Larry Page

————————————————- Decoding Larry Page Leadership style This paper analyses the different behaviors that define Google’s co-founder and CEO leadership and management traits and style. ————————————————- Decoding Larry Page Leadership style This paper analyses the different behaviors that define Google’s co-founder and CEO leadership and management traits and style. Aymee Flores 339707 March 8th, 2011 Aymee Flores 339707 March 8th, 2011Contents Biography2 Decoding Larry Page Leadership Style4 How Larry Page’s Leadership Styles relate to my mine9 Conclusion10 Works Cited11 Biography Lawrence â€Å"Larry: page was born march 26, 1993 in East Lancing, Michigan. He was born into a family of computer experts. His father was a pioneer in artificial in telligence and computer science and is mother a computer programing teacher. He grew up in a house where technology was the norm, computers parts and Popular Mechanics magazines where everywhere.His older brother taught him from early on how to disarm artifacts in order to find out how they worked, this fueled his knowledge and motivation greatly to begin inventing, he once built a working inkjet printer out of LEGOS, at age twelve Page already knew he was going to have a company eventually. Page was first attended the University of Michigan for a bachelor’s degree in Engineering and then decided to pursue a master’s degree in computer science at the Stanford University, here is where he met Sergey Brin and started the project that would change his life forever.The idea began while searching a dissertation theme about exploring the mathematical properties of the World Wide Web. According to John Battelle, founder of â€Å"Wired† magazine page assumed that web li nks where just citations so his project named â€Å"Backrub† was about classifying and counting all the backlinks of the World Wide Web and according to Page it would make it a more valuable place. At the beginning of â€Å"Backrub† the World Wide Web could be sought as a giant book without an index, so the goal of the project was to gather data and index it using what is called a web crawler, a bot programmed to perform this specific task.Then Page and Brin created their first product called â€Å"Pagerank† which was an algorithm that assigned numerical weighting to the hyperlinks already indexed by the web crawler and measure its importance, from here he created a search engine that was far more effective than the ones that already existed. This new Google search engine made its first debut at the Stanford University webpage in 1996. Together with is partner Brin in 1998 he founded Google Inc. at the time he hired Eric Schmidt as a CEO.The company’s mis sion was â€Å"To organize the World’s Information and to make it universally useful and accessible. † In 2006 the company was already made public and had its main quarter in Mountain view, California. Google Inc. grew very quickly and began to add more products and services such as email, advertising services, location services, productivity software and photo editing software and much more other breakthrough and innovative services and products just as the Android mobile operating system and Google Chrome Browser. Today Google. om is listed as the internet most visited website in the U. S according to Alexa Traffic Rank. And many of its famous brands are in the top hundred most visited sites such as YouTube and Blogger. According to an article by the social media online magazine Mashable, Google reported earnings of 50 billion dollars in January 2013 and is still expanding. Decoding Larry Page Leadership Style Because of his decision of hiring Eric Schmidt as CEO bac k in 2001 Larry Page was often cataloged as an introvert leader and when he took back the title of CEO in 2011 he didn’t hold any big meetings, interviews.What matters the most to Page is innovating this can be appreciated by the fact that he spends $1 billion on patents to help the company grow, this was sought to emulate Steve Job’s leadership but the truth is that this is most likely shaped by his engineering background. According to an article by CNN Money he still remains an enigma and his leadership style can be appreciated during commencement speeches and talks to coworkers and Google executives.During these talks he focuses about the future, as stated before Page is all about innovations and he firmly believes that by tackling audacious ideas that can eventually change the world would attract incredibly smart people that can achieve something worthwhile as he expressed at the Google Faculty Summit in 2009. Page’s supportive leadership style can be proved by his proficiency at building networks and expertise building and leading teams. He insisted on being very closely involved in the hiring process at Google always looking for university graduates to join the company.It is widely known that he dislikes the traditional bureaucracy and management styles and is always cutting or reassigning middle management positions. This can be seen by the company’s reorganization tendencies. While studying the company’s website it can be seen that all the description and pertinent information is compressed to no more than one paragraph, this is because Page encourages faster and concise decision making. According to wall Street Journal he would ask managers to e-mail him updates of their projects in 60 words or less.Also he encouraged them to have a session in the afternoon where top executives had to work on a public area of the building in order to make them more accessible to employees and facilitate communication among each other . This shows very strong supportive and participative leadership styles. Because the company is not organized with the typical management styles and is more focused on projects a team environment is the rule here which encourages involvement of followers in every aspect of decision making processes.Although he involves the team when it comes to decision making within a project he displays directive leadership traits when it comes to organizing the company. According to Google board member Mr. Ram Shriram he has a very clear idea of how the company should be organize therefore he personally picked the people that could run large areas of the company and set their objectives. Page would set very clear-short term and long-term goals for his managers. After further research it is very clear that Larry Page’s strongest leadership styles are participative and supportive.According to an interview by The Fortune magazine the wellbeing and lifestyle of the company’s employees i s top priority to him as he says â€Å"My job as a leader is to make sure everybody in the company has great opportunities, and that they feel they're having a meaningful impact and are contributing to the good of society. † Google is known for its innovative work space that are far from looking like a typical office, he feels that the company is like a family and therefore he treats them like one.This has boosted employee satisfaction, productivity and even improved their health to the point that their healthcare costs grow less compared to other companies. As stated before Page is regarded as an introvert, which might contradict the traditional believe that a leader should be outgoing and charismatic in order to be successful but the fact that he is an introvert supplies him with other set of traits and skills that make him successful and ultimately explain his supportive and participative tendencies.Traits that characterize introverts are that they are very good at listeni ng; therefore they are not going to dominate a social situation which will allow them to hear about other people’s innovative ideas. This will also explain Page’s tendency to want to attract people qualified as intelligent. A person that has an engineering and technologic mindset would rather hear from a smart person than a charismatic one. In addition Page has a strong directive approach when it comes to setting the company’s main goals but he is willing to let his followers choose their path to reach those goals.Nevertheless Larry Page has been a CEO for a relatively short amount of time so there is still a lot to see from this leader. During his short time as a CEO he has definitely demonstrated strong organizational skills and has brought back cohesion and focus as well as decisiveness to a company that was becoming scattered within is many diverse projects. Larry Page’s Leadership Style Applied to Hospitality Industry Google’s innovative appro ach can bring great success for someone working in the hospitality industry.The hospitality environment is all about communication and team work, this is a people’s business therefore it is imperative to have a supportive approach when leading followers. There are many levels or work in this industry that range from skilled labor to management and business work. Page’s supportive approach can be very beneficial for hotel managers because they are leading people that come from all sorts of backgrounds, by providing an environment where the employees feel comforted and supported by their company it will increase employee’s satisfaction and productivity at their workplace.For example a manager can display this kind of behavior if a front desk employee becomes frustrated with a hard situation involving a difficult guest or is having some kind of hardship in their personal life a manager can encourage communication with the employee and provide an understanding attit ude as well as build a better relationship with the employee that will allow that employee to feel comfortable within his workplace augmenting their feelings of empowerment and therefore excelling at their duties.The hospitality industry environment requires critical thinking skills, our industries workspaces are the same but a day and a situation is never the same, a hospitality employee have knew experiences and new interactions everyday with customers. Participative behavior from managers is extremely important; a manager cannot be in every place at the same time. Every employee has different experience at the workplace due to the nature of the Hospitality industry, for example a front desk agent that does the A.M. shift has a completely different experience and needs than the one doing the P. M. shift. Therefore is necessary that the manager gathers input from his employees in order to improve the processes and procedures necessary to solve a particular problem or to improve the workplace experience. Delegatory leadership is also needed in the hospitality industry because it often involves critical decisions to be made from the followers that directly affect the customers.For example when at the front desk an employer needs to be empowered to make decisions and resolve certain type of problems that might rise like room changes or extra amenities to compensate for ant dissatisfactory experience a customer might have. How Larry Page’s Leadership Styles relate to my mine After analyzing Page’s leadership traits I found myself very related to his style. As a leader I see myself revolutionizing the workplace, giving a lot of importance to the way an employee is treated and feels after analyzing Page’s leadership traits I found myself very related to his style.As a leader I see myself revolutionizing the workplace, giving a lot of importance to the way an employee is treated and feels while doing his work. The challenges that might be found applying his style to the type of career I am doing would be overcoming an industry that is already established and has a bureaucratic management style, it would be a groundbreaking task to apply a more relaxed and creative work environment and involve the employees in the decisions of the company.I strongly believe that innovation and technology can be brought to this industry and can be encompassed with customer experience and this can be achieved if the bureaucratic lines in the current management styles can be blurred somewhat and projects that come from employees ideas instead of only owners of stake holders of a company would take place. Page’s management does not think about money being spent, this is the same vision I have for the hospitality industry.In order to revolutionize the industry and the customer’s experience whether it is by creating new amenities at the already existing facilities or creating new futuristic lodging concepts can only be achieved if t he mindset of making business for money can be put as a second priority. Conclusion My research about Larry Page’s leadership style has been very moving and eye opening. I strongly believe that this should be the management style of the future because he was able to prove that the old bureaucratic style is not necessary in order to make company thrive.The world is constantly changing and therefore the structure of our companies need to change as well and become more proficient and team based in order to reach our full potential as well as innovating and creating new concepts that can be easily achieved by participative leadership and groundbreaking projects. Works Cited Larry Page Ties Employee Pay to Google's Social Performance, Leslie Horn, PC Magazine Online, April 8, 2011Is Google's Larry Page already turning out to be a truly great CEO? Google focus on its core business)(Google shutdown of Google Labs, Aardvark, Slide, Fast Flip ), Dumenco, Simon, :  Advertising Age, S ept 26, 2011, Vol. 82(34), p. 0020New Stage, New Skills. (Business/Financial Desk)(Google Inc. ‘s Larry Page), Miller, Claire Cain, The New York Times, Jan 22, 2011, p. B1(L) Media Entrepreneurs of the Decade: Larry Page & Serge Brin, Google. (BEST OF THE DECADE), Shields, Mike, Brandweek, Dec 14, 2009, Vol. 50(44), p. 20(1)Larry Page CEO OF the Year. Greg Sterling. Search Engine Land. Jan 2, 2012Larry Page and Google: Individual Empowerment Requires Forceful Leadership, Tweak your Biz, Article.June 12, 2012At Google, Page Aims to Clear Red Tape, The Wall Street Journal, Amir Efrati. March 26 2011Introverted Leaders: Three Reasons Larry Page Will Succeed as Google CEO, The power of Introverts, Susan Cain. Blog. Jan 24, 2011. Chief seeks more agile Google; as CEO, Larry Page must pierce bureaucracy, compete with nimble upstarts. (Company overview), Efrati, Amir ; Morrison, Scott, The Wall Street Journal Eastern Edition, Jan 22, 2011, Vol. 0(0), p. B1(1)| | | | For Google CEO La rry Page, a difficult premiere role. (Company overview), Efrati Amir, The Wall Street Journal Eastern Edition, August 30, 2011, Vol. 0(0), p. B1(1)|

Van West

Melvin Bahrain CCC Professor G 03/14/2013 Case 1 1. What are the underlying cultural issues contributing to the problems? In this case the cultural issue is that Van West didn’t speak Spanish that well. Gonzalez actually spoke a little bit of English, so they could communicate. However, if Van west would speak better Spanish, then it might have solve a lot of problems even quicker. Furthermore, both Hernandez and Van West grew up differently so they had different visions of approaching problems with workers, and production issues.Van West was looking for solutions with enthusiasm, while the other thought that everything will solve by itself. 2. What should Van West have done when he first came to Mexico? In my opinion everything what he did went pretty well beside one thing. He shouldn’t let Hernandez take care of things while he was getting comfortable. I think he should start looking out for the problems right away to solve them a bit earlier. Hernandez is the person who said that the place where they both work does not have that performance that Van West got used to back in Taipei.Also, when he heard about the strike possibility he should act immediately to try to prevent it. It is also a culture issue, some people need some time to adjust to place and they work better, but some of them can start hard work right away. 3. How should Van West deal with Hernandez? Address the role of the boss in Mexican culture. Address the relationship between superiors and subordinates. I think that Van West should be more assertive towards Hernandez. They became friends, which affected the workplace.I think that Van West was just too nice about Hernandez, and he couldn’t tell him what was wrong or what was right. Van West should have more attitude of a boss while he was talking to Hernandez in a business place. Of course it is hard to act like a boss toward friend, but lets face the reality. It is work, and one has to be professional in what one does for living. Otherwise you can lose a job. Subordinate Hernandez was playing smart because obviously no one likes to get orders from other people so he became friends with Van West to have him on his side.Van West supposed to bring his problem solving, and enthusiasm for work to Hernandez’s life. 4. How can Van West deal with the labor issue? How does this relate to attitudes toward change, the relationship between the individual and the group, and hierarchy? Van West should be the person who would show more interest in the issues that occur inside the company. He probably would have to organize meetings between workers, and workout some even solutions for everybody. It is hard to make everyone happy at the same time, but there is always a chance that all of them would agree on something.Van West figured out that there were some issues between Gonzales and Hernandez. He decided to solve problems by going to see production issues by himself without Hernandez. Gonzales was the one who helped him se the clear vision of what is going on. This was a good move from Van West side because he got a little bit friendly with Gonzales who helped him find problems inside the company. The meeting that Van West made in the end of the case was a great choice because he is going to have all of the workers in one place so it will be easier to find out problems that may delay orders.

History of Black Nurses Essay

Trained schools for students who wanted to pursue a career in nursing came about in the 1800s when Florence Nightingale advocated the idea. The only students that were accepted into these programs where white students, blacks were not allowed any education during this time. Blacks were not given equal rights as the white people, and were denied the right to have an education. There were many black young women who were very interested in nursing, and were dedicated to pursue their dream, and wouldn’t stop trying until they were given equal rights and accepted into these nursing programs. Some black women would follow along with the black soldiers in the Civil War and provide care to these wounded soldiers, as well as provide food, and also teach them to read and right. The first school of nursing was formed after two black men in Chicago, Illinois won the support of their community, and made a hospital out of a small brick building. The black people also came together to form the National Association of Colored Graduate Nurses, an organization formed to protect the black nursing profession, and to stop discrimination towards them. History of Black Nurses During the early 1800s nursing was mainly caring for the sick by family members or slaves. Nurses provided care in homes, and when World War I and II came about, nurses were sent off to provide care to the wounded soldiers. There was not a trained system for nurses to learn and gain experience in the profession, so all of the care that the sick were provided was by untrained nurses. It wasn’t until Florence Nightingale recognized the idea of providing a trained, organized system for nurses to learn before they worked as a professional nurse. Many schools arose out of her idea, however white students were only accepted into these nursing schools, blacks were not accepted. Black people were not given equal rights as the whites, and were denied the right for education and were therefore, denied acceptance into these nursing programs. Mary Eliza Mahoney was born to Charles and Mary Jane Mahoney in 1845, in Boston, Massachusetts. She began to show an interest in nursing when she was a teenager, and worked at the New England Hospital for Women and Children as an unofficial nurse aid, a cook, janitor, and washerwoman. When she was thirty-three years old, she was accepted to a nursing program. as one of forty-two, being the only black student, (Hines, 2004). Although she had to deal with racial discrimination and long hours of lectures and patient care, she made it to the end of the program as one of four. In 1879, she graduated from the New England Hospital for Women and Children in Boston, making her the first black professional nurse in the United States. After Mary Mahoney graduated from nursing school, she worked mainly as a private duty nurse for the next thirty years. Her work became widespread as a private duty nurse. Her patient’s loved her calmness, and professionalism, and she began receiving requests from different states, (Haltey, 2010). After working for private duty for thirty years, Mahoney opened a director of an orphanage in Long Island, New York, and remained there for the next ten years. In 1908, she became a cofounder to the National Association of Colored Graduate Nurses, (Hines, 2004). Mary Mahoney became an inspiration to many black women wanting to pursue a career in nursing. She fought through discrimination, as well as the pressures of nursing school, and graduated with a nursing degree. She helped to open the door for the black population that wanted to become a professional nurse and put an end to the discrimination. Susie King Taylor was born a slave in 1848 on the Grest family farm in Georgia. When Susie was seven years old her owner, Mr. Grest, allowed her to move to Savannah with her Grandmother who had been previously freed by him, (MacLean, 2007). Susie was denied education because she was black , however, her Grandmother would not let this stop her from becoming educated. Susie was sent next door to the neighbor who taught her how to read and write for the next two years, and after she learned this, she was sent to a few other people to become educated. At 14 years old, Susie was taken by boat by Union Soldiers to St. Simon’s Island. Here she met her future husband, Edward King, an army sergeant. She worked with the First Regiment of South Carolina Volunteers, which was made up of slaves, who had been freed by the Union Army. Susie was asked to start a school for children on St. Simon’s Island, and she willingly agreed. Susie taught about forty children, and she also taught adults at night. (MacLean, 2007). In 1863, Susie traveled with her husband’s regiment. She became the first black nurse during the Civil War, and helped to care for wounded soldiers. During her off hours she taught the soldiers how to read and write, and also cooked and laundered for them. She wrote in her diary about the nursing shortages during the war, and was happy to provide nursing care to the sick soldiers. She continued to serve as a nurse until the war ended in 1865. (MacLean, 2007). When the war was over, her and her husband moved to Savannah, Georgie. In 1866 she opened a school for freed black children. Shortly after the school opened, and Susie gave birth to her son, her husband Edward King passed away. In the 1870s, Susie moved to Boston and remarried nine years later. She also joined and became president of the Women’s Relief Corps, which was an association for the Veterans of the Civil War. After being asked by the Women’s Relief Corps, as well as the Army, she agreed to write an autobiography about her experiences during the war. In 1902, Susie King Taylor published her autobiography, Reminiscneces of my Life in Camp: A Black Woman’s Civil War Memoirs, (MacLean, 2007). In 1902, Susie received a letter from the commanding officer in the First South Carolina volunteers stating, â€Å"I most sincerely regret that through a technicality you are barred from having your name placed on the roll of pensioners, as an Army nurse; for among all the number of heroic women whom the government is now rewarding, I know of no one more deserving than yourself,† (MacLean, 2007). Adah Thoms was born in 1870 in Richmond, Virginia. Before she pursued a nursing career, she attended school studying elocution and speech at Cooper Union. Shorty after, she attended the Women’s Infirmary and School of Therapeutic Massage and graduated in 1900. She was the only black woman of thirty students, (White, 2010). She also attended the Lincoln Hospital and Home School of Nursing. After graduating she became assistant superintendent of nurses at the Lincoln Hospital and Home School of Nursing for eighteen years. During her years there, she added another course to the nursing curriculum, public health, and made public health a recognized field of nursing, (White, 2010). Adah Thoms helped with Martha Franklin, and Mary Mahoney to organize the National Association for Colored Graduate Nurses, and was appointed as its first treasurer, and was later president of the organization for seven years. She was also very dedicated to ensuring equal opportunities for black nurses, and worked hard to try and achieve these rights. Thoms worked with the chairmen of the American Red Cross to convince the Surgeon General to allow black nurses to enroll in the Army Nurse Corps, (White, 2010). Black women would enlist to try and serve as nurses during World War I, however the Surgeon General refused to let any black nurses serve. Eighteen black women were eventually accepted to serve as nurses during WWI due to the nursing shortages, and were only allowed to provide care to black soldiers. (White, 2010). Thoms was recognized for her dedication to obtaining equal rights for black nurses. She added to the nursing curriculum, served in the NAGCN as treasurer and president, worked with the Red Cross to campaign for equal rights of black nurses, and opened the door for nurses to serve in the military. For her bravery and commitment, she was the first to receive the Mary Mahoney award when it was established in 1936, and was also inducted into the American Nursing Hall of Fame in 1976, (White, 2010) Mabel Keaton Staupers was born in 1890, in Barbados. In 1903 she moved with her family to the United States, and made a home in Harlem. She graduated from Freedman’s Hospital School of Nursing in Washington, DC in 1917, and began her nursing career as a private duty nurse. In 1920, she collaborated with Dr. Louis T. Wright, and Dr. James Wilson, to organize the Booker T. Washington Sanatorium, which was the first facility in Harlem where black doctors could treat black patients, (American Nurses Association, 2010). In 1922 she was assigned to create a survey for the Harlem area for the health needs of the community. With the results of this survey, the New York Tuberculosis and Health Association was organized, and Mabel Staupers was the first Executive Secretary, and kept this position for the next twelve years, (American Nurses Association, 2010). In 1934, Mabel was appointed as the first nurse executive of the NACGN. During this time she began a campaign for nurses to gain integration into the Armed Forces Nurses Corps, and by 1941 black nurses were allowed into the Army, but not with full integration, and the US navy continued to prevent black nurses from enrolling. Staupers gained the help of Eleanor Roosevelt, who was first lady at the time, and wrote a letter to Franklin D. Roosevelt to recognize black nurses. With support from the public, the Army and Navy both accepted black nurses by January, 1945, (American Nurses Association, 2010). Mabel Staupers is recognized for ending the discrimination of colored nurses, and allowing the colored nurses full integration into the Armed Forces Nurses Corps. She was appointed president of the NACGN in 1949, and the association voted itself out in 1951, and merged with the American Nurses Association after their goal of full professional integration had been met. In 1951, Staupers was given the award for the Spingarn Medal from the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, and published an autobiography in 1961 called, No Time for Prejudice: A Story of the Integration of Negroes in Nursing in the United States, (American Nurses Association, 2010). The first school of nursing for blacks was formed in 1891 in Chicago Illinois, (Provident Hospital History, 2010). Emma Reynolds was a young black women trying to gain an education to pursue a career in nursing. She applied to nursing schools in Chicago, and had been denied by everyone, for the simple fact that she was a black woman. Her brother was Reverend Louis Reynolds, who felt that something should be done so that black women could be educated in nursing. He sought help from a respected black surgeon in Chicago, Dr. Daniel Hale Williams. The two of them gained support from their community, many blacks, and a few white citizens. They were given donations of supplies, equipment, and financial support. The Armour Meat Packing Company had secured a down payment on a three story brick house with twelve beds, that they turned into the first school of nursing for blacks, Provident Hospital, (Provident Hospital History, 2010). Many black nurses have made history as they were struggling for equal rights for their profession. During this struggle, the National Association of Colored Graduate Nurses was formed in 1908, (Massey, 1993). The founder of this association was Martha Franklin, with cofounders Mary Eliza Mahoney, and Adah Thoms. This association was founded to fight discrimination towards black people who wanted an education in nursing, as well as being a part of the American Nurses Association. The association fought long and hard for their rights as equals, and led campaigns across the United States. One of its biggest achievements was successfully fighting for full integration of black nurses into the Armed Forces Nurses Corps. After black nurses were allowed to serve in the US Army and Navy, they were also allowed full integration into the ANA. After this association gained their right to become educated in nursing, be a part of the nurses in the US Army and Navy, and join the ANA, they voted their selves out and merged with the American Nurses Association in 1951, (Massey, 1993). The black population in the 1800s were not given equal rights as the white population. They were denied many rights, and education was one of them. Many brave women struggled to fight to put an end to discrimination, and to be able to pursue a career in the field that they loved, nursing. It took a lot of hard work and dedication, however they made it happened. These women opened the doors for other black people who wanted to become a professional nurse, and because of them all minorities are now welcome into the field of nursing.

Operations Management Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words - 2

Operations Management - Essay Example The essence of Operations Management is the need to make rational decisions in difficult circumstances with limited, imperfect information Operations management deals with decision making related to production processes to ensure that the results are produced according to specifications. Information about materials, labor and resources are used to obtain goods or services using one or more conversion and transformation processes. This adds value to the product. (Shim and Siegel, 1999, p. 2) Operations management begins with a step-by-step process and plans which are based on careful analysis and decisions of a product or service. Operating plans are made according to long-term and short-term strategy and are translated into schedules to be followed by production processes. Production planning and material control have to be coordinated with manufacturing in the execution of the plan. Main Points Operations management is basically concerned with the production of goods. But it is now linked to almost all areas of business activity. Operations management is concerned with the ‘design, operation and improvement of the systems’ that focuses on the creation and delivery of the company’s product or service (Lowson, 2002, p. 4). Since this definition emphasizes on the systems of the organization, it also emphasizes the internal and external systems that include resources and technologies for the creation and development of the company’s product or service. ... Operations management started as a concept and planning method during the early 1900s of rapid industrialization and the demands of munitions production in World War I. Management scientists Elton Mayo and Frederic Taylor studied people and productivity in factory. There were many firsts during this time as these social scientists provided theories and applications in their studies. Henry Gantt developed his now-famous Gantt chart which is used in project management. Operations management needs vast amount of information in order to be successful. Computers were then non-existent and with the emergence of mainframe digital computers in the 1950s and 1960s, processing and updating of critical path networks became faster and easier. Du Pont, an old-time defence industry organisation exploited this to produce powerful planning and scheduling tool. Globalisation and information revolution influenced the way operations are run in organisations. The Internet and Information Technology have made the life of the operations manager quite easier. This began in the 1970s when the rapid growth of information technology saw the emergence of automation in industries and manufacturing. Vast amounts of information from databases are now available to planners and operations managers. The emergence of IT brought another different kind of project manager on the scene; they are the IT project managers who possessed technical and mental skills needed to lead teams developing IT projects. (Lock, 2007, p. 3) Operations management can be subdivided into sections to make planning and operations easier: 1. Decision making tools and methods 2. Demand

Literature based case studies of challenges of international project Study

Literature based studies of challenges of international project in China - Case Study Example This remains to be one of the problems that make it very hard for international teams to succeed in China. Usually, project teams in China, which are sponsored by foreign firms always, have team leaders from the foreign nations and the rest of the team made of the local people. In this regard, the leaders are likely to have different expectations from the local people. This is especially so with regard to software development projects where the foreign team leaders may have too many expectations (Xue et al, 2005). The leaders may have too high expectations for the local people, usually requiring them to complete projects in a few weeks, projects that should otherwise be done in a few months. This difference in expectations is fueled by some stereotypes such as the Chinese being regarded as hardworking people who can finish tasks in very short periods. Many software development projects have been outsourced in China and faced this kind of problems especially where the managers have the idea that they can use the Chinese software engineers to complete in a few weeks, what could be done in a few months. A good example of this is the Intentia AB which is a Sweden based ERP vendor. The firm was the leading ERP provider for the CosmetiCO, which is a Beijing based cosmetic manufacturer and distributor. Like many IT and Software Project, this project failed badly, and the customers were left with no useful ERP to be able to manage its operations. The managers of the project were too demanding on the local software expert’s and their expectations were too high. As a result, the local employees, not being able to argue with the project managers were left frustrated and in most cases where project targets were not met, they were too afraid to inform the project managers. Power distance is another issue that is a major factor for success in the Chinese project execution environment (Steers, 2010). Power distance refers to the point of how much people of

Gay Marriage Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words - 1

Gay Marriage - Essay Example Same sex couples consider marriage to be their right owing to the fact that every being deserves liberty. It has also been identified that a person is born with the characteristics of a homosexual. Same sex couples wish to lead normal lives without any societal bias and discrimination. On the other hand, same sex marriages are opposed by religious and moral groups who consider it to be unnatural. It is also argued that it is not a normal way of leading life and they present that same sex marriages should not be permitted. The opponents of gay marriages have important points to make. They argue that same sex marriages should not be promoted and the reasons that they explain are the researches which uphold the fact that gay marriages have very high failure rates and similar drawbacks. A normal heterosexual marriage lasts for a period of approximately 20 years on an average. On the other hand, same sex marriages have a very low comparative average with the lasting period being only one and a half years. It is argued that this low success rate has nothing to do with the discrimination that gays face in the society and this fact is upheld by a research conducted in Netherlands. In this country, same sex marriages have been legalized and the research concludes that despite of this, the same sex marriages only last for one half years there on an average.

Global Warming Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words - 3

Global Warming - Essay Example In 1896 a Swedish scientist put forth the position that burning of fossil fuels causes accumulation of Carbon Dioxide in the atmosphere, which in turn creates a â€Å"greenhouse effect† and elevation of global temperatures. In the 1950s, the notion of global warming cropped up again when G.S. Callender highlighted the dangers of the greenhouse effect (Weart 2003). Weather models developed in the 1960s led to the discovery that the levels of certain gases were rising, degrading the fragile ozone layer in the atmosphere. The summer of 1988 was the hottest one on record with temperatures rising ever since and concerns about global warming have escalated since that time. Weather is truly international, but during the earlier part of the 1900s weather had low priority. Meteorologists and scientists of various countries banded together under the umbrella of the IGY (International Geophysical Year). Drilling of the ice caps commenced in Greenland, yielding the discovery that ice cores held a record of climactic history. This later led to the formation of the GARP (Global Atmospheric research program) which was headed by the Swedish meteorologist Bert Bolin, devoted to weather forecasting and the study of the steadily rising curve of atmospheric Carbon dioxide. Weart (2003) provides a detailed discussion of the phenomenon of climactic changes and the conflicting predictions of scientists on global warming and cooling. He details the IPCC reports of 1995 and 1997, wherein scientific experts predicted that by the middle of the 21st century, the temperature of the world would have increased between 1.5 to 4.50C, figures which have been recently revised upwa rds to as much as 5.50C.(Weart 2003).

Creationism and Darwinism Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Creationism and Darwinism - Essay Example While one is the more "scientific point" of view, and the other a religious point of view, both have their massive followers, and both have strong points as well as weak arguments. In creationism, the belief is that the world and people were created by a supreme being, usually God. This is the belief held by the majority of major religions, that God himself created the earth and mankind. This idea is based strongly on faith alone, and is depicted both in the Christian and Jewish book of Genesis, and the Koran for Muslims. Many Christians feel that the book of Genesis offers an actual account of the creation story, and that it should be taken literally. However, this is a hard pill to swallow for most people, saying that the book was written by humans and it therefore full of error and may not be exactly what happened. Another argument is that the story may simply be a story to teach a lesson. I do not believe that you can take every single word in the Bible exactly as meant, and that some of it IS in fact figurative. This does not fully disprove creationism however. The scientific held though is the evolution of people as taught by Darwin. It was in Darwin's Origin of Species that he conned the phrase "survival of the fittest", that evolution was continentally evolving and changing.

Information Technology (Computers) Coursework Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Information Technology (Computers) - Coursework Example Such legislations include the Foreign Corrupt Practices act of 1997 and the 1991 Federal Sentencing Guidelines. The Federal Sentencing Guidelines of 1991 states that companies are responsible for their employee’s actions. The Foreign Corrupt Practices act of 1997 was created to recognize questionable actions among corporations. Guidelines that have been created are amongst the following: 1. All forms of communication devices or otherwise that belong to the company can only be used for the benefit of the company. Only those who are authorized may be able to use the internet but only for official business reasons. 2. Software that is needed to support your job must be analyzed and accepted by a supervisor and installed by the IT department. 3. Use of internet can provide security breaches and other harmful effects to your company’s system. Thus only authorized personal should be able to use the internet. 4. E-mail also applies to this. It can only be used for reasons that involve the company’s intention. Any viewing of pornography or sending of pornographic messages will be logged and taken against the offender. Any discrimination found in e-mails will also be logged and can be grounds for termination. 5. Any information stored or sent from company’s devices are property of the company. No information created or stored in the workplace should be considered private. Your computer and information can be confiscated at any time. I agree with these terms because this equipment is company owned. The company has every right to know what is going on with its employers and how its devices are being used. Secondly, work is work. There is time for one to play games but not during work hours and especially not with work property. Information and Hard Discs 1. First the information must be located on a disk. The wares that determine which part of the disk to read can be the application, operating system, system BIOS and a specialized driver softwa re for the disk. 2. One or more translations steps are needed make a final request to the drive producing an address expressed in its geometry. The drive’s geometry typically consists of terms such as the cylinder, the head and sector of the drive that is supposed to be read. Through the disk drive interface, a request is sent to the drive giving the specified address and permission to retrieve the sector of interest. 3. The control program of the hard disk will begin by checking if the requested information is in the hard disk’s cache. If it is present then the program will supply the information on the spot. 4. Drives are usually spinning. If the power management has been modified to "spin down" to conserve energy, the drive's controller board will allow the spindle motor to â€Å"spin up† the drive so it can operate. 5. The controller board would continue reading and translate information .It would also consider the unique characteristics of the drive. The lo gic program of the hard disk would consider also the number of the cylinder. The cylinder then relays to the disk what track should be used on the disk’s surface. Then, the actuator finally reads/write the head to the right track. 6. As soon as the heads are in the right place, it starts reading the location. It prioritizes the sector that was requested to be read. The disk would

Rc car shell Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

Rc car shell - Essay Example Shells for RC cars can be manufactured using a variety of ways, which have similarities but differ in different ways. The common aspect with all the manufacturing processes is that they require a mould or pattern that takes the shape of the car shell so that the design of the shell can be similar. The moulds are also different because some of them are positive whereas others are negative (Groover 2013). Before manufacturing begins, the company must choose the best process in terms of a variety of needs. For instance, the manufacturing process to be chosen should be fast, time conscious and should also have the ability for a high product output but at the same time produce high quality products. It should also use readily available and cheap raw materials rather than expensive ones. As stated above, many processes exist that can be applied when manufacturing RC Buggy shell. These include Compression moulding, Reaction Injection Moulding, thermoforming and transfer moulding. All these manufacturing processes are viable for manufacturing an RC Buggy shell. This paper will discuss all these manufacturing processes in terms of their viability, advantages and disadvantages and make a recommendation on the one that is the most viable option among them for manufacturing an RC Buggy shell. Reaction Injection Moulding: This is one of the methods that are used to manufacture shell for RC cars. In this method, the manufacturer has to build a special mould using a pattern that is similar to the shape of RC buggy Shell. After the first process, the manufacturer can then start working with the material that should be used. This is important because the method requires a mixture of two materials that must be put into a mould cavity, where a chemical reaction is introduced so that these two materials can react to form a solid in a solidification process that creates a cross-link between the materials

Taxation Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words - 8

Taxation - Essay Example Lastly, for individuals, the taxation of savings affects the decision on savings and when to allocate their assets. This system of taxation has a lot of impacts to the communities involved and has numerous recommendations. Generally, the whole issue is tied on people’s general saving behavior. Every time a taxation system surfaces people tend to adjust their saving behaviors. This is just normal because taxes play an important role is asset finance. Widely, we tend to save less when our incomes are low and needs are high (Buguignon 2005, 39). Therefore to save one cannot rely on an income to save. We save or run down our existing wealth when the amount for consumption differs from the amount of income they receive in a particular time period. The present paper addresses precisely these issues and suggests a normative framework to analyze tax policy in which social preferences are concerned by individual utilities instead of the ambiguous concept of ‘household welfare’. Individual level data are rare and even more difficult is the measure of individual welfare so that we resort to the use of a structural multi-utility model with minimalist assumptions regarding preferences. Moreover, social evaluation of welfare - at individual or household level – requires the formal framework of the optimal taxation theory. This way, the paper suggests one of the very first attempts to reconcile two branches of the economic literature which are usually dissociated. On the one hand, we benefit from the collective model of labor supply (Chiappori, 1988, 12) which acknowledges explicitly the presence in the household of several deciders whose preferences may differ. The decision making process - the incentive constraint of the social planner - relies on the sole Assumption that household decisions are Pareto-efficient. This setting allows

Ethnic group and Discrimination Essay Example for Free

Ethnic group and Discrimination Essay The issue on racial discrimination continues to prevail in developed countries although in subtle manner. Minority groups in United States have had a turbulent history fighting against ethnic group discrimination by the whites. In this paper, I choose to focus on the African America perspective on their fight against prejudice, segregation and racism. The first blacks to arrive in America were slaves. They were brought there against their own will contrary to other immigrants in the land of opportunity. Terms like Negroes were used to refer to black slaves and from the onset, prejudice remarks were used on them. It is documented that black slaves were seen to have similar attributes to dumb animals hence inferior. In fact, whites held that Negroes ranked between chimpanzees and human being. Its not clear as to where and when racism started or why but a clear definition of racism exists it means exclusion, division, restriction of any kind based on skin color, race, ethnic origin or nationality It is indeed a shame to see that the society has imposed the three ills of society upon Blacks Americans. The Blacks have and continue to experience segregation prejudice and discrimination even today. During the period of colonialism and slavery, blacks were not privileged to attend school inorder to keep them down form any form civilization. They were thought to endure and fight all kinds of discriminations either on basis of skin color, in life style, social class, academic, criminal justice and economic circles. (Karenga, 2002). In retaliation, the blacks Americans have also propagated Afro centric ideologies against whites which emphasis their superiority. Seemingly, it is fair for blacks to habour feelings of oppression and dislike against whites and other minority groups because these racial ideologies are deeply rooted in society. The weight of past negatively against blacks is a big challenge felt up until today. The effects have not worn off and hence blacks continue to log a step behind whites not because they are ‘lesser’ being but society has a way of pressurizing them to stay at their place i. e. second citizens. In the past, African Americans have faced challenges of security employment and have shaky single headed homes. Thus, they are poor. The whites on the other hand, get preference in well paying jobs, hence a form of discrimination. Perhaps, the blacks are the most segregated community in America. This is because of the quality of housing and congestion in black concentration neighbourhoods. It is common to find premium pricing in real estate, which ensures that Black Americans do not afford spacious homes to live in. Even those who make it to purchase prime property face a degree of segregation in the white neighbourhood. As a result, infant mortality is high and health issues are common in black neighbourhoods. At the same time, crime rates and violent crimes occur among teenagers as they try to fight for survival in poverty-stricken homes. Martin Luther King, Malcolm X and other black heroes realized these disconnect and lead black liberations movements aimed at bringing to advance in life. (Amnesty International, US Domestic Human Rights Program, 2004). These discrimination prevent African American from attaining the ‘American dream’ since blacks stand out sharply than any other minority group, their color has often been used to dictate the quality of housing, education, service or products that they will given (Kitano, 1997) often it is low quality. Similarly in the criminal justice arena, prejudices and racial profiling persist. Perceptions or rather misconceptions about police action as accidental shooting, use of force, slow response and so on are constructed by blacks to be a racist conspiracy and segregation. ( Karenga, 2002). Due to these underlying prejudices and racist ideologies, reverse discrimination, policies have been formulated to try to correct historically oppressed groups in the Diaspora. This is seen in cases where jobs are reserved for black candidates even where there are qualified whites to fill the position. This is the same policy used to propel affirmative action and boost women participation of women in state affairs. Despite the noble cause behind this policy, it has not gained ground sufficiently owing to the connotations of pity and sympathy stringed to it. Similarly, it goes against the equal protection clause of the fourteenth Amendment and Title VI of the civil rights Act, 42 (Amnesty International, US Domestic Human Rights Program, 2004) Other forms of discriminations against the African Americans include redlining. This practice dates back to the 1930s where banks took survey on residential areas to determine the level of security and hence their real estate value and thus award loans. Neighbourhoods inhabited by blacks were regarded as insecure and thus not eligible for loans. As such, blacks were segregated directly from acquiring mortgage loans, which in turn ensured that they had access to rich suburbs with decent housing. This form of discrimination was fought and overcome after the Fair housing Act 1968. This law guarded against any kind of redlining based on skin color, race, ethnicity, gender and so on (Amnesty International, US Domestic Human Rights Program, 2004) The community reinvestment Act 1977 also put blacks and other minority groups a step ahead in fight against racial segregation. Racial discrimination against blacks affects their presence in the labor market. The opportunity structure in the labor market is one that ensures that blacks dominate the cheap labour pool in occupation such as gardening, janitors’ waiters and so on. In addition, historical influence of past black discrimination forms a culture whereby blacks do not enroll for long-term educational training (Karenga, 2002). Similarly, black resided in urban outskirts where employment opportunities were limited and economic activities few. (Kitano, 1997) thus causing a dual market to form. Moreover, employers also prefer to employ workers from so-called ‘superior’ races, until they exhaust their supply. All these forces create a dual market one, which is discriminate against blacks. The advancement of black people within social and career circles is limited owing to discrimination on racial lines. Women are particularly subject to this glass ceiling. Notably, the expression used ‘glass† means that this form of discrimination is unwritten and unofficial yet real. It is commonplace to see a high black achiever unable to advance in career just because of gender or racial bias. In terms of promotions, most employers prefer superior races. Conclusion Personally, I do not identify with any ethnic group. I identify with the human race Blacks, whites, Asians stereotyping prejudice and discrimination ultimately resorts to hate speech and violence against groups. Often than not, these prejudices are reinforced for scapegoats inorder to justify own failures. It is worthless to hate each other and in extreme cases resort to genocides just because of differing color and nationality. Once humanity can accept that there is no superior person, area only then can we pride ourselves of true intelligence and harmony in the world.

Marketing Strategy Assignment Toothpaste

Marketing Strategy Assignment Toothpaste EXECUTIVE SUMMARY This report is about to offer a better product HERBAL TOOTHPASTE in the UK market from the Middle-eastern Company and to acquire a good market share. Toothpaste market of United Kingdom is divided into two major segments; one is the Gel Paste market and the other is the Opaque market or Chalk Based Paste market or popularly known as the Paste or dental cream market. The Market for Oral Hygiene in the UK Increased Between 2002-2007, Growing at an Average Annual Rate Of 3.2% (http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc). Total UK oral care market share nearly  £840m. HERBAL TOOTHPASTE are made from natural ingredients and some are even certified as organic and many consumers have started to switch over to natural toothpastes in order to avoid synthetic and artificial flavors that are commonly found in regular toothpastes. HERBAL TOOTHPASTE have products ranging those are also rich in calcium and other minerals which makes the teeth stronger and prevents cavities. HERBAL TOOTHPASTE will be import ed from Middle Eastern Company and marketed at a reasonable price comparing with locally produced toothpaste such as Colgate, Kingfisher etc. Through a research of UK market the objective of this report is to identify the target market with Marketing strategies, target market segmentation including marketing mix (product, price, place and promotion) which is an important factor for an organization in order to penetrate and develop its market. To explore how the target market perceives the HERBAL TOOTHPASTE and how the company tries to influence exposure, attention and interpretation of the product. Here, the scope of the report will be narrowed only to HERBAL TOOTHPASTE. With an effective marketing strategies; the proposed product will increase its reputation day by day and if any challenges will be studied and analyzed so that it can be predicted in this economic climate what to do to sustain the market share and remain more competitive. INTRODUCTION HERBAL TOOTHPASTES are made from natural ingredients. Some toothpaste is still approved as organic. From our study and research it is found that many customers have taking place to change over to organic toothpastes to avoid synthetic artificial flavours which are normally found in regular toothpastes.( http://www.herbaltoothpaste.net) Because of the increased demand of natural products, Herbal toothpaste will be the perfect timing of demand. This kind of toothpaste does not have dyes, artificial flavours or chemicals and this is one of the mainly general reasons that consumers claim when switching from ordinary toothpaste to Herbal toothpaste. Some people would rather use Herbal toothpaste for their oral hygiene and variety of reasons. Many people actually opting for them since they are not tested on animals. Others, devoted to guard the environment or who are sensitive to the ingredients in usual toothpastes, are attracted to the reality that they have no artificial colours or flavourings. People who use homeopathic medicines are also attracted to toothpastes that dont contain mint as practitioners state the Herb may hamper with the effectiveness of their treatment. (http://www.dailymail.co.uk/health). Herbal toothpastes are also fluoride-free, which appears to be other frequent grounds why some individuals prefer this category of toothpaste more than regular one. Also some people have allergies or other health concerns who may wish to think about Herbal or organic tooth paste formulations. These products can be a excellent choice for them who are allergic to mint or to sodium laurel sulphate, a foaming agent that is incl uded in most commercial toothpaste brands. Classic ingredients in Herbal and organic toothpastes include herbs with traditional historical uses like myrrh to help destroy plaque-causing bacteria; chamomile to reduce gum inflammation; Echinacea to inspire the immune system; sage and rhatany to decrease bleeding and essential oils like peppermint, to add flavour and ease pain and irritation. Some other common raw materials for these products include clove, ginger and tea tree oils. Some common ingredients are eucalyptus, Chamomile myrrh, Sage and some other less known plants such as Choti ilaychi, Lavang, Neem, Saunf, Khadir, Babool,. Herbal toothpastes also contain oils such as oils of coriander, ginger, lemon, and spearmint. Eucalyptus is however one of the most common ingredients in herbal toothpastes, mainly for its properties of whitening and prevents stained teeth. Myrrh is used to prevent gingivitis and bad breath and Chamomile and Sage are said to be helpful in soothing mouth ulcers, toothaches and inflamed gums. MARKETING ENVIRONMENT ANALYSIS Organizational success depends on sensing and responding to shifting conditions the business environment. At the most basic level, these represent Opportunities and Threats. Lowly, A. and Hood, P. (2004). Strategic planning effects the organization in different ways. To review environment of any Market we need to understanding of connection with various problems and issue with one another and the effect of that particular areas. To illustrate the UK external environment PEST analysis is constructive. It includes the aspects those are political (taxason policy, foreign trade regulation, government stability), economical (unemployment, disposable income), social (life style change, level of education), technological (government spending on research, speed of technology transfer), environmental (companys responsibility to society) and legislative (code of practice, access to raw materials) factors. 3.1. PEST Analysis of UK Market Environment The PEST analysis is a framework that strategy consultants use to scan the external micro-environment in which a form operates. PEST is an acronym for Political, Economic, Social and Technological factors. Typically, these factors are outside the control of the retailer and may either be threats or opportunities. These factors may vary within the regions of a country and would most definitely vary from one country to another. ( Pradhan,S.2007.p.111) According to Stoner (1992) PEST analysis is concerned with the environmental influences on a business. PEST influences are a useful way of summarizing the external environment in which a business operates. However it must follow up by consideration of how a business should respond to these influences. As Pradhan,S.(2007) described in Retailing Management, 2nd edition: The PEST factors that affect the retail sector: Political Economic Social Technological Political stability Rate of economic growth Income distribution of the population Level of technology use in the sector Government policy towards investment in the sector Money policy Size of Population Penetration of internet Labor laws Level of Taxation Demographics of the population Penetration of the mobile technology Consumer Protection Restriction on the entry of foreign players in the market Consumer confidence Rate of population, Age profile of the population (Pradhan, S.2007.p112) Political: Nowadays there are many companies operating their globalized business with different kinds of tooth pastes in UK. As an external factor Political condition can affect and influence of new products like Herbal Toothpastes performance. In favour of service legislations, the administration encourages retailers to make available a mix of occupation opportunities from elastic, lower-paid and locally-based career to highly capable, high remunerated and centrally positioned jobs (Balchin, 1994). The changes of government rules and regulation can affect the business of any company to entrance with new products such as introduce new tax policies on leisure could create a direct impact on the Herbal Toothpaste Import. Economical: Another environmental factor is economic, which can make a enormous effect in the business of Toothpaste. Presently UK is in front of a great economic down turn. With the present condition financial, employment,, mortgage sectors are deficiently effected . Earnings of people have decreased and the inflation rose up. In this situation people dont spend money for their residence and cant do proper savings. Due to current market situation any new products may effected in their business. The international business market is still growing. Through our Herbal Toothpaste products we are expecting it will add greater amounts to its business. So it would be badly exaggerated if some delay in the UK FMCG market with market concentration risks. Social: Social environmental factor has a great emphasis on business environment especially with the present economic down turn. Customers have moved towards changes. Our products have enlarged the quantity of FMCG products like HERBAL TOOTHPASTE available for the customers. Nationalized retailers are gradually reserved to get on new suppliers (Clarke, Benison and Guy, 1994; Datamonitor Report, 2003). Type of products and services demand by the customers regarding their social circumstances and their subsequent attitudes and values. Customers are becoming much more aware about health and safety issue and the attitudes towards FMCG are always changing. Herbal toothpaste introducing its products mix to enlarge require for natural products. The consumers for Herbal Toothpaste are of middle, upper middle and upper class families in our target market. They are the relatively conscious part of the society, with both the need and the purchasing power necessary. Technological: Toothpaste is one of the most popular and fast growing products in UK market. Technology is a irregular macro-environmental that has affected the improvement of FMCG products. The customer and the company are being benefited as the technology provided new era in service. Technology helps a lot to rises the customers satisfaction. The company will use the modern high technology in production and all HERBAL TOOTHPASTE outlets will use the wireless devices, internet, intelligent scanner, electronic shelf labelling, Radio Frequency Identification, Close Circuit Camera (CCTV), Money paying machine etc. The electronic point of sale and electronic scanner have significantly enhanced the effectiveness of delivery and stocking actions, with requirements being communicated almost in authentic time to the supplier. 3.2. Porters Five Forces: Potential Entrants Industry Competitors Rivalry Among Existing Firms Suppliers Buyers Substitutes Threat of new entrants Bargaining power of Suppliers Bargaining power of buyers Threat of substitute products or services To analyze how the business atmosphere is changing the way of the product, the five forces model of Michael Porters has been used here. The competitive five forces have prepared by identifying five original competitive forces which are prospective entrance, threats of substitutes, bargaining power of buyers, bargaining power of suppliers and competition between existing companies. 01 Suppliers Power The major business giants are also a threatened for the new entrance business society if they bring the products from broad in cheaper rates side and dont take from the local suppliers. The services of aggressive competition have concentrated the earnings limitations for supermarket chains and suppliers. 02 Buyers Power The more products that become standardized or undifferentiated, the lower the switching cost and hence, more power is yielded to buyers, (Porter M. 1980). The power of buyers can also influence cost and investment, because powerful buyers demand costly service. The customers are aware about the products and its influences that they expect from third world producers. 03 Threat of Substitution General substitute is able to reduce demand for a particular product, as there is a threat of consumers switching to the alternative (Porter M, 1980). Herbal Toothpaste will create its own market through huge marketing activities but the existence of similar other products from companies like Colgate, kingfisher, Crest etc. 04 Threat of New Entry New entrants to an industry bring new capacity and a desire to gain market share that puts pressure on prices, costs, and the rate of investment necessary to compete. the company needs to monitor the market as well as ready to face challenges from such arrivals which then gives organisation better strength to maintain its image and loyalty to its consumers. It is very difficult for the new company to entrance and provide sufficient capital for big fix costs and extremely developed supply chain as there bare already business giants are there in the market. 05 Competitive Rivalry The FMCG business environment has grown in significant way in shape and dominated by the larger chain opening big store, developing concentrate of retailer and proper utilization of the formats. Herbal toothpaste may faces competitive rivalry from Colgate, kingfisher, crest. the organisation needs to bring more effective marketing intelligence provide early warning of opportunities and threats. 3.3. Target Market Actually all toothpaste users or potential toothpaste users represent the target market of Herbal toothpaste. As awareness for dental health and well-being is increasing tremendously in UK. According our own study the target market for Herbal toothpaste is also increasing. Target market of Herbal toothpaste is not also much limited or segmented by age. Toothpaste is a family product, thus used by family members of all age groups. The users of this paste are everyone in the family who looks for strong, healthy teeth without problems like cavity and tooth decay. Here, the basic target group consists of children up to 14 years of age and their parents and other senior members of the family. Fulfilled: Mature, satisfied, comfortable and reflective people who value order, knowledge and responsibility. They are Conservative, practical and look for functionality. For this reason Herbal Toothpaste will be promoted on the basis of functionality, i.e. strong teeth to the senior members. Believer: Conservative, conventional people with concrete belief based on tradition like family. They are the parents caring for the kids who stay loyal to the brands they find best. Again, the kids are expected to be traditional. For this Herbal Toothpaste promotion is targeted towards the kid who would become life-long loyal Herbal Toothpaste user. Geo-Lifestyle Analysis (PRIZM): The Herbal Toothpaste consumers are the Young suburbia. They have young families, mostly married couple with children. These families are affluent and strong consumer of family products like toothpaste. For this Herbal Toothpaste targets the family focusing the promotion on the kids. 3.4. Demographic: Population of Muslims in UK are 1.6 million, 2.8% or total population of UK. Age 5-50 Area: East London, Tooting Broadway, White Chapel, Bethnal Green 72% of Muslims living in East London Price Range  £3- £5 Total market 400,000 people. (Source: Total population-office for national statistic 2001, Muslim population-office for national statistic 2001) MARKETING MIX To know the character of customers and their needs and desires is only the first step, however. The organisation needs to act on that information, in order to develop and implement marketing activities that actually deliver something of value to the customer. The means by which such ideas are turned into reality is the marketing mix. The following figure summarises the areas of responsibility within each element of the mix. PRODUCT New product development (e.g. Herbal body lotion, body powder) Product management (With strong management team) Product benefits (Made by Natural fresh ingredients) Branding Packaging (Under the perfect monitoring of the Company with high technology) PRICE Cost (Herbal toothpaste will be low cost product comparing with others) Profitability (After 6 months it will be profitable for the company,) Value for money (Herbal toothpaste cost effective products for the customers) Competitiveness (The products will be competitive in the market) Incentives (On Bulk purchase) PROMOTION Developing communication mixes (With Company, retailers, end users) Advertising management (Company marketing strategy management team collaboration with local add firm) Sales promotion (For distributors, retailers, customers) Sales public relation management (campaign, contribution in social activities) Direct marketing PLACE Access to target market (Easy access all over in UK market) Channel structure (Distribution channels are Tesco, Asda, Boots, Sainsburys) Channel management (Through Herbal products management committee and selective retailers) Logistics (Companys own support) The 4Ps : 4.1. PRODUCT: Products are solutions to customers needs. The company (the product provider) needs to make various product decisions, including functionality, range offered, brand names, packaging, service and support. The product is normally the critical element in the marketing mix, with all other decisions relating to this element (Drummond Ensor, 2005). The ingredients are eucalyptus, myrrh, Chamomile, Sage and some other less known plants such as Lavang, Choti ilaychi, Saunf, Neem, Babool, Khadir. Herbal toothpastes also contain oils such as oils of coriander, ginger, lemon, and spearmint. Some of these ingredients are available in India and its very cost effective to import from there. Product name: HERBAL TOOTHPASTE Tag Line: Real Fresh Dental Care Target Market: 5-50 years customer (everyone can use) 4.1.1. Product Range: Herbal Gum Protection Toothpaste: Contain kinds of herb, such as honeysuckle and chrysanthemum etc, which prevent mouth from cancer and protect gum. Advanced milling raw material make teeth white. Constantly using can protect gum. It gives pleasant refreshing breath. (spec: 150gm) Herbal Anti-cavity Toothpaste: Have good function of anti-cavity, strengthen teethFruit flavor give mouth pleasant aroma. : (spec: 150gm) Herbal Tartar Control Toothpaste : Offering silica based white toothpaste which is specialized for controlling tartar. The toothpaste comes with fluoride and without fluoride and it is extremely helpful cavity protection along with refreshing breath. (spec: 150gm) Herbal Natural Toothpaste : We are engaged in offering supreme quality natural paste. The natural paste is created by using completely natural ingredients that make them absolutely safe to use and free from side effects. ( Spec: 150gm) 4.1.2. Labelling: Our state-of-the art manufacturing capabilities enable us to successfully undertake private labelling activity; on the behalf of our customers. We use latest technology in production and packaging, to ensure that the end product complies fully with your requirements. This enables you to market a trustworthy and genuine product, under your brand, at very reasonable prices. 4.1.3. Product Life Cycle: According to the Break- Even analysis we can predict that after 3.7 months the company will get profit from the product. It will increase through developing the products and introducing new products I the entire market. After a certain period of time (3.7 months) the product will be matured and will be established in the competitive market. Source:http://www.tomspencer.com.au/2009/01/25/product-life-cycle-model 4.2. PRICE: Pricing strategy is affected by various factors such as cost of production, internal and external factors, competitors price for similar products etc. For our product we need to analyze these factors in order to develop competitive pricing strategy to offer better value products to its customers. Since all of the products are freshly made, the cost of production must be less than its competitors which hence reflects on its different range of products. Herbal toothpaste will be recognized as low cost but quality based products. Furthermore, our products will carefully focus on segmented pricing such as kids products is offered for a low price. On the other hand, it cannot charge the same range of prices in Middle-East which it is charging in UK market a geographical pricing strategy of our product is more effective in order to gain international reputation. Promotional pricing also gives the company to penetrate market more effectively. Using the Cost-based pricing Strategy Herbal To othpaste will be sold @  £3.25 per unit (200gm) tube with  £1.85 unit contribution margin. Takes into consideration the fixed costs and variable costs in the Break -Even Analysis given below. 4.2.1. Break Even Analysis: 4.3. PLACE: The organisation must distribute the product to the user at the right place at the right time. Efficient and effective distribution is important if the organisation is to meet its overall marketing objectives. If an organisation underestimate demand and customers cannot purchase products because of it, profitability will be affected. (http://www.learnmarketing.net/place.htm) For a Hybrid marketing systems multiple distributor will be used for the Herbal Toothpaste Retailers Catalogues (free and available from the retailing shops) Samples from the partners. Vertical marketing systems will be contractual with our retailers like boots, Tesco, Asda, and Sainsburys. Indirect Channel: Distribution the products into different wholesaler/retailers Store the stocks in a warehouse or business self storage in London Ship the Product from Dubai to UK(London) Mid EC Inc based from DubaiLogistics and Distribution: 4.4. PROMOTIONAL STRATEGY: No strategy lasts forever. Organizations need to innovate strategies and implement them in order to obtain a continuous success. As we are going to launch a new product in a new market we have selected some promotional strategies. The promotion strategy of Herbal Toothpaste are advertising, sales promotion, public relations however there are two more promotion strategies which are personal selling and indirect marketing. It has been observed that Herbal Toothpaste will always be consistent in promoting sales through advertising in different media ranging from newspapers to TV and radio. The sales promotion via gift promotional vouchers are some other areas where Herbal Toothpaste will found equally consistent. Due to its effective marketing strategy, Herbal Toothpaste will attract more customers towards its stores and sales points. The other promotional strategy will be its slogan REAL FRESH DENTAL CARE, through such kind of promotional activities the product will get its place in t he market will acquire more market share compare to other products in the market. Herbal Toothpaste will be quite a heavily outdoor- advertised brand that it forms a part of the landscape of almost all the neighborhoods of England. Everywhere one goes, one can see the brand logo. The brand name is displayed in many forms, including the following Billboards Shop fronts and store headboards Posters and stickers Media ( Television, Radio) All of these increase the chances of exposure so much that it is almost impossible to be unfamiliar with the brand. Attention These advertises successfully attracts the consumer as they use focus on the kids. The promotional activities for the brand are designed to gain attention using a number of stimulus factors. Size: Ads for Herbal Toothpaste is all big billboards that must attract the consumer. Colour: All advertisements for Herbal Toothpaste will be Black and white accompanied by Red on one side. Position: Advertisements of Herbal Toothpaste dental cream try to take advantage of every possible position, be it the right, left or centre of a street. Format: All advertisements of Herbal Toothpaste make use of a simple format, to make it easier to understand. 4.5. SEGMENTATION AND POSITION Freshness Strength Family Personal Benefit Positioning: Like all other dental creams in the market, Herbal Toothpaste will be positioned on the basis of benefits offered to the consumers through competitive low price. It projects functional benefit of strong healthy teeth without tooth decay, cavity or any other problem. For this Herbal Toothpaste dental cream will be promoted as a family product. Crest Paste Colgate Gel Herbal Toothpaste Kingfisher Sensodyne Aquafresh This diagram compares the attributes of our contribution with the finest of our contest in each category. Preferably the demonstrate for our product will shape a circle around the boundaries of the graph. This assessment will force us to consider the power of each of the competitive offerings and how we must position our offering to face them. Source: http://www.brs-inc.com/models/model15.asp 5. IMPLEMENTATION OF MARKET STRATEGY Herbal Toothpaste is in the long term and short-term memory of the consumer. It is memorized as preventing tooth decay, making healthy teeth and healthy kid. Herbal toothpaste Strong teeth Strong kid Happy kid Reasonable Price Economic Red colour of package Energy No tooth decay Enjoy life High quality Happy Family Number one brand Fun Foreign Figure: Partial Schematic Memory of Herbal Toothpaste (personal views) Bridging Consumer Need and the Product: Happy kid Healthy kid Healthy Tooth Strong Teeth Herbal Toothpaste Complete toothpaste Natural Ingredients Toothpaste preferred by kid Happy Family Toothpaste for whole family Integrated Communication Mix N E E D B E N E F I T Bridged byNeed of the Herbal Toothpaste user is strong and healthy teeth. This can be graphically depicted. Product benefit is strong and healthy teeth due to different ingredient in the product. Herbal Toothpaste bridges this need and benefit with the help of advertisements in television and on print media. In the advertisement they show the need for and the way to have strong and healthy teeth. How Consumer Attitude is Influenced For the favourable attitude resulting in purchasing of Herbal Toothpaste, the company will focus on consumers consistent and positive mix of cognitive, affective and behavioural components. Changing Cognitive Component Changing the belief that not all toothpastes are equally capable to prevent tooth decay and Herbal Toothpaste does this task best. They show it by a comparative advertisement with a simple experiment on a tooth like shell (shonkho) and germ, where Herbal Toothpaste proves to be more effective in preventing decay. Herbal Toothpaste will carry out campaigns in schools to teach the children how to care their teeth. This in turn increases awareness and preference. Shifting importance towards stronger teeth than fighting germs, comparing with the competitors. Changing the ideal of teeth, with more emphasis on strength than on whiteness and freshness implying that all these would come with strong teeth. Changing Affective Component Classical conditioning with children smiling (described before) With emotional appeal in the advertisement and continuous exposure on TVC, Billboard, Hoarding, newspaper, on Internet and religious festivals. Changing Behavioural Component Promotion in the school level accompanying free sample, Arranging drawing competition for the kids, Giving free gift of drawing book and pencil to the kids. Self-Concept: Self-concept is the perception and attitude consumers hold toward themselves. The target group, as described earlier, is families who share collective values and where family affairs run around the children. Strengthening self-concept: Both actual and ideal self-concepts of both parents and children meet with projection of Herbal Toothpaste. Both the parents and the kid him/herself want to have healthy teeth that would make the whole family happy. Thus Herbal Toothpaste strengthens the self-concept of the consumers. Forming self concept: Self-concept is formed through interaction with the surroundings in very early stages of life. Keeping this in mind, Herbal Toothpaste conducts its school program, as described earlier. Through this program they form the self-concept of the kids that values health, strength and family. Thus Herbal Toothpaste attempts to form and strengthen favourable self-concept. 6. CONCLUSION: Toothpaste is one of the largely vibrant segments of the oral care market. The regularity of product launches in existing segments of the marketplace and origin of new product segments contributes to constant growth of the toothpaste market. Enlarge in sales of oral hygiene stuffs in key markets worldwide has mostly resulted from rising awareness of cleanliness and product modernism. New advancements have led to the launch of a diversity of high-priced, value-added multifunctional products in numerous oral care categories such as toothpastes and toothbrushes. Whitening toothpastes and products offer multiple functions are driving growth in the dentifrices segment. Its certainly big business its the biggest segment of the UK oral care market, with a  £330m share of the nearly  £840m total, according to research firm Euro monitor. Currently, for major toothpastes, averting tooth decay is not sufficient, which usually guarantee benefits such as fresher breath, healthier gums and whiter teeth. Technological advancements in recent years have altered the toothpaste segment to one that offers additional benefits besides just fighting cavities to customers. This made manufacturers to roll out products with a lot of additional features that were not available previously. Word count: 3735

Comparison of Magical Realism and Surrealism

Comparison of Magical Realism and Surrealism The comparison between the magical realism and the surrealism The research provides the comparison between the magical realism of South America and the surrealism of Europe, with a particular reference to One Hundred Years of Solitude (Cien Anos de Soledad) by Gabriel Garcia Marquez and The Metamorphosis (Die Verwandlung) by Franz Kafka. Applying to the comparative and historical theoretical approaches, the paper reveals both similarities and differences of two literary movements of the twentieth century. The received findings demonstrate that the magical realism of Gabriel Garcia Marquez is based on the unity of reality and fantasy, while the surrealism of Kafka deals with the harmony between dreams and rationality, or, applying to Freudian psychoanalysis, between the conscious and the unconscious. In this regard, some results of the research reflect the previous analyses of Kafka and Marquez, while other findings provide some new interpretations of Kafka’s surrealism and Marquez’s magical realism.   1 Statement of the problem Although the magical realism and the surrealism are two literary movements that were formed in different parts of the world, they have more similarities than differences. This is especially obvious on the examples of One Hundred Years of Solitude (Cien Anos de Soledad) written by Gabriel Garcia Marquez and The Metamorphosis (Die Verwandlung) written by Franz Kafka. Despite the fact that The Metamorphosis belongs to the genre of the surrealism, it is sometimes attributed to the genre of the magical realism; the same regards Marquez’s masterpiece. However, while the surrealism is aimed at the depiction of superior reality with the help of such tools as automatism, fantasy and mesmerism, the magical realism describes the real world in a combination with a fantastic realm. Overall, both the surrealism and the magical realism appeared as the revolutionary movements that challenged the civilised reality and the crucial role of rationality, considerably influencing the formation of new consciousness in South America and Europe in the twentieth century. 2 Introduction Literature of the twentieth century is characterised by the formation of various movements that reflected the essence of a rather contradictory and complex era, when different social, political, cultural and individual aspects emerged on a scene. Unquestionably, every literary movement made an attempt to implement its own ways of expression, forms, symbols and the treatment of certain crucial issues. However, after the era of rationality and in the threshold of Two World Wars, many writers and poets began to challenge pure reason, searching for the ways to combine reality with fantasy. In this regard, the magical realism and the surrealism are literary movements of that period, which oppose the conventional portrayal of reality and produce their own understanding of human existence. Thus, two movements reveal many common features and characteristics, especially the similar ways of presenting and interpreting reality; however, the magical realism and the surrealism are not identical genres. The magical realism overcomes the depressive and gloomy nature of the realism, trying to evoke the belief in supernatural things and simultaneously revealing the essence of reality. Applying to different perspectives and new ways of expression, the magical realism demonstrates the unusual world of Latin America torn between civilisation and primitive state, modernity and antiquity, social conflicts and cultural unity. The magical realism challenges rationality, puts questions and leads readers to fantastic realms. The surrealism is a more formal genre than the magical realism; the surrealism bases its ideas on a certain ideology, while the magical realism forms its concepts on the logic of imagination, presenting a unique universe. However, similar to the magical realism, the surrealism is in search of combining contradictory juxtapositions, producing profound implications and complex ideas of reality. On the other hand, the surrealism strives for freedom, but this struggle is rather delicate; it does not maintain the idea of political or social changes, but rather claims for psychological changes.   Thus, the purpose of this research is to compare the magical realism of South America and the surrealism of Europe on the examples of One Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel Garcia Marquez and The Metamorphosis by Franz Kafka. Evaluating the similarities and differences of these literary trends, the analysis is divided into several parts. Starting with a statement of the problem, which points at the major idea of the conducted research, the paper goes on with some social, political and cultural aspects of the magical realism and the surrealism. Chapter 3 presents a general overview of certain critical sources, which provide their interpretations of Marquez’s and Kafka’s literary works. The theoretical methods applied for the analysis are discussed in the further section. Chapter 5 provides a detailed comparison between the defined works of Marquez and Kafka, paying a particular attention to the principal elements of the magical realism and the surrealism. The summarisation of the received findings is conducted in the Conclusions Chapter, while the final chapter reveals the limitations of the research and gives certain suggestions for further analyses of Gabriel Garcia Marquez and Franz Kafka.   3 Review of the literature As the literary works of Gabriel Garcia Marquez and Franz Kafka belong to rather complex genres of the surrealism and the magical realism, which are characterised by the unity of contradictory elements, critics provide different interpretations of these authors. Kafka’s The Metamorphosis has been analysed by feminists, psychoanalysts, postmodernists, structuralists, Marxists and other scholars who utilised various approaches in the process of their research. Gavriel Ben-Ephraim points at the fact that â€Å"Kafka’s The Metamorphosis validates contradictory reading that cancels coherent interpretation†1, while Harold Bloom maintains the similar viewpoint. As the researcher claims, â€Å"my working principle in reading Kafka is to evade interpretation, which only means that what most needs and demands interpretation in Kafka’s writing is its perversely deliberate evasion of interpretation†2. William Madden draws a parallel between Kafka and the principal character of The Metamorphosis, revealing many autobiographical elements in the narration and stating that â€Å"it is literally a true account of a man, life, and the cosmos†3. Ralph Friedman expresses the viewpoint that â€Å"it is best to approach Kafka as a writer of realistic fiction†¦ [and that] symbolism must be taken into account, but it is not the master key of Kafka’s work†4. Evaluating the role of Kafka in worldwide literature, Friedman states that â€Å"Kafka went his own way†¦ No great artist can be caught in the categories set up by literary historians†5.  Despite various interpretations of Marquez’s work One H undred Years of Solitude, many critics agree in opinion that Marquez’s magical realism demonstrates profound social, historical, cultural and political contexts. According to Stephen Minta, Marquez is â€Å"inevitably concerned with the whole history of his country and continent, and, both as a writer of novels and as a journalist, he has constantly laid stress on the importance of developing alternative sources of history†6. Marquez’s researcher Regina Janes points out that â€Å"his [Marquez’s] fellow novelists recognised in the novel a brilliant evocation of many of their own concerns: a ‘total novel’ that treated Latin America socially, historically, politically, mythically, and epically†7. In fact, totality of One Hundred Years of Solitude is achieved through the unity of history and society; although Marquez seems to uncover the history of his region, he simultaneously reveals the history of Latin America, starting with the primordial times and ending with the establishment of Western imperialism. Anne Marie Taylor points at the fact that Gabriel Garcia Marquez treats history from two different perspectives; on the one hand, it is presented as a crucial tool for the explanation of the past, while, on the other hand, it is an integral part of the protagonists’ experience. According to Taylor, the characters of Marquez’s narration â€Å"see the past in general as part of the circular pattern of recurring events and in particular, as filled with negative personal experiences which they do everything possible to repress†8. Despite the variety of interpretations of Marquez’s and Kafka’s works, the further analysis makes an attempt to overcome the existing contradictions and compare One Hundred Years of Solitude with The Metamorphosis, presenting a profound research of the magical realism and the surrealism.   4 Research methodology The research utilises two theoretical methods – a comparative approach and a historical approach, which provide an opportunity to compare the magical realism of Gabriel Garcia Marquez and the surrealism of Franz Kafka. The aim of the comparative approach is to define both similarities and differences of the discussed literary movements, revealing unique features of each trend and of each literary work. Simultaneously, this approach uncovers a close connection between a literary work and such sciences as psychology or philosophy. However, due to some limitations of the comparative approach, the paper also applies to the historical approach to overcome a simple analysis of differences and similarities and demonstrate interpretations of Marquez’s and Kafka’s works through the historical perspective, as every literary source is inseparably connected with history. The historical approach takes into account historical periods when certain literary texts are written; the received results are further applied to the analysed works that reflect some common features of a particular epoch. Applying to an interpretative perspective, this approach evaluates social, cultural, and political changes that influenced certain aspects of literature9. In addition, the historical approach analyses forms, styles and literary tools of specific literary works, producing various valid interpretations of fiction. According to such historians as Raymond Williams, Steven Zwicker, Kevin Sharpe, and Geoffrey Hughes, the historical analysis of language in a literary work is crucial for the research of political, cultural and social changes10. 5 Discussion 5.1. The definitions of the magical realism and the surrealism The ‘magical realism’ as a notion belongs to a famous German critic Franz Roh who applied this particular term to the reality created by artists; according to Roh, the magical realism â€Å"employs various techniques that endow all things with a deeper meaning and reveal mysteries that always threaten the secure tranquillity of simple and ingenuous things†11. Although the magical realism is a comparatively novel literary movement, some elements of this genre can be found in the works of such famous writers as Honorà © de Balzac, Nikolay Gogol, Mikhail Bulgakov, Guy de Maupassant, Italo Calvino, Charles Dickens and Fyodor Dostoevsky. However, in South America the concept of â€Å"magical realism† was successfully utilised in literature since 1940s to reveal the realistic outlook of American nation. As a challenge to post-colonialism and the prevalence of European cultural values in various countries of South America, some writers created literary works that began to reflect a definitely new vision of reality that was later regarded as the ‘magical realism’. Due to the fact that South America was exposed to various cultural, social and political conflicts in the nineteenth-twentieth centuries, the magical realism successfully demonstrated the existing complexities of that particular period. In this regard, the magical realism is based on the harmony of contradictory aspects, such as past and present, reason and emotions, reality and unreality. Thus, on the one hand, this literary trend accepts reality, while, on the other hand, it also accepts supernatural elements as an integral part of this reality12. Unlike the fantastic literary genre, where the created world differs from the real world, the setting in the magical realism is created within the real contemporary world, depicting modern people and social realm, although through the fantastic perspective. According to the historical approach, this combination of reality and fantasy can be explained by the survival of Indian culture within European civilisation. In view of this combination, the magical realism of South America is characterised by such features as irony, hybridity, restraint and the balance between natural and supernatural. As for irony, authors of the magical realism utilise irony to preserve realism within their fantastic contexts; however, their fantasy is so real that is almost impossible to separate the realm of fantasy from the realm of reality. As the narrators or the characters turn to fantasy, their reality is changed, and these protagonists no longer belong to a particular social class; rather they belong to the realm of magical reality, which constitutes their own lives. Hybridity is one of the most important features of the magical realism, as it challenges the traditional realistic portrayal, demonstrating that reality is usually more complex than it is presented in the majority of literary works. In other words, reality is exposed to constant changes and mixtures, revealing the equilibrium between two extremes. Restraint and the balance between natural and supernatural are closely connected with the previous features; writers of the magical realism apply to these literary techniques to prove that any supernatural elements are normal for the protagonists who live within the magical reality. In addition, the magical realism demonstrates various fantastic components that seem rather logical, although this logic is not clarified within the narration. The best representative of the Southern American magical realism is Gabriel Garcia Marquez, a famous Colombian writer, although there are other writers of the magical realism, such as Isabel Allende, Toni Morrison, Ernst Junger, Ben Okri, Mario Vargas Llosa, Jorge Luis Borges, Juan Rulfo and Alejo Carpentier. For instance, The Famished Road by Ben Okri reflects such features of the magical realism as hybridity and restraint, which are demonstrated through the principal characters and the portrayal of social reality. Alejo Carpentier is a South American writer who is known for the creation of the notion ‘marvellous reality’ that defines the literature of new writers after the Second World War. Similar to the magical realism, the surrealism also deals with two realms, but these realms are of different nature. In particular, the surrealism is aimed at observing exterior reality and interior reality in their unity; in fact, it is difficult to achieve the unity of two realms, as one reality is social, while another reality is individual. The surrealism as a literary movement was created in the twentieth century and became spread in Europe after the First World War. Originating from the Dada movement, the surrealism in literature is based on positivism, rather than on negativism, although it challenges the traditional understanding of art. In the period of immense disappointment caused by the war, the surrealists made attempts to renew the lost culture and art, adhering to realism and truthfulness of expression. For Andre Breton, the author of The Surrealist Manifesto and the founder of the movement in 1924, the surrealism is expressed in the balance between the unconscious and conscious spheres; in this regard, dreams and rationality constitute a perfect reality in surrealistic literary works. Thus, the surrealism reflects Freud’s psychological theories on the conscious and the unconscious, especially the psychoanalyst’s ideas of the id and the ego; it also rejects the dominance of traditions and reason over imagination. In this context, both the surrealism and the magical realism stress the importance of dreams, treating fantasy as a crucial and serious aspect of reality. However, writers and poets of the surrealism pay much attention to intricate combinations of words, but not to the meanings of these words, complicating their literary pieces and adhering to mysticism of primitive societies. Some famous European surrealist authors and poets are Robert Desnos, Louis Aragon, Paul Eluard, Philippe Soupault, Tristan Tzara, Hugo Ball and Jean Cocteau who considerably maintain the ideas of pure primitivism, but one of the most outstanding writers of the surrealism is certainly Franz Kafka, whose major short stories and novels were published only after his death. Overall, both the magical realism and the surrealism make attempts to find supernatural in normal things and present reality through a new vision. As a result, literary pieces of the surrealism and the magical realism are characterised by the implementation of new experimental forms, styles, themes and ways of expression, changing the traditional interpretation of fantastic and real, ironic and dramatic. In addition to these common features, the surrealism points at the fact that reality can be understood only through the unconscious. According to such psychologists as Freud and Carl Jung, myths and legends reveal the common unconscious of a particular community; that is why many surrealist writers utilise myths for better portrayal of their characters. Simultaneously, myths in the surrealism appear as an implicit opposition to Western cultural traditions and way of thinking. For Freud, civilisation deprives people of their primordial nature, while myths return societies to their cultural roots and their true identity. In this regard, writers of the surrealism usually apply to the key feature of the movement – automatism, with the help of which they try to reveal the unconscious. Automatism provides the surrealists with an opportunity to express their thoughts and ideas in a freely manner.   5.2. The comparison between the magical realism of Gabriel Garcia Marquez and the surrealism of Franz Kafka Various elements of the magical realism are utilised in the work One Hundred Years of Solitude (Cien Anos de Soledad) written by Gabriel Garcia Marquez, where the writer mixes reality and fancy, overcoming profound differences between two realms. Above all, this mixing of spheres is expressed through the narrative tone of Marquez’s literary masterpiece. Applying to a serious and untouched tone, Gabriel Garcia Marquez manages to implicitly transform mystical and unreal events into real occurrences. The tone of his portrayal is so genuine that the whole narration seems natural, while combining the most controversial things. As the writer acknowledges, â€Å"the key to writing One Hundred Years of Solitude was the idea of saying incredible things with a completely unperturbed face†13. Marquez masterfully treats mystical elements, presenting them as an uncompromising truth. For instance, the priest, one of the novel’s characters, demonstrates the phenomenon of levitation that he performs with the help of chocolate; however, the protagonist regards this phenomenon as a normal act of God, claiming that â€Å"now we shall witness an undeniable proof of the infinite power of God†14. Thus, Marquez introduces the bizarre elements into his fantastic realm so unnoticeably that the readers accept them as natural things of their world. Introducing such supernatural elements as flying objects, carnivalesque and levitation, Marquez also applies to irony, symbolism and narrative distance. But the atmosphere of domesticity provides Marquez with an opportunity to gradually turn from fantasy to reality; in this regard, the introduction of Ursula into the narration serves this particular purpose. As Ricardo Gullon points out, â€Å"Ursula’s function is to impregnate the fictional space with everybody realities so that the marvellous may enter it smoothly†15. Other episodes of Marquez narration also demonstrate the writer’s skilful ability to switch from the supernatural to the real portrayal. This is especially vivid in the episode that describes Jose Arcadio’s death: â€Å"A trickle of blood came out under the door, crossed the living room, went out into the street, continued on in a straight line across the uneven terraces†¦ and went through the pantry and came out in the kitchen, where Ursula was getting ready to crack thirty-six eggs to make bread†16. Despite its unusual and mystical portrayal, the death of Arcadio is perceived as real due to the precise style of expression and the description of daily life. As in the real world, some people in Marquez’s novel die, while other characters continue to lead their usual existence. Maintaining the similar tone for the portrayal of real and unreal things, Marquez â€Å"never allows it to become evident, by interjection or amazement, that there may be a substantial difference between the extraordinary and the commonplace†17. The writer makes no attempt to question any supernatural elements or events; instead Marquez treats mysterious and real things in the similar way, revealing their mutual coexistence. For instance, a flying carpet is a normal phenomenon for the citizens of Macondo, it is the reality that evokes no doubts. As Marquez claims, â€Å"this time, along with many other artifices, they [the gypsies] brought a flying carpet. But they did not offer it as a fundamental contribution to the development of transport, rather as an object of recreation†18. Applying to such exaggerated portrayals of people and things, Marquez creates an atmosphere of reality that seems logical and natural. On the other hand, such portrayals allow Marquez to introduce the comic elements into the narration; utilising certain hyperboles, the writer at the same time presents them as reasonable. In his portrayal of Melquiades, Marquez states that â€Å"He was a fugitive from all the plagues and catastrophes that had ever lashed mankind†¦ But in spite of his immense wisdom and his mysterious breadth, he had a human burden, an earthly condition that kept him involved in the small problems of daily life†19. Although this exaggeration seems unreal for the modern world, it is absolutely normal for the fictitious world created by Marquez. The same regards other hyperboles, such as â€Å"it rained for four years, eleven months, and two days†20. Despite the fact that this hyperbole contradicts the existing reality, its accurate definition reveals the rigour of the catastrophe and implicitly points at the probable consequences of the occurred incident. Thus, Marquez’s principal narrative tool is the mixture of fantasy and exaggeration presented through the fictitious reality, as is especially obvious in the following utterance: â€Å"The world was so recent that many things lacked names, and in order to indicate them it was necessary to point†21. However, despite its fantastic elements and its fictional setting in the place of Macondo, One Hundred Years of Solitude reveals the true historical past of Columbia and the ironical social reality. As history is inseparably connected with culture, Marquez’s work demonstrates a profound historico-cultural context. Simultaneously, One Hundred Years of Solitude reflects a considerable impact of Kafka’s The Metamorphosis on the creative work of Marquez. While Kafka renovates the fable, adjusting it to the contemporary daily life, Marquez puts the fable within the strange, but familiar modern environment. In The Metamorphosis (Die Verwandlung) Franz Kafka portrays a person who leads a life created by his family and society, finally transforming into an insect. In his surrealistic portrayal Kafka applies to symbolism, similar to Marquez, to demonstrate person’s alienation in the cruel reality and reveal that this reality is not exposed to any logic. Suffering from the constant domination of his father, Kafka turns to an implicit way of expression to oppose this terrifying control. In this regard, Kafka’s surrealism is expressed in the portrayal of mysterious and spiritual things through the bureaucratic perspective; while Marquez’s magical realism is revealed through the fictitious romanticism that uncovers real social and historical events of South America. Like Marquez, Kafka bases The Metamorphosis on contradictions and absurdity, on the extremes of reality and fantasy; however, his manner of expression is gentle and inconsequent. At the same time, Kafka, similar to the author of One Hundred Years of Solitude, pay much attention to the details, intensifying the narration. On the other hand, while Marquez combines seriousness with irony in his interpretation of the occurred events, Kafka uncovers his story through a philosophical perspective. Every thought or dream in Kafka’s narration evokes certain reflections and emotions in readers; for instance, the following expressions reveal father’s attitude towards his son, as Gregor changes into a vermin: â€Å"His father knotted his fist with a fierce expression on his face as if he meant to knock Gregor back into his room†22 or â€Å"at any moment the stick in his father’s hand might hit him a fatal blow on the back or on the head†23. However, despite the fact that Kafka’s critics overlook subtle irony in The Metamorphosis, the whole narration demonstrates profound irony, as the writer makes an attempt to reveal that person’s life is a temporary existence that is under the control of fate. In this regard, the real meaning of life is to preserve his/her own identity under the pressure of society and family, but not to attain wealth or high social position. Maintaining a rather objective viewpoint, the writer creates a sole protagonist Gregor Samsa who embodies Kafka’s own self and his own existence; thus Kafka’s story is autobiographic. For instance, at the beginning of the story Kafka provides the following description: â€Å"He [Gregor] was lying on his hard, as it were armor-plated, back and when he lifted his head a little he could see his dome-like belly divided into stiff arched segments†24. The writer applies to such portrayals throughout the narration, implicitly revealing his own suffering and intensifying realism of his descriptions. As Kafka once claims to Felice Bauer, â€Å"I was simply too miserable to get out of bed†¦ I’ll write you again today, even though I still have to run around a lot and shall write down a short story that occurred to me during my misery in bed and oppressed me with inmost intensity†25. When Gregor ponders over his job of a travelling seller, he thinks that he has chosen this work, while in reality Gregor does not have a choice in this particular matter, as he works without salary to return the debt of his family. Kafka also worked as a travelling seller, and he embodied his wish to change his job and his life in the short story. Thus, The Metamorphosis deals with a sudden change; as Gregor transforms into a vermin, his life and his inner self become completely different. Gregor’s change is â€Å"the first occurrence in his life over which no one (including he) had any control†26. Despite the negative consequences of this transformation, it â€Å"allows [Gregor’s] hidden self to emerge, the self that had been stifled for so many years†27. In this regard, Kafka’s surrealism stresses the importance of finding one’s self; Gregor’s transformation provides him with an opportunity to receive freedom, thus â€Å"in his death likewise he is both extinguished and set free†28. In fact, according to Martin Greenberg, â€Å"the first sentence of The Metamorphosis announces Gregor Samsa’s death and the rest of the story is his slow dying†29. In the first instances of his conversion, Gregor is overwhelmed with the questions of daily routine; however, as the protagonist adjusts to his new image, he starts to ponder over the vital issues of existence. Simultaneously, Gregor is no longer afraid of death, as â€Å"his death is a †¦ liberating realisation. Gregor says, â€Å"Yes†, to his own death and dies reconciled with himself and with the New World†30. Therefore, Kafka’s symbolism demonstrates his own opposition to society, in which he lives, his opposition to the existing social stereotypes and biases. Gregor’s physical and psychological transformation occurs, because the character is no longer able to withstand his routine life and the pressure of his family. According to Thorlby, in The Metamorphosis the writer reveals that â€Å"man is hopelessly and inappropriately situated in the world as a beetle would be in a human family†31. As a result, Gregor looses his human features, implicitly revealing his reluctance to belong to the human race. As William Madden points out, â€Å"In his story, Kafka has undoubtedly exorcised some personal devils, notably his ambivalent feelings towards his father Hermann†32. In view of such interpretation, Kafka’s philosophy is closely connected with psychoanalysis of Freud; similar to other surrealist writers, Kafka, on the example of Gregor, demonstrates a struggle between the unconscious animal instincts and the conscious human reason. The unconscious receives victory in this struggle, as Gregor completely looses any human features, thus revealing the importance of the unconscious for a human being. On the other hand, Kafka points at the fact that Gregor’s loss of human features occurs only when society and family reject him. As Gregor realises that his own parents are cruel to him, he looses any wish to be a human and dies. According to Corngold, â€Å"Gregor’s metamorphosis into a disgusting insect seems to confirm the father’s opinion of his son†33. The Metamorphosis reveals the destroying impact of father’s behaviour on Kafka’s mentality; throughout the narration Kafka applies to the descriptions of such attitude, like in the following portrayal: â€Å"from behind his father gave him a strong push which was literally a deliverance and he flew far into the room, bleeding freely†34. Kafka’s surrealistic way of expression is rather shocking, as in the following portrayal, â€Å"if he [Gregor] tried to bend a leg, it first straightened out; and he finally succeeded in taking charge of it, the other legs meanwhile all kept carrying on, as if emancipated, in extreme and painful agitation†35. But the writer raises crucial issues of existence, revealing that modern society conforms to certain stereotypes, which may destroy a person’s identity and life. The issue of death is also implicitly shown throughout Kafka’s narration, in fact, it is the major theme of The Metamorphosis. Similar to the balance between the realms of the conscious and the unconscious, surrealist writers draw a parallel between life and death. Kafka’s treatment of death reflects his obsession with death under complex life conditions.  As Gregor transforms into a vermin, he starts to realise that all his life is a simple illusion and that all his beliefs are false. The protagonist experiences loneliness and loss, rejection and lack of understanding. As a result, Gregor isolates himself from the rest of the world, and this isolation causes the character’s destruction. In this regard, Gregor Samsa resembles Jose Arcadio Buendia, the character of Marquez’s work One Hundred Years of Solitude, as both Gregor and Jose are destroyed by their isolation. However, Marquez and Kafka treat the theme of isolation differently; in The Metamorphosis Gregor’s isolation destroys only him, positively influencing all members of his family and uniting them. Before Gregor’s transformation, the Samsas family morally degrades, but Gregor saves them. As Rudolph Binion rightfully points out, â€Å"It is beneficent to his family – [Gregor’s] decline revitalizes them – and so by way of his morbid choice, a free and deliberate one in the end, [Gregor] acquires tragic dignity†36. In view of this fact, Gregor is usually compared with Jesus Christ; this allegoric parallel reveals that Kafka’s surreali