Industrial Revolution in Modern British History Essay

Industrial Revolution in Modern British History - Essay Example Hence, moving to towns to work in mills and factories was inevitable not forgetting that factory owners built houses for workers making them motivated. Many analysts regard industrial revolution as the most important event in modern British history because, many transformations that brought tremendous effects on social, economic as well as cultural activities of Britons took place during this period. Change in means of agriculture, mineral extraction, manufacturing of goods, means of transport, and technological advancements led to a major turning point of United Kingdom’s history since close to all daily aspects of life transformed in one way or the other. To begin with, due to improved models of attaining relevant targets of work, the average income of most people together with population commenced depicting unprecedented and sustained growth. It was during this time when most masses of ordinary people began exhibiting sustained change in terms of their living standards due to economic growth (Spievogel, 2010:432). Industrial revolution led to vast change of agricultural activities. Before, industrial revolution, farmers in the United Kingdom used to languish in dire poverty, headed solitary and nasty lives. However, their lives changed drastically when industrial revolution brought about use of farm machines such as threshers that led to advent agricultural production. In 1750, Britain became the leading agricultural producing country in the world due to improved technological advancements in agriculture and market and economic integration (Spievogel, 2010:288). With reference to agricultural development that occurred during industrial revolution, analysts consider industrial revolution as vital to most Britons today since those inventions are still useful and reliable up to date. Due to industrial revolution in Britain, scientists developed complex technologies that led to massive production of deadly weapons that British fighters used during the Sec ond World War. In addition, industrial revolution resulted to formation of very great armies equipped with airplanes, submarines, bombs, tanks, guns and many other armaments that Britain industrialist were producing in vast numbers (Foud, 2004:183). Furthermore, Britain was able to conquer more countries since it needed more colonies for extraction of raw materials, slaves, and market for her new manufactured products. Industrial revolution ensured sufficient supply of armaments during the war hence Britain was able to protect its interests due to impacts of advanced technology. Moreover, this epoch time of industrial revolution led Britain to total domination of the seas. This happened due to its strong military force making it possible and easier to gain total control of the oceanic transportation and trading activities. Through ocean trade, she could ferry her manufactured products, such as tea, tobacco, and sugar to different markets that boosted the economy of this country to a different level. Consequently, due to increasing demand for investments, the country’s national banking system ensured adequate supply of capital since it had surplus finances for use in commerce (Foud, 2004:209). Additionally, industrial revolution time in Britain will remain unique since inventions and innovations of all time occurred during this time. John Kay invented the flying shuttle a machine

Philosophical Paper on an essay about abortion

Philosophical Paper on an about abortion - Essay Example And being genetically human, a fetus has as much a right to life as a baby or an adult. Once conception is over, a woman does not have the right to eliminate the embryo, even if it is completely in her power, and its existence conditional on hers. Warren distinguishes between the moral and genetic states of being human, by stating five attributes of moral human existence. Using the above criteria, Warren comes to the conclusion that being human is not the preserve of homo-sapiens alone. It is quite possible that some other form of life could exist which has all the above characteristics without being a genetic human being. She gives the example of aliens from another planet, and also talks about highly developed robots/ humanoids of the future who could qualify as persons without being genetically human. On the other hand, a fetus, although genetically human, has no self-awareness or consciousness. A fetus is the extension of the body of its host (mother). Therefore, a fetus may be denied the right to life, and aborted. (Warren, 1996) By an extension of the same prem... She gives the example of aliens from another planet, and also talks about highly developed robots/ humanoids of the future who could qualify as persons without being genetically human. On the other hand, a fetus, although genetically human, has no self-awareness or consciousness. A fetus is the extension of the body of its host (mother). Therefore, a fetus may be denied the right to life, and aborted. (Warren, 1996) By an extension of the same premise, it could be argued that new born infants not being persons-not possessing the ability to reason or a self-concept-can be killed. This line of logical reasoning is dangerous as it gives the power of life and death over an infant to his/her mother/father/any other person with partially or fully developed ability to think, reason and emote. The danger arises from the fact that not all persons are altruistic or moral, and some may be ready to sacrifice the life of an infant for the sake of personal benefit. ("Why should I look after a baby, when it is so inconvenient It binds me down. I can't afford it.") There is also post-partum depression-a medical/emotional condition experienced by many new mothers-which makes it difficult for her to care for a child. It is to avoid the dangers of blurring the line between eliminating a fetus and eliminating a child that most pro-abortionists state that while it is okay to kill a fetus, it is definitely not okay to kill a child, even if the child is born monstrously malformed or grossly non-human-like. They would insist that all possible measures should be taken to keep such a baby alive. McKinley seeks to clear this impasse faced by pro-abortionists by differentiating between physical and social dependence. A fetus is completely physically dependant, sharing the very space occupied

One Flew over the Cuckoos Nest and Clockwork Orange

One Flew over the Cuckoos Nest and Clockwork Orange In both Burgess and Kesey books we are hosted by characters that are rejected by society. Society which has impacted them so greatly, that it has caused them to make decisions that have affected the outcome of each of these brilliant novels. In the Clockwork Orange we are introduced to the character Alex. Alex in this novel can be viewed as the unreliable narrator, due to the fact that it is almost impossible to pick out what will be his next move in the novel, this creates an element of suspense. As we know the book is set in futuristic Britain and the way in which so called Futuristic Britain is laid out perhaps plays a big part in the behaviour of Alex. In One Flew over the Cuckoos Nest by Ken Kesey the narrator the Chief who is a half Indian man assumes the position of a half deaf, half dumb individual. Though his stance in the book shows his true position as through his eyes we see vividly what the other characters are like especially R.P McMurphy, we also throughout the book se e him as a reliable narrator. Though we wonder when reading one who flew over the Cuckoos nest, if the narrator should off in fact been R.P Mc Murphy. I say this because the majority of the novel is about him and his time in the insane ward, though we can firmly understand why he would not be suitable narrator because he would feel empowered to control the flow of the narration. However in Chief Bromdens case, he has not been lobotomized but freed and he is the one who tells the story of McMurphy and becomes an individual who we can trust to deliver the story accurately. The Chief tells us his story through memory and sometimes perhaps when he is sees a certain object he breaks down for example the fog. The Function of both narrators is to dictate the story and explore the faults in society. Through the psychological deterioration of McMurphy the Chief comments on how society has somewhat contributed to the downfall of R.P McMurphy. When we are first introduced to Alex we automatically as readers dislike him for the fact that he participates in ultraviolent activities and conforms to way of living which consists of going to milk bar, getting drugged up and beating someone up. However when look at Alexs we see an alternate view of society and somewhat we feel sympathetic about the way he behaves as he does not know any better, the writers in terms of both narrators forces the reader to consider what it would be like to live in their shoes of as well as highlighting the function each narrator holds. Based in an asylum in Oregon, One who flew over the Cuckoos nest uses the theme of Societys destruction of humans, the main protagonist succumbs to the machine and the machine suppresses him and his uniqueness. Here we see the main function of Chief Broomden as the narrator, we learn one of the many horrible truths about this hospital; he reveals that the hospital has not only destroyed his life but his compassion as w ell. The knowledge that we learn from Chief Broomden shows the sad life that the inmates live and how the machine is slowly tearing their humanity from them. The Chief begins by telling us what the insane asylum is like and in the opening sentence we hear him saying, Black boys commit sex acts in the hall and get it mopped up before I can catch them. This quote you can use in order to compare to the lifestyle of the inmates, they are individuals who have no future and have been mopped up by society and discarded. However in relation to this quote we cannot really put our full trust in The Chief as he proves that his memory is perhaps a little disjointed and his recollection of events are not exactly true. However The Chiefs character plays an important part in the way we are portrayed the story as his stance as a deaf and dumb person has allowed him to eavesdrop conversations which provide a sense of accuracy when they are conveyed towards the readers. The Chiefs character plays on the theme of Invisibility, the Chief throughout the book is in the background though his assumption that there are so called hidden machines contributes to his paranoia. The quote, I been silent so long now its gonna roar out of me like floodwaters and you think the guy telling this is ranting and raving my God; you think this is too horrible to have really happened, this is too awful to be the truth! But, please. Its still hard for me to have clear mind thinking on it. But its the truth even if it didnt happen. Is just an example of Chief Broomden mental state, this is taken from part one of One who flew over the cuckoos nest. Another example of the Chiefs character is where he is being taken in to be shaven he uses Air raids to describe what it feels like; however at this point from the story he has still not addressed the readers though the readers now have access to his thoughts. Kesey does this because he wants to get the readers familiar to the Chief and not discard the Chief just how society has discarded the Chief. In terms of the function of the narrator, one of Chief Broomden functions is to show what sort of hell patients of insane asylums go though just because they have been discarded by society. If we look at the last line of this quote we see Bromdens hallucinations are not just insane hallucinations but they provide a metaphorical perspective. In terms of the of the quote the metaphorical perspective is the fact that Broomden throughout this story regains some of his humanity back, he still sees the gruelling everyday life of the insane asylum. Even though the Chief is liable to hallucinations we have to trust the Chief to deliver the story of R.P McMurphy due to the fact that the Chief is our messenger. The Chief also assumes that the patients are controlled, by tiny machines who tell them what to do from the inside. However when R.P McMurphy is around he shows the patients by smashing the glass window that even if we cannot see that we are be ing controlled, he makes them remember that Society and especially Mrs Ratched are manipulating them. This occurs in the Clockwork Orange, as we see the story through the main protagonist Alex. Similarly in the Clockwork Orange Alex is subject to an experimentation which can also be interpreted as a way of tearing Alexs humanity away from him. He is subjected to the The Ludovico technique which makes him feel ill by thought and the viewing of violence. This quote represents Alexs lifestyle as he isnt like our other fellow narrator the Chief, The Korova milkbar sold milk-plus, milk plus vellocet or synthemesc or drencrom, which is what we were drinking. This would sharpen you up and make you ready for a bit of the old ultraviolence. We can tell for this quote that Alex lives in a world were sex, drugs and violence dominate. With Alex the way he talks symbolizes the fact that he is immature. He unlike the Chief is consistently uses slang vocabulary throughout the novel, the type of language that Alex uses is nadsat. Nadsat representing the Russian influence and socialist views that are presented in Burgesss Clockwork Orange. Burgess has cleverly implemented nadsat into this story as certain words have a hidden meaning. This in terms of our narrator provides a depth and deeper understanding of our main protagonist. For example in Alexs case the fact that Alex nicknames egg (eggiweg) and milk (moloko) gives us the image of a small baby who cannot fully pronounce a word. However it is clear that both egg and milk represent birth and youth. However the impact of Christ like figure in both novellas adds a religious aspect to the story. Both narrators acknowledge this, however in one who flew over the Cuckoos nest the Chief is more like the angel Gabriel and Mc Murphy is viewed more like Christ. In the Clockwork orange our narrator Alex can be interpreted as a Christ like figure. Alex in Clockwork orange serves two functions first as narrator and secondly as martyr figure. In terms of the martyr figure, Alex is seen to give who he is in order to conform to the system. The fact that Alex attempts to kill himself in the last part of the story shows how society can repress you that much that the only option is to take you own life. Alexs narration is similar to that of Christs final three days, as we know from the bible Jesus dies, buried and comes back to life. This is similar to Alex, Alex is caught by the police, thrown in prison and comes back to normal. Also in part two Alex makes a few comparisons to that of Christ, by turning the other cheek after being hit in the face. In relation to structure, when looking at A Clockwork Orange we can say that the novel is structured like that of a musical composition. The novel is structured in 3 parts, 7 chapters and each chapter conforms to an ABA pattern. When looking at part 1 we can see the similarity in part 3 as it mirrors each other. However part 2 is very different from both part 1 and 3. Both chapter 1 and 3 take are situated around Alexs home or area, however part 2 is taking place when Alex is in prison. When looking at Part 1 we see Alex saying Whats it going to be then, eh?, the same question is asked by the Prison guard in Part 2. When looking at the structure of the plot we see that the plot itself contains inversions. For example if we look back at Part one we see that Alex preys on other characters, however if we look at Part 3 Alex is the one who is getting preyed upon. When comparing the structure of A Clockwork Orange to One who flew over the cuckoos nest we see that that the book is seen to be a work of social criticism. This meaning that this book in a sense can be viewed as record book, as throughout the novel us as the audience develop our knowledge on each of these characters. When looking at individual chapters in the book Chapters 12 to 14 stands out as both of them start and end up quickly. The reason for this is perhaps to show how our narrator Chief Bromdens incoherent interpretation of the world around him. Our narrator throughout these two chapters in particular but also in most of the book presents only very short accounts of what is happening in the insane asylum. However when looking at Chief Broomden narrations in the relation to the structure he doesnt focus on what is around him, for example when the character Old Rawler commits suicide the details provided by the Chief are not clear at all. The Chief hardly ever in the story goes into detail what is around him, only when the fog is around he goes into description about the fog and how it affects him a nd the other patients on the ward. Bromden then in Chapter 15 compares the so called fog machine that the mental institution apparently have to the fog that he witnessed during the War. The story spoken by the Chief suggests to us that perhaps the reason why the Chief does not describe what he sees in full is perhaps due to an incident that happened in the war.

The Grande Odalisqe :: Art Analysis

The Grande Odalisqe The Grande Odalisque painted in 1884, drew many criticisms. There were complaints about the lifelessness of the subject, the fact that she has three vertebrae too many. It illustrates the rather strange mixture of Ingres’s artistic allegiances. His subject, the reclining nude figure, is traditional, going back to Giorgione and Titian; but by converting her into an odalisque, an inhabitant of a Turkish harem, he makes a strong concession to the contemporary Romantic taste for the exotic. Ingres treats the figure in his own â€Å"sculpturesque† style: polished surfaces and simple rounded volumes controlled by rhythmically flowing contours. The smoothness of the planes of the body is complemented by the broken, busy shapes of the drapery. His admiration for Raphael is shown in the borrowing of that master’s type of female head and headdress, and an inclination of the head, as it can bee seen in Raphael’s Madonna of the Chair. But Ingres is drawing not only from the High Renaissance, for his figures languid pose and her proportions (small head, elongated limbs) betray his debt to such Mannerists as Parmigianino, as does the generally cool colour scheme. Often Criticized for not being a colourist, Ingres in fact, had a superb colour sense. It is true that he did not seem to think of his paintings primarily in terms of colour, as did Delacroix, but he did far more than simply tint his drawings for emphasis. In this painting Ingres creates colour and tonal relationships so tasteful and subtle as to render them unforgettable. Never insisting on likeness for its own sake, Ingres rarly fails to produce a striking characterization and, analogously to the smooth, formal treatment he gives his nudes, never fails to impart to both characterization and setting an air of suave elegance.

Progression Of Music From The 1940s To The Present Essay -- essays res

Progression of Music From the 1940's To the Present The progression of music from the 1940's to the present has seen extremes, it has been controversial at times, traditional at times and inspirational at times, but never have the American people turned away music in its entirety. There have been times when parents did not approve of the music that their children chose to listen to, but the parents had never turned away music. Music has been criticized and promoted. Since the 40's music has progressed from Ballads (which were still lingering around from the 30's) to blues (popular among Blacks) to rock and roll, to pop, and back again. In the 1940's ballads were popular. Ballads were dancable music performed by big bands. They were composed of stringed instruments, wind insteruments, and a singer or two. This was the time period when music started to be broadcasted live over television and record albums were entering the home. (Hays) The 50's marked a beginning for a new era of music to be known as Rock & Roll. Many of the artists took advantage of the Electric guitar, developed for popular music in the 1930's but never really became popular until the 50's. Rock & Roll was a combination of many music styles in an upbeat sort of fashion. One example of when country had an impact on Rock & Roll was with Bill Haley and Jerry Lee Lewis. Jerry's career was huge, with his hits like "Whole Lotta Shakin' goin' On" and "Great Balls of Fire". That is, his career was huge, until the it was made public that he fell in love with a married his 13 year old cousin. In 1957 Rock & Roll had been turned upsidedown when Buddy Holly hit the airwaves with "That'll be the Day." Buddy Holly rolled out hit after hit after hit. That is, until his plane went down in Iowa. He died at the young age of 22. That night his music was playing non-stop and has not stopped playing to this day. The blues and gospel of James Brown and Jackie Wilson was popular with the black community. "Someday, maybe someone will discover the reason that Chuck Berry, Do Diddley, Fats Domino, and Little Richard never connected with black audiences" (25 years,p15). This may be because they might have almost been embarrassed from their blues roots. In the 60's such st... ...n the 90's or present day, the synthesizer is still being used in dance and techno music. Also introduced into the 90's was the computer. The computer has been around a while, but not been used in the music industry. Today just about anyone can produce their music using this tool. Also metal has become more aggressive, popular and contains political lyrics. Lite rock has also developed and has captured the ears of many listeners. Music has progressed from fun to an industry in itself. People can now earn a living off of music, often luxurious life. Along with the music progressing the American people have progressed. The world of music continues to change and may never stop progressing until the world stops progressing. Footnotes 25 Years of Rock & Roll (USA:Lorelei Publishing Co. Inc.,1979) William Hay, Twentieth-Century Views of Music History (USA:Berne Convention.,1972) Bibliography 25 Years of Rock & Roll. USA:Lorelei Publishing Co. Inc.,1979 Ewen, David. American Popular Songs. New York:Random House, 1966 Hay, William. Twentieth-Century Views of Music History. USA:Berne Convention, 1972 Wilder, Alec. American Popular Song New York:Oxford University Press, 1972

Wall Mart of the Internet

From â€Å"Earth’s Biggest Bookstore† to â€Å"everything to everybody† to â€Å"Wall Mart of the Internet† to â€Å"World’s most customer-centric company†, Amazon has been tagged with these kinds of labels by its customers and followers. The reason for these many labels is because of the Amazon changing business model. Starting from Single-product and an intermediary with little inventory in 1995-1997 to Multi-product, profit-making, customer-oriented, investor, Services provider in 2000 Amazon has been changing its business model according to market conditions.One indication of a smart company is to continuously change its business model; it is an indication of smart company and ultimately the smart management team. It is also an indication that the company is learning and adopting itself to the external and internal environment. Amazon is the clear market leader for the largest US e-retailing categories of books, CDs and DVD movies. In var ious consumers’ polls, when respondents are asked for their experiences of e-shopping, Amazon â€Å"streaked ahead† of all others as the world’s favorite e-retailer.This means that Amazon is the undisputed favorite on considerations such as convenience, reliability and customer service. Amazon has achieved worldwide success and brand recognition due to paying attention to extensive offline advertising, which helped the company to become one of only three dot. com brands in the Interbrand world league table. It is an illustration of the power of branding that Amazon is the world’s top e-retailer. Before the dot. com downturn in the spring of 2000, the word â€Å"Internet† keyed into what seemed pervasive optimism for a new century.It meant youth, new possibilities and an opportunity to break with traditional business and create new rules. However, in 2000 things drastically changed as many e-commerce start-ups failed to return expected profits and w ent bankrupt. After this came valuable lessons across e-commerce, and evidence for incumbent retailers that factors such as having an established brand provide significant advantages in e-retail and play a part in customer loyalty and increased profit. Analysis of dot.com failures and comparison with traditional retailers in the same industry, for example eToys, which folded in 2000 and was subsequently bought by an established toy retailer, vs. Toys R Us, which successfully opened an e-retail channel through collaboration with Amazon, has revealed several advantages for the established retailer. Newcomers usually build their initial strategy on attracting new customers through aggressive marketing, brand-building and advertising, which logically lead to massive expenses and cash shortages.Amazon, however, has an existing customer base and can build on brand values that are already in place. Amazon’s marketing budgets allow the company to attempt new online projects or busine ss lines, unlike many start-ups. Founder of Amazon. com, J. Bezos rejected the traditional model for retailing. Having known that the usage of Internet is increasing every year with gigantic steps, – some resources report about 2000% usage increase annually, – Bezos decided that his retailing model should be intrinsically connected to Internet.While opening new physical retail outlets can expand the geographical reach of a business and add convenience for consumers, retailing online not only carries these benefits, but also offers further returns that are more specific to online trading. Bezos put books as Amazon’s core product, because they almost ideally correspond for the model of e-retailing. Low unit price, low risk cost, easy to pack and ship, and finally in a high and growing demand, books have become a perfect solution for Amazon’s model. Now books are by far the largest e-retailing category in the US.Research carried out by many companies illustr ates that about 65 per cent of the purchases made by Web shoppers in the US consisted of books. For newly created company, the Internet had global reach and provided the opportunity to trade internationally. For Bezos, Amazon’s broad benefits included the ability to trade 24 hours a day and seven days a week, and operate with lower overheads in terms of staff and space, while more particular advantages included the ability to increase the number of customer â€Å"touch points† and build more personalized customer experiences, products and relationships.However, again for J. Bezos these e-retail advantages did not imply that an online presence is a recipe in itself for success; that kind of thinking was tried and failed with the dot. com boom and bust. Instead, if there was any recipe for successful integration, Bezos found it in variants of established business practices, such as an understanding of the strengths and weaknesses of the business, for example in relation to technology awareness, which is a good indicator of e-commerce success.Amazon’s mission and strategy is quite simply â€Å"to offer Earth’s Biggest Selection and to be Earth’s most customer-centric company, where customers can find and discover anything they may want to buy online and [we] endeavor to offer our customers the lowest possible price. † The company accomplishes this by operating six global internet sites: www. amazon. com, www. amazon. ca, www. amazon. de, www. amazon. jp, www. amazon. co. fr and www. amazon. co. uk.Through their zShops, auctions, affiliate program, [email  protected] and Amazon Marketplace programs, Amazon, and their sellers and partners, offer new and used collectibles and products in categories such as apparel and accessories, DVDs, electronics, computers, books, music, videos, cell phones, tools and hardware, the list is almost endless. In order to maintain quality, the company packages and ships all of its merchandis e. They also continue to negotiate volume deals with suppliers to meet their goal of lowering prices.Additionally, Amazon has formed partnerships and alliances with publishers, other on-line retailers, technology providers, either handling their web site operations or linking them to its virtual portal. As part of their diversification strategy, Amazon recently acquired Internet Movie Database www. imdb. com (IMDb), which is an authoritative source of information on movie and entertainment (Dennis et al, 2004). This acquisition is one of many Amazon is making expand its product and service offerings.The company is also preparing to sell internet domain names and already has received the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) approval. In order to improve customer service the company is investing in operational facilities, like its multi-lingual customer service support center in the Netherlands, to meet its rapid growth, increase selection and meet future operat ional needs while building efficiencies. This strategy helps Amazon increase its low profit margin, decrease its operational cost, increase customer response and order processing services and pass that savings on to the customer.Amazon strives to provide customers with the best possible online shopping experience by leveraging their powerful and innovative technologies. Part of the company’s competitiveness lies in their proprietary technology, which is licensed to companies like Target to run their e-commerce site. Its patented portal technology allows the customer to customize their on-line experience with personalized home page, product recommendations, email notifications on orders and new products, the ability to post reviews, 1-click ordering, search functions, up selling, and secure shopping cart functions, to name a few.Furthermore, they use technology to drive customer relationships. As an example, the company uses pop up daughter windows to quiz customers about Amaz on. These pop up windows survey the customer about Amazon related facts and in return the customer can get up to . 25 cents a day put in their account for answering questions. Building on this use of technology the company recently received patent approval and plans to add a chat function to enhance the customer experience and help consumers find products through each other.Through its Web Services development and affiliate program it encourages web site owners and developers to create applications capable of interacting with Amazon’s catalog, search engine, shopping cart and merchandising tools. In an effort to remain competitive and preempt new technology Amazon has an ongoing program to develop, update and add software and hardware including partnerships like it’s recently inked deal with Google. com. This will allow them to avoid service disruptions; slow response times, poor levels of customer service, and delays in information delivery.Amazon uses its proprietary technology to transform the online purchasing experience into the easiest and most enjoyable shopping experience online. The site communicates to the customer a visual feel of being in a one stop shop where they can find and purchase virtually anything they want. The site loads quickly, is easily navigated, allows the customer to instantly see an array of products, and provides a host of other customer driven enhancements designed to drive customer satisfaction. Amazon’s site conveys to the customers they can have it their way, all day.And by placing its image on everything it touches Amazon continually reinforces its brand, making it one of the most recognized customer-centric brands in the world. For the first time in year 2000, Amazon management has set its focus on making profit. Again, it is an indication of nothing but smart, opportunistic management that utilized its strength to grow. It is very clear that Amazon management team is very focused. In order to meets its future targets, Amazon has implemented a restructuring plan.It will allow Amazon to reduce operating costs, reduce employee staff, and strengthen some of its fulfillment and customer service operations. According to the quarterly report released by amazon. com for quarter ended September 30, 2004 â€Å"There has been a steep decline in operating costs† (Amazon, Quarterly results, 2004). This has improved the performance of the company. Since its beginning, Amazon has adopted various e-Business model to increase its customer base and recently set its focus on making profit. Given below are the strategies adopted by Amazon.Amazon has a track recording of first gaining expertise in the market and then scaling into other areas. For example, Amazon started with a web-based bookstore model and after gaining expertise in various operations expanded to other segments and geographies. Another example is, after capturing the US market; it expanded its business to Europe, namely the U. K, France and Germany and then to Japan. One advantage of this approach is that the incremental costs to expand the business, whether to multiple product line or geographically are small.This strategy of perfecting before scaling helps in long-term survival and growth of the company. Since its beginning, Amazon has always kept focus on the needs of its customer and never lost sight of it. This gives Amazon a strong foothold of the internet retail business. Playing on this customer strength, Amazon has struck deals with industry leaders retailers Toysrus. com, Borders, Drugstore. com, and Target to help them draw customers to their Web sites, thereby giving birth to its services segment. Amazon is playing on its strength here and in the process creating a place for itself as a provider of e-tail services.Under Amazon’s cooperative model, the partners do not compete with each other and try to lessen each other risks. This cooperation represents a symbiotic relationship, where t he two partners do what they do best while depending on each other to eliminate respective weaknesses. On August 10 2000, Amazon and Toyrus announced a strategic alliance. According to the press release by Amazon â€Å"The two companies have entered into a strategic alliance under which each company will assume responsibility for specific aspects of the toy and video games and baby products stores.Toysrus. com, in collaboration with its majority shareholder, Toys â€Å"R† Us, Inc. , will identify, buy and manage inventory; Amazon. com will handle site development, order fulfillment, and customer service, housing both Toysrus. com's and its own inventory in Amazon. com’s U. S. distribution centers† (Dennis et al. , 2004:118). This alliance helped Amazon in eliminating its inventory risk, as it does not have to purchase or store any toys until the customer have ordered and paid for the goods. Under Amazon’s coopetitive model the two parties act as provider and customer.Both the parties compete with each other but one party tries to lessen other risks and in return gets the share of others business. On Apr 11, 2001 Amazon and Border announced strategic alliance. According to the press release by Amazon on Apr 11, 2001, â€Å"Amazon. com will be the seller of record, providing inventory, fulfillment, site content and customer service for the co-branded site. The new site will continue to offer content unique to Borders. com, including store location information and in-store event calendars† (Prior, 20001:6).In this case Amazon will continue to sell books on its own, but will also provide services to Border. In return Amazon will get a share of every sale by Border. According to an article on Informit. com â€Å"The Click and Brick model allows an existing offline business to profit from partnering with an emerging online presence†. [5] In this regard, Amazon has struck a deal with electronic retailer Circuit city. This wil l give the customer, the advantages of picking up their purchases from hundreds of stores rather then paying for shipment charges.Amazon will receive a share of the revenues for all Circuit City electronics goods sold through Amazon. Amazon will be responsible for processing the transaction while Circuit City will be responsible for order fulfillment and product-related customer service. In all these cases, Amazon is extending its channel expertise in Web retailing to â€Å"e-nable† other retailers. With a full year’s experienced retailers under its belt, Amazon is set to scale the service model. The Borders and Circuit City deals are important steps in that direction.The coopetitive model is converting Amazon into a â€Å"product-less platform provider†, directly impacting its bottom line, with no inventory costs. The business model adopted by Amazon has given it a boost in its online business. By making strategic alliances with the industry leader and making t he life of customer has made Amazon a profit making company. According to 2004, financial results Amazons’ â€Å"Operating cash flow was $567 million for 2004, compared with $392 million for 2003. Free cash flow grew 38% to $477 million for 2004, compared with $346 million for 2003.Common shares outstanding plus shares underlying stock-based awards outstanding totaled 434 million at December 31, 2004, compared with 433 million a year ago. Net sales were $2. 54 billion in the fourth quarter, compared with $1. 95 billion in fourth quarter 2003, an increase of 31%. Net sales, excluding the $85 million benefit from changes in foreign exchange rates, grew 26% compared with fourth quarter 2003† (Amazon, 2005). Amazon business model has steadily evolved and over the years the large retailers have realized the importance of Business-to-consumer e-commerce.In contemporary context, along with other e-commerce companies Amazon experiences several problems. Financial and marketing analytics indicate that due to increased online competition, Amazon is gradually loosing its market share. Experts and investors indicate that Amazon’s technology and content costs soared 59% in the quarter, while the company keeps spending heavily on marketing campaigns, free-shipping promotions and other marketing activities to attract customers to shop regularly on its site.It is not surprising that Amazon is spending estimated 60 percent of their revenue on numerous marketing activities and building an appropriate brand image. Amazon’s brand allows company to be known, distinct, and credible in the minds of existent and potential customers, consumers, and stakeholders. Amazon’s brand facilitate the building of relationships with existing and potential customers, consumers, and stakeholders. In addition, company’s brand communicates the benefits offered to buyers and stakeholders that embody the value system of the company.Due to increased online comp etition, the brand image strategy utilized by Amazon is justified because it helps to retain existing customers and to attract new ones, gradually making them returning. For every business, particularly online e-retailing, good customers’ returning rate is an indication of a healthy business. That’s why Amazon should pursue this aggressive marketing and branding strategy to keep its customers. Many analysts discuss merger opportunities for Amazon. The merger will help Amazon. com expand the market share in E-commerce and create a new passageway.For instance, Amazon. com can merge with Wal-Mart, which has $26 billion market value and only $756 million debt. Now Wal-Mart is interested in E-commerce and online shopping. If Amazon. com merges with Wal-Mart, they will become the largest retail company in E-commerce. Amazon. com will also increase its market share. In addition, after the merger, Amazon. com can gain more marketing resources from Wal-Mart to create a new sale s passageway. For instance, customers can purchase the products from Amazon. com on the Internet and pick the items, or return them at Wal-Mart.It will provide additional choose for customers. The merger may help Amazon to create new customers and products. Bertelsmann has $14 billion market value and the company’s strategy now is focusing on music retailing and book sales. Their business is related to Amazon’s business. The CEO of Bertelsmann is also trying to open their business in American market (Brynjolfsson & Urban, 2001). If Amazon. com merges with this company, it will gain the new customers from Bertelsmann. Furthermore, integrating the products from Bertelsmann, Amazon.com can create new products on their website. Finally, a merger can improve and cover the financial loss of Amazon such as net sales loss, long-dept and cash loss. For instance, if Amazon merges with General Growth Properties, which has 136 malls in 37 states and owns $2. 8 billion market value , Amazon. com can still keep the power of operation and exercise the new marketing strategies (Brynjolfsson & Urban, 2001). Moreover, Amazon. com can gain the financial support from this company to cover its long-debt $2 billion. In addition, the merger will help Amazon.com increase the financial resources such as the amount of cash flow, and also decrease the cost and expense of the company. Another future prospect is to invent a new E-business strategy. E-commerce is one way that people can trade on the Internet. This trading system is very important, but it is not the only thing that the e-commerce enterprises should focus on. Amazon. com is a giant in E-commerce and the company uses Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) to trade, but Amazon cannot make profits even though the company has very strong technological support.Some specialists point out that communication, resources allocation, and project management guarantees success in E-commerce. Effective communication, which can improve bu siness performance, is one of the objectives that Amazon. com should fulfill. Effective communication includes two aspects: internal and external. First of all, internal communication emphasizes negotiation. Necessary and correct information must be communicated precisely between the employees or the departments. Secondly, external communication emphasizes on empowerment and good timing.For instance, Customer Services is a department that helps customers to solve problems. They have to communicate with the customers and understand what the customers want and need, and then report to the departments or the board. If the customer service department has the power to react immediately from the problems of customers and has good communication and relationship with the customers, it will create more business opportunities for Amazon. com. The second key that helps industry to succeed in E-commerce is resources allocation. There are various resources in the enterprises such as human resour ces and customer resources.First of all, concerning human resources, Amazon. com should understand employees’ particularities and arrange them in appropriate positions. If the employees are set in the right positions, the company should become more efficient. Secondly, in regard to customer resources, Amazon should collect information, such as suggestion, complaint or demand from the customers and then try to improve their products or services to provide better services to the customers. If the services satisfy the customers, Amazon will create more and more opportunities and new customers in the near future.For example, new outsourcing strategies should be used to collect focus group to survey customers’ opinions. The third key that may become helpful for Amazon is project management. A successful E-commerce enterprise should focus on project management. Project management emphasizes teamwork (Epstein, 2004). There are many teams in the company and each team has its d ifferent project and goal. Each team also has its power to make the decision. The responsibility of the team is to achieve the product. The responsibility of the enterprise is to manage the teams and make sure that the projects can be finished effectively.Distributing the limited resources to different teams and projects is the great challenge to the project management. The best way to overcome this challenge is to emphasize effective communication and negotiation Amazon. com is now considered as the world’s largest e-retailer of books, CDs and DVDs. The Amazon’s web portal is user-friendly, enabling e-Shoppers to find books quickly by title, author or subject. Users can find their title in seconds from a few keywords. Synopses and contents lists are provided, along with a list of other relevant books.Amazon keeps a record of customers’ preferences and advises when new books likely to be of interest are published. During many years, Amazon is renowned for custom er service, security and fast delivery. However, in current business context, the company is loosing market share, though is still well-recognized leader in online industry. The company keeps heavily investing in its brand through aggressive online and offline marking, building appropriate brand awareness among its current and potential clients. References Amazon, Inc. (2004). Quarterly results, Available at < http://media. corporate-ir.net/media_files/irol/97/97664/reports/91338ACL. pdf> Amazon, Inc. (2005). Press release Q4 Financial Results, Available at < http://media. corporate-ir. net/media_files/irol/97/97664/news/Release_Q4_04. pdf> Retrieved June 5, 2006 Dennis C. , Fenech T. , Merrilees B. (2004). E-Retailing, Routledge, London Brynjolfsson E. and Urban G. (2001). Strategies for E-Business Success, Jossey-Bass Epstein M. (2004). Implementing E-Commerce Strategies: A Guide to Corporate Success after the Dot. Com Bust, Praeger Prior, M. (2001). â€Å"Amazon to Operate Borde rs. com. † DSN Retailing Today, May 1, 40(9): 6.

Pygmalion: the Play and Higgins Essay

Pygmalion is a primarily Shavian reworking of Ovid’s Metamorphoses with undertones of Cinderella. Romance and satire dominate both the play’s plot as well as style. Shaw takes a strong central situation–the transformation of a common flower girl into a lady–and surrounds it with superficial trimmings. There is technical innovation in the plot structure since Shaw, under the influence of Ibsen, replaces the stock Victorian formula of exposition, situation and unraveling with exposition, situation and discussion. The plot thus has three distinct stages of development. In the first stage Professor Henry Higgins, who is an expert in phonetics, transforms a common flower girl into an artificial replica of a lady by teaching her how to speak correctly. Prior to this Eliza’s life has been miserable. As a poor flower girl she coaxes money out of prospective customers and is thrilled when she suddenly receives a handful of coins that Higgins throws into her basket. She lacks the capacity to express her feelings articulately and an indiscriminate sound of vowels â€Å"Ah – ah – ow – ow – oo† serves to connote a multitude of emotions ranging from pain, wonder, and fear to delight. However she is not entirely depraved and is at least self-reliant enough to earn her own livelihood by selling flowers. In Act Two Eliza arrives at Higgins’ laboratory at Wimpole Street and haughtily demands that Higgins teach her to speak correctly so that she can become a lady in a flower shop. This desire for financial security and social respectability constitutes a step forward in her larger quest for self- realization. For Higgins Eliza is simply a phonetic experiment, a view that dehumanizes her and results in the creation of an artificial automaton-like replica of a lady. In the second stage of the play the audience encounters an Eliza who has become an artificial duchess. She is no longer a flower girl but is not quite a lady. During Mrs. Higgins’ at-home she proceeds to deliver Lisson Grove gossip with an upper class accent. She is nothing more than a live doll and there is an element of crudity in her parrot-like conversation. The mask of gentility that she wears only partially hides her low class background. Shaw demonstrates here that having fine clothes and the right accent are not enough to make a lady. The fact that the Eynsford-Hills fail to see through her facade implies that they too do not possess true gentility. By the time that Eliza returns after her triumphant society appearance at the Ambassador’s ball, she no longer exhibits this element of crudity. She has benefited from Higgins’s lessons in achieving social poise and has acquired the ability to articulate her thoughts and feelings. She has begun to think for herself and is capable of manipulating any situation to her advantage. The play enters into the third phase of development in Act Four. Eliza now encounters the great moment of truth and reality of her situation. Her education has created in her an intense dissatisfaction with the old way of life and she is not exactly pleased about the avenues open to her as a lady. She realizes that her social acquisitions do not enable her to fulfill her aspirations or even earn a living. She becomes aware of the wide disparity between her desires and the inadequacy of the means for fulfilling them. She repudiates Higgins’ suggestion that she could marry a wealthy husband and wryly comments that earlier â€Å"I sold flowers, I didn’t sell myself† while now that she has been made a lady she isn’t fit to sell anything. She has thrown away her mask and reveals a newfound maturity. She throws Higgins’ slippers at him and thereby breaks free from a life of subjugation and dependence. Critics feel that at this point the play enters into a period of calm and the main impetus of the action dissipates. Eliza’s society appearance has been a tremendous success and after the climatic encounter between Higgins and Eliza in Act Four the dramatic tension disappears. Eliza runs away to Mrs. Higgins and the only issue left is the resolution of her relationship with Higgins. The readers have to agree that the main impetus of the action has disappeared since all the preceding acts had been gearing up for the crucial moment of Eliza’s test. Now Alfred Doolittle’s strategic second appearance performs a resuscitating act for the play in its dying stage. Doolittle’s transformation from a dustman to a gentleman also provides an ironic comment on Eliza’s metamorphosis. After this brief spirit of energy the action returns to the issue at hand – the relationship between Eliza and Higgins. Eliza has developed into a self-sufficient woman and has become a perfect match for Higgins. She has garnered the requisite strength of character and maturity of thought to face life courageously. Gentility has become an integral aspect of her personality. No longer afraid of Higgins, she treats him as an equal. She negates his role in her transformation and insists that it was the Colonel’s generosity and courteous behavior, which truly made her a lady. She rejects Higgins’ proposal that he, she and Pickering live together like old bachelor friends and astounds him by announcing that she will marry Freddy instead and support him by offering herself as an assistant to Nepommuck. Higgins, although hurt at Eliza’s suggestion of assisting the detestable Nepommuck, is nevertheless happy that Eliza is no longer a whining helpless creature but a tower of strength and a woman at last. The play concludes on an uncertain note and the readers do not know whether she might indeed marry Higgins. This reflects Shaw’s inherent distaste for finality. In the majority of his plays the issues and conflicts they deal with are never quite resolved and the audience is left wondering about what will happen after the curtain falls. However Shaw realizing the importance of an ending does provide a resolution in the epilogue. The dramalies neither in the conflict, nor in the discussion or the exposition. The conflict itself arises over the issue of the resolution of the problem. Unless there is a resolution, there is no drama, for the action remains incomplete. Action always has to be completed either comically or tragically. Hence in the epilogue, Shaw resolves the issue by making Eliza marry Freddy Hill. It was typical of Shaw to have provided such an anti-romantic conclusion to the play. Many commentators accuse Shaw of deliberately twisting the natural end of Pygmalion merely to make the play unromantic. But critics would do well to remember that the actual point of ending is not the issue of Eliza’s marriage but her achievement of liberty. While throughout the play Higgins boasts of having transformed a common flower girl into a duchess, after Eliza’s climactic assertion of independence from his domination he remarks, â€Å"I said I’d make a woman of you; and I have. † In this perspective the original ambiguous ending seems preferable to the neat resolution given in the epilogue.