Man is Hard to Find Analysis â€Å"A Good Man is Hard to Find† is a short story written by Flannery O'Connor, a significant American writer and essayist. Her writing style reflects the ethnic relation in the South and her own Christian faith. The author writes in third person limited point of view to portray the tragic journey of a family who lived in Georgia in 1953. Bailey wants to take his family to Florida, but his mother, â€Å"the grandmother† disagrees with him because there's a dangerous criminal named The Misfit who is also on the way to Florida.Bailey ignores the grandmother's concern and headed to Florida. On the road, The kids and the grandmother persuade Bailey to drive them to the see a plantation which the grandmother visited when she was a lady. Unfortunately, the family gets into an accident on the desolate dust road to the plantation. The only thing the family can do is to wait for help, and it turns out that their help is none other than The Misfit and his buddies. The Misfit ord ers his buddies to take all the family members except the grandmother into the wood and shoot them.Hopelessly, the grandmother calls The Misfit her child and wants to touch him on the shoulder, but this angers The Misfit. As a result, he shoots the grandmother three times on the chest. The author uses characterization, foreshadowing, and irony to illustrate the theme that the tendency to manipulate people's actions and thoughts may introduce tragic outcomes to the love ones.In the short story â€Å"A Good Man is Hard to Find† , the author applies both direct characterization and indirect characterization to exhibit the selfishness of the grandmother, the innocence of the children, and the wickedness of The Misfit .In the exposition of the story, the grandmother wants to go to Tennessee to visit her connections instead going to Florida, so she tells Bailey that he † ought to take [the kids] somewhere else for a change so they would see different parts of the world and be board. They have never been to east Tennessee† (O'Connor 403). From this quote the readers can perceive that the grandmother is good at manipulating her son by saying that going to Tennessee can be beneficial to the kids in order to achieve her own purpose.She also mentions that The Misfit is also on the way to Florida and she â€Å"couldn't answer to [her] conscience† (O'Connor 402) if she brings the kids to Florida. In this quote, the grandmother uses the word â€Å"conscience† to threat Bailey with the idea that he is going to put his children in danger, so he would give up the trip to Florida.In Katherine Keil's article â€Å"O'Connor's ‘Good Man is Hard to Find'†, Katherine analyzes â€Å"A Good Man is Hard to Find† and comments that â€Å"the grandmother shows her indifference for creation by selfishly manipulating and nagging to get her way on the family's vacation â€Å"(Keil 45).Keil's analysis is reasonable because through the int eractions between the grandmother and other family members on the issue about the family trip, the grandmother is used to manipulate people's decisions by taking advantage of the vulnerable side of people's mind and being selfish without knowing it herself. The kids, John Wesley and June Star, are innocent compare to their selfish grandmother. After the family encounter The Misfit in the country, John Wesley notices that The Misfit is holding a gun, so he asks him: â€Å"‘What you got that gun for?†Ã¢â‚¬Ëœ(O'Connor 410).Under this kind of circumstance, probably most of the people would be quiet in order to avoid trouble, but John Wesley mentions the gun just because he is simply curious. Unfortunately, his inquiry brings The Misfit into action, and results in tragedy. Although The Misfit is not present until the final pages of the story, he influences the story from the exposition of the story when the grandmother tells Bailey that he flees from the prison, and is on th e way to Florida.The author uses a clear and detailed direct characterization to portray The Misfit when he first appears in the story. The author describes him as a man whose Hair just beginning to gray and he wore silver rimmed spectacles that gave him a scholarly look.He had a long creased face and didn't have on any shirt or undershirt. He had on blue jeans that were too tight for him and was holding a black hat and a gun. (O'Connor 410) It is easy for the readers to realize that he is an antagonist from his appearance– long ceased face, unsuited clothes, holding a gun, a typical image of villains.The conversations between The Misfit and the grandmother also reveal the evil inside The Misfit. After the execution of Bailey and his son, The Misfit tells the grandmother that he † found out the crime doesn't matter. You can do one thing or you can do another, kill a man or take a tire off his car, because sooner you're going to forget what it was you done and just be pu nished for it†(O'Connor 414).John Desmond's, a professor of English at Whitman College made comment in his article that † the Misfit acts under the delusion that his actions are somehow good, i. e.  good for him. Since he cannot make sense of his spiritual condition, he now tries to reduce ethical mystery to a perverse pleasure-pain principle†(Desmond135).Desmond's comment reveals the characteristic of The Misfit because The Misfit's demeanor exhibits that his values is tangled, and he has developed his own philosophy, which is evil and lawless. As a result, his philosophy blinded his conscience, and make his sinful actions look naturally appropriate to himself. Besides characterization, foreshadowing is also a significant literary element throughout the story .The author uses foreshadowing to give the story its air of suspense, and to hint the outcome of the story. At the beginning of the story, the grandmother refers to the news that â€Å"The Misfit is aloose from the Federal Pen and headed toward Florida† (O'Connor 402). Initially, the grandmother just wants to use this scary news to threaten Bailey, and tries to change his mind. The reference to a dangerous criminal raises a sign of hazardousness. The grandmother's dress on the day of departure also foreshadows the misfortune of the family.â€Å"[S]he had on navy blue straw sailor hat with a bunch of white violets on the brim and a navy blue dress with a small white dot in the print. Her collars and cuffs were organdy trimmed with lace and at her neckline she had pinned a purple spray of cloth violets containing a sachet†(O'Connor 404). In the book Short Stories for Students, the author of the article ‘Overview: â€Å"A Good Man is Hard to Find†Ã¢â‚¬Ëœ analysis that † as the family prepares to embark on their vacation, the grandmother plans her outfit with an eye toward tragedy†(Short Stories for Students 103).Wilson's analysis is fair because whe n people die, they usually are dressed in their best outfit, just like the grandmother is dressed in her best clothes, so its clear that the grandmother holds a pessimistic view on the family trip. On their way to Florida, the family â€Å"passed a large cotton field with five or six graves fenced in the middle of it, like a small island†(O'Connor 404).It is pretty disturbing for people who are on a family trip to see thing like graveyard, and the number of the graves clearly represent the six family members, including the baby. When the family are waiting for help after the accident, they encounter TheMisfit, who drives â€Å"a big black battered hearse-like automobile† (O'Connor 409). It is very obvious that the appearance of the car is a vigorous example of foreshadowing, which foreshadows the tragedy that is about to happen. In Arthur F. Bethea's article, he states that â€Å"O'Connor's villain is relentlessly associated with death: he worked as an undertaker, dri ves a black â€Å"hearse-like automobile,†Ã¢â‚¬Ëœ(Bethea 239). Bthea's interpretation is vigorous because the image of a hearse-like automobile gives rise to a bodeful ambience which perfectly foreshadows the debut of The Misfit.Other than characterization and foreshadowing, irony is another essential literary element that helps to carry out the purpose and the theme of the whole story. Both verbal irony and situational irony are used by the author in this story to illustrate how the grandmother's manipulative behaviors lead the whole family into deadly situation.In the exposition of the story, the grandmother warns Bailey that she â€Å"wouldn't take [her] children in any direction with a criminal like that aloose in it â€Å"(O'Connor 402).Ironically, she is exactly the person who take the family into dangerousness when she deliberately excites the children in order to force Bailey to take them to see the plantation, where they meet The Misfit. In order to convince Bailey , the grandmother announces that taking the kids to the old plantation â€Å"would be very educational for them†(O'Connor 408). To educate the children is not the purpose of the trip to the plantation in the grandmother's mind, it is just a excuse that used to disguise her selfishness.In Stanley Renne's article he comments that the grandmother is a â€Å"blind old woman, a failed parent who has ruined her own offspring, with a false and destructive dream of the past and an equally false and destructive self-perception in the present†(Renner 127).Renne's analysis is reasonable because the grandmother always wants others to accept her idea, and force his family members to do what she thinks is right and what she thinks is good for them, but the grandmother doesn't perceive that herself is being selfish and nostalgic all the time.As a result of her selfishness and nostalgia, the grandmother ultimately brings misfortune to the family. After the car accident, the kid says: â€Å"But nobody's killed†(O'Connor 409) with great disappointment. It is very awkward that a kid could has this kind of horrible thought, and it is an example of verbal irony because at the end of the story every family member gets killed eventually. Another irony happens when the grandmother is giving her grandkids a lecture on respecting others.She announces that in the old times â€Å"children were more respectful of their native states and their parents and everything else†(O'Connor 404), but at the same time, she saw an African American child on the roadside and says: â€Å"Oh look at that cute pickninny† (O'Connor 404). It is ironic that the grandmother is teaching her grandkids the importance of respect while she calls an African American child pickninny, which is disrespectful.In Stephen Brandy's article he analysis and describe the grandmother as a old woman who † is filled with the prejudices of her class and her time† (Brandy 110). Brandy 's comment is agreeable because although the grandmother's conversations make her seems like a nice and traditional Southern old lady, her mindless insult on African Americans reveals that the racism is rooted in her mind for a very long time that even herself does not notice it, or she ignore this issue deliberately.I the short story â€Å"A Good Man is Hard to Find†, the author applies characterization, foreshadowing, and irony to illustrate the theme that the tendency to manipulate people's actions and thoughts may introduce tragic outcomes to the love ones. By using both direct and indirect characterization, the author is able to portray the characters in detail, and create a vivid image of interactions between characters.Foreshadowing is also a important literary element that the author applies in this short story because foreshadowing gives the story its air of suspense thus make the story more interesting and dramatic. Through both situational irony and verbal irony, t he author shows how the grandmother's character trait brings misfortune to the family, and unlock the theme of the story. Being manipulative not only distances a person from his or her family, but also could cause trouble to the love ones.