Gender, Authority and Dissent in English Mystical Writers Essay

The Book of Margery Kempe certainly provoked an intense amount of controversy, not least in the present but in her own time as well; a debate that centred on her position as a mystic. This position entailed having true knowledge of God, to work towards a union with him where they would essentially become one. Margery Kempe, at the very least views herself to be one of God’s vessels through which He can allow her to experience spiritual visions and feelings. It is in her book that Kempe conveys through words what she considered to be the most significant of these experiences, in order that those who read them would derive ‘great comfort and solace’. It is Kempe’s ‘individual and brilliant adaptation of what was originally a discipline for cloistered elites’1 that draws attention to her. Yet it is this individual voice, the style she uses, and her firm relationship with the market world that questions her experiences of higher contemplation. Certainly Kempe does not conform to the solitary life of a conventional mystic, much like Richard Rolle’s statement of ‘running off’ into the woods, and at one point she is even â€Å"sorrowful and grieving† because she has no company. Yet she uses many of her interactions with others to confirm her position as a mystic. She visits the revered mystic Julian of Norwich to seek advice as to whether her visions were genuine or not (Chapter 18), and receives confirmation from Thomas Arundel, Archbishop of Canterbury. Essentially what it has been suggested that Kempe experiences is a higher level of contemplation – positive mysticism. This was the search for God through human imagery, which ‘insists on the physical as a legitimate means of access to the spiritual’.2 Certainly one of the standard patterns in mystical experience were the feelings of love between the mystic and God which is often described as fire, hence Rolle’s ‘Incendium Amoris’. Kempe notes that there was an ‘unquenchable fire of love which burnt full sore in her soul’, and that Christ had set her soul ‘all on fire with love’. Thus the intensity of her visions can not be brought into question as ‘she certainly shares with [the tradition] a mystical sense of God at work in human experiences’.3 These human experiences included her own body, as she suffers illness and indulgences in self-mutilation, wearing a haircloth, fasting and even biting her hand so violently that she has to be tied down. However, the visions that Kempe experiences, as mystics viewed them as gifts, are not a product of studious praying and meditating. In most ways what she conveys is an imitation of what many female European mystics experienced, like Bridget of Sweden and Dorothy of Montou or Catherine of Siena. She seeks justification for her mystical standing by linking herself closely to others and, though illiterate receives much of her inspiration from such mystical texts as ‘Incendium Amoris’, ‘Stimulus Amoris’, and Walter Hilton’s ‘Scale of Perfection’. However, as Glasscoe has pointed out, her spiritual experiences were not an easy thing for Kempe to meditate on. Whereas Hilton focused on inner spiritual growth, Kempe can only explain her transcende nce through what was familiar to her – the body.4 She even says that ‘sometimes, what she understood physically was to be understood spiritually’. Thus, whereas her visions may at many points seem extreme and even distasteful it does not necessarily mean that she was experiencing anything less than what is considered mystical. What also inspires Kempe, whilst also bringing into question her status as a mystic is the fact that she was a woman who was firmly placed in the world. David Aers describes her as an independent businesswoman, who before her initial vision was active in the market economy, investing money, organising public work and employing men.5 Mysticism was overwhelmingly contemplative, and there was not much spoke about the ‘active life’, with the exception of Walter Hilton’s positive description of the ‘mixed life’. However instead of accepting that she is â€Å"too busy with worldly occupations that must be attended to’6, like Hilton proposed, Kempe integrates the economic world into her mysticism. Shelia Delany proposed that in her work ‘one is constantly aware of the cash nexus’. 7 This is true in the sense that Kempe even strikes a deal with Jesus, in the sense that he becomes the mediator between Kempe’s social responsibilities as a wife and her desire to lead the spiritual life. Through Christ’s help she can lead the chaste life by buying off her husband, hence paying off all his debts (Chapter 11. p.60). Atkinson, commented that what Kempe creates is a ‘God, who controlled the economy of salvation, [and] functioned as a great banker of a merchant prince†.8 Also Kempe’s drive for ‘more’ is also indicative of her market drive values, in the same sense that she sees that by giving charity to her fellow Christians she will receive in heaven ‘double reward’. This unusual market driven line of thought is not the only factor that distinguishes her from her predecessors. Her style of writing is different and her visions are certainly unique. She actively takes part in many of the experiences, using speech, as Carol Coulson has suggested to inject herself into the holy narrative,9 even at one point acting as the handmaiden to God, and as a replacement to the biblical figure – Mary Magdalene. Her first vision is also very personal, and in some ways domesticated. Jesus is said to have appeared ‘in the likeness of a man†¦clad in a mantle of purple silk, sitting upon her bedside’. The Incarnation is taken to the extreme, where her visions sometimes sit outside the historical moments of the Bible and become part of her own world. Despite distancing herself by calling herself the ‘creature’ throughout the text many have accused her work of being self-absorbed – ‘I have told you before that you are a singular lover of God, and therefore you shall have a singular love in heaven, a singular reward and a singular honour’. Certainly her relations with God are very personal, and in many ways conveyed in sexual terms, as when Christ says to her ‘Daughter, you greatly desire to see me, and you may boldly, when you are in bed, take me to you as your wedded husband’. However, again this ‘great pomp and pride’, is said to emerge from her experience as a female within an urban class which fostered within her a strong sense of class identity and self-value.10 A self-value that she never really agrees to give up, thus because she refuses to traditionally quieten the self, Kempe does not sit comfortably as a mystic. Similarly she never really abandons her desire for worldly goods. She even admits in the first chapters that after her initial vision she refused to give up her worldly leisure’s, and still took delight in earthly things. This earthiness continues throughout the book. At one point she explains that she was embarrassed ‘because she was not dressed as she would have liked to have been for lack of money, and wishing to go about unrecognised until she could arrange a loan she held a handkerchief in front of her face’. This embarrassment does not hold well with the lower stage of mysticism in which the visionary is to dispel themselves of all earthly matters so that their soul is open to heaven. Her mysticism is driven to accumulate. She refuses to ‘be content with the goods that God has sent her’, whilst ‘ever [desiring] more and more’. From God she can attain spiritual status, whilst through her (father’s) social position she maintains earthly standing, thus she is caught between two (masculine) worlds. As David Aers has noted the market world never really receives rebuke in her mystical world, in fact it remains a natural part of it.11 Yet to see her as the victim of a capitalist society is, as Glasscoe maintains, to ignore her avowed purpose.12 Yet it is hard to ignore the element of hysteria in her work. She certainly experiences the traditional mystical dilemma that her visions will never be truly conveyed to those who stand outside it, that ‘herself could never tell the grace that she felt, it was so heavenly, so high above her reason and her bodily wits†¦that she might never express it within her world like she felt it in her soul’. However her Gift of Tears, in which she cries ‘abundantly and violently’, break quite brutally this silence of contemplation. It may be however that her loud screams and cries convey her devotion and justify her higher state. Certainly tradition showed that mystics ‘thought of themselves as vehicles for suffering and their broken voices and lacerated bodies reflected the stress under which they laboured’.13 Her crying brought attention to her being, even in her own time when crowds flocked to see her, becoming somewhat of a spectacle. These tears are almost a sign of her fertility in her contemplative life, and also justified in the Bible – Psalm cxxvi, 5-6 says that ‘they that sow in tears shall reap in joy. He that goeth forth and weepeth, bearing precious seed, shall doubtless come again with rejoicing†¦Ã¢â‚¬â„¢ Her tears therefore, although extreme and lead many throughout her work to rebuke her, are essentially a sign of grace demonstrating that the Incarnation for Kempe was an ever-present reality.14 Ursula Peters suggested that female mystics, through mysticism â€Å"turned inward and [discovered] ways to describe their own experiences†.15 In fact the role Kempe plays as a woman is very important to her whole mystical experience, and in some ways may even bring it into question. In her experiences with God she plays the wife, the mother, the sister and the daughter. When her husbands exclaims that she is ‘no good wife’ it again demonstrates that Kempe struggled between two worlds, that of the spiritual and that of her family commitments. St Bernard once proclaimed that natural human feeling doesn’t have to be suppressed but channelled into God, and in some ways this is exactly what Kempe achieves. By using the idea that she is a holy vessel she is able to assert herself as a woman in the highly competitive world quite drastically. She refuses to abandon her personality and quite forcefully, hence her adamant desire to be chaste, asserts who she is. The Church even attempted to denounce her as a Lollard, which shows that she was a threatening (female) voice and the only way to quieten her was to denounce her as a heretic. Rather than being a mystical treatise, The Book of Margery Kempe is a narrative account, almost a story, or even an autobiography as many have stated it to be, in which she attempts to adopt the contemplative ideal of piety.16 In fact it is more than mysticism, it is the experiences of a woman trying to find her voice in a masculine social world, and the only way that she can achieve this is through having spiritual authority. Certainly her devotion can not be questioned, and she can’t even predict herself when the intensity of Christ’s Passion will overwhelm her, be it ‘sometime in the church, sometime in the street, sometime in the chamber, sometime in the field’. Yet her extreme metaphors and use of language certainly bring into doubt her status as a mystic. As Susan Dickman has suggested prayers and visions certainly occupy the text, yet they are embedded in a larger structure17, namely how she was ‘painfully drawn and steered, [her pilgrimage acting as a metaphor for her mystical journey] to enter the way of perfection’. Certainly ‘painfully’ is an apt description, leading many to criticise her as a charlatan, a ‘terrible hysteric’ and even one who was possessed by the devil. Yet this account is from a very independent and highly spirited woman, who although struggled with her identity and sought the higher state to explore that larger structure of herself through God, was deeply devoted to her faith. In the end her piety was very ordinary, it is her style of conveyance however, the lack of the abstract vocabulary of Julian of Norwich, Rolle and the Cloud author18 that brings her status as a mystic int o controversy. Bibliography Aers, David., Community Gender and Individual Identity in English Writing, 1360-1430 (London, 1988) Bancroft, A., The Luminous Vision: Six Medieval Mystics and their Teachings (London, 1982). Evans, Ruth and Johnson, Lesley (eds.)., Feminist Readings in Middle English Literature: The Wife of Bath and All Her Sect (London, 1994) Klapisch-Zuber, C (ed.)., Silences of the Middle-Ages (London 1992),447 Glasscoe, Marion (ed.)., The Medieval Mystical Tradition (Exeter, 1980) http://www.anamchara.com/mystics/kempe.htm http://www.ccel.org/h/hilton/ladder/ladder-PART_I.html http://www.sterling.holycross.edu/departments/visarts/projects/kempe/index.html Knowles, D., The English Mystical Tradition London (London, 1961) Meale, Carol. M., (ed.)., Women and Literature in Britain 1150-1500 (Cambridge, 1993) 1 C. Klapisch-Zuber, Silences of the Middle Ages (London 1992),160 2 J.Long., ‘Mysticism and hysteria: the histories of Margery Kempe and Anna O’, in Feminist Readings in Middle English Literature, ed. R.Evans et al. (London, 1994),100 3 M. Glasscoe, English Medieval Mystics: Games of Faith (London, 1993),268. 4 M. Glasscoe, English Medieval Mystics: Games of Faith (London, 1993), 268. 5 D. Aers, Community, Gender and Individual Identity – English Writing 1360-1430 (London, 1988), 112. 6 http://www.ccel.org/h/hilton/ladder/ladder-PART_I.html 7 J.Long., ‘Mysticism and hysteria: the histories of Margery Kempe and Anna O’, in Feminist Readings in Middle English Literature, ed. R.Evans et al. (London, 1994), 87-111 8 D. Aers, Community, Gender and Individual Identity – English Writing 1360-1430 (London, 1988), 106 9 http://www.anamchara.com/mystics/kempe.html 10 D. Aers, Community, Gender and Individual Identity – English Writing 1360-1430 (London, 1988),115. 11 Ibid. 12 M. Glasscoe, English Medieval Mystics: Games of Faith (London, 1993), 275. 13 C. Klapisch-Zuber, Silences of the Middle Ages (London 1992),446 14 M. Glasscoe, English Medieval Mystics: Games of Faith (London, 1993), 276. 15 C. Klapisch-Zuber, Silences of the Middle Ages (London 1992),447 16 http://www.anamchara.com/mystics/kempe.htm 17 S. Dickman., ‘Margery Kempe and The English Devotional Tradition’, in The Medieval Mystical Tradition, ed. M. Glasscoe (Exeter, 1980), 156-172 18 M. Glasscoe, English Medieval Mystics: Games of Faith (London, 1993), 272.

History of Biligual Education Essay

My project was to go and find out about bilingual education’s history, process, and the experts in the field of bilingual education. Bilingualism is the ability to speak two languages fluently. Bilingualists study Bilingualism and bilingual education, which is teaching all subjects in school through two different languages. Bilingual Education was first adopted in Ohio in 1839, due to the increase of German-Americans (Rethinking). By the end of the 19th century, many states had adopted bilingual education laws to meet the demands of new immigrants due to industrialization. When World War I came many Americans changed their views of bilingual education, due to the fear of German-Americans and the government’s new Americanization policies, including English-only instruction. It wasn’t until the Civil Rights Movement Era and the Bilingual Education Act of 1968, when bilingual education was reintroduced into the United States. â€Å"The court’s decision in th e landmark Lau v. Nichols case required schools to take â€Å"affirmative steps† to overcome language barriers impeding children’s access to the curriculum. Congress immediately endorsed this principle in the Equal Educational Opportunity Act of 1974.†(Rethinking). In California, bilingual education was banned until 1967. In 1967, Governor Ronald Reagan signed legislation (SB 53) that authorized bilingual education, before the Bilingual Education Act of 1968. A blow for bilingual education came in 2002, when President George Bush’s No Child Left Behind Act got rid of the Bilingual Education Act of 1968, changing the way people look at bilingual education. In 1998 California, under Ron Unz’s Proposition 227, reverted Ronald Reagan’s SB 53. This Proposition later confirms Bush’s No Child Left Behind Act and the country’s renewed interest in English only instruction, due to the Iraq War. Many critics of bilingual education believe that bilingual education is failed, but proponents of bilingual education feel bilingual education is a better option than English-only instruction. Critics of bilingual education believe that children who receive bilingual education will not be able to help students learn English as well as English-only students. One of the critics of bilingual education, Rosalie Pedalino Porter of the Institute for Research in English Acquisition and Development (READ), believes that â€Å"the expectations for bilingual schooling were threefold: better and more rapid learning of English; better mastery of school subjects; and higher self-esteem among students, which could lead to higher academic achievement and fewer school dropouts. Unfortunately, none of these goals was achieved†¦The goal [of English immersion] is threefold: early literacy development in English, subject matter instruction in English with a special curriculum, and early inclusion of LEP students in mainstream classrooms for maximum exposure to native speakers of English and for greater integration of diverse student populations†(Porter). However, â€Å"controlled studies consistently show that children in such properly organized bilingual classes acquire at least as much English as those in all-English classes and usually acquire more†(Krasen). Another proponent of bilingual education, Jay Greene provided research that â€Å"the use of the native language in instructing limited English proficient children has â€Å"moder ate beneficial effects† and that â€Å"efforts to eliminate the use of the native language in instruction †¦ harm children by denying them access to beneficial approaches†(Greene). In addition to the belief that children who receive bilingual education will not be able to help students learn English as well as English-only students, critics of bilingual education believe that the passage of Proposition 227, caused test scores to increase. Proponents of 227 from the READ Institute argue that, the test scores from 1998-2000, show that minority English language learning students in California have done better on the SAT 9 test than those in bilingual education had done before (Mora). Kenji Hakuta, shows in his article, Points on SAT-9 Performance and Proposition 227, â€Å"test scores rose in districts in California that kept bilingual education, as well as in districts that never had bilingual education† (Hakuta). In addition, â€Å" Scores increase about 1.5 to 2 points per year after a new test is introduced. Thus, test score inflation accounts for about half of the increase in grades two and three in the SAT9 reading test since 1998, and all of the inc rease in grades four through seven SAT9 reading scores in California have actually declined slightly in grades eight through eleven†(Linn et. al). Research done by these bilingualists show that Proposition 227 has not increased the minority English language-learning students in California’s English skills. Critics of bilingual education believe that poorly trained teachers and complicated bilingual education structures cause more confusion than English-only programs. Susan Headden, writing in U.S. News & World Report, comments, â€Å"Poorly trained teachers further complicate the picture. . . . The paucity of qualified candidates has forced desperate superintendents to waive some credentialing requirements and recruit instructors from abroad. The result is teachers who themselves struggle with English† Advocates cite that just because bilingual education needs improvement doesn’t mean it should be eliminated. Critics of bilingual education look at the success of Canada’s French immersion policy in schools. In kindergarten and first grade native-English speakers are taught entirely in French. Then gradually, English is introduced and by the end of elementary school, most students become fluent in French and English. However, more impressive is the bilingual education of European countries. Since there are eleven different official languages of the European Union, students are taught multiple languages .The study of first foreign language begins in first year of primary school, then an additional language is added in the second year of secondary school and the fourth year of secondary school. By the time students exit college with a Baccalaureate degree, they will know at least four languages. From, my research I was able to find proponents and critics of bilingual education. I noticed that there were many more proponents of bilingual education, among them are Kenji Hakuta of Stanfor d University, Colin Baker of the University of Wales, Stephen Krashen of the University of Southern California, Wayne P. Thomas and Virginia Collier at George Mason University, and Jim Cummins of the University of Toronto. Critics of bilingual education include politicians, George Bush, Susan Headden, and Rosalie Pedalino Porter. Perhaps we should be looking to other nations to solve our educational issues, as neither English-only nor bilingual education seems to work. References *Based on an Analysis by National Association of Bilingual Education. (2002, Winter). History of Bilingual Education. Rethinking Schools. Retrieved May 10, 2007, from http://www.rethinkingschools.org/special_reports/bilingual/langhst.shtml * Greene, J. (1997). A meta-analysis of the Rossell and Baker review of bilingual education research. Bilingual Research Journal , 21(3), 103-122. *Hakuta, K. (2000). Points on SAT-9 Performance and Proposition 227. Lecture presented at Stanford University , Cubberley Hall 228, 485 Lasuen Mall Stanford, California. *Headden, S. (1995, September 25). One Nation, One Language? U.S. News & World Report, 38+. Retrieved May 10, 2007, from http://faculty.ed.umuc.edu/~jmatthew/articles/onenation.html *Krasen, S. (1996). Under Attack: The Case Against Bilingual Education. Culver City, CA: Language Education Associates. *Linn, R., Graue, E., & Sanders, N. (1990). Comparing state and district test results to national norms: The validity of claims that ‘everyone is above average. Educational Measurement: Issues and Practice , (9), 5-13. *Mora, J. K. (n.d.). What Do the SAT-9 Scores for Language Minority Students Real ly Mean? Retrieved May 10, 2007, from San Diego State University Web site: http://coe.sdsu.edu/people/jmora/SAT9analysis.htm *Porter, R. P. (1999, December). The Benefits of English Immersion. Educational Leadership, 1(57), 52-56.

Foreign bank penetration to Nordic countries

Lars Engwall, Rolf Marquardt, Torben Pedersen, Adrian E. Tschoegl Journal of International Financial Markets, Institutions and Money 11(2001) Word count 1064 Foreign bank penetration of newly opened markets in the Nordic countries Abstract Current essay is based on the research article of Lars Engwall, Rolf Marquardt, Torben Pedersen and Adrian E. Tschoegl. The authors' research examines the role of foreign banks in Nordic countries, focusing particularly on four countries – Norway, Denmark, Finland and Sweden.The authors reviewed regulations on foreign bank entry that may have limited the presence of foreign banks in 1970s and how the removal of barriers influenced the method of entry, as well as on survival factors. The policy of liberalization played an important role in providing new services and stimulating competition and efficiency in the domestic market of four countries. 1. Introduction The aim of the article is to determine the evolution of foreign banks in the banki ng system as a whole.On the basis of the research three hypotheses related to determinants of the foreign bank sector's share were formulated. Tschoegl (2002) identified that the Norwegian case has a number of useful characteristics in banking system. Primarily, it is a clear and recent starting point for the entry of foreign banks. Second, there is an interesting mix of entrants and abstainers, and entry strategies. Third, enough time has elapsed that one can start to observe failures and survivors.The reviewed literature is essential in Justifying the research on the topic and provides useful definitions on liability of foreignness and major sources of problems in Foreign Direct Investment ( ) However, a briet review ot liberalization history ot he Norwegian banking system and especially policies towards foreign banks, which in turn affected on entry and survival picture, could be useful. Tschoegl (2002) noted that Norway had a long history of closure to foreign banks. In the foll owing section, I consider 3 hypotheses introduced by Engwall et al. (2001).Section 3 will focus on methodological issues applied in the testing of the model. The paper ends with a few concluding comments. 2. The hypotheses H 1: the longer foreign banks have been present, the larger their market share. There is an assumption that the time trend affected on the market share of foreign ntrants. Engwall et al (2001) claimed that new foreign ventures faced liability of foreignness that had three aspects. Based on the studies of Choi et al. , (1986, 1996) the cost of operation at a distance was asserted to have less effect on expenses in banking at a distant.The issues such as operating in unfamiliar environment and establishment of relationships with clients are cases of FDI (Tschoegl, 1987) that require a long time period to build proper performance and increase the market share of foreign banks. Grosse and Goldberg (1991) suggest that FDI has become ore regional, and to benefit from re gional specialization banks should acquire specific knowledge and experience. Thus, middle-range theories state when already active in a specific region, foreign banks are likely to expand in that same region.Factors like past colonial links, language or other similarities that do not overlap with regional groupings may then become less important. H2: the market share of foreign banks should expand with a trade deficit and contract with a trade surplus According to Tschoegl (2002) the foreign banks essentially provide a fringe service ied to import trade and related activities. Likewise, Goldberg et al. , (1989) found that international trade is intensive in its use of financial services and those financial services tend to be exported along with goods.

University Land Deal Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

University Land Deal - Essay Example His sources of power are the fact that he is aware of $16 million dorm that the extended university had earlier negotiated, and it was not better than what they wanted to sell off. He was also aware that there were few local properties that could serve as a comparison. Father Farrell also knew that the long university was in need of expansion of residential areas and their place was a convenient one. Father Farrell’s BATNA was the $18.3million which he had negotiated earlier with a commercial developer. Father’s RP is $17.8 million since it was the last price he had on his alternatives as more beginning on discussed with the board members. Her interest was to get the three dorms since her university needed expansion area for residential. Her source of power was the fact that St. James School was providing the best place for residential, and she was sure about it. Her BATNA would be $16 million she had experience with another

The effects of Asda's Social Responsibility Policy on the business Dissertation

The effects of Asda's Social Responsibility Policy on the business Practice - Dissertation Example The study adopted a qualitative approach and this study was based purely on secondary data. Secondary data was obtained through different sources which helped in triangulating the data and in conducting the analysis. The study finds that CSR has a major role in enhancing corporate performance which stretches beyond financial performance. Corporations, by addressing their duties towards all the stakeholders, fulfill their legal responsibilities and duties as corporate citizens. ASDA too has been able to achieve this because of its CSR strategy which is sustainable. They have integrated and embedded CSR into their overall business right and it is not implemented for the purpose of public relations or with selfish motives. CSR plays a critical role in bringing continuous improvement in Asda’s market performance. ASDA has been able to bring change in its organizational practices, change in managerial attitude which has helped them demonstrate their readiness to respond to the chan ging business environment. ASDA does have self-motivating reasons for making environmental and social contributions, but these do not impact the quality of contribution to the society and the planet. The study concluded by highlighting the limitations of the study and by making recommendations for further study on the subject. Table of Contents Chapter I Introduction 1.1 Background 1 1.2 Rationale for the Study 3 1.3 Research Aims and Objectives 3 1.4 Research Questions 4 1.5 Structure of the Study 4 Chapter II Literature Review 2.1 Definitions 6 2.2 Advantages of CSR and Corporate Citizenship 11 2.3 CSR in Retail Sector in Europe 12 2.4 CSR in Food Retail 13 2.5 Stakeholders’ Theory 14 2.6 Corporate Ethics 15 2.7 Sustainability 16 2.8 Chapter Summary 16 Chapter III Methodology 3.1 Research Philosophy 17 3.2 Research Phenomenon 17 3.3 Research Design 17 3.4 Choice of Method 18 3.5 Research Approach 18 3.6 Data Collection 19 3.7 Justification for Literature Review 19 3.8 Justi fication for Secondary Research 20 3.9 Sources of Secondary Data 21 3.10 Data Analysis 22 3.11 Reliability & Validity 23 3.12 Ethical Concerns 23 Chapter IV Findings & Discussions 4.1 Findings 24 4.2 Discussion 31 Chapter V Conclusion and Recommendations 5.1 Conclusion 37 5.2 Limitations of the Study 39 5.3 Recommendations for further study 40 5.4 Reflective Thinking 40 References 41 Figure 2.1 Carroll's Pyramid 9 Table 2.1 The Grid of Corporate Citizenship Values 9 Figure 2.1 The ‘Rationale Triangle’ 10 Table 2.2 CSR initiatives by large Corporations 13 Chapter I Introduction 1.1 Background Companies are individual legal entities and hence can be considered to be corporate citizens with legal rights and duties (Marsden and Andriof, 1998). Citizenship entails active commitment and responsibility. It means to make a difference in the society, in the community or the world in which one lives. Good corporate citizenship, therefore, requires understanding and managing the o rganization’s influences on and relationship with the rest of the society so as to minimize the negative impacts and maximize the positive impacts. Organizations hence need to have self-motivating reasons for making environmental and social contributions. Mounting pressure from people, individuals and groups have urged businesses to be economically, environmentally and socially sustainable, to be transparent in their dealings and to be ethical and more equitable (Batten and Brich, 2005). Corporate citizenshi

Survey finding & conclusion Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Survey finding & conclusion - Essay Example Nonetheless, this sporting activity seems not to be popular among university student and the research was carried to determine their attitude towards the sport and how the same could be increased among the same students. The research was carried through interviews. 3.1. The Cause Taken By the Participating Student in the Research Table 1: showing the respondent per QUTCI Course Figure 1: participating students in the study in relation to the course they are taking 3.1.1. Findings From the findings as indicated in the figure 1 above, it is apparent among the 20 students who participated in the study most of them were those who registered for the diploma studies. Statistically, 14 were registered for diploma studies, 5 were registered for the foundation studies, and only one registered for EAP. 3.1.2. Conclusion Students registered for diploma has the more free time to participate in the study than students perusing other courses. Notably, rock climbing has not become a popular sportin g activity among students since the climbing sites are never around schools among other learning institutions. Additionally, of the students usually consider rock climbing as dangerous activity (Hill, 2007). Therefore, other students never wanted to participate since they might have regarded that the entire excise could have been a waste time since they knew less or virtually nothing regarding rock climbing. This statistics indicates that there are needs to promote the sport among the student even those who feel that they are too busy and committed in their studies. 3.2. Participants According to Ethnicity or Country of Origin Figure 2: showing participant per ethnicity or country of origin Table 2: showing the number of participants per country or ethnicity 3.2.1. Findings It apparent from the graph 2 and table 2 above those different students from different ethnicity perceive the different sporting activity. From the table 2 above, only China, Korea, and India showed a significant participation in the research at figure of 4 for student from china and 3 students each for Korea and India. 3.2.2. Conclusion This indicate that different students form different ethnicity or country perceive research activity in different ways. Some of the student perceives research as means of development through understanding the research question through participation. However, some students usually consider research work as a waste of time and they may convert such time into other useful activities (Hill, 2007). Additionally, different nations usually have different perception to different sporting activities. Therefore, some will tend to understand sporting activities through research especially that affect their citizens directly. For instance, student from Brazil are expected to focus match on research involving football as opposed to rock climbing and this indicates why only one student participated in the research (Kidd, Hazelrigs, and Wilderness Education Association (U .S.), 2009). The same reason may apply to other students; moreover, it is worth noting that students from certain countries never value sporting activities and that result above support their poor participation. 3.3. The Participants who have ever participated in Rock Climbing Ever Participated in Rock Climbing YES NO 3 17 Table 3: Showing the number

There are no circumstances under which child labour can ever be Essay

There are no circumstances under which child labour can ever be considered acceptable. To what extent can such a claim be justified Illustrate your answer with suitable evidence - Essay Example Child labour refers to the illegal practice of using children below a certain age for labour work. Despite of the fact that the legal and moral definition differs in some parts of the world but the basic idea is the same. Unfortunately, almost all the countries have been in the frontline to condemn and oppose child labor; however, very little has been done by these countries to actually prevent it and still today the numbers regarding child labour are alarming (Nangia, pp. 20-21, 1987). This paper is an attempt to look at the serious issue of child labor, and present some arguments, sufficient for opposing child labour under all possible circumstances. As mentioned in the introductory section of the paper as well that every child undergoes a process of emotional, physical, mental, social, and moral development under his introductory years of life. In fact, as psychology tells us that these years are crucial in determining the overall personality of that individual. Lessons learnt in these early years stay there forever and leave such significant impact that it becomes virtually impossible to separate a person from his or hr childhood influences. This explains why parents try their best to give their children an environment of understanding, comfort, mutual consensus, love, affection, care, consideration, devotion, and respect because they want them to learn and value all these things in their early childhood. The reason is that if they do it now, this would most probably stay with them until the rest of their lifetime (Gabalawi, pp. 54-55, 2009). Very common is to see a mother teaching his son the value of speaking truth and helpi ng others and a father telling her daughter the importance of unity and respecting their elders. More importantly, parents put in their maximum effort to keep their children out and away from any tough, stressful or

3 questions to be answered. 250 words per answer. Timing is late 1890s Assignment

3 questions to be answered. 250 words per answer. Timing is late 1890s in United States - Assignment Example public feelings against Spain (Gary and Murrin 14). In defense of his country, the Spanish diplomat in Washington continued to express blatant indifference and open contempt towards the American government under President McKinley. Apparently, the military campaigns used by the Spanish administration in quenching Cuban guerrilla insurgency invariably captured attention of many American sympathizers. Particularly, the use of concentration camps against Cuban rural populations, which resulted in massive deaths from diseases and starvation, upset the American public. More so, the forcible incarceration of Cuban citizens by Spanish military rulers led to massive loss of American investments, and political powers within the Western Hemisphere (Gary and Murrin 19). The tolerable boundaries of outrage and indifference harbored by Americans towards Spanish occupation in South America broke down when a U.S. battleship Maine, which had 260 crew members, was allegedly sunk by Spanish belligerents on 15th February, 1989. In combination with the previously growing hatred and intolerance towards Spanish administration in South American nations like Cuba, the sunken ship aroused immense war sentiments across the United State s population, forcing President McKinley to declare war against Spain on 25th April, 1898. With respect to the United States political history, the Progressive Era of between 1890s to the 1920s saw increasing influence by the American government in both domestic and foreign policies. In fact, the increasing progressive activism in the United States led to the Spanish-American war of 1898. Apparently, progressive political leaders were reform-minded champions of a just and rational society. Prior to the Progressive Era, the United States government and other global powers like Britain and Spain were fond of using military machinery

Mega Banks vs. Community Banks Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Mega Banks vs. Community Banks - Essay Example They play a crucial role in development of economy across length and breadth of the US. They remain very important in small-business sector and agricultural lending. The paper aims to explore the contrasting roles played by Community banks and large banks in the national economy and the regulatory burden that â€Å"Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act of 2010† is likely to put on them impacting their performance in the national economy. Small Business Lending Small businesses account for a huge share of total economic output and employment. Small business with fewer than 500 employees, account for more than 50 percent of private sector employment and output. Community banks are better placed in making loans to small businesses. Small bank officials can review the small business loan applications taking local perspectives and the nature of business. That is usually not possible for large banks as they do not have so much autonomy at local levels and it is n ot feasible for the large banks to review the myriads of small business applications that closely. Another advantage with community banks to deal with small business loans is that often it is required to maintain a close relationship with the borrower. It is possible for community banks to closely monitor the borrower, sitting locally, over the course of the loan; the bank needs to maintain a close knit long-term relationship with the firm. Large banks find it inefficient and unfeasible to maintain such close relationship with small businesses. Large banks will rely on phone and mail to communicate with small clients in contrast to community banks who will often have face-to-face meetings. That is to say community banks have their own niche area to cater to where large banks do not have access (Keeton, 2004 p.24) Loans on Nonresidential Real Estate by Community Banks Community banks drive advantage in extending loans backed by nonresidential real estate and they account for over 60 percent of all loans of $100,000 or less and over 40 percent of all nonresidential real estate loans of $1 million or less. Community banks earn higher rates of return on small business loans than large banks (Keeton, 2004 p.26) Farm Lending By virtue of having located at the rural areas, Community banks are important farm lenders. They account for 65 percent of all farm real estate loans; particularly, smaller the amount of loan more are the chances of that being extended by community banks. Large banks are not interested in serving such small farm loans. Community banks are more risk takers while lending to small businesses in contrast to large banks that depend upon neat credit history of the client (Keeton, 2004 p.26). Retail Deposit Services Community banks are more eager to provide personalized services to depositors of moderate to low wealth holders; the reason being that community banks are more dependent on small depositors for their funds requirement where large banks are not found to chase small depositors (Keeton, 2004 p.27). Profitability Earnings on average assets for last 7 years with reference to large and community banks have been reported in the following table. Banks 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 March-2012 Over $ 50 billion 1.41 0.92 0.18 -0.07 0.77 0.94 1.06 Under $10 billion 1.26 1.06 0.05 -0.29 0.16 0.66 0.96 Source:

Levi's Corporate Social Responsibilities (CSR) Essay

Levi's Corporate Social Responsibilities (CSR) - Essay Example To perceive business as a mere profit milking enterprise is indeed superficial. In taking this perception into a deeper perspective, brings us to a more substantial and considerable wide array of benefits that is significant for one’s progress and development. In contrary to this, there are some companies who may have had a selfish culture enveloping their business undertaking, that is being one-sided and working for the own and sole advantage of the company. They tend to be biding for the cheaper raw materials, paying less for the workers and providing substandard customer service that would later translate to poor quality of products and services. This is the wrong way of doing business as it sacrifices the satisfaction of the customers who happens to be the core reason for the existence of one’s business. If you want to stay long in the business and build your own identity in the industry, you must take extra good care of these vital stakeholders. Taking all of these into account let us study and analyze the business ways and practices of one of the world’s most renowned brand for centuries now and still counting, the Levi Strauss & Co. Levi Strauss & Co â„ ¢ or simply Levi’s  ® for most of us has been in the industry since 1873. The Levi’s  ® jeans is one of the top-of-the-head brands when it comes to the clothing apparel industry. What makes them outstand for generations one after the other is their constant effort and thirst over continuous improvement and development of their brand. Given such, the company makes sure that whatever the customer’s need, the customer’s gets. Despite of being a large brand recognized internationally and globally, Levi’s  ® has been responsive in giving back to the community. That is, successfully formulating their Corporate Social Responsibility and effectively delivering it to the public in various forms. To concretize this, Levi’s  ® believes that, à ¢â‚¬Å"Our efforts to help solve the most critical issues facing society – HIV/AIDS, equality, worker rights – have been recognized far and wide, as has our commitment to caring for the communities in which we live and work†1. There have been numerous award-giving private and public, local and international organizations that recognized the community efforts given by this company. To tackle one by one these critical issues facing the society today, let us start with HIV/AIDS. Last June 2010, LS&Co. partnered with Grassroot Soccer, a non-profit organization that utilizes the influence of soccer in educating and promoting activities against HIV/AIDS. â€Å"Through a series of interactive discussions and activities, Levi Strauss & Co. employees’ children will gain a better understanding of HIV/AIDS and get a chance to practice the skills necessary for protecting their health as they enter adulthood. Key topics include learning how to make healthy decisions, a void risky behavior, build supportive networks, reduce the stigma and discrimination associated with HIV/AIDS and raise awareness of HIV/AIDS testing and treatment†2. 1 LeviStrauss,†Recognition,† Online, http://www.levistrauss.com/about/recognition March 19, 2011 2 GRSweb, â€Å"GRASSROOT SOCCER PARTNERS WITH LEVI STRAUSS & CO.,† Online, http://www.grassrootsoccer.org/2010/06/24/grassroot-soccer-partners-with-levi-strauss-co-to-combine-soccer-and-hiv-prevention-in-world-cup-camp/ (March 22, 2011) True enough, Levi Strauss & Co. definitely knows how to use influence in a positive

Financial Markets Assignment Essay Example for Free

Financial Markets Assignment Essay Explain how interest rates decline following major Fed purchases of mortgage-backed securities. The FED implements quantitative easing by buying financial assets of longer maturity, e. g. , mortgage-backed securities, from commercial banks and other private institutions in order to inject a pre-determined quantity of money into the economy. This is a means of stimulating the economy and lowering longer-term interest rates further out on the yield curve; quantitative easing increases the excess reserves of the banks, and raises the prices of the financial assets bought, which lowers their yield. Graphically, this can be explained with the aid of Figure below. The supply of money is shifted from point 1 to the right (MS1 to MS2) and, all else equal, the new equilibrium point (with aggregate money demand curve) is at point 2, where the interest rate is lower. i i1 i2 AD1 MS1 MS2 Quantity of Money 2. What could be the implications of lower interest rates for households and businesses? By implanting the policy of purchasing mortgage-backed securities, the FED has set its sight on increasing consumption and investment, which will ultimately increase employment. As described in question one Bernanke’s policy decreased interest rates to new record lows, encouraging borrowing for both businesses and households. The ability to borrow money at more attractive rates stimulates investment in durable consumer goods, such as automobiles, and in operational necessities such as buildings and capital equipment for businesses. Indeed, after the implementation of the policy mortgage applications increased significantly. Because of low interest rates households and businesses as investors could shift their preference away from bonds and into stocks. According to frbsf. org, the increase in stock trading volume has the effect of raising the value of existing stock portfolios, which in turn stimulates consumer and spending across the country due to the psychological effects of rapid capital appreciation. Lower interest rates can have negative effects on the value of the local currency compared to other currencies. As foreign investors dump their local-denominated investments in favor of more profitable currencies, exchange rates can shift to the detriment of the local currency. The weakening of the local currency serves to increase the attractiveness of local goods to foreign purchasers, which has the effect of boosting exports and international sales. All of the factors mentioned above have the combined effect of increasing productive output, or GDP, and increasing employment across a wide range of industries. As individuals, businesses and foreign investors are encouraged to spend more due to increased access to capital, higher portfolio valuations and weaker currency values, businesses in nearly every sector experience an increase in sales, often requiring them to grow their operations and employ additional labor. However, there are some negative implications from this policy. Without a strong commitment to control inflation over the long run, the risk of higher inflation is one potential implication of experiencing real interest rates below the economy’s natural interest rate. Low interest rates provide a powerful incentive to spend rather than save. In the short term, this may not matter much, but over a longer period, low interest rates penalize savers and those who rely heavily on interest income. If short-term interest rates are low relatively to long-term rates, households and firms may overinvest in long-term assets, such as Treasury securities. If interest rates rise unexpectedly, the value of those assets will fall (bond prices and yields move in opposite directions), exposing investors to substantial losses. Finally, low short-term interest rates reduce the profitability of money market funds, which are key providers of short-term credit for many (large) firms, e. g. the commercial paper market. 3. Explain the Fed’s policy dilemma and try to rationalize why unemployment in the US is stubbornly high while inflation is low. Based on the theory of the Philip’s curve diagram we notice that there is an inverse relationship between inflation and unemployment. Stated simply the lower the unemployment in an economy the higher the rate of inflation. Philip’s Curve Inflation Unemployment The explanation of the inverse relationship between inflation and unemployment is based on two assumptions. The first has to do with the fact that as unemployment rises there is no room for workers and labor unions to demand an increase so a wage inflation that would increase the prices of the final products cannot occur. Secondly high unemployment is a reflection of the decline in economic output and indicates an economy’s slowdown. Therefore competition among firms in recession will lead the prices at lower levels. But this is not the case currently in the US since we observe high unemployment and low inflation. The FED is concerned about the unemployment rate and in an effort to stimulate the economy and improve the labor market conditions it started implementing the quantitative easing policy. So the FED purchased MBS, helped banks to rebuilt their balance sheets, contributed into maintaining price stability, preserved interest rates near zero for more than three years, and prevented the economy from slipping into greater recession. Despite all these efforts the situation in the labor market did not improve. Apparently the fact that unemployment is still very high depicts the limitations of the monetary policy. The low business confidence, policy uncertainty, and the government’s reluctance to act are beyond the FED’s capacity. What is more the infinite use of the quantitative easing may produce undesirable effects in the long run such as stagflation. The only optimal solution under these circumstances is the co ordination of the FED’s monetary policy with the government’s fiscal policy plan that could boost the society’s confidence. . Do you think that another round of quantitative easing (QE) by the Fed would help stimulate the US economy? Please explain. The FED declared that the use of QE will be aggressively continued until the economy is improved. The cash injections into the economy helped interest rates to remain at low levels. Consequently everyone wins from this decision in the short run; homeowners can borrow at historical low levels of inter est rate, corporations can also take advantage of this act and invest, consumption increased and also the banks increased their profits and the stocks record a growth. So as long as the QE is active in the short run everyone is a winner. But in the long run things become vague. First of all historical evidence shows that despite the fact that interest rates may be at levels near zero it remains uncertain whether this will be the incentive to boost the actual economy. Secondly the fact that consumers will have more money to spend but fewer goods to buy might lead to a hyper inflation. Furthermore by repeating the use of QE is very possible to lead to a liquidity trap, unless the economy finds ways to stimulate production. Last but not least the FED’s decision to inject cash into the economy by purchasing MBS is questionable; Mortgage backed securities entail the risk of defaulting once again as they did in the real estate crisis and that would cost the Americans a lot more money repeating the history that started back in the September of 2001. To sum up the use of QE is indeed very effective but only in the short run. Short periods of economic recession can be avoided by stimulating the economy temporarily through cash injections but to maintain growth on the real economy we need to improve labor market conditions, productivity, innovation and bolster the economy’s confidence. So a combination of fiscal and monetary policy is the only way to prevent an economy from collapsing, and also is this is the only way to avoid a possible systemic risk that will negatively affect all the institutions and individuals. . How is a loose Fed monetary policy in the US affecting fundamentals (such as inflation, asset and commodity prices) in other countries? What does that imply about global monetary policy? Since the dollar is the vehicle currency in the global economy almost every country is tied to its value and everyone is affected by the monetary decisions of the FED. By the QE, the supply of dollars is increased and consequently the dollar depreciates against foreign currencies. This means that America’s exports will increase and on the contrary the imports will decrease. So countries trading with the US fear about the capital inflows and the possible inflation on commodities. On the other hand the FED support that there can be no further inflation since the global economy is in recession. Moreover countries experiencing huge capital inflows resulting in inflation can implement fiscal policy, such as imposing taxes, in order to contain the effects of foreign capital inflows which push up local stock prices and the currency itself. Every country should focus on its own monetary policy adjusting it to the problems that may experience. For example the US chose to inject more money in the economy. The results of such a decision are low interest rates, more exports but always with the risk of inflation. On the other hand a country experiencing high inflation might limit the money supply, increasing the interest rates with the risk of experiencing a decline in exports.

Emotional Memory Essay Example for Free

Emotional Memory Essay Emotional memory pertains to an individual’s recollection of incidents that have occurred in the past. The mechanism behind such strong retention is mainly based on the emotions that are associated with that particular event, resulting in a increased level of attention that facilitates encoding of the event in the memory of an individual. Emotional memory is also involved in ruminations of the occurrence, regardless of the length of time that has already passed away since the actual event. This kind of memory can be distinguished from other neurobiological concepts of memory because its retention is very strong due to the influence of emotions, which technically magnifies details of the incident. Research has shown that emotional memory is imprinted in the cortical region of the brain. This description is supported by observations that several neural activities occur in the cortex, thus facilitating memory retention. Several studies have indicated that emotional memory involves two major processes, namely encoding and post-encoding. The first process of encoding involves the heightened level of attention of an individual during the actual event, while post-encoding pertains to the consolidation of the details of the event after the actual incident, coupled with enhancement that is triggered by the emotions that were set off at that time. One prime example of an emotional memory is the vivid recall of an accident that is associated with physical injury and blood. Regardless of the length of time that the incident has occurred, the individual who was involved in the accident is still capable of remembering the accident even after several years. One complication of emotional memory is that an individual finds it difficult to dissociate his emotions with regards to a particular incident. It is thus extremely hard for an individual to go back to the site of an accident if this person almost died at that time. It has been suggested that evolution also plays a role in emotional memory, wherein the brain of human beings has acquired the capacity to retain details of an event in order to survive that particular incident. It may thus be possible that through fear, early primates and other higher mammals may have learned to stay away from predators and other harmful environmental components in order to survive in the wild. These species may have adapted such modes of memory by being subjected to extreme discomfort or pain that is related to incidents such as toxin exposure or predation and thus their perception for harmful conditions may have been imprinted in their brains and possibly passed on to their offspring. The exact mechanism behind the retrieval of memories associated with a particular incident based on emotional settings still remains elusive up to this date. The unique feature of storage for a prolonged period of time further complicates the pathway and several analysts have attempted to address this question. Neurobiologists have suggested that emotional memory may be act as a complete process unless an individual is able to retrieve the information associated with a specific incident in the past. Storage of information, or encoding, is simply one component of the entire emotional memory pathway yet the retrieval of specific information is essential in determining that the entire process has been completed. It has also been suggested that emotional memory is easier to access over the neutral events, and this is also partly due to the role of amygdala, which influences how the hippocampus functions at such events. In addition to the emotional influence, sleep also sways the brain to remember specific incidents, wherein the amount of sleep can result in a positive or negative condition for memory. According to Sterpenic et al. (2007), memory is influenced by sleep through the imposition of neural correlates. Through the application of functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), a comparison of neural connections was examined among subjects who were able to sleep for a sufficient amount of time and those who were deprived of sleep. The investigation was designed towards a stage wherein the subjects were allowed to undergo post-encoding, which is one of the two stages of emotional memory. The investigation showed that subjects who received enough hours of sleep had the ability to remember the positive events that occurred. On the other hand, an interesting observation came from those subjects who were subjected to a particular negative event. They observed that regardless of sufficiency or lack of sleep, the subject participant was able to retain the details of the negative event, most probably through the characteristic emotion that was generated from the negative stimuli. Another observation gathered by neurobiologists regarding emotional memory was that several regions of the brain were responsible in retaining such details and emotions. The two major brains areas involved in emotional memory were the hippocampus and the cortex. Specific regions of the cortex that were responsible for emotional memory included the prefrontal cortex, which is also involved in criminality. It seems that negative emotions, such as that involved in emotional memory, are largely stored in this region of the brain. Moreover, fMRI scanning showed a functional connection between these two regions of the brain and the combinatorial effect of these regions was magnified when the incident is featured with negative stimuli or emotions. It is interesting to know that sleep may also have a selective effect on the memory of an individual. The amygdala was observed to only stimulate the hippocampus for encoding when a negative event has occurred and this happens with or without sleep. On the other hand, a happy incident will only be stored in the hippocampus if an individual receives enough sleep. Such selective storage of details may be largely influenced by emotions during that particular event, and not simply by the amount of time that an individual was able to sleep. Such kinds of research investigations are thus important in the providing a better understanding of how emotions influence an individual’s memory and ultimately, one’s mental condition. It has also been shown that emotions play a major role in the storage of details in the brain. In an investigation that involved manipulation of the context of emotion of subject participants, the activity of the neural networks in the brain was examined. A specific memory tested also allowed the comparison of retrieval capacities of the brain and the research conducted by Smith et al. (2005) showed that the presence of emotions increased the likelihood that an individual will retain the details of the incident. The emotional memory tested in this study showed that the actual area of brain involved in this mechanism is the left side of the amygdala, as well as the left side of the frontotemporal region of the cortex. The study also showed that the right side of the amydala and the frontotemporal cortex was not capable enough of storing details of a specific incident, regardless of its coupling to emotions. It is thus possible that when an individual has damaged the left side of his brain, then it is impossible for him to recall any other details of his past. It should also be understood that cognition is mainly based on memory as well as emotion, yet for several yesterday there were not attempts performed into looking into the finer details of the pathway. In addition, there were also only a few reported regarding the interaction of the amygdala and the cortex and on how these two regions responded to each other’s messages. The advent of high definition imaging technologies such as the magnetic resonance imaging allowed the visualization of internal regions of the brain that were perceived to be unreachable by an other analytical means. References Smith, A. P. , Henson, R. N. , Rugg, M. D. and Dolan, R. J. (2005). Modulation of retrieval processing reflects accuracy of emotional source memory. Learning and Memory, 12, 472–479. Sterpenich, V. , Albouy, G. , Boly, M. , Vandewalle, G. , Darsaud, A. , Balteau, E. , Dang-Vu, T. T. , Desseilles. M. , D’Argembeau, A. , Gais, S. , Rauchs, G. , Schabus, M. , Degueldre, C. , Luxen, A. , Collette, F. , Maquet, P. (2007). Sleep-related hippocampo-cortical interplay during emotional memory recollection. PloS Bi

Adidas Product Innovation

Adidas Product Innovation Introduction: Adidas is German Company and was named after its founder Adolf Dassler and his brother Rudolf Dassler in 1948. Adidas is one of the most popular sports manufacturers as Mr Adolf Dassler understands the need of athletes’. He had simple vision for his company to provide athletes best products with three guiding principles: produce the best shoe with sport requirement, protect the athlete from injury and make the product durable. There more than 700 products related with sports and this has created Adidas Kingdom of the sporting goods. A part of Adidas Group is Reebok sportswear. The company also produces eyewear, watches, shirts, bags and clothing related to sports. Adidas’s current official logo consists of three parallel bars. The three stripes become a brand name in 1949 and with the help of Olympics held in 1952 where more sportsperson wore Adidas than another shoe, the company began to grow. Adidas has contributed to the development of the Olympic Games. Adidas main aim is to continuously progress their quality and image of their product in order to exceed consumer expectations and to provide them with the highest value of satisfaction. Hermann Deininger, CMO of Adidas comments on Originals by Originals that â€Å"when we enter into any new partnership for Adidas Originals, It is essential to offer something truly unique and new for our consumer† (www.press.adidas.com) Based on Adidas objectives of innovation and design leader I have been asked to devise a new product for Adidas and develop a marketing strategy. The product which I would like to introduce is called ADIPATCH to be launched and sold in Pakistan after the successful business and environmental analysis. Description of ‘ADIPATCH’: Adipatch is a pain reliever that uses heat therapy for the relief of stiffness and muscular pains. It is been developed for Adidas for players and for the people who uses gym regularly and suffer muscular pains. The warming effect of Adipatch heat penetrates into muscle helping to stimulate blood circulation. This patch last for up to eight hours and can be used for the relief of backache, sprains, and joints stiffness. It is easy and cost-effective way to get back o your active lifestyle. Adipatch is designed to be used on the skin where athlete wants the heat to be applied. Our Adipatch standard size is 3.55 inches. It is easy and cost-effective way to get back o your active lifestyle. Recommended use of ADIPATCH: To relieve joint and back pain To relieve shoulder and neck pain To relieve sore and aching muscles, To relieve knee pain For long hours office work, long haul flights and long driving Marketing Objective for ADIPATCH: Launch a new product and it development Earn the market share and increase in sales Allow Adidas to gain greater recognition Market development Business and Environmental Analysis: Market oriented firms’ looks outward to the environment in which it operates adapting to take advantage of emerging opportunities and to minimize potential threats (Jobber 1995). I decided to launch ADIPATCH in Pakistan and I would like to do two analyses. First to launch our product we need to do Pest analysis to know the political, economical, sociological and technological conditions of Pakistan to know whether it’s feasible to launch Adipatch in Pakistan or not. Pakistan is located in south Asia. Pakistan is sixth most populous country in the world. Pakistan’s approximate population by July 2009 is 174,579,000. Karachi is the biggest city of Pakistan in population size and then Lahore. National sport of Pakistan is hockey but cricket is more popular. Pakistan economically and politically is not stable. Fiscal deficit as targeted in 2009 is 5.5 percent of GDP, which was 7.4 percent in 2008 fiscal but still enjoy sports.Pakistan is rapidly developing country. The second deals with the issues analysed in the area were we have to look into market, competitors, customer’s needs and wants, buying behaviour, brand loyalty and segmentation. Michael Porter’s five force model is used to critically analyse this part and results showed that Adidas has opportunity to launch its new product ADIPATCH in Pakistan. An environmental scanning was carried out and results showed that Adidas is more responsive to the customer’s needs and opportunities identified could help Adidas lip frog competitors. Growth Objectives: Guzman (2005) quoted Yogi Berra in his book â€Å"if you don’t know where you are going you will end up somewhere else.† Asnoff provided a framework to identify growth opportunities, determination of scope (Croft 1998). He has identified four generic growth strategies such as market penetration, market development, product development and diversification. Asnoff pointed that diversification strategy stands apart from three strategies. It is a form of growth strategy which helps to increase profitability through new products and markets. In current circumstances, Adidas objective is to develop new product of potential interest to its current market. It is well known that Adidas is an international company with market all over the world including Pakistan. The important issue for success in going down this road is the profitability of the customer group for which the product is being developed. Secondly Adidas has a strong brand that can be comfortably applied to the product. Market segmentation, Target Market, Positioning: Market segmentation provides the basis for the selection of target markets. A target market is chosen segment of market which a company has decided to serve. As customers in the target market segments have similar characteristic, a single marketing mix strategy can developed to match those requirements. Creative segmentation may result in identification of new segments that have not been served adequately. Market segmentation refers to subdividing a market along some commonality, similararity or kinship. Adidas as an international company, we can segment Pakistani market on following basis: Size: Pakistan’s population is approx hundred and seventy four million and 45% are of the age of 25-45 years old and interested in sports. Identification: Through the survey it was identified that the 50% people of the above group age 28-40 are involve in sports activities. This age group have healthy routine. Age 28-40 are involved in some sports such as cricket, hockey and badminton and 40-45 enjoy long walks in the park to keep themselves fit and suffer from muscular pains. Importance: by market research I have found out that Adipatch features are important for the age group 28-40 because this group suffer more from muscular pains and to the doctors for treatment. Adipatch can help them to get relieve of the pain or sore. Accessibility: during my research I found out there are good channel of communication that can be use to make the customers aware such as sports magazines, TV, health clubs. After segmenting the market, the next step to move on is positioning in the mind of customers of new product. The objective is to create and maintain a distinctive place in the market for company or for its products (Sampson, 1981). In Pakistan age group 28-40 meet these characteristics. Positioning describes how the target market is selected and evaluation by customers in comparison with competitors such as ‘deep heat’ and nurofen back pain heat patch sold in Pakistan. Adidas chose a positioning strategy that seeks to differentiation from competitors with regards of product characteristics to increase sales. This will facilitate Adidas to maintain market stand and charge premium prices. Product Development Process: Organisations do not operate in static environment but they are constantly facing the consequences of changing technology, changing customer’s taste and preferences and changing competitor’s products. Any organization that is positively managing its product portfolio will recognise that its existing products are in different stages of their lifecycle and can be modified to maximise its potential. It is important part of product strategy new product development can be very risky business. The foundation of for successful new product development is the creation of corporate culture that promotes and rewards innovation. Effective new product development is based upon creating and nurturing an innovation culture, organizing effectively for new product development, and managing the new product development process. Development of Adipatch follow consists of following steps: Idea generation: Any new product has to start from somewhere as a germ of an idea. Adipatch is a new product. The objective is to motivate the search for ideas so that salespeople are aware of this product Screening: having developed new product ideas need to be screened to evaluate their commercial worth. After screening of a range of ideas it was found that Adipatch will be worth if produced with an early pay back. The calculation of the payback is found in the capital investment section of this assignment. Concept testing: once the product idea has been accepted, it can be framed into specific concept for testing with potential. Product testing is focuses on the practical aspect of the product. At this survey was conducted to get the views of the customers. Business analysis: based upon the results of concept test estimate of sales, cost and profit will be made. After budgeting Adipatch has identified the target market, its size and projected product acceptance over number of years. Product development: at this stage the new product concept is developed into a physical product. Adipatch is developed into a physical product through the research and manufacturing unit, Market testing: market testing takes measurement of customer acceptance .The main idea is to launch Adipatch in a limited way so the customer’s responses in the market can be assessed. Commercialization: this stage relies on marketing management making clear choice regarding targeting market and development of marketing strategy. This is final stage of Adipatch where it can be brought to market. Adidas will need to decide when and where to launch Adipatch and its launching plan. Market mix for Adipatch: Based upon understanding of customers, a company develops its marketing mix. The marketing mix consists of four major elements: product, price, promotion and place. These 4Ps are the four key decisions are that company must manage so that they satisfy customers needs better (Kotler, 2005) According to Adidas website their marketing strategy is based on 4Ps which is also called the marketing mix. We can use market mix for Adipatch as follows: Product: Adipatch is a new product introduced in Pakistan for people who are into sports. It alleviates muscular pain and regulates blood circulation using heat therapy. Price: Price is a vital element of the marketing mix as it represents on a unit basis what the company receives for the product which is being marketed (Parry, 2005). The product will be charge at same price compared to Deep heat and Nurofen heat patch. This will help Adidas to maintain standards and to compete in the market with existing products. The price per box of Adipatch will cost 300 Pakistani rupees Promotion: Customers need to be aware of the new product. Means of communication to be use such as to advertise on TV, magazines and in radio. Place: Involves the decision with reference to supply of Adipatch to the target market. This will concentrate on more using retailer and sport shops, Adidas outlets, health clubs, doctor’s clinic. Costing For Adipatch: Investment in Pakistani Rupees Package design 29,000,000 Test Marketing 8,800,000 Product Manufacturing 100,000,000 Distribution Cost 21,000,000 Storage Cost 9,000,000 Press Release 6,800,000 Raw Material 18,000,000 Handling Cost 9,000,000 Total 201,600,800 Adipatch per unit price is 300pkr with the variable cost of 130pkr. The contribution expected to be 280pkr. The number of units of Adipatch expected to be sold each year for next 5 years is as follows: Years Units Year one 200,000 Year two 230,000 Year three 280,000 Year four 300,000 Year five 290,000 The contributions for the next five years are expected to be as follows: Year Revenue Investment Cumulative Profit (Millions) (Millions) (Millions) 0 201,600,800 1 57,000,000 57,000,000 2 65,550,000 122,550,000 3 79,800,000 202,350,000 4 85,500,000 287,850,000 5 82,650,000 350,500,000 According to the analysis Adidas will get their investment back within approximately in three year time.However, Adidas should introduce more features to Adipatch because of changing environment and trends to sports and injuries to sports people References: Barand Strategy (2004), Dasani Withdrawn, Brand Strategy, 6Apr, p.7 Cramb,C (1999), ‘Grolsch Targets Mature Markets’, Financial Times 10Febrary, p.35 Croft, M(1998), Time to Nurture Creativity, Marketing week, pp40-1 Guzman, D(2005), â€Å"Innovative Products Deliver Fresh Growth for Oral Care† Chemical Market Reporter , 9-15 May pp.34-5 Kotler .P (2005), Marketing Management, Prentice Hall. Jobber David (1995), Principles and Practice of Marketing, McGraw-hill. Mitchell, A. (2005), ‘After Some Innovation? Maybe You Just Need to Ask Around’, Marketing Week, 16june, p.28 Parry .(2005), ‘New Production Development: There’s Many Slip’, Marketing Week, 02june,p.24 Sampson. ( 1992), People are People the World Over: The Case for the Psychological Marketing Segmentation, Market and Research Today. Watts. G (1998) Asnoff’s matrix, pain and gain: Growth Strategies and Adaptive, International journal of entrepreneurial behaviour and research, vol4, pp101-111 www.press.adidas.com.

What inspires you? :: essays research papers

What inspires you?   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  I have two things that inspire me in my life. One of them is my parents especially my mother, the other is the accident of my dad ¡Ã‚ ¯s company occurred in recent.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  I will talk about the accident happened in March of this year. I live in States but my parents live in Korea. Only way we contact is using phone, or I visit them for every summer and winter vacation. If they don ¡Ã‚ ¯t tell me what is going on in our family there is no way to figure out that when I am in States. When I got home for this summer vacation, my dad asked me to come home early one day and he said that there is a serious thing that he wanted to talk to me. I had no clue what was going on. He said that there was a fire broken out in his factory. He owns huge furniture factory and he is C.E.O of this company. The biggest storage of his plant was gone because of the fire. It was about 1.8 million dollars worth, and it ¡Ã‚ ¯s gone now. People said that it was on the TV and newspaper for 3 days as a big tragedy. I visited there and I saw people working there to build new one again. The first problem he got was the loss of his assets and the second one was that he was getting too much of stress from that. I always got my personal expenses from my dad during vacation, but I just decided to work and make money. I know it is hard since I am taking 10 credits of summer courses during whole summer vacation. I strongly felt that I need to do something for my dad. So I applied one of the biggest accounting corporation in Korea, I got accepted as intern. It ¡Ã‚ ¯s been a little bit more than a month I ¡Ã‚ ¯ve been working, but the problem is that I only get 3hours sleep except the weekend. After I get home from work I eat dinner and start my homework and quizzes for my summer courses then I can go to sleep at around 3 or 4 o ¡Ã‚ ¯clock in the morning. I get really tired physically and mentally but when I think about what my dad was suffering from the accident it is nothing. I started thinking in positive way that this is good opportunity to overcome the suffer in my life. What inspires you? :: essays research papers What inspires you?   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  I have two things that inspire me in my life. One of them is my parents especially my mother, the other is the accident of my dad ¡Ã‚ ¯s company occurred in recent.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  I will talk about the accident happened in March of this year. I live in States but my parents live in Korea. Only way we contact is using phone, or I visit them for every summer and winter vacation. If they don ¡Ã‚ ¯t tell me what is going on in our family there is no way to figure out that when I am in States. When I got home for this summer vacation, my dad asked me to come home early one day and he said that there is a serious thing that he wanted to talk to me. I had no clue what was going on. He said that there was a fire broken out in his factory. He owns huge furniture factory and he is C.E.O of this company. The biggest storage of his plant was gone because of the fire. It was about 1.8 million dollars worth, and it ¡Ã‚ ¯s gone now. People said that it was on the TV and newspaper for 3 days as a big tragedy. I visited there and I saw people working there to build new one again. The first problem he got was the loss of his assets and the second one was that he was getting too much of stress from that. I always got my personal expenses from my dad during vacation, but I just decided to work and make money. I know it is hard since I am taking 10 credits of summer courses during whole summer vacation. I strongly felt that I need to do something for my dad. So I applied one of the biggest accounting corporation in Korea, I got accepted as intern. It ¡Ã‚ ¯s been a little bit more than a month I ¡Ã‚ ¯ve been working, but the problem is that I only get 3hours sleep except the weekend. After I get home from work I eat dinner and start my homework and quizzes for my summer courses then I can go to sleep at around 3 or 4 o ¡Ã‚ ¯clock in the morning. I get really tired physically and mentally but when I think about what my dad was suffering from the accident it is nothing. I started thinking in positive way that this is good opportunity to overcome the suffer in my life.

Contrasting Relationships of Three Couples in Shakespeares As You Like It. :: essays research papers

Love is the central theme in the play ‘As You Like It’ by William Shakespeare, the author expressed many types of love in the play. Some of them are, brotherly love, lust for love, loyal, friendship love, unrequited love, but of course, romantic love is the focus of this play. There are four main couples in the play, but only three couples we could see the development of their love, they are Rosalind and Orlando, Silvius and Phebe, Touchstone and Audrey. Today, I am going to talk about the contrast of love between these three couples. First, I would like to talk about the love between Rosalind and Orlando. From the beginning of the play, the reader can clearly sense them are the hero and the heroine of the story. Rosalind is beautiful, and Orlando is handsome, the way they fell in love at first sight is traditional, Orlando’s good nature and bravery won her heart in Act 1, Scene 2. However, if it was just like that, it would be a bit boring, therefore, a new dimension was added to this love when Rosalind was banished by Duke Frederick in A1 S3, and decided to disguise as a male- Ganymede and escape to the Forest of Arden. Their love was tested by the new gender of Rosalind. Before the lovers met again in the forest, Rosalind found poems verses on a tree in A3 S2. All the pictures fairest lin’d, Are but black to Rosalind Let no face be kept in mind, But the fair of Rosalind As the audience will see, the verses are really bad. Orlando probably has seen this kind of courting in the city but does not know how to write quality verses. Nevertheless, Rosalind was extremely excited when Celia told her it was Orlando who wrote it. Shakespeare used the language technique of repetition to present the excitement †¦ Did he aske for me? How parted he wit thee, and when shalt thou see him again? Answer me in one word. Even for the briefest moment, Rosalind regretted to dress up like a man. But luckily, using her quick-wit, in Act 3 Scene 3, she cunningly persuaded Orlando into love-counselling by letting him pretend to woo her. She states that love is merely madness and deserves to be whipped. Then she intelligently said about the marks of a love which Orlando did not have.

Modern Labyrinth Essays -- Literacy Analysis

Film is a form of storytelling, and all stories are, in essence recycled, contemporary films must modernize a story of the past to make it accessible to modern audiences. This is the case with the film, Pan’s Labyrinth. The myth of â€Å"Theseus and the Minotaur† has been rewritten and modernized in the 2006 film, Pan’s Labyrinth. The myth â€Å"Theseus and the Minotaur† and the morals that exist within it, present a context in which it will be possible to interpret and analyze the film Pan’s Labyrinth as a modern day rewriting of the myth. In order to understand how Pan’s Labyrinth has been rewritten, it is important to first understand the original myth of â€Å"Theseus and the Minotaur†. According to Edith Hamilton’s Mythology, the story of Theseus and his quest to slay the Minotaur begins long before Theseus’s birth. â€Å"Minos, the powerful ruler of Crete, had lost his only son†¦while the young man was visiting the Athenian King† (Hamilton 211). In order to seek revenge, Minos invaded Athens and â€Å"declared that he would raze it to the ground unless every nine years the people sent him a tribute of seven maidens and seven youths† (Hamilton 212). When the victims reached Crete, they would be sacrificed to a beast that was â€Å"half bull, half human†, known as the Minotaur (Hamilton 212). The Minotaur was housed in a labyrinth where â€Å"escape was impossible† (Hamilton 212). â€Å"To this place, the young Athenians were each time taken and left to t he Minotaur† (Hamilton 212). This ritual continued until one year, Theseus, son of the Athenian king and heir to throne, offered to be one of the victims. Unbeknownst to the people, Theseus had every intention of slaying the beast. â€Å"When the young victims arrived in Crete they were paraded before the inhabitants o... ...ce to bravely and defiantly act against authority rather than blindly remain obedient. This film shows the power of innocence over evil and the triumph of imagination over colorless servitude just as the original tale of Theseus and the Minotaur, but with a darker new interpretation. Works Cited Filmtracks Modern Soundtrack Reviews. (2007, January 05). Retrieved May 04, 2012, from http://www.filmtracks.com/titles/pans_labyrinth.html Goodykoontz, B., & Jacobs, C. P. (2011). Film: From Watching to Seeing. San Diego, CA: Bridgepoint Education, Inc. https://content.ashford.edu Hamilton, Edith. Mythology. 1942. N.p.: Back Bay Books, 1998. Print VC. (2010, September 23). The Vigilant Citizen. Retrieved May 05, 2012, from The Esoteric Interpretation of Pan's Labyrinth: http://vigilantcitizen.com/moviesandtv/the-esoteric-interprentation-of-pans-labyrinth/

Playground Payback

In the far hills of North Carolina, there was a school called Blue Creek Elementary. It was half a century old, and you could definitely tell. The yellow stained walls of the classrooms had marks from play dough and crayon. The chalk board was cloudy with dust from a thousand words before. The smell of each room was basically the same, chalk clappers and weak tea, and the colour of autumn leaves was present throughout the year. It was January 2002. The climbing frame in the playground was rust incrusted, and the paint was crumbling off, but still was in use as if it was new everyday. No one child was dissatisfied with their school life, they could see nothing wrong with the way they were ruled, the rota they followed or the order they had come to be in for so many years. They were treated equally as each other, by the council they had elected. Every new school year in September there would be an election. Any volunteers would under go a number of campaigns to become the new king of the playground. For the last three years no one had been a match for King Rob. In the last year no one was even prepared to challenge Rob Jenkins, but it wasn't because they were scared, no, quite the opposite. There was nothing wrong with the way he ruled them. He took care of them; he was their agony aunt to their problems, a King Solomon in his own day. He brought them new games, fought for new rights and changed the word recess itself. But all this was about to change, something, or someone was just around the corner. PJ, Felicity, Pikes, Jennie and Russ were playing kickball, a game Jennie ruled without a doubt. It was known to everyone that they were an untouched gang. They had been for years, what seemed like friends forever. PJ was like the leader, although he claimed he didn't know it. His round pot belly and backwards baseball cap were historic trademarks in the playground's history, almost hereditary, as his father was also seen wearing them in his time at Blue Creek. Felicity was thought of as â€Å"the brains†, and she liked it like this. She was studying at a 10th grade level, four years ahead of the rest of her class, but resisted being moved up away from her friends. She had long brown and unruly hair, which she only ever wore up when in P.E, the only school subject she detested. Unlike Felicity, P.E was the only subject Jennie didn't hate. She was an unlimited fan of wrestling, and never once considered herself a girl, apart from when in the presence of her parents. It was the first week back from Christmas break, and there was already a new kid. His name was Prince Dartmoor. He had black, short and curly hair. His face was coloured, and he wore a red white and blue Globetrotters uniform. He had white sneakers, and was bouncing an orange basketball signed by Michael Jordan. It didn't take long for a disorderly crowd to form around him. They were watching something. The gang stared in amazement. Prince was standing in the middle of the playground, at least twenty five yards away from the basketball hoop. â€Å"Ya don't think he's gonna try for do ya?† questioned Russ. He looked at PJ with a sense of honour. He felt that PJ was all knowing all seeing; he would have the answers to anything and everything. â€Å"Nah! Look at him! His stance is all wrong and his arms are flying everywhere, there's no way he'd even come close to-â€Å", PJ halted. Just at that moment, Prince threw the ball with all his might. It climbed the air like a mountaineer, and flew down gracefully, landing through the hoop. For what seemed like a lifetime, no one made a sound, and then out of the blue, the crowd burst into a thunderous applause. The gang was in awe. Even PJ was stunned. Prince looked at PJ with familiarity. PJ didn't know how, but Prince knew who he was, and it definitely seemed that he was planning something. Meanwhile the crowd was dying down, though kept up their pleasure with Prince. He was stepping up onto an overturned box, and someone handed him a loudspeaker. â€Å"Ch-â€Å", he began, but was automatically put off with the alien effect sound that was coming out of the loudspeaker. He switched a button, and restarted, â€Å"Children of Blue Creek playground,† his voice was loud and unyielding. No one made a sound. Everyone's eyes were on him. â€Å"I have down a lot of research before transferring here. I had to find a school where my services are needed, and I have found no other group kept so much in the dark as this one; I am here to put a stop to the treacherous behaviour your ruler has been withstanding. He has made you his servants, while calling you equal. He has held you back from rights you so truly deserve and said you have everything. Listen up, I have someone here to tell you something† Prince finished with a look of confidence. A small, shaking figure was brought through the crowd. His face was irregularly pale, and his black hair was on end. â€Å"My name is Kyle. I go to Belle Fork Elementary, King Rob's cousin used to go there. He ruled the playground there too, up until 6th grade in his fourth year as king, he turned on everyone. No one had seen it coming, but we found out he'd been doing it slowly, making us think it was for our own good.† He halted. â€Å"What he do?† shouted someone from the crowd. â€Å"He changed the rules; slowly as I said, but changed em. First we couldn't have cookies anymore, he'd confiscate em, then we couldn't have snacks altogether, and then†¦ he took away the kick balls. Even if they was our own from home! He'd taken all our games, until there was nothing left. Recess was just kids sittin' around the place. No one was even allowed to speak! And if someone broke a rule, they'd get taken away, no one ever saw Timmy Reynolds again!† Kyle looked in despair at the crowd. They just stared at him, too scared to speak. â€Å"I think everyone here will agree with me that something has to be done before King Rob follows in his cousin's footsteps. My research has told me that his father and uncle did the same thing when they were in their fourth year, and their father before them! I propose we revolt, stopping this cycle dead in its tracks! Now who's with me?† he shouted more confident than ever. And then what followed was a colossal roar of approval, and that was that. The reign of King Rob had definitely come to an end. The crowd followed Prince, half stirred up in the confusion, half hungry for revenge. They came to the Jungle Jim Palace. Prince shouted up to King Rob, â€Å"Rob, your people are in total agreement. You are being exiled! I am a civil kid, so I'll give you 'til next recess to get outta our playground!† the crowd screamed with excitement. PJ, Felicity, Jennie, Pikes and Russ looked at each other for reassurance. They knew, even if they were the only ones who did, that th is was not a good idea. The gang walked away from the mob and came to their territorial kick ball field. PJ turned to the others, â€Å"We gotta something.† â€Å"But what can we do, you saw em out there! There's no way we're ever gonna change their minds!† laughed Jennie. She was stubborn, more so than PJ, so he couldn't argue with her usually. â€Å"It's like our pretty rainbow of life is being painted with black ink, and we're choking helplessly† Pikes recited. His love for poetry never stood down, even in the face of destruction. â€Å"What are we gonna do when it all goes wrong?† Russ panted. He took a deep breath from his asthma inhaler and looked at it panicking. â€Å"I could loose my inhaler! I could end up in hospital! The sky could fall down and we'd all be crushed and go under ground forever and ever and ever and ever an-â€Å", Russ was hit over the head by a scowling PJ. â€Å"Sorry!† Russ twitched. â€Å"I may have a suggestion to our current predicament.† Felicity joisted her words together and flew them out perfectly as ever. â€Å"Now as Jennie said, there is no possible way to overthrow the minds of the children. They are under an exciting grasp, and though deep down they may know it is wrong, they can't consciously tear away from it. But there are definitely some exceptions to this hypnotic phenomenon, us being one, and of course another being, as much as I hate to say it†¦ the Jaimes.† She gave a pause to invite any protesters. â€Å"Oh no! Don't even think I'll ask for their help again! Never! Not in a million years!† Jennie was convinced that the Jaimes were total hypocrites. All they did was wear make up and talk about boys. They were totally against everything she believed in, especially her tom boy criteria. â€Å"I'm sorry Jennie, but it's the only way. They have an almost never ending access to a boys mind, and if we've got to get rid of this Prince, we need all the help we can get.† Felicity stood with authority. Jennie finally, yet dejectedly agreed, as did the rest of the group. The Jaimes Clubhouse was in a large underground shelter they had paid the digger twins to build two years before. Though the outside was plain and misleading, the inside was an interior designer's heaven. There was a lilac carpet, and a purple fur rug. The walls were bright pink, and drapes were icing blue. There was a dark blue sofa, and a mahogany coffee table. The Jaimes were sitting on the sofa when the gang walked in. â€Å"What are you doing here?† said Jaime 1. She had long blonde hair and green surly eyes. She wore a pale blue suit and black soft heels. Although the Jaimes considered themselves equal, they had to distinct each other somehow, and so they were numbered in age order. PJ looked at them with slight pity and disgust. â€Å"We, and don't laugh when I say this†¦need your help† the Jaimes ignored his request and laughed in his face. â€Å"Why would you need our help?† questioned Jaime 3. Number 3 had dark curly hair and was coloured with brown eyes, but had a nicer smile than number 1. She was wearing a yellow suit, only differing number 1's in colour. PJ noticed that they always wore the same thing but in different colours years ago, so he wasn't taken back. Felicity took the role of explaining their problem to the girls, while the rest of the group hoped for a good response. The Jaimes sat and listened carefully, even number 1 didn't speak until Felicity had finished. The Jaimes had been inside while Prince's debut had taken place, so everything was news to them. At the end, their faces looked shocked. Number 1 spoke first. â€Å"So what do you want us to about it? I mean, we are obviously concerned, but how are we supposed to help?† it seemed that they were genuinely trying to help, for the first time ever in PJ's knowledge. â€Å"That's the genius of it! Everyone knows that you guys are at least two years ahead of your age; you act like you're already in high school. Well it seems to me that this Prince guy is at the same level as you, so it wouldn't be a misconception if we thought it was possible†¦for you to, how can I put it, distract him!† Felicity explained with appropriate verbal skill. â€Å"You want us to flirt!† Number 4 caught on. She was wearing the green variety of the suit. â€Å"That's one way of putting it, yes!† Felicity looked at her, expecting disapproval. â€Å"Now you're talking! A way we can put all our uses together! Flirting and lying!† Number two was obviously happy with the proposal. â€Å"Great1 and while you create a few weeks distraction, we can look into Prince, not literally of course! We'll investigate his past, and come up with some proof to convict him of†¦Ã¢â‚¬  Felicity thought, â€Å"Something we don't know yet!† The weeks went on, and as far as the gang could tell, Prince was enjoying the act of the Jaimes. Prince had come to be the leader of the playground. He resented anyone proclaiming him to be a king. He said they were all equal, even him. He had produced a short list of laws, which he thought were important if they were to sustain equality, they were: never to downsize another playground associate, always to put others first and never to be selfish. The children of the playground had started up a little chant, and when he heard this, he decided to make it into a regular native song. Whenever there was a meeting, which there frequently was, it would begin with verses of this song, which Prince called Blue Creekers of America. It was sung to the tune of If Your Happy and Your Know it, and went like this†¦ From the Ball field to the swing set we are free, All the way across the playground we are free, When they try to tell us different, We just turn around from infants, If you're a blue creeker than shout out we are free. Don't ever think you'll ever be alone, Think of the playground as your very happy home, If you ever need a hand, Then Prince will understand, If you're a blue creeker than shout out we are free. If you're a blue creeker than shout out we are free! The gang wasn't having much luck looking for evidence (except they knew that kids toys and candy were going missing, even someone's portable television), so PJ, Russ and Pikes decided to take it into their own hands one Saturday night. They snuck out and met at City Hall. Pikes' dad worked there, so it was easy to get the keys. They were all wearing black, navy blue or any other dark colours, though none of the burglar clothing, it would be extremely suspicious if they were seen. They crept into the hall, and saw a door labelled â€Å"Staff only†. This was it. Pikes pulled out a set of keys, and tried three before finding the right one. They opened the door, looking out for any night watchers. They slowly and cautiously walked in the room. There were rows of filing cabinets with letter in alphabetical order above each one. They found row D. â€Å"Dakota, Daniels, Darter, Dartmoor! Got him! Prince Dartmoor. He used to go to Belle Fork. But there's no record of him before 1999† whispered PJ. He couldn't help but feel familiar with this school. â€Å"Belle Fork? That's where King Rob's- Rob's cousin went† noted Russ. He was confused, as were the others. If they went to the same school, why would he need Kyle to tell the story, unless, he was just a pawn in Prince's game play, and that would mean the story wasn't true. They decided to investigate further. They found J for Jenkins, and soon found Rob's dad's and Mum's files. They looked under siblings, and this is where it got interesting. They didn't have any. Rob didn't have a cousin, and the gang had found the evidence they needed. Suddenly, the boys heard a noise from outside the room. It was a guard. They looked hard for a way out, and came to a window. They looked at Pikes. His round chubby body wouldn't fit through that window if a shark was chasing him. â€Å"Go! Take the files! It's the only way!† Pikes forced them. â€Å"But what about you?† Cowered Russ, already hoisting himself up to the window. â€Å"I'll face the consequences alone! Everything comes at a price and this is ours. I'll be grounded for sure, but that's something I'll allow for the sake of the playground, now go!† Pikes courageously whispered. PJ nodded, and within thirty seconds of hearing the guard, PJ and Russ were outside. As they ran with the files tucked in the backpacks, they heard someone shouting, and knew Pikes had been found. On Monday at school was buzzing. The girls had been told to meet PJ, Pikes and Russ in the Jaimes clubhouse, with the Jaimes present naturally. The boys came in a few minutes late, but with plenty of time to spare before the first lesson began. They should them the files, and explained thoroughly what had on the Saturday night. The girls were immediately excited, and were mentally prepared for the removal of Prince. â€Å"Pikes, what did your parents say?† asked Jennie. â€Å"Oh I'm just grounded until I'm fifty. My dad says I could have got him fired, but I think he's just trying to scare me.† Pikes didn't sound his usual self. He seemed down, but was still anxious to get this thing going. The gang and the Jaimes racked their brains to form a plan but finally agreed that one was solid just as the bell went. The playground emptied, and the gang left separately from the Jaimes so as not to cause suspicion. The rest of the morning was spent making preparations. Jaimes 1 and 2 ‘distracted' Prince and the rest snuck around, and secretly spoke to kids they thought were suitable for certain†¦jobs. Pikes and Russ had a very important thing to do. It was morning recess. They went to a wooden gate and heard screams of terror and playful games. They walked through the gate, and entered Kindergarten Territory. They trekked passed the mass of wresting toddlers and painted tribal faces until they got to the Kindergarten King. His name was Lyle, but was called Tootoodyna in a mark of respect. Tootoo was short and fat, with red long hair. He, as the others, had clannish markings on his face, a beaded necklace and wore a grass skirt. â€Å"Morning your highness.† Greeted Pikes. He was well-known to Tootoo, and had been named his big kid friend. â€Å"Tootoo happy to see you big kid friend. Do you want favour?† Tootoo's language was primal, but understandable. â€Å"Yes. The big kids need your help.† Pikes began to explain the plan to the Kindergarten King, and Russ helped fill in things to. After a while, King Tootoo agreed to the plan with ease, and settled terms with the boys. The rest of the morning ran smoothly. The gang and the Jaimes acted normal, not doing much work with the exception of Felicity obviously. They were apprehensive, yet wanted it all the same. They wanted it over. They wanted things to go back to normal. Most of them were wondering what PJ had done. He had told them he had to do something at morning recess, and snuck out of school to do so, but when they asked what it was, he just smiled and said, â€Å"You'll find out.† Lunch came. The cafeteria was almost silent. Most because they could sense something was up, but some because they knew what was up. The gang left the cafeteria ten minutes after entering, and waited for the rest to follow. The gang knew that Prince would be sitting on the Jungle Jim Palace. He had forbidden anyone to touch it, including himself. He said it was a historic figure, one to remind them of the reign of King Rob. Two bodyguards were surveying the entrance. â€Å"We got it!† said Jaime 4 with pleasure. PJ nodded and smiled. The gang hid behind a bush, and watched the Jaimes bring the guards into the clubhouse. It was clear. The playground was starting to fill up by now. It was the perfect time, and there was no going back. PJ lead them to the palace. A few kids saw him and gathered round. What they'd been sensing, this was it. As the gang climbed up, more people gathered round, though no one was saying anything yet. When the last was in the palace, Jaime 3 came out. She spoke to the crowd in a quiet and calm yet commanding voice, â€Å"you have to make sure that Prince doesn't know you're here. Don't make a sound. You'll find out something you deserve to know, just as long as he doesn't think you're here, understand?† â€Å"Why should we listen to you? Prince has done nothing wrong† said one weasel like child. â€Å"Then it won't matter if you hear what he has been doing, if there's nothing wrong with it, like you said. Now go round to the back. We rigged a cup and string phone so you'll hear everything, but when you get there someone will be waiting. When you see them don't make a sound, they're important in all this, and you'll probably change your mind about them soon enough.† Jaime 3 instructed. They did as they were told, and as she said there was someone waiting. King Rob. A few of the crowd opened their mouths, but then remembered Jaime's words and didn't make a peep. They listened through the phone, and recognized the gangs and Prince's voices. â€Å"What are you doing here?† Prince asked angrily. â€Å"Could ask you the same question† replied PJ. His confidence astounded even him and especially Prince. â€Å"We know what you're up to. We know you made up that story and we know what's in this box right here† PJ stepped forward pointing to a large oak toy box, and opened it. There were all of the missing toys and candy. Prince stood there, stunned. He'd been found out, but wasn't going down without a fight. â€Å"Oh yeah, well who cares, you found me out, but as far as those idiots know, I'll tell em you took their stuff, and they'll believe me too, gullible and stupid. They follow my every move and guess what? There's nothing you can do about it!† Prince grew an evil smile. â€Å"Wanna bet?† King Rob entered the room and snatched the evil smile right of Prince's face. â€Å"You know as well as I do that I don't have a cousin, and yet you paid off some kid to lie about it. How much did you pay him? Ten, twenty bucks?† â€Å"Fifteen, but that's not the point. The point is, no one's gonna believe an outlaw and a gang of self righteous twits?† Prince felt safe again. There was no way they'd stop him now, was there? PJ picked up the box, took it to the balcony, and tipped out the contents, but holding the television. Prince was curious. He walked out onto the balcony, and saw the children of the playground listening to every word he'd been saying. â€Å"Fine. So you know. I applaud you all. Good job. But guess what Rob, you may have got out of this one, but I'll be waiting. Every move you make, every step you take I'll be ready to-â€Å"Prince was stopped dead in his tracks. The bodyguards walked up to him and dragged him towards the principle's office. â€Å"But why'd he do it PJ?† shouted someone from the crowd. â€Å"Rob, o you remember the name Jack Hollows?† PJ asked. â€Å"Yeah, he was my best friend up until 3rd grade, when he-â€Å", Rob paused, â€Å"he swore he'd get me back after I pulled down his jeans in the school play.† Rob had had a break through. He knew what was going on. â€Å"Pikes, Russ and I snuck into City Hall on Saturday night. We found out that Prince had lied about that story. Rob hasn't even got a cousin. Then we found out about Prince. There was no record of him before 1999. Then this morning I went home and searched his picture on City Hall records internet. They only give you their name of course, but that's all I needed. It came up with two records. Prince Dartmoor 1999 to present, and Jack Hollows 1991 to 1999. He changed his name right after the play incident, so he could get his revenge without a trace.† PJ gave the crowd a few seconds to mull over the information they had just been given, and then spoke once more, â€Å"So I ask you, are you regretful? Are you sorry? But most of all, do you want King Rob back?† the crowd gave no pause, just a dramatic, deafening â€Å"YES!† Prince (or Jack) was expelled from Blue Creek Elementary for stealing. He and his family moved to Alabama. King Rob was restored to his throne. The Jaimes were given luxuries to go in their clubhouse. The gang were labelled playground heroes, and Pikes was given an honorary stationary kit because of his bravery in City Hall. As for PJ, he was given the job of Royal Assistant. He monitored Jack's movement in Alabama, and checked out any new kids. Blue Creek Elementary was back to where it started, but with more trust, guidance and hope for the future- High School.