10 Soft Insults in German and What They Mean

When you come to Germany and walk through the streets you might listen to some slang or curse words in the German language. They are very often used to make fun of certain aspects of someone’s behavior. Here are some of the more interesting ones that you might hear when you are an attentive listener. Warmduscher This is someone who likes to take hot showers.  In Germany, it is an often discussed myth that showering with ice-cold water is considered as masculine.  Well, somehow they had to see the bright side of a life without electricity and put it like that.  Today we just joke and say Warmduscher to people who like it comfortable or might be a little cowardly. Sitzpinkler A man who is peeing sitting on the toilet instead of standing. Real men stand when they mark their territory - and hopefully clean it afterward. Streber This is an interesting one because it describes a striver or nerd.  And as nerd† is cooler than â€Å"Streber†, we started to use â€Å"nerd† too in German when we talk about Streber. If someone is very eager or is behaving like Hermione Granger—you can call him a Streber. Angeber The â€Å"Angeber† is a poser, a show-off.  This is much stronger and you will hear it for sure when you will see an expensive car at a traffic light and the owner is playing with the pedal to impress the people in the street.   Teletubbyzurà ¼ckwinker Remember the Teletubbies? Well, this word describes someone who would wave back to the Teletubbies and this is, unless you are two years old, considered to be really wimpy. Cool grown-ups don’t do this unless they lost a bet. So if you want to use this, do not apply it to yourself and make sure the person you consider as a Teletubbyzurà ¼ckwinkler is far away so he or she would not hear you. Tee-Trinker In Germany, the country of beer drinking, drinking tea while others have a beer is uncool—sorry to the British and other tea drinkers. Of course, you are not supposed to get drunk and become an alcoholic, neither should you feel forced to have a beer—it is just this feeling of having a real â€Å"Feierabend Bier† (after-work beer) that makes drinking tea look like a weird idea for a real German. Schattenparker A word which describes someone who parks his car in the shadow because he can not stand the heat. A real man is supposed to stand any heat. Well, if you believe that—have fun during German summer in the city. Weichei Literally, a soft egg. This is simply a wimp, a coward.  This could be said in any imaginable situation. Verzà ¶gerungsgenießer This word comes from the German-dubbed movie Vanilla Sky. It describes persons who like to enjoy not everything at once but bit by bit. â€Å"Verzà ¶gerung†Ã¢â‚¬â€means delay. Frauenversteher This is most likely a word a woman wouldnt use as an insult. Most women would probably love to be understood by a man. But men have turned this quality into a non-virtue and a lack of masculinity. Enjoy this little counterexample of a women understander by one of the better-known comedians from some time ago. If those insults above are not manly enough for you, try this Beleidigungsgenerator, which wont beat around the bush. Hopefully, this list gives you a little insight into the mindset of some Germans, which is still surprisingly macho.

Compare and Contrast the Relative Hofstedes Cultural...

Compare and contrast the relative hofstede’s cultural dimensions of USA, CHINA, GERMANY AND INDIA Submitted by Mohammed Mohsin.K 211103 Section â€Å"E† 2nd year PGDM SJCBA Geert Hofstede is an influential Dutch researcher in the fields of organizational studies and more concretely organizational culture, also cultural economics and management. He is a well-known pioneer in his research of cross-cultural groups and organizations and played a major role in developing a systematic framework for assessing and differentiating national cultures and organizational cultures. His studies demonstrated that there are national and regional cultural groups that influence behavior of societies and organizations. Geert Hofstede conducted one of†¦show more content†¦* A direct and participative communication and meeting style is common, control is disliked and leadership is challenged to show expertise and best accepted when it’s based on it. | INDIA | * India scores high on this dimension, 77, indicating an appreciation for hierarchy and a Top – Down Structure in society and Organizations. dependent on the boss or the powerholder for direction, acceptance of un-equal rights between the power-priviledged and those who are lesser down in the pecking order, immediate superiors accessible but one layer above less so, paternalistic leader, management directs, gives reason / meaning to ones work life and rewards in exchange for loyalty from employees. * Real Power is centralized even though it may not appear to be and managers count on the obedience of their team members. * Employees expect to be directed clearly as to their functions and what is expected of them. * Communication is top down and directive in its style and often feedback which is negative is never offered up the ladder | | INDIVIDUALISM | | The fundamental issue addressed by this dimension is the degree of interdependence a society maintains among its members. It has to do with whether people ´s self-image is defined in terms of â€Å"I† or â€Å"We†. In Individualist societies people are supposed to look after themselves and their direct family only. In Collectivist societies people belong to ‘in

Key Learnings from a Microeconomics Class for Mba Students Free Essays

30. 11. 2012 Key learnings from Micro Economics module It was a very informative session and an eye opener. We will write a custom essay sample on Key Learnings from a Microeconomics Class for Mba Students or any similar topic only for you Order Now I was under the impression that economics only deals with fiscal and monetary policies. This was my first acquaintance with micro economics and it opened up a new perspective. I am in a position now to understand many events that happen every day around me. I am able to have a broad idea about how these events may have a direct or indirect impact on me as an individual (professionally as well as personally) and to an organisation. Detailed below are a few (but not all) significant points that were new to me : Law of Demand Supply : The quantity demanded of a good falls when the price rises and the quantity supplied of a good rises when the price rises. Price of a good adjusts to bring the quantity supplied and demanded into balance. Other determinants of consumers demand include income, price of substitutes, expectations etc. Any change in these factors shifts the demand curve. Equilibrium : A situation where market price is at a level at which supply and demand quantity equals. Equilibrium of supply and demand maximizes the sum of consumer and producer surplus. Surplus : A situation in which supply is greater than demand Consumers’ surplus : Buyers’ willingness to pay for a good minus the amount the buyer actually pays for it. It measures benefit buyers gets by participating in a market. Producers’ surplus : The amount sellers receive for their goods minus their costs of production. It measures benefit sellers get from participating in a market. Dead Weight Loss : The fall in total surplus that results from a market distortion. Marginal Utility : Additional utility derived by consuming additional unit quantity of goods. Competitive markets : Prices in a perfectly competitive market always equal marginal cost of production. To maximise profit firms chooses output quantity such that marginal revenue equals marginal cost. A Monopolistically competitive market is characterized by attributes like many firms, differentiated products and free entry. Each firm in a monopolistically competitive market has excess capacity. There is standard deadweight loss of monopoly caused by the mark up of price over marginal cost. The product differentiation inherent in monopolistic competition leads to the use of advertising and brand names. Oligopoly is a market structure in which only a few sellers offer similar or identical products. Above concepts also clarified how Marginal cost, Sunk cost, Average Cost, Variable cost and Fixed cost help in determining sustainability of doing business and how they help in arriving at decisions like â€Å"maximize profit† or â€Å"continue to produce to cover costs†. Concepts of monopolistic and perfect competition along with examples covered in the class were apt for digesting the underlying principles. It also helped to understand how political/governmental interferences balances or imbalances the market forces and thus effecting the price and/or consumers’ and producers’ behaviour. Price Discrimination (PD) : Important concept on types of price discrimination used by various industries and businesses were interesting to know. I am a consumer of discriminated prices since birth however, never realized that I am a victim or beneficiary of the same. How business use it to their advantage. Concepts of types of PD and their application was an eye opener and gave me a new perspective to look at the market competition in a different way. Others : Prisoner’s Dilemma and Rivalry in Consumption, never heard off but fun to understand. How externalities (positive or negative) influence producers. Tragedy of common and enclosure movement were also unknown but not any longer. In conclusion : I have been thru’ above every day of my life but was never able to understand it the way I am able to do it now. Biggest surprise of all to me was that the underlying theme of all these is Microeconomics. And, I thought Economics is one field and was unaware of micro and macro. How to cite Key Learnings from a Microeconomics Class for Mba Students, Essay examples

Installation Art Essay Example For Students

Installation Art Essay Tony Godfrey believes that since installation art has never been clearly defined, it gets easily confused as to what the real meaning is. He stated that in installation art, â€Å"the artist is thinking about not an object, not a wall, but literally an entire space and how people move through it. † An installation is more than a painting, or a sculpture, or many other types of artwork; it is an environment. Not only is it an environment, but it’s the feelings one experiences when they are in the space. The installation that interested me the most was Barbican’s Rain Room. The Rain Room allows people to experience rain in a way that they would normally not be able to. It allows people to be surrounded by the rain, but also be comfortable. It is an installation that viewers can completely immerse themselves in. Unlike many other artworks that are made to cause certain emotions, the Rain Room has caused so many people to have such different feelings in reaction to it. If I were given a room and a crew to create any type of installation, I would want to allow people the chance to be larger than life. I would create a scenario in which viewers tower over their surroundings. It would be like walking through the park: trees that come up to the average person’s waist, benches, fountains, picnic tables, all to scale. It would be as real as any other park, just smaller. I can’t speak for anyone but myself, but I have always wanted to know what it feels like to be larger than my surroundings.

The Gaming Wars Essays - Home Video Game Consoles, Wii, Xbox

The Console Wars Tommy Watson ENG121 Norma Turner 19 November 2010 The gaming industry has evolved tremendously over the past 20 years. Most of us can think back to the first video games we played and how astonished we were at what great graphics or unique control schemes they offered. It?s strange to look at how far they have come since then. One of the biggest changes in this industry is the emergence of the gaming consoles. Within the past several years, the industry has boomed into a very large business. Within this business, there are three big companies fighting to be the best. Sony?s Playstation 3, Microsoft?s Xbox 360, and the Nintendo Wii are the three main systems in this huge market. Because there are so many games for these systems, and because it is such a big business, stores are specializing in only these games are opening everywhere. I will be explaining some of the most noticeable differences between the three consoles, such as the hardware, controls and price. First is the Sony?s Playstation3 system which gives you everything you need in a game console, such as a built-in Blu-ray player for your HD movie collection, pristine picture quality delivered at 1080p, which is equipped with storage capacities of 120 GB, 160 GB, 250GB, and 320GB with built-in WI-FI. The prices for these systems vary depending on the how much storage capacity you want or need. For instance the 120GB and 160GB system retails at $299.99 while the 250GB and 320GB systems retails at $349.99, which includes one Dualshock3 wireless controller, AC power cord, AV cable and a USB cable. Now the accessories for this system are numerous. The Dualshock3 comes in various colors from red, silver, pink, green, blue, white and standard black. Other accessories include the Play Station Eye camera, Bluetooth Headset, Wireless Key pad, surround Sound system, HDMI cable several types of guns for use with shooting games.You also have the ability to get movies through a membership with Netflix. Second is the Microsoft?s Xbox 360 system which gives you everything you need in a game console. One of the main differences I have found in my research from the Play station 3, is the Xbox 360 is sold in bundle; you can no longer just buy the console. Some of the different packages of the Xbox 360 console are the 4GB hard drive which retails at $199.99, a 4GB console with Kinect and 250GB console which retails at $299.99, and a special edition 250 GB console with Kinects which retails at $399.99. All comes with a built-in WI-FI for easier connection to the world of entertainment on Xbox live, where HD movies and TV stream instantly in 1080pand 5.1 surround sound. Each console comes with a black wireless controller, a standard definition composite A/V cable and depending on the package comes with a Kinect Sensor, and one month Xbox Live membership. Now for the accessories you can buy separately are wireless controllers, Xbox 360 Chatpad, wireless Headsets, 250 GB hard drive, Xbox Liv e memberships of 3 and 12 months. There are games like Guitar Hero, Rock Band that involve accessories such as microphones, drums, guitars and even a keyboard. Other accessories include a rod and reel for games that involve fishing; several types of guns for use with shooting games. You also have the ability to view movies with a membership through Netflix. Third is the Nintendo Wii console which is more geared towards the family. It also comes in bundles which will include games like the Wii Sports, Wii Sports Resort, one Wii Remote Plus controller, one Nunchuk controller, sensor bar, standard composite cable and power cord. It also has a WI-FI built-in for easier connection to the internet. Other accessories are the Wii Balance Board, Wii Motion Plus, Nintendo points Card, Wii steering wheel, Wii Zapper,

Free Essays on Thomas Paines Common Sense

According to the Catholic Encyclopedia, the term common sense â€Å"†¦designates the sum of original principles found in all normal minds and the ability to judge and reason in accordance with those principles.† Equally, when Paine adopted this title for his work, he believed he was speaking on behalf of all of the â€Å"normal minds† in the colonies that were being subjugated to the King’s tyrannical rule. In addition, he understood the phrase common sense to be an appropriate and applicable term dealing with the â€Å"original principles† these men and women fostered as well as their â€Å"ability to judge and reason† within this ideology. Through his writing, Paine desperately hoped to prove to his fellow man that common sense was the only entity needed in order to recognize and correct the social mayhem infringed upon them on a daily basis. Thomas Paine’s pamphlet, Common Sense, begins with the creation of government, as lived by the colonist, and progresses to the wrongful acts administered by Parliament and the King of England. Thomas Paine explains how the colonies began governing themselves and how an appointed King did not necessarily have the people’s values in mind. This groundwork laid the path for the argument against the British government to take place. It is portrayed that the people of the colonies existed in harmony and dealt with their own problems in ways that conformed to the majority. Paine explains how disruptive it is for a single man, a King, to rule and govern a colony hundreds of miles away. This is very obvious and logical. â€Å"To be always running three or four thousand miles with a tale or a petition, waiting four or five months for an answer, which when obtained requires five or six more to explain it in† (24). To worsen the situation of the King, Paine also discus ses the existence of heredity succession in a monarchy. â€Å"To the evil of monarchy we have added that of hereditary succession; a... Free Essays on Thomas Paine's Common Sense Free Essays on Thomas Paine's Common Sense According to the Catholic Encyclopedia, the term common sense â€Å"†¦designates the sum of original principles found in all normal minds and the ability to judge and reason in accordance with those principles.† Equally, when Paine adopted this title for his work, he believed he was speaking on behalf of all of the â€Å"normal minds† in the colonies that were being subjugated to the King’s tyrannical rule. In addition, he understood the phrase common sense to be an appropriate and applicable term dealing with the â€Å"original principles† these men and women fostered as well as their â€Å"ability to judge and reason† within this ideology. Through his writing, Paine desperately hoped to prove to his fellow man that common sense was the only entity needed in order to recognize and correct the social mayhem infringed upon them on a daily basis. Thomas Paine’s pamphlet, Common Sense, begins with the creation of government, as lived by the colonist, and progresses to the wrongful acts administered by Parliament and the King of England. Thomas Paine explains how the colonies began governing themselves and how an appointed King did not necessarily have the people’s values in mind. This groundwork laid the path for the argument against the British government to take place. It is portrayed that the people of the colonies existed in harmony and dealt with their own problems in ways that conformed to the majority. Paine explains how disruptive it is for a single man, a King, to rule and govern a colony hundreds of miles away. This is very obvious and logical. â€Å"To be always running three or four thousand miles with a tale or a petition, waiting four or five months for an answer, which when obtained requires five or six more to explain it in† (24). To worsen the situation of the King, Paine also discus ses the existence of heredity succession in a monarchy. â€Å"To the evil of monarchy we have added that of hereditary succession; a...

PROSTITUTION MUST BE LEGALIZED IN THE UNITED STATES Essay

PROSTITUTION MUST BE LEGALIZED IN THE UNITED STATES - Essay Example Legalizing refers to the act of changing the status of an act from illegal to legal through changes in constitution and rules and regulations made by the courts. To legalize prostitution, the current illegal stats applied to the act of prostitution will have to be changed to legal status through policy making. When the debate of legalizing prostitution occurs several reasons are stated for and against this act. Statistical prevalence rate of prostitution are hard to figure out as the act of prostitution is conducted in quite a secretive manner and very few are held responsible for being a part of it. The most vulnerable stakeholder of the act of prostitution is the female gender and due to their vulnerability they are the ones who are mostly held responsible. Those who purchase prostitutes and those who act as middlemen are hardly found to be held responsible for being a part of the act of prostitution. According to FBI statistics provided during 2009, the number of arrests conducted for purpose of prostitution and commercial purchase and sale of sex was 56,560 (FBI, 2012). Out of this figure 31, 699 were whites, 23,021 were blacks, 427 individuals were natives of the region of Alaska and American Indians and those from Asia were 1,413 individuals (FBI, 2012). The arrest rates during the same period of individuals who were below the age of 18 and were involved in prostitution totaled to 1,072 individuals and those above 18 were 55,488 individuals (FBI 1). Certain nations have legalized prostitution, others have decriminalized prostitution and certain countries have even decreased the laws regarding the act of prostitution. In Africa only two nations have recognized prostitution as legal; prostitution is even legal in European nations, North American nations, Oceanic nations and Nevada which is located within US and certain South American nations. The point to be noted is that although it has achieved legal status in all these areas, but it is governed through s trict rules and regulations. This paper will focus on the benefits that will be attained through the act of legalizing prostitution. The benefits of legalizing prostitution but in a strictly regulated manner can be experienced in field of economics, security and health. If prostitution is legalized its benefits can be both experienced by the private and the public sector. Body Economic Benefits for Prostitutes and Government Those in the favor of legalizing prostitution have stated various economic benefits that can be attained through legalizing prostitution. The current criminal justice system of the US is experiencing various problems. The population of the jailhouses is increasing day by day and the government does not have enough reserves to provide funds for the increasing cost of operating prisons. There are several solutions through which the problem of funding prisons and managing prisons can be settled. In order to change the face of the criminal justice system and the pri son management system, prostitution should be made legal and it should be highly supervised and regulated. The estimated cost of arresting a prostitute and dealing with his/her case costs thousands of dollars. According to the statistics of 1987, the total cost of arresting

Hip Hop Dance (Documentary Responses) Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Hip Hop Dance (Documentary Responses) - Essay Example According to Williams, when the particular dance move or form was evolved in the 1970s, there was a lot of doubt theta whether this form going to last for too long or not. The starting of this famous dance step was associated with black & Latino teenagers, used to gather in a group and spin on their heads with a piece of cardboard with the tune of hip-hop music. At present, this dancing style becomes more and more attractive with mesmerizing choreography, complex and eye-popping acrobats into its gravity-defying routine. The planet B boy was a true homage or tribute to all the rubber limb performers of a hip hop act which was started by a poor kid somewhere in the ghetto with a radio and passion for self expression. Rize Documentary (The Birth of Krumping): The documentary movie Rize provides us a window to analyze the black culture in the city of Los Angeles and to it he introduction of krumping dance movement. This movie gives us a clear idea about the dancing form Krumping along w ith the black culture in USA. The documentary movie Rize was directed by David La Chapelles in the year 2005. This clearly indicates that Characterization of the dancers has a direct impact of the marketability. This film, with the help of its composition acted as a mediator between the viewers and the performers who was representing the problematic narrative dependent upon racial difference. The main focus of the documentary was on the African –American community of clowns and krumpers in South central Los Angeles. The dancers of this contemporary style are young, poor and can be termed as† at risk† and they opted this just to earn more money as well as to represent their own culture.. The krumping dance movement was a derivative of clown dancing, originated by Thomas Johnson who was more popularly known as Tommy the Clown. The reason behind originating this was to keep the young black children away from the streets. After this documentary was released the dance style cramping became a breakout dance form. Despite the fact that the movie incorporates both the dance form clowning and Krumping. The Krumping form of dance was evolved from the clowning with a special focus on self expression and social justice. Director of this documentary La Chapelle Interpreted that the dance form krumpings was a way of escape back to Africa, back to one's roots as he frames the movement of this particular dance steps as a representation of authentic blackness. Inclusion of poverty and violence of South Central America in this movie was very important to understand the context of the cropping and its bodily extremes. The History and Concept of Hip Hop: The History and Concept of the hip hop dance is a documentary directed by Moncell Durden in the year 2010. This documentary helps us to find out history and origin related to this worldfamous dance concept. The hip hop dance is not only associated with different attractive dance moves but also it represents a l ifestyle of young generation , how they want to see the life and how they want to live it accordingly. The dancing concept was first introduced in Bronx, New York city way back in the 1970s and 1980s. Hip hop can be considered as a cultural movement which was associated with music, dance dress up and speech of the American youth. This cultural movement was first originated in the South Bronx and also preferred as Boogie Down. The term

Imperialism, World War 1 and Anti-Colonialism Essay

Imperialism, World War 1 and Anti-Colonialism - Essay Example Great Britain was the greatest imperialist nation in history. In fact, â€Å"By 1914, the British Empire included one-fourth of all the land and people of the Earth† (Lecture 5, 5). As tension built up in the prelude to World War 1, Britain countered the threat of the ‘Triple Alliance’ composed of Germany, Austria- Hungary and Italy, through its ‘Triple Entente,’ with France and Russia and a further alliance with Japan in 1902. When the Entente declared war on Germany in August 1914, all Britain’s colonial possessions and dominions, including Australia, were incorporated into the war. The Australian recruiting poster, which serves as Source # 2, demonstrates that nationalism played a major role in instigating war. Although Australia is separated geographically from Europe, it very definitely identified itself as a ‘white’ nation with strong ties to the mother-country, Britain. It is evident that the excessive nationalism, termed th e â€Å"fatal flaw in the European system† is prevalent in Australia too and Australians saw the war from Britain’s point of view and adopted the â€Å"my country-right-or wrong† variety of nationalism† (Lecture 6, 2). The poster shows the national flag as a rousing, revered symbol, glorifies the soldier and emphasizes that the nation’s World War 1 effort requires the patriotic contribution of every man and woman, through taxes, factory work or nursing. World War I was ‘great’ in every aspect, including the large number of casualties. Roughly 9 million were killed and 21 million wounded.

The use of social networking in brand promotion

The use of social networking in brand promotion Introduction: Social Networking concept is new in the current business world however its emergence was started two decades ago when the internet was growing and becoming popular among the population. There is a latest trend of using social networking sites for brand promotion however the businesses are realizing slowly of using social networking sites for brand promotion. It has become a global phenomenon for the population as one third of the world population visit social networking sites and blog sites (Fatrhi, 2007). The way of spending the time over the internet by the population is changing day by day which has brought in the greater attention of marketer to change their brand promotion strategies accordingly. Using the social networking website for engaging the people into online communities and promoting the brand over these websites is the latest trend. Social network affect the purchase decision making process of consumers which make the difference in the branding and marketing strategies . However social networking websites are useful for the marketers to increase the brand awareness and product awareness. As per the recent research survey conducted by i-prospect research suggested that 48% of the research marketers have successfully placed the content on websites to create the brand awareness among the target customers (Holden, 2006). Social networking sites are also helpful for increasing the web traffic, increasing the customer loyalty and the success of new product launch. However apart from such benefits, a major role played by social networking websites is promoting the brand. If considering the example of Skoda, it gives the substantial results for such instance. Skoda has created the community of about 2000 people through social media. This community was started when a female customer has posted its comment about the after sales services of Skoda and a person has picked this comment and posted it on social networking site (Muncaster, 2007). It is not only the corporate biggies who have used social networking sites as a medium to promote their brand but also a phenomena of retailing the designers label to increase the brand awareness among the target customers. Looking at the importance of social networking, this research aims to analyzing the impact of social networking sites on brand promotion. This chapter provides the brief introduction about the research study, including the aims and objectives of the research, significance of the research and rationale behind conducting this research study. Aims and Objectives of the Research: The aim of this research is to analyze the impact of social networking sites on brand promotion. In order to fulfill the aim of the research, researcher has laid down following research objectives which has been achieved in this research as a part of research aim. To understand the importance of social networking websites in branding strategy To determine the advantage of using social media in marketing and branding To understand the current and future scope viability of social media To identify the strategies of companies using social media as a medium for promoting their brand In order to achieve the above research objectives, the research has addressed the following research questions in this study. RQ1: What is the importance of social networking sites in branding and marketing? RQ2: What are the advantages for a marketer in using social media for its marketing and branding strategy? RQ3: What is the current and future scope viability of social media? RQ4: What are the strategies used by companies for using social media in promoting their brands among the target customers? Significance of the Research: This research study is contributing significantly in the studies of marketing and brand management where the researcher has provided some key facts about the current usage of social networking sites in brand promotion and marketing. The research findings will help the marketers to understand the advantage of using social media as a medium for promoting their brands and they can integrate these findings in preparing their brand strategy. In addition to this, the research work provided the base for future academic researchers to conduct the research in the social networking space in relation to the marketing and branding management. Rationale behind the Research: Reason for conducting this research is to get the deeper insight about how the companies are using social networking websites for promoting their brand and in what ways they are making it effective among the target customers. In this way researcher would be able to get greater learning in the field of marketing and brand management and can integrate these findings into its professional career. Chapter Scheme of the Research: It is essential to divide the complete research into sub sections or chapters to get the sequential understanding of every step taken by the research for completing the research. Therefore researcher has segregated the complete research into fiver chapters. First chapter of the research provide the brief introduction about the research. Second chapter provided the literature of the research. Third chapter includes the research methodology. Fourth chapter provided the discussion, analysis and findings of the research. Last and fifth chapter includes the conclusion drawn by the research from the key findings and provided the recommendation to marketers. Summary: There is a latest trend of using social networking sites for brand promotion however the businesses are realizing slowly of using social networking sites for brand promotion. The aim of this research is to analyze the impact of social networking sites on brand promotion. Social network affect the purchase decision making process of consumers which make the difference in the branding and marketing strategies. However social networking websites are useful for the marketers to increase the brand awareness and product awareness. Reason for conducting this research is to get the deeper insight about how the companies are using social networking websites for promoting their brand. This chapter provided the brief introduction of the researcher to the reader. Chapter 2: Literature Review 2.1 Introduction: Social networking sites such as Facebook (400 million users worldwide) and Orkut (100 million), or the micro-blogging site Twitter (which crossed 10 billion tweets recently) may offer engaging distractions to the average user. But the numbers add up to a dizzying truth for brands: social networking sites (SNS) and sites like Twitter are prodigiously fertile spaces to harvest ad business. Adgully speaks to Indias leading brand nurturers and digital agencies to understand how they are leveraging the networking revolution. Social Networking soon became a way for brand Marketing and promotion on social sphere, whereby, the enterprises started using these online communities or websites for developing contacts and driving traffic to their respective websites. Today, these social networking websites form the main tool of social media marketing. The most commonly used websites that have become drastically popular over last couple of years are Twitter and Facebook. Following these two are som e other sites such as LinkedIn, My Space, Digg and StumbleUpon (Adler Kwon, 2002).   Facebook is a Social Networking Site which helps friends and colleagues to share dialogues with each other through Wall Posts, Messages and Comments. Today, Facebook has more than 350 million members and still counting. This site experiences more than two million clicks per day. Statistics state that users spend an average of 20 minutes per day in Facebook. The advanced functionalities of Facebook allow the users a longer shelf life. A user can view your files which are more than five years old. With such wonderful features, Facebook soon became one of the lethal tools of SMM and SMO. Businesses, especially small scale business houses started using the medium of Facebook to promote their brands and services. Setting up a business page and initiating and regulating interactions with the visitors are some of the strategies that business houses adhere to, in Facebook (Alba, 2003). 2.2 Popularity of Social Networking Sites in Developing Countries: The online penetration is just 3-4 per cent, and less than 1 per cent of our total population has a Facebook account. And the percentage of people using Twitter is even smaller. Mehra said that despite the percentages, developing countries like India were already the 5th largest consumer of Twitter in the world, owing largely to Bollywoods enthusiasm for it. And we are in the Top 10 list of consumers of Facebook. Rahul Mehta, the business head of Chings Secret, said, There are approximately 5 crore Indians and 1 crore NRIs online. Facebook alone has 1.2 crore Indians and 40 lakh NRIs. Mehta said the RoI on social media was substantially higher than what was offered by traditional media (Albrecht Adelman, 2007). These numbers are comparable to most national newspapers, Mehta said. Facebook is best place to reach Sec A+, A and B+. With internet penetration deepening, the numbers will rise in the next three to four years, he said. Chings Secret has 98,826 (and counting) fans on Faceboo k. Khushboo Maheshwari, the head (digital) of OMD, said, Today, 5% of Indian population has an online presence and it is growing at a rate of 35% CAGR. In other words, 50 million users have a presence on social media. And the numbers were growing, Maheshwari said. With the government planning to spend Rs18,000 crore over the next three years to lay a 5 lakh km optic fibre cable network to reach every gram panchayat, the growth rate is going to touch 100% CAGR, Maheshwari said. Mobile, web, and broadband will be critical to the growth in the coming years, Maheshwari said. Mihir Ferrao, who looks into Social Media Optimization and ORM at Starcom IP feels that Internet in India needs to grow by at least 20 to 25% year on year, to shake off the constant comparisons with TV and Print (Alkire, Collum, Kaswan, Love, 2008). He said, The only reason why we do not get a fare share of advertising budgets is because, next to the reach penetration of TV or Print, we are very small. But if we look at the concentration of brand TGs on TV Internet, then surely the Internet will have higher traction. Sagar Dhoke, the founder of Fun Element said that the e-revolution had helped to bridge the gap between the product and the end consumer, be it for a movie or an FMCG product. As for the group being targeted online by marketers, Ritesh Patel, the brand manager of CEAT, said, Social media has indeed proved to be a very useful medium for a brand like CEAT. He said that CEAT aspired to be a youthful brand and it finds complete match of TG in this medium (Arabie, 2004). 2.3 The Approach: Sandeep Singh, the business head of Quasar, said that promotional activities designed for online platforms could be a campaign lead in which the target audience is engaged for a specific purpose and for a short duration. Or, brands could choose a more strategic and long-term initiative. In a campaign lead, the idea is to use social media platforms to create a buzz and receive feedback from the community represented by the target audience, Singh said. Strategic initiatives involve the management of social presence from brands online-reputation standpoint, and the use of social platforms as a medium of continued dialogue with the prospects and customers. Singh said experience suggested that the one-size-fits-all approach did not work. Every product and campaign needs a different approach and activation strategy, he said (Bainbridge, Brent, Carley, Heise, Macy, Markovsky, Skvoretz, 1994). Maheshwari of OMD described one of the agencys typical media activities. Motilal Oswal Financial Services Limited has been quite active on the social media, Maheshwari said. We have uploaded Wealth Creation Study (WCS) Videos on You Tube and also created a Linked In event page for the WCS awards ceremony. Besides, we also have a scribed page where we have uploaded different annual WC Studies. The creation of Wikipedia pages on the Motilal Oswal Group, on Motilal Oswal and Raamdeo Agrawal had been completed, Maheshwari said. As a result of these activities, seven out of 10 results on Google are owned and controlled by Brand Motilal Oswal for the search Wealth Creation Study, Maheshwari said (Baker Hubert, 2001). Zapak has carried out several similar campaigns; Axe, Ponds, and Mahindra campaigns which used a mix of available options are among the most successful Zapak works. Mehra listed the focus areas: Fan pages and groups, gaming and other fun applications on platforms like Orkut and Facebook, an active handle on Twitter. Mehra said it was essential to link the APIs (application programming interface) like OpenID and Facebook Connect to ones site to promote easy communication and conversations (Barabasi, 2002). Chings Secret advertises regularly on Facebook and YouTube, the brands Mehta said. But a lot of traffic has been generated virally because of the content, quizzes, contests on Facebook. He said that in the end, social media was a long-term strategic investment. It is not brand building but genuine relationship creation and maintenance, he said. And like any relationship, it takes time to build. Describing the two aspects of promotion social applications and paid advertising -they use both options equally well. For Emotional Attyachar, social advertising was placed on Facebook and other sites. And we also released an application on Facebook, Mistry said. Applications turn on engagement to high levels, users get to communicate with the brand, and they understand the values of the shows. On the other hand, advertising draws people who are unexposed to the brand. So the two options serve different purposes and we use as much of both as they can (Barnlund Harland, 2005). Patel of CEAT said that any one people-engagement tactic would not work in isolation. If they create a fantastic social application and do not promote it, it will die a natural death owing to the lack of critical mass required to give it a viral effect. Similarly, only paid advertising will fail to generate brand interaction with consumers which is the essence of social media. Such a tactic would evoke the fee ling of a one-night stand and customer would probably not engage with the brand in question in the future. Starcom IPs Ferrao, also said that lots of their clients are slowly waking up to the fact that social media is a growing phenomena in India. Some of their clients whom they have brought onto the social space are Himalaya Herbal Tea and Foster, while they are enhancing the social presence of brands like Tata Teleservices and Pantaloons. The results they have got, in terms of fans on Facebook and followers on Twitter etc. have given the client reasons to be excited. And has initiated thoughts of how do they leverage these groups further (Bernard Killworth, 2003). 2.4 Pros and Cons: Every platform has certain advantages and disadvantages, so its a question any longer of them wanting to be on it or not. The advantages are varied: right from being able to monetize certain things to being able to put your content out there; to getting feedback from users. In the past, people could not connect to a brand on a one-on-one basis, but social media allowed that to happen. Most brands feel that going to SNS will put their brands up for public scrutiny, which is considered a disadvantage. But it is considering that to be an advantage because it gives them a good reality check to improve your product or service. But on this channel, Singh warned, one wrong step could snowball into something highly detrimental to ones brand, in matter of minutes. So they should learn to do it well than not doing it at all, as you cant run away from such platforms if their consumers are flocking them (Bonacich, 2002). They will have to embrace them today or tomorrow. SNS can definitely contri bute to making or breaking the brand image. Brands should be very cautious in venturing into SNS. While developing games for the brands, Dhoke suggests subtle branding techniques to his clients. Constant hammering of the product is a complete turn-off to the player and user, he said. Same applies to social applications and games. The app should highlight the main features of the app in a very exciting way rather than in the brochure style. Maheshwari endorsed Dhokes assertion about treading carefully. Yes, a single bad comment or rumor can severely damage the reputation that a brand like MOFSL has taken great pains to establish over the years, Maheshwari said. Also since SNS connect users from different parts of the world, it takes little to no time for bad news to spread. Patel strongly believes that a consumers negative feedback could be used to create customer delight. Today, more and more brands are engaging directly with consumers through various discussion forums, networking sites and forums to understand their expectations (Borgatti Everett, 1999) Ferrao of Starcom IP sees the clear advantage of social networking sites in the entire brand experience which one can bring to the consumer. He said, With Facebook and Twitter, you can communicate so many brand properties to those people who want to listen! he believes that by doing so, you know the effort is not going to waste and that your initiatives could actually lead to sales (Burt, 2008). 2.5 The Future: Patel also highlighted the fact that only a select age group was active in social media. While Youngistan is spending more time online, the older age group is not very active yet. Also, online options are more popular in metro and tier-II cities. Internet penetration is still an issue in rural India. But Dhoke sees things differently. Things will change in the next five to six years. When 3G is operational, the number of internet users will grow by about 25-35%. It is estimated that by 2013, India will have the third largest Internet user base. Singh goes a step further and says that as in the West, the audience is now online. When you refer to the audience, these are the guys with high disposable incomes and spending power. These guys are online for sure. And most brands are eying their wallets. If you talk about numbers, we still have some way to go to before the medium reaches the masses. The Indian audience was enjoying the internet and its offerings. Gaming is an offering that h as now become a passion among the youth (Carley Krackhardt, 1996). The online gaming industry is growing and how! Year-on-year, they are recording a rise in the number of gamers in the country. Zapak, which was started just three years ago, already had 7 million unique registered users, and continues to grow. Soon, there will be a day when the online Indian farmers on Farmville will outnumber all the real farmers of our country put together. Other than Twitter and Facebook, there are couples of other websites that have gained immense popularity. LinkdIn is a professional social media website where a stream of professional gets the chance to review and interact with their counterparts. With more than 50 lacs people registered with this site, LinkedIn offers a solid platform for establishing new business relationships. LinkdIn by facilitating more of a personal communication between the business professionals can help the business as a whole. MySpace also have a massive impact in the social networking world. Once registered with MySpace, a user can not only inform the entire networking circle about their likes and dislikes but can also submit videos. A lot of personal stuffs can also be added to the site, and an active mode of communication can be initiated. MySpace also helps in Social Media Marketing by enabling the businesses to create their own profile page and communities and develop interactive dialogues with targeted mass of people. This enables in building brand awareness and can be of immense help to small business houses. Social media and networking Sites have not only contributed to take inter-personal communication to a different level, but also have been a great marketing tool for the small businesses. Well planned approach to social media marketing via social networking sites can be of great help in promoting the business, create proper brand awareness and in the end, meet the ultimate business ends. A business house must have proper expertise and planning to approach in the network so as to reap the fruits of benefits to the very best (Cartwright Harary, 2007). 2.6 Spreading brand awareness: We all know word-of-mouth propagation is a great way of spreading your brand awareness. This is what social network can do. As soon as brand becomes recognizable to a large number of customers, they start discussion about the product. Maximum people who are satisfied with the product they often post their comments through these social networking, which encourage other customer to buy the product. Big companies create a blog in relation with the social network to give customer a wide area to discuss about product and give reviews. This way social network spread your brand awareness to millions of customer online (Cohen Prusak, 2001). 2.7 Engage customer interest: A social media website is ideally suited for product discussions, demonstrations, and showcasing of expertise and quality. Businesses can engage the interest of customers from a global market and build a powerful brand image. People will become fans of your website, product or business because they choose to; Make them feel comfortable with this decision by posting quality information. Talking about online business, social networking is a great opportunity to keep your site busy by attracting potential customer with well developed networking strategies. Organizations are already making use of new and creative way to utilize the massive popularity of various social media to promote their particular product. The additional benefit is the long-term impact on business revenue through brand management. Social media websites are just right for business marketers to spot potential customers (Eveland Bikson, 2007). But in order to get benefit from social networking, business owner should study to handle their social networking assets carefully. Most famous social networking sites like facebook, twitter and my space are the great for carrying your message to abroad. But new businesses must always remember that benefits from social networking solely include arduous work (Crane, 2009). 2.8 Summary: A social network is a social structure made up of individuals or organizations called nodes, which are connected by one or more specific types of mutuality, such as friendship, common interest, financial exchange, dislike relationships of beliefs, knowledge or prestige. It was initially intended to make friendship and stay connected with colleagues, but now days every businessman would have known how important social networking is for their business. Mainly online business has made social networking a priority as well. Premier Websites have made it possible for businesses to develop their contact lists, handle their relationships and created the ideas of viral marketing. It is because Shopping and social networking Web sites gather a lot of information about online users, and has become tremendously useful for companies to track and model consumer behavior. Businesses are looking to companies like Twitter, MySpace and Facebook to help companies to sell more products and services. Let s see how it makes an impact on your business in reality (Fararo Skvoretz, 2004). Chapter 3: Research Methodology Introduction: A research methodology enables the researcher to get the right direction in achieving the research aim and objectives. Therefore it is important for the researcher to understand the different research methods available and making the right selection of the appropriate research component to design the complete research methodology. This chapter provides the detailed explanation of the research methodology that has been used by the researcher for this particular research. The aim of this research is to analyze the impact of social networking website on brand promotion which requires a robust research methodology. Research Methodology: Before moving further, a research first needs to understand the difference between exploratory and explanatory research and make the appropriate selection between them. Exploratory research is useful where the research wants to conclude the research through in-depth and detailed discussion about the research objectives and findings of the research. On the other hand explanatory research is useful where the researcher conclude the research based on the key facts and using statistical measures without having in-depth discussions. Here the research wants to conduct the analyses to understand the impact of social networking websites on brand promotion therefore it requires statistical measures to conduct the impact analyses. Hence researcher has used explanatory research in this study. Research Design: There are the various authors who have provided the approach to design the suitable research methodology. However the most relevant research methodology design is given by Saunders et al (2003) by developing the research onion. Each layer of this research onion provided the research component and selecting the research components gives the complete design of the research. Research has used the research onion developed by Saunders et al (2003) for designing the research methodology. Description of selecting the research components by using research onion is provided in the following section. Research Approach: Research approach is chosen from the first layer of the research onion. A research can go for deductive, abductive or inductive research approach. In this research, researcher has used abductive research approach which enables the researcher to get the deeper understanding of research objective and need of correlating the literature with key findings of the research. Other research approaches such as inductive and deductive approach has been rejected by the research since both the approaches more focused towards the theoretical implications and less towards the practical implication of the research. Research Philosophy: Research can select the research philosophy by removing the second layer of the research onion. There are the two research philosophies such as positivism and interpretivism research philosophy. Interpretivism research philosophy is useful where the researcher interpret the study results using literature and less focused towards the practical implications of the research study. Since the research approach used by the researcher is abductive which requires the practical implication hence interpretivism research philosophy is irrelevant. In positivism research philosophy researcher only considers the practical implication along with the use of literature to be linked with research findings. Hence in this research, researcher has used the positivism research philosophy. Research Strategy: Research strategy can be chosen by removing third layer of the research onion. Research strategy enables the researcher to conduct the analysis and presenting the key findings of the research. In addition to this research decides on methods of data collection. A research can use survey questionnaire methods or face to face interview method to collect the data. It is essential to capture the views of marketing managers about the impact of social networking websites in brand promotion. Hence the research has used survey questionnaire method for collecting the data. Once the data is collected, a researcher needs to understand the way of conducting the analysis and presenting the data. In this research, research has used question by question analysis and drawn the conclusion. Research has used both the secondary and primary data in this research and method for each of type of data is described below: Data Collection Methodology: Secondary data is the data which is already existed in the published format. On the other hand primary data is the data which is not available and researcher collect the information using questionnaire method from the relevant respondents. In this study, researcher has collected both the secondary and primary data. The methodology description of collecting each type of data is provided below: Secondary Data: Secondary data in this research has been collected using various secondary sources such as academic journals which have been procured from the university library, books, news articles, web articles, company websites and general internet search. Secondary has been used to compile the literature in this research. Primary Data: In order to capture the view points of marketing managers towards the impact of social networking websites, the data has been collected using primary research. In primary research, researcher has prepared the quantitative questionnaire and administered the questionnaire using email. Others details of primary research is provided below. Target Respondents: Target respondents were marketing managers who must have knowledge about the social networking concepts and websites and responsible for preparing branding strategy for their companies. Sample Size: A total of 200 questionnaires were sent to the target respondents out of which 59 responses were received by the researcher. Therefore the total sample size of this study is 59. Sampling Methodology: Convenient sampling methodology has been used by the researcher for designing the samples in this study. In this research, the researcher already known to the screening and qualification criteria of the target respondents therefore the convenient sampling methodology is useful for this research study. Data Analysis: A researcher has used excel tool for analyzing the data. Each questionnaire responses are filled in Excel and developed a final data file. Researcher has used some basic statistical measures to analyze the data and key findings of the research has been presented using charts and graphs which have been prepared using Excel. Ethical Consideration Research Limitations: There are certain ethical issues that have been taken into consideration by the researcher. Researcher has followed the market research guidelines to meet the ethical challenges in this research such as disclosing the respondents names contact information as per the respondents consent, acknowledging the information sources, use of authenticated data sources and websites and meeting the university guidelines to avoid plagiarism. Some limitations faced by the researcher are access to the company information, coverage of sample size and reach out to the target respondents.

We Must Promote Literacy in Florida :: Argumentative Persuasive Argument Essays

We Must Promote Literacy in Florida Should more be done to promote literacy in the state of Florida? The ability to read and write effectively is the most efficient tool a person can have. Out of all the subjects in school, reading should be emphasized above all. Children are spending too much time in front of the TV and not enough time in front of a book! According to the TV Turnoff Network, the average child watches 3 hours and 46 minutes of TV a day, that’s more than 52 days of non-stop TV watching per year! Actually, the average child spends more time watching television than in school. Yes, children today are not spending nearly as much time reading and writing as they should be, but why is this a problem? Studies from the Kaiser Family Foundation show that the average child, between the ages of two and eighteen, spends almost twenty hours a week glued to the television screen, compared to the five hours he/she spends reading for fun. More than 60% of American families have more than three TV’s in their household, encouraging their children to grab the remote instead of a book. In the United States, the number of videos rented daily is six million, whereas the number of public library items checked out daily is three million, as said by the TV Turnoff Network. What did people do for fun before televisions could be found in every room? They read! Because of recent technology, the emphasis has been put on reality TV shows and computer games, rather than a good book. Although technology is very beneficial to today’s society, a plan must be devised to promote literacy in the state of Florida. Something must be done to promote literacy in the state of Florida! In today’s world, where the television and computer consume people, children should read more novels, which help to develop the brain.

Emotional (Intelligence) Quotient Essay

Aside from the person’s measure of intelligence or is Intelligence Quotient (IQ), he also has another characteristic that measures his ability to feel. It is his Emotional Intelligence, which is measured through his Emotional Intelligence Quotient (EQ). EQ is the description of one’s abilities, capacities, or skills regarding his perception and management of emotions. It is usually of his emotions, of others, and of groups of people. The concept about this emotional intelligence is a rather new field in psychology that is why its definition is changed from time to time (Research Machines plc). Way back in the 1900’s emotional intelligence were emphasized as various aspects of mental intelligence, cognitive aspects like memory and problem solving. Afterwards, even non-cognitive aspects were recognized as important factors, like the social intelligence, or the understanding and management of other people. Later in 1985, Wayne Payne explicitly discussed in his doctoral thesis the concept of emotion, wherein he tackled on developing emotional intelligence. However, the article was not published until 1990, when Peter Salovey and John D. Mayer published it (SearchCIO. com). Emotional Intelligence was then defined by Salovey and Mayer as a person’s capability of monitoring his and others feelings and emotions, analyzing it and using that set of information as a guide in his actions and thoughts. Afterwards, it has been revised to be the ability of emotion perception wherein it integrates emotion in order to facilitate or manage thoughts, understanding emotions and further regulating it, thus promoting personal growth. It is used by people in order to move around its social environment, understanding every part and every aspect of his surroundings. Emotional Intelligence encompasses a person’s ability to perceive emotions, wherein he is able to detect and decipher these feelings of emotions by looking in their faces, pictures, voices, along with their cultural background. Another is to be able to use these emotions, where he utilizes it in facilitating various activities like computing, thinking and eventually solving a problem. It is also important to understand emotions, to be able to comprehend various emotional signs and language and to be able to appreciate complicated relationships with various emotions. Finally, it would boil down to managing these various emotions, by regulating it for one’s own purpose and for others. It could be used to achieve certain goals by harnessing these emotions.

Jack Kerouac and the beat movement essays

Jack Kerouac and the beat movement essays World War II marked a wide dividing line between the old and the new in American society and the nations literature(The World Book Encyclopedia 427) . When world War II ended there was a pent up desire that had been postponed due to the war. Post war America brought about a time when it seemed that every young man was doing the same thing, getting a job, settling down and starting a family. America was becoming a nation of consumers. One group that was against conforming to this dull American lifestyle was referred to as Beatniks. The Beats or Beatniks condemned middle class American life as morally bankrupt. They praised individualism as the highest human goal(The World Book Encyclopedia 428). This perspective was present in poetry and literature through out the beat movement. One of the most important works produced during the beat movement was Jack Kerouacs On The Road. In the novel Jack Kerouacs alter ego Sal Paradise represents the American man who realizes he doesnt want to conform to societies pressures but still hasnt realized what it is exactly he wants to do. He is a man who has very little direction and is very much lost in the world as he knows it. Kerouac seems to be constantly trying to escape. In examining the novel one might wonder what is Kerouac escaping and by what means does he do so? Kerouac used two means of escape through out the novel and through out his life. His first means of escape was his constant travel. He traveled from east to west, New York to San Francisco and stopped everywhere in between. He made this trip over and over, constantly on the road. The simple title of the novel exemplifies Kerouacs ongoing need to travel. When he and his friends got tried of traveling east to west they traveled north to south, driving all the way down to Mexico City. His travels gave him the opportunity to be an outsider with no worries. He ...

Graphic Design in Society Essay Example

Graphic Design in Society Essay Example Graphic Design in Society Essay Graphic Design in Society Essay EPARTS 191 – DESIGN IN SOCIETY ASSIGNMENT TASK 2 Essay Graphic design is the art of communication. The designer takes an idea and creates a visual experience to communicate an idea, or to send a specific message to the responder through both printed and electronic means. Imagine a world without graphic design, you may not realise it right now but graphic design is everywhere. It’s what attracts you to a product or business and forces you to understand the message at the point of its creation. If the message is not clear then the graphic designer has failed. In this essay I will be discussing the history of graphic design, notable and popular styles, and the age old debate of computer versus the creative process, what the future holds and in turn proving that graphic design is the most important design discipline in our society. Graphic design has always existed, it has always been there for artists to express themselves and documents show that it goes back to the late 19th century at least but in my opinion graphic design never became more important and known until the Bauhaus was opened in 1919. The Bauhaus or House of Building was an art school in Germany which pioneered simplistic design and became a style of design itself, although it only existed for 14 years. The style is still heavily popular today within examples such as Ikea who produce simplistic furniture, advertisements, accessories etc and sell unfathomable amounts each year. This couldn’t happen and continue to happen if it wasn’t for successful graphic design and the elegant Swiss style I talk about below. : With each era a new style emerged to match the changes in society, throughout the 1960’s when the hippy lifestyle was adopted it was shown heavily through the art produced. Posters were full colour, bright and flowing and colour theory was well used. The responder’s eyes were immediately drawn to the swirling and often unorthodox patterns which assisted in making it unique. The American ‘Big Idea’ style became popular in around 1950’s and is still used today. In brief this style is generally a provocative or stimulating mage with short headline over the top; it was also known as the ‘picture is worth a thousand words’ approach (Heller Balance 2001). Another notable style is the Swiss approach which also uses simplistic techniques as well as symmetry and gridlines (which made most designs produced relatively predictable) to produce more logical designs as opposed to emotional or subjective. Why is it that in these modern times everything is computer based, computer done or needs a computer to begin it but does that take away from ones creative thinking? It’s debatable whether the speed and efficiency of computers stops graphic designers from studying their project/s in finer detail and thus not providing as higher results as hand drawing or rendering. In my opinion nothing can ever make lead up sketches obsolete, putting a pencil to paper and loosely drawing ideas is umpteen times faster than computer aided design (although using a tablet may increase speed). From my experience drawing on paper first allows you to relax and not concentrate as hard, in which ideas come about more freely than if you were to concentrate into drawing on a computer program such as Illustrator. Graphic design is innovation and advancement; it documents the growth of society and the changing of views, ideals, opinions and any other kind of free speech a person can express. If you look around, you can pinpoint most graphic designer’s styles down to someone work prior, be it taking inspiration or taking tips it becomes somewhat of a building block. With newer technology comes newer ways to do things but traditional methods will never go out of style, how can you say a design discipline that has successfully been around for roughly 100 years can die out? In conclusion, what a boring and colourless life we would live in without graphic design; who would be there to trick us into purchasing and believing things. Heller, S. Balance, G. (2001). Graphic Design History. Allworth Communications Inc.

Aldi supermarket company and industry assessment Essay

Aldi supermarket company and industry assessment - Essay Example This paper describes the current strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats facing Aldi as part of a comprehensive SWOT analysis and also provides the various strategic options available to the supermarket chain in order to boost profitability and reputation. Sound Marketing Strategy. Since the Aldi low-cost model was established and company began operations, the business has remained focused on changing its image from simply a discount supermarket chain to that of a progressive, well-positioned company. The business has transformed its image from a no-frills business to a specialty brand company which removes consumer emphasis from the term discount to that of one focused on quality products. This has had appeal to mass markets and raised their sales 25 percent in early 2009 by being able to cater to a larger volume of potential demographics, even including the upscale consumer. Privatisation. Aldi is not a publicly traded company, which does not give the business the types of pressures felt by other publicly-traded supermarkets in terms of investor pressures for rapid expansion or other activities which benefit the shareholder. By holding higher levels of control over internal activities, Aldi has been able to emerge a leader in low-cost grocery shopping needs. Knowledge of consumer audiences. Aldi, unlike other discount grocery stores, appears to understand the lifestyle and behavioural needs of its customer base by creating marketing strategies which fit consumer psychology profiles. For instance, Aldi Supermarkets realises that in order to lure more image-conscious consumers to its facility, it would have to eliminate the strong focus on no-frills and reposition the firm based on quality products and selection. This eliminates the social fear of shopping at what might be considered a budget organisation and instead gives the impression of select branded products designed for active

Business Management and Information System Essay

Business Management and Information System - Essay Example The article specifically outlines ten events and forces that have led to this. Out of these ten events and forces, all bar one – fall of the Berlin Wall – have been enhanced by ICTs. This paper uses the principles of business process reengineering (BPR), enterprise resource planning (ERP), and knowledge management to critique the ideas Friedman’s raised in this article. Business process engineering The world is increasingly being driven by customers, competition and change. These three challenges have necessitated companies to be constantly on the lookout for new solutions to their business problems, hence the emergence of business process reengineering (BPR). In his book, â€Å"Business @ the Speed of Thought†, Bill Gates states that the 1980s was about quality, the 1990s about reengineering and the 2000s about speed. It is this speed of innovation independent of location that Friedman speaks of with regards to the emerging economic powers of China, India , and Russia that America must be wary of. BPR is the fundamental rethinking and radical redesign of business processes to achieve dramatic improvements in critical, contemporary measures of performance such as cost, quality, service and speed (Muthu et al., 1999). The purpose of which is to redesign the strategic and value added processes that transcend organizational boundaries. IT is a key enabler of BPR, an attribute that is manifest in the roles that it plays: before the process is designed, while the process design is underway, and after the design is complete (Attaran, 2004). Friedman points out that misnomer that many Americans have been led to or lead themselves to believe that China, India, et al are racing them to the bottom whereas in actual sense they are racing the US to the top. These emerging economic powers have rich educational heritages an ambitious youth and access to work experience from leading corporations that have outsourced, offshored to their countries and access to a wide range of information over the Internet. According to Friedman (2005) American multinationals previously outsourced and offshored to minimize cost but now it is because they are unable to find the talent they need locally so they source it abroad. The seven principles of BPR according to Hammer 1990 are: outcome orientation, integration, local responsibility, pooling or resources, fasten processes, empowering and control, and reducing data duplication. Outcome orientation implies that the organisation needs to organize around outcomes and not tasks. The goal is not just to focus on a few things at a time, but to focus on the right things, to target those activities that will make the biggest impact in terms of customer perceived value. Outsourcing – one of the forces that has led to flattening of the world – is focused on moving those activities that are not core to the company to be done by companies that can perform them better and cheaper. Out sourcing improves efficiency and reduces cost. Another ICT-driven force that Friedman cites as a world flattener is offshoring. Offshoring is the migration of jobs, but not the people who perform them, from rich countries to poor ones. It is also referred to as offshore outsourcing and works much in the same way as outsourcing. It is almost obvious that organizations that hope to

The Current Economic Situation Marked by High Unemployment and Low Essay

The Current Economic Situation Marked by High Unemployment and Low Inflation - Essay Example This essay not only describes current economic situation in the United States that was explored as an example. The current economic situation in the United States of America marred by high unemployment and low inflation can ideally be explained with the help of the Philips Curve. As per A W Philips, there existed a relationship between the levels of unemployment and consequently the rate of change in money wages and the rate of change in prices and hence inflation. To put it in simple words, as per the Philips Curve, historically speaking, their lies an inverse relationship between Demand Pull Inflation and the rate of unemployment. The researcher also provides the reader with some steps, that would not only increase the aggregate demand but would also check the expanding unemployment rate. The Salient Factors that have impacts on the US economy rates, such as The Labor Market, Product Markets and Other Factor Markets are explored in details. The researcher od this essay also discuss es and presents some alternate scenarios that say an unemployment rate of 8.8 percent and an inflation rate of 10 percent will not warrant such measures. In such scenario that was discussed, the pragmatic approach on the part of the government will be to pursue a restrained fiscal and monetary policy to contract the supply of money in the markets. In conclusion, it is stated that in the current scenario showing high unemployment and low inflation, it is advisable that the government pursues an expansionary fiscal and monetary policy.

Human Rights and World Wide Web Essay Example for Free

Human Rights and World Wide Web Essay These findings lend support to research showing a negative correlation between corporate social responsibility and profitability. Introduction We are witness to the metamorphosis of late capitalism, the interpenetration of postindustrialism with postmodern culture. Spectators (consumers and investors) are given only narrative fragments to construct worker and ecological stories from the vantage points of entry authored by corporate public relations. Corporate authorial-power becomes hegemonic as narrative plots script actions and perception in ways unseen or taken for granted. Consumers in the first world cannot see the ecological or work conditions because these locations are kept as strategic secrets. All one ever hears are stories directly authored by corporate interests acting as gatekeeper, authoring ventriloquist stories on behalf of workers and ecology. What is the relevance of this to Tamara? The play, Tamara, written by John Krizanc (1981, 1989) entraps us as spectators in a maze of story and character choices where our own complicity in civic responsibility stares back at us. Some characters have a voice and access to any spectators; others have either a weak voice or limited access. In Tamara Manifesto (Boje, 2001), there was a call to heed the interpenetration of postindustrialism and postmodern culture, the intertextuality of production, distribution, and consumption. Manguel (1988:1-2) gives us a starting definition of traditional theatrics: Theater, the representation of events as if they happened before your eyes begins with the convention of all spectacle: a division of reality. One space allotted to the audience, the passive viewer, seated to observe; another to the play, the actors, moving to perform. In one space theater, spectators and performers must follow the linear storyline of authorial authority and view the performance from the viewpoint the playwright has determined will be seen by the spectators. In Tamara, the barrier between spectator and actor spaces has been breeched; the spaces co-mingle and spectators become actors on many stages. My theory is that there are three divided spaces with narrators telling stories that connect them operating in a kind of Tamara interconnecting three theatrical spaces: 1. First, a consumptive space of spectators, the consumers and investors from the first world; 2. Second, a distributive space is reserved for performing executives, PR managers, and consultants, who mediate stories performed to the first space on behalf of those in a third space; 3. Third, a productive and ecological space, of the Third World where mostly young women toil and where environmental laws are more lax; workers and forests can not be seen or heard by those in the first space (and maybe not the second). We will look to see how in one industry (athletic apparel) spectators are given a few more choices, in what we call the Athletic Apparel Industry Tamara, to accompany whatever character and story they choose, masters or servants from country to country (or factory to showroom), knowing that there are simultaneous performances and they can not be in every place at one time. In short, consumers and investors rely upon the sharing of stories to construct their image of what is going on. Past examinations of the connection of storytelling and corporate strategy have focused on content analysis and a recent call has been to examine events or texts from a storytelling perspective (Barry Elmes, 1997). Some recent research recognizes that strategic orientations change over time (Black Farias, 2000) and/or may be simultaneously present (Ashmos, Duchan, McDaniel, 2000) and/or may be emergent (Mintzberg, 1987, 1990,1994; Mintzberg McHugh, 1985; Mintzberg Waters, 1985). Ways to determine changes in strategic orientation have included inference from actions (Grimm Smith, 1997) and the examination of archival documents, such as letters to shareholders (Landrum, 2000). We suggest that a more inclusive or Tamara approach is needed to show the complexity of forces that cause the ground to move. We assume there is something about the movement from a divided space in modern theater to the interpenetrating one of postmodern theater that makes Tamara a fit metaphor to analyze the Athletic Apparel Industry. In the past decades, the corporate forte was to sustain the modernist barrier between spaces, as in contemporary theater the spectators sat in their respective spaces and did not question the veracity of the performed narratives. In the last decade, as consumers and investors (first space) visited the stage themselves and entered the third space, or when the workers of the Third World were transported to the first one, then a more democratic theatrics of story production, distribution, and consumption became enacted on the global stage. The power of the corporate gatekeeper was dissolved. This study presumes that storytelling is useful in revealing corporate strategic orientation and in revealing when complexity forces changes and disrupts their orientations and postures. Stories are particularly useful in showing how individuals or corporations make sense of the world. Stories are sensemaking narratives of an organization (Boje, 1991, 1995; Czarniawska, 1998; Frye, 1957; Lieblich, Tuval-Mashiach, Zilber, 1998; Riessman, 1993; White, 1973). To explore storytelling and strategy intertextuality, we review an industry context that has been changing drastically over the past decade. The athletic shoe industry was chosen because it is a mature industry and has undergone many changes since the 1980s, such as the movement toward overseas production, increasing globalization, and involvement of activists over labor and environmental issues (Choe, 1999; Shetty, 1996). But it is the decade of the 1990s that has seen the most turbulent and complex changes, and its two most active players have been Nike and Reebok. For example, in 1998 Corporate Watch decided to turn their Greenwash Award into a Sweatwash Award and gave the prize to the Fair Labor Association, newly created by the White House Apparel Industry Partnership. They stated that, The Association will have the power to grant companies the right to sew no sweat labels in their clothing in return for what labor activists fear will amount to cosmetic improvements in sweatshop conditions. (Light, 1998:1) Corporations led by Nike, Reebok, Liz Claiborne and Phillips-Van Heusen (then L. L. Bean and Patagonia) joined with some unknown human rights groups on the taskforce to propose the creation of the Fair Labor Association (FLA). The more radical contingent, UNITE, (the Union of Needletrades, Industrial and Textile Employees), the Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Union, and the Interfaith Center on Corporate Responsibility-were taskforce members who resigned their White House Apparel Partnership positions to protest the weak monitoring practices, no living wage and no right to organize provisions of the FLA. Sweatwash was a reaction to watching two decades of corporate environmentalism become a full court PR press with slick advertising to present a green corporate image to the global stage while co-opting both the human and environmental rights movements. UNITE (1998) argues the FLA was created by a subgroup of the White House task force, consisting mostly of industry representatives from companies such as Nike, Reebok and Liz Claiborne and a few human rights groups. The FLA Clean Clothes/ No Sweat tag was the next industry strategy to mollify consumer and investors who were hearing more stories of exploitation; corporations feared their public image was tarnished by increased activism. In 1998, Nike announced plans to phase out PVC plastics in its shoes and other products and painted its web sites with plans to certify all of its 600 subcontract factories in IS014000 environmental standards. (This followed the 1997 release of the Ernst Young audit showing violations of Vietnamese environmental laws. Reebok, on the other hand, uses part of its advertising budget to give out Human Rights Awards (since 1992), while pretending to consumers and investors its products are `Made in the USA rather than being mostly made in China. Both firms did not just become enlightened one day to environmentalism and human rights, they are responding to public opinion and to amateur actors who are taking the global stage, entering the board room and shareh older meeting asking for independent monitoring of corporate claims (Introductory Guide To Unplugging Corporations, 2001). This study will examine the letters to shareholders of the top two firms in this industry, Nike and Reebok, to trace their environmental and social responsibility rhetoric (Landrum, 2000). To focus exclusively on the environmental and social responsibility narratives, we review Bojes (1999) model and classify the rhetoric in the letters to shareholders following his classification system. We follow with examples of Nike and Reeboks use of each type of rhetoric in their letters, showing the frequency of use of each type of rhetoric, and making some observations regarding Nike and Reeboks environmental and social responsibility rhetoric. Rhetoric in Use Boje (1999) offers a model to classify the environmental and social responsibility rhetoric of corporations. He identifies classifications ranging from a denial of responsibility for environmental and social problems to the embracing of green goals as central to the mission of the organization. These levels of response are: Denial Response One, the first response, is Denial. In Denial, the company denies accusations and ignores problems in their environmental and labor practices. Our hypothesis is that this can work when the three theatrical spaces remain bounded and divided, so that only the corporate executive or PR staff mediates what is going on to the other two spaces. In the Nike (1990-1999) and Reebok (1990-1999) letters, we looked for evidence of denial of problems or for evidence of ignoring problems related to environmental and labor practices. Nike Denial This section will provide some examples of passages coded within the Denial genre of environmental and social responsibility rhetoric. We offer our rationale for coding the passage within this genre. In the following 1994 passage, Nike chooses to criticize the media for their coverage of Nike problems. I coded this passage as denial since Nike refuses to acknowledge the problems that have been exposed by the media. 118: The blinder mentality is bad enough when judging the business world, but 119: it is characteristic of a more serious virus that is affecting the 120: coverage (or non-coverage) of significant cultural and political 121: stories. The sad truth is, as television news in general, and CNN in 122: particular, becomes ncreasingly invested in our lives, the print media 123: are pushed to greater extremes, forced to choose survival over 124: integrity, the most entertaining story over the real story, until we 125: come to this: The New York Times reduced to Vecsey on NIKE. The following passage from the 1995 Nike letter shows Nike again criticizing the media and Wall Street for failing to recognize Nike as a sound investment. Nike neglects to make any mention of the parti cular media exposes that have uncovered Nikes poor labor practices; thus, I have coded the passage as denial. 8: This brings us back to my frustration and, I am sad to say, the 89: futility of this document. It simply does not matter what we say in 90: words or put in numbers in the annual report. This poor little binder 91: is simply overwhelmed by electronic and print sound bites, or ignored 92: by the show biz-oriented media who convey a point of view in conflict 93: with sound investment. 94: 95: As Director John Jaqua says, This has reached the point of 96: ridicularity. 97: 98: So how, in that world, can you understand the who, what, when, where 99: and why of any company, especially one as controversial as NIKE? 00: 101: The sad answer: Cant really. It would be easy if we could bring 102: everybody to the NIKE Campus, or take everybody to 103: the Final Four, or the Olympic Trials, or the World Cup, or a Nebraska 104: high school football game, or a pick-up game on 125th Str eet. Thats 105: the world NIKE lives in. But, we cant do that. 106: 107: Instead, well send our managers back to do what they do: develop and 108: grow the best global company possible, and let the hurricane of media 109: hype blow on around us. The following Nike 1996 passage blames the media for blasting their overseas practices. Even though they have finally acknowledged this particular problem exposed by the media, they choose not to discuss it within the letter to shareholders or within the body of the annual report. Still, Nike did publish a 10-page supplement defending Nikes position; however, it only further exemplifies their denial of the problem. 9: Yet no sooner had the great year ended than we were hit by a series of 10: blasts from the media about our practices overseas. 11: 12: So I sat with a dilemma: Use this space to answer our critics 13: isrepresentations, which would leave little room for anything else, or 14: try to give our owners the bigger picture of their company. 15: 16: I decided to do the latter with, like Roger Maris home run record, an 17: asterisk. We answer the overseas questions in a supplement that is 18: included in the annual report mailing. The following 1997 Nike passage continues to suggest that Nike is failing to acknowledge the problems associated with their overseas lab or practices despite the fact that they have been repeatedly detailed in the media. 3: To do that, I first have to take a second to talk about the filter 34: obstacle, that haze we have to fight through to explain what goes on 35: around this company. 36: 37: NIKE (and the entire industry) tends to be a bit misunderstood. The 38: media prefer to treat us all as the entertainment portion of the 39: business world. So, they feel free to exaggerate, to interpret, to 40: extrapolate. To say they are prone to hyperbole would be an 41: understatement. To say that is how they make their living would not. Reebok Denial No Reebok letters were coded in this category. Green Gloss/Green Wash Response Two is Green Gloss or Green Wash. During this phase, the company launches public relations campaigns to counteract negative publicity or accusations of activists. Nike Green Gloss/Green Wash In the following 1998 Nike excerpt, the company finally begins to acknowledge that labor practices are affecting their bottom line; however, I view this acknowledgment as more of an effort to discontinue denial and patronize the public rather than to make a meaningful effort to change the situation. 24: So, what knocked us down in 1998? 25: 26: Asia brown shoes labor practices resignations ayoffs 27: boring ads. Also, we have been criticized for our headquarters 28: expansion. But understand this: We need a much bigger place to house 29: all our troubles. I have also coded the 1997 Nike passage, mentioned previously (lines 33-41), as another example of green gloss/green wash. The companys defense of themselves in a 10-page supplement not only represented a denial of the problem, but also a public relations effort to justify their practices. Reebok Green Gloss/Green Wash No Reebok letters were coded in this category. Strategic Awareness Response Three is Strategic Awareness. During this phase, there is minimal compliance yet awareness exists of the need for change. Nike Strategic Awareness In the following 1998 Nike passage, the company suggests that the media is slowly becoming more knowledgeable of its questionable overseas labor practices. However, this ostensible change in media attitude is due to the fact that Nike has put forth a good-faith effort to improve their labor practices, and in turn, the media has simply begun to report these changes. 93: On our labor practices: Our friends in the media are slowly becoming 94: more knowledgeable. This is good. It means that consumers are 95: actually getting informed rather than just alarmed. This, too, will 96: take time. Meanwhile, the contrasts between us and our competitors and 97: other companies in the needle trade will show more each year. The following 1998 Nike passage suggests that it realizes that Americans are aware of their overseas practices, and accordingly, that Nike should be credited for this shift in public consciousness. 99: There is an interesting relationship going on between the Asia economic 100: crisis and the labor practices issue, which would take many chairmans [sic] 101: letters to cover. Instead, let me cut straight to the moral of the 102: story: It is simply not acceptable for America to continue to be 103: moated Reebok Strategic Awareness No Reebok letters were in this category. Strategic Acquisition Response Four is Strategic Acquisition, or a voluntary move toward environmental audits and social responsibility. Although Nike makes no mention of their environmental audits, 1997 marked their first voluntary, environmental audit and was conducted by Ernst ; Young. Nike Strategic Acquisition No Nike letters were coded in this category. Reebok Strategic Acquisition Throughout their letters, Reebok makes reference to the fact that they seek to help make a better world and to make a difference. This is evidenced by the following passages from 1990 (lines 47-48) and 1991 (lines 59-60). The company has made a voluntary movement toward being socially responsible. 47: a high level of consciousness and a sense of responsibility to help 48: make a better world. 59: to make a difference for our consumers 60: and ourselves. Flagship Implementation Response Five is Flagship Implementation, in which the firm makes proactive moves to change their core mission and to include green goals. Nike Flagship Implementation No Nike letters were in this category. Reebok Flagship Implementation In the following passages, Reebok makes mention of the various programs and initiatives they started in order to become a socially responsible company. 1992 60: Our push for success, however, has not lessened our desire to make a 61: difference in the larger world. Reebok is unique in its dedication to 62: human rights. Through our Human Rights Awards Program, which just com 63: pleted its fifth year, we strive to bring attention to young people 64: around the world who advance the cause of human rights. This year, 65: through a grant from The Reebok Foundation, a new human rights program 66: began. WITNESS, a program providing video cameras, facsimile machines 67: and computers to human rights organizations, allows human rights acti 68: vists to document abuses of justice for the world to see. 1993 61: Finally, let us note that the aspirations of Reebok extend beyond the 62: bottom line. Our commitment to the pursuit of human rights continues. 3: Once again, we recognized brave young people for their stand on human 64: rights one each from Belgium, Brazil, Egypt, and the United States. 65: Our Reebok Foundation helped inner city young people in United States 66: urban areas. Our Human Rights Production Standards, in place throughout 67: the world, helped assure that workers manufacturing Reebok pr oducts 68: benefited from quality conditions and fair labor practices. 1994 117: Another dimension of Reebok that enhances our global brand image is our 118: goal to be in the forefront of the corporate movement toward social 19: responsibility. We are the acknowledged corporate leader in promoting 120: human rights. Young people around the world, we believe look to 121: companies that stand for more than their great products. We 122: established the Reebok Human Rights Awards program in 1988, and we 123: continue to support it. This commitment led us to establish the Reebok 124: Human Rights Production Standards, through which we strive to improve 125: labor practices in overseas factories that make our products. This 126: commitment also is why we are working to make products that are 127: environmentally sound. We believe that companies should stand for 128: something. We believe our brand should stand for something. Personal 129: athletic achievement is a powerful message, but it is not enough on its 130: own. Reebok does stand for something, and as a result a new generation 131: of young people are able to see that a company can be a source not only 132: of exciting products, but of social good. 1996 55: Our Company continued its long-held commitment to human rights with the 56: Ninth Annual Human Rights Awards in 1996, honoring young activists in 57: their struggle for human rights around the world. Our efforts in this 58: area extend beyond this recognition program and include our 59: establishment in 1992 of human rights production standards that we hold 60: our factories accountable to follow. Most recently, in 1996 in 61: response to the problem of child labor widely utilized in the stitching 62: of soccer balls, we entered into an agreement with our supplier to 63: build a soccer ball manufacturing facility in Pakistan that will allow 64: us to guarantee that all Reebok soccer balls will be made without the 65: rise of child labor. 148: we will continue to focus our efforts 49: on making a difference to our customers to our employees and to our 150: shareholders. 1998 42: I believe that the values that Reebok International stands for 43: as a company are precisely those values that consumers are looking for in todays marketplace. 84: One of the crucial elements of this plan is the repositioning of Reebok Unlimited based on the 85: concept of humanity. Actually, this is not so much of a repositioning as a rediscovery of the 86: values of creativity, free-spiritedness and individualism that we have always represented as a 87: company, but have deviated from recently in our advertising and marketing. Based on a return 88: to these universal human values, we believe Reebok Unlimited is in a unique position to appeal 89: to both the authentic performance and casual lifestyle markets at the same time. Table 1 Table 2: Figure One: Frequency of the use of environmental narratives by Nike and Reebok over the tenyear period, 1990 to 1999 134: WE STAND FOR DOING THE RIGHT THING. 135: 136: Over the past year, a lot has been written about our industry and the issue of human rights. 137: We have been a leader in this area for more than a decade. Running a company involves a lot 138: more than crunching numbers and whatever else gets in your way. It involves a commitment 139: of equal respect and fair treatment for all people. Simply put, this is the Reebok way. It will 140: always be the Reebok way. As concern for human rights issues grows among consumers 141: particularly younger consumers we believe our leadership and reputation will translate into 142: greater preference for our brands and products. Although Nike makes little mention of their environmental practices, labor practices, or social responsibility, those passages included in the letters primarily engage in denial, green gloss, and strategic awareness rhetorical styles. Nikes main response mode during the 1990s was denial. Reebok, on the other hand, mentioned their social responsibility efforts in many of their letters and were primarily engaged in strategic acquisition and flagship implementation rhetoric. Reeboks main response mode was flagship implementation. The companies were at opposite ends of the spectrum in their primary response mode during the 1990s. Both companies, however, were engaged in poor labor practices in their overseas operations (Baskin, 1996; Ernst Young, 1997; Fireman, 1999; Manning, 1997a-g; Nguyen, 1997; Reebok, 1999). The difference is that Nike was denying the problems while Reebok was trying to be open about the problems and address them. Interestingly, we can conclude that being socially responsible and environmentally aware did not result in increased market share or profitability for Reebok. They continued to lose sales and market share throughout the 1990s (Figures 4 and 5). Reebok expected that their social responsibility stance would differentiate them from the competition. Rather, research and development and marketing are key success factors for this industry and Nike outperforms Reebok in both areas. Conclusion Boje (1999) puts forth a model of stages of environmental and social responsibility rhetoric. He suggests that rhetoric falls somewhere in a continuum ranging from Denial to Flagship Implementation. On one end of this continuum, companies may deny any responsibility for or ownership of their negative actions. The next stage of this continuum reflects rhetoric that glosses over issues and uses public relations campaigns in response to negative publicity. The third stage of Bojes (1999) continuum is rhetoric that acknowledges a need for change and puts forth gestures of minimal compliance. The fourth stage on this continuum is rhetoric that shows voluntary movement toward social responsibility and the last stage on the continuum is flagship implementation of environmental practices and embracing social responsibility. This article has shown that rhetoric is a useful way in which to understand and interpret a companys strategy. We have shown a more penetrating, or Tamara, view of the rhetoric of the athletic apparel industry leaders. Through analysis of letters to shareholders of Nike and Reebok over a ten-year period, we have shown Nike and Reeboks use of environmental and social responsibility rhetoric. The results show that Nike has engaged in Denial as their primary rhetorical style and Reebok has engaged in Flagship Implementation as their primary rhetorical style. The companies are at opposite extremes of this continuum. In spite of Nikes denial and Reeboks engagement of social responsibility, Nike revenues have skyrocketed and Reebok sales have plummeted (Figure 4). Figure 2. Figure 3. Figure 4. If rhetoric indeed reveals strategy, these findings suggest that social responsibility and profits are negatively correlated for these two companies. In both Figures 2 and 3, we see the frequency of nvironmental and social responsibility rhetoric used by both companies increased. Nike engaged in rhetoric on the negative end of the continuum, suggesting denial of social responsibility; Reebok engaged in rhetoric on the positive end of the continuum, suggesting implementation of social responsibility. Also near this time, revenues and market share of both companies began to move in a dire ction negatively correlated with the level of social responsibility (Figures 4 and 5). The empirical evidence has been mixed on the relationship between corporate financial performance and social performance. Some researchers (Preston ; OBannon, 1997; Roman, Hayibor, Agle, 1999) have found a positive relationship between corporate social performance and financial performance and other researchers (Ingram and Frazier, 1983; Freedman and Jaggi, 1982) have found a negative relationship. In the case of negative correlations between financial performance and social performance, it is argued that the costs associated with social responsibility put the firm in an unfavorable financial position compared to firms that are not socially responsible (Aupperle, Carroll, Hatfield, 1985). Clearly the relationship between corporate financial performance and social performance is not fully understood. Nonetheless, rhetorical analysis is a useful postmodern tool in revealing a companys strategy and in revealing when changes or shifts in strategy occur. Figure 5 [Reference] REFERENCES Retrieved May 28, 2000, from the World Wide Web: http:// www. netadvantage. standardpoor. com/netahtml/ IndSur/apf/apf_0999. htm Czarniawska, B. (1998). A narrative approach to organization studies. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications. [Reference] Ernst ; Young (1997, January 6). Environmental and labor practice audit. 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