Advertising Agency Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Advertising Agency - Essay Example To create a successful advertising campaign to stimulate consumer interest, target groups, objectives, campaign communication and expectations, along with communication strategy must be considered for both companies.The target group for the first, smaller company is sportsmen who use food supplements as part of their regimen. The objective of the campaign is to increase sales to such sportsmen through the specialized selling shop, sales representatives, and over the internet. The advertisement should communicate to sportsmen that the food supplements sold by the small company are necessary for increased sports performance. The expectation of this advertising campaign is that sales will increase through the positive message about food supplements from this particular company. The company is small, therefore, the communication strategy is limited only by the company's advertising budget. Internet "ad banners' and small magazine advertisements in sportsmen magazines is a strategic and c ost effective way to successfully market this small company's food supplements.The target group for the second company, a large, multinational organisation is a wide variety of consumers, as this company's main staple is detergent. The objective of the campaign is to increase sales by keeping the company's detergent on the minds of consumers. The advertisement should communicate to all consumers that the detergent sold is superior to other detergents on the market. The expectation of this advertising campaign is that sales and demand will increase for the company's detergent. The company is large, and therefore, has a large advertising budget, so a mass media campaign will be continued, over the internet, broadcast media, and print media. Certain techniques are used by advertising agencies and/or advertisement producers to promote creative ideas, which include "formulating advertisement objectives; designing an advertising budget; making creative decisions; choosing a media strategy and evaluating the advertisement" (Shank, 2001, p. 325). Advertisement objectives are usually categorized as either direct or indirect. Direct ad objectives, such as advertising to end user consumers and sales promotion advertising, are designed to stimulate action among consumers of a certain type of product. On the other hand, indirect objectives create consumer awareness and provide information to consumers. After each objective has been determined, budgets are considered for the ad campaign. "Budget techniques such as competitive parity, objective and task, arbitrary allocation, and percentage of sales are commonly used by advertisers" (Shank, p. 325). The next step is to make the creative decisions that will identify the ideas and the concepts that will be used in the advertisement. In order to develop the concept for the ad, benefits of the product must be identified, ad appeals are designed, and ad execution decisions are made. Next, a media strategy is formed, including decisions about what medium for advertisement will be most effective and target the market consumer. Finally, the ad is evaluated to determine whether it will fulfill its purpose of increased awareness and sales. Task B Another method of understanding target groups, the core message of the advertisement, communication, and art elements of the advertisement is to observe two (2) examples of advertising campaigns. The first ad is for Calgon, a water softener that is touted to protect washing machines from sediment build up. The second is for Aquila, a mineral water that releases harmful chemicals from the body with every sip.

Chinese video gaming Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Chinese video gaming - Essay Example It is obvious that this independence has definitely led to positive results for the country’s development. However, there are certain other aspects of the Chinese gaming industry that come to the fore on a closer analysis. The industry does not only have a positive side to it, there are also some negatives and drawbacks that can be seen. This is mainly in terms of the strict â€Å"state censorship† that the imported games pass through before reaching the markets of China (Wolf 108). Due to the various strict ideals of the government of China, it is not easy for foreign games to be sold in the markets. The content of every game is thoroughly checked and those found inappropriate are either deleted from the games, or the game is banned altogether. The gamers, however, are not satisfied with the new version of the games and, therefore, they resort to pirated full versions of the game. The gamers fail to understand that the real objective behind this censorship is to  "promote domestically made games,† in order to â€Å"protect the Chinese market† (Wolf 108). Studies have proved that the online games in China are now the â€Å"mainstream form of game consumption† and that the â€Å"market share of imported games† is on the decline (Wolf 109). This is significantly so because the broadband development in the country has been increasing considerably and due to the fact that China has not turned into the â€Å"second biggest internet market† on the face of earth (Chung). Piracy in China is a major problem and it has created conflicts with â€Å"game manufacturers in Japan and United States,† putting the membership of China in the â€Å"global gaming community† into jeopardy (Wolf 109). The game manufacturers are forced to produce online games and are reluctant to... With the massive advances in technology, man has transformed the impossible into the reality. Almost all fields have reached greater heights with the constant innovations in technology. This is especially so in the case of the entertainment field, including various industries such as movies, music, dance, gaming etc. The modern technologies in video gaming have taken entertainment to the next level through the creation of interactive user interfaces. For example, there are a lot of motion sensitive games that have become highly popular among the modern generation. These games are designed in such a way that the game processor detects the movements of the human body and replicates those movements into the respective characters of the game. These types of games are popular throughout the world and the gaming industries of different countries, seeing the potential of this sphere, plan to work hard towards tapping this niche much more. One such country that has recognized the significance of this field is China and its gaming industry, which is now â€Å"one of the fastest growing interactive entertainment† industries worldwide. Piracy in China is a major problem and it has created conflicts with â€Å"game manufacturers in Japan and United States,† putting the membership of China in the â€Å"global gaming community† into jeopardy. The game manufacturers are forced to produce online games and are reluctant to manufacture other games due to fear of piracy. Thus, the Chinese government needs to implement laws and devise ways in which it can get rid of piracy once and for all. The gaming industry in China is greatly influenced by â€Å"South Korea and the United States† and, therefore, it does import games from these countries in addition to Japan

Impact of Audit Quality of Real Earnings Management

Impact of Audit Quality of Real Earnings Management Abstract This study aims to evaluate the influence of audit quality (auditor size and auditor tenure), political connection, and institutional ownership toward real earnings management. Purposive sampling was conducted and 83 manufacturing companies registered in Indonesian Stock Exchange during 2010-2014 were acquired as the samples. For testing the hypotheses, panel data regression random effect model was used. The results showed that auditor size and institutional ownership had positive influence toward real earnings management, while audit tenure and political connections did not influence real earnings management. The control variable testing showed that   leverage and loss had negative influence toward real earnings management, while cash ratio had positive effect towards real earnings management. These result have implication for the investors to pay attention to operating cash flow average, because there is still a possibility of real earnings management, although the company audito rs were from the big-4 auditors. Keywords: real earnings management, audit quality, auditor size, audit tenure, political connections, institutional ownership.. INTRODUCTION Managers can apply accrual earnings management and real earnings management to achieve the desired profit (Fisher and Rosenzwig, 1995; Roychowdhury, 2006). The real earnings management is impose bigger long-term costs, because it has negative consequences toward future cash flow which reduce firm value (Roychowdhury, 2006; Cohen et al., 2008; Cohen and Zarowin, 2010). Graham et al., (2005) and Cohen et al., (2007) clarify that the reasons why a company using real earnings management is to avoid auditors and regulators detection. The real earnings management is more difficult to detect because it is almost similar to a companys operational activity (Kim et al, 2010). Becker et al. (1998); Johnson et al.( 2002); Balsam et al.,(2003); Chen et al. (2011), and Inaam et al. (2012)   showed that audit quality (auditor size and auditor tenure) reduce accrual earnings management. Therefore, companies that want to conduct earnings management will shift from accrual earnings management to real earnings management (Chi et al., 2011). Auditor size positively affect real earnings management (Chi et al., 2011; Inaam et al., 2012). Meanwhile, Nihlati and Meiranto (2014) showed that the auditors size negatively impact real earnings management. Chi et al. (2010) found that auditor tenure had positive influence toward real earnings management. While Inaam et al.(2012), Herusetya and Pujilestari (2013) found that auditor tenure did not affect real earnings management. Inaam et al., (2012) conducted a research about the influence of audit quality toward the real earnings management in Tunisia and suggested that the future research can include political connection and institutional ownership as independent variables. Pollitically connected companies have bad reporting quality (Chaney et al., 2010). Meanwhile, Batta et al. (2014) found that political connection positively affect the reporting quality. The phenomena of pollitically connected companies in Indonesia is state-owned enterprises became disorganized after were interfered by political parties (Muqoddas, 2012). Indonesian Corruption Watch data showed that there were 48 legislators who were entrepreneurs that were exposed for corruption case (Gabrillin, 2014). Shleifer Vishny (1986); Bathala et al. (1994); Velury Jenkins (2006); Mehrani et al. (2016) showed that institutional ownership reduce accrual earnings management. The institutional investors monitoring toward managerial process and accounting information accuracy are stronger. For avoiding detection by the institutional investors, companies will shift from accrual earnings management to real earnings management. The aim of this research is to evaluate the influence of audit quality, political connection and institutional ownership toward real earnings management. This study contributes in adding political connection and institutional ownerships as independent variables, as suggested by Inaam et al. (2012). Up to now, studies about real earnings management in Indonesia are rarely conducted and, if any, they have not correlated political connection and institutional ownerships toward the real earnings management study yet, so this study will fill in that gap. As the structure of this paper, literature review and hypotheses development will be discussed on the next part. The research method will be discussed in the third section. This is followed by result and discussion and the final section concludes the study. LITERATURE REVIEW AND HYPOTHESES DEVELOPMENT Auditor Size and Real Earnings Management Earnings management can be applied through accrual and real activities (Roychowdhury, 2006; Zang, 2007; Cohen and Zarowin, 2010). The methods of real earnings managements are sale manipulation, overproduction, and reducing discretionary expenses (Roychowdhury, 2006). DeAngelo (1981), Becker et al. (1998) and Krisnan (2003) found that big size auditors   have better audit quality   than small auditors.   The Big-4 auditors is considered to be more competent than the non Big-4 auditors if seen from their education, training, and experience (Amijaya and Prastiwi, 2013), their independencies (Zou and Elder, 2003) and their good reputation (Christiani and Nugrahanti, 2014). Big-4 auditors competency will ease the earnings management detection. Therefore, companies tend to choose real earnings management, so it will be more difficult to be identified. Cohen and Zarowin (2010), Chi et al. (2011), Inaam et al. (2012) found out that auditor size positively influences real earnings manag ement. H1: Auditor size has positive influence toward real earnings management. Auditor tenure and Real Earnings Management Auditor tenure is the number of years of an auditor being assigned by a company (Myers et al., 2003). The longer engagement duration, the higher auditors knowledge about that company, so it ease in detecting earnings management (Giri, 2010). The company will shift from accrual earnings management to real earnings management so that it will not be detected easily. The real earnings management tends to be out of the auditors supervision (Chi et al., 2011) and it will be hard to detect because it is almost the same as companys daily operational activity (Kim et al., 2010). Cohen and Zarowin (2010) and Chi et al. (2011) found that auditor tenure has positive influence toward real earnings management. H2: Auditor tenure has positive influence toward real earnings management. Political Connection and Real Earnings Management A company can be called politically connected if the biggest shareholder (has minimum 10% of voting rights) or top officers serves as the parliamenterian, minister, or has close relation with a politician or political party (Faccio, 2006). A company which has political connection will get the benefit such as capital allocation (Fisman, 2001; Goldman et al.,2010), better business opportunities (Fisman, 2001), and bailouts from the government (Faccio et al., 2006). If a company is not able to maintain its reputation and profit, It will loose special previlege from political connection (Braam et al., 2015). For increasing their performance, the companies tend to perform real earnings management. Earnings management detection would lead decreasing in companys reputation, increasing in political cost and the companys external interventions (Watss and Zimerman, 1990; Faccio, 2006; Ramanna and Roychowdhury, 2010; Kothari, 2012). For avoiding that detection, the company will shift the accrual earnings management to real earnings management. Chaney et al.,   (2011) found out that politically connected companies tend to conduct earnings management. H3: Political connection has positive influence toward real earnings management. Institutional Ownership and Real Earnings Management Institutional investors generally have a big number of shares, so they carry out strict monitoring to the companies performance and   companies information quality (Velury and Jenkins, 2006; Pound, 1988; Shleifer and Vishny, 1986). Bushee (1998) and Potter (1992) found out that institutional investors were too focus on the short-term performance, so they force the managers to achieve that short-term profit. For improving their performance and for avoiding the detection from institutional investors , the managers will prefer real earnings management than accrual earnings management. H4: Institutional ownership has positive influence toward real earnings management. RESEARCH METHODOLOGY Samples and Source of Data This study used the manufacturing companies listed in Indonesia Stock Exchange during 2010-2014 periods. The criteria for purposive sampling method are the companies published annual report sequentially during that periods and the annual reports were finished on the December 31st. There were 83 companies were selected as the samples, so there were 415 firm year observations. The annual reports acquired from the Indonesia Stock Exchange website. The political connection data were acquired from (1) annual report and tracing down the Board of Directors and Board of Commissioners biography from the sites in Google, (2) the Indonesian Republic National Portalwebsite (indonesia.go.id), the Indonesian Republic House of Representative website (www.dpr.go.id), and Tokoh Indonesia Indonesian Leaders (www.tokohindonesia.com). Variables Real Earnings Management (Dependent Variable) Abnormal Cash flow from operation will be used as proxy of real earnings management. When the companies apply real earnings management, the average of   CFO will be negative (Roychowdhury, 2006; Chi et al., 2011., Inaam et al., 2012 and Ratmono, 2010). CFOt= operating cash flow of company i in year t At-1= the total asset of company i in t-1 year St= the total sales of company i during year t ÃŽÂ µt= abnormal cash flow from operation (regression residual, real earnings management proxies, REM) Independent Variables Political connection, auditor size, auditor tenure and institutional ownership are the independent variables. Table 1: Independent Variables Measurement Independent Variables Measurement Political Connection ( Political connection variable will be measured by calculating the number of Board of Directors and Board of Commissioners, both the chiefs and the members who are also the House of Representative members, ministers or vice ministers, or related to prominent politicians and political party members (Braam et al., 2015) Auditor size (AUDSIZE) A Dummy variable, 1 if the firm was audited by a Big 4 auditor, 0 otherwise (Chi et al., 2011; Inaam et al., 2012.,Christiani and Nugrahanti, 2014). Auditor Tenure (TENURE) The number of engagement years or auditing period assigned in which the auditors from the same Public Accountant Firm conduct audit engagement to the auditee during 2010-2014 periods (Chi et al., 2011; Inaam et al., 2012) Institutional Ownership (INSTOWN) The percentage of shares owned by the institutional investors (Velury Jenkins, 2006; Mehrani et al., 2016; Wiranata and Nugrahanti.,2013) Control Variables Leverage, company loss and cash ratio were used as control variables in this study. Leverage/ LEV (the total debt/ the total asset) positively influence the REM (Herusetya and Pujiletari, 2013). The loss of the company is measured using a dummy variable, 1 if company has net loss and 0 otherwise (Herusetya and Pujilestari, 2013). One of the reasons why a company applies real earnings management is to cover up the company loss (Roychowdhury, 2006). Cash ratio (CCE) is the ratio of the cash and cash equivalents toward the total asset (Herusetya and Pujilestari, 2013). The higher CCE ratio, the faster companys cash flow, so it will ease the manager in utilizing the available cash to have earnings management (Herusetya and Pujilestari, 2013). Regression Model Panel data regression analysis was chosen to perform the hypotheses testing because this study used data combination of time series and data cross section (Winarno, 2015). Hypotheses H1, H2, H3, H4 and control variable in this study will be tested using empirical model as follows: RESULT AND DISCUSSION Descriptive Statistics Table 2 below showed descriptive statistics used in this study. Table 2 Descriptive Statistics (Pooled Sample, n= 415) Variable Mean Maximum Minimum Std .Deviation REM -0.006352 0.659900 -1.217470 0.188328 POLCN 0.245783 2 0 0.468655 AUDSIZE (dummy variable) 1 0 0.485552 TENURE 2.554217 5 1 1.381844 INSTOWN(%) 70.4841 100 0 19.61332 LEV 0.470906 4.189190 0.000265 0.321157 LOSS (dummy variable) 1 0 0.339475 CASH 0.102345 0.500295 0.000078 0.122287 From 415 firm years, 157 companies (37.8%) used the big-4 auditors and 258 companies (62.2%) used the Non-Big 4 auditors. Besides, there were 55 companies (13.3%) reported a loss. Real Earnings Management (REM) Testing Wilcoxon Signed Ranks Test was conducted to confirm whether REM are validly applied in the sample companies.   The result of this test are presented in appendix 1. If the average abnormal CFO was negative, the companies were assumed to apply REM in operating cash flow (Oktorina Hutagaol,2008). The Wilcoxon Signed Ranks Testing result showed that the mean of abnormal CFO was -0.006352 and its significance value was 0.046, so it was confirmed that those companies applied REM through operating cash flow. Panel data Model Testing Chow Test and Hausman Test for determining the appropriate estimation method were presented in appendix 2. Based on the Chow Test and Hausman Test results, the estimation method applied in this study was panel data regression using random effect model. Hypotheses Testing The results of hypotheses testing using panel data regression random effect model within 5% alpha level were presented in Table 3. Table 3 Hypotheses Testing Results Variable Expected sign Coefficient Probability Conclusion Intercept -0.077146 0.0997 AUDSIZE + 0.084373 0.0031*** H1 accepted TENURE + -0.008594 0.0968 H2 rejected POLCN + 0.001902 0.9380 H3 rejected INSTOWN + 0.001100 0.0372** H4 accepted LEV + -0.075769 0.0071*** LOSS + -0.067431 0.0083*** CASH + 0.268174 0.0043*** Dependent variable        Real earnings management (REM) R-squared                           0.119266 Adjusted R-squared 0.104118 F-statistic                           7.873503 Prob(F-statistic)              0.000000 **significant on alpha 5% ***significant on alpha 1% Auditor Size and Real Earnings Management The H1 testing shows that auditor size positively influence REM. This result is in line with Chi et al. (2010), Cohen and Zarowin (2010), Inaam et al. (2012), Nihlati and Meiranto (2014). The big-4 auditors are assumed to have better skills compared to non big-4 auditors, regarding from their educational backgrounds, trainings, and experiences (Amijaya and Prastiwi, 2013), their independencies (Zou and Elder, 2003) and their good reputation (Christiani and Nugrahanti, 2014).   The big-4skills will ease the auditors in detecting the accrual earnings management. Hence, companies will cover up the earnings management from the   auditors and prefer to apply real earnings management. Real earnings management is harder to be identified than accrual earnings management since it is almost the same as the companies daily operational activity (Kim et al., 2010, Graham et al., 2005; Gunny, 2010; Badertscher, 2011). Auditor tenure and Real Earnings Management The H2 testing result shows that auditor tenure did not had an effect toward REM. This result consistent with Inaam et al.(2012), Herusetya and Pujilestari (2013), Nihlati and Meiranto (2014). Gul et al. (2009) categorized the audit placement period into three categories, the short term (2-3 years), medium term (4-8 years), and long term (9 years).   Table 2 show that auditor tenure average is 2.5 years, and the short auditor tenure had not been able to influence real earnings management. By limiting auditor tenure, there will be a gap between the auditor and the company. In order to verify a company, auditors had to identify in advance the companies characteristics and managements, and it usually took quite a long time (Kono and Yuyetta, 2013). Amijaya and Prastiwi (2013) stated that why audit tenure did not have any influence toward earnings management was the auditors incapability in identifying earnings management. Political Connection and Real Earnings Management Based on Table 3, it can be seen that political connection did not had an effect toward REM. This result is in contrast with Braam et al. (2015). Political connection did not had an effect toward real earnings management because the numbers of political connections in the samples was few, which was 27.71% (23 out of 83 companies). There were only one person in board of directors and board of commissioners that were involved in political connection, so political connections did not influence real earnings management. Institutional Ownerships and Real Earnings Management The H4 testing result indicates that institutional ownerships positively influence REM. The institutional ownerships mean was 70.48%. Institutional investors who had a big number of shares will strictly monitor companys performance and companys information quality (Velury and Jenkins, 2006; Pound, 1988; Shleifer and Vishny, 1986). The strict monitoring made the companies that want to apply earnings management shift from accrual earnings management to real earnings management. Institutional investors were too focus on short term performance, so they urged the managers to fulfill that short term profit (Bushee,1998; Potter, 1992). For increasing their performance and for avoiding institutional investors detection, the managers would prefer real earnings management to accrual earnings management. Leverage, Company Loss, Cash Ratio and Real Earnings Management The testing results of control variables show that leverage negatively influenced REM. If a company has high levels of debts, it has to pay principal and high debt interest. The obligatory of those payments limit managers in using cash flow, including for real earnings management (Zamri et al.,2013).The company loss negatively influences REM. This finding is in line with Herusetya and Pujilestari (2013) and Roychowdhury (2006). When the company reported positive earnings, the company was assumed that they were covering up the loss through REM. If the company reported negative earnings, the company would be assumed that they did not apply REM, and the company was considered to not cover up the loss (Herusetya and Pujilestari, 2013). Cash ratio positively influence REM. The higher cash ratio, the better companys liquidity, so it would ease the managers in utilizing the provided cash for real earnings management (Herusetya and Pujilestari, 2013). CONCLUSION Although a study about audit quality and real earnings management has been conducted before, this study contributes in adding new independent variables, which are political connection and institutional ownerships. The testing results show that the auditor size and institutional ownerships can increase real earnings management. Meanwhile, audit tenure and political connection do not influence real earnings management. The testing toward control variables showed that leverage and company loss negatively influence real earnings management, while cash ratio had positive influence. The applied implication of these result is the investors need to see the operating cash flow average , because there is still a possibility of real earnings management, although the company auditors were from the big-4 auditors. The limitation of this study was a few number data of political connection although depth investigation had been carried out by looking at the name of legislative members/ ministers and vice ministers/ kinships to members of political parties. For the future study, the political connection criteria can be added by including the Indonesia National Forces retirees or ministry officials (for example the secretary general, directorate general, staff member of ministry, assistance of ministry). The future study may also add corporate governance mechanism as independent variables, such as managerial ownerships, auditing committee, and independent board of commissioners. REFERENCES Amijaya, M, D., Prastiwi, A., 2013. The impact of audit quality towards earnings management. Diponegoro Journal of Accounting 2 (3), 1-13. Ahsen, H., 2011. Audit firm industry specialization and audit outcomes: insights from academic literature. Research in Accounting Regulation 23 (1), 114-129. Badertscher, B.A., 2011. Overvaluation and choice of alternative earnings management  mechanisms. The Accounting Review 86 (5), 1491-1518. Balsam, S., Krishnan, J., Young, J., 2003. Auditor industry specialization and earnings quality. Auditing: A Journal of Practice Theory 22 (2), 71-97. Bathala, C. T., Moon, K. P.,   Rao, R.P., 1994. Managerial ownership, debt policy, and impact of institutional holdings: an agency perspective. Financial Management 23 (3), 38-50. 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Grooms Wedding Speech - Damn Statistics -- Wedding Toasts Roasts Spee

Groom's Wedding Speech - Damn Statistics Ladies and gentleman, I have to be honest with you all and admit that I am quite nervous about standing up here and speaking this evening. While I was writing my speech I came across some interesting statistics about what guests are thinking about during a wedding speech. Apparently, twenty percent of you are thinking about getting onto the dance floor and partying the night away. Thirty percent of you are thinking about the marital status of the best man. Ladies, you may be pleased to know that he is single. He's also not very fussy as he showed at the stag party (bachelors party). It turns out that twenty percent of you are thinking about what happened at the stag party (bachelors party). Moving swiftly on. Ten percent of you are thinking about the type of couple that we will make. A rather worrying statistic, from my point of view, is that fifteen percent of you are having romantic thoughts about the person sitting next to you. There are several people here tonight who I would like to thank. I'd like to start by thanking my ...

Wilde’s the Happy Prince and Other Tales and a House of Pomegranates

Literary influences of the books; Concern of Wilde on blending Christianity and aestheticism; : 1351 In a famous statement to W. B. Yeats, Oscar Wilde called Walter Pater's The Renaissance â€Å"my golden book; I never travel anywhere without it. â€Å"( n1) Nor is Pater's influence limited to a single book. Marius the Epicurean also had a strong impact on Wilde, and during his imprisonment, Pater's Greek Studies, Appreciations, and Imaginary Portraits were among the few books he asked for and received (Letters 399).Pater also had a powerful influence on Wilde's fairy tales, which critics have not so far focused on. The fairy tales of The Happy Prince and Other Tales and A House of Pomegranates reveal many influences–Hans Christian Andersen, Blake, Carlyle–but Pater is a chief influence on many of them. In De Profundis, Wilde wrote of Marius the Epicurean that in it Pater seeks to reconcile the artistic life with the life of religion in the deep, sweet and austere se nse of the word. But Marius is little more than a spectator: an ideal spectator indeed, [. . . yet a spectator merely, and perhaps a little too much occupied with the comeliness of the vessels of the Sanctuary to notice that it is the Sanctuary of Sorrow that he is gazing at. (Letters 476)In many of the fairy tales, Wilde's concern is exactly that of Pater in Marius–to blend Christianity and the artistic life or aestheticism. In others, he is more concerned with the conclusion to The Renaissance, with its insistent advice that we should devote our lives to the private enjoyment of the best objects of art–advice which he strongly rejects. The Happy Prince,† for instance, belongs to the latter group. When we first meet the happy prince, he is a beautiful statue, â€Å"gilded all over with thin leaves of fine gold,† his eyes are â€Å"two bright sapphires,† and â€Å"a large red ruby† is fixed on his sword-hilt (271). His position as an aestheti c object high above the city symbolizes the isolated, carefree, pleasure-seeking life he led before his death, when he lived in a beautiful palace that is itself a work of art. Every evening, he tell us, â€Å"I led the dance in the Great Hall† (272).The happy prince, then, begins his existence as an aesthete, a follower of Pater's advice in The Renaissance that to burn always with this hard, gem-like flame, to maintain this ecstasy, is success in life. [. . . ] We have an interval, and then our place knows us no more. Some spend this interval in listlessness, some in high passions, the wisest, at least among â€Å"the children of this world,† in art and song. [. . . ] Of such wisdom, the poetic passion, the desire of beauty, the love of art for its own sake, has most. 123) Even as a child, the happy prince devotes himself instinctively to a Pateresque life of art, song, and beauty, but in doing so he locks out Christian sweetness and purity. When he becomes a statue, the happy prince gradually recognizes all the pain and sorrow that exists in the city below him, and he develops into a Christian, a child of light. His heart overflows with love and pity, and he sacrifices his aesthetic glory to help others. In this, he is aided by a swallow who undergoes a similar pattern of development.Finally, he strips himself of all his beauty, and his leaden heart cracks when the swallow dies, but both are ready now to enter Heaven. Christianity and aestheticism do not blend in â€Å"The Happy Prince†: Pater's Renaissance is seen as an early, selfish stage that human beings should outgrow. The great problem of the infanta in â€Å"The Birthday of the Infanta† is that she does not go beyond the private aestheticism Pater recommended in his conclusion but remains monstrous in her icy beauty and cold palace, with its many objects of art.In â€Å"The Young King,† on the other hand, Christianity and aestheticism blend fully. The young king, th e son of an artist, is disowned at first by his grandfather the old king, but is later acknowledged as heir to the throne and brought into the palace. â€Å"From the very first moment of his recognition,† we are told, he had shown signs of that strange passion for beauty that was destined to have so great an influence over his life. [. . . ] The wonderful palace–Joyeuse, as they called it–of which he now found himself lord, seemed to him to be a new world fresh-fashioned for his delight; [. . ] he would run down the great staircase, with its lions of gilt bronze and its steps of bright porphyry, and wander from room to room, and from corridor to corridor. (213-14) This crucial passage reveals the young king as a disciple of Pater's Renaissance, constantly in a state of â€Å"ecstasy,† burning with â€Å"a hard gem-like flame† as he privately enjoys the manifold beauties of his palace of art. But as his nature develops, he becomes terribly aware, th rough three successive dreams, of the pain and evil that accompanied the acquisition of such magnificent objects of art.He becomes a Christian, embraces poverty, and goes to his coronation in rags. The realm mocks and opposes him, from the people to the nobles to the bishop, but he presses on and enters the church. The nobles follow with drawn swords, intent on killing him, but God intervenes and crowns him: And lo! through the painted windows came the sunlight streaming upon him, and the sunbeams wove round him a tissued robe that was fairer than the robe that was fashioned for his pleasure. The dead staff blossomed, and bare lilies that were whiter than pearls.The dry thorn blossomed, and bare roses that were redder than rubies. (221) The young king enters a new aesthetic realm, pure and indescribably beautiful. Christianity in this tale is the highest form of aestheticism: the young king abandons Pater's Renaissance and discovers a higher, religious Epicureanism, much as Marius d oes when it dawns on him–in the â€Å"Divine Service† chapter of the novel–that Christianity is â€Å"the most beautiful thing in the world† (303). Like Marius, in his final stage of self-development, the king blends Christianity and aestheticism. n2) The protagonist of â€Å"The Fisherman and His Soul† does the same thing. Initially, fascinated by the beautiful mermaid who sings marvelous songs and lives in a wonderworld beneath the sea, the fisherman casts away his soul and joins her. By the end of the tale, however, his heart becomes large enough to embrace in love both the mermaid and his soul: without abandoning aestheticism, he becomes a Christian, and his grave blooms, prompting a change in the wrathful priest, who speaks of all-embracing love and blesses all of God's creatures.Similarly, in â€Å"The Star-Child† the star-child's physical beauty returns only when he becomes spiritually beautiful along Christian lines: the two go hand in hand. Over and over in the fairy tales, but especially in â€Å"The Young King,† Wilde blends Christianity and aestheticism in the manner of Marius the Epicurean, and over and over he rejects the advice of the conclusion to The Renaissance, presenting it as an inadequate initial stage in the soul's spiritual development. NOTES (n1. ) W. B. Yeats, The Autobiography of William Butler Yeats (New York: Macmillan, 1953) 80. n2. ) In this essay, I follow Gerald Cornelius Monsman's reading of Marius in Pater's Portraits: Mythic Pattern in Fiction of Walter Pater (Baltimore: The Johns Hopkins Press, 1967). Although Marius never takes the final step of officially converting to Christianity, his death according to Monsman is the prelude to a final awakening and the full experience of God.

Implications on Psychology of the Article Essay

Implications on Psychology of the Article â€Å"Cultural Sensitivity and Cultural Competence† It was argued by Trimble (2003) that psychological constructs and studies should not be analyzed and taken in apart from a view on culture and ethnic background. The proposition had its strengths; however its absolute disqualification of psychological findings, made seemingly without regard to cultural differences, left much to be said. Among others, one of the article’s weaknesses was that although it spoke of cross-cultural studies and placed emphasis on the correct assessment of culture’s effects on psychological constructs, there was a marked focus mainly on North American culture (Trimble, 2003). Caucasians and cultural minorities in the United States were the main population regarded as evidence of the negativity of unfounded generalizations regarding the universality of principles. Seeing as the field of psychology was being attacked as being ethnocentric with its lack of attention to other ethnicities, Trimble also reflected the same ethnocentrism with its failure to take note of local studies conducted in other countries which were the actual home of the ‘other cultures’ that were being championed. The article attacked the unquestioned generalization of established psychological constructs with the presumption that the same are applicable to all persons since humans are basically the same. The role of cultural practices and the effect of cultural differences is not taken into consideration in the application of psychological concepts. Manners of methodology were targeted as a means of unifying indigenous concepts to form a universal store of psychology. However, there was no mention of the current practice or methods applied by psychologists conducting research. It is important to note how research methodologies are done as the same are the basis for clinical practices and even academic discussions in psychology. One specific practice in research is to describe the subject population being studied. This description serves to affirm the interactive culture that participants are exposed to everyday, although it is admitted that the descriptions rarely reflect the ethnic culture background of participants. However, using the definition of culture employed in the article as quoted from Brown in his 1991 book, the latter interactive backgrounds of the participants described in research reports was more reflective of culture as learned and not simply genetically transmitted (Trimble, 2003). It is also to be noted that the article focused its criticisms largely on cognitive, physiological, and evolutionary psychology perspectives, failing to take into account the largely cultural approach of perspectives such as behavioral psychology. Also, the criticisms revolved around the clinical practice of psychologists and the therapist-patient relationship. However, in the remedies suggested the focus was largely on the methodology in conducting researches. There was thus a gap in the parallelism of the problems and solutions presented. It should be admitted however that although the article failed to fully comprehend the nature of the discipline that is psychology, it also made some valid arguments against processes of research in the field. It cannot be refuted that foundational psychological concepts, and even novel concepts resulting from foundational psychological perspectives, are applied to different populations with little regard to whether the same are applicable to the cultural context. The universality of concepts has thus been more a top-down process rather than a conclusion formation considering local conclusions reached by individual communities. There should be a trend towards this same diagram of universalizing concepts. The fundamental question of research methods – not simply methodology in report which was discussed earlier – was also a valid question. Given the variations in communication and interaction in differing cultures, there arises a shift in the manner of drawing information from participants in order to achieve the most truthful self analyses, report, and presentation in researches conducted. When the article presumes however that the bottom-up process of universalizing concepts is largely non-existent in the field of psychology, it is mistaken. The United States is not the only country involved in psychological research and indigenous studies of psychology have already begun in countries outside of America. This is of greater relevance than the lack of the same in cultural minorities within the United States. The limited scope of the article’s focus with regard to cultural groups failed to consider this. However, the article was correct in analyzing the influence of language in the development of indigenous psychologies. Although it was correct in this, it failed to extend its analysis on the manner of interpretation of established psychological constructs in local psychological studies. It is an established practice in research reporting to define and operationalize different variables studied and taken into consideration. Thus, in some studies it was evident that although the same nomenclature was used there was a marked difference in interpretation of the same. Most often the differences in interpretation resulted from the different observations made of cultural practices. The process of generalizing inherent behaviors in particular cultures was thus already present in the mere interpretation of already established nomenclature.

ECON2065A Example

ECON2065A Example ECON2065A – Coursework Example United Nations Millennium Development Goals Grade In the year 2000, United Nations set up eight millennium goals that they hoped to achieve by the year 2015. They aimed to eradicate poverty and hunger by reducing the number of people who earn less than $1 a day by half between 1990 and 2015, halving the starving population, achieving universal primary education for all children, promote gender and empower all women through reducing gender discrimination, reduce child mortality by two thirds of children below five years (Sachs, 2005). They aimed at improving maternal health by three quarters and mortality ratio, combating HIV/AIDS, malaria, and other diseases by half by 2015 with the seventh aimed at ensuring environmental sustainability, integrating programs and countries policies and economizing on resources through providing safe drinking water and sanitation, in addition to developing a global partnership for development through being involved in nondiscriminatory trade and financ e. It also aimed at addressing the needs of the less developed countries through allowing free access to all countries, tariffs, debt relief programs among others. UN Department of Public Information (2014) postulates that efforts have been made to achieve the set goals. By 2014 July, regional, global, local, and national efforts have improved millions of people’s lives. These efforts have reduced poverty, improved the lives of slum dwellers, and provided clean and safe drinking water to people. The level of education has improved since gender discrimination has been eradicated in most primary schools. There is also progress in health, reduction of tariffs, and barriers. Women are also participating politically, which indicates gender equality. Child mortality of children below five years has reduced by half. The mortality ratio between 1990 and 2013 has reduced by 45%. There have also been provisions of anti-retrial viral therapy for people infected with HIV. This has saved the lives of 6.6 million people. Deaths from malaria and tuberculosis have also reduced due to malaria intervention techniques, such as providing mosquito nets to the populace.ReferencesSachs, J.D. (2005). Investing in development: A practical plan to achieve the millennium development goals. Millennium Project, 1-356.UN Department of Public Information. (2014). The Millennium Development Goals Report.

Kings Landmark I Have a Dream Speech

Kings Landmark I Have a Dream Speech In 1957, the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. founded the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, which organized civil rights activities throughout the United States. In August 1963, he led the great March on Washington, where he delivered this memorable speech in front of 250,000 people gathered at the Lincoln Memorial and millions more who watched on television. In the book The Dream: Martin Luther King Jr  and the Speech That Inspired a Nation (2003), Drew D. Hansen notes that the FBI responded to Kings speech with this disturbing report: We must mark him now, if we have not done so before, as the most dangerous Negro of the future in this Nation. Hansens own view of the speech is that it offered a vision of what a redeemed America might look like  and a hope that this redemption will one day come to pass. In addition to being a central text of the Civil Rights Movement, the I Have a Dream speech is a model of effective communication and a powerful example of the African-American jeremiad. (This version of the speech, transcribed from the original audio, differs in a number of ways from the now more familiar text that was distributed to journalists on Aug. 28, 1963, the date of the march.) I Have a Dream I am happy to join with you today in what will go down in history as the greatest demonstration for freedom in the history of our nation. Five score years ago, a great American, in whose symbolic shadow we stand today, signed the Emancipation Proclamation. This momentous decree came as a great beacon light of hope to millions of Negro slaves who had been seared in the flames of withering injustice. It came as a joyous daybreak to end the long night of their captivity. But one hundred years later, the Negro still is not free. One hundred years later, the life of the Negro is still sadly crippled by the manacles of segregation and the chains of discrimination. One hundred years later, the Negro lives on a lonely island of poverty in the midst of a vast ocean of material prosperity. One hundred years later, the Negro is still languishing in the corners of American society and finds himself an exile in his own land. And so weve come here today to dramatize a shameful condition. In a sense, weve come to our nations capital to cash a check. When the architects of our republic wrote the magnificent words of the Constitution and the Declaration of Independence, they were signing a promissory note to which every American was to fall heir. This note was a promise that all men, yes, black men as well as white men, would be guaranteed the unalienable Rights of Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. It is obvious today that America has defaulted on this promissory note, insofar as her citizens of color are concerned. Instead of honoring this sacred obligation, America has given the Negro people a bad check, a check which has come back marked insufficient funds. But we refuse to believe that the bank of justice is bankrupt. We refuse to believe that there are insufficient funds in the great vaults of opportunity of this nation. And so, weve come to cash this check, a check that will give us upon demand the riches of freedom and the security of justice. We have also come to this hallowed spot to remind America of the fierce urgency of now. This is no time to engage in the luxury of cooling off or to take the tranquilizing drug of gradualism. Now is the time to make real the promises of democracy. Now is the time to rise from the dark and desolate valley of segregation to the sunlit path of racial justice. Now is the time to lift our nation from the quicksands of racial injustice to the solid rock of brotherhood. Now is the time to make justice a reality for all of Gods children. It would be fatal for the nation to overlook the urgency of the moment. This sweltering summer of the Negros legitimate discontent will not pass until there is an invigorating autumn of freedom and equality. 1963 is not an end, but a beginning. And those who hope that the Negro needed to blow off steam and will now be content will have a rude awakening if the nation returns to business as usual. And there will be neither rest nor tranquility in America until the Negro is granted his citizenship rights. The whirlwinds of revolt will continue to shake the foundations of our nation until the bright day of justice emerges. But there is something that I must say to my people, who stand on the warm threshold which leads into the palace of justice. In the process of gaining our rightful place, we must not be guilty of wrongful deeds. Let us not seek to satisfy our thirst for freedom by drinking from the cup of bitterness and hatred. We must forever conduct our struggle on the high plane of dignity and discipline. We must not allow our creative protest to degenerate into physical violence. Again and again, we must rise to the majestic heights of meeting physical force with soul force. The marvelous new militancy which has engulfed the Negro community must not lead us to a distrust of all white people, for many of our white brothers, as evidenced by their presence here today, have come to realize that their destiny is tied up with our destiny. And they have come to realize that their freedom is inextricably bound to our freedom. We cannot walk alone. And as we walk, we must make the pledge that we shall always march ahead. We cannot turn back. There are those who are asking the devotees of civil rights, When will you be satisfied? We can never be satisfied as long as the Negro is the victim of the unspeakable horrors of police brutality. We can never be satisfied as long as our bodies, heavy with the fatigue of travel, cannot gain lodging in the motels of the highways and the hotels of the cities. We cannot be satisfied as long as the Negros basic mobility is from a smaller ghetto to a larger one. We can never be satisfied as long as our children are stripped of their self-hood and robbed of their dignity by a sign stating For Whites Only. We cannot be satisfied as long as a Negro in Mississippi cannot vote and a Negro in New York believes he has nothing for which to vote. No, no, we are not satisfied, and we will not be satisfied until justice rolls down like  waters and righteousness like a mighty stream. I am not unmindful that some of you have come here out of great trials and tribulations. Some of you have come fresh from narrow jail cells. And some of you have come from areas where your quest - quest for freedom left you battered by the storms of persecution and staggered by the winds of police brutality. You have been the veterans of creative suffering. Continue to work with the faith that unearned suffering is redemptive. Go back to Mississippi, go back to Alabama, go back to South Carolina, go back to Georgia, go back to Louisiana, go back to the slums and ghettos of our northern cities, knowing that somehow this situation can and will be changed. Let us not wallow in the valley of despair, I say to you today, my friends. And so even though we face the difficulties of today and tomorrow, I still have a dream. It is a dream deeply rooted in the American dream. I have a dream that one day this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed: We hold these truths to be self-evident, that  all  men are created equal. I have a dream that one day on the red hills of Georgia, the sons of former slaves and the sons of former slave owners will be able to sit down together at the table of brotherhood. I have a dream that one day even the state of Mississippi, a state sweltering with the heat of injustice, sweltering with the heat of oppression, will be transformed into an oasis of freedom and justice. I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character. I have a dream today! I have a dream that one day, down in Alabama, with its vicious racists, with its governor having his lips dripping with the words of interposition and nullification - one day right there in Alabama little black boys and black girls will be able to join hands with little white boys and white girls as sisters and brothers. I have a dream today! I have a dream that one day every valley shall be exalted, and every hill and mountain shall be made low, the rough places will be made plain, and the crooked places will be made  straight, and  the glory of the Lord shall be revealed and all flesh shall see it together. This is our hope, and this is the faith that I go back to the South with. With this faith, we will be able to hew out of the mountain of despair a stone of hope. With this faith, we will be able to transform the jangling discords of our nation into a beautiful symphony of brotherhood. With this faith, we will be able to work together, to pray together, to struggle together, to go to jail together, to stand up for freedom together, knowing that we will be free one day. And this will be the day -   this will be the day when all of Gods children will be able to sing with new meaning: My country tis of thee,Sweet land of liberty,Of thee I sing.Land where my fathers died,Land of the Pilgrims pride,From every mountainside,Let freedom ring! And if America is to be a great nation, this must become true. And so let freedom ring from the prodigious hilltops of New Hampshire. Let freedom ring from the mighty mountains of New York. Let freedom ring from the heightening Alleghenies of Pennsylvania! Let freedom ring from the snow-capped Rockies of Colorado! Let freedom ring from the curvaceous slopes of California! But not only that. Let freedom ring from Stone Mountain of Georgia! Let freedom ring from Lookout Mountain of Tennessee! Let freedom ring from every hill and molehill of Mississippi. From every mountainside, let freedom ring. And when this happens, when we allow freedom to ring, when we let it ring from every village and every hamlet, from every state and every city, we will be able to speed up that day when all of Gods children, black  men, and white men, Jews and Gentiles, Protestants and Catholics, will be able to join hands and sing in the words of the old Negro spiritual, Free at last! Free at last! Thank God Almighty, we are free at last!

Addendum on Used To vs. Use To

Addendum on Used To vs. Use To Addendum on Used To vs. Use To Addendum on Used To vs. Use To By Maeve Maddox It sometimes happens that I write a post that I think is beautifully focused on one point of usage, and then I receive a slew of emails faulting me for misrepresenting the topic. That’s what happened with a post on the modal use of used and use to express habitual action in the past. When an article receives this kind of response, I have to assume that my intended explanation wasn’t as clear as I thought it was. The post was based on the following question from a reader: Which is correct    He USED to go to the game on Friday. He USE to go to the game on Friday. All I intended to point out in my answer was that used is the correct choice for the examples given, but that use is correct when it follows the negative didn’t. What I said was, When the statement is positive, as in the reader’s example, the expression is used to. In negative statements, the expression is use to. For example, â€Å"He didn’t use to go to the game on Friday.† One reader correctly commented, â€Å"The distinction is not really about positivity/negativity,† and offered the following sentences as evidence: He did use to go to the game on Friday. He never used to go to the game on Friday. The first example is correct as a contradictory statement. For example: Person A: He didn’t use to go to the game on Friday. Person B: He did use to go to the game on Friday. The second example contains the negative adverb never, but used is still the correct form. Any adverb, negative or otherwise, may modify the modal used: never used to go always used to go rarely used to go I apologize for my sweeping statements about positive and negative. Another reader asks, Can we say â€Å"usednt to† instead of  Ã¢â‚¬Å"didn’t  use to†? It depends. If you live in the UK or some other place where this expression is common, go ahead and use it. If you say it to an American speaker, you’re likely to get a puzzled look. For British speakers, here’s what it says about the different forms in The Penguin Writer’s Manual: The strictly correct negative form of used to is used not to, which can be shortened to usedn’t to: â€Å"You used not to (or usedn’t to) mind if we came in a little late.† This often sounds rather formal, so that did not use to or didn’t use to (but not didn’t used to) are generally acceptable in informal speech or writing. Likewise, the traditionally correct negative question form used you not to..? or usedn’t you to..? is often replaced, more informally, by didn’t you use to..? If neither of these options seems acceptable, you used to, didn’t you? can be used. Another reader demands, What is your authority for this? My usual authorities are the OED, Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary, and The Chicago Manual of Style. This time, however, I relied for the most part on British and American grammar sites that target English learners. BBC: When talking about things that we did in the past but dont do now we can use the expression  used to. The negative form, to talk about things which we didnt do in the past but do now, is  didnt use to.   Oxford Learner’s Dictionaries: Except in negatives and questions, the correct form is used to: â€Å"I used to go there every Saturday.† To form questions, use did: Did she use to have long hair? The negative form is usually didn’t use to, but in British English this is quite informal and is not usually used in writing. English Stack Exchange: Except in negatives and questions, the correct form is used to: â€Å"we used to go to the movies all the time† (not we use to go to the movies). However, in negatives and questions using the auxiliary verb do, the correct form is use to: â€Å"I didn’t use to like mushrooms† (not I didn’t used to like mushrooms). Finally, several readers wondered about the pronunciation of used to and use to. You’ll find a thorough treatment of British and American pronunciation of these forms at the Oxford Learner’s Dictionaries site. Thanks to all of you for your comments. Want to improve your English in five minutes a day? Get a subscription and start receiving our writing tips and exercises daily! Keep learning! Browse the Misused Words category, check our popular posts, or choose a related post below:50 Redundant Phrases to Avoid55 Boxing IdiomsUlterior and Alterior

Geology assignment Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Geology assignment - Essay Example This principle states that different fossil species always appear and disappear in the same order, and that once a fossil species goes extinct, it disappears and cannot reappear in younger rocks (Prothero & Buell, 2007). In this principle, if an unidentified fossil is found in the same rock layer as an index fossil, the two species must have existed during the same period of time. If the same index fossil is found in different areas, the strata in each area were likely deposited at the same time. Thus, the principle of faunal succession makes it possible to determine the relative age of unknown fossils and correlate fossil sites across large discontinuous areas. Critical evaluation of this geological concept reveals a lot of assumptions and misconceptions which rule out the possibility of existence of this feature. Though faunal succession has been supported to be a reality, close examination indicates that even with the ten systems superposed, the column has never been observed (Prothero & Buell, 2007). Research establishes that index fossils rarely overlie each other especially in the same locality. In that respect, even in places where Phanerozoic systems have been employed, this column’s existence is still considered hypothetical. Correlation is the concept of piercing together separated outcrops informational content. In this technique, information obtained from two outcrops is integrated and the resultant time interval is greater than for each of them. The sequence of fossils through the rock layers is a powerful tool since the fossils representing each age is always consistent, whereas the rock layers changes across distance (Prothero & Buell, 2007). This makes it easy to use them in mapping distinctive formations of the fossils hence making fossils such powerful tools in correlating strata over great distances. Of the

Effects of Advertising on the Society Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Effects of Advertising on the Society - Essay Example This essay stresses that current commercials have capitalized on the power of sexual appeal to attract more customers or at least attract the attention of the TV viewers in the country. As a result, it is common to watch adverts of different companies ranging from food, service and product companies, using the female sex appeal to reach out to specific consumers. This has massive impact on the morals of the society and affects the overall growth of children and teenagers with respect to behavior. This paper makes a conclusion that advertising is a tool that a business must use to ensure that it remains competitive in the market and increase its market share and profitability. As a result, the channels of advertising have tremendously increased with the advancement in information technology, which has enabled organizations to widen their scope. However, advertisements have been shown to affect societal growth and morals negatively as they create false impression on people especially children. This affects their behavior and results in the development of habits and behaviors that affect their normal growth and health. Increased consumption of junk food as depicted in adverts is not all healthy since it increases obesity in teenagers. This increases their exposure to lifestyle diseases such as obese dependent diabetes, high blood pressure, and the development of cancerous tissues.

Alcohol Based Solution and Standard Handwashing Essay

Alcohol Based Solution and Standard Handwashing - Essay Example It concluded that hand-rubbing with liquid aqueous alcoholic solution could be safely used as an alternative to traditional hand-scrubbing in surgical practices. 2. The research done by Girou, et al. at 3 intensive care units in a university hospital in France, 12 healthcare workers were allocated to hand-rubbing with a waterless alcohol based solution and 11 were allocated to hand-washing with antiseptic soap. It concluded that the median percentage reduction in bacterial contamination with hand-rubbing was significantly higher than with hand-washing. 3. Research conducted by Karabay, et al. 35 nurses were randomly selected from a nursing staff of 141 and divided into 2 groups: hand rubbing and hand washing. Hand rubbing with alcohol-based solutions significantly reduced the bacterial contamination of the hands of the nurses more than hand washing with an antimicrobial soap. Compliance was also better in the hand rubbing group than in the hand washing group. While framing our hypothesis we should consider the objective of our research. The purpose of this research is to compare hand-hygiene and skin condition after hand-rubbing with an alcohol based solution or washing our hands with an antiseptic soap. So, the primary object of our comparison would be 'hand-hygiene'. To measure hand-hygiene, we make a natural assumption that "Hands with lesser bacterial contamination are more hygienic". ... So, the primary object of our comparison would be 'hand-hygiene'. To measure hand-hygiene, we make a natural assumption that "Hands with lesser bacterial contamination are more hygienic". Therefore we frame the following hypothesis as our 'Null Hypothesis'. H0: The median percentage reduction in bacterial contamination using Alcohol Based Solution (ABS) is greater than that with hand-washing with liquid soap solution (LSS). i.e. H0: MeABS > MeLSS Our 'Null Hypothesis', in simpler words states that by using Alcohol Based Solutions we kill more bacteria on our hands and achieve disinfection better than liquid soap solutions. Our 'Null Hypothesis' thus assumes the objective of our research to be true. So, in a similar manner we can also state our 'Alternative Hypothesis' as: Ha: The median percentage reduction in bacterial contamination using Alcohol Based Solution is less than or equal to that with hand-washing. i.e. Ha: MeABS MeLSS Step 2: To Formulate an Analysis Plan For our analysis, we would be using the data obtained from three separate research projects carried out on similar topic. 1. Research conducted by Parienti, et al. at six surgical services from teaching and non-teaching hospitals in France, conducted between January 1, 2000 and May 1, 2001. In their research, "surgical services used two hand cleaning methods alternatively every month: a hand-rubbing protocol with 75% aqueous alcoholic solution and a hand-scrubbing protocol with antiseptic preparation." (Parienti et al, 2002) Thirty-day surgical site infection rates were the primary factor being monitored. 2. In the research done by Girou, et al. at 3 intensive care units in a university hospital in France in 2002, 23 nurses and nursing assistants had volunteered to participate. "12

Jesus and Gospels Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Jesus and Gospels - Essay Example 2. Jesus used parables to teach his disciples and anyone who wanted to listen because it was the easiest form to talk about theological aspects. The Jews were simple people and enjoyed listening to stories. The parables that Jesus used were supposed to show that He could connect with the world and understood its problems. Many of the parables that Jesus used were culturally relevant for the Jews at that time and so they had a better time understanding them. 3. Before Jesus was born, many Jews wanted the Messiah to come as a military strongman and free them from the Romans, who controlled Israel at that time. Many Jews despised the Romans because they were required to pay taxes to the Caesar. The Jews worshipped at Synagogues on every Saturday. It was here that Jesus first was able to speak to Jews about the reasons why he had come and what he needed to do. The Jewish people were crying out for a savior because the economy was not favorable for Jews and it was dominated by Roman rule. 4. For the immediate years after the death and resurrection of Jesus, His story was passed down through oral tradition. Mark was the first book to be written, around 60 to 70 AD, while Matthew and Luke were written partly based of this book twenty to thirty years later. All of these books were written in Greek. The book of John was written in the late first century and took Lukes Gospel as inspiration. The reason why the first three are called the Synoptic Gospels is because they have much of the same information but told from a different point of view. Unlike John, the Synoptic Gospels include stories from first-hand witnesses. 5. Jesus concept of the Kingdom of God was that it was open to anyone who chose to receive Him. Jesus used many parables to portray the Kingdom of God, including one that said how hard it would be to enter the Kingdom. Although Jesus encouraged good works, He proclaimed that no one could come to the

Personal Statements Statement Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Statements - Personal Statement Example In flight instruction, where evaluating and documenting risk can be real time or anticipated for the future, my ability to recognize and evaluate the risk at every conceivable instant allows me to complete each flight safely; in flight instruction, there is no room for errors. In real time, I evaluate and identify risks from the pre-flight briefing through the post-flight briefing of every lesson. By documenting the flight lesson in the student’s records, I anticipate potential risks that must be addressed until I am satisfied that the risk can be managed and mitigated by the student when I no longer unsupervised their development and risk management. This is a complicated process that requires I document flight lessons in both my and the student’s records to pinpoint dysfunctions and areas that require further evaluation and improvement. The goal that is achieved provides a viewfinder for identifying, and eliminating risk within program parameters. I also managed risk while flying freight. One risk that constantly required monitoring was icing potential. I would perform a pre-flight evaluation to review the route of flight. I would evaluate the weather using documented and approved sources, and I would evaluate the potential for icing. I would assess the type of aircraft required for the flight and based on these risk evaluations request the appropriate aircraft to control the risk. Simply stated, if I was going into icing, I would demand an aircraft useable for known icing. If the appropriate aircraft was not available, I would explain the risk involved with the flight, provide the information I had obtained while assessing the risk and explain how that risk would be mitigated by using appropriate equipment. I was never denied an aircraft after explaining my documented, risk-assessment evaluation. 2. In this text area, please provide a brief explanation of your

Computational Biology The Serine Protease Active Site Essay - 1

Computational Biology The Serine Protease Active Site - Essay Example Chymotrypsin belongs to the trypsin family of serine proteases and is usually secreted in inactive form (zymogen) in the small intestine. The structure of chymotrypsin was elucidated via the X-ray crystallography.Below is the structure of chymotrypsinogen (see Error: Reference source not found) The active site is the catalytic unit of an enzyme. The determination of the three-dimensional structure of chymotrypsin by X-ray crystallography was the basis of greater insight into the mechanism of action of serine proteases. The Swiss-PDB Viewer software available at http://spdbv.vital-it.ch/disclaim.html was used to manipulate the coordinates of chymotrypsin and subtilisin serine proteases retrieved from the protein data bank (PDB available at www.rcsb.org). The catalytic site of most srine peptidaeses including chymotrypsin is composed of a catalytic traid of serine, histidine and aspartic acid residues. The ezyme the experimnt dealt with are are serine proteases and they have been known to exhibit similar spatial arrangements. However, the residues of the enzymes may adopt different order in the amino acid sequence. Catalytic triad is composed of Ser195 on one side and Asp102 and His57 on the other side inside the active site cleft. An extensive hydrogen bonding network exists in the triad for instance NÃŽ ´1-H of His57 and OÃŽ ´1 of Asp102 and also between OH of Ser195 and the NÃŽ µ2-H of His57. However in the event that His57 is protonated the latter bond is lost (Hedstrom, 2002). Figure 8: The positions of the backbone nitrogens are shown; the residues are Ser195 and Gly193 and the distances from these nitrogens to the peptide carbonyl oxygen. This brings the two residues closer for interactions to occur The catalytic triad in subtilisin contains residues 32, 64 and 221; the oxyanion hole comprises the side chain of Asn155 and the backbone NH of Ser 221; the mouth of the specificity

Personal Statements Statement Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Statements - Personal Statement Example In flight instruction, where evaluating and documenting risk can be real time or anticipated for the future, my ability to recognize and evaluate the risk at every conceivable instant allows me to complete each flight safely; in flight instruction, there is no room for errors. In real time, I evaluate and identify risks from the pre-flight briefing through the post-flight briefing of every lesson. By documenting the flight lesson in the student’s records, I anticipate potential risks that must be addressed until I am satisfied that the risk can be managed and mitigated by the student when I no longer unsupervised their development and risk management. This is a complicated process that requires I document flight lessons in both my and the student’s records to pinpoint dysfunctions and areas that require further evaluation and improvement. The goal that is achieved provides a viewfinder for identifying, and eliminating risk within program parameters. I also managed risk while flying freight. One risk that constantly required monitoring was icing potential. I would perform a pre-flight evaluation to review the route of flight. I would evaluate the weather using documented and approved sources, and I would evaluate the potential for icing. I would assess the type of aircraft required for the flight and based on these risk evaluations request the appropriate aircraft to control the risk. Simply stated, if I was going into icing, I would demand an aircraft useable for known icing. If the appropriate aircraft was not available, I would explain the risk involved with the flight, provide the information I had obtained while assessing the risk and explain how that risk would be mitigated by using appropriate equipment. I was never denied an aircraft after explaining my documented, risk-assessment evaluation. 2. In this text area, please provide a brief explanation of your

Advantages and Cost of Adoption in Australia of International Financial Reporting Standards Essay Example for Free

Advantages and Cost of Adoption in Australia of International Financial Reporting Standards Essay The issue of adoption of international financial reporting standards (IFRSS) in Australia has been controversial issue since the first time Australian Financial Reporting council (FRC) announced the policy in 2002. Many believe that IFRSS adoption will lead to great advantages such as enhance financial report comparability, improve quality of financial reporting, attract more foreign investor, and other significant advantages. However, some also believe that the adoption merely result in disadvantages and cost for Australian business, accounting profession and even Australian government. Before deciding to fully adopt IFRSS, in 1996, the AASB issued Policy Statement 6 International Harmonization Policy with objective to ‘pursue the development of an internationally accepted set of accounting standards which can be adapted in Australia’. There were several considerations why government decided to do so: 1. ‘The existing arrangements for accounting standard setting are confusing, inefficient and not conductive to stakeholder participation 2. There is duplication between the AASB and PSASB 3. Australian Accounting Standards are not understood in, and are out of step with, the major capital markets in the United States (US), United Kingdom (UK), and Europe, resulting in higher costs of capital for Australian Business 4. The standards setting process is perceived to be dominated by the accounting profession and there is no real accountability to its users 5. Accounting standards do not reflect modern business practice, being too prescriptive and overly technical that imposing excessive costs on business 6. The process involved in standard setting have failed to attract broad input and the necessary level of financial support, with the result that accounting standards are not meeting the demands of constituents’ (CLERP 1997, pp. 11-12, cited from Pickeet. al, 2006). Despite those reasons, IFRSS adoption is promoted because several claimed benefits potentially arising from the policy especially for Australian Business. The most claimed benefit is attracting foreign investors due to lowering cost of capital. Cost of capital can be decreased because IFRSS adoption can diminish ‘premiums associated with the risk of not fully understanding the financial report’ (Collet et. al, 2001, cited from Gerhardy, P. G. , n. d. ). Another hypothesis is that IFRSS adoption can reduce ‘home bias’ that discourage investors from making cross border investment. One of factors contributing to home bias itself is the expensive cost of information about foreign investment (Kang and Stulsz, 1997 cited from Cofrig,V. M. , Defond, M. L. , Hung, M. , 2007). By adopting IFRSS, it is hoped that information about foreign investment can be easily obtained and understood because it is generated from universal standards that are more familiar for investors. In addition, high accounting quality, transparency and comparability are commonly associated with financial reporting produced based on IFRSS that is internationally recognized and represent worldwide best practices. Those attributes alleviate ‘information asymmetries between managers and outside investors, thus increasing liquidity and ultimately lowering the required rate of return’ (Diamond and Verrecchia, 1991, cited from Daske, Holger, 2006). Association between higher accounting quality and IAS/IFRSS itself has been examined by Barth,M. E. , Landsman, W. R. , Lang, Mark H. in 2008. They investigate firms from 21 countries that applied IAS and found that those firms generally ‘evidence less earnings management, more timely loss recognition and more value relevance of accounting amounts’. It has been suggested that IFRSS adoption benefits Australian business trough saving in reporting costs. This benefit especially applies for Australian Business that wants to list their stocks in other countries’ stock exchanges. It is obligation for companies to fulfill specific different requirement regarding financial reporting of each countries where the companies are listed. By adopting IFRSS, companies do not need to generate more than one set of financial reports to comply different requirement and regulation. It is also easier for multinational companies to consolidate their financial statement, thus it saves time and money. Beside easy consolidation, IFRSS adoption also simplifies appraisal process of companies to takeover or merger with overseas enterprises and improves management control due to increased comparability internal management report between different segments or branches. For multinational companies, it will ease transfer of accounting staff across countries as well (Uddin, M. S. , 2005). Furthermore, a reduction in audit cost might be experienced by companies, because adoption of global standards (IFRSS) merely require global audit tandards, tools or systems that usually cheaper than specific products or services. This audit commoditization will close the expertise gap between the big five and force them to reduce audit fee. (Perera et. al, 2003,cited from Gerhardy, P. G. , n. d. ). For Australian government, fully adopting IFRSS is highly likely result in cost saving because the government does not need to spend money for AASB. It is evidence that Australian government spent huge amount of money for domestic accounting standards formulation. Another advantage is that the government can ‘distance itself from any future corporate collapses, which tend to raise questions about the role of accounting and the quality of accounting standards in such incidents’ (ibid). Take example of HIH collapse. Furthermore, it can avoid miscalculation of investors’ tax liability, particularly tax related to income from overseas sources accepted by multinational companies (Uddin, M. S. , 2005) (global acceptance). Despite cost saving, IFRSS adoption might also increase overseas companies listing in the ASX (Haswell McKinnon, 2003, cited from Gerhardy, P.G. , n. d. ). It also retains Australian companies listed on ASX. It is argument of Stoddart (1999, cited from McCombie, K. ,n. d. ) that ASX’s rigorous support on full adoption of IFRS is due to ASX’s ambition to become ‘the main exchange in the Pacific Rim’. Despite those enormous advantages, it has been argued that IFRSS adoption lead to significant costs. The main argument is that IFRSs do not consider local needs and priorities as every country has their own ‘business environment, legal systems, cultures, language and political environment’ (Henderson and Peirson, 2000 cited from Malthus, S. 2004). However, to overcome this problem, IASB can accommodate flexible reporting standards that enable companies to choose alternatives that are more suitable for their external condition. It is opinion of some opponents of IFRS adoption that IAS is ‘insufficiently detailed’ (Uddin,M. S. , 2005, p. 4) that require accountants’ and auditorâ€℠¢ professional judgment. However, overly detail might be contra productive and not flexible in anticipating every changes and differences. Education for stakeholders related to changes in financial statement is considered as significant as well. In a way, companies have obligation to ensure these users understand the changes. Companies also need to provide education and training for staff to adapt changes from preparing account using national standards to international standards. Since changes not only affect external reporting system, but also internal reporting such as budgeting system, this training might require huge amount of money. Often, companies need external experts in anticipating the changes such as actuaries and valuation experts that also need a lot of spending. However, this transition cost is only initial investment that is short term; the cost will be diminishing once companies have already been stable with the new systems. Learning from UK, based on a survey conducted by PricewaterhouseCoopers, majority companies in the UK suggested that transition from local accounting standards to international standards would not require high costs (Malthus, S. , 2004). Coming to the accounting profession, it has been argued that IFRS adoption also bear costs due to the policy. Those costs might come from the need to re educate members of the accounting profession itself. However, this argument is questionable because as a profession, accountants should improve their capabilities by ongoing training and education no matter what. Negative impacts of adoption of IFRS on rule makers such as Federal government and AASB have been public’s concern as well. Regarding federal government, it is argued that support devoted by federal government for IFRS adoption (Brown and Tarca, 2005) might put government ‘under political pressure not to impose rules on Australian companies that are inconsistent with those applied to companies in other countries’. In term of AASB, adoption of IFRSs raised questions about the role of the body. By adopting IFRS that replace local standards, AASB might lose its status and role. This loss arguably hurt nation’s sovereignty because Australia somehow is ‘one of the world’s leading authorities on accounting’ (Haswell and McKinnon, 2003 cited from Gerhardy, P. G. , n. d. , p. 24). AASB might also have limited influence on the standards formulation process under IASB, thus Australia’s interest and relevant environment might not be covered by international standards. However, this costs can be diminished as suggested by Carrol (2003d, cited from Gerhardy, P. G. , n. d. , p. 75) ‘that if Australia is to ensure that future standards developed by the IASB are relevant to the Australian environment it is necessary that Australia is positioned ‘as an influential leader in the international business environment’’. Having considered both advantages and costs, I would argue that benefit arising from IFRS adoption will be in the longer term worth the effort. The main reason for that is huge economic benefit arises from the IFRS adoption. On the surface, economic benefit is merely enjoyed by multinational companies and investors. However, it will trigger Australian economy development because multinational companies represent greater percentage of Australian economy sources that absorb high number of employment. Small medium companies (SME) that is argued might become parties bearing most cost will benefit from multinational companies as a business partners such as supplier, particularly if Australia promote specific regulation to encourage the mutual partnership. This will be domino effect that boost another sectors, thus benefit whole community. In addition, education cost that is claimed as significant cost only borne for short term and will be diminished in the long term. Education and training itself is inseparable part of accounting as a profession that need ongoing training to enhance capability and professionalism. The last reason is that IFRS adoption might be inevitable due to globalization that diminish border across nations and increase interdependency between nations.

KFC and McDonalds: Western Country And China

KFC and McDonalds: Western Country And China This chapter describes the background of the two typical western fast food companies in china, which are KFC and McDonald. It also provides research questions along with the purpose of the thesis and corresponding primary and secondary research methodologies. In addition, there is a brief introduction of the theoretical Frameworks used thoroughly within the thesis. Background The KFC and McDonalds are the two major entities operating in Chinese market in western fast food industry. McDonalds is one of the famous brands of restaurant in the world, owning more than 30000 outlets in 120 counties, generating US$ 24.075 billion revenue in 2010 while KFC has more than 10000 stores in 80 countries with the US$ 520.3 million revenue in 2007 (en.wikipedia.org).Howbeit, McDonalds trails behind its competitor KFC in china, although in other countries, such as USA, UK, the business of McDonalds is more successful than that of KFC. McDonald was founded by Ray Kroc in 1955 in the United States. On October 8, 1990, the first McDonalds restaurant in China opened in Shenzhen. On April 1992, Wangfujing outlet in Beijing was opened, which was the worlds largest area of McDonalds restaurants. At the same day, the total income was over a million RMB. At present, McDonalds only has approximate 200 outlets. In addition, the numbers of McDonalds delivery service outlets are more than 480. There are more than 1,000 dessert stations, more than 280 wheat coffee shops, and more than 1,000 24 hour restaurants. In 2012, McDonalds in Shanghai, Beijing, Guangzhou, Shenzhen, Tianjin, will open online order services to expand its business scale in E-business market. For KFC, since 1987, when its first outlet opened in Beijing, china, 24 years passed. During these years, KFC china always dedicates to create new fast-food concept for China Market and has been trying to explore the most attentive service to Chinese consumers (Bell and Shelman, 2011.P3). Till 2012, KFC China has opened 3200 outlets in more than 650 cities and town. It is the largest and fastest growing fast chain company. In China, KFC plays a much more dominate role than that of McDonalds. In July 1987 the first KFC outlet opened in Beijing which is regarded as the first step into Chinese fast food industry. Since then, KFC has achieved the leading position in fast food industry in china, which has alr eady formed its unique cooking style, especially tailoring to the tastes of specific regions within China. Research questions and aim The specific objectives that are researched in this thesis are: Comparing difference market strategy KFC and McDonald used to improve their market position in Chinese fast food market. The analysis of cross-cultural management strategy adopted in KFC and McDonald The challenges that KFC and McDonald will encounter in China in the future. Our aim is to research and analyze about the key factors for foreign fast food companies running successful business in China. We want to find out what changes western fast food companies should make in order to achieve the sustainable growth. . Contribution: From the result of this case-study the organization will be able to identify the root cause of their successful business and also reveal their potential weak point. By using our result, they can improve their further overall business strategy. Research methodologies To achieve the target of doing deep analysis between KFC and McDonalds s business strategy, the primary methodology chosen is a mixed-method approach (Bryman, 2004). The qualitative research method will be introduced into this case study. By doing so, a series of random selected questions will form a questionnaire. The answer of each of the questions will determine each consumers attitude toward each well designed topic relating to their reaction to various business strategy adopted by KFC and McDonald. The secondary research methodology is applied to gather the evidence from other aspects and sources (Bryman and Bell, 2007, P28). One part of these materials include KFC and McDonalds annual report, revenue report that will reflect and reveal their finical positions in the Chinese market so as to determine whether their current business strategy generate a positive impact based on the reaction from the consumers. Whats more, the press and journals published in China, for example, Chin a Daily, 21 century, will also be considered for the reference. For those collect data, a statistics analytic method will be carried to conclude what aspects KFC and McDonald should improve to increase their marketing margin in Chinese Market from consumers perspective. Disposition Chapter 2: Introduce the Theoretical Frameworks, which are composed of cross-culture and 4P marketing strategy. The discussion is divided into two parts. At first, the components of culture which could form the key elements of cross culture strategy such as the different values, languages and customer behaviors will be chosen and they are combined with the analysis of 4P marketing strategy to illustrate how cross-culture strategy interacts with 4P marketing strategy and vice-versus. Secondly, illustrate 4P marketing strategy individually. In addition, we present different views of the relationship between society structure and consumer behavior such as service quality, customer expectations, perceived service quality and the relationship between customer expectations, perceptions and satisfaction in different countries. Finally we describe 4P marketing strategy that is used for analyzing the result and its relationship with cross-culture strategy. Chapter 3: This chapter describes the methods that were used for making the survey. The questionnaire structure as well as the method for choosing the sample of sources to support the evidence is also described Chapter 4: The empirical material is presented. The analysis is based on the 4P Marketing strategy. Product Strategy, Price Strategy, Place Strategy and Promotion Strategy are discussed together with the example of KFC and McDonald. In addition, cross culture analysis is combined with 4P analysis in order to support the results that KFC and McDonald as western fast food company are performing well in Chinese market. Chapter 5: In this chapter we present conclusions for KFC and McDonald respectively. Then we compare the disadvantage and advantage of western fast food companies with traditional Chinese food restaurant and then provide recommendations for western fast food companies to improve. In addition, we outline what aspects could be enhanced in the further research and the limitation of our studies. Literature review (Theoretical framework): The theoretical framework of this study is based on a number of relevant theories that are discussed in this part. The model which authors constructed in this study integrates cross-culture and 4P marketing strategy. Cross-Culture Management The process of cross-cultural management, in general, is divided into two steps. Cultural analysis and evaluation are considered as the first step. For the second step, culture then is regarded as a resource that could be controlled through the effective integration in management level. In the study of cross-cultural management, how to analyze the culture is the key that could directly and effectively reflects the current achievement of cultural management within the enterprise. Hofstedes model is generally accepted as the most comprehensive framework of national cultures values which comprise the difference in performance of the managers and employees on the four dimensions of national culture: power distance, individualism vs. collectivism, uncertainty avoid index, masculine vs. feminine as the reference model to analyze the cultural differences. In addition, Kluckhohn and Strodbecks values orientations theory proposes that cultures differ in terms of how they approach the six basi c dimension which are relationship to nature, time orientation, views of human nature, activity orientation, Relationships among People and Views of Personal Space. Furthermore, there are some other cultural measurement theories, such as the Denisons model, which is a relatively newer and more detailed model, is used in order to understand the organizational culture of the Karun Oil Gas Production company. According to this model, organizational culture has four dimensions: involvement, consistency, adaptability and mission. Moreover, Kim S. Cameron and Robert E. Quinns competing values theory develops a series organizational culture assessment scale (Organizational Culture Assessment Instrument, OCAI) aiming to assess organizations current views and expectations through a questionnaire usually take 5-10 to complete. Culture Difference between western country and China: The purpose of the cross-cultural management is to create a not only accepted by the host country employees, but also conducive to the development of corporate culture in multinational company. Cross-cultural management is the core measure to resolve cross-cultural conflicts due to globalization. The culture is a double-edged sword. On one hand, cultural confliction will evitable happen within the corporation and the original corporate culture will face the challenge. On other hand, it will bring opportunities which can take full advantage of the international market and competition, therefore enhancing corporations competitive advantage. With regard to the cultural comparison between Chinese and western business management, hofstedes four-dimensional framework model is adopted. The four dimensions are power distance, individualism vs. collectivism, uncertainty avoid index and masculine vs. feminine. Based on Hofstedes analysis of the surveys from 53 countries or regions, the following table illustrates the major difference: Table 2-1 Comparison result of hofstedes four-dimensional framework Country Power distance Individualism Masculine Uncertainty avoid USA Low High High Low China High Low Low High Power distance: Power distance is the most typical feature of the national and cultural differences. The meaning of empowerment in each country is not exactly the same, thus there are also significant differences. Cross-cultural management consulting firm ITLM latest research results show that power distance indicators, China and the United States score is 80 and 40 (the world average is 55) at rank 5 and 40 among the 56 countries respectively. Such significant difference indicates that the staffs relatively paying more attention to pursuit power within Chinese company. In Chinese business management, the higher position the more power and the more positive the employees performance have. Comparing to the United States, individuals abilities, and actual performance is considered in the first place. Individualism / collectivism. In Hofstedes study, individualism index is used to measure societys tendency with regard to individualism and collectivism. Individuals in countries with a high level of the index value personal freedom and status, such as the United States, while individuals in countries with a low level of the index value harmony and conformity, such as China and Japan. According to Hofstedes study of 53 countries or regions, with regard to the individualism, the United States ranked first, while Hong Kong ranked 36, Taiwan was ranked 43 with score 91,25,17 respectively. From the score, it is obvious that there is a large discrepancy between individuals attitude to individualism and collectivism in different countries. As a matter of fact, the culture of the United States and China is highly different in various areas including values à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â‚¬ ¹Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â‚¬ ¹orientation, the habits and thoughts. In China, people consider more about and pay more attention to the spirit of solidarity and collective strength while in the United States, the Americans emphasis the importance of freedom meaning that everyone needs control their own destiny, desire and ability of individuals should not be subject to the government, church or other organizations and individuals restrictions and interference, which is a core concept in American culture. Bread is everything is regarded as the most comprehensive conclusion of Chinese diet culture while the other countries may not follow the same rule. Different regions have different eating habits, even in the same country. Therefore, it is understandable that different countries have their own eating habits which are caused by regional, national and ethnic, cultural differences between countries. Western food has a rational diet concept, regardless of the colour of the food, flavour and shape balanced diet, nutrition must be ensured. The food is always viewed from the aspect of nutrition therefore does not have excessive pursuit of the taste. However, Chinese has an emotional diet concept always believing diet as a significant part of life, which cannot be ignored. First, Chinese tries all the way to pursuit the taste of the food by combing the flavour during the cooking, the flavour after heating and the flavour of the ingredients, as well as the flavour of spices altogether. Secondly, the way of dining is the most obvious difference between the Chinese and Western food culture meanwhile it demonstrates how Chinese culture effluences the diet. In dinner party, Chinese people usually shares dishes on the table. Hosts greet and encourage everyone to work together to eliminate all dishes and also every guest will strongly desire to become the first one who pays the final bill. All of above acts emphasize cooperation. Westerners believe the eating habits are varied by person thus each guest orders their own meals and there is no need for the host to consider the tastes and preferences of others and when party finishes, each guests pay what have been ordered from menu by themselves. In summary, the major differences between Chinese and Western cult ures cannot be ignored and should be seriously taken into consideration in international enterprises when implementing the business strategy in global market. 1. Cultural innovation strategies Cultural innovation strategy provides effective ways and various channels for the parent company to integrate the local culture of the foreign subsidiary branch into its main stream corporate culture in order to promote mutual understanding, adaptation as the basis for the management of the foreign branch. During the process of cultural integration, localization strategy is a guide for cultural innovation, which does not only retain the parent companys original corporate culture characteristics and also is able to adapt to the local cultural environment. Western Fast Food Company, for instance, the integration process for Chinese culture in KFC experiences three stages, which are product culture, brand culture, and corporate culture. Product culture: KFC China has always been following the high quality standard required by its parent company, such as quantization process, the cooking process including the tools that are used for combining the raw materials as well as the cooking temperature and cooking time through quantified production process to ensure product quality. Furthermore, Because of the correct understanding of the Chinese culture, KFC is able to reasonably develop localized products suitable for Chinese tastes, accepted by Chinese people to a large extent. KFC China devotes to the product development, including the taste expansion in existing product and also new product innovation. In order to change the impression, which are limited products and monotonous taste, Chinese people towards to western food; it specially develops spicy flavour suitable for north China market and also introduces new products for whole china market, such as soup and Chinese-style breakfast. Brand Culture Brand culture refers to a specific brand name or mark, or a combination of these two elements. It represents the emotional cognitive, cultural traditions and image of the personality that are conducive to consumers to identify and distinguish the particular sellers of products or services. 1. Create a standardized Brand image KFC launches the CHAMPS champion plan that is standardized services in the global market, successful initiatives to create a brand strategy. Its specific contents include: C-cleanliness (to keep clean and beautiful restaurant); H-Hospitality (sincere and friendly reception); A-Accuracy (to ensure the accuracy of supply); M-Maintenance (maintain excellent equipment); P-product Quality (adhere to the high quality and stable products); S-SPEED (pay attention to the fast and quick service). Such plan has been conscientiously implemented in every restaurant in the world, and all KFC All employees must strictly enforce the uniform standard. 2. Build brand affinity. KFCs slogan of In China, as China becomes and KFC integrates family , love emotional world into product advertisement as its unique characteristics to create a new image of the brand to adapt to the emotional culture in the Chinese diet culture, thus to some extent, it improves Chinese impression on the fast meal, then gradually, KFC restaurants are also be considered as the place where family or friends party usually takes place. 3. High degree of social responsibility KFC is enthusiastic in public welfare and actively assist the vulnerable groups, in particular, devotes to Chinese children and young peoples education. According to the statistics, it shows that in nearly 10 years, KFCs direct and indirect contribution to the public welfare has reached more than 6500 million. Kendall China Youth Development Foundation in September 2002 set up a total of 38 million Chinese Yuan program China KFC dawn Fund aiming to provide long-term funding for poor college students with good academic performance in school. Currently, the fund has been implemented in 42 colleges and universities across the country, nearly 860 students have received assistance. The China KFC dawn Fund is one of the largest foundation program since the implementation of the Hope Project to aid the poor college student by China Youth Development Foundation. KFCs social activities does not only establish a good brand image, but also exerts a subtle influence on their own potential consum ers and employees. What KFC does match an old Chinese saying goes: Never forget a generous act and grasp every opportunity to return the hospitality that youve received. Corporate culture: KFC China realizes that Human Resource is the most significant strategic resources and the importance of the establishment of people-oriented corporate culture. 1. The human resource localization: KFC China make efforts to train promote local staff because they are familiar with national policies and have a depth understanding of the local competitive environment and market characteristics. Of all 16 market segments in KFC China, 8 local leadership teams with extensive industry experience are formed in order to make the correct judgments within the shortest time. At the same time, it can also reduce the communication barriers between cultural differences. 2. Staff training Annually, KFC china makes investment covering various areas in order to strengthen employees expertise and support employees personality development from the restaurant waiter, restaurant manager to top corporate management personnel. Furthermore, Management staff conducts a series of management training while for the junior staff, the training will last three hours on every 2 weeks include on-the-job training and examination. When there is new product to be launched, all junior staffs are required to participate a relative short period training in order to raise the profession quality of staff to adapt to the change of existing products. In addition, the aim of training restaurant managers is to make sure them be familiar with all the operational processes in the local restaurant, from the introduction of products, inventory management, personnel management, crisis management, and quality control and labour costs, although the training process could potentially increase their variab le cost. Marketing Strategy Jerome McCarthy, professor at the University of Michigan, for the first time, introduces the 4P theory in his book basic marketing, including product (Product), price (Price), distribution (Place) and promotion (Promotion) four elements. Within the theory, product factors is the combination of performance, quality, colours, varieties, specifications, models, trademarks, packaging, services and other small factors. Price factors are composed of cost, price, price discounts, payment terms, and credit terms. Distribution factors includes the choice of marketing channel structure, mode of transport, storage location, wholesalers and brokers, as well as the retailers selection and control. Promotional factors contains advertising, personal selling, sales promotion, public relations. Thus, 4P marketing mix theory instructs how companies should do, as what Philip Kotler has mentioned is if the company is to produce the appropriate product, set the appropriate price, the use of appropriate d istribution channels, and paved the appropriate promotional activities, the company will be successful. The marketing mix can be adjusted on a frequent basis, to meet the changing needs of the target group, and the other dynamics of the marketing environment. They are as follows: product, price, place, and promotion. Product is a tangible object, or an intangible service, that is mass-produced or manufactured on a large scale, with a specific volume of units. Intangible products are often service-based. Price is the amount a customer pays for the product. The business may increase or decrease the price of a product if other stores have the same product. Place represents the location where a product can be purchased. It is often referred to as the distribution channel. It can include any physical store as well as virtual stores on the Internet. Promotion represents all of the communications that a marketer may use in the marketplace. Promotion has four distinct elements advertising, public relations, word of mouth and point of sale. Advertising covers any communication that is paid for, from cinema commercials, radio and Internet adverts through print media and billboards. Public relations are the communications that are not directly paid for and include press releases, sponsorship deals, exhibitions, conferences, seminars or trade fairs and events. Word-of-mouth is any apparently informal communication about the product by ordinary individuals, satisfied customers or people specifically engaged to create word-of-mouth momentum. Sales staff often plays an important role in word-of-mouth and Public Relations. Cross-culture and Choice of 4Ps When a firm enters into a new market, especially a foreign market, which strategies should be chosen is very important to managers. Focusing on this, Doole and Lowe discussed about the standardization and adaptation in their study. They mentioned that firms adopt a combination of standardization and adaptation of the various elements of the marketing management programs and processes by globalizing some elements and localizing others, and they thought the cultural factors are the balance between standardization and adaptation. Culture differences can be seen as the usage factors and legal factors. In their opinion, marketing objectives and strategies are more readily standardized than operational marketing decisions. Therefore, when firms enter into a new market which has a different cultural context, the market managers must think over the alternative strategies, such as the global strategy, multi-domestic strategies and so on. In this study authors suggest to choose the 4P marketin g strategy model help to analyze the effect of cross-culture. Mooij considered that the managers of transnational corporations should provide appropriate products according to the local consumer values and buying behaviors of a certain market. The product strategy owing to cultural factors, usage factors and legal factors. Hall described some countriesculture is high-context culture. He meant that in this kind of country, most of the information is shared by members of a society. In this kind of country, people often do the same things as others did, especially as those around them. For instance, to most families in China, members share the similar values with each other. In other words, China is a society with relatively high collectivism , and where people have a high sense of identity to the traditional culture and food. Moreover, according to Doole and Lowe, pricing decisions in international markets can be very complex. Many factors can influence the pricing strategy in different markets, including internal and external factors. From the l evel of company and product, factors such as corporate and marketing objectives, firm and product positioning, product range, life cycle, substitute, product differentiation and unique selling propositions, cost structure, manufacturing, experience effect and economics of scales will influence the pricing decision of a company. Market factors like consumersperceptions, expectations and ability to pay, need for product adaptation and market servicing, market structure, distribution channels, discounting pressures, market growth, competition objectives, strategies and strength can also affect the pricing strategy of a company. According to the Hofstedes culture dimension model, China ranked in a relatively high position in power distance. From the perspective of cross-culture, therefore, many people in China consider the relationship between the prices of consumer places and the personal appearance seriously. Place represents the location where a product can be purchased. It is often referred to as the distribution channel. It can include any physical store as well as virtual stores on the Internet. Similarly, place strategy can be influenced by both internal factors and external factors. For instance, internal ones like company size and product positioning are main factors influencing the place strategy. In addition, social-cultural factors such as local law and government policy, religion, language, customer buying behavior also affect this strategy obviously in different ways. When it comes to the promotion strategy, decisions in international markets are even more complicated than the pricing decisions, because promotion represents all of the communications that a marketer may use in the marketplace. It often includes several distinct elements, such as advertising, public relations, word of mouth and point of sale. Promotion activities play a role of introducing the product and service, motivating and leading the demand of the customers and also facilitating the products and services easily sold. When implementing the promotion strategy, the marketing managers of a transnational corporation should take many factors into consideration. Language, adaptation ability of customers, values, life style and attitudes, different kinds of customs and other culture factors of a certain nation are all very important which will influence different promotion activities. Methodology: This chapter consists of an introduction to the research approaches and strategies we chose and how to collect valuable data and analysis data to find the answer to research questions. The reliability and validity of our collected data also discussed below. Research Approach We have chosen to use both quantitative and qualitative research method. Bryman and Bell (2005) describes that a quantitative method means that data is collected with the aim to try theories. The difference between making a qualitative or quantitative study is that the qualitative study goes to the heart of the problem and has an inductive approach. The quantitative research design reaches a broader part of the problem and has a more deductive approach. Quantitative research focuses on measurement, causality, generalization and replication. Quantitative research is rather a lot of interpretation. With regard to qualitative approach, it is able to get a deeper understanding of how different cultures influence the marketing strategy in multinational companies. Using a qualitative methodology will let the researcher have the opportunity to be flexible in the research, and to get a clear and broad view about the cultural aspect (Jacobsen, 2002). The methodology will also develop the rese arch, test the theories and explain the researched phenomenon in a new way (Bryman, 2006). Data collection: When collecting the data, the researchers often used primary and secondary data to gather the empirical finding. Primary data is information that especially has been collected for a specific purpose from a primary source. According to the research purpose, data about marketing strategies in Chinese market need to be collected. Thus, the primary data in this paper has been gathered through the phone interviews and the employees for the questionnaire survey which was carried out in Beijing KFC branch. The following requirements were made clear to the subjects: Participators would be expected to read each statement carefully before ticking the choices Participators would be expected to tick the choices as realistically as possible according to what they would actually do in their real daily lives Secondary data is the data or information that has already been recorded and collected by others for other purposes (Cooper et al., 2005, p.315). Secondary data is often of good quality, and it can therefore be useful for another purpose than the primary reason. We can collect secondary data from the course books, article, newspaper papers, Internet Website and other publications. Interviews and Questionnaires: It is widely recommended to use interviews to collect information for evidence as a source (Cooper et al., 2005, p.378). We utilize two types of methods to collect the primary data. The first is survey research in which we use a questionnaire with an emphasis on fixed response categories and systematic sampling and loading procedures combined with statistical methods and quantitative measures (Ghauri, 2002, p.100). The second type is unstructured interviews in which the informant is given almost full liberty to discuss reactions, opinions and behavior on a particular issue. After some answers we decided to give the question about how and why to continue the dialogue. The questions and answers are often unstructured and are not systematically design beforehand (Ghauri, 2002, p.100-101). We decided to do the interviews by telephone with the Beijing KFCs Training manager and Finance manager. We also e-mailed the questionnaires to the managers for them to deliver them to the employees to answer. The telephone interview was tape recorded because audiotapes can provide a more accurate rendition of the interview. The managers questionnaire includes 31 questions that were made with information and theories from the marketing and cross-culture area. The questionnaire of employees includes 22 questionnaires according the theoretical framework provided by Hofstedes cultural dimensions theory and marketing mix 4P theory introduced by McCarthy. To find out the appropriate interviewees, we sent E-mail to KFC Beijing Br