Security and Privacy in the Network Context Essay

Security and Privacy in the Network Context - Essay Example This Virtual Private Database feature controls access to individual row in the database. It works by dividing the database for use by diverse type of users and keep it secure from illicit access. The other technique is to recognize potential vulnerabilities and suggest remedial actions to secure a database system. ISS Database Scanner Software, a product available with Oracle, Microsoft SQL Server and Sysbase databases automatically scrutinize the system for insubstantial passwords and viruses. A more intricate database security device is presented by Guardent through its Security Management Appliance. It works behind a firewall and remotely detects vulnerabilities. It covers operating systems, applications and network infrastructures, and remote online databases. Experiences and experts analysis dictates that more a responsive social and organizational actions should be taken. Accounting for the losses in businesses and the effects in economy, protecting databases from hackers is now a serious business. Our society and organization should be vigilant in protecting our vital and key information against criminal elements using the technology to spy, steal and destroy our investments. We must first ensure that our network security is reliable and constantly updated. Let us remember that nowadays, spending a little more in security software even for personal use is fundamental. Invest on reliable and tested database application; buy only those programs with robust security design. For companies, ensure those personnel in the system administration are strictly following security guidelines. Apply more restrictions to database access especially on internet-based databases that are more vulnerable to attacks. Configure your server to allow only those trusted IP addresses and employ Table Access Control security on your databases. Long-Term Network and Data Security, and Privacy Rights There are many ways to secure access of vital information's in a Network, Database and Individual Private files. At present, Operating Systems and Database Systems come with security features that can considerably prevent unauthorized access. Long-term methods are available from various reputable computer security companies such as Servers employing Trusted IP Address methods. This is done by configuring the server access to a list of "trusted" users only. Next is Server Account Disabling that suspends the server ID after three unsuccessful attempts. This is done to prevent attackers from generating random passwords to get the right combination. Monitor the system; get a product that would send alert when someone wants to break-in into the system. Secure the system with authentication methods such Kerberos Security, a "ticket" based authentication systems from Oracle (Weidman, n,d.). Restrict access to selected rows of databases by employing VPD (Virtual Private Database) Technology (Wiedman,

Current US GDP Figures and the Current State of the US Economy Research Paper

Current US GDP Figures and the Current State of the US Economy - Research Paper Example Economic system is the process of construction, distribution and consumption by specific people within a particular geographical setting. The people can be individuals, association, and businesses or government (Mankiw, 2011). With these considerations, the paper intends to illustrate the current GDP figures and the current status of the US economy. Current US GDP Figures The GDP figures in the US have witnessed a considerable fluctuation in the past decade. In the United States, the GDP figure in the year 2013 stands at 15684.80 billion US Dollars. Approximately, 25.30% of US GDP represents the world economy. The figures related to the US GDP were illustrated by World Bank Group. From 2004, the GDP figures have endeavored to attain peak position but in 2010 it came down to 13893.3 billion US Dollars from 14219.3 billion US Dollars in 2009. Then again, from 2010 onwards, it has kept on increasing, which signifies a relatively stable condition of the US industrial sector (Trading Econ omics, 2013). US GDP Source: (Trading Economics, 2013) The production of goods and services by the labor and assets located inside the United States has significantly increased to 2.5% in the 2nd quarter of 2013 as reported by Bureau of Economic Analysis. According to the 1st quarter of 2013, the GDP was 1.1% and 0.1% in 2012 Quarter 4 (Cable News Network. A Time Warner Company, 2013). The total GDP in June 2013 was estimated to be US$16.6 trillion. The US has one of the strongest and industrially advanced economies in the world. Rental, leasing, real estates, educational services, health care, professional and insurance constitute over 40% of GDP (Trading Economics, 2013). The following illustration depicts the distribution of GDP in the leading industrial sectors in the US: Government related services: 13% of GDP Transportation, utilities, warehousing and information: 10% of GDP Retail and Wholesale trade Centre: 12% Manufacturing, Mining and Construction: 17% of GDP Agriculture: 1.5% Source: (Trading Economics, 2013) The recent boost in the economy has facilitated the US in terms of ensuring more exports and fixed investment. Moreover, with the enhancement of the economic purview, there has been an augmentation in expenditure by local government and reduction in the imports along with deceleration in private firms’ investment and in personal expenditure (Sivy, 2013). US GDP % Change on a Quarterly Basis (2011 to 2013, Q2) Source: (Cable News Network. A Time Warner Company, 2013). Current State of US Economy The history related to the US economy could be viewed with reference to the influence made by the European settlements. US economy is the world’s leading and technologically advanced economy. The nominal GDP of US was reported to be US$16.9 trillion in June 2013. US economy is determined to be a mixed economy and is able to uphold overall growth in GDP. The US has huge natural resources, advanced infrastructure and high productivity. The na tion is the 2nd largest producer related to natural gas and 3rd major producer of oil as well as it is 2nd biggest trading country in the world following China. From 2010, the US has remained the world’s largest producer (The Heritage Foundation, â€Å"United States†). After recording more than three years of uninterrupted economic growth, at present The US economy has recorded less than 2.25% growth and is estimated to slow down to less than 1% in the near future (Sivy, 2013). The US with an economic freedom score of 76 remains down in 2013 index and noted its

Strategic Planning: Sony Corporation

Strategic Planning: Sony Corporation Strategy planning concern the future it is the process of obtaining the goals set by the management for the company in for the future and how they can be achieve. Strategic planning process its a wide process which looks at the wider picture and usually its flexible when it comes to achievement of goals for the organization the process developed some goals for middle level and lover level management to achieved and works on the strategic plans for the future based on the achievement of the goals set for the middle and lover management in short it can be say that strategic planning is the planning of the future for the company. Based on the above definition the company of Sony will be look with regards to its strategic planning in the past, current and future. Sony:- Sony its a Japanese company which has its headquarter based in Minato. It is one of the largest electronic product manufacturers in the world. The company Sony has many products in the market from electronic appliances for home to mobile phones and play stations which is used by many people around the world, the company has established itself in the markets of all continents whether is America or Asia, Sonys products are used by many consumers with a confidence in them. For the purpose of this assignment the strategies of Sony will be discussed which were used by the company in the past and with regards to that the current strategies will be look and based on the analysis of past and current strategies the future strategies will be identified. 1990 to 2000:- Sony always tries to differentiate its products from the competitors and provide its customers with latest technology from CD players to mobile phones the strategy at this stage of Sony was to provide its customers with over the top technologies . The company use many strategies to make success some of them were successful and some were not the company was also subject to some restructuring as a part of its strategy by looking at the company restructuring processes over the years in this period it can be seen that the company Sony was not to the mark when choosing its strategies the company has to change the strategies quite number of times at the time in 90s the strategy of Sony seems like working with different strategies and see which one is working for them. In 1993 Sony introduced its customers with Mini Disc format which was an alternative to Philips Digital Compact Cassette after this introduction the company adopt the strategy to promote its own audio compression technologies under the brand name of ATRAC it was an attempt to go against the widely used format of MP3 at that time and beside that Sony also try to challenge the industry standard Dolby Digital 5.1 surround sound format with its newer and more advance sound format called SDDS (Sony Dynamite Digital Sound) while the Dolby Digital was proving six audio channels at that time Sony Dynamite Digital Sound provide its customers with 8 channels of audio. This new format of Sony also had the feature of providing the users of the system a backup system using having mirrors arrays of bit on both side of the film which provide reliability to the users if the film get damage on one side it became an instant hit among the customers but after a few years it was not in that much demand due to being overshadowed by the home theatre system of Dolby Digital 5.1 system which reduces the sale of Sony systems but at that time Sony did nothing to compete with the system with its own home theatre system which was design to sale in the motion picture industry. In 1998 Sony introduce its memory stick format flesh memory cards to be use in Sonys digital cameras and portable music players which was on the format on SD card format which was adopt many competitors in the industry, it provide the users an opportunity to save their data on those memory sticks and can save up to 1000 pictures and songs on that small device it grow popular among the people at that time and its still widely used in many products this was the result of Sony strategic planning which always focuses on providing the customers latest technologies so the customers preferred the company more than the competitors, Sony also work with other manufacturer such as Philips in developing or working on new products and by doing this the company was able to grow in the industry. Despite the success in Sony planning the company was subject to many restructuring due to change in policy and some of the strategies not working and resulting in a loss the problem can be seen that at that time the planning of Sony was very aggressive and the company was trying to grow its market share fast which result in some plan getting failed inconsistency can be another reason in the planning of Sony because the world of music and electronics devices change rapidly everyday and every other month new products come into the market making the old one unwanted, while the competitors were developing new technologies whether its in MPÂ £ player or home theatre systems Sony did not tried to compete with them with updating their current product at that time. 2000 to 2010:- Over the years from 2000 to 2010 Sony developed many products which can be widely seen in the market and most of them are dominating the market now some of the products are Blue Ray Discs:- The blue ray discs by Sony are a popular product and it is now widely used by many people whether it is in movies or games the introduction of blue ray DVDS allowed the users to enjoyed the movies in better qualities and it has more data storage capacity than normal DVDs . The introduction of blue ray discs help Sony to captured the market from Toshiba HD TVS and due to that the company Sony was able to have increased its market share compare to the competitor Toshiba. Sony Vaio:- Sony introduces its range of laptops under the name of Sony Vaio which is a stylish laptop and come under many colours, Sony spend lots of its money on the marketing of the laptop which like all the other products of Sony became an instant hit and even today many people like to prefer Sony Vaio over the laptops of its competitors such as Toshiba and Acer due to the features it provides and also due to its stylish looks. In August 2006 Sony and Dell had to recall many batteries due to being sued by a couple in April over exploding laptop batteries which were result to overheating and overpower. Sony admitted the batteries had some flaws which could result in batteries overheating and catching fire it affected the reputation of Sony badly and many of the other laptop manufacturers such as Acer and Toshiba had to send back the batteries they bought from Sony and also considered to ask for compensation as it was also claimed by a Japanese newspaper that Sony was aware of the flaw in battery and did not do anything to prevent it or to study the problem fully. Play Station:- The first play station was release by Sony in 1994 to compete against other gaming console in the market and it provide the gamers an opportunity to enjoy the games at better quality and better sound and the gamer enjoyed it. In 2006 Sony release play station 2 which was more updated and has many better feature than play station 1 it was an attempt to compete with other competitors in the market which were Microsofts Xbox live and Nintendos WII later on the Sony introduced play station 3 with much more graphics and better gaming experience for the gamers Sony also has developed the play station 3 can be used to access internet and to play blue ray movies and just like Nintendo WII it provide the gamers an interactive experience when playing the games and this has been a huge part of the console success. Mobile Phones:- Sony also has its own brand of mobile phones which were used widely mainly in Asia and the company also introduced the first mobile phone with 12 mega pixel camera in it beside that Sony also introduce one of its famous walkman mobile phone lines which were W11i and W880i in 2007 and 2008 and they had a music system build in it and were also provide the customers a chance to connect to the internet while listening to their favourite music the product was an instant hit and Sony also spend well plan time on its marketing campaign and use celebrities in their adverts which attract many customers and the Sony Ericson phones were used by many music lovers. Current Strategies Of Sony:- After discussing the past strategies of Sony it can be seen that the company emphasis on providing the customers with best technologies and marketing its products efficiently but they did had some fail strategy in the past as well it effects its reputation. Besides, in order to regain Sonys competitive advantages, they appoint the first foreign chairman, Howard Stringer to head the company with the aim to secure Sonys main ground and hope that an outsider will assist Sony to think outside the box. As Hamel Prahalad (1994) suggest, intellectual leadership are essential to develop industry foresight, anticipating which trends are likely to emerge, so it is important to build Sonys new core competence to shape the industry. However, Priem and Butler (2001) have shown that the Resources Based View, as currently constituted, contains a theory of sustainability but not a theory of competitive advantage (i.e., value creation).They argue that simply advising practitioners to obtain rare and valuable resources in order to achieve competitive advantages and, further that those resources should be hard to imitate and non-substitutable is not very helpful in providing practical help (Johnson et al, 2005: p155). After all the fail strategies and their affects on Sonys reputation the company now working on developing the reputation for that purpose Sony employed chairman from their own country Japan and also a foreigner chairman to make their strategies work. In the current weaknesses of Sony it can be seen that they had problems with their management and leadership styles which were more concern about getting the tasks done instead of defining the ways for the teams to how to obtain the tasks and what resources should be used. In order to understand the current business strategy of Sony it will be wise to look at their corporate statement which state Our companies are known for creating products that enrich peoples lives. Through Sony Corporation of America and its operating companies Sony Electronics Inc., Sony Pictures Entertainment Inc. and Sony Music Entertainment we are also dedicated to improving peoples lives. Our commitment extends to helping local communities, fostering better educational systems, funding research to cure devastating diseases, supporting the arts and culture, helping disadvantaged youth, protecting and improving the environment and actively encouraging employee volunteerism.(http://www.sony.com/SCA/philanthropy.shtml) After looking at the statement it can be seen that Sony Current strategies are not only based on providing the customers with best products but also it include building the reputation back which was affected in the past due to the poor strategic choices made by them. Sony is also working on working on the green environment and providing the customers not only equipments which provide them best musical or gaming experience but also which are environmental friendly to play it part in making the world a green world and being giving the customers the image of the social responsibility of the company and building its reputation back which has been damage due to all the bad strategic choices made by the company management in the past. Sony Future Strategies:- Upon looking at the past of Sony it can be seen that the reason of the failure of strategies was that they were not properly planned and implement the resources were not fully utilized by Sony up to their full capacity as for any company it is very important for its efficiency that the resources should be utlizied up to maximum capacity as Priem and Butler (2001) have shown that the Resources Based View, as currently constituted, contains a theory of sustainability but not a theory of competitive advantage (i.e., value creation).They argue that simply advising practitioners to obtain rare and valuable resources in order to achieve competitive advantages and, further that those resources should be hard to imitate and non-substitutable is not very helpful in providing practical help (Johnson et al, 2005: p155). The strategies that should be utilized in the future by Sony should be of following: Competitive Positioning:- Sony has a establish brand name in the market which cannot be denied and everyone knows about the brand and products of Sony but the company did not utilized their brand name fully due to miss planning for example when the home theatre system was introduce and became popular many people were using Sonys products but they switch to the new system because Sony did not do anything to develop their own home theatre system for their customers which lead the customers to switch to another company therefore the main priority involve is to update their systems and products up to the expectations of the customers and they should work on the strategy to develop the products with competitive advantage in their mind the product should be of the nature that provide better features to the customers than the competitors just like Sony did with their mobile phones when Samsung introduce a 8 mega pixel camera Sony Ericson introduce a mobile phone with 12 mega pixel camera and also it has introduce sm art phones for the customers as well which are widely used all over the world this strategy should be continued by Sony. Build Better Market:- Sony needs to understand that it has to not only maintain its current position in the market but also expand its share in the market as Finlay (2000; p11) suggest that organization alter itself and the products and services it offers in order to match the needs of customers in its chosen marketplace which is a market-based approach, so called because the organization looks to the marketplace to see how it should act and how it should evolve. Besides, based on the environmental factors, Mintzberg et al (1998) developed the environmental school which argue people in strategic management must consider the range of decisional powers available, given the forces and demands of the external context. Sony insufficient in responding to the external market had caused them to lost ground in key growing areas and their strategy must be able to cope with the external environment. SWOT Analysis:- Swot analysis provide and wider picture to the company about its current strengths and weakness which relates to the internal environment of the company and give a better understanding that what is required to be done and with the analysis of the external environment of the company it helps in indentify what are the opportunities and threats available to the company and how they can be use for the betterment of the company. By using swot analysis the following have been identified. Strengths:- Sony has the following strengths, Sony has a strong brand name which is globally recognisable. Sony develop the products which are future base which attract more customers to buy the products thus increase in sale. Sony has strong customers based who use Sonys products all the time from music systems to mobile phones. They have top level management and expert chairman now which can guide the company towards success in the future. Sony has always been consider the leader in technology and present the products in the past which have attract many customers to the company. They have motivated staff which works for them all the time to develop new products and improve the current one the company is offering. Weaknesses:- Just like the strengths Sony has the following weaknesses which needs to be overcome to made the company more profitable, Sony has shown in the past the company is inconsistent in its planning and do not do anything to tackle the competitors products. The company has been subject to many capitals structuring in the past. The industry is rapid in nature and can change at any moment. The management has been inconsistent as well. Opportunities:- Its a rapidly growing industry which means Sony has changes to grow much further in the industry. Sony has the team to develop new products and update their existing ones as well to capture more share of the market. They have a strong customer based all over the world which means Sony can increase it sell in all over the world if they overcome their weaknesses. Threats:- Just like Sony the competitors in the market are also well establish and have strong customer based in order to get the customers from them Sony has to improve its product much more. With the losses the company suffer for the last few years may cause the investors think twice before investing into Sonys new projects. The world of technology is always changing which means Sony has to work on developing futuristic products and keep on updating the old one to meet the customers demand and to survive in the market. Recommendations for Sony:- As it can be seen from the past and present of Sonys that the company emphasis more on developing the products and not on going head to head with the competition which result in the competition getting the most of the market while Sony has the technology the company lack of strategic planning and more over lack of control over the activities result in the company losing its customers due to the controversies from the sue on batteries to customers blaming Sony to promoting spam mails using the play station website. All this effected the reputation of the company now Sony needs to rebuild the reputation by not only doing what they do best which is providing the customers the best products in term of technology but also they need to build a strategic plan to overcome all the obstacles the company face in the past. Sony now needs to employ a team of managers who can look after their business well and also needs to monitor and control their performances as it was the bad management decision which affected the company and the company should made all their plan with keeping the future in mind in short the company needs to work with consistency in their operation and should also need to have a backup plan just in case the first plan fail for example when the company was sued for the batteries fault Sony should have tested the batteries fully and as it was reported that the company was aware of the fault in batteries than Sony should have tested the batteries properly and should have look for ways to overcome that fault same goes with the home theatre system Sony should have come up with a way to compete with it instead of just leaving the way it was, this were the faults or mistake which result in Sonys strategic failure and in order to build the company position more strong this faults should not be repeated and all the plan should be made after going through with every details about them and any fault should be identified and ratify at the initial stage and in the same manner every move of the competitors should be though about and a counter plan should be ready for it by doing this Sony can not only captured more market but can also be the market leader. Sources:- Bowman, C. Asch, D. (1996), Managing Strategy, MacMillan. Â · DeWit, B. Meyer, R. (2004), Strategy: Process, Content, Context,3rd Edition, Thomson International Business Press. Â · Finlay, P. (2000), Strategic Management: An introduction to business and corporate strategy, Prentice Hall. Â · Hamel, G. Prahalad, C.K. (1994), Competing for future, Harvard Business School Press. Barney, J. B. (1991), Firm resources and sustained competitive advantage, Journal of Management, Vol. 17, No. 1, p99-120. Â · Barney, J. B. (2001), Is the resource-based view a useful perspective for strategic management research? Yes, Academy of Management Review, Vol. 26, No. 1, p41-56. Â · Hamel, G. Prahalad, C.K. (1990), Capabilities-Based Competition, Harvard Business Review, Vol. 70, No. 3. Â · Hamel, G. Prahalad, C.K. (1990), The core competence of the corporation, Harvard Business Review, Vol. 68, No. 3, p79-91. Â · Hodgson, G.M. (1998), Evolutionary and competence-based theories of the firm, Journal of Economic Studies, Vol. 25, No, 1, p25-56. Â · Markides, C. (2004), What is strategy and how do you know if you have one?, Business Strategy Review, Vol. 15, No. 2, p5-12.

It’s Time to Include Gays and Lesbians in Our Study of Literature Essay

The growth of gay people as a group has been astonishing. It is not possible to guess how exactly we will grow from our experiences in the years ahead, but it is possible to predict that growth will continue, one way or another. A diverse and strong global community has been established.(Clark 60) Dr. Don Clark, clinical psychologist and university professor, boldly expresses his views on the changing nature of the gay and lesbian community in his text, Loving Someone Gay. Clark describes how far gay people have advanced in the last thirty years, moving from isolated and fearful existences to lives marked by political power and potential. Indeed, the gay community, and lesbians in particular, have transformed into large and respected forces in American culture. As with any societal group, their cultural contributions have continued to expand and develop along with their newly acquired political finesse, giving the gay community a sense of pride in its artistic and literary achievements. Since education is a primary source of transferring cultural understanding and awareness, it is essential that educational institutions respect the achievements of this newly empowered community in the selection of relevant curriculum. But they must also be careful; while many texts offer a rep resentative portrayal of the gay community, there are others which reveal a more narrow view. For example, in 1973, author Rita Mae Brown published a shocking exploration of one girl’s growing up lesbian in America. Creating images of rape, incest, and promiscuity, Brown portrayed a cold, angry character willing to blame her sexual identity on a dysfunctional family and an unyielding educational system. While uniquely American in both its authorship and... ...EBSCOhost. Glenbrook North H.S. Lib., Northbrook, IL. 8 Apr. 2002 . Randolf, E. â€Å"Women and Other Women.† Art Journal Sum. 1991: 29-34. MasterFILE Elite. EBSCOhost. Glenbrook North H.S. Lib., Northbrook, IL. 8 Apr. 2002 . Roberts, Edgar V., and Henry E. Jacobs. Literature—An Introduction to Reading and Writing. New Jersey: Prentice, 2001. Ruoff, A. Lavonne Brown, and Jerry W. Ward, Jr. Redefining American Literary History. New York: MLA, 1990. Worth, Chrissie. â€Å"Rita Mae Brown verifies outspoken attitude during Oxford visit.† The Daily Mississipian 23 Apr. 1996. 1 Apr. 2002 . Zacks, Rebecca. â€Å"LeVay Shares Thoughts on ‘Gay Gene’ Research.† Scientific American 7 June 1996. 3 Apr. 2002 .

How Starbucks Uses Pricing Strategy Essay

Last Thursday Starbucks raised their beverage prices by an average of 1% across the U.S, a move that represented the company’s first significant price increase in 18 months. I failed to notice because the price change didn’t affect grande or venti (medium and large) brewed coffees and I don’t mess with smaller sizes, but anyone who purchases tall size (small) brews saw as much as a 10 cent increase. The company’s third quarter net income rose 25% to $417.8 million from $333.1 million a year earlier, and green coffee prices have plummeted, so what gives? Starbucks claims the price increase is due to rising labor and non-coffee commodity costs, but with the significantly lower coffee costs already improving their profit margins, it seems unlikely this justification is the true reason for the hike in prices. In addition, the price hike was applied to less than a third of their beverages and only targets certain regions. Implementing such a specific and minor price increase when the bottom line is already in great shape might seem like a greedy tactic, but the Starbucks approach to pricing is one we can all use to improve our margins. As we’ve said before, it only takes a 1% increase in prices to raise profits by an average of 11%. Value Based Pricing Can Boost Margins For the most part, Starbucks is a master of employing value based pricing to maximize profits, and they use research and customer analysis to formulate targeted price increases that capture the greatest amount consumers are willing to pay without driving them off. Profit maximization is the process by which a company determines the price and product output level that generates the most profit. While that may seem obvious to anyone involved in running a business, it’s rare to see companies using a value based pricing approach to effectively uncover the maximum amount a customer base is willing to spend on their products. As such, let’s take a look at how Starbucks introduces price hikes and see how you can use their approach to  generate higher profits. While cutting prices is widely accepted as the best way to keep customers during tough times, the practice is rarely based on a deeper analysis or testing of an actual customer base. In Starbucks’ case, price increases throughout the company’s history have already deterred the most price sensitive customers, leaving a loyal, higher-income consumer base that perceives these coffee beverages as an affordable luxury. In order to compensate for the customers lost to cheaper alternatives like Dunkin Donuts, Starbucks raises prices to maximize profits from these price insensitive customers who now depend on their strong gourmet coffee. Rather than trying to compete with cheaper chains like Dunkin, Starbucks uses price hikes to separate itself from the pack and reinforce the premium image of their brand and products. Since their loyal following isn’t especially price sensitive, Starbucks coffee maintains a fairly inelastic demand curve, and a small price increase can have a huge positive impact on their margins without decreasing demand for beverages. In addition, only certain regions are targeted for each price increase, and prices vary across the U.S. depending on the current markets in those areas (the most recent hike affects the Northeast and Sunbelt regions, but Florida and California prices remain the same). They also apply price increases to specific drinks and sizes rather than the whole lot. By raising the price of the tall size brewed coffee exclusively, Starbucks is able to capture consumer surplus from the customers who more value in upgrading to grande after witnessing the price of a small drip with tax climb over the $2 mark. By versioning the product in this way, the company can enjoy a slightly higher margin from these customers who were persuaded by the price hike to purchase larger sizes. Starbucks also expertly communicates their price increases to manipulate consumer perception. The price hike might be based on an analysis of the customer’s willingness to pay, but they associate the increase with what appears to be a fair reason. Using increased commodity costs to justify the price as well as statements that aim to make the hike look insignificant (less than a third of beverages will be affected, for example) help foster an attitude of acceptance. What can Your Business Learn From Starbucks? The profit maximizing tactics Starbucks implements in their pricing strategy are vital components of a process anyone can use. Here are some of the takeaways you can apply to your own business: 1. Study your customer personas. Starbucks understands that the majority of their customer base is fairly insensitive to price, and uses small price increases that everyday consumers barely notice to boost margins. Quantify your buyer personas and the demand for your product or service will help you choose a price that captures the maximum amount your customers are willing to pay. 2. Justify the exchange rate for your product. Communicating price increases effectively is crucial to a successful price hike, and managing customer perception is a key part of the Starbucks strategy. Support your price increases using changes in the market such as higher commodity costs and ease the pain on the consumer by finding an attractive way to publicize the new prices. Starbucks said their beverage prices were increasing by an average of 1%, but that low average probably stemmed from including all of their beverages in the equation, including ones that remained at the same prices. 3. Use product differentiation to put your company in the lead. You can justify maximizing your profits using the fairest of reasons, but if the customers don’t value your service the way they value a delicious cup of coffee, then a decrease in demand is inevitable. Build a service or product that consumers can’t live without, and you’ll be able to implement price hikes without turning off your customers. 4. Don’t increase the prices of the products with the highest margins. Raise the prices of the products surrounding them. As mentioned earlier, Starbucks raised the price of the tall size brew exclusively in order to persuade customers to purchase larger sizes (with slightly higher margins). Price hikes for your lower margin products can entice customers to upgrade to more expensive options, especially with respect to products and services that are tiered based on time usage and features. The goal is to use the price increases to guide the customer towards your most profitable product.

Sydney Harbour Bridge

Australia is known all over the globe for several reasons. The natural beauties of the country and the wild life are always on the top of the list. But when thinking about Australia there are two super structures that come to mind, The Sydney Opera House and The Sydney Harbour Bridge. In this short report it can be found small history along with a short description about the Sydney Bridge.II. Main Body II. 1 History The first plans to build a bridge actually goes back to year of 1815, but it wasn’t until 1922, after being delayed manly because of the WWI, that the parliament approved the laws for the construction of this massive structure. The actual work didn’t begin until 1924 and took 8 years, a 1400 men work force, and several tragic accidents to finally finish it (Australian Government).The official opening ceremony was on 19 March 1932, were the Premier of New South Wales was supposed to cut the ribbon, but a man in military clothe riding a horse, slash the ribbon before the ceremony began, declaring the bridge opened in the name of the people of Australia. II. 2 Description Also known as the â€Å"Coathanger† by many residents of the city of Sydney, the Harbour Bridge is, until the date, the world’s largest, but not longest steel arch bridge.This 53,000 tons structure is located in the Sydney Harbor, uniting the Central Business District (or CBD) at Dawes Point with the commercial and residential areas in the North Shore at Milsons Point (Wikipedia 2010). The bridge is about 500 meters long. Today carries eight traffic lanes, two rail lines, one in each direction, a pedestrian pathway on the eastern side and a cycleway on the western side of the bridge. The arch summit is about 135 meters above the average harbour water level. There are four pylons at each end of the arch that weren’t part of the initial design and they don’t actually fulfil any structural purpose.These structures were added latter on to improve the appearance of the bridge, but now they were all put into use, the most famous being the one located in the south east of the bridge. This particular pylon now holds a three stories museum with the bridge history (Wikipedia 2010). III. Conclusion As can be seen the Sydney Harbour Bridge not only works as a mean to cross the harbour in a more efficient way, but it has become one of the most important landmarks of Australia, thanks to its architecture, beautiful views and tourist attractions.It doesn’t matter if you’ve been there or not, when somebody talks about Sydney, is almost inevitable but to think about this structure. ?IV. Bibliography Wikipedia 2010, Sydney Harbour Bridge, viewed 2 December 2010,   http://en. wikipedia. org/wiki/Sydney_Harbour_Bridge

The Global Sullivan Principles †Ethics Paper

The Global Sullivan Principles – Ethics Paper Free Online Research Papers The Global Sullivan Principles Ethics Paper The original Sullivan Principles were developed by a Baptist Minister named Reverend Leon Sullivan. He established the principles as a code of conduct for human rights and equal opportunity for companies operating in South Africa. The original Sullivan Principles were designed to help persuade U.S. companies with investments in South Africa to treat their South African employees with the same regard as they do their American colleagues and friends. At the time of the development of the original Sullivan Principles in 1977, Reverend Sullivan was the first African American appointed to the Board of Directors of General Motors. During this time, General Motors was the leading employer of blacks in South Africa; therefore Sullivan decided to use his position on the Board of Directors to apply economic pressure to end an unjust system of segregation. On three different occasions, Reverend Sullivan was able to bring 25 top CEO’s from around the world together for a private summit to discuss ending apartheid in South Africa. At the end of the summit all 25 companies were behind Sullivan’s efforts to end apartheid. The results of these meetings have been known as one of Reverend Sulli van’s most important accomplishments which in return broke the back of apartheid in South Africa and led to its independence and the presidency of Nelson Mandela. At the request of world and industry leaders, in 1999 Reverend Sullivan re-launched the principles in what is now known as the Global Sullivan Principles for Corporate Social Responsibility. At a special meeting, Sullivan had the UN Secretary-General formally introduce the new principles to the corporate world. As per the preamble of the Global Sullivan Principles, they were established to urge companies to do the following: 1. Support economic, social and political justice by companies where they do business. 2. Support human rights and encourage equal opportunity at all levels of employment, including racial and gender diversity on decision making committees and boards. 3. To train and advance disadvantaged workers for technical, supervisory and management opportunities. 4. To assist with greater tolerance and understanding among peoples; thereby helping to improve the quality of life for communities, workers and children with dignity and equality. (The Global Sullivan Principles, Preamble) These newly formed Principles call for multinational companies to play a much larger role in the advancement of human rights and social justice. Reverend Sullivan invites all companies, no matter what size or type of business, to become an endorser of the Principles. If a company wishes to be associated with the Principles, they are expected to provide information which publicly demonstrates its commitment to the principles. Each endorser of the Principles must take part in an annual reporting process, which documents their process of bringing social responsibility to life. These reports are displayed on the Global Sullivan Principles website. As I read through the list of endorsers of the Global Sullivan Principles, I was excited to see the City of Houston listed as one. Research Papers on The Global Sullivan Principles - Ethics PaperOpen Architechture a white paperMoral and Ethical Issues in Hiring New EmployeesDefinition of Export QuotasTwilight of the UAWAnalysis Of A Cosmetics AdvertisementBringing Democracy to AfricaPETSTEL analysis of IndiaArguments for Physician-Assisted Suicide (PAS)Three Concepts of PsychodynamicAnalysis of Ebay Expanding into Asia

Themes of Death in Emily Dickinson’s Essay Example

Themes of Death in Emily Dickinson’s Essay Example Themes of Death in Emily Dickinson’s Paper Themes of Death in Emily Dickinson’s Paper Emily Dickinson, as a poetic writer, composed most of her works with the theme of death, the entirety of which can be categorised into three different periods of writings; the earliest mainly contained the themes of death and immortality, personifying death and elegiac poems and lacked the intensity and urgency of her later poems or their fascination with the physical aspects of death (VAN DAESDONK 2007). Because of Dickinson’s immense fascination with this subject it is interesting to compare her pieces against each other to see how her view of death changed over the years of her writing. ‘The Only Ghost I ever saw’, written in 1857-62, is an example of the earlier period of Dickinson’s writing. There are many different interpretations of this piece, the most obvious one is that the poem centers on an individual who has encountered the spirit of a person and is shocked by the meeting. A deeper analysis shows the possibility of the poem being about how the persona, or Dickinson, is forced to reassess her loyalty or belief of Christianity through the encounter of a ghost. In contrast ‘How many times these low feet staggered’, written 1890, can be recognised to belong in her later period as its theme centres on the viewing of the corpse of a mundane housewife and the physical aspects of her death. The poem itself is in the first person persona and contains a grotesque dreary tone; and from the poem’s fascination with the corpse we can see Dickinson’s frustration and obsession with death. Concerning the form and structure of ‘The Only Ghost I ever saw’, the piece is a ballad, one of the two main forms of narrative poetry, as the poem uses the traditional ballad metre, which is made up of rhyming quatrains of alternative four-stress and three-stress lines. It is written in Iambic metre which gives the poem a soft flowing, lilting rhythm, this along with the many pauses throughout the poem cause the pace to become slow and smooth, much like the movement of the poem’s subject, a ghost, would be. ‘How many times these low feet staggered’ differs from this in that the metre of the poem is iambic, the first syllable of each line is unstressed followed by a stressed one, however the first line of he poem intentionally breaks this pattern. ‘How many times these’ makes the rhythm disjointed and gives the impression that the sentence itself is staggering like the line is trying to describe the housewife staggering over her work. The hyphen at the end of this line also helps to throw the rhythm off as it makes us pause in our reading, but, it also gives us time to stop and envision what the life of this drab housewife would have been like, and how hard it must have been if she would be ‘staggering’ her way through it. The idea about contemplating the dead woman’s life could be linked to the words ‘low feet’ as they are such usually unnoticed things to note about a dead person when normally a person would be looking at the face, it gives the impression that the persona of the poem is staring at the corpse’s feet in her death bed and wondering about how her life was life and what she must be feeling in death. The poetic voice of ‘The Only Ghost I ever saw’ has a dreamy tone to it which shows Dickinson’s feelings about death to be innocent, almost naive, in that she seems to view death and something peaceful and or sublime. However, in the final stanza the persona’s tone changes from the earlier dreamy quality of when they were speaking about the ghost and snaps to a harsher, berating tone, where the the persona never wants to remember meeting the ghost, which could be an indication of Dickinson’s realisation that the afterlife isn’t as simple and innocent as she first viewed it to be. Throughout the first three stanzas the lines all finish in a rhyme; ‘so’ and ‘snow’, ‘roe’ and ‘mistletoe’, ‘breeze’ and ‘trees’, which gives the poem a smooth flowing rhythm to it and a dream-like quality. However the final stanza breaks that pattern using ‘shy’ and ‘day’ which don’t rhyme, ruining the original lilting rhythm that the poem previously had, the breakage in the pattern accentuates the change in tone from dreamy to harsh. In contrast to the dreamy tone of the earlier poem, ‘How many times these low feet staggered’ has a distinctly more realistic and macabre tone to it. The mention of ‘flies’ gives us the image of decomposing meat as though the corpse were rotting which helps establish the more realistic side of what physically happens when a person dies, i.e their bodies rot. However the flies also clarify how monotonous the dead woman’s life and the tone of the poem is, as flies are known to continuously bang themselves against a window in their attempt to get out though them in what is obviously a futile effort which might have been what this woman’s life was like. The mention of the window also helps to create the idea that her death is the window of freedom she needed to finally escape such a droll life, emphasising the macabre tone by making death seem better than life. The phonology of ‘The Only Ghost I ever saw’ is mainly used to create the atmosphere and help with the imagery of the Ghost. The first simile of the poem in line three shows the reader the qualities of the ghost; ‘stepped like flakes of snow’ showing that his footsteps were light and pure, the delicacy of ‘flakes of snow’ also links back to the line about his clothes being ‘Mechlin’ which is lace, a delicate and intricate material (VAN DAESDONK 2007). Also in this line is sibilance the ‘s’ sounds of the ‘flakes’, ‘stepped’ and ‘snow’ help to emphasise the delicacy and how incorporeal the ghost is and give us a softer interpretation of it. In the sixth line the alliteration in ‘rapid like the Roe-’ ironically enough slows down the sentence creating a paradox, in that a line about ‘rapid’ movement is spoken so slowly, this is like the previous line ‘His Gait- was soundless’ which is also a paradox as it seems unnatural for any type of movement to be truly ‘soundless’. The paradoxes in the poem help to create an other-worldly atmosphere, which ties in well with the subject of this poem as a ghost could most definitely be described as an other-worldly creature, which belongs better in the spiritual plane rather than the mortal plane. Contrasting this, ‘How many times these low feet staggered’ uses man-made physical images to describe death, In line two Dickinson describes the dead woman’s mouth to be ‘soldered’, this imagery gives the conception that her mouth has been welded shut like metal and also gives the rather repugnant notion of how rigor-mortis has set into her body. These images link up to the idea of how in death this woman is unable to communicate with us, the living. The long vowel sounds in this sentence like in the words ‘only’, ‘soldered’ and ‘mouth’ cause the reader to to use excessive mouth motions which helps to create a contrast between us and our ability to pronounce these words and the dead woman who is so unable to move her mouth at all. In line 5 the two monosyllables ‘hot’ and ‘so’ give the line a seriousness and weight to it that tries to sober the mind and thoughts of the reader. The line talks of how the housewife was so often hot and sweaty from her long day of work and it links back to the earlier idea of staggering and again reminds us of how hard this woman’s life was. Another contrast between the two poems is the lack of nature, aside from the mention of a fly, in ‘How many times these low feet staggered’. Nature, which seems to be another favoured subject of Dickinson’s as we can see from her other poems such as ‘I taste a liquor never brewed’ and ‘Blazing in Gold’, is often referred to in ‘The Only Ghost I ever saw’. For instance the paradox of line five about the soundless movement would seem wholly unnatural were it not for the simile that follows after; ‘like the Bird’ this connects the paradox with nature and causes what would normally seem unnatural to feel perfectly normal and natural. Also because the poem has been set in winter time, ‘flakes of snow’, using birds in the line makes it seem far more realistic that the movement soundless because in winter time there is a substantial lack of birds, so there would be no movement and thus it’s ‘soundless’. In terms of the poem’s lexis, the use of the word ‘appalling’ in the final line of ‘The Only Ghost I ever saw’ is interesting because if you look up the word ‘appalling’ in the dictionary you’ll see that the definition is ‘causing dismay or horror. ’ However if you look up the origin of the word from 1810-20 the word comes from the Middle English ‘appallen’ taken from the Old French ‘apalir’ : ‘a’, to + ‘palir’, to grow pale (Howell, no date). This could be connected with the image of the ghost, who would stereotypically be a pale apparition, and would it in well with the interpretation of the poem being about how the ghost tests the persona’s faith in religion, The way Dickinson uses the word ‘adamantine’ to describe the corpse’s fingers in ‘How many times these low feet staggered’, whilst again showing us how rigor-mortis has set in, also gives the impression of how the corpse is precious to the persona as adamantine refers to â€Å"adamantine lustre of a  diamond†. The dead woman could have been precious to the persona; in life by how useful she was in looking after the house, or that in death the dead woman is precious as her body is the persona’s link into the world of death and the afterlife. The two poems themselves have very little in common with each other which is rather unusual considering that they circle the same subject and are written by the same person. ‘The Only Ghost I ever saw’ seems to show a young Dickinson’s innocent fascination with death shown though the dream-like tone and links to nature and therefore life, the final four lines break this by bringing about a harsher tone through the broken rhyme, which could be said to show Dickinsons fist steps towards the frustration and macabre fascination she shows towards death in her later works. Of which we see a lot of in ‘How many times these low feet staggered’, a more grotesque and dreary poem of death, seen through the referrals to man-made objects such as ‘handle’ and ‘hasps’ and the physical state of the housewife’s corpse. The changes in tone and view of death could have been brought on by age, as they were written about 30 years apart, and it’s inevitable that time could have matured Dickinson’s feelings about death, whether by the Civil War she lived though, and her brother fought in (VAN DAESDONK 2007), or the fact that in aging she was approaching the end of her life itself, thus creating an urgency in the need to understand what the next stage of life would entail for her. Bibliography: VAN DAESDONK H. 2007 Emily Dickinson Notes Teignmouth College, unpublished Dickinson, E. (1997) Emily Dickinson (Everyman Poetry) Phoenix The Only Ghost I ever saw (Wayne Howell, no date) Available at: 8georgetown/. edu/centers/endls/applications/postertool/index. cfm? fuseaction=poster. display (Accessed on: 21 February 2011) Optical properties of rocks and minerals (2004) Available at: rockcollector. co. uk/opticalprop. htm (Accessed on: 21 February 2011) Appendix: 274 The only ghost I ever saw 1 The only ghost I ever saw Was dressed in mechlin, - so; He wore no sandal on his foot, 4 And stepped like flakes of snow. His gait was soundless, like the bird, But rapid, like the roe; His fashions quaint, mosaic, 8 Or, haply, mistletoe. His conversation seldom, His laughter like the breeze That dies away in dimples 12 Among the pensive trees. Our interview was transient, - Of me, himself was shy; And God forbid I look behind 16 Since that appalling day! 187 How many times these low feet staggered 1 How many times these low feet staggered- Only the soldered mouth can tell- Try- can you stir the awful rivet- 4 Try- can you lift the hasps of steel! Stroke the cool forehead- hot so often- Lift- if you care- the listless hair- Handle the adamantine fingers 8 Never a thimble- more- shall wear- Buzz the dull flies- on the chamber window- Brave- shines the sun through the freckled pane- Fearless- the cobweb swings from the ceiling- 12 Indolent Housewife- in Daisies- lain!

Presidents and Vice Presidents - How They Are Elected

Presidents and Vice Presidents - How They Are Elected The president and vice president of the United States campaign together and are elected as a team and not individually following the adoption of the 12th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, which was drafted to prevent the nations two highest elected officials from being from opposing political parties. The amendment made it more difficult, but not impossible, for voters to elect members of two political parties president and vice president. Candidates for president and vice president have appeared together on the same ticket since the election of 1804, the year the 12th Amendment was ratified. Prior to the adoption of the constitutional amendment, the office of vice president was awarded to the presidential candidate who won the second-largest number of votes, regardless of which political party he represented. In the presidential election of 1796, for example, voters chose John Adams, a Federalist, to be president. Thomas Jefferson, a Democratic-Republican, was the runner-up in the vote count and thus became vice president to Adams. How a President and Vice President Could Be From Different Parties Still, theres nothing in the U.S. Constitution, particularly  the 12th Amendment, that prevents a  Republican from choosing a Democratic running mate or a Democrat from choosing a Green Party politician as her vice presidential candidate.  In fact, one of the nations modern-day presidential nominees came very close to selecting a running mate who wasnt from his own party. Still, it would be extremely difficult for a president to win an election in today’s hyperpartisan political climate with a running mate from an opposing party.   How could it happen? How could the United States end up with a Republican president and a Democratic vice president, or vice-versa?  Its  important to understand, first, that presidential and vice presidential candidates run together on the same ticket. Voters do not elect them separately but as a team. Voters choose presidents primarily based on their party affiliation, and their running mates typically are only minor factors in the decision-making process. So, in theory, the most obvious way for there to be a president and vice president from opposing political parties is for them to run on the same ticket.  What makes such a scenario unlikely, though, is the damage the candidate would sustain from members and voters of his party. Republican John McCain, for example, withered from the â€Å"outrage† of Christian conservatives when they found out he was leaning toward asking U.S. Sen. Joe Lieberman, a pro-abortion rights Democrat who left the party and became an independent. Theres one other way the U.S. could end up with a president and vice president could end up from opposing parties: in the case of an electoral tie where both presidential candidates receive fewer than the 270 electoral votes needed to win. In that case, the House of Representatives would choose the president and the Senate would choose the vice president. If the chambers are controlled by different parties, they would likely pick two people from opposing parties to serve in the White House. Why It's Unlikely thePresident and Vice President Would Be From Different Parties Sidney M. Milkis and Michael Nelson, the authors of The American Presidency: Origins and Development, 1776–2014, describe a â€Å"new emphasis on loyalty and competence and the new care invested in the selection process† as a reason presidential nominees choose a running mate with similar positions from the same party. â€Å"The modern era has been marked by an almost complete absence of ideologically opposed running mates, and those vice-presidential candidates who have differed on the issues with the head of the ticket have hastened to gloss over past disagreements and deny that any exist in the present.† What the Constitution Says Before the adoption of the 12th Amendment in 1804, voters chose presidents and vice presidents separately. When a president and vice  president were from opposing parties, as Vice President Thomas Jefferson and President John Adams were in the late 1700s, many thought the split provided a system of checks and balances just within the  executive branch.   According to the National Constitution Center, though: The presidential candidate who received the most electoral votes won the presidency; the runner-up became the vice president. In 1796, this meant that the president and the vice president were from different parties and had different political views, making governance more difficult. The adoption of Amendment XII solved this problem by allowing each party to nominate their team for president and vice president. Support for Electing Presidents and Vice Presidents Separately States could, in fact, allow separate votes for a president and vice president. But all of them now unify the two candidates on one ticket on their ballots. Vikram David Amar, a law professor at the University of California at Davis, wrote: â€Å"Why are voters denied the chance to vote for a president of one party and a vice president of the other? After all, voters often split their votes in other ways: between a president of one party and a House member or senator of the other; between federal representatives of one party and state representatives of the other.†

Cheap Labor and Outsourcing Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3000 words

Cheap Labor and Outsourcing - Research Paper Example y workers with robots.† (Musil, 2012) But for the cheap labor available in the thickly populated countries like China, India and Indonesia there is no other justification for shifting or creating new facilities in these countries by the American companies. In fact, the companies do make several compromises in other areas to exploit the cheap labor. Do we have plans to shift the production facilities back to America, if labor could be replaced with robots? The indiscriminate outsourcing drive is neither in the interest of the host countries nor in the interest of the USA in the long run. This paper seeks to analyze the causes for outsourcing either within the country or to foreign countries, its impact on the business and economy of the USA and the host countries. It is not the question of what is good to American economy. The issue has several dimensions. Is corporate social responsibility of the multinational companies engaged in outsourcing spree limited to only the USA? Are they not responsible for human rights issues involved in the operations of the suppliers? Disturbance of the existing equilibrium in the employment market either locally or internationally creates serious imbalances in the economic system in the long run and result into a situation of ‘catching the tail of a tiger’, meaning neither you can afford to leave the tail nor holding it for long! â€Å"Outsourcing is generally recognized as a strategy for producing cost saving, however, by simply following a traditional cost-focused approach, companies may be missing opportunities to gain further competitive advantage† (Deloitte, 2008). The following points need to be carefully considered in respect of cheap labor in view of its impact in general on the economy. 3. The market is saturated locally and establishment of production facilities in a third country could meet the local demand in such country and this unit could act as a hub for export of such products to other countries. In

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Report on EasyJet - Coursework Example EasyJet also acknowledges and supports talent among the large workforce through promoting employee skill development. The motive revolves around the creation of a people strategy to expand connections between employees with unique skills. As such, the human resource department transferred employees from Madrid to other bases to enhance efficient operation. Additionally, the company offers flexible contracts for the involved cabin crew and pilots. The scheme also entails permanent signing of the existing workforce under the same flexible contracts. The additional services offered by the airline company to new recruits are also a significant motivational approach (Adeyemi, 2013). The services include hiring retired pilot servicemen seeking employment in the company. The company extends the hiring process to offer additional training through an exchange program with experienced pilots on the ground. Other motivational services offered include the refurbishment of employee facilities suc h as the showers and restraint facilities. The airlines move to build a strong relationship between the employees, and the managers are significant in boosting employee job security. The approach ensures that the employees feel respected while working in the airline. The compliance aspect originates from the free communication between the appointed managers and the employees. Secondly, the provision of expected operating guidelines is significant for directing the employees on the expected codes of ethics (Anderson, 2014). Additionally, the employees are aware of the airlines demand and system of operations. Such moves enhance employee understanding that maximizes the eventual performance. Another significant evaluation of the company’s approach is evident through the introduction of a high-performance tradition. The company policy enables an employee to work effectively given the end rewards from

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Fleet Assignment - Essay Example Thus, the spilled passengers are 50 passengers, and they would wish to travel in flight 1 and 125 passengers who would want to travel in flight 2. Since the fare for A-B itinerary is much less than the two local itineraries, the profit maximization is to spill 50 passengers on the A-B itinerary (15000 dollars). From this, the remaining demand for flight 1 does not exceed the capacity (Holloway, pp.124-178). Because the local fare for flight 2 is much less than the fare for X-Z itinerary, 75 passengers are spilled from B-C itinerary (16875 dollars). Hence, the minimum spill cost for fleeting 1 15000+16875 = 31875. The spill cost for each transient is in Table 5. Thus, the fleeting contribution for fleeting 1 is 71250-(30000+31875) = $9375. Through analysis, the rest of the fleeting as shown in Table 5, that the optimal fleeting is fleeting 1. The spill minimizing strategy for this case in every flight is to drop passengers in view of increasing fare until passenger’s number accurately equals the assignment capacity in every flight. For instance, managers always spill passengers in order to keep the higher fares for connecting

As a leader in the 21st Century, I want to know what technology Research Paper

As a leader in the 21st Century, I want to know what technology decisions to make - Research Paper Example Because of the massive reach of social media, firms regard it as an effective tool for driving relevant messages. From an internal communications point of view, social media allows employees to efficiently manage the exchanging of both professional and personal messages. Through social media, corporate culture has been further enhanced. From an external communications perspective, social media is used by firms to directly interact with their target customers in a less costly manner through the personalization of advertising messages. Therefore, in comparison to traditional forms of media, such as television and radio, marketing professionals prefer social media due to its wide audience reach and flexible nature. In this paper, we examine the relevance of leadership techniques in driving the effectiveness of social media, both internally and externally. As such, the discussion is divided into three parts: (1) look closely into social media as a business tool; (2) delve into the forms of leadership techniques, and (3) analyze the connection between proper leadership techniques and results-driven utilization of social media. In the end, this paper aims to justify its thesis that the effective use of social media in business depends on the leadership styles of leaders in a company. Research: Social Media and its Emerging Relevance in Business Overview of Social Media Social Media is defined by Wright State University (n.d.) as â€Å"an interactive, specifically online, community that builds and enhances relationships between individuals and groups based on interest, occupation, and demographic measures while delivering viable information to such individuals and groups.† Human communication, in this sense, is made more efficient through social media. The increasing use of social media by businesses has been underscored in numerous studies. D’Angelo (2010), in his academic paper entitled â€Å"Social Media Community Management: Implications for Busines s Communication Curriculum,† highlighted that 91% of the top 500 companies the U.S. used at least one social media tool in 2009, an uplift from 77% in 2008. There was also an increase in social media use by small businesses from 12% to 24% between December 2008 and December 2009 (D’Angelo, 2010). Moreover, Harvard Business Review Analytic Services (n.d.), in its newly released survey with top U.S. corporations, claimed that more than three-quarters (79%) of the 2,100 organizations surveyed said that they are currently using social media channels (58%) to launch social media initiatives (21%). As Stelzner (2009) discovered in another study, business owners are more likely to use social media marketing (90%) than employees working for a business (81%). In terms of their actual use of social media, sole proprietors and owners of businesses of 2 to 100 employees mentioned that they have been doing social media marketing for years while 72% of marketers have either just star ted or have been using social media for only a few months (Stelzner, 2009). These data indicate that the rise in the use of social me

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Business questions - Essay Example Leadership basically refers to people who have the capacity to bring about changes in other people. Organizations are characterized by the unique culture that is inherent in the overall working of the organization. Discussion of leadership with reference to large organization is as important as that of small one for the simple reasons that the leaders within the organizations, not only provide an intangible stability among the employees and facilitate integration with the system, but they have been known to promote collective vision of the organization and provide the necessary impetus to the employees to strive towards it. Leaders create visions and goals whereas the managers and administrators work towards achieving them. Organizations’ culture is a complex process of evolution and adjustment of the employees within a system over a period of time. The various aspects of the interactive elements of the organization, which may comprise of diverse ideologies and personal conflicts of the individuals, work together to produce a cohesive output representing the organizations unique objectives and goals. Organization’s culture is developed over a period of time with shared learning and becomes an intrinsic part of the work methodology characterized by the stability provided by the system and the integrated approach of the workers. It is therefore, difficult to dissect an organization’s culture in a short time. Though it is difficult to change an organization’s culture but good leadership is known to make visible changes in it. Leadership encourages innovation of ideas and adaptability to changes. Hence, leaders, who are visionary and are endowed with effective communication skill and cultural understanding, have the capability to influence the cultural identity of the group within the organization thus facilitating changes in the organization’s culture to adapt to the

Individuals resident in the UK are liable to UK Income Tax on their Essay

Individuals resident in the UK are liable to UK Income Tax on their worldwide income arising in a tax year - Essay Example An individual who is not residing in UK is subject to income tax in UK or corporation tax in case of a company only on income arising within UK from a source. Likewise, a UK company is subject to corporation tax on capital gains if the gain is accrued from the sale of assets anywhere in the globe and an individual is liable pay capital gain tax on the capital gains earned. An individual is not subject to UK’s capital gains tax if he is not resident in the UK, unless the gain is generated on the sale of the assets of a UK resident’s permanent establishment. As per s 831 of the Income Tax A ct 2007, if a person who has stayed in UK for 183 or more number of days in a tax year will be recognised as a resident for that tax year. As per s 66 (1) of the Finance Act 1998, every corporation registered in UK will be viewed as a resident company in UK. If anyone does not fall in any of the above mentioned categories, then test derives from a chain of decided cases on the subject. HMRC also regards any person as a resident if he has stayed in the UK for more than ninety days on average per annum in four successive years. In decided cases as in IRC v Brown1, however, such simple arithmetical calculation is not followed. (Elizabeth, Martin & Law 2009:475). In UK, liability for income tax arises from the basis of residence. If one resides in UK for a particular period during a tax year, then he is liable to pay income tax for that tax year. There are set of guidelines and there are less cumbersome procedures to be observed for determining residential status. If anyone does not fall in any of the above mentioned residential categories, then test derives from a chain of decided cases on the subject. Since, in case of any dispute as regards to residential status under UK’s Income Tax Act, then one has to approach the court for redressal of his grievances. Employees who are on overseas duty is still ought to pay PAYE if they receive payments from UK employer. A UK

Business questions Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Business questions - Essay Example Leadership basically refers to people who have the capacity to bring about changes in other people. Organizations are characterized by the unique culture that is inherent in the overall working of the organization. Discussion of leadership with reference to large organization is as important as that of small one for the simple reasons that the leaders within the organizations, not only provide an intangible stability among the employees and facilitate integration with the system, but they have been known to promote collective vision of the organization and provide the necessary impetus to the employees to strive towards it. Leaders create visions and goals whereas the managers and administrators work towards achieving them. Organizations’ culture is a complex process of evolution and adjustment of the employees within a system over a period of time. The various aspects of the interactive elements of the organization, which may comprise of diverse ideologies and personal conflicts of the individuals, work together to produce a cohesive output representing the organizations unique objectives and goals. Organization’s culture is developed over a period of time with shared learning and becomes an intrinsic part of the work methodology characterized by the stability provided by the system and the integrated approach of the workers. It is therefore, difficult to dissect an organization’s culture in a short time. Though it is difficult to change an organization’s culture but good leadership is known to make visible changes in it. Leadership encourages innovation of ideas and adaptability to changes. Hence, leaders, who are visionary and are endowed with effective communication skill and cultural understanding, have the capability to influence the cultural identity of the group within the organization thus facilitating changes in the organization’s culture to adapt to the

Books especially Great Expectations Essay Example for Free

Books especially Great Expectations Essay Pip is very childlike the way Dickens describes him, almost naive and he has a large imagination.Dickens shows Pips naivety by telling the reader Pip believes his mothers name was also Georgina as that was written on the gravestone.  Pip is introduced when he is at the graveyard.  Dickens aims for the readers empathy by telling us that five of his siblings are dead and buried with his mother and father.  The historical context Dickens used was that in the 1800s children died young.   Then we are introduced to the criminal who we later learn is called Abel Magwitch. When Pip meets the convict he is in irons, rags and is hungry.  Dickens showed us this man was of lower class by the way he spoke and the fact his did not wear a hat like gentlemen did.  A man with no hat, and broken shoes.  Abel comes off as a scary man however once he has food and a file for his irons, his attitude changes.  Dickens tries to get sympathy for Abel by the way he describes him as having a limp and using his arms to warm himself up as well holding himself together. Estella is introduced in chapter eight.  Estella is the adopted daughter of Miss Havisham; Estella was brought up to hate men by Miss. Havisham.  This causes Estella to poke fun at many aspects of Pip.  She has been taught well like most upper class children and Dickens shows this by her speech and appearance.  Dont be ridiculous boy, she believes herself to be higher and more important than Pip due to her being of a higher class.  Miss. Havisham was a wealthy woman who got jilted at the alter, her life went down hill from there as if she was stuck in the time.  We can see that from the way Dickens describes the way her house was decorated.  Dickens makes Miss. Havisham come over as a bitter spiteful lady by using her speech and actions. Sometimes I have sick fantasies. She went on.  The Setting.  The first chapter is set in a graveyard which gives the reader an eerie yet calm feeling until the convict appears changing the atmosphere to dramatic.  Dickens uses words like overgrown, forgotten and bleak to create the sense of setting and atmosphere.  He then goes to use words like terrible and fearful to fit into the new dramatic setting.  Towards the end of chapter one, Dickens uses nearly a full paragraph on just describing the setting. sky was just a row of long angry, red lines and black lines intermixed.   This gives off a rather calming yet suspenseful atmosphere. Chapter eight is started with a strong sense of suspense and curiosity, the setting and atmosphere being both questionable and fearful.  Dickens uses words like scornful, dark and uncomfortable to successfully create an atmosphere; he describes Miss. Havisham as almost skeleton like then he continues to actually have Pip compare her to a wax skeleton.  Dickens uses words like hollow eyes, faded skin and very slim to get his point across.When comparing the two settings they are very similar by that way they are both set in a dark settings and suspenseful atmospheres.   The storyline. The entire book is mainly focussed around Pips days and his meeting of new people in both different classes.  Chapter one is focussed on Pip meeting the convict, who is of a lower class and then chapter eight is focussed on Pip meeting Estella and Miss. Havisham who are of a higher class.  The story is about Pip and his feelings when he meets each of these people as well as the expectations he has for himself once meeting those people.  Pip tries to raise his expectations for himself once hes met Estella. Dickens chooses everything carefully when writing a storyline, like names for instance he describes calling upon Estella in chapter eight as her light came along the dark passage like a star. Estella is actually Latin for star so you can tell he chose the name wisely as well as fitting historical context into the chapter.  He also uses pat experiences to help write about events in his books especially Great Expectations.

Comparison of Vietnamese and English Language: Idioms

Comparison of Vietnamese and English Language: Idioms Abstract Language is a system of communication of a nation. Every nation has their own historical, civilized, cultural, climatic characteristics, so every nation has their own language. However, different nations have similarities and differences in expressing their ideas. Studying similarities and differences between idioms of comparison in English and Vietnamese is liable to help the researcher to affirm that. Moreover, making some comparisons is a good way to memorize English idioms of comparison effectively and enjoyably. Hence, translation skill can be improved thanks to more knowledge about idioms. In addition, making comparisons between English and Vietnamese idioms can help the researcher to understand more about cultures of both of countries since similarities and differences in culture reflect coincidences and dissimilarities in ways of thinking and looking at the world of English and Vietnamese people. Idioms of comparison in Vietnamese and English:  A Contrastive Analysis Introduction Idioms of comparison are applied frequently in literature and in daily life. It serves as a tool to make the language more graphic. However, every language has differences in ways of expressing the same idea using idioms of comparison. The goal of the study is to discover some common types of comparison used in English and Vietnamese idioms. In addition, the study chiefly aims at finding out some similarities and differences between comparison idioms in both English and Vietnamese. Because there are so many comparison idioms in both languages, it is impossible to include all of them in the study. The study can just explore comparison idiomatic expressions which play an important part in the purpose of the study. Theoretical Framework Theoretical background of idioms in English Definition of idioms in English The Oxford Advanced Learners Dictionary defines idioms as: A group of words whose meaning is different from the meanings of the individual words (Hornby, 2006, p.740). The viewpoint is supported in A Dictionary of Linguistics Phonetics. The author regards an idiom as a term used in grammar and lexicography to refer to a sequence of words which us semantically and often syntactically restricted, so that they function as a single unit (Crystal, 1985, p.225). According to A Dictionary of Linguistics, an idiom is any expression peculiar to a language, conveying a distinct meaning, not necessarily explicable by, occasionally even contrary to, the general accepted grammatical rules (Pei Gaynor, 1954, p.95). Feature of English idioms When mentioning semantic features of idioms, we had better focus on the figurative meaning of idioms. It is the most important characteristic of idioms to know whether an expression is an idiom or not. According to Collins Cobuild English Language Dictionary: A idiom is a group of words which, when they are used together in a particular combination, has a different meaning from the one they would have if you took the meaning of the individual words in the group. (Sinclair, 1987, p.718) Smiley Goldtein (1998) also suggest that idioms are certainly more than the sums of their parts (p.76). That means the meaning of components of an idiom is different from the meaning of the whole idiom. That we can guess the meaning of an idiom or not depends on open or closed classes. As Yong and Peng (2007) suggest: In open class combinations, individual components are freely recombination and are used in a common literal sense. As co-occurrence of individual components is expected of this class of combinations, both their meaning and structures are predictable amenable to analysis. (p.178) For instance, we can guess the meaning of the idiom turn over a new leaf. Turn over means to make something change position so that the other side is facing towards the outside or the top and a new leaf is a leaf which is more beautiful, more perfect. Therefore, the meaning of the idioms can be guessed as to change your way of life to become a better, more responsible person. However, in close class combinations, we cannot guess the meaning of idioms. That is because they are characterized by semantic opaqueness, syntactic restrictions and structural stability (Yong Peng, 2007, p.178). For example, the idioms spread oneself too thin or for the birds. Idioms have a fixed form that usually cannot be changed (Heacock, 2003, p.ix). However, Heacock (2003) also claims: Not all fixed phrases are idioms. For example, close your eyes is a common fixed phrase, but not an idiom because each word in it is used in its standard meaning. The phrase keep your skirt is an idiom, however, because the phrase does not mean do not take off your skirt it means stay calm. (p.ix) Idioms can be divided into six different forms or structures: + Idioms located at noun entries such as in addition to', for the birdsà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦ + Idioms located at verb entries such as look forward to, take off, hear aboutà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦ + Idioms located at adjectival entries such as in short, hot under the collarà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦ + Idioms located at adverbial entries such as once again, worse off à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦ + Idioms located at pronominal entries such as give it up, come to nothingà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦ + Idioms located at numeral entries such as give a hundred percent, one by oneà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦ Its really important to know that modifying any components and functional words can lose the idiomatic meaning (Yong Peng, 2007). Theoretical background of idioms in Vietnamese Definition of idioms in Vietnamese According to Tà ¡Ã‚ »Ã‚ « Ä ià ¡Ã‚ »Ã†â€™n Thà  nh Ngà ¡Ã‚ »Ã‚ ¯ và   Tà ¡Ã‚ »Ã‚ ¥c Ngà ¡Ã‚ »Ã‚ ¯ Vià ¡Ã‚ »Ã¢â‚¬ ¡t Nam: Thà  nh ngà ¡Ã‚ »Ã‚ ¯ Tià ¡Ã‚ ºÃ‚ ¿ng Vià ¡Ã‚ »Ã¢â‚¬ ¡t là   nhà ¡Ã‚ »Ã‚ ¯ng tà ¡Ã‚ »Ã¢â‚¬ ¢ hà ¡Ã‚ »Ã‚ £p tà ¡Ã‚ »Ã‚ « ngà ¡Ã‚ »Ã‚ ¯ cà ¡Ã‚ »Ã¢â‚¬Ëœ Ä‘Ã ¡Ã‚ »Ã¢â‚¬ ¹nh cà ³ cà ¡Ã‚ ºÃ‚ ¥u trà ºc tà ¡Ã‚ »Ã‚ « hoà ¡Ã‚ ºÃ‚ ·c cà ¢u nhÆ °ng hoà  n toà  n thuà ¡Ã‚ »Ã¢â€ž ¢c phà ¡Ã‚ ºÃ‚ ¡m trà ¹ cà ¡Ã‚ ºÃ‚ ¥p tà ¡Ã‚ »Ã‚ «, Ä‘Æ °Ãƒ ¡Ã‚ »Ã‚ £c mà £ hà ³a hà ¡Ã‚ ºÃ‚ §u hà ¡Ã‚ ºÃ‚ ¿t Ä‘Ã ¡Ã‚ »Ã‚ u cà ³ tà ­nh chà ¡Ã‚ ºÃ‚ ¥t cà ¡ch Ä‘ià ¡Ã‚ »Ã¢â‚¬ ¡u nghà ¡Ã‚ »Ã¢â‚¬ ¡ thuà ¡Ã‚ ºÃ‚ ­t, và   chà ¡Ã‚ »Ã¢â‚¬ ° là  m mà ¡Ã‚ »Ã¢â€ž ¢t thà  nh phà ¡Ã‚ ºÃ‚ §n trong cà ¢u nà ³i. (Nguyà ¡Ã‚ »Ã¢â‚¬ ¦n, 2010, p.5) As Nguyà ¡Ã‚ »Ã¢â‚¬ ¦n (2007) has noted in his book, thà  nh ngà ¡Ã‚ »Ã‚ ¯ là   tà ¡Ã‚ ºÃ‚ ­p hà ¡Ã‚ »Ã‚ £p tà ¡Ã‚ »Ã‚ « cà ¡Ã‚ »Ã¢â‚¬Ëœ Ä‘Ã ¡Ã‚ »Ã¢â‚¬ ¹nh Ä‘Ã £ quen dà ¹ng mà   nghÄ ©a cà ¡Ã‚ »Ã‚ §a nà ³ thÆ °Ãƒ ¡Ã‚ »Ã‚ ng khà ´ng thà ¡Ã‚ »Ã†â€™ già ¡Ã‚ ºÃ‚ £i thà ­ch Ä‘Æ °Ãƒ ¡Ã‚ »Ã‚ £c mà ¡Ã‚ »Ã¢â€ž ¢t cà ¡ch Ä‘Æ ¡n già ¡Ã‚ ºÃ‚ £n bà ¡Ã‚ ºÃ‚ ±ng nghÄ ©a cà ¡Ã‚ »Ã‚ §a cà ¡c tà ¡Ã‚ »Ã‚ « tà ¡Ã‚ ºÃ‚ ¡o nà ªn nà ³ (p. 8). Features of Vietnamese idioms Idioms are characterized by figurative and metaphorical meanings. Therefore, its too difficult to comprehend although we know the meanings of all their components. For example, là ¡Ã‚ ºÃ‚ ¥y thà ºng à ºp voi, gà   Ä‘Ã ¡Ã‚ »Ã†â€™ gà   cà ¡Ã‚ »Ã‚ ¥c tà ¡c, Ä‘i guà ¡Ã‚ »Ã¢â‚¬Ëœc trong bà ¡Ã‚ »Ã‚ ¥ngà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦ Especially idioms are originated from fairy tales, folk talesà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦such as ba que xà ¡Ã‚ »Ã‚  là ¡, thà ¡Ã‚ ºÃ‚ ±ng chà ¡Ã‚ ºÃ‚ ¿t cà £i thà ¡Ã‚ ºÃ‚ ±ng khià ªng, nà ¡Ã‚ »Ã‚ £ nhÆ ° chà ºa Chà ¡Ã‚ »Ã¢â‚¬ ¢m, sÆ ° tà ¡Ã‚ »Ã‚ ­ Hà   Ä Ãƒ ´ngà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦ (Nguyà ¡Ã‚ »Ã¢â‚¬ ¦n, Nguyà ¡Ã‚ »Ã¢â‚¬ ¦n Phan, 2009). Idioms usually consist of more than 3 components whose counterpoint, alliteration and rhyme are combined with each other in many different ways. There are some idioms of comparison such as nà ³ng nhÆ ° là ¡Ã‚ »Ã‚ ­a, khà ³c nhÆ ° mÆ °a, nhanh nhÆ ° chà ¡Ã‚ »Ã¢â‚¬ ºpà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦ Also, there are some idioms which are created according to counterpoint, alliteration such as tai to mà ¡Ã‚ ºÃ‚ ·t là ¡Ã‚ »Ã¢â‚¬ ºn, mià ¡Ã‚ »Ã¢â‚¬ ¡ng hà ¹m gan sà ¡Ã‚ »Ã‚ ©a, cà ¹ng hà ¡Ã‚ »Ã¢â€ž ¢i cà ¹ng thuyà ¡Ã‚ »Ã‚ n, ong bÆ °Ãƒ ¡Ã‚ »Ã¢â‚¬ ºm là ¡Ã‚ ºÃ‚ £ lÆ ¡ià ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦ Besides, some idioms are originally spoken words in everyday speech which are usually used again and again for a long time and then develop figurative meanings to become idioms, for instance chà ¡Ã‚ »Ã… ¸ cà ¡Ã‚ »Ã‚ §i và ¡Ã‚ »Ã‚  rà ¡Ã‚ »Ã‚ «ng, theo voi hà ­t bà £ mà ­a, nÆ °Ãƒ ¡Ã‚ »Ã¢â‚¬ ºc chà ¡Ã‚ ºÃ‚ £y chà ¡Ã‚ »- trÃ…Â ©ng, Ä‘i guà ¡Ã‚ »Ã¢â‚¬ Ëœc trong bà ¡Ã‚ »Ã‚ ¥ngà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦ (Nguyà ¡Ã‚ »Ã¢â‚¬ ¦n et al, 2009). Theoretical background of English idioms of comparison At first, we should find out the definition of idioms of comparison which are also called similes. There are a lot of definitions of simile. According to Oxford Advanced Learners Dictionary, simile is a word or phrase that compares sth to sth else, using the words like or as, for example a face like a mask or as white as snow; the use of such words and phrases (Hornby, 2006, p.1369). An idiom of comparison is also defined as: the comparison of two nouns with different meanings, using the words like or as to make the connection. Friendship is like ice cream, fear moved like lighting, and leaves feel as slippery as fish are examples of similes. (Tucker, 2002, p.41) There is also a similar but shorter definition in The Challenge of Effective Speaking: A simile is a direct comparison of dissimilar things using the word like or as (Verderber, Verderber Sellnow, 2008, p.197). The meanings of similes are figurative. Take the simile as tall as a tree as an example. When you say: Minh is as stubborn as a mule, you mean Minh is so stubborn, not Minh is as stubborn as a mule. Therefore, the simile as stubborn as a mule is considered figurative. Learners can sometimes be confused between similes and metaphors but they are really different: A metaphor, like a simile, is a comparison between two essentially unlike things. In contrast to a simile, however, where an explicit comparison is made (The eye is like a lamp for the body), the metaphor makes an implicit comparison (The eye is lamp of the body). (Robert H. Stein 15) Huff (2004) asserts that the only difference between simile and metaphor is that metaphor does not use the words like or as to make the comparison (p.98). In other words, two distinctly different things in a simile are connected by like or as while a metaphor is an implied but in many ways even more direct than comparison because the reader is expected to identify the comparison without the word like or as (Osborne, 1997, p.124). However, because similes merely join two disparate ideas or images, they are generally less fertile than metaphors, which can evoke additional and fresh shades of meaning (Ehrenhaft, 2008, p.145). Theoretical background of Vietnamese idioms of comparison In Vietnamese, there are 2 kinds of idioms of comparison: one employs the word nhÆ °, tà ¡Ã‚ »Ã‚ ±a, tà  y, bà ¡Ã‚ ºÃ‚ ±ng, tà ¡Ã‚ »Ã‚ ±a nhÆ ° or cÃ…Â ©ng nhÆ ° and one doesnt. Based on similarities of characteristics of 2 things, 2 phenomena, 2 actions, the Vietnamese create a large number of idioms which use A to name or to modify B. Eg: Mà ¡Ã‚ ºÃ‚ ·t trà ¡i xoan: oval-shaped face. Star: a famous and talented person (usually in art, sport, culture). (Nguyà ¡Ã‚ »Ã¢â‚¬ ¦n, 2010) The other kind of idioms of comparison includes the word bà ¡Ã‚ ºÃ‚ ±ng, tà  y, tà ¡Ã‚ »Ã‚ ±a, sà ¡nh, nhÆ ° or cÃ…Â ©ng nhÆ ° which divides an idiom into 2 parts. Both of parts can be a noun, verb, phrase or clause. The second part whose function is predicating and complementing the first part is counted from comparative word. Eg: In the idiom tà ¡Ã‚ »Ã¢â€ž ¢i tà  y Ä‘Ã ¬nh, tà  y Ä‘Ã ¬nh is the complement of the noun tà ¡Ã‚ »Ã¢â€ž ¢i. In the idiom chà ¡Ã‚ ºÃ‚ ¡y nhÆ ° bay, nhÆ ° bay is the complement of the verb chà ¡Ã‚ ºÃ‚ ¡y. (Nguyà ¡Ã‚ »Ã¢â‚¬ ¦n, 2010) A contrastive analysis of comparison idioms in English and Vietnamese Quantity comparison There are about 700 idioms of comparison in English, for example, as warm as sunbeam, to follow like a shadow, to work like a Trojan,à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦ There are a similarity in the number of idioms of comparison in English and Vietnamese. Some examples of Vietnamese idioms of comparison are là ¡Ã‚ ºÃ‚ ¡nh nhÆ ° tià ¡Ã‚ »Ã‚ n, xanh nhÆ ° tà  u là ¡Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦ Similarities of idioms of comparison in English and Vietnamese Although the culture of two nations is different, ways of thinking and looking at the world of English and Vietnamese is somehow similar. Hence, both Vietnamese and English express ideas and concepts in the same way. In fact, a large number of Vietnamese idioms of comparison are similar with English idioms of comparison in terms of both concept and image to express. English idioms Vietnamese idioms As black as coal Ä en nhÆ ° than As black as crow Ä en nhÆ ° quà ¡Ã‚ ºÃ‚ ¡ As black as ink Tà ¡Ã‚ »Ã¢â‚¬Ëœi Ä‘en nhÆ ° mà ¡Ã‚ »Ã‚ ±c As sweet as sugar Ngà ¡Ã‚ »Ã‚ t nhÆ ° Ä‘Æ °Ãƒ ¡Ã‚ »Ã‚ ng As black as soot Ä en nhÆ ° bà ¡Ã‚ »Ã¢â‚¬Å" hà ³ng As brief as a dream Ngà ¡Ã‚ ºÃ‚ ¯n nhÆ ° mà ¡Ã‚ »Ã¢â€ž ¢t già ¡Ã‚ ºÃ‚ ¥c mà ¡Ã‚ »Ã¢â€ž ¢ng As bright as day Sà ¡ng nhÆ ° ban ngà  y As brilliant as stars Sà ¡ng nhÆ ° sao As changeable as the weather Hay thay Ä‘Ã ¡Ã‚ »Ã¢â‚¬ ¢i nhÆ ° thà ¡Ã‚ »Ã‚ i tià ¡Ã‚ ºÃ‚ ¿t As cold as ice Là ¡Ã‚ ºÃ‚ ¡nh nhÆ ° băng As cheerful as a lark Vui nhÆ ° sà ¡o As cunning as a fox Xà ¡Ã‚ ºÃ‚ £o quyà ¡Ã‚ »Ã¢â‚¬ ¡t nhÆ ° cà ¡o As dark as midnight Tà ¡Ã‚ »Ã¢â‚¬Ëœi nhÆ ° nà ¡Ã‚ »Ã‚ ­a Ä‘Ã ªm As dumb as a an oyster Cà ¢m nhÆ ° hà ¡Ã‚ ºÃ‚ ¿n As fair as a rose Xinh nhÆ ° hoa As fast as a hare Nhanh nhÆ ° thà ¡Ã‚ »Ã‚  As fat as a pig Mà ¡Ã‚ ºÃ‚ ­p nhÆ ° heo As fierce as a tiger Dà ¡Ã‚ »Ã‚ ¯ nhÆ ° cà ¡Ã‚ »Ã‚ p As firm as rock Và ¡Ã‚ »Ã‚ ¯ng nhÆ ° Ä‘Ã ¡ As fleet as the wind Nhanh nhÆ ° già ³ As fresh a rose TÆ °Ãƒâ€ Ã‚ ¡i nhÆ ° hoa As gay as a lark Vui nhÆ ° sà ¡o As gruff as a bear Hà ¡Ã‚ »-n nhÆ ° gà ¡Ã‚ ºÃ‚ ¥u As good (valuable) as gold Quà ½ nhÆ ° và  ng As green as a leaf Xanh nhÆ ° tà  u là ¡ As heavy as an elephant Nà ¡Ã‚ ºÃ‚ ·ng nhÆ ° voi As hard as a stone Cà ¡Ã‚ »Ã‚ ©ng nhÆ ° Ä‘Ã ¡ As heavy as lead Nà ¡Ã‚ ºÃ‚ ·ng nhÆ ° chà ¬ As hot as fire Nà ³ng nhÆ ° là ¡Ã‚ »Ã‚ ­a As keen as a razor Sà ¡Ã‚ ºÃ‚ ¯c nhÆ ° dao cà ¡Ã‚ ºÃ‚ ¡o As light as down Nhà ¡Ã‚ ºÃ‚ ¹ tà ¡Ã‚ »Ã‚ ±a là ´ng hà ¡Ã‚ »Ã¢â‚¬Å"ng As light as a feather Nhà ¡Ã‚ ºÃ‚ ¹ tÆ °a là ´ng hà ¡Ã‚ »Ã¢â‚¬Å"ng As mum as an oyster Cà ¢m nhÆ ° hà ¡Ã‚ ºÃ‚ ¿n As pretty as a picture Ä Ãƒ ¡Ã‚ ºÃ‚ ¹p nhÆ ° tranh As quick as lightning Nhanh nhÆ ° à ¡nh sà ¡ng As quick as a flash Nhanh nhÆ ° chà ¡Ã‚ »Ã¢â‚¬ ºp As red as blood Ä Ãƒ ¡Ã‚ »Ã‚  nhÆ ° mà ¡u As red as a beetroot Ä Ãƒ ¡Ã‚ »Ã‚  nhÆ ° gà ¡Ã‚ ºÃ‚ ¥c As sharp as a razor Sà ¡Ã‚ ºÃ‚ ¯c nhÆ ° dao cà ¡Ã‚ ºÃ‚ ¡o As silly as a calf Ngu nhÆ ° bà ² As sour as vinegar Chua nhÆ ° già ¡Ã‚ ºÃ‚ ¥m As stink as a polecat Hà ´i nhÆ ° chà ¡Ã‚ »Ã¢â‚¬Å"n As swift as lightning Nhanh nhÆ ° chà ¡Ã‚ »Ã¢â‚¬ ºp As smooth as velvet Mà ¡Ã‚ »Ã¢â‚¬ ¹n nhÆ ° nhung As slow as a snail Chà ¡Ã‚ ºÃ‚ ­m nhÆ ° sà ªn As swift as an arrow Nhanh nhÆ ° tà ªn bà ¡Ã‚ ºÃ‚ ¯n As steady as rock Cà ¡Ã‚ »Ã‚ ©ng nhÆ ° Ä‘Ã ¡ As timid as a rabbit/ hare Nhà ¡t nhÆ ° thà ¡Ã‚ »Ã‚  Ä‘Ã ¡Ã‚ ºÃ‚ ¿ As thick as ants Ä Ãƒ ´ng nhÆ ° kià ¡Ã‚ ºÃ‚ ¿n As transparent as glass Trong suà ¡Ã‚ »Ã¢â‚¬Ëœt nhÆ ° thà ¡Ã‚ »Ã‚ §y tinh As yellow as saffron Và  ng nhÆ ° nghà ¡Ã‚ »Ã¢â‚¬ ¡ As wet as a drowned mouse Æ ¯Ãƒ ¡Ã‚ »Ã¢â‚¬ ºt nhÆ ° chuà ¡Ã‚ »Ã¢â€ž ¢t là ¡Ã‚ »Ã¢â€ž ¢t As white as snow Trà ¡Ã‚ ºÃ‚ ¯ng nhÆ ° tuyà ¡Ã‚ ºÃ‚ ¿t As white as a sheet NhÆ ° tà ¡Ã‚ »Ã‚  già ¡Ã‚ ºÃ‚ ¥y trà ¡Ã‚ ºÃ‚ ¯ng Like father like son Cha nà  o con nà ¡Ã‚ ºÃ‚ ¥y To fight like cat and dog NhÆ ° chà ³ và ¡Ã‚ »Ã¢â‚¬ ºi mà ¨o To stick like a leech Bà ¡m dai nhÆ ° Ä‘Ã ¡Ã‚ »Ã¢â‚¬ °a To stick like glue Dà ­nh nhÆ ° keo To cry like a baby Khà ³c nhÆ ° Ä‘Ã ¡Ã‚ »Ã‚ ©a trà ¡Ã‚ ºÃ‚ » To follow like a shadow Theo nhÆ ° hà ¬nh và ¡Ã‚ »Ã¢â‚¬ ºi bà ³ng To swim like fish BÆ ¡i nhÆ ° cà ¡ Differences of idioms of comparison in English and Vietnamese The same content but different images to express Images of idiomatic comparisons in twp nations are different result from differences in culture. Vietnam has the cultural tradition of the wet rice production. Therefore, animals have a strong attachment to Vietnamese daily life. Thats why Vietnamese idioms of comparison consist of images related to buffaloes which are an animal familiar with rice production agriculture. Buffaloes pull ploughs, work very hard everyday to help farmers in their farming. As a result, wanting to mention strength, people often refer to buffaloes. In fact, to talk about someone very strong, the Vietnamese have the idiom khà ¡Ã‚ »Ã‚ e nhÆ ° trà ¢u while the English have the idiom as strong as a horse. Thats because English people prefer horses to buffaloes. Horses can not only pull ploughs but also transport and entertain. They are really energetic and strong enough to help people in life. In spite of that, it doesnt mean that English people dont consider buffaloes strong animals or Vietnamese people dont regard horses as strong animals. That results just from the difference in culture. Also, dragons are a kind of animal which is very close in fertile imagination of Vietnamese people. Because of that, the image as a dragon appear in the Vietnamese idiom of comparison ăn nhÆ ° rà ¡Ã‚ »Ã¢â‚¬Å"ng cuà ¡Ã‚ »Ã¢â‚¬Ëœn to talk about eating large quantities of food while the image of a horse is used in the idiom to eat like a horse. Lamp, butter are so familiar with English life while sweet potatoes, pig are familiar with Vietnamese life, as a result there are differences in images to express their ideas of gentleness and fatness: English idioms Vietnamese idioms As gentle as a lamp Hià ¡Ã‚ »Ã‚ n nhÆ ° cà ¡Ã‚ »Ã‚ § khoai As fat as butter Bà ©o nhÆ ° là ¡Ã‚ »Ã‚ £n Besides, the differences in the ways of thinking and observing the world make differences in the images of idiomatic comparisons. Take some following examples to illustrate that: English idioms Vietnamese idioms As easy as ABC Dà ¡Ã‚ »Ã¢â‚¬ ¦ nhÆ ° trà ¡Ã‚ »Ã… ¸ bà  n tay As easy as pie Dà ¡Ã‚ »Ã¢â‚¬ ¦ nhÆ ° trà ¡Ã‚ »Ã… ¸ bà  n tay As easy as anything Dà ¡Ã‚ »Ã¢â‚¬ ¦ nhÆ ° trà ¡Ã‚ »Ã… ¸ bà  n tay As smooth as butter MÆ °Ãƒ ¡Ã‚ »Ã‚ £t nhÆ ° nhung As pale as a ghost Xanh nhÆ ° tà  u là ¡ As lazy as a lizard LÆ °Ãƒ ¡Ã‚ »Ã‚ i nhÆ ° hà ¡Ã‚ »Ã‚ §i As soft as wax Mà ¡Ã‚ »Ã‚ m nhÆ ° bà ºn As merry as a cricket Vui nhÆ ° tà ¡Ã‚ ºÃ‚ ¿t As cheerful as the birds Vui nhÆ ° tà ¡Ã‚ ºÃ‚ ¿t As glad as a fly Vui nhÆ ° tà ¡Ã‚ ºÃ‚ ¿t As happy as a child Vui nhÆ ° tà ¡Ã‚ ºÃ‚ ¿t As happy as a clam Vui nhÆ ° tà ¡Ã‚ ºÃ‚ ¿t As dark as midnight Tà ¡Ã‚ »Ã¢â‚¬Ëœi nhÆ ° Ä‘Ã ªm ba mÆ °Ãƒâ€ Ã‚ ¡i As black as midnight Tà ¡Ã‚ »Ã¢â‚¬Ëœi nhÆ ° Ä‘Ã ªm 30 As dark as midnight Tà ¡Ã‚ »Ã¢â‚¬Ëœi nhÆ ° hÃ…Â © nà ºt As close as herrings Chà ¡Ã‚ ºÃ‚ ·t nhÆ ° nà ªm As soundly as a log (Ngà ¡Ã‚ »Ã‚ §) say nhÆ ° chà ¡Ã‚ ºÃ‚ ¿t As cold as marble Là ¡Ã‚ ºÃ‚ ¡nh nhÆ ° tià ¡Ã‚ »Ã‚ n As dry as a biscuit Khà ´ nhÆ ° ngà ³i As red as lipstick Ä Ãƒ ¡Ã‚ »Ã‚  nhÆ ° gà ¡Ã‚ ºÃ‚ ¥c As thin as finger Gà ¡Ã‚ ºÃ‚ §y nhÆ ° bà ¡Ã‚ »Ã¢â€ž ¢ xÆ °Ãƒâ€ Ã‚ ¡ng khà ´ As weak as a kitten Yà ¡Ã‚ ºÃ‚ ¿u nhÆ ° sà ªn As weak as a baby Yà ¡Ã‚ ºÃ‚ ¿u nhÆ ° sà ªn As black as a stack of black cats Ä en nhÆ ° cà ¡Ã‚ »Ã¢â€ž ¢t nhà   chà ¡y As black as the ace of spades Ä en nhÆ ° cà º sà ºng As round as a barrel Trà ²n nhÆ ° quà ¡Ã‚ ºÃ‚ £ bà ³ng As old as the hills XÆ °a nhÆ ° trà ¡i Ä‘Ã ¡Ã‚ ºÃ‚ ¥t As hot as mustard Cay nhÆ ° à ¡Ã‚ »Ã¢â‚¬ ºt Like hot cake Ä Ãƒ ¡Ã‚ ºÃ‚ ¯t nhÆ ° tà ´m tÆ °Ãƒâ€ Ã‚ ¡i As silent as the dead Im là ¡Ã‚ ºÃ‚ ·ng nhÆ ° tà ¡Ã‚ »Ã‚  As silent as the grave Im là ¡Ã‚ ºÃ‚ ·ng nhÆ ° tà ¡Ã‚ »Ã‚  What is more, the differences in human make differences between English and Vietnamese idioms. For example, in Vietnam, there is the idiom ghen nhÆ ° Hoà ¡Ã‚ ºÃ‚ ¡n ThÆ ° to refer to a person who is dreadfully jealous. However, in English, the idiom as jealous as Othello is used to talk about a ones jealousy. Another example is sÆ °Ãƒ ¡Ã‚ »Ã¢â‚¬ ºng nhÆ ° tià ªn and as happy as a king. Indeed, Vietnamese people consider a fairy the happiest one while English people consider a king the happiest one. The same components but the dissimilar content Every so often, some images of comparison can appear in both Vietnamese and English idioms but the meaning of the two whole idioms are quite different. Thats because the meaning of components differs in culture. Indeed, using the idiom rà µ nhÆ ° ban ngà  y, the Vietnamese want to indicate a event which has nothing fishy. Meanwhile English people use the idiom as bright as day to describe a light room. Besides, when the weather is fine and sunny with good natural light, English people say: Its as bright as day. Besides, wanting to compliment someone on his or her beauty of eyes, Vietnamese people say: Mà ¡Ã‚ ºÃ‚ ¯t cà ´ sà ¡Ã‚ ºÃ‚ ¯c nhÆ ° dao cà ¡Ã‚ ºÃ‚ ¡o. Still, English people use the idiom as sharp as a razor to refer to ones brainpower. What is more, whilst Vietnamese people apply the idiom chà ¡Ã‚ ºÃ‚ ¯c nhÆ ° Ä‘inh Ä‘Ã ³ng cà ¡Ã‚ »Ã¢â€ž ¢t to something steady, as hard as nails in English idiom means a person who is quite strict. Also, when Vietnamese people say: Nà ³ tà ¡Ã‚ »Ã¢â‚¬Ëœt nhÆ ° và  ng, they mean its worth buying the object because of its good quality. In contrast, as good as gold cannot be used to compliment an object. In other words, English people never say: Its as good as gold but The person is as good as gold. The person can be an assiduous and submissive child or a well-behaved adult. Pedagogical Implications for Teaching English Idioms of comparison Learning English idioms is one of steps so as to help learners master English. English idioms of comparison are frequently used in daily life. Therefore, teachers should help their students learn idioms most effectively. Firstly, its advisable for teachers to raise students awareness of similarities and differences between Vietnamese and English idioms of comparison. When teachers teach their students a certain English idiom of comparison, they should let them guess the Vietnamese idiom which is equivalent to that idiom, making a comparison and explain why they are similar or different. Its really useful for them to have a long-term memory about that idiom of comparison. Secondly, idioms of comparison as well as other idioms are taught and practiced in classroom but students rarely apply them to their daily speech. Thats why teachers should encourage students to use idioms of comparison in their daily life as frequently as possible. Learners will memorize idioms better if idioms of comparison are put into communicative contexts. Dont make them learn by heart. Thirdly, teachers should draw students attention to idioms of comparison which are most useful and most frequent. As there are so many idioms of comparison in English culture, about 700, students arent liable to memorize and apply all of them in their daily life. Students should be taught to know what idioms of comparison they should learn. Conclusion There are both similarities and differences between English and Vietnamese idioms of comparison. The same or different image can bear resemblance in the meaning of English and Vietnamese idioms of comparison. In addition, there are some idioms of comparison which have the same components but the meaning are quite different. Great as have the researcher made an attempt to do the research, there are some restrictions on the research out of the limited time and other unexpected factors. The researcher hopes that the research will a useful material for learners and teachers to learn or teach most effectively.