The Slender Man Stabbing Case

On May 31, 2014, 12-year-old Payton Leutner crawled out of the woods to a path where a bicyclist found her bleeding from 19 stab wounds. Leutner, who survived the attack, told authorities she was stabbed by two of her 12-year-old friends, Anissa Weier and Morgan Geyser. The two Waukesha, Wisconsin middle school students told investigators that they plotted for months to kill their friend to appease the fictional Internet character Slender Man, a paranormal figure who stalks and kidnaps children. Here are the latest developments in the Slender Man stabbing case: Slender Man Case Delayed Sept. 22, 2015 - The October trial date for the Slender Man stabbing case has been removed from the court calendar after the Wisconsin attorney generals office agreed that the decision to keep the case in adult court should be appealed. Waukesha County Circuit Judge Michael Bohren removed the trial date from his calendar after learning that Attorney General Brad Schimel supported the review by the Court of Appeals, although his office plans to defend the ruling to keep the case in adult court. Schimel said the appeal would clarify further proceedings in this litigation, and potentially protect the defendants, who were 12 years old at the time of the crime, from substantial or irreparable injury. Morgan Geyser and Anissa Weier would face up to 45 years in prison if found guilty in adult court of the stabbing of their classmate, 12-year-old Payton Leutner, who survived the attack. They are charged with attempted first-degree intentional homicide. Although Judge Bohren also postponed hearings on other motions in the case until the appeal court rules, he did agree to allow a state psychiatrist to evaluate Weier in regards to a motion from her attorney that she was not competent to waive her right to remain silent when she first spoke to detectives. Judge Enters Pleas for Slender Man Girls Aug. 21, 2015 - A county judge has entered not guilty pleas for two 13-year-old girls accused of attempted homicide in the stabbing of a classmate while the defendants in the Slender Man case - Morgan Geyser and Anissa Weier - stood mute in court. Attorneys for the two girls, who were both 12 when the crime took place, said they did not speak on their on behalf in adult court because Judge Michael Bohren has not issued his written order that denied their motion to move the case to juvenile court. Donna Kuchler, one of the attorneys for Geyser, said she wants to review the judges written order before deciding whether to appeal his decision. Kuchler and Maura McMahon, an attorney for Weier, said their clients might enter pleas of not guilty by reason of mental disease or defect. If the jury agrees that mental defects caused the stabbing, they would be sent to a mental hospital for an indefinite period of time. Geyser has been diagnosed with early onset schizophrenia. If found guilty in adult court, however, they could be sentenced up to 45 years. In juvenile court, they would have faced a maximum of three years incarceration. The exact charge against the two is attempted first-degree intentional homicide, as party to a crime, with use of a dangerous weapon for the stabbing of 12-year-old Payton Leutner in May 2014. Slender Man Case to Be Tried in Adult Court Aug. 10, 2015 - Two girls accused of stabbing a 12-year-old friend because they wanted to appease the fictional character Slender Man will go to trial in adult court rather than juvenile court, a judge has ruled. The decision means Morgan Geyser and Anissa Weier could face up to 35 years if convicted of the stabbing of their classmate Payton Leutner. In spite of testimony at separate hearings for the two defendants from psychologist who said the girls could receive better mental health treatment in the juvenile system, Judge Michael Bohren ruled that their cases will remain in adult court. The defense attorneys had also filed a motion asking that the Wisconsin law requiring adult court for juveniles if they are charged with first-degree crimes be declared unconstitutional because it can lead to cruel and unusual punishment. In juvenile court, the girls could face up to five years incarceration, but if found guilty in adult court they could be sentenced to 65 years. Judge Bohren denied that motion, ruling that although juveniles may not be as culpable for their actions as adults, that does not mean they are exempt from receiving adult sentences. Slender Man Is Real, Suspect Says June 19, 2015 - One of the Slender Man murder suspects still believes the fictional character is real and would kill again if he told her to, psychiatrists have testified. The testimony came in a hearing to determine if Morgan Geyser will be tried in juvenile or adult court. State psychiatrist Kenneth Casimir told the court that 13-year-old Geyser has early-onset schizophrenia and continues to believe Slender Man is real. Casimir said Geyers severe schizophrenia is dangerous if it remains untreated. Morgan said, Well if he told me, meaning Slender Man, if he told me to hurt more people, Id have to do it. If he told me to break into someones house and stab them, I would have to do it, Casimir testified at the hearing. Another state psychiatrist, Dr. Kenneth Robbins, told the judge that Geyser would not do well in the criminal justice system. Severe schizophrenia is predictably going to do very poorly in the criminal justice system, and we have hundreds of examples of that, Dr. Robbins testified. He also said that Geyser continues to believe that Slender Man is real. Treatment Denied for Slender Man Suspect April 24, 2015 - One of the defendants in the Slender Man stabbing case will not have her bail reduced and will not be transferred to a private facility for mental health treatment. A judge denied the request from 12-year-old Morgan Geysers attorney. During the hearing, the judge expressed concerned about Geyser being a flight risk and kept her bond at $500,000. Anthony Cotton, Geysers attorney, had requested that her bail be reduced to a signature bond. Cotton told the judge that Geyser has no friends and has no car so she would not get very far if she did try to flee. Attorney Wants Treatment for Geyser April 15, 2015 - The attorney for a 12-year-old Wisconsin girl who is charged with stabbing a classmate to appease the fictional character Slender Man wants a judge to reduce her bail and allow her to be treated for psychotic disorders at a residential treatment center. Attorney Anthony Cotton wants Morgan Geysers bail reduced to from $500,000 to a signature bond. Cotton wants his client released from a juvenile detention center in West Bend and sent to a treatment facility in Milwaukee. She would go to Milwaukee Academy, an all-girls treatment facility at her parents expense, he said. In his motion, Cotton said Geyser has been diagnoses with schizophrenia and other psychotic disorders and desperately needs treatment for her mental illness. He said early treatment was critical for her ultimate prognosis. The judge is expected to rule on the bail motion on April 24. Slender Man Case Stays in Adult Court March 13, 2015 - The case of two Wisconsin girls who stabbed a classmate because they thought it would appease the fictional character Slender Man, will remain in adult court for now, a judge ruled. Judge Michael Bohren ruled that Morgan Geyser and Anissa Weier will be tried in adult court for the attempted homicide of Payton Leutner. Attorneys for both girls had requested their case be moved to juvenile court. In making his ruling, Judge Bohren allowed the defense attorneys the opportunity to seek a reverse waiver to move their cases to juvenile court on other grounds. Under Wisconsin law, the attorneys will have to show that their clients will not receive adequate treatment in the adult criminal justice system, that moving the case to juvenile court will not depreciate the seriousness of the charge, and that keeping the case in adult court would not be a deterrent to other juveniles planning to kill their peers. The judge scheduled Weiers reverse waiver hearing in May and Geysers in June. Meanwhile, videos of the interrogation of the two girls have been release in which they openly discuss their motivation to kill their classmate. Geyser told detectives that killing Leutner would allow them to live with Slender Man in his mansion in the forest. Weier told investigators that Geyser convinced her that killing Leutner was necessary and if she did not participate, Slender Man would â€Å"kill my whole family in three seconds.† Defense Wants Case in Juvenile Court Feb. 25, 2015 - Defense attorneys and prosecutors have both filed motions in Waukesha County on whether two girls who stabbed their friend in the Slender Man stabbing case should be tried in adult or juvenile court. Prosecutors argue that when Anissa Weier and Morgan Geyser lured their friend Payton Leutner into the woods, stabbed her 19 times and left her for dead after planning the crime for months, they were committing attempted first-degree homicide. According to court filings by the Waukesha County District Attorneys Office, if that is the charge they will face trial for, Wisconsin law dictates that the trial be conducted in adult court. Defense attorneys, on the other hand, argued that the two girls, who were both 12 at the time of the stabbing, should face attempted second-degree homicide charges, a count that would allow the trial to be held in juvenile court. Where the case is tried would make a huge difference in the possible sentences the girls would face. If found guilty of attempted first-degree murder in adult court, they could be sentenced to up to 65 years each in state prison. If found guilty of the lesser charge in juvenile court, they could only be held in a secure facility until they turned 25 years old. In court fillings last week, prosecutors pointed out that if the girls are tried in adult court, but found guilty of the lesser charge, Wisconsin law would allow them to be sentenced as juveniles anyway. The judge is expected to make a decision on the issue March 13. Girls Coerced by Slender Man, Attorney Says Feb. 24, 2015 - A defense attorney for one of the girls accused in the Slender Man stabbing case told a judge that his client believed the fictional character was real and would kill her whole family if she did not kill her friend. Joseph Smith Jr., attorney for Anissa Weier, asked the judge to dismiss the charge of first-degree murder against his client because the intimidation from the Slender Man character that she perceived amounted to coercion, which would justify a lesser charge. During the hearing last week, Waukesha Police Detective Michelle Trussoni testified that Weier and co-defendant Morgan Geyser, believed that their families would be in danger if they did not kill Payton Leutner. During an interview that was video taped, Weier told police, He targets children most, so I was really scared knowing that Slenderman could easily kill my whole family in three seconds. During the hearing, the court heard that the two girls had been planning the attack for five months. Originally, they planned to kill Leutner during a sleepover, but backed out. They also abandoned a plan to kill her in a park restroom where they could flush the blood down the drain, detective Trussoni testified. Finally, they decided to lure Leutner to the woods under the pretense of playing hide-and-seek. Police officer Shelly Fischer said Geyser whispered to Leutner, Im so sorry, just before the stabbing. Waukesha Detective Tom Casey, however, told the court that Geyser showed no remorse for the crime. Last weeks preliminary hearing was originally scheduled last July, but was postponed because Weier was declared incompetent. In November, she was ruled fit to stand trial.

Sympathetic Character In George Hansberrys A Raisin In...

According to Vocabulary.com, a sympathetic character in literature is a character who is likable or who evokes feelings of sympathy from the audience. A prime example of a sympathetic character is Walter Lee Younger from A Raisin in the Sun. This is because he is the protagonist, his qualities are highlighted well, he is a victim, and he is a sacrificer.. A Raisin in the Sun is a drama that is a â€Å"Man vs. Society† type story. Walter Younger is the protagonist of the story even though he isn’t a traditional hero, evident by him stealing Beneatha’s college fund. Almost every protagonist is sympathetic, just because they are put in the spotlight and the audience wants to sympathise with him or her. Walter is the man and the societal issue he†¦show more content†¦Unintelligent people are very sympathetic. In addition to these, he also never changes, he is static, and he is a flat character. All he wants is to get more respect in society. Thirdly, a reason that Walter is sympathetic is that he is a victim. He is a victim of racism, a victim of nasty deeds, and a victim of his own misplaced ambition. He is a victim of racism, just like every other black person was in that time period. He is a victim of nasty deeds because he was betrayed by his friend, or the closest things he had to a friend; when Willy ran off with his money he was devastated, â€Å"Gone, what do you mean Willy is gone?†(Hansberry 1955). He is a victim of his misplaced ambitions because he wants to be a respected entrepreneur, but he clearly doesn’t know anything about business, so it is practically impossible for him to accomplish his dream; like this when Walter is trying to convince George of his business smarts, â€Å"Me and you ought to sit down and talk sometimes, man. Man, I got me some ideas†¦Ã¢â‚¬  then George â€Å"[with boredom.] Yeah, sometimes we’ll have to do that Walter†(Hansberry 1936). That is actua lly why the story is named A Raisin in the Sun. It was named after a few lines in the poem Harlem by Langston Hughes: What happens to a dream deferred? Does it dry up like a raisin in the sun? Or fester like a sore— And then run? Does it stink

Separation of Mixtures Lab free essay sample

A. How did your proposed procedures or flow charts at the beginning of this experiment compare to the actual procedures of this lab exercise? The procedures in the lab manual seem to follow the actual procedures of the experiment very closely with the exception that I had to use the microwave because the water with the sodium chloride had not evaporated quickly enough. B. Discuss potential advantages or disadvantages of your proposed procedure compared to the one actually used.The main disadvantage of the proposed procedure was that you had to allot long periods of time for different things to dry or evaporate making this more of a 2-3 day experiment. C. How would you explain a sand recovery percentage that is higher than the original sand percentage? If when removing the iron particles the magnet did not attract all of the fillings this is would then affect all the other separations involved in the experiment and most likely make the final sand mass higher. We will write a custom essay sample on Separation of Mixtures Lab or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page D. What were potential sources of error in this experiment?Spillings, which are always likely or possible in any experiment, would make for a higher % of error in the data. Also if the magnet did not collect 100% of the iron fillings from the mixture the data would be off. Conclusions: This experiment taught me methods of how to separate different solid from a mixture. I learned that certain solids, like the sand, separate because it will not dissolve into water while the sodium chloride and benzoic acid still dissolved but even after dissolving I was able to separate the two back into a solid state after water evaporation.I encountered a few minor errors during this experiment like some spilling of the original mixture while transferring it into the weighing dish. Also I had to eventually microwave the sodium chloride and water to finish the evaporation process. Overall I learned a lot about the separation process and enjoyed practicing the different methods even though the accuracy of my final date might be off.

The Scrolls of the Dead sea Essay Example For Students

The Scrolls of the Dead sea Essay THE DEAD SEA SCROLLS Hum. 211 Karen Rank Sunday, October 17, 1999 While pursuing one of his goats into a cave near the Dead Sea in the Jordan Desert, in 1947, a fifteen year old boy by the name of Muhammad adh-Dhib, stumbled on to a great discovery. Inside the cave, he found broken jars that contained scrolls written in a strange language, wrapped in linen cloth and leather.1 This first discovery produced seven scrolls and started an archaeological search that produced thousands of scroll fragments in eleven caves. The Dead Sea is located in Israel and Jordan, east of Jerusalem. The dead sea is very deep, salty, and it’s the lowest body of water in the world. Because the dead sea is at such a low elevation, the climate has a high evaporation rate but a very low humidity which helped to preserve the scrolls.2 Archaeologists searched for the dwelling of the people that may have left the scrolls in the caves. The archaeologist excavated a ruin located between the cliffs where the scrolls were found and the dead sea. This ruin is called Qumran. The ruins and the scrolls were dated by the carbon 14 method and found to be from the third century which made them the oldest surviving biblical manuscript by at least 1000 years. Since the first discoveries archaeologists have found over 800 scrolls and scroll fragments in 11 different caves in the surrounding area. In fact, there are about 100,000 fragments found in all. Most of which were written on goat skin and sheep skin. A few were on papyrus, a plant used to make paper, but one scroll was engraved on copper sheeting telling of sixty buried treasure sites.3Because the scrolls containing the directions to the treasures is unable to be fully unrolled, the treasures have not been found yet. In all, the texts of the scrolls were remarkable. They contained unknown psalms, Bible commentary, calendar text, mystical texts, apocalyptic texts, liturgical texts, purity laws , bible stories, and fragments of every book in the Old Testament except that of Esther, including a imaginative paraphrase of the Book of Genesis. Also found were texts, in the original languages, of several books of the Apocrypha and Pseudepigrapha. These texts—none of which was included in the Hebrew canon of the Bible—are Tobit, Sirach, Jubilees, portions of Enoch, and the Testament of Levi, up to this time known only in early Greek, Syriac, Latin, and Ethiopic versions.4 John Trever of the W. F. Albright Institute of Archaeological Research, was allowed to investigate the scrolls and was stunned to find that the scrolls closely resemble the Nash Papyrus, the once known oldest fragment of the Hebrew Bible dated at or around 150 BC. One of the scrolls was a complete copy of the book of the prophet Isaiah. Trever also examined three other scrolls; the Manual of Discipline, a commentary on the book of Habbakuk, and one called the Genesis Apocryphon. Trever took photographs of the texts to William Foxwell Albright ; of John Hopkins University in Baltimore, who declared the scrolls dated back to around 100 BC.5 The scroll and fragments found in the Qumran is a library of information that contains books or works written in three different languages: Hebrew, Aramaic, and Greek. Many scholars separated the scrolls into three different categories: Biblical Books found in the Hebrew Bible. Apocryphal or psuedepigraphical Works not in some Bibles but included in others. Sectarian ordinances, biblical commentaries, apocalyptic visions, and sacred works.6 One of the longer text, found in Qumran is the Tehillim or Psalms Scroll. It was found in 1956 in cave 11 and unrolled in 1961. It is a assortment of Psalms, hymns and an indifferent passage about the psalms authored by King David. The Secret Diary of Lady Macbeth Essay18 One of the most fascinating similarities is how the people divided themselves into twelve tribes led by twelve chiefs. This is very similar to how Jesus had twelve apostles who would sit on thrones and judge the twelve tribes of Israel. 19 The Dead Sea Scrolls were written during the birth of Christianity and an important time in Jewish history. The scrolls have giving an insight into the lives and customs of the people who lived in a time of Roman invasion and Jewish history. Although the text do not hold all the answers, they do give people a tool to use when studying biblical history. Only a very few scholars had access to the scrolls before copies of the scrolls were published in the 1990’s; now we all have a chance to read an come to our own conclusions about the text. Whether the scrolls uphold Jewish or Christian beliefs is not the only interesting part of the scrolls. The text also give a more personal look at the people who lived in a major part of Jewish history. WORKS CITED Burrows, Millar. (1955). The Dead Sea Scrolls. New York: Grammercy Publishing Company Roth, Cecil. (1965). The Dea Sea Scrolls. A New Historical Approach. New York: W. W. Norton Company. Schubert, Kurt . (1959). The Dead Sea Community. Great Britain: Bowering Press Plymouth. Shanks, Hershel. (1998). The Mystery And Meaning Of The Dead Sea Scrolls. New York: Random House. Project Judaica Foundation, Inc.(1996-1999) . Welcome to SCROLLS FROM THE DEAD SEA. The Ancient Library of Qumran and Modern Scholarship, an Exhibit at the Library of Congress, Washington,DC http://metalab.unc.edu/expo/deadsea. scrolls.exhibit/intro.html, Site design by New Connections. Bibliography:Bibliography WORKS CITED Burrows, Millar. (1955). The Dead Sea Scrolls. New York: Grammercy Publishing Company Roth, Cecil. (1965). The Dea Sea Scrolls. A New Historical Approach. New York: W.W. Norton Company. Schubert, Kurt . (1959). The Dead Sea Community. Great Britain: Bowering Press Plymouth. Shanks, Hershel. (1998). The Mystery And Meaning Of The Dead Sea Scrolls. New York: Random House. Project Judaica Foundation, Inc.(1996-1999) . Welcome to SCROLLS FROM THE DEAD SEA. The Ancient Library of Qumran and Modern Scholarship, an Exhibit at the Library of Congress, Washington,DC http://metalab.unc.edu/expo/deadsea.scrolls. exhibit/intro.html, Site design by New Connections. Word Count: 1513

Okonkwo free essay sample

Some regard the arts as having an extra-artistic cognitive function, that they have a message about mans place in the world which might have social or political implications. For example, there might be a case for supposing that the arts have an important function as a medium for social criticism and transformation. In any case, there is a widespread belief that the arts have a higher purpose to educate by encouraging introspection and sometimes making us think about how we should live our lives. Two heads are better than one. Learning nd working in groups involves shared or learned values, resources, and ways of doing things. Group projects can reinforce skills that are relevant to both group and individual work, including the ability to: break task into parts, plan and manage time and gain communication skills. What strategies were used? Many of my classmates including myself would have preferred to work on this project individually, however every now and then more hands make for lighter work. We will write a custom essay sample on Okonkwo or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page When my partner and I got together to begin our project we had decided to split the project in half. Same an equal amount of work. I wouldnt say we used and specific strategies to begin the Mexican Revolution project. We did however follow the some of the guidelines of the design cycle to begin which included: plan, investigate, design and create. What knowledge was acquired? Because my partner had so much knowledge of the Mexican Revolution, she was able to help me clearly understand/clarify certain things that had occurred that I was uncertain of. Because we had to do some research on our own I gained more on the revolution, to the porfiriato era where porfito Diaz himself introduced railroads, to ow important the constitution was for the people. What skills were utilized and developed? Group projects can also help students develop skills to collaborative efforts, allowing students such as myself to: delegate roles and responsibilities, share perspectives, knowledge and skills, hold one another and be held accountable. (We were able to use pervious knowledge from class and what we have been taught to be able to complete the project. I was able to develop and gain more knowledge of the Mexican revolution because of my partners knowledge. ) What will be done ditterently in the tuture? A lot of things will be done differently in the future. Time management of course. We ended up doing it the same week it was due which caused some stress on each of us individually. Although we completed out project in time I would have liked to have started planning the week she told us Just to have had a head start and know what we were doing then actually doing it last minute and not really knowing what we were going to do. Even if we decided to split the work, I would have wanted to still worked together since it was a group project. But above all, it was a great experience working with another individual. 378

Jay Gatsby

Jay Gatsby Amman Mahmood 12Jay Gatsby: A Hero like no otherThe definition of the word "hero" has changed throughout the ages. A hero is someone who is recognized for his or her outstanding abilities and who helps people who are in need. A hero is courageous, strong-willed and strong-hearted. A hero is often the main character of the story. Our idea of the word "hero" has indeed changed, but everyone has his or her own perception of who a hero really is. Jay Gatsby who is one of the main characters in F. Scott Fitzgerald The Great Gatsby is the hero but a dreadful one. When asked about whom a hero really is people tend to have different views. Jay Gatsby has some qualities that question if he really is the hero of the story but again he has some qualities that make him a true hero. Again everyone's definition of hero might be different.The Great Gatsby (1926 film)Ever since Jay Gatsby was a little kid he idolized his mentor Dan Cody an eccentric billionaire. Jay wanted to be all the things that Dan was. He was willing to do anything and rise above anyone to get those things. His road to success had a few bumps on them but he didn't regret it. Those bumps made Gatsby who he was and he wouldn't change a thing. Jay Gatsby was many things but he was not a two faced hero. Gatsby was a bootlegger and he was corrupt. He used to throw lavish parties for his one true love Daisy. Even though Gatsby knew these things were not right he still did it because of love. Everything he did he did for love. He built himself to a person who Daisy would love and gladly accept. He wanted to be the man...

How to Lead Effective Meetings Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

How to Lead Effective Meetings - Essay Example As the discussion highlights  agenda is a list of items that need to be discussed by the participants in order to achieve the objectives of a meeting. Being a form of early warning system, agenda helps the participants of a meeting to be prepared on how to deal with the various topics that will be covered in the meeting. To achieve the goals of the meetings, it is fundamental for the participants to be well prepared before a meeting. Thus, the main role of agenda is to provide the participants with the information in order ensure they are prepared. An agenda works as a time table that is followed by the participants during a meeting.According to the paper findings  an agenda is structured into three major items. The first one is common items that include apologies for absence, minutes of last meeting and matters arising. The second part is specific items that include accounts, special reports and appointments. Thirdly, an agenda has concluding items that includes any other busine ss (AOB) and the date of next meeting. For a meeting to be successful in meeting its aims, all the three items of the agenda must be covered.  Prior to a meeting, Peytons General Supplies department managers ensures adequate preparation. Meeting preparation takes four major steps. First, the managers identify the reasons of holding the meeting. In this way, they ensure that the meetings have clear goals. Secondly, the managers identify who should attend the meeting.

Advantages and Disadvantages of Living in a House versus Living in an Essay - 6

Advantages and Disadvantages of Living in a House versus Living in an Apartment - Essay Example The main advantage of living in a personal house is that the family living in the house has better privacy as compared to a family living in an apartment (French, 2006). Houses are designed in such a manner that two houses are situated at an ample amount of distance from each other. Due to this, it is very difficult for neighbors to identify what is happening in the next door house. In the case of apartments, there is a lack of privacy because apartments comprise of suites that are located exactly next to each other and the walls of the suites are attached to each other. Houses offer less security as compared to apartments. Houses lack security because in case of houses there a limited number of people who are living together and these limited numbers of people cannot deter robbers from breaking into the house (Fennelly, 2012). In the case of apartments, there is more security because apartments comprise of many families living together in a single building. Due to so many people living in a single structure, robbers and criminals may fear that people living in different suites may be able to hear voices and may try to help their neighbors. Due to this fear, criminals may refrain from attacking a suite located within an apartment. One of the major benefits of living in apartments is that it becomes easier for families living in apartments to socialize with more people. People living in apartments tend to know each other; they even share time as well as goods with each other (Berns, 2004). Due to this, they develop interpersonal relationships with each other. Since there are many families living in apartments, these families have the opportunity to socialize with various individuals.  

Product Assessment Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words - 4

Product Assessment - Essay Example The table on the right shows that about 85% of the total population in the United States uses mobile phones. The age group which owns a mobile phone ranges from 18-29 years old while the age group with the least percentage of mobile phone ownership is the 65+ age group which stands at only 58%. The mobile phones have lost the popularity in the recent years and statistics reveal that it is likely that the product will continue to decline given the emergence and the sudden rise in the popularity of smartphones. It is estimated that in the year 2012, almost half of all the mobile phone users will have switched to the smartphones and this will mean that with time, mobile phone ownership and usage will decrease before it becomes more or less a non-existent product eventually. (Stewart) Companies such as Apple, Samsung and HTC have witnessed huge rises in their sales in the recent years and their popularity has gone sky high thanks to the introduction of newer versions of smartphones which offer an incredible amount of functions and opportunities to explore. This gives the mobile phone manufacturers and marketers enough to worry about with the US census supporting the view that people may actually shift from mobile phones to smartphones in the near future. The table above shows the methods used by the American households to use the internet. The usage of internet in the United States is very high and is now considered as one of the basic necessities of the public. The table shows the data from a US census in the year 2010 and it shows that about 9.1% of the households now use mobiles for internet usage. The internet accessibility in mobile phones is very limited and people have started to shift to smartphones due to the fact that these smartphones offer a wide range of internet options and much better accessibility and surfing options. Also the competition among the top 4 smartphone

Foreign Investment In Russia Business Essay

Foreign Investment In Russia Business Essay The case discusses about Schindler which is a company who established itself in 1874 in Switzerland and they manufactured escalators and elevators. For the first time it made a strong decision to develop a fully owned subsidiary in India with the help Mr. Silvio Napoli who will be leading it. He was a Harvard graduate, young, very analytical and had a strong strategic mindset. The case focuses on the problems faced by Mr. Napoli on starting and setting up operations and activities in India which was totally opposite to Switzerland from where he belonged. Mr. Napoli being an expatriate found it very different and difficult to adjust and acquaint him to an Indian culture. He struggled upon Indias protectionist tariff policies, considerations regarding cost and also the staff that was doubtful on his ways as Napoli wanted things carried on his way. All these were a big threaten to his entire career as he wasnt able to go in accordance with his business plan. Mr. Napoli wanted to develop a cost effective solution to make, develop and sell a completely core and standardized product in India. He was a victim to several issues, mainly cultural issues.  [1]  Mr. Napoli being of Swiss origin believes in low context  [2]  communication style where as in India it is mostly of high context and maybe its for the same reason Napoli is regarded as very talkative. Napoli believed in sticking to business plan because of his orderliness as per Swiss. But the Indian management was mostly willing to customize. Mr. Napoli wanted to mix up his orderliness and generate the task-oriented nature which is why he was often regarded as impatient, impulsive and mostly a hard driver while Indian management compared Mr. Singh as an easy going, patient and friendly person. Indians are not very good time keepers and as a result they keep most of the things towards the end and this was strictly not tolerated by Napoli. This was another reason to issues in Schindler India. Another issue that came up is that, Napoli followed the Swiss habit of total accurate precision delivery where as Indians could be represented as they promise more but actually under deliver it. Napoli failed to understand the business culture properly as he was totally shattered with the increased import duties on certain specific noncore goods including elevators. In India the term of outsourcing was new and couldnt be accepted easily, as a result many mangers in India happened to sign agreements against the strategies of the business plan. This can be better understood if we take a look with the help of Hofstedes comparison model.  [3]  The Italian and Indian culture are different from each other and it is such that Italians are much more focused on themselves as a team unlike Indian culture, when we look at the uncertainty avoidance Italians are usually a bit hesitant in coming to an unknown conclusion unlike the Indian culture. He should have more understanding of the Indian culture. Napoli has failed tremendously to execute the plan that he presented at the time of term of sales, but a plus point is that he was able to develop a high leadership team, he also added onto the companys business model certain buy-ins which was also a wise decision. So somewhere he still has a chance. Secondly, I would like to consider the family issues he was having, he didnt make a wise decision in relocating his family and had to fight several personal issues like his pregnant wife, managing her and her issues also his children injuring themselves. Its not appropriate to take in Napolis family problems into account as a reason for his poor performance, since he comes from a typical Corporate Switzerland background. Thus, the strategy should be such that, the inputs from the top level management of India has to be revised and also deep considerations regarding the cultural, technological, economical and governmental elements of India and the target market of India. When the strategy is revised the top level management of Indian subsidiary should be allowed to take and make decisions on their own on several key issues. Napoli should focus only on high end regional decision making. In order to make Schindler India profitable, it is best to properly assess Napolis team and continuously recheck the sales strategy and explore the Indian market and culture more deeply looking into the mindset of people and activities prevailing and then reinforce his ideas. It is such that standard products and service will make the business progressive and even looking at Indias very basic elevator market currently prevailing is the key aspects that will make India branch profitable. UNILEVERS BUTTER BEATER: INNOVATION FOR GLOBAL DIVERSITY CASE SUMMARY BY DEVI SUDHAKARAN This is a case that shows the problems and difficulties country managers were faced with while beginning to start central direction on Pan European/International sales, positioning and product development. It showcases the rollout of Krona which is a new spread alternative. Also showing how this was a failed strategy to maintain a cross country product viewpoints and perceptions also cultural differences and the various biases of the different country managers of Unilever. It is seen that in the case Unilever was focusing completely on a centralized management style and wanted to increase their manufacturing abilities and capabilities, developing new product, economies of scale and even the leveraging of fixed investments in the brands. Local responsiveness was their core strength even while following a centralized management model. In the new organization, the country managers were made to bother about the variety in the tastes and preferences of different countries and also their needs were considered for making a completely new product which was the total opposite to their previous culture. When we look at the strategic rationale that was undertaken for the development of European Margarine, we see that they followed a basis of cost reduction method, there was a potential in the yellow fats category but using different approaches on national basis increased the cost for the development of new products.  [4]  It was seen that the transnational image was made stronger by the development of global brands which concentrated and created EU single market. They also leveraged high global expenses on brand investments. It was extremely difficult to develop a Pan European band with the different cultural diversity across the countries. There were immense problems between the country managers as they we greatly irritated by the various international strategies that have to be coordinated between the countries and also the loss of their autonomy all this resulted in a huge barrier for communication for the county managers. The country managers had to focus on the consumption habits of consumers across Europe and it was not possible to create one single approach as the consumer preference and selection of food and its types varied widely. For instance if we take a German consumer they are bothered on natural products, the environmental considerations and even of the safety of food. But on the other hand French were deeply into the traditional style of taste and enjoyed its pleasure. They also had problems of coordinating themselves as they wasted tremendous amount of time and money as various ICs (Innovation Centers) were spending time working on the very same products. There was also intense competition between the independent local subsidiaries which had their own methods and agendas for development regarding products. Another main issue was that the top-down process of innovation much slower at producing product ideas. There wasnt any financial budgets made for international products and the local managers were given full risk. In the very much declining yellow fat category the local manager required the market share and profit. Also the local managers wanted independence as they were change resistant and had a competition among themselves The underlying result after Krona being developed was very much below the bar, Krona became a huge success in Germany where it was made and developed because it was made only on the local likes and interest, but it failed miserably in the rest of the Europe. Another result in the company was a huge conflict of cultural problems and they also had to face the comments of developing products not according to the preference of consumers interest. Thus, the strategic decision should be such that its made to cater and satisfy the local needs and tastes, doing and performing like that of Coca Cola and McDonalds in China by means of presenting and offering the same nice product and making the consumers enjoy it tremendously, also make the top managers at Unilever such that they process and transfer their vision to the middle management and take away the fear of failing strategies. It is understood that many successful organizations are not ready for changes as it natural that changes alter and hamper their normal routines. Before making any crucial decisions its a must to understand the fact that proper steps and innovations must be taken to meet the national difference of people. FOREIGN INVESTMENT IN RUSSIA CHALLENGING THE BEAR CASE SUMMARY BY DEVI SUDHAKARAN The executive team of MLC Corporation was examining if it should continue to expand and increase its production and distribution into Russia, in May 2008. There was an increase in the Russian economy and there were three reasons that contributed for the same. Firstly, the increase of natural gas exporting to Europe. Secondly, the increase in the energy price which led to the tremendous growth of the energy sector resulting in widening of the economy. Mark Olexi who was the CEO of MLC had basically three alternatives in front of him. The first being, to further expand the plant export and also to continue the exporting because of its success in the past many years. The second one being, to strengthen Russias competition position abroad by building a manufacturing and distributing center. The third option was to wait and take time for both decisions because of the prevailing uncertainties and risk factors in Russian economic and financial aspects. The worldwide recession and the massive internal economic and financial crises were getting worse and it was doubtful if the Russian economy could withstand it or avoid it. Russia is undergoing a number of problems like a change in leadership as Vladimir Putin couldnt run as President for another term; it was also a doubtful and concerning issue of how the foreign companies in Russia would be operating depending on the attitude of Prime Minister Putin and the next successor President Dmitry Medvedev. Another problem being the energy price shooting up. Along with these, Russia and the U.S relationships were being deteriorated by George W. Bushs administration. Finally, the issue with regard to British and U.S financial system following the mortgage crises in 2007. Mark Olexi had to decide which alternative to select to generate maximum results. He could decide on either of the following four decisions: First, export from US, sell in Russia  [5]   while doing this the company could incur huge costs with regard to transportation and hence its very expensive to do so, also the unclear and complicated regulations in Russia can make it difficult for the selling to take place hence the company might suffer losses, even the political situation in the country is not good enough. On a positive note, since the production process is already established MLC would benefit from 70% of income coming from Russia. Second strategy is to produce in Russia, sell in Russia-by doing this even though there is a high risk factor we could generate larger profits, while investing in Russia it is possible to concentrate on the excess demand for the moment or even try a partial investment in Russia to see the success and progress of it. MLC could also make tie ups wi th the government and enhance their relationships with the government and hence form a hybrid / joint venture. Since the oil prices would possibly rise as per the forecast in the case, the Russian government would definitely secure the currency value. The third strategy is to produce in Russia, sell elsewhere- by doing this the company would be certainly risking itself and spending time and immense money in first identifying the pros and cons of that third country to sell and studying the economic and political nature of the third country, also knowing the consumers well, even understanding the unforeseen causes or changes in the environment. The fourth strategy is to produce elsewhere (not US, Russia),sell to Russia- By doing this the company would invest in a country that is geographically close to Russia, here the company can think of investing in an emerging economy, and can save expenses to a limit as its geographically closer, even expect a somewhat same political and economic conditions as its close but will definitely mitigate the currency risk involved in investing in Russia also try to focus and then expand the client base and even keep Russia from being 80% of the revenue generator. It would be ideal for the company to produce and sell in Russia considering the points mentioned above. In the case it is seen that more than half of the revenue generated in the company is from a single client as it is definitely not a good way to continue a firm. The company could be always on the threat of losing that client. If that happens then the company would be under series losses. The company should find a way to generate revenue from more than one client and make it dispersed as possible.  [6]   Thus, from this case it teaches the various skills necessary to analyze the economic country data and even the political situation of country and use the various methods for assessing the prevailing risk factors in order to come up with a right decision. AIRASIA: FLYING LOW COST WITH HIGH HOPES CASE SUMMARY BY DEVI SUDHAKARAN This case talks about an airline company in Asia- AirAsia operating as an LCC (low cost carrier) how it came up in the market fighting between the increasing and rising flight operation costs and competition in the Asia-Pacific region . It is important to first understand what makes Asia an attractive market for LCC, its mainly because of rapidly urbanizing population who are being developed and are ready to travel and see various locations, fewer substitutes for air travel with regard to traveling long distances with low fares, low but rising incomes of the population, the deregulation taking place and even sometimes disruptive innovation  [7]   A disruptive innovation is an innovation that helps create a new market and value network, and eventually goes on to disrupt an existing market and value network (over a few years or decades), displacing an earlier technology.  [8]   Tony Fernandez who was a private entrepreneur captured AirAsia airlines from the Malaysian government when it was debt ridden in the year, December 2001. After a month, Tony Fernandez re-launched AirAsia airlines as South-East Asias first LCC (Low Cost Carrier). He was able to generate huge success and increased the profitability tremendously and even expanded its routes. What he did was, he kept immense low cost structure comparing to the competitors and offered the customers extremely low airfare of 40% -60 % less than competitors. He developed the ticketless travel thus being environment friendly and consuming less paper. AirAsia developed also had free seating arrangements. Customers were even attracted as frequent draws were conducted on board and this surprised the passengers. He also developed a tag line Now Everyone Can Fly which attracted the customers and which they considered motivating. A multilingual website was also created; this attracted leisure travelers and purchased air tickets through it which had promotions and offer for specific traveling periods. AirAsia started off with the Easy To Book, Easy To Pay Easy To Fly message and developed the telephone booking centre, sales offices, travel agents and also created tie-ups with several local banks and post offices. Mr. Fernandez conquered and became the first in many new services in t he operation and started a plan which was considered risky by other services; he extended the airline services which included many long- haul routes. AirAsia was even first to stat the booking with the help of cell phones using a simple SMS. This showed how innovative he was and even went down to the corporate bone. AirAsia was ranked as the best LCC in the Asia region in the year 2007. It encouraged many other LCCs in the Asia Pacific area to come up with such ideas and on the other hand threatened MAS Malaysian Airlines a full service operator which was a major competition at home. MAS didnt let go the competition from AirAsia and took stronger steps than AirAsia and started a sudden price war by offering to customers a zero fare for domestic travel and also for short-haul flights. They even built up a campaign Everyday Low Fare which even grabbed the attention of the customers by even immense advertisement war  [9]  and impressing potential passengers. CHABROS INTERNATIONAL GROUP: A WORLD OF WOOD CASE SUMMARY BY DEVI SUDHAKARAN This case shows how Chabros International Group a Lebanese multinational wood company confronting a huge decrease of its largest subsidiary sales after the global economic crisis in 2008. Antoine Chami who was the owner and president of Chabros International Group when reviewed the companys financial statements for the end of year 2009 saw that there was a thirty percent drop in the sales from Dubai. There was a growing lumber sales demand and Antoine Chami had invested $ 11 million to acquire and expand one of the saw mills in Serbia to meet this demand. This happened in 2007 a year before the global economic crises took place. There was high capacity for the production of lumber but with regard to selling, had low profitability. To overcome this problem Chami could either shut certain parts of the Serbia mill or boost Chabros International Groups sales to use up all the capacity available of the sawmill. If that happens, should it continue to increase sales where it was already operating like that of UAE, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Oman, Egypt or should it try to expand to a new places like Algeria, Bahrain, Iran, Iraq, Jordan, Kuwait, Libya, Syria, Tunisia. He also would have doubts on Morocco, among other places, if it is the best country to expand for this activity? Also if it is the right time to start on such an expansion process FOREIGN DIRECT INVESTMENT IN THE MIDDLE EAST: RIYADH AND DUBAI CASE SUMMARY BY DEVI SUDHAKARAN This is a case that deals with finding out the various key drivers of investing in the Middle East especially in Riyadh and Dubai of Saudi Arabia and United Arab Emirates respectively by foreign rich countries like The United states of America, Japan and several European multinational and financial services and service providers. A considerable sample of foreign companies is interviewed to find out the main aspects in their decision process and what made them select the mode of operation and details about their business model. The case is in three sections, the first is about laws, regulations and requirements have changed considerably and that it has become more adapting to foreign investment in past years, this is performed with the help of several business environmental characteristic index and changes over time. The second part studies the exchange arrangements and framework for capital and financial transactions. The third section studies the various experiences of many multinational companies that have invested in the financial services sector of the Middle East.

Theodore Roethke Essay -- modern American poetry

Theodore Roethke â€Å"Roethke was a great poet, the successor to Frost and Stevens in modern American poetry, and it is the measure of his greatness that his work repays detailed examination† (Parini 1). Theodore Roethke was a romantic who wrote in a variety of styles throughout his long successful career. However, it was not the form of his verse that was important, but the message being delivered and the overall theme of the work. Roethke was a deep thinker and often pondered about and reflected on his life. This introspection was the topic of much of his poetry. His analysis of his self and his emotional experiences are often expressed in his verse. According to Ralph J. Mills Jr., â€Å"this self interest was the primary matter of artistic exploration and knowledge, an interest which endows the poems with a sense of personal urgency, even necessity† (Contemporary Authors 476). Roethke was born in 1908 in Saginaw, Michigan to Otto Roethke and Helen Huebner. He demonstrated early promise in a Red Cross campaign speech as a high school freshman. This speech was translated into twenty-six different languages and showed that he had talent and potential even at a young age. He graduated magna cum laude from the University of Michigan in 1929, and was pressured to move on to law school by family members. However, he was not interested in law and dropped out in order to take graduate courses in literature at Harvard University. Allan Seager concluded, â€Å"it was more than an unsuppressible awareness of life that led him to choose poetry as a career† (Contemporary Authors 475). He took up various teaching positions afterwards at colleges including Lafayette College, Pennsylvania State University, Bennington College, and final... ...uminaries who had an effect on his writing were Leonie Adams, Emily Dickinson, Rolfe Humphries, Stanley Kunitz, and Emily Wylie (1). â€Å"At the University of Washington, Roethke found talented protà ©gà ©s in Carolyn Kizer, David Wagoner, and James Wright† (Kalaidjian 2). He is well known for his influence on this subsequent generation of award-winning poets. Works Cited Parini, J. â€Å"Roethke, Theodore.† Chambers Biographical Dictionary. Ed. Melanie Perry. New York: Larousse Kingfisher Chambers Inc, 1997: 1584. â€Å"Roethke, Theodore.† Encarta 2002. CD-ROM. Redmond, WA: Microsoft 2002. â€Å"Roethke, Theodore (Huebner).† Contemporary Authors. Volumes 81-84. Ed. Francis Carol Locher. Detroit: Gale Research Company, 1979: 475-479. â€Å"Theodore Roethke’s Life and Career.† Walter Kalaidjian. 1999.

Exocytosis in Paramecium

In Paramecium caudate, trichinosis are IOWA secretors vesicles that are released from the cytoplasm. We first observed how the presence of Alicia blue dye triggers normal secretion of trichinosis, and we then tested four different hypotheses in order to determine how the presence of Ca++ ions in the extracurricular and intracellular environment affects the secretion of trichinosis.Our first our hypothesis tested whether extracurricular calcium is required for the secretion of trichinosis by reading cells with EST., an agent that blocks calcium ions; our second tested whether increased calcium will counter the inhibitory effects of EST.; our third tested whether adding different ion, like Magic, can also counter the inhibitory effects of EST.; and our fourth hypothesis tested whether the release of intracellular calcium by adding caffeine or oenophile affects exoticism.Our results demonstrate that exoticism of tricycles is dependent on the presence of calcium ions in both the intracel lular and extracurricular environments. Introduction: Exoticism in eukaryotic cells is the process in which macromolecular material is released from the cell into the extracurricular environment; one example of exoticism is the secretion of trichinosis in paramecium. Trichinosis are secreted from the cell as a defense mechanism when certain stimuli are introduced into the extracurricular environment.The secretion of trichinosis is controlled by the presence of Ca*+ ions within the plasma membrane and in the extracurricular environment. The purpose of our experiment was to observe the extent to which exoticism is pendant on the presence of extracurricular and intracellular calcium ions, and to determine if other extracurricular ions can have the same effect as calcium. The cells were first treated with 0. 03% Alicia blue dye, which triggers normal exoticism. Cells were then treated with EST., an agent that inhibits calcium, in order to observe how triptychs secretion is affected when calcium ions are sequestered.Additional calcium ions were added to the extracurricular environment to determine if the effects f EST. could be countered by increasing calcium. The cells were then exposed to a different ion, Magic, to observe if a different ion could have the same promoting effect in the extracurricular environment as calcium. Finally, the effect of intracellular calcium was tested by treating cells with a calcium oenophile (A23187) and caffeine, which both stimulate the processing of calcium into the cytoplasm of a cell. Results: Table 1: Observations of triptychs secretion in Paramecium caudate.Data show owe a small sample of cells on a microscope slide responded to the addition of 0. 03% Alcott blue dye, 7. 5 run EST., 0. 14 run A23187 in 1% DMS, 50 run caffeine, and 25 mm magnesium chloride (Magic). The data were obtained by viewing cells under a microscope; the cells were counted prior to treatment and the number of cells secreting trichinosis was counted after treatment.

Marxist Theory on Crime and Punishment Essay Essays

Marxist Theory on Crime and Punishment Essay Essays Marxist Theory on Crime and Punishment Essay Paper Marxist Theory on Crime and Punishment Essay Paper Essay Topic: Crime and Punishment Marxist Theory and Crime and Punishment Throughout human history countless philosophers have risen with what they thought to be the best signifier of authorities for society as a whole. Karl Marx may be the most influential philosopher in Russian history. Harmonizing to The Free Dictionary. Marxism is the construct that â€Å"class battle plays a cardinal function in understanding society’s allegedly inevitable development from bourgeois subjugation under capitalist economy to a socialist and finally egalitarian society† . With this theory. Marx had a great impact on Russian literature? specifically. Fyodor Dostoyevsky’s Crime and Punishment. Harmonizing the the Marxist theory. one would construe Crime and Punishment as a perfect illustration to the rise of communism. This fresh embodies the Marxist theory because it is a announcement of a labor. being that Raskolnikov is out of topographic point in society. fighting from a paralysing poor ness and has a craving for contending for the common good among a society of unfair people. Harmonizing to the Marxist theory. aberrance is an apprehensible response to poorness. Throughout the novel. there are many cases where Raskolnikov. along with other characters in the novel. suffer from poorness and in return take drastic steps. For case. Sonya Marmeladov. a good ­willed. spiritual beauty. turned to harlotry in order to assist her household stay afloat. Even puting down. â€Å"thirty rubles on the table† . could halt the kids from shouting from famishment. and maintain a roof over their caputs a small longer ( 1. 2. 20 ) . Furthermore. poorness becomes a portion of Raskolnikov

RU486 essays

RU486 essays The article I chose is about the anti-progesterone RU-486 (mifepristone). I chose this article for a few reasons. I was interested in the article's content, and although the article appeared to be straight forward there were many hidden messages. Before this article I knew nothing about RU-486. I would have read this article and probably passed right over the messages that makes the article negative about this drug for moral reasons instead of scientific ones. The article appears to be a straight forward article explaining what Ru-486 is, what it does, and that it is very bad. Once I did some research myself I began to see that this article is bias and that it is packed with hidden messages I would normally take for truth. This paper was written by a pro-lifer directed towards people, probably women looking for information on the new drug. I believe that it is written by a pro-lifer because there are all kinds of hidden clues. For instance, the article begins with explaining what RU-486 stand for. The author explains that the pill is named after the manufacturer who is owned by a corporation that spun off from the I.G. chemical firm. The firm that supplied Hitler with the Zyklon B gas used to kill Jews and Christians in the Third Reich death camps. Also, the author once refers to a fetus as "little one, baby." Referring to a fetus as a "little one" means that he assumes there is more to the fetus than biological life and than is not going to present this information objectively. When the author gives the citations they are from the American Life League and a book called "Misconceptions, myths, and morals." The information presented in this article is all negative. The author begins the article explaining how RU-486 is somehow correlated with killing Jews and Christians. The author asks if RU-486 is safe. This question is answered ...

Blog post for Public Relation Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Blog post for Public Relation - Research Paper Example rs are rarely looking for that complex and detailed analysis of a product that would leave them in a position to develop the same product on their own. Contrary, they are interested in simply knowing how the product will suit their needs, and better even, how the product will meet their needs better than all the similar or substitute products on the market (The Richest, 2012). Therefore, it is through seeding the internet with great content, not in form of a narrative that will help to keep the customer engaged with the article or digital post, but rather through ensuring that any content developed in respect to a brand or promotion of a commercial entity tells the customers exactly what they want to know about it; how it suits their interests better than the rest (Morgan, 2014). This being the basic step, if an individual or business manages to establish internet content that will tell the customer exactly what they seek to know when they get online to seek for a commodity, the other steps involving optimizing and releasing such news will be easy to go by, since the fundamental need of the customers, which is that knowledge of the existence of a product that suits their interests better, will have been met. According to Carrie Morgan, â€Å"the Internet is a digital haystack; your brand is the needle† (Morgan, 2014). In this respect, it is the business of the brand owner to dig into the haystack, get hold of the needle, and place it on the top layer of the haystack, so that it would be easier for the interested parties to find it easily. Through applying this analogy, the only way through which a brand can thrive in the market full of competing products that are seeking to fulfill the same need, is through developing a great promotional message that will stand out amongst the rest (The Richest, 2012). For example, let us pose for a moment to look at the success of the giant search engine globally, Google, which is an internet-based firm that came along in the

The Super Continent Cycle Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

The Super Continent Cycle - Essay Example This has been made possible by plate tectonics, the system driving Earth's continents slowly around the globe. Plate tectonics is the study of the movement of the huge plates of the landmass beneath the earth surface which results into drifting of the continents. This hypothesis of drifting continents was proposed by German scientist Alfred Wegener for the first time in 1912. He used many types of evidence available in abundance on the earth's surface. Some of the evidences pointing out such supercontinent cycle are; Fossil Remains: Similar types of plant and animal fossils were found in different areas of continents which were studied to be connected. For example, the fossil remains of a small reptile found both in Africa and Latin America. Rock Formations: In the coastal regions, the rocks were found to be matching even in areas which were widely separated. To prove this point Wegener came out with the proof suggesting the reconstruction of an ice cap radiating from South Africa, whose marks were traced across the southern continents. Climatic Conditions: Some climatic patterns were observed which were not in conformity with the normal climate of the region/s, thus suggesting that these climatic conditions could have been affected by the climatic conditions at some other places or regions. Wegener's hypothesis therefore led us to believe that while on the one hand the some of the western African regions have similarities with the eastern part of South America; the northern part of African continent had similarities with the southern regions of North America. Similarities were also found in the southern part of Asian region and the western part of African continent, thus giving the thought an impetus. Initially though Wegener's hypothesis was not taken seriously, but gradually, as the theory of plate tectonics developed in 1960's, more and more studies took place, the notions of supercontinent gained wider acceptance. The plate tectonics theory believes that the surface of earth is divided into a number of shifting plates with an average thickness of around 50-80 km. African, American, Antarctic, Eurasian, Indian and Pacific regions have all been assigned huge plates while smaller landmasses with smaller plates are identified as Arabian, Caribbean, Cocos, Nasca, Philipp ine and Scotia regions. In fact scientists have identified about 15 major tectonic plates. Earthquakes help in identifying the plates. The supercontinent theory suggests that during the Paleozoic Era, there was a huge continent named Pangeae, which included all the continents. The name Pangaea is derived from the Greek word "pan" meaning "all" and Gaea or Gaia i.e. the Greek name of the divine personification of the Earth. Pangaea, therefore, means "all land." During the Triassic Period, the Pangeae started fragmenting thus resulting in the existing number of continents. This process is said to be continuing even now. The supercontinent theory suggests such occurrences have also happened in the past, thus the name 'supercontinent cycle'. Canadian geologist John Tuzo Wilson also provided an insight into the hypothetical supercontinent cycle, who described the fragmentation of continents, opening and closing of the ocean basin and subsequent reassembly of the continents. This theory suggests t

18 kids were right all along Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

18 kids were right all along - Essay Example While he has a point that high school can be boring and repetitive in the final two years, Melcher fails to adequately take into account the possibilities available to students in high school to keep them interested, the problem of maturity level of students and misses perhaps the strongest argument in favor of his position, the school system established in England. Students who have planned their education well are capable of graduating from high school as many as two years earlier than normal now thanks to specialized advanced level classes and limited electives. However, many of these students opt to remain in school longer as a means of further exploring other interests, beginning the difficult process of selecting an appropriate career by discovering interests and ruling out others. Other programs, such as dual credit courses and vocational courses, serve to continue high school students’ interest even further. For those who are bored with school, just a little application enables them to leave earlier as Melcher suggests. Teenagers aged 15 or 16 are notoriously confident of their own maturity level and abilities to their own delusion. In addition, they are provided with a driver’s license and often a vehicle at this age, giving them unprecedented freedom and range. Should they be turned loose on the streets at this point, without even a class to attend, it is difficult to say what they might do. Some very few would undoubtedly continue their education with a view toward their future, but too many, without further guidance or other guidelines put in place, would simply go wild. This is, indeed, a problem among the poorer segments of the urban population in England and elsewhere where school is optional after age 16. Finally, Melcher neglects to mention the strongest argument in favor of his position. England, for example, has a school

Parking slot system Essay Example for Free

Parking slot system Essay INTRODUCTION A parking space is a location that is designated for parking, either paved or unpaved. Parking spaces can be in a parking garage, in a parking lot or on a city street. It is usually designated by a white-paint-on-tar rectangle indicated by three lines at the top, left and right of the designated area. The automobile fits inside the space, either by parallel parking, perpendicular parking or angled parking. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parking_space) In most countries where cars are the dominant mode of transportation, parking lots are a feature of every city and suburban area. Shopping malls, sports stadiums, mega churches and similar venues often feature car parks of immense area. Wikipedia(2007) There are lots of parking space here in the Philippines who are traditionally operated by the security guards. We don’t have a choice but to follow that traditional operation. Every day that we are traveling in the mall or in any place, we need to find a parking slot. Sometimes there is traffic inside the parking area because most of the drivers can’t find a parking slot for their vehicles. The traditional process of any parking areas are like a cycle, you will enter on the entrance and didn’t know if there is a space for you to able to park your car and you will be driving cyclical on the parking lot and suddenly you will be irritated because you can’t find any space for your car, and you have no choice but to head the exit. This is the cycle that every people experienced every minute, every hour or every day in every parking lot area. The problem of the parking areas is it can’t manage only by the security guard’s, they can’t search the whole area in every minute to know if there is a space for the new incoming drivers on the parking lot unless there is a security guard in every designated area. And most of the parking areas are too small for the customers who have private vehicles. The reasons why we are proposing this research is to reduce the problem of the vehicle drivers who are suffering to find an available space or slot in the parking areas. This research aim to help all the drivers to find a parking space faster and easier than the traditional system. STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM How may the manual system be described in terms of: 1.1Time Time consuming of finding a space in parking lot. 1.2AccuracyandConsistency. Increase of problem in parking lot. 1.3Speed Slow in finding a slot for vehicles. 1.4Security No security guard will monitor your vehicles. How may the proposed system be described in terms of: 1.1Time Saving your time to find a parking space. 1.2AccuracyandConsistency Use automated car parking system to reduce wasting of time finding a parking slot. 1.3Speed It’s more quickly to find parking slot. 1.4Security The automated car parking system is more secured than the traditional system.

Psychologists Essay -- essays research papers

Psychology is the study of human behavior, how we think, feel and act. Psychologists study both normal and abnormal behavior to understand it. Psychologists also try to use what we learn from that study to help people change aspects of their behavior that they want to change. Areas of psychology are clinical, industrial, and developmental. Careers in Psychology offer varied opportunities. Employment opportunities for capable psychologists are expected to be slightly better than average over the next several years. However, if you're interested in a career in Psychology, you should know that the training program to become a psychologist is a long one. There is also stiff competition for places in graduate training programs in Psychology. So why major in Psychology if it is going to take so long? First of all, it is an interesting profession that offers the opportunity to increase the well-being of one's life. It requires critical thinking skills, statistical reasoning skills, and research design skills. Also a major part of being a successful psychologist is having practical knowledge about people and a charismatic self. People who want to major in psychology usual get a 4-year degree at a university. During the first four years, the student obtains scientific and clinical knowledge in Psychology. It is also possible to get an internship during the third year of schooling. As well, students will get some opportunity to see what applied practice in Psychology will actually look like by taking courses and seminars in areas of special interest. Following the undergraduate degree, a two year program of graduate studies in Psychology in a university will lead the student to a Master's degree. Part of that two-year program will usually involve completing a research project in Psychology. Some areas allow persons with a Master's degree in Psychology to be registered as a psychologist. However, many people, particularly those who want to practice in a specialty area of Psychology, will go on to complete their doctoral degree in Psychology before becoming registered or licensed to practice. This will take another three to four years of study on average. As part of the doctoral program, students will complete a more complex research project in Psychology that will serve as their doctoral thesis. They will also complete an intensiv... ...uch as visual perception and the behaviour of single cells in the brain to complex studies of the behavior of large groups of people.Psychologists may choose to work in a firm, dealing one on one with people who have enlisted for the psychologist's help. In this area, a psychologist may work with abuse victims, abusers, drug abusers, children, marriage problems, and people with an array of disorders, problems, and some who just need help with a problem. Ted Bosack, the director of the Psychology department of Providence University, was kind enough to answer a few questions I sent to him about psychology. He stressed that the best psychologist isn't necessarily the one with the highest I.Q. It takes dedication and an extreme connection with people.Mr. Bosack said, "When you've got a high I.Q., you can write a book on marriage. When you've got a high E.Q., you have a great marriage." He thinks the best psychologist needs, not only high intelligence, but high emotional understanding to better understand people. I think his outlook sums up what a psychologist should be; someone open to those in need of one's understanding, one that will be a confident, as well as a friend.

Conextualizing Homebody/Kabul Essay -- Essays Papers

Conextualizing Homebody/Kabul In the aftermath of the bombing of the Twin Towers on September 11 th, Tony Kushner’s Homebody/Kabul has received remarkable acclaim from its opening in New York City in December of 2001. Written â€Å"before September 11th, before we began bombing,† Kushner’s play is a startling look into Kabul, Afghanistan, a world once ruled by sharia hudud and strangled by poverty, violence and the world’s apathy (Homebody/Kabul 144). It chronicles the story of one middle-aged British woman, the ‘Homebody,’ and her life-changing encounter with an Afghan refugee in an import shop in London, her subsequent flight to and disputed death in Kabul, and the stories of her daughter and husband who travel to Kabul to recover her. Brushed with dark humor and realism, this play offers a haunting glimmer of the ignorance the West to war-torn countries of this world. The Homebody only appears for the opening monologue, an excerpt of which I have selected to perform, yet her character sets the plot for this entire award winning drama. Throughout her monologue, her speech is lyrical, loquacious to the point of being ridiculous, and in moments, magnificently contrived to illumine connections between her life and the sorrow of others. As the play opens, she is seated in an armchair on stage, a guidebook to Afghanistan in her lap, which she proceeds to read aloud, interrupting herself with tangent thoughts that spiral and twist away from any tangible organization of ideas, save that of relying the story of the man in the hat shop and the imaginary world she creates from this encounter. The excerpt I have selected is remarkable for the gravity of feeling the Homebody relates, and the sensitivity she exhibits, empathizing with ... ...bombs rendered them. In preparing the delivery this monologue, I have learned much about Islamic extremism and my own ignorance of the suffering of the Afghan people, women in particular. As an avid advocate of reading and writing for every person, I found the restrictions placed on Muslim women in particular to be hideous. Through this drama, I have learned that extremists of a faith to not constitute the spirit of a faith, and that Islam is a religion as equally misinterpreted by the public as Christianity is today. Wherever people are permitted to let their own political and cultural philosophies override the truth and tradition of sacred scripture, there is a crookedness of reality; Afghanistan was one such nation, and its pain depicted in this play is real and running with living blood today. I hope to do justice to this depiction in the delivery of my monologue.

Why Did Pizza Hut in China Quit Franchise

Why did Pizza Hut Quit Franchise Team 9 1. Introduction: In 1993, Pizza Hut made a 10-year agency contract with Hong Kong’s famous agent, Jardine Matheson. It gave power of agency and its market expansion business in southern part of China to Jardine, which became the only agent of Pizza Hut in China. And from then on, Pizza Hut went on a hard way of expansion.However, in late May, 2004, Yum Brands declared that they had taken back the management and administrative powers of all 130 branch canteens of Pizza Hut in China, and from then on, Pizza Hut would be managed and operated by Yum Brands directly instead of taking the pattern of franchise . 1. 1 Research question: Why did Pizza Hut quit franchising in China? 1. 2 Sub-questions: (1) What is the explanation given by Yum Brands and what are other guesses of why Pizza Hut quit franchise? (2) What are the changes of Pizza Hut after it quit franchise? (3) Why did Pizza Hut quit franchise in China but still continues franchise ab road? 4) Are there similarities between Pizza Hut and other firms quitting franchise? 1. 3 Motivate: Since the franchisor can use franchise to expand the scale of his firm with lower cost than using directly management, franchise becomes the most popular business model among catering services. And thus, it’s such a strange and rare adverse action that Pizza Hut quit franchise. What caused it to do so? Is it problem of franchisee, Jardine Matheson or the problem of the franchise pattern itself? And what does it want to do? We want to find out the answer. 2. Theoretical framework: 2. Explanation of Porter’s 5 Force Model. Porter’s five-force framework is an important tool for ensuring systematically using these principles to assess the current status and likely evolution of an industry. The five-force model contains internal rivalry, entry, substitutes, supplier power and buyer power, which is presented as following: Also, the model has some shortcomings. It doesn ’t take the environment into consideration, which means that it lacks the role of demand and government. And the emphasis of the model is on the competition between firms while recent trend is towards cooperation between firms.What’s more, the model is primarily an analysis of industry rather than analysis for a particular firm. 2. 2 The Forces will be used in our Case Analysis of the model must begin with market definition. When defining the market, we must be sure to include all firms that constrain each other’s strategic decision marking and pay attention to both the product market and geographic market definitions. Some of the five forces we use include: (1) Internal rivalry For most industries, the intensity of internal rivalry is the major determinant of the competitiveness of the industry.Internal rivalry refers to the jockeying for share by firms within a market. (2) Entry Entry is the beginning of production and sales by a new firm in a market. Entry er odes incumbents’ profits in two ways. First, entrants divide marker demand among more sellers. Second, entrants decrease market concentration and heat up internal rivalry. (3)Supplier Power Supplier power takes the point of view of a downstream industry and examines the ability of that industry’s upstream input suppliers to command prices that extract industry profits.Also, we will analyze our case by explaining the influence of the government, which is a shortcoming of the model. 2. 3 Application of the Model to our research question: We will choose to apply the principles of internal rival, entry, and supplier power to our answers of the research question. We think that after Pizza Hut quit franchise, it can choose price competition and benefit leadership, which will affect its rivals and entrants. Also, it has more power when purchasing inputs, which links with supplier power. And the government plays a significant role in our case, too. We will analyze them in deta il later. 3. Data and Methodology: 3. Data: We searched the data from (1) the official website of Pizza Hut China to get the number of canteens it reported; (2) the menus of Pizza Hut in different years to get the price of a pizza; (3) some questionnaires made by others to find customers’ degree of satisfaction; (4) Suning’s annual statements in 2006 and 2008; (5) Some essays 3. 2 Methodology We made broken line graphs and pie charts to make the data we collected easier to analyze. We also list other data in form of tables to make it more clearly. 4. Results & Analysis: 4. 1 The number of canteens is an important index reflecting the expanding speed of Pizza Hut.So we show the following figure. (Pizza Hut has recently declared that it will invest 0. 7 billion RMB to open another 150 canteens only in the year 2012. ) Figure3. 2. 1 shows that the curve of Pizza Hut’s growth rose slowly in the first 13 years, just about the time before Pizza Hut quit franchise. How ever, the curve jumped sharply almost after Pizza Hut quit franchise As we know, by franchise a firm can expand quickly with lower cost, we have thought that the expanding speed would decline after Pizza Hut quit franchise and expand it by itself, because of larger cost. However, what the Figure3. 2. shows to us is opposite. There is a fact that Jardine Matheson only opened 15 canteens in southern China after it gained the agency right, which of course, would disappoint Pizza Hut. So it must be that Jardine lacked the ability of expanding canteens, so Pizza Hut didn’t let it agent any longer. And since Jardine is the best agent in China,(It ranked 319th in the world 500 strong enterprises by †Fortune†. ), Pizza Hut can’t think of a better agent, so it quit franchise and just to expand by itself. . 4. 2 The price of a product shows whether a firm can have competitive advantages in price competition.So we collect the data. Figure3. 2. 2 (2) Annual Inflation r ate of China Figure3. 2. 2 shows that the price went down after quitting franchise in 2004, and came to the minimum in 2005 and 2006, then it rises later. So we can see that before Pizza Hut quit franchise, the average cost of a pizza in southern China in 2003, which is still managed by Jardine, is 60 RMB. It’s reported by manager Luo of Pizza Hut China that its price is 15% higher than any other part of China. That was because Jardine positioned the canteen as the high grade canteen, while Pizza Hut positions its canteen as middle-high grade canteen.So after Pizza Hut quit franchise in2004, as manager Luo said, its price would go down by 15%. We can check it in the figure3. 2. 2 that in 2005, the average price of a pizza decrease to 50, approximately by 15%. However, after the year 2006, the average price of a pizza grows up again, which we will ignore because by calculation (Figure3. 2. 2 (2) shows the annual inflation rate of China from 2003 to 2009), we can make a conclus ion that it happened mainly due to inflation.. 4. 3 Then we think of the brand image, here is the information we found. Figure3. 2. 3 shows overall satisfaction of Pizza Hut’s consumers in 2006.Only 20% of consumers were very satisfied with Pizza Hut and only 30% of consumers were satisfied with Pizza Hut. However, another 30% of consumers thought Pizza Hut is just so-so. Figure3. 2. 4 shows overall satisfaction of Pizza Hut’s consumers in 2010. Consumers who were satisfied with Pizza Hut grew to 50%, the those felt very satisfied with Pizza Hut grew too, although only a little, 1. 43%. The consumers thinking that Pizza Hut was just so-so fell to 21. 43%. Since Pizza Hut said that they quit franchise in order to promote its brand image, we want to see whether or not it would really do so and whether or not it has had an effect.We can see from the results the customers are more satisfied with Pizza Hut in 2010 compared to 2006. So Pizza Hut must have done a lot of work to improve its brand image. And after 4 years efforts, it really has improved its image in people’s minds. It’s comprehensive that it’s easy for Pizza Hut to improve its brand image by itself than by its agent, Jardine Matheson, because the principal and the agent may have some different views. And it’s a bit difficult for Pizza Hut to manage what his agent does 4. 4 Figure3. 2. 6 mainly shows profits in 2006 and 2008 of Suning, which quit franchise in 2007.We can see that its gross profit, year growth, net profit and total assets all grow up. According to Yantai daily newspaper’s report, the Quality Inspection Department found many unqualified products of Supor, a firm owned Suning. The unqualified products were produced by the franchisee of Suning. However, certainly it would do harm to the brand image of Suning. The customers were very upset about the incident. Franchisors depend on franchise to enlarge themselves since the expanding cost is low , but many of them didn’t take care of the quality of the franchisee, they just expand the scale without destination, just as Suning in those years.So the franchisee may take different actions against the principle in order to improve their own profits. Some products franchisees make are not eligible, but the principle can’t notice them. It’s the errors of the franchisee, but franchisors will suffer most because their brand image will be damaged. So quitting franchise must be wise strategy for Suning. As we can see in the figure, it really contributed to higher profits. 5. Discussion: Before applying the theoretical framework to our case, we will discuss the market definition first: Production market:Pizza Hut sells not only pizza and Italian noodles, but rice as well since it’s in Chinese market. So any canteen sells no matter eastern or western food around Pizza Hut must be its rivals. So we define the market as the western-style food market. Geographic market: It’s obviously that most consumers strongly prefer to choose the nearby canteen to have a meal. So we consider the geographic market is a certain area around Pizza Hut’s canteens, which is within the consideration of consumers when they choose a canteen to eat.Then we will answer each sub-question by the tool of theoretical framework: Sub-question 1: What is the explanation given by Yum Brands and what are other guesses of why Pizza Hut quit franchise? Only by knowing the explanation and guesses can we find the possible reasons. Then we can select the right ones. The explanation given by Pizza Hut: Some media reported that Yum Brands wasn’t satisfied with the expanding speed of the franchisee, Jardine Matheson, for it lagged the speed of development of those chain canteens.Also Jardine didn’t obey the ideas and strategies of the Yum Brands thoroughly. Direct at this statement, Shao Xiaowei, the member of public affairs section of Yum Brands, deni ed completely and told Economy Times News that since Pizza Hut chain canteens entered in Chinese market in 1990, all of them had been run by themselves until 1993 when they signed a 10-year contract with HK agent Jardine Matheson to pass franchise authority and the task of marketing extension in South China to it. And Jardine Methoson also became the only franchisee of Pizza Hut in China inland market.Pizza Hut wasn’t unsatisfied with the speed of expansion, instead, they thought Jardine did pretty well and Pizza Hut absorbed lots of experience from it. all in all, compared with other districts in China, South China market has its own specific features. Meanwhile, according to Wanqun, director of public affair of Yum Brand. , Pizza Hut hadn't reached economics of scale and it would impose great risks in franchise. He added that Pizza Hut wasn't mature enough in China, but it didn't mean that franchise door would be closed forever.With support and experience from Yum Brands, P izza Hut would open its franchise door again after the brand name becoming mature enough. In conclusion, Yum Brands arose three reasons for quitting franchise as followings (1) The routes and positions in the market of Yum Brands and Jardine Matheson to develop Pizza Hut are quite different (2) Since Pizza Hut hasn’t reached the economics of scale, it had to quit franchise to avoid risk (3) Since the market of Pizza Hut isn’t mature enough, the risk of having a large scale of franchise is really high.The above-mentioned parts are the reason given by Yum Brands. We don’t know whether it’s exactly the true ones. We also collect other people’s guess as following: (1) Yum Brands wasn’t satisfied with the expanding speed of the franchisee, Jardine Matheson, for it lagged the speed of development of those chain canteens. (2) Pizza hut wants to enhance its brand image so that it will be easy to expand later. Sub-question 2: What are the changes of Pizza Hut after it quit franchise? We want to find out whether quitting franchise is good for Pizza Hut, which can be reflected by the changes. 1)Its open canteens measure the expanding speed of Pizza Hut. From Figure 3. 2. 1, we can see that it opened approximately more and more canteens in one year, which means that its expanding speed became faster and faster. We can apply entrants to the above. According to the principles of entry of theoretical framework, locations can be barriers to entrants. As we know, most consumers have specific geographic preferences when choosing a canteen to have a meal. Then Pizza Hut would lose geographic market if it continued franchise, because the expanding of canteens by Jardine is too slow.So Pizza Hut quit franchise to expand by itself, carrying on a faster expanding speed to get more geographic market. By doing so, it can build barriers to new entrants. (2)Its price first went down immediately after quit franchise. We can apply supplier power, internal rivalry, and entry to explain this condition. According to theoretical framework, the suppliers in a competitive market will have indirect power on downstream firms because they can sell their goods to the highest bidder.We know that Pizza Hut have many rivals when buying inputs, Papa John, KFC and any firms sell similar food because they need similar raw materials. So if Pizza Hut wants to purchase good raw materials, the transaction cost will be high to the franchised canteens. However, when it quit franchise to become vertical integrated firm, it can depend on its parent company, Yum. Because Yum has a network of 1000 firms to provide raw materials, it can reduce the threat of supplier power so that the cost fell and so did the price.And through vertical integration, Pizza Hut has superior access to inputs with the help of Yum as mentioned before, which is also a type of impediments to imitation, a group of isolating mechanism. That will help Pizza Hut to protect its com petitive advantage by preventing other firms from replicating its success. When Pizza Hut reduced the price, it can also have an advantage in price competition with its internal rivals. According to the theoretical framework, price erodes profits by driving down price-cost. And it’s more efficient than nonprice competition though more difficult.There is high price elasticity of demand in food industry because most kinds of food have many substitutes, so when Pizza Hut reduce its price, its rivals’ profits will suffer. And Pizza Hut can also deter entry by limit pricing to build strategic barriers to entry. Limit pricing is that the incumbent sets the price sufficiently low to discourage entrants before entry occurs. When Pizza Hut quit franchise and it lowered the price, it can also lower the expectation of potential entrants. If entrant infers that post-entry price will be low, entry may not be likely.When Pizza Hut quit franchise and become vertically integration, al l of its daily issues are decided by Yum rather than the franchisees. As we know, Yum is a strong company full of management experience and network advantages, so Pizza Hut has new advantages. The established relationships with Yum and its suppliers and customers is not easy to replicate. And because of learning curve effects, Yum has competitive advantages in the market. These can also be entry barriers. (3)From Figure3. 2. 3-3. 2. 4, is brand image was improved, which links with internal rivalry.According to Porter’s Five Forces Model, internal rivals may compete on a number of price and nonprice dimensions. Nonprice competition erodes profits by driving up fixed costs and marginal costs. To the extent that firms can pass cost increases along to consumers in the form of higher prices, non price competition is less likely to erode profits that price competition. So in fact, many firms choose nonprice competition to enjoy solid profits over an extended period of time. And the y are often engaged in vigorous by improving the quality of their products. We can apply this proposal to Pizza Hut.And by franchise, Pizza Hut can also have benefit leadership to keep its competitive advantage. Benefit leadership creates a large value by achieving a higher maximum willingness to pay than its rivals. Since Pizza Hut’s products, pizza and rice, etc, are experience goods, (i. e. quality of the good is only known after purchase and when it’s used for a while) it’s suitable for Pizza Hut to choose benefit leadership to outperform its rivals, because a benefit advantage could be based on image, reputation or credibility, which are more difficult to imitate or neutralize.And for experience goods, a firm’s reputation for quality provides a significant advantage also because consumers who have had a positive experience with a firm’s brand will be reluctant to switch to competing brands if there is a chance that the competing products will not work. It’s known as reputation and buyer uncertainty, a type of early mover advantages, which will help Pizza Hut to sustain its competitive advantages. So it’s very important for Pizza Hut to quit franchise and concentrate on brand improving.Pizza Hut thought its brand image was not so good in South China before 2004 since Jardine had different views in managing the canteen. So it quit franchise and started to operate the canteen by itself and has been focusing on its brand value. It has improved its products’ quality, its service, its environment of canteens and so on, in order to make the overall satisfaction of canteens go up. By doing so, it has advantages in the competition. And improving brand image also links with entry.According to theoretical framework, there are some entry barriers, one of which is that consumers highly value reputation, which means that consumers are brand loyal. Entrants must invest heavily to establish a strong reputation and b rand awareness. Diversifying entrants using a brand umbrella may be more successful than entirely new entrants. It’s reported that in 2003, Saizeriya, a canteen also sells pizzas entered Chinese market because its manager found that the price of Pizza Hut’s pizzas was so high while the quality of that didn’t catch up with the price, which made people not so satisfied with Pizza Hut.And with the same reason Barbera was opened in China, too. So that’s another reason why Pizza Hut quit franchise to establish a strong reputation and brand awareness. By using a brand umbrella it will be successful from protecting itself from stealing its market share by new entrants. Sub-question 3: Why did Pizza Hut quit franchise home but still continues franchise abroad? It’s often the case a kind of business pattern isn’t always useful in every situation, so we want to find whether or not Chinese market is suitable for franchise.There is a prominent phenomeno n that foreign firms would not like to adopt franchise in China. Besides Pizza Hut, its brother firm, KFC is also slow in franchise. Only 40 of 1000 canteens are franchised, and most of them are in small cities. Pizza Hut and KFC developed quickly by franchise, why they become cautious when they enter Chinese market? We think the following reasons can explain it. (1)The government in the firm environment can be an important cause. Porter’s Five Forces Model doesn’t have explicit role for the government.But according to Porter Diamond, the government plays an important role in influencing the firm’s strategy. Franchise took place in China in early 1990’s. And China government cancelled all limitation on franchise into Chinese market in 2002 when China entered into WTO. So by 2004, the time when Pizza Hut quit franchise, some related departments, professional service institutions, and policies and regulations still needed improving. At that time, adopt fran chise would take the firm into trouble. (2)The market for franchise is not mature enough.Since the success of a firm’s organization and strategy depends on the characteristics of the firm, the market, and the environment. So we must take the market into consideration when analyzing the firm’s strategy. Since it’s too short for franchise to improve in Chinese market, related departments, professional service institutions, franchisors and franchisees, potential investors and professional employees have large differences in understanding franchise. They also have few preparations and lack the abilities of franchise.However, the two reasons above don’t happen abroad because franchise happened early in foreign countries. It originates from the United States in 1851. The time is long enough for the market of franchise to become mature. (3) Franchisors lack confidence in franchisees. Pizza Hut has tried hard to seek out franchisee. One of the strategies the firm has chosen to make its franchise more attractive to franchisees is to make all canteens uniform. Pizza Hut became a part of the Yum’s franchise group. Other restaurants such as Taco Bell, KFC and Long John Silvers are lso part of this network. This grouping together of franchises has allowed franchisees to increase their potential for income by having both Pizza Hut and Taco Bell items for sale in a canteen. Yum is one of the world’s largest franchisors, and around 76% of the 325,000 Pizza Hut’s canteens around the world are franchised. It believes in focusing on its competition advantages in market and product development, and complementing these advantages with the expertise of its franchise partners in the areas of customer service and restaurant operations.This combined expertise of Yum and franchisee ownership is the key driver in achieving global growth. An analyst explained that by franchise, franchisor might lose control of some resources and become too dependent on franchisees, and the quality of products and services couldn't reach a uniform standard, while uniformity was crucial to enterprises such as KFC. A KFC staff told the journalist in private that in fact, KFC didn't have the courage to open its franchised canteens to a large scale since it didn't have sufficient confidence in most of the franchisees.Also the cost to run well a franchised outlet is really high, the minimum financial requirement to open a Pizza Hut franchise in the United States is $700,000 Net Worth and $350,000 in liquid assets [Figure 3. 2. 5], and to make the business profitable will make much pressure. Sub-question4: Are there similarities between Pizza Hut and other firms quitting franchise? Now we will compare pizza hut with other firms also quitting franchise to analyze the case. First, since Pizza Hut is in middle high level in catering service. So we choose some other firms in the same level as Pizza Hut in their own industry to do the comparison .Although they have some differences, it will be convictive to put them in their market and analyze the reason to give support to pizza hut, because we think the level will affect the strategy of choosing franchise or not. We choose Suning and Masha to do the analysis. Suning is a famous brand in China, mainly concentrating in electric appliance. In the beginning of the foundation, it expanded its scale fast and got many profits by franchise. It defeated Gome and became one of the leading electric appliance enterprises in China. But in 2007, it quit franchise because it wasn’t satisfied with its franchisee because the price hey produced didn’t meet the standard of quality as mentioned before. Another example is Masha department store, the biggest transnational retail group in England, who adopts directly management in China. The firm thought it is easier to control the management and keep their company’s future distinguishing. There are only 6 branches in China. Related to pizza hut’s direct management mentioned above, we can see franchise is not always favorable to the firm. Besides the quality and brand image problems, we have other reasons, the higher agent cost and the leak of private knowledge.Now we apply the framework to analyze these two reasons as followings. First, franchise can lead to high agency cost. Agency problems arise when the objectives of the principal and the agent are different and the actions taken and the information possessed by the agent is not observable by the principal, just as Suning and its agent, and maybe Pizza Hut and Jardine. The principle can’t have a very comprehensive control over the franchisees. As the firm becomes larger, it is harder for the principal to coordinate the work of different franchisees, thus the agency cost will be higher.And the principle should give more power to the franchisees so that they can have enough flexibility to react to the changes of the market. But if the p ower is too much, it may lead to decentralized organizations. The decision making authority will be dispersed. Agency problems may lead to coordination opportunities to be missed in decentralized organizations, which results in agency costs. As the organization becomes large, the coordination problems become more severe. Second, franchise will lead to the leak of the private information.As the franchisees work with the principal, they can learn more business management of the firm, learn the corporation culture, even the core technology, e. g. the special know-how. So the private information may be leaked. And once the franchisees quit cooperation, there will be a great threat to the principle and maybe its market share will get down. So we can see that if a firm is in middle high level or high level, or in other words, if a firm requires a lot in the quality of its product, they will possibly choose the pattern of vertical integration instead of franchise. Conclusion:We think the r easons why Pizza Hut quit franchise are as followings: (1) Yum Brands wasn’t satisfied with its franchisee, Jardine Matheson in expanding speed though Yum denied it. And so far it can’t find a better franchisee. (2) Pizza Hut wants to enhance its brand image so that it will be easy to expand later. (3) Since the market for franchise isn’t mature enough as in other developed foreign countries, the risk of having a large scale of franchise is really high. Our suggestions: (1) Since Chinese market for franchise isn’t mature enough, Pizza Hut can still be vertically integrated and concentrate on brand improving. 2) When Chinese market for franchise is mature and Pizza Hut’s brand is deeply loved by customers, Pizza Hut can reconsider franchise strategy to expand quickly with lower cost. (3) If Pizza Hut reconsiders franchise strategy, it must choose an experienced and high-quality franchisee. (4) It’s also good for Pizza Hut to adopt directly ma nagement as the main while franchise as the supplementary. (words:4435) Chen Yingying 2011123868 [email  protected] com Sherry 2011123870 [email  protected] com Kally 2011123826 [email  protected] com References & Bibiography:Economics of Strategy (David Besanko, David Dranove, Mark Shanley) http://www. pizzahut. com. cn/phdi/index. aspx#! handler/home. ashx? &tagid=&proid= http://bbs. gxsky. com/thread-595855-1-1. html http://zhidao. baidu. com/q? ct=17&pn=0&tn=ikaslist&rn=10&word http://www. sojump. com/publicsurveys. aspx? keyword=%E5%BF%85%E8%83%9C%E5%AE%A2 http://www. cfi. net. cn/newspage. aspx? id=20060830001759 http://www. cnstock. com/paper_new/html/2009-04/29/content_69247463. htm http://pizzahutfranchise. com/the-investment-pizza-franchise-opportunities. php http://www. gmw. cn/03pindao/2004-04/30/content_20233. htm